The stove is stainless steel with a black ceramic surface, convection cooking, a hidden lower cooking element and a steam clean option.  It was born and bred right here in the USA.  It replaces a stove that was new in 1986 when our house was built.  We got our old stove with the house when we bought it in 1993.  It was a coil eye stove and the thing was so old that we couldn’t find any eyes that fit properly to replace one that died.  My hubby had reinstalled the upper heating element in the oven a couple of times.  We had more stains than you could count on the lower heating element.  Cleaning meant “Easy Off” fumes and lots of elbow grease. 

The new stove is beautiful and it’s expecting a little Maytag friend soon – a stainless dishwasher that should be delivered in early February.  I don’t even want to talk about how gross our dishwasher is.  Suffice it to say, the thing was – like our stove- new in 1986, purchased with the house and it is now falling apart – literally. 

I was staring at the stove and thinking about life last night.  See, the stove and dishwasher were purchased with a combination of writing money and the Christmas bonus from my day job. And last night while I stared at it, the little hamster that turns the wheel in my head woke up and commenced running.  When my hamster brain ran hard enough, the light bulb turned on – and I smiled. 

I’ve always believed that I’d be successful when my fiction writing paid enough to allow me to quit my day job and write full time.  That’s still my goal.  I still believe that being a full time author is where I’ll be happiest and most fulfilled.  But my stove made me realize that maybe I was committing the same error as our politicans in Congress.  My stove made me realize that compromise doesn’t always mean failure – sometimes it’s a hallmark of success. 

Like just about everyone everywhere I’ve had to make a bunch of compromises since the bottom fell out of the economy.  I’ve had to get to the point where I prioritized bills – the houshold bills first, then my eldest son’s college expenses and then everything else.  The everything else means that I pay what I can on everything else and either the companies deal with that or they don’t.  And because I grew up in a perienally poor household where I got stuck talking to all those creditors, having a re-run of that era had convinced me that I was a complete failure.  My stove made me realize that wasn’t true.

I’ve reached a point with my day job and my writing where I could get my eldest back to UCF for the Spring Semester of his Junior year and we could replace our ancient stove and dishwasher.  I’m not writing on my fiction full time but I do essentially write full time.  (My day job mainly consists of legal research and writing.) That means that I haven’t reached my goal — but I have progressed on my journey.  

And success isn’t measured solely by reaching that one goal.  If I reach it — when I reach it — there will be a new goal.  If I don’t have goals I have no direction for my life.  So there will always be a goal.  But the goal is only a mile marker – it’s not the finish line.  As long as I’m running towards the next marker and making progress, then I’m not a complete failure.  Even if the phone is still ringing and my answering machine is still full of hang up calls, I’m not a complete failure.  I’d only be a complete failure if I failed to try and just threw up my hands. I’d only be a complete failure if I stopped setting goals and heading towards them.

I haven’t said “I can’t.”  I’ve said, “I haven’t gotten there yet.”  And I’m still in the race and heading in the right direction.   I’ve made progress and the next time I doubt that, I’ll look at my shiny new stove.  It’s a concrete reminder that success isn’t a destination – it’s a journey.  In our horrendous present economy, many people have been forced to face things they’d rather not, and do things they’d sworn not to.  It would be awfully easy to say – I can’t or I won’t or I quit.  No matter how tempting it is to throw in the towel, I owe it to myself and my family to continue running along the road, heading for the next mile marker. 

It’s important to allow ourselves time to stop and assess when we reach certain plateaus.  The stove might not seem like much to lots of folks, but it means a lot to me.  Success is a very individual thing but certain things about it are common to all of us.  Success is not getting to one place or achieving one thing – it’s staying in the race and keeping that towel firmly in hand, ready to wipe sweat from our brows, tears from our eyes — or sometimes,  just sometimes to wave in a cheer. 

The next time you’re in a place where you’re thinking of throwing in the towel because you’re not where you wanted to be or planned to be, stop and take a look around at where you are.  You may not be at the next mile marker yet, but you’re not at the last one either.  Like me, you’re on the way. 

Success is a journey.  We may not make the trip the way we planned and we may have to stop and plot a new route.  None of that means we got it wrong.  In fact, all of it means we’re getting it right.  Sometimes, along the way, life may throw in an appliance or two. If you look into the stainless steel hard enough, intently enough, your dreams might reflect right back at you.   They’re still there – bright and shiny and waiting, just waiting for you to reach out and grab ‘em on your way to all your future success. 

See – in the duck lady’s house, a Maytag just might turn out to be a crystal ball.

By special arrangements with my wonderful hubby, I got exactly what I wanted. And you know what? I have no “Christmas regrets.”  I don’t have even the itty bittiest twinge of buyer’s remorse.  In fact, I have the opposite – I’m filled to the brim with buyer’s satisfaction.   So naturally, I had to put fingers to keyboard to tell y’all all about it.

I’ve been privileged to publish on Amazon via their magical, mystical KDP platform for a couple of years now.  Yet, I’m a newcomer to the Amazon customer universe.  I’m confessing that up front because I don’t doubt that some of my adoration for the Kindle Fire is actually adoration for the whole Amazon experience.  Getting a Fire gave me the keys to the ereading kingdom. I now have access to the biggest, the baddest, the best ebook variety on Planet Earth.  Pretty much, if there’s an ebook in existence, it’s gonna be on Amazon and it’s gonna be there for the lowest price. In this economy, that’s a big plus for the Amazon experience and for the Fire.

Before I got my Fire, I read the flood of criticism that seemed to pour from every which way. They said that the device is faulty because there is only 1 button.  That button turns the Fire on and off and critics claim it causes  many consumers to accidentally turn the device off while they’re using it.  Critics also said that the web browser was way, way too slow and that the App Store was vastly underpopulated.  And they cited big problems with the touch screen features that were sometimes unresponsive.

Of all those major problems that the reviewers cited, the only one I’ve encountered is that sometimes the touch features don’t respond.  When that happens, I’ll either try again, touch the home key, or touch that much maligned little on-off switch to restart.  Frankly, it doesn’t bother me that much but I understand Amazon is working on the issue.  Through recent personal experience with a bad Tablet purchase (not a Fire – an Android for my eldest son) from an Amazon vendor, I’ve learned that when Amazon gives its word, Amazon keeps its word.  So when the company says it’s working on the touch screen issues, I now believe it completely. 

Even if the little touch screen glitches remain, I’ve found the Fire to be the ultimate entertainment device experience and if y’all don’t have a Fire, you need to pick one up right now.  This minute. 

All of the other criticism – about the on/off switch, the slow browser and the insufficient App store – hasn’t cropped up as a problem for me at all. I mean, not even once have I had an issue with those features.  The good peeps at Dear Author have some very informative info up about how to change device settings on the Fire so that you can load Apps from other vendors.  I changed the setting, but I haven’t left the Amazon once to get anything from anywhere else. 

I’ve watched a video through the prime service - Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Christmas.  It was lots of fun and I look forward to boogling through some of the other offerings.  I’m looking forward to revisiting the 1st episode of the 1st season of “Grey’s Anatomy” and re-living the time when the Mer/Der magic was new. (Readers of this blog will know that I’ve been a Grey’s Gal since episode 1.) My youngest son will demand some Fire-time to watch the early seasons of ”Dr Who,” and my hubby will doubtless want to explore some of the Star Trek offerings.  The Amazon Prime video offerings are already numerous and they’re growing every day.  I may even pick up some of the first season of “Ellery Queen” – originally I thought it was free for Prime, but alas, I’ve discovered it’s $1.99 per episode.  Still, I’ll likely pick up one or two of ’em because that’s classic TV in its best, its most intelligent and excellent form. 

I never had a real yen for an iPad and now I’m glad I never got one.  My Kindle Fire is much more portable and it offers something that neither the iPad nor other Android devices can match – the ability to download video to the device.  Yes, America, you can download movies or TV shows onto your Fire and then watch them on a plane, in a train, or on a long road trip in the car.  Funny that the critics never mention that feature now, isn’t it?  The ability to download video means the Fire vanquishes Android Tablets and it even kills the mighty iPad.   But the critics couldn’t go around saying that now, could they?  Because their goal seems to be to dampen the Fire before it burns so far it gets out of control.

Kindle Fire brings the tablet to a place where nearly everyone can afford it and it dishes out the tablet experience in a way that even a non-techie like me can do more than “get it” – we can own it. 

Nope, the critics didn’t kill my Desire for Fire and I’m mighty glad I didn’t listen to them.  They were so loud in their howling cries that I suspected they had an agenda.  I suspect it much more now that my personal experience contradicts their claims.  The critics were ranting that Amazon’s everyman tablet experience would die beneath the weight of all the device returns to the company after the holidays.  Wonder how that’s working out?  I haven’t heard a peep from consumers who returned the Fire nor from Amazon, discussing Fire returns.  The critics would like Amazon to go under but it’s folks like you and me that will keep the company floating happily along at the head of the pack.

Instead of a product return, I’m giving a product testimonial – and it goes out with a great big “Thank You” to Jeff Bezos and the entire Amazon Kindle Fire team.  Those critics I was talking about before seem like the kind of folks who believe  “You can’t get rich by overestimating the intelligence of the American public.”  I’ve never listened to those people – instead, I listen to the public and my readers – or I try to.  And I believe that Amazon is the company Bezos built on the principal that you CAN get rich by catering to the intelligent population of America – and other countries all around the world. 

Trust me on this one, the Kindle Fire is a tablet you can buy knowing you’ll love it and understand it because it was created for you by a company that believes you should want more, you should get more and you deserve more.  So Amazon gave you more - it’s created a Fire that puts the world at your fingertips.

Anyway, late yesterday I was checking Mr. Cainer’s horoscope reading for today to see if it was going to be as tough as most of the days have been lately.  Cainer says Leos have been having a rough time because Mars has been boogling through our sign.  Thank goodness mean ole’ Mars exits Leo at the end of the month because I’ve had about enough of him.

In the horoscope I just read Mr. Cainer was referring to this Friday’s date.  If you check your calendar, you’ll see that 11.11.11 is the date on Friday.  And according to Mr. Cainer, lots of folks think 11.11.11 is the day we can re-boot our lives. It’s interesting to consider, isn’t it? 

When I consider something, I Google it and when I googled this, I ran across  Numerologist’s Nam Hari Kaur Khalsa’s thoughts on the significance of 11.11.11.  Mr. Khalsa says as follows:

The date of 11.11.11 is one of the most powerful shifts in human awareness that we will experience in our lifetime. It is a rare opportunity to release lifetimes of karmic scripting and ancestral entrapment. Entrapment in the sense of the conscious and unconscious habit patterns which have us wondering why we can’t seem to actualize the life we really want to have, and know is possible. 11-11-11 is the cosmic birth date of humanities prayer for liberation from the rote, mundane, and monotonous. Many people are presently feeling, “I can’t go on like this anymore, I just can’t live like this another day.” 

And Mr. Khalsa says that Eleven is the sound current of infinity.  He suggests that “Eleven is the sound current of Infinity, and sound is one of the most powerful ways we can heal ourselves. Mantras contain a frequency of sound which is a healing force that is available to us all.”

Mr. Khalsa suggests we channel the energy of the day by chanting a “Magic Mantra”:   

There is one Creator of all Creation.  All is a blessing of the One Creator.  This realization comes through Guru’s Grace.

The numerologist says  this is the “magic mantra” because it “can shift the flow of the psyche so powerfully that new opportunities seem to materialize out of nowhere.”

Wouldn’t you love a chance to re-boot your life?  For me, a re-boot would be having an opportunity to write full time.  When I’m writing and my muse is with me I feel like I’m channeling thunder.  I don’t know if chanting the mantra will be magic or not, but why not try some possible magic?

I wish everyone a happy re-boot on 11.11.11!!!!!!!!!!!(11 exclamation points. I might as well make the most of the current of infinity.)

Friday he was in the Homecoming Parade at school – thanks to John for being an ace driver and to my boss for loaning us his Miata so Sam could sit on the back, holding a SHS towel and wave it at the screaming crowd. And they were screaming – his name. Of all the Prince candidates, Sam had the most crowd support at the parade. So it shouldn’t have surprised me so much at the football game halftime ceremony on Friday night when Sam – WON.

Yes, Virginia, my youngest is the most popular kid in his HS class. It’s hard for me to relate to that. I was never popular at all. I wasn’t even important enough to be unpopular. I was just sort of there. So having my youngest enjoy such popularity is just sort of – surprising. He does share 1/2 my gene pool, you know? And yet he achieved so much. Way to go Sam!

Other than that – I’ve been working on my new one: The Office Ink Spells Murder. It’s coming along well, but needs some intense periods of work. Next weekend I’ll be working on my blog for All Day, All Night Writing Divas - it goes up at 1 am or so next Sunday night – 10/17/11. So for my post next week, I’ll give you a little taste of The Office Ink.

But this week, I thought I’d give you a different kind of taste – PIZZA. John found this great video showing a pizza vending machine. It makes you a fresh pizza while you watch. It reminds me of the Jetsons.

I only have one question. If pizza vending machines have arrived – then where’s my flying car? George Jetson had one, dang it. Maybe the flying car is next.

What was the biggest difference in the happy and the unhappy list? Forbes says ”One set of jobs feels worthwhile, while in the other jobs, people can’t see the point.” 

Here are the 10 happiest jobs:

1.  Clergy: 2. Firefighters: 3. Physical therapists: 4. Authors: 5.  Special education teachers: 6. Teachers: 7. Artists: 8. Psychologists: 9. Financial services sales agents: 10. Operating engineers.

Here are the 10 most hated jobs:

1. Director of Information Technology: 2. Director of Sales and Marketing; 3. Product Manager; 4. Senior Web Developer; 5. Technical Specialist; 6. Electronics Technician; 7. Law Clerk; 8. Technical Support Analyst; 9. CNC Machinist; 10. Marketing Manager.

If I had to put on my Swami Hat – and in this blog, I do, I really do – then I’d guess that what makes the happy list are jobs that give workers freedom to exercise independent judgment in a creative way.  Every job on the happy list does just that.  On the other hand, the jobs on the unhappy list  are tasks that are fairly rigid in their requirements and don’t allow room for independence or personality. 

I still say that Forbes got it wrong.  The happiest job in the universe has to be working as a full time author. You get complete independence and creative control and if something isn’t going the way you like – you just re-write it.

You know what?  I’m sure Forbes got it wrong. Author should be #1.  I DEMAND A RECOUNT…. especially if we get to go to Florida for it.  My eldest is in school in the City where Mickey Mouse lives. 

Recount, anyone? Or maybe a picket line.  We could all carry signs and chant lines from our favorite romance novels.  See – it would even be an entertaining kind of protest!

Anyway, this month I’m blogging about a great piece over at Huffpo by Dr. Drexler.  It’s all about how men love and it contains some real surprises. I might post it here after it comes down at the other site, but you don’t want to wait.  Trust me. 

So quack on over and read it this minute. Be sure to leave a comment because I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Regrets about romance led the list and women were much more likely to have romantic regrets than men.  Around 44% of women described relationship regrets as compared to only 19% of the men. 

“It speaks to something psychologists have known for a long time. Women are typically charged with the role of maintaining and preserving relationships, so when things do go wrong, it’s very spontaneous for women to think, ‘I should have done it some other way,’” said senior study author Neal Roese, a psychologist and professor of marketing at Northwestern. “It’s how men and women are raised in this culture.”

Men were more likely to have regrets about work or education. The work regrets centered on failing to take a risk and accept a different job or working at an occupation that they didn’t feel passionate about.

The most interesting part of the study is that the long-term regrets were much more often about what participants didn’t do. Yes, Virginia, the long term regrets centered on the risks not taken.  And the study noted that the biggest basis for the regrets were that people didn’t try – what people rember are the times they failed to go for their dreams.  

Yesterday is over and none of us can change the past.  However, we can and should think about our regrets and learn from them so that we can change our future.   

“Regret is an essential part of the human experience,” Roese said. “You should listen to the lessons your regrets tell you, which is quite often how you could have done things differently or how you could change things.”

This is something that we can all change – starting today.  If you’re single or single again and regretting the one that got away – look him or her up. Facebook and Twitter have made the world a much smaller place.  Finding that someone and giving them a Holla’ won’t cost you a thing.  If you regret that you didn’t go for your Masters or that you didn’t study psychology instead of business – get online and enroll in a class now. Even if you can’t afford a big education budget, you can probably afford to take that first step.

And if you’re like me, and your regret is not working hard at your writing so that you could become a full-time author, then today is the day to dedicate yourself to that too. Work on your writing every day. Make progress – at least some progress- on your WIP every day.  Don’t let a single day go by without being active on Twitter, Facebook, Your Blog. 

And if you have a book or two out now – market by doing all of that social networking, but don’t forget the best way to market – track down blogs – lots of blogs- and comment.  When some of your thoughts hit home with another reader, they’re likely to click your blog and check out your list of books. Before you know it, you may have made another sale.

Today is a good day to turn a past regret into a future success.  Let’s all give it a shot and see how far we can go.  If we try, we may fail. But if we fail to try, we’ll always regret it!

I don’t want this to come off as a “woe is me” post. It’s not about the ‘woe.’ It’s about how you know…

I’ve been in the world a while and for most of that while I’ve been typing on a keyboard. One thing that’s not good for is the wrists. Yep, carpal tunnel.

The funny thing is that it started with my left wrist. And I’m right handed. Go figure. But I went to CVS and picked up a brace for my left wrist. For a while I wore it all day. But it was tough to do things. So finally, I just wore it at night.

Guess what? Today, I finally had to break down and buy one for the right hand. Yep. My dominant hand is playing follow the leader. Seeing a doctor for tests and prescriptions or having surgery isn’t an option currently.  Today’s about “do it yourself” treatment.     

I tried wearing both of ‘em for a while. But you know what? They get in the way. And they get in the way MORE with my right hand. So, I decided I’ll put ‘em on at night, sometime after my bath, when I’m starting to wind down on writing for the day. Because if it interferes with writing, then it’s gotta go.

I joke all the time about how I’d love not to be doing my day job. And carpal tunnel is one of those things that could be disabling. So I could apply for disability. But you know what? That wouldn’t be a dream at all. It’d be more of a nightmare. How could that possibly be, you ask?

Well, it’s because hurting a little or a lot – I’d write. I’d write whether anyone bought my stuff or not. Because – I’m a writer. It’s not what I do. It’s who I am.

People in the e-age have some perception that writing is glamorous or that it’ll make you rich. Truthfully, writing is not a’tall glamorous. It’s something you’re doing while the clothes are in the washer. And you’re usually in sweats and a comfy shirt. And your world shrinks to the size of a computer. There are no photographers chasing you or fans begging for an autograph. And no Brinks truck is showing up to throw money at you. I’m still tickled every single time a number changes at Amazon or Smashwords. Every sale makes me say a silent “thank you” to the reader.

While I wouldn’t mind making a lot of money, I’d sure hate to lose that sense of wonder every time some mysterious person somewhere in the world hit the buy button. And I could think about that reader just starting a journey over the top with a love story by the crazy Duck Lady.

If you’re writing because you’re chasing fame or fortune – then you’re not going to be writing long. Because writing is not a means to an end – writing is the end itself. Writing is not the vehicle that will get you to riches and independence. Writing is riches and independence. It’s more than the journey – writing itself is the reward.

Mostly, writing is just me, my imagination, my aching wrists and the machine. And that’s better than okay. That’s everything.

Although writing full time is my dream job, it’s more than that. It’s not just what I do – it’s who I am. That’s what I wish for my sons. Find what makes you who you are and then try to make money doing that. Because whether it’s a hobby or a career, your life won’t be the same without it. There might not even be life without it. You are who you are and I am who I am. Let’s celebrate that. Let’s pursue that.

But, if I get stuck in my day job for the rest of my working life, I’ll still come home at night, sit down at my laptop and write stories where two people find out that each is the other’s happily ever after.

Don’t write because you can. Only write if you have to. There are many easier routes to fortune and fame.

Only write if you’re a writer.

These days that question is funny.  Who isn’t a bargain hunter in this economy?  Well, we at QA Romances have got a real deal for all the bargain minded Kindle owners.  The Forever Series – A Faerie Fated Forever, A Golden Forever and A Sixth Sense of Forever – have just been released as a bundle for Kindle. 

 And what a bundle it is.  It’s priced as a BUY 2, GET 1 FREE steal of a deal.  That’s right, for only $5.99, Kindle owners can download 1 bundle that contains all 3 books in my Forever series.  The bundle will migrate to SW and feel out to all its fine partners (B&N, Apple, Kobo, Diesel, Sony, etc) soon. But that will take a bunch of formatting and my hubby is tangling with taxes right now. 

Tax tanglin’ time around the house is when I bury all sharp objects and hide the youngest under the bed.  So it isn’t exactly the time when I’d walk into the torture chamber (our bedroom) and confront the wild eyed dragon (the hubby I love enough to die for) to ask for more formatting.  It’ll come to SW soon, but for now, it’s a Kindle exclusive. 

The Forever Series has faeries and curses and even a witch or two, but the focus isn’t the paranormal.  It’s about men who’ve been conditioned by life to believe a few things.  One of those things is that they’ll always get what they want, when they want it.  Another is women are easier to catch than a good hand of cards.  And if one good looking card gets away, ’tis nothing to fret over.  There will be another along in just a skinny minute. What happens when those men meet women who teach them that they’ve been wrong about everything? 

It’s about men who’ve been too spoiled to learn a lesson the easy way.  They’d rather send away the dangerous lady and keep their lives on a happy, carefree keel.  The men don’t learn until it’s too late that they can’t get their old lives back because they’re not the same anymore.  And maybe they can’t live without that one particular lady.  What will they do to get her back?  And what will it cost them? 

The Forever series, from start to finish, is a roller coaster that takes you over the top and never looks back.  It’s an outrageous, outlandish, modestly bawdy ride to regions where men in love act the way women have always wished they’d act.  It’s a feast of outrageous antics for the price of a combo at Burger King or Wendy’s. 

Besides, I had to do a bundle.  I love bundles.  Unfortunately, I don’t own a Kindle, but when I go to the Sony Store to load up my reader, my first stop is always in the bundle section.  I like the value and the continuity of getting several books in one purchase.  We’ll probably bundle the other 3 I have currently out soon, but 2 are contemporaries (E-mail Enticement, Griffin’s Law) and the other is a Western/Historical (Brotherly).  So the title of that one will be a challenge.  I could borrow from Harlequin and name it “The Tycoon, The Professor and The Cowboy Bundle”.  I could get cute and call it “Bundle – Love, The Law & Cowboy Boots.”  Or I could describe the guys involved and call it the “So Sexy Bundle.”  

All the naming fun of Bundle 2 is for the future, but not too far in the future. I like the value of bundles and hubby knows that there are lots of other ladies like me.  Label something Buy 2 and Get 1 Free and by God, it’s probably going in a woman’s real – or virtual – shopping cart.  And at QA Romances, we want to see lots and lots of our books being read and enjoyed by folks from all over.  If that happens, I might be able to write full time. 

Boy, could I turn out some books if writing was my day job. 

For now I have another day job, and in this economy, I’m lucky to have it.  With prices of everything soaring, I really wanted to put out a bundle at a value price that almost everyone can afford.  And now the Forever Series Bundle is available at Kindle, so I hope that if you own a Kindle or any PC or other device that processes Kindle ebooks, you’ll wheel your virtual cart over and pick up my brand new Bundle. 

At $5.99, like I said, it costs less than a lot of combos at fast food chains.  It has a lot less calories and you’ll enjoy it for a lot longer.  How often do you get to see men in love behaving like you always imagined your man would when he fell in love with you? 

Pick up the Forever Series today.  It’s an indulgence you can afford.

So please allow me to regale you with a tale of an epiphany I had a few days ago.

I was talking with our youngest boy (who loves to talk – not converse, mind you, but talk, as in making noise with his mouth) and I was at my old man best. I was telling him about things he’d never seen in regards to the extended family, because we haven’t visited a lot of them.

One of the phenomena he’d never encountered was the “other” living room. I know this is a widespread thing, because I’ve heard comedians do entire routines on it, and they get laughs every time they talk about it. You don’t make people laugh by telling them things they can’t relate to.

I’ve had a few relatives, usually little old aunts, with two living rooms in their houses. One was the “real” living room, where everybody was welcome and would sit and drink coffee, shoot the breeze, and watch TV.

The “other” living room is cordoned off from everybody. It’s the one where the sofa and all the upholstered chairs are wrapped tight in that weird bumpy see-through vinyl, all the tables are polished to a high gloss, the rugs have fringe that is straightened and parallel, and all the lamps have lace doilies underneath them.

Children, especially small children, are never, ever welcome in the other living room. This makes the other living room extremely enticing to children old enough to understand it is somehow forbidden. But as years wear on, the kids understand they can’t go in because Aunt Fussypants will tell her sister (their mother) and they will get their behinds popped and their toys taken away for an indeterminate amount of time.

But then something strange happens. A close family member dies, maybe Uncle Laughloud or Grandpa Gotcandy, and a bunch of people descend on Aunt Fussypants’ house. She opens up the other living room, where all the adults who enter there sit unnaturally straight and constantly hold onto their small children so they won’t hurt the delicate order of the room.

So if you’re one of those children, you find out the forbidden room is strangely pretty, but it’s cold and you can’t play and you end up going to the real living room to have real fun.

And after everybody leaves, Aunt Fussypants meticulously puts everything back in order and spends lots of time dusting all of the bric-a-brac and knicknacks in the room every week.

Until Aunt Fussypants passes away, at which point the other living room is used for her, and the room’s furniture and decorations are sold or taken away by her relatives. All of the vinyl is removed from the chairs, the tables get smudged with fingerprints, the rug fringe gets all crooked when they’re rolled up, and the doilies get too dusty to be salvaged and are thrown away.

While I told my youngest boy of this phenomenon, it struck me. Perfection truly is the enemy of good in that scenario. Aunt Fussypants created the perfect room – the other living room – but it was never truly enjoyed. It became associated with cold air, death, and somberness, instead of warmth, life, and laughter.

Anytime we try to create the perfect situation and insist that anything short of that perfection is unacceptable, we become Aunt Fussypants. We become somebody obsessed with an unobtainable goal and make a lot of people miserable. Worst of all, we waste a portion of our lives that could be opened up to others to enjoy.

Just like the other living room.