Honesty is the best policy

If you need tough love, I will give it to you. I am not helping you by lying to you or sugarcoating things. I will not be rude, but I will be honest. Life is too complicated to add deceit in the mix. Trust is earned, and if you lie to me then I cannot trust you.

So many people ask me about relationship advice. 9 times out of 10, their problems can be solved with communication, and by that I mean open communication which includes being honest. Just because you've done something or said something hurtful does not mean that the other person will not forgive you, but just because they forgive does not mean they'll forget.

I really can't stand it when a person keeps taking a boyfriend/girlfriend back time and time again, when they do the same thing over and over and over. Really?! And you wonder why you are miserable? Don't get me wrong I believe in second chances under certain circumstances but that person has to PROVE that they are willing to seriously work at changing and making things right. YES, THEY HAVE TO PROVE IT. They are the ones that did something wrong, not me.

I know many people in violent relationship, women married to alcoholics, men and women whose spouses are unfaithful, and they keep falling back into those same patterns. BUT, most of them knew that the person was like that BEFORE they entered into the relationship. SORRY, but you aren't going to magically change someone overnight.

Use your head & your heart. Everyone deserves love but relationships are not romance novels or Disney movies, they take work, sacrifice, honesty, and compromise.

Live, Laugh, and LOVE!

State of the Union

I have always loved reading, maybe it stems from my grandfather reading the newspaper to me every day since before I could walk or talk, but children need exposure to literature and reading at a young age. In today's world we are too busy with work and other mundane tasks that we forget how important a little "quality time" is with our children. No, I do not define quality time as sitting in front of the TV watching "Lost" or whatever show is on at 7:00 that night.

I admit, being a product of Generation X that technology has tainted my ability to spell :( Yes, I'm a spell check junkie, but at least I can form a cohesive and coherent sentence. There is a problem when slang and "e-speak" is taking over our society's ability to seek a higher level of understanding basic principles of language.

If I hear one more person say "I be going" or see one more teenager graduate high school without being able to read on a 3rd grade level, I think my head will explode. It is our job as teachers, as parents, as concerned family members to help. Take the drugs and guns away and replace them with pens, paper, and books. Learn how to read, not how to kill. Is there any hope for our future?

I hate Walmart!

Some idiot left this behind my car with a dead battery!