By StatePoint

If you have home improvement plans, it’s important to consider where you will be doing your shopping. For many people, the first stores to come to mind are big box retailers because of the widespread assumption that chains can offer better selection and better prices.

Keep in mind, though, that when it comes to items needed for your home projects — whether it be new flooring, paint or a kitchen renovation — more often than not, experts say that your local independent retailer can offer as good or better selection, be competitive with pricing, and provide a superior customer service experience.

What’s more, shopping at local businesses can benefit your household and the community. At a locally owned store, you will be more likely to find interesting items and products that set your home apart. And more of your dollars will stay put when you give them to business owners who pay taxes locally, hire locally and may be more inclined to support community charities and organizations.

You may also find independent retailers that can offer some of the same benefits as a large chain. For example, when small business owners belong to a cooperative, they come together to scale buying power, access goods and services at a lower cost, and create opportunities not available to them as individual businesses. For you, this can mean more and better choices of products and affordability.

In the case of Flooring America for example, this means being able to offer a wide selection of products, including hard surfaces like hardwood, laminate and tile, and soft surface flooring, paint, cabinets for kitchen renovations and even closet organization solutions. Their retailers can be found in local communities throughout the country, with a varying product selection depending on location.

So, if you are looking to make home improvements, check out your local retailers that not only offer great product selection, but also contribute to your community in a positive way.

By StatePoint

Time is perhaps the most coveted thing moms have and it’s crucial to manage it effectively for you and your family.

To help moms everywhere make the most of their precious minutes in 2017, actress, director, producer, entrepreneur, mother-of-three and Nutrisystem ambassador, Melissa Joan Hart reveals her New Year’s Resolutions, crafted from years of juggling different time consuming tasks.

• Just say “no”: Sometimes you just have to decline requests or pick and choose which ones are doable. And remember, it’s okay to ask for a rain check.

• Limit screen time: It’s easy to fall into the screen time black hole. Instead, be present — put your phone down and limit your children’s time in front of their screens. Even talk to your spouse!

• Set aside 20 “Mom Minutes” daily: Do something for yourself for 20 minutes every day– meditate, do a quick workout, call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, or simply do nothing with a cup of coffee in hand.
• Have one-on-one time with each child: Create no-fuss activities like coloring or playing cards that you can do with each child individually based on his or her personality. Spending quality time separately will feed your soul and theirs.

• Try to be guilt free: As a working mom, you are doing things for your family even when you are at work, so don’t feel guilty about the time away from loved ones.

• Make simple healthy changes: Remember that your kids are always watching, so being a good role model when it comes to health and fitness will pay dividends for them and for you. Simple, easy changes in your daily routing can help you with your health goals. For example, drink a nutrient-rich shake for breakfast, such as Nutrisystem Turboshakes, drink more water throughout the day and maintain a consistent exercise schedule.

And if you want to lose weight, as so many do in the New Year, Hart says, “look for a plan that works for you. I chose Nutrisystem because it was simple and fit with my lifestyle. I lost 40 pounds and feel better than ever!”

For a kick start to your New Year, consider Nutrisystem Lean13, a new program designed to help you lose up to 13 pounds and seven inches in your first month. More information can be found at nutrisystem.com.

• Plan quality couple time: Make time to reignite your romance. Go out to a movie, take a walk together, write each other love notes.

“Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to make grand resolutions,” says Hart. “It’s the small resolutions that can make every day just feel better.”

By Sarah Sanchez

We live in a world
where we can’t spend time with family
without looking at our phone
We live in a world
where we have thousands of “friends”
yet, we constantly feel alone

We live in a world
where we don’t know the time or directions
without relying on technology
We live in a world
where we’ll say and do everything
BUT actually admit we owe an apology

We live in a world
where we teach kids to speak their minds
but only behind computer screens
We live in a world
where they tell us our sexuality
is determined by our genes

We live in a world
where our kids can be kidnapped
outside the house within our community
We live in a world
where children are starving around us
while we’re calculating server gratuity

We live in a world
where we throw out food and water because we feel full
We live in a world
where we take 30 minute showers
while others bathe in a lake or a pool  

We live in a world
where people are greedy and selfish
because it is normality
Are you living IN the world
or OF the world?
What’s your reality? 

By Sarah Sanchez

In today’s society, doing things “faster” is always promoted. The latest phone is faster; MapQuest gives us the fastest route; the latest hard-drive is faster than the one before; “get cash fast” emails are constantly sent; we want the weekend to come by faster; we want to know the quickest way to get promoted; we want work/school to end sooner, and on and on.  Basically, we are programmed to think that faster is better.

We are so used to this lifestyle, that we don’t even realize how fast time is really going by. After my niece was born and I was an aunt for the first time in my life, I said, “I can’t wait until she gets older so I can play with her and watch her personality develop.” But now that she’s about seven months old and crawling, giggling when you smile at her, trying to walk, and showing a clear personality, I wish time would slow down. I can’t believe how fast she’s growing, and now I just want her to stop so I can enjoy her at this age. But I remember my first wish was that I wanted her to grow. Do you see the contradictions that we all come across in day to day life?

Society will always tell us to go faster, but I think we just need to take some time away from what society says – away from the busy routines – and just slow down to enjoy what’s happening in front of us.

My husband and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary and we went on a cruise to Ensenada, where we didn’t have cell phone reception or WIFI. We spent the weekend without phones and without social media. We spent this time talking with each other and enjoying each other’s company. When we came back, we had a new spark in our relationship, which we didn’t even know we needed.

My husband said that before we left, we were too caught up in our routine: work, dinner, sleep, and repeat. We were too caught up and focused on the future: house, future family, careers, etc. We needed time away from the world in order to gain a new perspective. We needed to slow down and appreciate the time we had with each other in the moment.

You may not have an opportunity to take a vacation, but you always have the opportunity to change your perspective. Instead of looking forward to tomorrow, take a moment to appreciate today. Stop, put the phone down, take a look around at your life and your loved ones, and enjoy the time right now. Then, cherish that moment, for these are the moments that make life worth living.

By Brian Mohr

The corporate world is susceptible to fads.  Work-life balance, a push to properly prioritize work in relation to lifestyle, features the kind of faddish thinking that can lead gifted people down the wrong path.

Think of those who love their job; for them, it’s not exactly “work” as they exercise their capabilities fully toward a goal that they believe in.

Finding the right fit – whether an organization is searching for leadership or an individual is seeking the right job – is more important than people realize. The problem of work-life balance starts farther upstream. When the appropriate person is aligned with the appropriate goal, balance is natural.

A concept like work-life balance is a claim on how we should prioritize our lives, which, if believed, can be confusing.

• Don’t buy into the notion of the “work you” as being separate from the “real you.” We spend 8.8 hours of each day working, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics – the largest amount of time spent in any single activity (sleeping is second at 7.6 hours). Work-life balance enforces a strange notion that you are essentially different on the clock than off the clock, which hurts both employers and employees. Who wants this divided personality? Why not be yourself while doing what’s important – providing for your well-being and that of your family? Costumes are for Halloween.  In my line of work, I want to offer a leader who is authentic and not some impostor version of who they really are.
• Not everyone is working for the weekend. Rather than work-life balance, it’s more helpful to think of your role in a company or nonprofit as work-life symbiosis. Just do the math. Working nearly nine hours in a role that you do not like doesn’t stack up well with two days that quickly pass by (assuming you hate your job). How many years of your life do you want to waste not doing what would make you happier?
• Most important of all is aligning the right people with the right role. That means aligning the purpose and values of an organization to the purpose and values of the right people. Everyone owes it to themselves to find the right organization.
• Take a cue from your technology. In today’s world, we simply cannot compartmentalize different areas of our lives like people used to. You can communicate with your spouse at any time and know people better through social media than through real-life interaction. And, for work, most of us carry our work around in our smart phones. If not text messages, then we get emails sent to our phones

Whether through our technology or the software running in our brains, we don’t simply turn off work when we leave the office. We should drop the idea that “work” and “life” are somehow separate. They’re not.

Brian Mohr is co-founder and managing partner for Y Scouts (yscouts.com), a purpose-based leadership search firm that connects organizations with exceptional leaders. Y Scouts operates under the belief that people are the only real competitive advantage in business and the best employer/employee connections start by connecting through a shared sense of purpose and values.

By Sarah Sanchez

I work with the youth ministry at our local church, so I’m around teenagers about twice a week, in addition to talking to them almost daily. As I’ve worked with the local youth, I’ve begun to understand that they have a lot more to deal with than when I was in school.

It’s a lot easier for a teenager to feel overwhelmed with the pressures of today’s society. To us adults, their problems don’t seem like a big deal because we know there is so much more to life with so many more responsibilities that our teens haven’t even dealt with yet. But a teenager doesn’t understand that.  When something significant happens, their whole world can feel like its falling apart – which can lead to serious depression or even suicide.

I like to think of a teenager’s life like a table with four legs. If you knock out one leg of the table, it will begin to fall.  In comparison, one leg represents one part of a teenager’s life. When you take a part of it away, their world starts to feel as if it’s falling apart, just like the table. If you knock down all the legs, they can feel as if there is nothing worth living for, which is what triggers the depression and suicidal thoughts. So understanding your teenager’s table legs is crucial to being able to help them.

Based on my experience, a teenager’s world consists of the following four table legs (typically in this order of importance):

Leg #1: Friends/Dating Relationships. I put these two in the same category because it’s usually one or the other. If a teenager is in a relationship, it means they are spending all their time with their boyfriend/girlfriend and aren’t spending much time with their friends. But if they aren’t in a relationship, all their free time goes to their friends. Of course, there are a few exceptions.

If your teenager just got dumped or is being excluded from his/her group of friends, it’s a big deal to them because this is their number one priority in life. They can’t just go off and sit with new friends. Have you seen the movie, “Mean Girls?” (“You can’t sit with us.”).  I remember sitting in the bathroom and eating my lunch by myself when my high school friends were mad at me, because that seemed better than walking up to a group of strangers to eat with. It doesn’t make sense, but a teenager’s brain doesn’t always make sense.

Leg #2: School. This is where your teenager spends most of his/her day, so it’s actually pretty important. If your teenager is a junior or senior, they have a lot of pressure with SATs (these are insanely hard now!), graduation, and college applications.

If that’s not enough, what also falls under the school category is social status, which is everything to a teenager. A lot of my students struggle with self-esteem issues because they care so much about what their peers think of them. And with teenagers on five different social networks at a time (yes, there are now five of them), it’s a lot easier for their life to be made public. If something in their life is posted on social media by a peer, it can not only jeopardize their social status and cause them to be isolated from their peers, but a mistake can even haunt them for the rest of their life (said in the dramatic voice of a teenager).

An example might be if your teenager decides to go drinking with their friends (oh, don’t act surprised; you were a teenager, too), and someone videos them drunk – that video can end up on any or all social media avenues. One click of the “Post” button can share the unfortunate incident with friends, who can share it with their friends, and so on – perhaps even going viral worldwide.  One post can change your teen’s life. Maybe they are even the ones posting the fate of someone else.  The guilt associated with either action can really affect a teenager.

Leg #3: Extra Activities. This category is for anything outside of school and friends, whether its sports, theater, work, or volunteering. These activities are very important to a teenager because they’re spending their free time doing them. So whether they are doing it for fun, money, or for their college applications, they are getting something out of it. But with the perks, comes the stress of succeeding in whatever they are pursuing. And don’t forget the stressful competitive competition that goes along with that.

Leg #4: Family. Yes, sadly, family is usually last on the priority list (it’s nothing personal). With school, activities, and friends taking up most the day, there’s not much time left for family. However, even if you hardly see your teen, they are very aware of what’s going on at home. It’s probably my most popular prayer request: parents fighting, financial struggles, family feuds; the list goes on and on – I’ve heard some crazy stories. So imagine your teenager struggling with friends and the pressure of school or extracurricular activities, and then you top it off with them hearing about your marital or family problems. All this can push them over the edge with stress that they don’t need. If they are around this turmoil enough, it could affect them more than any of the other categories.

It’s important to understand how any of these falling legs can affect your teenager’s life. I suggest that you talk openly with your teens, even share your own experiences with them; and don’t take their depression lightly.

In my group of about 15 girls, almost all of them have admitted to being bullied, eight have suffered from major depression (53.3%), and four have admitted that they have either attempted or thought about suicide (26.6%). These are just freshman girls. They just entered high school and have already struggled with serious issues. Luckily, they are getting professional help now.

Is your teenager suffering from depression or suicidal thoughts, too? Are they receiving the love and help they need? Have you taken a step back from your busy life to notice if they’re handling theirs?

Growing up, my dad used to tell me that no matter what I did, he and my mom would never stop loving me. He said that even if I falsely accused him of something and he ended up in jail for it, he would still love me. He told me this to make sure I knew that there was nothing in this world that was worth committing suicide for because I always had two people who would love me no matter what mistakes I made. That statement meant everything to me. Yes, I still struggled with depression and even suicidal thoughts growing up, but when it came down to it, I knew it wasn’t worth it because my parents would love me no matter what I did.

So, please, try to understand your teenagers (and their table legs) and show them unconditional love.  You never know if one day it might be too late.

Photo Courtesy: Anthony Villalpando
Sylvia Denae Villalpando AKA “Snow White”

By “Tony the Barber”

Anthony Villalpando

When I was a boy of about 8 or 9 years old, I thought about what it would be like to be a father one day.  I looked into the sky and asked God how many children he was going to give me, what they were going to look like, and what they were going to become.

I wanted to become a real father, just like Pinocchio wanted to become a real boy – realizing that I had to have a real life, with a wife, and be responsible.

My question to God was, “How do you get a wife?” and he said, “I will bring her to you and you will marry her.”  I thought I heard him chuckling as he said that my wife would tell me the secret of how to have real children.  I smiled to myself and went on my merry way.

Many years later, I was given five healthy and handsome sons.  Being content with my boys, I was quite surprised a few years later when another baby was on the way.  On delivery day when my little girl – Sylvia “Denae” – entered the world, there was no life or movement in her.  I did not want to panic and show her mother that I was fearful and crying in my heart.  I just kept saying to my baby, “Daddy loves you” over and over again – and she came to life.  And from that moment, oh what a bond we have had.

My little girl is now a young lady in high school.  She teaches the children at her church and she tells me, “Dad, I love my kids.”  And those kids love her; in fact, everyone loves my daughter.  She tells me that one day she is going to be a real mom.  Now I’m the one chuckling.

Denae fills our life with laughter, hugs, kisses and unconditional love.  She cooks for us, and likes going places with her brothers.  My son, Dallas, asked me one day how we would manage when Denae goes off to college.  I told him to just enjoy what he has now, and love her every day.

Each night Denae kisses and hugs us all good night.  She never misses her routine, even if she is tired or bogged down with homework.  She is our Snow White, and we are her dwarves.

It has been a privilege to be a father to Jonathan, Brandon, Dallas, Tony Jr., Andrew – and of course my love, my little Snow White.  One day I will let her go, and place her hand in the hand of her real prince.

And one day I will have to let go of her warm and tender heart as I close my eyes and take my last breath to be with my Father in Heaven…but she will always be my Snow White.

Happy Father’s Day!