I learned in church Sunday that your talents are your gifts from God and that how you use them is YOUR gift to Him. So I am on a quest to learn how to use my "God" given talents to create the world I want to be in. I feel my talents are in my artistic abilities, my cooking abilities and maybe even in my comfort of speaking in front of people and instructing??? I've always had supportive people around me, especially my husband Mark, my Aunt Mary and my good friend Tanya. Their input and encouragement have always been invaluable to me. I also have received many accolades at events I've attended with my crafts and food items.
But even with all these wonderful compliments, I'm not running to the bank on Monday mornings with cash deposits to pay my bills with. Something has to change! So my mission is to be able to find/create a way to use my talents to have an income from these "talents".
So over the next few months or longer if needed, I will be blogging about what I am doing to get my name out there, what I'm doing to create this "dream" business that I've always wanted to have. After all, everyone says find your "passion" and go with it! So I'm ready to go for it - use my passion to make my dreams come true.
I hope readers of my blog will interact with me, give me suggestions and tell me about their successes and failures. I don't believe one can reach success with going through some failures - I think I've had enough of those, I'm ready for some success! Who knows maybe like my sweet friend Nancy (another very supportive friend)says I may be the next "Self Help" Guru.
Ocean Shores, WA
my favorite place
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Wow where has the time gone!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
It's a New Year!
Once upon a time had someone said where will you be in the year 2011, I would have thought I'd be a lot better off than I am. 2010 was not the best of year for me and Mark, financially, family wise or health wise. I became unemployed, he had an accident and was "let go" from his job, his Mom passed away and I constantly fight a crappy knee.
However, these are all things that we can overcome, understand or at least deal with and improve upon. That's my goal for 2011 - make a better life.
On the bright side, we are taking steps to regain a foothold on our finances. As we continue to look for work, I continue to attempt to make money from my crafts - not going so hot, but a little here and there. The biggest step is that I have become an Independent Rep for ACN, a technology based company that is the largest direct seller of home services in the world. We broker all the major cell phone companies, ADT Home Security, Clear internet, local and long distance and more! It's an exciting company in an exciting time. The financial opportunites are tremendous - we just need to find family and friends to support us through the use of our services and a few good people to build our team with. At a recent business meeting I was amazed to hear all the celebs, sports stars and already wealthy people who are in ACN as a rep, just like me. So I figure if people of that caliber see the potential in what ACN has to offer, then I had better go for it. I don't need to be rich, but I would certainly like to be more comfortable that we currently are. Plus with residual income, we put in a few (3 to 5) years of hard work, then we can slow down, retire if we want, as long as those bills are being paid for the services - we keep getting paid. Won't get that from any employer.
I've also been listening to alot of Goal setting information from ACN and Success magazine. It is helping me to break down large goals into reasonable mini-goals and helping me to realize what it is that I really want out of life. I've started setting goals for 2-3 months, 6, 9 and 12, with the big picture in 5 years.
I've also started setting personal goals for my own well being, mainly my weight. Mark and I returned to the South Beach diet program. I hate to even call it a "diet" program, it really is a way of life. I feel better when I eat the way the program teaches, I loose weight on it, have more energy, etc. I really don't know why I ever went off it in the first place, stupid reasons I guess. I loss almost 30 lbs the last time I did the program, Mark lost even more, I gained back 15 when I went off it. After being on it just 8 days I have taken 7.5 of those 15 back off and almost 3inches off my tummy! It feels so good and I already feel so much better, the gas and bloat is almost gone and I have a little more energy. My biggest enemy is myself, I get lazy I don't want to make the effort to fix a meal, my knee hurts so I don't want to move around. I promised myself today that I would get my excersize ball out tomorrow and have Kristin show me how to use it correctly, I think I have a video somewhere??? LOL. Maybe a trip to the thrift store to search for a video is a good idea tomorrow as well. Plus it would get me off my butt and at least some excersize.
I'm posting a picture of myself, which I hate to do, but I want to be able to go back and compare in 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, etc. I've given myself 1 year to get 100 lbs off. I plan to ring in 2012 that much lighter. At that time or a lttle before it I will evaluate how much more I want to loose. I originally planned on taking 135 lbs off, we'll see.
Tonight I feel like this blog has changed it's purpose, I feel like it's now my outlet to keep myself true and honest to me. I really don't care if anyone else ever reads it, that's not really important to me. It's important to me to have an outlet to say what I'm feeling and what I'm going through. I think sometimes writing things, thoughts down helps to clear and organize our minds -- I know I certainly can benefit from a little mindful organization.
So here's to 2011, lets make it the best year it can be!
However, these are all things that we can overcome, understand or at least deal with and improve upon. That's my goal for 2011 - make a better life.
On the bright side, we are taking steps to regain a foothold on our finances. As we continue to look for work, I continue to attempt to make money from my crafts - not going so hot, but a little here and there. The biggest step is that I have become an Independent Rep for ACN, a technology based company that is the largest direct seller of home services in the world. We broker all the major cell phone companies, ADT Home Security, Clear internet, local and long distance and more! It's an exciting company in an exciting time. The financial opportunites are tremendous - we just need to find family and friends to support us through the use of our services and a few good people to build our team with. At a recent business meeting I was amazed to hear all the celebs, sports stars and already wealthy people who are in ACN as a rep, just like me. So I figure if people of that caliber see the potential in what ACN has to offer, then I had better go for it. I don't need to be rich, but I would certainly like to be more comfortable that we currently are. Plus with residual income, we put in a few (3 to 5) years of hard work, then we can slow down, retire if we want, as long as those bills are being paid for the services - we keep getting paid. Won't get that from any employer.
I've also been listening to alot of Goal setting information from ACN and Success magazine. It is helping me to break down large goals into reasonable mini-goals and helping me to realize what it is that I really want out of life. I've started setting goals for 2-3 months, 6, 9 and 12, with the big picture in 5 years.
I've also started setting personal goals for my own well being, mainly my weight. Mark and I returned to the South Beach diet program. I hate to even call it a "diet" program, it really is a way of life. I feel better when I eat the way the program teaches, I loose weight on it, have more energy, etc. I really don't know why I ever went off it in the first place, stupid reasons I guess. I loss almost 30 lbs the last time I did the program, Mark lost even more, I gained back 15 when I went off it. After being on it just 8 days I have taken 7.5 of those 15 back off and almost 3inches off my tummy! It feels so good and I already feel so much better, the gas and bloat is almost gone and I have a little more energy. My biggest enemy is myself, I get lazy I don't want to make the effort to fix a meal, my knee hurts so I don't want to move around. I promised myself today that I would get my excersize ball out tomorrow and have Kristin show me how to use it correctly, I think I have a video somewhere??? LOL. Maybe a trip to the thrift store to search for a video is a good idea tomorrow as well. Plus it would get me off my butt and at least some excersize.
I'm posting a picture of myself, which I hate to do, but I want to be able to go back and compare in 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, etc. I've given myself 1 year to get 100 lbs off. I plan to ring in 2012 that much lighter. At that time or a lttle before it I will evaluate how much more I want to loose. I originally planned on taking 135 lbs off, we'll see.
Tonight I feel like this blog has changed it's purpose, I feel like it's now my outlet to keep myself true and honest to me. I really don't care if anyone else ever reads it, that's not really important to me. It's important to me to have an outlet to say what I'm feeling and what I'm going through. I think sometimes writing things, thoughts down helps to clear and organize our minds -- I know I certainly can benefit from a little mindful organization.
So here's to 2011, lets make it the best year it can be!
Monday, December 27, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
Spooky time!
Saturday, October 30th was our annual Halloween party. Didn't have as big of a crowd this year as usual, but we had a great time. The weather was literally frightful! Rainy and cold, Jason (aka:Napoleon Dynomite) could hardly keep the bon fire going, he kept having to dry the benches off by the heat of the fire. He was very deligent about it.
We had great food, Mark smoked some pork butt and we made pulled pork sandwiches -- awesome job as always. He sure likes his smoker! I decided to forgo my traditional black spider bread bowl for the spinach dip this year and made a pumpkin instead -- atleast it was supposed to look like a pumpkin, umm it kinda did. The spinach dip tasted good at least. I had some guest coming who aren't beef/pork/chicken eaters so I made a couple of salmon fillets, some peel and eat shrimp and a few more goodies that I thought they might like. My sis Diana brought asparagus wrapped in phyllo dough and baked - OMG, they were delicious, as were Aunt Mary's cake pops! So much good stuff, everyone seemed to enjoy the food and decorations.
We drew numbers for door prizes, plus we had a first place costume winner for the guys and the gals -- that was a real hoot! First place for the ladies went to friend Kelly, she was a "wet t-shirt" contest winner, she had the sash and all! Very funny. Her hubby Mat came as a "Happy Camper" with his "morning wood" camp tshirt and I'll let you guess what other "special features" his costume had -- toooo funny! I don't know where they found those costumes, but no wanted Mat to stand behind them! First place for the guys went to my Jason aka: Napoleon Dynomite! People get such a kick out of him doing his impersonation - it just cracks me up! and he's so into it! Niece Corina had Jason call her son Tony to talk to him like Napoleon, I think little Tony thinks its real, I'm not sure, but he gets such a kick out of it. Corina came as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz -- she even brought her little dog Ceasar to play Toto's part -- she was sooo cute and Ceasar did his part well.
We did a first this year our friends Greg and Lorri brought their kareoke machine. I sang one song with my daughter Kristin and that was one song to many for me -- there's not enough booze in this town to make me sound good. But is was fun and it was fun watching and listening to others, there were some talented people and some, well we'll just say not as talented to be polite. But it was a lot of fun, Greg even did a couple of Elvis tunes for me -- GREAT job Greg!
I had a lot of fun planning the party, making the invites, decorating the house and making all the food and goodies. I get such a kick out of seeing adults giggle and laugh at my holiday creations. Afterall who wouldn't want to eat a peanut butter rat or a coconut skull? Quite tasty if I say so myself.
I hope everyone had a good time and for those that missed it -- all I can say is you should of been here!
Happy Fall!
We had great food, Mark smoked some pork butt and we made pulled pork sandwiches -- awesome job as always. He sure likes his smoker! I decided to forgo my traditional black spider bread bowl for the spinach dip this year and made a pumpkin instead -- atleast it was supposed to look like a pumpkin, umm it kinda did. The spinach dip tasted good at least. I had some guest coming who aren't beef/pork/chicken eaters so I made a couple of salmon fillets, some peel and eat shrimp and a few more goodies that I thought they might like. My sis Diana brought asparagus wrapped in phyllo dough and baked - OMG, they were delicious, as were Aunt Mary's cake pops! So much good stuff, everyone seemed to enjoy the food and decorations.
We drew numbers for door prizes, plus we had a first place costume winner for the guys and the gals -- that was a real hoot! First place for the ladies went to friend Kelly, she was a "wet t-shirt" contest winner, she had the sash and all! Very funny. Her hubby Mat came as a "Happy Camper" with his "morning wood" camp tshirt and I'll let you guess what other "special features" his costume had -- toooo funny! I don't know where they found those costumes, but no wanted Mat to stand behind them! First place for the guys went to my Jason aka: Napoleon Dynomite! People get such a kick out of him doing his impersonation - it just cracks me up! and he's so into it! Niece Corina had Jason call her son Tony to talk to him like Napoleon, I think little Tony thinks its real, I'm not sure, but he gets such a kick out of it. Corina came as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz -- she even brought her little dog Ceasar to play Toto's part -- she was sooo cute and Ceasar did his part well.
We did a first this year our friends Greg and Lorri brought their kareoke machine. I sang one song with my daughter Kristin and that was one song to many for me -- there's not enough booze in this town to make me sound good. But is was fun and it was fun watching and listening to others, there were some talented people and some, well we'll just say not as talented to be polite. But it was a lot of fun, Greg even did a couple of Elvis tunes for me -- GREAT job Greg!
I had a lot of fun planning the party, making the invites, decorating the house and making all the food and goodies. I get such a kick out of seeing adults giggle and laugh at my holiday creations. Afterall who wouldn't want to eat a peanut butter rat or a coconut skull? Quite tasty if I say so myself.
I hope everyone had a good time and for those that missed it -- all I can say is you should of been here!
Happy Fall!
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Fall is here!
Wow I have been amis in taking care of my blog, the blog police have summoned me to update this thing!
There's just been so many things happening since my last update. What can I say I've been busy.
It is that time of year for the Craft Bazaars. I've done several over the last few months -- boy has the economy destroyed the craft selling bus. While attending several local Farmers Markets I received mass raves about my hand crafts, but the sales few and far between. People came to buy produce and flowers from the local farmers, many not even peeking a look at the craft booths - it was if they didn't look, then they wouldn't want. Which don't get me wrong is great for the farmers, but what about us starving artist??? Well I may not look like I'm exactly starving but I have bills to pay toooo. All in all Mark and I met a lot of nice people, enjoyed our time together and went home to get ready for the next one.
So I am dedicating this blog update to my efforts of my hands in the crafts that I make. Enjoy and let me know if you wanna buy anything! LOL.
There's just been so many things happening since my last update. What can I say I've been busy.
It is that time of year for the Craft Bazaars. I've done several over the last few months -- boy has the economy destroyed the craft selling bus. While attending several local Farmers Markets I received mass raves about my hand crafts, but the sales few and far between. People came to buy produce and flowers from the local farmers, many not even peeking a look at the craft booths - it was if they didn't look, then they wouldn't want. Which don't get me wrong is great for the farmers, but what about us starving artist??? Well I may not look like I'm exactly starving but I have bills to pay toooo. All in all Mark and I met a lot of nice people, enjoyed our time together and went home to get ready for the next one.
So I am dedicating this blog update to my efforts of my hands in the crafts that I make. Enjoy and let me know if you wanna buy anything! LOL.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Girls roadtrip!
Got back from Lake Kachess, did laundry and went to bed. Got up at 3am to get ready for my sister Diana and my ROAD TRIP to Reno. I'm such a bad passenger, I can never stay a wake for very long in the car. I tried my best and managed to keep her company most of the time, I think??? LOL. She did let me drive for a bit though, her HHR was very comfortable to drive, really easy to see out of -- a little lower to the ground than I'm used to though.
Just this side of Eureka, CA I spotted a large billboard boasting about a "Liquor Expo". That woke us both up -- could this be a discount liquor store?? Of course it was, exit 766. They did have some great prices! But they were out of an item that Diana was on the search for -- Pinnacle brand, Whipped Cream flavored Vodka. They said they should have some in on Thursday night. That was enough to tell us that we were stopping back by on our way home!
We encountered several spots of summer road construction, that alone added about 90 minutes to our travels and yes we did crank out the Elvis CD.
Gave my a chance to scope out some huge pinecones -- oh what I could have done with them!!! A little glu, some glitter, oh the possibilities!
After a long almost 15 hours of driving -- 2 bladders over 50 -- not a good combo for a road trip. We finally arrived in Reno. Many areas looked the same, but they have cleaned it up a lot as well. Lots of new strips malls and business' besides casino's.
We got checked in, went to the room, our room was really nice - fantastic view, thought we'd rest up a bit. A bit was about it, we were too excited! We went down and signed up for the players club card, got our coupons and discounts and we were off. I think Diana got great happiness in letting me know we both could be in the "Nifty Fifty" Club - wow gee thanks. But it was worth it. The first night we didn't do to bad in fact Diana was up about $100 or more. She pretty much played on the casino's money most of the time. Me not so much. I was up and down - but having fun!
We did a lot of looking around, hit some antique places, Costco, Sam's and of course the infamous Ben's discount liquor store. Actually of all the booze shopping we did Costco had some of the best prices. Even with all of our intown purchases we did of course stop back by the Liquor Expo on the way home. And YES they did get some of the Pinnacle in -- wow is it tasty! Plus it was almost half the price it is up here.
We had a good time, it went way faster than we thought it would, we never even got a chance to sit by the pool, but it was a little cool and windy, so no big deal. We had our Awful Awful burger at the Nugget hole in the wall and as usual were entertained by the cooks.
It's getting to be about that time when my eyelids are suffering from sever lid droopage. So i'll close for tonight and post pics tomorrow night.
Remember -- it's all in a day!
Just this side of Eureka, CA I spotted a large billboard boasting about a "Liquor Expo". That woke us both up -- could this be a discount liquor store?? Of course it was, exit 766. They did have some great prices! But they were out of an item that Diana was on the search for -- Pinnacle brand, Whipped Cream flavored Vodka. They said they should have some in on Thursday night. That was enough to tell us that we were stopping back by on our way home!
We encountered several spots of summer road construction, that alone added about 90 minutes to our travels and yes we did crank out the Elvis CD.
Gave my a chance to scope out some huge pinecones -- oh what I could have done with them!!! A little glu, some glitter, oh the possibilities!
After a long almost 15 hours of driving -- 2 bladders over 50 -- not a good combo for a road trip. We finally arrived in Reno. Many areas looked the same, but they have cleaned it up a lot as well. Lots of new strips malls and business' besides casino's.
We got checked in, went to the room, our room was really nice - fantastic view, thought we'd rest up a bit. A bit was about it, we were too excited! We went down and signed up for the players club card, got our coupons and discounts and we were off. I think Diana got great happiness in letting me know we both could be in the "Nifty Fifty" Club - wow gee thanks. But it was worth it. The first night we didn't do to bad in fact Diana was up about $100 or more. She pretty much played on the casino's money most of the time. Me not so much. I was up and down - but having fun!
We did a lot of looking around, hit some antique places, Costco, Sam's and of course the infamous Ben's discount liquor store. Actually of all the booze shopping we did Costco had some of the best prices. Even with all of our intown purchases we did of course stop back by the Liquor Expo on the way home. And YES they did get some of the Pinnacle in -- wow is it tasty! Plus it was almost half the price it is up here.
We had a good time, it went way faster than we thought it would, we never even got a chance to sit by the pool, but it was a little cool and windy, so no big deal. We had our Awful Awful burger at the Nugget hole in the wall and as usual were entertained by the cooks.
It's getting to be about that time when my eyelids are suffering from sever lid droopage. So i'll close for tonight and post pics tomorrow night.
Remember -- it's all in a day!
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