Surrounding Yourself With Positve People

     "Surround yourself with people who can build you up". I am listening to Joel Osteen this morning, as always I missed a good portion of the program, but that was his advice.

I seldom talk about him unless someone else brings up his name because any talk of religion can lead to hurt feelings, ugliness, etc. Personally I consider Osteen a more of a motivator rather than a preacher, in the sense that I know it. This morning he said something that I have said for years, "God did not bring you here to be mistreated and abused." Did I say my hallelujahs?--you bet I did. So many people stay in bad relationships, marriage, workplace, friends, because they are afraid to leave or worst they are afraid the person will leave them. Osteen went further to say the best thing an abuser can do for you is to give you the gift of good bye.  

Why do I bring this up? Not sure. It's my first real thought this morning.

Helpful Link

      Getting through to a real person on the telephone.

This link was in my Women's Wall Street e-newsletter. If you have ever tried to get through to a service representative you will find this helpful. http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/0,,sid9_gci1163748,00.html 

This number  is from AARP's January 2007 issue http://gethuman.com/us/  AARP states that the site is updated weekly, and also allows you to report you own "on hold time.  You are reminded that company telephone informaiton can change without warning.  I guess that means if too many consumers get wise enough to get through to a real person. :-)

End of the Year Chatter

      I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas.     

It's funny how you can think I need to tell this person or that person, then you realize they are no longer available, for whatever reason. I read something about UMD and had to chuckle and wanted so much to tell Wanda, she is the only one who would have known why I found it funny. Here's looking at you kid. I'm having a salt-rimmed margarita (sp?) at midnight on the 31st.

This year's end is leaving me with sad news. I am trying to get past it with some kind of style and dignity. LOL--not sure that I am accomplishing that.

I just received paperwork from the Social Security Admin. offices, what a $$ shocker. Still life is good and fortunately, I am comfortable and still happy with my decision. I was approached to work part-time, but turned it down. I do not want to be under constraints, unless I make them. I am enjoying freelancing. Sometimes it's hectic, but always of my own making, and that suits me just fine.

I just looked at this coming years timeshare availability. Will take two full weeks hopefully this winter and next fall and two long weekends sometime  in summer. This schedule seems to work for me.

Oh groan, my hair is so short, not sure why I did this--in the back of my mind is my moms voice saying, "Child, one day your hair won't grow back." I am sure it will have grown by spring .

January is the month we are supposed to mentor people, especially young people. We are also supposed to thank our own mentors. These days that person would have to be the owner of the site that I write for, this woman is amazing. My guess is that she is not wealthy in dollars, but she is definitely  wealthy in spirit. She and her managers have sent certificates of appreciation to all of the writer's, and a couple of days ago, I received a Christmas card from her (I am sure everyone did) and a bar of handmade soap that smells delicious. The soap is milled by one of the writer's company. These women are amazing, I can't believe that I am among this group. One woman has a flourishing hair product business.

Always Hit the Save Key

Mornin' Bloggie,

     I lost my work. I have been typing for over an hour and did not hit save one time. What was I thinking--no one knows better than I to save your work every few minutes.  I am devastated. Well, maybe the draft was really bad and it's a good thing I lost it. Yeh. Right. :-(

 

A Bummer of a Week

 Boy. What a week. I am so happy that I went to my volunteer appreciation dinner. I may pursue another venue of (quasi)-volunteering. I am not sure if that is the correct term, I suspect not. LOL. But this is something that comes with a small stipend.

Had bad news when I arrived home Monday night, my senior is not doing well. I have been talking to family member's who are understandably worried. My good friend is now in a nursing home, at least it is close by and I will be able to visit her. I am hopeful that I will be able to visit my senior as well. In times of trouble I become the child I used to be and said my prayers that night. I prayed that they be kept in the best health they could be and that I stay well enough to do what I can for them. The next morning it took me almost two hours to wake up and get up. That never happens to me, I awaken like a jack-in-the-box. It took me until almost 9:30a to realize that I was sick. I made a decision that I would stay home, I almost had no choice.

I did not go to my 10a meeting, did not see my friend or my senior and did not turn my computer on again that day. Instead I slept the entire day. I can't remember when I have done that--it must be years. Apparently I needed the rest, so my body made me do, what common sense was telling to do--slow down :-(  Yesterday, I work up at my regular early a.m. time and haven't looked back. Tuesday, I even had a low-grade fever.

Today I feel as if I have never had a sick day. Very odd-but I try not to question some things. You just have to believe that the sun will come out tomorrow.

O.K. I Admit it I am Tired

      I am exhausted and not sure why. I went to the Jewish Family Service Volunteer Dinner last night. It was very nice and we did not stay out late. Incidentally the JFS serves everyone--all races and religions. www.jfs-metronj.org.

I have a 10a meeting this morning, visit my friend in the hospital today and see my senior this evening. Apparently, she is having some problems.

Really feeling like I want to crawl back into bed--a new thing for me. Even my eyes hurt. LOL 

Pinochet's Death

        Last night while watching the news I saw that Pinochet had been denied a State funeral, so there will be no pomp and circumstace, etc. However, before signing out just now, I saw this headline.  No real thoughts or comments, just an observation that no matter how evil a person is, there is always someone who will mourn their death. I guess that's a good thing. 

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 Hundreds pay respects to Pinochet AP -

SANTIAGO, Chile - Hundreds of supporters of Gen. Augusto Pinochet, many in tears, filed Monday past the brown wooden coffin for the ex-dictator, who was denied a state funeral normally granted to former presidents. While Pinochet's relatives mourned his death Sunday from heart failure at age 91, his many opponents celebrated with champagne and lamented that he escaped justice for the torture and killings that marked his 17 years in power after a bloody 1973 coup.

Highs and Lows of Online Publishing

      This past weekend, I noticed that newsletter subscriptions for my Work & Family site http://workandfamily.bellaonline.com are down. When I sent out the last newsletter, I thought the number was unfamiliar but thought it was my imagination. I decided to check and found that it was not.

I went to the Hot & Spicy food http://hotandspicy.bellaonline.com subscriptions and found that they are down also. I love when people let me know why no longer wish to recieve my newsletters, I can make changes, improve, etc. when I am told "You need more this or that." a lot of time the reason is one I often use. E-mail overload!!  Neither site has lost more than 35 readers, but....

A few months back I mentioned to a friend that I was finally going to add a face to my columns, I told her my concerns about doing that, but I did it anyway and am happy that I did. It was the right move. However, I am going to try to do some digging to find out approximately when the dip occured. It's interesting that my site numbers continue to rise, even with the slight drop in newsletter sign-up.

I have a huge campaign to work for my Work & Family site, from January to June in 2007. Also, I will be (MAYBE-smiling) putting spicy appetizer e-book together for my Hot & Spicy foods site. A daunting task.

Like Scarlet, I feel like thinking about both these things tomorrow :-( 

The Week is Flying By

   I can't believe how quickly this week has moved. I woke up so early Monday morning, by 3:30a I was up and working. I tried to go back to sleep, but that wasn't happening so I just got up to work. It's a good thing I did though. I went to visit my friend, she has been moved to UH--I'm happy for that. At least I can visit her on a weekly basis, perhaps more. However, we had so much to catch up with, I stayed from 11a or so until after 3p. That and being up at 3:30a put a damper on my evening. I was exhausted. It was worth it, my friend is looking much better. This is only the second time that I have actually been a visitor at UH. I was somewhat familiar with the floors and the layout. It's funny I kept looking around and hoping that I would not be recognized as 'legal management'. Everything went fine. It is possible that folks would not want to talk to me anyway with everything that is still going on in admin.

Hoping for a quiet weekend. May get back to the hospital before Monday, not sure.