Author Archives: Author Julie Seedorf

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About Author Julie Seedorf

As human beings, we are always a work in progress. From birth to death we live, hurt, laugh, cry, feel, and with all of those emotions we grow as people, as family members, and as friends. I'm a dreamer and feel blessed to have the opportunity in my writing to pass those dreams on to others. I believe you are never too old to dream and to turn those dreams into a creative endeavor.” I live in rural Minnesota and am a wife, mother, and grandmother. Throughout my life I have had many careers or should I say opportunities at jobs where I have learned different skills such as working as a waitress, nursing home activities person, office manager, and finally a computer repair person eventually owning her own computer sales and repair business. Add my volunteer activities such as Sunday School Teacher and SADD advisor and more and it's been a full life. I never forgot my love of writing and quit my computer business in 2012 after signing a contract with Cozy Cat Press for Granny Hooks A Crook, the first book in my Fuchsia, Minnesota Series. I currentlyntly have written nine cozy mysteries, three children’s books, participated in three group anthologies or mysteries, and write three blogs about various subjects.

It’s All In The Attitude!

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Peaceful lakeview1024 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I haven’t always had a very good attitude towards life. Sidelined by an illness last year gave me a lot of time to reflect. During my illness my attitude was horse_____.  You know what I mean. Part of that was feeling crummy and part of that was depression and anxiety. I wasn’t filling myself with positive messages. I came to the conclusion what I should have known a long time ago. What and who you surround yourself with will make a difference in your life.

I used to play a song for my children from Brite Music. I can’t remember the name of the song but some of the words were “Garbage in, Garbage out.” Meaning you needed to get rid of the negative stuff in your life.

I was filling myself with negative messages from the news, from my self talk and possibly from some of my surroundings. I had to dig myself out of a hole. Luckily there were many positive people in my life that lifted me and encouraged me. These messages seemed to always come at a time when I was at my lowest. It might have been a phone call or a visit. It might have been book or a positive card. I found I had to isolate myself from some of the negative forces in my life. Some of that included negative people.

I am feeling more positive, joyful and optimistic. It is hard to stay that way if I listen to the news, surround myself with negative vibes and join and do things that go against what I feel inside. That is another way we fill ourselves up with negativity. We join to be liked. We join because it is expected of us. We join because we don’t want to be left out. It is not that joining is bad but joining or doing something that is more of a burden and doesn’t fit our personality or our passion wipes us out. When we do that we don’t have time for the causes that make us passionate and possibly could do a lot of good. Just because we are good at something doesn’t mean we should be doing it. Perhaps we should take a chance at that which we are terrible at but fills us with joy.

Before spending all my time on the couch contemplating life and feeling rotten I had a bad attitude. I realize that now. I was frustrated that my church wasn’t changing and offering more contemporary things. I was frustrated with community things that weren’t being  promoted. We have so many wonderful things in my community if the outside world only knew about them. I was frustrated with everything and if there was nothing to be frustrated with I found it and I complained about it. I believe this attitude brought me down.

I realized that it is not my church that has to change. If everyone else is happy then it was I that had to change. It is not my community that has to change, it is I that has to change. If things work for everyone else why should they change for me? Maybe they don’t need changing but it is my perception that has to change. There are wonderful people in our churches and our communities. If everyone would have the attitude that I had it is no wonder that our churches and communities would come off as having a negative attitude and good work would quit being done. That change in attitude had to be my attitude.

There are a couple of blogs that helped me realize this. One is The Change Blog by Peter Clemmons and the other is A Flourishing Life by Gail Brenner Ph. D. I have added them to my blogroll in case your want to check them out. Occassionally we all need help staying positive.

Recently my community had a very positive campaign for a new school. I was proud to be able to support that. But the best thing about that campaign was the energy it brought to my community. It was positive energy that spread out to each and every individual that was a part of that campaign. Positive attitudes bring positive results.

Things can only change in our lives if we start with ourselves. We can’t change other peoples attitudes. We can’t change things that maybe don’t need changing because we want them changed. We can only change ourselves, go forward with anticipation that the choices we are making are right for us.

Will I  be negative again? Probably. I only hope what I have learned this past year will stay with me. Will it be easy? No. I have to remember to surround myself with positive people, positive readings, positive experiences that will carry me through the tough times in life that are going to come. And if the old negativity is creeping in I hope one of those positive people with remind me in no uncertain terms that my attitude needs changing.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude  Maya Angelou

Old Scratched Lawn Turtle is New Again!

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I have a hard time throwing things out. One day I was visiting my son and I found this scratched up lawn turtle in his garage. I asked him what he was planning on doing with it. He gave me a one word answer “Trash.” He saw a scratched cement turtle to be trashed. I saw a lawn ornament that could be beautiful. This is what Mr. Turtle looked like.

I got out my craft paints and started painting. I never know what I am doing while I am painting. I usually have a plan and edit it along the way. I am not a trained artist so that what I like about paint. You can always paint over what you do not like. This is Mr. Turtle now. He adorns my yard. I thought he should be eating a worm so I created a worm out of clay. I love my Mr. Turtle.

Don’t throw away, give something old a new life to live another day.

Do I Have Favorite Places I Have Visited? Something About Nothing Column

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Column: Julie Seedorf, Something About Nothing

I have been given a hard task this week. Someone challenged me to write about the 10 favorite places I have visited. It was a hard assignment. I didn’t realize it but I tend to not have favorite places. Or at least I didn’t pay attention to places as being my favorite.

 

I put my thinking cap on, as much as this blonde can think, and my thoughts kept going to one of my favorite books, “Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral” by Kris Radish. After Annie dies she sends her ashes to her friends in a red shoe. They don’t know each other but they are to gather for a journey to distribute her ashes in her favorite places. I always liked that idea. If I left those instructions for my family, where would my favorite places be? I didn’t know what direction I would send them.

I am not a world traveler. I haven’t been to Europe or South America. I have made it to Canada. Some might say that I have missed out if I haven’t traveled abroad. I don’t feel that way. Actually I am not a big traveler. I am perfectly content to vacation at home with a good book and no phones. My family did travel when I was a child and a teenager. I continued to travel as a young adult, and once I was married we took vacations as a family. I have been in 32 states.

I grew up in a time where second and third cousins were valued family. Families visited families including distant cousins. We had family in many states. By the time I was 19, I had visited southern California six times, New York five times and hit the other states in between. As a kid I loved southern California. What more can be said about movie stars, beaches, amusement parks and warm weather. I was very into city life. My younger years are also the time that I experienced most of the other states.

As I made my list I realized that although once I was into city life most of my favorite places centered around serene settings. Here is my list starting at 10 ending with my favorite place.

10. Beatles Concert at Met Stadium – It was a long time ago but memories of a teenager are awesome.

9. Pikes Peak — It took my breath away literally. Have you tried to breathe at this height?

8. Universal parking lot at midnight — Dodging coyotes to get to our vehicle was fun.

7. Grandma Young’s grove at the farm — Playing cowboys and Indians with my cousins and spear fishing carp in the creek which we pronounced as crick. There was something about standing in mud in the creek and the cow pies in the grove that made favorite memories.

6. Uncle’s home in the mountains of northern California — At the time I was bored but now I remember looking across the peaceful valley and thinking it was a piece of heaven.

5. Door County Wisconsin — Peaceful setting, lazy days and of course Door County Coffee.

4. Superior Shores at Two Harbors — Waves lapping against the shore, bonfires on the beach and reading by the fireplace. A perfect setting for pretending you are in a Richard Gere lost love movie.

3. Camping by the Animas River in Colorado — Pouring rain for three days, campfires and beautiful scenery always made me feel like I was at home in Colorado.

2. Los Angeles — I love the smell of the hot pavement, the squishy sand of the beach and lapping waves of the ocean. I loved the excitement of Hollywood and the theme parks. The smell of the ocean was so cleansing after smelling the smog.

1. Anywhere my children and grandchildren are — The words children and grandchildren say it all.

That is my list. I think I have yet to find the journey I want to send my family and friends on with my ashes that are placed in my favorite coffee cup.

My list isn’t too exciting. There are places I love to visit. I don’t get too excited about places. I get more excited about people. I suspect all of these places are among my favorites not because of where they are or what they are but because of whom I experienced these places with.

“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” — Tim Cahill