So much to say, so little time so I guess that means TRAIN OF THOUGHT POST

Each one of these could result in its' own blog post but I have no time, no time I say!
Funny to type them in "short form" because each one has much more thought behind it.

So here we go....

I was at the store and saw a Papa John's worker sitting on a bench outside. I went into the store and came out and someone pulled up to pick her up. Off she went. She could not have been more than 17 or 18. I realized how TRULY blessed I am that God decided to share with me the truth of being a keeper at home and turning a profit from home. Though I am dealing with other issues regarding this in my personal life, I realize that I am glad I am not dropping off and picking up Sloan from the local pizza shop. No offense to pizza workers but she is making more money with her jewelry and babysitting for like-minded families than any 6 buck/hr job would. Let alone the more important issues that you all can think of yourself!

I was IN THE MOOD for some secular music (rare) which really just means that I wanted to sing LOUD in the car. So I came across this station. First song playing was Give Me One Reason To Stay Here by Tracy Chapman. WOW. I can BELT that song. Little do you all know I am a belter. Yep, a true on belter. I tried UIP once but it wasn't a good fit...the music didn't fit my voice. I need to BELT with my true voice for it to work. Or at least for me to THINK it works. Lol
Anyway, then came Piano Man by Billy Joel...I know every song he's ever written and that one I can also sing. And I LOVE it. My favorite line is THE PIANO SOUNDS LIKE A CARNIVAL AND THE MICROPHONE SMELLS LIKE A BEER AND THEY SIT AT THE BAR AND PUT BREAD IN MY JAR AND SAY MAN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE.
I type it in caps because he kind of yells the beginning of this line. If you know this song, you know EXACTLY what I am saying.

Third one was "Call Me" by Blondie (I was REALLY having fun by now) But do you KNOW how nasty this song is? I never realized it until now. I always just SANG it but now I LISTENED to it and when the line came that said "I will be your lovah's lovah's alibi...call me."
I thought, yikes, SECULAR song. Lol

BUT then, JUST when I thought I had re-entered COOL land, the next song was: "Time in a Bottle".

Balloon deflated.

I realized that I was on an OLD station. We are now considered OLD music. OLD people and most definitely NOT cool. I guess a good indicator would be that if someone told me to name any three bands that had top hits in the last 5 years or they would kill my family, that I would be completely and utterly alone.

But anyway, the worse part? I ALSO know every word to Time in a Bottle.

Get my point?

We had some friends over last night. I LOVE them. I DESPISE their child. Yes, I admit it. And this one will appear as real blog post subsequently. It is tragic but true. More later, but for now I BEG of you, I mean, I REALLY beg you to discipline your children. Most of you do, but if you don't PLEASE DO.

Which leads me to the fact that I am convinced on some new directions I think I may be supposed to be going in post magazine. Some parenting seminars..speaking engagements...homeschooling conference...stuff like that. I can no longer ignore or deny the part of me that I try to ignore or deny. I am SERIOUS about parenting. Love and discipline. You cannot separate them.

Today was the first time I felt excitement in a near month. Whew. I am not dead.

I worked hard on a dinner for Jeff's BD with our friends....there were BBQ ribs and Terriyaki chicken kabobs involved but guess what? I had nary a napkin or paper towel in the house. Jeff had to go to his truck and get Dunkin Donuts napkins that he had extra of because I am one of THOSE women who take a few "extra napkins" for the car.
That's a whole lotta classy....your hubby truckin' in DD napkins from his truck for dinner because you forgot. We all had a GREAT laugh over that. Those are the kinds of friends we have, the ones who do not care if we gave them an extra shirt to wipe up with. We rarely have people over because these are the only ones we can tolerate or spare social time for; the one who just. don't.care.

We are changing layout guys for LFM. Yes, this is HUGE news and why I put it so far down. Because only the ones who REALLY read my blog in detail will hear that. This is a source of GREAT trepidation and excitement. THANKFULLY we ended on a great note and he (Bri) may even stay on as ad designer. He no longer is a reader on my blog so I can talk as much about this as I like. Ha ha. No really, didn't he do a GREAT job??????? But the job is too big for him now and he couldn't do it for the same price and I couldn't afford it so we hired a cool company out of VA called Picante Creative. How cool is that? Very Latin (like me!) and super professional and this is ALL they do. So while, we are still paying lots more, we are hopeful.
We will also be getting a new contemporary re-design. (my choice!) So you heard it here first, LFM will have a new look in Feb! It takes a few months to be totally redesigned but I imagine you will notice a difference right off. Poor things, here is an excerpt from what I wanted that I sent to her:

We are NOT trying to be trendy or worldly. Do not think Hannah Montana when you think of our design. We do not want to be like every other magazine. We want to be fresh and contemporary but not Disney-ish or too flaunty. Think: wholesome and pure with a cutting edge contemporary feel.

Yeah, good luck with that.

I have to go to Vero tomorrow for a meeting with my Dad. NOT fun.
Ann (Cheryl's daughter) may come back with us. FUN!

(Oh Cheryl, would that be ok with you? Lol I'll email you.)

Hmmm...anything else? Homemade pizzas and salad for dinner, I ran my car on empty with the gas light on for two days and nothing happened, Jeff and I are part of a weight loss class starting next week, remind me to tell you (in other words, future blog post and I am writing this to remember to write that) that I have discovered my deep seeded sin. It's called being an extremeaholic. I cannot wait to talk more about this as I have been thinking, examining, dealing with this new idea of my "stuff" and it seems to fit perfectly.

My LFM advisory board is growing and I am THRILLED with our newest addition. I hope that he/his wife does not mind me outing him but it is ERIC ANTHONY. My AB consists of Tif who is my "go to girl" whom I often consult for important issues like contextual stuff, the "feel" of something, moral issues, just about any and all. Doug for the obvious heavy spiritual stuff and now ERIC for business related stuff. I got a bit of a feel for his intelligence in a recent meeting we had and now we are all-about-Eric.
Yep, Professor Mouse turns out to be one-smart-cookie in all things business and I am EVER grateful to have a discerning mind of business around.

See me: The passionate go getter who thinks EVERYTHING could potentially be a good idea.
See Eric: The intelligent voice of reason trying to explain to me that no, the world is not ALWAYS round. The voice of reason. WOW. That goes right along with my future post about being an extremeaholic. Thanks Amy and Eric!

(Side Bar) I rarely call on my advisory board. I do not inundate them with requests, problems or ideas. But it sure is nice to have them in place when I need them!

Case in point: I stared a Family Health Page in Jan issue that an advertiser wanted to sponsor and was really pushing to do but I wasn't comfortable with it. I ask one of my Advisory Board Members and they quickly said, "Anyone who wants to sponsor this page should be a certified Health Professional." (which they were not)
Boys and Girls, can you say: DUH? (yeah, it was Eric)

I love the truth that you should surround yourself with people smarter than yourself. Passion can only carry you so far. A team is SO important.

I realize this is getting long so I will end now...

Happy New Year!

Don't forget to check out Coffee with the Editor and leave comments! Thanks to those that already have. REMEMBER that this is my private blog and I will continue to post my deepest thoughts here to YOU. That Coffee is supposed to be fun, true, sarcastic and mag related and I hope that you will enjoy it for what it is as well.

Enjoy some Tracy.