Search Results for: what would you change if you were rich

Lessons from Haiti

My 17-year-old son spent a week in Haiti, on a construction project. I knew going into this that he would come back changed…I just wasn’t sure how. Thanks to technology, I was able to keep in contact with him almost every day. The house he stayed in had WiFi so he was able to text me from a program he downloaded on his iPod. The biggest struggle he had was working in the sweltering heat. He was doing real labor, bricklaying and using a sledge hammer to take down walls. The temperatures were in the 100’s. He battled headaches each … Continue reading →

Channeling Anxiety Through the Body: Rita’s Story

It’s challenging enough dealing with the anxiety that lives in our minds. But when it is channeled through the body – as it always is – anxiety works us over double time. Sometimes it manifests as a tightness in the gut, or clenching of the teeth or hands. Over time, though, anxiety takes a more dangerous toll on our physical sides, from ulcers and panic attacks, to high blood pressure and heart attacks. What’s worse is when we add fuel to the fire, treating our bodies in ways that only make anxiety worse. Rita knows this all too well. Promptly … Continue reading →

My Family’s Experience with Online Education: Part Two

In part one I discussed my feelings so now it’s time to tell you how each of my children felt about their experience. My son’s view: My 11 year old son complained he felt he did not learn anything. His focus was on task completion and not on education. I am proud to report that two months shy of the end of the semester he finished an entire year’s worth of work. He worked at a fast pace yet that did not contribute to his feeling of task completion or not learning. He worked at a fast pace because he … Continue reading →

Are You Irish?

Posted on by

St. Patrick’s Day is a day to celebrate your Irish heritage. One of the cool things about this holiday is that you don’t have to be Irish to celebrate it. Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, no matter where their ancestors originated from. Are you Irish? If you aren’t sure, there are some things that genealogists can do in order to find out. Start by taking a look at your surname. Certain letter combinations tend to indicate that your ancestors were Irish. If your last name starts with an O, like O’Leary, or O’Connor, then you most likely have … Continue reading →

Creating Miracles

Posted on by

They say that when it comes to saving the life of their own child, parents can become superhuman – lifting cars and fighting off villains. But sometimes, saving the life of your child doesn’t take one adrenaline rush, but rather years of patience, determination and vigor. When your child has a life-threatening genetic disease that will claim her life if left untreated, a parent may have to fight the system in order to save his child. Take John Crowley for example. Two of his children, both babies at the time, were diagnosed with Pompe disease and he and his wife … Continue reading →

How Ideas Change

It’s interesting how ideas change. Years ago when Mick and I were first married and only had a doll’s house sized timber home, we used to look with something akin to envy at the big homes, while realizing we’d probably never afford anything like that. We were reminded of this recently while watching slides taken during our young days. In amongst the slides of scenery and us doing various things, usually on holidays, were several slides of houses. ‘What are these? And why on earth did we take photos of them?’ Eventually we realized they were what we then thought … Continue reading →

Don’t Fall For A Genealogy Myth

There are many genealogy myths out there. Many have been passed around for so long that they almost seem like truth. I don’t think these myths got started due to an intent to confuse people, or to mess up other people’s genealogy research. Instead, I think these myths exist due to a misunderstanding of a family story, or out of a desire to make your ancestors seem as though they were incredibly important people. The assumption being, of course, that if your ancestors were amazing, then you must be amazing as well. No matter what reason these myths exist, you … Continue reading →

The Alternative Gift Registry

Posted on by

I never realized that some people have a negative view towards store registries until reading a very interesting essay on GetRichSlowly.org, entitled, “Wedding Registries: A Love-Hate Relationship,” by Betsy Teutsch. The author recently wrote an update on her own blog that details how her son and daughter-in-law created an alternative registry on AlternativeGiftRegistry.org.The alternative registry allowed the couple to list general needs, rather than specific items from one specific store. While they were able to link to specific items when desired, overall the list allowed guests the freedom to pick out their own gift and still have the convenience of … Continue reading →

Are Your Neighbors Rich or Poor?

With the exception of the most obvious extremes, the perceptions of being rich or poor can sometimes be subjective. This has a lot to do with the neighbors. An upper middle class family may view themselves as average, while someone making half of their income may view themselves as well off. It all depends. In this country, we very often feel that we are more poor than rich compared to our neighbors, which is odd, considering that most of the rest of the world would probably consider all of us on the rich side. In contrast, I was talking with … Continue reading →

Should Kids Move Out at 18

A blog post at timberdoodle.com asks Is it time to kick the kids out of the house? Moving out at eighteen is a fairly recent, definitely cultural idea, one which regardless of the spiritual implications makes no economic or ecological sense… Why are some people getting their knickers in a knot over the emissions of cows while ignoring the massive impact this exodus of young people has on carbon footprints? …There seems to be a campaign afoot among relatives and friends to boot our adult children out of our home. The writer continues by stating that while her kids are … Continue reading →