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Lessons of Kindness
Some moments from my childhood are distinct snapshots of a scene and how it made me feel. One of my favorite memories is ...
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Four of My Favorite Inspirational Quotes
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” —Maya Angelou
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Exciting News!
ELLE & BUDDY will be out in Spring of 2015! Check out our new cover! Thank you, Muza! Muza and I have been collaborating on ELLE & BUDDY for two years. It’s been a wonderful experience sharing this journey together. I hope someday I’ll get to travel to Australia so we can meet in person. You can follow Elle and Buddy on Facebook. We’ll keep you updated on Elle & Buddy’s book birthday. Other Exciting News! This blog is changing! The address will be the same but the design will be awesome! A few months ago I bought a book and loved it. eleanor & park by Rainbow Rowell Whenever I read a…
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Just One More
The story of Sydney New Family Members A week ago we adopted a new family member, Gerry (Gerard Butler) the greyhound. It probably wasn’t the best timing but we decided to have the carpet on our stairs replaced with Pergo right after Gerry came to live with us. I woke up one morning and Gerry was limping. Worried that he may have broken a bone I immediately took him to our vet. It turned out to be a pulled muscle. However, while Gerry and I were waiting to see the doctor a couple came in with a box. Inside were three newborn kittens a landscaper had found. The couple asked…
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Parenting Advice From A Happiness Expert
I’m reading Shawn Achor’s book: The Happiness Advantage Shawn has an excellent point when he calls attention to the fact that we are programmed to delay happiness until a certain goal is attained but then the bar is always raised higher and another goal is set leaving us to delay happiness once again. As parents we can pass this onto our children in the form grade achievements in school. A 90 percent is good but a 99 percent is even better. This can lead to an eventual 4.0 GPA is nice but a 5.4 is stellar! In sports as well as music programs it’s the same. What if we taught children to…
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Happiness Now
Answer this question: I’ll be happy when…. It’s easy isn’t it? We’re programmed to put happiness somewhere in the future. If you’re a writer, maybe it’s: I’ll be happy when I have an agent. I’ll be happy when I’m published. For writers that already have those things the bar is raised even higher. I’ll be happy when I make the bestseller list or I’ll be happy when I earn more money than J.K. Rowling. Okay maybe not that high… When I first became a teacher I was motivated, happy, excited. I spent a fortune on classroom supplies, decorations, and educational games. I worked all the time creating my own bulletin boards and lesson plans.…
