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By subscription only! Welcome to another issue of:

                "THE BALANCED WOMAN".

Thanks to all of you who have encouraged your friends to subscribe!  You are important to us.  So rest assured we will NEVER sell or give away your email addresses to anyone!!

We realize that not all of the email programs available can accommodate our size.  So you can also find this issue of The Balanced Woman at: http://www.betweenfriends.vjungle.com/issue24.html

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              IN THIS ISSUE
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       => Welcome
       => Feature Article: "Your Unique Balance"
       => Household Hint
       => Parenting Tip
       => Classified Ads
       => Pampering Yourself
       => Help Others without Spending a Dime!
       => Subscribe/Un subscribe information

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                       WELCOME

It's practically April and Spring is here!

I just returned from Arizona where I took my 5 year old son to see the professional baseball teams in spring training.  If you've never done this before, I highly recommend it--and I don't even like baseball!!  Scottsdale and the surrounding communities are clean and beautiful and the weather is perfect this time of year!  Because the baseball season hasn't officially kicked off yet the ball players are relaxed and informal and the stadiums are smaller, making for a much more intimate venue.

The second day there we went to see the Oakland A's at batting practice.  Now there's a team that knows what excellent customer service is!!  There were maybe 12 fans there that day who had gotten up early to watch the team "warm up".  As the players filed out onto the field they graciously stopped to sign autographs.  They were polite and respectful and one of them even walked up and gave my son a baseball!!  Needless to say, I was as thrilled as he was!

Why the A's when my son is a Padres fan??  Because a very helpful gentleman at Target told us that the A's were the easiet team to get in and see.  He was right!  It was the best advice we got!!

Why am I going on about this??  Because in this day and age, movie stars and professional athletes seem to have forgotten who made them what they are!

It was  refreshing to experience a team that realizes WE'RE THE CUSTOMERS---and treats us as such!  If it weren't for you and me and everyone else out there like us, none of these people would have jobs!  We pay their salaries by buying tickets and watching their games on TV.  They make millions because of US!!

The A's seem to have figured this out.  And now, I'm an A's fan!!  The whole experience was wonderful!  If you ever get the chance, do it.  You won't be sorry :)

Returning refreshed and invigorated-it's time for the newsletter...

The Business of Mom is in print!  Many of you expressed a desire for a print book rather than an ebook.  I listened!  You can find all the details at http://www.betweenfriends.org/1.htm

There's a piece that's been floating around the internet called the "But First Syndrome".  It is so funny and true that I just had to feature it.  If your life is "unbalanced" you may be suffering from it.  Read more at http://betweenfriends.vjungle.com/butfirst.html

Only a couple of you (literally) responded to my question about the shorter format.  As odds would have it one of you liked it; one of you didn't.  Please keep that feedback coming!  Let me know if you'd prefer more articles or if you like new quick read format.

Here's a site and a newsletter you'll surely enjoy!  It's all about comforting yourself.  So, if you need to refresh, restore, or recreate yourself visit http://www.comfortqueen.com - Try their free Inner Organizer! They have book giveaways weekly and a free weekly Self-Care Minder.

That's it for now.  I hope you enjoy the rest of the issue!
jackie

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Site Updates...http://www.betweenfriends.org

Please stop by and cast your vote at our completely anonymous site poll, if you haven't yet.  This month's poll asks:

What can we do to stop the violence in our schools?

While there, you'll also find the results of the previous poll at http://www.betweenfriends.org/poll.html

This month's recipe is from one of you!  It's Salmon Patties!  Coming from a fellow "Balanced Woman" you can be sure it's quick, delicious, and easy! The link for it is: http://www.betweenfriends.org/househol.htm

If you have an easy, family recipe you'd like to share please send it to me at jahale95@yahoo.com and we'll feature it in an upcoming newsletter

Want some help in analyzing your money patterns?  Take a look at our newest article on the web, "Money Patterns".  You can find it at http://betweenfriends.vjungle.com/moneypatterns.html

Finally, please jump on into our message boards.  I've had a few people email me with laundry problems, cleaning problems, etc.  I posted them on the message boards hoping you could help.  You can find the link on our home page at http://www.betweenfriends.org  Your fellow subscribers thank you!

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Feature Article: Your Unique Balance
By:  Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale
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In last month's article I asserted that the first ingredient in a balanced life is self-knowledge (if you missed that article, it can be found at http://betweenfriends.vjungle.com/issue23.html).  And I discussed many reasons why you may not really know who you are.  This month I'm going to tell you why self knowledge is the first ingredient in a balanced life and suggest methods to get to know yourself again and uncover the "real you"!

Self-knowledge is the foundation of a balanced life because living a balanced life means different things to different people.  Its definition can and should change with everyone you talk to.  You can only define balance for yourself.  No one else can do it for you and you cannot do it for others.  In order to define it you've got to determine who you are and what's important to you.  To illustrate why, let me give you an example from my own life…

Inherently, I am a quiet and solitary person.  I like nothing more than to read and write alone, without the TV, radio or any human contact.  I can get absolutely lost in these activities and find myself surprised to learn that hours have passed.  When I do things with others, it's one on one.  I don't go to many parties or participate in group functions.

It would be easy for someone to examine my life and decide that I "need" to spend more time with more people to bring balance to it.  But that's not who I am!  So, does it make sense for me to try to "balance my life" by engaging in activities that do not bring me joy just because they fit into some equation?  Absolutely not!

Conversely, I have a friend, Cathy, who LOVES people--tons of people!  She likes nothing more than to throw HUGE parties and go to football games with dozens of others.  To ask her to balance her life by spending more time reading or writing would be like asking her to submit to a root canal!  Should she engage in more solitary activities more often just because they fit into some equation?  Absolutely not!

Define balance by defining you!  How?  How can you really figure out who you are and what you want?  It's not as difficult as you may think…

Look at your life.  Really look at it.  What do you like about it?  What brings you the most joy?  When are you the happiest?

Perhaps you're most content when you're cooking a meal for your family.  Maybe you love that time in the kitchen just you and the foods you're working with.  Do you get lost deep in thought or do you revel in blending the different colors and flavors together?  Perhaps you enjoy knowing that you're taking the best care of your family's nutritional needs that you can.

Do you enjoy the time you spend cleaning the house?  (Yes, some people do!)  Maybe you like the sense of accomplishment that a clean house brings.  Maybe you love the smells that only a clean house can emit.

Do you enjoy driving your kids around to their various activities?  Maybe you take great pleasure in just talking while you're in the car together.  Or perhaps you love watching your kids learn and grow within the structure of whatever it is they're doing.  Maybe you take great pride in witnessing them accomplish something they could never do before.  Or maybe you enjoy being outside with them in the sunshine and fresh air.

If you work at a job or own a business, what to you like doing the most?  Even if you HATE your job, there's got to be something about it you particularly like.  I couldn't stand my job but I loved it when I could lock myself in my office and focus intensely on one project, without any interruptions, until it was completed.  I could get lost in the day only to discover that suddenly 8 or 9 hours had passed.

Think about what you liked doing as a kid.  Remember back to those lazy days of summer when you had nothing to do but whatever you wanted to.  What did you want to do?  Who did you want to do it with?  What kind of people did you choose for friends?  Did you have a lot of friends or a few?  What were your favorite subjects in school?  Which classes did you excel in with barely any effort on your part?

Think about these questions.  Find their answers.  Look for similarities.  Believe it or not, you will find the same patterns popping up over and over again.  You may be surprised.  I know I was.

Before doing this exercise myself, I thought I was an outgoing people person.  I thought that what made me happy was being around others--all the time!  So, that's what I did.  Yet I wasn't happy.  I blamed my unhappiness on my job, on my financial situation, on my family, on my friends, on my clothes, on my weight, on just about anything.  Anything, that is, except what was really causing it.  What was causing it was that I was living in a way that was inconsistent with who I was.  As soon as I figured that out and made some adjustments, everything changed for the better.

So I urge you to do this analysis yourself.  Find your unique balance.  Once you do, we'll begin to explore ways to make time for whatever is missing or lacking for you.  Stay tuned next month…
 

Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale is a CPA and the editor of Between Friends: Resources for Mothers (http://www.betweenfriends.org) Between Friends contains household hints, time management tips, articles on organization, parenting, money management, career, self employment, self improvement and more!  Subscribe to its FREE monthly ezine, The Balanced Woman.  Visit today!

Webmasters and publishers may use this article in their ezine or website, as long as the *entire*
article is used, and the *copyright notice* and *resource box* are left in tact, including this notice

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            HOUSEHOLD HINT OF THE MONTH

Make a list of jobs you can do in 15 minutes or less. These can be a single chore or a portion of a larger job. The idea of doing this is that you 're more likely to find yourself with an extra 15 minutes than an extra day or even a couple of hours. When you do have a bit of time, get out your list and choose a job. You'll make steady progress this way and feel good about getting a start on some of the projects that seem overwhelming to you.

From Emazing Tips http://www.emazing.com
 

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Parent like you mean business!  Stop nagging and fighting with your kids!  Get your home running more smoothly than it has ever run before.  Discover a simple, effective and proven system for putting sanity back into your life with the new ebook THE BUSINESS OF MOM!

Do you know what busy executives and moms have in common?  Everything!  They both have too much to do and too little time to do it in.  Busy executives have spent years developing, analyzing and testing systems to help them cope.  A few of those concepts have withstood the test of time and are used again and again by the most successful business managers today.  They have been adapted to the home environment to give moms help too.

If you haven't ordered your copy yet, you can get THE BUSINESS OF MOM for $15.00.  The first 100 to order will also receive membership to an exclusive discussion group designed to support you as you implement the theories from THE BUSINESS OF MOM!

For a full description and to order your copy securely, visit my Web site at http://www.betweenfriends.org/1.htm

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            PARENTING TIP OF THE MONTH

Actively listen to your child.  How?  When she is speaking, look at her.  Encourage her with a few well placed, "Uh huh's".  Show her with your body language that you're paying attention.  Nod your head, lean forward, towards her.

When she is finished, paraphrase what she just said.  Ask her if your understanding is correct.  If she says yes, you will know you've been successful!

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             Pampering Yourself

Stop comparing yourself to anyone else.

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       HELP OTHERS WITHOUT SPENDING A DIME!

SPONSORS FEED HUNGRY SENIORS FOR FREE!

Meals On Wheels site, www.GiveMeals.com feeds hungry seniors with Advertisers/Sponsors paid donations!  Sponsors pay each time you CLICK, SHOP, JOIN or REGISTER.  Make GiveMeals.com your "Start Page" and never miss a chance to help. Visit http://www.GiveMeals.com today and everyday.

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                    Disclaimer

The appearance of advertising in The Balanced Woman should not be interpreted as an endorsement by the editors of the service, product, business, or program being advertised.  We take no responsibility for claims or representations made in any ads.  The Balanced Woman is for informational and entertainment purposes only.  The ideas and information expressed in it have not been approved or authorized by anyone either explicitly or implicitly.  In no event shall Jacqueline McLaughlin Hale be liable for any damages whatsoever resulting from any action arising in connection with the use of this information or its publication, including any action for infringement of copyright or defamation.  The opinions expressed by our columnists are not necessarily the position of The Balanced Woman.

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Copyright 1999, 2000, 2001 JA Hale
Editor's Comments: If any of you have any ideas, comments and suggestions on how we can improve this e-zine please let me know.  Just send an email to: jahale95@yahoo.com

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