I thought I made a mistake once,
but I was wrong.  nancymauerman.com

This is another smooth solution from John, who wears ancient denim cut off overalls all summer. They’ve been washed so soft the button holes on one side have washporated (washer evaporation and destruction.)They are now raveled nebulous empty areas. Any button in the vicinity would find nothing fabric-like to cling to. Solution: Loop a rubber band through the emptiness, that had once been a buttonhole, then through itself creating a nice springy loop for the modest button.
But here’s my thought; apply this same idea to the waist line and tummy areas when you’ve included too many brownies in your life! Just remember to replace those rubber bands periodically; you wouldn’t want an important one to break in public. John always carries a hand full of extras in his pocket.
I dedicate this fashion suggestion to all the doughnut eaters, especially business women in button down shirt waist dresses. Multicolored Expando-Bands will save you money and look festive. Don’t buy a new dress, just wear a nice slip and bigger Expando Bands as you grow. With all the money you save can you buy more doughnuts and think about how you could expand your way through an all- you- can- eat business luncheon.
For more invented words and wisdom see my books for kids and adults at Amazon.com.     nancymauerman.com

I have got a question for you; Who is most important, someone who asks a good question or the person who has an answer?
I think it would be enlightening to comb through all the great libraries and grand places, like the forgotten parts of the Smithsonian, and compile a billion books, each with one good question inside. I imagine each volume would fill with hundreds of answers and MORE QUESTIONS. Wouldn’t that be yummy.   nancymauerman.com

I painted my bathroom. This is one of my largest paintings.  A friend held her water all the way from Beaverton just to use this bathroom.   nancymauerman.com

John is one to stay within the law, and even more circumspect when it come to obeying God, but rules don’t always make sense to him. A few have gotten bent, mangled, and ignored. School didn’t hold his interest through out his teens, as much as reading his own books at home did. Between low attendance and joining the army, with his parent’s signature under age, he never graduated high school.                                                        He joined at a time when being affiliated with the military was “out of it” and served more honorably than most and when he got out he was interested in college. So he filled out the papers, paid his fee, and went to class.
After a while the administration people were after him for forgetting to fill out the “graduated from which high school box.”  He told them he hadn’t forgotten; hadn’t graduated. They said G. E. D.! John had been carrying more credits than recommended and was passing all with good grades, there was no way he was going to attend G. E. D. classes just so he could complete a form. He simply took more classes.
The part of his reality I love the most is that he began taking HIS MOTHER TO SCHOOL with him! She was reluctant, being a rule keeper, but her love of learning got the better of her and they attended large lecture classes on many subjects together.
John was celebrating TAKE YOUR MOTHER TO SCHOOL DAY before any of the lower grades discovered this was a good idea.
This man could be as ugly as dirt in a cow pasture and I’d have fallen in love with him, just for this, but he’s a pleasure to my eye and one of the more manly men I’ve ever met. Watch out world, John’s on the loose!   nancymauerman.com

John and I walked around the block in the coolness of the evening, met some new people and greeted several neighbors but as we neared home I glanced down and noticed brown spots scattered across my white blouse, it was molasses from my plant room. (see July 21 blog). I must have looked like I was a tobacco chewing scatter-spittter to my neighbors!  nancymauerman.com

We no longer have a newspaper delivered to my broken flower pots on the front porch, so recently John has taken to borrowing the neighbor’s newspaper, unfolding it and filling in the word puzzle, refolding, and redelivering it again to our neighbor’s front yard.
Please don’t be distressed; John and the neighbor have several longstanding jokes and in this case, John’s friend just hasn’t yet discovered his part in this new one.

Watch out; John’s on the loose!   nancymauerman.com

When my children were young it often took three of us to wash the dishes!
One of us would wash , one dry, and the last would read out loud. The one washing got to pick what was read and the reading was in the old wooden high chair both children had used when they were very small-THE READING CHAIR.
I almost didn’t fit and if I stood up too quickly the Reading Chair came with me and I’d hobble around as if I was growing out of a sea shell.   nancymauerman.com

I write and illustrate children’s picture books that are contemporary fairy tales. I remember listening to and reading the ancient stories when I was quite little and understood the various plots and sub-plots and believe today’s children can comprehend a layered tale also, after all they’re connoisseurs of movies, many of which are complicated artistic gems.
When I was young I didn’t know why I liked literature crafted with more than simple declarative sentences but I felt the author either didn’t think much of kids or he didn’t think much about his story. So I write plots, not just about what happened but why and I use words,”..yummy enough to lick from a stick..” as Iva Lou says. Then I add great pictures. Right now I’m experimenting with a story in four parts (a book for each) in which each book begins with a description written by the character Iva Lou. These book forwards have a running plot but are forgotten during the book. They resurface again at the beginning of the next story in the series. These descriptions remind us there’s more going on than we know and promise a follow-up book in the future.
I hope you’ll try them and give me any helpful comments you can.  My books are available on Amazon.com.   nancymauerman.com