To Keep In Reserve

   I can not be the only one on the planet, that worries about hoarding.
   ALSO...surely others beside myself watch the show!!!

  There is so very little to watch on TV, why am I drawn to these poor people who hoard? I gasp at the houses filled with stuff ( I would have said shit, but I don't want mom to flinch!!) Truly it must be a disease, no one would live among tons of, what can you call trash and five million Christmas ornaments? Stacked to the roof, boxes of Boxes, nothing in them!! Help me understand this crazy. Baffled and with a little puke in my throat, I watch. Not often do I see the show, I just happen on it, with the clicker, one of many clickers!! Is that the first sign? I have more then one clicker to choose from!! Yikes, its happening.

Last week, I got sucked into the horror show, and lost it. The lady had thirty-five cats, thirteen that were dead and flat as a pizza. They did not use a litter box, naturally! cat poo and urine throughout the castle. Years of living like this. She had a chair, the rest of the house, was packed like sardines with SHIT, not the cat kind. ( Sorry mom, this blog requires some choice words, close your eyes!) The clean up people could not help this lady, it was not cleanable!! It was destroyed, and she thought it was fine. She used her bathtub as a toilet, and the towel rack for ribbon that she used to wrap presents?? I sit in utter disbelief that this can happen, but it does.

Bill asks me why I watch? I want to see the clean house at the end. I think??

Yesterday Hart and I were at an antique store, where I was stepping over stuff, and found some gloves and a picture that called my name. I looked at him and said, "Hoarding!" Being his fathers son (yes mine too?) he said, "Why do you watch that show?"

"Well...its cheap therapy, it prevents my hoarding demons to take over!"

He smiled, and I know what he was thinking, "Where are you going to put the gloves mom?"
"On my hands, what kind of question is that?" me thinking....gloves are stylish and these are pink, and I love them, oh  sweet Jesus....its happening.

So this beautiful Saturday morn, I will be cleaning out some of my clutter. Classic clutter, some you just have to keep in reserve.

pssssss this is a serious problem for people, I hope they all get good help. Stuff (shit) will suffocate you. ( thanks mom for giving me your cleaning DNA, keeps me balanced!)

Self Help ME!

 It should not be a surprise to anyone, that I read great quantities of books. So it needn't alarm you, that I like to throw in a Self Help book, every fourth book or so.
 I have just finished two, that I would like to offer up to any one wishing to learn more about their self!!
 Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live by Martha Beck and The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life also by Martha Beck ( note this is not a diet book!!)

 These two reads, were just so fantastic, that you just have to trust me. I think all humans should be trying to better themselves, it takes research and work, but we are so worth it. We benefit, and those we surround may reap the rewards. I too believe in good meds, and a therapist, but knowledge is power,  keep reading.
I also believe in deep knee bend praying, and some holy water thrown about! I engage in yoga, zumba, tai chi, chi chi, ho ho, and he he!! Whatever it takes, to live a happy life and pay it forward.

Let me just temp you with some lines from these two pills, take with a tall glass of something!!

The North Star:
     * Any good Buddhist will tell you, the only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.
     *she gave me some of the best advice I've ever heard. " Listen," she said, "you're supposed to avoid stress and get lots of rest. But if your soul wants to dance, staying in bed is stressful!"
     *Thanks for sharing Yoda, but I have rent to pay and a cat to feed!
     *we choose elements of what William James called "the blooming, buzzing confusion" around us, and build our stories from a very limited selection of facts.
      *some people have the maternal tenderness of a starving crocodile!
Are you healed now, feeling better, finding your own North Star? I had highlighted 79 places, this book is a keeper.
So I liked this woman, so I downloaded her next book, Joy Diet, one I liked Joy in the title and it was not about weight loss.
 Here goes.
      * doing nothing is the most productive activity you will ever undertake
      *always end with me hunched at my computer, muttering and rocking like Rain Man when he couldn't get cheese puffs. ( you have to read the book! this is about a child asking for something a million times!)
      * I suggest that instead of spending your idle time stewing in guilt, you do nothing with pride and gusto.
      * the typical human mind is like a supercomputer possessed by the soul of a demented squirrel.
      * Michelangelo once said, " If people knew how hard I work, they wouldn't find my achievements so remarkable."
It takes WORK to be remarkable, it takes WORK to be kind and live a life of Joy. People who read self-help books tend to be members of the High Achievement Club. I feel like if you are reading my blog, you too are in my club. Always learning, seeking to be better and understanding.
Picasso said, " I have worked all my life to learn how to paint like a child." This is gold.
This blog makes me happy, these books helped me write this blog, hope you get a chance to read them.
You were born for Joy.
psssss. My favorite shrink asked me, " Why do you think you are suppose to be happy Bonnie?" I think I will send him these books, AND charge him 200 dollars an hour!! ( I do love him as a shrink!) ( he just needs some joy juice!)

Fauna and Flora

  Recently, my girl stated, "Mom, July is almost over and you have not written a blog!"
I would never know she was adopted, she is so much like me. Who thinks July is almost over on July 6th? Only a child from my loins, right! or my child from India, who has my DNA swimming through her veins as I type! Nurture or Nature, will always remain a big debate, just not in our household!
 I reminded her, that we had just returned from South Alabama, on a girls trip, I have time!! Thanks for reading my blogs Em, and keeping me on my toes. Oh my its July 10th, where has the month gone?

 The first ten days in this July have "Gone with the Rain!" The heat turned up, and the heavens opened. The syrupy air hangs heavy, and we saunter through the days. These are the days of my youth, minus the beach!
The beach at my backdoor, would be my Nirvana. Instead I have the flora and fauna in abundance this month. In Atlanta, the flowers have bloomed and bloomed again. It has been a beautiful spring and early summer, UNTIL the bunnies and deer came to stay. Never have I concerned myself too much, I figured that they needed some blossoms. The bunnies are so cute, there must be sooooo many, and in one night my garden was gone. Nibbled down to a few stalks, I called all Barons out to witness the destruction. Then proceeded to google natural remedies. No luck, nothing worked, and now I have no cayenne for chili! So I went to the depot and bought deer and rabbit spray(especially after google told me to pee in a jar and sprinkle my urine all around, lord!). Sprays scare me, I don't want things to die, just not like my beauties. ( although I did hear, that my neighbor saw a hawk grab a bunny for lunch, and I did not cringe! Food chain!)

Well, before I spray, I decided to read the label, and I noted that the ground has to be dry! It has rained for 10 days, what the heck, is someone suppose to do? I thought about blow drying the area, but I think a storm is coming!  The spray sits on my counter, and the fauna is happy, the feast continues. It has been dry in Atlanta for the past several years, when I could spray but didn't need to! Now it is raining cats and dogs and bunnies and deer, and the bottle says, spray in a dry area!!! I am sure Satan has something to do about this mess, a friend of mine got bit by a copperhead so now I cannot even go in the yard!! and Lucy the lab, has a box turtle cornered in the yard!!! I live in the burbs, what is it with all the animals!!?? It is like a huge petri dish around my house, everything is growing!!! 

I have no complaints , I have had cut flowers for two months, and now you can see all my 4th of July flags, because all that is around them are stalks!! So I guess its, a win-win July, at least for this day, and if you listen to Emma or her mom, ME, July is almost over!!!