by Summer D Clemenson | Dec 15, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Tilo is the Mistress of Spices. She currently resides in Oakland, California where she sells grocery items and spices, some meant to cure people’s troubles. Her Teacher knew she was too rebellious and independent to be a perfect Mistress but she let her take her place...
by Summer D Clemenson | Dec 14, 2022 | Essential Oils, Life, Marketing, Opinions
Merry Christmas! I wish you Holiday Peace and Joy at this beautiful time of year that is celebrated for many reasons by many types of people and religions and I hope you all feel blessed. I want to tell you a cute story about my cat. I have been using Certified Pure...
by Summer D Clemenson | Dec 13, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Life, Opinions
The first time I read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, I was about 9-years-old. I was visiting my aunt and uncle in Massachusetts and I had brought it along with me. It was a book that my grandmother had bought for my mother and aunt when they were girls. It was the...
by Summer D Clemenson | Dec 12, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Among the brokenness, addiction and poverty there sings a sings a song of strength, family and power on every page of There There a Novel by Tommy Orange. I am glad I found this book as I wandered the isles of the library. The stories of 12 Native American people as...
by Summer D Clemenson | Dec 2, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
When I was growing up one of the very few shows my mother allowed me to watch was Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood and I watched it every chance I got, even through high school. Mr. Roger’s slow speech and gentle way of explaining things was a welcome change of the world...
by Summer D Clemenson | Nov 30, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
The first thing I think of when I think about Jamie Foxx is “ego”. That isn’t a bad thing. My wife, Karen G Clemenson, and I have pretty big egos but we are women and we live in Longview, Washington so we have learned to be creative with how we show them. Foxx, being...
by Summer D Clemenson | Nov 23, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Fuel Your Wellness, Opinions
I first saw this book on the bed at my sister’s house and was interested. Jamie never gives any clues away, so I was totally shocked that The Gospel of Wellness by Rina Raphael was not what I was expecting. I learned a lot, yet I am not sure I was the target market...
by Summer D Clemenson | Nov 17, 2022 | About Summer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions, Wellness
I met with my psychiatrist last Friday and spoke with him about my concerns with things that were happening inside my head that were causing me stress. October through February were the hard months for my custodial parent, so I have a hard time in these months too....
by Summer D Clemenson | Nov 9, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Food, Life, Opinions, Queer Community
…So I was digging through this bag of books my sister gave me and I found this book with colorful pictures and food on the cover and was excited to read it, thinking I would learn a lot about food but was surprised when I learned so much more. Koshersoul: The...
by Summer D Clemenson | Nov 7, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Life, Opinions
I had been reading some really heavy books before I picked up Yoga Pant Nation by Laurie Gelman, so I was looking forward to something light and hopefully funny when I chose this one out of the bag of books I had got from my sister. At first I was little let down by...
by Summer D Clemenson | Nov 4, 2022 | About Summer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions, Prayers & Thanksgiving
I have come to believe, from my own experience, and not from any research, that there are many ways to harmony and balance and wellness hurts sometimes. There are more than one type of wellness and these include: physical, mental, and spiritual wellness and all...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 28, 2022 | About Summer, Chronic Illness, Life
I know a lot of people that have a certain time of year that is more of a struggle for them than others and this is my hard time of the year; October to February were the months that my custodial parent struggled and so that is the time that my hardest memories live...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 26, 2022 | About Summer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions
There are three things I have to be attune to every day to be balanced: God, meds and self-care. Beyond these three things, my activities can vary within a given day, but I have to give a nod to these three things to remain in my best self. I think if I didn’t have...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 20, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
On my last visit to see my sister, Jamie Holloway, she handed me a bag full of books to read. I accepted the challenge, knowing I would pass on these books to new readers when I was done. What a fun contest. One of the books in the bag was bright colored and promised...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 14, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
I recently had the opportunity to read I Will Not Fear My Story of a Lifetime of Building Faith Under Fire by Melba Pattillo Beals and I was so touched by her story. Every moment, it seemed, of this woman’s life was a tribute to faith and strength and it spoke to my...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 13, 2022 | About Summer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions, Wellness
I mentioned coming home in my blog, I Had to Paint my Toenails Today and said it was a process. I was talking about when you have been away from home for a period of time. If I were returning from military deployment, the Military Family Readiness System would...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 12, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
So my wife, Karen G Clemenson, brought this book home from the library and I ended up reading it. There were times it was hard to read because I could feel some of the author’s pain but I am glad I read Madness: A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacker....
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 11, 2022 | About Summer, Cancer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions
Coming home is a process and sometimes each day has only enough spoons for that day and not enough for coming home. My last procedure for my endometrial cancer was in August and I was told to remove my toenail polish, all my jewelry and wash from head to toe with...
by Summer D Clemenson | Oct 10, 2022 | About Summer, Cancer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions
I keep reminding myself that I am here now because it is the truth but my mind keeps slipping back to the past. I keep feeling the cords on me holding me down. I keeping hearing the beeping of the machines. I sometimes feel their hands on me holding me down and...
by Summer D Clemenson | Sep 30, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez starts out with an unlikely love story between a black boy and a Mexican girl but the theme of this story is loss. Loss after loss, piled on top of loss and then more loss. It shows us racism toward black people and Mexicans in a...
by Summer D Clemenson | Sep 29, 2022 | Book & Product Reviews, Opinions
I have always wanted to read Frederick Douglass’ work but I was always put off by the look of his face. He looked like a hard man so I waited. And then I was at the library with my wife, Karen G Clemenson, and she chose Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass An...
by Summer D Clemenson | Sep 28, 2022 | About Summer, Chronic Illness, Life, Opinions
I am reading a book called Madness A Bipolar Life by Marya Hornbacher right now. This book is her story about her life with Bipolar I Disorder and what she went through. I am about half way through the book and although I don’t have Bipolar Disorder I can relate to...