An exciting new opportunity...

has come along and I am looking forward to my new adventure.  Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am a die hard card sender and letter writer.  Throughout my formative years, I had it drilled into my head that thank-you notes and writing a proper letter were not only polite - it was the right thing to do.  I'm fifty-four and I'm still doing it.  About ten years ago, I started making my own cards (after having spent a good portion of my life keeping Hallmark in business!) and I not only love indulging my creative side, I am so pleased when the recipients of my little handmade greetings tell me how much it meant to them that I cared enough to send them a personal note.  When I started my own business five years ago (has it been that long?) I decided to make birthday and Christmas cards for all of my clients as a means of keeping in touch throughout the year.  Cards are an excellent marketing tool - and receiving a real, hold-it-in-your-hand card makes people feel good.  But - and there is a but - I will have to admit that the last two years of making over three hundred Christmas cards has really taken its toll on me - both in terms of the work and the drudgery of making so many identical cards.  In fact, I hated the design for the cards I made last year.  Earlier this year, I switched to printing birthday postcards - more cost-effective in terms of time and postage.  After tax season, I was even considering discontinuing my client marketing completely.

Enter my friend Joy and Send Out Cards.  She sent me a lovely card to introduce me to the concept and the business.  Signing up was tempting - but would my clients feel that my keeping in touch with them had lost its personal touch?  I decided to try it for a month on my friends and see what I thought.  Well, it's like this: I love it!  The response I got was overwhelming.  I started to re-think the client marketing thing.

I am not, by nature, a joiner.  A couple of years ago, I joined Melaleuca at the urging of my friend, Richard, who loved the products and thought I would, too.  He was right - I love the products and I continue to use them.  I didn't join the organization with the expectation of making a lot of money; I joined because I liked the products, wanted to use them, and won't recommend anything to anyone that I haven't used and like myself.  If I think something has value, is economical and adds to the quality of my life, I am more than willing to share my experience with people I think will benefit.

The other day Richard came over to put a curtain rod up for me.  That's a long, funny story about oddball rod bracket design and two intelligent people who couldn't see the obvious, but I'll do a post about that when I have some photos of the finished valance to share.  But I digress...  While he was here, we had lunch and he was telling me about the new real estate office where he'd moved his brokers' license.  Hmmm, I thought, a potential application for Send Out Cards as a marketing tool.  I told him a little bit about the company and he seemed receptive; I gave him the DVD that Joy had sent me so that he would watch it, too.  Later that evening, my phone rang.  Richard was totally impressed and was ready to sign up.  Wasn't I going to sign up as a Marketing Distributor so that he could sign up as my downline?  At that point, I hadn't made up my mind yet.  I forwarded him an email that Joy had sent me with a link to another video to watch and suggested that he sign up under Joy's number.

We agreed to talk more about everything later.

Joy is an encourager.  She spoke with Richard and answered his questions - but they both believed, and told me, that this was an opportunity that I should not let pass me by.  I was really on the fence about taking on a new business venture until Joy said something that resonated with me:  "Quite honestly, you are being handed a gift here and it would be smart to take it. It doesn't always happen that way. I asked Richard and I believe he would like for you to be in SOC as a distributor. He is ready and sees the potential with this."  That made up my mind - and boosted my confidence.  I decided to take a leap of faith and signed up.  With all this encouragement, how could I not?  Next I signed up one of my bookkeeping clients for the monthly service, and then Richard signed up as a Marketing Distributor.  So far, so good.  I'm not concentrating on the financial aspect of this new business right now - I'm concentrating on people and sharing a product I know they can benefit from using.  I already know from my bookkeeping and tax business that if you provide people with good service, you will be rewarded accordingly.

I am excited about what Send Out Cards has to offer.  You can check it out yourself by clicking here.  It's a great service, combining technology with an old-fashioned, personal greeting card in that special someone's mailbox.

Or a client - however you choose to use it.

When things get to be too much...

It's only human to have a little meltdown.  I don't know if being cooped up at home finally got to me, or the looming car repair bill, or having to ask people to drive me around for the past three weeks - but when the mechanic finally told me today that I needed to take Ray to yet another repair shop, I finally gave in to the tears I've been struggling to hold back for the past couple of days.  I felt defeated and alone.  Just when I thought things were on an even keel and I was doing all right emotionally and financially - I encountered yet another challenge to overcome.  I pulled myself together long enough to find, after several fruitless phone calls, an old Isuzu dealership in Venice that could help me - and Ray Isuzu.  By the time I hung up, it was too late to call AAA to arrange for Ray to be towed to Venice, so I'll have to do that tomorrow.  I was still feeling incredibly stressed out and so like the very human person that I am I cried, yelled at no one in particular and cried some more.  I decided that I had just about enough for one day so I turned the ringer off on the phone and retired to the sofa with Aggie and Peter for some unconditional pet love and sympathy.  When I had calmed down enough to try a more prayerful attitude, I realized that things were really not so bad.  I mean, there are rebuilt and after market parts available, the service manager at the dealership told me that his Isuzu mechanics had been working on those vehicles for fifteen years and they had all the software necessary to reprogram my car.  The repair bill still isn't in my budget, but miraculously, one of my deadbeat clients came and paid me half the balance he's owed me for a year and when I checked my voice mail, one of my favorite clients, Robert Redford (I'm not kidding - that's his name), called and wants to bring me his last two years worth of taxes.  I have to work at the tortilleria on Wednesday, so I'm more than halfway to being able to afford $800 to repair Ray - and that's a worst case scenario.  While my meltdown certainly seemed to relieve the pent up frustration and stress I was experiencing, I only really felt better after I sat quietly and gave my cares to Someone bigger than me.  It seems that I can never remember the words of Psalm 46:10 when I need them most: "Be still and know that I am God."

Time to read is a gift...

that I am really grateful for this quiet time of year.  While I still haven't completely caught up from tax season, I'm working on it and I've taken advantage of a few phone-free hours to indulge my inner bibliophile.  I read the latest in the Isabel Dalhousie series from the wonderful Alexander McCall Smith and while it's not a murder mystery, it's still a mystery.  It's a gentle sort of story - that's the only way I can describe The Forgotten Affairs of Youth.  A couple of ongoing plot issues are resolved, a couple of new ones are introduced and Isabel helps a young woman find her biological father.  Or so she thinks.  As always, I recommend anything by this wonderful author and this book is no exception.

Eleven-year-old sleuth, Flavia deLuce is back in I Am Half-sick of Shadows, the fourth mystery in Alan Bradley's series set in 1950s England.  Christmas is coming and Colonel deLuce has rented out Buckshaw, their crumbling country estate, to a film company in the hope of boosting the ever-dwindling family fortune.  Of course, there is a murder and Flavia is determined to expose the killer - and maybe catch Santa Claus while she's at it.  A fun read, but still not nearly as good as Flavia's debut in The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie.

And finally, rounding out today's reviews: Major Pettigrew's Last Stand - a delightful first novel by Helen Simonson.  The retired (and widowed) major lives somewhere south of London in the small village of Edgecombe St. Mary.  Sounds vaguely Christie-esque, doesn't it?  Mrs. Ali is the widow of the Pakistani shopkeeper in the village.  The two strike up an unlikely friendship; will it turn to romance?  You'll have to read it and see - it's a lovely little book and I am looking forward to Simonson's next novel.

Isn't it amazing...

how one little part is integral in making a vehicle run?  Ray and I had a small near-meltdown this morning when he suddenly died at the post office - in the drive-through mailbox lane.  I deposited my envelopes and as I pulled forward, he went slower... slower... slower and then refused to move at all.  When I tried to restart Ray's engine, all I heard was click, click, click.  After a momentary wave of panic - and flash of deja vu to my dead twelve-year-old Expedition a couple of years ago, I took a deep breath and calmed down.  This is not the worst thing that has ever happened to me, I thought.  Not by a long shot.

Fortunately, I have AAA and I called them for assistance.  After a fashion, that is.  My cell phone, which I rarely use, was not cooperating and the AAA lady hung up on me three times because she couldn't hear me.  I finally got through and then the idiots people who had begun to congregate behind me started honking and yelling obscenities at me and poor, dead Ray.  I mean, honestly, do you really think anyone would actually choose to block traffic at the exit of a one-lane postal drop off?  A nice man did try to help me before the tow truck arrived, but he determined that it was probably the alternator and that I did indeed need a professional's help.  I also called Ariela, bless her heart, who came and picked me up and we followed the tow truck to her husband's friend's garage.  Jose said he'd check it out and to come back in an hour.  We retired to the nearby Burger King for a chat and a mango smoothie - so the morning wasn't a total loss.  After picking up Baby at the preschool, we check backed with the garage; it was indeed a worn-out alternator.  And praise be to heaven, the battery was fine!

Payroll and piles of old files awaited me at the Tortilleria - my new weekly venture away from my cozy home office - so Ariela dropped me off.  The mechanic said that Ray would be ready by three, so it gave me a few hours to get some work done and find a ride to pick up my little SUV.  After sweltering for four hours in a small, poorly ventilated room with several tortilla ovens and conveyors operating around the corner, I finally threw in the towel and called Richard to hitch a ride to pick up good, old, trusty Ray the Isuzu Rodeo.  A few minutes later, I saw his mini-van outside and off we went.  By the time I got home, I was hot, worn out and $200 poorer, but Ray was running like a champ.  His alternator worked fine for ten years - or at least for the last two he's been with me, so it was just time for a new one.  Years ago, I would have freaked out at the sort of day I had today - but I've learned to be thankful for small things.  Today I was grateful for AAA, for my friends who were willing to give of their time and gas, and for being able to afford an emergency car repair.  Life is good.

An unexpected gift...

from one of my clients made my day today.  I went to see my tortilleria client early this morning to help him prepare some background information he needs for an appointment with an attorney on Monday morning.  It's a long, long story about attempting to buy an enormous quantity of corn flour.  I admire his determination to make his business succeed - and I hope he prevails in this matter.  Which is pretty silly, if you ask me - the man just wants to buy flour at a decent price so he can keep the cost of his consumer product reasonable.  The big, bad flour company only wants to sell him the amount they think can actually use.  What do they care what he does with it, as long as he pays them for their product?  Anyhow, it's a big mess and he wanted to get his information in order and create a sort of timeline for the attorney.  That's where I come in - putting stuff in order.  Anyhow, I had also finished another large project for him and I had a whole pile of things for him to sign.  Looking at the stack of paper I brought with me, he said, "I want to buy you a new printer cartridge.  I'll send one of the ladies to Office Depot to get one.  Let's call and make sure they have the one you need."  I was gobsmacked - it was like something (or Someone) told him I really needed a toner cartridge.  Honestly, I was nursing the old one along, shaking it to get all the toner I could out of it, hoping it would hold out until I'd done the first few tax returns and could afford to order a new one.  Of course, I said he didn't need to do that.  But he insisted.  A little voice in my head said, Just be thankful and when you see that can help someone out, go ahead and do it.  We finished up the timeline, he signed the paperwork and I showed him how to do his weekly Sam's Club order online so he could just pick it up at the store instead of having to waste time shopping.  And then, bless his heart, he paid me a hundred dollars besides.  I am humbled by his kindness and generosity and I see several loaves of banana and pumpkin bread in his future.  I don't know what I have done to deserve such great clients, but I am truly thankful for them and they work they give me to do.

I have absolutely no idea why...

I am always so happy when Friday arrives.  It's not like I've had some stressful, harrowing work week that is in dire need of a weekend.  Actually, every day is just about like any other for me - a few phone calls, some paperwork, some more paperwork, check the e-mail, still more paperwork, a final few phone calls and then it's time to snuggle up with Aggie & Peter on the sofa with a book.  Or I write for a while.  I am blessed with a relatively calm existence - for which I am very grateful, believe me.  The other day when I was out doing errands, I saw a sign with a statement that I have thought about quite a lot since: Beware the barrenness of a busy life.  Think about it; have you ever been so busy that you felt like you couldn't take on one more thing?  I have and in retrospect, those were the most miserable days of my life.  And those days went on for decades.  Over the past several years, I have learned to say no, respectfully decline requests, not answer the phone and generally ignore those social obligations in which I have no real interest.  Those uber-busy people who are out there dazzling their peers (or so they think) with their ability to multi-task and juggle a million obligations are probably secretly unhappy and wondering why their inner lives are so empty.  I am so thankful that I have finally learned contentment and that it is perfectly okay to just say no, to ignore a knock at the door or a ringing telephone, take a nap, read a book and to just do the best I can without sacrificing my sanity.  Yes, I'm thankful it's Friday, but tomorrow I'll be just as happy that it's Saturday...

I love the first day...

of a new month, don't you?  And it's even better if the first falls on a Monday - I don't know why - just the possibilities of a new month, starting on the first workday of a new week, I guess.  New months are especially exciting in the fall because of the feeling of renewal, at least for me.  The weather is cooler and then there's the anticipation of the holidays.  I am filling my fall cornucopia with gratitude for all of my many blessings. 

 

Oh, and Halloween candy is on sale for half-price at WalMart.  Just saying.

Blogging blahs...

To borrow my friend Linda's words, I've been suffering from the blogging blahs.  I started out 2011 with good intentions and then I'm not quite sure what happened.  Life, I guess.  I was thinking today about things in general and I realize that over the past few months I've spent more than a little time ruminating over what I've lost rather than being thankful for everything I have.  I haven't written a word in my gratitude journal in a couple of months and that's not like me.  I know that I am the one who has to choose happiness - it is not automatically going to come my way.  When I started blogging, it was my attempt at choosing happiness during a particularly low time in my life - it made me think of something positive, uplifting or even funny to write about every day.  I'm determined to get back to that.  Yes, indeed-y.  And so in that spirit, this morning I perused the craigslist antique ads.  That's right - a major source of entertainment for me, as I've mentioned in the past, is the horrific grammar and spelling that runs rampant on craigslist.  And, in case you've been wondering about the photo above, I found an hilarious one this morning:  Bainet Authentic $150.  Puzzling, huh?  I always let my imagination run a bit before I click on the link - it's more fun that way.  What could this person mean?  An authentic beignet?  That didn't make any sense.  Something from Haiti?  There is a town called Bainet in Haiti - but I couldn't imagine what sort of antique would come from there.  A bonnet, perhaps?  I clicked the link and imagine my surprise when this is what I saw:

A bayonet.  Honestly, this person wasn't sure if he was advertising a doughnut or a weapon.  And $150 for a glorified knife?  It just goes to show you that anyone can operate a computer these days whether they are literate or not.  He probably even owns a dinning table.  Made of mehoggenie.

P.S.  And I just noticed that I have two new followers - so I guess I'd better get back to blogging - a few people really are interested in my recipes, book reviews, craft ideas, movie picks and general smart-aleckiness.

Who'd have thought it?

I want...

a decadent chocolate cupcake.  I'd settle for a Hershey bar.  I want to take a nap.  I want to go to the movies and get a big tub of buttered popcorn.  I want it to snow.  I'd be happy with  a big cup of Sonic ice.  I want to live near a grocery store that delivers.  I don't care if I ever cook again.  I want Aggie to be a puppy again.  I am thankful that she's a sweet, healthy twelve-year-old little dog.  I want all this paperwork to miraculously do itself.  I'm glad that I have work to do.  I want these dumb asses to stop blowing dirt from the sidewalk under my door.  I really mean that.
Nothing else will make me happy.

Except for the chocolate cupcake.

Again with the bee thing...

I found this cute bee candle holder - and he had to come home with me.  He's a little more cartoon-like than the rest of the bees around here, but something about him caught my eye.  He reminds me every day of the Nine Bees that I read about somewhere a long time ago and made a note of in the front of my Bible.  Here they are:

Be grateful.

Be smart.

Be involved.

Be clean.

Be true.

Be positive.

Be humble.

Be still.

Be prayerful.

I aim to be all of those things.

Already?

Is it the end of February already?  This month has flown by – but then I’ve been really, really busy – and it's been better than last year and I finally feel like I have my head above water for the first time in a long time.  I’ve learned that I never lost the ability to take care of myself – something I had come to doubt in recent years.  God has been so good to me this past year and I am so thankful for His guiding and protective Hand in my life.  I’ve finally learned patience and to be willing to allow God to provide for me in His time – He’s never failed to send me work and other opportunities yet and I have faith that He will continue to bless and guide me.  I’ve also learned that when I share what I have, He showers me with blessings equal to and most times greater than what I’ve shared with others in need.  My dad taught us to share many years ago – and it’s a lesson I’ve never forgotten.  Thank you, Lord, for a wonderful beginning to this new year.

Truer words...

were never spoken.  I have prayed for rain and God has graciously sent it to me in the form of a client every hour or so for the past three weeks - but I am getting bogged down in the resulting mud!  I have reminded myself about a dozen times today that mud is a good thing.  And that I should enjoy this flurry of activity while it lasts.  Today I am thankful for both the rain - and the mud.  And Aggie says Amen!

Gratitude journal...

One of the things I've been doing lately is writing in my gratitude journal.  Yes, every entry begins with I am thankful for and then whatever thing, however small or silly, I have to be thankful for that day.  Sometimes there's two or three things.  One day I was thankful for hot chocolate.  Another day is was Divine Comfort.  You get the picture.  Just the simple act of writing down the things I am grateful for has given me a new appreciation of life's small blessings.  I know I am guilty of spending way too much time worrying about the big picture and that gets in the way of enjoying the little things.  I intend to spend more of this new year appreciating the good things in my life and less time thinking about the things I can't change.

I've been having...

one of those months so far...  It seems like December first came around and I lost all of my holiday spirit and momentum and I am just now finally catching up.  You'll probably notice that a bunch of posts appeared on my blog almost all at once - and I've just about got all of the Christmas decorations exactly where I want them - only to take them down and put them away in about three weeks.  The holiday season has been hard for me the past couple of years and I was feeling more festive this year - for about a minute.  And then the aloneness and worry crept in and I ended up moving a couple of squares back.  Actually, I don't even know what square I started out on, but at least I'm not back at Square One, wherever that is.  I've been working on some client projects that I need to finish by the first of the year and so I've been fortunate to keep my mind and hands busy.  Too much time to think is my worst enemy.  Playing with my new e-reader gadget has cheered me up immensely - and so has getting caught up on my blog.  This is something I've done mainly for me - to improve my writing and to share something positive every day and it has been one constant that has kept me going over the last eighteen months or so.  I've met some lovely people and made some new friends - and I am very grateful for that opportunity.  I'm also encouraged that people do like to read what I write and that it's not just my friends being nice when they say how hilarious my stories can be.  So I'm caught up and moving on toward the next square and a bright new year.  Now if I can just find a place for that antique table...

Why do I still worry...

when faith comes with a Worry-Free Guarantee?  It would be so much easier if I would just lay all of my problems - both real and imagined - in God's Hands and let them go.  Easier said than done.

25 "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
  ²⁷Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
  ²⁸"So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
  ³¹"Therefore do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?' or "What shall we drink?' or "What shall we wear?' ³²For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. ³⁴Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." (Matthew 6: 25-34)

Now that is a seriously great worry-free guarantee!

Random musings...

Today I am thankful for:

Fall - or what feels like might become fall soon.

Instant maple brown sugar oatmeal.

Clean socks.

Intuit Online Payroll and how easy it makes helping my clients.

Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs.

Herbal tea.

Blank composition books.

Adopt a Shelter Pet postage stamps.

Mini pumpkins that last from before Halloween until Thanksgiving.

Krusteaz Banana Bread mix.

God's daily provision for my needs.

I'm so excited...

It's not hot outside today!

If only...

it were so easy.  But I tell you, prayer is the only thing that works.  I saw myself heading for full-on worry mode today and I just prayed for God to take the burden away from me.  Within a couple of hours, two of my wayward clients called and made appointments to bring their 2009 tax paperwork by so they can file by October 15th!  I am also going to start doing bookkeeping and payroll for the longtime landscaping client who has finally realized that this once-a-year thing isn't working to his advantage.  I know there are doubters who think that the new work is just a coincidence, but I know it isn't. 

Lord, I am thankful for today...

and for all of its blessings: I have a roof over my head, clothes to wear, food to eat and the companionship of sweetest little dog and and the most persnickety cat in the whole world.  I am thankful for my dear friend Ariela who came by with a lovely lunch of salad and pizza on Tuesday.  I am thankful for the two friends who called me out of the blue this week and made two long evenings a little less lonely.  I am thankful for my faithful client and friend Jonathan who was willing to pay me early this month and for my friend Richard who picked up the part for my car and then drove me to the bank.  I am thankful for the Pad Thai I had for lunch and for someone to eat with besides Aggie - as much as I love her - and that Richard speaks in complete sentences and doesn't beg for food from my plate.  I am grateful for the check that awaited me in my mailbox upon my return home.  I am especially thankful for my friend Long who in a matter of minutes changed the starter on my little car - a potentially huge repair that only cost me $47.93.  I've spent much of the last week feeling a little sorry for myself and worrying about stuff I have no control over.  Sometimes it's a good thing to just calm your mind, let the worry go and count your many blessings.