Still Alive

I'm so sorry I've been slothful about blogging.  It is true that our life is much less exciting now.  However, if you miss African excitement, I suggest you read some of the missionary blogs that are linked below.  It always makes me nostalgic to read them.

We came back from the Young Living convention with lots of ideas.. and then promptly got caught up in all the stuff to do here.  Rebecca's and Deborah's houses became empty and there was "deferred maintenance" to be done on them.  Tom is disgusted at how they treated the carpets.  They needed to be changed out in both houses.  A new carpet guy in town has some carpet guaranteed not to stain.  We're going to try that.  But in Deborah's house, there's hardwood floor, so Tom will refinish that next week.  There was also painting, new screens, drywall to fix, yards to clean up and other stuff.  The good news is the the property management called to say, "Are you done with Rebecca's house?.." "Well, er, mostly... okay, yes."   "Good!  Someone wants to move in tomorrow."  Tom hopes to be done with Deborah's house by the end of next week.

A few things have slowed down the repairs.  On Saturday October 1 we went to Branson.  Tom had wanted to do some clothes shopping since he left many of his clothes back in Kenya. Saturday and Sunday we watched General Conference, but there was still plenty of time to shop on Monday and Tuesday. We rejected an "Owner update" (read sales pitch).  Tom said, why flagellate myself?  But we agreed to a 15 minute survey-(read 45 minute mini sales pitch) at the timeshare.  We'd actually decided we like the points idea, but we don't like the big maintenance fees. So we went to the office where we purchased our re-sale time share, and traded our Diamond Resort floating week for  points at Whyndham.  It's not a lot of points, but I hope it will be enough to do as we want.  We do enjoy being pampered at the time shares.

General Conference was fantastic!  I loved listening to the talks.  Here are a few of the insights I got.
* Consistently read the Book of Mormon for an added measure of the spirit.
* Scriptures can help with both physical and spiritual healing.
* Seek for wisdom, not power, and you will have all the power you are wise enough to use.
* If you listen to and follow the Holy Ghost you will be protected and shielded from the attacks of the adversary.  You will be remarkably blessed!
* The Lord uses a scale different from the wold to weigh the worth of souls.
* We need to use time wisely.  The Lord will want an accounting.  Use your time to match your goals-- master time.  Poor use of time is close cousin to idleness.
I need to continue reviewing my notes for more things I need to remember.

I have been working pretty diligently on my copywriting course.  It's really like a college course and I'm learning a lot. I'm trying to stay focused, but there are SO MANY applications!  I'm learning about web sites and blogs and how to monetize them and how to help clients find and keep customers using them and other social media. I'm learning persuasive writing and some of the steps to turning features into benefits and writing headlines that are useful, unique, urgent, and ultra-specific.  I'm learning that people decide things on an emotional level and then use reason to rationalize the decision.  They are very clear about not taking on a client if you don't believe in their business.  You need to be real and honest.

I went to visit a boutique shop.  I'd sat next to the woman who owned it at the web seminar I went to.  I knew she wanted to go on the web, but was overwhelmed and afraid to do so.  So I visited her and presented the idea for a blog that promoted products from her boutique. I think I will end up doing that for her.  But that also means setting up a domain name for her and a hosting site and importing WordPress and learning to run it..and...and....  And so I have been reading up a lot on that, too.  I need to for the web sites I'd like to run as well.  I also am focusing on the infomercial side as they have a great need for copywriting.  I could have applied for a freelance blogging job taking a dog and going to dog friendly places around the country and writing about it.  Sounded fun... but I guess I shouldn't leave my husband for a dog for 3 months.

And I went to look at a cheap little house that could be fixed up and be profitable.  I wanted to buy it, but didn't have enough money in my IRA.  So I tried to get a loan, but no bank wants to loan just a little amount and it has to be a "non-recourse" loan.  So I'm looking now for someone who wants to buy half a house for under $20,000.  Should return 8-10%. Of course, it's likely they'd reject my low offer anyway.  But I never say die until the last stone is turned over.

Our chickens are laying enough eggs to feed us.  Our garden finally is producing tomatoes and lettuce. And the beans and peas are flowering.  I think the beets are growing too, but those are harder to see.  We've had lows of 45-55 and highs mostly in the 70's.  The trees are turning color and it's beautiful here now.  We had much needed rain and all the plants are happy.  The mums are blooming-- and even our roses are enjoying the cooler weather.  It is a good time to be alive.