Good to Know...

Long story, short....It never fails. What begins as a good idea, soon becomes a delectable dream and always, always sends me back to 1985. It never fails. Seriously, when do lessons of the past stop being something that is emotionally or consciously attached to a present day activity? And something as simple as....making cookies. When my children were 4 and 1, we lived next door, on Lilac Drive, to a nice young family. The mom's name was Julie and she had a son named Justin. We would speak on occasion, the kids would play out in the sandbox that Justin's dad made for him, and we would talk about planting daffodils in the yard. Just the usual stuff. Justin, even though he was only 2, was a bit of a "rough-house" and would always test Julie's patience. They would be out playing for a while, but soon after, Justin would have a melt-down of some sort and they would have to go in. Sara and Chris would continue to play in the sandbox with the toys. But I could tell ...

Canning. It even sounds like an old-fashioned word. Who does that anymore? Even though anything you could ever want is already canned, frozen, or somehow processed and on the shelf in the store, canning hasn't lost its appeal. A big reason it's still popular is because home canning food you are going to eat later ensures it will contain ingredients that have your approval. You can rest assured for the most part, unless you really screw it up, your food will be delicious, fresh tasting and healthy for you. Not to mention canned food lined up on the shelf is very beautiful, somewhat artistic and can have it's own romantic look about it. Anyone in love with food, will see crystal clear jars packed with some amazingly colorful favorites and immediately want to pop one open and grab a fork or a spoon.  Canning, with all it's steps involved, really can be a messy adventure. Produce lined up on the counter tops, the sink is overflowing with soapy water, the stove and the f...

This chapter of my blog is about the bittersweet moments in a day. It's also about all things young and all things old, because everything fits in one of the two. And it's also about the fact that emotional stuff is the hardest thing in life to  walk through. Like it or not, some days are filled with emotional challenges and each one leaves a direct physical imprint on our very being, on our heart and on our soul. For the past six days I was in Chicago with my son, Chris and daughter, Sara and her son, Wyatt. There are no better moments than sitting watching a  2-1/2 year old play, innocently, without inhibition and full of life and spirit. Each time he smiled, or looked at me with those big beautiful blue eyes, I just melted into a pliable, mushable blob of squishy-heart feelings. Once as he was going down for a nap, he asked me to lay on the bed with him so we could talk. Then as we laid our heads on the pillow, he turned towards me, just staring i...

It's very seldom that I'd give up my blogging space, however, this is very profound. If you are one of these people, you know who you are. Congratulations on being the best boss/manager/leader ever. If you aren't one of these people, with characteristics that exemplify this high standard and quality...then you probably should rethink why you are in management. If you don't fit into this category, plain and simple, people don't like working for you, you create a culture that is difficult to exist in, and you don't create a place where people can grow, develop personally and thrive. If you did, this would all benefit your business in ways you cannot imagine. Healthy employees equals a healthy business. This is always good for the bottom line, if that's how you measure success. Anyway, I digress, please read and pass this on. 8 Core Beliefs of Extraordinary Bosses Reprint from Inc.com, http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/8-core-beliefs-of-extraordinary-b...

Nothing has changed for years with the production of pure maple syrup. The process is the same. Tap the trees for sap, collect it in a bucket, boil it down until it makes syrup. There's nothing better tasting than pure, fresh from the tap, just made, maple syrup from New Hampshire. Maple Sugar Weekend is one thing that many people from New England can't miss.  There is a variety of samples, including maple covered almonds, maple fudge, maple syrup on waffles or pancakes, maple cotton candy, and maple sugar candy. It's all good.   It's only one weekend a year, usually cold, snow covered and slushy. Today was cold, but not one flake of snow. Just the buttery, smokey smell of the syrup boiling in the sugar house.  (Hard to see but the steam is bellowing of out the stack. All of the forest surrounding this place smelled like syrup.) When my children were very young, I started buying pure maple syrup from a health food store in Illinois. Apparently, there was a...

Without even realizing it, my daughter has given me a very big gift. Being an avid reader, she is never without something new and exciting to read. A while ago, she told me about this author that she really loves, Jen Hatmaker. Never heard of her. Never heard of her books either. But she has a new one out called "7." She told me about another awesome book, Breaking Free by Beth Moore. (But that's another story). Anyway, I decided to download 7 when it was only $7 on the Nook. A year from now, I venture a guess that it will have been the best $7 spent this year. The basic premise is that it's an experiment that Jen underwent with her family to rid of excess. Excess of food, clothing, wasting time on electronic devices, etc. She spent an entire month, four weeks, living by a strict rule of seven, 7 food choices, 7 articles of clothing, etc. And it wasn't just about what was absent in those months, it's about what filled the space instead. Since I haven't ...

We woke up this morning to a blanket of snow. By 1:00pm most of it was gone. But about 8:00am, we took off hiking through the Northwood Forest Preserve. There were plenty of breath-taking views on the walk through the woods. It always starts out the same way...on the trail head. Always anxious to see what's ahead. It was quiet this morning...and cold. Occasionally the snow would be blown out of the trees by the wind....or by Michael grabbing on to one of the branches and shaking. It was not easy capturing snow falling... A s I started to look around, I saw tiny things nearly buried in the snow, little seedlings looked as though they were breaking out of a shell...looking for the sunshine. I loved these brown, seemingly transparent leaves.   Contrast between the softness of snow and ruggedness of wood.     Once an artist....always an artist. However, this...is a new medium.  We were hiking around thi...