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Not only was this past Thursday Thanksgiving, it was also my youngest daughters birthday. She turned 9! The last year in single digits! That means, next year, I will have THREE kids in the double digits. I *AM* getting old – don’t try to tell me otherwise.

She worried all week that it was going to snow and we wouldn’t get to celebrate. See, the last 3 years we’ve tried to have a party for her on her birthday, it HAS snowed and nobody showed up. So she was really worried that since it was Thanksgiving AND her birthday, not only would it snow and nobody would show up but she’d be stuck without presents and cake and turkey and all that good stuff! LOL

It turned out well, though, and for that I’m thankful.

And since it’s a long weekend, we decided to put up the Christmas tree yesterday. So it’s up! But it’s not decorated. LOL Well, except for lights and that’s only because it’s one of those fake, pre-lit things. I love real trees but they make me sneeze mercilessly and my allergies just can’t handle it.

Of course, the Christmas music is in full play. I have 9.7 hours of Christmas music loaded in iTunes and it’s streaming through my stereo. It makes the gray days seem a little brighter.

You know, the holiday season is often stressful and painful for a lot of people. I think this year, it’s especially hard for folks all around the US due to the recession. Maybe even more so than usual. The past few years have been depressing for me, though I’ve not really figured out why because I’m not one prone to depression and I don’t get what is termed “seasonal depression” or whatever. But anyway, I’m trying to leave that behind this year and keep things simple.

This year especially with so many out of work and other hard situations we going on, we need to remember to be mindful of others, be courteous, share. We need to have empathy and compassion for our fellow man. For no other reason than the fact that we are ALL one race – the human race. And each of us deserves love and acceptance.

As I mentioned earlier on a friends blog, sometimes just that one smile or friendly wave can turn the world around for someone is who lost and hurting.

This holiday season, I encourage you to be the light in the darkness. You never know what impact it may have on someone else.

In the arena,

I’ll leave you with this today – lyrics to one of my favorite Christmas songs by Casting Crowns -

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on earth good will to men

And the bells are ringing
Like a choir they’re singing
In my heart I hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men

But the bells are ringing
Like a choir singing
Does anybody hear them?
Peace on earth, good will to men

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.

My posts over the past few months have been few and far between. I’m not going to rehash the why’s now (you can read my previous post for a glimpse at that) but again I’d like to apologize for leaving you hanging! And also thank you for sticking with me. I appreciate that you’re still here reading along.

So, every once in a while, I flip-flop around, wondering exactly what this blog is all about. What should I write here? Anything? Everything? Should it only be about personal things? Or business? Maybe both? Or even something else entirely?

And I always come back to the answer that it should include everything. It just feels right. Several years ago a well-meaning friend said I should separate the business from the personal and not have it all on one blog and while I appreciated her input, it just doesn’t work for me. Everything in my “real” life overlaps – why I should it not overlap here? For me, it’s part of being authentic.

Over the next few weeks you may see a some changes going on around here. I am planning to incorporate more business related things including current designs and projects I’m working on as well as some thoughts on more work-type topics. What exactly that entails at this point, I’m not entirely sure. We’ll see what happens as things go along.

And I say this because every time I try to make some sort of schedule or plan for what I want here, it always goes by the wayside at some point and I rarely stick to it. So I apologize for being so vague but I do hope you’ll enjoy what happens and I hope you come along for the ride!

Stay tuned! I’m going to talk about Thanksgiving next and also something I read on another blog this morning.

Have a beautiful Sunday!

In the arena,

I’ve been listening to Christmas music all weekend! The last few years I’ve been rather “blah” about this holiday but this year, I’m pushing all that muck aside and allowing the light to shine. Are you ready for the most special season of the year?

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.

Several months ago, I started feeling a little off. I was having “brain fog” – couldn’t think clearly – and I started avoiding reading things that were very long because I just couldn’t focus on them. I was also tired all the time and just not feeling well, in general. I thought perhaps it had to do with my allergies or something which really seemed to be flaring up a lot at the time.

I’d gone to the doctor a couple of times between January and April. During those visits, the nurse checked my blood pressure and found it to be high. Now, since I’ve always had low blood pressure – around 98/65 – we thought perhaps it was just due to some recent stress. But it continued to be high into April so the doctor finally decided we’d better start on some medications.

Well, things are getting much, much better since I’ve been taking the prescription. The brain fog is pretty much gone, I am not feeling dead tired all the time and I find I can focus long enough to resume reading full length books.

So . . . here’s the plea – please, please, please have your blood pressure checked regularly. A lot of stores, especially those with pharmacies, have BP machines and they are quite accurate most of the time. If you don’t have a store nearby with one, stop at your doctors office. Most of them will check your BP for you if you just walk in and ask, even without an appointment.

Now, I’m generally not the kind of person who takes medicines, especially not ones a doctor has to write a prescription for. I do not take them unless it’s absolutely necessary and I try to take natural or homeopathic remedies first, only resorting to prescription medications when nothing else has worked effectively. Often, I can manage to get well taking homeopathic sources first and rarely, rarely resort to anything prescribed by a doctor.

My doctor told me high blood pressure is dubbed “the silent killer” because people think they’re just not feeling well as a result of something else – like allergies. Most people who have high BP, have no idea. And it can go undetected for a long time. But it’s so easy to correct so don’t ignore it.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

In the arena,

Take care of yourself. You owe it to your family to do everything you can to remain healthy. Far too many people die young when they didn’t have to if only they had taken better care of themselves. Don’t be a statistic.

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.

First, let me apologize in advance for the length of this post and it’s ramblingness. So many things have happened in the past several weeks since I last posted, there’s just no way to catch up without going on and on and on.

But I promise I will not be like the energizer bunny and never END.

So, having said that . . .

I’m happy to say the first order of business is to let you know that my former brother in law is doing much, much better! In fact, he is even going to be able to go home this Friday! We’re so glad about that. For the first several days after his stroke, it looked like he may not even make it through the weekend. Fortunately, he has LOTS and LOTS of people who just love him and his family who have never ceased praying for his recovery.

It’s been a very long road for him but he’s surprising his doctors and nurses and therapists with his bravery and his inner strength to get through this, to become whole again. All of that inner drive has certainly paid off. Even though he still has a ways to go, it’s looking better every day. For that, we’re all thankful. Just in time for summer, too!

And speaking of summer . . .

We’ve been so busy lately with school winding down. Lots of activities at the kids’ schools – committee meetings, award ceremonies, family nights, book fairs, concerts and the like – that I’ve barely had time to breathe. In between all of that, I’ve been working on design projects and writing projects, both volunteer and paid.

In fact, one of the committees I was on this year for The Short Dude’s preschool, was the cookbook committee. It was very fun and I met a few other moms and kids. It gave the Short Dude some other friends to play with once in a while during non-school hours as our meetings were usually on Friday’s when the pre-schoolers didn’t have class. He enjoyed the meetings as much as I did.

When everyone on the committee learned that I do graphics, they asked if I would create the cover and inner pages for the cookbook along with the flyers and what-not. I was blessed to be able to say yes even though it was A LOT of work. I enjoyed it.

The group and I came up with a cute cover, if I may say so myself. Honestly, though, I was skeptical about what it would really look like in print. I was afraid the background color would be way too bright and set an obnoxious tone. Since it’s all about kids, the cover features pictures of the kids from the pre-school eating fruits and veggies and it’s all in bright, primary colors. We called it “Children’s Chow of Choice” and I think it fits rather well.

So last week when I found out the cookbooks were in, my heart was pounding! I was both scared and excited to see them. Our group leader (who is a staff member at the school) assured me they turned out fabulous. And when I saw them, I must admit – they did look rather great!

Even though I’ve been doing graphics for almost 20 years, it’s still exciting to see something I’ve created in its final form. Often these days when I design something for a client, I never actually see the finished, physical product, (except for things like business cards). I’ll take a picture of the cookbook later and post it.

After such a great time working on the cookbook committee, when the director asked me if I’d be willing to work on the end of year celebration (graduation) committee, I agreed. So now I am working on the certificates for the pre-school ‘graduation’ celebration next week. The theme is “stars” so I’ve put a cascading rainbow of stars on the side of the certificate. I don’t want it to be overwhelming – it’s just a very simple design. I designed 3 different styles for the committee to choose from and now I’m just waiting to hear which one is a go.

Also coming up soon are the elementary school concerts. Gman’s class is performing a band concert with their recorders and other instruments they’ve learned to play in music this year. And Little Girls class is doing kind of a spoken word and music play of some sort. Not really sure but she’s says it’s going to be fun.

School is getting out almost a week late, though, because of the snow make up days. They were originally supposed to have half days this week but that changed too. I’m kinda glad, though – they’ll be home all day soon enough!

The highlight of the first week of summer vacation will be spending some time with my husband’s sister and her girlfriend. They are doing a 30-day long road trip around the Western US visiting as many of the National Parks (and friends/family) as they can. They are Zion National Park now, I think, and will be here June 12th for a few days before they head over to the Washington Peninsula to the Olympic National Park.

I’m very excited because this will be the first time I’ve met my sister in law! She lives in New York – almost as far away from Seattle as you can get and still be in the continental US – so getting together is not easy, especially when you throw in jobs and kids and school and those good things.

And the other thing I’m really looking forward to is the sun and BBQ’s and going to the beach! We’ve had such a cold, dreary winter, I’m definitely ready for a change of pace. This week has been quite nice – in the upper 60’s and low 70’s – just about perfect!

What are your summer plans? Has summer vacation started yet in your area? What are you most looking forward to this summer?

I hope whatever you do, you enjoy the time with family and friends.

I’ll be back soon with some pictures and maybe a reading list along with a few new recipes I’m itching to try out. Oh – and look for a new post over at The Weight Loss Papers soon too.

In the arena,

Shoot for the moon; even if you miss, you will still land among the stars. ~ Les Brown

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.

That is . . . if the snow that is currently falling doesn’t stick around until morning. Supposedly, it’s going to turn to rain soon. One can only hope!

It’s been very fun having the kids home for almost 3 weeks. They got nearly a week extra because of the snow we had mid-December that stuck around for 13-ish days. And though it has been fun, we are all ready for school to start again tomorrow.

We’ve spent today ensuring clothes and backpacks are ready, that kids are all bathed, toys cleaned up and put away and that everybody is ready for bed on time. It’s after dinner now and the kids are relaxing with a movie. Soon they will be heading off for a good nights sleep. (I hope! The Short Dude has been waking up in the middle of the night lately for some unknown reason. Anyway . . .)

I am looking forward to being able to work and think without a bunch of interruptions all the time. I will have some peace and quiet once everyone gets on their buses. The only thing I’m not looking forward to is getting out of bed so blasted early! Being a night owl, mornings are especially difficult. And even though I usually am awake by 5:30, I’d rather not get out of bed until around 8.

My plan for this week is to do some additional baking that I didn’t get to while the kids were home. Partly because of the baking I did for Christmas but also because baking with all the kids wanting to see and taste and look and taste and push and shove each other out of the way so they can look and see and taste – it just isn’t fun. So I’d rather bake while they’re at school. Then I can get it done without extra “help” plus I can put things away and the kids don’t know it’s there until I get something out for snack or after dinner dessert.

This week, I plan to bake

Banana bread

Pumpkin bread

Chocolate chip cookies

Whole wheat dinner rolls

And . . .

Chocolate birthday cake with chocolate frosting

Because The Teenager is turning 15 on Thursday! And that’s what she requested.

Oh my goodness! Am I REALLY old enough to have a 15 year old child? Seriously? Because I don’t think so. Somebody should really check that out. I don’t know why her turning 15 is causing me shortness of breathe and heart palpitations, but it sure is.

Other things I plan to do this week include:

Get a family membership at the Y

Work on the customer service project

Tie up some loose ends with recent client projects

Begin new client projects

Like I mentioned in my 2009: Year of action post, this year is all about taking action. I’m breaking everything down with one intention in mind – to take Action. Every step will lead to the next level and as a result, I see 2009 as a very prosperous year.

Action is a target I can apply to anything I desire. I’ve found in the past that when my goals aren’t in alignment with my motivations, they often don’t get completed. By using a simple, one word goal for the entire year, I can apply it to everything I want to achieve.

If you had one word for your targets in 2009, what would it be?

In the arena,

“Following another’s path leads to who they are, not to who you are.” ~ Henry Palmer

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.

So, we had another plumbing emergency this past weekend. You might remember that we had some major septic problems over the summer and we thought we’d worked it all out.

Apparently not.

Because by the end of last week, the kitchen sink wouldn’t drain, the bathtub in the main bath wouldn’t drain but everything else was fine. We ultimately eliminated any additional problems with the septic and discovered that the lines running from the kitchen sink and the bathtub – from opposite directions – were so corroded, nothing could drain. Why it only affected those two is a mystery to me but then, I’m a writer and artist, not a plumber (thank god!).

Saturday morning we called a plumber and several long and costly hours later, we had clear pipes. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we will have to replace all of those lines VERY soon.

Hmm . . . maybe it’s just time to sell this place and go elsewhere. I mean, we initially planned to fix this house up, remodel it our liking and live here for a good 20 years but stuff has changed in the past two years and I no longer do real estate full time. If that were still the case, it’d be fine. But now that I have put my writing and design business at the forefront of my endeavors, it’s no longer feasible to undertake any more major repairs. I simply don’t have the time.

Anyway, there could be a major change here soon depending on what we decide to do. I really hate moving, but it might be the best thing for us to do right now.

But I have a huge project and a deadline so I’ve got to head off and get crackin’. I’ll be back soon, I hope, with an around the web post and some other stuff.

Take care!

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.

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.