I haven't given up - I promise!!

I know it may seem that I've abandoned yet another blog, but I assure you, that is not the case! I've been so busy with the holidays and getting a new job(!) that I haven't been on my computer as much as I was a few weeks ago. Time to get a laptop, right? LOL So, I am working hard and I still love sharing and will still give advice, but I need to figure out a way to work all of this in. 

BTW - my new job is not completely from home, but it does work around my schedule and I will be able to do some work from home once I am fully ramped up. I am learning, learning learning! I feel good because we help small businesses to start up, to grow, or to come back from the brink of disaster. We also do community work and are constantly growing. A friend of mine who I worked with 12 years ago has started this business with her sister and it is so inspiring. Her quote of the day, "I was a manager by day and a janitor by night!" This was in reference to her starting a cleaning business while working as a branch manager for a staffing company and she would clean the offices after work. She's so funny!

Anyway, more later. I'm happy, but a little disheveled. :-?

Nice article, Great Site: Hybrid Her has a great article about finding balance while working from home.

Finding a Purpose and Accomplishing Goals

I started a post yesterday, but somehow did not finish it. I did however accomplish things today and yesterday that I had set out to do. First of all, today, I have achieved my daily income goal. Due to the fact that I have to rely on multiple streams of income and, unlike at my previous jobs, I do not get paid for downtime, :-( I figured the best way to make sure I am bringing in steady income is to decide on a specific dollar amount I need to make each day. Unfortunately, after deciding on that amount, I realized that I haven't been consistent in making that much money each day since I've been home. The only thing to do now is move forward and reach higher.

This has nothing to do with the blog post, just some flowers my husband got for me one time (just because!) I'm re-gifting them to myself LOL

The other goal I accomplished is that I have consistently working on improving my house - focusing on a certain area and working on it each day until it looks the way I want it. Sometimes it's hard, for instance, when I have done the basics, kitchen, bathroom, floors all look decent, I don't feel like going around and finding something else that needs to be done - I already feel like my entire life is a juggling act! I really am learning, though, because I find the more I accomplish what I set out to do, the easier it is to look toward the next thing, instead of feeling as though a huge scroll is chained to my feet.
I'm tired so this doesn't contain as much substance as I would have liked.
Goals for tomorrow:
Write blog earlier in the day, not right before bed
Be patient with the kids
Figure out what's for dinner
More de-cluttering

Dinner tonight was Baked Spaghetti. My version: I used 1 lb of ground beef; 3/4 jar of Ragu Old World Style Six Cheese sauce + 1/2 jar Kroger mushroom sauce - I should have just used both full jars; I also didn't measure the cheese, I just covered the top with shredded Colby & mozzarella, then sprinkled a nice amount of Parmesan all over it. Rating from the family: **** (out of 5) My husband said pepperoni would have made it better, but he and my daughter are the pickiest ones and both of them really liked it. :-) Weird thing about my youngest - he didn't really like the cheese so I ate his cheese. (He also doesn't like the cream in Oatmeal Cream Pies! :-O He's just different LOL) I also made homemade garlic bread using regular wheat bread, spread with margarine (or butter), garlic powder, a little mozzarella and a sprinkle of parsley :-) I threw it on a cookie sheet & put it in for the last 5-7 minutes of the spaghetti.

Oh, I almost forgot! I think I will have a targeted purpose for this blog. Obviously, I like to give my opinion, mainly because I believe my experiences will help someone else. I was thinking of using this blog to give advice. People can send me questions, or leave them in the comments and I will give my advice. Please comment and let me know what you think. Also, if you enjoy reading, don't forget to follow me.

Recommended Site: The Flylady - I love her! Even though I've found it difficult to follow ALL of her principles, she has still helped me to stick to my goals for my house. You can get anything done if you work on it for just 15 minutes a day!

Time to Get Off the Phone!

As I typed the title of this post, my mind flashed back to my adolescent years when I would spend all day on the phone with my friends, laughing until I heard the inevitable yell from my mother, "Time to Get Off the Phone, Natalie." At that time, I hated those words, but now I am saying them to myself.

I knew customer service and sales were things I was good at, but not things I loved, or even that I could tolerate for long periods of time. After being told this morning, "I don't even think you know what you're doing," even though I had clarified what this person wanted three times, it now looks as though my time for tolerating these people is coming to an end.
On a more positive note, this morning, as I was preparing my peanut butter toast and coffee and thanking God for another meal, I also gave thanks that I am able to actually prepare my own food. It sounds simple, but just the night before, I, and two other women from my church, went to visit one of our shut-in members and had a "mini" church service with her. This was the first time I had done something like this and I was apprehensive at first, but I came away from it feeling so energized and peaceful.
The woman we ministered too, I'll call her "Dee," is confined to her bed. She is about 41 years old and is unable to walk, or take care of herself. She has to depend on other people to fulfill her most basic needs. The most wonderful part about this is her smile and her attitude. She smiled and laughed with us the whole time. Dee never spoke negatively about her condition, in fact, she called herself "God's miracle child." She told us of being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 26, being hospitalized many times, being in a coma for five days and how each time God has saved her and she knows she's here for a reason. Wow!
I can tell you right now, if it had been me, I would be depressed, someone would have to force me to eat because I would want to just lay in my bed and die. It would have been so hard to look at the situation the way Dee does. I believe that is part of the purpose she talked about - making people realize how blessed they are and realizing their situations could be so much worse.
I thank God for that time and I hope to spend more time with Dee, I'm sure I could learn a lot more. We all need to stop and think about what we have. I know life gets hard, but there is always some kind of light, sometimes we just have to look a little bit harder, or a little bit longer to see it.

Recommendation: Whenever I read this blog I am thankful for my children and I am sure to pray for those who have lost their children.

(Please comment on my posts, I would love to know what you think!)

Staying On Track

Before I actually started working from home full-time, I imagined how my days would follow a nice schedule, I would get into some good habits and routines and everything would fall into place causing me to lead a happy, organized life while, eventually, making huge amounts of money. Did I mention that I've always been a dreamer?
As I talked about in my last post, I get these big ideas, but fail to plan properly. Or, if I do plan properly, I have failed to stay on top of things and eventually became overwhelmed and just given up. After years of putting myself through this, I am making changes and now I will push myself to follow through and complete something I've started - other than natural childbirth and marriage, but then those subjects deserve their own separate blogs. :-) Part of pushing myself includes typing this post after 2A.M. because I didn't get a chance to do it earlier and I am waiting for the washer to finish the load of my kids' uniforms that I forgot to do earlier. LOL
I need to make myself feel better so let's list what I did accomplish today:

• Went to a wonderful conference with my daughter's teacher. The teacher loves her (such a charmer!) and she's doing really well!
• Made a great dinner that my family loved (even my picky husband!): Meatloaf, roasted potatoes, & broccoli. I will post the recipe for the meatloaf & potatoes later. 
• Accepted an offer to test for a better paying W.A.H. position
• Remembered to wash the kids' uniforms! Hey, even though I did it late, it still got done & my kids won't have to wear dirty clothes to school tomorrow. It may not be good enough for someone else, but it's good enough for me & I make no apologies. :-)
• Completed my orientation for Varolo to add an additional source of income just by watching commercials 
• Posted to my blog!

I am so tired right now & the washer is done so I will throw this stuff in the dryer & go to bed. Thanks for staying with me. :-)

In one of my other blogs, I have previously mentioned today's recommended site, but I go to it so much for advice and motivation that it bears mentioning again:  No Job for Mom! Anybody looking to make money writing online (quality content, not just repeating keywords) should subscribe to No Job for Mom!

Sometimes I have good ideas...

Sometimes my ideas are not so good, and there are some ideas for which I am still waiting on revelation.
My latest great idea was to start working from home. The benefits of this great idea include:

• More time with my children, especially when my 6th grader comes home from school
• More time to keep my house organized
• No more driving 20 miles to work on the ice in the middle of February
• No more sitting next to loud executives who feel they have the right to be loud because they've worked their way up to their position of entitlement
• No paying for childcare

I could go on with this list, but you get the point. I know there are many moms (and dads for that matter) who would love the opportunity to work from home. I've been trying to accomplish this for years. Unfortunately, now I must also list the downside:

• Sometimes my kids drive me crazy. That's just the truth. My 4 year-old seems to believe his mission in life is to make noise. He has already come into the office at least 3 times while I was on the phone with customers and stage-whispered, or even just talked at a normal volume, the proceeded to cry when I waved my hands for him to leave! All of the calls I take are recorded, so for the next few days, each time, I was checking my email wondering if I'd get the message that my contract has ended due to violations.
• So, my house is going through ups and downs of being organized and not-so-organized. :-) If you saw my room when I was growing up, you know this is definitely an "area of opportunity" for me. The problem is, even though I have more time, I still have to conquer my own tendencies of losing track of time and failing to stick to a schedule. I'm working on it. Some people can't stop smoking, drinking, eating, cleaning, having sex, setting fires, speeding, improperly taking medications, and the list goes on - I am organizationally challenged. Let's all try not to judge each other. :-)  
• Finally, I am no longer afraid to admit it - I am not making as much money as I thought I would be making at this point. In my haste to escape cubicle world, I may have been a little overly optimistic when I was doing my calculations. A factor I should have given a tad bit more weight to is my own lack of self-discipline. (See, I'm just revealing all my dirty little secrets!) It's not over for me though. I am in the process of dusting myself off so you can choose to laugh at me, but I hope you'll be praying for my continued growth.

So, starting with this blog, I am now doing one of the things I originally assigned for myself as a work-at-home-mom, writing everyday. If I don't post in the blog everyday, that doesn't mean I'm not writing, sometimes I will have strictly private issues. :-)

Are you a fellow WAHM needing a pick-me-up as well as great advice on working from home and/or building your business?  Check out Michelle Shaeffer's blog. 

True to Me

This is the first post of my honest blog. The goal? To be honest and to just be me. I have tried a few other blogs: My journey through Christianity, my natural hair journey, and, my journey from quitting my full time job to work at home. It seems like I'm always on some type of journey right? :-) Well, I think I have come to a convergence of sorts and it's time to just journey through being me.
I used to be afraid to do a totally open, honest, emotional-at-times blog for a number of reasons through the years. These included fear of being stalked, fear of hurting someone's feelings, fear of information being used against me in a court of law, fear of being fired, and fear of repercussions when I become famous one day.  Well, guess what? I'm letting go of fear. If you're reading this and you hate me, good! If you're reading this and you find my life, my "journeys" helpful, even better! This blog is here to be an outward, public expression of me.  Come view my tribulations (hopefully there won't be many) and my triumphs and take something away. This is an open invitation to walk with me on my journey.

I'm excited, my heart is thumping, my fingers are racing and I'm ready to go, ready to be, honestly, Natalie!

Something I learned today (and ended up correcting in this post): Space Invaders