Last year about this time I did the word resolution thing. My word was discipline and I think I forgot about it about a week after the post. This year I'm going to go back to having an actual list of goals. I never get them all done, but I do get some of them done. I think this will work better for me because when you are smack in the middle of the forest, as I always seem to be, you can only see the trees, not the forest. I need the details (trees) of a list, versus the forest of a word. Plus, I like reviewing the list at the end of the year and realizing that I did get some goals done. I'm working on a list now.
Are you doing a word, goals, or resolutions?
The big thing going on right now is that my son and I are starting a business. It's On the Job Janitorial and we just got our first job, a building in downtown Greenville. We are both really stoked about this. We start on Tuesday the 2nd. It's only a few hours a week. We are responsible for the public areas, not the individual shops. After we get the routine down we hope to add a couple more office cleaning accounts.
Some of you who have read my blog for a long time will know that our son has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). He is high functioning--what many people call Aspergers. He's 19 now and has not been able to find employment. He's not interested in college, and with his dyslexia he'd have to be really motivated to succeed at a college or university. I've been racking my brain for a job that would be a good fit for him. I finally decided that working at a janitorial service would be good. He doesn't do well around a lot of people, or if he's pressured to work fast. I'm pleased that he likes this idea too, and is very motivated to do this work.
I will have to get up earlier than I like, since most of the work will be done before the shops open in the building. I'm not a morning person. I'm thinking that the upside will be that since I'm up, I will just go work on jewelry after I finish with the janitorial duties. I'm hoping I'll get more done. And of course, the big upside which is employment for us both.
It's odd that it took me this long to think of a janitorial service. That's because I kind of did this before. Years ago I helped a friend find employment cleaning houses and apartments. I booked the jobs and she did the cleaning. After a period of time she learned enough English to get a good job at a hospital in addition to the apartment cleaning.
Now is the perfect time to have thought of it though, because a year ago our son wouldn't have been ready for it, and now he is. It's a blessing.
I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season. We had a great Christmas visiting with family. We spent Christmas eve at my parents and had Christmas dinner at my brother's place.
Happy New Year! May 2012 be a great year for us all.
Other Snippets from a Todd Family Christmas
My parents, my husband, our son, and I are all in the car headed to the family Christmas on Christmas Eve at my brother's. I'm driving and we're in the driveway negotiating the cattle gate.
Me: "Dad, did you check the mail?"
Dad: "What?"
Me, loudly: "Did you check the mail?"
Dad, louder: "What?"
Me: "Never mind. We should have checked it on our way in." They have a rural box some distance from the house.
Hubby: "You can check it now. Drive up on my side."
Dad: "What?"
Me, very loudly: "The mailbox, Dad."
Mom: "You can drive up to the mailbox from the gate because I had it put in the right place."
Me: "Good thinking, Mom."
Our son, who has his earphones in and hasn't heard a single word we've said now realizes I've shouted something.
Son: "Do you have to argue?"
Me, as I drive to the mailbox: "It's a Todd tradition. We love to argue."
And we had a great Christmas at my brother's. I managed to take a lot of bad and not so great pictures, except the one above of Shaggy. All but my brother's oldest made it in for Christmas, although the youngest was at work Christmas Eve and we had to leave before she got home.
There was no arguing.
There was this later after most of the presents had been opened....
I hand my Dad an envelope with our main present to them, which is money. "Okay," Dad jokes. "If you don't tell Mom about this I won't tell her." We both laugh.
A while later I sit down next to Mom on the couch and see an unopened card addressed to "Mom and Dad." I hand it to Mom and help her by reading it. (Mom is blind.)
"It's from C and L (my brother and sister-in-law.)" I say. "There's money in it." Coincidentally, it is the exact same amount of money that we gave Mom and Dad.
I cannot resist. "Mom," I say. "I won't tell Dad about this if you won't." And both of us laugh.
Merry Christmas, happy holidays and happy New Year to all.It's almost Christmas and I'm really behind. Of course, this is nothing unusual. It's a little bit worse this year because Stefan was sick for about a week and then I caught what he had. Last weekend we enjoyed a family reunion. It was the descendants of my grandfather and his siblings and we hadn't gotten together in a while. Most of the people I didn't know. It was fun though. Tomorrow I will hopefully finish up shopping. Then YIKES! Everything has to be wrapped. We're going to my parents for Christmas Saturday night and will come back Sunday evening. We're having early Christmas there since one of my nieces has to fly back to New York on Christmas day. We'll be back home Sunday night then off early the next morning for Christmas Eve at Ralph's family, then back home for our own Christmas. Everyone lives a couple of hours from us, but that 's not too bad.There's no Christmas tree this year. I know better. Scrappy is 6 months old and shows no sign of slowing down. Worse yet, he is enticing Nikko into doing things Nikko knows he shouldn't. Since they both love trees I think the Christmas tree would be too big a temptation this year. Scrappy is interested in everything. Just earlier he was hanging off the kitchen counter by his toes trying to get a look in the microwave. He rushes into the kitchen every time he hears someone open the microwave door. After Christmas I need to sit down and try to get a handle on what shows to do in 2008. I'm going to try some new ones this year and pass on a couple I have been doing.
