A Great Monday --- Day 6

Day 6

The day has been full and good. That Monopoly game kept us up later than we intended last night, and it threw off our whole morning routine, but never mind. We still made it to school and the day still kept on keepin' on. Tonight has been talking with people, homework, Cubs, more homework, follow up calls, and bedtime is just around the corner ;-).

This a.m. I stopped by to give a card to a friend that just lost her good friend. It was good to visit with her and her youngest daughter, and their little friend that over for playtime. We talked about the economy, our finances, the stories of struggle and success in our days, and amongst our friends. We got to play "doctor" and "telephone" with the kids, have a delicious cup of tea, and enjoy our moments. I also got to share a bit of what's up with Big Z's business, something this friend was aware of before. It was good to give sound-bites of what's been happening, and the recent developments that create appeal with those in our local market that love to shop locally, such as this friend. The Local Merchant Program, the ease of supporting a local charity, the funding that Ginny is donating so youngsters can take their ideas and bring expansion into the world by providing benefit to others locally. Before we knew it, it was high noon! EEEKS!

Upon arriving home, a quick check to the technological systems. All functioning and updated. It was great to see that one of our emails from the e-card system had been opened. All other still lie dormant in the email accounts, or, in the spam folders.

What does this mean? Follow up.

I did some checking for a friend on a particular kind of doll in our Foundations World Changer Mall. Wow. There are a lot of gift stores to purchase Christmas gifts in My Power Mall. I had a bit of fun "window shopping" in Big Z's personal mall, and wrote down ideas that my friend may also like besides the doll. I missed her today, but will get the list to her tomorrow. She's furiously grading college papers at this time, and caring for her large family, so . . . it's not likely she's gotten to the site, yet.

After school, we went to a grocery store to get some supplies, to poke around and to meet people. I must say there were more people out at this store tonight than in the Mall. We're guessing that people are either shopping online in their World Changer Malls for the holidays OR they are shopping at places like Freddies, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target and the like. We're happy that Target and Kmart are on the Mall, and one day, perhaps, Freddies will join in the fun. They are missing out on a great group of shoppers ;-).

We met a young man in the health food aisle near the Imagine soups. It happens to be one of our favorite broth makers, so, I queried him as he studied the ingredients. I asked him if he really did like Imagine brand better than Pacific brand (by the way, I believe these can be purchased in the World Changer Mall at Vitacost.com, as well as many other healthy food items, including another favorite of ours--- coconut oil). He said he chose Imagine because it had less sodium content, but, he noted, it was also lower on protein. Pacific has more protein, but way more sodium. Sodium is the kicker, and he chooses less for his ticker, and to assist his waistline.

Since we were having a good conversation, I asked him if he'd mind spending a few more minutes with us. He didn't mind. While we were talking with him, his friend came to find him. So, we got to ask both of them what they would do with $2000.

They are both from Canada; one works at the admissions office at the university, the other works at a market. One said he would save the cash; the other said he would go have a lot of fun with it. If they had an extra $2000/month, one said he would save it and pay more bills; the other said he would have even more fun spending it. Each of them kindly took our information and gave us their information. They were willing to have us call them, but we were cautioned that we'd be calling Canada ;-).

We met another fella in the refrigerated produce section. He happened to catch our eyes, and he had a huge grin and he seemed like a wonderful guy. We smiled, then I turned back to him. I held his eyes for a few minutes, and he was trying to decide if he knew me. Finally, he asked, "Do I know you?"

I told him, "No you don't know me, but you sure look like a nice guy!" We visited and we asked him if he would entertain our questions since we were already talking. He said he'd be happy to, but he bent down to Big Z and asked him to make sure he spoke loud enough for him to hear.

We smiled and Big Z asked his Q's. His responses were 1) "Save it. I'm a Saver!" and 2) "Put it into savings. I'm a Saver!" Ultimately, this gent, as he was playing with his cell phone, said he didn't have an email address, nor did he have a computer. He said he kept things private. I let him know that what we had, then, probably wasn't much use to him, but we told him what we were working towards, supporting non-profits globally, but we would eventually bring it local--- to the Hospice and to perhaps the Boys and Girls Club or to the Humane Society.

He hopped on that one and said he loves animals and all, but he'd support people first. So, I asked him who he supports most, and he said he gives to the Christian youth with cash. I asked if it was to help them go on mission trips, but he really didn't know. He said that supporting people first was most important and so that's what he did.

We asked him if he had family that had computers and email. He said that many of his family do have connections. So, we asked if he would be kind enough to take a card and share it with one of them. He smiled politely and said he would be happy to. We thanked him for the pleasure of our conversation and then we parted ways.

Follow-Ups:

Made 13 follow up calls. We let the folks that hadn't opened our email yet know to check their spam filters, etc. We will call them all back again, each on varying days depending upon when we last left them a message. One of our neighbors from last week we spoke with, but their world is spinning into next week. We'll check back then. The young man that had his phone not accepting calls still isn't accepting calls.

Remember the very nice woman we met at Target? We got her on the line tonight and she graciously apologized for not calling back. Her son, age 4, raced out of his bedroom the other night and ran his head right into the striker plate and broke his head open. Thus began an bout of extra-elevated blood pressure for her and a long set of hours in emergency for her family. He's better now, and his head has stitches. This Mom is going to school to be a medical assistant. She has about one year left, and is soon to begin her internships. Her other child is a daughter, age 8.

We had a very nice conversation. She said she did visit our website and she really liked what she saw. However, now isn't the time and the monthly cost is challenging at present. I told her about the business mall, but it still wasn't an option now. The bigger consideration is the timing in her life. She'd already told us at Target that she doesn't have much time at all, and is already working 2 part-time jobs, even if they are only a few hours each --- her husband helps with the kids and house chores so she can study to get a good paying job (previously she worked in production until an accident put her on L&I--- ultimately, after her light duty and L&I was settled, the company wasn't very kind to her. She went from working days to nights, and when she found herself almost driving into someone else's home after a long night at work, she decided enough was enough. Time for a life change for the better.) .

To recap her impressions of My Power Mall, she liked what she saw, the timing was off, maybe later. We talked about the fuel rebates with World Changer vs. the Business Mall and how to get started slowly.

She is going to keep updated with the blogs, and she would like us to keep in contact monthly. I am very glad to have met this woman. She is working hard for her family, and it was so good to hear how supportive her husband is of her efforts to improve their life. Her injury prevents her from doing any heavy lifting. It's evident she has a caring and considerate nature. Before we hung up, I didn't get to ask what her husband did for an income. Funny how ingrained that is in us to always want to know what our occupations are . . .

Cubs is over and bedtime insists . . . So, we bid you good night.

Lest you feel we didn't get our 5 --- we have 3 leads that crept in upon us today, unbeknownst during our morning routine. We will call them tomorrow, and today, we celebrate their unexpected entrance into our lives.