Song lyrics sometimes just don’t make sense.

Our youngest son Paul is a singer, songwriter and guitar player. He’s had many bands over the years and has written some great songs (a future blog posting will be about the song he wrote for his dad’s surprise 60th birthday party).

While I think I’ve understood all of his lyrics in the past, I remember one time when he was in a cover band (a band that plays someone else’s music, not original) and they sang “Take a load off, Fannie (Which I always thought was "Annie” and wondered if there was a comma before ‘Annie’) .

I told him I always wondered what that meant. His reply was, “I don’t know, Mom. Songwriters often don’t know what their lyrics mean.”

I thought that quite strange until I heard David Bowie say the same thing in an interview. “Come on now, what the hell did you think I meant by ‘Ground Control to Major Tom?’

Paul, you’re in pretty good company!

Other than “Louie, Louie,” what song lyrics have you always wondered about?

Gosh, setting goals really does work!




Last Sunday, I participated in the bizzy bee baby and toddler show (arranged by the owners of "the birds and the bees baby and bridal boutiques" seen in the top photo). I not only had a booth from which I sold maternity clothes and other related items, but I staged a fashion show with some of my pregnant customers as models (more about that in a future post).









I knew to set goals for myself for the day.



One goal (which I thought at first wasn't measurable) was to create visibility and possibly credibility (in relation to selling maternity clothes). And I did! The expo started at noon and before the fashion show started at 2 pm, the only thing I had sold (and the only people I talked to) was a pregnancy cookbook to an expectant couple.


But the fashion show gave me the visibility/credibility - there was lots of traffic, many people inquiring about the store and I sold tons of stuff!


My second goal was to meet someone from the local March of Dimes. One of my regular customers was there and I found out she's on the board of the organization! And she introduced me to the Executive Director and we're having a breakfast meeting soon.

In addition to achieving both of my goals, I had fun. I met other people who have the same target market as I do and I started some new relationships which will help me build my business.

When has setting specific goals before an event yielded great results?

Sometimes you just need a wakeup call!

My last post was six days ago - the day Dick was admitted to the hospital - a very scary day for both of us. (He's told his story so many times to so many people now that I don't think he'll care if I share it here.)

Fortunately, he "dodged the bullet" and a cardiac cath showed minimal coronary artery disease. But it was enough of a scare that things are going to change - primarily his diet and his activity level. He's so excited - he's already lost almost 10 pounds. Change will come slow, but I think we're both committed to do this together for our health' s sake.

This is actually the second time that a medical crisis has changed him. Over 30 years ago, he had two surgeries for a brain tumor. Before the surgery, he was too much of a homebody - rarely wanted to do anything or go out just to have fun. But being so sick made him realize how short life is and as a result, he came out of his shell big-time.

Have you, or someone you know, had a much needed wakeup call?

Be very careful what you ask for!

You've heard that maxim before and I bet you can think of a situation where it was true. Well, my "wish" came true today, but not the way I wanted it.

Some of you may know that Dick and I lived in separate cities for ten years (1985 to 1995) and saw each other only on weekends - he in Toledo and me in Cleveland (for my career). I loved it!! I had never lived alone before and the freedom to shop when I wanted, eat what and where I wanted, etc., was wonderful. Of course, I missed him but I really enjoyed "my space."

I've been home for over 11 years now and once again, I never get to be alone. Don't get me wrong - I truly love every moment I spend with Dick, but an evening alone would be heaven. I finally got my chance! He registered for a seminar one night next week about 5 hours away (he wanted to get up in the middle of the night and drive straight through to the 9 am meeting, but I talked him into "splurging" on a motel room).

But it was not to be. 7:30 am today found us in the emergency room of a local hospital where he was eventually admitted and will be for at least the next 48 hours. (He's rather a private person and would not appreciate my revealing any details.) So am I excited and looking forward to being alone the next two nights? You bet your butt I'm not.

So, please, be very careful what you ask for.

There's nothin' like traveling somewhere fun!

In a little over two weeks, we are on the road again. We traveled a lot in the fall of last year but haven't flown anywhere since and we're getting restless.

Our oldest son and his family live right on Puget Sound in Washington state. This photo was taken on their front deck - is it awesome or what? (It's an old photo - from 1996, the year they moved. I can tell because my hair is still long and no bangs.)

We've seen them (including the love of our life, granddaughter Emme) three times since we were out there last in June and we do the web cam thing at least twice a week, but we really miss being with them in their town and their house. Does that make sense?

There's so much we love to do there -our favorite restaurants (and of course, my favorite shops), soaking in their hot tub, taking turns cooking for each other, and we just love to go there as often as we can.

We'll be celebrating Dave's 40th birthday and his wife has a very special surprise planned (can't say here what it is since he might read my blog), but I know we'll have BIG FUN!

What is one of your favorite travel destinations?

What would "WHO" do?

In a conversation several weeks ago with Anita Dotson of Corporate Intelligence Consultants (who does background checks on potential tenants), we were discussing our mentors - the person or persons who have helped us achieve success in our businesses.

It turns out we have a mentor in common! Debby Peters, owner and Director of Training for the Certified Networker Program, has been a huge factor in not only helping us, but hundreds of other local business people.

She is truly a networking guru. (I'd love to share details with anyone interested in becoming a part of the wonderful Certified Networker community).

I told Anita that the other person I consider my idol and mentor specifically in the resale world is Donna Speigel (center photo). Donna opened her first resale shop in Cincinnati 27 years ago! She now owns 13 of them. She is a beautiful woman inside and out (doesn't she remind you of Jackie Kennedy?) and she and her husband are very involved in the Cincinnati-area community (a future post will be about the school she founded a year ago).

Do you recall the acronym WWJD? It stands for "What would Jesus do?" Well, frequently when I have a business dilemma, I think "WWDD?" ( "What would Donna do?")

And Anita pointed out that for both of us, WWDD also stands for "What would Debby do?"

Who is your mentor? What initial goes here for you . . .WW_D?