"Thank You God For All The Blessings I Have, and All The Blessings I Am Receiving"

The quote above is my own sort of mantra. I say it when I get up in the morning before my feet hit the carpet and I say it before my head lands on the pillow when I go to bed at night.

I found that little gem in a book called "Spiritual Marketing" by Dr. Joe Vitale. If you have the opportunity, whether you are into marketing or not, I highly recommend reading it, several times. It was a quote that resonated with me and I feel immense gratitude when I say it, twice a day. It forces me to stop, think and reflect on what is truly important in my life and be thankful for all of it.

The reason I am sharing this with you, is this is the season of Thanks, and of Giving. In this time and space in all of our lives, it is not the presents under the tree that will be important this holiday season, no matter what holiday you celebrate. We all have begun to take a moment and decide what is truly important in our lives, and it isn't accumulating more "stuff".

I received a gift on Tuesday evening that was "priceless", as the commercial says.

It was a snowy evening and I had been trying to reach LOML (Love of My Life), QH, for most of that day. I drove to work and knew that with the snow and the wind and the way the roads were shaping up, it was going to be a bad commute home for my honey. I wanted to let him know that there were several cars in the ditches on the way to work, and that the snow was sticking to the roads as the temperatures dropped dramatically. We went from 38 degrees ABOVE ZERO, and would be at MINUS 3 degrees before the end of the night.

Minnesota weather, gotta love it! :)

So, after several tries at the office and on his cell, I thought he might be over helping his Dad plow out, and thought, "I'll call him later," and went about working. Around 8:00 pm, I decided I would try one more time at home and if he wasn't there, his Mom & Dad's house. I was sitting at the table where we trim and inspect parts when I saw QH standing next to me!

"Hi, honey! What are you doing here?" I was thrilled, and felt like the good old LOA (Law of Attraction) was really working!! I had him on my mind all night and here he was!

"I brought you a present!" He said, and I saw a little sparkle in his eye. I followed him out into the warehouse and when I turned the corner...

There he stood, in his Navy Blues, and it took a few seconds for my brain to register it...

My son, Alex, home for Christmas!! And two days early!!!

Or so I thought! Turns out, he and QH and my dear brother (Kudos, to Andy for not letting the secret out!!), had been conspiring about this since the weekend before Thanksgiving when QH and I took Thanksgiving dinner to Illinois for Alex.

"It's Not Thursday!" I blurted out. What the hell was wrong with me? My son is here!! He's Home!!!

"Did I say Thursday? I meant Tuesday!" he said, grinning. I went over and hugged and hugged him and kissed him and hugged him. Was this real? Is he really here? God, if this is a dream, please don't let me wake up yet!!

I looked behind him, and there was QH, and I could see he was trying to look away at us, and I think I saw a tear, but that could have been something in his eyes (like the size of a boulder !) ;)

I went around the plant and introduced him to the other people on my shift, and then they were off to my parents house to give them a heart attack. I hugged QH and said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you," and he was gone with Alex out the door.

I made my way back to the clean room, and in the darkness of the warehouse, the tears began to stream down my face. The shock had passed, and the waterworks were going. I looked up and said, "Thank you God for all the Blessings I have and all the Blessings I am receiving." I felt a part of my heart open up, and felt love. Pure love. And Gratitude.

I wiped the tears, blew my nose and went back to work. I knew my Mom would be calling soon, and I was right. The joy in her voice was perfect, and I knew my Dad would be more cheerful now that his "buddy" was back in town. We tried to surprise my sister, but Dad let the secret slip, but that's ok. She was excited to see him on Thursday. Cannon got to see him on Wednesday, and remembered who he was, and was a little shy at first, but by the end of the day, he was Alex's shadow.

It's the best Christmas present I ever received, and I am in awe of QH for pulling it off. The thoughtfulness, the love, he demonstrated, I have no words.

All I know, is that man deserves a Harley!! Some way, some how, I am going to make that dream manifest.

With a big red bow! And then I will be standing back with a "boulder" in my eyes!!

Until then, he has my heart, my love, my undying gratitude.

Thanks, honey.

Welcome to the Revolution

It's an interesting time, is it not?

Our economy is in a deep recession, and they just admitted it this week. The government rushed to bail out the banks, but they are making the auto makers beg for relief. There were over 600,000 jobs lost during the month of November alone, and it's going to get worse before it gets better.

This is why I want to be self-employed. I don't want to worry about a paycheck. I want to be my own boss. I want to work the hours I want to work, as hard as I want to work them (I have one hell of a work ethic, ask anyone who knows me). I want to live my life, no worries about the bills getting paid and just have some freaking FUN for a change!!

FREEDOM!!

More than anything, I want freedom.
Freedom from the drive to work and back.
Freedom from the hassle of putting up with crap from people who have a higher position than you and never hesitate to remind you of that.
Freedom from worrying about whether I have a job or not when things get slow.
Freedom from depending on an employer to give me a paycheck every two weeks.

What set me off on this thread? A blog post by Pat O'Bryan, an entrepeneur who has a new book out on Amazon.com. I like his style. I like what he has to say, and he is living the lifestyle to which I would like to become accustomed. If you want to check it out, here's the link: http://www.patobryan.com/blog/?p=34

All through the election, they preached to us about CHANGE. Changes are happening right now, but not good changes. Too many people are losing what they have worked their asses off all of their lives to get: jobs, homes, and that wonderful 401(k) that isn't worth the paper it's printed on, not to mention the stocks that went into the toilet a few weeks ago.

Christmas is coming and nobody can afford it.

What is it going to take before we as a country stand up and say "NO MORE!!"

Where is OUR economic bailout?

I say we not have to pay taxes for the next 4 years. That'll boost the economy!

Have all of those CEOs who put us in this financial meltdown pay back all the bonuses they received for running their businesses into the ground. Have the thieves and the scammers pay everything back and then some to the Social Security fund.

Or better yet, find those millions and millions of dollars we all sent in to help those out after 9/11. Where did that money go? Inquiring minds want to know.

Because I think we are all just pissed and we are not going to take it anymore. Call your senators, your congress people, your state representatives, your governor in your state and in the federal system too.

Remind them, they work for US.

WELCOME TO THE REVOLUTION!