Annie Anderson | Blog

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We are almost there - tomorrow is the first day of school! The kids are excited, I’m excited. The backpacks are packed and ready to go. Clothes laid out for morning. And it’s supposed to be at least somewhat sunny.

This summer seems to have just flown by. I am ready for the kids to go back to school but at the same time, I’m going to miss them. The house will feel empty. It’ll just be me and The Short Dude for the next week until pre-school starts.

What are we gonna do with ourselves??

Well, I just bought a brand new SLR style digital camera, I’ve got books to read, copywriting and design projects to do, house to clean and keep tidy and until next Tuesday, a 4 year old to chase around.

I’ll still be very busy! In fact, I think I’m going to be even more busy than I have been the past few months. My calendar for the first two weeks of September is completely full between school, kids, work, and household stuff. Don’t worry - I’ve scheduled some “me” time in there too. That’s partly where the camera comes in - I’m going to spend some time down at the beach and by the river and other assorted places around here shooting pics of whatever I can find.

So, what’s on your agenda? If you have kids, are you excited about them going back to school?

This will be the first year all of mine are in school - 3 of them full time and the little guy will be going part time. Actually, you might not know, but up until last year, they were all homeschooled. We did that for 5 years. But The Teenager and G-Man went back to public school last year and Little Girl stayed in the homeschool partnership program (run by the school district, where you have access to a district teacher once a week and stuff like that).

The hardest part for me is The Teenager has to be up and out the door to the bus by 6:45 am. I am NOT a morning person. High school was hell for me when I was her age and 17 years later, not much has changed. I still hate getting up that early. If we make it through this year, I’m going to be seriously surprised.

Ok . . . enough blabbing for now. I’ll be back soon with some around the web stuff for you, a new reading list and hopefully some pictures!

Have a great week!

In the arena,

Did you know I design blog headers and ebook cover graphics, too? Yes, I do. And you can get one now for the introductory price of $55 for a limited time. Just send a payment of $55 to me via PayPal along with a description of what you want. You’ll have a design within 48 hours.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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The Short Dude’s orientation went well but we didn’t get his class assignment yet. It’s not that a big deal, though, because the pre-school classes don’t start until September 9th.

Apparently, it’s because we have a couple of new schools opening in our district this year and the transportation boundaries are still being worked out. Can you believe that? This close to the first day and they still don’t know the new boundaries?? (Regular classes start September 2. It’s only pre-school starting the 9th.)

So, they can’t tell us his class assignment until the transportation stuff is determined. I’m so glad our other kids walk to school! The Short Dude will actually be going to a different elementary school than Little Girl and G-Man so he gets to ride the bus. He’s excited about that! He loves buses and trains and stuff.

The support gal who did our orientation said he’d likely go the afternoon session. I’d actually prefer he went to the morning session, though, because he still takes naps and by the end of the school day, he could be pretty crabby. She said if it did get to be a problem for him once school starts, we can change him to the morning session. I guess we’ll see.

Now for baseball!

THE MARINER’S WON! They beat The Twins 3-2. Not a spectacular game but I was glad they won. I’m not too thrilled with Ryan Rowland-Smith as a pitcher and really, I’m quite surprised the Twins didn’t get more runs as a result. Good thing the guys in the outfield were on top of the game.

But I gotta tell you, Safeco Field is awesome! It was my first time there. As I mentioned in part 1, I haven’t been to a Mariner’s game since my dad died. I did get a little emotional at times - like during the National Anthem. It’s just one of those things that makes me a bit teary eyed. (Did you know I was in the US Navy?)

Oh - and you know what was really cool? Sue Bird of the WNBA Seattle Storm - who was also on the US Women’s Olympic Basketball team in China and WON GOLD!! - threw the starting pitch. That was very cool. Lots of people stood and clapped when she came out on the field.

And a young gal from the Wesco AAA championship girls baseball team from San Diego threw the honorary pitch. That was pretty cool too. She had an impressive list of awards. I was quite amazed.

My husband and I had these awesome garlic fries. Oh, they were sooooooo good! I kept smelling garlic (I love garlic. Yes, I’m weird.) and told my husband we had to find out what smelled so delicious. So we went in search of these heavenly things and finally found them. Wow! They were just so good! I can’t say enough how yummy they were. And compared to some of the other concession prices, they were pretty reasonable.

When we first arrived, which was about an hour early, the roof was open on Safeco Field. It was pretty cool. Just before the game started, they decided to close the roof because it was obviously looking like it was going to rain. The sky started getting pretty cloudy and dark. It was good they did because, yeah, by time the game was over, it was raining.

And we forgot our umbrella. In the car. At the park and ride. (We rode the bus down to Seattle. Cheaper, faster, no parking headaches.)

We got wet on our way to the bus stop! Oh well. We’re used to it.
I’m glad we went to the game. We’ve decided next time we’ll take the kids and get some box seats right above 1st base. The view from that level is awesome.

My package came!

And Short Dude, Little Girl and I are listening to George Duke’s CD (Dukey Treats). It was part of my prize along with the 2 tickets to see him and Anthony Hamilton at McCaw Hall. The CD is a lot better than I thought it would be, honestly.

And now, I must get more coffee . . . and break up WWIII in my living room.

In the arena,

Did you know I design blog headers and ebook cover graphics, too? Yes, I do. And you can get one now for the introductory price of $55 for a limited time. Just send a payment of $55 to me via PayPal along with a description of what you want. You’ll have a design within 48 hours.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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Sometimes when the weather is crappy, it’s hard to get excited about things. But I really *am* excited!

First, The Short Dude has pre-school orientation tomorrow afternoon. We are going to meet the director, get his class assignment and probably - hopefully - get to see his classroom and meet his new teacher.

He’s very excited about getting to go to school like the big kids. And, because the pre-school he’ll be going to is run by the school district, he’ll get to feel like a big boy because his class will actually be at the elementary school.

And I’m excited that it means once school starts, I’ll actually have a couple of hours every day with no kids at home! That will mean the ability to get lots of work done since there won’t be interruptions. I just have keep myself in check and not decide to go do errands, thinking “Well, I have the time. I might as well go.” Uh-huh. I *won’t* really have the time. We shall see, I guess.

Of course, that also means that I will probably want to get all of those little annoying chores done around the house too. I’ll be thinking, “Ok, so there’s nobody here to get in the way or holler or fuss if I just organize these toys and throw some away.”

Right. I can see it’s going to be challenging.

Secondly, my husband and I are going to The Mariners vs. The Minnesota Twins baseball game tomorrow night in Seattle. I have not been to Safeco Field before so it will be a treat. I stopped going to baseball games after my dad died because it just brought back too many memories. But those memories were all in the old Kingdome so hopefully it won’t be too emotional.

And lastly . . .

I won concert tickets!

Last night, KWJZ was giving away tickets to see Anthony Hamilton and George Duke at McCaw Hall in September. And I won! I won! I got 2 tickets and George Duke’s new CD. Very cool!

I’m not too into George Duke but I do like Anthony Hamilton, so it’ll be fun to go see them. Concerts are always good!

In the arena,

Did you know I design blog headers and ebook cover graphics, too? Yes, I do. And you can get one now for the introductory price of $55 for a limited time. Just send a payment of $55 to me via PayPal along with a description of what you want. You’ll have a design within 48 hours.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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Is it really Friday? Because normally, I love Fridays - it means the weekend when things are slower and my husband is home from work is right around the corner. But today? Not so much.

It was Freshman Orientation and Check In today for The Teenager.

What a nightmare! I’m so glad the G-Man won’t be starting high school for another few years. The orientation was completely disorganized and probably completely unnecessary. I don’t think even half the freshman were there.

Now, the check-in earlier today wasn’t too bad. It could have been a bit more organized but it was at least manageable once you figured things out. The actual orientation, which was this evening, was a disaster. And in The Teenager’s opinion, “lame and stupid” not to mention totally not useful. There was nothing to indicate it was orientation.

I mean, when I think of orientation, it’s where teachers and other support faculty are on hand, answering questions, taking students on campus tours, showing kids where things are and what to expect. It’s like an outline for a paper - neat, tidy, organized and makes sense. All the points are thought out and filled in, not necessarily fully scheduled, but at least planned.

But not here. They threw everyone into the gym, had some upper classmen do some lame skits about having an ASB card and how if you don’t, dances and other activities cost more. While I’m all for supporting the ASB, it seems that was the focus of the whole orientation. Nothing about what to expect the first day of school or how things work, or where to go, although they did have some tours - which were so disorganized, we didn’t go on one. They did offer a Q&A session for the parents, but in my opinion, I think the kids should have been a part of it.

Fortunately, I graduated from my daughter’s high school, so I took her around and we found everything. Granted, some things are different now but we were still able to make sense of things. I told her perhaps we could go back next week during the day when the teachers are there and check things out if she feels the need to do so.

By time we left, The Teenager was grumpy and upset. I think she was feeling more than a little confused and overwhelmed too. I don’t blame her. If I were her, I probably would be too. It might have been better had we not gone at all this evening. Sometimes these things can affect her mood for days. But . . . I hope not this time.

Things are getting busy around the Anderson household as school gears up. In some ways, I’m dreading the start of school - don’t want to let the lazy days of summer slip away. On the other hand, I’m so ready for them to all have something else to do so I can get some work done!

Speaking of work . . .

My schedule is filling up fast for the next few months so if you think you might like to work with me on any of your upcoming copywriting or design projects, please let me know ASAP. If you miss the boat now, I likely won’t have any time available until November. I do have few slots available in September and October but as usual, I expect they will fill up fast. You can download a copy of my fee schedule on the Hire Me page. (Note: my fees are not set in stone. The best way to find out what it will cost for your project is to request a free quote.)

I hope you all had a great day and that you enjoy your weekend!

In the arena,

Did you know I design blog headers and ebook cover graphics, too? Yes, I do. And you can get one now for the introductory price of $55 for a limited time. Just send a payment of $55 to me via PayPal along with a description of what you want. You’ll have a design within 48 hours.

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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What a weekend! My brain is fried, I’m tellin’ you.

The Short Dude fell Thursday and bonked his head. Just in time for his 4th birthday Friday. You can read about it here.

Friday was spent between ensuring The Short Dude wasn’t going to puke and trying to cool down. Because it was hot. In Seattle, if you can believe that.

Saturday was shopping day. We met Gramma (her spelling) at Staples and got supplies for the kids. Do you know how much it costs to get school supplies for 4 kids? Even when Staples is having sales and things can be had for .09¢? Yeah . . . $78. I don’t even want to think how much it would have been had they been normal prices. And I won’t tell you how much we spent on clothes! 4 kids and clothes? Let’s just say one almost has to take out a line of credit on their home equity to pull it off!

The Teenager spent the night with Auntie Friday night so I took her clothes shopping today. What an experience. Ever shopped with a teenager? Let me rephrase that . . . have you ever shopped with an ultra *picky* teenager? Don’t. It’ll take years off your life.

On a more business-like note - I have some projects coming up in the next few weeks that I’m really excited about. A couple of them are in real estate which is fun. Real estate is one of my favorite topics. I also have a couple of projects in the design department as well as a few others. It’s always fun to work on projects that are in alignment with ones hobbies and joys.

It’s also the 3rd week of The Thirty Day Challenge. I’m way behind again and who knows when I’ll get caught up. I haven’t even looked at any of the stuff for the past 3-4 days and I’ll be too busy for most of this week to do so. I might have some time very late in the evenings but not sure if it’ll be enough to catch up on anything completely. We will see.

This week is also orientation for The Teenager at the high school. She’ll confirm her class list, get pictures taken, get her ASB card and pay for a bajillion dollars worth of stuff - PE clothes, ASB card, yearbook and other necessary teenager stuff.

And the 21st marks the first day of classes for me again too. I took the last 2 quarters off and it’s time to get started again. I still need to order books which I’ll probably do tomorrow and if I order through Amazon like usual, they’ll be here in time.

I’m not really ready for summer to be over, though. We’re finally just now getting to have summer-like weather here and it’s a bit sad to know it’s almost over anyway. Oh well! At least it’ll be quiet around the house for a few hours every day. I actually am looking very forward to that part! 4 noisy kids home all summer has meant a change in my writing schedule and it’ll be nice to get back to a more regular one.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and that your week ahead is wonderful!

In the arena,

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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I don’t really have anything planned for this post so I apologize in advance if it ends up wandering all over the place!

The kids and I were able to spend some time outside today in the garden. I’ve been neglecting it badly all summer, mostly because we’ve had such awful weather until recently. On those few rare days of sun during the months of June and July, it always turned out I had something else to do.

So, the flower bed in the front yard is now clean and my rhododendrons, hibiscus, lavender and roses can breathe again. I think I even found some rhubarb. At least, that’s what it looks like. I’ll have to ask my mom to have a look at it next time she drops by. Tomorrow I plan to put down the mulch and compost and possibly plant some late summer blooming wild flowers. I’ll also be ripping out the grass that somehow has made its way into the gravel of the driveway. Of course, I’m sure my back will be killing me tomorrow night which means I may not be here.

There’s also lots of other stuff on the agenda for this week including school clothes shopping and The Short Dude’s birthday. He’ll be 4! It’s hard to believe my little baby is a big boy! He’s also getting his new big boy bed this weekend. He’s been asking about it for a month now and I think it’s high time we get it done. Or he’ll be sleeping in his small bed until he’s in college, I think.

My elbow is burning from all the weeding I did today. That really hurts. And I do mean burning. It’s an odd sensation. If you have bursitis or tendinitis, you probably know what I mean. I wish it would go away. Might have to go get a heat pack. But who wants to do that when it’s 90 degrees in the house and the laptop is already sizzling? I would put cold on it, but that makes it hurt worse, unfortunately.

I’ve been reading a lot of new blogs lately so look for a post sometime this week about some cool stuff from around the web. There are so many interesting things, I could quite literally spend all day reading them!

And of course, it’s Day 11, almost Day 12 of the Thirty Day Challenge. I finally got caught up yesterday. Well, almost. I got to Day 8. I did Days 9 & 10 today so I am only 1 day behind now. That should be easy enough to get fully caught up on tomorrow.

Little Girl just got up. She needed a drink of water. I think she’s too hot. She’s so sleepy, she could hardly stand here and tell me what she needed. I better go check on her. I think she might have fallen asleep at the table where I left her with her drink of water because she has not gone back to bed yet.

In the arena (or maybe the kitchen),

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

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In part one of this series from Thursday, I left you with the thought that we can get beyond the stories by realizing that change is possible. Change is ok - it helps us grow, share and can even help us become stronger. It’s like a tool, if you will.

The first step to embracing change is trusting that the Universe knows exactly what it’s doing. At every moment, it’s operating just as it should be. There is an underlying balance and order to all things, a cycle of life that continues on and on. We must trust, then, trust that the Universe (or God or whatever you wish to call it) is answering your every question, your every thought, your every whim. You just haven’t caught up with some of them yet.

As a result of this cycle, you must understand that at every moment, you have a choice. You can choose to be happy, to be sad, to be angry, to be worried, to be anxious or whatever other emotion you care to attach. It’s your choice.

Let me tell you here and now - happiness IS a choice. It is not something that happens to you. It is not something outside of you. It is not caused by something or someone else. It comes from within - a choice you consciously choose at any given moment.

And this is one fundamental truth that must be acknowledged.

Your state of being is directly related to YOUR OWN INNER COMPASS. Your own thoughts. Your own will power. Your own consciousness. Nothing else. It does not live outside of you. It only dwells within. You can be happy simply because you decide to.

Imagine that!

No matter what else is going on in your life, you can learn to trust the process and know that whatever happens, is happening for a reason. There are no accidents, no coincidences. And when you begin to take this to heart, you will learn to become peaceful. You will find joy.

And then, an interesting thing will begin to happen - when we operate our daily lives from a place of joy, trusting in the Universe for our every need, things begin to come our way. All the things we truly desire and wish for, begin to appear in our lives. It’s almost as if we’ve found luck.

But really, it was there all along, simply waiting for us to open up and embrace it.

In other words, stories don’t have to rule our lives. We don’t have to let them encumber us, weigh us down, make us heavy and depressed. We can acknowledge the bad along with the good and find joy in the learning. We can find joy in simplicity. We can find joy simply because we can!

This is one of the greatest things about being human - we have our own thoughts, our own will. And we are free to use it. When we use our free will while trusting in the Universe, miracles and magic happens. Doors open.

You have a door open before you today. The door of inner peace. Of inner joy. Walk through it and empower your life.

Start by choosing to be happy.

Next time, we’ll talk about how to be happy when we’d rather be sad.

In the arena,

Make $10k in a weekend - “Too good to be true.” That’s the first thing I said when
I heard of http://tinyurl.com/5lq2g4. You can’t REALLY make $10K in a weekend. But I quickly bit my tongue once I saw the content. . .

Annie Anderson is a freelance copywriter and graphic designer specializing in the small business and real estate markets. Her tagline “Making your business, my business” means that she’ll take the utmost care when creating words and images for your business - just as if it were her own.

Share