Q. My daughter has always paid attention to her looks and I suppose that is hopefully because of my teaching her to bath daily and make sure she has on some clean underwear! Lately though as she has entered her teen years she has become quite slack about her hair and perhaps the most...
Teaching time management
Q. My son has a friend that his parent’s allow him to play video games all the time and he has become very self absorbed. As the boys are entering high school my son has lots of homework, projects and sports and his friend seems to have very little discipline or guidance. I want...
A Guide to surviving the Holidays
The holidays always present some challenges for most families. For some, each holiday the peacekeeping is just a matter of taking a deep breath and walking into the next room. After all, we do not choose our families and because of that tempered tolerance is necessary. These are people we are related to and...
The top ten manners every kiddo knows!
Q. I am a father of three with my children ranging in age from 2-8. I have been teaching them manners ever since they were very little and sometimes they still forget the basics! What are in your opinion, the top 10 best manner practices for parents to teach their kids? I want to...
Unconditional Support
Q. My daughter has been a part of a girl scout group ever since she was 8 years old. As the girls have grown, one of her friends has announced that she no longer identifies with being a girl and has begun to transition herself into a male gender identity. My daughter at first...
Back to school Jitters
Q. My son is very nervous about going to “big boy” school. He has been at a small Montessori school ever since he was 21/2 and now we are off to kindergarten! I have tried to make this transition sound fun and painless but he is whining and complaining of a stomach ache and...
Strong willed & Weary!
Q. I have a daughter that from day one has been headstrong. As an infant she would scream until whatever demands she was making were met and now as a toddler she will not listen to me at all. I have asked her repeatedly not to rip the pages in her books and she...
What is the proper way to say thank you?
June HFM “GOOD TIMES” Q. Recently my daughter had a birthday party and she received quite a few gifts. Although she personally thanked each of her guests that day at the party, I have asked her to write each person and send a thank you note. I asked her a second time and she...
Too much advice from Mom
Q. I am a new mother and of course I appreciate “helpful advice” from both my mother and mother in law but at every corner I feel like I am getting a lecture on what to do or even what I am doing wrong. This “advice” is putting a strain on my relationships. Do...
The Lifestyle with Alisa Murray Put it away…throw it away…or keep!
Well my friends, it’s January! With the beginning of each year most of us want to access things, improve ourselves in someway. That’s where all the resolutions come from right? Organizing I have found is either something one does oneself or something that you hire for others to do for you. It’s one...
The Lifestyle “The Art of Power”
The art of power is a finely trained skill. Power is most often described as someone who can overtake, force change etc. What if we looked at this differently? Instead of striving to be powerful and strong in a forceful display, perhaps we should consider being more weak and kind. Our society trains...
The Lifestyle “Love Yourself First”
So recently I was visiting with some friends and the conversation turned to how much do you love yourself? Most of us do not love ourselves like we should. The amount of time we spend in our negative thought patterns really does effect our relationship with others and most importantly ourselves. Our thoughts...
The Lifestyle “Where’s Jesus?”
This Harvey thing has been a real eye opener about humanity. We have as a society been caught up fighting over politics and dumb stuff and then along came a storm and washed us. Nothing is more important than survival and when that is threatened we stick up for each other and we...
The Lifestyle “An Authentic Life”
How’s your Facebook lately? Been checking in on your Instagram? Has it just been my feeds or have you also realized that all those sites are starting to blend together and much of what is on there is nothing more than a place for our friends and family to show off? There are...
The Lifestyle Friendship Booklets
Friendship Booklets My Nana used to tell me that I would be lucky if I could count all my friends on one hand. That was true in middle school and college but as years have gone by and I have grown older, I have had and still have more friends than I can count...
The Lifestyle Choose FaceTime over FaceBook
How are your relationships? Did you know that more than anything else in our lives it is our relationships that will dictate for each of us how happy we are in life? Yes, my friends… the people that we are connected to actually have more of an impact on our overall health that our...
The Lifestyle Look Healthy Naturally with homemade creams, toners and fast fixes for acne
Acne can pop up at any age. Different types of skin needs different treatments for prevention and for healing. There are five easy ways you can use to reduce acne overnight. Aloe vera can be grown in your garden and when the first signs of a pimple pops up if you will slice a...
The Lifestyle Mindfulness to me…
I’ll bet that unless you have been living under a rock for the past decade you are familiar with mindful living. The trend towards doing nothing but sitting in repose in order to release stress and also create a sense of balance has been growing exponentially. When you are living mindfully your thoughts...
Fresh Finds with Alisa Murray Winter 2018
Wintertime is a fabulous time to make butters to moisturize your body, some healthy food since we all know what we are going to be eating here shortly is a bunch of sweets, and some bath goodies that you can make ahead and give as gifts. The gel can be modified from a beautiful...
Fresh Finds with Alisa Murray Fall 2017
Whether you are a Game of Thrones fan or not….. “winter is coming!” I always love the fall and spend time preparing for the colder months even if in our part of the country there seems to be less and less days spent battling much cold! This is the time to gather herbs and...