I will persist until I succeed

The following is more great wisdom from Oz Mandino's book "The Greatest Salesman in the World". I will persist until I succeed. In the Orient young bulls are tested for the fight arena. Each is brought to the ring and allowed to attach a picador who pricks them with a lance. The bravery of each bull is then rated according to the number of times he demonstrates his willingness to charge in spite of the sting of the blade. Henceforth will I recognize that each day I am tested by life. If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed. I was not delivered in this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny. I will persist until I succeed. The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning; and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I will persist until I succeed. Happy Friday, Shanda

New Arrival for Heather!

Heather Barnes had several new arrivals this weekend. She has 11 puppies! They are 1/2 Mastiff and 1/2 German Shepard. She has 7 girls and 4 boys. If anyone is interested in a new puppy (that will grow to be a LARGE dog) let Heather know! I hope everyone has a great week! Bridget

Jeremy & Jayla

I normally would not post a picture of my husband or children, but I honestly can't remember the last time that I shared a photo with you. Hope everyone has a wonderful Friday!! Janna

New Baby

In case you have not already heard after 15 years Dana Ford is a new mother again. As you can tell from the pictures, the baby is already the boss. He tells them when they can go to bed and when to get up. Dana has come to work with bags under her eyes complaining of sleepless nights. Dana is learning all over again how expensive it is to have a new baby. Big sister, Kyla is doing her part by walking the baby in his new stroller. Be sure to send Dana your congratulations on the arrival of Rebel. Choose to have a great day, Shanda

Manager's Meeting

Normally, we would ask for topic ideas for the meeting. I don't think that anyone sent an email out asking for ideas. If there is something that you would like to be discussed let me know. There are several times after a meeting an employee will call me to discuss a meeting topic. This is fine but if you have any suggestions or ideas during the meeting you need to speak up. Part of having these meetings are so we can all share ideas. If you do not speak up til after the meeting your idea or suggestion might not make it to everyone else. We have lost a lot of good ideas from this. Look forward to seeing you! Kim

Guest blogger today!

Good Morning!

Normally Monday's are my day to post but today I am going to let Tracie Dueitt post about her adventure she had yesterday.

Yesterday morning I noticed the vent had came off my dryer, so I was headed to my bedroom to grab my phone to call my brother to come fix the problem. As I was walking into my bedroom, something charged at my foot. I probably jumped 3 feet and looked down to see what was trying to eat me, and all I could think of at the moment was a skinny opossum. I ran into the living room and jumped in the chair with my daughter and told her not to move or get down. There was some type of animal in the house. Then, I heard it beside us and it made it's way to my son's room, who wasn't at home that morning. I followed it to the room and watched it go under his dresser. I quickly shut the door to his room and ran to grab my phone. By now, I have come to realize what type of animal I had acquired. It was a ferret! I called my step father and he didn't answer. I called my brother and he said he wasn't going to touch the nasty thing. I was alone in getting this thing out of my house. I opened my patio door and opened the bedroom door and ran and jumped on the couch. It slowly came out of the bedroom and finally made it's way out onto the patio. I slammed the door shut and went out my front door and waited for the ferret to make it's way off the patio. It eventually left and went towards the wooded area. I parked my daughter's play car in front of the dryer vent to block entry back into my home. At last, my morning adventure was over, or so I thought.

About 20 minutes later my neighbor was tapping on my door. I opened the door and there he was with the ferret. He asked if the animal belonged to me. I told him it did not, but I had just ran the thing out of my house. The ferret went into his apartment the same way it entered mine. Our dryer vent's are beside each other. He took the ferret back in and began to feed it crackers. He later brought it back outside and taped up his vent and took the ferret to the other side of our building and showed it the other dryer vents.

After a little while longer I heard scratching and peeped out my door. The ferret had made it's way back to our side and tore the tape and cardboard that my neighbor had just rigged up to keep him out of it. I watched him go into the vent and I knocked on my neighbors door. He never came to the door, so, I figured he would realize the animal was back in his house in a few moments. We called our maintenance line and animal control when this all began at 9:30 am and I left my house at 1:30 pm and no one had shown up before I left. I returned at 5:30 and my neighbor had placed Adi's car so it would block both vents and added more weight by shoving Adi's bicycle against the car. I searched my home and didn't find the little monster. I haven't spoken to my neighbor yet to see what happened after I left. So, just remember this story and take extra safety precautions, like a screen, to keep you from waking to unwanted animals in your home.

Have a great day!

Bridget & Tracie

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

We thought we would share a few facts about Valentine's day

~The Valentine's Day is observed as the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion, according to Hallmark research.

~The number of Valentine's Day cards exchanged annually is around 180 million.

~Over 1 billion Valentine cards are sent in the U.S each year

~Over 50 million roses are given on the Valentine's Day each year

~Women purchase 85% of all valentines.

If you have a Valentine's Day story that you would like to share, please do so on the comments page. If you don't have a Valentine's Day story tell us how you met your sweetheart.

Hope you all have a GREAT Valentine's! Shanda & Kim

Happy Belated Birthday!!

Shanda celebrated her birthday this past Sunday. Since we had an Area Manager's meeting in Fulton yesterday, we decided to have a small party for her.

Happy Birthday Shanda!!

Janna

This is Jessica Steele's baby, Sam! He is 3 months old.

Please send in pics that you would like to share. Please make sure if you want us to share them with everyone on the blog you specify!

Kim

sweet pic!

As most of you already know I am an animal lover. I have 3 dogs, 1 cat, 2 turtles and 1 Hamster. I thought I would share this picture with everyone. Aubrey and I took a nap and I woke up and found her dog had curled up with her to take a nap also.

Hope everyone has a great week! Remember to collect on returned checks!! We should have the winners of January soon!

Bridget

Everyone has been working hard selling the relay for life T-shirts. Yesterday afternoon the first order arrived and Bridget and Nikki were busy dividing them out to the offices.

Are you wearing your shirt today? This is a great way to advertise.

Managers mark your calendar for Thursday, February 19th, 10 AM. This is the date of our 1st Manager's meeting this year. Bring some good ideas.

Dana, Jana, Shanda, Kristie, Laken,

Brooke

Have a great weekend,

Shanda

Southern Belle T-Shirts

They are here!!! This is our BIGGEST fundraiser for Relay for Life. We raised the most money last year and we hope to get that title again!! Get out there and sell!!!!

Bridget

Hernando Office

As most of you know, Belinda Stevens is an extremely proud Nana. I know I receive at least 4 to 6 pictures of her grandchild each month. Braeden is 16 months old and is already driving a tractor. I believe that Belinda's husband, Gerald, started a little early training her! She's precious. Janna

History of Ground Hog Day

The legend of Groundhog Day is based on an old Scottish couplet: "If Candlemas Day is bright and clear, there'll be two winters in the year." Every February 2, people gather at Gobbler's Knob, a wooded knoll just outside of Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Residents contend that the groundhog has never been wrong. The ceremony in Punxsutawney was held in secret until 1966, and only Phil's prediction was revealed to the public. Since then, Phil's fearless forecast has been a national media event. The groundhog comes out of his electrically heated burrow, looks for his shadow and utters his prediction to a Groundhog Club representative in "groundhogese." The representative then translates the prediction for the general public. If Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it means six more weeks of winter. If he does not see his shadow, it means spring is just around the corner. Approximately 90% of the time, Phil sees his shadow. Phil started making predictions in 1887 and has become an American institution.

Phil did see his shadow today. Be prepared for a longer winter!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Bridget Adams