I have wanted to start a BLOG for a long time, as I love to share thoughts and stories and think I can lend some good advice from time to time.  Getting started is always the hard part, so here we go!

I grew up on a farm in Ohio, part of a very hard-working family.  My dad worked two jobs most of his life and my mom was a career woman when that was rare.  My parents taught me so much about life, responsibility, integrity, honesty, accountability and certainly how to be a good worker!!

My first job was when I was in fourth grade and I cleaned house for one of my mom’s co-workers.  My mom would drop me off at 8:30 am on Saturday on her way to work and then pick me up at noon.  I completely cleaned their three bedroom/two-bath house and I mean cleaned – scrubbed the toilets and tub, mopped all the floors, dusted, vacuumed, made the beds – and was paid $20 per week.  That was in approximately 1971 and that was a lot of money to a 10-year-old girl.

From there, I graduated to serious babysitting and I don’t mean one evening a week.  I mean M-F, 7 am-4 pm during the summer taking care of 3 kids. I even had regular babysitting jobs during the week after school.

My dad started his own business when I was in fourth grade and he had several guys who worked for him.  They would carpool to the job sites and park their cars at our house.  So on Saturday, I would detail their cars for these guys for $20 each.  I scrubbed those cars inside and out, full vacuum, Armour All on the tires – I made good cash. This was back in the days when guys took girls on dates on Saturday nights  and wanted a clean car to impress her.

I then went to work for my dad who had a painting business and worked along side the high school and college boys he would hire.  I remember one day working with just one other guy and we had to sand (by hand – no power sanders) an entire house of trim.  We didn’t wear masks or gloves and I remember coming home covered in sawdust and just so tired that I could hardly make it to the dinner table.

But if I complained, my mom would always say, “Take a shower, you’ll feel better.”  That was her answer to everything.

“You’re not sick.  You don’t have a fever.  You’re not tired … take a shower, you will feel better.”

I taught Junior Achievement for many years and I loved to tell the story of how I never missed a day of school from kindergarten through 6th grade.  My students would say, “Geez, you were never sick?”   Oh I was sick, my mom just never let me stay home.

It is how I grew up and it is why I am the person I am today –  hard working, determined, self-sufficient and super strong.  My parents laid the groundwork for understanding what it takes to succeed in life and they are certainly lessons that I think more kids could use today.  And the reality is that taking shower really does make you feel better!