Clean Start Challenge Ends

This week marks the end of SC Johnson's Clean Start Challenge on MyLifetimeTV.com. I am glad to have been a part of it. Even though I have always wanted a community, I never thought I would go out of my comfort zone and build one. I have taken ownership of this because I really believe that is it imperative that we connect with each other and create an environment where we feel safe, loved, cared for, supported and important.

I met with an old business associate to find out how to build a website. I could have met with anyone but I love the simplicity of his website( www.brilliantmove.net ) and want our community website to be simple, user friendly, interactive and posses a sense of community. I learned so much i.e. you can't incorporate flash with html because most search engines don't recognize html. At this point, my head was spinning. I realized that I am going to have to spend some money to get what I want. When it came to domain names, HeyNeighbor.com, HeyNeighbor.net, HeyNeighbor.org and HeyNeighbor.us were all taken. Unbelievable!

Watertown Savings Bank is still to make a decision about their contribution to our troops. I wrote to CVS's corporate office and still awaiting an answer from them too. Wow! This is not easy. It is a lot of work but I am looking at he end. See, you need to determine your end from the beginning or else you can easily be thrown off course.

My book club, Hey Neighbor Let's Read Together, met again. It is every fortnight but with the flu and all, it seems as though we haven't met in a long time. I had two ladies come over and the book we are reading is "Woman Thou Art Loosed" by T.D.Jakes. It encompasses everything that relates to healing the wounds of the past. No one can grab a hold of their future while still holding onto their past. I am so glad to be a part of the healing and transformation of these ladies' lives. I will continue to send out an invite to all the ladies in my community, especially those whose email and phone number are in my community database.

As for me, cleaning is a joy. So, when I cleaned a neighbor's apartment, I couldn't be happier that someone took me up on my offer to clean their home for free. Yes! some people call me nuts to even offer but I beg to differ. "Nuts" is us going on without helping and caring for each other.  I showed up at her door with three assistants, Pledge, Windex and Scrubbing Bubbles." I slipped on my rubber gloves and got to work. We talked, we laughed and really bonded. I showed her cleaning tips and tricks to make her home appear like she labored for hours cleaning. We was amazed by the whole experience and what got her the most was finding out the "million and one things" Windex alone can do. I used it on the stove, the knobs on the stove, sinks, mirrors, and glass just to name a few. At the end, she was so grateful and offered to volunteer if I go cleaning any other homes in our community. So in an hour, I not only gained a volunteer but made a friend. It was that easy.

My week ended by picking up all the trash that the wind had blown all over my neighborhood and just saying hello to people. "Everyone has the power for greatness—not for fame, but greatness, because greatness is determined by service" Dr.Martin Luther King Jr.