The Original MBA - if you don't have one, you should!

I hope you had a Mom as good as mine. Growing up, I knew that mine was pretty special when girlfriends told me how their moms acted. My brothers and I knew that, even though we might complain a bit, we were pretty lucky to have the parents we had.

Mom passed away from metastatic breast cancer in 1998. That last Mother's Day, it was pretty obvious that she was going to be leaving us very soon, and I struggled with what sort of gift to give her. Then it hit me - I should give her the gift of knowing how she shaped me.

I wrote a list of the lessons she taught me, some silly, some profound and one or two were little secrets the two of us had. I printed it on pretty paper, framed it and gave it to her. After she passed away, Dad gave it back to me. It sat on my desk for years, when one day I realized it was a book outline.

I'm happy to share the resulting book with you. "The Original MBA - Succeed in Business Using Mom's Best Advice" takes fifteen of those lessons and fleshes them out with stories of how I first learned each lesson and of how those lessons served me in business later in life. The book is perfect for those just starting out in their working life, those starting a business or making a mid-life career shift. It's available at Amazon.com and the publisher's website.

One of the lessons or parents taught us was to share, and in the spirit of that lesson, 10% of the proceeds (not profits, proceeds) of this book will go to two good causes: It's The Journey, Inc., an organization that helps women who are fighting breast cancer and Billy's Building Fund, a portal for donations to the University of Georgia Veterinary Teaching Hospital building fund.

If you buy and read the book, thank you. Please post a review on Amazon.com or email me with your thoughts by hitting the little white words above this post. And I'd love to have you join the conversation about the wisdom of Moms on Facebook.

Pit Bull vs. Kitten

Think you know who wins this? Think again!

Siberian vs. Kitten

Who says Siberians and cats don't get along? Sometimes they do - this video is truly worth a watch.

Stand Up and Say Thank You

There's a family in Georgia who decided to help deployed military members one holiday season. The idea was to send a package to the Marine son of a friend at Christmas. Personal circumstances prevented the sending of the package, but Virginia asked her daughter Julie to please write to the young Marine and express her gratitude for his service.

As things sometimes do, one led to another and Virginia's daughter and this Marine ended up getting married a couple of years later. When her new husband was sent back to the Middle East for a second tour of duty, Julie remembered the unsent package and decided to not only send something to her husband, but to every member of his unit. Virginia and Julie put together 32 extra-large Christmas stockings stuffed with toiletries, goodies and small gifts. To say the stockings were a big hit is to damn them with faint praise.

Since the beginning of Operation Sandbox, more than 85,000 military men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan have been the recipients of special packages from home. Teams of volunteers meet weekly to pack boxes, write notes and fulfill special requests from some of these Americans serving so far from home.

In return, those volunteers have received flags flown over foreign soil, Iraqi money, unit patches and countless thank you letters and postcards.

Imagine that - brave American men and women who are laying their very lives on the line, thanking volunteers who are sending small tokens of our nation's appreciation.

According to founder Virginia Pearson, "We are here to serve our military. If you are presently serving in Iraq or Afghanistan and would like support from our organization, please contact Operation Sandbox GA at www.operationsandboxga.com or email opsandboxga@bellsouth.net."

If you would like to help fill those boxes, Operation Sandbox would value your donation of time, talent, treasure and/or items. This is a 501(c)3 organization, so your donations are tax-deductible. Here's a list of the things that are most requested and valued by our military members in Iraq and Afghanistan. Give what you can to those who are willing to give so much more.

Honesty Lives and Does Good

Family finds $45,000 in new home — then returns it

By CHI-CHI ZHANG, Associated Press Chi-chi Zhang, Associated Press – Thu May 19, 8:50 pm ET

SALT LAKE CITY – When Josh Ferrin closed on his family's first home, he never thought he'd make the discovery of a lifetime — then give it back.

Ferrin picked up the keys earlier this week and decided to check out the house in the Salt Lake City suburb of Bountiful. He was excited to finally have a place his family could call their own.

As he walked into the garage, a piece of cloth that clung to an attic door caught his eye. He opened the hatch and climbed up the ladder, then pulled out a metal box that looked like a World War II ammunition case.

"I freaked out, locked it my car, and called my wife to tell her she wouldn't believe what I had found," said Ferrin, who works as an artist for the Deseret News in Salt Lake City.

Then he found seven more boxes, all stuffed full with tightly wound rolls of cash bundled together with twine — more than $40,000.

Ferrin quickly took the boxes to his parent's house to count. Along with his wife and children, they spread out thousands of bills on a table, separating the bundles one by one.

They stopped counting at $40,000, but estimated there was at least $5,000 more on the table.

Ferrin thought about how such a large sum of money could go a long way, pay bills, buy things he never thought he could afford.

"I'm not perfect, and I wish I could say there was never any doubt in my mind. We knew we had to give it back, but it doesn't mean I didn't think about our car in need of repairs, how we would love to adopt a child and aren't able to do that right now, or fix up our outdated house that we just bought," Ferrin said. "But the money wasn't ours to keep and I don't believe you get a chance very often to do something radically honest, to do something ridiculously awesome for someone else and that is a lesson I hope to teach to my children."

He thought about the home's previous owner, Arnold Bangerter, who died in November and left the house to his children.

"I could imagine him in his workshop. From time to time, he would carefully bundle up $100 with twine, climb up into his attic and put it into a box to save. And he didn't do that for me," Ferrin said of the man who had worked as a biologist for the Utah Department of Fish and Game.

Bangerter purchased the home in 1966 and lived there with his wife, who died in 2005.

After most of the money was counted, Ferrin called one of Bangerter's sons with the news.

Kay Bangerter said he knew his father hid away money because he once found a bundle of cash taped beneath a drawer in their home, but he never considered his dad had stuffed away so much over the years.

"He grew up in hard times and people that survived that era didn't have anything when they came out of it unless they saved it themselves," Kay Bangerter, the oldest of the six children, told the Deseret News. "He was a saver, not a spender."

Bangerter called the money's return "a story that will outlast our generation and probably yours as well."

"I'm a father, and I worry about the future for my kids," Ferrin said. "I can see him putting that money away for a rainy day and it would have been wrong of me to deny him that thing he worked on for years. I felt like I got to write a chapter in his life, a chapter he wasn't able to finish and see it through to its conclusion."

The Future of Man-kind (and Woman-kind) is Safe!

If all children were as on-the-ball, responsive and responsible as this little boy, the world would be a much better place!

Calling All Bakers - Cookies for Kids' Cancer

On April 16, Cookies for Kids' Cancer is hosting a bake sale during the Dogwood Festival in Piedmont Park. We are asking home bakers across the city to consider baking a batch or two of cookies that we can sell at the sale to help raise money for this important and underfunded cause.

Founded by two parents inspired by their young son's battle with pediatric cancer, Cookies for Kids' Cancer is a 501(c)(3) that raises awareness and funds for pediatric cancer research through local bake sales and other events. Since their son's passing earlier this year, the founders, as well as their wide network of friends and supporters, are even more determined to raise funds to help others like him. To date, the organization has raised $2.5 million but there’s a critical need for more funds, and the group has set an ambitious goal to raise $10 million. Pediatric Cancer is the number one disease killer of kids in the U.S., due in large part to lack of funding. You can learn more about Cookies for Kids' Cancer at http://tinyurl.com/ATLCFKC. On the site, you can also show your support by making a donation or ordering cookies online.

During our April 16 event, we will be selling home-baked cookies as well as goodies provided by some of Atlanta's top bakeries and pastry chefs. Additionally, we'll be raffling off some fantastic prizes contributed by local businesses.

We hope you will consider baking some cookies or other items for us to sell at this event. The baked goods will be need to be delivered on Thursday, April 14, at several dropoff locations in Atlanta. If you are interested in signing up as a baker, please email us at cookiesforkidsATL@gmail.com. Include your name and cell phone number and we'll follow up within the coming weeks with more details on how to package and deliver your items. And you don’t have to just make cookies! Consider brownies, Rice Krispie treats or any other items that can be packaged and don’t break easily. We also have a specific need for food that is appropriate for people with certain dietary needs, so if you are interested in making vegan, gluten-free or other diet-specific cookies, please let us know. Ideally, we'd like a commitment of 4 to 6 dozen items from each baker.

Finally, we'll also need volunteers to help us package and label the cookies on Friday, April 15, as well as to set up, staff and break down the booth on April 16. If you're interested in volunteering for a shift, please email us (cookiesforkidsATL@gmail.com).

So grab your kids or some friends and head into the kitchen – after all, how often can you help support an amazing cause just by baking?

Sharyn Bernard
404.872.2772 (office)
678.361.6406 (cell)
253.550.6560 (fax)

Homeless Couple Wins Trip to Superbowl

WLUK Story: Homeless Couple Wins Super Bowl Trip @ Yahoo! Video

A Powerful Reminder of Humanity

Chris Chase tells all about Ryan Sutter

Ryan Sutter is many things to many people.

To University of Colorado football fans, Ryan Sutter is the All-Big 12 safety who led the team in tackles as a junior. To New York Jets fans, Sutter is the guy who was hurt on the first play of his NFL career and never saw the field again. To reality-show viewers, he's Trista's choice on "The Bachelorette" and got married and actually lived happily ever after. To firefighters in Vail, Colo., he's a co-worker. To competitors in endurance sporting events, he's a rival. And to young adults battling cancer, Ryan Sutter is a hero.

The former football player-turned firefighter-turned reality star helped raise $100,000 last year for First Descents, a program that helps children with cancer go on outdoor adventures like kayaking and rock climbing. Sutter did so by competing in 10 endurance sporting events, including a 24-hour bike race, the New York City Marathon and the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii. And he does this all while continuing work as a firefighter and caring for the two young children he has with wife, and former Bachelorette contestant, Trista Rehn.

He will be honored this weekend as Competitor Magazine's Celebrity Athlete of the Year at the Endurance LIVE Awards Gala in San Diego.

As the San Diego Union-Tribune details, Sutter first tried his hand at the long-distance events after he and Trista were married in a televised wedding that cost over $4 million. Despite having never competed in the sport, Sutter was given an entry into the Ironman triathlon because of his celebrity status, a move which angered some people who train for years in order to qualify.

Over time, he's won over the community, finishing in the top 10 percent in various competitions including a 3-hour, 20-minute time at the NYC Marathon and crossing the line 67th out of 1,330 people at a 100-mile bike race. In doing so, Sutter has earned praise from respected people in the sport. "He's the real deal," top triathlon coach Paul Huddle said to the newspaper. "He's legitimate."

In more ways than one, it seems.