Tag Archives: The Courier Sentinel

Let’s Crab About Something!

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Today on my author page on Facebook, Author Facebook Page we are letting my readers crab about something. So head on over and join the fun. There will be a giveaway.bad day

This is a paragraph from one of the stories in my new book “Something About Nothing.” http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U82I2XC
Let’s crab about something! The experts tell you that if you have a habit of worrying, you should take five minutes out of the day and do nothing but worry. Apparently, this helps and you will not be such a worrywart, so maybe the same exercise will work for being crabby. Let’s crab about things for five minutes a day and see if it works. I’ll start.

Today, nicely, no swearing, crab about something on this post. The one I think is the crabbiest will win a Kindle Copy of my new book. And a surprise in the mail. Share and ask people to like my page and comment. Let’s get our crabbiness out.

Something About Nothing Book Release Day

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Under every nothing we speak is something waiting to be said if we take the time to listen. Announcing the release of the Kindle part of my new book “Something About Nothing.”  This is the description on Amazon: From selling her family on a popular website, to protecting an imperfect evergreen tree with five tops in her back yard, (What would happen if they cut down imperfect human?), author Julie Seedorf’s Something About Nothing is a collection of writings from her column of the same name that debuted in 2006. In everything that we speak to our friends and neighbors, there is a something hidden deep in the recesses of our hearts – silent, wanting to come out when we greet one another. We feel no one cares if we hurt or need a little bit of kindness to make us smile each day, and so we spend our conversations on nothings. “How’s the weather?” “How are you?” The answer is always, “Fine.” We don’t always answer with what is hidden below the surface. This collection of columns is full of inspiration, silliness, and heart. Laughter and dreams keep the soul alive. They are the something needed in our nothings of life.

In honor of the release I am going to post little tidbits of the book throughout the week on this blog. Check it out and then mosey on over to my Facebook author page, http://www.facebook.com/julie.seedorf.author to join the conversation and add your comments for a chance to win this book and others by me and some of my friends. Let’s talk about the something’s under the nothings of our lives.

Today, March 10 only, in honor of my non Fuchsia book, (Granny was upset I left her out this time) I am dropping the price of “Granny Hooks A Crook” to .99. Today only. Here is the link for that. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DVL2CVU

If you are looking for “Something About Nothing” you can find it here. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00U82I2XC

Here is a tidbit from the book. Did you ever want to sell your relatives? .

I sold my relatives on eBay! Wait! Before you call the Gossip Paper and the headlines, read Woman Sells Relatives on eBay. You need to hear the whole story.

I am going to solve a problem for you. We all accumulate things. My mother accumulated many things. After surviving the depression, there wasn’t anything that she would throw out. Because I was an only child, all of those things that she did not throw out became my responsibility. I had boxes and boxes of pictures. I had pictures of relatives whose names were lost with the centuries. I had pictures of grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Some of the faces I recognized. They were vintage pictures, some from the early 1900s.

Join us for the fun. This is going to be the discussion for the day. Head on over to my facebook page and tell us, gently if you ever wanted to sell your relatives.

I confess, I am hooked on ‘The Bachelor’

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Something About Nothing by Julie Seedorf published week of February 23, 2015 in the Albert Lea Tribune and The Courier SentinelI confess

They say confession is good for the soul. I have a confession to make. I can’t believe I have this to confess. I watch “The Bachelor.” I have to eat the words I have spoken in the past because I made the statement that I thought it was a ridiculous show. That was before I became hooked on this season of ABC’s “The Bachelor.”

I didn’t understand the hype. I didn’t understand why it was a popular show. Watching the end of the last “The Bachelorette” series, quite by accident, I became intrigued by the cute farm boy from Iowa that the bachelorette didn’t pick. It doesn’t matter how old I am, I still can see cute and handsome. The cute, rejected farm boy from Iowa, Chris Soules, is this season’s bachelor, and he seems to be a nice guy.

In the ’60s there was a rumor that songs on the radio had hidden messages that enticed you to keep listening to them. Perhaps “The Bachelor” producers have incorporated that into their program and we don’t know it because it is easy to get sucked into the program and the drama.

In case you don’t know the premise of the program, a bachelor is looking for a wife. The program brings numerous women for the bachelor to date over the weeks, eliminating some of them in the rose ceremony until he finds and falls in love with the woman who hopefully will be his wife.

Over the course of the years and the shows, there have been some couples that have been successful in their search and others that have split up soon after the program ended.

Although this program with the Iowa bachelor has become an obsession with me, I don’t understand why these beautiful women, and also men with “The Bachelorette” program, would put themselves in the position they are in during the show. I imagine some of them are there for fame and fortune that might follow because they get noticed.

I can’t imagine being one of these women waiting for a turn to have a one-on-one or a group date with the bachelor, let alone know that he is also romancing and kissing other women. In this case each woman is waiting for the bachelor to notice them. He makes them each feel special, but they don’t know if it is special enough. We hang on every moment.

I found myself as I watched the women who were waiting, wondering and on pins and needles, some in tears, asking myself, “What is wrong with this picture?” In the real world would it be OK with us to be in a queue competing, waiting for someone to honor us with a little attention? Would we be so forgiving if someone we were seeing was kissing and holding other women? Probably not.

I realize this is a reality show. I don’t feel this is a game to Chris Soules. I am partial to Iowa and the reason I watch this season is because Chris Soules seems to be genuine. I wonder how many of the young women and teenagers that possibly watch this get the idea that it is fine to wait for someone to notice them and choose them,  while the one that is possibly the object of their affection is noticing someone else at the same time.

Love is a waiting game but reality shows aren’t really reality.

I will admit I am old with some old-fashioned ideas. When I was dating we didn’t have the Internet and the world wide communication we have now. The people we met and dated were from our communities, or places we visited or colleges we attended. Keeping in touch with those boyfriends and girlfriends farther away meant we had to write letters and use the telephone. Our space for meeting people was limited. Other people would play matchmaker and introduce us to people they thought were right for us.

How many people of the older generations would have chosen different people if they had the wide opportunities that are available now? What I understand from listening to those who are looking for someone to share their life with, is that it is hard in 2015 to meet people because of the busy world we live in.

Single people are limited in small farming communities such as the town where this year’s bachelor resides. The younger people move to the city, without the familiarity of small towns where everyone knows everyone.  Meeting a potential spouse is harder.

In 2015 we have a wide range of dating sites matching people to other people that makes them compatible. I know people who have used these sites and found beautiful people to marry.

As I root for my favorite woman to win the bachelor’s heart I am still mystified as to the process. I am still baffled as to why it keeps me glued to the program. Perhaps it is because of Cinderella. We love the story of Cinderella meeting her prince charming. Maybe “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” is our 2015 version of Cinderella. I don’t know, but I can’t wait to see who is chosen for the happy ending.