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Muffins and Mayhem, Recipes for a Happy (if disorderly) Life
AUTHORBUZZ: Discover new books, "meet" the authors and enter to win: Goto: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader
Dear Reader,
Motivation shows up in weird ways. Let me explain.
There are eight huge flower gardens in my yard. Normally their beauty has a calming affect on me, but the other day they looked frightening. It happens every year. All summer long, in Florida's heat and humidity, my plants grow to B-movie size proportions: "The Florida plants that ate Suzanne and her entire house in one big gulp!" Surveying my yard in the fall, anxiety sets in. How is one person ever going to trim, weed, feed, replant, and mulch eight flower gardens, all by herself? Eventually, I do get the job done, but getting started is a challenge. Actually getting started is the hardest part.
Fortunately for me, this year two gardening angels knocked on my door. The man and his partner who had trimmed our trees three months earlier wanted to know if I needed any yard work done. "Absolutely!" And since they were going to start early the next morning, I had a list of things to do before they arrived: go to the nursery and get plants, fertilizer, mulch, and buy plenty of yard waste garbage bags. Stop at the market so I have something to serve them for lunch, and bake a batch of my chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
Ready and waiting the next morning, no one showed up, which wasn't totally unexpected. One of the first things I learned when I moved to Florida was that the words "on time," meant something different than they did when I lived in Wisconsin--especially when it comes to gardeners. If you don't show up for the first day of work in Wisconsin, you're fired. If you don't show up for the first day of work in Florida, but you show up the second day--you're considered "on time." But my "no show" gardeners never showed up at all. (Well, they did call the second day at 3:30 in the afternoon, with a lame excuse, and added, "We'll see you tomorrow.")
"Not tomorrow," I told them, "I don't need any help now. By not showing up, you actually did me a favor. Since I had all of my gardening supplies, including chocolate chip cookies I personally baked for you, I started working on the yard myself. Twenty-five bags of yard waste are lined up for tomorrow's trash pick up, and one of my flower gardens is completely weeded, fertilized and replanted. Thanks for not showing up. It was the motivation I needed, and instead of paying you, I'm going shoe shopping when I'm done."
Thanks for reading with me. It's so good to read with friends.
Suzanne Beecher
Suzanne@DearReader.com
www.muffinsandmayhem.com
AUTHORBUZZ: Meet Nancy Rue:
Author of UNEXPECTED DISMOUNTS (Book #2 The Reluctant Prophet Series)
Just when you think Alllison Chamberlain has it all under control--a series of unexpected dismounts threatens to take down everything she's sacrificed for. You'll get caught up in Allison's St. Augustine journey with the recovering prostitutes at Sacrament House, an outrageous 12-year-old mulatto boy, and an unlikely group of fellow travelers, all from the back of her Harley.
Author Nancy Rue would love to hear from you and you can sample her book. Go to: http://authorbuzz.com/dearreader and click on UNEXPECTED DISMOUNTS.
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