People have, do, and will disappoint you. Simple fact of life. Ask yourself two questions:  did they intend to do damage, and what are you going to do with the disappointment? Let's look at the first question.  People are deeply involved in their own lives.  That doesn't mean they don't care about you or others, but they are first motivated to deal with their own situations and personal emotions.  The more mature, considerate, and less self-centered will also shift gears back and forth to consider the consequences of their actions or inactions. More >>

"My wife and I are looking to buy a business together.  We heard about a great local business that's for sale, but when we inquired with the business broker handling the sale we learned that it was already under contract to be sold." More >>

A lot of the most popular video games on the market are war games.  Are they good or bad for teenage boys? More >>

I found an interesting item on the Fox Small Business Center website, written by Teri Evans.  She wrote an essay titled " Leveraging Loyalty: How to Keep CustomersHooked ." In this economic environment, and with Wal-Mart announcing free shipping for its online sales, competition for consumer dollars is getting tougher for mom-and-pop businesses.  So, I decided to read Teri's ideas, and while I was doing so, I realized these concepts were wonderful for relationships of all kinds: More >>

I got a summons for jury duty;  it came on our family vacation so I asked for a deferment. It was granted. My husband and I have been working part time since he lost his job of 10 years 18 months ago. More >>

Moral courage is the most valuable and usually the most absent characteristic in men. More >>

In the election last week, Missy Reilly Smith ran for Washington DC delegate to the United States House of Representatives (she lost to Eleanor Holmes Norton).  Smith ran largely as an anti-abortion candidate. She ran 30 second ads which aired 24 times on local broadcast network affiliates across the greater Washington, DC metropolitan area, preceded by a 15 second warning (added by the station management) due to the shocking content. What was the ad? More >>

Today's e-mail of the day (Found Dog Reminds Me of Missed Years) made an impact on me! Unfortunately I was driving on a very busy highway and trying not to cry as you were reading. I did make it safely to my destination. More >>

Many of you in two-income families don't have to be living on two incomes - you are choosing to do so. According to the New York-based Families and Work Institute, 79% of today's married couples have both people in the workforce.  In 1977, that percentage was 66%. There are problems with two-income marriages and families: More >>

This morning as I was returning from walking my dog at the dog park, I noticed a beautiful black Labrador in the parking lot of the Clubhouse in my community. I stopped to see if there was anybody with the dog. Nobody was around. I pulled in, got out of the car, and the dog ran to me and practically jumped into my arms. I let my own dog out of the car, and the two played. We waited a while in the hopes somebody would come looking for a dog. No one came. I invited the dog into my car, she jumped in, happy as could be. More >>