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Things That Money Can’t Buy And That Can’t Be Replaced

Filed Under: Mommy, Wisdom October 16, 2017

Things That Money Can’t Buy And That Can’t Be Replaced

(This post includes Affiliate Links. This means if you choose to use the service I may receive a small comission at no additional cost to you)

There are some things in life that cannot be replaced. For me, the first one that comes to mind are photographs. Pictures serve as my reminder of memories and snapshots of moments in life that I can never go back to. Those moments that I want to be able to share with my kids; and that they may be able to show their own children one day are captured in pictures. These are the reasons I decided to ensure I don’t lose these memories and moments.

Special Moments and Memories

I have pictures of my wedding day, capturing the ceremony, reception, but also pictures of my maternal grandparents and paternal grandmother with me. Everyone was dressed up, and it was a wedding so they couldn’t really decline to have a picture done even though normally they tried to avoid it.

One of the pictures that I hold dearest is my grandfather holding my daughter a few weeks after she was born. He passed away a few months before she turned one. When I look at the picture, I can remember our conversation and the emotion I felt. He held her and talked to her. Holding her little hand, he says “Your mommy should let me keep you. If I had you, I’d have everything!” He thought she was something and I only wish she could have gotten to know him more.

I have a picture of my daughter, in her Rapunzel dress looking into the bassinet at her brand new baby brother. This moment captures exactly who she was at the time as well as her curiosity and love for this new person in her life.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

These moments, these memories, and the emotions that come to surface when I look at these pictures are something I hope to never lose. When I’m having a difficult time in life or when I feel alone, I can go back to these and am reminded of where I come from and the fantastic moments in life that I’ve experienced. In the digital age we live in, there are even more of these moments that we have photos of. Little moments that turned into big ones later on, funny ones that make us smile, and ones that make us proud.

Preserving Photos

I save all of my photos on an external hard drive and have printed out quite a few of them as well. There’s always the possibility though that one day I could plug in the hard drive and it could not work or the physical pictures I’ve printed could get damaged. That’s why I decided to sign up with SmugMug.

SmugMug

SmugMug offers the ability to store your photos safely on the most secure cloud storage out there. You can view and download your photos at full resolution at any time. Another great feature is that you can share your photos with everyone or grant a pass to only certain people to view albums. They even offer integrations with Facebook, Twitter and more. You also have the ability to create photo gifts with your pictures such as photobooks, magnets, postcards and more!

SmugMug has plans starting as low as $3.99 a month for Unlimited Storage. Not a bad deal especially considering they guarantee all of your pictures are secured and safe. You can even get a 14 day No Credit Card Required trial! This allows you to totally check out the service and see how great the features are for yourself.

The peace of mind I have knowing my photo memories are safe and that even if my backup hard drive fails or something happens to my house, means more than I can put into words. When we were evacuating due to Hurricane Irma it was a big worry that I wouldn’t have all of my pictures or I would miss an important one. Thankfully, everything was intact when we returned- but I know that I want to avoid those concerns in the future.

SmugMug is offering a 15% subscription discount
Do you have a photo (or photos) that hold special memories for you?

Preventing Bullying

Filed Under: Kids, Wisdom October 11, 2017

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.

Bullying has always been an issue, we (as a society) have begun taking it more seriously and are now able to better understand the effects of it. It seems to be starting at a younger and younger age. It’s not just middle schoolers, but kindergartners. October is used to shine a light on it and work on figuring how to prevent it from happening and how to encourage bystanders to speak up and help stop it. Three traits that can help prevent bullying as well as encouraging a child to stand up to wrong doing are confidence, knowing expectations, and having empathy.

Confidence

Building a child’s confidence is one of the best ways to help prevent bullying. In building their confidence and self-esteem it helps them understand their value and that it goes beyond what someone else may say or think of them. A bully often targets someone with low self-esteem because they are able to create a power imbalance and get a reaction out of that person.

This doesn’t mean to create an ‘everybody gets a trophy’ environment. It means being sincere and specific with your praise. My daughter taught me this lesson. One night (she was 4 at the time) she came up to me and asked if I was proud of her. I, of course, said yes. She looks directly at me and says “why?” While I should have been able to give an immediate answer I was thrown off balance. She didn’t want me to just say I was proud, she wanted a reason why. She’s six now and I’ve learned that if she ask or if I tell her I’m proud of her I better have more than because you are sweet or smart.

Kids are smart. They don’t want fluff, they want a reason why. For example, “I’m proud of you because you always do your best even when it’s hard. Like when you didn’t understand your math problem but you didn’t give up.”

Expectations

It’s been proven that setting expectations is a good thing. When a child knows what is expected of them, they generally will try and meet those expectations. If there are no expectations, or they aren’t communicated they how can a child learn anything? How can they know what they should do? Setting expectations of respecting others, standing up for those who can’t, being kind and including everyone are all reasonable expectations that kids can be given.

Empathy

Teaching kids about empathy and helping them understand emotions can go a long way in helping them to not have bully tendencies. Talk about emotions. When a conflict arises, talk about what was felt and why. Discuss how it could be changed.

My kids are big Daniel Tiger fans. I love that the show is great at teaching empathy. When we watch it we’ll also talk about something that happened in our daily life that relates to it. My daughter was trying to put a puzzle together recently and was getting frustrated because it wasn’t working out. I borrowed Daniel Tiger’s “When you feel frustrated…take a step back…and ask for help.” So she got up for a minute and asked if I could help her figure it out. We found the correct piece together by looking at the different shapes and I helped her understand the difference in the shape she had and the correct one. She felt very accomplished once the puzzle was completed.

No matter what the age of a child is, you can find a way to talk out emotions and empathy whether in life examples or discussing something you’ve watched on tv or read together. When they are able to understand emotions and are able to have empathy for others it allows them to be less likely to become to bully to someone as well as be a friend to that person who is left out.

More Resources on Preventing Bullying

10 Ways to Help Reduce Bullying in Schools

How To Bully-Proof Your Children By Building Their Resilience

National Bullying Prevention Month-Pacer

Hurricanes and Trying To Keep The Kids Calm

Filed Under: Kids October 9, 2017

Irma threw our schedule completely out of wack. We’re finally getting back in gear so I’m just now updating the blog. Thankfully, we’re all ok it was just a very hectic month. So here’s a little bit of a backstory on the kids hurricane experience and how it went this time…

Hurricanes and Trying To Keep The Kids Calm

Growing up in Florida, hurricanes are oh so familiar to me. I can remember though, as a kid being absolutely freaked out that the world was going to end. I want to make sure my kids don’t experience the anxiety that comes with a hurricane, or atleast shield them from as much as I can.

Last Year- The Kids First (Recognized) Hurricane

Last year, Hurricane Matthew came up on the East Coast of Florida. We debated back and forth about leaving but decided to stay. We have been very blessed the past few years prior in limited to no storms. Having small kids and dealing with a hurricane is difficult. Dealing with a hurricane is difficult on anyone- but keeping yourself together and little ones adds to the challenge.

At the time of Hurricane Matthew, our daughter was 5 and our son was 2. My daughter is a deep thinker. She analyzes things, which sometimes causes her to worry. I tried to minimize the weather watching because I knew it would totally freak her out. She had heard about “the big storm” at school at had seen some of the weather reports. Putting her to bed one night she started crying asking if the storm would destroy everything. I did my best to explain that Mommy and Daddy were keeping an eye on things and would keep her safe. I also told her the ‘special’ things we had bought as part of our hurricane food. ‘Special’ things being a keyword for junk food. .

The Wait…

We were supposed to get the effects of the storm late on a Friday. Early that afternoon we went and picked up two pizzas from Mellow Mushroom. We got one for lunch and one to eat later- don’t judge lol. (The pizzas were gone by 2 am the next morning. For whatever reason hurricanes make us all really hungry.) The windows were boarded up, which freaked the kids out because normally we have a lot of natural light coming in. We still had power at this time so I distracted them with being able to eat lunch in the living room and watch tv. We had power through most of the storm, which was odd because we’ve been known to lose power in a summer thunderstorm (although its typically brief). Never the less, I was thankful. The power did go out after a few hours causing child panic. We played games, read books, colored and kept busy. That night we all slept on the living room floor. It’s wood so we piled some blankets on to try and make it a little softer. I grabbed their turtle night lights that projected stars on the ceilings and all was well.

Power was out for 2 ½ days which felt like all eternity at the time. Lucky for us, my parents got power after one day so we spent the night with them the second night. Everybody spending the night at the grandparent’s house and sleeping on an air mattress in their living room was fantastic as far as the kids were concerned.

Crisis Averted

The crisis of scaring our kids due to the fear of a storm was averted. Maybe a little too much though. Afterwards, they kept asking when we’d have another hurricane again and if it could be soon. It was like the countdown to hurricane season was on.

Hurricane Irma

This year when Hurricane Irma came around the kids weren’t as afraid, however, they did want to know what our hurricane plans were. Would we be having another ‘party’ (aka sleeping in the living room) or would we go away? This storm was huge and while I felt like we could probably ride it out my husband wanted to leave remembering that no power with little kids is rough.

We went back and forth about where we could go, which was very limited since the state of Florida was all on hurricane watch. We ended up finding a pet-friendly hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina. Charlotte is typically 5 ½ hours away from us. It took us 12 hours to get there. That was with some back roads. Did I mention my kids aren’t used to long car rides? They did go through. My yorkie-poo (who is 13 lbs) did great as well even though initially he didn’t want to get in the car. We tried to stop at a fast food place on the first 3 exits in Georgia but everything was closed. It was around noon on Friday.

Suitcase packing by 6 yr old — My daughter’s attempt at packing

3yr old packing suitcase — My 3yr old’s attempt at packing

We limited drinks because we wanted to stop as little as possible. The drive up went as well as it possibly could have under the circumstances.

Evacuating Irma — License plates we passed

It was funny because it got dark and the kids both said it was past their bed time. My son said “Mommy I never been up this long” to which my daughter added “yeah, and it’s really dark in here!” It was 9pm at the time, which they have been up past 9 before but it occurred to me never in a car. We finally got into our hotel around 11:30.

Saturday

Saturday, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel (YAY for free breakfast!) then ventured out to a farmers market. The farmers market was big, and they had a lot to look at. I wish we had big ones like that locally. My favorite part is the fresh flowers. I would love to be able to go to the market and pick up fresh flowers!

Charlotte

We googled “Things to do in Charlotte” and one of the options was Sea Life Aquarium. The aquarium was in the mall so we decided to give it a shot since after the aquarium walking around the mall would give us something to do. Unfortunately, my phone died so I didn’t get too many pictures 🙁 .

The aquarium was cute. Thankfully, they were offering 50% off for Florida evacuees. The kids had a ball!

Sunday

Sunday, we drove to Virginia to see my husband’s great aunt. She was further away than we initially thought but it was still nice to see her. On our way there we stopped at a rest stop to walk the dog and let the kids go to the restroom. There was cases upon cases of water that the Governor had delivered the day before to help though traveling through which was pretty awesome. I took a picture of it, however (thankfully) we didn’t need any.

Monday

Monday we had planned on trying to go to the zoo, however the weather was awful. The wind and rain effects of Irma were making their way north. The next morning there was some roof shingles that were off of the hotel that we could see from out of our window due to the wind that night.

Tuesday we made the extremely long drive home. It was another 12 hour drive, we even got off to take back roads in order to avoid sitting in traffic. We avoided stopping as much as possible. It was difficult because anywhere you stopped there were a ton of cars, and of course the bathrooms were gross which in this case was not the gas station or rest area’s fault. There’s no way to keep up with it when you have that many people around. We made it home safely though which was the goal. The next day my daughter says “Mommy, next time we go somewhere let’s take an airplane. That way it won’t take so long.” Oh, sweet girl, if you only knew.

Did you leave for Irma (or another hurricane)? How’d your trip go?

National Do Something Nice Day

Filed Under: Kids October 4, 2017

Do Something Nice Day

October 5^th is National Do Something Nice Day. Ideally, everyone would be nice on a regular basis because it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes though, it helps to have a day to make us stop and consciously find a way to go out of our way to be nice. Life is busy and often we are just trying to get through the day or the week forgetting about the little gestures that can turn someone’s day around.

It doesn’t have to be a big grand gesture. It can be as simple as a text that says “Have a great day!” Simple, quick, and easy! You never know though how it could brighten someone’s day.

Here is a list of ideas and ways to participate in National Do Something Nice Day-

Pay it forward in the drive thru line

Send a “Just because” card to someone

Call/Text someone just to wish them a good day

Volunteer

Let someone in front of you in line

Plant a tree

Say Thank You

Give someone a compliment

Donate to a charity

Take someone to lunch

Hold the elevator door for the person behind you

Leave some change at the laundry mat

Getting Kids Involved

This is also a great thing to get kids of any age involved in.

Make a card for someone

Color a special picture to give to a teacher

Help clean up

Encourage them to do something nice for a friend or sibling

Bake cookies to give out

There are endless things that you could do to take a moment out of the day and do something nice for someone. What are your suggestions?

Hurricane Days Are Not Snow Days

Filed Under: Wisdom October 2, 2017

Hurricane Days Are Not Snow Days

“So, you got to go on vacation? That must be nice!”

VS

Leaving your home, your belongings, your life- and not knowing what will be there when you return is not “getting away.” Staying calm and trying not to completely freak out your kids while being stressed and worried about the unknown is not “just vacation planning.” Hurricane evacuations are not the equivalent of snow days, contrary to how it is suggested by some people who have never been through an evacuation.

Hurricane Life

Hurricanes are a part of life in Florida. We are taught how to prepare from the time we are little. Water, non-perishable food items, batteries, and flashlights are essentials. Board games, cards, books, crayons, and paper are on the list of things to have handy as well. I’m from North Florida, and we typically don’t get it as bad as other parts of the state such as South Florida and the West Coast of Florida, however, we still have to be prepared.

The Unknown

The problem with a hurricane is that while meteorologists do their absolute best to track it and dig up all the historical storm information they can, there’s always the unknown factor. Prime example- Irma. First, it was supposed to turn, and then it was not going to turn until later. The hurricane was coming in at Miami then it changed again to come in around Naples. Then it was going closer to the east coast of Florida. It’s nobody’s fault, the future can’t be predicted. This just shows the uncertainty that surrounds a hurricane.
There are times when you evacuate and then it wasn’t nearly as bad as they thought. There are other times when you’re glad you did leave. Either way, when you have to prepare to leave the unknown could drive you to a panic attack. What can you fit in the car that you absolutely don’t want to lose and can’t replace? You can’t pack everything. Even with what you do pack, you’ll probably forget something and realize it afterward. Don’t forget your pets. You can’t just leave them at home alone. Have you ever tried to find a last minute hotel that accepts pets? Good luck.
When you get out of town, it’s a lot of times just what is available not necessarily somewhere you’d choose to go. If it is somewhere you’ve chosen to go, it’s likely taken you 2-3 times longer than normal to get there with traffic. Then, you are trying not to spend a lot of money but still do things if only to keep your mind off of your situation temporarily. It’s a tough thing to balance.

Afterwards

NBC News Picture of Hurricane Irma Damage. Man floating down St. Johns River

Imagine going through all of this, and all of those emotions as well as spending money you don’t really have and then coming home to a few limbs on the ground. Yes, you are grateful and relieved, however, then you get a little irritated and think “ok, next time I’m not going anywhere.” The problem is that the next time, it might be a different story. It’s all a giant gamble and you have to err on the side of safety.
Now imagine after the storm, your power is off and who knows for how long. It’s hot and humid; everybody is cranky and quiet honestly starting to smell a little funny. You’re trying to get the yard cleaned up from debris during the day. At night, there’s not much you can do. It doesn’t cool down at night in Florida; often it’s the same hot muggy feeling that was there during the day. I don’t know about you but it’s a difficult environment to sleep in. Being hot and tired on top of bored and/or overwhelmed just makes the situation worse.
Then, there’s those who not only lose power but lose their valuables, their home, their car. Coming back to that, how do you even begin to pick up the pieces?
I can’t speak for the difficulties faced with snow days. I have friends who have moved down to Florida that have told me about them. I just think that the southeast gets the raw deal on ‘weather’ days. Regardless, a hurricane evacuation is never, ever, a vacation getaway.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month- Meet Super Sammy

Filed Under: Kids, Mommy September 19, 2017

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Did You Know?

43 Kids are diagnosed with Cancer Everyday

More than 40,000 children are in a cancer treatment center each year

It is the LEADING cause of death by disease past infancy

The cause of most childhood cancers is still not known.

Awareness

It’s unimaginable to me how one day anyone, especially a child, can go from being seemingly healthy to not. It’s hard to talk about and to listen to when you bring up childhood cancer. So many people have a connection one way or another to cancer. Whether it’s themselves, a family member, a friend, a mentor, someone they know that was affected by cancer. It’s not easy on anyone (at any age) and for a child going through it, how do you even try to explain things? There’s no cause and effect. It’s not a situation of because you did ‘this’ then ‘that’ happened. There’s no logic to it.

#standwithsupersammy #hopeforsammy

We have to talk about it. It’s difficult and painful to try and think about let alone talk about but we have to raise awareness. We have to push through so that research is done to find safe ways to treat childhood cancer. Treating a child is different than treating an adult with almost any medical circumstance. If we push it away and try to avoid it because we don’t know how to deal with it and it makes us uncomfortable, nothing gets better.

The Adventures of Super Sammy

The cause of most childhood cancers are not known. Research for better, safer treatments is critical to keep kids alive and well. Share on X

A while back, I had stumbled across a Facebook Page called “The Adventures of Super Sammy.” From the moment I saw a picture of this little boy, there was something about him that captured my heart. He’s strong, he’s a fighter and I’d be willing to bet he’s got some feisty-ness…you can see that in his eyes. I don’t just say that, I absolutely believe it. In following their Facebook page and website I can’t see that these are qualities that he has probably inherited from his parents. His story is not an easy one to read, but it’s important and that is why I want to share it with you.

Sammy’s Adventure

Super Sammy's Story — Sammy’s Journey- From:www.facebook.com/smoresamuel

On her website, Sammy’s mom tells their story. “On Wednesday October 19, 2016 our lives as parents was shattered” Sammy who at the time was a healthy 4 year old suddenly started showing symptoms of neurological problems. His mom recalls how he was sick early on Monday but had gotten better by that afternoon. Wednesday when picking him up from school she learned from his teacher that he had been sick about 10 minutes before she got there. He wasn’t quite himself, not wanting to play his favorite “red light, green light” game at PE as well as being very calm and a bit more clingy than usual. When they arrived home, he stumbled backwards when he tried to walk. In that moment, his mom realized this was not just him not feeling well. She wondered if he was feeling dizzy. She recalled when her spouse had vertigo and he was dizzy, nauseated and threw up with it. This lead her to wonder if it was something neurological so she called her pediatrician who instructed her to take him to the ER. By six o’clock that night, she was told her son had a tumor on his brain. “What started as a normal day on Wednesday was now ending with brain surgery on Friday morning.”

Surgery & Diagnoses

In the days following the surgery, they were told that Sammy had Medulloblastoma, a form of pediatric brain cancer.

What is Medulloblastoma?

Medulloblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor of childhood, and it accounts for about 20 percent of all childhood brain tumors.

• Between 250 and 500 children are found to have medulloblastoma each year in the United States.
• Most medulloblastoma tumors are found in children younger than age 16, but they can rarely occur in adults.
• Medulloblastoma is slightly more common in boys than in girls.

The Effects

On top of all this, they found that Sammy had been impacted by the surgery and suffers from Posterior Fossa Syndrome (PFS).

What is PFS?

The symptoms of posterior fossa syndrome include problems with speech and language, motor skills, and mood changes. Symptoms can be different for each person. Most symptoms improve in weeks or months while some symptoms may continue for years following surgery. People who have more severe posterior fossa syndrome symptoms early in recovery are more likely to have symptoms that last longer.

This meant that on top of having to go through chemotherapy, his ability to talk, swallow as well as his gross motor functions had been impacted. He couldn’t walk, sit, or have purposeful movements. While these symptoms can improve with time, he would still have to go through physical therapy to help re-learn these things.

Home…and Relapse

Sammy got to go home in June 2017, however on September 2, 2017 he had a relapse. On his Facebook page his mom noted that after reviewing their options they will be moving forward with proton radiation therapy.

Follow Super Sammy and his journey through Facebook or their website adventuresofsupersammy.com

Please keep Sammy and his family in your prayers. Regardless of how the situation may appear to our natural eyes, I ask God to guide his medical team and his family, and to heal him completely. I’ve seen him do it in the past and I know that he can provide that miracle for Sammy.

Isaiah 53:5 tells us that “By his stripes we are healed.” I’m praying that scripture for Sammy. I’m asking God to heal him and know that he and his family will give God the glory for it. Remember his family as well- his mom, dad and little brother. I pray God holds them all extra close and gives them strength as they face this battle together.

Let Sammy Know You Are Fighting With Him

I hope that you’ll visit Super Sammy’s website and/or Facebook page. You can leave him an encouraging note or just let them know you’re praying (https://www.adventuresofsupersammy.com/p/pray.html), You can also donate to his the Puma Family and/or send a Challenge Coin (https://www.adventuresofsupersammy.com/p/challenge.html) to Sammy as well.

Raise Awareness To Support Childhood Cancer

I encourage you to raise awareness and support about childhood cancer. Whether financial contributions to a charity, running a race, participating in an event, writing a blog post, whatever it may be. Kids deserve better. In a world where cars can drive themselves, and we can hold a computer in our hands, I have to believe that if we keep looking we can find safer, more effective treatments for childhood cancer. Fight for Sammy, and all the children and families that are affected by childhood cancer. It’s a difficult subject, (one that I’m crying through as I write) but we can’t try and avoid it by looking away.

If you’d like to support Sammy and his family

www.facebook.com/smoresamuel
www.paypal.me/pumafamily
www.gofundme.com/pumamedicalfund

All About Grandparents Day

Filed Under: Kids, Mommy September 4, 2017

The History Of Grandparents Day

Marian McQuade hoped to establish a national day that would honor grandparents, and in 1970 she began a campaign to do so. McQuade raised awareness about senior citizens throughout the 1970s. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter declared the first Sunday after Labor Day to be National Grandparents Day. Each year, the president issues a proclamation to keep the tradition going.

Not Your Average Commercial Holiday

Grandparents day isn’t a “buy a card and some flowers” commercial excuse for a holiday. There are actually three purposes for National Grandparents Day:

To honor grandparents.
To give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children.
To help children become aware of the strength, information and guidance older people can offer.

A Family Day

Mrs. McQuade envisioned Grandparents Day to be a family day. It was about families enjoying small, private gatherings or family reunions celebrating your family’s heritage.
National Grandparents Day is the opportunity to publicly affirm the identity and importance of grandparents and the vital role they play in families. While it’s not your typical commercial holiday, it is about giving- sharing hopes, dreams, and values and also setting an example for future generations.

Gifts

Although it’s not about gift giving, the kids still love to get a present. Here’s some of the ideas for gifts…

(Note the links below do include affiliate links. This means that if you decide to purchase something I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

Aprons for Grandma – My mom is a fantastic cook and the kids LOVE to help her in the kitchen.

Aprons for Grandpa– Is your Grandpa a grilling king? I know my Dad is King of the Grill in our family. The kids will tell you…”Papa makes good steaks!”

My kids LOVE to help their Grandparents cook…Cooking Supplies for Grandma & Grandpa

For the Sports Fan Grandparents.

Create a SmugMug album to share with Grandparent, or upload and order photo prints and gifts. What Grandparent wouldn’t love to be able to access up to date photos of the family? Plus, your photos are safe and secure.

Do you visit the Grandparents often? This Box Of Challange is a fun activity for the family to do! We do Tuesday night dinners with my parents, and the kids are over there through out the week as well. This is a fun way to mix things up a bit!

More Gift Ideas:

DIY Gift Ideas

My Favorite Finds On Pinterest

Houston Strong…Supporting Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

Filed Under: Mommy September 1, 2017

Houston Strong…Supporting Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

The recovery has begun but it will be a very long one for the people of Texas. The devastation that is there is heartbreaking, but the unity that is shining through brings hope. My dad is from Texas, he speaks of it the way that some people talk about Disney World or even Heaven. (His favorite Texas quote to recite is You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.”– Davy Crockett) My great-grandmother was from Texas and so my grandfather claimed it as well. We didn’t realize until he passed away that he was actually born in Oklahoma. I suppose Texas is just that magnetic, once you have a connection to it you’re adopted in.

Texas Connections

I’ve found that most people that were born in Texas that I’ve come across claim the state even if they left as an infant. It is part of their DNA and identity. I think that this is part of what makes Texans so strong.

I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox. But I think there will be little quarrel with my feeling that Texas is one thing. For all its enormous range of space, climate, and physical appearance, and for all the internal squabbles, contentions, and strivings, Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study and the passionate possession of all Texans.-John Steinbeck

More Great Texas Quotes

Fanatics and The Red Cross

*The links below are affiliate links.

In support of Houston, Fanatics has teamed up with The America Red Cross to sell Houston Strong t-shirts in the colors of The Houston Texans, Houston Rockets, and Houston Dynamo. 100% of the net proceeds will go to support Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. The links below are affiliate links, however, any commission on my part that is earned will be donated to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts as well.

They come in men, women and youth sizes.

Texans

The NFL, Houston Texans and Fanatics do not profit from the sale of Houston Strong products. Charitable contributions are donated to the American Red Cross to support Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

Dynamo

Houston Dynamo Fanatics Branded Houston Strong T-Shirt Orange – $24.99
Fanatics will donate 100% of net profits to the Red Cross in support of Hurricane Harvey Relief.
Your young one can show their support in this Houston Strong T-Shirt.

Rockets

Houston Rockets Fanatics Branded Youth Houston Strong T-Shirt Red
from: Fanatics.com
Houston Rockets Fanatics Branded Youth Houston Strong T-Shirt Red – $24.99
Fanatics will donate 100% of net profits to the Hurricane Harvey Relief Fund.

Here’s other ways you can help people affected by Hurricane Harvey

Why I love Creative Live’s Online Learning Classes

Filed Under: Creative August 21, 2017

Why I Love Creative Live Classes

Creative Live offers over 1,500 curated classes in Photography & Video, Money & Life, Craft & Maker, Art & Design, and Music & Audio. There is something for everyone. You can watch on-air broadcasts for free or buy a class and own the content for life.

Taught By Experts

I love Creative Live because their classes offer alot of insight and are taught by experts in the field. I personally have learned more from some of these classes than a whole college semester of a class. It’s about real life experiences and it being explained to you on a level that makes sense with examples that your can implement on your own.

For Bloggers, Businesses, and Creatives

When you start out with your own blog or business it can be difficult to pay someone to handle task for you. There’s a lot that later on you can outsource but when getting of the ground you have to figure out yourself. This may be photography to get good pictures of your product, marketing, negotiating, photoshop, business communication just to name a few. Yes, you could search the web for information on this but you have to pick and choose what is a reliable source and how long you want to search and add to your timeframe.

Upcoming Classes

August 22-23

One of my favorite classes is Create a Marketing Plan & Grow Your Standout Business by Tara Gentile will be available as an On Air FREE class on August 22-23rd. The description of the class from Creative Live is-

Join bestselling Money & Life instructor and CoCommercial founder Tara Gentile for a 2-day class on creating the marketing foundation and plan you need to grow your standout business.

By the end of this class, you will be able to:

Build a year-long marketing calendar so you’re never caught off guard by your business’s marketing needs
Quickly and confidently prepare an effective marketing message for a product or service using a foundational set of building blocks that turn so-so campaigns into money-makers
Create a schedule and plan for your marketing campaign using multiple channels, such as email, social media, blogging, or video, so you know you’re getting your offers in front of the right people
Design a system for your marketing campaigns that can be optimized and automated so that you can spend less time on the hands-on work of marketing

August 23-24th

On August 23-24th The FREE On Air Class is Vanessa Van Edwards The Power Of Negotiation.

Description:

This class is for you if you:

Agonize about claiming your worth
Have a fear of saying no because you think you might offend someone.
Worry about negotiations because you are afraid they might turn into confrontations
Have a lack of confidence when standing up for what you want.
Are uneasy because you know you could be making more money in your job or business, but you don’t know how to ask.

You can set up your free (no credit card requried) Creative Live profile and RSVP for this class today!

Check Out CreativeLive’s Free On-Air Classes

If you haven’t checked out Creative Live, I highly recommend it. There are many free options as well as paid class options that are totally worth every penny!

Also! If you download the app on your IOS device, you can get your daily creative fix on with 1 free lesson of your choice, each and every day!

Have you taken a Creative Live Class? Which one and what were your thoughts on it?

Favorite Blog Post This Week- 5th Edition

Filed Under: Uncategorized August 18, 2017

My Favorite Blog Post This Week- 5th Edition

Mixed Messages to Millenial Moms

This post on the Oklahoma City Mom’s Blog by Britnie Sims is on point with it’s message. It’s so annoying sometimes how you’re told to do one thing but then again your told not to.

Excerpt:

We’re bombarded with conflicting information and our parenting choices are scrutinized. One second judgmental snapshots are posted about our lives everywhere which makes raising children in this day and age a little murky and complicated.

Motherhood Requries Grit

There’s a true statement if I ever saw one. So many times, moms are often passed off as being weak or not as strong because she has kids and her heart is soft. What every mother knows is that even when she doesn’t want to there is point (actually several throughout a childs life) where she must step back and let them learn.

Excerpt:

Raising grateful kids means parents have to grow up, too. We can’t let our kids control and contrive their way through life. Motherhood has taught me I can’t give in just to keep peace. I can’t heal heartache or prevent heartbreak. I can’t eliminate or alleviate bad days. I can’t protect my children from every day life.

Oh, I can try, but if I always rush to protect my kids from struggling, I might also prevent them from growing.

By the way, Kristen is also the author of the book Raising Greateful Kids in an Entitled World. Check it out when you get the chance :)!

Sweetie n’ Salty Shoppe– Baked Beignets.

Holy moly Batman! I HAVE to try these out!!

Excerpt:

This maybe my last post because I might be run out of Louisiana for doing this. Just kidding. I don’t know, I’ll let y’all know.

YUM!

That’s all for this week 🙂

Do you have a favorite blog to share? I’d love to check it out!

Thanks!

lmbadmin

Things That Money Can’t Buy And That Can’t Be Replaced

Special Moments and Memories

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

Preserving Photos

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month.

Confidence

Expectations

Empathy

More Resources on Preventing Bullying

Hurricanes and Trying To Keep The Kids Calm

Last Year- The Kids First (Recognized) Hurricane

The Wait…

Crisis Averted

Hurricane Irma

Saturday

Charlotte

Sunday

Monday

Here is a list of ideas and ways to participate in National Do Something Nice Day-

Getting Kids Involved

Hurricane Days Are Not Snow Days

VS

Hurricane Life

The Unknown

Afterwards

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

Did You Know?

Awareness

The Adventures of Super Sammy

Sammy’s Adventure

Surgery & Diagnoses

What is Medulloblastoma?

The Effects

What is PFS?

Home…and Relapse

Let Sammy Know You Are Fighting With Him

Raise Awareness To Support Childhood Cancer

If you’d like to support Sammy and his family

The History Of Grandparents Day

Not Your Average Commercial Holiday

A Family Day

Gifts

(Note the links below do include affiliate links. This means that if you decide to purchase something I may receive a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

More Gift Ideas:

Houston Strong…Supporting Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

Texas Connections

Fanatics and The Red Cross

*The links below are affiliate links.

Texans

Dynamo

Rockets

Why I Love Creative Live Classes

Taught By Experts

For Bloggers, Businesses, and Creatives

Upcoming Classes

August 22-23

August 23-24th

Have you taken a Creative Live Class? Which one and what were your thoughts on it?

My Favorite Blog Post This Week- 5th Edition

Mixed Messages to Millenial Moms

Motherhood Requries Grit

Sweetie n’ Salty Shoppe– Baked Beignets.

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