A Brief History of our Poodles My wife and I have had Standard Poodles throughout most of our marriage. Our first one, Lucy, was wonderful in nearly every way. Well behaved, smart, and what made us particularly proud, she was great with other dogs. Lucy was always friendly. We called her “the mayor” because everywhere we […]
Parenting Lesson number 357 – The PSAT
I thought I would share another parenting experience, where I was the bad guy, again, in the hope YOU can avoid it. For many of us, we have academic hopes for our kids., The standardized tests (SAT & ACT) loom large in the matrix of requirements to make it into most universities. I think we were […]
Christmas at Disneyland – Lessons Learned
This year we decided, for the first time as a family, to spend Christmas away from home. Maybe because we had some nostalgia for bringing Riley to Disneyland during the holidays before, we thought it a good idea to go there again this year. It’s been a couple of years since we’ve been there, and we’ve never […]
Thanksgiving – Learning to Be Grateful Makes You Happy
With Thanksgiving upon us, I wanted to share a straightforward concept that can improve your happiness quotient. I know it does mine. This is the idea of developing the skill to pause and find gratitude for what you have going on in your life, now, by writing it down! Bully, you say? Who has time […]
Halloween – Full Sized Candy
The former Celtic harvest festival, Halloween, is now the second largest commercial holiday in the United States (behind Christmas). Spending during this holiday has doubled in the past 10 years according to the National Retail Association to an average of nearly $83 per participant. We’ll spend our $83 (at least) by going big and giving out […]
Lessons Overcoming Fear – Dave Grohl Tells Tom Petty No
Nirvana, with the release of “Nevermind” in September of 1991, had become the world’s hottest band. They were the epicenter of Seattle’s grunge movement heralding a renaissance for rock and roll. Partly on the strength of the singles “Smells Like Teen Spirit” and “Come as You Are” Nevermind would eventually go on to sell over […]