WHAT EVER HAPPENED...? "Signs I Like"

SIGNS

As I wrote in another chapter, I have over 200 signs in my home. I’ve selected my favorite signs for you to read here. This list is just a small example of words that help me smile and get through it all…. [And some of my thoughts added in.]

·   Happy. Happy. Happy. [My dog’s name.]

·   I Will Survive [My mother’s theme song for me.]  

·   Keep calm and take a nap

·   Laugh! Sometimes it’s just the medicine you need

·   Remember the day’s blessings, forget the day’s troubles

·   NEVER…miss a good chance to shut up.  [Amen!]

·   The only thing domestic about me is that I live indoors

·   Today may not be good but there’s something good in every day

·   I hope you dance

·   The older I get, the better I was

·   Realize how good you really are

·   I wouldn’t mind having a split personality as long as the other one did the housework

·   To save some time: Let’s Just Assume That I’M ALWAYS RIGHT!

·   Life is too short to be serious all the time

·   Peace, love, and sandy feet [I love the beach!]

·   You can never have too much HAPPY!

·   Go away! I’m reading

·   I will be grateful for this day

·   Be sure to taste your words before you spit them out [Too many of mine taste yucky!]

·   Your day will go the way the corners of your mouth turn

·   The first step to getting what you want is having the courage to get rid of what you don’t… [A real struggle for me!]

·   Laugh as much as you breathe

·   Your best days are ahead!

·   What you think is what you become…

·   My life will improve from the inside out!

·   No matter what happens around me, this will be a good day!

·   You can’t start the next chapter of your life if you keep re-reading the last one [How true!]

·   Don’t look back – you’re not going that way

·   I am so clever that sometimes I don’t understand a single word that I say

·   You should do something nice for someone every single day, even if it means to leave them alone [Excellent advice!]

·   Knowledge talks – wisdom listens

·   The most wasted of all days is one without laughter

·   Stop thinking so much and just get on with it

·   Life is short – smile while you still have teeth

·   Never put the key to your happiness in someone else’s pocket [This sign hangs near my keychains as a reminder to me to NEVER give my house key to a certain someone ever again!]

·       It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts

·       Sometimes my greatest accomplishment is keeping my mouth shut [Very true!]

·       Live for today. Hope for tomorrow. Amazing things will happen.

·       My heart is at the beach

·       When you get there, remember where you came from

·       I’m not crazy – I just have less restrictions

·       Seize the day [Remember Robin Williams in that movie Dead Poets Society, teaching his students to stand on their desks? With permission, I did that with my students one year, and luckily no one got hurt.]

·       Just do what you do best

·       Vitality shows in not only the ability to persist but the ability to start over

·       No outfit is complete without dog hair

·       I’m NOT crazy. I’m just moose-understood [With an illustrated picture of the moose in the Adirondacks]

·       Everyone’s entitled to their own ridiculous opinion

·       You know you’re getting old when happy hour is a nap! [Sometimes, when I bump into people I used to party with years ago, I enjoy hearing the stories of our escapades. Nowadays, my fun is hanging out with the kiddies at my church...followed by a long nap.]

·       Do what makes you happy. Be with who makes you smile.

·       Hangry: an anger fueled by hunger. A cranky state resulting from lack of food, especially sweet things.

·       Let no one dull your sparkle

·       There are so many beautiful reasons to be happy

·       Fathers of girls have a special place in Heaven

·       Be with the guy who ruins your lipstick, not your mascara. [My sign should read “ChapStick,” since I don’t wear lipstick anymore, but the point of this remains the same.]

·       Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle

·       If you can’t see the bright side of life, polish the dull side

·       There’s ability in every disability [Absolutely!]

·       If you are grouchy, irritable, or just plain mean, there will be a $10 charge just for putting up with you. [This was in a restaurant, but I thought it was excellent, so I took a picture of it for my house.]

·       It is better to find an error to correct than a fault to criticize

·       It took all my willpower but I’ve finally quit dieting. [I did quit trying to look good for this book’s cover picture.]

·       Surrender to what is. Let go of what was. Have faith in what will be.

·       If you can’t be kind…BE QUIET!

·       I could have been a novel. [Well – I’m a memoir.]

·       Be More Rudolph – he always knew he was a little different but he let his light shine anyway

·       To teach is to love

·       Teachers are never appreciated until it rains all weekend

·       Smile like a dog with a new bone

·       We find our greatest strength within ourselves

·       100 years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But, the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

·       A very large sign I have in my home is entitled: “Meditations For Women Who Do Too Much,” by Anne Wilson Schaef. There are several statements on it, but here are my favorites:

-        Sometimes it helps to know that I just can’t do it all.

-        Laughter is like the human body wagging its tail.

-        Sometimes we just think too much!

-        Perfectionism is self-abuse of the highest order.

-        No one else will arrange any quiet time for me. I have to see to it myself.

-        When I say no to a request for my time, I'm not going away from that person, I am going to myself.

-        I will remember that my illusion of control is just that, an illusion.

[And, I even saw a sign I enjoyed at my editor’s home that read: There’s a skinny girl who lives inside of me that’s trying to get out, but I can usually shut her up with cookies.]

I also had begun to clutter some of Aiden’s walls at his house with some more signs. Here are some of those:

·       I’m sorry for what I said when I was hungry

·       What happens at the beach, stays at the beach

·       I’m so miserable without you, it’s almost like you’re here

·       Don’t try to understand me – just love me

·       It’s never too late to live happily ever after

·       A Positive Attitude may not solve all your problems – but it may annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. [Believe it or not – I bought this at a church fundraiser, and it made me laugh because I'm too negative!]

[Unfortunately, none of these signs at Aiden’s home actually helped us survive as a couple.]

Even though I have hundreds now, in a while, I’ll even have more.

I (Douglas Winslow Cooper) have been excerpting, weekly, material from this almost-final version of the fine book by Janet Johnson Schliff, M.S. Ed., which she wrote over a three-year period with some coaching and editing help from me, through my business, Write Your Book with Me.

Her memoir is now available in paperback and ebook formats from Outskirts Press  and amazon.com: 

What Ever Happened to My White Picket Fence? My Brain Injury from My Massive Brain Tumor

                                              ###

BOOK TALKS AND SIGNINGS

Janet Johnson Schliff spoke at the Oblong Books Bookstore in Rhinebeck, NY, on Tuesday, February 6 at 6 p.m.

Janet was on WKNY Radio 1490 in Kingston, NY, on Thursday, March 1 at 9:10 a.m. 

Janet spoke at Barnes & Noble in Kingston, NY, on Saturday, March 3 at 1 p.m. 

Janet spoke at the Starr Library in Rhinebeck, NY, on March 6 at 7 p.m. 

Janet spoke at the Golden Notebook Bookstore in Woodstock, NY, on March 17 at 2 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Morton Library in Rhinecliff, NY, on March 28 at 6:30 p.m. 

Janet spoke at RCAL in Kingston, NY, on April 3 at 4 p.m. [They gave her an impromptu book-launch party.]

Janet spoke at the Parkinson's Support Group at the Starr Library in Rhinebeck, NY, on April 4 at 2:30 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Stone Ridge Library in Stone Ridge, NY, on April 27 at 5:30 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Hurley Library in Hurley, NY, on May 4 at 6 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Kingston Library in Kingston, NY, on May 9 at 6 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Staatsburg Library in Staatsburg, NY, on May 14 at 7 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Clinton Community Library in Rhinebeck, NY, on May 31 at 6:30 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Mountain Top Library in Tannersville, NY, on June 9 at noon.

Janet spoke at the Gardiner Library in Gardiner, NY, on June 11 at 7 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Marbletown Community Center in Stone Ridge, NY, on June 20 at 6 p.m.

Janet was interviewed on radio station WTBQ-FM (93.5) on June 29 at 12 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Esopus Library in Port Ewen, NY, on July 13 at 7 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Pine Plains Library in Pine Plains, NY, on July 20 at 6 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Ulster Library in Kingston, NY, on July 23 at 5:30 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Northern Dutchess Bible Church in Red Hook, NY, on August 11 at 1 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Inquiring Minds Bookstore in New Paltz, NY, on September 6 at 7 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Adriance Library in Poughkeepsie, NY, on September 15 at 2:30 p.m.

Janet was interviewed on radio station WRIP-FM (97.9) on September 21 at 8 a.m.

Janet again spoke at the Mountain Top Library in Tannersville, NY, on September 22 at noon.

Janet spoke at the Enchanted Cafe in Red Hook, NY, on September 28 at 7 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Hyde Park Library in Hyde Park, NY, on October 4 at 7 p.m.

Janet participated in an Author Weekend at the Barnes & Noble in Poughkeepsie, NY, on October 14 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Janet spoke at the Tivoli Library in Tivoli, NY, on October 22 at 5:30 p.m.

Janet’s interview for the TV program Wake Up with Marci on the You Too America Channel aired on Monday, November 5, and Friday, November 9. It can now be found on the Internet.

Janet spoke at the Germantown Library in Germantown, NY, on November 7 at 6:00 p.m.

Janet will participate in the Red Hook Middle School's College and Career Cafe in Red Hook, NY,  on December 19 at 10:30 a.m.

More signings will be coming up. A fine feature about Janet by John DeSantos [845 LIFE] appeared in the Middletown Times Herald-Record on Monday, March 12, as part of Brain Injury Awareness Month. An article about her book was just published in the May 2018 Living Rhinebeck Magazine. An article about her book appeared in the May 14 Daily Freeman of Kingston, NY. and another in the Family Life section of the Poughkeepsie Journal on June 8th. The Millerton News published an article on Thursday, August 2, about her talk at the Pine Plains Library.