An Excerpt from Happiness Recipe: Whippin’ up happiness with wit, wisdom and wonderful food

We are pleased to bring to our readers an excerpt from Happiness Recipe: Whippin’ up happiness with wit, wisdom and wonderful food by the talented duo  June Cline and Sandy Weaver Carman. These women always lend a hand to HO writers and authors so it’s our turn to do the same.  This excerpt is the interview they did with our own Cathy Sikorski.  Learn how commitment equals happiness, how nourishment of your soul makes you happy, how to let go of yukky to get to yummy and many more personal happiness recipes from the book’s guest authors. We couldn’t post the entire chapter, but you can buy the book on Amazon in Kindle format or go to HappinessRecipe.net to purchase it in print form.

Confessions of a Serial Caregiver – Cathy Sikorski

Cathy Sikorski didn’t mean to become a caregiver – she’s an attorney. She didn’t seek it out, but in service to her Nana, she realized she had a talent, a skill and a hunger that needed feeding. Voila – a serial caregiver was discovered and one of the funniest blogs online was born!

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Cathy: By trade, for the last 30 years, I’ve been an attorney. I practice in a very small town in southeastern Pennsylvania, where I grew up. I have been mostly in elder law for the past 15 or 20 years and partly because….not only were my clients old family and friends, but I found out that over the years I apparently have this knack for being a caregiver. I have, for the last 25 years, been a caregiver for 6 or 7 relatives and friends who have either had a chronic illness or needed me because they are elderly. So that great job led me to write my book about caregiving and also start my blog, “You just have to laugh” about the comedy of caregiving.

( Showering with Grandma is Cathy’s working title and the book when released this spring by HOPress will be titled Showering with Nana.)

Sandy: Okay. Well tell us the title of your book because I don’t even want to try and say it because I am going to get it wrong (laughing).

Cathy: The title of my book is Showering with Grandma, confessions of a serial “killer” and that’s crossed out and then caregiver. Confessions of a serial, not really killer, caregiver.

June: Now how did you come up with that one?

Cathy: With my title?

June: Yeah. Are you showering with Grandma?

Cathy: Well, I am actually a serial caregiver, but often I could maybe be a serial killer (laughing).

June: On any given day.

Cathy: Yeah, it’s hard, it’s hard.

June: Well it is and we were reading your bio and looking at some of your information and it does sound like you just attract these people. I mean you just keep…there’s one after the other after the other. Is that by design or faith?

Cathy: I don’t really know why, but I was just telling someone that there were only 2 things in my life I never wanted to be, one was an accountant and the other was a nurse. My mother’s a nurse and my sister’s a nurse and I clearly just never wanted either of those jobs and as a caregiver those are probably your two primary jobs.

Sandy: Right.

June: You are an accountant and a nurse.

Sandy: So what you pushed against became yours.

Cathy: Yeah, isn’t that interesting?

June: Isn’t that what they say that whole “woo woo” thing where you bring about what you think about?

Cathy: I try not to think about it (laughing).

Sa ndy: Well is it as bad as you feared it would be?

Cathy: No, no. You know, honestly, as hard as caregiving is, there is certainly an element of giving back always feels good, doesn’t it?

Sandy & June: Yes

Cathy: When you give in some way, you always feel better. So yes, there’s a big part of me that is happy about that and quite frankly, didn’t I discover some talents that I was probably suppressing? Yeah, so that’s good.

Sandy: So who was your first caregiver victim?

Cathy: My victim was my grandmother who is 92 and she’s the subject of my book, “Showering with Grandma.”

June: Is that Nana?

Cathy: That was my nana. She was 92 and she came to live with me and my husband and my two year old. That book is a diary of the six-month adventure of those two basically ganging up on me.

June: What did that look like when they both start ganging up?

Cathy: It was really…antics every day. Can I just share one little story with you?

Sandy: Share as many as you would like.

Cathy: Okay. So one day I decided to take them to the mall…actually I did that a lot of days because she started in the winter and this is how we kept them, you know, entertained and got them tired. So I decide to take them Easter dress shopping cause it’s March, February, March…something like that and we get to the mall and of course my nana, at 92, is not very interested in new haute couture. But the 2 year old had a completely different point of view. We tried on every single dress you can imagine, in that store including the leftover red velvet with the fur muffs from Christmas. And of course that is what she wanted and my nana and I are trying to convince her no-no, it’s for Easter. It’s going to be spring. It will be hot. So my little toddler, Heidi Klum, picked something appropriate. I hightail it back home just in time for nap time, because girls you never miss nap time when you have a 2 year old and a ninety two year old.  http://www.happinessrecipe.net/confessions-serial-caregiver/

 

 

The Happiness Recipe is a radio show where we explore the secret to a successful, less-stressful, happier life. Hosts June Cline, CSP and Sandy Weaver Carman share their wit, wisdom and wonderful food with you. But that sharing goes both ways – they want to hear from you, too, plus there’s a guest each week, sharing their own Happiness Recipes.

So just who are June Cline, CSP and Sandy Weaver Carman?June-Sandy-102314_0039T-ZF-7327-19560-1-001-300x258

Southern, sassy and savvy June Cline, CSP (that stands for Certified Speaking Professional) is an inspirational humorist and President of her company, Center for Laughing and Learning. Her unique philosophy has been implemented in many major companies, such as Toyota, BellSouth, Siemens, and a slew of other names you’d recognize. All have benefited from her ability to teach them the difference between fun and frivolity. She teaches the ROI of LOL, and corporate cultures may never be the same again – and that’s a Happiness Recipe, for sure!

Creative, compassionate and crazy, in a fun sort of way, Sandy Weaver Carman is a radio professional and President of her company, Voicework on Demand, Inc. As an audio producer, she partners with writers, speakers, trainers and coaches, taking work they’ve already done and turning it into a revenue river. As a speaker and award-winning author, she’s helped thousands of people understand, use and succeed with the life lessons her own mom taught her. Working with companies like ABC, Emmis, Viacom, Clear Channel, Cox and more, Sandy has honed her Happiness Recipe and delights in sharing it.

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