It's Happily Ever After, Your Queenzine and The Alert Parent all rolled into one!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Hi All and especially new subscribers!

Enjoy your spring break (if you have one coming up). We love comments and emails from you! If you think someone would enjoy reading the articles, we love you to share.

To see the articles in full blown color and with pictures visit the blogs.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FEATURE ARTICLE #1: What's Stopping You?
Go to: www.allynevans.blogspot.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
FEATURE ARTICLE #2: Will the Real Cookie Monster Please Stand Up
Go to: www.thealertparent.blogspot.com
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

For your convenience, articles included in a text - version only listed below:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Feature Article #1: What's Stopping You?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Maybe a little self - sabotage. A few years back, I started asking myself why I seemed to always get in my own way.

The other day, I found a journal entry I wrote some years ago and thought it might benefit some of you out there struggling with the same issues and questions.

Entry: December 2006

I have finally figured out why I continue to sabotage myself. It hit me in a series of epiphanies over the weekend and even spilled into a Monday.

About three years ago, I was given a blessing. I figured out, after much self - study, what I needed to be doing on this earth. I gained insight. You’d think after finally figuring out what I am here to do that I would be elated and find contentment and joy. Instead I found an entirely new way to torture myself. Everything I had done and experienced seemed to meet and finally a direction was mapped out for me to follow. I knew that I was going to research and write a book
about women, specifically women in the south.

I started immediately on my project only to be thwarted at each turn. It was so frustrating that a year after my discovery I was actually no closer to my goal than when I started. I told myself that it just wasn’t the right time and that things would work according to a bigger plan, but I wasn’t really convincing myself. Actually, I was mad.

I was mad that I didn’t have more money. I was mad that I had to continue to hold a job I no longer enjoyed. I was mad that this job interferred with my ability to write. I was still in the same place with the same troubles and well, it just pissed me off. I would watch my cherished weekend pass me by only to be faced with a blue Monday and a list of things to do. Things to do that I had no interest in doing.



Someone finally confronted me and asked me what was going on in my life...They were concerned and sensed that I was running off course. Initially, I didn’t get it. “Everything is fine,” I commented. I was even a little perturbed by the question. What did they mean asking me how I was? I was perfect, thank you. But, I wasn’t and their concern started me on a completely different path. The path I am on today, actually.

Fast Forward...back to 2009


As I looked back on that time in my life, I know that I continually got in my own way. My anger and lack of focus, primarily, thwarted by abilities to move forward. I created my own obstacles. Yes, everyone of them were self - made. And on top of that my delayed reaction to finally coming to grips with what I was here to do caused me more pain and confusion—every bit of my angst was self imposed.


Very recently, I was talking to a friend. She ranted about all the problems in her life and provided reasons she had for doing certain activities. She also talked about how all these activities inferred with her ability to move forward. We continued to talk and then finally she had a revelation. The revelation was that all her anxiety and worries were self imposed. She had created made - up deadlines to get projects and tasks completed and the stress of it all had her in a tizzy. Not only that, but the deadlines and long list of things - to - do meant she was detracted from her primary goals and aspirations. Soon after she "got it," she set her priorities straight, pledged to move away from unintentional self - sabotage and found more opportunities for herself . I am sure, she'd report that she is finally moving in a forward direction again without the tizzies.


Today, I am hoping that if you identify with what is written here, that you will take some to evaluate where you are and where you'd like to be. I also hope you will think about how you are stopping yourself. And if you feel unprepared to "name" your direction or goals, then take a little longer to figure it out and then to create a plan of active so that you can focus.

In later posts (coming soon), we will revisit something I have written tons about and that is figuring out what to do with yourself (if you don't know). Also, we'll talk about how to untangle yourself from over - commitment (another self - sabotaging tactic) and much, much more.

Happy March! We had snow today. Ready for summer! :)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Feature Article #2: Will the Real Cookie Monster Please Stand Up

It’s been four years since Cookie Monster said, “Me want cookie!” Gone are the days of hearing Cookie Monster say, “Om nom nom nom” while munching down on a delectable treat.

Think you’ll ever see the big blue guy eat any more letters of the week? Think again. It’s over. Done. Cookie Monster is now health conscious.

After Sesame Street transitioned from teaching our children how to count and spell to an agent for social change, Cookie Monster had to change his ways. Now he sings songs about vegetables and told a 2007 Martha Stewart audience that “cookies are a sometimes” food.

Here’s something we’ll agree upon—you, me and Cookie Monster. Childhood obesity is no laughing matter. One study reported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) tells us 80% of children aged 10 - 15 who were obese as children grew up to be obese adults. The CDC also reports that over 9 million children age 6 to 19 fit this classification (2006).

Certainly the powers that be at Sesame Street are right about the problem, but are they right about the solution? Maybe having Cookie Monster chomp on vegetables instead of cookies makes a difference, but I’m not so sure.

I grew up watching Cookie Monster eat cookies and other non - food objects. Not once did I eat the letter of the week, salt and pepper shakers, napkins or pencils. Cookie Monster’s antics made me laugh, but Cookie Monster had nothing to do with my eating habits or choices.

Around dinner the other night my family and I discussed the new Cookie Monster. My husband said, “Remember when all those children started counting numbers like the Count? It was crazy. Vvvooooonnnnneeee, Tttttoooooo, Tttthhhrrreee.” He wondered where were all the headlines about our children’s inability to correctly pronounce numbers.

Greg made my point. Kids aren’t fat because of Cookie Monster. Healthy eating habits are formed at home, by the family.

An on - line article from Kids for Health Nemours Foundation says, “The key to keeping kids of all ages at a healthy weight is taking a whole - family approach….Get your kids involved by letting them help you plan and prepare healthy meals, and take them along when you go grocery shopping so they can learn how to make good food choices.”

Other tips: 1. Follow Cookie Monster’s lead and save favorite junk foods, like chips, cookies, letters and crackers for occasional treats. Restrict the amount of junk food kept in the house. Don’t make it easy to grab. 2. Encourage exercise. Children play differently than we used to for a variety of reasons, including safety concerns and new technology, so it’s important to give your kids access to physical activities that are fun. 3. Tell your children to stop eating when they are full. Encourage them to only eat when they are hungry.

If your child is struggling and your efforts are not working, seek a doctor’s help.

On a humorous note, blogger and author Mike Adamick blames Cookie Monster for his childhood obesity and Elmo for his stint in San Quentin. He tells us in his byline to “don't even get him started on Oscar and his get - a - way driving skills.” All kidding aside, Mike also said something that made a lot of sense: “And if Cookie Monster has that big of an influence on your kid, let me tell you a secret: It's not public television's fault.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~