Real Talk

If you've ever been bullied, I'm sure some well-meaning adult taught you to repeat, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." But they are wrong. They are so very wrong. Don't believe me? Did your parent or grandparent ever say something to you that to this day still has some sting to it? Childhood bullies can have that same effect, and it can stay with you for a lifetime. All words matter, and they are long-lasting scars that never truly heal. We carry the baggage for the rest of our lives. The load certainly feels lighter with time, but it never goes away.  To My Childhood Bullies :: Your Words Do Hurt I'm sharing my story...

This blog post is the first installment of a collaborative 5-part series entitled The Mother Within.  "What is my purpose?" I must ask myself this countless times a day. I know I must be good at something. Everyone has something they are good at, I’ve heard. I once listed out the things I felt I excelled out and came up with: Googling, reading, finding indie bands, dressing my kids, putting on makeup (on myself only), looking up various things on Google Earth and decorating my home. That’s it. SURELY there are real things that I have talent in. I just can’t for the life of me find what they are. I have always felt that I was meant for great things. Even as a small...

Between blogging and trying to grow two small businesses, I spend a significant amount of time on social media. As a function of that, I participate in a few online communities where participants discuss social media as it relates to business. In our discussions there, as well as in conversations in general, I have sometimes run into a recurring sentiment that I believe it is high time to challenge. That sentiment sounds something like this: “If I see someone advertising their business on social media, I just immediately delete them. I don’t want to be sold to on Instagram.” “I wish people wouldn’t talk politics on Facebook and we could get back to what Facebook was intended to do: connect family and friends." “I...

While 2016 wasn't without some challenges, we are looking forward to a bright future in 2017 with Red Stick Moms Blog! We truly appreciate each and every one of you and the community we’ve built together. Over the course of 2016, in addition to launching our community neighborhood groups, Red Stick Moms Blog had over 760,000 page views, reached 470,000+ unique readers and hosted six successful events. To cap off 2016, we wanted to share our 10 most popular blog posts from the past year. They are stories of faith, humor, loss, marriage, motherhood and so much more. We hope you enjoy re-visiting them as much as we did.  Top 10 Blog Posts on Red Stick Moms Blog in 2016 1. 10 Things NOT to Say to...

We all know that these are controversial times in America. There are so many things to disagree over that sometimes it seems there is nothing to agree on. We see it everywhere we turn. On social media there is constant expression of people’s opinions. Around the water cooler co-workers are going at it over the election result. It can be depressing and quite overwhelming. Oh how I long for the days where our heated discussions were the Kardashians' latest scandal or our disbelief at the Jolie-Pitt split. I believe that we are all long overdue for some fun lighthearted discussions. So, to keep your family gathering merry and bright, here are a few topics you may want to stay...