I Had A Dream...

Yes, that is a million dollar bill. What in the world am I thinking putting it up on my blog? What gives?

Well, a few months ago, I had a dream. I dreamt I was at the official lottery drawing, like you see on TV where they pull the balls out and put them up and for the first time in my whole life, I saw all the numbers be drawn one by one. I thought, "I'll never remember them." But I did, when I woke up from that dream, I remembered every single number, and I wrote them down and I have been playing them ever since. Just those numbers. Not any other. In both lotteries, the Powerball and the MegaMillions. If I'm going to win, I want to win big! I have a lot of family to take care of, and a lot of friends who will need some help. Not to mention, I would love to help the veterans in our country and their families.

I heard about a family recently who won the lottery more than once. It got me to thinking. I would love to be the first one to win both jackpots one after the other. The Mega Millions is drawn tomorrow night and the Powerball is drawn on Saturday.

What would you do if you won the lottery? How much would you spend and how much would you put away? Who would you help? Think about it. In the meantime, remember, money is just colored paper. The only value it holds is the value we place upon it. The things that are worth more are worth having, and most of them are free.

Have a great weekend, and Good Luck! :)

Goodbye July, Hello August!

July 10, 2011, a thunderstorm rocked Lake Mille Lacs where our boat was docked at Hunter Winfield's Resort. Winds over 60 mph and lake swells caused our boat pictured above to break loose and end up crashing on the rocks on the lakeshore. What you don't see is the three foot wide hole in the bottom of the boat. What amazed me when I took the pictures the next day was that nobody was hurt or killed.

The month of July has been long, hot, challenging and I am glad for the lessons learned (put more insurance on if you can), but I am glad that it is over. August brings a lot of changes. My son is home from Virginia where he worked for the last 3 weeks in the Navy Reserves, only to pack and leave for Fargo to his college orientation. He won't be home long and then he's off to college for good. At least he's not too far from home this time.

I spent today trying to write my children's book I've been working on and found myself getting very frustrated. It was like I forgot how to write. I've been guilty of letting other things get in the way of my writing time, like work & sleep, but it felt like you do when you come back to work from a long vacation. It takes you a few days to get back into the swing of things. I've been away from it for far too long. I am finding myself having a hard time communicating verbally and in my writing. The flow I had before just isn't there. I know I just have to make a point to just write everyday no matter what and it will be like swimming: once you learn how you never forget. :)

Have a great weekend and see you in August!

Time After Time

I used to love the Cindy Lauper version of this song, but tonight I am listening to the version sung by Eva Cassidy on the soundtrack for Smallville. It's a fitting song to listen to on your birthday.

For those of you who have no idea who Eva Cassidy is, she was a young, beautiful inspiring woman with a fabulous voice. Just when things seemed to be going right for her in life and in her singing career, she was diagnosed with melonoma. She died at age 33. But her legacy is she filled the remainder of her days with love, life and music. And she sang her heart out.

We never know how much time we have here on this planet. Yet we continue to take it all for granted. We'll start to do this when we have this amount of money or this kind of house or drive this kind of car. In the meantime, our talents are buried, wasting away, when we should be using them to make ourselves and the world better. I'm as guilty as everyone else. I have barely written a page or two in the last few weeks and I've been paying the price. I haven't been myself, nothing seems right and I feel out of sorts. I've also been crabby.

But I'm still here and made it to another birthday. I'm so very grateful for that, but most importantly, I'm so blessed to have QH and Alex in my life, to have Cannon & the girls, my parents, my sister and brother, and the rest of my family here with me. I am so blessed to have friends both old and young who were so nice and remembered my birthday on Facebook and also by phone. Thank you all. I had a great day. And most of all, thanks to my mother who 42 years ago brought me into this wonderful world.

I hope to make you all proud in the next year. :)

"If your lost you can look, and you will find me. Time after time. If you fall, I will catch you, I will be waiting. Time after time." ~Cyndi Lauper, "Time After Time"

Happy Mother's Day 2011!

Since I began my new job I haven't been able to post or write much. I was doing door to door sales, and now have moved into the front office to bring some much needed relief.

I liked doing the door to door, but I know I can be much more useful in the office, or at least I hope I can. We are doing this on a trial basis for now. But most of the ladies who are there are very nice and welcomed me in and once I learn all the stuff I hope to be able to work as fast and as well as they do.

So, here is another holiday I am writing a post about. Mother's Day.

This morning my son, Alex, made me pancakes for Mother's Day. QH bought me shocks, struts, brake pads and changed the oil in my car. He also bought me a cot for camping. I am the luckiest Mom in the world. 

I am very blessed to still have my mother alive and well, and she still makes me laugh and drives me crazy sometimes, and sometimes she doesn't understand me (and vice versa), I know I wouldn't know what to do if she was no longer here.

She is the reason I have no problem talking to people, because she has never met a stranger. She worked for a lot of years as a waitress and bartender, and has not just survived cancer, but thrived. She loves her grandsons very much and enjoys spoiling them and looks forward to the day when she will be spoiling granddaughters (Andy and Lisa, this is your cue!).

She loves birds, feeding the blue jays, the orioles, the finches and the chickadees and red winged black birds that flock around the back deck of her yard. She makes a really great salsa and the best pickles you will ever eat. In fact, she's the reason I can cook at all.

I see a lot of my Mom in myself, and I am very proud today and everyday to be her daughter.

Happy Mother's Day, Mom, and I hope you are as proud of me as I am of you.

Happy Mother's Day also, to my grandmother, Ellen Crawford, to my mother-in-law, Audrey Charlene Hathaway, and to all the moms, moms to be and to the military moms out there.
 ******************************************************************************
Special prayers to Aunt Mary, my great-aunt, who was like another grandmother to me. She may not be in this world much longer, but she will leave behind a legacy of kindness and unconditional love and a wonderful smile. She always remembered your birthday, sent two dollars with a card, and bought towels for you for Christmas that matched your bathroom even though you never told her what color it was. Please help me pray for her transition from this life to the next to be as painless as possible. Love you, Aunt Mary.

Happy Easter 2011!

First off, Happy Easter Everyone!

Today the weather is fabulous, the sun is out and shining with a few puffy clouds mixed in. The turkey is on the grill, and we will be going to my MIL's for dinner later this afternoon. It would be a great day to go for a ride in the 1956 Chevy, but sadly, the Pink Ride has gone to another home. We sold it yesterday to a nice man who was surprising his wife. I will miss the car shows and riding around in it, but things being what they are financially, it wasn't practical to keep it anymore. I had a good cry and I have a lot of great pictures and memories to look back on. It was a lot of fun while it lasted.

Spring is here and I'm looking forward to the flowers blooming, the grass growing and the time when I can sleep with the windows open at night. I'm also looking forward to my new job which starts Monday and learning new things. There is so much promise in the spring and at Easter, especially. It's the promise of a new chance at life, a rebirth,  and a resurrection. It's a season of hope. And we all need to remember that as cold and dark as the winter gets, the light and warmth of spring always follows.

Happy Easter and Welcome Spring!

Happy Birthday, Dad!

This picture is my son, Alex with my Mom (left) and my Dad (right). It was taken just before Alex left for the Navy.
 
Today is my Dad's birthday. It is a special day this year for many reasons.

For those of you who don't know the story, my father was diagnosed with Stage 3 colon cancer in September of 2010. He had surgery to remove the tumor from his colon which was starting to permeate the lining, meaning it would have only been a matter of time and it would have spread to his other organs. He came through surgery and then had to go through chemotherapy.

Tomorrow, April 13, 2011, is his last chemo treatment.

This year, I wanted to do something special. I usually get him a silly card that he doesn't read for a week or so, and tell him Happy Birthday, or get him something he really doens't want or need or it ends up collecting dust in the house somewhere. I decided since he has pretty much everything he could need or want, and since he has the gift of good health now, I would have to be a little creative.

What I am doing is donating ten percent (10%) of my income and sales, in my father's name, Tom Crawford, over the next 10 days (April 12-April 22)  to the "Get Your Rear In Gear" event sponsored by the Colon Cancer Coalition. My donation will go for my state, Minnesota. There is a 5K race being held on May 22, 2011. For more information, please go here:
http://www.getyourrearingear.com/events. 

Through my job, I am paid to show kitchen cutlery products by appointment only. If I sell anything, it is a bonus, but the prospective customer is not required to purchase. I have a great time presenting the product and meeting new people. If you are interested in scheduling an appointment with me, call me at (612) 859-3109.

If you would like to donate, please go to http://www.getyourrearingear.com and click on the "Donate" button.

Thanks and have a great weekend!

And Happy Birthday, Dad! :)

My New Job: Mother Hen

Last time I posted, I was saying how I had learned a lot of things from losing each one of my jobs, and how I wasn't going to just settle for a paycheck, right? I wanted to find a job that fit with my personality, that I felt a measure of success at and I wanted to help people.

Be careful what you wish for.

The last few weeks I have been sending out applications and resumes all over the place. I then received an email from an online job finding service listing all the places and positions I should look at based upon my resume. One of the positions was for Vector Marketing. Hmmm. Interesting. Should I see what this is about? Sure, what have I got to lose? I clicked on the link, filled out the online application and it said for me to call the number to set up an interview. Ok. I then decided to do it the next day.

I didn't. Instead, I received a phone call from them. What? I then put it off until it kept bugging me. I needed to find out what this was about, if it was a scam, then no harm done, keep looking for a job. They decided to schedule me for an interview on Wednesday. I went in for the interview, not expecting much. I then was shocked to find out it was a sales position.

I sold Avon years ago, so my idea of sales was less than positive. I didn't want to have a bunch of inventory lying around my house (believe it or not, I still have some Avon in my storage room that didn't sell). I wasn't going to have a house full of widgets or what-have-yous lying around my place and try to find someone to buy them.

But something would not let me say no to this. Suddenly, I was wanting this job really bad. I have bills to pay after all, and even if it didn't work out, I might learn something valuable. What the heck. So, as I sat in the waiting room to be called on or not, I felt myself feeling uneasy. Did they think I was a good match? I looked around the room. These were all college or high school students. I am twice their age, almost. My heart started to sink. I was too old. If this opportunity had come along 20 years ago, I would have totally been in. Now, forget it.

Then my name was called. Might as well get this over with. I walked in and sat down and she said, "We've decided to offer you a position."

Shut the front door! Are you kidding me? If it wouldn't have been totally inappropriate, I would have jumped over there and hugged her! (I did give her a Thank You card, handwritten). I was to start training the next day.

Training has been like boot camp for selling stuff. I have learned more about marketing, prospecting, confidence, attitude, recommendations, closing a sale, then I could have ever learned in a college classroom. I was nervous and scared and worried. I was afraid when they gave us our kit I would do something stupid, but with each appointment, it got progressively easier. Most of my family and friends thought it was really cool stuff (I sell CutCo knives), but they all said, "Um, not right now," or "We'd love to have it, but we have no money, " etc. Since the first 10 days are the most intense and they want you to sell and have the most appointments I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong. I had no sales on Saturday and Sunday wasn't looking good either, until I my second appointment.

Finally! I had a sale! It wasn't huge, but it was something. One of the best things about this job is checking in with my manager, Chris, who is encouraging and asks how things go, offering tips on what to do, etc.

And tonight on my final appointment, I was so excited after training to apply what I learned and to tell my friend, Kathy about this product and the opportunities. She looked at me as I was about to leave, "So, you really like this?"

"No, Kathy," I said, "I love this job!"

I am so grateful I have a job that I control, that doesn't control me. I am in a group of young people that inspires me to do more and to set a good example for. I told Chris, I felt like I was the Mother Hen of the team. Most of them are around my son's age, so I also wanted to know how everyone else was doing, checking up on my little chicks to make sure they are all ok and safe and warm.

Of all the jobs I have ever had in my whole life, other than babysitting, this has been the best job I have ever had in my life. I am very proud to be a member of my team and working for Vector Marketing.

If you are looking for a great job, have a great attitude and are over 17 years old, or are a college or high school student looking for scholarship money, please send me an email : alsmom27@yahoo.com,or call me at (612) 859-3109 for information.