Stock Tip

This sent to me from another consultant -

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of Nortel stock a year ago, it would be worth $49 now.

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of Enron stock, it would be worth $16.50 today.

If you purchased $1,000 worth of WorldCom stock a year ago, it is worthless today.

If you had purchased $1000 worth of Mary Kay inventory it would be worth $2000 and when you sell it those customers will bring you thousands of dollars in reorders and recruiting commissions and might even be your Million $$$$ girlfriends!

So, where will you place your money?

Seminar

We have this huge convention in Dallas every year. It's the Miss America pagent for us, rolled up into pink. Meetings, training and awards night that is just so magical. I haven't been able to go yet due to money and other things going on for the past 2 summers. My mission is to go next year. But this was spoken at the Seminar of the things that the company has achieved, I think i'ts pretty supreme info for such a great company.

Mary Kay saw 200 women reach the NSD level in her lifetime. (a NSD is a National Sales Director, the 1% of the company's high leaders)
2002 - 3,180 new Sales Directors (righ under the NSD)
2000 Cadilliac drivers
28 new NSD 's in all divisions (we are broken up into division so that Dallas can handle us every year at convention time, 5 total, and I'm sure we are to be broken up again with a new division)
37 NSD Emeritus (Retired NSD's)
over $45,000 given to Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation (fighting domestic violence and cancer research)
Mary Kay named Best Selling Brand of skincare and color cosmetics again this year.
We are now "Keepers of the Dream" (since her passing at Thanksgiving)
Seminar in Russia to be held in the Kremlin Palace this year.
In Shanghi, China there is a pink Rose garden in front of the Women's and Children's hospital in memory of Mary Kay. In the middle of the garden is an open book. On the book it tells about Mary Kay and has the Golden Rule written in both English and Chinese.

I am so blessed.

New Look

I just love the look of the site, and I love the cartoon. Of course, I added the car, I mean.. this is the goal.. but I don't feel comfortable that I'm using the graphic. I'm not exploiting it. I will remove my name next to it.. it's not me really, it's all of us. I'm sure it's all of us that see's ourselves in this dynomo woman. I will look it over for the weekend, but now I'm not so sure that the graphic will work. Which is a bummer. I really like her.

In the meantime, I was doing a search on Mary Kay for something else.. and I found this link. My mother says she was not a pretty woman. I have seen some photos that date back to the 60's to the 80's and agree, they could have been done nicer, but saying she wasn't pretty wasn't her fault. I think cosmetics have come a long way since she started this business 40 years ago, and that photography itself has come a long way. I realize she wore a wig, but what woman hasn't? Hello - Dolly? (which I heard that when one of the fragances we carried was stopped, she bought the remaining bulk). Rupual? (does he count?). She really was a beautiful lady.

I see this picture that's in the link, of her in our meetings at night, big and right there on the wall, and sometimes I will just stare at her, and I feel that those eyes are talking to me. She's looking at me, and me only and telling me "Susan, you can do it. I have believe in you." I look back at her and say "really?" "Really". The other night we had a guest speaker, and he had us set goals for the next 12 months. He said "quick, write your goal. Don't think about it, write it". I did. Then he said that only a small percentage of us who have goals, write their goals and now that we have, we are destiny to earn them. I looked at my goal, and looked at the woman on the wall, and back at my goal. I can honsetly say my heart was pounding.

Pink Fridays

I love the Fridays I'm taking off. Of course, I haven't done anything MK related yet on those days, but I do enjoy the day off. :) Which will surely bum me out if I get the job I have applied for in the next few days. The recruiter called me today and said that the person who is doing the interviews is on vacation till Monday, could I wait that long for the interview? Heck.. I've been laid off since Oct. with the same company, what's 3 days? So very positive on that.

Today I went with my good friend Jennifer to have our bi-weekly pedicures. She gave this to me as a birthday gift (I recommend it to any woman who doesn't know what to get their friend for a gift) and it has turned into a hour outing for us. I can't do it every other week yet, but I once a month I can spend the few dollars and have it done. Oh my gosh. I swore at one point when the lady was massaging my legs, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath and passed out. I opened my eyes and felt dizzy and light-headed. I also felt reliefed of stress and that a huge weight on my shoulder had been lifted. Maybe she removed some major cyst or something. LOL. I wonder what a full body massage could do for me?

I have also let Jennifer in on my journal. She is my first close, real person to see my journal. Heck at this point, she's probably my only other reader next to me! I have been blessed in the past 2 years since moving to Colorado to have found 3 great friends. Jennifer is my newest friend, and we have just hit it off well. She's my sister and I rolled into one. She has the spit-fire, and will tell it to you straight like my sister, and then she gets nervous in front of crowds, loves make-up and has the same values that I use with myself and my children. We are two peas in a pod done up well. :) Like Julie (my other close friend), Jennifer has hit hard times financally, and has come through, so I look to her when I sometimes don't see the end of the tunnel. I know she's there.. I just have to look out my backyard and see her house and realize.. yep, I'm getting there!

We had a lot of fun today, and once again.. another great reason for having Fridays off.

Oh yeah.. viewed it from work and I really like the lay out, and I found it on my own! :) The image is from the intranet of MK, so yes.. I borrowed. But like my favorite saying.. A Good Artist Borrows, But a Great Artist Steals" so you take it as you please. There are like 10 images of her I found in different places and I think that is cool. I can rotate my moods around her images, and she does resemble me a bit.. about 100 pounds lighter though. (I'm NOT that fat!)

But - because I did end up looking at over 100 journals last night, I do feel that I suffered from what most of the blog-a-thon'ers did... I woke up blogging in my sleep.

wa-hooooo I like! I like! :)

1. What is your lineage? Where are your ancestors from? On my mother's side - England. My father's side - Irish. But both my parents came from Canada, relatives I visit every 5 / 10 years.

2. Of those countries, which would you most like to visit? Would like to go to England. My mother has traced it that we were related to a butler who worked for the Queen, many many years ago.

3. Which would you least like to visit? Why? Oh them Canuks can be funny.. but that "eh?" gets old quickly. (all in fun.. I love them all)

4. Do you do anything during the year to celebrate or recognize your heritage? When visiting family, I always wonder why they have fireworks on the 1st of July. :)

5. Who were the first ancestors to move to your present country (parents, grandparents, etc)? I guess both. Grandmothers (both mom and dad's) came from their countries to Canada, then my parents to the U.S.

Bloggin

While I'm in the writing mode.. guess who has a journal? Rupaul! Like wow! I love his lay out, and gosh.. I'll be honest. Dang he's good looking as a woman. Makes me look like shame! LOL

I'm on the quest/qwest (prior employeer) to find a new look for this journal. I have spent the past 2 days looking at journal after journal trying to find some inspiration. Journal logs are a lot different then just a website. I love smattering.org's lay out. Since she's in Vegas, she has a few pictures that you can tell are from the strip while you surf her place. I'm sure if she was tracking my hits, she would realize I'm stalking her, but she says the most witty stuff and seems to have her 'stuff' together, she is one person I would like to know better as a friend. The circle she has around her is awesome. I only hope in due time I'll get the same following.

In the meantime I keep looking and I know that my biggest problem lies in that I need to get my own domain name and find some web space so I can go hog wild with it. I have thought of shelling out a few dollars for a domain name and host it at my bosses site. He would have no clue that it's there, but if I get my wish in the next few days, I'll be gone by Sept from his place. Now... if I do get the job I have applied for, and my boss is willing to let me telecommute from home in the evenings, well.. then I think I have found some webspace for free! LOL. But in the meantime, I keep looking.. and if you know of some cool sites that can give this girl a jolt of ideas, please, send it my way. e-mail

Amber

So is it me, or does it seem like the summer of missing children? Seems like every week a child is being taken from their homes. What gets me is, some of these children are playing with other friends, with boyfriends, are young, babes, teenagers. I'm so relieved to hear that the girls in CA have been found. I was gone for a matter of minutes to the grocery store when I got back and found out they had been found. What a sigh of relief. I'm glad that Colorado has put the Amber Alert into effect this past week.

Onesome: Lions. How late do you lie in, or are you an early bird? "fess up, no lying here. If I could - I would sleep in till I had to get up. Normally on a weekend, I'm up around 9am. Weekdays, I'm up at 7am. If I could just lie in bed and read all day, a thing I did b.k. (before kids) I would never get out of bed!

Twosome: Tigers. What brings out the tiger in you? Interpret this how ever you want, just warn us if it is rated other than pg *grin*. Wierd.. but Wednesday nights with my husband. It's the night I get all dressed up for Mary Kay and so the perfume comes on, the dress is on, (pantyhose), make-up done up just right, and I have this professional image, but I could easily take this look and go out for dinner. But by the time I get home, I'm pumped from the meeting and on a natural high. Having my husband compliment on how good I look, smell and feel attitude wise makes my day. I'm a simple girl.. I'm amused easily. :)

Threesome: Bears. Bare it all for us. We always complain about the parts of our bodies we don't like. So here, tell us your favorite part of your body... Are you kidding? Favorite? My eyes. My eyes tell the story before I can get it out of my mouth. Not brite blue, but a pretty blue, hidden behind glasses. When I look at pictures of myself, it's my eyes that pull me in.

Dang.. a little on the vain side I am today.

Oh yes - follow my other blog - Shutter Updated every Thursday with a Theme photo wise. New pictures are up.

Guest Night 2.0

Still no guests, but I have calmed down a bit. While out delivery orders, 1 customer gave me a lead to a future customer, and she also took a "book party", 3 weeks, $200 sales, she gets a cool travel bag. We shall see.

Dang it's hot. I want to live in Vegas? My weatherbug is jumping between 99 and 110. Whatever it is.. it's HOT!

Back Porch

On the Back Porch, the topic was, what would I do with a fist full of dollars, lottery wise or inherited. Paying off bills and fixing or buying new cars was on our list. But if money was really no object, I found my dream home. The 360 tour is here. Of course, this home is in Vegas, and I have been watching this developer for over 3 years now, hoping one day that this is where we will end up (Vegas). This home is one of their biggest homes that Astoria has built, and it seems each year they develop bigger and better. Though there is one development area I can't stand that they are currently doing, and they have raised thier prices and upscaled their homes.. I still love their site.

Now what would I do with 9 bedrooms? A music room? No clue. At this point, if I had the money.. my kids would be taking piano lessons.. and the rooms would be for guests. I'm sure with a house that size, I would be entertaining often to see such a site! Having 4 garages, and on each side isn't in my taste, so I think that if money was not a problem at this point, I would move the garages to side of the house and all on one side.

But then... I have no money so I'm stuck where I am. :)

Guest Night

I give up. I totally give up on Guest Night. Forget what they have all told me, that during the Summer, there are ladies who want a night from the husband, the kids, the house and just have some fun. There are NO WOMEN WHO NEED A NIGHT OUT FOR FUN! NONE! ZILCH! NADA! ZERO!

Once again, I lined up 5 guests, possibly 8 (so odds are, 1 will go) and all of them "forgot they had plans" set back MONTHSSSSSSS ago. Umm yeah. Whatever. You have now been placed on my 'customer treatment' list and will be treated as such. Wrinkles to ya. No extra freebies from this girl. Out of the 8, only one has a reasonable excuse.. she's in the freakin hospital. (see yesterdays post).

Oh well. I'm done with Guest Night. I'm SO DONE with Guest Night.

Positive side? It's the end of the month, I'm submitting 4 cards for $100 Dollar Day and 2 interviews. But I lost out on the Perl contest. Oh well. Wrinkles happen.

Penny

I need to get out of this job situation. One of our co-workers is in the hospital, we think she suffered a stroke from the stress of the job. She went to the ER last week, but couldn't be seen and when she thought of all what she had to do at work, she walked out. Now she's back in and in more pain.

New Mexico 2.0

Ok, so I went home for the weekend. To finish up the weekend story, I need to air some stuff out.

I wondered for a long time on the plane and the ride home why is it that I don't like going home. It's not my mom. I love her and wish I could see her daily, well, if not daily, be able to talk to her daily without the cost of the telephone. I then came to a small grip that I still miss my dad. That going home, he's still not there, and that going home and seeing mom's changes to the house, dad's not there. It's all fru-fru. Something he would not like. Flowers, doilys, lace, Colors. Dad was blah brown. Going home brings me down and though mom sets it up for me to visit friends, I shy from them. I was to see Kathy, a friend from mid-school, and I made every excuse not to see her. I love her, we have been through a lot. I just don't like visiting people when I'm home.

We drove around, looking at all the development areas (this is a tiny tiny town - blink, you have gone past it). So it doesn't take but about 3 hours to see all the latest and greatest. This time we took small trips that covered over 2 days. Last time, we drove for 3 solid days.. I was tired when I got back home. But it just seemed we were going to all dad's places. We even went by the cemetary, and mom asked me if I wanted to go.

I knew I should have.

I felt that I should have.

But we didn't. I said this time, I wasn't ready to see him.

Why should we? All we would do is look at the stone, then wonder off and look at others. How sick. Sorry dad.. but I want to see who else checked in lately. ugh.

There is this guilt I feel for not going, and a relief that I didn't. They weigh about the same.

In the end though. I'm glad I went home. My mom has slowly let herself fizzle out, she's not an active person of the city like she once was, and after doing a ton of Mary Kay stuff, she told me later after my arrival back home in Colorado that she has decided to take the next step in Mary Kay and that is go for Director and the Grand AM. I think this would be great for her. She was, and has always been a great leader, this is her calling. I think once she gets over the fear of dealing with customers and get some awesome training, she will be feet planted and head strong on her goals. Now lets see who gets there first... me or her?

Mom - I love you. Thank you for being who you are and being so strong when we need you.

Susan

Progress

After almost 3 months, I finally got my order form for my boss at work to work... a little. Got it to send me an email, but I still got an error message when I hit submit. Dang.. I hate coding. Let me play with the graphics.

For 2 hours this morning, I played "jump through circles" with a recruiter and the minute I told her who my old supervisor was the calls stoped. I can bet I lost the job again. That stupid woman isn't even in the department any more and she's still making my life hard. I hope "Q" drags her in the mud with all the other head hunchos. (sigh) So un-go-give of me.

Then for a hour I put 8 orders together for delivery. Wow what a rush!

Yeahhhhh my order has been delivered. I just LOVE UPS tracking

Look for future postings from me over there. I'm sitting on the Back Porch! I can't wait to meet everyone there. I'm doing something new and different. Signed up with a group that I have never met. Does my dress look clean?

time keeps on turning turning, into the future

Who sings that? Well, who-ever, I'm on a timing thing right now. Took the morning off to wait for my Mary Kay order to arrive. Still not here yet. In the process I have applied for a job and every 3 minutes the recruiter is calling for another question. Looks promising. Not only my old job back, but with my old buddies. Not my old price, but a better price then where I am at now. Hello, higher beings? Give me 6 months and I won't need work after that. Ok, give me 9 months... but for now with the contract saying 6... I need to take a shower.

Need to finish up my trip to New Mexico and tell of other things going on. I'm going through major logging with-drawl and I'm having to post slowly. Had to wade through 300 emails when I got home. Oh yeah... I'm a yahoo group list junkie too. :)

> Flew home for the weekend to visit my mother (mommy)
> My children had a wonderful time visiting Grandma
> Doing a facial for my mother and watching her look at me in awe
> Coming home and cuddling with my husband
> My Mary Kay order is on it' s way here. :)
> I applied for another job
> I will be visiting my sister from Italy soon
> I applied for a job at my old place and it's looking good so far
> I am a better person then last week

New Mexico -

Visiting my mom is such a strange visit. I look at her, I see her and wonder, is it me that changed or her? Did I grow up and meet a new mom or did she level out and become a cooler mom? In either case, we have really come closer in the past few years, and now with us both doing Mary Kay, the past few months have been the best between her and I. Now, I don't want you, the reader to think we were on a ruff patch, we haven't, but it wasn't till after my dad died that I realized I was closer to him then her, and my mom was closer to my sister.

The trip down was an experience at most. My husband works for a puddle-jumper airline and so it's funny to check in at the airport, and you go down an escalator to the train, then you walk down the long concourse, then down another escalator, walk, down, walk, down, walk.. and you realize, your on the ground. This means there is no walkway to the plane, the walkway to the plane is a walk outside on the tarmac and walk 4 steps up into this ity bity plane. The plane is small. Only 9 rows and each row has 2 seats..so the luxary of having a window seat and aisle seat at the same time is a plus! Row 9 is a 3 seater and that's where the kids and I sat. They both got window seats, I get the aisle seat and get to look straight into the cockpit. JOY!

We leave about 9:30 at night and once airborn, the pilot says he will turn off the cabin lights, but there are reading lights.

Click.

The plane is pitch black.

No one wanted their reading lights on and so the only lights that can be seen on the plane are the green glow of the exit signs and the orange glow of the cockpit. My two fall asleep.

In this tiny compact room. Room? Space. I think of where I'm going, who I will see and why am I going? I see the moon out the window and it's part of the glow that lights up the plane. From my view, it's an optical illusion. The moon is sitting on the wing. So I ask the moon who has decided to sit next to me..'why am I going home?'. And the moon just stares at me. From a favorite book that my chidren have, I say to the moon - "Goodnight moon" and take a quick 10 minute nap.