The Secret In the Sauce

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...

Life is nuts isn't it? And we all know that it never really calms down - the challenges simply change. School's out. Yay!! (No - that's not me talking, that's my kids). My two youngest are fighting like the world might end tomorrow and they need to let each other know how annoying and despicable the other one thinks they are. The toddler manhandles Preston's Lego car and Preston throws it in anger yelling that the toddler ruined it - and not just the Lego car - his LIFE! "This is the worst day of my life!" Sigh. I suggest a simple and relaxing game of Candy Land. They show up to the game table with their best of poker faces and they are not going to let anyone or anything steal away their chance at sweet victory. Accusations of cheating and board-manipulation fly, all the while the toddler simply moves his piece from one spot to the next which is simply just too much to take for the real players. The game is over and nobody is ever playing again. My mi...

So, this is mostly a re-post of last year's post but it's good to get up before Easter if any of y'all are looking for any ideas. If you recall, last year the Easter Bunny did not pay us a visit. Preston's old nuance of rummaging through the whole house in search of treats had re-surfaced not to mention that I was just plain tired of every holiday revolving around food - especially candy. Just walk the holiday aisle at your grocery store and there is candy made special for that event. Then I started to wonder where in the world the candy tradition for Easter came from anyway - the Easter Bunny and the resurrection of Christ don't seem to have a common thread. So I did a little research and it wasn't super insightful. There really isn't a connection that I could find. I found that the origins of Easter MAY have started in 16th century Germany when the Oster Haws (hare) would bring colored eggs to the well-behaved children. I'm guessing this was the Ch...