Internet Marketers & Work At Home Moms - YOU CAN HAVE TIME to live you life!!!

WELL, HERE WE ARE AGAIN, ANOTHER YEAR HAS JUST "SLIPPED BY" ...

I swear that I do not know where the 2008 year went ... It was so fast, but sure was GREAT wasn't it??? Don't get me wrong, it had some challenges, though I really have nothing major to complain about ... a lot to be grateful about ... I have no regrets!!!

I am wondering if this was the same 2008 for you, too?

That is the point of this blog ... to share a little something about my gratitude for how the 2008 year ended and to my extreme EXCITEMENT for how this 2009 year has begun. I would also like my network friends to know that I am not just a work at home promoting machine; get to know a little bit more about me and lets see how we can partner with one another!!! I am actually a fairly shy, happy go lucky, humbled and grateful, 30ish year old, work at home mommy - having the time of my life working how and when I choose, I am also enjoying the exposure and friends that I am making at this network!!!

Regardless ... let me quickly go back in time and tell you about changes that I HAD to make ...

About the middle of 2007, my children decided that they wanted me to buy them a house. I went into panic mode!!! We had just moved from our 5 bedroom home a few years prior and lived at, what I considered, my workaholic, single mama's, dream community. WHEN THEY METIONED "HOUSE" ... I WENT INTO IN SHOCK. Why? My boys loved where we lived when we moved there. They had acres of land to golf and play on. They also had tennis courts, basketball, swimming pool, spacious rooms, some of the best neighbors that we have ever had in our lives and we lived off of the main street in one of the best school districts in our city. PLUS, I had absolutely NO maintenance, two parking spots, could sit on my balcony to watch the deer, turkey, neighbors and VERY SEXY landscapers whenever I felt like it. I thought it was perfect for all of us, so when my boys came to me with their request for a new house, I was like ... WHAT THE HECK!!!

WAIT ... It gets even better ... but I didn't know that then!

I had just bought a new van, had not budgeted for a 10 or 20 percent deposit on a house AND they wanted to stay in the same school district. OK??? I thought that I was going to pass out in shock. Meanwhile, that was nothing like the stress I experienced when I learned that you get a little bitty of house for a whole lot of mortgage in the area we live in. The "straw that broke the camels back" was when I realized that there were very few houses in my budget that did not need major work. There were a few $100-$120k foreclosures (crazy right?), but their lots and locations were not worth another $60-100k investment to make them what we needed. So, like the "good mommy" I try to be, I diligently and cheerfully house hunted from mid-summer until November to keep their hope alive.

My excited and motivated attitude started to take a walk by November 2007. I was running my business from my car and loosing my mind trying to find a home in our community. It got to the point that I had begun looking at houses in different school districts and my mother even gave up on house hunting with me. In fact, she began sending a contractor with me to access the cost of repairs and value of homes before she drove across town to look at my options. So, I finally broke down and called my older cousin for some encouragement.

She responded like I was crazy!!!!!!!!

She said, "did you ask Jesus out loud?" and I didn't say anything for a minute. She then said, "did you pray out loud and ask for what you want?". I still didn't know what to say. I had always been a person that praised God and did not ask for anything ... I felt too guilty to ask for something materialistic because I have been blessed soooooooooooo much in my life, you know? I saved my requests for when I really needed some help.

Guess what? I began praying out loud just as soon as I got off the phone with her. I also continued to house hunt, but this time with the thoughts that I was going to have my children in their new house by Christmas and that house was going to be a 3 bedroom, not going to need maintenance, going to be completely furnished by Christmas and have a decent lot of land for them to play on, too.

Guess what else? Not even a month later, I was signing on and furnishing a house with a 1/2 acre of land. This house did not need any immediate work, came with a home warranty and even had the cutest little key holder on the wall which is a replica of our home. Plus, I still had money left for one heck of a 1st Christmas in our new home.

Now, I know that it wasn't a mansion and that a 1/2 an acre is not a personal golf course. The fact of the matter is that we received what I envisioned which certainly ended up being plenty enough cleaning and maintenance - you know?

I WAS AMAZED AND SO GRATEFUL. I STILL AM!!!

YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT YOUR GOALS IN THE PRESENT & THEN PRIORITIZE

So, a few days after Christmas, around New Years Eve, I was doing my regular manic shop at the Dollar Store (needed some cleaning supplies). As I walked to the right of the door, the cutest little stand of wall plaques caught my eye. Anyone who knows me would laugh like crazy about that because except for the candles and the few strategically placed angels that I have selected from my collection, "I do not do" knick knacks AT ALL. I especially do not have randomly placed objects or ugly wall art. I like clean walls and very few pieces cluttering them.

Regardless, there was one wall plaque that I HAD to buy. I have it hanging over the thermostat on a wall that I pass daily (a discrete spot). It drive me nuts sometimes because it is just a cheap 4 X 2" piece of painted wood, but when I read what it says ... the initial annoyance in myself for buying it just disappears. It has become a constant reminder that I pass with comfort!!! That wall plaque says ...

"Don't Get So Busy Making A Living, That You Forget To Make A Life".

Now, that would make my friends laugh. I TOTALLY ENJOY what I do for a living and can get just as absorbed in my work as an artist does while trying to complete a pre-sold masterpiece, OK? In fact, I have been just that dedicated these past few years and am still sitting here in disbelief and thankful that God moved me in a different direction in 2008.

Now don't get me wrong. I do still work, but it sure doesn't feel like it and the progress is incredible. I have a business and consultants to help. Four months ago, I was able to transition back into the home business arena to work on some personal goals. So, I ended 2008 with my mind was on a lot of different things that I can attribute to more than that little piece of wood plaque, but the reminder helped me improve my life.

Most of all, my mind was focused on what I wanted and it became a reality!

I was finally able to live a Gooch / Aunite Mame kind of year ... My boys have had a ball!!! Instead of sitting on the balcony watching what I liked from someone else's property, I began working in the back yard and by the family room window where I watch the deer chill near our fire pit, the black squirrels play in the trees, the turkeys sneaking across the lawn, and now the ice forming on the swimming pool ... BEST OF ALL, I watch my children playing and happy in the home they wanted. If it wasn't for their positive image of my abilities, our life would not have changed this way. What a gift my children have been to me ...

When my first son, Nathaniel, was born, my mother had to teach me how to play again. Can you imagine that? I took good care of and talked to him all day. I used all of the stimulating toys, read books to him and did flash cards like crazy, but when we moved to the toddler play and it came to trucks and trains ... I was totally deficient!!! It took me a minute to catch on to playing, but when I finally did ... I played - and played - and played with that little boy and his friends until I had my second child, Jonathan.

After I had Jonathan, I still spent time and played with my children, but my mind was always drifting to something else and I just didn't play video games and get down on the floor to play trains as long as I used to. I was so focused on being "buckled down" and providing an abundant life for them that I was on THAT MISSION all the way up until the day that my children begged for me to buy them our home. Prior to that, life was work and college for me; private schools and activities for them ... As soon as I walked that college stage, I packed up my house and moved to that "workaholic, single, mama's dream" that I mentioned at the beginning of this blog. I became so busy trying to provide them with a "perfect life" that I TOTALLY forgot to live my life, too.

I guess even more than a house, they wanted me to slow down and play hard again!

So, we moved in our house at the end of 2007 and things had pretty much of a peachy tone well into 2008, but my thoughts were still often off track. It was extremely difficult for me to drop the "a busy life is a good life", "you've gotta pay to play", "work hard, play later" philosophies that just absorbed my days and prohibited me from just LIVING MY LIFE. Not to mention that I was so absorbed in building other people's dreams that I lost sight of my own :(

BUT ... mid-2008 that piece of wood just set in ....

That little piece of wood (the wall plaque) is just a token and a cute way of explaining to you a greater process of change that is possible for anyone. While I admit, I'm not yet living the life of my dreams ... I have an overflowing abundance of gratitude for what I am experiencing right now in my life.

I LIVED MY LIFE THIS YEAR ... more than I had for years & I am bringing in the 2009 New Year the same way and the money is still coming in!!!

I played and traveled with my children MORE.

I came out of my shy shell MORE.

I listen and learned MORE.

I spent time with family and friends MORE.

I ate, drank and was MORE merry.

I let go and let God MORE.

I transitioned my professional focus for the better this year.

I gave much MORE of myself to others.

I developed clarity and learned how to harness on that power of positive thought.

*** Yadada ... Yadada ... Yadada ****

I basically lived off of gratitude, appreciation and love MORE this year. That is in comparison to the contrasts of the past which involved a mechanical control of life and overworking - which I thought displayed success and love.

With all of this said. I would like to end this blog with a wish that you have THE most AWESOME 2009 NEW YEAR.

"Live like there's no tomorrow, love like you've never been hurt, and dance like nobody is watching". Let your 2009 Year be filled with joy, health, love and prosperity. MOST OF ALL ... for those who read this blog and took the time to learn more about me ... I wish you the positively vibrant, abundant, HAPPY - HAPPY - HAPPY life that you deserve!!!!.

I invite you to stop by My Profile Page to share your website address in my guest book and also visit Law Of Attraction to share your 2008 experiences and how you plan to make it a more abundant 2009 for the people in your life, and most importantly, YOU!!!

Lets get together to apply how the Law of Attraction can help you in setting your 2009 Goals, as well as how a Gratitude list and Network Partners can help you make this 2009 Year an even better one for the your new business associates, your loved ones and you!!!


To YOUR Success!!!

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Lea Charlton

Internet Marketing Mentor
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