A Note From Your Founder...

Well, here it is! The first issue of the TexVAL newsletter.

We will be sending this out once a month to keep you up-to-date. If you ever have any exciting news that you would like to share or would like to send us suggestions for the newsletter, just email us. We'd love to hear from you.

Home for the Holiday? Oh, Please. No.
by Crystal R. R. Edwards

Holiday stress is always joked about by everyone, but it is generally couched in polite, understated phrases or watered-down terms. “Oh, my family is just a little unusual,” you might tell a friend, “so Christmas dinner is somewhat chaotic.” I have always been more of a tell-it-like-you-see-it gal, so I tell my friends “Well, my ultra-conservative parents have expressed their desire to give the kids Bibles again this year, and for dinner my widowed father-in-law will be bringing a date who we suspect is a stripper.” That is not “my family is just a little crazy.” That's “I'll be in the locked bathroom with a bottle of bourbon and a box of Kleenex” holiday stress. And in the same way “somewhat chaotic” is related as “There was a knock-down drag-out fight with chairs and Gideons' New Testaments flying everywhere. With luck, however, the Christmas bonus can be used to replace my dining set.” I'm, overall, a glass-half-full person as well as brutally honest about my psychotic family interactions. (Mom, if you are reading this, sorry! I honestly did not know we were going to have a mini Career Day and demonstration. How are you doing on the new meds?)

Just as we understate the story, we understate our year when we write holiday letters. Again, I grab the reindeer by the horns and just put it all out there. “Birdie Sue's artistic skills continue to amaze us and astonish her teachers. She was suspended for three days in October for showing classmates how to draw an anatomically correct naked man. Meanwhile, Hedgehog and Tapper have been pursuing their own creative outlets. Hedgehog spent a week in May with a brilliant performance-art piece entitled Cusswords: 1,000 Variations on the Theme of Lineage and Tapper collaborated with her on his own interpretive-dance, live installation of Painting With Pull-Ups. On a semi-related note, we've now painted the stairwell walls a with a dark tan washable semi-gloss.”

There's very little we can do to pretty up some of the things we go through at the holidays in our roles as working women, working moms, or just people-who-work-from-home-in-general. When other people say such naïve things as, “Oh! Working from home means you get to spend time baking holiday cookies in between tasks! Could you help with the church holiday bazaar?” I laugh. I have a whole bucket of chocolate-chip charcoal to show them as proof that, despite my ability to juggle several clients at once, I'm a ditz who can't remember why she walked into a room carrying a cell phone, a camera, two books about hamsters and a deflated beach ball. You'd think my brain worked like a smoothly-operating machine in my personal life as well as my professional one, but you'd think wrong. Very wrong. If I put Christmas cookies in the oven then sit down to handle emails for clients, I'm getting a visit from the very nice, handsome firemen. It's that simple.

So all you Superwomen and Supermen out there, have a good holiday. Tell it like it is. Tell your story to others who think we wander through our workdays in a glittery haze of holiday cheer and muti-tasking. Don't over-commit yourself during the seasonal frenzy to contribute, donate and volunteer. You and your work are just as important as origami mistletoe and red-cellophaned stacks of snickerdoodles. You don't just stay at home. Your time is important, too. Don't tell them “Sure, I can fit that in!” Tell them “My brain is coming off at the hinges with end-of-year work. I'm going to pass.”

Now, if you need me, I'll be locked in the bathroom with my flask and Kleenex. And still trying to figure what why I needed that beach ball.

Virtual Assistant Event Calendar

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TexVAL News!!!!!!

Use Code pc5 through December 31, 2009 and receive a $5 discount on a regular or quarterly membership.

We will be sending out information about our new business development chat days to our members soon.

Also, our attorney reviewed contract is done so check it out.

Here's wishing you a very Happy Holiday! Hope you enjoy this Holiday Season. We'll see you next year!

We invite you to submit your story!

You're invited to tell us about something wacky, crazy or just plain wrong that happened to you over the holiday. It can be family related or a "OMG, I'm an idiot" moment. You can choose to remain anonymous or we will include your name/business name. Please limit your submission to 200 words and we will include our top 5 picks in the next newsletter for a post holiday "Thank God I'm not the only one." Send your submissions to Patty.

Have an article you'd like to write for our monthly newsletter or want to be spotlighted? Have some exciting Texas news that you'd like to share?

Email candy@texval.com.

The TexVAL newsletter is made possible by the talents of Patty Dost and Crystal Edwards.

A special thank you to GranGran (Shirley) for her artistic talents..