The Secret In the Sauce

Hey folks! Here I am again! And still anxious to not only hit the 'publish' button but to then take it one step further and share the link! So, I thought it only appropriate that this post address the emotion that has been my nemesis in resuming my work as a writer. FEAR! Fear of what - I don't know. Failure? Being good at it? People liking it? Offending somebody? All of these are possible and may become an actual reality, but does it really matter? YES! It is preventing me from moving forward! I'm going to out on a limb here and say that the fear of failure is probably the biggest fear that haunts us all. Yes? How often do people say, I'm not putting myself 'out there' because I'm afraid of getting hurt? I'm not going to try to do a marathon because I'm afraid I won't finish. I'm not going to try this diet, because what if I fail? I'm not going to try to write a book because people might hate it. Ican't do a Spartan race, I m...

I CAN ONLY CHANGE ME Welcome my friend! I have taken some time-off (well, a lot of time off) but the break - and long awaited return - is over! And I figured there was no better way to jump back in to this than to re-state what the whole purpose of this blog is. (Are blogs on the out now? Do I need a .com address to be 'legit?' Well, whatever, this is where I'm startin'!) The crazy part is, over the years, this ONE key concept - I CAN ONLY CHANGE ME - is what I keep coming back to and what my ultimate fallback is. I may be a slow learner folks, but I'll probably never get it. Yes - that is not a typo - I probably will  never master this, but I sure can work at it every day! As I say that, I realize I need to offer my kids and my husband way more grace and forgiveness than I do because I am myself am a repeat offender in all things bad and luckily all things good as well. This right here is the foundation to this whole blog: You can't change anyone but your...

This blog may be slightly random today. But sometimes you have to go where the wind blows you. It was my cute Dad's birthday on Sunday and I took a selfie of us on a hike and I had a little laugh at his fantastic hair. These days he wears it high and wild. Some of my favorite comments about my Dad's hair include but are not limited to the following: 1) He looks famous - like Keith Richards. But better. 2) Oh - your Rod Stewart's daughter. 3) I think I know why he had a stroke - it's his hair! He wears this style well and when I look back at the days before his big hair, the flatter version of Dad's do - although nice and appropriate - it is simply disappointing and not nearly as fun. His 'Keith Richards' style got me to thinking about the fact that I even know who Keith Richards is. And Mick Jagger, Jimi Hendrix, Roger Daltry, Robert Plant, Eddie Van Halen. Some of the greats. At my kiddo's mountain bike race the other day they were playing, ...

I went in for a mammogram yesterday (yuck) and while I was sitting in the waiting room, I read a brief article on Daymond John (do you ever watch Shark Tank?); it was pretty fascinating. I deducted a few things from the relatively short article: - Talent and determination can be taught, but it is definitely an inherent blessing - The strength of the relationship with your family is monumental in shaping the decisions you make - Imagination is something to always be cultivated Now, he didn't actually say one darn thing about imagination, but I personally believe that it is a big piece of the entrepreneurial puzzle. You have to have vision. And then of course that talent and determination will help that vision come to fruition. Mark Cuban said one night in the shark tank: "Everyone tells you how they are going to be special, but few do the work to get there. Do the work." It's the doing that allows the creation. But the quote from this article with Daymond John ...

The plan was to get in to bed at an early hour last night so I could have some one-on-one time with me and just read (doesn't it sound heavenly? Almost as heavenly as grocery shopping by yourself - no kids?). But then I remembered I had to do one last thing on the computer which turned into something else, which lead to googling a question I remembered I had, which lead to several new tabs and being sucked into Dr. John Gray's blog post on ADHD. The more I read about ADHD and other ailments that plague us in this day and age, the more I'm convinced of the roles food and environment play in the grand scheme of things. Dr. John Gray, author of Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus , has a new book out talking specifically about ADHD and ADD. Last night he hooked me in with his fifteen reasons why these disorders are so prevalent at this time and how they are becoming even more so as each day passes. The list included everything from video games and pornography to...

Okay. Long-story short: you must un-learn what you have learned when it comes to homework. I want you to practice this phrase, "I've already passed the 'x' grade, but I would love to help you when you need it - at a reasonable hour." That's the crux of this - when they ASK for your help, you have been invited into their circle. We tend to force ourselves into their world and in so doing can rob them of the opportunity to learn and grow and be accountable for themselves and their work. And when they ask for help, we don't take it upon ourselves to teach but to model and figure things out together. The moment that helping with homework is no longer fun, you check-out. My dad and I have a long-standing joke about math homework. I have NEVER enjoyed math and it has NEVER been my strong point. I can do what I need to effectively run my household (and I actually can even determine what my monthly payment on a car would be-if I pull out my old college math note...

Can you tell it's been a long and taxing summer for me given the blogging break I took? Let's just say it was a glorious moment when I opened the door and wished them well for their first day of school. The hectic nature of our day still exists but the dynamic has changed for the better and now I just have to figure out how to keep them all happy for the few hours they are together. With all that being said, we had a huge victory last night in our household and it took place at no less, than the dinner table. If you have been following along our journey for the last couple of years, you will know that my man Preston is a very picky eater. We have been the rounds with trying to expand this fellow's eating horizons; we've persuaded, forced, cajoled, insisted, pleaded, begged, argued, cried. Dinner time has been a thorn in all of our sides for several years; so sad when it is supposed to be the one thing that brings the family together! At any rate, after our last vi...