He drove a bathroom sized room down the road!
I never wanted to drive as a teen and never wanted a bicycle as a child. In fact I wrote a funny book about my rough summer, at six, when I had to choose between disappointing my parents (by being a non- bike riding, weird kid) and probably dying a painful death by bicycle. It was bigger than me and I could only reach one petal at a time! The book’s called If Mrs Greeby Asks.
I faced that fear, and other. I can even enjoy public speaking, instead of wanting to move to another planet, so even though I don’t enjoy driving, I would like to drive that room sized box down the road just once. I saw the man inside, closer to the middle of the room than to the far left, and sitting almost sideways; my hero the garbageman!  nancymauerman.com

My friend Margaret, now in her later years, is so excited about giving each child, grandchild, and great grandchild gifts this year, she can hardly stay seated in her wheel chair! She mentioned to me her children are frustrated about not knowing what to get her.
Too bad they don’t know my Johnny; he has the answer! Each child and grandchild, that would be 19 in all, should buy her a puppy!  nancymauerman.com

Define procrastination: Savoring the dread of gift shopping, or worse, public speaking, as LONG as possible!
But let me ask you this, If we savor the terrible job, why do we eat triple chocolate ice cream as quickly as we can?  nancymauerman.com

463 days doing dishes, something I hated?! Those are 24 hours days, if I lived a normal life span. I was 21, newly married, and saw this as an extreme waste of a good life. Something had to be done! Solutions; buy new eating tools every day then throw them away = couldn’t afford it. Eat off paper plates = couldn’t afford that either and besides, there were pots and pans. Something had to be done!
I heard about the principle of fasting so tried it, deciding If I were asking for help I’d better do my part by not procrastinating or playing in the bubbles until my feet hurt (which was the dishes’ fault!).
Within 9 days I LOVED TO DO DISHES! plus I learned the joy of not putting off a hard job, which gave me such control and peace of mind that when I went back to school I didn’t care what grade I got as long as I learned what I needed. I learned the joy of putting my house in order in many ways, then I tried varieties of fun like washing left handed, memorizing a song while in the bubbles, and washing as fast as I could. Sometimes I heard, “Hey this dish isn’t clean!” My answer; “Oh, that’s OK I had fun!”  nancymauerman.com

Usually I wake with the sun but this morning I got out of bed in the dark. I determined six would give me the time I needed to get my morning jobs done before my ride came. I clean the bird cage and bird bath because the little fellow sleeps sitting in water and soils it, I tip his old half eaten food onto an outside table, sitting close to the cat’s watching window. I fill his food bowl and feed the cats, four pools of fish, and myself. Then,of course, I always see a few things to be done around the house.
This morning I couldn’t see those few things to be done.. it was too dark. I was awake too early. When I started going to church again, at twenty-one, I learned about fasting. “OK” I thought, “I’ll try it. I might die if I didn’t eat for 24 hours (then they’d be sorry) but I’ll try it”. Then I couldn’t think what to fast for. I certainly knew there were things in me to work on but I couldn’t see them. I was still in the dark.
It’s so much faster to clean house in the dark and easier to work on yourself if you don’t even look. nancymauerman.com

I and two friends, of modest means, were talking about cars. One drives a used BMW, the other has an interest in restored classics and right now drives a T Bird. They were both talking about responses they receive from others on the road, a nod from another BMW or old car driver, or a polite short honk, saying “I see you, I approve.”
In a pause in the conversation I told them John also gets exactly that response from certain drivers too. These drivers even stop and talk a minute to John about the superiority of their driving choice.
My two friends both stopped planning the next thing to say and stared at me. John drives a small 1974 Toyota pickup!
Guys tell us,”I use to have one of those!” in a tone of voice indicating they now see it was stupid to have given up one of the raw beauties, or they gleefully honk and wave like they’d just found a long lost cousin. When you’ve got a classic, you’ve got a classic!  nancymauerman.com

Growing up, I dreamed of being SO beautiful that men would stop to stare and turn in place to watch me walk by. I first understood the idea from watching a Judy Garland Easter movie. When I was in my early thirties this did happen. In a local grocery store. I stopped to pick up ice cream on my way home from a church fireside. I’d walked in happy, noticed the reaction. My dream was coming true. I walked taller. stuck out my chest just a little. I knew I could now die happy.
My brother-in-law also wanted attention so he Super Glued a cup to the top of his car just above the drivers seat. And as expected, as he drove through town, many concerned people honked, rolled down their window and pointed. I don’t know if he felt he could then die happy but he was gratified.
Last week I saw the back of a man’s head as he was handing out hundreds of hundred dollar bills to those in new York who’d lost their homes. The news lady explained he didn’t want to be recognized other than the red hats he and his body guards wore. My thought is; if you live in New York you’d think twice before wearing a red hat for a while.
When I got home years ago with my ice cream and happened to look in the mirror at the vision that was me. The stop in your tracks Easter Parade reactions I was getting at the grocery slipped from ‘dream come true’ to night mare! This was due to five extremely black stripes dripping from under each eye. I’d heard something wonderful at my fireside and had cried.
I can’t remember the topic of that fireside but it would be nice if it had been humility.  nancymauerman.com

Amy came in to work today and saw this at her computer.
nancymauerman.com

I would VERY much like to sell my children’s picture books found on Amazon.com. Also Christmas is coming and my son never knows what to give me, but John has the solution. My son could BUY a set of my books and give them to me!  nancymauerman.com