Naples Girl Notes – 1

Okay, so here is my first weekly blog post that I wrote about last week.  I am not certain that I will stick with Wednesday as my posting day, but we’ll see.  For now, I am sticking to Wednesdays.  And there may be, from time to time, other postings in between my weekly Wednesday posts, if I really feel the need to share.  Like when I am on vacation and want to share some awesome sunset pics or something like that.  Glad we cleared that up.  Now on to my notes.

Quotes

I really like quotes.  There are so many of them out in the universe.  This past week I came across a couple I want to share.  The first one is actually a website called  Goal Habits (found it through Misifusa’s Blog).  There you will find daily goal achievement quotes.  Here is today’s:

“All the money in the world will not take the place of friends.”
—John D. Rockefeller, Sr.

I also like the words written at the end of each posting:

Enjoy today.
Achieve today.
Tomorrow is promised to no one!

I highly suggested adding this blog to your reading list.

The other quote I want to share is one that was said at our church on Sunday.  Of course it was Father’s Day, so the message was directed to fathers, but I think it is applicable to all:

” We don’t get to choose the home we grow up in, but we do get to choose the home we create.” – Dave Mason, Heath Church of Christ

Truer words could not have been spoken.

Family Update

It wouldn’t be right not to give you an update on someone in my family.  I have two updates, actually.

picsThis week my oldest daughter had her senior pictures taken.  I can’t believe she is old enough for this. (Or maybe I can’t believe that I am old enough for this).  Anyway, we had a great time.  We used Martin Digital Photography.  They are awesome.  Can’t give them enough kudos.  Very young and creative people there.

And last night my middle daughter and her friends went to see One Direction in concert.  1DHere they are with their driver for the evening.  They had a great time.  Heather is the first one on the left in the pic.

52 Acts

I have been wanting to post this for weeks, but never got around to it.

52actsbook52 acts

My step sister-in-law passed away earlier this year, unexpectedly.  Her children came up with the idea for this booklet called 52 Acts.  The best way to explain it comes from them:

“Recently our mother passed away and at her funeral hundreds of people showed up that we had never met.  They told countless stories of the kind things she had done for them throughout her life.  She never told anyone about these random acts of kindness and never bragged about them.  She simply helped others whenever she saw an opportunity to do so.  She touched numerous lives with these wonderful gifts of love, time, money and compassion in her short 52 years on this earth.  In honor of our mother, “52 Acts” is a challenge to do one kind act a week for 52 weeks (one year).  This doesn’t mean taking your children out to lunch.  It means doing something you would not normally do for someone you would not normally do it for.  It means showing real kindness to the people around you who truly need it.”

I was so touched by this story that I called up my step brother and asked if I could buy a dozen booklets to give out to my friends.  He gladly sent me a package with not only the booklets, but it also included the bracelets that are used as reminders.  I began my challenge this week.  If you would like to take this challenge with me, let me know and I will send you a booklet and bracelet.  Just think how nicer the world would be if everyone did this.  You can also check them out on Facebook at www.facebook.com/52acts or www.52acts.wordpress.com .

In case you need some encouragement to do this, watch this: (thanks for sending it along Tracy)

That’s all I got for this week.  Hope you will return for more Naples Girl Notes.

Have a great week.

Father’s Day x 4

Today is Father’s Day.

A day for remembering and appreciating our fathers, whether they are still with us or not.  I consider myself extremely fortunate because I have had not one, not two, not even three, but four men who have been my “father”.  The first is my dad, Roger Roscoe Moss.  I remember making fun of his middle name growing up.  We would have some great laughs about that.  The early years with my dad were great.  I adored him.  He was an easy going man; I can’t even think of a time that I remember him angry.  I’m sure he was, but he never exposed that to me.  He taught me how to ride a bike and would let me join him in our garage when he was restoring his corvette.  Unfortunately, due to some poor choices in his life, my parents divorced when I was in the sixth grade and we grew apart.  Over the years he fought addiction, and died at an early age – 58. I think of him often and wish that things could have been different.

After the divorce, the only man in my life for a while was my grandfather.  I also adored him.  He taught me several lessons.  When I got my first job, I can remember him telling me to “pay yourself first”, meaning to put some money away for long-term savings before you spend the rest of it.  He was a saver.  He also taught me responsibility.  I had to borrow money to purchase my first car.  It wasn’t one that I picked out, but I was happy to just have a car back then.  I borrowed $1,200 from my grandfather.  The deal he made me was to pay him something each month.  He didn’t care how much, as long as I paid him something.  Every time I made a payment, he would write me out a receipt which had what I paid and what I still owed, so I could see how my debt was decreasing.  When I finally paid him off, he wrote PAID IN FULL on my receipt.  It felt so good to have that debt erased.  I still have that receipt.  When I see it, it makes me smile.  He also died young, age 67, from colon cancer.  I miss him.

About the time I was becoming a teenager, my mom started dating a man who became my step-father on my 19th birthday.  He has taught me so many different things in life.  He taught me how to drive a stick and wouldn’t let me use the break to stop on a hill.  I had to learn the “feel of the clutch”.  That was hard, especially for a 16 year-old.  But I made it through.  He taught me how to change my own oil.  When something mechanical would break around the house, he would have me watch him while he fixed it, so I could learn the basic skills of survival.  He walked me down the aisle on my wedding day.  We learned to play golf together.  And he always brings me flowers on Valentine’s Day.  He is a very special man.  He is 82 years old, but you would never know it.  I hope that I am that active when I am 82.  I love him dearly.

On May 21, 1994 I added another father to my life.  My father-in-law.  I love my father-in-law.  He is always there when I need him.  He lives closer than my step-father, so when I get in a bind, he gets to be my first call. (lucky him).  He and my mother-in-law welcomed me into the family business that they founded in 1988 which has taught me so much about business and running your own company.  I am still a part of it to this day.  My father-in-law is a wonderful grandfather to my children and to all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  We get into some heavy discussions when we talk politics and sometimes business.  He taught me the importance of working hard and I value and appreciate the sacrifices he has made for his family.  He is also very funny, especially when he isn’t trying to be!

I have been blessed by these wonderful men in my life.  Happy Father’s Day Roger, Clarence, Toy and Dale.  I love you all.

 

 

Why Bother?

For the few of you who actually follow this blog (my stats inflate the numbers, I know) you may have noticed that my postings have become fewer and fewer over the past months.  This month, June, I have only posted a grand total of 3 times so far (this will be my 4th).

Last week I made the decision to stop blogging.  I had even planned out what my last posting would be.  I just happened to mention it to one of my friends and my husband and to my surprise, they asked me to “please continue blogging, I look forward to reading the things you post”.

Really??

Sometimes I think of a future post and then think, why bother?  Nothing I post is really that interesting to most people.

I have no defined subject matter here, on this writing canvas. I normally just post pics of family and write about things that happen in my crazy life.

I have decided to make a compromise.

I am going to commit to keeping this blog alive (for now anyway) but only plan to post once a week (unless something spectacular happens that I have to share).  This is a test, to see a) how hard it is or isn’t to come up with content for a weekly post and b) what it will do to my stats – improve them or make them worse.  Time will tell.  I am going to post on the same day of the week, probably Monday or Tuesday – I will tell you which day when I figure that out.

I have also decided that since I am only posting weekly, it will probably cover multiple subject matter.  Something about my family, of course.  It needs to include a picture or two of sorts.  I also want to have a link to someone else’s blog that I found interesting enough to share. I am also thinking about posting something about my community that I live in (there is always something interesting going on here).  And of course, if I am traveling, I will have to post some pictures of my trips (I have several coming up this summer).

Don’t worry – this won’t be a novel.  I will keep it short and to the point, as best as I am able.

Thanks to those who have stuck around, wondering what the status of this blog is.  I just lost the urge to blog for a while.  It became a task, like a chore of sorts.  But I am hopeful that with this new framework, the excitement and desire to share with others will return.  Time will tell.  I make no promises.  But I am willing to give it another try.

Chat soon -

Cheri

Camp

Summer has just begun and we are in full camp mode. Our youngest daughter Jayme has been attending basketball camp all this week; our middle daughter Heather is leaving for Young Life Camp on Saturday and our oldest daughter Savannah has been at Camp Enterprise for the last three days.

We attended the awards dinner tonight for Camp Enterprise and I am proud to tell you that Savannah was awarded one of four $1,000 scholarships! Her team also won the competition.

I am very proud of you Savannah!

Graduation Day

Today was graduation for the Newark Wildcats Class of 2013. I didn’t have a senior this year (I will next year), but still felt like a proud mom because two of my favorite young men graduated today – Cody and Daniel (aka the boyfriends).

Pictured here are Heather, Cody, Daniel and Savannah. Don’t they all look great?

I am very proud of all four of them.

Sales 101

We have been on the hunt for a sales representative at our office.  After going through a ton of non-qualified applications (and I am being nice here), we narrowed the search down to three individuals, which we interviewed and brought back in for second interviews, where we asked each of them to pretend they were training us on how to sell a membership.  That was an interesting process.

I will not pretend to know much about sales.  Yes, I sell services, and sometimes sponsorship as part of my current job responsibilities, but I haven’t really been properly trained in sales.  Maybe that’s why I found one of the presentations very informative.  Here is a brief outline of his presentation:

1. Establish credibility of the organization/company first. – Talk  about how long you have been in business and how you are a solid partner in the community.

2. Establish credibility of you and your staff – Tell them about your background and how you and others contribute to the overall success of the company.

3. Establish value – When selling the specific product or service, ask them questions along the way, which helps to make the case as to why they need your service or product.

4. Sell from the top down – Always start with the best thing you have to offer first – the item that has all the bells and whistles. You can always present them with other alternatives, but if you start at the bottom, you’ll almost never sell anything but the lowest offering.

5. THEN ask for the sale – At what level did you want to participate?

6. Shut up – When you ask for the sale – let your client answer the question.  Don’t say a word until they have answered that question.  You’ll then know how to proceed next.

These may not be Ah-Ha tips for some of you, but for those of us, it really is Sales 101.

Quote for Yesterday

I meant to post this yesterday, but forgot until I saw it again this morning.

My friend Tracy sent it to me knowing I may need it because I was planning a visit to my father’s grave.

It was from the book Tuesdays With Morrie, which I love.

“Death takes a life, not a relationship.”

How true that is.

Thanks again, T.