Wrapping Up October

Can you imagine this is the last week of October? It doesn't seem real. It has been a pretty interesting year so far- things have been picking up financially- mostly due to the success of our 2 big events, so that has definitely been a good thing. This has been a tough month and I'm not where I had planned to be after our events- I had a lot of things that I was going to work on that I simply haven't gotten to yet. Maybe some of it was a bit too ambitious (if there is such a thing), but mom's injury also really threw me- probably more than it should have. But, I can't worry about time lost and things that I didn't get done. The most important thing is that I'm getting back on track and will get to the things that I had planned to already have done. Mom is getting better too, so that has been a relief.

Things were moving along pretty well today. I was late as usual in working on our October newsletter, but I did get it almost all done. I just need to send it Lisa, so she can format it, then send it to our web host. Earlier this year, I set a goal that we would double the number of people on our email list- so far, we have already more than tripled it. It is such a great feeling when you set a goal that you're not even sure you'll get too and end up passing it. I usually do our newsletters at the end of the month, but I don't like leaving it to the very end like this.

I was also working on a grant which is due on Monday. It is a slightly different grant than ones we usually work on. We are asking for the maximum amount of $5,000. We are a perfect fit for what they fund, but I'm not sure how much of a chance we have. They only choose a couple of organizations to fund and they don't have a lot of money, but we would be ideal. They like to fund organizations that help children and smaller non profits as well- perfect for us.

I did read an interesting article today about dealing with email. I have a problem with my email- I'm sure it is a very common problem. I get a lot of emails everyday, I will read them, but don't always respond immediately, but then sometimes I will forget to respond. I know it is bad to respond late or to forget to respond at all and I need to fix that. The article was based on advice by a Google CEO. He responds to every email immediately- either forward, delete, reply or decide that you will never reply. I need to train myself to do that. I did try this afternoon, I responded to some, but then got distracted with other things (the grant) and told myself that I would come back to it later, but I still haven't and it is now 1:30am. It takes 21 consecutive days to develop a new habit, so I need some time. I think that's a great idea though and I want to improve my handling of email.

Well friends, it is 1:34 and I need to sleep. I was slightly traumatized with a super early wake up call this morning, but I survived and managed to get quite a bit done. Except right now, my eye is closing and I'm starting to think that I can just roll over and fall asleep without turning off computer, getting laundry from dryer, putting out lights, brushing teeth, writing my list for tomorrow- it seems like too much work. Until tomorrow friends...