Bitch you doing a good job.

Hey y’all HEY!

What a week. I had the whole week planned out and that shit did NOT go accordingly. Yes business was AH-mazing and we even took an impromptu trip to the mountains. But BAYBEEEE! WHEW!

Fasten your seatbelt, you are about to hear the side of business ownership that most people will not tell you. Yea, you absolutely can be successful in your business, make a lot of money, look cute, have a happy family and STILL be losing your fucking mind.

This is why I am so transparent with my journey as a wife, mother, and successful business owner. People will have you think that once you have it all together life becomes effortless. That. Shit. Is. A. LIE! BRUH! I plan everything, not even in an obsessive way but very strategically. Meals, vacations, cleaning, school, work, you name it. I know it sounds like A lot to some people but as a mother of 10, wait, a PREGNANT mom of 10 trust me when I tell you, it is necessary. So, I understand that everyone does not function the same so I do allow myself to veer from the schedules to give a little spontaneity. HOWEVER, despite the fact that there was nothing planned for the week the trip to the mountains stressed me all the way out!

First I couldn’t find an air bnb that was close enough to stay so we booked two rooms at a hotel. Let me just say that hotels are so overpriced in comparison to air bnb. ๐Ÿ™„ย  Like most families, instead of packing, I just went shopping for everyone. No? Just me. ๐Ÿ˜. So one of the days was dedicated to shopping for 10 children ๐Ÿ˜ญ. LOADS of money but okay, not a surprise. Then, I forgot to pack road food because 1. McRush has to be eating on the road because imma go to sleep as soon as the engine starts running ๐Ÿ˜‚. So the food keeps him occupied. ๐Ÿคท๐Ÿพย  2. The children like snacks. Like, ALOT! This means more money spent. ๐Ÿ˜‘ย  So okay, no biggie, we got it, right? The plan was to shop at a grocery store and cook while on our trip. So we get there and I’m like FUUUUUUCK DAT! I’m not cooking. I’m on vacation too. So we’re eating out. Yup, you guessed it. More money. ๐Ÿค‘ The rooms had two FULL sized beds. Who thee fuck shares a full sized bed? It was official. I was stressed. THIS is why I don’t do spontaneous. But okay. We get to the mountains pit stop and go to the restrooms. Leave and as soon as we get to our location, “mom, I have to pee” BRUH! Over all, the experience was fun and new. It was great for memories but baybee! Imma have to clone myself before I do that again because, I’M NOT!

So boom, we get back, still nothing on my schedule so imma chill out. Right? Wrong! I needed a nap, you know pregnancy kicking my ass. Nah, the RushBunch act like Daddy is golden and cannot be disturbed. Every five seconds somebody is calling my name, diaper change, tattling, whining. So I finally call dad like dude. Get your children! I finally get a moment of peace and 3 minutes in, a client calls with an emergency. Now I’m up until 1 am handling some last minute work. Where errybody at? Sleep.

I was livid. I wanted to cry. Okay, I did. I tried to be spontaneous and surprise the ingrates but no it was still mommy can I all the way there, through the trip, back, and at home. (I cried because it took me a lot to step out of my comfort zone of schedule a and when I did, I was miserable as fuck.)

The bottom line is, regardless of how much you plan, anticipate, or organize, life can get stressful. That is why I take solo vacations, pamper myself, and make sure I pour into me on a regular basis. Because sometimes in life, as a mom, you legit have to say #FDK and take the time to make YOU smile. Because baby, you deserve it! ๐Ÿฅ‚

Insomnia! REALLY?! Guh!

So with all that’s been going on with me, I have now developed a case of insomnia. Usually I welcome insomnia with open arms because I actually like to work through the still of the night. When the house is quiet, outside of McRush snoring, I can get so much accomplished which rejuvenates me to still wake up in the early morning hours because I be so damn proud of myself and I just be on GO for days! However, with a newborn that wakes every hour and a half I find myself stealing naps and mini rests every opportunity I get.

A couple weeks ago I got extremely sick. I had a 104+ temperature, chills, nausea, lethargy, a massive migraine, and a case of Gross Hematuria. I could not eat or even keep my eyes open for more than 10 minutes at a time. I literally slept an entire week away. I would check in with members of my team, mostly my assistant, to be sure business didn’t skip a beat. McRush took care of home like the pro that he is. The truth is, I thought I was going to die. My anxiety was so high that I thought my heart was going to bust through my chest. It was extremely hard to calm down especially not knowing what was going on. Because of all of this I lacked nourishment to be able to produce milk to feed my daughter and somehow whatever was going on caused me to have peripheral neuropathy in my hands. I’m having a hard time. I’m pushing through, but I am definitely having a hard time.

Its crazy because with all that’s going on in the world, no matter how sick I was, my biggest fear was having to go to the hospital and never coming home. Nah, imma thug it out. And did. Between my amazing doula and McRush, here I am.

I go in to get a triple renal scan soon but until then its mini meals and taking it easy for numb Nina, my nickname since I can’t feel my hands. Lol.

I said all that to say that I think its slightly unfair that I have insomnia now. Especially since Maia is sound asleep and I am just up. But, as always, I look at the bright side of things. I was able to do some research, even though I didn’t want to. I read a big portion of this book I have and I have been able to blog and update you guys.

I’ll keep you posted but until then, keep being great. ๐Ÿ˜Š

Is my living in vain?

In the midst of this dark cloud lingering over my head, I am forced to work through tears shed.

No matter what I am doing, in the blink of an eye, I will find myself crying. I snickered to myself appreciating the fact that I do not wear make up. What a waste it would be right now.

Funny, no matter what we go through as parents we still must be sure our children are living their best life. For me that is forcing a smile with uncertainties lingering like a lone cloud on a sunny day.

Isn’t it ironic how we do so many good deeds and it feels, sometimes, as though they measure up to nothing? I remember when I was a young girl, my mom told be to be sure that my good far outweighed my bad. I literally live by that staple. Yet, I now find myself perplexed as to why.

Why then, do I still endure such unbelievable pain? Why is it life seems a constant test? When the heck is the exam so I can pass already!

I don’t know everything there is to know about life, but I do know this, its yours to live. Choose happiness and pass it on.

I’ll tell you what. When my daughter passed away I no longer took each moment I had with my children for granted. Not that I ever did but every breath seems even more previous to me. That is part of my reason for homeschooling. I always say that God has given me a charge (or 10) and I take that charge very seriously. These are little people who will soon try to find their own place in the world. It is my job to assist them as much, and as early, as possible.

Does my heart hurt every morning? Absolutely.

Do I have butterflies since this incident. Always.

But it will not stop my unwavering love and care. I push through, as we all do.

Am I always going to get it right? Nope.

Is my living in vain. Of course not.

How to homeschool without going crazy ๐Ÿ˜ฒ

Today started out a little to early for me. My oldest had to be to work at 7 and while some may think 7 a.m. is not early, first of all, YES IT IS! But more importantly, we are no small family so just dropping him off at work calls for me to not only rise earlier to get the RushBunch together but STAY up. In this house, once I get them up, there is no laying back down.

Getting them up means extra time needed to wash faces, brush teeth, wash, make beds, get dressed and grab a snack on the way out the door. Yes, just to drop #1 off. These tasks usually take me about an hour and that’s if I don’t do the girls’ hair.

I was literally dragging and absolutely moody. In case some of you have forgotten, I am six months pregnant. And while McRush usually helps with the ease of getting out the house, he had long been gone for work.

There are several ways I lift the weight of homeschooling without hassle. Today I am going to share with you one of them. But first, let me just state that every morning they have to write the creed and study their spelling words. That takes no effort from me at all. The purpose in the creed writing is to work on their handwriting, in the event that you were wondering. While they do this, I am making breakfast.

Packet Privilege.

This is something that is an absolute life saver to me. Usually, prior to the start of the year, I print out grade appropriate worksheets for each child. In my case its head start to 12th grade. I make packet that contains anywhere from 5-10 worksheets. I do at least 20 per person, so make sure you have paper for your printer. (In the event you do not have a print, I will get to that.) I put these packets away! Packet Privileges can be earned or used as a “substitute teacher” for the day. ๐Ÿค—

For days like today when I just did not feel like adulting, it was a substitute. I hand out the packets and let them work at their pace. Here is the thing though, the packet must be more like review work because, as with a substitute teacher, you are not available to “teach” so should not introduce new works you may have to explain. It should also contain learning games like word search puzzles or sodoku. With that being said, that is why I say packets can be “earned”. It can count as a free day to the children. We work on a bonus system. Following the rules of both school and home and doing at least one thing ‘above and beyond’, you can earn a packet privilege for a day.

This is one of the many ways I keep my sanity on school days when I want to call out and binge watch Netflix or even work on my business.

For those of you who do not have a printer, for the younger, elementary school children, you can find workbooks at Dollar Tree for them. Tear out all of the pages, shuffle them and staple. Voila! Packets. For parents with older children, you may have to spend more than $1 but go to Wal-Mart or Target and get the more advanced workbooks (in the books section) and do the same thing. (You can also find these in book stores like Barnes and Noble but you WILL spend at least $20 per book and you know I like my budget ๐Ÿ™‚)

I hope this was helpful and hit the follow button for more homeschooling tips.

iRush.

The pause.

So this week has been pretty hectic, If I calculate properly, it’s been hectic these past few weeks. In the midst, I had so many great things to blog about. I would pre-process it in my head how I was going to start off, the fluff in the middle, and the spectacular ending.ย  At this moment that I had to take a pause in the craziness of it all, I forgot. Every single detail, gone. Just like mommy brain. So many great ideas to implement and when you get the time, crickets, every dang time.

Although I am slightly saddened my this mush memory of mine, I love blogging so I decided to free flow like I usually do.

Let’s start with the bad decisions I made.

I threw out my last pair of contacts (from my eyes). As I dropped them in the toilet ( I found that this is best so #9 doesn’tย try to eat them) I can literally see me doing it in slow motion as I realized a second too late that I did not have another pair to replace them. So now I am forced to wear these bottle cap glasses until I find time to get a new prescription. The plus side to this is I have noticed Oprah has been wearing her thickummsย glasses so I am just going to go with it as if she inspired me to do so too. Embrace your blindness honey!

This next one is a pro and a con.

I overpaid my credit cards. The good in this is, well, I overpaid my credit cards. The not so good is, I could have used that money to go shopping. I know you may be thinking, just use your cards to go shopping but that’sย counterproductive to the goal of eliminating debt.

A good thing that happened is I was asked to speak at the College of Charleston. It was kind of last minute so I was a little nervousย and felt ill-prepared. The most nerve-wracking part was, I was talking to a bunch of teenagers. Now, I can talk business with adults all day long but teenagers always give you this look like ‘ I really don’t want to be here, listen to you, or care what you have to say’. I must admit, it’s a little intimidating but in the end, they were going with the flow and I felt less like I had to pull teeth or interact with myself.

I hosted a Stay at home mom event at my home. Those who know me are awareย that I do not host at my home but I am stepping out of my comfort zone and I am glad I did. I had a wonderful time and was able to interact with families which is always awesome.

Family wins.

I bought six school desks for $5 a piece and they are pristine condition. My babies leveled up this week in their academics.ย  We scored more books for our home library. #1 got his drivers license (I don’t know how excited I am about this one). #8 is very close to being potty trained. And McRush is going back to school. And I have decided to slowly pick law back up, and I do mean slow. Like one class a semester, cash. Remember the eliminating debt mentioned above.

That’sย just some of what has been going on in the Rush house.

What’s going on in your neck of the woods?

View More: http://foreverinamemoryphotography.pass.us/rushfamily2017

 

 

Thanks for the memories FaceBook.

Facebook gets annoying with its algorithm and lack of proper refreshing of the page. Lately, I have been having to go to my personal page to see any updates on my posts because my notifications are all out of sequence. You have people friend requesting you that should clearly be spam pages and from some, I hear people are being systematically unfriended. Whats up with that? To add fuel to the fire, they are cutting back promotions.

Now that we have all of that negativity out of the way. Facebook has this awesome memory feature that populates what you posted on that day a year or more back. I love that feature because it shows growth in both thought and writing. It’s fun to see where I was mentally back in the day. unfortunately for me, I have only had facebook for a few years so my growth tracking is minimal. But I did get to see this awesome blog that I blogged four years ago and I wanted to share it with you.

‘I turned in my letter of resignation today. It is time to take my own words to heart and stop holding on because of fear. I thought that because I was pursuing my dreams of being an entrepreneur and working my 9-5 was okay as long as I kept my determination and focus. But I was only kidding myself. How can I fully be true to my greatness if a piece of me was being dedicated to someone elseโ€™s goals? How can I say stay focused if a large portion of my day was consumed with a job that has nothing to do with the path I desired to walk?

I was a hypocrite. Bottom line.

I find myself on many nights working into the wee hours of the morning typing, scripting, marketing, building my own dreams because from 7:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon my focus was on building the dreams of my employer. I was pushing for myself but I wasnโ€™t giving 100% so I cheated myself out of 40 hours a week. I was getting the short end of the stick. I believed I was worth it but did I really?

I am telling you this because, as I stated in an earlier blog, I write to inspire you and in inspiring you I was inspiring myself. So here I stand, inspired. Determined. Relieved. Excited. Nervous. READY.
People refuse to jump for fear of failure. You wonโ€™t jump for yourself but you put your trust and security in the power of someone elseโ€™s hands because THEY wonโ€™t fail you? We have to believe that we are meant to be amazing. So BE AMAZING.

When is the last time you trusted, and I mean really trust yourself? When is the last time you gave yourself the push you know you needed and just went for it, from your soul?
We have a tendency to blame others for our failures but when will you begin to take control of your own life and accept the destiny that you know you deserve.

Look around, is that all you want? For the rest of your life?

We have to begin doing the things that are for our betterment and happiness. Stop allowing consequences to change our path to prosperity. We have to learn to trust our instincts and stop second-guessing ourselves. We have to start believing in what we set out to do. Know that with or without the support we WILL prosper. You will stand on higher ground and take a look in the mirror and smile saying to yourself โ€œI made it.โ€

Trust that you can. Believe that you will. And you shall prosper.’

I thought this was dope and hella honest so I wanted to share..

-Rush

Twitter handle is @Rush_consulting
Inspired

To entrepreneur or not…

I have known my entire life that I never wanted to work for someone besides myself. I also knew I was destined for, well, more. I couldn’t quite put my finger on that ‘more’ but I knew that I would know it when I seen it. At fifteen, I worked at Burger King and McDonald’s and Taco Bell. When I was seventeen I got a night job in the mail room at Corestates bank (which became First Union which became Wachovia which became Wells Fargo). I would get off at 7 am and rush down Center City to my second job, United way, and work from eight until two and then I would rush down to my first class, English, at Peirce College. My whole life has been about the hustle and bustle, which I never really minded being a city girl and all but there was nothing to show for my hard work, dedication, and drive except a very exhausted me.

In 2009 after the passing away of my daughter, Madison, I decided I needed to live! I started my company Rush Consulting Firm from literally nothing and I just kept pushing. Every time I wanted to quit I thought about the times I never quit on my bosses out of a sense of obligation. Every time I felt like I just couldn’t do it, I reminded myself of all the late nights and early mornings I pushed for companies who never even noticed my hard work. And every time I felt like a failure, I remember the courage it took to build what I have built.

I want to say that entrepreneurship is not for everyone, but I know that is not true. Even if you decide not to leave your full time job, I implore you to never give up on your dreams. Just a few minutes a day, a couple hours a week, a few weeks out the year will have you feeling more dedicated and refreshed to do more, be more, even in your everyday life. There is something amazing about giving a little bit of you to yourself that makes it all worthwhile, and if you can inspire someone along the way, even better.

I know what some of you may be thinking; Time. Let me tell you a little something about time. Time is your most valuable asset. Time is something you can choose to be generous with or selfish with. Time is something that is yours to do with as you please. Time is one of those things that you can never get back. So you can spend your life planning it or you can spend your life living it, but its your time to do with as you wish.

As a wife, mother, and serial entrepreneur, I can say that sometimes things will get hectic but for me, I choose not to make a fuss over time as long as I spend it the way I desire to. I have 9 children and I home school them all. That is in addition to running a seasonal toddler boutique where the items are made by hand, by me; I also run a successful Consulting Firm where I do everything from coaching to speaking, resumes to job placement, and, our specialty, helping people start the business they always wanted to. In addition, I host Meet and greets called Heels&Hustle where we bring together women who do, did, and want to start their business for the purpose of networking, collaborating, and mentoring. Trust me when I say that I know all about time management and that is why I believe, no, I KNOW you can do it too.

Entrepreneurship IS for everyone. Whether its full time, part time, seasonal, or weekends only, be sure to give it a go. There are people around you that believe in you and your vision and they are just waiting for the opportunity to support you. You can do it.

-Rush
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Are we recounting votes AGAIN?

Hilary Clinton lost. She got the majority of America’s vote, although not really because over 93 million people did not vote and that’s just the ones that were registered. So America is throwing a tantrum and finger pointing like a bunch of toddlers. I am definitely not a supporter of hers so I may be a little biased. She has to many hidden secrets like the fact that her husband as well as herself have close ties to pedophiles like Jeffrey Epstein, or her Klu Klux Klan friends, that is what this email controversy is all about. But even still I couldn’t care less. I mean really, tell me the last time an American President directly affected your life? They are just a puppet to sit and do what they are told. Sure, they will have great ideas, just like the rest of us, but implementing them will be close to impossible.

This is not the first time and will not be the last time that we had a president elected that we do not want, yet we still pull the same thing. We march and we protest and in the end very little changes. The Government was not created for us, especially the black us, but in this point all of us in general. We all know that Americans thrive off titles, it has even trickled down to the church which is supposed to be separate from state (yeah right). Everybody wants to feel like somebody and some of those somebodies want to tell others what to do –> enter the government.

The problem is not the president, or the president elect. The problem is the people, WE the people who have failed one another time and time again in the terms of unity and self governing. We have lost our morals and our standards and most importantly we have lost our common sense. We continue to attempt to hold one another to a standard that we fail to hold ourselves to. We have found more pleasure in watching someone else and their failure instead of being accountable for our own. We would rather be like others that we see on television or even in real life than to simple be ourselves. We are no longer happy with who we are until we are like someone else.

People watch reality television and stay glued to social media to see what someone else is doing with their life, meanwhile, ours is passing us by. We would much rather go by what someone told us instead of researching it ourselves. Learning is becoming obsolete. We push college yet will only hire people with experience. We don’t trust one another so we are constantly moving along in life with a hidden agenda. We don’t truly care about one another’s happiness and well-being, unless it directly affects us of course.

School loans are ridiculously impossible to pay back. Health insurance is almost impossible to maintain. We have people who have fought for our country living in the streets while we selfishly walk pass them without a second thought. We have homeless babies because their mom and dad cannot find a job. We have hungry children who go all summer without a decent meal while school is out because the job mom and dad do have is just barely making the bills. We have people killing one another over minor tiffs because that is how their environment has taught them to react due to poor schools, and irritated parents (you know that whole horrible/lack of job issue). Governments not willing to put money into urban areas for recreational centers, job assistance, small businesses, etc. yet steadily putting up sidewalks in deserted areas, two way street lights on one way streets, etc. in short, corrupt politicians who are allowed to hold office until death pulls them away.

We would much rather fund wars and pretend to have a war on drugs although the drugs are not only brought onto American soil by the government but also heavily guarded in places like the Mideast for private profit.

No, we would much rather protest having a woman in office that has no problem aborting babies up to their due date or defending child rapists while having pizza parties with known pedophiles and having lunch with KKK members. Perhaps we would be better off with a woman who is as emotional an indecisive as a young teenager who knows everything about life in their own little mind. Does she know the ins and outs of the government, absolutely. Is she qualified? About as much as any other lying politician, but is that what we want?

I am convinced we do not know what we want. I know some will take this to think I voted for Trump. Who did I vote for? Wouldn’t you like to know. It doesn’t matter anyhow. I have been stating for the longest that the electoral votes choose our presidency. That is why it is important to vote your local elections because the elects are supposed to vote according to our popular vote but if you don’t vote them in then, well, you get the point.

So by all means, keep protesting. You see how far its gotten us, this time I mean us a in black people.

-Rush
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Secrets of a mother to 9

I have no idea what to blog but I felt compelled to get on anyway. Perhaps it is my slight guilt of not being able to keep in contact via blog. Or maybe it is the fact that I am bored out of my mind.

I do have a confession though. Although I am an established business owner and serial entrepreneur, I have never want to be either. What I have always wanted was to help people and to be rich. I just found a way to incorporate my wants with people’s needs. I REALLY want to be rich though. Just kidding. I am rich. No but for real, I love helping people reveal to themselves, maybe even for the first time they deepest most hidden goals. The smiles on their faces when this comes to fruition is priceless. I love it. I love seeing people smile and be happy. Happiness drowns out so much pain and sorrow its like a drug, but legal, I don’t know how long it will be legal but its legal none-the-less.

What I have always wanted to do is start a shelter. Not just any type of shelter but a shelter with long term assistance both in and out. I never understood the concept of having to check out at the crack of dawn at a shelter. I mean it is very commendable that you give so many broken and lost individuals a place to lay their heads but then what? It would seem to me that you are simply keeping your business funded. You get funding by need. Homeless people need somewhere to rest at night. The end. But what are you doing to assist them with getting back on their feet? Getting a job? Going back to school even? I suppose with that type of assistance you wouldn’t have many people needing you after too long, so you simply give them a cot, a sheet, and a pillow. I am in no way attempting to knock the efforts of these places, I am simply saying, people need more help.

I speak from experience. I have been there, hell, I’m just about there right now with my family while we await the closing of our home. But, I know my hearts desires will be met soon and you can volunteer if your heart is in the right place.

That’s all.

-Rush
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A boring busy day

Today has been a continuation of packing and cleaning. I added the task of conditioning and detangling the girls hair as well as my own and for all of my natural hair sisters you know how tiresome this can be. But alas I managed to get it all done in a record breaking 3 hours. I will not make mention the fact that this did not include ‘doing’ their hair, we all went puffed out today.

As you already know my family has embarked on a journey in search of truth as incorporated in our homeschool academics but it has taken on a task in itself. Today we sat down with a wonderful friend of mine and her family and we broke bread together as they enlightened us on some facts while debunking some myths on their religion. It was absolutely amazing to converse with her, her mother and father, and her husband whom is in a position of high authority (If my research serves me correctly). I am so enlightened. It is a rare thing for me to find an end to my line of questioning because answers usually have me in a position to pose a follow up. But why do I feel like my whole life was a lie growing up, or shall I say a shadow. Anyhow, the research will continue but I was given plenty of literature to halt me on the journey for the moment as I study and show myself approved.

As far as homeschooling, today was a very light work day indeed. We worked primarily off of tablets and our index card system. I got a little bit of packing in and a little bit of cleaning. Did I mention how much I hate packing? how about cleaning? yeah, oh, okay.

I am beyond exhausted but I am grateful any how. Let me tell you how I just KNEW I was going to win the $198 million powerball yesterday! In all my knowing and believing I did not pick one single number NOT ONE! Why is this happening to me? I don’t ask for all the money in the world, just $198,000,000 I mean dang. I wrote out a list of all the awesome things I would do with it too ya’ll. Pay of debts, buy out our mortgage, charity, my shelter, savings, college funds, the works! But noooooooo, God says I need to work a lil’ more. I’ll be obedient and keep pressing on but I just want you all to know that I am not to holy for a few million dollars. Going to work on my positive vibrations. iRush
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