Live and Learn

One of the main ways that I relieve stress and stay positive on a daily basis is by listening to “my music”.  When I listen to a song that I really enjoy, I don’t just hear it, I FEEL it with every part of me.  Good music is extremely powerful in that way. This extreme connection to music started for me when I was a young teenager.  Journey and Pink Floyd were the first groups I remember listening to over and over.  Of course back then we had cassette tapes and eight track players.  With the invention of i-tunes and airpods, I can now easily and discreetly have my music playing almost constantly.  My playlists are like a Soundtrack to my life. I have a playlist entitled Anthem Songs. These songs are songs to live by and represent me.  My Wish by Rascal Flatts, This is Me by Keala Settle, Thy Will by Hillary Scott and Get to You by Michael Ray are at the top of my list.  I also have a Christian playlist and a Friday playlist. I’ve started really relying on having my music with me to

It was 1999, before every vehicle and cell phone in America had a GPS.  This would have been before you could use the google man on the street feature to take a sneak peek of the new place you were visiting before you arrived.  I was on my way to a big job interview in a small Texas hill country town that I couldn’t remember the name of and had actually never even heard of before.  The recruiter had arranged my flight from Houston to Austin and they booked my rental car and hotel for me.  I was 30 years old and had never traveled alone like this. Nervous and excited, I knew that this was my chance to advance my career and break into Management.  I was newly divorced a few months prior adjusting to life as a single mother of two small children.  I had a house being built and under contract, but I knew I could easily back out of that if needed.  I was month to month on my apartment, so I could move out of it in 30 days if I decided to.   My oldest was about to start kindergarten, so pe

As a single career driven Mom, living in a small Texas town, the song “Cowboy Take Me Away” was my theme song.  The lyrics of that Dixie Chicks song along with “Wide Open Spaces” took over my brain and my soul during that time in my life.  That’s my only explanation for what happened in October of 2001.  “I wanna walk and not run, I wanna skip and not fall, I wanna look at the horizon and not see a building standing tall, I wanna be the only one for miles and miles except for maybe you and your simple smile.”. “Cowboy take me away, fly this girl as high as you can into the wild blue.  Set me free oh I pray, closer to heaven above and closer to you, closer to you.” The September 11 terrorist attacks left our whole country feeling vulnerable and restless in 2001.  YOLO wasn’t a thing yet, but there was definitely a feeling of life is too short and live in the moment that everyone was experiencing.  I believe it was the mentality of that time in our country that prompted Tony, our 3rd

When I grew up, I was taught that it is impolite to talk about money.  Well I’m sorry, that is crap in my opinion. First of all, I do Accounting for a living so my livelihood is dealing with money.  Secondly every person on the planet needs to be educated on how to handle money and learn about the importance of it.  They say money can’t buy happiness, but see how unhappy you get when you don’t have enough for your basic everyday needs. My favorite saying pertaining to money, my daughters have heard me say it a million times.  “I worry about money so I DON’T have to worry about money.”.   Another one I learned from Dr. Phil when talking about budgeting your money is that , “it’s math, not magic.” Now yes I am really good at math.  And yes I got a college degree in Accounting.  However I made PLENTY of mistakes with my own money which is what makes me appreciate where I am today and everything I have learned along the way.  I still try to help my daughters avoid some of the mistakes

I have been an employee for 35 years and a manager for about 16 years.  I have learned some lessons along the way that I try to share with others. First of all, being the most competent and/or hard working member on the team is not as important as you would think.  That gets you the job but the rest goes beyond that.  From my experience and observation, the number one quality that will keep you employed (or get you unemployed swiftly  if you don’t have it) is integrity.  I define integrity as doing the right thing even when no one is looking.  Make it a point and go out of your way to NEVER compromise your integrity.  Consider it the number one requirement of any job. Second is work ethic.  The work place is full of people with mediocre work ethic.  There is a saying that in any company 20% of the people do 80% of the work.  I not only find that true, but I believe that everyone in the company at all levels knows full well who those 20% people are.  They are typically the last peop

As adults and parents , I think it’s common to get so focused on the daily requirements of life that we can often forget to live a life of joy. Being a Mom to my three sweet and beautiful daughters has brought more joy to my life than words can ever describe.  The sleeplessness nights when they were babies, the terrible twos and potty training, and even the challenges of the boy crazy teenage years, none of that ever overshadowed the pure joy I experienced all along the way as their mom.   Now that they are older and becoming adult themselves, I find myself with bitter sweet feelings and struggling at times with the idea of letting go.   This season in my life is forcing me to seek joy in other ways beyond motherhood.  My life is a slower pace now and I am enjoying the simplicity of it.   I have far fewer daily demands caring for others and more time for myself these days .  I can focus more attention on my career, forming other relationships, and enjoy having more time to thin

So in October of 2018, my daughter who is a Freshman in high school came home with instructions for a required project to complete for her dual credit AP Human Geography Class.  The project was called Cultural Bingo and was going to count for 60% of her semester grade. First, you were to select a specific culture to learn about that was supposed to be different than your own culture.  Then you were to complete tasks in each square on the bingo card.  The more difficult and time consuming the task was, the higher the point value. The first row on the card was Religion.  The five point square was to watch a documentary about the religious practices of the culture selected.  The ten point square was to read a book about it and write a report.  The fifteen point square was to interview a religious leader from that culture.  And the 25 point square was to attend a religious ceremony. The second row on the card was about Food.  The five point square was to watch a cooking show pertaini

So this summer, my teenage daughter is home during the day while I am at work.  Like most people her age, she struggles with motivation when she has big chunks of downtime.  In the past, she has had a bad habit of getting what I call “her days and nights mixed up”.  In this mode, she sleeps all day and then stays up all night long.  She gets bored and lazy.  Then to add to that, she complains of headaches from not eating on a normal regular schedule.  It becomes a vicious cycle. So this summer, I was determined to not let this happen to her.  Now,  I do want her to relax, get some extra rest and enjoy herself.  But she needs to have a purpose and some structure for each day.  So I came up with idea of these daily to/do lists. Example Summer Day1 To Do List: unload the dishwasher wipe down the counter tops and coffee table sort your dirty laundry into the whites, darks, colors baskets make your bed stretch and practice your leaps and turns (she’s in drill team) spend 30 minute

Raising children to be winners seems to be getting more and more difficult because while I am trying to raise the bar for myself and my daughters, society around us seems to be lowering it. When I was in High School back in the mid 80s, it was my experience that the majority of my peers were from proud hardworking middle class families .  They were well dressed, participants in extracurricular activities and they cared about their grades and future. My fifteen year old daughter who is attending the same school I did is noticing a different trend. She seems to be surrounded by kids whose families are barely getting by, who come to school or go out in the world in what looks to me like pajamas,  (yoga pants, a t-shirt and crocs with socks.  a cringeworthy combination in my opinion).  My child has been called a “try hard” and “white privilege” on a regular basis.  .  On what planet are either of those things a bad thing?  Last year she was secretly spending most of her lunch account