Ya Gotta Learn to Love the Grind

“Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations.” 

Hello Wits End.  Can’t say that it’s nice to meet you.  We were bound to run into one another sooner or later. Not sure why I can’t give chaos the shake—we’re way too close these days. This week he came in the form of a teenage car crash, my dog Ringo chewing up the Google fiber cable not once, but twice.  (Who needs the internet anyway?) The washer broke. I have five kids, and no washer.  That’s enough to make a grown woman cry uncontrollably.  Let me tell you, late-night laudromatting is a thrill a minute.  Wash. Rinse. Repeat.  I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. Only 12,403 days left to go to beat Murray’s dizzying record of being trapped in a day. That’s nothin’, right? 

Not to mention, I have complete strangers badgering me for college-essay help.  And monotonous grant deadlines.  Oh and a CNP telling me to get more sleep or I’ll never find balance, or worse fatigue will wreak havoc on my adrenals. Funny, I haven’t even thought about my adrenals, but I am now.  Obviously, I haven’t started reading The Gratitude Diaries. Tomorrow I’ll kick chaos and deadlines to the curb to have a little turkey, watch some professional football, rest, and read. I’ll be making a Christmas mix for me and Rae too.  Life will feel a little mellower and a little sweeter.  In a quiet moment, I’ll remind myself not to sweat the small stuff.  And it’s all small stuff.   

Which reminds me…if chaos is your shadow too these days, you may want to check out Richard Carlson’s Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…and it’s all small stuff.  It made publishing history as the #1 best-selling book in the U.S. for two consecutive years.  Wisdom on a page is hard to resist.  I’m not a worrier, especially over the stuff I can’t control—I do, however, appreciate reminders—perspective savers.  If you haven’t developed a taste for the mundane, this book will teach you to do as my father repeatedly suggests: ya gotta learn to love the grind.  I’m not there yet, but I have taken things in stride all week.  And I have an awful lot to be thankful for, including all of you.  

Posted by Tracy

Weekly Wrap-Up

"I will defend the importance of bedtime stories to my last gasp." —J.K. Rowling

WHAT WE LOVE THIS WEEK

Book giving. As promised, this week's wrap-up is all about finding more ways to spread literary joy. One of the best ways to serve is giving your time. Ask your local schools if you can come read in classrooms each month. To make the biggest impact, choose schools where parent volunteers are lacking.

The folks over at Book Riot rounded up a list of bookish charities and Project Night Night immediately caught our attention. It's a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a little love to homeless children 12 and under in the form of comfort items and, you guessed it, a great book. There are ways to go big or small with this one—you can simply mail or drop off donations or run your own drive to help out a local shelter. 

United Through Reading. This beautiful nonprofit provides a way for parents serving in our military all over the world to video themselves reading bedtime stories for their children back home—guaranteeing a good night's sleep for all.

"Nothing can be compared to the charm of reading a good story book." We wholeheartedly concur with Rezaul, a student in Bangladesh, who thanks to Room to Read, has more access to that magic than ever before. Their mission: provide education and literacy programs to children, with an emphasis on girls, all over the world. Knowledge is power.

This may be exhibiting a little hometown favoritism, but when I saw that Reader to Reader just donated 500,000 books to schools in Gallup, New Mexico and the surrounding Native American communities, my heart swelled. 

Public libraries. Either your own or one in a struggling neighborhood. Go online to find out if they accept book or monetary donations. Or better yet, just stop in and ask. And check out a book or two while you're there.

In other news: have you seen this movie yet? You really should.

Posted by Rachel

Turn Off The News And Love Your Neighbor

“I slept and I dreamed that life is all joy. I woke and I saw that life is all service. I served and I saw that service is joy.” —Kahlil Gibran

@emmawatson/Instagram

Raise your hand if you could use a shot of joy right about now. Both of mine are high in the air. I'm not prone to grouchiness or fits of melancholy, but I gotta say they've been hangin around with alarming frequency as of late. The woe-is-me blues are drownin out the Christmas tunes that usually fill my ears as soon as the clock strikes November. And that, my friends, just will not do. So when I saw a sign posted on Facebook encouraging us all to "turn off the news and love [our] neighbor," it was like someone reached through the screen and gave me a good shake. Time to snap out of it, get over my tired self, and start serving my neighbors (as in everyone).

Enter that trusty intern of ours with stories of book-giving sure to inspire even the grouchiest among us, meaning me. What better way to spread love and cheer than with free books? (That's a rhetorical question, in case you're new here.) Emma Watson, a.k.a. the book fairy, has been busy delivering up delight underground in New York and London by hiding copies of Maya Angelou's Mom & Me & Mom for lucky subway riders. Good on you, Emma. The giving doesn't stop there though, our favorite Free Little Libraries friends just planted their 50,000th little library. Even more impressive? That's double the libraries that were in existence a mere year and a half ago. Just thinking about all those books finding their way into the hands and hearts of readers makes my weary heart skip a beat. 

This all has me wanting to find ways to spread more literary joy. Stay tuned for our Weekly Wrap-Up this Saturday for some fun ideas on sharing the book love. I feel better already, don't you?

Posted by Rachel

Looking At Life From Both Sides Now

"Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won't come in.” —Isaac Asimov

I've made a conscious effort to stay off social media the past several days. I highly recommend it. Aside from a few thoughtful articles shared from those I love on both sides of this vast political divide, it's mainly been more of the same hateful rhetoric displayed throughout this wretched election season, only amplified. And even more vitriolic—with each side demonizing the other. When did we stop seeing each other as the beautifully complex individuals we are and instead through the lens of which candidate won our vote? That sells every single one of us short. 

I woke up this morning determined to scrub off my window on the world and let light in. In my never ending search for silver linings, I realized this election can be a teaching moment. It seems to me we've all become so set in our own beliefs and opinions that we've stopped listening to each other. Not listening to refute, persuade, or demean, but listening to understand. And of course, because books are a balm to me, reading to understand.

Atticus Finch put it best: "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it." With that in mind, here are my next two reads:

Author Amy Chua writes of Hillbilly Elegy: “A beautifully and powerfully written memoir about the author’s journey from a troubled, addiction-torn Appalachian family to Yale Law School, Hillbilly Elegy is shocking, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and hysterically funny. It’s also a profoundly important book, one that opens a window on a part of America usually hidden from view and offers genuine hope in the form of hard-hitting honesty.” In the words of another reviewer, these are "women and men who dearly love their country, yet who feel powerless as their way of life is devastated."

When Toni Morrison says a book is required reading, I take note. She writes: "The language of Between the World and Me, like Coates's journey, is visceral, eloquent, and beautifully redemptive. And its examination of the hazards and hopes of black male life is a profound as it is revelatory." Then there's this hauntingly beautiful quote from the author himself: “This is your country, this is your world, this is your body, and you must find some way to live within the all of it.” 

Posted by Rachel

Throwback Thursday

“He was like a song I'd heard once in fragments but had been singing in my mind ever since.” 

There are two kinds of people in this world: those who listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving and those who refuse to Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Rachel and I echo the joyous strains pre-Turkey day—sometimes in secret for fear of being ridiculed. This year, I don’t much mind being scorned.  Loud and proud, I’ve been playing Christmassy melodies…no trace of any shame. With festive music in my ears and Starbuck’s peppermint specials in my belly, I’ve been shopping online.  The mood’s right.  Today I jumped on Amazon, added stuff to my cart; 82 save-for-later items were already there. 82.  Other than the Masterpieces NFL Map Puzzle, a tri-magic boomerang, some kicks, a Steph Curry Adidas golden youth player shirt, and some Cadbury Wunderbars, it was all books.  

Glorious books. Since it’s Jeudi, it’s time to give a shout out for an oldie but goodie.  Back when I only had one employer, fewer stretch marks, and breezier hours, I read Arthur Golden’s Memoirs of a Geisha.  Little did I know about geisha and Japanese culture.  Nitta Sayuri, a celebrated geisha and the narrator of this runaway best seller, enlightened me.  My ignorance made Sayuri’s story even more compelling.  In the words of one professional reviewer, “Golden, with degrees in Japanese art and history, has brilliantly revealed the culture and traditions of an exotic world, closed to most Westerners.” One shiny penny and one click later, you can buy a window into another world...save for later at the very least!

Posted by Tracy

A Brave New Read

Some of Genie’s Questions: 

What exactly are grits?

Does the flea market actually sell fleas?

The rooter to the tooter is stupid.  Why not, the yapper to the crapper? Or the thinker to the stinker?

Where is Sam Hill? 

What does it mean to be brave?

Here’s a Key Alert: We’ve finished As Brave As You. The polls show that Jason Reynold’s book about two Brooklyn brothers who visit their grandparents in rural Virginia for an eye-opening summer month is a legitimate winner.  Luke put this read in his top three for the year.  Jonah debated the tippy-top nomination, but cast his vote for the story about guilt and forgiveness and consequently, fear and bravery in his top five. In other words, reading this rich middle-grade novel was a grand old party.  

Reynolds creates an unforgettable, quirky character in 11-year-old Genie Harris.  He’s filled to the brim with pressing questions—they bubble up out of him. Google is his go-to, but in the back-internetless-woods, he feels comfortable consulting his blind grandpop. Their tender relationship is the beautiful force behind this story—as the blind man ultimately helps his grandson see what real bravery looks like and what real empathy feels like.  I love a young adult book with wonderful substance.  The not-so-silent majority will definitely lobby for this read. 

Posted by Tracy

Weekly Wrap-Up

“When we give cheerfully and accept gratefully, everyone is blessed.” —Maya Angelou

WHAT WE LOVE THIS WEEK

Not skipping Thanksgiving. There wasn't even a dent in the Halloween candy stash before jingle bells were ringing everywhere. We're big fans of Christmas around here...as in we may go a tad overboard big...but let's give Turkey Day its due. Cheers to a month full of gratitude and hoping it rubs off on the other eleven.

This post over at The Small Seed is the perfect read to start off the season.

What better way to spread thankfulness than with these darling Jane Austen notecards?

This is hands down our favorite way to celebrate all month with the kiddos and grow grateful hearts.

Nothing says thank you like freshly baked cookies, especially when they're tied up with string and this happy tag.

Pretty sure no one does thank you as beautifully as Rifle Paper Company. We'll take one of each. 

Speaking of Rifle, their new address book makes keeping in touch with those you love a whole lot lovelier.

Can a person have too many gratitude journals? We think not. Oh, and this one. Wait, this one too. We are positively brimming with thankfulness. 

COMING NEXT WEEK

True confession: I've fallen in love with a Russian.

November Book Club Selection

Let us be thankful to the people who bring us happiness; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom. —Marcel Proust, Pleasures and Days

We don't know about you, but this election season has us craving some positivity. Not to mention a little (or a lotta) civility and human decency. It's enough to leave us all a bit jaded, pessimistic, and downright exhausted. So it should come as no surprise to anyone that we've been searching for a good book to help snap us out of this sorry state. Enter The Gratitude Diaries and looking on the bright side of life. When one reviewer wrote "it's like The Happiness Project meets Thanksgiving" we couldn't add it to our Amazon cart fast enough. Here's hoping it'll work some magic on all of us. 

Posted by Rachel