missjunebug Finds The Happiness Project Makes Her…well…Happy!

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday July 28th, 2010

missjunebug has been busy lately reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. Being a true-blue fan of self-help books, mjb was happy to pick up The Happiness Project having read a one-page preview of its precepts early on in Real Simple magazine (one of mjb’s favs). She’s even sent copies to her two sons ElderJB and TinyJB and she’s discussed some of its precepts with Mr.JB.

missjunebug is certain that the erudite yet down-to-earth Gretchen is on to something! Inspired by a couple of old school guys Ben Franklin and Samuel Johnson as well as the happy and holy Thérèse of Lisieux, Gretchen charts a course for a year, month by month to work on very specific goals to increase her happiness quotient. Part of her thinking is to perfect her ability to experience happiness now in preparation for the guaranteed tough times ahead. Having recently gone through some tough times herself missjunebug can fully appreciate this a-good-offense-is-the-best-defense strategy when facing the inevitable vicissitudes of life.

To give you a better idea of Gretchen’s approach, let missjunebug fill you in on her plan for  November. That’s the next to last chapter that missjunebug is in the middle of right now and very close to the final page of the book. The theme for November’s happiness pursuit is Keep a Contented Heart and missjunebug definitely hearts that idea!

Gretchen hopes to meet these happiness “challenges” in November: Laugh out loud. Use good manners. Give positive reviews. Find an area of refuge. Neat ideas, Gretchen! In the course of the chapter, she learns to listen fully and engage in a full belly-laugh response when the joke is deserving instead of rushing to do the talking. She begins to value kindness and being kinder especially in her conversational style which at times can be a bit peremptory and one-ups man. She also comes to terms with the dark desire of humans to play constant critic, instead of doing the braver thing: to embrace joy. Her Barry Manilow example is well worth the price of the book. She finishes off the chapter with her very helpful idea of seeking out mental areas of refuge that can be as simple as mentally visiting a few things, people, and places that never fail to provide little packets of joy.

missjunebug thinks these very personal but powerful connections are the perfect push toward greater happiness in a rough and tumble world. And this terrific book looks at such connections to happiness in each of its other month-entitled chapters, January through December, all chock full of happiness wisdom earned the hard way by Ms. Rubin’s own personal trial and error. And believe missjunebug when she says, if Gretchen doesn’t get happy doing the particular happiness activity or process she sets for herself, she’s the first to jettison it and move on. Smart move, G.

The secret to missjunebug’s happiness in reading this very savvy, atypical, and highly recommended self-help book The Happiness Project is that she will be able to share her takeaways from it with the three shiny, happy people in her blessed life: Mr.JB, ElderJB, and TinyJB!

Lifelong Learner Finds Lots of Help Online

Posted by missjunebug on Sunday June 27th, 2010

missjunebug loves to learn about all sorts of things online, no doubt just like her readers do. This weekend she hit the motherload! She read an article in her local Sunday paper that lead her straight to one of the coolest online teachers she’s run across, and believe her when she says she’s done her share of online learning from the videos at lynda.com for techy stuff to the weighty academicearth.org for lectures from the hallowed halls of our most esteemed universities.

But the one she discovered this weekend sets itself apart by being so fully engaging and captivating that missjunebug can’t wait to work her way through the more than 1500 lessons online in subjects including math (not missjunebug’s fav), economics, chemistry, physics, history, current financial topics, and many others. The eponymous online site www.khanacademy.org translates Sal Khan’s love of learning into an open academy for the whole planet. missjunebug enjoyed his lively instruction about the French Revolution (Part I & II), making her way all the way through the Reign of Terror in one short evening! She can hardly wait to get to the lesson featuring that rascal Napoleon Bonaparte!

According to the news article missjunebug read, Sal just wants to teach the way he himself would like to be taught. A simple, but brilliant idea, Mr. Khan! missjunebug would expect nothing less coming from an M.I.T. graduate in Computer Science with an M.B.A. from Harvard. (Smarty pants!) Keep up the good work and think about branching out to literature study, one of missjunebug’s personal favs. If you can explain those pesky word problems, no doubt you’ll have no problem analyzing great literature!!

Not Monet’s Haystacks

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday June 23rd, 2010

missjunebug recently mentioned the sad red tag affixed to their gate by the local fire department. Bummer x 10.  The junebugs failed their weed abatement test, but they are getting closer to the all clear. missjunebug had an epiphany while rolling a gianormous weed bale down a hill. Take pictures of the results! Why? To remember in detail why she does not want to do this next year. Yes, it was good exercise. Yes, it saved some money. Yes, the weather was great, not too hot, not too cold, just right while she and Mr.JB continued the endless whacking and stacking.

But do it again next year? Not a chance. She can appreciate first hand how hard the life of manual labor is and she gives all kudos to those who do this kind of work five days a week, week after week. Truly admirable. But once a year is enough and she would prefer nonce.

She did learn one more thing while she was taking pictures for this little Weed Abatement Photo Essay: She loves everything about where she and Mr.JB live, yes, even the weeds. Really? Really? you say. Okay, maybe not the weeds. But the weeds whacked and stacked. That she loves.

Not Quite Monet: Stacks of Pampas Grass Detritus. Photo by mjb2010

Hey What's That Coming in for a Landing? Weedy UFO? Photo by mjb2010

Creepy Close-Up of Weed Stack! Do you see a face? Photo by mjb2010

Why the junebugs Live Here: the View! Photo by mjb2010

Holy Relic from Holey Barn? Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug's Arty Shot of the Day. Can You Spot the Moon? Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug’s Tiny Collection of Tiny Things

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday June 9th, 2010

Tiny Collection of Tiny Things! Photo by mjb2010

missjunebug has been cleaning out drawers and closets (again). She’s watched enough episodes of Hoarders on A&E (oxymoron that a show with that title would end up on that channel!) to scare her into taking action. Not as far gone as some of those pitiable people, she recognizes a few tendencies that are troubling. Stacks of magazines (Real Simple is a Real Culprit), projects held in abeyance (they might as well be cast in amber), and supplies for every random creative urge she’s ever had.

Progress is being made! But she has come across a few items with which she cannot part: Tiny Things!

Today’s blog post is a tiny homage to Tiny Things: Petite Pirate, Nifty Ninja, Small Ball, and perhaps the World’s Tiniest Pencil!

This stellar collection of Tiny Things has a special place in missjunebug’s kitchen, just hanging out with her while she tidies up or makes dinner. Despite their tiny size, they have cheered her in a big way. Sometimes she writes with the World’s Tiniest Pencil or sets up the Petite Pirate to fight with the Nifty Ninja. Small Ball is perfect for a quick round of table soccer to relieve a tiny bit of stress, and yes, missjunebug knows it’s a football. Duh.

So the magazines can be dissected for keeper pages, then tossed and the ambered projects can be recast and reinitiated or cast away, but the Tiny Collection of Tiny Things is here to stay.

missjunebug is Giddy about Glee!

Posted by missjunebug on Thursday April 22nd, 2010

missjunebug has been a little disappointed in American Idol this year. She’s watching it with a little bit of a ho-hum. She’s not even quite sure why. The judges kind of bother her with their one-note responses (pitchy, dog; it was all over the place, it was just all right for me, Sorry that was just karaoke (said with a British accent) and on and on. The singers are certainly talented but something’s just off. Perhaps as one of missjunebug’s astute readers pointed out: There’s no Adam Lambert. Perhaps he’s right. Adam was one wicked stick of dynamite on last year’s Idol and kept things interesting until the surprising reveal that he was NOT the American Idol. Unreal.

But missjunebug digresses. The real focus of this little blog today is how giddy mjb is about Glee! She just can’t get enough of those perky, talented, belt-out-a-song-at-the-top-of-their-lungs-let’s-put-on-a-show kids!! The loofah-headed Will is the moral center of the troop and keeps things interesting with his challenging and quite curious relationships with women (faux pregnant wife, vestal virgin counselor love interest-to-be, glee club rival hottie) What a trinity of tribulations this guy faces! But somehow he always ends up smiling that high voltage smile by the end of the episode. It must be all that great singing he gets to hear from Finn, Rachel, and the rest of the brilliantly dysfunctional glee club gang.

Speaking of dysfunctional, missjunebug must not forget to mention the masterful Sue of Sylvester who owned the Madonna episode, or should she say coned it??? As in that outrageous black over-sized (mjb guesses!) cone bra worn over Sue’s pert little red microfiber track suit. Sweet Sue. missjunebug loves you.

But what missjunebug likes best about the show is, of course, the fab music which provides some of the best kitchen dancing during the dinner prep hour missjunebug could ever want! Fun x 10 kabillion. And the next best thing about Glee: both her sons ElderJB and Tiny JB, 28 and 22 respectively, think the show rocks, too! missjunebug just loves cross-generational do-dah! And Glee! has the talent and the music that appeals way beyond the junior high school circuit. What a show! What a relief! What a respite from the idle Idol this year.

missjunebug is SuperGiddy about the Superlative Glee!

American Idol Talk 2010: Finally Something to Write Home About

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday April 7th, 2010

missjunebug has shown great forbearance in withholding judgment on this, shall she say, ho-hum, lack-luster American Idol 2010 competition this year. But now things are getting marginally interesting. Interesting enough for missjunebug to have cast two votes last night on her fav object, her iPhone 3G (G=Greatest tech device ever, and yes, dear reader you guessed right, missjunebug does not have an iPad…yet.) But she digresses.

missjunebug knows you are wondering Just what numbers did she text the word VOTE to?

Drumroll, please.

5705 and 5707.

Those two blonde, gorgeous, smokey-voiced, real-deal singers with the great do’s. Yes, perhaps Casey has it over Crystal in the looks dept by a smidge (She does (God bless her little dread-locked heart ) need to consult Invisalign asap; his teeth are pearly white and perfect). (Wow, did you notice missjunebug is now using parenthetical comments within her parenthetical comments!!) But she digresses.

This isn’t a beauty contest after all! It’s a singing contest! Last night to the tunes from the Lennon and McCartney songbook, these two blonde wunderkind took over the competition as far as missjunebug is concerned.

Crystal’s rendition of the Beatles Come Together, one of missjunebug’s fav songs of All Time was spot on. But what? What that’s African American guy wielding next to her? Why it’s a didgeridoo! A wind instrument cooked up by some Australians of the way, way, way outback no doubt mainlining Coca-cola. And guess what? It worked. No where else but here on AI10 will viewers experience the mystical wonders of the incantation Come Together in such a fresh and slightly twisted way. Which happens to perfectly fit some of the slightly twisted lyrics of this Lennon-McCartney esoterica classica. For the uninitiated, missjunebug suggests checking all the lyrics out. Here’s a sample:

He roller-coaster he got early warning
He got muddy water he one mojo filter
He say “One and one and one is three”
Got to be good-looking ’cause he’s so hard to see
Come together right now over me

missjunebug is pretty sure the key to the universe is secreted somewhere within these way-ahead-of-their-time rap-like lines. And her mojo filter tells her that Crystal will be around for a few more rounds for sure.

As for that tall Texas drink of water, Casey, singing with brilliant acoustic guitar accompaniment mjb’s favorite artist of all time John Lennon’s bone and soul-deep song A Jealous Guy from his blue-skyed Imagine album (and yes, it was an album back when missjunebug listened to it, okay? Live with it), he was brilliant.

Eye candy for sure (And yes, everybody’s kind of tired of that Kara Dioguardi earlier cougar-effusiveness, that she is still back-pedalling from). But the kid from the smokey barrooms of Texas can sing like no other. John Lennon himself (may he rest in peace) and Ono too would have both given Casey a nod of approval at the constrained, pitch perfect vocal that gave the song a soulful, want-to-cry-your-eyes-out dimension. So yes, missjunebug was happy to pay for text message 5707!

Nine Still Shine at Idol Time but 2 Out Bright the Best!

Long live Bowersox & James!

missjunebug is Crazy about March Madness!

Posted by missjunebug on Wednesday March 17th, 2010

March Madness junebug Family Picks! Photo by mjb2010

One of the most beloved traditions of the junebug family is the yearly divving up of Bracketology for the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. Mr.JB is master of ceremonies using vintage dice cups to roll for himself, missjunebug, ElderJB and TinyJB to determine selection order. This year missjunebug won with a five dice total of 19. Cool. Of course, she started with Kansas, the team that lead her to the Bracketology Championship last year! She is ready to defend her crown. What’s at stake? Biggest loser pays for the Friday night junebug family reunion dinner at TinyJB’s graduation from the University of Notre Dame in May!  missjunebug does not want to be the biggest loser!

The junebug family accomplishes all the March Madness bracketology selection process by setting up a time that works for everybody. West Coast 6am is 9am in South Bend and 3pm in Rwanda so coordinating the phone calls is pretty simple. With TinyJB on missjunebug’s iPhone speaker and Mr.JB talking on the landline to ElderJB picks are rotated seamlessly. This year three of four of the junebugs got their alma maters: ElderJB takes Hoya Saxa! Georgetown (3), TinyJB gets Notre Dame Go Irish!(6), missjunebug embraces her beloved “Hook ‘Em Horns” Longhorns of the University of Texas at Austin (8). Sadly, Mr.JB’s Fighting Illini did not make the cut. Please observe a moment of silence for the Chief.

Besides thoroughly enjoying the bracketology, missjunebug loves the potential for upsets. Yes, she and the other junebugs pretty much select by ranking, but, of course they all get stuck with the likes of the 15-rank Robert Morris, Morgan State, North Texas, and UC Santa Barbara not to mention the 16-rank LeHigh, Tennessee State and Vermont. The Wall Street Journal suggests upsets may come from Old Dominion, Murray State, Utah State, Richmond, and Louisville. The WSJ seers also warn against less than favorable outcomes for Purdue, Georgetown, Baylor, Butler, and Kentucky. missjunebug thinks this is just all part of the fun and it makes watching the games so much more interesting!

So bust out those brackets and fill ‘em in! You will be amazed how crazy-good March Madness is!

Apple Up!

Posted by missjunebug on Sunday October 25th, 2009

missjunebug just celebrated her birthday: fun x 10! (except for the another-year-older thing) Last year for her birthday Mr.JB bought her an iPhone about which missjunebug has waxed eloquent on this very blog! What an amazing device. It has become her all-in-one phone, boom-box, e-reader, GPS, calendar, well, you get the idea. missjunebug could go on and on thanks to the ridiculous apps available for anything you want to have access to with one touch.

missjunebug was pretty sure her life couldn’t get any better, but this year she celebrated her b-day with her new MacBookPro thanks to her Mr.JB who finally acknowledged that it had a few features the PC couldn’t match. REALLY?

How did this major breakthrough for missjunebug happen? Her tech-hip children led the way. First TinyJB got on board the Apple Bus on his way to university a few years back. Then her ex-pat ElderJB gathered wondrous Apple gear to take back to his home away from home in East Africa. During his recent visit and procurement run, ElderJB demonstrated for his missjunebugmom some of the incredible features of his elegantly compact MacBookPro. missjunebug recommends that you check out the apple.com website to get all the details, but one thing she doesn’t want to forget to mention is onetoone, the program Apple sets up for a very reasonable 99 bucks to transfer PC docs, music, pictures, and whatever else is transferable right onto the MacBookPro as well as provide classes to help newbies Apple Up! missjunebug will be heading to her first Mac Basics class next weekend.

In the meantime, she is enjoying blogging from her sweet and juicy Apple! Believe her when she says, “It’s delicious!”

Exercising an Option? missjunebug Takes Stock

Posted by missjunebug on Saturday September 26th, 2009

missjunebug always has the best of intentions to de-clutter her home on a regular basis, to get the prodigious piles of laundry put away in a timely manner, to keep her refrigerator well-stocked with healthy food, and to get to her gym to work out her rapidly deteriorating body.

If you’ve been reading missjunebug at all (and she hopes you have) you probably know she’s had modest success with a couple of these best of intentions. But she comes up way, way short on the trips to the gym. And believe her when she says it shows.

Thanks to Lance Armstrong’s awesome health website www.livestrong.com and its cool Daily Plate food journal, she’s counting her calories like a miser hoarding gold coins and the results have been pretty good so far. She’s realized that she thinks twice before eating that whole box of Junior Mints or more than one tiny Magic Cookie Bar missjunebug-style because she knows she’s got to own up to it on her Daily Plate.

All good.

Unfortunately, she has not been as successful dealing out the daily exercise to her not-so-little bug self. What is it that keeps her from the gym?

Anything she can think of: bill-paying, poop-patrolling, laundry-folding, magazine-grazing, Law & Order rerunning, the list of diversions goes on and on. What’s a missjunebug to do? How to teach an old bug new tricks is the new item on her √ list.

Here’s her current revised and newly updated strategy:

1. Go early in the day.

2. Set out the workout clothes the night before as a reminder.

3. Do something as opposed to nothing. A short workout is better than no workout at all.

4. Always bring earbuds to plug into gym machines with awesome personal tv screens.

5. Always bring iPhone to switch to Coldplay or The Killers when tv disappoints.

But missjunebug fears a fly in the ointment: figuring out how to actually get herself into the car to drive there, the biggest obstacle of all to overcome. She knows the old saw “Once begun, half done.” But that brings her back to the beginning: she’s got to begin by getting in the car and driving there.

There’s a lurking inertia that’s the source of missjunebug’s undoing. Yeah, exactly right. Her UN DOING. As in doing nothing. Can she overcome it? She’ll provide an update shortly. In the meantime, she’s got a Law & Order rerun to catch on TNT. Dun! Dun!

Rude X 3

Posted by missjunebug on Monday September 14th, 2009

missjunebug wonders sometimes what is going on.

Kanye! What were you thinking? Taking the mic away from that sweet country singer and VMA award winner Taylor Swift.

Serena! Take a chill pill! And leave that poor line judge alone.

And let’s not forget your Caucasian counterpart in rudeness: Rep. Joe “You lie” Wilson taking on President Obama as if he were just some guy on the street.

Please, people, get a grip!!!

missjunebug wants to know why such rudeness is so rampant. Who raised these people? Wolves? Unbelievable.