Blurb
Do Your Laundry, or
You’ll Die Alone: Advice Your Mom Would Give if She Thought Your Were Listening
When Becky Blades sent her firstborn daughter off to Harvard, she
knew the world’s top ranked college would not be covering the most important
material: How to be kind, happy and appropriate in public . . . how to protect
oneself from sock monsters, boring conversations and scary dates . . . why to
keep the clothes clean.
So the day before classes started, Blades e-mailed a good-bye
letter with motherly advice she had kept to herself for a year.
With warmth, wit, and a hint of motherly sass,Blades blended bite-sized
morsels of coming-of-age common sense such as “Keep at least one stuffed
animal,” and “A bad attitude makes your butt look big,” with tiny essays on
topics like forgiveness and phone etiquette.
Just in time for her youngest daughter’sgraduation from high
school, Blades illustrated the prose with her signature mixed media artwork,
creating a thought provoking, conversation-starting book.
The perfect gift from mother to daughter or from friend to friend,
Do
Your Laundry Or You’ll Die Alone is wise counsel for women of all ages,
reminding us to trust our instincts and to show our dreams who’s boss.
Becky Blades is a writer, artist, business strategist
and philosopher of creative, adventurous living. Her blog, stARTistry.com, celebrates the art of beginning, touching on topics
from art to social change.
Becky has started 2,865 projects and finished 27.
Among the unfinished are two almost-launched daughters, proving her point that
it’s not what you finish, it’s what you stART.
She lives in Kansas City with her husband of 30 years,
Cary Phillips, and her Maytag front load washing machine.
Favorite Advice But what you cannot find on the internet is your mother’s
voice
There’s nothing WORSE than a smart GIRL who acts dumb.
It’s worse than a dumb girl.
MAKE something EVERY DAY.
Make a meal or a joke or a scarf or a poem. Make a
notecard or a paper doll or a dress for yourself. Make a face or a friend or a
Facebook friend. Creating is your birthright, and celebrating your creativity
reminds you of your unique place in the world.
FAKE It ’tIL YOU MAKE It.
GIVE MONEY OR help to whomever you think needs it. Don’t spend
too much time agonizing over whether your gift to the begging woman on the
corner will be spent on a bottle for a baby or a bottle for her. The decision
to give is a decision between you and God. What she does with it is between her
and God.
Sweet secrets are winks between you and God and remind
you of your pure goodness and strength.
Don’t put OFF starting something
Because YOU aren’t SURE YOU can
Finish It. If you get the urge to begin something – an
article, a social movement, a letter to your mom – goes ahead and starts it.
The creative energy is strongest at the inception of the idea, and when you get
momentum going, you might just find the time and resources to take it all the
way.
Only one thing is sure to keep you from finishing it: Not
starting.
When YOU’RE happy, Tell YOUR face about It. When you’re
not, don’t let your face be your tell.
Choose YOUR battles., the fewer the better. Life is not
war.
The quality OF YOUR FRIENDS can DEFINE the quality OF
YOUR LIFE.
Remember, however, to be AFRAID
OF the truly scary things: of losing your curiosity, of
bruising your hope, and of developing bunions, which will severely limit your
footwear choices.
What a great little book! I've already told my daughter,
friend, and sister in law some of the advice Becky tells you about.
As a mom we want the best for our kids and this book
covers so much. Funny or serious, there are so many words of wisdom in this
book.
This is the perfect gift for anyone with a child, best
friend, sister, or even mother, especially a new mother. I would have loved to
have this book when my daughter was a baby, it would have been a good book to
look at when my daughter had a problem and I needed an answer that would really
impact her enough to remember.
It's a feel good book that made me smile!
I would recommend this book to anyone who has a woman in their
life.
FIVE ADVICE FAIRIES
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