Step 28: Love Used Books

If you place your nose directly into the center
of a worn and used book-
not an inch above the page
but close
close enough to let the words dance into your body in a deep breath-
you can smell the story of a story.

You can smell the child's crayon
let loose on the pages of a parent's book
or the youthful grumblings
of required reading and book reports.

You can smell the warm coffee spilt and stained
in a bizzarre shape across page 162
as the reader popped up to answer the ringing phone,

or the frantic highlighting and underlining
of the college student determined to get an A,

or the dust of death which left a book
in a brown box under the stairs
until found years later by grandchildren,

and the quiet exchange of words on a page
as lovers read a book aloud in a green park
amidst the high rises and hustle of the city-

all kept alive between two dissolving covers,
between a beginning and an end,
the story within a story.

Step 27: Have and Keep Traditions

It is an old German tradition that eating pork and sauerkraut on New Year's Day will give you good luck throughout the year. So every New Year's Day, my family bakes up a pork roast and kraut to engage in the traditional feast of our ancestors.

However, this year was different. We had eaten a ton of food over Christmas. We had chocolates and raspberry tarts and mashed potatoes soaked in butter and piles of meat and more chocolates and more raspberry tarts. We were exhausted by the food we had eaten. After eating a thousand bagel bites and cheese sticks on New Year's Eve, we just didn't have it in us to eat that New Year's Day good luck meal. We decided to scrap the annual feast and try to digest the food we'd eaten the year before.

This was a big mistake. Our luck had finally run out. On Wednesday, January 27, our laundry room caught fire. Not just a baby fire. A real fire. With fire trucks and police. And smoke. And everything ruined. My family cannot even return to the home because of the smoke damage. It would be harmful for the kids to breathe in the air.

The moral of this story is: If it's not broke, don't fix it. Pork and kraut had been working for us for a long time. We had no business messing with century old wisdom. Sometimes you just have to force the food down even when your tummy is full.

Step 26: Appreciate the Good Works of Others

After a long day of school and work, I often like to kick back and relax by watching a half hour or so of whatever is on TV. Generally this would include whatever trashy reality show or countdown that is VH1, the Real World or something of the likes on MTV, E! True Hollywood Stories, or some version of Law and Order on USA or TNT.

Beginning fall of 2009, a new show was added to the normal relaxation line-up: Extreme Home Makeover on CMT. It started small for me; I only wanted to see the end of the show when they would "MOVE THAT BUS!" so that I could see the final result. Then I began to want to know more about the family's dire situation. By November it was my go-to show, and I was pissed if I missed the beginning therefore missing the entire family story. And every time, without fail, I cry a few small tears when the family first sees their brand new house. Whether I truly am touched for the family or I feel short changed because no one built a free house for me, I am not sure, but either way, it's an emotional moment for me.

So turn off your VH1 countdown, your Real World, your E! True Hollywood Stories, and start to appreciate the good works of others. Watch Extreme Home Makeover on CMT.

Step 25: Be Thankful

I know that people are normally thankful around Thanksgiving, but I feel like Christmas and New Year's is just as good a time to give thanks. So, that's exactly what I would like to do: Give thanks to everyone who made my Christmas this year the best Christmas.

(the whole Neeley clan minus mom, dad, and Ryan on Christmas morning)

Dad - Thanks for resembling a person who is sane this year. It really made a difference. Also thanks for paying for all of the presents that mom bought for us. You're the best.
Mom - Thanks for making bagel bites on New Year's Eve. They were delicious.
Sarah - Thanks for asking everyone in the family a billion times if they REALLY did like the present you gave them. That never gets old.
Robbie - Thanks for being obsessed with blueray players.
Ryan - Thanks for keeping everyone safe. We missed you this year.
JoAnna - Thanks for sleeping in the room that resembles a dungeon instead of my room.
Josh - Thanks for getting those crazy eyes now and then. It makes me nervous and excited at the same time.
Victoria - Thanks for getting married. It was a great way to buy extra things for ourselves with mom and dad's money with the excuse of "it's for the wedding."
Justin - Thanks Pending...
Steven - Thanks for playing an hours worth of Beatles Rock Band on vocals while singing in falsetto. I thought it was a joke at first, but it wasn't.
Eleanor - Thanks for looking like a hot, hot babe at Victoria's wedding.
Ruthe - Thanks for not clawing my eyese out. I always suspect that you might at any moment, so I'm glad that you never did.
Alex - Thanks for going comando to your physical. That was the best story I heard all Christmas.
Amber - Thanks for saying Margot about fifty times a day (no exaggeration). And thanks for saying hobo fifty times a day mom told you to stop saying Margot.
Olivia - Thanks for being just all around cute all the time. And for having pet rocks.

Step 24: Hate Marriage

Everyone in my family is getting married. It's the worst; I hate it. Big time. Not only is everyone getting married and taking money that could be used for more Christmas presents for me, but they are also kicking me out of my room. Since there are only limited number of rooms with queen/king sized beds in them, mine being one of them, I am being booted into a room with my little sisters. So from December 23rd to January 5th, I will be bunking with the little girls. Because apparently, that's what I am: I a little, un-married girl. Thanks, mom and dad.

Step 23: Love Your Mom No Matter What

Mom- I love you even though you are holding a killing machine in your Landsend overalls.

Love,

Liz

Step 22: Be On Team Steve Weibe

So, I finally watched the movie King of Kong: A Firstful of Quarters. It was delightful. For those of you who have not seen this movie, it is a documentary about people fighting for World Records in video game scores. Not modern video games, but old arcade video games. The movie centers around the fight for the top spot of the game "Donkey Kong." A man named Billy Mitchell had held the record since he was a kid and thinks that this makes him a badass. He is actually a huge loser who sells chicken wing sauce and whose wife will be ugly no matter how tan she gets or how big he makes her breasts.

ANYWAYS, Steve Weibe is just a nice guy from Washington. He has a wife and kids, but no job. He has experienced a lot of failure in his life. Steve is just the coolest guy. He isn't a freak like the rest of the gamers. Steve has a lot of extra time on his hands and starts playing Donkey Kong. He gets good and breaks Billy's record. Billy and his people are then on a crusade to discredit Steve's score. It's an excellent movie.

If you want to be me, you must watch this movie and then swear that you will spit on Billy Mitchell's face if you ever see him. He is a jerk and a butthole.

Go Steve Weibe!