• Starbucks is More Than a Cup of Coffee.What Do You Stand For? Have you ever thought about what is truly galvanizing you towards your life's legacy?  I was moved to think about this question as I watched Oprah interview Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks.  Starbucks provides an aggressive benefits package for its employees that work 20 hours or more per week.  How great is that?  (As a side

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    What if Stepmothers Chose Peaceful Disobedience? At the time of this writing, it is the day of Nelson Mandela’s funeral.  Nelson Mandela was the past president of South Africa and is credited with bringing the end of apartheid to that country.  Mr. Mandela spent 27 years in prison.  He entered prison at the age of 44 and was released when he was 71 years old.  He fought tirelessly for

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    Stepfamilies Can Have Fun Like These Passengers on this Flight! I felt compelled to write this blog when I saw the video of the Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles.  This is so great!  Singer Gavin DeGraw was on the flight.  Southwest Airlines asked or paid him to sing to the customers during the flight.  It was completely impromptu for the passengers.  The look on their

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    Bio Moms and Stepmothers Suffer from Bad NamesImage: http://falcon-hargraves.com I really dislike the term bio Mom as must as I dislike the term stepmom. I have used these terms in my blogs on a frequent basis.  I use them because I am trying to differentiate who I am talking about.  A few readers have called me on the carpet about the bio Mom title and I must say that I agree with them.  In

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    A Stepmom's View of Oscar Nominees Let's do the Oscars, Stepmom Style!  Let's take a look at this year's best picture nominees and analyze them from a stepmother's point of view. Nominees for best picture are: Lincoln Silver Linings Playbook Life of Pi Beasts of the Southern Wild Amour Lincoln should be an old-fashioned favorite for any stepmother worth their salt.  Mr.

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    Is it time for the Stepmom Queen for a Day Pageant? As I was watching the #SAG Awards last night, I realized that I am now on my second awards show for actors.  (The Golden Globes were two weeks ago.)  And, I still have the main, big daddy of them all coming up, The Academy Awards.  In addition, there was the Miss America Pageant a few weeks ago and Honey Boo Boo has her own show.  She's a

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    The Step Family 2012 Year in Review is a study of love, traditional step family frustrations and a lesson in step family perspective.  Three events come to mind. The Olympics where we all witnessed the deep devotion and love of a stepfather for his son. The gossip between Brandi Glanville and LeAnn Rimes continued.  Both women love their children and are finding their way. The horrible

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    The Children Suffer When The Stepmother Disrespects Their Mother Never do this. Period. The current Mrs. Kelsey Grammer, Kayte Grammer) dressed up as the ex Mrs. Kelsey Grammer for Halloween.  Thanks!  This is just the type of public relations all of us stepmothers need.  Damn! Hey, Kelsey and Kayte,  your costumes are not funny and shows such disrespect that I barely know where to

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    Step Parents Understand the Pain of Not Winning a Medal When we watch the #Olympics, we focus on the medal winners.  When you think about it, most of the athletes train just as hard and sacrifice just as hard as the medal winners.  But, they don't win a medal.  Do you think they feel like losers or do they feel honored to have participated in the games? This is a question that most step

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    Where are the #Stepkids in This Divorce? Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise are calling it quits.  According to People, "This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family," Wolfe told People. "Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest." Did Katie forget that she has two stepchildren? It will probably takes years to divide the physical

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