Lifestyle blogger – cruises, organizing, managing money, and parenting.
How good are you at stress reduction? If you’re a Mom, probably not that well. We all have stresses in our lives that come and go and some periods in your life are worse than others. I’m always dismayed when I realize how hard women are on themselves. Guys, not so much. They don’t seem […] Read more…
Raising teens and tweens can be quite a challenge. What’s that saying? It’s like being pecked to death by a duck. As the mother of three sons – two adult and one still in those “fabulous” teen years, I can certainly testify to the truth of that. What if there was one magic truth that […] Read more…
Writing workshops always say that you should write about topics you know. Well, one thing I know a little bit about is being a Scout parent. Since I have all boys, I’ve been involved with Boy Scouts. But I’m sure the Girl Scout program has similar benefits. I actually was a Girl Scout, but […] Read more…
Raising responsible teens is definitely an on-going process, so I think you need to celebrate every possible bit of progress. I had one particular issue I had been fighting ever since we started in Jr. High – lunch money. Photo credit Neither of us likes making lunches, so we had initially decided to allow […] Read more…
Kids are scary. They get plenty of bumps and bruises just from their normal activities, but then they start in on the daredevil stuff. It’s a wonder any of them survive their childhoods without major injuries or worse! Considering we have 3 sons, we’ve been really lucky as far as injuries go, but when […] Read more…
My son Blake and I had a good talk the other day. He’s a High School Sophomore and he has been slipping a bit in school lately. He needed a kick in the butt and I was definitely in the mood to give it to him. But it reminded me of how difficult it can […] Read more…
Passive-aggressive behavior is a fascinating subject. I see a lot of it with the people in my life at home and at work. One of the most frustrating varieties of it is something called Intentional Incompetence and my kids have a bad case of it! We have all experienced Intentional Incompetence at one time or […] Read more…
Why should your teen get involved in volunteer service? I’ll give you one reason. Your teen needs to feel like a hero. Not every kid can be the popular one, score the winning sports goal, or win the top prize at the science fair, but every kid can do volunteer service. [bctt tweet=”Volunteer service can make your […] Read more…
Most financial experts agree that the best way to teach kids to be a smart shopper is to actually let them TRY it. They need to learn from their own successes and failures. Since one of your biggest recurring expenses is your grocery budget, this is a great place to start. Do you realize our teen is […] Read more…
A little background – this is a reprint from a few years back, but interestingly enough, my son is now in full teenage mode at 15 and he’s still pretty awesome. Sure, he drives me crazy like any other teen and we argue a bit more than we did when he was ten (okay, a […] Read more…
This summer I have been doing something I thought I would never do. I’ve been modeling. Yeah me and my plus-sized, middle-aged self. And my teenaged son too. I met Alicia Richmond of Chic on a Shoestring. She is an amazing local fashion stylist who works with real women to find affordable clothing that really […] Read more…
I know some people who can do some pretty amazing things. Seriously, amazing things. Like making blind children see. Making children walk who had never walked before. You know, boring, everyday stuff like that. Take this man. Looks a little like Santa Claus, doesn’t he? But he gives kids a gift that is much better […] Read more…
Kids and chores – what a fun topic. I don’t think there is anything that parents and kids or kids and other kids fight about more. It’s your turn, no, its your turn, I did it last time, how come I have to do that, that isn’t fair – kids have an endless supply of […] Read more…
I don’t know if I’ve ever really called it out on my blog, but I’m a Boy Scout Leader. For reals! I mean, I’m not THE leader – that’s a big job in a troop of our size, but I’m definitely part of the cast of characters in our Troop. In fact, I’ve actually been […] Read more…
I got to thinking about some of my favorite posts and I realized that I’d never posted one of my favorite posts. This was a post I wrote a couple of years ago for one of my stamping business websites. This relates to my Stampin’ Up! business, but it really applies to any home business […] Read more…