Friday, October 31, 2008

For you Guys in Washington DC, VA and MD!

Just got a request to do an interview with the Awake, Alive, and Jewish radio station this Sunday at around 10:30 am. If you're familiar with the station- tune on in! They sound a lot more excited to have me (and better prepared) than Joey Reynolds.

They also have archives that I'll be able to post here after- I don't think you can hear the show online, but they said they post the archives on their site later and I'll link it here.

Gut Shabbos!

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Miracle Sheitel!

This post is my response to the comment of an Anonymous poster who liked the sheitel I was wearing in my pictures below.

LOL thanks anonymous and Mazal Tov! (LOL Are you who I think you are CRF? Then you already know this sheitel! This is the one I wore when I got to know you!)

Let me tell you about my wig and why I am laughing.

This wig is as of this week celebrating its 5th anniversary on my head. I bought it when I first got sick (this is the ACTUAL wig I mentioned in my book) and I wore it day in day out for about four years before getting another weekday sheitel.

Last year I didnt wear it so much because the ends were looking blah, so right around Rosh Hashana time I decided to buy a new wig and throw this one out.

Then I figured that before I bought a new wig and tried a short hairstyle (new for me) on it, I should rather cut up this old one that I wanted to throw out anyway, and test the style on this first.

I didnt feel like spending a lot on a cut for a wig that was probably garbage, so I had a friend who enjoys cutting wigs chop it up for me just for fun.

It came out so awesome and looks so fresh and new, that the money I saved for the new sheitel will just wait another few years!

I still can't believe it when people compliment the wig (even though I know it's a good one) because I was all set and ready to trash it. I wash and blow dry this wig myself, I even dyed it a couple of times in my kitchen sink. I was seriously not afraid of ruining it because I was ready for a new one. Now I wear this one every day and want to cut up my other ones that are looking a little blah.

This is a Global Wig - it costs in the same range as most others out there that the kallahs are getting. It's extremely flat and natural looking (I have two of them- one for Shabbos) and super easy to take care of.

I don't know many people who have Globals, just because most kallahs end up getting what all their friends are getting (ie: Shevy's and Kiki's) but I have been very happy with both of my Globals and I keep getting compliments on them even though one is five and the other is four years old.

I hope Global appreciates the free advertising here...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Pics from the Joey Reynolds Show

Still can't get the audio file onto the blog, bear with me. It wasn't anything amazing, but I was glad to do it and see what it's like to be in a real live studio and for the experience. And I give in, there are pics of my face :-) I'm the one in the short sheitel. My sister wanted to tag along and see what it was all about- she's the one with me in most pics. In the picture where I'm not facing the camera you can see Joey Reynolds on the right, half hidden behind his mike.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Hear me! Hear me!

The big smash opening for my book is over, but I just landed a spot on the Joey Reynolds show tomorrow night (Or early Wednesday morning as it's after midnight...).

Joey will be hosting a panel about cancer. From what I heard, this show is supposed to be about the positive effects of humor on illness. I have yet to find out who else will be featured (I have yet to find out pretty much everything as they just notified me this morning that I will be coming in to the studio tomorrow night)but it sounds fun.

I mean, if fun for you is staying up to do a show in the wee hours of the morning that's too late for me to listen to on any regular night...

But if you tune in at 1am to 710 am I'll be there schmoozing...

Hope you get to hear me!

http://www.wor710.com/pages/46370.php
http://joeyreynoldsradio.com/Home_Page.html

Sunday, October 26, 2008

The Glad Game

I think I discovered the secret to being happy. I haven't worked out all the kinks yet, but really, I think I'm on the way there.

The only stupid part is that PollyAnna figured it out before me. She had the Glad game all set and going before I was even born.

I realized over time that as long as I keep looking for things to be thankful for, I will always feel lucky and happy and special.

When I was in high school my friend Miri and I would play the Kvetch Game. We would take turns kvetching to each other about our lives and the only rule was that we couldn't repeat any of the kvetches.

We used to laugh at how long we were able to keep going, like it was cool how much we had to complain about.

Looking back I think of the stuff we used to kvetch about and I laugh and cringe at the same time. This was before the days that I had cancer and before anything really momumental ever happened to any of us. We had such easy lives compared to so many other people we know and even knew then, but still, we let ourselves wallow in our miseries by turning it into a game.

No wonder we were such attitude ridden kids.

But when I got sick a lot changed.

One of the big things that changed for me was the kvetch game. Miri wouldn't play it with me anymore because I would always win. So I offered to change it, but still she wouldn't play.

Instead, I developed a small ritual. Every night, no matter what time I pulled myself into bed, I said Shema and played the Glad Game. I listed three things I was grateful for. I sorted out my day in my mind, thought about tomorrow, and thanked Hashem for at least three things.

They could have been anything. I could have been thanking for getting the small needle instead of the big one or for getting a blood transfusion or for even making me go down another skirt size.

It didn't matter, as long as I went to sleep feeling thankful for something.

Today people ask me all the time what was the secret to my being so upbeat when things seemed so bad. It's hard to give a real answer because I'm not a special person or anything who can see Hashem's plan in all of this and know that no matter what it all turns out for the best.

For me it was just being thankful. I guess that as long as I went to sleep each night knowing that I had something going for me, how could I wake up really miserablt and upset in the morning?

To give credit where credit is due, I didn't even learn this from PollyAnna. I got this from my 6th grade teacher.

It was the first day of school and she told us all to open our Chumashim to whatever page and hers happened to fall open to the exact page as soon as she turned the cover.

She smiled and said out loud "Thank you Hashem!" and we, being 6th graders, of course, laughed.

She looked at us all in sincerity and asked why we were laughing. Hashem just did her a favor- he spared her from turning pages and making her look flustered in front of us on the first day of class.

Most of us laughed and thought she was a little weird, but for some reason that moment popped into my mind sometime during my illness. I started figuring that she was right. We complain to G-d all the time, but when do we ever tell Him that we are happy? Doesn't he deserve to hear that too?

So later on, when I started this little ritual all to myself late at night, half asleep, it made perfect sense to me, even if I wouldn't neccessarily say it out loud like my teacher did.

And I really think that this is the true way of finding happiness. Being thankful for everything. No one says we can't kvetch too, but I think we have to remember to give thanks along with the list of complaints.

Life is what we make it out to be. We get to choose the way we want to see the world. The unfortunate part is that most people just expect the world to see them a certain way, when really they should be the ones adjusting the tint on their glasses.

The world aint gonna change for you if you won't even change for yourself.

So let's make a change.

I dare everyone who reads this to be happy for three things every night. I DARE you.

To start you off, this is what I was thankful for last night:
1. My KA"H cutie son who was sleeping in the next room.
2. My husband who was snoring in the next bed.
3. The extra chocolate cake in the fridge that I couldn't wait to eat for breakfast.

Your turn!

Monday, October 06, 2008

The fun of Being Me!

Sorry for neglecting the blog recently, but you know how it is... Writer's block I guess....

Well, here's a long overdue post:

I was out with my son the other day and I called him JB. This lady stopped and looked over at me and asked me what I just called my son. I told her I called him JB cos those were his initials.

She asked if my last name was Caton and I looked all confused and told her it wasn't.

She looked so disappointed and walked away.

I guess she didn't know I wrote under a pen name LOL.

That's my fun anecdote.

More later!

G'mar Chasima Tova everyone!