Our RVP had a 4-hr blitz meeting in Lufkin Saturday and my husband and I drove 3 HOURS to sit through it. Boy, am I glad we did! I learned more in that 4 hours about building business and relationships than I think I ever learned in the corporate world. Probably because I’ve always worked for companies that “say” they want to help people, but bottom line, they just want to help themselves. Don’t get me wrong…we help people AND we get paid an incredibly stupid amount for doing it, but we really help people get out of debt and become financially independent. The first time Floy and I sat down and looked at the gameplan for our family, we were in shock at how far away we were from reaching any retirement goals…we didn’t have any real plans for our future…we were like most people – a little saved, no investments, and no income protection,and NO PLAN. But now we’re on the road to building that future, and I’m psyched.
ALL that said (I tend to get long winded at times), I have decided I have too many “distractions” in my life. If we’re going to get to the top, I have to stay “FOCUSED” on my goals. So I’m closing my ebay store. Part of me is soooooo relieved. Part of me is soooooo sad.
See, I don’t really care about the stupid ebay store. I haven’t sold much out of it since ebay made those ridiculous changes back in April. What I care about is a few of the friends I have made in my ebay moms support group. We were all talking last week about the fact that we are all so busy in our “other jobs” and motherhood, that few of us have any people in our lives that we’d call close friends. It’s hard to make them. When you’re a stay at home mom, about the only people you see regularly is your garbage man and the mail carrier. I admit some months I don’t pay my trash bill JUST SO THE LADY WILL COME TO MY DOOR to get a check from me! How sad is that?!?! lol Same with the mail carrier…I’d have cookies for her when she came to pick up my ebay mail…lol. Hey…I’m telling you, I’m a recluse! (some of you would NEVER believe that given my *sparkling* personality, I know).
None of our husbands understand it (well, mine “sort of does”, because although we met in “real life”, introduced by none other than his best friend, David, whom I trained for the phone company before he joined the military to get away from it all, we were living in separate cities at the time – 5 hrs away from each other and we sort of “courted” over the internet between visits to one another). How can you be friends with someone you’ve never even met? What is a friend, anyway?
Friend – n.
A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
A person whom one knows; an acquaintance.
A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement
I’d say that pretty much sums it up for me. I can’t explain it other than to say that a lot of us have A LOT in common with one another. In fact, it’s kind of scary how much in common we have. And we found each other out of over 1000 groups on ebay. What are the odds of that happening?
I don’t want to lose their friendship and I sometimes worry that they will think I’m “abandoning” them…but then I come to my senses and remember if they are truly my “friends”, they’ll be supportive and encouraging of my decision to quit ebaying. (Are you guys reading this?!?) lol
So…here’s to FOCUS in 2006.
A Man, A Plan, A Canal, Panama
Okay, so my blog doesn’t really have anything to do with that palindrome…I just love it. Read it backwards and it’s the same thing…hence, “palindrome”. I wonder why they couldn’t come up with another word for palindrome that IS a palindrome?
So my daughter Katie is 9. She’s growing up really fast. Yesterday she came up to me after her shower and said, “Mom…I’ve got hair….THERE”. I was thinking to myself, “WHERE?” Then she lifted up her arm to reveal three of the blackest hairs you have ever seen on a 9 year old’s armpit. (Can I say PHEW!?!) I managed to keep a straight face and told her I’d buy her an electric razor for that in the next week or so since she’s going to camp and I don’t want her to be embarrassed. She had the most pitiful look on her face until she caught sight of mine and we just could NOT keep it together any longer and we both burst out laughing.
I’m glad she’s growing up. She’s a fine young lady with good manners, polite conversation, a loving demeanor…and oh yeah, three little black hairs under her arm until mom buys her an electric razor!
The Good Old Days…
So I was reading Kelli Crowe’s blog (told you I read it religiously) today.
Made me think about all the old commercials from when I was a kid.
The classics, I mean.
Remember the Enjoli commercial? The woman who could fry up her bacon AND bring it home?
Or how about the Chic Jeans commercial? Ooh…better than that, the Levi’s Dacron pant commercial…done in rotoscope and waaay ahead of its time…
My personal favorite was the Wendy’s “Where’s the beef” lady…
Aside from the Enjoli commercial, most of the older commercials lacked the whole “we sell SEX” thing that today’s commercials bring.
It’s sickening to watch the Saturday morning cartoons with your kids and see a half-clothed woman come on the tv (I think it was Jessica Simpson, who should know better, her father is a preacher, although I believe he condones her dress – which is outrageous to me) selling pizza to a prepubescent kid with all this sex appeal just oozing off of her. But, ya know…we the public watch it….so they give it to us.
Makes me want to chuck my tv as far away from my house as I can. I don’t want the world in my house.
I want the old days back!!! Remember as a kid – you could ride your bike forever and a day around the neighborhood without worrying about getting snatched up? You could actually walk to school by yourself? You could go to the corner grocery store (ours wasn’t actually on the corner – it was a half a mile away) to buy milk for your mom? You could knock on neighborhood doors to collect bottles if you wanted to go to the county fair? (remember you could get 10 cents for each one turned in)
When did it all get so bad? Have you asked yourself that lately? Why did we let it get so bad?
Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails….
Little boys are just wired differently from little girls. My son, soon to be 4, has all sorts of really bizarre terms of endearments that he likes to share with me….here are a few:
Many times a day, he will come up to me and gives me a big, big hug and say, “Mom…I MISS you so much!” ???
While I was laying on my bed this afternoon, he came over and laid his head on my tummy and said, “Awww….you’re my BIG mommy,” while lovingly patting my leg.
“You’re the BESTest mommy I ever had!”
“Mommy…someday when I grow up, I’m going to marry you!”
That last one gets me….
WOO HOO!
I finished one pair of 5 culottes for Katie’s camp at the end of the month. These are super easy to make and we have a blast picking out the wildest fabric we can find! (She actually prefers denim, but that’s so B-O-R-I-N-G.
Just thought you’d like to see I can talk and sew at the same time. :o)
Tag Nab It!
Okay, so I could ignore Kelli Crowe’s tag (because how is she going to PROVE I read her blog religiously every day???), but when Rachel posts HER tag in answer to KELLI’s tag and then she has the gumption to tag me at the end?!?!?! Well, I can’t exactly ignore that now, can I???
1. How old are you? 37 2. How many kids do you have if any? 2 girls, 1 boy , and 1 husband
3. Are you married, single, divorced, widow? Oh so happily married
4. What is your occupation? Mom=doctor, therapist, counselor, coach, teacher
5. What are your passions? My Lord Jesus Christ, my husband, my kids, my church…in that order.
6. Are you a dreamer or a dream seeker? Dream Seeker…I was saying Just do it waaay before Nike was!
7. Are you happy with the way you life has turned out? Never in a million years did I think my life was going to be this good – it’s much, much better than I ever expected or even dared to hope for.
8. Are you a scrapper and if so how many hours a week do you scrap? If I say no, it’s a lie…’cause I do love scrapping, but I haven’t spent much time on it in the last 3 years…the photos are PILING up!
9. What do you want to do before you die? live (this is totally kelli’s answer, but it’s the best one I’ve ever seen, so I’m leaving it.)(ditto, Rachel)
10. What is your favorite food? Anything from La Carretta’s (Mexican, for sure, dude.)
11. What is the food you hate the most? Pickled beets…went on a diet where I ate a cup every meal…swore I’d never eat another one as long as I live.
12. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you? I was 14 and in Hawaii…stuffed my bikini top with toilet tissue to help “fill it out”…well, I forgot about it and needless to say when I came out of the water….
13. What is the happiest day of your life thus far? The day I met Jesus and all my sins were forgiven…no joke, I worried about that a LOT!
14. Are you a neat freak? Or a dirty house cleaner? How anyone can be a neat freak and have normal well-adjusted kids is beyond me…I LOVE LOVE LOVE things to be neat, but I’ve realized over the last 9 years that if it’s just CLEAN under all the crappe, we’re good to go.
Okay…that’s done.
I tag SUZY!