Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life! 

Each morning, when I open my eyes and welcome a new day, I see it is an opportunity!
An opportunity to make it the best day that it can be.
This opportunity means that I try to live each day as if it were my last!
One day it will be -- but until then -- I'll be sharing with you a variety of things that I've learned,
discovered, and even laughed at along the way.  Enjoy my journey with me as we live it One Day at a Time!

Not an Obituary – But A Celebration

Not an Obituary But a Celebration of the Wind Beneath My Wings When Ron Reid, my husband of 63 years died the end of November, I honored his wish to not have an obituary in our local newspaper.  He said that no one would remember him. He was … Read more

Memories from the Past

Memories From the Past

Share Those Memories Before They Are Gone They will disappear with you! Memories are triggered by different things but they are yours.  Once you are gone, they disappear as well unless you share them.  That is what I am doing with this post and this blog. Today’s memory … Read more

Being Green Back Then

Being Green Back Then! Since many of you who read this blog are from my generation, I felt that you would enjoy reading this “oh, so true” post that a friend posted on Facebook: Being Green Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older … Read more

Finding Joy in the Everyday Moments

The Magic of Everyday Moments: Finding Joy in the Ordinary

The Magic of Everyday Moments: Finding Joy in the Ordinary We get excited when special events and extraordinary experiences occur but oftentimes overlook the enchantment and magic that hides in plain sight, right in the midst of our everyday life. I’ve discovered that, by living one day at … Read more

30 quirky things you don't know about me

Quirky Things You May Not Know about Me

30 Quirky Things You May Not Know About Me (or even care to know) During the pandemic, many of us were limited to using the Internet to make contacts with people.  And we made a lot of new friends.  But you can’t really get to know someone via … Read more

Corn Husk Dolls

Corn Husk Dolls – The Past and the Present

When my two daughters were little, we created corn husk dolls for them to play with.  Living in a very isolated Northern Arizona community of Happy Camp while my husband worked for the U.S. Forest Service, there weren’t a lot of activities for them to take part in.  … Read more

DIY Towel Teddy Bears

DIY Towel Teddy Bear

This DIY Towel Teddy Bear is a great idea for a uniquely different way to add a towel or washcloth to a gift. Create it using baby washcloths for a baby diaper cake; using kitchen towels for a wedding towel cake; or to add to a bear hug … Read more

Learning from those who have been in the trenches and survived

Learning from those who have been in the trenches and survived

It seems like yesterday, but in actuality it was many, many years ago.  The afternoon heat in the deep South drove us to the front porch where there was occasionally a breeze flickering through the leaves of the trees around us. My sister and I worked on the … Read more

The Life of an Entrepreneur

The Life of an Entrepreneur

Becoming an entrepreneur can be very exciting but is rarely very glamorous.  Managing the daily activities of running a business can be anything but a dream.  Unless you’re just working on a hobby, your days won’t be easy and worry-free, particularly in the beginning.  But if you really … Read more

Learn to Live with the Pricks in Your Life

Learn to Live With the Pricks in Your Life

I don’t know who first wrote this this as but applies to us both as business owners and as people: Fable of the porcupine It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold. The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep … Read more

How-Smokey-Bears-Timeless-Marketing-Campaign-Can-Inspire-Todays-Marketers

How Smokey Bear’s Timeless Marketing Campaign Can Inspire Today’s Marketers

When I first saw Smokey Bear at the Washington National Zoo back in 1960, he was already ten years old and well-known to kids everywhere as the symbol of the U.S. Forest Service’s Fire Prevention campaign. The story of his life along with the evolution of the “Prevent … Read more

What if?

What If?

What if you discovered you only had one year to live? Morbid subject? Perhaps.  But it’s a question that we should all stop and think about occasionally. What would you do with that last year?  What would you do differently?  Would you stop spinning your wheels, attending to … Read more

Creativity and Passion - What to do when you lose it

Creativity and Passion – When You Lose It

If you have a business, you may have started it for many different reasons.  To stay home with the kids.   To get away from the 9 to 5 routine.  Where you could make lots of money with little investment. But that’s not most of us — particularly those … Read more

Make a Dfiference - The Choice is Yours

Make a Difference – The Choice is Yours

Make this world a better place. Make your industry a better place. Make your home a better place.  A tall order?  Impossible?  Not at all.  You can do it—starting with you. Many years ago, when I was living in Yreka, California, I saw problems in the town — … Read more

How a small Town mindset can grow your business

Have a Small Town Mindset in Your Business

During my lifetime, I’ve lived in towns and cities of all sizes.  Large cities like Washington DC and Berkeley, California.  Mid-sized cities like Pensacola, Florida and San Jose, California.  Small cities like Santa Cruz, California and Flagstaff, Arizona (where I finally landed).  But since my husband was a … Read more

Used Coffee Grounds Have Value

Used Coffee Grounds Have Value

Are you dumping your used coffee grounds into the trash or down the sink? Don’t!  There are better uses for them that you have probably never thought of or known about. 1. How about using coffee grounds as to feed your plants? Coffee is highly acidic and makes … Read more

The Dfiference Between Talents and Gifts

The Difference Between Talents and Gifts

When I was in elementary school (many, many years ago), I was assigned to a choir for a school play. When the teacher told me to just mouth the words, I discovered that singing was not my gift.  That was confirmed once again in the ninth grade when … Read more

The Benefits of Making Mistakes

The Benefits of Mistakes

Mistakes aren’t always bad.  They can actually be very good sometimes.  And they can even prove to be very profitable. A well-known example is the accidental discovery of pencillian.  Two other, but lesser known, examples are “Post-It Notes” and “Chocolate Chip Cookies.” Post-It Notes, sometimes called sticky notes … Read more

What Might Have Been

What Might Have Been?

Some people fold after making one timid request. They quit too soon. Keep asking until you find the answers. In sales there are usually four or five “no’s” before you get a “yes.” Jack Canfield There are a number of reasons why a business folds and closes its … Read more

A Life Secret Learned from the game of Monopoly

A Life Lesson Learned from the Game of Monopoly

Ken Blanchard, author of “The One Minute Manager” and other business books, told the story about the little boy who really wanted to beat his grandmother at Monopoly.  He studied.  He practiced.  He learned.   Until one day, he beat her at the game and told her, “Finally!  I … Read more

Two Secrets of Success: From A Very Special Lady

Way back in 1961 or ’62, I met a very special lady who taught me two secrets of success that I still remember today. My husband and I had been married for about a year. Ron had just got out of the Navy and we had returned to … Read more

Today is the first day of the rest of your life. What will you do with it?

Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life

“I hope in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you’re making mistakes, you’re trying new things, pushing yourself, changing yourself and your world. You’re doing things you’ve never done before.” Neil Gaiman I love each new year when it arrives.   I consider it to be a … Read more

Charlie Brown and Franklin

Charles Schultz and Charlie Brown

I’ve enjoyed creative writing ever since my freshman year in college when the professor was a published fiction writer in Saturday Evening Post magazine.   He required us to submit one ceative piece each week and I was hooked. As a result, years later I  discoverd the Santa Barbara … Read more

Summer Home Farm

Memories of Summer Home Farm

History is important and it is incredibly sad to see it disappear only to be seen in old photos and memories.  Last year, Big Basin State Park, filled with ancient redwoods and historic buildings, became a victim of the ongoing fires in Santa Cruz County, California.  Most of … Read more