Monthly Archives: September 2013

Forty…

28 Saturday Sep 2013

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Forty…

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Forty is a time to grow.  This is a crucial age.  This is a time for women to make changes.  These changes may be related to relationships, career, inspirational, or soul-searching.  The decade when woman are forty, she must make some serious decisions.  When she was younger, time wasn’t against her.  Now that she is getting older, time is more of a factor. 

During a women’s forties, she needs to make some life-long decisions.  Don’t stay in an unhealthy relationship.  Find true love.  Don’t stay in a career that bores you.  Find out what is exciting and go after that job prospect.  This is the time to travel and meet new people and experience new places.  Your children are probably old enough to take care of themselves, so this is the time to re-connect with yourself or to find your self again.

Enjoy being forty.  You are still young and beautiful.  This is the time to shine, so shine.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

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Excerpt to Manuscript – Dear Paxton

22 Sunday Sep 2013

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Excerpt to Manuscript – Dear Paxton:

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  “You don’t know!  You don’t have any idea why I may hate you right now?”  She screamed.

     “What are talking about?  Do you mean Sandi?  Is she the reason that you are so mad?”  She could only stare at him amazed.  He couldn’t really believe the lies that were coming out of his mouth, did he?  He was smarter than that?

     “Of course I am talking about that slut!  Who else?  She is the one that you messed around with and slept with!  Is she not?”  Now he knew that she knew.

     “What do you mean?”  He asked not wanting to give in to the truth.

     “I read that stupid letter that she wrote to you.  The one about how right you were about “kissing slowly”.  Oh it just makes me feel so sick!  Cole, how could you do this to us!”  She burst into tears.

     Sadly, he hung his head ashamed.  “Oh, Lisa I am just so confused.  I didn’t mean for it to happen this way.  It just sort of happened.  I don’t know why, she was just there.”

     “But, why did you need anyone else?  You had me!  And I loved you so much.  Oh, Cole I still love you so much!”  She didn’t know how to feel.  One second she was feeling really angry and then the next second she felt so sad, wanting him to hold her closely.  Then the emotions would start-up all over again. 

     “Lisa do you still love me?”  He asked.

     “Why?  What does it matter anymore?  You don’t love me anymore.”  She cried.

     “Yes, I do.  I don’t know what I am doing.  I just need some time to think, that’s all.  Baby, will you just give me some time to get my head straight?  Please?”

     “Don’t ever call me “baby” again!  I am not yours anymore.  You don’t love me!  If you did you wouldn’t have done this to me?  And you would not need more time to think about it.  When you truly love someone, Cole, it is forever.  You do not get confused.  And you never sleep with someone else.”  She was so angry.  He was acting like a child.

     “Was it good?  Was she better than me?  Is she prettier than me?”  She asked.

     “Lisa don’t do this to yourself.” 

     “Why?  You did it to me.  Answer my question Cole!  Is she better than me?”

     “No, of course not.  You were special to me.”  He said.

     “Special?  I WAS special?  You make me sick!  I am not special to you!  Get out!”  She screamed throwing herself at him, hitting him hard on the chest with her fists.  She could clearly see a huge hicky on his neck.  He hated hickies.  “Get out you jerk!  You make me sick!  I hate you!  I hate you for what you have done to me!  I will never trust you again.  You have betrayed me!”  Grabbing her hands, he stared hard into her face, shocked by her rage.  There were tears in his eyes.  He didn’t say anything more.  What was left to say?  The damage had been done.  He had ruined their special bond.  It was his fault and he admitted it to himself. 

     Lisa’s body weakened as Cole released his grip from around her wrists.  Tears were streaming down her face.  She had nothing else to say to him as she watched him shut the front door behind him, leaving her alone to silently die inside her soul, heart, and mind. 

    
Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

Sisters

18 Wednesday Sep 2013

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Sisters…

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What is the meaning of a sister. A sister is someone you can talk to about anything. She is always there for you when you need her. She is a shoulder to cry on. She is a friend to laugh with on long rainy days. Distance can not keep you apart. Time stands still when you are together. She doesn’t judge you and you don’t judge her. You can fight like cats and dogs and still be the best of friends in the morning. You will grow old together.

There is nothing in the world that should keep sisters apart from each other; not distance, husbands, or hateful words. A sister is a best friend.

One of the best times I can remember with my sister, were times of moving. I went to her home in Reno, Nevada to help her pack. We didn’t do much packing on the first day. Something about my sister and I…we love to eat when we are together. So, we went to the store and bought a bunch of green grapes and sat in front of the television for most of the day watching Montel Williams…eating grapes. The funny part of the story is when her husband came home from work and expected that we would be pretty much finished packing. He caught us on our butts, as we turned around to look at him with a guilty look in our eyes. All we could do was crack up laughing as he asked what we were doing and we said we were packing.

Reach out to your sister and tell her you love her. I love you sis!

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

Excerpt from Manuscript – Julian’s Voice: A Ruby in the Rough

15 Sunday Sep 2013

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Excerpt from Manuscript – Julian’s Voice: A Ruby in the Rough

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Kate flew back to Brigham Young University the next week. Jeff continued to work long hours, as his mother’s health continued to deteriorate. Within the year, his mother died in her sleep, as the doctors told him that she had a weakened heart for years.

Jeff didn’t agree with the doctors, but respected their theories. He believed differently, since he had witnessed it himself. His mother had literally died in her sleep from a broken heart.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

Always Remembering 911…

10 Tuesday Sep 2013

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Always Remembering 911…

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September 11, 2001.  I remember the day as if it were yesterday.  I remember walking into my house around 8:30 am, turning on the television, and watching in horror as the second airplane crashed into the Twin Towers.  The thing that struck me most odd that morning was watching the individual white sheets of paper flutter around the streets of New York, thousands and thousands of paper.  I remembered thinking who had touched them, who had just recently stored them into the filing system, who was missing them?  It was an eerie thought to wonder about these thousands of sheets of papers coming from the Twin Towers.  I do not know why this particular image has stayed in my mind for all these years, but it has.  Perhaps my mind needed to fixate onto something less horrific than watching a city fall apart to an awful bout of terrorism.  The images we endured that day will forever be stuck in our minds.

September 11th is a very special and memorable day to my family and I because we named our second daughter after a Naval Contractor who had died on September 11th in the Pentagon.  We named her Julian Cooper.  She reminds us every year on 911 of the loss, we as individuals, families, and as a nation, had to endure on that fateful day twelve years ago on September 11, 2001.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi

Happy Birthday Mandi

06 Friday Sep 2013

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Happy Birthday Mandi

Mandi and Me

Today would have been Mandi’s birthday. For those of you who have been following me; you know that my website, Ask Ms Mandi is a tribute to my first Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Mandi. We raised her from a mere five weeks old, until she got jaw cancer in 2006 and passed away. My family and I still miss, even though it has been almost seven years now since she has passed. She was twelve years old.

She was a great dog. I remember when she was just six months old. I was really sick and had to stay inside the house for a week straight. She didn’t bother me to go outside and play, she just lay next to me in my bed, patiently. She was always there for me and I will never forget her.

“Pit Bulls” have a bad reputation with the media and such. I am sure that there are evil dogs out there that harms others. This is sad because a dog is the reflection of its owner. There are bad people and bad dogs. Needless to say, Mandi was one of the kindest animals I have ever had the pleasure of spending 12 years. She was kind to children, animals and all people. She did not discriminate.

RIP Mandi and we will always love you.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

Excerpt from Manuscript – Dear Paxton

03 Tuesday Sep 2013

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Excerpt from Manuscript – Dear Paxton

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It was the summer of 1986, the last day of school. The sun was bright and hot. The valley was always so beautiful this time of year, with its clear blue sky. The usual valley winds hadn’t picked up yet and the air was as still as could be. The plains were surrounded by large gray-blue mountains, giving the illusion of such solitude and isolation.

Lisa was a Senior in high school and would be graduating in a couple of days. Her mother and sister had moved to The Pines in August. Lisa had been born in a small town north of The Pines before her parents had gotten a divorce, moving to the busy suburbs of Orange County.

Written By: Ask Ms Mandi

Finding Your Child’s Talents

01 Sunday Sep 2013

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Finding Your Child’s Talents:

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How do we know as parents when are child or children are really talented in something or just lucky?  Isn’t it odd how some children are just born with the nack of being able to draw portraits or play a musical instrument?  Do we ever question this or just go about our normal lives as if it were a perfectly natural occurrence.  

The scientific study to this fascinating phenomena is called genetics.  Of course our children are born with a part of us and our spouse, but sometimes a genetic trait will be picked up from a far away, remote relative we have never met.  This would explain why a child would become an artist at a young age when neither parent has an ounce of artistic ability, not even in their pinky finger. 

It is still amazing and amazes me an a daily basis.  Watching a young child, sitting contentedly in her chair with a drawing tablet on her lap and a pencil in her hand, drawing a replica of Mary Cassatt.    And a darn good replica I may add.  For all of you that may not be familiar with the paintings of Mary Cassatt….. she is widely known for her work of painting and drawing portraits of woman with children and / or children with animals.  Not an easy task by any means.

Find your child’s talents, encourage their dreams, and let them play around with their ideas.  You may be happily surprised to find that your average child may be anything but average, growing up to be another Mary Cassatt.

Written By:  Ask Ms Mandi