New Year, New You

It is hard to believe that there are only two weeks left of 2016.  The end of the year is a great time to revisit your goals and intentions that you set in the New Year.  

When you look back on your list, it is important to take that list with a grain of salt.  At the beginning of the year, we have huge goals and asperations.  We are on a post holiday sugar high and frankly we rarely know what we are agreeing to.  

In previous years, my lists have said ridiculous things like learn French, knit a sweater or save $10,000.  Did I accomplish those things?  Ummm no, I didn't.  But I made an effort to change myself and that alone is a success.

When you make your list this year, here are my tips:

1. Be specific.  Don't say you want to lose weight, say you want to lose 5, 10, 20 lbs.  
2. Keep the list short.  No one is going to accomplish 50 things over the year.  A list of just five things is a great place to start.
3. Be realistic.  What do you actually have the time and energy to accomplish?
4. Hold yourself accountable.  Ask friends or family to participate in your New Year's resolutions.  You can all work together towards accomplishing goals.
5. Lastly, celebrate the successes.  Did you say you wanted to lose 20 lbs but maybe you only lost 5?  Celebrate that loss because you still lost something!

With these tips, I hope you aim for greatness in 2017!  What are your resolutions?

It's That Time of Year

Hard to believe, but Thanksgiving is only 10 days away.  Then you will blink and it will be Christmas and then the New Year.  Before you know it we will be firmly into 2017.

Time flies by really fast these days and I am trying to slow down.  A LOT!

Part of slowing down is simplifying your life.  Unless you are going to quit your job, sell all your belongings and move to the middle of nowhere, this is really hard.  But slowly you can cut things out, get rid of things and try to focus on what is most important to you.

One of the easiest ways to simplify is to get rid of unnecessary things.  Think about how much time you spend each day putting things away.  I do it constantly.  If you didn't have so much stuff, you wouldn't need to pick up all the time.  Do you see where I am going with this?

The broken toys, the books you have read, the clothing that (honestly) is never going to fit again.  These are all items that can be donated to others.  It can be really hard to let things go, I understand that.  I just try to remember that there are people out there that can use these things and that helps me let go.

This is the best time of year for donations because as it gets colder, people in need, need so much more.  Take some time this week and look thru your closets.  Ask you children and friends to be part of this too.

Let's all work towards letting go of things that we don't need and giving them to people that can use them again.

Comment below on your favorite donation locations so we can all help out!

Coming to an End

I am always partially sad and partially relieved when this time of year finally rolls around.  Our season is almost over and wintertime slowness is approaching.

On one hand this season was so busy.  The events were bigger.  The timelines were tighter.  The whole season flew by in the blink of an eye.  And frankly myself and all of our staff are tired.  The long hours and seven day work weeks have finally caught up with us.

But on the other hand, I love to be busy.  I hate how slow the wintertime is.  The days drag and I just dread them!

As our season starts to come to a close, be sure to let us know if you need your equipment picked up. We are busy scheduling seasonal pick ups right now so call in soon to get on the schedule!

Thanks again for another great season!

Baby It's Cold Outside

I feel like we blinked and the weather changed.  Last week, it was warm and sunny every day.  So warm that I turned the air conditioning back on in our office building.

Over the weekend that all changed.  We have been waking up to colder temperatures and frosty cars in the morning.  Everyone is pulling out their warmer jackets and my son wore a snow hat to school this morning!

All of this means that the colder, winter temperatures are right around the corner.  Colder temperatures mean frozen equipment.  Anything with running water in it requires winterization but don't worry because we have you covered!

We plan on starting winterization of all restroom trailers, holding tanks and office trailer bathrooms at the beginning of November.  If you want a better idea of when your equipment will be serviced, feel free to call our office at (877) 234-6545.

Stay warm!

Changes

It is hard to believe that as I am writing this, we are in the last week of September.  It is now officially fall and Halloween is only 31 days away.  I won't even get into how close Thanksgiving and Christmas are.

Fall weather means cooler temperatures but there is still time for plenty of outdoor events.  This is a great time for 5k races, soccer games, picnics and more.  

Give us a call today and we will help you pick the right kind of equipment and the correct quantity for your event!  (877) 234-6545

Labor Day

For many of us, Labor Day just means a nice three day weekend at the end of the Summer.  But do you know how Labor Day was started?  Well today is your lucky day, because I am going to tell you!

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Through the years the nation gave increasing emphasis to Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances passed during 1885 and 1886. From these, a movement developed to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced into the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed by Oregon on February 21, 1887. During the year four more states — Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York — created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticut, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit. By 1894, 23 other states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City, in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday, as originally proposed, and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country.

The form that the observance and celebration of Labor Day should take was outlined in the first proposal of the holiday — a street parade to exhibit to the public "the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations" of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families. This became the pattern for the celebrations of Labor Day. Speeches by prominent men and women were introduced later, as more emphasis was placed upon the economic and civic significance of the holiday. Still later, by a resolution of the American Federation of Labor convention of 1909, the Sunday preceding Labor Day was adopted as Labor Sunday and dedicated to the spiritual and educational aspects of the labor movement.

The character of the Labor Day celebration has undergone a change in recent years, especially in large industrial centers where mass displays and huge parades have proved a problem. This change, however, is more a shift in emphasis and medium of expression. Labor Day addresses by leading union officials, industrialists, educators, clerics and government officials are given wide coverage in newspapers, radio, and television.

The vital force of labor added materially to the highest standard of living and the greatest production the world has ever known and has brought us closer to the realization of our traditional ideals of economic and political democracy. It is appropriate, therefore, that the nation pay tribute on Labor Day to the creator of so much of the nation's strength, freedom, and leadership — the American worker.

Now, don't you feel smarter for taking in all of this information?  

Back to School

I don't know how this summer went by so fast, but here we are, two weeks from September.  This time of year is all about Back to School, with some areas of the country already back in school.  Here in the Northeast we have about another week left of summer vacation.

Everywhere you go, people are talking about Back to School.  What you need to buy.  What is on sale.  But for a lot of people, this time of year is very stressful because they don't have the money to cover these necessities.  

With that thought in mind, please consider giving back when you buy your children's school supplies this year.  An extra package of markers or a couple of extra notebooks don't cost very much but they could mean a lot to the person recieving them.

Here is a link for donation locations across Connecticut.  Here is a link to Operation Backpack, which supplies thousands of homeless children in New York City with new, filled backpacks.  If neither of these locations are in your area, you can always contact your child's school district.

Back to school time is so exciting for children.  And it is important that all children feel good about themselves when they head back this year.