Why Has It Been 3 Months Since My Last Post?

Well, ok. I just counted. It has been FOUR months and 7 days. Holy cannoli! But why? Why have I abandoned my blog baby?! Why?

• because my real baby turned 7 in October and had her first sleepover and I took them bowling too, but it was just 2 friends (thankfully), although 3 little girls in one little car can feel like a gaggle of giggly geese.
  
• because my baby nephew turned 2 this past Sunday.
• because my baby business is really more like a teen-ager and it is having some serious growing pains.
• because my big girl job is a monster right now and I have NEVER EVER EVAH been as busy as I am right now there. As I always say, it's a good thing I love it!
• because I went to the rheumatologist on Sept 20 and finally decided to look at the number on the scale (why weight us, doc?) and finally hated it enough to get back on the health wagon.
• because I started paying attention to the things that always work for me to lose weight - no programs, no major effort, just drinking all my water, hitting my treadmill, cutting the soda by way more than 70%, increasing the fruits and veggies - all stuff that makes weight loss really slow but a slow pound down is better than another size up.
• because after I got back on the health wagon, I started feeling odd, like I was hungry but I knew I wasn't and when I told my doctor I suspected an ulcer, she said, "Let's test for that and gallstones." and found out I had gallstones.
• because the doc told me to see a surgeon who has said that he doesn't think what I am feeling is gallstones, especially since the Nexium prescription is helping (and even now I am no longer needing it daily. Maybe every other day?) and so while I should take out the whole gallbladder, unless and until it attacks me (whaa?) I can do it whenever I'm ready - and oh by the way, the thinner the better and oh by the way, how do I not know now that the gallstones weren't there for a really long time already and there is no need to be laproscopically doing anything to me and mine?
  
• because another friend is expecting a baby early January and I think it will be late December and I hope he's on my birthday, so I am designing invites for her shower and I hope my artist is done soon.
• because I'll be 40 in exactly a month (yesterday) and I'm wondering if I'll have any epiphanies. Don't feel any coming but I suuuuuure am speaking my mind more and more and more - and it's not all PMS, either. There is someone I want to tell about herself right now and it's taking every fiber of my being not to do it, but to let the current, correct course happen instead. But if she even cracks the door, I'm taking it off its hinges.
  
• because my brother is getting married next July.
  
• because I don't have my VA for my business anymore because it's just too much - for now - but we do have plans for a VA who will do a specific project and when the business is fully taking care of itself (almost there!), we can go crawling back to that phenom of a VA who is just too smart to walk away from and in the meanwhile I REALLY need to get my business social networking back on track.
• because I have a whole new business blog the phenom VA started for me that I have yet to learn how to operate over on Wordpress but it will be so awesome when I get it going.
• because we had one co-worker leave us to be closer to her mom in D.C. and we had to hire another one assistant and get her going.
• because I'm watching my kids every Saturday morning learning how to swim and neither of them are willing to jump in so they both feel bad and cry about it, but all Mr. T and I can do is tell them they have the power. When they are ready, they'll jump. (I hope they jump. I don't want them to hate the water like I do.)
• because my son is in his last year of Cub Scouts - mondo work! - and he WILL cross over to Boy Scout, but will he stay? Who know.
• because my daughter is now a happy little Brownie doing happy little Brownie things and I tried to avoid that, but darn it! Here I go all over again! Her meetings are after school, so THAT Mr. T has to help with.
• because I decided to start my allergy shots up again after my skin was more of a pain than usual this summer and this time I'll have visual evidence of whether or not the shots help and if next summer is more of the same, I stop again.
  
• because my full-time job has become my full-time AND part-time job. Oh wait. I kinda said that already.

because I was lazy. But maybe I'm back on track.

Back to School Part II and More

I'm still trying to figure out what's going on with the month of September. It's a month full of all sorts of activities and possibilities from what I can feel and from what I am told. I really have no idea what to expect from one moment to the next. I do know a lot of stuff is going on with people around me and I am simply doing my best to go with the flow this month.

For instance, Daughter and Son finally got their beloved items from my parents. I was looking for one box but three arrived and not all at once. Two boxes one day and about 4 days later, the third box arrived with the highly coveted backpacks. Except Mr. T took a look at Son's and saw it was too small for his needs so he's sticking with what he has. Mr. T had just bought it about a month before school ended so it was still new enough. Daughter got her Jonas Brothers and all is right with the world.


And speaking of the kidlets, Mr. T says Daughter is an old woman because she just lost another tooth.


See that one in the middle at the top? That one is loose now too. Go figure. Son had two teeth pulled himself just last week. There's one of them on the bottom left there.


They're beginning to look like baby hillbillies (No offense to the hillbillies of the world who are proud gummers.) and I am rapidly running out of $1 bills as everyone pretends the Tooth Fairy is real but we all know mommy is losing sleep waiting on the baby hillbillies to conk out.

There are also lots of changes at work as co-workers come and go - more in this month than any other in the four years I've been here. Some changes I still am not at liberty to divulge to the world (but it has NOTHING TO DO WITH ME so calm down!). Work will be an interesting place too for a while.

And the business? Well, last week, Bizzy Girl and a friend of ours, who has partnered with us for the greeting card line, all went to get inspired at a Get Motivated seminar in Hartford and that was really quite a treat. I heard words from Joe Montana, Laura Bush, Rudy Giuliani and Colin Powell. All cool. Colin Powell is actually quite funny. But the people who had me on the edge of my seat were ones I had never heard of before - Tamara Lowe (I'm buying her book right after this), James Smith (this man is hilarious. That's him over there with the folded arms.), Phil Town, Zig Ziggler (whose name seemed to ring a bell) and Krish Dhanam (captivating despite his harmless look down there on the lower left). And the unexpected icing on the cake is that the majority of these previously unknown people credited God with their success. So very unexpected. Tamara (the lady in blue up there on the right) went as far as to tell the antsy ones to bear with her while she told the people who really needed it the prayer they needed to say in order make Jesus their savior. (And if you comment negatively about mixing God into these business-like things, it's going to fall on deaf ears and I'll delete it anyway so why waste your time?)

My friends and I were thrilled. We are used to being in the world but not of it. Just like we are used to being black females who worked (or have worked) in predominately white environments. It's just part of our reality. And these truly motivational words these people shared would have motivated us anyway. But because they spoke the words through their faith - our shared faith - it made the whole thing even easier to consume. I highly recommend you check these people out if you ever get the chance. And the profits from Tamara's book - ALL of the profits - are going to support various charities. A woman after my own heart.

After all that dynamic speaking on Wednesday, my same friends and I all trekked to Hartford this past weekend for the Women's Expo. Our first major, 2-day expo at which we were going to be vendors. This was not inexpensive to do but we had to try. I won't go into detail about this just yet. It deserves a post all it's own. But I will say it is very tiring to do these things and we learned quite a bit, which I will share with you as well. Nevertheless, it was fun if only because I haven't laughed so hard or slept so deeply in quite awhile and sharing a hotel room with Bizzy Girl and our partner in success was an experience worth repeating. I even got a short story out of the deal. It has something to do with blond hairs showing up in the oddest of places. (Yet another future blog post!) Oh! And our newest fun find? Fresh Company located in Hartford. I bought two fun bracelets from them (here's one of them below) and their prices are fantastic. Tell them I sent you!


Stay tuned for more from the expo!

Hire Powers

I had to do some interviewing this week. The one time I did it before, we had pretty much already decided we were going to hire her. It was really just a formality. Now, we are looking for an intern after the one who was hired quit after one day. (She got a full-time job. I did NOT run her off.) Back to the drawing board we went.

Our HR woman sent me all the resumes that had come in for the position and there I sat reading over the lives of these anonymous people, remembering to myself how it felt to be on the other end of the job search, looking for experience yet knowing that my lack of experience was a real hindrance. Or later in life, looking for a change and hoping someone had the ability to connect the dots and find I'd be a good fit after all. So in the end, what I was really looking for both times was a break and those can be hard to come by. You have to hope the person interviewing you can see past the nervousness and uncover the potential that maybe you yourself have yet to recognize.

It is difficult juggling these two perspectives - the one who remembers what it felt like to yearn for a chance and the one who has to look past all that to find the person most likely to succeed with us and stay a while. It doesn't feel fair to pass any sort of judgment on people I don't really know but how else can you choose? Big hint, youngest job seekers: First impressions really do count. Neatness really matters. Spelling and grammar mistakes make it easy to chuck a resume and narrow down the possibilities. A ton of experience in a completely different field gives a potential employer pause. It all seems so trivial and superficial but it's reality because when you have a lot of people with the same ability standing before you but only one job, how do you select? Nit-picking becomes the method of choice. As I stood with Co-workers 2 and 3 discussing it, we briefly considered a test for the real contenders. Maybe a writing test? Maybe a scavenger hunt? How about Intern Survivor!

I tell you it isn't easy doing this. It helps to be as prepared as possible with the questions you ask but also in figuring out exactly what you want a person to be able to do. After talking to one person and consulting with Co-worker 3 who would also talk to these people to get her own assessment, we realized that the perfect person would not only be a go-getter (not literally but you never know) but also have an aptitude for writing. They would be working in Editorial after all. Some creativity would also help since we are involved in a lot of visual projects. So I looked for signs of that in the people I spoke with. I admit I also looked a little for signs of myself and the others on my team. We're all very different but we have our strengths that make us cohesive and productive and you hope like will draw like. The disappointing thing was that our choices were few. I called a good number of people. The responses were less than stellar. But it only takes one right?

It's odd to find myself in a place where I can maybe help someone take their first or next step in the career of their dreams. I dread the thought of having to tell anyone, "Thanks but no thanks." I can only hope they don't take it personally because I remember being crushed by what felt like personal rejection. Of course I didn't know then that one door closing leaves room for something better to come along and came along it did. You have to learn to think that way in order to soothe your hurt feelings. I do hope that the ones who don't make it aren't fazed by it. I hope they truly have the tenacity they say they do and that they land on their feet. I hope the person who accepts the job stays more than one day.

I already know who I am going to pick - or should I say hire? After all, as I am told, it is up to me since I will be the one managing him or her the most. My boss and Co-worker 3 keep smiling and metaphorically throwing their hands up in the air, "Whoever you want" they say. Thanks, ladies!

Now I am just letting the decision gel until next week. It gives me time to at least do what many potential employers never did for me - acknowledge the receipt of the resume and give my thanks but no thanks. After all, if we never take the time to remember we were neophytes once too and make a difference for the people who come after us, then we are doomed to repeat the cycle of indifference and seeming disregard for people's feelings. It's about time more employers put a little heart in their hiring process. You may just get back the loyalty and commitment you seek.

Johnny Cash Would Be Proud

At last! The post I had to remove on Oct. 11 when this was originally supposed to run. Of course I have blogged since this went up then came down again so the whole "I've been busy" thing may not work so well now but I don't want to re-write this blasted thing! Pretend it's Oct. 11th.

I've been too busy living my life to blog about it. But that's no excuse, now is it? Bloggers have a responsibility to blog or else they not truly bloggers. I concur. Kerri is posting in a couple of different places now and I told her that my blog saw her OTHER blog, tugged my shirt and said, "Why does HER blog get a post and I don't?" So here I am saying, yes, I am alive but it's been nuts. I can prove it.

You know that Choice Hotel commercial that is using Johnny Cash's song? I've been doing everything, man!

I've been to cub scout meetings business meetings wrapping up a school fundraiser mother-in-law's church award thing selling popcorn at CVS business expo held in New York writing editing and shooting a script and in between dealing with sick girl and working long hours on my job projects - I've been everywhere man. I've been everywhere!

The shoot is something my co-workers and I created for our Boss' Day, which is next week but we're doing it tomorrow because one co-worker will be out of town next week and we're all chomping at the bit anyway. (OK. Clearly that didn't happen. Thus the late posting.) Lady Boss is fantastic and deserves this. We all agree. Three of us are writers so we wrote it. One of us is a video goddess so she and her fiance shot it and edited it and we know it will be hilarious. Stress relief for Lady Boss and us too, we expect. We used sock puppets, people. Yes. I stayed up late one night NOT blogging because I was IMing with my co-workers as we worked on the script and made our puppets. We also created T-shirts to go along with the day. Yes, I am 36, not 6 and no, I am not currently pledging a college sorority. Honest. But it was fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a while. This is me (being animated by Co-worker):



And this is me in the drawer with all of us:



We did this AFTER WORK so no finger wagging in my direction! Nyeh!

Now, in addition I have also helped 2 of said co-workers to create a visual representation of the Battle of the Brides. They are getting married next year - no silly, not to each other! - and they are doing it a week apart at that. One co-worker who knows I hate wedding talk (I didn't do a lot of it for myself either) says, "Oh, can't you play with us for just a LITTLE while?!" You asked for it, missy. So I took her idea for the timeline they wanted to create and said, "Squash that. This is what you do..." And this is what they did:



Can you see them? They are building wedding cakes tier by tier. Each cake represents what they have accomplished on their way to their respective wedding alters. Grimace and a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle are racing to the top to ring the wedding bells in victory. Yes, this was my idea folks. I was determined to see it through. Good job, ladies!

Now, the rest is A LOT of cub scout stuff (Son sold lots of popcorn at CVS and his being cute helped a lot. Good for him! [I will not pimp my son. I will not pimp my son!]) and lots of library visits as I try to keep my kids in new books weekly (and me monthly) and me realizing that my business needs me to really put the pedal to the medal because these kids are just expensive! I've said it before and I say it again - kids (not babies, believe it or not) cost mega moolah. I wish I had time for a part-time job.

Oh, and in addition to what I've written here, I've been writing with my crit group twice a week and working on my novel outline for NaNoWriMo. What is it, Theresa asked. Why this, of course! See my little award over there in my sidebar? It's getting married next month. Mark my words - literally. I need 50,000 of them to win.

And then there is Village Works for which I have been working on an email campaign that went out this week. I've been through about 1,000 emails that I had to get added to our mailing list program so that took a few days, plus creating the email itself. You see, the fundraiser was a huge disappointment in that it never got kicked off properly and the kids just didn't do the job. Yeah, we got some orders. Yeah, we're talking high school seniors, which may be more than half of the problem here, but that just gave us a huge task for the next couple of weeks to get those orders bumped up to PROFIT level. We've got a one-week special going on and we'll see what comes of it. For certain all this business stuff going on (we met with an accountant in all this busy time too) and all the kid/family stuff that is breaking the bank is making me think it's time to get on the Ladies Who Launch bandwagon and see if we can make a profitable difference in 2008. It's too soon to give up. We KNOW we have something here. It's just a matter of making it work. Maybe I'll watch a little more Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane so I can get inspired. That woman is truly a dynamo and fun to watch. I don't want her life, just her money!

Oh and just so you know, I am also busy reading at night when I should be watching TV - or sleeping, as another co-worker would say. What am I reading? Two books I dug up from the library.

I got this one at the beginning of September and it's actually not bad but it didn't grab me as hard as I would like. Still it's a little bit of a tease so I hold on. The author is Daniel Wallace. He wrote Big Fish which became a movie. You've got a circus and a black magician who is really white. My favorite line so far from Henry the magician to a racist heckler in the audience as he tried to guess the card the heckler is hiding from him:

Henry closed his eyes and took a deep preparatory breath. A quizzical look appeared on his face. "I'm...I'm having trouble locating it. Your brain, I mean. Where do you keep it? Oh there it is. It was so small that for a moment I couldn't see it!

That had me rolling for 2 days. This is why I hang on.

And there there is his one by British author Sophie Kinsella. It caught my attention pretty quickly, something that is not easily done. But the British text can be a little distracting at times. She has this awful habit of having her somewhat gawky, a little inept character say "Er" and "Erm" a lot and that Erm thing is bugging the heck out of me. What is that, anyway? "Er" I can stand but even that is getting run over repeatedly and stabbed with a big stick in this book. Still, she makes me want to know what the heck is going to happen to this girl. She reminds me a bit of Bridget Jones and... darn it! There is someone else too but I can't grasp her book title. It was about a working mother and the juggling she had to do. Anyone recall it?

I think I am sufficiently caught up until the next time I get behind. See you soon!

Time Warped

May I suggest a new law of physics? The velocity of 24 hours is relative to the location of the object.

Said object - me - can experience every minute of that 24 hours when I am at work for 8 to 10 hours and things are somewhat quiet. Not that it's torture, per se, because I've lived a torturous job and this ain't it. Nevertheless, no matter how much you love your job, for many of us there is just no place like home. And so that time passes so slowly that I swear it goes backward to gain the momentum it needs to keep marching forward. And then when I get home, it is gone in a flash and I must get to bed if I want to have any energy for the next day.

Or vacation. Vacations have a way of excelerating time as well, unless it's a 2-week vacation, then it actually slows down a bit after the first week passes so you come away like you really got some rest.

Well, I'm pretty tired from my job right now. It's a non-stop pace these days - most days - and that's cool. I like to keep moving but I just needed a Sunday when I didn't have to think of going to work on Monday so I took today off. I did email my job ONCE but I wanted to pass on some information. That's all. But it wasn't even the info I needed so I could have gotten fresh numbers but my co-woker said, "Stop working!" So I did. For them.

Instead I spent the day working for myself because my business needs me. With one job needing to be planned, a quote needing to go out and talking to my partner about another job we want to solicit, I needed a day to tend to these things.

I got up at the usual time because the kids must go on and after watching one get on the bus and dropping the other off, I took my car to the mechanic because the front brakes are whispering to me now but I didn't want them to scream at me later. My business partner picked me up from there to go to a meeting with our manufacturer to discuss lowering production costs. Love my manufacturer. He brought in 2 of his guys to think across all aspects of this big job we will do later in the year and as usual, we left with one more new thing to think about adding to our puzzles and a great way to package the ones we have to do for our client.

We left there to go work on the potential client's quote and my partner then brought me home to call one of our artists and email 2 others about the work we need to do. I emailed another manufacturer for another part of the process and had to have the hard talk with the potential web host who we let go before they got going due to too much miscommunication. Our new one will be awesome since I know him so it was a trade up. I took the briefest of naps, was awakened by a phone call from the fired host to plan a wrap-up meeting and by then it was 2:45 people! Son was going to be home in about an hour from then and I'm sitting there wondering where the heck the time went.

Did someone take a little more than they were supposed to? Do you have a portion of my time in your pocket? I could really use it back. But now, Daughter will be home with Mr. T. soon and the madness will really begin. At least I got to get Son off the bus and walk home with him hand-in-hand, help him with his homework in the daylight thus freeing him to goof off and I was even able to blog a little, because I've been really busy with VWE. There was no rushed feeling so Son could tell me about the baseball team he formed today - The Hersheys - who lost their first game the the Red Hots. "They melted us into melted chocolate!" We could sit and watch Criss Angel on Oprah as he got out of a straight jacket in less than half the time it took Houdini. Son could also read his homework book to me about the human body and ask me what marrow was and I didn't feel annoyed at the question just because I had a million of my own thoughts I had to corale first.

I love my job. But how sweet it would be if the business could get to the place where I can stay home and every day could be controlled chaos. A few people on Oprah today - from the snippets I caught as I fixed Bourbon Chicken and french fries for Son - talked about perserverance and that in the moment when you're ready to give up lies sweet success. I hope this year proves to be that turning point for us. Maybe I can think realistically about the possibility of working for myself for good sooner rather than later. I really want my job to be the last place I work for someone else. I'm determined to make that happen no matter how freaky that seems.

I just have to keep trying.