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Mary Kathryn Johnson
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You Made Your Bed Now Lie In It

10/14/2013

4 Comments

 
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Living in California, I have an advantage...a crystal ball of sorts...in seeing the direction this ship called The U.S.A. is headed.
  
Let me look into my crystal ball, and tell the future for you.

California has the highest income tax rate of all the 50 states.  


California is also the largest employer in the state.  Yes, the state government employs more people than any private or publicly traded business in the Golden State.


California has two cities so far that have declared bankruptcy.  The main obligations the cities of Stockton and San Bernadino are failing to meet are government employee pension and benefits programs.


Unfortunately, there are not enough people paying California's highest tax rates to supply the union negotiated contracts for public employees to receive their guaranteed retirement benefits.


Let me be more specific.  


Every union represented employee of the State of California, and every union represented employee of each city in California receives a guaranteed lifelong retirement pension if he/she completes the contract negotiated time filling the chair in the job, no matter how well he/she performed it.  


This pension is not tied to any Mutual Fund or Stock Market Investment.  

It is 100% GUARANTEED. 


Don't you wish your IRA or 401K didn't fluctuate with the market? 


Consequently, CalPERS (Public Employee Retirement System) is $87Billion (yes that's with a "B") underfunded, because the funds collected and invested are nowhere near the $225Billion guaranteed in the union contracts.

Some teachers in my local school district are a perfect example.
  • One Kindergarten teacher receives over $80,000 in pension PLUS over $25,000 in fully paid medical, dental and vision benefits each year.  
  • Two other married retired school teachers received over $170,000 a year in their combined pension. Unfortunately, the wife recently passed away, but her husband continues to receive her full share of the pension - still $170,000 a year total.  

Gee, I wonder why the husband is currently looking for some tax breaks, because he now is in the upper-middle class - the very socio-economic class his angry, anti-CEO union reps have fought against. 

This pensioner is now trying to find ways around the very taxes that continue to pay his pension.  


Taxes in the state of California have had to increase to try and catch up to the bleeding that is uncontrolled spending.


Consequently, large and small businesses are leaving the Golden State in droves - actually they are being enticed to move by other states like Texas and Arizona.


How does this relate to my crystal ball, you ask?


California is the golden canary in the economic underground mine shaft, and that canary is suffocating, because the mine is quickly spreading the toxic fumes of government overspending dictated by lobbyists and unions.


The Federal Government is going the way of California.


The foggy mist in my crystal ball whispers the following in my year:
  • The Federal Income Tax Rates must increase for everyone (not just those making over $250,000/year) in order to keep up with the raising of our debt limit.
  • The Federal Government will become the largest employer in the country.  How many jobs did Obamacare create in order to double my personal healthcare insurance?  Yes, my coverage stayed the same, but doubled in premiums and yearly cap, but my Federal Government can give me a handout to bring them back down to the same affordable level prior to The Affordable Care Act.  (Thanks for your willingness to help me pay for my healthcare increases with your taxes.)
  • Taxes will continue to increase, but won't be able to keep pace with spending and pensions.
  • Large and small businesses will flee to other countries (wait, isn't that already happening?)  Can you say "苹果"?  That's "Apple" in Chinese.
  • The U.S.A. will go the way of the Roman Empire, and implode under it's own weight.

I know I sound as doomsday as Professor Trelawney, but I don't just whine.  There are a few ideas I have to pump fresh air down this mine shaft, and they are all centered around what I learned raising my kids - People rise to whatever expectations you set, and are more confident when they are more self-reliant:
  • Ban all unions from any public employment organization.  We have a choice to shop at companies whose union employees contribute to their products.  We don't have a choice to pay the taxes that support the salaries, and union dues that give a guaranteed pension even beyond death to someone who also can't be fired for poor performance.
  • Ban all lobbyists (retired politicians will then be forced to get real jobs at normal salaries.)
  • Transfer all government pension plans to IRA's, 401K's or Social Security like every other American.
  • Transfer all medical, dental and vision plans held by government employees to the same private payer insurance plans held by every other American before Obamacare became the "UnAffordable Care Act."
  • Fundamentally change the welfare and disability systems to include temporary benefits that are paid during an equally paid re-training program to get individuals with able bodies and minds to work, and on the road to self sufficiency.  Every part of the government that relates to government assistance, welfare and disability must talk to every other part, so they all work toward the same good for people in need.
  • Workers whose unions have negotiated them out of a job, and sent their jobs oversees can ask those unions for some of their dues back for re-training.
  • No government employee, from the President on down to the last Federal/State Project Manager has a guaranteed pension.  I'm sure a good book deal can be had, but I would self-publish if I were you.
  • Politicians are required to have worked a "real job" in the private sector for a minimum of 10 years prior to holding any public office.  Hopefully, this will give them some idea what kind of life their constituents live.

When the State of California goes bankrupt, I'll know the nation is not far behind, but I won't say I told you so. 

I'll just start learning Chinese.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left
4 Comments

I Woke Up Today

9/3/2013

10 Comments

 
Sequoia High Sierra Camp - Waking up to beauty!
I woke up today.
Today is my birthday.
Today is another day with no mistakes...yet.
Today's mistakes will certainly lead to tomorrow's wisdom.
I hope I wake up tomorrow to apply one, and learn from the other...again.


Today, I appreciate breathing.
Breathing leads to laughing, and I absolutely LOVE laughing!
The laughter of my kids is the best.
When they make me laugh with an inside joke, I can't believe how lucky I was to wake up.


The sunshine, fog, heat, rain and snow are all welcome when I wake up.
I woke up to sun, then walked the dogs today.
I woke up, and was thankful for the amazing man who has been waking up by my side for 30 years.
Flaws and all, I'm glad he puts up with mine too.
I'm glad I know the difference between annoying flaws and downright dangerous ones, and hope the same for you!


I woke up today, and finished my 50th year of waking up.
Here's to year 51...may I wake up to greet every day of it.


Thanks for sharing the days with me, and here's to waking up tomorrow.
See you then.


Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

10 Comments

Five Tips for Living the Mom Solopreneur Dream

8/22/2013

3 Comments

 
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Ask any new mom who consciously made the choice to stay home and raise her own kids if she is 'living the dream,' and I guarantee her answer will be, "ABSOLUTELY.....except when I'm not."


Once the bills settle in from the change in lifestyle required for a one income household in the 21st century, this dream mom job might shift, and cause her to become a solo-entrepreneur to make ends meet.


I've been living that dream (that has sometimes felt like a nightmare when I've had only three hours sleep) for the past 10 years, and I have some tips for success I outline in my Yahoo! Voices article:


  • Prioritize throughout your day, and use the kids' needs to your advantage.  



  • Let your goals evolve alongside your kids.



  • Organization is key...except when it's not.



  • Read on for a new definition of yourself.....



Are you a solopreneur mom?  If so, or if you want to be, please share your ideas below!

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left


3 Comments

Hope Faith Courage

3/18/2013

6 Comments

 
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Hope is wishing you could change your life.

Faith is believing you could change your life.

Courage is changing your life.

The ONLY requirement for change is Courage.  All else is pavement of the path to courage. 

What in your life do you have the courage to change?



Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

6 Comments

Hold On 10 Years

2/19/2013

3 Comments

 
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The business I started after breaking both my legs at 8 months pregnant will turn 10 next month.  Many waves have crashed my bow, but the resulting rainbows have made the storms worth the energy!
Join me for an amazing celebration with giveaways worthy of any birthday party.  Keep an eye on the horizon, and hang on for the ride!  The rainbow is forming...


Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left


3 Comments

Yes

12/27/2012

10 Comments

 
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I have learned quite a few things this year, and have learned to actually live many more that I already knew.  Here goes...
  • Say "Yes" and allow your children to be children as often as possible, unless what they want will harm them or someone else.  Sometimes saying "No" becomes a habit we need to break.
  • Children and adults are moved by and respond to compassionate reasoning over yelling every time, and can see in your eyes if your faking.  
  • Those who don't respond right away, probably expect and are more familiar with the yelling, so they need the compassion even more.
  • Show those you love that they are loved whenever the opportunity arises, not because that might be your last chance to do so, but because you actually love them. 
  • People actually get the opposite of what they want when they don't make their own educated decisions, and instead, follow blindly whatever group will lead them.
  • Those older than you almost always have a wisdom worth listening to if you just close your mouth and open your heart.
  • "Normal" people are just not eccentric enough to imagine and create the advancements the world has enjoyed.  Thank goodness enough of those "eccentric" people have not been drugged normal yet so we can continue advancing as a civilization.
  • It's almost always NOT about you.
  • When it is about you, say and show you are sorry.
  • The focus of your daily attention is your current reality and the foundation of your future.
  • That future becomes your new reality much faster than you expect.
  • The focus of your daily attention is also your child's current reality, and becomes the foundation for the future reality of your grandchildren.
  • Making a child smile brings more light and warmth to life than anything else.
  • It is our choices, not our talents that show who we truly are. (Okay, I stole that one from Dumbledore, but it bears repeating daily!)
  • Having someone in your life who has been present throughout most of your history, and still likes you is an amazing gift.
  • Tomorrow is another day with no mistakes in it. (Okay, I stole that one from Miss Stacy, but I still have to go to sleep repeating it.)


I would greatly appreciate any other wisdom you can share as we say good bye to one year, and my learning continues in another.


Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left



10 Comments

Mindful Me

8/20/2012

4 Comments

 
My oldest under the Christmas Tree
Life-changing milestones just around the corner are making me more mindful of the time I have in front of me.  The hourglass is running out, and if I live to 100, I'm half way there.  Yes, I'm in my 50th year on this planet...if I lived on any others, I don't remember.

I also have a child just starting high school.  Talk about a milestone...letting go.  I feel very strongly the lyrical meaning of "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" by Sting.  I am preparing to set him free, and it's scary and exciting all at the same time...just like when gave birth to him.

I now understand I must be more mindful of my actions, not just in parenting, but in everything I do.

I am one of those types who can get sucked into the black hole of links imbedded in everything I read online, so my day could easily pass by me faster than a toddler escaping his mother.  Consequently, online is the one area I must fight to stay mindful every minute.  To this end, I have started putting every little thing I need to accomplish each day on my calendar, and I adhere to my "social media posting/reading" time slot more strictly than any other.  Because there are several wonderful writers whose posts I visit and comment often, I will need to make time to seek out, and read new writers weekly in order to expand my mental horizons with new information and opinions.  I now know why posts and books are getting shorter and shorter - supply is following demand.  I also use HootSuite to schedule regular postings to both Facebook and Twitter, and keep them scheduled at least 5 days in advance.

My mindfulness is also being applied to my writing.  I have always been a "project" person - I get ideas, and if I don't write them down or record them on my iPhone while driving, they are lost forever...or until I happen to experience the same impetus to think of them again.  This more than anything else has allowed me to get more writing done in a shorter amount of time!  Since I am sort of a procrastinator...okay a lot of...even though I love to write, it is much easier to read.  I can use a deadline as an excuses to lollygag all day, and power through my work at the last minute.  With my new mindfulness that life is running out, I only allow myself this laziness occasionally, rather than weekly.

Back to my 14 year old...I only have 1460 days until he goes to college.  Actually, I only have 12,030 HOURS of my son's time over the next four years until I let him loose on the world to make his own mark. (Yes, I'm also showing my OCD in having calculated this number four years in advance, considering extra time for weekends and holidays and only 6 hours during the school days, but if I'm confessing my procrastination, I might as well go all the way.)  This number really made me sit up and say, "What?!" like I did when I heard Bill say what he did with Monica was not considered sex.  I must have heard that wrong, I'm sorry, calculated that wrong...I don't understand...How could I only have mere hours left for my son to wake up every day to a breakfast I make, and go to sleep every night to my "L'amo"...?  What about my youngest?  He's turning 11 next month, and middle school goes by in a blink!

Hence, my mindfulness in everything I do.  I won't overreact to this realization that I'm like Wile E. Coyote chasing after my Road Runner of a life.  I won't wait outside the bathroom door while my oldest is inside taking a shower just to say, "I Love You" when he comes out - he told me that was creepy.  I won't write for hours on end because I have so much to say, and so little time - my weak bladder muscles won't allow that.

I will simply be mindful of my thoughts and actions, and exercise my power of choice.  I don't have time or energy to waste on petty thoughts, conversations and deeds.  Life and love are too beautiful to cast a shadow on the world through my heedless actions.


How do you keep yourself mindful of all you want to accomplish and enjoy each day? 

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

4 Comments

Dadjectives

6/14/2012

9 Comments

 
Dadjectives
Shocked
Scared
Loving and Protective

Worried
Oblivious
Trying to Help

Awestruck
Fumbling
Cautious and Tentative

Overtired
Annoyed
Looking to Escape.

Learning
Adapting
Teaching and Encouraging

                                                                                   Changing
                                                                                   Responsible
                                                                                   Waiting to Play

                                                                                   Amazed
                                                                                   Relieved
                                                                                   Helping and Surprising

                                                                                   Growing
                                                                                   Admired
                                                                                   Showing the Way.

                                                                                   Older
                                                                                   Proud
                                                                                   Honored and Dignified

                                                                                   Wiser
                                                                                   Content
                                                                                   Still the Love

                                                                                   Knowing
                                                                                   Enlightened
                                                                                   Happy and Satisfied

                                                                                   Peaceful
                                                                                   Insightful
                                                                                   Offering the Dove.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left

9 Comments

20 Quotes for a Rhythm Change

4/26/2012

6 Comments

 
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Have you ever seen a friend after they had drifted out of your life years ago, and were surprised how much their life had changed, but they actually stayed the same and had not grown?  Our lives change all the time, how we adapt, and change ourselves to dance to the new rhythm matters.  Don't sweat it, just close your eyes, listen and teach yourself the new dance steps.  Some of us change our rhythm monthly, seasonally, yearly or only once a decade (God Forbid!), but until my drum is lying in a heap of ashes in a box, I will continue to listen to my own rhythm and dance.  Here are some of my favorite quotes that help me stop and listen.  Join me?!
  1. "If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change.  If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change." — John A. Simone, Sr.
  2. "Do not follow where the path may lead.  Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail." — Ralph Waldo Emerson
  3. “When there is nothing left to lose, we find the true self-the self that is whole, the self that is enough, the self that no longer looks to others for definition, or completion, or anything but companionship on the journey. — Elizabeth Lesser
  4. "Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes courage is the quite voice at the end of the day saying, 'I will try again tomorrow.'" — Mary Anne Radmacher
  5. “At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” — Lao Tzu
  6. "Let him who would move the world, first move himself." – Socrates
  7. "Life is not measured by the number of breathes we take, but by the moments that take our breath away." — Maya Angelou
  8. "Turn your wounds into wisdom." — Oprah Winfrey
  9. "Great achievement is usually born of great sacrifice, and is never the result of selfishness." — Napoleon Hill
  10. "I can be changed by what happens to me.  But I refuse to be reduced by it." — Maya Angelou
  11. "If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere."  — Frank A. Clark
  12. "Pain is inevitable.  Suffering is optional." — M. Kathleen Casey
  13. “I shut my eyes in order to see.” –  Paul Gauguin
  14. "The trouble with most of us is that we would rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism." — Norman Vincent Peale
  15. "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." — Wayne Dyer
  16. "There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them." — Denis Waitley
  17. "Compassion brings us to a stop, and for a moment we rise above ourselves." — Mason Cooley
  18. "The first time someone shows you who they are, believe them." — Maya Angelou
  19. "The way to love anything is to realize that it might be lost." — G.K. Chesterton
  20. "All the advice in the world will never help you until you help yourself." — Fred Van Amburgh

What rhythm makes you dance right now?  I'm dancing to "Rumor has it"  by Adele right after I hit 'publish'!  I can't help it - that beat gets me every time.

Mary Kathryn Johnson
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
MommyLoves to Chat!
Everything MommyLoves
Say Bump and Take a Left



6 Comments

Ca Bella

2/14/2012

12 Comments

 
Ca Bella Eyes of Beauty
(I decided to write this post in response to the Beauty of a Woman Blogfest, and Kristen Lamb's post about her thighs.  It is too late to enter the Blogfest, but I was inspired never-the-less.) 

I heard these words spoken by my maternal Grandmother almost daily when I was young.  I didn't know their meaning, I felt it.  My Sicilian Grandmother was telling me I was beautiful.  I saw it in her eyes and felt it in her gentle caress of my cheek and tilt of my chin as she kissed me, and said, "Ca Bella."  That was my first inkling that I mattered in this world, that I was beautiful and loved, and I have carried that all of my 48 years.  This deep understanding has determines my walk, my posture, my speech, my demeanor, my actions, and my passing on of that knowledge of self to my sons, occasionally my husband and all souls I greet who are also beautiful.

Just to clear things up before you click that little red "x" in the corner and say to yourself, "This lady is so arrogant and full of herself the entire internet couldn't hold up her head!", I will tell you now that I am completely confident my features, body, talent and answer to that all important last question will never win me the Mrs. America Pageant.  Do you really think I'm only talking about physical beauty?  Think again...
  • I verbally and vehemently refuse to dye my gray hair - I've earned every one of them, I'm certainly NOT a maintenance-type person and I think it's too uncool for my kids at school to see me walking around skunk-like in between dye-jobs.
  • The wrinkles on my face show the road I have traveled and the tracks the living of my life has left, I would no more smooth them out as I would unlive my life.
  • My hands also show the work I have done, both physical - having glovelessly  saddled many a horse, driven many a tractor and cleaned many a dish - and mental from fingers with short fingernails and jagged cuticles pounding out blogs, books and poems on the keyboard.
Of course, my grandmother (for whom I was named) was biased, and if you think it was easy for her to say, "How Beautiful" when looking at me, just take a gander at this 5th Grade picture...

Mary Kathryn Johnson 10 years old beautiful and loved
Yes, the woman was a saint!  She did not live past my 16th birthday, and I would not model my life after her life, but I carry with me and have modeled my life after her words, love and strength.

Just look into my eyes...go ahead, they're right up there in the first picture accompanying this blog post...and tell me what you see.  There were no touch-ups to the photo - only brightening of the light and deepening of the shadows - and no photographer can claim copyrights unless my Mac suddenly becomes self-aware (is Apple working on this?), so what you see is what you get - interpret as you will.

I was given much as a child, and, unfortunately, much was taken away from me at an early age.  Every experience has built on the other, and allowed me to build a life that has led me right here.  I can only hope that I pass on the beauty and love I was given to all I meet, especially my own sons, and all the women in my life. 


How do I do that?  I don't say, "Ca Bella" every time I see or touch them - boys just don't respond to "You are Beautiful" like girls, and saying that to an adult woman would just be weird.  I do say, "L'amo, mi amore'," to my boys, because none of their friends know what it means, but my boys hear it and feel it - "I Love You, My Love,"  and praise them for the choices that will lead them to becoming strong, loving young men.  I also pay attention to the lives of my girlfriends, support who and what they love and show them that I value their wisdom when they honor me with it. 

That, to me, is Beauty...That, to me, is Love!  How do you show those around you that they - by, with, and through you - are beautiful and loved?  Please share, on this of all days!

~Mary Kathryn Johnson 2012
Author ~ Entrepreneur ~ Mom

@SayBumpandTweet
Say Bump and Take a Left
Everything MommyLoves

12 Comments
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    Hi, I'm Mary, a woman constantly working toward becoming a Master of herself and all things named Duane, Evan, Riley, Seren, Linus and Katie ~ that's why it's so messy around here.


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