OM SWEET OM...

My name is Kuma. I was delivered by a mail carrier to Tacoma, Washington yesterday and deposited into someone’s mailbox. It turns out the mailbox owner is an author, a copywriter, and an animal lover. She tells me she has two dogs, two cats and two goats. And now she has me and is smiling at me in a way that makes me feel happy all over and very, very welcome! So I’m happy to be here.


It’s raining today, so I haven’t been introduced to Laverne and Shirley (the goats), yet but I’ve been promised that I will soon. I wonder what they’ll think of me. I wonder what I’ll think of them; I don’t even know what a goat is! But since they’re creatures of some kind--well-loved and spoiled by this smiling lady--I imagine they’re quite nice, as creatures go.


The resident cats have sniffed me and (thankfully) deemed me inedible (without taking a single nibble) and more-or-less ignorable, but I’m still relieved to be on a shelf. I can see in their feline faces that they’re still young enough at heart to consider me knock-about material the next time they feel like trying out “kitten-hood” again! Being on this particular shelf next to a rabbit hair-covered kiwi, a “hatching” goat, and a white tiger makes me feel secure. I don’t think the cats get up this way at all or the kiwi would have been mangled by now.


Although I’ve made my way around the world in various “incarnations” (or is that “iterations,” since I was created with loving hands, not born), I haven’t met a lot of other creatures yet. I’m looking forward to discovering more about the world. Since my new “OM MOM” is a writer with an extended history in various types of advocacy, I expect I’ll learn a lot watching her work. (I hope my watching doesn’t make her nervous. I’ll try not to be obvious about it.)


In looking around the room, I see a number of intriguing “lessons” on the walls. One says, “Hell would be if God were to show me all the things I could have accomplished if only I believed in myself the way He believes in me.”


Another is an old Cherokee story. It reads, “An elder Cherokee was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them, ‘A fight is going on inside of me… a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf represents fear, anger, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you, and inside every other person, too.’”


The Cherokee’s grandchildren thought for a moment and then one of them asked, “Which wolf will win, Grandfather?”


He replied simply, “The one you feed.”


WOW!


And there’s another one that made me laugh first and find a deeper truth last: “If you think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to sleep with a mosquito in your room.”


Although you and I are small in some ways, we’re gigantic in others. That’s because we’re making a difference in the world as we reach out to touch hearts and minds. As Mother Teresa so aptly put it, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”

To Order the OMs of your choice, logon to http://www.ilovemyom.com/collections/related/products/kuma

Too, Too Funny (For Everyone EXCEPT Mama Kitty!)

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/kittens-on-a-slide/8b322608c1088ecc68898b322608c1088ecc6889-409665602592?q=cat+and+kittens+on+slide&FORM=VIRE1

Thanks to Mary Jo Robinson for This!

THE GREEN THING





I was shopping the other day and while in the line at the store, the cashier told me that plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. I apologized to her and explained,

“We didn’t have the green thing back in my day.”



That’s right; we didn’t have the green thing in my day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, Coke bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, using the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled.

In my day, I walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. I walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time I had to go two blocks.


Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.



But I was right; we didn’t have the green thing back in my day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a pizza dish, not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up newspaper to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap.



Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. I used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.

But I was still right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.


We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty, instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled pens with ink, instead of buying a new pen, and my Dad replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.

Back then, people took the streetcar and kids rode their bikes to school or rode the school bus, instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. There was one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.

Then again... maybe we DID have a far better "green thing" back in my day!

Check out www.ilovemyOM.com

I ran across the cutest little figurines while searching for work at Elance. Not only are these little OMs cute--they carry a message of universal brotherhood (and sisterhood) and peace, making that all that much more extra-special.  Check them out and order your favorite today!

They're sturdy and make great toys, too... but most will probably end up on a shelf near your work desk or PC to remind you to smile and keep the light on in your heart for others...

ENJOY!!!

OMG! Jim and Kay Sent Me an "Easter Goat"! CUTE!!!

I'm trying to get my Kodak Easy Share dock to kick into gear so I can post a photo of the "Easter Goat" I just got in the mail from Jim and Kay Loveless in Chelsea, Alabama.  IT IS SO CUTE!!!!!  Thank you!!!!

Jim and May also sent $40 for the goat fence... which lies in my back yard at this very moment, with 25 heavy steel posts, awaiting my touch (er, placement and pounding). I just have to wait until the ground beneath the starting point of the fence dries out so I can dig out there without getting trapped ankle deep in heavy clay-like mud. I tried doing something there two days ago and my shoes ended up so heavy, I couldn't lift them.  Grrr... It's just that one spot that has me stopped, but of course it's the starting point, so I can't proceed until it dries out there... 

I am so blessed!!!

Did You Lose a Cat?

More Work--Long Term--Assured...Plus More Church Work!

WOO HOO!  I just got another two hours of church work (mid-week) and assurances from two clients I'm writing for that I'll be hired on pretty much full-time as a writer/editor because they love what I've done for them so far and they have lots and lots of other books in the immediate future that will need writing and editing. 

Another client--I wrote a tag line for her a month or so ago--wants to partner with me. She says I'll be tapped to write copy for all of her high-end clients and can pretty much write my own ticket because they are Fortune 500 companies willing to pay premium prices for topnotch copywriting, unlike most of the clients at Elance (small business owners working on shoestring budgets).

That said, I will NEVER leave Elance or the small business owners who rely on me because my heart is with small business owners. They are the folks who keep the economy afloat and the folks who are most hurt right now when the economy is bad. They're on tight budgets so they can make payroll and pay for health insurance and all the rest... I'm a small business owner myself. I "get" their needs and honor them. I'll always be affordable to them.  If they get bigger and want to pay me more, I won't turn it down, of course, but as long as I make enough (and then some, so I can put some toward retirement at a nice clip) I'll be tickled pink...

We had another Writer's Edge meeting yesterday. A new writer joined. Her name is Stephanie Ealy and she has already written about (and photo-captured) her experiences yesterday during the meeting at http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/8456462-writers-who-paint.  Check it out...

The Day After--Basking in the Afterglow of a Milestone Birthday...

My 60th birthday party was yesterday. About 200 Facebook friends sent me well wishes and, here in person, 15 people attended the birthday dinner hosted by Jackie, Wendy and Sue.

The Lineup: Marian Hawkins, Mary Jane Cooper, Penny Howard (childhood friend, daughter of Mary Jane), Betty , Carol Beitz, Sue and George Rebar, Phil, Wendy, Casey and Jamie McNiven, Malia (first grader from across the street and frequent goat-walking buddy and guest when the other kids are here), Andy and Ella Wallace (two of the children I watch in the nursery during church, cousins of Casey and Jamie) and Jackie.

Jackie made Mom's renowned "porcupine meatballs;" Sue made a decadent, world-class chocolate cake with chocolate frosting (did I tell you I like chocolate? If not... now you know!), and we all talked and talked and talked.

Several of the ladies played cards.

Marian and George exchanged some conversation in the Czech language, which was fascinating!  I'm going to try to find a Tacoma-area Czech-speaking local club so Marian can find more locals who speak Czech. She came here as a young girl speaking only Czech, quickly learned English and taught it to her family, but she would love to find someone local who she can practice it with again. 

This is by no means a final tally, but so far I've received $343 for the goat fence. I also got a royalty check from Authorhouse for $136 and a church paycheck for $100, so I'll put that into the pot too. Jackie plans to add another $250, I think... so that's a little over $800. Wowee Zowie!!! If the neighbors still want to borrow the goats, they'll be paying for some posts and panels, too.

In two words: The "Bucks for My Does" campaign has been a phenomenal success. I can't wait to have the panels delivered (next weekend) and get my little darlings out into a "pasture" for perhaps the first time in their young lives. (I believe they were pretty much barnyard-bound with their moms until they came to us last July.) 

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED.

I know there is money on the way to me from Afghanistan (unbelievable!) and other far-flung places.  Everyone who donated will find your name on the fence, if you ever come out this way for a visit. 

There is NO WAY my sister and I would have been able to do this in time for spring without your ENORMOUS help.  I'm pretty sure now that we'll be able to erect at least HALF of the total span we'll eventually be fencing in--and in the meantime, we can just plant the stakes all around the perimeter and move the panels as needed to keep the goats within the areas we want them to be munching all spring, summer and fall.

I will take photos (FOR SURE) and videos (PROBABLY) so you can keep track of the fencing process.  And I'll for sure take pictures of Laverne and Shirley in their new pasture checking it out (and probably cavorting in it) as soon as we have enough of it set up to make a grand showing of it.  I hope to have it mostly set up by mid-April. 

My right hand and lower back are beginning to cause me some problems, so I don't know how many fence stakes I'm going to be able to pound in on a daily basis. That's the hardest part of the setup and will take the longest.  I may be able to get some help from Casey and her dad. If so, that'll be a godsend...

OH!  I also got other lovely things for my birthday. The wee ones all made me handmade cards; if they were too young to write notes in them, their moms wrote the notes for them... I treasure them!

Margot sent me $25 for the goat fence.

Edward gave $40 for the goat fence.

Laurel sent $25 for the goat fence and a small keepsake book she made by hand which is FABULOUS!

Casey got me two critter figurines (a lion cub and a dog)

Betty and Carol got me a Subway gift card (YES!) and a box of Turtles (you know, those wonderful chocolate-covered nut candies)Marian's caregiver got me a $25 gift card for another store (non-food)




Mary Jane got me a book I'm very much looking forward to getting into, "The Book of Awakening," by Mark Nepo

And George and Sue got me a frozen Smoothie kit

Phil and Wendy gave me $50 toward the goat fence (paraphrasing) "if you must but we hope you'll spend it on yourself."   News flash: spending it on the goat fence IS spending it on myself!  Nothing will make me happier than getting my girls out into an open area so they can feel deleriously free ! I can already see it in my head; very soon it will be a reality and I will be able to bask in its accomplishment!

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In Other News:

I have a busy work week ahead on Elance. It may actually consume a full forty hours for the first time ever. Now, THAT would be a welcome happening!

Jackie wants to have the desk I've been using in my office as a work desk for her quilting room, so I swapped it out a few days ago for a smaller one that Dad made me 25+ years ago. It's EXACTLY the right height ergonomically and I sit up straighter at it, so it's going to help my back a lot. I'm typo-ing less often too.  I finally have THE RIGHT DESK FOR THE JOB!  (Thank you, Daddy!)

And I got a loveseat from the church for just $20. It matches the rug in my living room much better. (My old couch, a hand-me-down from Jackie, was killing my back.) I also got a storage cabinet and bookcase for my office for $15 from church, so my home and office look SO much better now. (Thank you, George, for delivering them to me!)

I am ORGANIZED!!! When Malia came by yesterday and saw my new office and living room setups, she said, "Wow!  It doesn't look junky in here anymore!!!" (Out of the mouths of babes!) She is absolutely right.  And the good news is, with a smaller desk I'll have to keep things neater: there's no extra room for strewing  or stacking papers, so whatever I have out (visible) will have to be "a work in progress;" ll else will have to be filed away somewhere. WOO HOO! This way my office with stay un-junky!

How cool is that!?

Why? We Ask...

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/High-school-player-dies-dream-season-becomes-nightmare-030411?GT1=39002

This story has me in tears.

It's stories like these that make me ask God direct, tearful questions, the main ones being, "Why? What are You thinking/feeling/doing when You allow things like this to happen?"

I know He's up there. I know He allows things to happen--yes, even to great people--that are downright awful.

That's why, when someone in the Narnia series of books by CS Lewis inquires about Aslan (a type of Christ, a.k.a. the Lion of Judah), "Is he safe?"  the response is, "He's not safe, but He's good."

I don't even know this young man who died, but my heart aches for him, his family and community. By all accounts, he was a fine young man with a great future. The win should have been a joyous celebration.

But then, I think... I would like to "go out" during some joyous celebration. That way I'd go from glory to Glory with a smile on my face.

Perhaps God took him now because it was the best time for him. Not for us, but for him.

God only knows.

I rely on the assurance: He isn't safe, but He's good....

More Elance Work Coming In -- I Am Blessed!

I've put two more projects to bed today and received highest ratings for both. These were short. One included a consultation that I didn't expect or charge for, but I really, really, really wanted to help the client because she has an important website (stress-reduction) and it wasn't converting at all, for what seemed to me to be a series of obvious reasons. So I asked her to call me and we had a terrific chat for about 45 minutes.  She has everything she needs now to make her website convert.  

My actual project with her was to rewrite/copy-enhance a sales page she wrote for her stress-reduction e-book, which is only $19 for 50 pages of rock solid information. It should sell like hotcakes now... She was over the moon about what I did with the information. 

I just love it when clients go over the moon (as long as I get them back and they refer me to others)!  I've been blessed in that way. 99.999% of my clients love what I do for them. I don't think I'd do it anymore if I didn't get that kind of full-throated, enthusiastic response. It tickles me to death and is one of my life's greatest joys.

Today I took some old jewelry and gold to a jewelry store and traded it in for cash. It wasn't a sentimental transaction at all, so it didn't hurt. I wanted to get a larger stash for the goat fence, and the $280 I got will really help to that end. I want to be able to get some good aluminum signs to put the names of donors on. I can probably get those at Michael's Arts and Crafts. The girls have a Cricut machine I can use to cut out the names (on vinyl) and make them look really great.  I'm so jazzed I can hardly stand it. Can you tell?

Funny story. Edward Smith ( the fellow I had lunch with yesterday; you remember) posted a comment on my Facebook page about what a great pizza maker my mom was. I responded saying she was a great cook, period, and that Jackie will be making me Mom's famous "porcupine meatballs" for my birthday on Saturday (or Sunday, or whenever we actually get around to celebrating my birthday).  Val Barrett saw the post and responded, "Porcupine meatballs?! holey moley..."

I just about fell off the chair laughing.  I quickly set her straight (even though I'm quite sure she was JOKING and knows what I meant.)  These delicacies aren't made from porcupines--they're meatballs with lotsa rice sticking out of them everywhere.  That's what we kids used to call them, and the name stuck.

Humor can threaten to crack ribs sometimes!

5 Days and Counting... I'm Almost 60!

It's freaky that I'm going to turn 60 in just five days. Shouldn't a milestone like this be "upsetting"? 

It seems utterly impossible that I've lived sixty years. That's probably why it doesn't upset me! I certainly don't feel sixty--and no one thinks I look sixty...(or, if they do, they're being mighty closed-mouth about it).

60 seemed "old" when I was 20. These days, "old" to me begins at around 84.  I suppose when /if I turn 84, "old" will be around 100!

At some point, though, I am going to get old...unless I die sooner than I think I "should"!

I notice frail, walker-pushing folks and wonder: when will my legs stop holding me up reliably?  There are times my legs threaten to dump me NOW: if I climb a ladder twelve or fifteen times in a short period of time, or if I climb a handful of stairs a dozen times in a row while I'm carrying a burden... so I know how that feels, but for me it's just temporary. It's a hiccup, a limited-time happenstance. But I will admit that getting up off the floor isn't as easy as it once was; I usually use a prop of some sort: the arm of a chair, a friend, a wall. So something is happening!  But as long as I can still walk on an elliptical machine for a full hour while watching Dr. Oz, I consider myself pretty buff in the muscle department.

I remember Mom and De becoming walker-dependent, and eventually wheelchair bound... and how surprising (and ultimately upsetting) it was to them to be unable to rely on themselves to get around anymore. But they were desperately ill in addition to being 77 and 79 respectively.

The past 30 years have fled past me at what now seems to be an alarming rate. In another absurdly-accelerated three decades I'll be 90, unless God takes me home first.  (Oh, please, oh, please!)  It is absolutely true that getting old ain't for sissies! I'd rather pass on before I get to that point, since I know where I'm going and I'm going to be more robust there than I ever have been here, in every conceivable way.

I just don't want to get so old that I can't write, think straight, or take care of myself (and others) anymore. So 6o appears a fine age to be... Not that it beats the alternative, but I figure God will take me when I'm no earthly good down here anymore... and that won't be for a warp speed decade or two, I don't suppose!

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

It is Almost Midnight and I'm Wide Awake!! GRRR!

I went to Casey's basketball awards banquet this evening from 6 to 7:30 and imbibed. (Drank about three 6 oz cups of Cherry Pepsi.) So naturally (perhaps I should amend that to "unnaturally) I am wired. Can't sleep. So I'll write!

Casey won Most Valuable Player this year, the highest award possible. Every player won an award and high praise from the coach, and deserved it.  The girls kicked butt this year.

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I had lunch today with Edward Smith. I've known Edward for 34 years. He was owned by a lion during the same years I was owned by a serval. That has been our bond ever since. He gave me $40 for the upcoming Laverne and Shirley fence as a birthday present. THANK YOU, EDWARD!

Not a lot of people can understand the mindset of folks who knew, early on, that sharing their lives with a wild one, at least once, would be mandatory and--ever after--a fond memory. Not that either of us would recommend or encourage the practice to anyone else. 

It takes a special kind of person (somewhat aberrant) to offer up a decade and a half of his/her life (home, vacations, no kids around, etc.) to take on the care and feeding of a potentially-harmful/deadly creature and stick with it from the time the wee one arrives until the time it goes back to God. It is no picnic. I still have nightmares about it sometimes: that Deaken gets out of his pen and gets into crowded areas where he has no business being, gets spooked, and starts biting people. Not that he ever did this in real life. But it COULD have happened;the potential was there. 

God only knows what kind of nightmares Edward had (and may still have) about his lion Auroaroa getting loose and wreaking havoc.

Looking back, the very idea of owning a wild cat makes me shudder. We were lucky. (Lucky owing to super-vigilance.)

Anyway, we both did a good job of being Mom and Dad-Cats. There will always be that bond between us.

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I've been happily busy writing for Elance clients EVERY SINGLE DAY for more than a week now. That's what I need to do to keep on keepin' on as a self-employed copywriter. This time it feels like it's going to keep going. It doesn't feel tentative or "lucky" anymore; it feels solid. I feel solid. My clients are referring me to other clients left and right. I sometimes have to juggle my schedule now to accommodate previous clients who pop back into my life unexpectedly wanting additional work done. It's a good feeling. It feels like I'm on firmer footing now...

I knew it would take a few years to get to this point, but I think I've finally arrived. My craft feels second nature to me these days. Not at all same-o same-o; creativity never is. But the fundamental feeling that I can do this is ever-present these days. I don't live in the fear that I'm going to disappoint someone if I step outside my comfort zone and tackle a new topic or method of writing. I know what to ask to make sure I get what I need to hit projects out of the ball park for 99.999% of clients, usually right away (except for modest tweaking of a submitted "first" draft; that is, the first draft I feel good enough about to submit to them as a first draft).

Little else feels better than feeling confident. I know I'm in the right profession.  I love what I do. Clients love what I do. It just gets better and better.

Because I won't gouge clients, I'll probably never be rich, but someday I believe I'll have a satisfying bank balance.  I like helping small businesses get the word out about their products and services: I love writing informative, helpful articles. I love writing compelling banner ads.  Every day is different but always wonderful.

I've never been happier in a job. And because I am this happy at work, I'm usually noticeably happy everywhere else. It's hard to get a silly grin off your face when you're doing what you love for a living... and making your clients smile!