I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

What a difference a week makes. Last week when I blogged, things looked grim. Who knew that things would already be so much better 7 days later?! This is a perfect example of how quickly things can turn around from bad to good. Equally as fast, things can go from bad to worse or good to bad but…I’m trying to look on the bright side here. 🙂

What has changed since I blogged last week? My Twitter friend, Lisa, left a comment about Chux hospital type bed pads that led me to place an order on Amazon that night! They arrived on Thurs. and they’ve been a lifesaver! Literally, they are like magic. It has already improved my daily routine about 80%. I wish I hadn’t gone 11 months without them but at least I found out about them now. I almost deleted my last post because I felt it made me look bad. I’m glad I didn’t or I wouldn’t have gotten the feedback I needed to make the decision about which incontinence pads to purchase. I don’t prescribe to the “everything happens for a reason” maxim but sometimes things happen in a way that makes things fall into place.

Then last week, I was a bit down in the dumps until my slam friend, Karen, told me she was getting a new Kindle and offered me her old one. It was like a prayer was answered! I’ve always wanted one but I’m too cheap and just don’t buy myself nice things. It’s a weird hangup I have. It has a lot to do with how and where I was raised. I’m going to delve into it when I write my post about being cheap. Anyway, it was the sweetest thing that she thought of me and made a dream of mine come true! I don’t need the newest or best of anything and am so thankful and grateful for anything anyone gives me. The Kindle arrived in yesterday’s mail and I’m so excited! It will be perfect for taking on vacation. 🙂

This past weekend when we went to estate sales, one place had a HUGE library of cookbooks, like 300-400. I was just salivating looking at them. My mom and I both have always loved looking at cookbooks. She still enjoys it but more the pictures now than reading the ingredients. I was on a kick 10-15 years ago where I was trying 3-4 new recipes a day. I was going to find the BEST recipe for everything we love to eat and then make a cookbook. Like most things I start, it has fallen by the wayside. I’ve amassed a huge amount of recipes, mostly off the Internet. My favorite websites for getting recipes are: allrecipes.com and food.com. Other good places to look online for recipes are: foodnetwork.com and thepioneerwoman.com. Anyway, I had a few boughten cookbooks but not many. Most were my mom’s that I inherited. I could never see spending $35 for a single book. Call me cheap but it’s the truth. Anyway, if I could’ve wrangled a deal for 100 cookbooks at $1 each or all of them for $1 each (preferably less), I would’ve been selling what I didn’t want online. Instead, they were selling the best, newest ones for $10 each, the rest $3-5 each. Not bad for BRAND NEW books that look like they’ve never been cracked open. I’m like a heroin addict when it comes to a new book. I love books period but NEW books where I’m the first to turn the page and run my hand over the glossy pictures? Swoon. On the first day I picked out 5 books at $3 each so I spent $15. I was obsessed thinking about them. On the last day, I went back and at least 100 were gone already. Still trying to make a deal, the guy running the sale called the owner and she wouldn’t go for less. So I picked out a dozen more figuring they’d be $2-$2.50 each. They were $1.50 each. So I ended up with 17 brand new cookbooks for $33–less than $2 each. Now I’m kicking myself I didn’t get more since I’ll probably never run across an opportunity like that again. Talk about improving my mood! I’ve been going all fangirl here as I page through the 3 Barefoot Contessa (aka Ina Garten) cookbooks. Enjoying every second of browsing the others that I probably would never have boughten at full price: Katie Lee Joel, Nigella Lawson, Paula Deen, Mr. Food, Emeril Lagasse, Lidia Bastianich, Naomi Judd, etc. It’s inspiring me to bake all over again!

It doesn’t matter how awful today is, next week (or tomorrow) could be wonderful! Not that I was near suicide or anything but this is a definite example of why NOT to ever resort to that. We don’t know how even the smallest thing we may do or say to someone can lift them up or change their life for the better! A kind gesture or a generous gift of something you no longer can use can bring sunshine to someone’s life. If this doesn’t motivate you to comment on someone’s blog, I don’t know what will! 🙂 I know it has given me a new and much needed perspective.