Is Your Job Making You Sick?

Each home – based professional has his or her own reasons why working from home is right for them. Today, I am going to look at how working at home can help people that have one specific reason that they need to leave their office job as soon as possible. While many people may say that they are sick of their job, there are other people that suffer from actual physical or mental illness as a result of their job. Some people are very sensitive to pollutants and toxins in the environment. It does not take much to make them … Continue reading

Making Journaling Meaningful

I recently did a layout of my daughter. The instant I saw the picture I was going to use, I knew my title, and what my journaling would say. This particular picture is of my daughter a couple of months before she turned 3. She had this look on her face that just made me ache inside with the realization that she was getting to be a “big girl”. I wanted to convey those feelings onto the layout so that one day, she could look at this page and know how I felt in that moment. My title was, “That … Continue reading

Making it Meaningful

We had a friend some years back who applied to be a marriage celebrant. His aim was to be able to marry people who wanted a service but didn’t necessarily want it in a church but who still wanted something meaningful. If you and you intended are both members of the same church, then it makes sense to want to be married in that church. If you attend two different churches, then you are going to have to reach a compromise unless you decide to marry somewhere else entirely like a garden or a beach. It doesn’t have to make … Continue reading

Focus on the Candidates – Ted Cruz

This blog is part of the series that focuses on the candidates who are running for President of the United States in 2016. This blog focuses on Ted Cruz. Ted Cruz was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, to an American mother and a Cuban father. Ted Cruz has since renounced his Canadian citizenship. He was Solicitor General for the state of Texas from 2003-2008. Ted Cruz was first elected as a Texas Senator in 2012. You might recall him reading “Green Eggs and Ham” on CSPAN during the government shutdown of 2013. Health Care According to his Senate website, Ted … Continue reading

Ways for Kids to Celebrate Flag Day

Flag Day is celebrated every year on June 14. It is a holiday that was designed specifically to honor the American Flag. How much do you know about the history of this holiday? Here is a quick review of the history of Flag Day, and some suggestions about how children can celebrate it. The first Flag Day occurred in 1885. BJ Cigrand, who was a schoolteacher, was the first to get it started. This teacher arranged for the students in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 as “Flag Birthday”. The date was selected because it … Continue reading

Get Creative with Covers

When it comes to memory albums, you can’t help but judge a book by its cover. Crafting an eye-popping scrapbook cover is a challenge for some, but the process can be quite rewarding once you learn how to harness your creative energy. Making your own cover is not as hard as you may think. One way to craft a stunning cover without breaking the bank is to decorate a standard three-ring binder or a plain hardcover journal with a collection of your favorite scrapbook embellishments. Use stickers, rub-ons, or patterned paper to design an attractive cover. Another frugal idea is … Continue reading

Praise And Your Toddler

It’s tough work, being a parent. It seems like every other day, I read something that lets me know that I am doing something incorrectly as far as how I have been parenting my little boy. That’s okay, though, I am open to new ideas and to learning which things make sense for me and my family and which ideas are best left to other people and their own families. Today, I read some interesting information about how praising children can do them more harm than good. Until about an hour ago, I was generously doling out praise to Dylan … Continue reading

Becoming A Big Brother Takes Time

If you had asked me four months ago how Dylan was feeling about being a big brother, I would have told you that he was not at all happy about it. While he never went so far as to ask me to return Blake to the hospital from whence he came, he was not exactly excited about sharing me with another little person. In the beginning, it seemed like no matter how hard I tried to make sure that Dylan’s needs were taken care of, I still felt as if I were falling short of meeting them. At first, it … Continue reading

Planning Special Moments

In the past two weeks I’ve looked at planning romantic moments for your spouse, making them feel special, and how to cope with missing your spouse even when he or she is more or less around. How do all of these things come together? In me trying to plan special things for my husband. Now that Jon has completed grad school I want to do something special for him. Parties he hast to host are too draining for him, so that’s out. I thought of the perfect idea: I’d bake him a cake. Not just any cake, but a black … Continue reading

Loving Your Toddler On His Terms

Did you know that even though you do many things every day that express your love towards your toddler, he may not always perceive himself as being loved? Things like home – cooked meals, nice clothes, and fun toys are some of the things that we strive to provide for our children out of love, in addition to hugs and kisses. Our toddlers are unique individuals, and each of them needs us to express our love to them not only on our terms, but on their terms as well. How are we to know what kinds of things will show … Continue reading