“You must focus on treating yourself with respect and loving yourself and the universe will give love and respect back to you in many various forms and experiences.”-Frank Mangano.

I need to take a tip from my daughter and learn that I deserve to have my own respect.

When I first read the quote above, it washed over me like a tsunami. I have done a lot recently concerning the one resolution that I had concerning focusing on finishing what I start, but as far as learning to “love”, my mind has been elsewhere. As I was reading this, I realize that the reason that others do not treat me in a way that I would like to be treated is because I do not treat myself with respect. Click here to read remainder of post

Now that I am pretty back to health, I have been focusing on catching up with those things that I got behind on last week. Surprisingly, in most activities, I have not only caught up, but I also was able to proactively get ahead in some areas. Last Friday I wrote this week’s This day in History as It Relates to the American Revolution which made this week’s blogs easy to finish. After the success that I had because they were done Friday, I intend to continue to write them on Friday. All this helps me stick to my resolution to focus on finishing what I have started. Click here to read rest of post.

This past week I joined the Springfield Writer’s Guild at the Heritage Cafeteria here in Springfield, MO. . .

Won a copy of the book: Aux Arcs by Carl James. . .

And Learned that Benjamin Franklin may have attended the premiere of Piccinni’s opera “Roland” in Paris Read More

Today in History--Jan 24,1776 - Henry Knox arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that he has transported from Fort Ticonderoga.
Getting Caught Up After a great start early in the week, the flu put me behind again in several areas, but I am still caught up in some areas.   We are on the mend, my daughter is back at school, and I am ready to play catch up and hope I can get ahead again.

Despite the fact that I have had a set back this week, because I have built in free time in my schedule so that when emergencies happen, I don’t end up getting overwhelmed by the fact that I am behind, I simply use what would have been free time as the time that I use to catch up. Not only does this work for illness, but for other emergencies such as an unexpected deadline that forces me to drop everything to focus on that. . . Click here to Read remainder of blog post

It started Monday. My daughter wasn't feeling well. I took her temperature several times. . .

             This Day in History


January 22, 1690 - Iroquois tribes renewed allegiance to British against French.

The waterways around the Great Lakes were strategic highways to the interior of the Northeast in the American colonial period. Click here to read the rest of the blog post.

Today I have started a new section in this blog called this day in history. Because events of The Locket Saga series is currently set in the revolutionary war period, this day in history relates to the American Revolution.
On this date in 1778, the first American Court Martial began. David Henley, a Continental Army officer. . . Follow this link to read entire blog post.

Since the first of the year, I have been thinking about what I am going to do when I finish school, and this past week I have done a couple of things that will help me along the road to building my career. Monday I went to the Missouri Career Center and talked to a woman who was also a writer. She gave me some names and then she gave me some job leads. I have not followed up on any of them yet. I have been busy with school and writing. Primarily Monday will be my day for doing job searching I think.  My big issue with finding a job I am discovering has to do with the fact that I don’t have the network that I need to have here in Springfield. I need to get out and meet the people that I may want to work with. As a writer, I definitely need to make those connections.

Have you ever stopped to think about the reason that we Americans are in so much of a hurry? Why is it that we are always in a rush to get wherever we are going? A few days ago I watched someone pass me seven times while I was on my way home from dropping my husband off at his truck. The person was stopped by the same stop lights that I was stopped at, the person definitely seemed to be in a hurry, but the hurrying wasn’t getting that person to where he or she wanted to go any more quickly than I was going. In addition, the constant passing and cutting bumper riding that the person was doing was not only endangering that individual’s health by the stress he or she was creating for him or herself, it was putting other people in the cars around that person as well. I contrasted this with myself who was in no hurry to get to where I felt no stress getting where I wanted to go, yet, I was getting there as quickly as the stressed out person was getting to wherever he or she was going.
Click here to read rest of blog post.

Saturday, I had my hair cut and colored and my daughter had her hair cut as well. It was our day out, so we went to the mall and went to The Body Shoppe and got a makeup makeover. It was so much fun. Shannon, my hairdresser and I talked about how if she was not a hairdresser she would love to have been a psychologist because a psychologist does a lot of the same things a hairdresser does, except, the hairdresser can help a girl feel better about herself. As I told Shannon and Keven, (the guy doing my makeover), I love it when I can get the instant gratification that getting my hair done and getting new makeup can make a woman feel more like a lady. I said that it certainly beat eating properly or doing exercise in making a person look better.

Yesterday, I was working on the current college course I am taking physiological psychology and was reading the chapter on obesity and I learned some scientific information concerning why we gain weight and how to use that information to help us lose weight. Click Here to read rest of blog post.

I have actually been sticking to my weekly plan this week and it has been a busy one. Despite the cold and the fact that my daughter has been home from school most of the week because of the weather, I have had a productive week. Click here to read rest of blog