December, 2015

Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc.
Progress Report Toward Building a New Library and Learning Center for Port O’Connor, Texas

The Board of Directors of the Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc. is very pleased to share our wonderful news. Since beginning the Capital Campaign a little over a year ago, we have increased the assets for our project from $37,000 to over $478,000, not including the value of the land that has been set aside by the county for this purpose. This has been accomplished through direct mail appeals, fundraising events, individual and foundation donations and in-kind donations to provide HVAC and plumbing from some very generous members of the community.

We have revised our budget to reflect a structure cost of $600,000 plus $150,000 for furnishings, equipment and technology. No expenditures of any donations designated for the construction and furnishing of the library have been used to cover our operating costs. Once the building is complete, it will become part of the Calhoun County Library system and they will assume responsibility for the maintenance and operation of the building.

We are working closely with the county officials to create an attractive, low maintenance, environmentally friendly and accessible structure. We have selected an architect and are in the process of designing a plan that can be presented to Calhoun County officials for approval by early 2016. This plan will be designed to provide maximum use of space and will be an attractive inviting space that all of Port O’Connor can be proud of for years to come.

Additional grant applications are in process, more fundraising efforts are being planned and our efforts continue.

We are sincerely grateful for all contributions and look forward to seeing the reality of a new Library and Learning Center that will enhance our community and benefit all of our residents and visitors alike. If you have not yet had an opportunity to participate in this project with your donation, we hope that you will consider doing so.

Respectfully submitted,
Judy Whitworth, President
Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc.

By the time you read this, the Annual Chamber Christmas Party will be over and done with, so we certainly hope you attended this annual get together. It’s the Chamber’s way of saying “THANK YOU” for being part of our community.

At this meeting, the election for 2016 directors will be held, so next paper we will announce the new directors and officers. The Chamber accomplished some wonderful things in 2015 and looks forward to finishing up some of the projects in 2016.

New & Renewed Memberships:
Jon Daniel
Donnie Haynes
Power Tools with Thread
Steve Ferguson
Mr. & Mrs. Fishbeck

A big “THANKS” goes to Sharon Sanders and her helpers for the beautiful job they did with decorating King Fisher Park. Also we appreciate all the entries in our Christmas Lighting Contest.
MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!!

So after you’ve grown tired of trying to find a use for that horrible Christmas novelty sweater and you have recovered from your New Year’s Eve hangover, what’s left besides praying for an early Spring?

Well, if your like millions of others across the Western world, you might have made a New Year’s resolution.

Be it losing weight, quitting smoking or moving from your house to avoid the delivery of next year’s Christmas sweater, you may find your resolve fading by the time February rolls around.

So I’ll tell you a secret: Everyday is New Years if you want it to be.

I mean it, every day is New Years because the quickest way to slip back into old habits is to hold yourself to some impossible all or nothing scenario.

Usually the things we resolve to give up are things that we know are bad for us, but we actually get some kind of base pleasure or release from.

We want to lose weight, but that pizza place down the street makes some awesome pie. We want to quit smoking, but it relieves the stress of listening to our boss complain about getting those horrible looking Christmas novelty sweaters each holiday season.

But its OK to fail if your willing to get back up and try again.

If we put these things in the terms of any other addictive behavior that causes our brains to think we need something we know we really don’t, relapse is a part of recovery and advancement.

Rome was not built in a day and neither was a weight loss success story. There are no magic wands, and nothing good comes easy.

However, here are three tips to give yourself a better chance:

1) Give yourself permission to fail: As stated above, almost anytime we try to change a major habit, we might stumble and fall a couple times before we run.

This is OK, as long as you do not allow yourself to use this to continue to not achieve your goal.

Your brain will fight for it’s comfort, so show it who is boss, but forgive him if he causes you to eat a slice of cake or sneak a cigarette on Sunday.

2) Break it up: Some tasks are multistage endeavors, like writing a novel or finally fixing up the classic car in your garage.

Looking at how much work and effort goes into writing a book or estimating the repairs on your dream car will need is daunting.

Break it down into smaller tasks, one chapter of the book, fix one part on the car.

Eventually it makes something huge seem smaller and more manageable.

3) Don’t Speak: There is a saying that if you want your dreams to come true, don’t talk about them to others.

Now, I take a slightly different view of this advice. At the moment I have four lovely ladies in my life who would encourage rather then negate me about achieving my goals.

In the past however, my social circle was infected with toxic people who would rather have me stay stagnant, be it through jealousy or disinterest.

So share your resolutions with those who will support you and shut your mouth to those that won’t.

A friend that tells you the extra portion of chips will ruin your diet is good, your coworker who says you won’t quit smoking and tries to hand you one is bad.

So remember this year that every day is New Year’s Day..if you want it to be.

So that’s my preaching for this year, thanks to all that read this column and newspaper constantly and see you next year!

Here we are again. The earth rotates around the sun in a slight ellipse. This means it comes back to the same place every rotation. The good thing is that so far, at least, it hasn’t stopped. Now for the technically minded that path is also on a slant called the ecliptic, which among other things, causes the length of days to get longer and shorter as well as the season move from spring through summer and fall to winter and repeat.

Thus each year at approximately the same time we are here again. We talk now about December where in our Northern Hemisphere we have the shortest day. In the Southern Hemisphere it is the longest day. With the little wobbles this yearly path gets really complicated.. Do you remember that funny little figure eight that used to be on globes? It described the path of the sun and had dates on it to show where it was all during the year.

As the saying goes “All good things must come to an end”. It is actually true for bad things also. However, we don’t mind when bad things end. The neat thing about the path being an ellipse is that when you come to that calendar end it just keeps on going and we have a new beginning for the next year. So, in fact, when good or bad years end they start. That is just like days; each day ends and a new one starts.

No matter what this one is, year or day, we get a new chance to begin again. It is a perpetual second chance. That could be a big deal.

Many folks when December comes around think about Christmas or New Years or the winter solstice or one of the other holidays, like Hanukkah. While they are really big deals getting another chance is a pretty big one too.

There is a slight problem with that. Mother Nature gave us the automatic restart with all this rotation and by keeping on going. However, we live in a world where there are other problems like relationships. We have personal ones and goodness know the countries and other folks have problems getting along. One of the reasons for Christmas was set up many years ago to try to solve some of those relationship problems and maybe eliminate wars. That doesn’t seem to be working at this time right now.

It is a shame we can’t seem to settle on a peaceful path. Anyone can read a newspaper or watch television and understand that there isn’t much agreement about what should come next. I don’t think anyone really knows which of those divergent plans is best. Most of us think some are good and some are really bad.

That gives me the hope that Mother Nature’s plan of giving everyone a new beginning each year like we are coming up on now will somehow get a good fresh start for you. Happy 2016!