Yeah! The home show is over and I have one new paid customer and 2 appointments that will very likely lead to payment! Not enough yet to cover the even expenses but getting close!
Event stats
Pounds of Jolly Ranchers given away - 15
Slips made for the free drawing - 10,000 (they told me 16,000 people come - I was being prepared!)
150 or so - the actual number of slips used for the free drawing
Number of expensive business cards made - 5,000
Number of expensive business cards given - maybe 250 (I now have business cards for life)
3 day event - 26 hours of smiling at the crowd (thank you Mom for manning the booth so I could take breaks!)
Hours spend listening to the 4 minute spiel of the guy across the aisle hawking Miracle Cloths - 1 (after that I could repeat the entire dang thing- at least the guy had a great English accent)
Number of Miracle Cloths bought - one delux set sold at a sympathy price of $30 (instead of $50) (well at least it took him 3 days to convince me!) =-)
Number of pieces of fudge bought from the guy *right next to me* - 0 (though I did thoroughly enjoy the samples and end pieces he gave me!)
Monday, February 28, 2005
Friday, February 25, 2005
Success
I just survived my first day at my first home show as a vendor. It was great! My demonstration was very well attended and I had a lot of people show interest in my business as a professional organizer. No money yet but lots of nibbles and positive exposure. My feet hurt and I'm really tired but - Yeah! successful day!
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Question
So I'm wondering - should I really be grateful to my co-worker?
So said CW used to do all things benefit related. Now that's being given to me. But he's still the controller so has lots of info I need to do my job - especially since I haven't been given access to the payroll data base.
So last week I get a huge spreadsheet dumped on me. I explain to CW what I need. He insists all pieces of info are everywhich place and there's no report he can run to help me.
Yesterday I inform CW that I'm behind with said spreadsheet due to employee "fires" I had to deal with. CW decides to look over spreadsheet and finish.
Spreadsheet comes back to me today. Just as I get in the door CW pops in and says the spreadsheet took three hours and don't I owe him big.
No, I don't owe you because I had to open every cotton pickin' employee file and search for the data which I hand entered - a process that took forever. Once you had to do the spreadsheet all of a sudden the database can be made to give you the reports and lists I had requested in the first place.
So no, I don't owe you and I'm not greatful for your measly 3 hours next to my hours of time spend hand reviewing every employee chart and hand keying in every piece of data.
So said CW used to do all things benefit related. Now that's being given to me. But he's still the controller so has lots of info I need to do my job - especially since I haven't been given access to the payroll data base.
So last week I get a huge spreadsheet dumped on me. I explain to CW what I need. He insists all pieces of info are everywhich place and there's no report he can run to help me.
Yesterday I inform CW that I'm behind with said spreadsheet due to employee "fires" I had to deal with. CW decides to look over spreadsheet and finish.
Spreadsheet comes back to me today. Just as I get in the door CW pops in and says the spreadsheet took three hours and don't I owe him big.
No, I don't owe you because I had to open every cotton pickin' employee file and search for the data which I hand entered - a process that took forever. Once you had to do the spreadsheet all of a sudden the database can be made to give you the reports and lists I had requested in the first place.
So no, I don't owe you and I'm not greatful for your measly 3 hours next to my hours of time spend hand reviewing every employee chart and hand keying in every piece of data.
Future tense
There is a very great possibility I might just go crazy before the day's end.
Thought I would warn you.
Thought I would warn you.
Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday Mom!
At 61 I want to be as beautiful and exuberant as you are!
Love You!
Proper Order
Things dug out of boxes and/or set up. In chronological order.
A part of the couch to sit down on.
TV and cable box
Doggie treats
My bed
Hanging clothes
Miscellaneous box of kitchen items (creatively used to serve as dinnerware for pizza that night)
The couch
My bath towel
What took three days to find:
My computer
my socks and underwear
My toothbrush, shampoo and facial cleanser
What I still haven't found:
Flashlight to take the dogs out
Dinner Plates
My box of saltine crackers
A part of the couch to sit down on.
TV and cable box
Doggie treats
My bed
Hanging clothes
Miscellaneous box of kitchen items (creatively used to serve as dinnerware for pizza that night)
The couch
My bath towel
What took three days to find:
My computer
my socks and underwear
My toothbrush, shampoo and facial cleanser
What I still haven't found:
Flashlight to take the dogs out
Dinner Plates
My box of saltine crackers
So busy
One should definately not schedule a move, a new client, a job and a trade show all in the same two week period. One might just go crazy.
The Move
5 guys from the church, 1 dad, 4 pick-ups. 11 loads and 2.5 hours later my entire apartment full of boxes and furniture was moved to the newer, more spacious apartment. Now that's what I call a power move!
Of course it took them 2.5 hours to move me. It will now take me several weeks to unpack and several months to get settled. Sigh.
Of course it took them 2.5 hours to move me. It will now take me several weeks to unpack and several months to get settled. Sigh.
Monday, February 14, 2005
A hole in the head
This from a Safety magazine we get at work....
When a Colorado construction worker went to the dentist about a toothache in the roof of his mouth, there was good news and bad news.
Good news: It wasn't a toothache.
Bad news: A nail that had misfired from a nail gun he was using lodged in the roof of his mouth, going an inch-and-a-half into his brain.
Tha patient was resting comfortably after surgery to remove the nail.
Sound like loosing a few more brain cells won't hurt this guy!
When a Colorado construction worker went to the dentist about a toothache in the roof of his mouth, there was good news and bad news.
Good news: It wasn't a toothache.
Bad news: A nail that had misfired from a nail gun he was using lodged in the roof of his mouth, going an inch-and-a-half into his brain.
Tha patient was resting comfortably after surgery to remove the nail.
Sound like loosing a few more brain cells won't hurt this guy!
Saturday, February 12, 2005
Emotional impacts of secrets
So can marriage make you sick?
Since I divorced I have physically felt progressively better than I have in months, years. A few friends have chalked this up to the unrecognized stress D's (my former husband) secret placed on the marriage. In short that his being gay but living in a straight marriage was so hard on him and I that I developed all my mental health problems and he drew away from me to a point where he eventually left.
There is much to ponder here. Can such a years long stress cause such illness? In both of us? I have had many mental health problems specifically with anxiety and panic. Lots of lables have been tried on - major depression, PTSD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Attacks/Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bi-Polar Disorder, etc.
I never really truely bought into the lables except for the anxiety stuff. That seems to make sense.
Yet after years of trying to identify what was going on with me, trying to cope, trying to find the right therapist, trying to find the right meds - this biggest thing in my life happens (the divorce) and I start getting better. I'm actually in the process of weaning myself off all meds.
So am I doing so well because I have no options? No one to take care of me, no room to allow illness because I'm so busy trying to make a living, basically no safety net. Or, as some friends have thought, the exscerbation of my symptoms was from the stress of the marriage.
this is not clear-cut. It's not easy. It's very complicated. It's about the both of us and our reactions through 14 years of dating and marriage. So one little question and potiential answer does not answer all.
The concept is interesting though. Was fighting the gay part of himself such a overridding thing in his life that I somehow sensed it beneath the surface and reacted without even knowing it? Even though he has said he will not live the gay life and is not identifying himself as gay - did it have more of an emotional impact on our marriage than either of us could have gussed?
Since I divorced I have physically felt progressively better than I have in months, years. A few friends have chalked this up to the unrecognized stress D's (my former husband) secret placed on the marriage. In short that his being gay but living in a straight marriage was so hard on him and I that I developed all my mental health problems and he drew away from me to a point where he eventually left.
There is much to ponder here. Can such a years long stress cause such illness? In both of us? I have had many mental health problems specifically with anxiety and panic. Lots of lables have been tried on - major depression, PTSD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Attacks/Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Bi-Polar Disorder, etc.
I never really truely bought into the lables except for the anxiety stuff. That seems to make sense.
Yet after years of trying to identify what was going on with me, trying to cope, trying to find the right therapist, trying to find the right meds - this biggest thing in my life happens (the divorce) and I start getting better. I'm actually in the process of weaning myself off all meds.
So am I doing so well because I have no options? No one to take care of me, no room to allow illness because I'm so busy trying to make a living, basically no safety net. Or, as some friends have thought, the exscerbation of my symptoms was from the stress of the marriage.
this is not clear-cut. It's not easy. It's very complicated. It's about the both of us and our reactions through 14 years of dating and marriage. So one little question and potiential answer does not answer all.
The concept is interesting though. Was fighting the gay part of himself such a overridding thing in his life that I somehow sensed it beneath the surface and reacted without even knowing it? Even though he has said he will not live the gay life and is not identifying himself as gay - did it have more of an emotional impact on our marriage than either of us could have gussed?
New train of thought
I'm going to start using this blog to sort through some of the feelings from the divorce, etc. This is not a bashing thing - just an exploration for me. so if any of my relatives on my husband's side or friends read this and are offended - I'm sorry. Just delete the bookmark. This is not meant to serve as pay back or "outing" of my former husband. I think all those close to us know pretty much everything. It's just time for me to do some talking. And since no one has commented in a long while, I'm thinking the readership isn't that high anyway.
Peace all.
Peace all.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Healing
I have bought three plants for my office and I'm contemplating getting a fourth one. For those who know me this is shocking news. Not because I have a black thumb but because I have never had house plants - I avoided them actually.
See, like a majority of the population it seems, I was sexually abused as a child. One of the offenders owned a greenhouse and had given me several plants. So my mind went greenhouse=dark place of pain and plants=reminder of sicko man. So I avoided greenhouses and house plants. Got over the greenhouse thing a few years ago but still no plants.
I just realized today that I'm over the plant thing and actually enjoying having these plants in my office. Healing is a good thing.
See, like a majority of the population it seems, I was sexually abused as a child. One of the offenders owned a greenhouse and had given me several plants. So my mind went greenhouse=dark place of pain and plants=reminder of sicko man. So I avoided greenhouses and house plants. Got over the greenhouse thing a few years ago but still no plants.
I just realized today that I'm over the plant thing and actually enjoying having these plants in my office. Healing is a good thing.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Aurora Suzanne
My niece Rori on her 1st birthday. She is soooo cute! And she's talking now and I'm missing it!
Sunday, February 06, 2005
New Frontier
One of the positives about moving to the Lower 48 is that there would be more cultural opportunities. I haven't really found that many more opportunities but I might actually go to this one.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Say it with words....
From the women's bathroom at work...
Kinda makes you wonder what prompted such a posting...
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
Happy Sausage Day!
Ground Hog's Day... get it?
OK - I thought it was hillarious! Thanks to my friend Pink for that gem!
OK - I thought it was hillarious! Thanks to my friend Pink for that gem!
Did you hear me shout?!
I just landed my biggest client yet for my organizing business! Whoooohoooooooo!
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Crazy World
Now I'm all for welfare reform. When I was in Alaska I worked with some of the training programs to prepare people to work. And work incentives (and punishments) are, for the most part, a good thing. This, however, is over the line.
(thanks again to Jenn!)
(thanks again to Jenn!)
Hubble Pictures
I loved this slideshow of pictures from the Hubble telescope that I actually bought the screensaver.
Many thanks to Jenn for passing this on!
Many thanks to Jenn for passing this on!
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