Life

Preparing to Fast

Karen

I’ve been reading about fasting.

Don’t worry, I’m not developing an eating disorder and though I’d like to lose about thirty more pounds, I’m not leaning toward fasting to obtain that goal, either.

No, I think fasting would be a good thing for me to do, once in a while, to give my intestines a rest.

Before we go any further, I’m fine. In fact, I’m more than fine, I’m feeling pretty great, quite honestly. I’m so excited to have regular BM’s again that I proudly tell my family whenever it happens because I’m so overjoyed with getting back to normal. (Though funny at first, my family is getting quite sick of my little “announcements”. I’ll have to celebrate on my own in the future, I think).

I even lost weight from this whole ordeal, which is a nice little side perk from having my guts surgically removed from my bloated body. A few days before I finally threw in the white towel and went to the emergency room, I weighed myself.

I never weigh myself. One, it’s useless. I’m a big woman and I have some poundage under the best circumstances and two, I keep track of my body mass by how tight my clothes are fitting. But something felt off … I was bloated, my fingers were sausages, my face looked like someone stuffed walnuts into my cheeks. The thing was, I wasn’t eating. I felt too full/bloated/uncomfortable to eat anything and yet, my body kept expanding.

Out of curiosity, I weighed myself. And nearly had a heart attack. The number was NOT flattering. In fact, it was quite shocking.

Of course NOW I know that that was largely due to the fact that I was carrying an extra three feet of intestine inside my body and had weeks worth of fecal matter impacted in my intestinal walls.

A few weeks after my surgery (can you believe it’ll be a MONTH since my surgery on Thursday??), after the swelling had gone down and my poochy belly wasn’t so poochy, I weighed myself again.

I had to get my glasses because I was convinced I wasn’t reading it correctly.

I had lost FIFTEEN POUNDS!!

Wow. (By the way, I would NOT recommend having your guts removed as a weight loss option. Just saying).

So … NICE. Fifteen pounds lighter. I’ll take it. In fact, I was able to finally fit into a pair of jeans that I couldn’t even button shortly after my surgery. They’re still tight, but not to the point where I can’t breathe.

I wore them the past few days and I felt GOOD about myself. I plan on keeping that poundage off so I can continue to wear them. (Remember? Don’t buy bigger clothes – that just gets you into trouble).

However, last night, I started feeling … weird. My insides were sore and tender. They’re still a bit on the tender side today, but not as bad. And I think that’s because I wore my tight jeans the past few days and the pressure just squeezed them too much. I’m giving them a little more breathing room today.

Also, my insides have started grumbling again. Not like they were before my surgery, but like they were waaay back before any of this became an issue (about five years ago).

So I’m wondering, is this normal? I’m guessing it’s trapped gas – I’m passing gas, so I’m not worried about that, but the rumbling is happening in different areas, deeper areas.

Some of that grumbling could be because I”m hungry. I’ve been trying not to eat as much as I have been, mainly because I figured it’s easier for my body to process and then dump, but it’s got me thinking …

What if my problem comes back? I mean, don’t laugh, but what if I start growing extra intestine again? Which begs the question, how the heck did that extra intestine even get there to begin with? (A question I plan on asking my doctor when I go back and see him in a couple of weeks). I mean, I was born with it, so my doctor says. Did it grow with me? I mean, if I’ve had it my entire life, why hasn’t it given me problems before now? Or, did my body just produce extra intestine over time and … is it possible for that to happen again??

I know it sounds bizarre, but the fact is, I had three feet of extra intestine … this is not usual. I even tried Googling it and came up empty. Now, if the Internet doesn’t even acknowledge a person having extra intestine then you KNOW it must be something weird and out of the ordinary.

I guess I’m wondering … is the grumbling I’m having causing my intestine to stretch and grow? I know this sounds a bit alien-ish, but honestly, we’re in science fiction territory here: I don’t have an alien in my body, but I DO have extra organs.

Tell me that’s not weird.

At any rate, I’m relearning my body once again. I’ve been paying close attention to how it’s working and I’ve been eating all of the foods that I avoided before all of this craziness even began. I’ve been eating fruits, peanuts, ice cream, brans, oats and so far … everything seems to be working just fine, though I do wonder if some of these foods are causing me excess gas, which would explain the grumbling.

I’m also thinking about scar tissue … a lot.

I was reading a blog the other day, and the gal had had to go to the hospital because her small intestine stopped working. They suggested she not eat anything for a few days and walk. (Walking encourages your bowels to move) and to my knowledge, that did the trick.

The doctors suggested she fast because doing so gives your intestines a break. Things quieten down in there and they have a chance to naturally discharge anything that’s built up – they have a chance to “catch up”, if you will.

When you’re in the hospital, they will often put patients on NPO (nothing by mouth) to give your body a rest and make sure your stomach is empty before surgery, etc.

So I’m wondering, should I be fasting once in a while to help heal my intestines? Will that help prevent build-ups around my incision and will that prevent future problems? I’m thinking, what can it hurt?

I mentioned that I’ve been reading about fasting and wow. There are of course, all sorts of fads and weird rituals you can supposedly do to cleanse your colon, but I don’t want to jump on any fad wagon, I just want to cleanse my body as naturally as possible.

The question is, how? And for how long? I’m still doing some research, I’ll let you know what I end up doing and how it goes. But I feel like I should try this if for no other reason than to give my body a rest and hopefully prevent any future complications from developing from scar tissue.

My steri-strips have nearly all fallen off. My scar has been itching like crazy, which is a good sign, I guess, it’s healing. I’m still not supposed to do any sort of exercising for another two weeks (save for walking), but other than that, I seem to be getting back to normal. I wasn’t able to walk very fast for a few weeks (whenever Kevin and I went shopping, he would have to slow down to wait for me to catch up. It’s funny, our situations are completely reversed than what they were when he was recovering from his motorcycle accident), and coughing and sneezing nearly killed me. But now, none of that stuff bothers me anymore and I’m back to waiting for Kevin to catch up with me. I still have some pretty significant pressure and pain if I push too much, so I’m taking it easy in that regard, but otherwise, things are getting back to normal.

I FEEL normal again. Now I’m on a mission to keep it that way. I don’t want to obsess about having scar tissue complications down the road, but it’s hard not to think about it when it’s a very real concern.

Updated: So, I spoke too soon, apparently. I’m feeling uncomfortable today, but I don’t know if it’s gas, tenderness or what. I also have what looks like a blister around my incision. Of course I Googled it and incisional hernia came up. I don’t think that’s what this is, I think it’s a blister as the area is precisely under where the zipper of my jeans would rub. I’ve put some gauze on it to protect it and I will definitely keep an eye on it, but I don’t think there is anything to worry about at this point. It’s so weird, I felt fine until today. But like I said, I’ve been eating foods I’ve been avoiding up to this point so it might be a gassy reaction from something I ate. But again, I’ll pay close attention and bring it to my doctor’s attention when I see him in a few weeks. Don’t worry (mom). 🙂

Abundant Life

Audio Teaching: Financial Stewardship – God’s Heart Concerning Money And Possessions

Karen

by Dan Gallagher
What is God’s heart concerning man’s relationship to money and material possessions? If you’ve ever desired freedom in the area of finances and material possessions, this teaching is for you. Dan Gallagher develops the concept of Stewardship as the biblical balance between the Poverty and Prosperity extremes taught by some Christians. He also looks at the biblical concept of ownership and property rights. This most practical teaching sets forth nine principles of godly financial stewardship by which you can really get a handle on this critical area of life.

Click the arrow to listen.

Handout | Transcription | Related topic

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Food

Cooking Southwest Chicken Burgers

Karen

I have to take a moment to brag on my husband (yes honey, I do). Not only is the man a BRILLIANT accountant, and a ROCKIN’ guitar player, the man CAN COOK.

In fact, he’s been cooking a lot lately. And it’s a good thing because I think our can opener is wearing out on me. (Ha! You think I’m kidding, don’t you).

But the thing is, as with everything my husband does, he puts 150% of his energy into whatever he’s focused on at the moment, and right now? He’s focused on cooking. (Well, cooking and his business). Not only cooking, but cooking new (and strange?) foods.

This week, we are having chicken burgers, southwest breakfast and meatballs (not in the same recipe though …?), not spaghetti and meatballs, but just meatballs, with mashed potatoes.

I don’t help. In fact, I stay out of his way. I only assist with preparing ingredients, sauces or whatever he might need to be mixed and/or added while he’s concentrating on the main ingredient of the moment. I also wash the 1001 dishes he dirties up as he’s cooking.

The man is not afraid to use every conceivable kitchen tool he can to obtain perfection.

He cooked us Southwest Chicken Burgers last night. It was an interesting concoction of ground chicken, jalapeno peppers, avocado and salsa.

chicken Burgers

Jazz promptly scraped off the avocado and salsa (which I knew he would), but Dude actually tried it as is. (He later scraped off the avocado. Oh well, they don’t know until they try, right?)

Did we like it? Welllllll ….. we didn’t hate it. We’ll definitely put it in our recipe rotation, but I doubt we have it very often. However, it’s worth trying so I thought I would give you the recipe so you could try it for yourself.

Southwest Chicken Burgers

Prep: 20 minutes | Grill: 13 minutes | Makes: 4 servings

3 Tablespoons finely chopped green pepper
3/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 pound uncooked ground chicken
1 cup shredded Monterey-Jack cheese w/ jalapeno peppers (if desired)
4 Kaiser-rolls (or large hamburger buns – toasted is best)
1 medium avocado, seeded, peeled and sliced.
Bottled salsa (optional)

One
In a large bowl combine sweet pepper, chili powder, salt, and black pepper. Add ground chicken, mix well. Shape chicken mixture into four 3/4 inch thick patties. (Which is rather hard to do as the mixture doesn’t want to stick. But it firms up while it cooks).

Two
Grill burgers (we used our George Foreman grill, but you could use a grill-grill too, only be careful the mixture doesn’t seep between the grill bars) for 14 to 18 minutes or until no longer pink (165 degrees), turning once halfway through grilling.

Three
Sprinkle each burger with cheese. Grill for 1 to 2 minutes more or until cheese melts.

Four
Serve burgers on rolls/buns. If desired, top with avocado and salsa. (Also, toast the buns. TASTY!)

We made a note to actually make guacamole next time and skip the salsa. Though the salsa was good, we think guacamole will be better.

Enjoy!

(I daresay there will be more recipe posts in the future. He has sticky notes on a ton of pages in many of our cookbooks. Stay tuned).

Abundant Life

Teaching: Becoming Like Christ

Karen

Every Sunday I provide videos and valuable links to the Truth or Tradition teachings. We’ve been following the Truth or Tradition teachings for many years now and they have truly blessed our family. We have found peace and happiness through our beliefs and we walk confidently for God. My hope, by passing on this information to you, is that what you find here, or on the Truth or Tradition website, will guide you to a better, more blessed and abundant life.

If you would like to read my views on religion and how we got started with the ministry, you can read this.

Let’s get started:

I once heard the famous American radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh, asked: “If you had to be stranded on a desert island with one man from the history of the world, who would it be?” And he answered, “Jesus Christ.” Good choice, although Rush may have been mostly thinking of the walking on water thing. Limbaugh is a professed Christian, but even the secular world, perhaps unknowingly, daily acknowledges the profound historical impact of the only begotten Son of God. How? Well, actually every time they date a document, with the unspoken “A.D.” understood to follow. Others acknowledge him on the other end of the historical scale when they read the comic strip, “B.C.” And of course, a number of people even invoke his name regularly, albeit some of those when they hit their thumb with a hammer.

Jesus Christ is the most famous man who ever lived, and, given the quality of his life, would no doubt be considered by even some non-Christians as the person they would most want to emulate. Sad to say that even many Christians, those who profess him as their Lord and Savior, doubt that they could ever really be like him. Part of the “Good News” of the gospel of Jesus Christ is that every believer, every member of the Body of Christ, can be like the Lord. In fact, he gave us the example of his life primarily to inspire us to “…walk just as He walked” (1 John 2:6-NKJV). That would be a fantasy were it not for the truth that he also filled us with his spirit to enable us to be like he was and do what he did (John 14:12).

By definition, the word “becoming” indicates growth and change, a “getting from here to there,” if you will. From where I am to where he is, and that involves a path. If “I am the way” just came to your mind, bravo! The word “way” means a path or road, and we know from that verse (John 14:6) that Jesus Christ is the only way to everlasting salvation. He is also the only way to maximizing the benefits of our salvation in this twisted world. Because he blazed a trail of faith to the heart of God, he can and will walk (and run) beside you and me step by step on our individual paths of righteousness. He knows the way to wholeness because he is The Way.

Hebrews 12:1-3
(1) Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, [the examples of those believers set forth in Hebrews 11] let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.
(2) Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
(3) Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

The Greek word translated “author” in verse 2 above is archegos, and it means “the first one in line in a column or file.” Jesus Christ is the first and only human being who walked a path of complete trust (faith) in his heavenly Father, and by so doing made it possible for us to do likewise. The same word appears in Acts 3:15 (KJV), which calls Jesus “the prince [archegos] of life.” Jesus Christ is the first and only person who ever lived life to the fullest, and now you and I, energized by his spirit within us, can follow suit and “…have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). And in Hebrews 2:10 (KJV), Jesus is referred to as “…the captain [archegos] of our salvation….” He is the only man who could have cleared and paved the way to everlasting life. Now that path is clearly “marked out” for us, so let us follow in his steps.

As Hebrews 12:2 exhorts, we are to “fix our eyes” on Jesus as we run the race, keeping his sterling example vividly in mind. Our very personal Lord has a personal curriculum of growth for each of us, and he is always right there with us, beckoning us ever forward into greater intimacy with him.

Matthew 11:28-30
(28) “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
(29) Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
(30) For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

I don’t know about you (actually, I do—see Rom. 7:14-25), but there is something in me that, if I allow it to, works against my desire to get close to Jesus. You guessed it—it is the deceitful and disgusting “sin living in me” (Rom. 7:17), and it tries to get me to believe a lot of lies, both about Jesus and about myself. Consider the record in Luke 5:1-9, the first part of which I will summarize as follows:

One day Jesus was preaching the Word on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and the crowd grew too big to hear him well. He saw a boat and asked the owner, Simon Peter, if he could use it, requesting that he shove out a ways to take advantage of the acoustic benefits of the water carrying his voice. Peter didn’t realize that Jesus intended to rent the boat (“the workman is worthy of his hire”), but after he finished preaching, Jesus told Pete to go into deeper waters, cast out his nets, and he would get some fish. Now Peter may have been thinking, “Well, actually, you’re a carpenter and I’m the fisherman, and we just spent the whole night out there and didn’t catch a thing. But hey, for you I’ll go through the motions.” “Holy mackerels!” They had so many fish in the net that they had to get the other boat to come over and help haul them in.

And then Peter, still on the boat with Jesus, said the logical, obvious thing: “Wow! Thanks so much for the tip. Take some fish home to the family.” Nope. He said: “Jesus, would you please get off the boat?” Why, because Jesus was a sinful man? No, Peter said: Because “…I am a sinful man!” Like Peter, when I get close to the Lord Jesus, I can clearly see the gap between what he is like and what I am like, and I am tempted to separate myself from him so as to lessen the frustration in seeing how far I have to go to close the gap. Sure, because if, as in Peter’s situation, Jesus went far enough away, he’d be almost indistinguishable, and Peter could deny reality and say that he looked a lot like Jesus. No, we must “fix our eyes” on Jesus, that is, fine tune our perspective of him so there is no distortion in our perceptions of his grace, his mercy, and his love. When we do, we will run toward him as the only source of deliverance from our sinful nature, and he will help us throw off the sin that so easily entangles us. Amen. [For further study read Getting in Touch with Jesus.]

OK, so how do you fix your eyes on Jesus? You could go to a different motel each night and read their Bibles, but it would be much cheaper to buy your own Bible, study it continually, and act in obedience to God’s directives therein. Jesus embedded the written Word of God so deeply into his heart that he flawlessly represented his Father in word and deed. Thoughts are the seeds of our words and deeds, and the Son of God always fixed his mind on the Word of God. No matter what the situation or what the temptation; Jesus based his choices of thought, word, and deed squarely on the revealed Word of God. To the degree that we do the same, we will become like him.

Because he always said and did what God wanted him to, Jesus was “the living Word,” and that is how he reached deep into the hearts of those who truly wanted truth. The Word in his mind was manifest in his behavior. What about you and me? The reason we must renew our minds with the Word is because, as ambassadors for Christ, we are to be living epistles, known and read by all men. Clearly you are an epistle of Christ “…written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Cor. 3:2 and 3-NKJV). For us, the point of The Book is to know The Man, and to become like him.

It is significant that the Old Testament was written primarily for Jesus, as the blueprint of his identity, his mission, and his destiny as the Redeemer of mankind. It was from the Old Testament that he derived “…the joy set before him…,” the motivating truth that if he would walk the full length of the valley of human need, all the way to the Cross, God would raise him from the dead and save all those who believed in him, so that with him they would enjoy everlasting life in Paradise. Whenever we read anything from Genesis to Malachi, we can remember that Jesus read the same thing, and seek to learn what he learned from it.

Why was Jesus such a “Word Warrior”? Not just so he could win arguments on Solomon’s Porch with sour grape Pharisees. It was because he knew that his life depended upon it, as did the lives of all those Old Testament saints who died with the hope of his coming and fulfilling his mission as the Messiah so they would live again. Personally, it is scintillating to think of how real Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah, Daniel, and all the other Old Testament heroes were to Jesus as he pored over the record of their lives in Scripture. I think it is fair to say that throughout the torture he suffered, and when the nails were being pounded into his hands and feet, a large part of what kept him going was the anticipation of meeting those men and women (some of whom were also tortured) face to face and rewarding them for their faith.

One verse Jesus read was Psalm 119:11(NKJV): “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” He not only read it, he lived it, as evidenced by the record of his temptations by Satan in the wilderness just prior to beginning his earthly ministry. Each time the Devil pierced Jesus with a “fiery dart,” he bled Bible: “It is written.” “It is written.” “It is written.” Satan even (mis)quoted Psalm 91 in an attempt to get Jesus to foolishly jump off the Temple, but the Son of God had so mastered “every jot and tittle” of the Word (Matt. 5:18 KJV) that he instantly recognized the deception and rebuffed it with the appropriate truth from the Word. The revealed Word of God was his only rule of faith and practice.

It was in the pages of the Hebrew Scriptures that Jesus found, and locked in on, who he was. It was his unshakeable sense of his identity that anchored him to the mission set before him. For Jesus, the bottom line was that he knew who he was, and it was that sense of being that engendered his precise and effectual doing the will of God throughout his life. And at critical junctures in his life—the start of his earthly ministry and on the Mount of Transfiguration as he entered the “home stretch” to the Cross—his heavenly Father affirmed his identity to him: “…This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Jesus’ unflagging strength and his unwavering courage were born of his assurance of his identity as the Son of God and his confidence that his Father would always honor his obedience by fulfilling His promises to him. God is our Father too, and He will do no less for you and me.

Luke 4:16-19
(16) He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. And he stood up to read.
(17) The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
(18) “The Spirit [spirit] of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
(19) to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

As members of the Body of Christ, you and I find our identity in the Church Epistles, which the Lord Jesus gave the Apostle Paul. It is Romans through Thessalonians that shows us who we are in Christ, and that we are righteous, sanctified, justified, and filled with his very nature. That gift of holy spirit is our inseparable connection with him as well as our power base to manifest his healing love to a dying world.

The written Word of God was Christ’s basis for an intimate and personal relationship with his God and Father, and it is what convinced him that God always had his best interests at heart. That was the bedrock of his faith, and why he never failed to look to God for everything. As he walked out his earthly ministry all the way to the Cross, Jesus continually entrusted himself to God, and he knows how to help us do likewise.

1 Peter 2:21-23
(21) To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
(22) “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”
(23) When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

In contrast to the first Adam, who disobeyed God and took matters into his own hands in order to meet his supposed “needs,” Jesus Christ (the “last Adam”) always obeyed God, trusting Him to meet his needs, which is just what entrusting oneself to God looks like. In stark contrast to Adam, who could have written a song, “He Did It His Way,” Jesus said to his Father, “Not my will, but yours be done.” Reality now testifies to the same stark contrast in the fruit of each man’s actions. May we grow into the same kind of trust that Jesus had in God, one godly thought at a time.

If we are to follow in his steps, we also need to die to our self-will and thus give God the opportunity to resurrect us to newness of life in each particular situation. Even as He raised His Son, He will never fail to do the same for us.

Luke 9:23 and 24
(23) Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
(24) For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.

To take up our cross may well mean short-term pain as we “die” to our self-centeredness. This is what it often feels like to turn away from what we want and turn to what God wants for us. To do so on a consistent basis, and be like Christ, we must think similar thoughts to those that he held in his mind.

Philippians 2:1-5 (NKJV)
(1) Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy,
(2) fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.
(3) Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
(4) Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.
(5) Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus,

The mind that was in Christ was a mind filled with the Word of God to the end that he personified the very heart of God in all that he said and did. Jesus was the epitome of the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. If you and I are to become like Christ, we too must saturate our hearts with the only standard for truly living, the Word of God. That will require a deliberate decision and a concerted effort on our part, but however we need to structure our time to do so will be well worth it, both now, and forever. We must then practice it faithfully, entrusting ourselves to our Father just as Jesus did. As we do, the fruit of our lives will be evident to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, and they too can know the Lord we love, and also become like him.

You can read the original article here.

If you have any questions, or would like to learn more about God’s wonderful message, please visit the Truth or Tradition website. You can also keep track of the ministry through their Facebook page, their YouTube Channel, or follow them on Twitter.

Thanks for reading.

(Comments have been turned off. The information is here to inform and bless you. God granted you the gift of free will – take it or leave it).

More from Write From Karen

Work Stuff

Unveiling the New Work Site

Karen

So Kevin and I put his business website together today:

kkacct

Cool, right? I really like the way it turned out – clean, crisp and professional. You can see the whole thing at http://kkacct.com.

Well, not the WHOLE thing – the pages have been made but they’re not complete. We’ll add more information on Monday.

Kevin made the header, I did the rest. I really like the background color – it’s sort of a rich teal color, almost an indigo denim. At least, in my opinion. I have a lot of tweaking still to do: make a favicon, add some keywords, editing (I just noticed the text on the home page needs some work -ignore that, I’m aware of it), manipulate some code … but it’s stuff that goes pretty fast. The thing that takes the longest is the design, after that’s been pounded out, the rest just sort of falls into place.

I feel like today was a pretty productive day, though I didn’t have a chance to work on my resume. I’m going back into the office tomorrow to work on it. I want to have it completely done, along with my professional webpage (that will be located at this address), before Monday. I want to apply for those two positions I told you guys about earlier before too much time slips by me. I’m opting to go into the office because I’m quite comfortable there, there are fewer distractions and it’s quiet. Like tombstone quiet.

I love it. I’m forced to focus because what else is there to do? 😀 I think it will be a great place for me to work on my creative writing, too. Whenever I find time to get back to it, that is.

Kevin has deemed Fridays as housekeeping day. So he ran the vacuum cleaner while I washed the windows. Not only did I nearly freeze to death, but I had the honor of having some dude in his truck staring at my butt the entire time. Kevin’s office is the type of office where you can literally park right in front of his office and for some reason, this guy parked right in front of Kevin’s office as I was washing windows. He later got out and went into another business, but it was really annoying knowing he was talking on the phone and focused on my ass. He later got out and said, “do you wash windows at home, too?”

Oh … hahahahaha!

Not.

They look nice – his windows. We’re anxious to get his lettering applied, but the maintenance guy hasn’t gotten back with Kevin yet so … we’re waiting. We’re also still waiting on my desk (Kevin is getting QUITE annoyed, it’s been over two weeks since he ordered it), as well as waiting on our business cards.

Did I mention Kevin is not exactly the most patient person when it comes to stuff like this? He likes to get stuff done and he expects those around him to be just as motivated as him. After we get him set up (desk, lettering, business cards, sign on the building), we can start advertising for clients. He already has one client, which is enough to sustain his business for a while, but still, it’s never too early to work for more.

We’re also planning on fixing the nail holes in his wall and repainting at some point. Oh, and we need to find some art for his walls.

His phone has been ringing on the hook. Word has gotten out that he’s a new business, so he’s been bombarded with sales calls – people trying to sell him things, credit cards mainly. It’s annoying, but sort of cool because our neighbors must think we’re really busy and since we don’t have his signage up yet, I bet they’re also wondering just what sort of business we’re in.

At any rate, this is sort of fun, helping him get set up.I was nervous at first and I’m still a little nervous, but this all feels SO RIGHT. I honestly think he made the right decision leasing this office and going out on his own.

Now we just need to make it work.

We WILL make it work.

Work Stuff

Wow, My Resume is Dusty!

Karen

At the Office - 1/13/11

Now that I’m seriously looking for a job, I can’t put it off any longer – it’s time to get serious about my resume. (And my hair. Good Lord, look at that rat’s nest. Luckily, there is a hip hair salon just down the street from Kevin’s office that I’m going to try out because it’s pretty obvious I need to get a more professional ‘do before I actually go on any interviews).

Kevin and I went to Border’s last night to look for one specific resume book, but once I found it and skimmed through it, I didn’t like it. So, I browsed the other resume books and found one that I thought looked promising. It’s called “101 Best Resumes to Sell Yourself” by Jay Block. One of the reasons I liked it was because it has examples of resumes that I can work off of. It also gives you some examples of cover letters as well.

Kevin has a pretty awesome resume book at home, but it’s like fifteen years old and I knew that given today’s competitive market and the fact that it’s been at least FIFTEEN years since I’ve put a resume together for myself, I better get with the times.

And I’m glad I did because one of the first things this book covers is “chronological and format resumes are OUT.” Everyone uses them and if you want to be noticed, then you have to do something a little different.

I can do different. In fact, I prefer it. I like getting creative with things like this, so I’m looking forward to trying a few things. This book offers the “Organizational Message Chart” which focuses primarily on one’s value to a prospective employer and developing powerful messages that tell prospective employers how you can benefit them and why they should hire you.

This won’t be easy for me. I’m not exactly comfortable tooting my own horn. Especially since I’m not really sure what my horns (strengths) are, to be perfectly honest. But I’m a writer and I like to think I’m creative, so if I can’t come up with something then those self-imposed titles should be stripped from my cold, numb hands. (Because they are cold and numb, I’m in the office again today. But at least I got smart and brought a space heater with me, which is helping … somewhat. I’m also drinking Red Bull and munching on Vanilla Wafers – breakfast of champions, don’t you know).

The book goes on to list 21 guidelines for creating value-based resumes. Most of them are pretty common sense – no grammatical or typographical errors (which really IS the kiss of death for someone looking for a writing job, like me), keep it to one page, choose your words carefully, make the format “reader friendly” (don’t write a bunch of convoluted paragraphs), avoid fluff (you know, the old standbys: hard working, energetic, results oriented), etc.

It also lists some things that I’m going to have to think about:

  • How can you improve a company’s economics?
  • Think of ways to exceed expectations.
  • Show your human side. (This shouldn’t be that difficult for me. I have more trouble keeping it professional).
  • Don’t be afraid to toot your own horn. (*wince*)
  • List how well you did something as opposed to what you did.
  • Put yourself in the shoes of the person who is hiring you.
  • Identify and clearly document your signature talents – these have high impact value. (Now if I can just identify and clearly document my signature talents I’ll be set).

In addition to these guidelines, Block lists six key “P” principles to create a value-based resume:

1. Purpose – (clearly articulate its purpose)
2. Packaging – (“Toilet paper is better packaged/promoted than 99% of the resumes circulating out there.” Oh my! That’s not intimidating!!)
3. Positioning – (good positioning of information means organizing your resume so that the format and flow is “reader friendly.”)
4. Punch – (communicating core messages about yourself that prospective employers want to see.)
5. Personality – (your packaging should convey your unique attributes as a person, along with your value message.)
6. Professionalism – (managers know that the way people present themselves, professionally on paper and in person in the interviews, predicts how professionally they will represent the companies and approach their jobs.)

I need to read that last one to Dude.

By the way, I’m sharing all of this with you because writing this out helps me digest the material and formulate a plan. I’ve always done this (you should see some of my notes from my college classes), so if this stuff is boring to you, just skip it. Then again, maybe some of this information will help you build a better resume too, which can only give you an edge in today’s working world. And if you get the job? I totally want a commission fee. 😀

I was kind of hoping that I wouldn’t have to go down this resume route – but the places I want to apply with have specifically asked for my resume to be attached to their online application so … *SIGH* here we go. This will be good for me though. Forcing myself to sum up my abilities should also help when I hit the interview process.

Oh Lord. Which opens up a whole other can of worms … what to wear!?! And OMG, how will I answer the questions without spewing spittle all over the interviewer because I’m too nervous to swallow? ACK!

Calm down, Karen. One hurdle at a time, girlie. (Though the software company says they are “informal” so I’m thinking business casual on that interview. Listen to me, talking as if they are even going to call me for an interview. Well, I suppose being confident is a positive attribute, right??)

So basically, now, I have to come up with one statement that sums up what I can do for the company I’m applying with – I have to answer the question:

Why should the company hire me?

Why indeed??

Tough question, even a tougher question to answer, I’m finding out. And these statements change depending on where I’m applying.

In addition to answering this question, I need to come up with statements that answer the following question: What skills, abilities, qualifications, and credentials do you offer in order to achieve the answer to the above question.

I now have something to stew on, which means it’s now time to turn my attention to something else entirely. That’s how I work – juggling more than one ball helps me focus, for some reason.

I’d like to post a sample of my resume, but I’m not sure that would be a good idea. At any rate, I’ve learned that old chronological and format resume styles are pretty much dinosaurs now and that knowledge alone should help give me an edge.

I hope.