New Year, New Post

As you may have noticed, I have been away from my blog and writing for way too long. I was on a very long hiatus, some of it by choice, some of it not by choice and most of it just by circumstances. Most of it was due to personal things going on in my life and not knowing wether it was appropriate or not to write about it, the other part of it was worrying wether it would be used against me for telling my story and the other part was just life keeping me away with kids, school and working, that pretty much filled up my days, as you can imagine. Then all the personal bits of going through a long divorce, helping my kids through it, repairing and rebuilding my life.

I have decided that with the New Year here, this is my opportunity to jump back into something that is positive, is good for me and something that I enjoy doing. I know that I am supposed to be doing this and have made it a priority because there have been too many times where I happen to have free time and just sitting down and wondering what to do or on the computer thinking I should be writing about that particular topic. I didn't because I thought it was too late to jump back in. I also want to get back into writing for freelance jobs.

That's the thing about our mindsets. Once it is made up, there is no changing it. Until the next wave of circumstances happen to wash over us. Then we rise above it and are renewed with different thoughts than what we once had. This is me, all the time.

I know that I have a lot to share and offer. I have my opinions and thoughts about stuff and I have ideas and resources to share. It is my hope that you will help support me in my endeavor by being engaged with me on here by adding your comments, sharing things you find worthy and suggest other things, as well. I know you get the point, so I will stop right there.

It is my goal to post something every day but we know that is not always realistic and possible, so at a minimum of once a week.

It is my intention to post from my heart and mind, my own speaking. I hope that I will have the ability and sense to know just how much to write or post is enough and not too much.

I also want to post and share other links and articles that I feel are worthy of sharing on here.

I know that everything may not be of interest to you and that is okay, it is here to help me, too. This is a daily work in progress.

I am ready and I am doing this, right now!

Currently, while on school break, I am in the process of cleaning out the paper clutter in my office and also making a Vision Board to help me make a good running start to a successful new year. I will be posting my Vision Board, as it comes along. I will be posting tips, tricks and ideas that I am doing to help the process with the paper clutter. I am also trying to grow my photography business in between going to school for a dual degree in Photography and also Graphic Design, which should go nicely with my current degree in Computer Information Technology.

I have not decided how much personal things I want to be writing about. I have been thinking about this for a long, long time now. We all know there are people on Social Media who do not know the boundaries of posting personal information, however at the same time, it could help someone. So what do you suggest? Do you have rules or recommendations on how much is too much? Does a blog have different rules than on Social Media?

Happy New Year! Let's make it a successful, positive and prosperous one!

Lowes holds free kids Build and Grow clinics once a month on Saturday at 10 am until 11 am. They just wrapped up the last two clinics for 2015. November was a Pullback Racecar and December was a Holiday Train. 

The Lowe's Build and Grow calendar will show you the next two clinics and allow you to register your child for them.

If you'd like to see the clinics coming up after the next two, you'll need to visit the Lowe's Build and Grow calendar after the first one on the list is over.

Lowes Build and Grow Clinic Schedule

We have not been able to get our family to one yet but this year is the year to do exactly that. I went to their website and currently, they are in the process of performing some maintenance, as the site informs.

“In the next few weeks, we will be launching an all new Build and Grow website! Check back soon to see the new look and features! Please note that once the site goes live you will need to create a new account to register for the upcoming projects." SamiCone.com's website says. 

I was unable to find that information and instead, encountered a friendly image telling me that they are performing some maintenance and will be back soon.


Lowes Build and Grow Clinic

Personalized Letter from Santa

Personalize your child's Christmas and send them a personalized letter from Santa and an autographed photo.

This reminds me of a time when I was younger, somewhere around 8 to 10 years old and my parents had called me into the room to tell me that I had a phone call. I was surprised because I never got phone calls. When I took the call, it was Santa on the other end of the phone. It was just a recording but at that age, it really was magical for me.

This really is a nice way to personalize a child's Christmas and I am sure that they will remember it years from now.

Turley Publications is sending this personalized gift for $9.95. Just cut out the coupon, fill in your information and enclose your payment. They do warn that quantities are limited.

Merry Christmas and Enjoy!

PMC Paceline

Jessica will be riding her second PMC in August. The reasons why she does the PMC yearly are plentiful. A few reasons are because the money raised by the PMC and donated to Dana-Farber Cancer Institute helped save the life of someone she is very close with and loves, also, she still has family members and friends fighting cancer and they deserve the best care from the latest clinical trials and compassionate doctors. Lastly, because Cancer sucks and as long as she lives she wants to help fight against it in hopes that future generations don't have to.

I am personally asking you to please join her in the fight against cancer. Make a donation to support her ride.  
‪#‎pmc2015‬

PMC Paceline

Colossal Groove - Mistress @ The Webster, Hartford, CT

A short video of Colossal Groove playing in the Battle of the Bands at The Webster in Hartford, CT on Saturday, March 15. I was taking this video for the band and was not able to record the full song or anymore after that because I was unaware that they did not want anyone recording. After one of the security guards came over tell me that, I had to turn it off. Plans are in the works to get more videos for Colossal Groove. In the meantime, enjoy this video.

Mistress - Colossal Groove - 3/15/2014 - The Webster - Hartford,... http://t.co/A6IshcuT2H
— Jeanne T. (@tooheymomster) March 18, 2014

USAA - taking pride in Excellence in Customer Service

A recent experience as a customer was with my car insurance company, USAA. I have been a customer with them for over five years and recommend them to everyone. USAA is your one stop shop for many things like car insurance, home and renter's insurance, bank accounts, loans and stocks. They also have car buying and home buying services and financial planners that work with you to help you make a budget and plan for your future. USAA's services are for military members and their families and they pride themselves on customer service. As a customer with USAA for over five years, I really do believe that they are serious and sincere when they say that they pride themselves on customer service. Through the years, they have always been able to assist me with my problems, issues and concerns. Not only were able to assist me but successfully resolved the problems, issues and concerns to my satisfaction. They handled the matters professionally, courteously and quickly. They have a toll free number that they answer and every customer service associate is in the United States which makes communicating less frustrating. They have made my customer service experience with them so easy and convenient not only by having a toll free number but also with the ease and access of technology like their website and mobile app. With their website and mobile app, you are able to view your accounts and bills. You are able to change your insurance policies, yourself and pay your bills with ease. When you call their toll free number, if there is a queue, it will tell you how long the wait is, how many customers are in front of you and offer you the option for a USAA customer service representative to call you back by pressing 1 and they really do call you back. I really believe that USAA and their customer service is a true example of outstanding customer service and I hope that other companies can learn what it takes to make customers happy, help them feel valued and bring back the lost art of excelling in customer service.

My wish for Facebook Likes

My email inbox needs to have some TLC. It is overwhelming to check emails at the moment. This is mainly because I have signed up for newsletters almost everywhere I had read something that I liked. This was mostly because most of these entities had not joined the Facebook wagon yet. But now that it has grown so much, I am taking the opportunity to like them on Facebook and choosing to unsubscribe to their emails. Although, I am wondering if it would be easier, quicker and more effective for me to just set up filters and send them directly to the trash automatically. The only problem with that is that the initial time that I set up the filter, I will have to select every single email to get it out of my inbox.

It has abruptly come to my attention that I am unable to like any more pages on Facebook because you are allowed up to 5,000. Somehow, I am over my quota. I went to do maintenance on my likes and found that when you search all the results, it does not offer you the option to filter it by how many current likes the page has or list the pages you liked with that search term first. This would make un-liking pages much easier for me while allowing me to accomplish my goal without making it into a several day project.

Pot Luck: Inside a Beverly Hills Cannabis Club Dinner Party

20/20: Pot Luck: Inside a Beverly Hills Cannabis Club Dinner Party

I was watching 20/20 tonight and the show was called: I escaped my life. One of the segments was about a 53 year old woman and mom of two girls who also runs a public relations firm, is a medical marijuana user, founded the Beverly Hills Cannabis Club and is an activist to legalize cannabis in this country.

The moms of this club have battled cancer, chronic pain and crippling anxiety. They say that what got them feeling normal and healthy again wasn't prescription drugs but marijuana did.

They say that they do it to take the edge off and to remain functional and checked in as parents, not to get baked out of their minds. They feel that just as other parents might choose how much to drink around their kids, they are the only ones who can judge what the line between being stoned and buzzed is. They say that they struggle with how to best educate their children on the subject of drug use, just like any parent.

The moms say they try to be responsible and healthy by choosing to vaporize the marijuana. Using small mechanical devices which look like cigarettes, it heats the cannabis just enough to make the THC active and doesn't produce as much harmful smoke.

At the parties, they create edibles, consisting of fettuccine and chicken with marinara sauce made from cannabis infused olive oil and strawberry shortcake.

So, I was not surprised to hear about this because of the fact that Marijuana is becoming legal in more and more states, nor about the fact that they mentioned how happy they felt and how it took them out of depression. I was glad that they mentioned how they were like zombies and checked out when they were using prescription drugs. This is something that seems to get overlooked quite frequently, in my opinion. Prescription drugs are being abused and I have heard of parents taking and even abusing them. They are laid up in bed all day and it becomes more of an excuse, unfortunately, to the kids expense.

I do worry for these parents for the fact that they are doing this in front of their kids. Vaporizer or not, I don't feel that is ever a good idea. Although, I don't know why it would be any more appropriate or okay for someone to smoke or drink in front of or around kids. But, I guess we do it and that is okay. There is still a big stigma in this country about marijuana use. It will be interesting to see what comes of this in the years to come.

Watch the video and let me know what you think or have to say about this topic. Do you think it can make you a better parent?