If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say, “I would like to [fill in the blank], but I [make up excuse], I’d be a rich person. It seems no matter what we want to do, we can find reasons why we can’t accomplish it.
Reading each month’s Writer’s Digest, I find the same theme repeated over and over by the accomplished authors. The answer is simple – put your butt in your chair and write, tie yourself to a chair and write, make an appointment with yourself and write!
This made me think, how many of us go through life without showing up for it? You know, the list of things that have to be done vs. the list of things that we want to do. What if some of the have to items were missed and replaced with the want to items? Think about that New Year’s Resolution list. At the end of the year, do you check off items or feel like you’ve wasted another year?
Let’s resolve today to put our butts in our chairs and accomplish the things that we want to do. Our success is only an appointment with ourselves away.

I didn’t even realize there was such a thing as “Improve Your Home Office Week”, but here it is! Sept. 6 – 10.

Having worked out of a home office for most of my career, I had to think hard about the ways I’ve improved it over the years. I won’t count my first tries at enterpreneurship when I did cake decorating or sewing. Those weren’t home offices, that was done in my kitchen!

My first software company was T.H.E.S.I.S. Developed educational software for the ATARI and APPLE computers – you remember ATARI, right? That was in the 1980’s. My kids didn’t even realize that they grew up in a living room-less house. Yup, tv, sofa, end tables were all in the family room in the basement. The living room was transformed into an office with three business size desks and several computers. We did have a stereo – but it was primarily used as a tape duplication system. Remember – early 80’s – no disks, CDs, DVDs. All we had was tape to save our programs – audio or punched paper.

Next came the video business. This time I transformed the spare bedroom into an edit suite. Computer and editing equipment. Late 1990’s – so we are still using tape for video but at least we have floppy disks for our computer. The edit suite was non-linear, of course. I’m amazed I got it all into that small room. Had one chair for clients, too.

Then came the “big move” when we built our home. We designed the basement so that I could shoot inserts and not have the basement ceiling on my head! I made sure there was ample room for the edit equipment and the computers now that I moved into the field of multi-media!

So now that we have a week to think about “improving” our home office, what else would be helpful? An ergonomic chair? Faster internet connection? A better way to organize my project?

How about you? What can you do to improve your home office?

I love to read. My husband loves to read. When you walk into our house, you see piles of books. The reason they are in piles is because our bookcases are full! Shopping for books on Amazon is easy. But wait! Our finances have changed in the past six months. We can no longer buy books whenever we want, but we still want to read!
I don’t know about your state, but Michigan has an e-library system. Enter the book you want to read, it searches all the libraries in Michigan, and, once found, you can request it to be delivered to your local library!
It’s free, it’s simple, and best of all it saves money while allowing us to continue our passion for reading!
Check it out…rediscover the library in your neighborhood!

For those of you who think I’m completely strange, I offer you Square Root Day!  Yes, today, March 3, 2009 is the third in the series for this century.  Huh?  The first was January 1, 2001; the second February 2, 2004.  Do you see the pattern?

1/1/01

2/2/04

3/3/09

There will be nine in this century with the next one in seven years – April 4, 2016.

Interesting…in the day of computers, calculators and other technological devises, we’re looking at number patterns in our calendar!  I think it’s great!  Let’s take a giant step backwards and reflect on a more simpler time.

For the more inquisitive, here is more information at Gifted Education Suite 101

As the Webmistress of a number of Websites, I rely on the stats to see what is popular and what is not.  This year I was very surprised to see a page on my For Kids Naturely site bringing in more hits than the Home page!  When I looked at the search terms, I saw that eight of the top 10 search phrases included the words orange and cloves.  Wow!  People are actually searching for crafts to make out of oranges and cloves! 

Creating a pomander  is an old, colonial craft.  The settlers made them to freshen their homes.  So, what does this mean when air fresheners are a common item in most homes?

Are we returning to traditional crafts for historic reasons?  Does the faltering economy have parents (and teachers) looking for simple gifts to make with their children?  Are we returning to a time when making Christmas gifts was the norm?

No matter the reason, I hope everyone who reviewed that page had a great time creating their treasure!

My husband and I have been trying to keep our expenses to a minimum since my contract with Mopar was terminated.

His birthday was Friday and, traditionally, we go out to eat on our birthdays. With the prospect of a snow storm on Friday, I suggested Thursday that we go out for lunch. He was hesitant. Did we have money to do this…didn’t want to spend anything more than needed. I assured him that one dinner wouldn’t adversely affect us, so he suggested our favorite Italian restaurant.

We arrived after the lunch rush, so there was only one other couple and a group of 20 or so young men enjoying their lunch.

We didn’t think they were loud, but given that the restaurant was almost empty, their voices did travel. A few minutes after they left, our waitress came up to our table and said the the young men felt they were too loud, so, as an apology, the paid for our lunch. Wow! Happy Birthday…Merry Christmas. We thank them for their gift!

Our family loves surprises…especially when it comes to significant birthdays and anniversaries.

This year, our Aunt Reggie is turning 80.  Wow!  80!  This calls for a party!

We got the invitation for the surprise birthday party about six weeks before the event.  My cousins were doing a great job of pulling this off.  Tell their mother there is a Vegas Night at the local Catholic School and the kids were taking her.

When we got there the parking lot was full, there were Vegas signs up on the lawn and decorations in the windows.  I had to do a double take to make sure that there really wasn’t a Vegas night going on.

At 6:30 we got the word that Beti and Aunt Reggie had pulled up into the parking lot.  Everyone got quiet.  “No!” someone called out.  This is a Vegas Night, we need to keep making noise!

Her other daughter, Kathy, greeted her as she came in, then we all yelled, “Surprise, Happy Birthday!”  And broke out singing Happy Birthday and Sto Lat!

Was not what she was expecting at all!

It was great that so many relatives could come together that night, considering it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Many of the cousins hadn’t seen each other is years.  It was good to come together for a festive occassion.

Several family members came in from Buffalo.

Here is cousin Jimmy, Aunt Ann, cousin Diane, cousin Roger and cousin Rosalie in the back looing over Diane’s shoulder.

We were served a great Polish dinner, followed by a trip down memory lane.

Cousin Beti and Jerry (cousin Kathy’s husband), entertained us with their rendition of memories from 32nd Street (done to the tune of Thank God I’m a CountryBoy).

One of the sons and grandkids put together a great slide show of the family as they were growing up and growing their own families.

If I heard correctly, Aunt Reggie has 10 grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.

On stage for all of this was (from right to left), Aunt Reggie, the guest of honor, her sister Ann, and her friend from forever (and I do mean forever), Virginia.

Of course, what would a Polish party be without music!

A wonderful duo entertained us with Polkas most of the night.  It set everyone’s feet to dancing.

Especially my husband’s!  Here he is dancing a Polka with Virginia.

Happy Birthday Aunt Reggie!  Sto lat!

Fire arm hunting season begins on November 15th in Michigan.  Most hunters head north, but our family knows the best hunting area is in the back woods on our property.  This year was no exception.

Our son and grandson were at our place at 6:30 am and made their way back to their blinds.  Two hours later I heard the distinctive sound of a rifle being fired, once then the second shot.  Close enough that I knew it was one of the boys.  Call came in…we are coming for the tractor…Jon got his first buck EVER!

Good job.  Venison for Thanksgiving.  Interesting, this buck has atypical antlers.  The right one is bent, hanging over the side of his face.  Somehow it got damanged.  Earlier this year in a fight?  Last year?  Won’t know…but interesting none the less.

Sunday, our son came back to try his luck.

Sure enough, two hours in the woods and we heard the familiar crack.  He bagged his deer as well.

Not sure what this weekend will bring…other than the boys coming back out to see if their luck holds for another weekend.

You don’t know how much you rely on something until it breaks!

Our microwave quit working yesterday.  You would think that it wasn’t a big deal…but it is!

 Let’s start with breakfast…1 c. of oatmeal, 1 3/4 c. water – pop it into the microwave for three or four minutes…breakfast!

 Hot cup of tea, left-overs for lunch, baked potato and veggies for dinner…all go into the microwave.

So there I stood, trying to figure out how to heat my water for tea.  I don’t have a teapot anymore.  I finally found a pot that I could use.  You see, most of my cookware is either for the microwave or the oven!  I don’t count my cast-iron pans for frying.

What really gets me, is the microwave was only 10 years old!  What ever happened to long-life appliances.  Our furnace -died last year…it was ten-years old.  Even our water-softener went…two days after its 10th birthday!

Guess I’ll have to go shopping today and get a new one.  Can’t seem to find my recipe on how to boil water.