Monday, December 14, 2020

Mailbox Monday - Dec 14

 




Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Welcome to Monday. I hope you had a nice weekend. I visited clients on Saturday and dropped off my latest book, A Christmas Kindness (Second Edition) to her. I am always grateful when someone asks for a copy of any of my books. 


On Sunday, I filmed a commercial for my real estate business. I felt well prepared, so that helped.



I also recorded a video to fundraise for a non-profit organization where I sit on the board of directors. Rick's Place offers grief support for children, teens, and their families. We had to cancel our major fundraisers this year because of the pandemic. 

As far as books go, my physical mailbox was empty, but I downloaded two free books for my Kindle.



I hope you've gotten most of your holiday chores completed. Three of our trees are up. The third one still needs lights and decorations. The fourth one will go up this week. I haven't found the girls' stockings yet, so I better get on that. 

Wishing you a blessed week. 


Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Task it Tuesday - Dec 7


Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Hope you are having a nice December so far. Mine has been more hectic than planned, but that's okay. I love what I do. I have blocked off days around Christmas instead. Here is what is on my list for this week:
  • Daily Bible reading
  • Walking five days
  • Meetings Wednesday, and Friday
  • Webinars Tuesday and Thursday
  • Market new edition of A Christmas Kindness
  • Read A Christmas Carol Murder
  • Send out client holiday cards--DONE
  • Send out family and friends holiday cards
  • Look into a new publisher for my GAP books--moving to January 2021
  • Look into getting a small dumpster--moving to January 2021
  • Meet with clients Tuesday and Saturday
  • Take Sunday off
  • Decorate the rest of the house
  • Bake something special
  • Record video for Rick's Place
What would you like to accomplish this week?

Monday, December 7, 2020

Mailbox Monday - Dec 6

 




Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Happy Monday! Welcome to December. Hope you had a nice weekend. Mine was a busy one with a closing on Friday, a new listing hitting the market on Saturday, and cleaning up a bit at home on Sunday. Bible study discussed the Advent message of hope, which was nice. 

On the book front, I received these two books in the mail.



Then I ordered this one off Amazon using some promotional credits I earned.


That's it from me this week. Hope you had a great mailbox. Please share if you have time.

Monday, November 30, 2020

Task it Tuesday - Dec 1


Originally created by The Geeky Blogger, Task it Tuesday is a weekly meme to help you--and me--get things done. The challenge is to post a task or list of tasks you want to complete before next Tuesday. These tasks can help you with your blogging life, reading life, personal or professional life.

Happy Tuesday! This is a crazy work week schedule, but no complaints. An accepted offer, a closing, a new listing, and other fun things. Here is what else is on the list. 
  • Daily Bible reading
  • Walking five days
  • Meetings Tuesday and Friday
  • Closing on Friday
  • Market new edition of A Christmas Kindness
  • Decorate the office Wednesday
  • Board meeting Wednesday night
  • Read A Christmas Carol Murder
  • Look into a new publisher for my GAP books--moving to January 2021
  • Look into getting a small dumpster--moving to January 2021
  • Prepare for new listings 
  • Meet with new clients Saturday
  • Take Sunday off
  • Decorate the rest of the house--main tree is up, but there are at least three more to go

Sunday, November 29, 2020

Mailbox Monday - Nov 30

 


Mailbox Monday is a meme started by Marcia of To Be Continued. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. It now has a permanent home at the Mailbox Monday blog.

Welcome to the end of November. The holiday season has officially begun, but I will hang onto my fall mailbox for one more week. Next week look for a new one. 

What a pleasant weekend we had. The gathering for Thanksgiving was smaller than usual, but still very nice. We started decorating the tree last night. The Lil' Diva is holding Travis, though he looks like a black blob with a tail. 


We took some nice walks this weekend with the mild temperatures. Theo loves the woods. 




No new books in my mailbox, but I bought this boxed set of cozy mysteries with a promotional credit I earned.


Then I grabbed this Kindle freebie on Sunday.



What did your mailbox look like? Any books I should add to my wish list? Santa is coming soon. :) 

Friday, November 27, 2020

2020 Goals Review

 



I am a bit early for this review, but now that I am looking forward to 2021 in earnest, this seems like the best time to reflect on the goals I set in January. 

Personal Goals 

  • Exercise twice a week 

I have to say that considering all that has happened this year, I didn’t do too badly with this goal. No, I am not doing aerobics or Pilates, but I am walking every day, which is more than I was doing last year. If I can get the bonus room cleaned up, I can create an exercise room. We are talking about buying an elliptical machine. We have a treadmill and my barre for workouts. The punching bag will need to be replaced, since once of the kids' friends damaged it.

  •  Read the Bible daily 

This is a goal that really needed more of my attention. I read a verse almost every day and attend Bible study on Sunday nights, but that’s really not enough. I am thinking the only way to accomplish this goal is to get up early every morning and dive right in. 

  • Dedicate one day a week to meal planning 

I started off strong with this goal, but the dedication waned as we all found ourselves at home more. At this point, I don’t have a full meal plan in place, but I do know what protein I’ll be using, so that helps. 

  • Make smarter food choices 

This was the largest challenge for me this year. I am such an emotional eater and a junk food junkie, so that doesn’t help. Trapped inside with the family for months probably didn’t make it easier. I’m fairly certain once the girls move out my eating habits will improve—don’t buy it, I can’t eat it—but what do I do in the meantime? 

  • Re-assess my commitments 

I did fairly well this year. I resigned from one organization, though I still support them monetarily. The slower pace because of the pandemic and logging into my meetings instead of driving to them certainly helped as well. Since I will be president-elect of the local real estate board next year, assuming the presidency in 2022, I know I will need to stay on top of this goal going forward.


Professional Goals 

  • Put together a solid business plan 

This was the first year since 2014 that I didn’t put together a business plan. I had a huge decision to make early in the year. That decision shouldn’t have interfered with creating a business plan, but it did. Well, I allowed it to. 

By the time I knew where my head was at, COVID arrived. Two weeks later, the events that unfolded at the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke and would lead to my father-in-law’s death, became my focus. It has literally taken me until this month to fully get invested in real estate again. Though there remains no closure in regards to those tragic events, I can stop my mind from agonizing over them all the time. Now, if the ringing in my ears would stop, I could really focus.

  •  Commit to weekly prospecting 

Considering the year this has been, I feel I did really well with this. Though there were a few weeks I didn’t prospect at all, I prospected more this year than usual. I have also been better about staying in touch with former clients and reaching out to new leads. Living in a pandemic world makes you stop and think more about how you can help people. That’s why my volunteering ramped up this year, too. 

  • Read two business or leadership books this year 

I met this goal by reading one book on self-publishing and one on creating systems. The latter is where I feel I always fail. Either I don’t create the systems or I create them and abandon them when I get busy. I bought daily planner sheets to help with that in 2021. Those will be easier than the journal I tried to keep. 

  • Take my Broker's Test 

This moved to 2021 because the testing centers have been closed. They have reopened, but they have been backed up. 

  • Make an important decision by January 10 

I made the decision and am confident I made the right choice.


What were some of your goals this year? What have you been most satisfied with accomplishing? What is one of your 2021 goals?

Thursday, November 26, 2020

Happy Thanksgiving!

 


As we all gather around our tables today, may we be thankful for the little blessings we have experienced this year. While they have been hidden in amongst a pandemic, protests, violence, and a crazy election, let us hold our loved ones close and find something to be grateful for every day. 

Wishing you a blessed Thanksgiving.