JoJoisms

Writing JoJo-isms

Written By: JoJoisms - Sep• 03•18

My life has come full circle.  I began writing my JoJoisms about communication way back when.  Then, as my life changed, these sayings came to be about every topic under the sun…or at least under my life experience.  (Which is rather prolific!)

I wrote JoJoisms about marriage, parenting, finances, health issues, empty nesting, getting older, and technology.  And now I find myself writing about writing.

Yes, this JoJo is now writing for hire over at Unique Copywriter!  I have a Facebook fan page as well and I’ve been creating my JoJoisms memes for it as well.  Here are just a few:

 

 

 

 

I’ll be back next month with some more JoJoisms!

New JoJoisms Coming Soon!

Written By: JoJoisms - Aug• 03•18

I’ve been busy writing some Purple JoJoisms for my For the Love of Purple Facebook fan page, but I haven’t had time to post them here. Most of them aren’t in my usual JoJoisms format, but here are a few.

I’ll be back at some point to post some new ones I’ve created.  In the meantime, if you’re a purple lover, go like my For the Love of Purple page and join the over 6500 fans there!

JoJoisms fans can now get free fun and MORE!

Written By: JoJoisms - Jun• 07•18

As many of you already know, JoJoisms.com is a member of the Grape Stuff Network of Family Sites. And as a member, we are contributing to the Grape Value News weekly email list!

What does that mean for you?  It means you can get free fun, humor and JoJoisms insights as well as communication tips each week along with the WEEKLY free gifts and special discounts on various items your family needs!  It also means you’ll get all the brand new JoJoisms right to your inbox!

Grape Stuff each and every week for your family!

Just make sure you’re subscribed and that you white list us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make sure you’re subscribed to the Grape Value News mailing list so you don’t miss out on any of our valuable free gifts and discounts for your family!

It’s official! The Big Book of JoJoisms has a registered copyright!

Written By: JoJoisms - Apr• 23•18

I’ve been writing since I was about 9 years old.  I’m now a post menopausal writer who has to color her gray more often so that’s a LOT OF YEARS!

I had never thought about getting a copyright until I began putting my JoJoisms on the mugs we are now selling under the MugXpressions by Grape Stuff brand.

When I filed for a copyright for The Big Book of JoJoisms several months ago, I thought the whole thing was done online. Then this past Saturday, I received an official certificate in the mail stating that I’m the proud owner of all of my JoJoisms to that date that I had compiled in this book!

So, it’s official!  I hold an official copyright for almost 600 JoJoisms that I’ve written over the years!  It’s got an official seal and everything!

As many of you know, JoJo is nuts for purple so most of my Visual JoJoisms have been purple.  I’ve loved purple even longer than I’ve been writing.

My mom tells me I actually turned purple when I was about two weeks old and they were driving me from Colorado, where I was born, to Florida where my dad was next stationed.  He was in the military at that time.  They had to pull over to cool me down as there was no air conditioning in cars at that time.  THAT’s how old I am!  lol  Ever since then, my mom says I’ve loved purple!

How ever my love of purple came about, I’m not the only one who’s nuts for it!  At the same time my JoJoisms were being copyrighted, my For the Love of Purple Facebook fan page was also growing.

From the time I filed the copyright to the time I received this official notification, my page grew by 2000 members and it’s now growing by 2-300 per week!  I’ve actually written several JoJoisms about my love of purple and have written several more since then and turned them into visual format and posted them on my fan page.  Click the link above if you have a purple heart and would like to see more purple JoJoisms!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Make sure you’re subscribed to the Grape Value News mailing list to make sure you get the weekly free gifts, exclusive discounts, and special offers as the newest products will be announced there first. And, since there will be a limited supply and time they will be offered, you’re going to want to know as soon as possible when they are available!

PLUS: You get a free gift just for subscribing!

I’m not worried about death…

Written By: JoJoisms - Apr• 10•18

I’ve seen a lot of social media posts telling believers with chronic health issues to just think positive and remember that we’re going to heaven one day.  I’m sure they mean well, but I’m also sure those that write these haven’t experienced chronic health trails.  They tell me to ignore the present and look to my future.  The problem with that is I can’t ignore my present.  I do a good job of putting it out of my mind and keeping myself busy with my mission, my work, and finding the joy, but there comes times in every Survivor’s life when things of the world take precedence, even for a short time, and we become overwhelmed, fatigued, and frustrated.

I was thinking about that the other day when I saw one of those memes and created this.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m not worried about my eternal soul for I know I’m destined for Heaven.  I know that, in Heaven, there is no pain, or struggle, or tears.  I know that Heaven will be worth all the struggles and trails and frustrations.  I know that I will eventually know a peace I can only dream about here on Earth.

What I worry about is life with its hardships and pains, with its frustrations and difficult decisions.  I’m worried about which path to take, what bills can wait, and how I’ll get through the day.

We are told we are in the world, but not of it, but what many who have not gone through constant trials for so long just don’t understand is, we may not be of the world, but we are still in it.  I don’t worry about my future and I don’t live in the past, but I do struggle in the present.  Partly that’s because it’s here and I can’t escape it and partly because it’s the only thing I can do something about.  If I have the ability to do something, I feel I should be careful in how and what I do.  Having to deal with pain and fatigue and financial stress and business decisions and overwhelm makes that all the more difficult.

I’m not saying we can’t have joy. I’m saying it isn’t all fun and games.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to our mailing list, Grape Value News, for freebies, gifts, and discounts on products/services for your family!

How many of you would like an out of body experience?

Written By: JoJoisms - Apr• 04•18

So the other day I was going through some of the JoJoisms I’d written a while back to see if I had any I felt strongly about making into a visual version.  This one stuck out.

I’m not saying I’m all that old, though my kids would have you believe otherwise.  I’m just saying that on the road through chronic illness, there’s some rest stops along the way that make you feel old.

I was recently taken off my beloved muscle relaxer due to a rapid heart rate and jitters/tremors.  I’m still jittery and my hands shake, but it’s not as bad as it was.  Unfortunately, my dr wants me off the muscle relaxer until I see her again this month.

I’m not happy as I’m not sleeping as well…some days are worse than others. And I’m in more pain during the days. So I FEEL older than I think I should at 55.

I’m over six months past my last (and hopefully FINAL) surgery–this time on my ankle.  I had wanted to start my new exercise program which looks easy and fun and has all the earmarks of something not that difficult for someone whose muscles have grown weak from all the couch potato-ing I’ve been doing. However, just starting the first day of my CD rom, was exhausting.  I’ve tried it twice now and I get fatigued closer to “let’s begin” than I’d like to admit.

I’m going to wait until I see my dr again and see what can be done. In the meantime, I remain your humble, purple, and tired corespondent…who feels like she’d like an out of body experience.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to our mailing list, Grape Value News, for freebies, gifts, and discounts on products/services for your family!

I’m Not Weird; My Doctor Had Me Tested!

Written By: JoJoisms - Mar• 14•18

So the other day, I had to go back to my surgeon for a follow up five months after my ankle surgery.  They took my blood pressure and heart rate and found my resting heart rate was abnormally high. That prompted the nurse to tell me that he was required by law to tell me to call my regular doctor.  Well, that sounded rather ominous, but I thought it was probably a formality.

I got home and did a little research as I was getting increasingly jittery and had a headache as well as having my hands shake more than just after I’d had my coffee.  What I found is that the muscle relaxer I was taking could cause these things and it said to “call your doctor immediately” so, I did.

She saw me very early that morning: BC (Before Coffee) and took me off my muscle relaxer and ordered some blood work.

That was on Friday.  I didn’t expect to hear back from her til the following week, but as this is the technological age, I received an email with the results and her recommendations.  All the blood work was normal (including my cancer markers for the last three months! YAY!!) and she suggested I stay off the muscle relaxers til I see her at my April appointment.

Looking at the paperwork it suddenly occurred to me that there aren’t too many times in my life that I’d been called NORMAL.  Normal.  It just kept echoing in my mind.

Then, later that day, my dh was telling me how weird I was (something entirely unrelated) and my son chimed in as my children often do.  I held up the printout of my blood work and yelled, “I’m not weird.  My doctor had me tested!”  In case you don’t watch The Big Bang Theory, it’s a take off on what Sheldon often says about himself.  “I’m not insane. My mother had me tested.”

That prompted me to create a meme that represented what I saw in my head.  So, here it is…I’m not weird; my doctor had me tested!

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to Grape News to get all these entertaining, fun, and supportive articles for your family PLUS a free gift just for subscribing!

It could only happen to nontechie me!

Written By: JoJoisms - Feb• 21•18

So I needed to update the theme of our newest website, MugXpressionsIt’s the newest member of the Grape Stuff Network of Family Sites.  So I went into the themes and began looking around.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything that I liked.  As I previewed this and that, I found something that looked like it might work.  I tried to customize it only to find I couldn’t. The only clickable link said Activate.  Understanding that Publish was the one used to make it live, I clicked it and began messing around with it.

After a while, I found it really wouldn’t work for me so I went looking for another theme only to find it had actually published and was live.  Well, it didn’t show most of the home page, had all the wrong pictures, and didn’t navigate as it used to, but yes, it was live.  AHHHH!

It’s always a sheer panic when you find the leisurely update you were going to do now has to be done in lightning speed as you just posted something on social media likely to bring in some new viewers.

That was at 10:30am…long about 2:30pm I realized I hadn’t eaten lunch, but at least I had most of the website recreated. Not only did it look good, it looked much better with the new theme than with the old one.

Several hours later about 5pm I was still in my jammies, but the site was just about ready for prime time.  Ever do something like this in a panic?  Technology is a wonderful thing, UNTIL IT ISN’T!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to Grape News to get all these entertaining, fun, and supportive articles for your family PLUS a free gift just for subscribing!

Sanity Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be!

Written By: JoJoisms - Feb• 14•18

This is MY mug!

I wrote this saying from out of all the times I’ve wandered into the family room looking for a sandwich.  I’ve had insomnia since before my son was born–18 years ago.  I’ve tried just about everything, but the only thing that works for me is a muscle relaxer.  It’s used for Fibro pain (which I have also), but has the added side effect of making you sleepy.  I take it at night before bed. Most nights I sleep much longer, though I still get up a few times a night. However, SOME nights are like last week.

I dreamed that Mug Man had to go somewhere and my son was supposed to drive us home from somewhere weird where we’d been for an unspecified period of time.  My son knew the way. I didn’t and it was late so he drove, but we quickly realized he took a wrong turn. So we stopped at a tri-level auto garage to ask for directions.  Leaving the garage, my son, my MIL, and I had to navigate down some steep yet narrow steps that almost resembled a ramp.  My MIL is 93 so I was a bit concerned, but in heartbeat we were in the car traveling down the street when we realized that it was covered with quite uneven ice patches.  I told my son to be careful when suddenly the street became a water slide ride.  Fearing the water would seep into the cabin of the car, it morphed into a Flintstone-esk log car.  After a minute or two, we noticed that the ride hadn’t finished construction yet and so we began yelling for the construction workers to help us.  Dressed as Keystone Cops in rain attire, they just looked at us and smiled.  That’s when I woke up.  Mug Man told me to go back to sleep, but I was not yet ready to finish that ride so I went into the living room to do a bit of social media.

Later, Mug Man couldn’t sleep so he, too, came out to the living room and, both sleepy, but unable to sleep, we sat there looking at each other.  Suddenly, Oatmeal Girl appeared!  She was so proud of herself for making all gone that she had quite a look of pride on her face.  Her father’s face was a bit different as most of the oatmeal was on his daughter’s face. She was especially cute at that moment when a man appeared next to her and told her she was so adorable that he wanted her to be his baby girlfriend.  I wasn’t quite sure I liked the sound of that.  That’s when I woke up.  Mug Man was snoring.

After a few minutes, a large cartoon looking woman dressed in a flowing blue dress with an orange scarf tied around her hair and holding a red bar of soap floated behind the couch. It occurred to me that nobody could float BEHIND the couch as it backs up to the wall.  That’s when I woke up.  That’s also when it finally seemed odd that she would be floating at all.

Looking down at the large pot of hot water that was sitting on the BBQ in the family room, I noticed that, as the pot warmed, the pot became pliable and morphed into a heart shaped pot.  But we don’t have a BBQ in the family room so it was suddenly in the kitchen on the stove.  That’s when I woke up.

I decided that, since I’d been asleep for maybe two hours total and it was already 7:45am, I’d might as well get dressed for church.  I was a bit concerned that I might shower with toothpaste, but it wasn’t IN the shower so-problem averted.  I hadn’t yet had my coffee…which might explain why I almost walked out of the shower before realizing I hadn’t yet washed my hair!

Cyclobenzaprine (muscle relaxer) does warn you that you may have “weird dreams” from time to time.  I think these would fit that description, don’t you? I’ve always said that my life is like a series of comedy sketches and all I do is write them down.  Having had chronic illness for almost 40 years, been married for 31 yrs, and a mom for 27 years, I think that Sanity Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be.  There are times when things are frustrating, but it certainly makes for an interesting life, don’t you think? 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to Grape News to get all these entertaining, fun, and supportive articles for your family PLUS a free gift just for subscribing!

How’d it get to February so soon?

Written By: JoJoisms - Feb• 07•18

Does anyone else have the sinking feeling that life is just running by them at 120 MPH and the world is a blur or is it just me?

It’s February 2018 already!  Does anyone else still feel like it’s 2017?  Or maybe even 2010? LOL

In the last few years, I’ve had five surgeries, lived in two homes, and had my last kidling graduate from high school.  We will soon be a kidless home…an empty nest.

I think the thing that has made this seem even faster has been the amount of work I’ve picked up over the last few months that I’ve been recuperating from foot surgery.

I went from writing one blog, this one, to writing SIX blogs and TWO newsletters.  JoJoisms is where I’m writing my humor and oddities. The  Art of Eloquence blog is for communication issues I write once a month. Then there’s our Adventures of Mug Man and Java Jo monthly, and the Life Beyond Surviving one that shares my heart for those going through trials.  That one is weekly.  In addition to those blogs, I have one that shares weekly family things as this is our parent company, Grape Stuff.  Then I have two weekly newsletters in addition to those.

I’m having trouble keeping everything straight so I actually created a three ring purple binder called the Grape Stuff Operations Manual.  And, yes, I have to refer to it in order to remind myself when and what I’m supposed to post where.  Read that sentence again, it’ll make more sense.  LOL

At the time of this typing, I’m done with all ten of my blog posts for the month.  Ok this makes 11.  I still have to write eight newsletter posts and schedule them, but it’s now 3:06pm and I find that I’m still in my pjs so I think I’ll go clean myself up, stir the chicken mole in the crockpot and leave sleeping newsletters lie…until tomorrow.

I just wanted to say that I think I now know why you seem to age faster after the age of 50.  My theory is that life goes by fairly slowly until you reach adulthood.  Then, life speeds up just a tad picking up speed at the turn of the half century until you wake up one day and can actually watch your skin sag as you look at your reflection in the mirror…or is that just me?

Well, I can’t say I’m too disappointed.  Saggy and baggy is a much better alternative than the one I might have had-had I not had a doctor naggy who got me to go in for testing that avoided the cancer.  So…if I had a tail at this moment, it would be waggy.  😀

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Subscribe to our mailing list and get our weekly/monthly wrap up with links to all the Grape News for your family!