Why is the milk sitting out on the counter?

The other day my husband (trying to be helpful) called upstairs to me, “Why is the milk sitting out on the counter?”  Pause.  ”Um, I can’t remember”, I say, “but could you just put it back in the fridge”.  Later, as we were going to bed, I explained, “I remember why I left the milk out.”  Pause….he didn’t ask why, but I told him anyway, and here is the story as I remember it: (more…)

List of things I am thankful for:

Have you ever sat down to write a list of things you are grateful for?  I am going to do that now.

I am thankful for…

My beautiful boys.  They remind me, every day, what life is all about.  And, the fact that they are all healthy is such a gift from god. (more…)

It is health that is the real wealth, not pieces of gold and silver.- Mahatma Ghandi

Last year, October, I featured a stories about two moms who are both friends  (Bryn Colvin and Lisa Mittleman) both of whom had been recently diagnosed with breast cancer.  I felt the timing of the story was appropriate and inspirational because October is Breast Cancer awareness month and these two ladies were great examples of strength and courage.   A year later, I am happy to report that both of Lisa and Bryn are thriving and have overcome their disease.

This year, October, I want to share the story of another mom, with three young children, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer.  Many of you already know her….Jori Jellison.   Her story is incredibly interesting, because she is completely responsible for finding the cancer, insisting on a mammogram and, basically, saving her own life.

When Jori and I first started talking she shared that her maternal grandmother died of breast cancer when she was only five years old.  But, having a history of breast cancer in the family didn’t cause Jori to do regular breast exams.  As a matter of fact, she sort of avoided them.  Given her family history, she DID have a mammogram at the age of 35, but when that came back clean, she sort of tucked away any thought of breast cancer.  Around the time she was 38 years old, something made her think about doing a breast exam, and when she did, she felt a small lump right away.  Even after she detected this abnormality, she waited a short time before calling her doctor.  When she finally got in to see him, he agreed he felt a small lump, and told her would be okay to watch it for a little while.  But, Jori’s instincts took over and she told the doc about her family history- with that information in hand the doctor scheduled Jori for a mammogram right away.  The date her mammogram fell on was Friday, February 13th.  The day before Valentines and two days after her husband, Jeff, had vocal chord surgery.

The way Jori describes her whole experience from mammogram to diagnosis was “surreal”. (more…)

How do you measure success?

How do YOU measure your own success?  Does it have to do with the balance in your bank account?  Do you measure yourself against others?  Are you waiting for your kids to succeed in order to confirm that you were successful?  Or maybe you need to recognized by your peers to know you are successful.  Yesterday I sat down with Angie Azur, and we batted that question around a bit.

Angie is a writer.  She is a mom of two boys, a wife AND a writer.  The question of success came about when we began discussing her current projects.  She has penned several young adult novels, one is with a publisher in “revisions” the others are still making the rounds at various publishers.  She has written articles which have been published in magazines.  She is also working on a screenplay and a reality show treatment.  She explained that the world of writing and publishing is a hard nut to crack and, as a writer, you have to be thick-skinned to deal with all of the letters of rejection that arrive in the mailbox. (more…)

The race is on!

The book:  Is there Really a Human Race? by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell is an amazing book for children aged 3-10. Each time I read it, I realize that this is a great book for adults as well as children.  I particularly like the following passages:

Is the race like a loop or an obstacle course?  Am I a jockey, am I a horse?  Is there pushing and shoving to get to the lead? If the race is unfair, will I succeed?  Do some of us win?  Do some of us lose?  Is winning or losing something I choose?   Why am I racing ? What am I winning?  Does all of my running keep the world spinning?

It ends with : Sometimes it’s better not to go fast.  There are beautiful sights to be seen when you’re last.  Shouldn’t it be that you just try your best?  And that’s more important than beating the rest? (more…)

Mind your manners- it’s not that easy!

This story is NOT about me- but I DO need to set the stage:

On the day I invited Stephanie Buckley over to hear about her new business (read below), I had invited a neighborhood child over for a play date (it was scheduled days in advance).  Also, that morning I got an email from a friend who was visiting town so I invited her and her daughter to join us for dinner (that same night) AND I was trying to finish laundry from vacation so I could re-pack my son Evan for a week long trip to Kansas.   So you can imagine how chaotic my house was.

Just as I put the last breakfast dish into the dishwasher, the play date arrives, followed ten minutes later by Stephanie Buckley who blew in like a warm breeze looking put together, relaxed and bearing a fragrant candle as a gracious thank you.

As Stephanie and I started to discuss the details of why she started her company, we were rudely interrupted by the phone ringing (twice), a solicitor at the door, and my kids demanding food, water and then “something to do”.

As the crescendo built around us, the reasons why Stephanie started The Buckley School of Etiquette became so clear! Obviously, my kids could use some instruction on how to “demand” things more politely!  Even I was borderline rude to invite a guest into the swirling vortex of activity in my home.  Thankfully, Stephanie was unfazed by our poor manners and we got down to business. (more…)