Purpose - Schmurpose!

Purpose – schmurpose! LOL 20 days down and I've spent most of it rather down … but not quite out... due to some of life's unexpected troubles. :( The damages are reversing, healing, returning to normal, slowly. But, as usual, it's not going to stop me from moving toward my goals!

And I am still moving ahead WITH PURPOSE! I am determined that even starting my business month 33% behind (so to speak) will not keep me from building my business!

Same for SPARKnEarthlyBest – no progress to report, but no backsliding either!

On the green front... we are doing LOTS BETTER at eating REAL FOODS! I found a few new blogs to follow in this effort of avoiding processed foods more:

100daysofrealfood.com and foodformyfamily.com and eatingrules.com

If you have any interest at all in eating less processed foods, more organic foods, or more local foods you may find one or all of these very helpful! :)

And with ANDEE365 – Wow! Have we been 'thru the ringer' and then some! It wasn't fun. It wasn't pretty. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. :( However, we have had some extensive family discussions about the things that have happened and the things that could yet happen. These have resulted in a number of things improving around here. But there are still some “issues” to resolve ~ aren't there always such things in large families? LOL So, we move ahead! We go forward WITH PURPOSE! We take stock of where we are at; where we want to go; and which path(s) we want to take to get there.

I do have to say this: In the last 20 days I've talked to a number of locals and met some really nice people! This makes me look forward even more to what's ahead as I seek out more and more of the people of my little town and help them understand what a wonderful thing I have for them with my company! :) There are lots of hard-working folks around here who are barely getting by and really struggling to find that “something” that will help them get to the next check, help them get to feeling better so they can do more to meet their families' needs, and give them hope for a brighter future. Before long they will all know! I can't wait to share what I have with all of them!!!

I close with this:

"Your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

~ Steve Jobs (Feb. 24, 1955 – Oct. 5, 2011)

Picking Up the Pace

Picking Up The Pace!

but first a few picks from January's visit to the Milwaukee area :)

Lake Michigan on a cold winter's day!

Breaking waves on snowy shores.

Ice "on the Rocks" lol

On the rocks, taking a closer look at the waves

Frozen surf!

This makes me miss the west coast so much!

Now, that's a lot of ice!

Looks like there's a storm brewing too!

Water is so amazing!

I love it!

Calming

Soothing

Cleansing

Definitely something I need more of! ;-)

This is THE WEEK that we get my sister moved out of her apartment and back in with us!

Today we're setting up a loft bed in one room; a twin over full futon bunk bed in another room; and decluttering another room to add in a weight bench.  Once those are all in place we return to our work on the office/craft/sewing area ~ which is getting a major overhaul to accommodate many changes so I can use it daily in my business.

One big difference my new business is bringing for me is greater mobility.  It's not yet anywhere close to full mobility again; but it is beginning to reverse and thus I'm seeing an increase in mobility. That is allowing me to sit at a desk more often now so instead of working from my bed I'm going to be working from a desk again!

There is definitely something good about absorbing more and better nutrition and removing as much toxins from the body and from the environment around you... and it's beginning to show a difference in my life that we all hope will make even better differences in the coming months!!!

:) :) :)

059 ~ Fibro

Friday - Dec 17th - 

My plan was to work on business from 10 to 2 

but much of my day was lost 

dealing with fibro flaring..............

...........some days I just cannot win!

So just enjoy still more blizzard pics!

058 ~ WHY TRY?

Thursday - Dec 16th - 

Yes! I have still more pics from around town of all the snow

from our weekend blizzard!!!

6am I'm up and running!  

TODAY should work out to actually work my business!  

There's issues with the girls - Becca's not feeling well - breakfast isn't going well - Jessi's running late for her morning ministry.  There's laundry to get moving; dishes to be washed and put away.  I need to print off some things before getting started with my phone calls.  There are countless calls coming in - none work related - but all needing something right away!  

Finally I get a little time - and all I get are message machines! :(  

It's SO FRUSTRATING!!!  

Today is the last day for $1 enrollments... unless... 

if you got in 2 enrollments already you can get 2 more $1 enrollment kits for the rest of the month; OR if you got in 4 enrollments already you can continue with unlimited enrollments all month!  Must be done by midnight Mountain time!  

90 minutes to go - and I got nothing - no one - nada - zip - zilch!  :(  Grrrr

Times like this I feel like "WHY TRY?!"  

You know - I'm fighting high odds every single day!  My mom, my brothers, my dad, my stepmom, my stepsibs, nieces, nephews, ... let's just say most all of my family thinks this is just "another one of those scams that take your money and leave you with nothing but a bunch of products nobody wants."  

They don't expect me to make anything of this - 

just like a dozen other "home-based businesses" I've done in the past.  

But, my sister wants to try it; 

and I have 2 daughters who are willing to give it go.... 

but I have to be able to see more success 

if I'm going to be of any help to them!  

Most of the friends I've asked to consider

 this business or these products 

have backed away not wanting to even take a close look at it.  

:( 

They have no idea what they are missing!!! 

:( 

And I'm not giving up, or giving in!!!

057 ~ Unexpected

Wednesday - Dec 14th -

It was going to be a day for work - but ran into an unexpected problem that tied me up from 9am until 2pm... and at 2:30 I had to meet with Sis b/c she had an MRI scheduled for 3pm... plus I needed to drop off Mack's car to him before getting Sis to the hospital... and right after getting her squared away I had to go get Dany.  Fortunately Becca was able to stay with Dany while I returned to the hospital for Sis.  We got her home about 4:30... and Becca & I headed to our place soon after.  I was going to spend some time on work then... but had to go back to Sis' about 5:30 because Dany had run off and was refusing to listen to her mom who was in no condition to be running all around outside chasing after her!  I ended up having to stay there with them until Mack got off work - by which time both were pretty much ready for bed, and Dany was under strict orders from me not to cause anymore problems tonight or she'd have to deal with me tomorrow!  Mack & I got home about 9pm... by 10:30 I had tended to various things needing my attention and was ready to get some sleep!

No work today. :(

But...

Tomorrow's another day!!!

We continue with the blizzard effects....

City crews will be working for weeks clearing all this snow off roads!

054 ~ Blizzard 2

Sunday - 11th -

.... started at 5am with a phone call from the nursing home Mack works at... 

they were asking me if there was any possible way my son could come in to work then - on his day off! - because the day cook had just called to say she'd gone off the road and was in a ditch waiting for help and probably wouldn't make it in.  Poor Mack; he was up until 4am rearranging his room... not expecting to work or need to get up so early.  He spent 45 minutes shoveling snow away from his car... so much more snow had fallen overnight you could not even see where plows had been the day before (they had stopped running about 10pm unable to keep up with the snowfall... just doing main roads).  It was even hard to see a difference between road and yards! The unplowed road had snow anywhere from 8" to 18" deep depending on which way the wind blew it overnight.  Mack cleared his car but was unable to drive even 30' without getting stuck repeatedly... and he had about 5 blocks to go before hitting a main road.  Another neighbor, out shoveling too, helped him get unstuck and get his car reparked.  

At 6am we called the nursing home to report that he could not get there... 

after having tried numerous other ideas to see if ANY vehicles were moving about (city, local police, county, sheriff, state patrol, cab companies, etc) 

--- not a one was moving yet.  

State and county road crews (snowplows) went back to work at 3am and 5am respectively... moving snow at least 12" deep to somewhere off the roads.  The resulting piles of snow amassed easily topped road signs and fences!  It was 9:30 before we finally got one on our street and it took him four passes to clear the road - tho I must say he did a SUPER JOB in helping to move a couple feet of snow away from one side of Mack's car without even a scratch! :)  

It was 10:30 before Mack was on his way to work... 

since now, none of the day cooks were going to make it in, 

he'd be there to prepare lunch and dinner.  

The night shift had to feed all the residents cold cereal for breakfast.  

Near 11am the girls all worked together to dig out our 2 overnight guests - 

18-24" around the car, 

and about 4 or 5 FEET of snow at the end of the driveway!  

An hour later they were at their original destination of the night before. :)  

A couple of hours after that Becca & Jessi left with their dad

 to see Allyssa's play: 

UW-L production of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" 

for their closing show.  

Not long after they left our friend and neighbor, Bob, arrived with his snowblower!  I'm so grateful for his kindness in clearing all the sidewalks and the driveway, including widening the end of it where the girls had dug thru for their friends to leave earlier. :)

The rest of the day was quiet... not much left of it really since by this time it was about 3pm... but the quiet was nice. :)  I should have taken the time then to actually work my business but I held off because I really don't want to get into working on Sundays.  I'm still struggling with scheduling time for it.  It's so hard to find the time.  There are always problems to tend to that can't be put off.  When I'm finally done with dealing with it/them I find myself in too much pain or far too down to be of any good at work. :(