Dear Reader:

Yesterday I was in Tuesday Morning getting more wash cloths…I have decided that wash cloths are like socks…they tend to disappear or suddenly turn scrungy (is that a word?…well it is now) overnight.

As I went down one aisle…I saw the birthday bags and cards. I immediately put on the brakes…September is one of those months that definitely put a dent in the old monthly budget with our family. I am sure your family is like ours….we can go two or three months (tops) without a family birthday and then suddenly….boom…there are four or five birthdays all bunched together in one month.

I shouldn’t be the one commenting since I am “guilty” of a September birthday too….in fact Jakie decided to make my birthday his also so we could always share it together. I love it! Makes it even more special!!!

September starts with Mandy’s Labor Day birthday (I won’t even bother you with a mother “labor” day joke) then comes Lassie, me, Jakie…followed up by John on the last day of the month.

Back to school in our family means Back to Birthdays! But we wouldn’t have it any other way….I can’t imagine life without any of the beautiful September birthday people in it. (I am just overjoyed each year to be here to celebrate another birthday…gift enough…gift of life.)

The title quote today came off a birthday card I got for Mandy since she will start the celebrations this Labor Day weekend. How I do adore Eleanor Roosevelt and her common sense approach to life.

As soon as I saw her name it reminded me that Pam Stewart, a friend from church, sent me the title of a book that she thought, as a history teacher, I might enjoy…My Year with Eleanor.

It is similar (in its basic idea) to the popular book Julie & Julia- the book by blogger Julie Powell based on her idea to try and make each of Julia Child’s recipes over a year’s time. (later made into a 2002 movie by the same name)

This time it is former blogger/ novelist Noelle Hancock who decided to take Eleanor Roosevelt’s advice and do one scary thing a day…to push herself  outside her comfort zone. The book has mixed reviews, not as popular as Julie & Julia, but still I think I would enjoy reading it because the author has done her research and tells personal stories about Eleanor that are not common knowledge. I love the (Paul Harvey-like) story behind the story on historical figures.

One of the criticisms of the book centers around the famous Eleanor Roosevelt quote: “Do one thing every day that scares you.” One critic complained that Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t even say that quote…and attributed it to someone else. Personally I notice that problem all the time.

If I go to find a visual with a quote for a blog title entry….half the time each visual credits a different person for the same quote. There are several websites that do nothing but debunk all the wrong quote ownership errors. Unfortunately a lot of the time they seem to know it is not a certain famous person who is attributed for saying a specific quote…but they also don’t know who did. It is not an exact science.

I have about decided the time has come to stop putting someone’s name beside a quote. Like the old game “Gossip”…over time people begin to misquote it, and/or change it to match a certain theme. By the time the quote reappears after several years of changes…even the true author wouldn’t recognize it as his/her own.

I always feel if someone wants to use something in my blog to help make a point with something they are writing in theirs…go for it… with my permission. I am writing, not for recognition, but to pay it forward with the hope that something that spews out of my neurons some days…will help someone else along the way.

So until tomorrow…“Be what you is, not what you ain’t; ’cause if you ain’t what you is, you is what you ain’t.” -Maybe Luther Price said it??-  *In other words, don’t live a lie…be true to yourself.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Pretty Moments in the Garden Yesterday…

We had  wonderful on and off again showers yesterday which spared me from becoming the main course for my garden mosquitoes’ lunch and/or supper. I was so thankful and so were all my plants…there is nothing like the real thing…rain from heaven!

*A shout-out to Beverly Parkinson (our Mississippi loyal reader) whose creative note cards have been accepted by a store for sales there. Way to go Beverly…your passion is now a public  “present” for others. Congratulations!

The name of her creative endeavor is: Late Blooming Designs by Beverly

moreinkpleaseblog.com.