Office Renovations Day 1

Check out the home office renovations going on. I am so excited to get my office re-done. This is day 1 of the renovations. This is just one of the pictures from this day.

To see the rest of the pictures and read all the descriptions, please visit my hub on Hubpages.com called Ask DJ Lyons: Office Renovations Day 1.

Click HOME OFFICE RENOVATIONS to visit.

Office Renovations Before Look

Check out the home office renovations going on. I am so excited to get my office re-done.

To see the pictures and read the descriptions, please visit my hub on Hubpages.com called Ask DJ Lyons: Office Renovations Before Look.

Click HOME OFFICE RENOVATIONS to visit.

Self Improvement Gifts 5 Offers 100s of FREE Personal Growth Related Products, Services & Memberships

I wanted to let you know today about a Self Improvement site that will allow you to download 100’s of self help gifts. And the best part is that it is absolutely FREE!

If you’ve had enough of plodding along year after year and you want to improve yourself to make 2011 your BEST ever year, then you need to go here: http://selfimprovementgifts5.com/go/18191

Self Improvement 5 will be open only for a VERY LIMITED TIME from January 6th to January 27th 2011. When you go there you’ll find a multitude of products – all FREE – provided by Self Improvement and Marketing experts from all over the world. Here is just a small sample of what you will find:

* How to Become an Advanced Early Riser - Steven Aitchison
* Turn Your Passsion into a book... - Warren Whitlock
* Total Wellness Guide - Craig Raphael
* COACHES: Create a 6-Figure Practice, Here's How! - Barb Wade
* Living the Rich Life - Julia Busch
* Achieve Your Dreams - Brenton Lindo
* I Have Value Meditation - Estra Roell
* Creative Visualization Mastey - Bruno Auger
* Wealthy You 2011 Vision Sheet - Nachhi Randhawa
* Find the Best Self Improvement Niches and More - Tuks Engineer
* Self Hypnosis Sessions At Home - Paul Mihai Pavel
* Wake Up to the Dream - Eva Gregory
* And TONS (OVER 700+) MORE!

Get all of these and 100’s more here: http://selfimprovementgifts5.com/go/18191

The organizers of the event are Stephanie Mulac, Carolyn Hansen and Dr. Joe Rubino.

Just briefly, this is Stephanie’s 4th Self Improvement Giveaway. Stephanie started this style of event in 2006. It’s in the form of a “Giveaway” which is sort of like a giant electronic trade fair where 100’s of experts offer their products free to the public.

Because it has become so popular, this year Stephanie has enlisted the services of Carolyn Hansen, renowned fitness professional, and Self Exteem Expert, Dr. Joe Rubino.

You only have to walk into any book store in any country to see how popular the subjects of self improvement, self awareness and personal development are. It’s a multi-billion dollar industry churning out hundreds of new books, audios, CD’s and other paraphernalia every year.

These can be very expensive but at http://selfimprovementgifts5.com/go/18191 you can pick this information up completely FREE.

With 2011 upon us, what better time is there than right NOW to set yourself and your business up for future success? This event is a life-changing experience for those who take it.

Come and join Stephanie, Carolyn, Joe and me and see for yourself.

If you want to grab the largest collection of self improvement and internet marketing products you’ll find ANYWHERE – all FREE – then go to http://selfimprovementgifts5.com/go/18191 NOW and claim your bounty!

Healthy Eating Tales #1: Gala Apples and other Foods

After reading the introductory tale called “Healthy Eating Tales: Introducing Tommy, Tammy, and the Food Pyramid Kids,” please read Healthy Eating Tale #1: Gala Apples and other Foods.” This will detail what happened the next morning.

Click FOOD PYRAMID to read the entire story on Examiner.com. 

Healthy Eating Tales: Introducing Tommy, Tammy, and the Food Pyramid Kids

This is the introductory Healthy Eating Tale detailing the competition between two fraternal twins named Tommy and Tammy and a Food Pyramid Boy versus a Food Pyramid Girl.

Click FOOD PYRAMID to read the entire story on Examiner.com.

Sitting in Grandma’s Kitchen

As we approach the holidays, I am bombarded by memories of my maternal grandmother and other now deceased relatives. I was looking at some pictures of barstools and other similar type chairs. When I saw one stool that is fairly similar to the stool you see in this picture, some poignant memories came back to my mind’s eye.

I called my mother’s mother Grandma Alice. From the time I was small, she lived in San Francisco in a two-bedroom apartment. My family and I went to visit her when I was eleven. When I was twenty, I spent the summer with her before attending San Francisco State University for fall semester of my junior year in college.

One of my favorite memories was sitting on a combination bar stool and step ladder in her kitchen. Hers was light yellow. I would sit on this stool and watch her cook. We would share stories and anecdotes with each other all the while.

My grandmother was a really good cook. So I would not only watch her cook, I would also take a few cooking lessons from her.

Years later, she moved to Tennessee to spend her last remaining years in the same city as my mother. That stool was one of the pieces of furniture that she kept. After she passed, I was given that stool.

I placed that stool in my kitchen. When the man I ended up marrying started courting me, he would sit on that stool and watch me cook. It brought back happy memories of my beloved grandmother.

Unfortunately, I no longer own that stool as I moved into my husband’s small log cabin. There just wasn’t room in the cabin for most of the furniture that I owned. It was kind of a wrench when I had to let that stool go. It felt a little bit like I was saying good-bye to Grandma Alice all over again.

Of course, there is always room in my memory bank. So when I see stools like the one pictured above, I can mentally re-live those days when I sat in Grandma’s kitchen on her yellow step ladder stool watching her cook.

I would love to hear some of your memory tales about stools and other pieces of furniture in your past that evoke the presence of people you love. Thanks for taking a walk with me down my particular memory lane.

Funniest Toddler Quote: First Watermelon Party

Toddlers can say and think the funniest things. Listen to what happened when my younger brother attended his very first watermelon party.

Click FUNNIEST TODDLER QUOTE to read the entire story on Associated Content.com.

Product Review: Mayline Eastwinds Portrait PC Desk Cart

I am so excited! My computer desk is here, set up, and ready to go.

To back up, I am in the process of renovating my entire office. The floor slopes. Some good friends of ours are going to tear up the floor and put down a new level floor. My husband and I live in a log cabin in the country that has its perks and its challenges. The sloping floor is definitely one of its challenges.

Currently, there is a built-in bed and 2 build-in dressers in this room which take up lots of room in this already tiny space. Those three items will be permanently removed. I am so happy about that. Mice and wooly caterpillars have gotten into the dressers before and eaten holes in some of my clothes and left mouse droppings. To prevent this, I have to place all clothes in a plastic storage bin inside these drawers. To try to avoid the musty smell, I have them filled with dryer sheets as well. The bed just takes up all kinds of floor space that could be filled with bookshelves, etc.

I have three computers: a Macintosh that does not have internet capabilities, a desktop PC that does have internet capabilities, and my laptop computer. Each computer serves several different functions for my storytelling and freelance writing business. I have been using the laptop in our den since the office is so claustrophobic as it is right now. My husband would love to have our den back as just our TV room rather than my extra office plus TV room.

I am going to turn this room into my dream office plus dressing room. When it gets done, on one wall there will be one new dresser, a work table, this new computer desk, and another small unit with one shelf that will hold some plastic stackable drawers. On another wall will be a computer desk that I already own plus one 5-shelf bookcase. On the third wall will be a two more bookcases plus a hutch bookshelf. On the fourth wall are the closet and the door. The third computer is going to sit on a computer desk that I already own kind of in the middle of the room. See the diagram to get an idea of what I am talking about.

I looked through the multiple computer desks sold on the various CSN stores. Given my needs and the tiny space I have to work with, I settled on the Mayline Eastwinds Portrait PC Desk Cart being absolutely perfect for my needs. On top of that, the price was very reasonable.

I ordered the desk on November 1st on-line. I got an e-mail confirmation that it would show up on either Nov. 3rd or Nov. 4th. It arrived on the 4th. The FED EX people placed the box on our front porch. My husband and I had to carry it in.

Today, Nov. 5th, our handy man and his helper came by. They put the desk together for me in about 45 minutes.  He said that there is a mistake in the directions. On the diagram, it labels a screw as “L.” On the packet that it came in, it was labeled as “M.” I’m so glad that my husband and I did not try to put it together. That would have frustrated us a lot as we are not that savvy about those kinds of things. Other than that, he said it was pretty easy to put together.

He was impressed with how sturdy it is. I am impressed with how pretty it is. I love the color of the wood. See the picture. Since my floor has not yet been re-done, I am going to temporarily move it into the TV room and use it with my laptop. Once my room gets re-done, I am going to use it with my desktop PC.

I love the fact that it has a built-in place to put the tower that is off the floor. That is especially ideal as a friend of ours had his office floor. The computer towers that sat on the floor were ruined.

I also love that it has a separate little area for the mouse. By the way, if you buy this desk, you will want to be right-handed as that is the only way that makes sense when you put this desk together.

Professional Storyteller performs kid-friendly tale: Burger King

On October 16, 2010, professional storyteller Debbie Dunn performed ghost stories around the campfire at Yeomen’s in the Fork on the outskirts of Franklin, Tennessee. Watch the 3-minute video on YouTube.

This is how the owners describe this antiquities bookstore: “Yeoman's in the Fork is a rare book and document gallery located in historic Leiper's Fork, TN. Yeoman's has a wide variety of rare books, documents, maps, and ephemera. Yeoman's in the Fork shares the collector's passion, along with helping educate those new to collecting rare books and documents.”

Prior to intermission, Debbie told a few kid-friendly ghost and spooky stories appropriate for the whole family. After intermission, Debbie performed “The Bell Witch Unveiled” based on her book entitled “The Bell Witch Unveiled At Last! The True Story Of A Poltergeist” written under her pen name of DJ Lyons. She signed autographs during intermission and after the final performance.

Please enjoy a fun audience-participation tale called “Burger King.” It was taught to her by Chris Lindgren, a Canadian storyteller. Chris learned the story from a 12-year-old boy. He’s the one who wrote it.

YouTube video: Burger King

Description: Watch master storyteller Debbie Dunn reenact this kid-friendly story "Burger King" from our Ghost Stories & The Bell Witch Unveiled event.

For more information about this bookstore, please visit Yeoman’s in the Fork at http://www.yeomansinthefork.com/.

Yeoman's in the Fork, 4216 Old Hillsboro Rd, Franklin, TN 37064

For other stories performed by Debbie Dunn, please click on the following links:

* Jack and the King’s Girl by Richard Chase

* Rainbow Crow by Nancy Van Laan

* Jack and the Bull re-told by Debbie Dunn

* Mouse Mother by Opalanga Pugh

* Parable of the Eagle told by Storyteller Debbie Dunn

* Ned and Nan Kick Their CAN'Ts Away re-told by Debbie Dunn

* Part 1 of 2 - Grandmother Frog's Magic Bully Buster Song

* Part 2 of 2 - Grandmother Frog's Magic Bully Buster Song

* Video - The Wild Boar

* Video - Six Blind Men and the Elephant re-told by Debbie Dunn

Sneak Preview of “The Bell Witch Unveiled”:

Bell Witch Movie with Talk Bubbles that Pop by DJ Lyons

Memories of many end tables from the past

I am being haunted by memories of pretty end tables I have owned from the past. Since moving back to Tennessee in 1982, I have lived in three locations in Kingsport, Tennessee; two locations in Chattanooga, Tennessee; one location in Knoxville, Tennessee; and now a log cabin in the country in Mosheim, Tennessee. As you probably have guessed, I have gone through a lot of furniture in that time.

In addition to going through my own furniture, my mother-in-law had to leave her beloved home to go live permanently in a nursing home due to a condition with Parkinson’s and not being able to take care of most of her personal needs. Then my father-in-law suddenly passed back in December of 2008. Since that time, we have had to sell off all of their furniture to help pay the property tax, electric bill, gas bill, and water bill. Since Medicaid covers her living and medical expenses, they basically own the house. When that sad day comes that she passes, pray that that is many years into the future, then the house reverts to them. In the meantime, we are left to maintain this vacant house without being able to sell or rent it. It is a very odd situation.

They had some beautiful end tables that I have sold through Craig’s List. One set of end tables that they had down in the den were so pretty that I would have loved to have kept them; however, we had no room for even one more piece of furniture.

I moved to this little log cabin in the country nearly two years ago. I also sold off most of my furniture through Craig’s List. The furniture I was really sad to sell was this beautiful coffee table and end table set with wood frames and this beautiful cobalt blue mirrored glass. I bought this furniture set at an antique store when I was leaving Kingsport to move to Chattanooga. It was exactly my taste and I cherished it for many years. I kept that set when I lived in both locations of Chattanooga and for eleven and a half years in Knoxville, Tennessee.

During that stretch while I lived in Knoxville, I met and got engaged. We had a very long engagement. When we finally decided to tie the knot, it was decided that I would leave my apartment in Knoxville and move to my fiance’s log cabin in Mosheim. Mosheim is about one hour east from Knoxville. He already had a fully furnished house. I got rid of most of my furniture. He got rid of a few items. Then we bought some items brand new together. Sadly, the cobalt blue glass end tables and coffee table set had to go. Sigh! Oh, well! I enjoyed that set for a lot of years.

Naturally, my fiancé became my husband about a month after I moved here. It would have been sooner; however, his father suddenly passed during that stretch. It was a great shock to all of us.

By the way, the end table pictured above is not the same as what I have; however, it has a similar feel.

Thanks for listening! Have a great day!