No quick burst of joy cleaning the toilet

   So I had a new "get real" moment the other day. I was grousing about how I don't feel I am accomplishing anything lately. Seems like I go around a lot and get nothing done. Doesn't help that I hurt my back two weeks ago and seem to have pulled every other muscle in my body since. Or that I am tired and lethargic all the time. Or that I just feel plain lazy.

   Oh sure, folks tell me that I am accomplishing lots and that I am one busy lady.

   Yeah, like I believe lots of folks. I have also been told that Elvis works at the gas station down the street. I don't think so. So instead I have been searching for why I feel so lazy and why I seem to get nothing done all the time. Looking for what I am missing. Is it depression? Am I not tuned into my life? What does God want me to do? I went to the spiritual gifts workshop and I can't say that there were a lot of great revelations. I found some things I would like to explore, but I seem to know what my gifts are and have been using my talents to hone these gifts. So what gives?

   Then my 10 year old daughter turns to me after I finished grousing the other day and she said, "Mom, you do a lot and get a lot done, but you are not writing, so you just don't feel like you did anything."

   Wow. 

   No quiet messages for me. No whisper in the night. I always said that when God talks to me, he generally has to shout to get past the voices in my head.

   That was pretty loud.

   And should have been pretty obvious. I mean really. Am I not the one that talks about how much I enjoy writing? How it gives me great satisfaction and profound joy? Did I not say that I derive immense satisfaction from writing, even if just a short email or a quick letter to a friend?

   I thought back over all that I have done over the last two weeks. Laundry and errands, grocery shopping and cleaning floors. My list was pretty long. I was pretty busy.

   But I did not recall any quick burst of joy when cleaning the toilet.

   Nor could I remember feeling elated when I folded and put away the clean clothes.

   Can't comment on how I felt emptying the dishwasher - cause I have been avoiding doing that chore like the plague and my wonderful husband has been putting the dishes away. Hey, I did load the dishwasher, put soap in it and turned it on! Isn't that half the battle? And yes, I know, I strategically located the dishes to be put away in the cabinet directly above the dishwasher...but that seems so far to reach after bending over to take the dishes out of the dishwasher. BUT, I digress. If I had put the dishes away, I doubt that I would have even had a glimmer of satisfaction from finishing the task.

   So what was I doing? What person in their right mind would do everything EXCEPT what they truly knew in their very being to be their calling?

   A NUT.

   Being honest with yourself can be a bit brutal. Be careful to only be honest with yourself when you have a nice cup of tea and some chocolate to console yourself with afterward. But when your ten year old calls you out on something, it is time to face the music. And start making self imposed deadlines on what really matters. I am pretty sure at this point that it ain't mopping the kitchen.

   I highly suggest to everyone that they stop and take account of what they love and what is important to them. Consider what it is that brings them joy and ask themselves "Is this what I am doing right now?"

    If you don't, I am going to sic my 10 year old on you. And then you had better have the tea and chocolate on hand.

New Minimum Wage argument?

  Perusing the news, I came across an article posted on Twitter about the minimum wage debate. The article was posted July 11 on ThinkProgress website (to read article, click here: Small Businesses and Minimum Wage). In this article Bryce Covert makes some remarkable statements about how a majority of small business seem to be in favor of gradually raising the minimum wage. He notes a whopping 61 percent of small business owners contacted in a national poll in favor of increasing minimum wage.

   Staggering, isn't it? Well, it is, until you continue to read the rest of the article.

   Seems that this new national poll only contacted 555 owners of for-profit companies that had 100 or fewer employees. Gee, that really doesn't seem like very many small businesses. I mean, really, I would have thought that there were a whole lot more small businesses in the United States. So I took a peek at the Small Business Administration website (link to their site: Small Business Association). According to their site, there are 23 million small businesses in America that account for 54% of all US sales. They define a small business as organized for profit, has a place of business in the US, operates primarily in the US (or has significant contribution to US economy through payment of taxes or use of American products, material or labor), is independently owned and operated and is not dominate in its field on a national basis. Number of employees that a business could have and still be qualified as a small business depends on what field your business operates in and there are charts available to peruse to see if your business falls into the "small business" category for your industry. Despite the fact that many small business categories boasted of employee numbers of 1,500 or 500, there were numerous fields that an employer would have to have 100 or fewer employees to qualify as a small business.

    To further investigate just how many small business might actually be out there in the United States, I took a look at the Statistics published by the US Census Bureau (link: US Census Bureau). As of 2008, there were millions of firms and establishments listed. Just in the category of 5-9 employees, there were 1,044,065 firms and 1,056,947 establishments in operation. There were also categories of 10-19 employees, 20-99 employees as well as data available by industry and state. Now granted, we have been in a recession and those numbers may have taken a bit of a slump over the last few years. Having sat at my desk too long, I decided to take a drive and conduct an informal count of my own. Within about three miles (and thirty minutes of driving) I had tallied up well over 300 businesses that in my estimation would qualify. I did not include any chains or franchises and I only took into account business that would boast of several employees, not including the owner/operator.

   Either formally or informally, it appears that polling 555 small business owners would not even begin to give a true statistic of how the majority of them actually feel. And who did this poll anyway? Where were the businesses located? What industries were represented? You guessed it, none of this information is included. And the earlier national polls mentioned in the article don't even give as many details about who was contacted as the first one that generated this newsworthy report.

But that is not the funny part.

    Of the business contacted in this "national poll", owners noted that there would be positive impacts from raising the wage. Like helping the economy in general. And still others felt that this raise in the wages would help them specifically benefit from lower employee turnover, increased productivity and customer satisfaction. 

   Really? You can retain employees by paying them better? And you might see increased productivity as well as improved customer satisfaction? SO WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK??? Last time I checked, there was no law stating that you had to pay the minimum wage and no more. With these perks, wouldn't it make sense to investigate paying a dollar or two more to get better employees and better productivity, or am I just being silly? 

   Apparently Gap and Ikea don't think I'm all that silly, as they announced that they will voluntarily increase their lowest wages with these goals in mind. 

Missing the water...NOT

   As storms have passed our way in recent weeks, I have read how my friends have struggled with lack of utilities, namely electricity. Without it, they have been struggling with generators to keep the sump pump working night and day so that they don't wind up with an in ground swimming pool – in their basement. Simple things like dressing for work in the morning have become chores done blindly in the dark. Those that don't have a trusty generator worry about the food in their fridge and wonder just how much a person can cook and eat in two days. And heaven forbid that they want to catch some screen time, surf on their computer or charge their cell phone in the house. I can sympathize, I have been there, done that. I am feeling thankful that I have been spared.

   And then, suddenly, without a storm, I lose a utility too. Not electricity or gas, but water. The water main has broken – specifically the one that runs to the house.  Ever notice how things seem really large when they happen? Well, it was a lot of water. Maybe not Niagra Falls big. The whole ditch surged and looked like liked the ground had come alive, like a snake. The water rushed underground for about 10 feet before surfacing. The water guy said they lost about 1300 gallons overnight. Or something like that.

   Well that just sucks. Bottled water to brush teeth or make coffee. Bucket of water to pour into the toilet to flush. No finishing the wash, no cleaning the bathrooms, no watering the garden, no mopping the utility room and no running the dishwasher. Wait a minute, am I seriously complaining about this? I was just relived of most of today's chores. I can focus on whatever I like. I don't even have to worry about staining the porch swing – cause how would I clean the brush out when I was done?

   I am thrilled to be without water! At least on a temporary basis. And I can fill my buckets at the neighbor's house (they did not lose water – the break is on the main that goes to my house, just the other side of the shut off valve, city side, not mine). We live in an urban area, so bottled water is just down the street. And I can shower at mom's or my friend's or even the gym. Well, at my mom's or friend's house. The gym sounds like work today.

   So I can concentrate on the projects I have been meaning to do, like finish re-organizing the office. It has been a tornado touchdown for about two weeks now. No problem – I don't have any other chores hanging over my head. And do some writing. With summer break my schedule has been all goofed up and I am unfocused. Of course the office situation doesn't help with the focus issue.

   Then, GASP, I might just take a break. Maybe read a book. Or sit in the yard and watch the guys working on the main. Far better than anything I could find on TV. Especially since we have been blessed with cooler temps today.

   I give quiet thanks that the break is not on my side of the line. I rejoice in my unexpected break from the daily grind (especially from doing more wash or dishes or cleaning bathrooms)! This utility interruption is just what I needed, a chance to regroup, refocus and recharge. Sometimes the best things to happen to us are the things we least expect.

Who knew?