What a special day this is!  A day set aside to remember the occasion that marked the beginning of this celebration and the bravery of our nation’s early settlers.  As well the companionship and support of those native to this land.

A day as well, to remember all the good and wonderful things that have come our way over the past 365 days since last we sat down to a sumptous meal with family and friends - pausing to remember.

Over the past several days, we’ve talked a lot about gratitude and thankfulness.  Yesterday, I was praising and thanking all the way home from the southside of Indy after sharing most of the day with two awesome women and our wonderful webmaster. 

I still marvel at how God puts us together!  I am always in awe of what some would call “coincidences” that aren’t that at all.  You stop for coffee and the person next to you strikes up a conversation and before you know it you’ve gained a new friend - a business associate - a mentor!

I sometimes scratch my head and say, “How do you do that, Papa?”  It just simply amazes me!

As I reflect this day on those amazing moments of the past months (years in some cases), I feel energy!  I feel and know in my inner being, that there’s ‘movement under the feet’.  Remember, I talked about that sometime ago.  That we can feel ‘movement under our inner feet’ and just know that good, wonderful, GREAT things are afoot!

Yes, they are!  For all of us.  For women who are coming into their own.  Women who want more than what they now have - not so much in terms of money - but in terms of personal and professional fulfillment.  Women who’ve passed the threshold from one major life season to a new and hopefully, more exciting one.

There is something exhiliarating about growing in wisdom, maturity and stature.  Letting go of what always seemed so key to our success - so important to being like and accepted.  Moving into an attitude that says, “I like me just the way I am and I’m comfortable in my own skin!”  And growing ‘chronologically more mature - ‘ain’t’ so bad after all.  (Excuse my use of slang!).

I call it “puttin’ on a different set of clothes” - a new way of looking at me and my world and your world.  A way of saying, “I like you just the way you are - how can I help you find out where you want to go and help you get there!”

The movement or “rumblin’” beneath the feet is women moving from one season to the next in tandem with each other. Sharing similar values and common challenges and looking to each other for the support, mentoring, encouragement and empowerment we need to get there.

And then we CELEBRATE!  As we do today.

Celebrate where we’ve been; how we got there and the place to which we have arrived.

After all, isn’t that the essence of the holiday we commemorate today.  THANKSGIVING DAY!

Have an awesome one and be richly blessed as well!

  Linda

I’m off and running again today.  It’s called “working on the business versus in the business!”

Want to apologize for yesterday’s ‘glitch’ with the BUZZ link to Peg’s conversation!  But it let me know that folks read the eletter and caught me ‘goofing’!

 Later today, I’m going to share a brief encounter I had earlier in the week that relates to the transitions life brings to us at varying stages.  For those of us who have entered the 2nd phase of the journey - transitions are not as rare as we might like them to be.  But we can find what’s in them that enlightens us for the next phase. And that’s what I want to share on this day set aside for “transitions”.

Gotta’ run, but I’ll be back later today to finish this conversation and wish all a day of gratitude and giving thanks for what life brings - even when it’s transitions that may not feel so great! 

Until then, have an AWESOME day!

  Linda

Kim asked for us to share favorite holiday recipes and here’s the one I promised in the BUZZ!

My Dad’s Mom was known as the finest cook in three counties.  Many of her favorite recipes came over on the boat from the ‘ole country’.  Her pumpkin pie was one the finest and typical of German women who left their roots, but didn’t leave their culinary skills and talents behind as well.

I don’t know who originated the recipe, but I do know it’s old and never been written down - just passed word of mouth from one generation to the next.  So without further ado, here’s:

                                      G’Ma’s Pumpkin Pie

  1 large can of pumpkin (Libby’s is my preference)
  3 cups sugar
  3 eggs
  1-1.5 teaspoons Cinnamon*
  1-1.5 teaspoons Nutmeg*
  1-1.5 teaspoons Allspice*
  1-1.5 teaspoons Ginger*
  1-1.5 teaspoons Pumpkin Pie Spice*
  2 tablespoons flour
  2 cups milk (can used canned milk if you choose)

Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl & include just a small ‘dash’ of salt.  Season to taste (see note below) and pour into (2) 9-inch deep dish unbaked crusts or (3) 8-inch unbaked pie crusts (make your own or use Pillsbury dough or shells found in the refrigerated section of the store).

Heat oven to 400 and bake at 400 about 30 minutes or until edges of filling start to set.  Reduce heat to 375 and bake another 30-40 minutes or until a wet knife in the center of the filling comes out clean. 

Let cool and serve with whipped cream!

To avoid over browning of crust edges, use foil to cover just the edges or pie-edge covers found at most grocery stores.

*the amount of spices varies due to personal tastes.  I use the maximum because we like the sweet spicy taste of more spices in the filling.

That’s it!  Enjoy.  If you have any questions, email me at linda@awomensplace.org and I’ll be happy to help you!

Awesome Thanksgiving to you all!

  Linda
 

Giving thanks is both an act and an attitude!

It is an attitude of the heart and mind that says “I’m blessed” and “I’m grateful for that”. 

Sometimes, life comes at us fast as the commercial says; and it’s hard to be grateful or thankful.  Little annoyances or big calamities strike!  It’s tough to think gratitude and even tougher to offer a prayer of thanksgiving when our hearts are heavy and emotions wounded.

I remember uttering words I never thought I could speak after 4 years of pure “hell”. 

“Thank you Papa for what we’ve had to go through” rolled from my mouth before my mind grasped what I was saying!  But in that moment of uncensored gratitude from a weary warrior, the stress and heaviness that had ‘dogged’ me for over 4 years simply vanished!   I was astonished at how quickly what had burdened me for so long disappeared.

Those words didn’t come from a human mind or even a human heart.  They came from deep within where Wisdom knew what needed to be said and done.

Sometimes, thankfulness is like that.  When we are at our weakest moments, something beyond us takes hold and utters words we cannot.

If we were perfect human beings, we would give thanks always in everything as Scripture admonishes.  But we are not and so we either forget to say thanks when good things come our way and mummur in the desert when they don’t.

Often I think that we are harder on ourselves than our loving Papa is!  We may forget to say the words, but our actions and attitude toward others may be the very expression of gratitude that is required.  The joy that lights our faces when children are born; take their first steps; graduate from college; walk down the aisle to be given in marriage and share the birth of a first g’child with us doting moms and dads is an act of thanksgiving.  Our positive attitude when things don’t go our way or disappointments dash our hopes is an act of thanksgiving - whether we know it or not.

When I reflect on what the year has held and what is yet to come, I’m grateful that a little more maturity has come from needing to wait and be patient.  I’m thankful that we live in a country where we are free to pursue our dreams and celebrate their coming to pass without fear of oppression or retribution.

I’m thankful for family and friends - new and old.  This year has brought so many new women friends into my life via AWP and related activities.  Many I’ve never met, yet feel and know in my heart are friends - companions on the journey - support along the way.

I may not always say it and my actions may not always reveal it; but I’m thankful that life has its seasons and that the 2nd half of the journey tastes as sweet as the first.

Perhaps even sweeter!

Let’s give thanks this week in a special way and remember its an act and an attitude that we can cultivate all year through!

Have an awesome day with much love and many blessings!

  Linda

Monday,  the day we return to the world of work.  Whether it’s our own business or to our professional career in the corporate world.

I’ve decided to make Monday’s Moments the day we focus on “Business - Career - Professional Life” as we look at the arenas of life that we talked about months ago.

There’s so much we could talk about today!  Year-end planning and planning for the coming year; taking stock of where we are in our strategic plan for our career or business and assessing what worked & what didn’t.

A few moments ago, I googled the Indiana Christian Chamber of Commerce, a brand new approach to chamber membership designed particularly for those of us who are persons of faith in the Christian tradition.  I attended the launch event and am considering membership (why is it that professional memberships ‘eat up’ so much of our budget?).

While going through the site, I discovered a “You Tube” video about a bank in Minnesota that is becoming known as the “Christian bank” (http://youtube.com/watch?v=eRAWclLvgWg, if you’re interested in seeing the story).  What struck me was that one of the partners stated that his “pastorate” is his business - the bank.  It is not uncommon for senior bank management to pray with clients and customers and to share their faith stories with each other.

Since I’m a woman committed to being a part of creating a ‘marriage’ between our faith as women of faith in the Christian tradition and our place in the market place; this intriqued me.

How do we make our businesses or professional place in the world of work our “pastorate”?  Or should we?  And if we can, how do we do it without being a source of irritation or offense to those who don’t ‘cotton’ to where we are?

It’s not an easy task.  And much depends on what we have come to know is our purpose in DAD’s plan and how we are to live/work it out.  And personality plays a big part.  I’m not one to press my faith on anyone for fear of doing more ‘harm’ than good.  I understand what is often called “The Great Commission”, but I understand it as something we are, as much as what we do and say.  I understand that it relates to a different work environment.  A different manner of treating employees, customers or clients, partners and associates.  A different way of making wise and prudent business decisions (an excellent book you might want to pick up is the late Larry Burkett’s “Business By The Book”).  And a different way of looking at others with whom we do business or who might be considered “the competition”.

But what does it mean that our business or work place-place is a ‘pastorate’!  If you think of ‘pastoring’ as a word used primarily in religous circles - then it hasn’t much relevance for the work world.  However, when you think of it as a synonym for “mentoring” - then it is exceedingly relevant.  If we are managers or senior level executives in large companies, then we have awesome opportunities to ‘mentor’ those who work for us and with us - even if we never mention our faith commitment.  If we are sole proprietors, just entering or re-entering the market place, we have opportunties to be who we’ve become because of a faith relationship simply by the way we approach others as we seek to grow our businesses.

A perfect example was given me by a woman with whom I’m associated in launching a networking group in Cincinnati, Ohio.  She works for a global company where she would not dare bring any mention of her faith to the office.  However, she told of working with a young female employee who is in a domestic violence situation.  As she worked with her to help find shelter and resources, she told us that the young woman remarked, “You’re different, aren’t you?  There’s something different about you - the way you talk and care about me as a person!”

What the young woman sensed and “picked up on” was my friend’s attitude, generosity, compassion, sensitivity and sincerity borne out of her mature faith relationship.  She (my friend) never had to quote Scripture or suggest prayer or any other traditionally recognized form of the “Great Commission”.  All she had to do was be who she’s become because of her faith.

Since Monday ends at 12 midnight and tomorrow is Buzz day and another subject, I’ll say more about this and other matters related to our professional life in a talk later today.  But for now, I leave you with the suggestion that you look for ways you express who you are as a woman of faith in the Christian tradition in your business; your career and professional life. 

 Or ask yourself the question, “Do I do this on a regular basis?” 

If the answer is “no”, then perhaps it’s a good time to put learning how to do that into next year’s strategic business plan.  More and more business and professional women (and men) are finding ways to impact the market place in just this way - without offending. 

And perhaps it’s the right time to do so!

Have an AWESOME day!

  Linda

As I ponder on what to write about today it dawns on me that I am busy thinking about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. This year our family is meeting at my oldest daughter’s house, and since this is the first time she has hosted a family event she is a little stressed. Our family has grown over the years and we now have 18 who come for dinner. I have talked to her more in the past week than I think I have all month! I realize as a mother you never stop being a mentor to your children, even if it is the details of putting together a Thanksgiving dinner! I must admit I am chuckling on the inside because I think she had a lightbulb moment and realized I had been doing this for twenty plus years!

     As many of you prepare for this wonderful holiday, I thought I would share with you a wonderfully, easy recipe for stuffing, it was given to me by a friend many years ago and I make it every year. The problem is that there is never any left over! Please share some of your favorite recipe’s with me!

Phil’s Dressing

1 Bag Cornbread Stuffing

1 Bag Herb Stuffing

1 Can cream of Mushroom soup

1 Can cream of Chicken soup

1 Can cream of Celery

2-3 eggs

chopped celery

chopped onion

Chicken broth

salt, pepper, sage, & garlic powder to taste

Mix everything together and be sure to add enough broth so that it is very wet. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown on top and well set in the middle, this usually takes about 30-45 minutes.

Have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to some of your favorite family recipes.

  Kim

Just a little time today to post some interesting info that may be helpful to you.  Whether it’s another anti-aging strategy or tidbit of information or short ’stuff’ for daily life - personal, professional and business! 

Found these on a small business site and although it all seems obvious, may be new news to some of you!

How many of us, if we’re a w-2 employee, ever take time to do the worksheet on the back of any IRS form.  I never did.  But it may pay off to check your W4 IRS form to see what you put as the total amount  of allowances.   It’s recommended that you go to the back of the form and complete the worksheet. After completing the worksheet, make any necessary adjustments on the front.  Turn it back into your employer, and you may get more money back in your paycheck … more money to grow your business or reduce your debt.  This is particularly good advice for those who are still working for someone else while in the start-up mode of new business.  What a hassle it can be to do both at the same time, but well worth it once your sole venture is making enough profit for you to quit the workforce and work totally for yourself!

When business is growing, but not enough to hire additional help, consider using an intern! Many times, college students are looking for opportunities to grow their skills and put newfound knowledge to work - all at no cost to you.  One area where college interns are especially helpful is when you need a ‘geek’!  Computer technology students who are well-versed in web design and development can be invaluable to you for little or no cost!

Finally, the old adage in business is never use your own money!  When ever possible, use someone else’s money. If you need equipment, furniture, tech ’stuff’, consider leasing.  Leasing saves cash flow and lease payments are tax deductible to the extend allowed by law.

And another interesting tidbit I found relates to staying young and healthy by reducing the number of and damage done by free radicals (those pesky messy molecules floating in the body as a result of oxidation - the normal cellular processes of our bodies).  Did you know that recent research proves that jam contains up to 50% more anti-oxidants than fresh berries.  Try putting some in plain or vanilla yogurt. 

And speaking of yogurt!  When in Europe for the first time in the early 90’s, I found I had difficulty with the milk served in some of the countries.  One morning in Germany, I poured cereal and searched for an alternative.  There was a bowl of creamy strawberry yogurt nearby, so I loaded my cereal with the stuff and it was delicious!  Back in the states, I’ve continued the practice of adding yogurt to raisin bran with just enough skim milk to make it creamy.  I like Dannon’s eight-pack of strawberry and strawberry-banana.  Look for the one that has only 7 grams of carbs/sugars because I can’t remember the name of the one I use.  I’ll check it out when I leave the office and post it here tomorrow.

 Try it - it’s delicious and healthy as well!

That’s all the tips and tidbits for today!

Have a wonderful evening with much love and considerable blessings!

  Linda

What happened to Friday?  Well I can tell you it was both awesome and busy - from one early meeting to the next!

I was ‘bushed’ as the old expression goes!  I didn’t want to do anything but eat my peanut butter passion ice cream (with chocolate syrup of course) and ‘veg’ in front of the ‘tube’.  So there were no “Tips and Tidbits” for Friday.

Today looms even larger, with much computer work and g’son’s swimming meet stuffed into the day I normally do laundry and make like I ‘keep house’!

I do have some tips and tidbits which I’ll share a little later in the day.

One of the ‘casualties’ of being a sole proprietor is there is no set work week!  If it needs to be done, it gets done regardless of the day on the calendar or the hour on the clock!  Everything else in life takes a back seat. 

And if something pops up on the ‘radar screen’ that we think will benefit our business or professional life, we are usually the first to say “yes”. 

And if it’s an opportunity to network and build a new relationship(s), you bet we’ll say “YES”!  Doesn’t matter that it’s Saturday at 4:00 p.m. on a day that’s supposed to be for those “other things” that beckon for attention, like getting the call that says “oh by the way, did you know that g’son has a swim meet tomorrow?”

No, I didn’t know that!  I guess I didn’t sound too enthused since I have more work to accomplish in a 2-day time than hours in the 2-days!  But how do you say to your 10+ year-old male g’child - the first boy in the family in 53 years - “sorry, too much to do today!”

You don’t, at least I didn’t.  But I will sit there anxiously looking at the clock as the meet drags on (oh how they do drag on) hoping that our young male ‘pride and joy’ isn’t in the last heat of the day!

How do we prioritize and organize?  If someone will give me a straight-up efficient and effective answer to that - I’ll be eternally grateful and introduce them and their business to everyone I know - for the rest of my life!

I’m serious!!!

Oops, just looked at the clock and realized I’ve gotta’ run.  So more later in the day, attempting to make up for Friday’s need to ‘run away from home’ in order to ‘work on the business’, rather than in the business!’

Have an awesome morning with much support and many blessings!

  Linda

Just a short conversation to continue our focus on some anti-aging strategies we all need to stay youthful while maturing chronologically:

1) the complete list of age defying foods I found at Women’s World as follows: blackberries; walnuts; strawberries; artichoke hearts; cranberries; brewed coffee (yea!); raspberries; pecans; blueberries; ground cloves.  Hint: if you’re using a liquid nutritional supplement, check to see if the base antioxidant ingredients include some or all of the above fruits.  Also, check ORAC (measure of a supplement’s anti-oxidant capability or strength) value.  If possible look further than just the claim on the bottle or website.  There’s boo-coo supplements out there claiming everything from water drunk by 120 year old folk to “highest ORAC value of any antioxidant on the market”.  Don’t get hoodwinked into buying expensive products that don’t live up to their claims (oops, said more than I planned to),

2)  Laugh a lot.  Believe it or not, research shows that laughter provides a powerful defense against the cell-damaging molecules knows as free radicals!  Studies done on folks who watched a TV sitcom increased their ability to zap those molecules by 30%!  Laughter reduces your body’s production of stress hormones according to Dr. Richard Shames.  “As stress hormone levels plummet, our body’s ability to neutralize free radicals goes way up.  (Not giving up CSI and all my “who done it shows” though),

I think that does it for tonight!  I’ll post some more tips and tidbits tomorrow - well sometime tomorrow!  I have four meetings in the city tomorrow beginning at 9:00 a.m., so look for me here at the close of the work day tomorrow!

Have an awesome evening and drink some fruit juice while watching something that makes you laugh!

  Linda

We all have those days!

Days when we feel nothing is working.  When we wonder if we’ve made a mistake in taking the road from ‘familiar’ to ‘unknown’.  Doesn’t matter all the strategizing and careful planning we did to get here.

Days when our confidence ebbs; doubt assails and we decide “what the heck” (or entertain such a decision)!

I’m having one of those days!  I look at where I am and wonder “did I hear my purpose correctly” and the direction that purpose will take me.  It didn’t help to read an early morning internet meditation on “patience”.  PATIENCE!  I don’t want “patience” - I want action!

How does this relate to the concept of mentoring?  It relates because I made a phone call to confirm an afternoon appointment and got a ‘lift’ from a new friend.  A new friend who is also new to AWP.  I didn’t call to get mentored, but just hearing what she’s put together for us was the ‘good word’ I needed to hear that will carry through this day - and hopefully into the next.

However, my problem is one that is standard for those of us whose primary motivator is ’seeker of truth’ (or the prophetic).  We want it NOW!  Enough of this waiting around, planning, organizing, networking, etc.  It should be happening NOW that I’ve done my part - don’t you think?

From the mentoring viewpoint, let me point out that what usually is going on when we arrive at these junctures in our personal and professional life is that there is a ‘rumbling’ under the surface.  A rumbling that we can’t quite wrap our minds around with any clarity - so we take the path of least resistance and assume the worse.

We decide we’ll quit!  Now, I don’t plan to quit, but in my thought processes I’ve set that in motion.  In reality, what I need to ‘quit’ is feeling sorry for self because ’self’ has adopted a McDonald’s mentality - quick, easy, fast!  Roll up to the order station; place my order; roll up to the payment counter and wha-la - there’s my payoff (in the form of a double cheeseburger combo) in 7 minutes or less!

But there’s another lesson to be learned about McDonald’s that fits the life path we travel as we mature chronologically and move through the 2nd half of our journey.  Ever get your food and then pay?

Nope, doesn’t work that way.  You order; pay; get!  It isn’t any different in life or anything we do that has meaning, purpose and ultimate great gain.  First the order; then the timeof payment in the form of testing/learning and then the payoff.

And it won’t come to us in 7 minutes or less!  Trust me, I’ve been there - done that - and am still waiting for the big payoff!  And therein, in the interim, lies fallow ground that looks like it will never produce much of anything.  I wouldn’t make a good farmer at all.  I want to plant the seed one day and go out the next and find a full crop!  Or at least something peeking out of the ground. 

And when the ground is still barren while the process is occurring in secret, I engage in the art or game of discouragement.  Anybody else out there with me in this?

And when the going gets a wee bit tougher and the screw appears to turn a little tighter - I panic! 

What I’ve learned - and that’s all I can share with you is from my personal experience and the understandings I’ve gained - is that what you hear beneath your emotional and mental ‘feet’ is ‘rumbling’!  The quiet movement of change.  The movement that means it’s coming, but it ‘ain’t’ here yet!

In my opinion, one of the greatest challenges to moving from the 1st half of the journey to the 2nd is that the urgency that is part of what brought us to the realization we’re somehow somewhere else in life than we were; is a need to have it happen yesterday!  When it doesn’t and days go by without the appearance of any visible activity - we make rash decisions, if only in our heads because we’re listening to our feelings rather than to the rumbling beneath our feet.

These are the days when we need someone to mentor us!  To say something that will jolt us out of doubt and discouragement.  And I don’t mean pat platitudes!  Something that is signifcant enough to cause us to put on the shelf any mental decisions or actions that might be construed as ‘quitting’ the process.

I often wonder if Moses and Aaron had days like today?  I’m sure they must have expected Pharoah to roll over and play dead the first time they asked.  Didn’t happen that way and it took at least 10 asks before the job was done.  If Moses was like me, he probably started questioning the voice that flowed from the burning bush.  However, he had someone with him, someone who in addition to being the one with eloquent speech - may have been the one that said, “Moses, I hear rumblin’ beneath our feet and I tell you; stay in there, it’s comin!”

I’m so grateful for the conversation this a.m. from a friend who, without knowing, knocked me up the side of the head.  That’s one of the things that mentors do well - knock us gently up the side of the head.

If I were to mentor those who come here today (or tomorrow), I’d say that when plans go ’screwy’ and things we need in motion; don’t move. . . REMEMBER, that there’s rumblin’ beneath our feet, even if we don’t hear it!  Because how we react to the ‘messes’ that will invariably come our way, is just the thing we probably need to work out in our live so that what we are meant to do and want to have happen - will!

So, having said all the above, I’m going out to ‘water’ what’s been planted and pray for sun. 

If you’re in a ‘funk’ and need a word from a mentor - take heart!  There’s one somewhere in your life.  Seek her out!  Talk honestly to her and then let her words sink in and take root in the soil of your doubt or discouragement. 

There’s nothing like a little sweet talk to mellow the soil!

Have an awesome day with loads ‘a love and great blessings!

  Linda