People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered.  Forgive them anyway.  

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.  Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies.  Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.  Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight.  Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.   Be happy anyway. 

The good you do today, will often be forgotten.  Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough.  Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God.  It was never between you and them anyway.

These *ahem* lovely people, set up a time to meet you at your house to look at the item of interest and/or try it out.  The problem is is that most do not show up, or they say they want it and “will be back at 6pm to pick it up”.  Some never return, and we end up having to rearrange our schedules again for the next person on the list.

This is truly a life lesson that stares me right in the face.  Do others consider me a “no-show” in their lives?  Do I ever give my word on something, say I’ll do something or be somewhere and end up not doing it or not showing up?   Can people take me at my word, or am I “consistent in my inconsistancy” (as we do say of someone we know very well but can’t trust).   It’s frustrating for other people to know that you can’t be counted on.  Not only is your word as good as a pile of mud, but no one can recommend you as a trustworthy source. 

It takes me back to a verse that my parents pounded into me over and over while I was growing up.  “Let your yes be yes, and let your no be no,” and “You are only as good as your word.”  I was required to keep appointments and promises if I made them.  Sometimes I missed out on more exciting things that I REALLY wanted to do, because I had already given my word to do something else. However, people always knew they could count on us to be there and to show up!   Because of this, we have taught our daughter to do the same.  She has time and time again witnessed the power of keeping your word, and the frustration of others messing up her plans…she’s decided she does not want to be seen or known and the latter.

So, I’ve decided, the next time I put something up on Craigslist to sell, I will simply ask them if they are as good as their word to show up if they say they will. 

Then I’ll ask them to mentally “Spit and Shake on it”  to seal the deal!   That oughta stick with ‘em!

However, push has come to shove and it’s time to overcome the lifelong fear of Cold Calling potential clients.  

I grew up in a household where my parents owned their own business, and the business phone was our home phone. Therefore, I learned early on how to engage with clients and customers that were seeking us out for business. On the other hand, I also worked in telemarketing selling maintenance agreements for products sold at Sears.  The latter made my blood run cold…and still does.

I have never, ever, enjoyed selling anything through cold calls, and it is a hurdle that I am about to conquer due to sheer necessity.  The difference now is that companies and businesses want and need the services and product that I offer. Many need a friendly, professional voice for their phone system, web video, commercials, e-learning/training videos, etc…so I am simply making my business made known to them.  Plus, I have the privilege of proving to them that they can rely on me to provide a product that is professional and on-time, each and every time!

So…I’m going public, right here and right now, facing the fear and forging ahead into cold call territory.  I anticipate having a positive update on this subject within 2 weeks.

And I will start as soon as I thaw out my frozen fingers and pick up the phone!

 You purchase a camera…it lasts for 10 or even 20 years?  You buy a car…and you drive it for 15 years and then hand the keys over to your teen?  We recently purchased my mother-in-law a new microwave – even though her 1978 microwave still worked!  Newer and Bigger is better right?  WRONG!  That microwave had to be replaced within 2 months…it had a bad cord.  We also purchased her a new VHS/DVD player…it didn’t work right from the beginning and had to be replaced too.

When we built a new home 3.5 years ago, we truly expected to not have any “big” repairs for many, many years because everything was brand new!   WRONG again!    Our appliance package has proven to be quite the lemon!  We’ve had to fix the fridge when the water/ice dispenser broke,  the oven when the computer panel went on the fritz, and now this weekend, our over-the-stove spacesaver microwave’s circuit board decided to RIP.    It seems that nothing is reliable or long lasting anymore – at least not with electronics or appliances. 

This dawning of truth has really made me think about my voice-over career.   How will my work and presentation stand up over time?  Am I Reliable?  Is what I do, “Up to date?”  Is my work Guaranteed?  Have I done my homework and worked the script out to the best of my abilities or is it lacking in any way?  Have I forgotten the client, or forgotten the relationship that was built?  Can I sign my name to the project with pride and satisfaction? 

What will my clients/customers experience when they use the product I’m offering?  

I desire to give them the best of both worlds;  the stability and reliability of the “good ole’ days” and the conveniences of the modern day!  I guarantee that my work ethic, my word, and what I produce for each client is excellent!  I will be reachable, reliable, on-time, everytime!  Guaranteed!

This is my prayer and that is my quest! 

With that said, I must go heat some water up on the stove for my instant oatmeal before I head to church. 

Anyone have a black microwave for sale?

Therefore, I am taking an online Word Press class with David Johnson of Epiphany Marketing!   I want my website to have flash players, to have window media buttons, to have demos that are easy to click on and listen to!  This would be a highly effective tool in helping others hear and understand what I can do for them in the world of Voice Overs! 

After one night of class, I am thoroughly convinced that I-T guys deserve a great salary.  This stuff is SO left brain!    However, with Dave’s patient instruction…This slightly older dog just begged for more, and I’m expecting to bring some life to a rather silent site! 

With that said, I refuse to roll over and play dead…

so just throw me a treat once in a while and I promise it’ll be worth it in the end!

<a title=’voice over’ href=’http://www.bodalgo.com/en’>bodalgo.com – the voiceover marketplace </a>

I love being a Voice Actor!  Why?

Because, in a normal job I feel like a rambunctious 5 year old being told to stop playing, come in and wash up, because it’s time for dinner.   Awwwwwwww Mommmmm!  Normally, at dinnertime, kids hear phrases like;  ”sit still, sit up straight, you’re talking too loud, don’t play with your food, finish your veggies,” etc,  etc,  etc!

But not at McDonalds!  It’s exciting to go there!!!   As a kid, you love the food and you’re encouraged to GO PLAY!!!  And sometimes, your parents even crawl into the tubes or ball pit and play with you, good times had by all! 

The same goes for work at an 8-5 job (or in morning radio 5am-2pm). You have set hours on the clock,  a list of duties to perform,  a set time of when you can eat and how long you are allowed to be gone,  you have to dress up, etc.  That’s normal and it can be pretty restricting if you have other things that must get done like; doctor and dental appointments for yourself or the kids, carpooling and homework, shopping, cooking and cleaning, church/ministry, your child’s volleyball games  and various meetings throughout the day/evening hours. 

But as a voice-over artist the sky is the limit, and the work is FUN!  In voice-over, you get to play around with recording equipment, do silly vocal warm up exercises that always makes your kids laugh, and interact with people who desire to take their businesses to a whole new or higher level!  Something that helps any business  is having a professional voice on their phone systems, e-learning and web videos, commercials and podcasts.   

Sure, as a voice-actor, you have to set aside time to market your business and voice the scripts (and of course continuing education), but usually you get to plan the voice-over sessions on your time, and work it around the rest of your day.  How much better can life get…doing a job you love?

It does feel like I’ve gone to McDonalds… and Playland is waiting for my arrival!

That woman has spent the last 6 years breathing through a tube and going through numerous surgeries…and is now known as the first recipient of a full face transplant.  What an identity huh!

 When I read things like this, several things go through my mind:  How can someone go on living with such a drastic change to their physical appearance.  How do you live with the memory of what happened – what about the nightmares?  How do you forgive the person who did this to you - or is forgiveness something that you have to do every day for the rest of your life – every time you look in the mirror or catch your reflection in a store window?

I marvel at Connie Culp’s courage and strength to appear in public with such an altered appearance;  geesh, sometimes I don’t want to go out because of a bad hair day or because I’m in an ornery mood.   Her story definitely makes me rethink the scriptures about our identity being found in Christ and not in what we look like, what others say about us, or what we do. 

 It doesn’t matter if you lose your physical face like Connie did, or if you lose the “face” or ”identity” of who you are through;  a job loss, a ruined reputation, an empty checkbook, a divorce or death, an empty nest, etc, etc…;  the truth is,  is that we daily have to find our strength, our courage, our confidence, our acceptance and ability to forgive,  in the one person that chose to be mauled and crucified so we could experience these lifetime freedoms.  

Jesus took the scars of sin, so we could walk uprightly.  Jesus took the wounds and pain, so we could walk in healing.  Jesus took every ounce of our shame, so we could hold our heads up high with confidence…a confidence in knowing that we are no longer living under a cloak of rejection, but now have the ability and assurance that we are allowed to walk in the freedom of being loved and accepted for just who we are; nothing more, nothing less. 

Thank you Connie Culp for being one of the many ”faces” of domestic violence,  and thank you for not giving up and choosing to stay hidden away, out of the public eye.   

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to re-evaluate one of the most important things in life;  the freedom of forgiveness  -  I believe it is probably one of the most incredible beauty treatments anyone could ever use.

My mom did not allow me to eat anything containing sugar, and it has affected my diet even at age 40.   Due to some type of fluke concerning a blood test that I had when I was 6, the doctors misdiagnosed me with a near diabetic condition.  My mom, (the most tenacious woman God ever put on this planet), decided it was her lot in life to make sure every granule of sugar was kept from my ever-thirsting, ever-drooling, ever sugar-craving,  lips.   

I only remember turning 7 yrs old because someone gave me a jumbo size Sugar Daddy Candy bar (about the size of your head).   But because of my “you’ll only eat that candy if you pry it from my dead fingers – mother”,  it remained in it’s package, on top of the fridge for months.  DROVE ME NUTS. 

 I also remember climbing on top of our kitchen counter regularly, reaching back into the highest and farthest cupboard, to grab and devour as many sugar cubes that I could, out of mom’s coffee stash.   Not to mention eating several Flintstones kids vitamins daily when mom sent us into brush our teeth; that was until she confiscated them out of my sugar greedy fingers. 

When I left home at 17 and headed to college…this was my chance and opportunity for freedom!  I enjoyed soft-serve vanilla icecream rolled in Lucky Charms and Fruitloops for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  Cake, Pies, Candy…mmmmm. I still eat dessert first when we go out to dinner, want to make sure I have room for the best part!     

One last thing, my daughter nailed it on the head last night when we walked out of Publix with 3 boxes of Frootloops;  “Mom, you eat sugar all the time because your mom didn’t let you have it.  You still feel like you won’t get any later, so you have to eat as much as you can now while it’s around!”   Ahhh, smart child! 

I nodded in agreement and then shoved another fistful of Frootloops into my gaping mouth! 

Recently a friend of ours was invited into their next door neighbor’s house to see what the old owner did to his livingroom walls. It seems he didn’t want to over exert himself when it came to painting them.  Usually when you paint a room, you move everything away from the walls, like for instance; furniture and bookcases, potted plants, drapes, the litter box, etc…  Not this guy.  Seems he just painted around every bit of it.  If it was against the wall, it stayed against the wall.   When he moved out and took all his belongings with him, he left a nice painted outline of every piece of furniture, stack of books, curtains, etc…that you can imagine.

Ahhh, the life of a redneck, the cheapest and easiest way to live!   Helps save on paint too!

I have too much “Reality”  in my life  to be consumed with “Reality TV”. 

 From what news organizations and publications have said,  most of it is contrived “reality” anyway.  Like, for instance, The Biggest Loser TV show.  Yes, they are literally working their hiney’s off, BUT, they have doctors on the set at all times, they are constantly being monitored by someone in the health field.  I find it interesting after all the sweat and pain, there are still those that gain the weight back, and sometimes even a bit more.  It’s not that these people lack will power - they have proven that they have loads of it.  It’s other issues that they haven’t dealt with; internal things that unless faced head on, they will lose all that weight a 100 times and will gain it back 100 times again. 

My reality?  I’ve lost 50 pounds and whittled my wardrobe down from a tight 16 to a loose 6. 

It all started 7 years ago when I started having some big problems with exhaustion and with weight gain.  I’ve never had this problem before.  I’ve always had TONS o’ energy and never had a problem getting weight off if I gain it.  In college ( the good ole’ days ) I had a BMI of 18 and weighed even 28lbs less than I do now.    

Turns out, that with a combination of Epstein Barr (adult on-set mono), a car wreck that messed up my neck/back, and contracting a MERSA infection with the bites of 2 brown recluse spiders…all those things decided to gang up and make my thyroid go all fruit-loopy!    

Even after getting on thyroid medication, I still felt like I was going to fall over asleep at all times (not a good thing for someone who is already the walking dead doing a  morning radio show) and completely incapable of losing weight no matter how many miles I walked a day, or how many days I worked out at Curves each week.

I went up several sizes within a couple years of our marriage too.  Bless my hubby’s heart, he swears it never made one ioda of a difference in his love and attraction to me.  He’s a good man, no matter how much I think he lies! 

I’ve had so many people praying that I would find an answer…and praise God, last August I did.  I started going to the top weight loss doctor in our area.  She uses medication to lower your hunger and B12 shots to increase your metabolism – since mine was pretty much shot to zero, I needed anything that could help.  She told me to be very patient with myself because there is no track record for a Thyroid’s patients sucess.  I logged my food  and water intake and exercise, every day.   I decided, this time, I would not do a traditional “diet” and eat stuff I hate and wouldn’t eat after the diet was done  (veggies and fish – blah).  I decided I would put together an eating plan and exercise plan that goes hand in hand with the foods I enjoy (Pizza, Pizza, Pizza, Icecream, Icecream, Icecream) and find something better at burning calories than just walking.  Wha-la, I found biking. 

I purchased a slightly older Trek Hybrid bike off of Craigslist and started biking 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 40 miles at a time,  4-5x a week.  THEN…after losing 35lbs in 6 months, I had proved to myself that I was going to stick with it.   Hubby gave me a nice chunk-o-change from our tax refund and I started researching road bikes.  You know, the type that all those spandex laden bicyclists ride on the side of the road?  I’ve always thought they were crazy, until I got bit by the Biking Bug! 

I now bike 80-100 miles per week, at 20 mile stints each day.  It’s nice b/c for about 1.5 hours of biking and listening to my ipod, I burn 800-1200 calories each ride and get to experience so many new neighborhoods and roads. 

So, here I am…50lbs lighter and maintaining for about 2 months now.  Not motivated yet to lose the last 10lbs…but I will!   I am done with the doctors’ help and medication and shots.  It was quite a boost to my “slimmer ego” to have her tell me that I am one of her STAR patients because I did it the right way!  Eating food I’ll always eat, exercising and building solid muscle, getting out of the obese category and into the healthy and normal range.   God gets the credit for giving me the “stick-to-it-tiveness” and  the wisdom on where I could find the help I needed!

It feels good to feel good. 

It took me 8 months.  That is my reality.