My-Musings

30 Life Lessons I Shared With My Step-Sons

I am a long-distance step-mom.  There are a lot of complexities in blended families, the navigation of which could fill many blogs all by themselves.  My husband is lucky enough to have a job that he can do from anywhere as long as he has a computer, which allows him to visit his boys often.  Airfare being as expensive as it is, my relationship with them has had to be forged mostly over holidays there, summer vacations here, and the various communications one can achieve with a cell phone.

The 3 Steps that Helped Me Survive an Eating Disorder

Let’s face it – no one lives a stress-free existence, no matter what it looks like on the surface.  And not many can say they don’t have inner battles.  The only thing that differentiates us is what form those self-struggles happens to take.  For me, it took the shape of an eating disorder.      No inner conflict occurs in a vacuum.  We all have multiple circles in the Venn diagram of our lives.  The question is how much the triggers within each area overlap to create the perfect storm.

Is Your Dog Your Favorite Person?

I stopped seeing a therapist once after she told me my dog “wasn’t a person”.  This was in response to my saying that “as long as I have my dog, I have a reason to keep myself physically and mentally healthy, because my dog is my favorite person in the world.”  I saw this as a positive, that I had motivation to not let something I was dealing with beat me, because no one else could ever take care of my dog the way I would.  She took it as a moment to debate the philosophical semantics of

Daddy-isms: My Favorite 15 for Father's Day

Father’s Day is this Sunday.  A day meant to slow us down a bit so we can take time to think about how thankful we are to have our dads in our lives.  Fortunately for me, I don’t have to think too hard since my dad often reminds us of all the things we should be grateful for about him.  Even when he doesn’t realize it though, I have taken in and remembered many of the lessons he has taught me throughout life.  I like to call them “Daddy-isms”.  Here are some of my favorite Daddy-isms:

All Those Years of High School French and We Couldn’t Even Order a Cheeseburger in Montreal!

Ah June….. the month of school years ending, graduations marking transition from child to adult, and summer vacations beginning.  Who doesn’t still feel chills and filled with hope when hearing Alice Cooper’s “School’s Out”, even though high school is further back than we’d care to admit?   Nostalgia turns to curiosity when I start to think about what I have retained from my formative high school years.      We all recall teachers warning students to learn this now because we will need it

Veterinary Technicians - Unsung Heroes of Our Pets’ Lives

My dog had her teeth cleaned yesterday at our vet’s office.  Like any parent anxiously waiting for their child (animal or human) to come out of anesthesia, I was faced with the realization of just how much we depend on 2 people for the life-long well-being of our beloved pets - their veterinarian and veterinary technician.      I have a unique perspective, as I spend 20 years working in human hospitals as a rehabilitation therapist and have also recently earned my veterinary technician

My Week as a Nielsen Family

I ran into the house from the mailbox giddy with excitement, waiving the cardboard envelope in front of my husband.  It is extremely unusual for me to even check the mailbox, as it usually ends up containing only homework – bills go into the “too stressful, so I’ll deal with you later pile” and everything else goes straight into the recycle bin.  But today I felt like Willy Wonka and I had just found the Golden Ticket!  “We’re going to be a Nielsen Family!” I exclaimed.      Have you ever

So You Want to Flip a House........ (Part 2)

Welcome back to part two of an educational piece I like to think of as "basic house flipping 101 for the pre-beginner".  When we last left our dynamic duo they had found a house prospect and funded it.  Buckle up and let’s watch as they figure out how to fix and flip it....      Step 3 = Fix it. Finally we get to the rehab part!   Start with sitting down and writing out a detailed plan, aka “scope of work”, for what you plan to do.  It helps to separate it into what needs to be done,

So You Want to Flip a House........ (Part 1)

In trying to finance this time of career change, until my passion for holistic animal healing becomes a paycheck, my husband and I needed to find a creative way to supplement our household finances.  (That is the nice way of saying that I was no longer bringing in steady income….. ok, ANY income).  My time was busy trying to build the structure of my new endeavor, but unfortunately no one appears offering you cash because you are TRYING so well.      On the other side was my husband who