Getting Set Up

Now that I've decided on a name for my personal assistant business, The Errand Fairy, I've been super busy trying to pull things together.  Tina at Fat Girl Dives In is going to design my website, so I've been creating content in a word document for her.  Lots of editing and fussing and trying to get it just so.  I'd rather it be more personable than cold-sounding or ultra professional.  I want it to reflect who I truly am. 

Dwayne and I went to Office Depot last night and he bought me a planner/appointment book, a receipt book, and a mileage book to get me started.  So sweet!!  Today on my lunch break, I ran to the bank and set up another checking account as well as another savings account, aside from the ones I already have.  I want to keep this side business separated from my current paycheck/bill paying activities, etc. for now.  Next on my list to do this afternoon is to sign up for Google Check Out and PayPal as a means of taking VISA/MC as one of my payment methods.  I don't understand how either of these work, so I've got to jump in, do some reading, figure it out, and get them set up.  Just trying to get started is a lot of work!!  But I'm so looking forward to this new venture for 2011.  It feels positive...it feels good....it feels right.  :)

My friends Kim and Crys have already vowed to hire me when I get up and running and I'm so thankful for that!!  Having 2 clients before you even get your website up is encouraging, and I thank them for believing in me and wanting to help me get my business off the ground.  If I've got any fellow Atlanta bloggers reading...call me!!  lol

Hope everyone is doing well with easing into the new year.  Personally, I've taken off like a shot!  And I haven't forgotten that this is a weight loss blog, first and foremost.  I'll get to Walmart this wknd to buy those scale batteries, pay the piper, and get that show back on the road, so you'll be hearing more about that soon.

Before I go, I want to share something with you that made me laugh out loud last night.  I've got a blog friend named Matt, at Lots to Lose, listed on my blogroll.  He commented last night on my post about naming my business The Errand Fairy.  He said as soon as he read that in my post, his daughter came in and tried to sweet talk him into going to the store to pick up some junk food for her, and he turned to her and said, "I ain't your ERRAND FAIRY!!!"   lmao .....LOVE IT!!  Thanks for all of your support Matt, and to everyone else who has been wishing me well on my new endeavor.  Have a fabulous day friends.  :)

Scratch That

Ok....so the last post I did stated that I found a business name.  It was Dwayne's suggestion.  We tried to do Right Hand Ma'am, as Pat at "ishitunot" suggested.  But it was already taken....cool website too, by the way.  So Dwayne was going off of that and suggested "Last Minute Ma'am"....with the thought process of last minute errands that people didn't have time to get to, etc.  So I went to Go Daddy....bought a URL with my full name as the url address, and then chose the sublet name of Last Minute Ma'am for my company.  About 2 hours later, I decided I hated it, lol.  In and of itself, the name doesn't really work.  It made more sense going off of Right Hand Ma'am...but nobody else would know that.  So it stinks, and I'm dumping it. 

I was laying in bed last night and thought of "The Errand Fairy".  I just googled it when I got to work.  Someone out in California has that name, but nowhere in metro Atlanta.  So I'm going with "The Errand Fairy" as the company name, but when I tried to set up the email with yahoo, it was already taken, so I pluralized it.  My email is now errandfairies@yahoo.com.  Still got some other things to work out and will be working on that today!  :)

Eureka!

I think I've got the business name figured out.  Sadly enough, it didn't come from any of my awesome followers....though I tried!!  Right Hand Ma'am really struck me....as well as I'm On It!!  Alas, I googled them, and both of those had already been taken as a name for a personal assistant business.  I'm telling you....I've had 50 good ideas in the last 2 weeks that have ALL been previously confiscated.  It's been maddening! 

I was sitting here stewing at the computer....looking at the google screen...and finally got as basic as I could.  I typed in "You Need Help" + personal assitant and lo and behold nothing came up....I thought I'd found it!   But then I went on Go Daddy and found out that the URL is on backorder...my only chance of getting it is winning an auction.  Forget that.  So I went with Dwayne's idea of "Last Minute Ma'am".....I set up my url as my full name at Go Daddy...and my sublet company name is now "Last Minute Ma'am".  I also set up a business email at YahooMail.  It's called lastminutemaam@yahoo.com.  Next I need to get with Tina to start getting the website set up.

By the way, I'm meeting Tina from Fat Girl Dives In and Crys from Bigger Than My Body this Wednesday after work for dinner....trying to get in touch with Kim to see if she can meet us, too....so excited!!!  Tina is designing my website for me, and Crys said she'll be my best and most loyal client!!!!  Kim also told me last week that she would definitely hire me to do some home organizing for her.  Woo Hoo!!  I'm off to a GREAT start!!

Thanks for ALL of your ideas...I truly appreciate your help...and can't wait to keep everyone updated on my new business venture.  :)

Update On My New Business Name

The update is that I'm still looking!  Thank you so much for the suggestions that are starting to come in.  I've been thinking on this for 2 solid weeks and can't believe how hard it is to come up with something that hasn't already been taken.  I really love "At Your Service" that Kelly and Brenda suggested, but I googled it and there's already a couple of errand svcs in Marietta, Ga. that have that name...drats!!  I wanted to throw out there that I was also considering using my initials as part of it from my first and middle name.  "T.J.'s something or other...."  Keep those ideas coming....surely we'll come up with something that nobody else has yet!!  Thanks so much!!  :)

All About My Life

This blog has definitely transitioned over the last year and a half from a weight-loss inspired one, to all about my entire life.  It's been an interesting ride to say the least.  Lots of highs, lots of lows...it's all in here.  I actually kind of like it like this....the "journaling" or blogging has provided an outlet I've never had before.  Some things solve themselves simply by writing them out.  Others are worked out from hearing the comments, ideas and suggestions from my dear blog friends.  I've made some really close, fantastic personal friendships from this blog, too....and I think that's been the absolute best part.  I want to thank all of you who read and/or comment for spending this last year and a half with me....and I can't wait to see what happens this year.  I hope you'll come along for the ride.  :)

What's on the horizon for 2011 thus far?  Two things that I'll tell you briefly, and expand more on it later.  The number one thing is Dwayne and I made a pact back in October to quit smoking the first of the year....so one more week, and we should be at each other's throats with our nicotine fits.  Let's hope we both survive it, lol.  We've both tried to quit several times in the past..separately...but now that we're around each other 24 hrs/day, I told him if I was going to quit, he was going to have to also, because I wouldn't be able to handle him smoking around me all the time.  Since I gave him 3 months notice...he agreed.  And he's sticking to it.  He's going to buy some Nicorette gum for us to wean ourselves off the smoking....and then I guess we'll move to regular chewing gum.  Naturally....being a FAT girl...my main concern (besides ripping his head off) is gaining MORE weight.  We've all heard when you quit smoking, you trade it out with eating more.  Probably the hand to mouth habit?  Oh I really don't want to go there.....so pray for me friends.  I really want to beat it this time...and not get any fatter in the process. 

Speaking of fatter, the battery in my scale died 2 weeks ago.  I want to 2 different Walmarts to replace it, and they were sold out.  The last Walmart actually told me the batteries had been back ordered for nearly 2 weeks now.  WTF??  Are scale batteries really that popular, lol...so anyway.  Going to try to find one again before the new year gets here.

The 2nd bit of news for the new year is I'm starting up a side business.  My HOPE and DREAM is to grow it big enough to eventually be able to quit my current job.  My first goal is to get it big enough to go part time at work by this June.  I hope I can do that in 6 months time, but I'm just going to do my best and see what happens.  I have a friend in Charleston, SC who has a personal assistant/concierge business and I'm modeling my business after hers.  Personal errands, etc.....the list of services I'm offering spans a wide variety of things.  I'm setting up a free website and my FABULOUS friend Tina is helping me design it.  Tina from Fat Girl Dives In is a graphic artist with mad skills....her resume is truly impressive.  If you need any work done, don't waste your money going anywhere else.  Go straight to Tina.  She's the best.  :)  You can always contact her through her blog, listed on my blogroll.

I've asked several people for help naming the business (thanks Jack!) but haven't totally settled on one yet.  So I'm throwing it out there.......got any ideas?  Tina suggested "Go-to-girl-Atlanta"...but I googled it and found "Atlanta-Go-To-Girl"....and that's too close.  I don't want to get confused with the other person, so I'm still looking.  My favorite suggestion from Jack Sh*t was "Chore Whore" but somehow I don't think that will go over too well.  Still makes me laugh out loud though.  :)  I want to figure out the name first, because it will be on my business cards, and I'm going to build the rest of my website around it, so throw your suggestions at me and if I pick YOURS....I'll be mailing you a little gift as a token of my appreciation.  :)

I hope everyone had a very safe and happy holiday....MERRY CHRISTMAS to each and everyone of you....and only a week 'til the NEW YEAR is upon us.  Wish me luck in my new endeavors...and don't forget to send me those suggestions for the business name based on a personal assistant/errand business.  To give you an example....some of the ones in my area are called "Just In Time" and "Xtra Pair of Hands".  Thanks everyone!  :)

Top 50 Diet Blog Award...Me???

I received an award?  For a Top 50 diet blog from Diet Spotlight?  Ummmm....you can all stop laughing now, lol.. 

Yeah...I know it's crazy.  It's still an honor, no matter how misguided Diet Spotlight may be, lol.  Here's the link showing all 50 blogs that were chosen.  Congrats to all of my friends and fellow bloggers who also won!

http://www.dietspotlight.com/top-50-diet-blogs

This Is Getting Ridiculous

My great aunt Voncille died a month ago.  My aunt Terri died last weekend.  While she was being buried, her father, who lay in the hospital with cancer, also died the same day.  My best friend Shane, who I was roommates with for 5 years before he married, is at the hospital now with his dad who is dying.  His dad has been in the hospital for 2 weeks now and is steadily getting worse by the day.  One of my girlfriends, who is like me and has no human children...only doggie children, told me today that one of her babies is dying of a cancerous tumor. 

I have never experienced so much death and dying during a holiday season before.  This is too much.  Too many of my loved ones are sad and suffering... and I'm sad.  We all need some peace and prayers.

My Sweet Friend Tina

I had dinner last night with Tina from Fat Girl Dives In.  Can I tell you how much I love this girl?  She's so much fun to be with...so easy to talk to...so down-to-earth, funny...no pretenses...just one of those genuine, caring people.  Well last night I discovered another adjective to use when describing her...thoughtful.  She brought me a gift to dinner, and I brought her one as well.  I gave her 3 little loaves of Christmas bread in a basket with a holiday cup and hot chocolate to enjoy.  She gave me 2 big bags of FRESH PRODUCE from the Farmer's Market.  She had read a blog post I wrote a couple of weeks ago saying I wouldn't be buying any groceries this month because I needed every last penny to buy Christmas gifts for my family and Dwayne and Scarlette.  I wrote that I had plenty of food in the freezer and pantry to make it through the month....it just wouldn't be very balanced with no fresh produce.  So that was her Christmas gift to me....just so thoughtful...makes me want to cry!!!  I love my gift...and brought some fruit with me to work today....fresh fruit...oh how I've missed you!!  I also have some fresh veggies at home now that I get to cook up later tonight after my dinner with my other awesome friend, Kim.  I'm very blessed and thankful to have such good friends in my life...and I want everyone else to know just how awesome they are, too.  :)

Enjoying the Season

Just dropping in to say hi real quick.  I've been busy baking all kinds of Christmas cookies and breads for gift baskets for friends and family.  I'm meeting Tina at Fat Girl Dives In tonight for dinner and Kim at All About the Bottom Line for dinner on Friday.  Very excited about getting to spend some quality time with my friends during the holiday season.  I hope all of you are enjoying the season, too!  :)

Remembering Aunt Terri

My Aunt Terri lost her battle with breast cancer this weekend and was laid to rest today.  It's been a reminiscent weekend.....fond memories mingled with tears.  Don't really feel like talking about anything else right now, other than to remind you to hold your loved ones near, let them know they're appreciated and treasured, and remember that you can never say "I love you" too many times.  Take care friends.

New Goal Weight

I just updated my stats on my sidebar with last week's weigh-in.  I also updated my goal weight.  I changed it from 170 lbs. to 199 lbs.  Why?  Because I was sick of staring at 170 and it feeling so far away...and, just because I can.  :)

S.A.D.

I wonder if I have Seasonal Affective Disorder.  I first wondered this last winter, having never experienced it before.  I might have blogged about it...I don't remember now.  But I think I just chalked up the unexplained sadness to being on unemployment for so long.  This time, I have a job...and while things are still hard, they're not as hard as they were last year, yet I'm having the same feelings.  I broke down and cried at my desk today at work for no apparent reason.  I really wonder if it's simply the cold and the grey.  It's weird because winter has always been my favorite season.  The colder the better....and it also encompasses my favorite holiday...Christmas.  I'm sitting here at home now, surrounded by my Christmas decorations and the lights twinkling on the tree.  The heat is set on 70 and is running, but it's in the 30's outside.  I am freezing my ass off.  I can't seem to get warm enough...and the sadness is overwhelming and unexplained.  This totally sucks.  I need to be finishing my baking for the baskets I have to deliver this wknd and I just can't seem to drag myself to the kitchen to do it. 

Leslie texted me a few minutes ago just to see how I was doing....and I told her I was trying to talk myself out of ordering Chinese food.  I'm sitting at 1300 cals right now and haven't had any dinner yet.  I'm a little scared to eat anything, because I'm afraid whatever I choose is going to be the wrong thing, and too much of it...for all the wrong reasons.  I crawled out from under my blanket and got off the couch to come to the computer and blog about this crap.  Is it even possible to have SAD when you're already on Zoloft?  That doesn't seem right.  Maybe that's not what's wrong....but this feeling has been looming for the last few days and it finally overwhelmed me today and brought me to tears.  And I have the ridiculous desire to eat bad, bad things.  Just the thought of that brought me to tears again a few minutes ago.  I hate having this food addiction.  This is my favorite season of the year...the time that I should be the happiest.  And I'm just not right now. 

I've been thinking about something Allan said several weeks back in a post, about treating his weight problem like Fat Cancer.  He gives it that level of seriousness to get the weight off as quickly as possible, eating around 1200 cals. a day.  He's dropped a ton of weight and has held fast to his plan.  I have really tried hard over these last few weeks to get that kind of mindset for myself...Fat Cancer....and I can't seem to grasp it.  I fail so easily....and have for such a long time, and it's very discouraging.  I haven't lost any weight in an entire year.  I'm about the same thing now that I was at this time last year.  I keep asking myself why...what is wrong with me?  Do I not want it bad enough?  I start to think that's what it is...but then try to put on a pair of pants to go to work in the morning and they don't fit right now.  Then the feeling of disgust moves in...and I think that yes, I do want to lose the weight....but back to why haven't I? 

Then I think about one of Chris' posts at A Deliberate Life a while back about cleaning out your chicken coop.  She said that you're never going to get the weight off and keep it off if you don't dig down and get to the root of the problem....the reason you let yourself get obese in the first place.  I've scratched around and scratched around, and I can't find out what the heck is in my coop full of poop.  What is it?  I can't seem to find it?  Is it possible to be that friggin' fat and not have a reason?  That doesn't seem right....but if it is, that's even more maddening. 

Ok, so I know I'm rambling....just trying to keep from eating, so decided to blog instead.  Still no answers, but I'm still at 1300 cals today.  Thank God for that.  I think I need to go to bed soon.  'Nite friends, and thanks for listening. 

Final Challenge Weigh-In

This morning was the final weigh in for the Phase 2 of Allan's Challenge.  I was up 8 lbs. last week....this week I lost 7 of those lbs for a weigh-in of 243 lbs.  Yay!  I've got lots of baking to do today to start getting out my gift baskets...hope everyone else is having a GREAT weekend!!  :)

I've Been Tagged

One of my most favoritest people in the world, Leslie at Something Brilliant Is Brewing, tagged me in a recent post.  She gave me 4 questions to answer.  Normally I suck at receving awards, passing them on, answering these types of questions, etc....but since it's YOU Leslie, I'll play along today.  :)

1.  Who has had the most influence in your life and why?

Aside from God, my Saviour, the answer is hands down, my parents.  They are amazing.  You just couldn't ask for any better.  They've taught me valuable lessons...helped me when I needed it w/o handing me everything on a silver platter....both have excellent work ethics...both have always told me I can do anything I want to do..the sky's the limit....both believe in me fully and support my every endeavor...especially the one to lose weight.  Mom has a heart the size of Texas and I learned compassion for others through her.  I remember when I was a child...one of my sister's friends Mom was having a hard time financially.  She was going through a divorce, was raising 3 kids on her own (maybe 4...can't remember exactly..I was young)...but what I DO remember is that mom wanted to help her out...so she sold the lady her car...for $1.00.  Even at such a young age, I remember that totally blew me away.  It's just one example of thousands through the years where my mom has given of herself to help others.  I learned it from her. 

My dad is equally as amazing.  I don't know another man on the face of this earth with the strength of character that my dad has.  What's always impressed me about him is he's as honest as they come.  If you ask him a question, he'll tell you the truth every time, whether it hurts or not.  He believes that honesty is more important than saving your feelings, and in my lifetime, that's been hard to find.  It means I can always count on him, no matter what...and I cherish that feeling.  My parents, now both in retirement, are now helping to raise their 5 grandkids the same way they raised me and my 2 sisters.  Me, my sisters and my nieces and nephews are so blessed to have them.  They are a treasure to all of us....still married after 38 years...loving, disciplining, encouraging...a special commodity today.  I am blessed, indeed.

2.  What is your favorite quality about yourself....and what would you change about yourself?

My favorite quality is the one derived from my mom...compassion and a desire to help others.  I truly care about others and want to do all I can to help in any way I can.  It gives me joy to help someone who truly needs it.  My blessing has also always been my curse.  Helping others to the point of giving the shirt off of my back or my last dollar leaves me with ....well...no shirt and no dollars.  lol.  Ironically enough, my mom...the one who I learned to help others through....has also been the strongest one in telling me to learn how to say "no" sometimes.  I've done a lot better with this over the past few years and came to learn the truths and value in what she meant in not giving to the point of hurting myself. 

What I would change....is my lack of self-discipline and lack of consistency and focus in the weight loss department.  I read where Allan commented in one of his posts recently that if you've been in the weight loss blogging forum for a year and you haven't lose any weight or made much progress, that's not good.  Yeah...no shit.  lol  So this is one of my most glaring flaws and the one that really needs changing the most in my opinion.

3.  When was the last time you cried?  

Let's see....that would be Monday night, lol.  On my cycle, in a tremendous amount of pain, and the mood is straight from Hell.  Scarlette kept me up til 3:30am Sunday night w/ barking, etc...so only 3 hours of sleep before work on Monday....no bueno.  By Monday night I was exhausted, in a shitty mood, and Dwayne said something that rubbed me the wrong way.  So I went to bed and cried.

4.  Best vacation ever?

I can't pick just one...but I'll sum it up by saying any/all beach trips to Hilton Head, SC with Dwayne.  Special times.  :)

I Love This Season

I've got classic Christmas songs playing softly on my computer now here at work...ahhhh.  So happy.  :)

Time to get down to the nitty gritty with my budget this last month of the year.  I budget $100 for groceries out of  each of my 2 checks per month.  Instead of buying groceries this month, I'm using that $200 to wrap up all of my Christmas shopping.  I'll be eating what's already in my pantry, fridge and freezer.  There's enough food to last for the month....just won't be very balanced meals due to running out of fresh produce soon.  But it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. 

Dwayne bought some baking supplies for me, so I'll be starting my holiday baking this weekend.  I bake 2x a year....one weekend in the Fall, I make a couple of pumpkin rolls.  I kept half of one at home for Dwayne, and gave the other half of that one to his mom.  The other one I brought into work for my co-workers to enjoy.  The other baking time is during the month of December.  I bake cookies and mini loaves of Christmas bread as well as make chocolate-covered popcorn and chocolate-covered pretzels w/ sprinkles.  It is a LOT of work, very time-consuming...and I love doing it this time of year.  I make baskets filled with the homemade goodies and shrink wrap them, then tie them up with a big, beautiful bow and an ornament attached. 

This year I'll be giving one to my parents, one to my sister Brandy and her husband, and one to my sister Amy.  Also my sweet friend Kim, my supervisor and friend Billie and her husband (my ex-roommate) Shane, and my friend Melissa and her husband Aaron, and their precious little 4-year old daughter, Abby.  

This is such a blessed time of year.  There is a certain magic in giving from the heart...I encourage you all to do as much giving as you can.  Make a difference in someone else's life this beautiful holiday season.  :)