7 Quick Takes Friday-Teens & Things.

I have been blown over by the response to my last post, and the number of poignant and grateful private messages I've received on foot of it.  I am humbled to have been the instrument of triggering some therapeutic tears, as I've said in my blog description, tears are good. God put them there for a purpose and I for one don't think He does anything for nothing, including things like making biting insects and stinging plants.  We might not see the intended purpose but you never know, maybe someday they may yield a medicinal breakthrough or something.

Anyway, that post was a bit heady so this one is going to be a little bit of light entertainment in which I share some endearing things about teens to counteract their bad press.

When you're done here, head on over to Betty Beguiles  for some more 7 Quick Takes Friday posts, there are some really lovely blogs linked there today.

--- 1 ---

Two days ago I hoked out our old VHS cassette of Winnie The Pooh to distract a tired and fractious almost two-year-old and by the hit or miss operation pattern of our faded and scuffed video player, it worked!  I came into the room shortly afterwards to hear one of my super-hip teens say

"Pause that a minute, I just want to get something..."

She didn't want to miss a minute of the movie. 

 It was only when I blinked a few moments ago that I was sitting, heavily pregnant, snuggling with a curly haired tot watching that exact same tape.

.

--- 2 ---

My teenagers and their friend asked the manager of the large supermarket whether there was a legal impediment to them purchasing the disposable razor blades I asked them to get for their grandfather who is staying with us. He told them they could legally buy them but don't do anything dangerous with them!

--- 3 ---

I am smiling inside that all our older children are (not so) secretly thrilled that I bought them tickets to see The Wiggles and that they are grateful to have a toddler sister they can use as their excuse to go without losing their street-cred. And I won't pretend that I noticed them texting their friends to tell of their good luck!

And they are so chuffed that Greg is back!

--- 4 ---

After a little break to allow for recovery from an old pelvic injury I am back training to walk the Dublin Ladies 10K in aid of The International Children's Heart Foundation. I was planning to run it but the injury is going to prevent that.  My eldest daughter is joining me in my training programme, which involves John abandoning us from the car at a designated point and R and I walk home.  It's a super opportunity for a chat, I'm loving it!

I have explained my reasons for doing this fundraiser here.

--- 5 ---

I really am very flattered when my teenage daughters think I should fancy the same stars as them!!! 

That's funny!

Though I have to add...some of their pin-ups are the same guys I had pinned on my wall..

...Swoon...

--- 6 ---

I am so enjoying the fact that I have some slaves...sorry...teenagers...who can bath and care for a cutie-pie toddler girl when I am busy...

And that she teaches them patience, empathy, kindness and how to love life!!!!

--- 7 ---

And finally...a little conversation I had with my teenager:

Me: Emm..Teen? Have you noticed your bed has been made every day?

Teen:  Oh Yes! I noticed that but I thought I must have done it!!

How can you not just love teens????

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary 

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The Most Special Kiss I Have Ever Had

I have been contemplating this post for a very long time and as I begin to write, I am not even sure whether I will ever publish it. 

The reason why this is a difficult thing to write about is because it is extremely personal and intimate and will surelycause me pain to put into words.  I am aware that it will probably cause pain to some of you reading this who have experienced something similar or who are close to someone who has. I have prayed about this and whether I should write it and my final decision was made when I asked my very wise husband, who this also affects, what I should do. He said he thinks enough time has passed and it is a story which should be told.

So I think the time has come to witness to something I saw with my own eyes and which is forever branded in my heart.  I will never forget what I saw.   

I am so very sorry if this brings you pain.

This last two days I have been drawn into a debate on Twitter with some people who are of the opinion that to revere life at it's earliest stages is something zany, unreasonable and worthy of attack and insult.  Also just this week a major world player has announced open season on these little people.  My little story is not going to have a profound impact on the world stage, but it is my story and the story of someone who passed this way, if only for a brief while.

  Here is the tale of a little person who was someone.

1999:  I was pregnant with my third child, having already given birth to two cute little girls and miscarried another pregnancy which had never progressed much beyond implantation.  That miscarriage had knocked a lot out of me because I, like everyone else, never thought it would happen to me. Well it did happen but after a healthy baby a year later, I figured my brush with miscarriage was just that-a one-off bit of bad luck.

I was so happy to discover this baby was on the way because it was going to be the first baby whose Daddy wasn't a student (we had married when J was less than half way through Medical School and had our second baby only eight weeks before his final exams!! We were very young and nothing daunted us then!). Well anyway, we were so very very happy.

And then, on a beautiful sunny day in April, when our south facing garden was filled with the fresh hope of Spring, with the onset of pain and the stark sight of bright red on white cotton we realised our little baby hadn't made it.

I am not going to describe those terrible few days of physical and heartfelt pain and grief, I want to tell you something much more beautiful.

My sister was in my house with me when we had the honour of witnessing something which not everybody ever gets to see.  A little baby of six weeks gestation was delivered into this world having lived and clearly just recently died in the loving and hidden  embrace of it's mother's womb.  My older sister and I were both filled with sorrow and grief and pity for this life which was so short but it is very very strange...you can feel two completely different things at the same time.  I was overwhelmed at the honour of seeing with my eyes the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.  There was a little fluid filled 'ball' about the size of a marble, still rigid as if protecting what lay inside.  The ball was translucent and inside as though paused in time was this:

Now the utterly amazing thing was how so very small this baby was, I will always remember it was the exact size of my little fingernail.  The baby was six weeks gestation and perfectly formed and clearly could not be recognised as anything other than a human baby.  The shape was that of a baby, the embryonic tail gone by now.  Two tiny stick like arms stuck out with ball-like tips patterned with faint indentations which had been destined to form fingers. The little legs were something similar but looked more like miniature oars.  Through the filigree chest a tiny heart was nestled, perfectly placed.  The baby's Disney-like top heavy head was bowed forward as though in reverence and a little eye bud on each side like tiny commas.

It was utterly, utterly beautiful.

All this hidden away and formed in just six weeks!!

(The age which my friends on Twitter and elsewhere were calling a clump of cells).

I thanked God for allowing me to see something so very beautiful, and all of this while at the same time another me was filled with a mother's grief for her little child.

Not long afterwards my husband came home and it was then my husband and I experienced the most beautiful kiss either of us have ever had.  We released our little baby from it's amniotic cradle and each of us gave it the only kiss it would ever receive from it's Mommy and Daddy.

We didn't know what was the right thing to do.  Here was a human remains, made in God's image and likeness, deserving of the respect of any person destined for Heaven. so we telephoned a very saintly priest we knew for some advice. He told us nobody had ever asked him this before but he thought we should give the baby Baptism of desire and prayerfully place the precious remains in a family grave if there was one we could use.

That evening we cut a little piece of lace from my wedding veil and wrapped the baby tenderly in it, kept warm and cosy with a little cotton wool.  We placed the 'package' into the velvet box which had held my engagement ring along with a very tiny crucifix.

We 'waked' the baby overnight beside our bed with a candle and a sprig of the flowering currant shrub which was in full bloom in our garden at that time.

I was filled with tender peace that night and I really think my little son or daughter, now enjoying the Beatific Vision was sending me consolation from Heaven.

How can anybody deny little babies life?

I do not know.

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7 Quick Takes Friday

OK This is the first time I've tried this '7 Quick Takes Friday' This week hosted by Hallie over at one of my favourite blogs  http://www.bettybeguiles.com/ .  It's just a nice way to share your quick thoughts on the week and pool them with the other blogs on the hostess site.  Here goes:

--- 1 ---

I am so very happy that my dear father is making steady progress in his recovery after his big operation. I am busy sorting out a bedroom to accommodate his stay with us for his recuperation.  I just can't wait! He stayed with us for two weeks a few years ago after a fall on his face onto a granite rock while in the West of Ireland.  Even though he lives about three minutes away from me I was broken hearted when he went home!

--- 2 ---

I am looking forward to all the people who will be calling to say hello to him...the kettle is on...

.

--- 3 ---

At times like this I realise the blessings of growing up in a large family which is still close.  Each person's unique (and plenty of 'unique' types in my family) personality and qualities are thrown into the mix and altogether we manage to get through whatever crisis life presents to us.

 Thank you God for my Super Duper family.

--- 4 ---

By some miracle our teenagers headed off to bed at a decent hour last night so John and I had the unexpected treat of a really lovely chat sitting by the cosy fire...just lovely...

--- 5 ---

I have a very very dear friend in Florida who last night spent the night under the same roof as her husband and all three of her gorgeous children after nine month old baby C spending 70 nights in hospital.  He gave us all some very worrying moments as he danced on the borders of life before kicking a serious infection.  Please add him to your prayers, he has lots of challenges, but it was delightful to see the heart warming photographs on Facebook this morning.

--- 6 ---

Last night as I was giving my 7 year old a bedtime cuddle I said "Peter, tomorrow morning won't you not leave your pyjamas on the floor?"

This morning his pyjamas were on the floor...

...but his bed was something resembling 'made'...

A job which requires a major seek and rescue operation as his little companions manage to make an overnight expedition to the very bottom underneath his covers every night.  I hope this is the beginning of great things?

--- 7 ---

O Wind, if Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

P.B Shelley.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

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Spring and Babies.

I've had a white water rafting  sort of week this week.  Firstly my dear father is in hospital and slowly recovering from a big operation and all the emotions and busyness that goes along with that.  Secondly, my dear little daughter had her regular cardiac check-up and her big operation is back on the agenda for next year when she's three and she's also now going to have a full body scan instead of just her brain to look for aneurysms and of course all the emotions that go along with all this. I think my thoughts need a little break.

Today is 1st of February, traditionally the first day of Spring in Ireland, so it's not a day for negativity.  Spring is my favourite season, so filled with possibilities and hope.  And new life.

So this post is not going to be about anything profound or thought provoking, it's going to be a light hearted look at some of the best baby tips I wish I'd known about when I started my 'Mammy' career. But first I want to show you a little clip of a beautiful cinematic documentary my own 'babies' gave me as a Christmas present this year and which I just got around to watching a few days ago.

It is delightful.

Top Tips For New Mommies..


When baby number one comes along I think every parent is in awe and a bit afraid of their new and tiny little ward.  I know I was.  You know, you're afraid you'll break the baby.  You're afraid she'll never go to sleep and then when she's asleep you're holding a mirror close to her nose to make sure she's breathing.  Or you wake her up just to check she's alive!  It goes with the deal I think.

Well at that time I used to faithfully buy baby magazines and follow the 'instructions' of the gurus.  Funnily enough, when my fifth baby was born I bought one magazine and flicked through it briefly before coming to the conclusion that the producers of these magazines know about as much about babies as I know about how to sell a glossy magazine...practically nothing.  I passed the magazine on to my neighbour who had just had her first baby and was a little bit afraid she would break him!

Anyway, from those magazines, I did glean one piece of adv..no, sorry,  two pieces of advice which probably justified all the money I spent.

1:  Babies are designed for amateur parents-i.e. they're a lot tougher and more flexible than you think. You're not going to break baby just because you're inexperienced so relax and do your best.

2:  Babies over one month old do not need more clothes than their parents. Therefore, if you are wearing a vest, t shirt and a sweater, baby does not need four extra layers, plus a blanket and a coat, two pairs of socks and a pair of  fur booties.

Those two bits of advice gave me such relief.  I probably wasn't going to break my baby and I didn't have to ask a million times was she too hot? too cold? does she need an extra cardigan? should I take off those tights..or add another pair? Phew...

So my other personally picked up tips are:

3:  Try and adjust your perception of time.  Babies don't know that you're usually asleep at 4 am and it's not their fault that they are awake at that time and keeping you awake.  When I had my first baby, I used to dread the 4am feed, I was so tired and as I was sitting bolt upright breastfeeding my baby with my bedside light on I'd look at my snoozing husband with a feeling deep inside which no wife should ever feel toward her husband!! I wish I could say I am exaggerating, but sorry, no.

At least by the morning I'd usually be back in love with him again.

Then I read somewhere about changing my own expectation to that feed in the wee hours and instead of dreading it, try to look forward to that secret and intimate time with my tiny sweet milky babe when all the world was asleep and it was just me and her, a single ecosystem, snuggling in the dark and delighting in each other. It made a world of difference and to this day I will always look back at those secret moments with each of my six babies as some of the most special I will ever experience.

4:  Learn how to breastfeed lying down.  Science and research come up with new benefits of breastfeeding every year and I am not going to enter into a lecture here.  Suffice to say that it is one thing I will get out of my bed in the middle of the night and drive somewhere for...if I think that a mother is not going to persevere in breastfeeding for the want of someone to encourage her. Honestly, I would do that.  But d'you see that sitting bolt upright in the middle of the night to feed a baby...exhausting.  So if a new mother can practice, practice, practice breastfeeding lying on her side ( a rolled up towel under the hip and back is great) it means that while baby is feasting away, she can have a snooze too.

It's really very easy when you master it and can be the thing that makes all the difference to feeling human and feeling like the walking dead.

5:  Have a night (or afternoon) out with your spouse from time to time.  Believe it or not, baby will not be psychologically damaged if her Mummy and Daddy spend some time refreshing their love for each other.  Especially if the mother has recently become a stay-at-home Mom.  Desire is the longing for something you don't have at that moment.  If you spend every minute of every day with that little person, you will never feel desire for him because the desire is always being fulfilled.  I think a short break will stir up that desire for the baby, you'll look forward  to seeing him again ready and refreshed and in the process a little marital desire may be just the thing too.

6: I know every parent advises this when it's too late for them personally to do this, but believe me, you will regret this if you don't do it: Get yourself a pretty notebook, maybe something like this lovely one I saw on etsy.com -  

Now, keep this little book to hand and write down the funny and endearing things your little ones do and say. 

You think you'll remember...you won't.

Well that's a little taste of my deep seated and profound wisdom...

I'd love you to add any tips you've picked up along the way, maybe somebody will glean from them.

And can I ask you to send a few prayers my father's way for his speedy recovery so that he can come back home to us?

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On Being Authentic

I recently attended a presentation by a lady who is involved in a large research project on the use of social media such as Facebook, Twitter and so on amongst young people.  I cannot remember exactly what body is overseeing the project but I think I recall it may be connected to The University of Navarre in Pamplona, Spain.  Whoever it is, it is a very extensive study and will have a lot of prestiege when it is completed because of the huge number of young people partaking across Spain and Portugal and the sheer number of questions on the questionnaire. It will be some time before all the findings of the study are published but some very interesting trends are already being displayed.

 Now this post is not going to be about those findings as I would really need to read up my notes and make sure I had my facts correct, but one thing this lady pointed out that is emerging across each region where the study is taking place...the undeniable fact that up to 98% of teenagers have two Facebook accounts, unknown to their parents!!  When the researchers presented this fact to parents in class after class, none of the parents believed that their child had two accounts.  Even the most vigilant of parents who thought they had full access to their teen's account could not swallow the undeniable evidence.

When I returned home I asked my own teens were they aware of this practice and they both confirmed that most of their friends have a Facebook account hidden from their parents and other significant adults in their lives.

Neither is this post a treatise on what parents and teachers are supposed to do about this, but the one piece of advice recommended by the researchers was do not go home and throw out the computer and  all the handheld devices in the house!! That is not the solution.  This double life is a problem of character and therin lies the solution.

Anyway it got me thinking about the way we present ourselves online or elsewhere.

Have a look at this short clip from Alice In Wonderland...

I

And now ask yourself the question...

Now you and I may not have two Facebook accounts...who would we be hiding them from?  If you're hiding an account from your spouse there are some serious questions to be asked, but presuming that's not the case...what about our online persona?  Are we the same person in our online interactions as we are in our real life? (Though I am of the strong belief that the people we interact with online are also real.).  Would for example our family recognise our online person to be the person they know?

I remember the first time one of my older children demonstrated a simple Photoshop programme to me.  She took a contemporary photograph of me, reduced the fine lines around my eyes, touched up my skin tone, improved my hairstyle and tidied up a few bits and pieces...

Lo and behold..there I was!!!

Me...but not me.

I was so thrilled!!

My new Facebook profile picture!!

I was suddenly swept away by a rush of vanity, ego, flattery...and an utter lack of authenticity.

The photo-shopped photograph was clearly me but to attempt to pass it off as a real representation of how I look would have been dishonest and no different to hiding an account from someone. It wasn't showing my real self, fine lines and all.  It struck me how the temptation to present ourselves as something we perceive to be just a little bit better, more hip, more knowledgeable, more...shall I say it..interesting...can slip into our interactions.  Sure, post the photographs of ourselves we like the best, who doesn't want to accentuate the positive?  I know I always cringe a little when I  see that someone has posted or tagged a picture of me as it takes a bit of neck to ask them to remove it. But at what point does a little exaggeration become a lie?

I once worked with a guy whose stories were so tall as to not even come into the category of lies.  He was so funny and interesting but there is just no way it was humanly possible that all things he claimed to have happened to him or to have witnessed could have really occurred.

  

For one thing, his life just wouldn't have been long enough.

The story was all-important and authenticity was paid little or no lip service.

Do you remember the personality tests that were so popular a number of years ago in magazines and periodicals.  Mostly 'A's you were this...mostly 'B's you were that.  It was very easy to quickly deduct which answers would place you in the category you wanted to be in.  Nobody was ever going to see the results except ourselves and yet it was still so tempting to appear better, even in our own eyes.  Now those tests were simply light entertainment and a bit of fun but take that a bit further and on a Saturday evening your Facebook status reveals you are popping a bottle of Dom Pérignon with Mr Suave when we are really having a bottle of cheap Prosecco from a German discount supermarket with Mr Normal Man.

Is it an exaggeration that would count as a lie?  Maybe...maybe not.  

Is it good example to our children?  I don't think so. It just might be the thing that allows them to excuse their hidden account in their own mind.

Pope John Paul II, in his letter to families, Familiaris Consortio, urged Christian families to 'Be what you are'.

Good advice to apply to ourselves.  Am I real...or not real?

Get Real.

And you'll never know whether I used the photo-shopped photograph as my profile picture ;-)

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I Was Going To Ignore You.

Last year a little incident happened to me which, as do most things, set me off on an interesting train of thought.

It was sometime before the children's school holidays and I was helping to prepare the application for a community grant for a youth activity I am involved in.  We needed to gather receipts, signatures, forms and so on and as usual we were down to the wire as regards timing for getting the application in on time before the closing date.  I needed to have the application form and all the documents on a certain desk before the owner of that desk arrived at work that morning.  So envelope in hand, I dropped the children to school as early as I could and hurried to the Public Offices building...a masterpiece of architectural excess, built with public money in a time when all common sense or frugality  had been abandoned...

No detail of comfort or finish has been over looked, including a conveniently placed traffic light which seems to be timed to display an extended green light at precisely 5.05 pm Monday-Friday ( I could be wrong about that :-))

 It is a magnificent building.

As it was so early I had just plucked a little girl toddler out of her cot and strapped her into the car still in her pyjamas.  I had forgotten to pack the buggy so I just bundled her in my arms and in I went.  I had never been further into this building before than the currently unmanned reception desk so here I was, package in one hand and nonplussed toddler in the other wondering where to go.

At this time of morning nobody had started work yet but people were arriving in dribs and drabs, some smartly groomed, Starbucks in hand, ready for a productive day, others...well...less so...
One of the 'less so' men with a bed-head countenance passed me in the foyer, casting a brief disinterested glance in my direction, coffee, in all probability, being his main (and perhaps only) plan of action for the foreseeable future. He glanced away again and hurried on.  I was preoccupied with my own quest so I barely noticed him until out of the corner of my eye I saw him stop and turn back.

"Do you want some help? Can I help you?"

Now I know 15 month olds are one of God's gifts to the human family, they are just so cuddly and aromatic and cute in every way, but every silver lining has a cloud and with the gorgeous 15 month olds it comes in the form of the fact that they are a bit wriggly and have a habit of getting heavier and heavier and heavier when you forget their buggy and have to carry them from the car-park, up the fashionable, if a bit long, entrance ramp and stand around the very nice foyer not knowing where to go.  My arms were getting very tired and a bit sore.

"Why, thank you, kind Sir!!" I said.

(Well I didn't say that but maybe I thought it.)

Anyway, whatever I said, I got the message across that I needed to get this application in quickly and I had no idea where I was supposed to go.  He started to tell me where the office was then said no, actually, he'd bring me as it was a bit hard to find. When the envelope had been deposited into the box left out for the last minute people such as me, I thanked the young man for putting himself out to help me.

"Well, I saw you and I was going to ignore you and mind my own business, but I saw the baby and I felt guilty leaving you there"

He was honest anyway.

What was nice about this small kindness is that the guy had struggled with and conquered the temptation not to do it.  It reminded me of another incident a while before where I had struggled with, and succumbed to, the temptation not to do a nice thing and was sorry later.

Over a number of months I had noticed a very young couple at early Mass each day.  The girl was very pretty and the young man was handsome.  They were clearly newly-weds and clearly in love with each other, and judging from their devotion, in love with their God as well.  Their missals were printed in an Eastern European script, so I guessed they had married and then gone abroad to work to save for a home.  It wasn't long before their imminent new arrival became obvious and I followed the pregnancy from a distance with interest, looking forward to getting a peep at baby.
Then for a while the young husband turned up by himself and finally the delighted young mother arrived back at mass with her little baby wrapped in blue.

I turned to John and asked him did he think I should go and congratulate them as they were away from home and probably didn't know many people. He said of course I should.

I didn't.

I thought they might think I was nosey.  I was shy.  I was afraid they didn't speak English.  I thought this..I thought that...a million reasons why I shouldn't do that nice thing...and I convinced myself.

I have always regretted that.

So you know, when you get a little inspiration to do a small kind act, it might be a good idea to follow that inspiration.  When you get the chance to say something nice, to help someone, share their problem or even to think well of them instead of presuming ill-intent behind their seemingly bad actions...DO IT.

A very wise American priest passed on this gem of wisdom to me years ago:

"The best opportunity to do the right thing is the first opportunity...there may be no other"

How often have you or I waited for a better moment to talk to someone, to address their problem, to do them a kindness or to say 'sorry' or 'I love you' and the better moment never came along?  Better to do a good deed at the inopportune moment than not to do it at all.

So that dishevelled young man made my day because of his 'Random Act of Kindness'.

I wish I had made a young couple's day by admiring their baby.

Addendum: As it turned out John and I became very good friends with that young couple and I told them that story.  They told me they would have been delighted, even though at that time the husband's English was poor and his wife's non existent. They have returned home now and have added two more little children to their family...

...and I have congratulated them on both those babies.

Oh...and we got the grant.


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'To Read Is To Fly'

"To read is to fly: it is to soar to a point of vantage which gives a view over wide terrains of history, human variety, ideas, shared experience and the fruits of many inquiries"

A.C. Grayling, Financial Times

I have been contemplating whether to write a post about New Year resolutions but even with a very perfunctory search online and you will find a treasure trove of amazing blog posts, articles and discussions on that very topic.  How to choose them, how to stay on track, what to do when you stumble...it's all there.  I can't compete with these wise psychologists, managers, life coaches and so on, in fact I'm studying a few of them to come up with my own new year plans. So I have decided against reinventing the wheel, I'd probably have nothing new to add. Instead I'm going to tell you what's sitting on my bedside table waiting to be read in 2012.  I'm not endorsing most of these books yet as I have still to read them, though I am familiar with some of the writers and hold them in high regard. I'll review some of them when I read them. Here's my line-up: (1) Message From An Unknown Chinese Mother This book is by a Chinese journalist who has interviewed hundreds of women in China about their real lives.  Ten interviews feature in the book telling of the problem of China's one child policy and it's implications for real women and the girls they conceive.  I came across the book on a review website and it promises to be something I will not forget easily.  A number of years ago I read another book called A Mother's Ordeal by Stephen Mosher which played on my mind for years, and still does. Here is a review of it from The Population Research Institute:

Book Review: "A Mother's Ordeal" by Stephen W. Mosher

I'm guessing this book will do the same.  I'm planning to keep some hankies in the vicinity.

(2) Style, Sex and Substance 

I'm going to read this book because I absolutely love Hallie Lord's blog:

 http://www.bettybeguiles.com/

She is one sassy dame.

(3) The Emotions God Gave You

This book I am willing to endorse in advance, simply because this couple's previous book 'The Temperament God Gave You' is one of the greatest parenting tools we have ever come across. A side effect of studying the temperaments as a couple in order to better understand our children, without even having it as our aim, our marriage benefited hugely.  Understanding temperament is not a method or something you do, but rather learning to see and understand what is already there.  I am so excited to start reading the Bennetts' latest guide.

(4) Marriage-Small Steps, Big Rewards

Another book I am willing to wholeheartedly recommend in advance.  Dr Ray Guarendi is a father of 10, a clinical psychologist of many years experience, author, public speaker and best of all, host of the radio show The Doctor Is In, where listeners telephone with their questions.  I try to listen to the show as often as possible with my iPhone radio app, even my girls adore him-he's funny, friendly and importantly, wise and authentic in his advice which is not tarred with what he calls 'Psycholigical Correctness' I love him!!

Here's a little taster:

(5) Time Management For Dummies

I don't need to explain this one: I'm a dummy and I want to blog about time management :-)

What are your reading plans for the coming year? I'd love to glean some ideas...

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