Friday, December 20, 2019
I had a brilliant thought the other day. My two grown children, Marcus and Megan, know the truth of my untimely end and of my plan to record video messages for them. I have a few ideas of messages I want them to hear; however, I should ask them what messages they want to hear. It is the same way in business; you give people what they want, not what you think they want, if you want to succeed.
Last night I asked Megan to give me a video message request list. I plan to ask Marcus for a video message request list tonight. I told Megan a few of the topics I had in mind such as when she pays off her house and becomes a foster mom. Megan quickly expanded foster mom into adoptive mom (she plans to adopt some of her foster kids eventually) and birth mom (she has not ruled out giving birth if a future husband really wants to have biological children).
Megan also came up with a few ideas I had not even considered. Megan will make a list for me as she thinks about what she would like to hear me say. I know Megan wants a video stating she is my favorite child. I think I could do such a video for each of my children. I can think for a while about the special memories I have of my children and pick one special memory to do a “do you know why you are my favorite?” video. Those videos could be fun to create.
I had a chance to quickly look at the three video messages I recorded the other day. One is probably useable, one is definitely not useable, and the third is a maybe. I had some seriously weird expressions on my face when I watched a few seconds of the third video. Do I really look like that when I talk? In a few weeks I will watch each video again to decide if any of them can start my video message collection. It will be so nice to finally get the video message task going strong.
My clutter clearing task is almost starting to show a little progress. I have most of Megan’s belonging out of my lower level great room and Marcus is coming over Sunday to put together my Christmas tree, hang the tree lights (outdoor lights need to wait until next year), and rearrange the shelf height in my youngest’s, Mika, room. Mika and I have started the great toy sort of 2019 and today she did a pretty good job. We have a keep, donate, and trash bucket; and, as we go, we are stacking her keep toys in buckets in the corner (where I was keeping Megan’s moving boxes) so I can go through them again and make the final decision for them to stay or be donated.
I am a little torn as what to do with my donate buckets when I am finished filling them. I want to donate the toys quickly, so the stuff is gone from my house forever; however, Megan has started collecting donations and supplies for the next set of Comfort and Care backpacks she gave to foster kids earlier this year. It has occurred to me that I could host a free yard sale this summer and ask for cash donations from those who would like to give to her cause. I could donate the left-over items to a thrift store after our free sale.
If I can clear out most of my lower-level clutter by summer, I will have twenty to thirty storage buckets full of free sale items and maybe Megan can collect $100 in donations or more for her backpack supplies. I am not sure I am willing to keep all that stuff for six months after I have it ready to donate. I have a couple of weeks for Mika and me to complete our sorting process, so I do not need to decide what to do today.
My piece of advice to you is to ask your family what they want from you. You may think they want a perfect holiday dinner, and they simply want to make cookies with you and order Chinese food.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.
I had a brilliant thought the other day. My two grown children, Marcus and Megan, know the truth of my untimely end and of my plan to record video messages for them. I have a few ideas of messages I want them to hear; however, I should ask them what messages they want to hear. It is the same way in business; you give people what they want, not what you think they want, if you want to succeed.
Last night I asked Megan to give me a video message request list. I plan to ask Marcus for a video message request list tonight. I told Megan a few of the topics I had in mind such as when she pays off her house and becomes a foster mom. Megan quickly expanded foster mom into adoptive mom (she plans to adopt some of her foster kids eventually) and birth mom (she has not ruled out giving birth if a future husband really wants to have biological children).
Megan also came up with a few ideas I had not even considered. Megan will make a list for me as she thinks about what she would like to hear me say. I know Megan wants a video stating she is my favorite child. I think I could do such a video for each of my children. I can think for a while about the special memories I have of my children and pick one special memory to do a “do you know why you are my favorite?” video. Those videos could be fun to create.
I had a chance to quickly look at the three video messages I recorded the other day. One is probably useable, one is definitely not useable, and the third is a maybe. I had some seriously weird expressions on my face when I watched a few seconds of the third video. Do I really look like that when I talk? In a few weeks I will watch each video again to decide if any of them can start my video message collection. It will be so nice to finally get the video message task going strong.
My clutter clearing task is almost starting to show a little progress. I have most of Megan’s belonging out of my lower level great room and Marcus is coming over Sunday to put together my Christmas tree, hang the tree lights (outdoor lights need to wait until next year), and rearrange the shelf height in my youngest’s, Mika, room. Mika and I have started the great toy sort of 2019 and today she did a pretty good job. We have a keep, donate, and trash bucket; and, as we go, we are stacking her keep toys in buckets in the corner (where I was keeping Megan’s moving boxes) so I can go through them again and make the final decision for them to stay or be donated.
I am a little torn as what to do with my donate buckets when I am finished filling them. I want to donate the toys quickly, so the stuff is gone from my house forever; however, Megan has started collecting donations and supplies for the next set of Comfort and Care backpacks she gave to foster kids earlier this year. It has occurred to me that I could host a free yard sale this summer and ask for cash donations from those who would like to give to her cause. I could donate the left-over items to a thrift store after our free sale.
If I can clear out most of my lower-level clutter by summer, I will have twenty to thirty storage buckets full of free sale items and maybe Megan can collect $100 in donations or more for her backpack supplies. I am not sure I am willing to keep all that stuff for six months after I have it ready to donate. I have a couple of weeks for Mika and me to complete our sorting process, so I do not need to decide what to do today.
My piece of advice to you is to ask your family what they want from you. You may think they want a perfect holiday dinner, and they simply want to make cookies with you and order Chinese food.
Until next time,
Susanne
Please check out my GoFundMe page.