You know the saying that if you put something out there into the universe, it will come back to you??? Well, I spoke on the phone to my publisher again last night. I know, right??? (I will update the results of the conversation in tomorrow’s post.)
It’s all coming together… I can feel it…
I’ve been a lot more vocal, bold… brazen, even… when it comes to getting the word out regarding my book, “One Million Kisses.”
I’m a lot more courageous now that I can say, “I have a book coming out next month.”
I’ve been keeping a (albeit loose) journal on the progress here.
Please stop by to read about my most recent updates. For a while, it was the “Hurry up and wait” approach, but I think it’s going to increase with some speed now that the hard copies are just weeks away.
Make it your #153Promise to keep checking back to find out when you can finally get your hands on this little labor of love.
-Kisses! XxXx
Hop over to my Journal to read about developments of “One Million Kisses,” my children’s book that was the inspiration for #153Promise.
In it, I update about my social media, products, the progress with my publisher and my general stress of launching a book.
I have a busy weekend with BOTH of my children being in the winter gymnastics show. This will be the third on for my daughter (she turns 10.5 on Monday- yes leap day!) and my son’s first (at 3.5, he’s finally old enough to be in the Y program).
In my “spare time,” I’ll be working on posts all for next week. They will all be outlining the highlights of the “Stress Workshop for Parents” I attended this past Wednesday. It was very… interesting. Stay tuned!
And in case you missed my logo when I pushed it out, here it is:
Have a Happy Friday!
-Kisses! XxXx
I woke up as a usually do. Made my decaf, checked my email, Facebook, etc…
Then got ready to write my morning post, and I find THIS when I looked at my stats: 
I don’t know if you can zoom in on your screen, but that’s 92 view so far this morning! But what’s curious is that there were only 8 visitors. Plus, it’s only 6 am upon writing this post and ALL of the views are from the U.S.
What’s going on??? Who’s been tapping my site? Should I be thrilled? Creeped out?? Looking under my car before I get in to go to work???
I DID go to a great discussion on stress last night and I gave my card to the lecturer… (The content of last night will be the topic of all my posts next week.) Maybe he checked it out early this morning? Maybe I have a stalker. Maybe both- since 8 people did see the site.
But now, ironically, I’m stressed out a little bit.
And I also got a call last night from my publisher, but he didn’t leave a message… I know my book is supposed to go to the printers any day now.
I suppose the only thing is to wait and see.
Okay, I’ll admit this is a stretch of a “post” (sorry Kellogg’s!), but I’m inspired to write about it, so I’m silencing my inner editor and rolling with it.
It was a glorious two-hour-delay this past Tuesday, thanks to a Presidential sleet storm. I was able to get up with my 3 1/2 year old son and enjoy breakfast with him. When I asked him what he wanted to eat, he said,
“Chicken cereal!”
WHAT???
I looked at him with what must have been a strange look on my face, because he laughed and then pointed to the kitchen counter and said again,
“Chicken cereal!”
My gaze followed the direction of his index finger, and there it was:
(picture: http://www.kelloggs.com/en_US/kellogg-s-corn-flakes-consumer-brand.html)
Cute, right? But there’s (yet another) metaphor I discovered in this box of cereal.
The Kellogg brothers are steeped in some pretty wild history. Long story short, they ran a sanitarium and created food items they believed controlled certain behaviors which contributed to poor mental health.
One day, they had an error with smashed wheat and flakes were born. They tried with corn, and the sunny yellow cereal hatched forth.
They were sold at first to their former patients. The brothers then had a nasty legal battle, the one got the rights to the flakes, added sugar (ironically) and made Kellogg’s Corn Flakes one of the best selling cereals of all time.
Where’re the lessons to be learned?
They’re also comparatively low in sugar and can be used in a variety of ways.
Make the #153Promise to always see the world in a different, positive light- and remind your children of this approach, as well. What a perfect time to remind yourself of this promise at breakfast- the most important meal of the day.
So put a box of the famous “Chicken Cereal” on the kitchen counter — whether or not you actually eat them — to serve as a reminder that sometimes, life can have some unexpected pleasant surprises.
-Kisses! XxXx
My ten year old daughter loves it when I write her notes in the morning before I go off to school since I leave before she wakes up. It starts off her day feeling loved, even though I’m not there to wish her well.
So when I saw a free journal up for grabs at the used book store, I took it.
Now, when I write a note, I no longer scrounge around the house for a lone scrap of paper- I turn a page of the journal. She’s also taken to writing back to me.
This way, we’ll have a nice memory of all the notes written back and forth.
Make the #153Promise to honor your children in small but meaningful ways, everyday, by starting a memoir of your daily love in ink.
-Kisses! XxXx
February is Black History Month, a teacher at my school helped to create a poetry project. She and another adult at one of our sister high schools made an all-call for poetry regarding our own family history. I don’t want to put words in their mouths, but I think their objective for the project was to go beyond race to embrace everyone’s history.
The prompt to get us to create a submission asked us how we plan to contribute to our family’s legacy.
This is what I came up with:
“Cerberus”
On the floor
Gasping for air
A woman-
A mother-
A child-
In one, suffering body.
She screams through sobs, snot and regret.
“Oh God! Take this pain away!”
A journey this low created by decades-
Of shame
And guilt
And fear.
Sometimes, the only way out-
up
Is
Something larger than herself grabs her,
Pulls her-
Away from that destiny written by the women
Generations before her.
Lifting her bosom and eyes to the sky,
She rejects the path
Of shame
And guilt
And fear.
And she says:
“Oh God, I see the pattern of broken, woven threads.
I see the cross, heavy from the burden of judgement.
I see the toxic mold others have crafted for me…
But I WILL NOT go with the flow.
I WILL NOT carry the load
I WILL NOT contort my spirit
to conform to a lineage of dysfunction.
Breaking the cycle
Of shame
And guilt
And fear
She stands.
On her own two feet.
Undefeated,
Learning her new name.
Stronger without blame.
Wiser from her pain.
She’s making
For herself… for her inner child…. And her daughter.
Explanation
A “Cerberus” is a Greek mythological creature. It appears as a three headed dog that serves to guard the underworld and prevents those in Hell from leaving. (Technically, the picture above is Krampus; I couldn’t find a fitting royalty-free Cerberus… go figure.)
My “Cerberus” was shame, guilt and fear, instilled during my childhood.
A little introspection and family of origin work gave me the insight that emotional dysregulation can be inherited, if not necessarily genetic.
I made the #153Promise to myself and my children that I would end that cycle of emotional abuse and make proactive parenting decisions that promote positive mental health and wellness.
What’s your legacy???
-Kisses! XxXx
I had a phone conference with my publisher a little over a week ago and he said something that really stuck in my craw- he questioned that I am a legitimate expert regarding kids’ issues.
Really???
“Yeah…” he continued, “being a teacher doesn’t make you an expert. I mean, when was the last time a parent goes into a school and asks to see a really good teacher because their kids won’t eat their vegetables? They go to a doctor. You’re just not an authority in that arena.”
That’s when I heard that giant record scratch, the music stops, and it’s about to get really intense.
Mind you, this man does not have children; he’s never had to go to anybody about ANY children’s issues. That’s when I should have just let it go in one ear and out the other. But I tend to be a little — what’s the word — obsessive about certain issues, so I stewed. I mulled. I percolated.
I vented to my husband yesterday for, like, the eight thousandth time, listing all the point that DO indeed qualify me to be an authority in parenting. He patiently listened (bless him!) to which he finally said, “You should write them all down and use that for your promotions.” He’s right! At the risk of sounding pompous, I DO need to build a case for why I am a good person to listen to when it comes to raising a child. Just suppose I get successful enough that people start to notice me. Critics love to tear people a new one. I better get working on my best game play. In the spirit of an good offense being the strongest defense, I offer to you why I AM an expert, dagnabbit:
So yeah… I think being a teacher makes me an expert.
My district has parent teacher conferences this week. Make it your #153Promise this week to touch base with your children’s teachers and ask them how your kid is doing and how you can support them to achieve their best. Trust that the teachers have your kids’ best interests at heart. And believe them.
After all, we are experts.
-Kisses! XxXx
Thanks to my newest blogging buddy, Rudy, I decided to try my hand at the whole “Pingback” business.
I was particularly interested in the topic of The Eighth Sin
The seven (as they pop into my head) are:
Envy, Pride, Wrath, Greed, Gluttony, Sloth and Lust
I’m trying to think of another reeeeeally bad thing, and they seem to be just a sub-category of one of the above. Apathy? That would be Sloth. Narcissism? Yeah… that’s Pride. Impatience? I think that’s a form of Wrath… See what I mean?
So I suppose the better approach is humor rather than deep philosophical thought. Therefore, my submission for the Eighth Deadly Sin is… (drumroll, please)…
TACK
You see Tack, in its varying forms, permeates our culture:
I think Tack is horrible because it’s several other sins rolled into one. It’s Gluttonous for its over-the-top bombardment of the senses. It’s Sloth because the person responsible for it was just too lazy to give a darn about aesthetics. And it’s Wrath because it incites a lot of agida in those who are Prideful to think they are above the Tack.
To relate this to making the #153Promise to your family, how about scanning your home for any of the EIGHT Deadly Sins and eliminate ate least one item from each category.
None of us is perfect; which one of the Eight do you think your family needs to work on the most?
The logo for 153Promise is finally here! My sweet, supportive husband pulled a few strings and got a professional graphic designer to mock up a few logos based upon a few different images of a pinkie promise with the heart. I wanted pink and blue to reflect babies, but not toooo babyish. A pretty simple concept, I hope.
I had my students vote. I analyzed trends and came back to the GD with a few tweaking requests and the above is the result.
I also want to add on shirts, magnets, bracelets, etc the “LOVE” anagram:
*L*isten *O*bserve *V*alidate *E*mpathize
(That was my ten year old daughter’s idea; I figure we can easily add that on our own.)
I was happy and excited… that lasted for about a day when I came downstairs this morning and started reading news feeds. There was a story about the Oregon standoff. That lead me to some anti-Islamic stories. Which brought me to anti-Black stories. Then I finally ended up onto the BlackLivesMatter website.
I like their site. I am inspired how they created a movement in a few short years- though I am saddened at the same time that it needs to exist. But one thing confuses me… the elusive hash tag.
It’s not in their URL. It’s not on their logo. It’s not on other places on their website… But it IS on some of their headings, in some of the body copy, and on all off the pictures from people at rallies and other events.
So now I’m confused whether or not I should have put the “#” in my logo, in my posts, or what…
Social media is jammed up my brain. In fact, that’s what I plan to write about tomorrow as I get back to my posts about making the 153Promise — or should that be the #153Promise — to your children to show them L.O.V.E. on a daily basis. Stay on the lookout for my “Social Media is S & M” post for tomorrow.
IF you are reading this post, PLEASE comment on my question…
To Hash or Not to Hash?
A "Trauma-Free Parenting" Initiative 