Welcome Week #52!

It’s the last week in 2016 and can you believe how fast it went? I know, it’s totally cliche’ to write about how time flies, but it does! I don’t remember that being the case when I was a kid, but Mason said to me half way through this year, “Man mom, time is going so fast!” He was 12, but I suppose when you live a life like his as a kid, it would feel more grown up. Today Mason did his last television appearance of the year in Sacramento. He talked about how to make New Years Eve festive and fun for kids…he would know. 

It’s funny how much things can come around in just a few days. Last week I was really struggling with the whole gift situation that comes this time of year. Mason has been a normal 13 year old and all about what am I getting? It’s been driving me nuts because I want him to be more aware of the spirit of giving and how the magic of Christmas and Santa is really about giving and making other people’s dreams come true. The bottom line is, he’s a kid and as amazing and mature as he is in other realms of life, he’s still a little boy who is loving video games and gaming systems, and he wants more air soft stuff than he can likely use, he wants to go to the movies and he wants to eat crap food, and as his mom I need to just let some of this stuff be. It will pass and I really do not need to worry that he will grow up to be an entitled, selfish human, I don't think that's the case.

While I reflect on our year, how can I feel anything but gratitude? Mason worked a lot this year and by the looks of this last television appearance, it’s showing. After his segment while we were cleaning up, the anchor called to us to say, “In my ear, producer just said, “THAT WAS AWESOME!” that never happens! Good job Mason, you know how to do this and your set looked great!” That’s high praise and even Dave said to me, “Good job Kath, tell John Howard Swain he taught you well…so well, you’ve been able to teach Mason.” 

We were in Chicago in January shooting a pilot for a kid cooking show, Mason did his usual live cooking demos for the Home Shows, fairs, and festivals through the spring, summer and fall. I went to Las Vegas for the licensing show where it looks like I may have landed a gig for my RiverLights Originals art work in 2018, and we came home to get Dave his most favorite of all birthday presents, his Bernese Mountain dog puppy, Gunner. Mason and Dave then went back to Chicago where Mason filmed a spot with Steve Harvey while I was on a girls trip to NYC with Lisa Anderson. No sooner did we all touch down the same day in Sacramento, just two days later, Mason and I were back down in LA to shoot another spot for the pilot show we shot in January. That one will be interesting when it airs in 2017. From there we were back on a plane to Sheboygan, WI where Mason did a job for Johnsonville Sausage. That was a great trip! Not only did we have plenty of down time, we got to meet the good people at Johnsonville, and it looks like there might be more collaborations in the future. That project will likely be revealed next month, so stay tuned! 

Bring all of this full circle with Saturday Thanksgiving surrounded by our friends in the (not so) new house, I turned 50 (how the heck did that happen?!), and we shared another epic Christmas. There just isn’t room for anything in my heart except love and gratitude for this amazing life with my little family. 

Thank you for being on this journey with us, it wouldn’t be the same without you. Happy New Year, may you find this same kind of awesomeness in 2017!

Getting Paid To Blog. Really?

It’s Monday again and I am back from Los Angeles where I attended a blogging conference. As you all well know, I’ve been writing this blog since 1999 although since it started out as a weekly email, I did not know it was a blog. In 2007 I decided to create a web presence for this little weekly journal and was able to collect 60 of the original emails between 2002-2006, while writing an opening post explaining how this all started backdated to 1999. Who would have thought that I should have archived those emails? How could I have known I would (mostly) stay on top of a weekly writing? Oh well, it is what it is and for the most part, Mason’s whole life is documented week by week - that’s cool! 

So the conference was really interesting and I absolutely took a lot away in terms of how bloggers actually make a living writing about everything under the sun. Yes, I met bloggers who write about lifestyle, food, fashion, Disney, and even a Dominatrix! Yep, she blogs about sex and the uh, interesting things people ask her to do to them for money. Writing about sex, and not just love making, her challenges have been even more than most. Can you imagine what kind of images she wants to post, or put on her marketing material? She’s even had servers shut her site down for explicit material, but what? Aren’t there porn sites all over the internet? I digress, the point is, there are many ways to monetize a blog or website, it’s just a matter of building a following and knowing what it is you are really trying to do. The next step is knowing the avenues for revenue, who are they, how do you implement them onto your site, and finally, start waking up to some newfound money in your accounts. Seriously people, it really does happen! Now all I need is an extra 3-4 hours in my already busy days to put these practices into action. Well, not for the Monday Motivator, I’ve concluded that this blog is okay just going to those of you I know and maybe a few people here or there who find it. It’s awfully personal and since it has so much of Mason’s life in it, I don’t think it’s a good thing to advertise, especially if he continues his life to be more in the public eye. People can be really mean and there is so much in this blog that could be misconstrued and taken out of context to hurt him. At some point, it may become completely private which won’t affect you, you get it via email anyway. 

In other news, this week we are celebrating Mason’s one year anniversary of winning Chopped Junior. I have been sorting through my notes and photos of all the behind the scenes stuff and posting this week on Facebook. I have the whole post in it’s entirety on Mason’s website that will be live later this week, hopefully on the 11th, the actual one year anniversary. If you don’t subscribe to his website, pop over and follow, we don’t post there a lot, but it’s good stuff when we do. Of course, Facebook is the place to be, along with Mason Partak on Instagram and @MasonPartak on twitter. From the blogging conference, I learned a ton of stuff to pass on to Mason, if he played his social media cards right, he could make a boatload of money just blogging and being a social media superstar! Let’s see if he can listen to me long enough (after all, I am his mom!) to get how simple it really is.

I’m off to a full week, Mason is back to school on Wednesday (7th grade), and I have a new listing coming on the market by the end of the week. This is in addition to the two escrows I’m working through right now, one is sailing along famously, while the other seems to have glitch after glitch. Real estate is a fickle business, the commissions appear big, but keep in mind, these are gross paychecks that require we pay taxes on them (which means, save some of that cash Kathy!), and it’s been almost five months since my last paycheck. You all know what that means, it means I have credit cards to pay off. What many of you do not know, in December/January, I was working on a listing/purchase for clients I had been working with all last year. Just when they decided at Thanksgiving to take the house off the market and try again in the spring, they got an offer. We hustled and found them a house (lots of qualifying criteria to make this happen) and while I was nearing past the middle of the escrows, their house did not appraise and the buyers walked. Well, this meant we had to cancel their purchase and that meant in one day I said good bye to two really substantial paychecks - WHILE I STILL DID OVER 12 MONTHS WORTH OF WORK. Oh, was I shouting? Yeah, still a little bit of a sore spot, but people don't understand that when it's good, it's good, but it can be bad sometimes, too. Those paychecks were planned to pay for our move, buy our new washer, dryer and kitchen appliances, and other things you need when you get a new house. Suffice it to say, all of those expenses went on credit cards so all the big bucks I may have coming in the 4th quarter will pay those bills, get me new tires on my 4Runner and I’m hoping to have some money to pay my taxes next year. Yep, I’m broke again, but it’s all good, the business is getting stronger and I will get to the point that I have a cushion and do not need to rely on the credit lines. Oh, and I can blog, too! Laughing! Happy Monday, thank you for being in my life and listening to my weekly rambling. I wish we had more time to spend together in real life, but I will take what I can get - replies to my Monday Motivator! 

Let me leave you with this from Mason’s journey to win Chopped Junior:

It was about this time one year ago that Mason, Janie, Hannah, and Dylan were having breakfast and then on their way to the Food Network studio to compete on Chopped Junior. I think my most favorite memory from this whole experience was earlier in the morning while Mason and I were getting ready to walk out the door to go down to breakfast, I said to him, "So really listen to me. I'm so proud of you, and I know you have the skills to win this competition. With that said, I want you to know you have already won by just being here and more than anything, I want you to have fun today. Take it all in and enjoy the journey. No matter what happens, set your intention to have fun." Mason replied, "Winning is fun.”

We went down to breakfast and we were all sitting at a long table and at the end was a smaller table just for two pushed up against the longer one. Mason was sitting there with Hannah's mom across from him. The kids were all nervous and really not eating or talking much when Mason piped up with, "Do you all realize that the next Chopped Junior champion is sitting at this table?" They all chimed in, "Yeah!" and Mason said, "No, THIS (as he placed both of his hands on the smaller table edges only he was sitting at) table." The room had an odd quiet for just a second and I got chills as I realized, he just really set his intention, like really SET HIS INTENTION.

New Skills at the Spring Home Show

This last weekend was pretty epic. It was the Auburn Spring Home Show and Mason had a much bigger role at the cooking stage. Not only was he schedule to cook all three days, but this year he was invited to host the stage and the other chefs as well. We normally invite local chefs to bring their favorite recipe and do a cooking demo for the audience. Well, this time, we created Chopped Challenges creating mystery ingredients from products sold at our local farmers market. Our chefs had to draw a card to let them know if they were preparing an appetizer, entree, or dessert. We provided them with their mystery ingredients, set the timer for 30 minutes and they had to make it happen using our pantry and in front of a live audience. This is where Mason came in, as a Chopped Junior Champion, he chatted with the chefs, asked great questions, shared food tips and tricks, answered questions from the audience about his experience on Chopped Junior, he told jokes and truly entertained the audiences. As the weekend played out, he ended up doing an additional chopped challenge when one of our local chefs got sick so that put him at 4 live challenges, one cooking demo with his friend Drake, and he hosted 6 other challenges - Mason was one busy kid! It was impressive to watch Mason grow as a performer from one day to the next over such a short period of time, just three days. He told me at the end of the day on Friday, "Mom, this emceeing job is way harder than it looks, but I'm gonna get good at it, you'll see." I'd say he did! The organizer of the show presented him with a thank you card and a big fat check!

Last week was super busy, Mason did multiple television appearances for the home show, in addition setting up the kitchen stage, and doing his final workbooks for his science test coming up. Oh, and he signed with a talent agent! That was something he's been asking me if we could do, as he wants to expand his horizons and start doing some work that is not cooking related. Of course, as we met with the agents, all they wanted to talk about was cooking and his experience on Chopped! We decided to give it a try over the summer and see what comes his way, in addition to a few things we know are coming down the pike for him in the culinary arena. :)

Dave has been in central California working on Guard retention for the last two weeks and he is excited to be home this week. We are heading into a holiday weekend and I'm looking forward to a long weekend vibe. I hope your week is shaping up to be super great! 

Mason Won Chopped Junior!

Mason won Chopped Junior last Tuesday night on Food Network!

As you may know Mason, he's the kid who raised $26,052 to put a culinary sciences lab in his elementary school in Auburn and along that journey got the school district to update the school kitchen and hire a lunch lady who cooks hot, real food lunches. They also put in a school garden as part of his efforts.

He's also the kid who does live cooking demos at fairs, festivals, home shows, private events, and on television. Now add to his CV, at only 12 years old, Chopped Junior Champion!

He won $10,000 (more than half went into a trust for later) that he spent on a few special toys, some new clothes, and he started his own business, Mason Made Products, it's a line of marinades and sauces.

I can't wait to see what 2016 will bring for this bright young man, but I'll be sure to share his journey with you. You can also follow along on Facebook at Mason Made.

I took copious notes and lots of personal photos and video that I want to do a whole post or series of a couple of posts about our trip to NYC and the Chopped Junior experience. I usually just write from my perspective, but this time I plan to include Mason and his perspective as well. I'm excited to share some of the behind the scenes things about the show and some of the footage that didn't get aired.

I will say, when your kid wins $10,000 before Christmas, it sort of takes the magic out of the shopping experience for mom and dad. Most of the toys that Mason wanted that would have been great "Christmas morning surprises," he bought for himself. Oh well, I suppose there are far worse problems we could have, right? Mason was frustrated that I made him put $6,000 in his trust, but in reality, he will thank me later. Us Partaks know how to make fun and I'm pretty sure Dave and I will find a way to make Christmas magical, for me, it will have nothing to do with material gifts.

Merry Christmas friends, we wish you love and laughter today and every day.
Here is the link to Mason's recent ABC10 appearance yesterday morning http://www.abc10.com/media/cinematic/video/77664542/chopped-junior-champion-visits-abc10/