While I have always loved a good book of my own, I’m famous for giving books as gifts to children.  My Three Sons (MTS), the nieces and nephews, and now the next generation of nieces and nephews (I REFUSE to describe myself as a GREAT-aunt!), all receive books for presents on a regular basis.

Ever since MTS were little I’ve relished the chance to go hunting in quality children’s book stores which stock works that will enliven children’s imaginations.  I can still list off a pile of stand-out books that I can recall reading to my kids at least 25 years ago.  Hairy MacLary from Donaldson’s Dairy,  Where the Wild Things Are, and In the Night Kitchen were all frequently on the reading list at bedtime.  I could NEVER say no to any of those!  I LOVED them too!

Even now, I’m always on the lookout for quality children’s literature.  And part of what makes great children’s books is the ability of the illustrator.

When a friend showed me the recently-published children’s author Jodi Blokkeerus’ book, Chasing Feathers I gasped and the hairs on my arms stood up with sheer wonder at her amazing illustrative talents. 

Exquisite pen and ink drawings with wonderful hints of muted colours showed off an amazing litte unique creature called Yogi. In fact Blokkerus’ book Chasing Feathers is a little reminiscent of Sendak’s Wild Things both in the style of drawing as well as her amazing creatures.  As someone with little imagination in that direction, I SOOOOOO admire people who can create such visual delights.

Enough from me just go to Jodi’s website and buy a copy of this book for your favourite child.  I’m going to.  At AUD$15.00 plus postage, This is a STEAL!  Go NOW!

So far, we’ve heard about:

• Made to Stick by Chip Heath, review by Tim Milburn
• Setting The Table, by Danny Meyer, review by Rosa Say
• Grub Ideas for An Urban Organic Kitchen, by Ann Arbor, review by Mary Hunt
• Love is The Killer App, by  Tim Sanders, review by Benjamin Bach
• Authentic Leadership, by Bill George, review by Dean Boyer
• Two Weeks To A Breakthrough, by Lisa Haneberg, review by Dwayne Melancon
• Do Less Achieve More by Chin-Ning Chu, review by Karen Wallace
• This Is Your Brain On Music by Daniel Levitin, review by Steve Sherlock
• The Zen of Groups: The Handbook of People Meeting With A Purpose by Dale Hunter, review by Lisa Haneberg
• The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, review by Brendan Connelly

And that’s just the first few days!  If you’re a reader JJLN’s A Love Affair With Books spread right across March is ABSOLUTELY UNMISSABLE!

Of course, Pink Apple is having her say from later tonight  Melbourne time, when I review  Wherever You Go There You Are, by Jon Kabat-Zinn.

So here’s Rosa Say’s description of WHO will gain from a daily visit to Joyful Jubilant Learning Network which is hosting a month-long feast of book reviews.

Here’s the full list of Books and Reviewers.

Tim Milburn has kicked off yesterday with Made to Stick Better Than Ducttape

Pink Apple is particularly looking forward to:

• Do Less Achieve More, a book that only this morning my new friend Estelle Hajigabriel of Mind Your Marketing recommended highly for me!  This is to be reviewed by by mate Karen Wallace
• Love is the Killer App to be reviewed by Benjamin Bach
• The Zen of Groups as reviewed by Lisa Haneberg, one of my must-read blog writers
• Go Put Your Strengths to Work reviewed by Blaine Collins a fellow JJLN regular contributor
• Of course, there’s also that one book (written back in the 1920s and still going strong) that I keep meaning to read and never quite get there, Think and Grow Rich.  This is reviewed by blogger (new to my horizon) Carolyn Manning

Then, Pink Apple is also reviewing Wherever You Go There You Are.  My review appears on March 12. 

Of course, I’ll be reading each review but these are the ones that I think, on first glance, I’ll be most eager to hear more about!

Happy reading!

By the Way, what book would you like to see reviewed?  Any genre, just name a book!

My purchase had been the common knee-jerk reaction to an excellent speaker.  You know what I mean!  "That was a great lecture, I MUST buy his book."  And get him to sign it as well!!

And I think that’s why I hadn’t read it.  I was somehow ashamed of being sucked into that kind of purchase, but really that’s the way of the world and conferences and business.  (So, go get over yourself, Chris!)

The book was HighLife 24/7: Balance Your Body Chemistry And Feel Uplifted by Matt Church.   (Here’s a  link to Church talking, he IS a terrific speaker.)

Yeah, it sounds a bit wanky but in fact Church, an Aussie of course, has every good reason to write this book.  He has a BSc in Applied Science and has worked and researched extensively with the Australian Council of Health and Physical Recreation.

I married a scientist so that I would have a built-in Scientific Interpreter for myself.  (Amongst other reasons like love and lust, of course.)  That would mean that I would never have to struggle to understand the scientific or the mathematical, they’d be his job to understand and convert into non-scientific (and therefore less scary) information for me!  (In other words, science is NOT my forte and I would commonly shy right away from any reading in that area!)

But Church has done a great job of putting body chemistry into Everyman’s language and making it easy to see how it relates to YOU as an individual, very EARLy in the book.  No need for SweetP, the Scientific Interpreter here!

So having established that I was an Adrenaline Junkie, I realised that much of the stress in my life is due to my constant overdosing on adrenaline.  This forces my body to constantly pump out cortisol to keep up with me, instead of keeping cortisol for emergency uses. 

As an ex-nurse, (Yes not entirely unscientific after all) what Church was talking about fitted the knowledge I’d learned (way back in the eons of time) about the body’s disease responses to these kinds of natural body chemicals.  In other words, I KNEW he was making scientific sense.  I also KNEW because the information resonated so strongly with the symptoms I’ve always displayed.

Now that I’m closer to the end of my life rather the start, I am all too aware of how precious my body is to me and how much it’s cracking up on me!  So I stopped and listened to Church’s words.

The biggest assistance I got from this book was the reminder that I have a choice as to how much adrenaline I seek.  Clearly my inclination can’t be entirely disspelled, but I can remember to mete out my adrenaline a little more carefully by asking myself is this an Adrenaline Priority Event (an APE)?  How many APEs do I need in my day?  And most of all, to start implementing APE Antidote Strategies for when I overindulge in that ever-so-exciting chemical!

I real day-to-day terms, that means things like:

• making sure that I leave enough space between clients to go and sit and meditate for 10 minutes and allow any emotional/adrenaline uptake to subside.
• not creating artificial deadlines (often unrealistic ones as well) to cause surges in adrenaline and when depleted, bursts of body-toxic cortisol.
• trialling different ways to create a buffer between walking out of my home office at the end of the day and walking the 5 metres to my kitchen to take up my role of wife, cook etc!  (Without the drive home with radio blaring seventies rock, I don’t have time to wind down from my day.)

So can I recommend you take a look at High Life 24/7?  It’s a short, easy, and fascinating read!

I’ve been doing all of those in the last 3 months, but as the avid bookworm some of you know me to be, I fortunately had been off to the bookshop as a belated birthday gift to self, and so had some serious stock in hand when "the back" laid me low. 

Of course, in the meantime I was still getting my regular books from THE BEST book lending service in Australia!  Forget going to the library!  This is the ultimate indulgence to any book reader.

I’m a dedicated member of Slim Ink and a big fan of Marj Lim, the owner whose love of books is so abundantly clear in the way she cares for and sends me her books.  And the range is so extensive with plenty of monthly additions so new books are there waiting for me whenever I go online to browse for what I want next!  If you don’t believe me, go browse Slim Ink’s expansive lists.

I’ve written before about Slim Ink, but can only tell you that as someome who loves to read, I WOULD NOT be without my subscription.  It’s worth every penny and even SweetP agrees that membership with Slim Ink has certainly taken a significant edge off my overzealous spending in bookshops!  (In other words, I’m not cured yet, if ever!)   He’s also impressed that we’ve stopped needing to buy bookcases, as well!!

It’s always a thrill when a parcel with two books appears at my front door, or when I drop the returns into the letterbox knowing that means more will be returning.  (Yes, I have a bad case!)   

So if you’re looking for a gift idea, or a way to reward yourself that has no caloric/kilojoule connections, then you can’t go past Slim Ink’s Passion Plans.

Like all good networkers, Marj loves to hear who’s referred people, so tell her I sent you! 

Oh BTW, Marj also knows how to WOW her customers.  There’s ALWAYS a lovely surprise little gift in the parcel of books, just so you know you’re special and Marj appreciates you!

The last few days have been stressful and exhausting as I struggled to meet my tasks prior to the launch.  It’s been nose down and bum up!

I know I’ve heard myself say things like "that’s not till Thursday, I’ll think about that then!"  because the brain was in such overload that mega-multi-tasking was JUST NOT AN OPTION. 

Just putting one foot in front of the other was all I could do.  One foot, one task, and just keep on keeping on, until it’s over.

And you know what?  That’s how the pre-Christmas season can feel for many of us. 

For those of you who don’t know that feeling, it’s because you’re in one of two places.

1. You’re a superperson and can revel in the myriads of tasks, social activities and end-of-year demands.
2. Someone else is doing it all for you.

So which group do you fall into?

Or are you one of those people, like Karen and I, who just know it is a marathon journey.  Christmas needs you to just keep putting one foot in front of the other until it’s over.

See why we wrote this book?

But I digress!

To find out all about what SOXS is, answer your questions, and/or make your purchase then click through and go look!

Our gorgeous friend Leah MacLean has done a sensational job on the beautiful SOXS website at www.SaveOurXmasSanity.com.  We feel very special with our new project up and running!

Ah Yes!  I thought I had a few fellow-sufferers on the books!  (Yeah, the pun WAS intended.)

If you recall, I was supposed to be addressing the fact that online book shopping denies us a chance to flick through a book before deciding to purchase.  Pink Apple finds that REALLY frustrating! 

So Karen and I are determined that you miss out on as little as possible of the Bookshop Experience even though we’re selling SOXS on line.

Save Our Xmas Sanity: How To Make It Easy For You This Christmas (aka SOXS) came about because Karen and I both love our families.  Just like you do!  We also love the concept of Christmas. 

We just don’t necessarily enjoy the pressures of the Christmas season!   

Yes, that MAY be an understatement!

We wanted answers for ourselves.  Answers that were real, and fitted ordinary women like us!

We KNOW plenty of women out there, as well as a few blokes, who will TOTALLY relate to that.

So, what would you see if you picked up the SOXS book, in your local bookstore, and started flicking through the pages?

Well, first you might look at the Chapter Headings.  There you’d see topics like:

• Let Us Play
• The Mess Behind The Curtain
• Let The Magic Begin
• And Now For How
• What About Shopping?
• The Christmas Angel’s Shopping Tips
• Oh No! Not The Cleaning!
• The Christmas Angel Cleans and Decorates With You
• It’s About People
• Christmas Relationship Tips
• Extreme Self-Care
• Our to-Dos

But as you skipped through the pages, you’d see some spaces and lines.  Hmm!  There’s little bits of writing and note-taking to be done.

Though, of course, if you were at a Champers & SOXS Party, you’d be sharing the hysterical (in both senses of the word) stories of your disastrous Christmases Past.  No need to do too much writing there. To do that you’d have to put down your Champers and Nibbles.  Much easier to talk it through amongst the understanding"girls".

Because, you see, we take a quick look at WHY you’ve got to the stage where you sometimes whisper "I Hate Christmas".

And we KNOW what the guilty feelings that accompany those words are like as well!

So we look at what’s causing YOUR problems with Christmas, and we help you find really PRACTICAL why-didn’t-I-think-of-that solutions!

There’s a bunch of lists to help you plan and a bunch of TIPS to help you over the worst of things.

SOXS is your very own Christmas PA (Personal Asssistant).

After reading SOXS you’ll be ready to face the Christmas Season:

• Feeling ready and in control (maybe for the first time in a LONG time).
• Knowing where you’re going (and where you’re not).
• Squeezing amazing achievements out of limited time, and resources.
• And how you’ll prepare all the many parts of a successful Christmas.  Successful for you as well as every one else. (And won’t that be a nice change?) 
• With planned rewards for yourself as you pass each phase, so you stay motivated AND nurtured.
• Knowing that the time you’ve invested in thinking through our questions will leave you with "an awesome sense of accomplishment" as one reader described it.
• Having created new traditions that are "less stress-filled and more love-filled" (Now isn’t that what we’re actually supposed to be seeking?)
• Having out-smarted the saboteurs of your Christmases Past.
• With a bunch of lists (if that’s what you’re in to), or
• With some clear plans and techniques
• Over the hurdle of "It’s always been like that" with great results from limited effort.
• WITHOUT a MAXED-OUT credit card.  (Extraordinary idea, isn’t it?)

What’s more, you’ll find DISAPPOINTMENT INSURANCE!  If you reckon, it wasn’t worth the money, then we’ll gladly refund your payment.  That’s how sure we are that this’ll do it for you!

Our Early Bird Registration of Interest is still on offer but finishes on October  20th.  The Early Bird Offer gives you 20% discount for any books purchased, or parties booked, between launch day next Tuesday and the 20th October.  That’s just 10 DAYS.  Email us now if you want to keep your options open.

More news to come!

Oh Alright! Maybe the words “obsession”, “addiction” or even “fetish” might also fit the bill!

For some people, it’s a wine store, for others it’s that wonderful jewellery store.  Yet others find the mega-hardware or the local plant nursery impossible to resist.  The occasional person is sorely tempted by that fabulous little boutique, or stunning shoe shop, in that sophisticated arcade.

Please note there are NO sexist implications to be assumed here!  Clearly, temptations can come to both sexes.  But probably the one that gets both sexes equally inspired is the BOOKSHOP.

Ahh! You’re familiar with that one!

Now, here I must confess to having just a teensy-weensy bookshop “issue”.

Isn’t it amazing how popping in to a bookshop for “just a couple of minutes to pick something up” can extend into hours of happy browsing and reading?  And maybe, just occasionally, it stretches into the odd excessive purchase?

Some of those bookshops are such clever marketers, they suck me right in every time!

It might be the lounge chairs scattered around for curling up in and flicking through the pages of …

Or maybe it’s the smell of all those wonderful books.

Perhaps it’s those carefully placed, ever so tempting, Top 10 or Top 20 shelves.  Or even the Staff Recommendations, (little hand-written notes with summaries and reactions) ever so casually placed under the books that intrigue me most!

Then there’s the music you can listen to as well.  And what about the well-informed Advisor who’s job ISN’T to take money, but instead talk to you, and make suggestions, or just share your pleasure?

Yeah I go to GOOD bookstores!

So, one of the things I find frustrating about buying books online is the fact that I miss the “bookshop experience”.

With SOXS about to be launched next week, I don’t want you to miss out on the “bookshop experience” of considering whether to buy SOXS.

What’s SOXS?

You mean you’ve forgotten already?  Remember I was telling you that Karen Wallace of the Clearing Space and Pink Apple are about to launch the Second Edition of Save Our Xmas Sanity: How To Make It EASY For You This Christmas?

(You can see why we call it SOXS, can’t you?)

But I’ve spent so much time immersed in nostalgia and warm-fuzzies (and maybe getting just a bit sentimental) about bookshop experiences, that I’d better take you through the metaphorical “flicking”/browsing through SOXS tomorrow.

Note To Self: Maybe the bookshop “issue” IS a fetish!

Second Note To Self: Talk to Shrink About Fetish

Third Note to Self: Forget Shrink, go visit bookstore and get another FIX
!

In between the gossipy women’s magazines, and the occasional crime fiction novel, I’ve shared a journey into the world of another family’s Alzheimer’s experience.

This family has had both similar and different issues to deal with.  The symptoms troubling our two families are common, but that family’s experience was being conducted while balancing life in a public world.  Hazel Hawke is one of the most admired women in Australian public and political life.  Her compassion and grace shone brightly both in her role as wife to Prime Minister, Bob Hawke, and also as a welfare worker and community and social advocate, and activist.

Hazel Hawke’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis became public knowledge on an episode of Australian Story on ABC TV in late 2003.  Hazel and her family decided to disclose their struggles with "The Big A" in the hope the taboos around this cruel disease could be broken down with both knowledge and funding for research.  The TV program was soon followed by Sue Pieters-Hawke and Hazel Flynn’s book Hazel’s Journey.

So there I was in mid 2006, "tied" ever-so-gently to my recliner chair, picking up a book to browse through, and suddenly I was confronting my own experience of my mother’s dementia and our journey through diagnosis, denial, and management of the disease.

Pieters-Hawke handed me a chance to put the past intense 12 months of my mother, and all our family’s, experiences into perspective.

I’m grateful now, but the journey through Hazel’s story was far too close to our own to avoid the tears and, eventually, healing that came from my reading.

For me, the most striking segment of the book came from Pieters-Hawke’s focus on her own experience as carer.  "You figure out how to be a carer as you go along, just as you do with raising kids and so many other crucial things in life.  There is no education that prepares you ahead of time."

Most liberating for me was this section  on care and compassion for self.

As a carer you have to bring compassion to yourself.  If you are caring for someone with Alzheimer’s, there is so much potential guilt and anxiety about every aspect of their lives and the progress of the disease that you are inevitably critical of yourself at times.  You want things to be as perfect as possible.  But in most cases, if it was a friend who was in the same situation you’d say to them, "For heaven’s sake, you’re doing your best.  You’re crazy to judge yourself so harshly.  Look at everything you’re juggling.  You’re actually doing a great job." And in a way you have to talk to yourself like you would talk to a loved friend.  You need to do that because maybe everybody else around you is too distracted or busy to say it to you, or they don’t actually know you are undermining yourself with neurotic fears or self-judgment. 

Ouch!!!  But that pretty much summed up some advice my friend, the Carer Angel, had been trying to get me to comprehend. 

So, let’s close with a question:

What messages for yourself are you choosing to ignore at the moment? 
Has someone tried to encourage you and you’ve brushed aside their message? 
Is it time to listen?

Maybe, like me, you need to stop long enough to hear the message!

Why?  ‘Cos I like to keep you wondering what’ll happen next.

How?  Well this is more focused on the business rather than a person.  And that business is the business of PLEASURE!  (Cue the music and hear that word again in that deep, Barry White voice.) PLEASURE!

Now, Now!  Before you go off, chasing weird thoughts in your ever-so-clean minds, I’m talking of the solitary pleasure of reading. 

In fact, for many of us, reading for pleasure is an indulgence rarely offered to ourselves!

But why not?  What’s so wrong with reading for the sheer joy of living in someone else’s worldview either through their fiction, or their reflections.  Where did we go so far off the rails that we think that’s not valuable to our world and our growth?

Alright!  I’ll get off my soapbox, now.  (Anyway, those of you who think it’s indulgent are just secretly jealous.  Well that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!)

Recently, while healing some serious burn-out, the only kind of nurture I could contemplate was books.  I adore books, especially fiction.  The thought of escaping to another world, while lying on my bed, was the only thing I was capable of doing.

(Yes all right!  So I’ve been doing too much caring for others and not enough of myself.  I’m trying to learn all the lessons in there.  Give me a break, and let me get back to my story!!)

This serious indulgence/nurture/pleasure was made possible due to a new friend, Marj Lim, and her extraordinarily FINE business, Slim Ink Book Rental.  Our other friend Karen Wallace of Clearing Space interviewed Marj on her blog last year and immediately I was intrigued. 

Another Queenslander like Karen, Marj’s business premise is simple, loan people books, so that they can read NEW books without the shame-inducing expense of a session at Borders, Readings, Collins, Dymocks, Amazon, Barnes and Noble etc etc etc

The adorable SweetP, with just a leeetle hint, gave me a subscription to Slim Ink’s amazing array of books for Christmas.

Just so you understand how good this is, let me put it in simple terms.

• You get on SlimInk’s website, and list 15 of the books on the list that you’d love to read, and even get to prioritise which ones you’re more keen to get to! 
• Within days, and depending on your level of subscription, two or four books will wing their way to you.
• Your books arrive, safely pacakaged, (with an extra little treat wrapped up in there too) on your doorstep and includes the prepaid Australia Post satchel to return them in.
• Once finished, you repack them in the bubblewrap they arrived in, pop them in the satchel and then in the mailbox round the corner.
• Update your preferences and await the next parcel!!

Dear Readers, how much EASIER could it be???

Pink Apple can tell you that Marj is a lovely lady, but even without ever talking with her you can tell.  Her website is easy and explains everything in a relaxed, friendly tone. 

But it’s the books that tell it all!   When they’re removed from their carefully wrapped cocoon, they just OOZE Marj’s love of books.  You know you’re dealing with a fellow addict here! 

They are SOOO carefully covered so that even when finished, the book still looks pristine.  We’re not talking the kind of covers you see at your local library.  This is done with love and tenderness, and attention to detail and fragile spots!  No wrinkles down the spine here, dear reader!  It’s like they’ve been to the day spa and are all buffed, and looking new and gorgeous!

Speaking of new, there are new purchases added to the list every month.  Much as I love the seductive experience of browsing through a bookstore, I don’t feel like I’m missing out with Slim Ink.  There’s loads of information and subscribers can comment on books as they go!

Can you TELL I’m hooked?

So may I introduce you to Marj Lim and Slim Ink Book Rentals.

All you book lovers, get out there, sign up, and ENJOY!! 

If you’re not into books, what other kinds of indulgence would you like me to write about?