So we’ve made it through December, the onslaught of what some deem the most stressful time of the year, and into the high expectations of what the New Year holds for us in promises and resolutions.    Usually, I am a big fan of creating a list of things I’ll hold myself accountable for but they seem to be the same few items…lose the weight finally, get more organized, save money for a rainy day…you know the drill.  I still plan to make a “Visionary Board” as I do love to dream and create intentions for my life but today I want to count my blessings, as they are.  As I rewind the awful …

Seriously, people, please get off your cell phones while driving! I am blown away by how many people I've seen just in the past two weeks, talking away with the phone at their ear or trying to slyly text at a stoplight when I know there is not anything that exciting to stare at on your lap (or that couldn't wait until later). Just the other day as I was driving down Diablo, a guy in a black pickup truck almost hit a pedestrian as he turned left from Danville Boulevard onto Diablo (right by the clock tower), as he was busy chatting it up on his cell phone. Nothing infuriates me more. And even …

If Danville is really similar to living in a "bubble," the bubble has definitely popped. Particularly in the past two weeks when two Danville women were killed in a car wreck on Sycamore Valley Road and the recent loss of a local Marine, who died in combat in Afghanistan fighting not only for our "bubble" but our entire country. Really puts the long lines to fight for the latest Thanksgiving fare in perspective. For the past three years, I have dedicated the month of November to focus on what I am grateful for each and every day and post it as my Facebook status. So, despite the fact that I …

Tomorrow is Friday, November 11th, when schools around our nation observe the Veterans Day holiday. However, some children and some adults are often confused and wonder, “What is the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?” Both holidays were designed to acknowledge those men and women who are part of the United States Armed Forces and are dutifully honored with parades and special gatherings. While Veterans Day honors the military, Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday in May, is “in memory” of those soldiers that have died in service for our country, usually in battle or a …

 "I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel." Maya Angelou This week when my fifth grade students came back from science, I had a mint sitting on each of their desks.  Anyone who has ever spent any time in an elementary school knows that when candy is involved, the motivation factor increases. However, if you read my last article, you might also remember that I am the teacher that believes in intrinsic motivation and rarely believes in rewarding children for behavior I expect. So, I watched for a …

"Most people are so stuck in their egos that everything revolves around me, me, and more me. But if you want to be rich in the truest sense of the word, it can’t only be about you. It has to include adding value to other people’s lives."~T. Harv Eker~ It's no secret to those who know me that I have always loved Oprah. Not Oprah herself, necessarily, but the lifework she has accomplished to help so many others in so many ways. So when I watched the recent "Life Class" on webcast Monday evening via Facebook about the "ego," it made me think of how I should best approach parent/teacher …

“Change your language and you change your thoughts.” —Karl Albrecht I recently spent a week celebrating the nuptials of good friends in the windy town of Orenjestad, Aruba. Besides being a beautiful island, where the wind keeps you cool from the impending heat, the water celebrates the most amazing hues of blue my eyes have ever seen. But what was most surprising about the short visit my boyfriend and I took wasn't the iguanas and bearded dragons that ran wild amongst the hotel property, but the fact that most, in fact, every Aruban we met spoke at least four, if not five languages.  Greg, …

I wrote about how much I love music a few weeks ago.   It's a critical part of my being, which is how I figured out what hell on earth really means. For me, it has been driving around with no working radio for three days.   One moment, I'm listening to the sweet tunes of Lady Antebellum while driving to the gas station, the next, silence.   I thought I hit the mute button by accident and then I start twisting knobs and pushing buttons. Later, my boyfriend gets in the car as we're driving to celebrate his birthday dinner. "I can't figure it out," I said, while fudging with the knobs. "I'll …

"Mom, I want to do a lemonade stand." I heard this for most of the summer and let three months fly by without encouraging my 8-year-old son's dream. Finally, he came home with a student newspaper that explained how to have a lemonade stand and he bent the paper over on the counter and walked away.  Clearly, he was saddened that his hopes of raking in the big bucks had slipped with the onslaught of a new school year. I felt terrible.  How could I have let something so simple slip through the cracks? I recalled when I was a kid and the times I held a "carnival" or "animal museum" and charged my…

A boy doesn't have to go to war to be a hero; he can say he doesn't like pie when he sees there isn't enough to go around. —Edgar Watson Howe  Alan Jackson sang it best when he asked in the first line of one of his most noted songs, "Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?" If you're an adult, you immediately know that Jackson is referring to the tragedies that occurred on the day we have come to know as 9/11. Yet, regardless of the horrific pictures forever etched in our minds, our altruistic spirits rise with the heroes that emerged from the rubble of despair. …

"Mom, I'm a better driver than you!" my teenage son yells as he makes a U-turn that makes me feel as if I'm on a whirly ride at the fair, instead of a passenger in my own car. "You took that u-turn too fast, Blake," I respond. "Oh my God, mom, I can't wait until I have my own car and I don't have to hear you screamin' in my ear the whole time," he says. I can't wait either. That is, if I survive.  Sure, my son does alright, or I wouldn't let him put in his hours behind the wheel while I sweat off the stress of nerves.  But it's hard for me to let go of control, especially when navigating …

If it takes a village to raise a child, then it takes a town, in my case, Danville to raise a teacher. As a single mom with two boys, working can sometimes be a challenge, especially at the onslaught of a new school year. And especially when what I do for a living is teach. "Why do you have to be a teacher?" my teenage son grumbles when he finds that for the next few months before he gets his license to drive himself to school, he will be dropped off to school each morning earlier than he wants.   My youngest, who is in third grade, bemoans his fate, too. Although conveniently, he attends the…

"Don't throw rocks at glass houses," my mom used to say. Not sure what that means? I'll tell ya.   Don't secretly make fun of the silly stuff Danville women, and women elsewhere, do to look attractive, then try some crazy thing yourself, only to have it backfire in your face. Yep, that was me that wrote about common sense last week. Yet, here I am, this week, with blond extensions in my hair (see photo) that make me look like a groupie for the latest rock band.   How did that happen, you ask? I will tell you, if I must. I have always loved long hair.   When I flip through the latest celebrity…

Last week, I wrote about music and how listening to a certain song can bring back a specific memory or create a new one.   The week before, it was all about the nose and how smell can do the same thing.   So, it seems as if I've been focusing a lot on the "senses," which brings me to the one sense that some people seem to know little of; common sense. I'm not talking about you and I. We've got plenty of it. But I'm not so sure about all the folks surrounding us (particularly those groups of people that seem to make big decisions that impact a majority of us.) Common sense is not something you…

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. — Plato  I can't imagine my life without music.   In my earliest memories, I am be-bopping around. I'll never forget my first record holder, a box with pink polka dots, that I got at age 9.  My first record single was "Welcome Back Kotter."   Shortly after, I'd consume anything by Donny Osmond or Captain and Tenille. I even remember standing in long lines to see Donny and Marie at the Oakland Coliseum and taking pictures with my polaroid camera.  I…

I have never liked the taste of coffee. But I have always loved the smell of fresh coffee brewing. It reminds me of the house I grew up in in Hayward, my parents, and fond childhood memories. Yet, if I smell peaches or the perfume "Poison," my head can spin in such a way that it makes the girl from Exorcist seem like your best friend. That smell reminds me of the only roommate I didn't like. Yes, she was beautiful and my male friends in college would trip over their tongues when they came to my apartment. In fact, I probably acquired more male friends because of her.   Tall, blond, leggy, …

When I was in kindergarten, we pulled out blue mats after lunch. I wasn't a napper and had a lot of anxiety over having to sleep at school. My mom talked with the teacher, and as long as I played quietly, I could lay on my mat until the others awoke.  I remember watching each friend drift off to sleep, some with drips of drool that would drop from the edge of their mouth to a little pool below.   Some of my friends would get hot and sweaty and some even made soft, bellowing sounds that would make their hair sway from the frame of their face with every deep breath. I watched in amazement as …

I have often been accused of being "too happy."   "Seriously, are you ever mad?" I've been asked.   Um, ask my closest friends and family members. They know the answer. Although the times are few and far between, you will be relieved to know that yes, Virginia, there is an Anger Clause. Anger isn't the most conducive way to live my life, so it takes a lot to heat up the steam in my engine. But trust me when I say that when and if it does, it's best you get off the tracks because my runaway train is going fast and heading your way.   If I truly feel that nasty little bugger coming on, I know …

As I sat at the kitchen table of my friend's cabin this past week, I listened to his 87-year-old mother talk about her mother — and her death 56 years earlier. I could identify with the tears that still welled up in her eyes when she spoke about her. Regardless of how many years sail by, when someone you love has passed, particularly your mother, that hole in your heart remains and a never-ending grief resides.  My friend's mother also said that when she dies, she wishes that she could witness the impact her presence had on their lives. Even as our children become adults, we remain a mother, …

I'm not going to make any excuses.   I am not where I expected I'd be with my weight loss one year later. However, I am walking around 40 pounds lighter. And what I have gained is a real perspective on what it means to truly live "one moment at a time." I still haven't reached my size 10 goal. But considering that I was once a size 18, I'd certainly call my "size 12" major progress. I will still, on occasion, report my weight loss journey (and keep trying new things in my journey, for example, just beginning the killer P90X work-out!) but won't be checking in every month. What I've come to …