{Monday} Moments: Tag Team

Recently I was tagged by

Tiffini, author of the blog

The House of Belonging,

to answer a series of 

questions about myself.

Normally, I would shy

away from a proposition

like that.

But here's the thing.  Tiff

is kind and friendly.  She

shares her hopes and fears

in the most unselfconscious

and generous way.

And it's good to share.

So here it goes.

The first part of the tag

is to list 11 fun facts

about myself.

1.  The Genius app on my i-pod

 {suggests music based on
what it perceives as your taste}
is very confused, as my music

collection ranges from Billy

Holiday to Lady Antebellum,

Green Day to Mercy Me.

2.  Since high school, I have

been five feet, ten inches tall.

Until last year, when I began

measuring in at a quarter inch

taller. {Pilates?  Yoga?  Hmm....}

3.  I get tears in my eyes when

I sing hymns at church or the

National Anthem at ball games.

{Am I alone here?}

4.  I cannot talk on the phone

with a friend for less than half an

hour, unless we are making plans

to meet.  Not possible.  My mom

or my out of town friends know

this and will schedule a phone

date with me on the calendar.

5.  I am half city mouse and

half country mouse.....the energy

of both places appeals to my spirit.

6.  I love to dance.  

Weddings, fundraisers, black
tie events.....If there is a dance 
floor, I'm there.

7.  I do not like roller coasters.

The last time I rode one was nearly

ten years ago in Las Vegas.  

It was the type that goes upside

down and it was on top of a

hotel.  I was humoring my hubby

on his birthday.  Never again.

Never.

{Sorry, honey!}

8.  I fall asleep and wake to

the sound of the ocean or a

thunderstorm every night,

thanks to my sound machine

alarm clock.

9.  I am a sucker for actors with

English, Irish or Scottish 
accents!

  

10.  I adore nice soap.  I find

beautiful Italian olive oil and

lavender bars at Homegoods and

TJ Maxx.  My little indulgence.

Still with me?
  

The second part of the tag

included questions created by

Tiffini.  I'll keep these brief....


Are you a hugger?  Oh, yeah : )

What is your favorite color?

Blue ~ any type ~ sky blue,

sea glass blue, cobalt....

Dream vacation?  Rent a little

cottage in Scotland for a month.

Read, drink wine, take long

walks.  Heaven.

What do you want to be when

you grow up?  I always wanted

to be a stay at home mom, so I'm

already in a happy place.  I also

wanted to be a writer and my 

blog allows me to pretend.

Favorite indoor and outdoor activity?

Indoor:  cuddling with my family

and watching movies.  Outdoor:

walking or biking.

If you could change your name,

what would it be?  Mae, an

old-fashioned family name.

When you eat out, do you usually

order dessert?  Not as often as I

want to {which is nearly always!}

What is your favorite day of

the week?  Friday.

What was your favorite food as

a child?  Pancakes.

What is something you learned

in the last week?  Things to do

while visiting Vancouver, BC.

Gorgeous Vancouver

Do you have a nickname?  

 I have the usual suspects 

from childhood ~ Suzy and Sue,

as well as Tuti.  My teenagers

still call me Mommy, which 

I love.

So there you have it.

My tag-team confessional.

My daughter visiting a school in Vancouver.

I am supposed to tag more

people to keep this game going,

but it's late Sunday night and
I've only been home a few hours
since Friday, when I left to visit
colleges with my daughter. 
I'll start catching up with all 
of you in the morning : )

Thank you, Tiff, for encouraging

me to share a bit more of myself.

And thanks to all of YOU, for

listening and for participating in

Monday Moments over the last

three months.  I've enjoyed our

chats at the water cooler and

hope you will leave a comment

or link up a post to this one, 
sometime this week.

This will be the last in this series,

but I'm looking forward to sharing

other moments, on other days,

with you.....

Have a wonderful week!

xx

Suzanne


PS:  Also, a HUGE
thank you for all the 
very, very supportive words
regarding my new venture.
Made my homecoming
that much sweeter!
There is still time
to enter the giveaway,
here.

Lift Off and a Giveaway

Without leaps of

imagination, or dreaming,

we lose the excitement

of possibilities.  Dreaming,

after all, is a form of planning.

~ Gloria Steinem

Via

On the first Friday

of January I joined my

friend Lisa in a monthly

challenge that she kicked

off that day, called

Before & After.

The idea was to publicly

write about a project idea

{Before} and then on the

last Friday of the month,

reveal the progress that

had been made {After}.

In other words, move
the ball forward by

making ourselves 

accountable

to our readers.

It worked.

My mom and I have been

talking about marketing

a product we devised for

the last several years.

Talked about a sturdy design.

Talked about a name.

Talked about price.

Talked about craft fairs.

Talked about an Etsy shop.

Basically, a lot of talk.

Oh, we'd had moments

of fired-up inspiration.

Mom scoured the markets

for the highest quality

components and tested

quite a few.  Eventually,

she placed orders and we

had what we needed to

begin creating our product.

Still, we stalled out.

Why?

Things like forming an

LLC, obtaining a Tax ID

number, creating a logo,

brainstorming a name that

hadn't been taken.....

Details.  We let details

derail our plans.

In the meantime, whenever

we used our product, we

got compliments.  We were

asked Where can I get one?

We were told how clever

and how organized we were.
{Loved that!}

Where all ideas start ~ a cute note book!

When I read about Lisa's

Before & After challenge,

I knew this was the year.

So, without further ado,

I introduce you to the

Card Keyper.

The idea for the Card

Keyper came about when

Mom and I got tired of

keeping track of all of the

cards in our purses.  You

know the ones I mean....

library card

book store card

Anthro card

REI card

grocery store card

gas station VIP card

pet store card

etc. etc. etc.

We each had over 25 cards

like this at the time.  Too many

to squeeze into a wallet and

way too many to have roaming

around the wilds of our purses.

Inspiration was born when

I saw my daughter's Latin

flashcards corralled on a

silver ring, keeping them

handy as well as easy

to switch out.

I mentioned it to Mom and

off she went to the office

store to buy loose-leaf rings

to hold our cards.

Houston, we have a problem.

A typical one-hole punch

might work on index cards,

but not on plastic ones.  

Houston, we have another

problem.

The rings available at the

office supply store aren't

meant to be opened and

closed on a regular basis.

They are thin and lose

their ability to stay closed

fairly quickly.

This is where our Product

Development Team {aka,

Mom} came into play.  She

sourced terrific, durable 

rings and the mightiest little 

one-hole punch that cut those

plastic holes like butter.

She also found these sweet

lock and key charms to

give this ring some bling.

That was a year ago. 

The Marketing Team {aka,

Me} went to work three

weeks ago on the logistics

end, applying for our LLC 

{limited liability corp}

designation and setting up

our new Etsy shop.  

Last spring I'd asked several

kind friends to test drive the

CK and their feedback helped

me to write instructions to 

include with the product.

And now, we have 
lift-off!

To celebrate the launch

of the Card Keyper, we are

 giving away three sets to

 Privet and Holly readers.
{Retail value:  $9.95}

Just leave us a comment,

sharing your thoughts on

our product.  That's it!
The giveaway will be open
until February 3rd.

{And if you would visit

our Etsy shop and mark

this little invention as a

favorite, we would be

oh-so-grateful.}

Out of clutter, find simplicity.

From discord, find harmony.

In the middle of difficulty 

lies opportunity.

~ Albert Einstein

xx

Suzanne

{Monday} Moments: You Just Never Know

You just never know

what moments

will make up the fabric
of an ordinary day.  

On Friday, as the

snow drifted down

steadily outside our

windows, I opened

an e-mail from a

complete stranger.

She had written to

ask me a favor.

Why?  In her own

words, Heather wrote:

Your visitors are the

exact type of people

I am trying to reach

out to; the kind of

people who could 

gain something from

my story.

And what a story.

Heather and her husband

were blessed with their

only child, Lily, in 2005.

When Lily was just

three and a half months old,

Heather was diagnosed

with a type of cancer called

malignant pleural 
mesothelioma.

I'm sure you've seen 

the ads on TV for people

suffering with this cancer. 

They show retired miners,

construction workers or

factory laborers, because

there is a link between a 

substance called asbestos, 

which many products used

to be made from, and 

mesothelioma.

In those ads, I've never

seen a 36 year old mom 

with a newborn.

Heather and Lily, 2005

Turns out this self-

proclaimed daddy's girl

 had a father who worked

 in construction and brought

dust home on his clothes.

Dust mixed with asbestos.

Nobody knew then that

something as innocent as

a young girl throwing on

her dad's coat and boots to

run outside and feed her

rabbits would lead to the
word cancer being written
in her life story, later on.

And what a cancer.

Malignant pleural 

mesothelioma is 90-95% 

fatal. Heather's thoughts

immediately went to her

baby.  I won't see

her grow up.  

But her story had
a different ending.

She is one of

the 5-10%.

Her diagnosing doctor 
suggested the new mom
consider consulting with a

specialist in Boston, who had

pioneered a surgery for

pleural Mesothelioma.  Since

the cancer had not spread

to her lymph nodes, Heather

was a candidate for this
major surgery and chemo.

She credits that surgery,

along with faith, gratitude

and a strong will to live,

for being cancer-free, 

six years later.

Would you consider placing

a link to my blog on your site

as a resource for your readers?

She had me at hello.

Read more about Heather's

journey and her campaign 
to spread hope for
Mesothelioma survival,
 here.

Heather and Family, today.

You just never know

what moments will

make up the fabric
of an ordinary day.

xx

Suzanne

Share your own recent
moments, here at our
virtual water cooler, by
leaving a comment or
linking a post.

Don't be shy.....we'll make

room : )