Back to the Heart of it All

Today I am introspective. I have so many things on my plate that I should be doing, but none of it seems to get done. I appear busy but am unaccomplished in my goals. I want to write my goals down here and be accountable because I know that I can do these things if I just push past my flesh and start taking the necessary steps. I am really wanting to throw up instead of put my goals out here for all to see (the 4 people that read my blog- well ya gotta start somewhere, right?)

Anyway, here I go: (I will bold the entries as I complete them or feel I am really being consistent)

• Pray Daily ~ Seeking God's Will for my life and business
• Enroll 5 new clients per week
• Reach 100 clients by August
• Hire a part-time person to help grow the business
• Get out in the community and make new contacts weekly
• Get moved into new office and have it finished by Saturday afternoon
• Don't give up on myself when I screw up ~ persevere
• Laugh More ~ My family says I need to chillax
• Make a to do list each night for the next daily
  
• Maintain Focus
• Limit Facebook and Twitter Usage
• Be thankful that God gave me this opportunity and ability
  

That's all for now ~ goodness that was harder than I thought it would be

Shelly

Suited Up

He cleans up well, huh?


What a Hottie!

Milestone ~ Brad Update

YAY FOR MY HUSBAND (yes, I am shouting)

As of today, he has lost 100 lbs. Down to 316...way to go baby!

Before:

After:

Icy Day

Well, today the ice is heavy and there are many in my city without power. Please pray that we don't have more power outages. We are supposed to get 1-3 inches of snow on top of the ice later and that in and of itself could cause more outages.

The ice on the trees is beautiful, as if they are made of glass. A simple thing like ice can make these large creations fragile in just a matter of hours. There are trees down everywhere across Hopkinsville and my son said upon return from his Dad's in the country that you could stand outside and just hear all the trees in the woods popping as limbs succumbed to ice.

Sometimes our lives are like that. . . we are rock solid, feel like we are an example of what life should be. Then a storm comes and sticks to us so fast and so hard that we begin to break into pieces and start falling apart. We had no idea that even those who are strong are sometimes no match for a storm.

At times like this, we need to put God first, and let him help us pick up the pieces that are broken. Give it all to Him and He can fix what the storm has broken. We will be more beautiful in His eyes because sometimes the storm prunes things away that didn't need to be there in the first place, we just thought that they were intregal to our lives, but God knows best.

Consequences

I've been thinking alot about consequences today. Sometimes we make bad choices and have to face 'the music'. . . what is 'the music' really? It's the results of decisions we make.

Sometimes the best intentions are not good enough and bad decisions are a result. I made a bad choice, although it was with the best of intentions. Somehow on the other side of the choice, that doesn't seem to matter to my spirit. My spirit is broken and sad and even apprehensive because I know that 'the music' will be well deserved.

I think about being a mom and how I have had to make my kids 'face the music'. As early as yesterday, Logan was officially informed he has no cell phone or teen center for at least the next three weeks. The smartest boy I know got 2, count em', 2 D's on his report card. Not for lack of intelligence, not from poor understanding of the subject manner, but from the sheer fact of not planning effectively. Brad told him just the other night, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Maybe Brad should have had that conversation with me as well.

We are never too old to learn that consequences mean something. Here at 35 years old, I can show my kids, even grown-ups are stupid sometimes. . . . .

Just pray for me today, because the music is coming soon and although I am sure I won't like the song, it has to be sung, and I have to listen to it. . . . . .

Photo Update - Brad & Shelly

Brad has now lost 90 Lbs and I am still stuck at 23 Lbs.....


Before -October 1, 2008:


After - January 18, 2009:

Boy, I need a tanning bed, huh?

A tale of two plumbers. . . this is good

I have saved our adventure from the weekend for a few days so that I could have something good to blog about tomorrow but now I am sharing it today anyway. . .

Our water has been draining slow for a few weeks. Last Thursday (Jan 8th) I called our regular plumber to see if they could come on out to our house. I did not get a call back on Friday so I thought, well, let me give it the weekend and see what happens. . .PS....Bad Idea.

Saturday night Logan went to take a shower and called out that the water was draining slow. Only to find out when I went in there later, it did not drain at all. It looked like he had taken a soak and not let the water out at all. It took several hours for it to drain so we knew that we would have to be quick on the shower Sunday morning.

Sunday morning was of course, worse. After Brad had his shower, not only did the water not drain, but the lines started backing up into the tubs and let me tell you, it was not a good thing. We called our plumber at 7:30am and got nothing, the next guy we called, nothing. We finally called "lester ellis plumbing" that has advertised extensively in our area. It has actually been bought out by "Hiller Plumbing" and they told us it would be $70 for a Sunday service call but at this point, what were we going to do? Well, waiting would have been better. Brad met the guy at the house while I was still at church and the guy determined that to fix the line, he needed to remove the toilet in the kids bathroom and he attempted to snake the line from there. Obviously we are not plumbers so we did not know this was not normal. He then proceeded to tell brad we did not have outside access to the line and that we would need to put in a piece outside or it would not drain properly to the tune of...you better sit down, $1700.00. . we put the brakes on right there and told him we would get some estimates and get back with him. So basically, he did nothing and charged us $266 for taking off our toilet and putting it back on, not to mention there was 'muddy water' all over the bathroom that 'guess who' got to clean up. It was everywhere

Monday morning, Bruce Orton Plumbing (Bruce gets a star in heaven from me) came out and lo and behold found our outside drain in 4 minutes, had the drain fixed in about 10 minutes and said there was no way that the guy should have done anything in the house. The kids toilet is now a little wobbly so I am sure Bruce will have to come back and fix it. Needless to say, we called Hiller and let them know we were stopping payment on the check. They should be thankful I am not suing them for having to clean that nasty bathroom after they got done 'helping' us. . . so, a word to the wise, never wait until you really need the plumber to find one, or at least don't make it on a day when Bruce Orten is out of town, it could cost you a bundle (or at the least some really yucky elbow grease

Have a good one!

Shelly