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The Blog.

Page 23 of 26.

Marriage Feb 20, 2011

3 Things To Stay Connected To My Husband

As a contributor on Loveishere.com I was asked this question… Get an Oscar, get a divorce? University of Toronto study shows that women who win an Oscar are more likely to get divorced. How can couples in high performance careers keep their relationships on track? Here is my answer… Oscar winners li

Parenting Feb 17, 2011

“We” Manners!

Yep, the reality is its your mombligation to teach manners. And with all the reality TV out there if you don’t teach manners you will have a real mess of a child. Am I being harsh? Remember this is just me (or my opinion). And I think reality TV is often focused on rude, mannerless people. You may h

Encouragement Feb 16, 2011

Clash of the Hormones

This may just be me and my crazy house but think about this – if a woman has children any time between the ages of 30 and 45 then she could have teenagers living at home when she is between the ages of 43 and 63. In other words, while your teenagers hormones are surging yours are waning. That makes

Marriage Feb 15, 2011

Love…SET…Win!

As a contributor on Loveishere.com I was asked this question… Get an Oscar, get a divorce? University of Toronto study shows that women who win an Oscar are more likely to get divorced. How can couples in high performance careers keep their relationships on track? Here is my answer… Oscar winners li

Encouragement Feb 13, 2011

The Heart of Parenting

The heart of parenting can be filled with pain. It can hurt deeper than anything I have ever experienced. When you have a little one (at any age) that is hurting or hearting as I call it, meaning their heart is hurting, it feels twice as painful to me as any personal hurt I have ever suffered. I gue

Encouragement Feb 10, 2011

My Favorite Very Easy Valentine

You never know what day of the week Valentine’s will fall on. Often it is a school day. This recipe saves me no matter how busy the day because it only has 4 ingredients that are staples in my house. That means no preplanning on my part. All I need to do is make it the night before or get it in the

Marriage Feb 10, 2011

Love is… Not Doing Well.

At least that is what a survey of young adults conducted by the Pew Research Center and Time Magazine says. A number of young adults were asked, “Is marriage becoming obsolete?” Nearly four out of ten survey respondents (39%) said that it is. TIME magazine posed this question to registered voters be

Encouragement Feb 6, 2011

A Good Looking Gadget that Makes Me Look Good

It’s…my slow cooker. Really! I am sharing about this product because I love it and this one really makes me look good. My husband got it for me at William Sonoma. It was a splurge (my whole Christmas present 2 years ago, and I didn’t even get the one with the stove top liner) but it was soooooo wort

Parenting Feb 3, 2011

Manners Mombligation

Yep, the reality is its your mombligation to teach manners. And with all the reality TV out there if you don’t teach manners you can be assured your child will not catch them from our culture. Am I being harsh? Remember this is just me (or my opinion) and it is my observation that much of reality TV

Encouragement Feb 3, 2011

On the Other Side of Surgery…

is a good place to be. That is where I am today. I am thankful. Not that yesterdays surgery was a terribly dangerous one but it was the 7th for this crazy heart. I have a faulty little gadget running this body. My heart, and its unpredictability, is a constant reminder to me of the tenuousness of my

Parenting Jan 27, 2011

Don’t Let Them Drive Away…

Unless they are ready. I have taught three children to drive. It is not my favorite thing to teach. Not because my kids weren’t good drivers. No, I don’t enjoy it because it is contrary to my every instinct, as a mom, to put my child in a dangerous situation. And driving is dangerous! But, it is a p

Encouragement Jan 24, 2011

Where do I begin?

How about this? This is a really encouraging story. Last night I got one of those rare and precious gifts that become unimaginable as your children age. You know, when your kids are little you can count on at least one peanut butter and jelly kiss or hand crafted, crayon smudged love note a day, dep

Parenting Jan 19, 2011

Can Your Child Be A Friend?

Of course! But it isn’t always easy. Every child needs a friend but not every child is good at making or keeping friends. My friend Lauren Dungy has a tender and passionate heart for teaching and reaching children. She lives this out with her own children as the mother of seven! Recently, she began

Parenting Jan 16, 2011

Makeup for Girls 101

I was asked today how I handled makeup with my girls. Here are my thoughts: 1. Talk about it way before they want it. 2. Play together with makeup (emphasis on together). Girls like makeup. When you play, use soft pretty colors so they will start to see the beauty in a more natural look. Put the dar

Parenting Jan 11, 2011

Tackling Tough Subjects

Tackling tough subjects really starts at age two. Let me explain, because I see this all the time. It’s cold and a two-year-old doesn’t want to wear a sweater. She pitches a fit and her mom gives in. Ten years later, the two-year-old is now twelve and doesn’t want to wear more than six inches of clo

Encouragement Jan 6, 2011

Saying Goodbye to Santa

I know I know, you said goodbye weeks ago. Well, I didn’t. I put it off and I have a reason. My mom was born right before Christmas and I was born right after. When you have a Christmas birthday and the decorations go up it invokes double the excitement. This is my time of year, my only time, Christ

Parenting Jan 4, 2011

Birthorder

We have the strangest of birth orders in my family. It has made life interesting. My husband and I started with an oldest (girl), middle (girl) and baby (boy) for nine years. Then we adopted a firstborn (girl) the same age as my middle—literally two weeks apart in age, and a first born boy, but midd

Marriage Dec 30, 2010

Attitude: Is it Killing Your Marriage? (Podcast)

Encouragement Dec 23, 2010

Linus is not Lyin to Us

He knows the real meaning of Christmas. We all need a Linus – someone in the midst of our Charlie Brown frustration to calmly refocus our attention. There are two nuances I love about this clip. The first is that everyone is literally in the “dark” about the meaning for Christmas until Linus says “l

Encouragement Dec 5, 2010

My House is a Mess

The reality is I really don’t care. Yes, I do. Well not enough to really do anything to change it—for more than a week. It would be so interesting to walk in somebody else’s shoes for a while—somebody that actually puts their shoes away. I might learn an alternative lifestyle. I went to a friend’s h

Parenting Nov 29, 2010

It Makes Me a Little Crazy When My Kids Lie

Sometimes, moms just have this nagging sense that something is not ringing true, but they can’t act on it because they don’t know what it is. Three of my children were/are prone to lying. One child lied out of pride. If she did something wrong she would be so ashamed she would rather lie than admit

Parenting Nov 24, 2010

Thankful Children

What are children most thankful for this Thanksgiving? Deep down, we know they’re really thankful for the important things in life, like family and friends. But, of course, that’s not always what comes to their mind first.

Parenting Nov 23, 2010

Call Me Crazy

But I would follow my kids anywhere. Thank goodness they haven’t asked me to go sky diving. So, when you’ve washed the last dish this Thanksgiving and finally plopped yourself on the couch and propped your feet up, think of me. I will be on my feet – following my crazy girls in their favorite sport

Encouragement Nov 22, 2010

Thanksgiving – How I Finally Got it Together

Whether you are serving five or 25 guests, a traditional Thanksgiving dinner is a lot of work. In my case, it is usually closer to 25. So after the first few years I realized that I was never going to enjoy the dinner if I single-handedly served it. That’s when I came up with a plan to get all the g