Inimitable Gentleman’s Neighborhood

I don't remember where I got this story, or who sent it to me, and sadly I have no idea who wrote it; but I've kept it in my reference files for this time of year so that I may share it with others...

May you, your family and all whom you hold dear to you have a wonderful, joyous holiday -- and always remember the spirit of the season.

Sue Crutcher, CMMSC, CPC, PHWC, RRPr, CPTN-CPT

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I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: "There is no Santa Claus," she jeered. "Even dummies know that!"

My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her "world-famous" cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.

Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything.

She was ready for me. "No Santa Claus?"  She snorted...."Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad!! Now, put on your coat, and let's go."

"Go? Go where, Grandma?" I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous cinnamon bun.

"Where" turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days. "Take this money," she said, "and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car."  Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.

I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself.  The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, and the people who went to my church.

I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's second grade class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out to recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all us kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough; he didn't have a good coat.

I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat!  I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.

"Is this a Christmas present for someone?" the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied shyly. "It's for Bobby."

The nice lady smiled at me, as I told her about how Bobby really needed a good winter coat. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag, smiled again, and wished me a Merry Christmas.

That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons and wrote, "To Bobby, From Santa Claus" on it (a little tag fell out of the coat and Grandma tucked it in her Bible). Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.

Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk.  Then Grandma gave me a nudge. "All right, Santa Claus," she whispered, "get going."

I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his door and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma.  Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.

Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes.  That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well and we were on his team.

I still have the Bible, with the coat tag tucked inside:  $19.95.

May you always have LOVE to share.

And may you always believe in the magic of Santa Claus!

I don't recall the movie, but it was scary...

I've gotten my website cleaned up and my new blog working www.SueCrutcher.com/blog if you are interested in taking a look at it. Links are listed on the previous blog. We just got back from 5 weeks in Georgia and S. Carolina on Friday, the 11th ... still cleaning up from that.

More later. WARNING: Next year I have big plans...

Sue

Hi everyone

We're heading back starting tomorrow -- going to stick along the eastern shore hoping to keep as warm as possible, as long as possible. I've posted some pictures from the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia on my main website (www.SueCrutcher.com) blog. Here is the direct link in case I've posted after you go there: http://www.suecrutcher.com/blog/?p=17 

Trust everyone is doing well and ramping up their business plans for 2010.

Here's a great way to get started:

http://www.suecrutcher.com/blog/?p=31

"5 secrets to setting an attainable goal -- and 5 bonus secrets to boot!"

Listen to the "Tuesday Tidbits" that are posted each week at: www.SueCrutcher.com

I've got a lot on the go and will keep you posted -- or sign up for my free enews if you want the details sent to you instead of you having to look for them. http://suecrutcher.com/newsletter.htm

And, get your FREE REPORT: "How to say 'no' -- nicely" at www.SueCrutcher.com (left column)

What do you think of the NEW LOOK of the site? I've got a bit of tweeking to do to get it more focused on my niche market, but it's on the way.  Lots coming up in the new year as well. I'll be in Tucson 4 times in 2010 starting in January as I've been accepted into Kendall's Platinum 2010 Inner Circle coaching program; am retaking CMMS to be supportive of several friends who are in the program.

Just finishing up my 'marketing calendar' for 2010. In January/February I'm offering PRIVATE COACHING (virtual) for 1/2 price; there's a medium product launch in March/April and I'm in the process of planning my 'big event' this fall:2-day VIP Elite Master Mind Intensive. If you want to know more about any of them, email me at Susan@SueCrutcher.com  

To your success!

Sue Crutcher, CMMSC, CPC, CPTN-CPT

Money, Marketing and Soul Coach; Life Empowerment Mentor; Baby Steps to Success Expert

Creator of [t]Sunami Of Success™ Program*

* = [t]Sunami of Success and [t]Sunami of Success Program are © July 2009 by Susan (Sue) Crutcher. All rights reserved.

 Did His Wife Prefer an IRON or (Tiger)WOODs to "Extract Him" ?!!  Did She Then Putt It Out for a Double Bogey?!!

A segment from TMZ posted on YouTube reports that, "Tiger has yet to be formally interviewed by the Florida Highway Patrol -- that should happen this afternoon. But we're told Tiger had a conversation Friday -- with a non-law enforcement type -- detailing what went down before his Escalade hit a fire hydrant."

"We're told he said his wife had confronted him about reports that he was seeing another woman. The argument got heated and, according to our source, she scratched his face up. We're told it was then Woods beat a hasty retreat for his SUV -- but according to our source, Woods says his wife followed behind with a golf club. As Tiger drove away, she struck the vehicle several times with the club." 

And could this be The Rest of The Story , so to speak ?

http://tinyurl.com/yep2av9

Another good source of juicy info about possible reported Tiger trysts is at Jezebel

http://tinyurl.com/yk6fb52

kalisa joined the gang from crazy bitch night to share her gravelly/smooth sounds....awesome!!

Please also visit my blog at: www.blogbee.vox.com

First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!

The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.

TypePad Micro

9 comments

A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.

Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.

On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.

And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!

~ daisy

As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.

The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.

When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.

It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.

Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.

As always, thanks for your patience.

~daisy

Dolf and April Braswell2

As a Dating Expert who has both lived in a few different metro regions (New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles/The OC and Las Vegas) as well as worked with singles in a number of different cities both within the United States as well as around the world, one of the considerations a number of singles have is they want to meet, date, and mate with another single in their local area.

Click here to >> Subscribe to Connecting with April Braswell – Dating and Relationship Ezine

Yes, you will see on some of the online dating niche sites, like those which are faith based for Muslims, Christian or Jewish Singles, is that the single will often make some statement like, “Distance is no object.”  They think the are open to loving and partnering up with another single from any where in the country.

And in a manner, they are open like that.  They are open to love coming to them from just about anywhere.

And then reality kicks in.

In order to really fall in love, to attract your Soul Mate and build a relationship, you actually need to open up and share each others lives together.  Courtship which leads to marriage requires that you share your lives and actually BE with each other.  So much of the dating style of the “Single – Never Married” folks is to either “hang” on the sofa and watch movies, while fun, eventually becomes boring, or to go do the consumer single dating style of going “out” all the time.  Neither of these models is actually what we DO in the normal LIFE of a married couple/life partner relationship.  When I coach singles who are divorced or widowed and we get to that part of my coaching system, they say, “OMG, April, you are brilliant! This is so true!” (I heard this today from one widowed lady.)  And they can see how I approach relationship attraction and building form reality and not from some pipe dream which will never happen.

Real relationships are between human beings.  There are some crass metaphors for describing this which I will refrain from using to illustrate my point.

When you are looking to attract love and build a life partner relationship, generally speaking, to do so you need to be in person.  In order to experience that, this means you want to date another single who is local to you or at least in your metro area region.  That can still mean that they live a few hours away from you.  However, unless you travel to certain metro areas repeatedly for business, you want to keep your targets on another single who lives within a few hours of you, and not thousands miles away, which would be just fooling yourself.

Then you actually have a chance of attracting, meeting, and mating with your Soul Mate and developing the kind of lifelong love relationship which you are craving.

Happy Dating and Relationships,

April Braswell

Las Vegas Baby Boomer Dating Expert

Click here to >> Subscribe to Connecting with April Braswell – Dating and Relationship Ezine