Give Yourself the Gift of Love This Valentine’s Day

Most of us associate Valentine’s Day with the receiving or giving of gifts to others.  How about making this year one about giving the greatest gift of all?  I’m talking about a gift that begins with you…loving yourself enough to make some important lifestyle changes. Now that the New Year isn’t feeling so new anymore, many of us start to lose grip on the goals and resolutions we set.  The energy and enthusiasm we felt in the beginning of the year to exercise more and eat less has started to wane. In fact, some people might even be suffering from … Continue reading

Homeschool Blog Focus: Brighton Park

  Brighton Park is a 2012 Circle of Moms Top 25 Homeschool blog, a Siemens Top 50 Farm Blog, and was recently featured in the Jan/Dec 2013 issue of Hobby Farm Home Magazine. Meet Katie Katie is the face behind Brighton Park.   Katie is a pediatric speech language pathologist.  Her homeschool curriculum is a hybrid of Catholic/Waldorf, or as her kids call it “Crafty Catholic”. She is a mom of five beautiful children, including twins with special needs. In addition, she is a yoga teacher, crafter, gardener, decorator, and backyard chicken keeper.  She loves inspired homeschooling and artful homemaking. You … Continue reading

Love Your Pet but Not the Cost? How to Reduce the Cost of Raising Your Best Friend

Have you ever taken the time to calculate how much your furry or feathered friends are costing you each month? There is food, vet care, that regular application of flea and tick protection, grooming fees, litter or bedding, and of course toys, treats and equipment such as carriers, cages and the like. Depending on where you live and how eco-friendly or upscale you want to go with food and supplies, expect to pay up to $1,500 for a cat and $2,000 for a dog during the first year. Rabbits, hamsters, birds and fish are somewhat less expensive. Let us take … Continue reading

Old Love Letters

Valentine’s Day when you are single is not quite as much fun as when you have a significant other. I generally try to do something nice for myself and several years ago I came up with a way to do something positive and clear some space in my life. We all have mementos from every relationship we’ve been in. Even if a relationship only lasts a week or two we seem to wind up with little things, a movie ticket stub, napkin from where we had our first drink, whatever it is, these little things add up. I admit to … Continue reading

Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow

It’s funny how much things change from generation to generation. My grandparents were married for over fifty years when my grandmother died. For their generation staying married was what they did, no one looked anywhere else, they took what they had and made the best of it. My grandparents adored each other but that’s not to say they didn’t drive each other crazy sometimes too, but they stuck it out, through the good and the bad. When I was growing up my family was the odd one out. My father died when I was three so I had a step … Continue reading

Double Love

Recently two local couples marked a special day. They were both married on the same day in opposite parts of the world, yet they are now friends and neighbors here on the south coast of Australia. Both couples were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on March 25th. One couple met in Nottingham, England. Shirley worked at the time as a typist whole Tony worked on a building site. He used to see her each morning at morning tea time. When he told his mates that was the girl he was going to marry, they laughed at him. Three months later … Continue reading

Lasting Love

Did you notice recently when I posted the article about the seven Fs I read about, that you need in a marriage the first one mentioned was friendship? That struck me at the time. The thing you might expect would be love. But no, it was friendship and food for thought. The trouble is love today has come to mean many other things. People talk about ‘falling in love’ when often it is a physical attraction or it’s tied up with lust and the sexual appeal of the other person. It’s how they feel when they are with them. We’ve … Continue reading

When Love is Fading

Do you remember the joy and excitement when you first fell in love? Remember how you couldn’t stop thinking about the other person and wanting to talk about them to anyone who’d listen and even those that didn’t. You just wanted an excuse to hear their name. You wanted to hear their voice on the other end of the phone, to see them and spend all your time with them. You couldn’t wait for the day you’d be married and have more time to spend together. And then you married and it’s all great for a while. Then reality and … Continue reading

I Love You

Have you ever noticed when you write the word marriage the letter I is just tucked in there among the other 6 letters. It’s not the focus of the word. Neither should I be the focus in a marriage. Marriage is not always about what I want or what I need. Sadly too many people have the idea that it’s my way or the highway. Marriage is a partnership and that means thinking about the other person and what they want and what they need and how you can please them. Marriage is not about what I can get out … Continue reading

Desperate for Love and Mr. Right

It seems it is so easy for those who are desperate for love and to meet Mr. Right, to be targeted and exploited by those looking for ways to make a quick few thousand. Such was the case for a 56 year old Australian woman who found her Mr. Right was in fact Mr. Wrong. While the internet is great for lots of things even finding love, as I have heard of those who have met online and then fallen in love and later married. But this latest story only serves to highlight again the dangers of the internet and … Continue reading