Welcome to this month’s edition of Where Bloggers Live. It’s kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…Bloggers! Who doesn’t like to peek behind the scenes and see inside people’s homes, interests, and lives? Every month a group of seven bloggers share their work-spaces, homes, towns, and thoughts, with posts based on specific prompts. It’s been so interesting over the years to see the different ways each of us interpret the topics.

Let me preface this post by saying…I Do Not Care for Advice. Well, unsolicited advice. And there have been precious few people in my lifetime whose advice I have solicited.

Maybe it’s my stubborn streak, but it just irks me to have someone “suggest” that they know what’s better for me than I do. And I especially dislike when people GIVE (unasked for) advice and then get annoyed when you don’t take it. HARUMPH, they say, I Was Just Trying to Help!

And I have no problem asking for advice when there is someone whose opinion I respect. And who really understands all the facets of whatever issue for which I’m seeking advice.

All That Said (by Cranky Bettye), I have received several gems of wisdom over my lifetime…and these I will share with you (as well as the worst advice I ever got).

Interestingly, these were all from my mother.

In regard(s) to umbrellas…it’s always better to have it and not need it…than to need it and not have it.

Obviously, this can apply to many other things as well: a jacket, a toothbrush, credit card, passport, etc.

Of course, I am also the person who is always lugging around a 10lb bag, so…sometimes you have to weigh your options (and I do have a small telescoping umbrella in my 10lb bag).

PS: Koreans love an umbrella. Sun, rain, snow, they’ve got an umbrella. On hot days it gives them shade…on rainy or snowy days, it keeps them dry. I’m amazed that “umbrella in the snow” just never even occured to me, but it makes perfect sense.

At the movie theater, always sit in an aisle seat, that way if a tall person sits in front of you, you can still lean into the aisle to see the screen.

BRILLIANT, MAYME. She probably told me that when I was in my teens and I live by it to this day.

There are other perks to the aisle seat: not having to crawl over people to get out for food or bathroom, if there are annoying people in your row, you can easily get up and move, if there’s a fire you’re the first one out.

And now for the, uhm, I don’t know that it’s really “bad advice,” she probably meant it as advice, but it was actually just a mean thing to say to your child. That you gave birth to.

The back-story is I was leaving to go on a weekend church retreat (hey, they had a fun youth group) with friends and my 2-years my senior boyfriend. And literally as I was walking out the door to get in his car, she grabbed me by the elbow and hissed at me…

That’s him, ha ha.

Don’t forget – it only takes a minute and it can ruin your life forever.

Thanks, Mayme. Advice? Sure. I understand she was warning me of the dangers of sex ending up in a teen pregnancy. But seriously, don’t say to your CHILD that getting pregnant “can ruin your life forever.” This was sort of a theme of hers anyway, so I may be particularly sensitive to this wording.

So MY advice is…Don’t Say Cruel Things to Your Children Under the Guise of Helpfulness.

PS: I don’t generally give advice unless asked.

Visit my friends’ blogs as well, to see if they have any good advice for you!

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks
Em at Dust and Doghair
Iris at Iris’ Original Ramblings
Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style
Leslie at Once Upon a Time Happily Ever After
Sally at Within a World of My Own