The Stepmom's Toolbox

Join Peggy Nolan as she launches her Infinite Wisdom segment to PRIME TIME! The second and fourth Monday of every month, Peggy and her co-host Teresa Thompson will challenge you to explore your reality, encourage you to exchange ideas, and help you expand your wholeness of mind, body, and spirit! Tonight Peggy and Teresa will challenge you to take charge of you life and share with you 5 Steps to Effective Change: 1. Be clear and specific about what you want to accomplish 2. Don’t go gung ho! 3. Celebrate often 4. Be flexible 5. Remember that change is a process, not an end result Our special guest is Marilyn Kleinberg, whom Peggy met while at the Diva Toolbox Conference for Women. Both Peggy and Marilyn were selected by AOL Jobs for a career transition makeover with Lisa Johnson Mandell. Upon hearing Marilyn's incredible story of change and how she took charge of her life, Peggy immediately booked her for the show! Tune in and transform your life!

Please join Peggy Nolan and Erin Erickson as they dish tips, tools, and advice with Susan Wisdom, licensed professional counselor and author of "StepCoupling." About StepCoupling: Is your stepfamily tearing the two of you apart? You can have a solid marriage – and an enjoyable family life. But, to do that, you have to understand the most important relationship in a stepfamily: the stepcouple. “Stepcouple” means the adults in a marriage (or committed relationship) that includes children from previous relationships. Stepfamily stability and success depend on the quality and strength of the stepcouple. Nobody ever told you it would be this hard. You expected the Brady Bunch – but you’re fighting all the time. Whether you’re arguing openly or freezing each other out, your home is a minefield of conflict. The magical feelings of love and tenderness that propelled you into each others’ arms and down the aisle seem to have evaporated. And, truth be told, you’re wondering if you made a big mistake. You’ve tried everything you already know to do. But nothing worked. What you didn’t understand is that stepfamilies are fundamentally different from nuclear families. Stepfamilies face challenges you couldn’t begin to imagine before you were in one. In order to be successful, you have to understand the most important relationship in a stepfamily: the stepcouple. Having a healthy, strong stepcouple relationship doesn’t take magic – or luck. It takes four C’s: 1. Nourishing strong emotional connections between partners 2. Communicating effectively 3. Becoming creative co-parents 4. Clarifying unresolved issues from previous relationships These are all skills you and your partner can learn. Hundreds of other stepcouples – people just like you, people at their wits’ end about how to cope within their stepfamily – have learned them.

Is your life missing fearlessness? Is it missing boldness? Is it missing creativity? Are you doing the same thing day in and day out because that's what you think you're *supposed* to be doing? In my last workshop one of the attendees wrote a comment in her survey that said, "we need to teach this stuff to younger women." That stuff she was talking about was letting go of fear, not taking things personally, asking questions, and doing your best. It seems to be the epiphany women have in their late 30's, 40's 50's. I agreed with the comment but was unsure of how I would teach this to younger women - and then I had an epiphany of my own. My 22 year old daughter, Christina Campbell, seems to inately understand how the Universe works. She'll be sharing how she's done things many people are afraid to do - like pick up and move half way across the country - she's fearless, she's bold, she's creative - and she'll be sharing some of her "secrets" with us!

Are you a wife having a stepmom experience? Ever wonder "why do my stepkids do that?" Join Peggy and Erin as they dish Growing Up Blended with Traci Dority. All three of them grew up in blended families and know first hand all the games children play. They also know first hand the sadness, confusion, abandonment, rejection, and disorientation a child of divorce feels when the bubble bursts. Peggy and Erin are excited to have Traci on the show! About Traci: Traci was first inspired to be a performer at an early age when she watched her older sister participate in school plays and longed to jump on stage alongside her. Most young girls suffering from shyness and a nervous stutter wouldn’t even consider it, but nothing would stop this determined young girl. Instead, she would start out as a young dancer and even discover her silly side riding a unicycle with the group Supercycles. It wasn’t until years later in college, when Traci enrolled in an acting class that she would realize her true passion for acting. In 1991, Traci was crowned Miss Virginia-USA and went on to be in the top 15 at the Miss USA pageant. Not long afterwards, Traci returned to the stage, appearing in local productions and finally made the decision to move to Los Angeles and continue her entertainment pursuits where she landed the role of "Jenny Slater" in the cult classic, Grosse Pointe Blanke with John Cusack and Minnie Driver. Currently, Traci is in pre-production as writer/producer/actor of the romantic comedy Nuclear Families. Loosely based on her own family, the story follows a 35 year old successful ad executive, as she battles the screwball demons of her wildly eccentric multiple marriages family in order to face her own fears about commitment and learn that love is simply a leap of faith. Read more about Traci at http://tracidority.net!

The art of transformation is exactly that - an art. It's struggle, it's creative, it's about discovering your true authentic self. It's about tuning out the drone and static of what you think everyone else thinks or expects of you. It's about creating your own dream, your own Heaven On Earth.

On this segment, I'm diving head first into Don Miguel Ruiz' fourth agreement to ALWAYS DO YOUR BEST because as he so eloquently states,“You are not here to sacrifice your joy or your life. You are here to live, to be happy, and to love.” Under any circumstance, always do yourbest – no more, no less - Don’t over do it; Don’t under do it. Develop good habits with the Four Agreements and your best becomes better over time. Points to consider: Do your best because you love it; The problem with rewards; The problem with expectations; How to Be Love in Action

Let's face it: Money is a leading cause of divorce in both first families and remarried families. Let's tame this tiger, get a grip on what money is exactly, and how you can put a plan in place that will increase harmony and decrease relationship discord. Join Peggy Nolan and Erin Erickson as they dish tips, tools, and advice with Katherine Nelson-Reid. About Katherine: Katherine “Kat” Nelson-Reid, Managing Director of Finance & Business Operations, possesses what at first may seem like an unusual amalgamation of skills and characteristics, but upon meeting her, you’ll see how her complex blend of talent and work experience clicks into place. With more than 15 years of corporate operational experience, Kat began her career as an auditor while still in college. There, the firm’s managing partner called upon her to lead numerous national initiatives, experience she later parlayed into starting her own consulting business. She catapulted her expertise beyond accounting and finance into business operations spanning marketing, finance, legal, human resources and process management, and then left the corporate world to establish a business consulting firm where she specialized in process implementation, change management, growth strategy development and start-up consulting for clients. Born and raised in the South, Kat’s career and penchant for skyscrapers, fine dining and traffic jams brought her to Chicago. When she’s not working, you can find her running around after her three daughters and hanging out with her husband, friends and family. She’s a fixture in the Chicago technology community speaking and supporting start-up and women in business initiatives. She is a true foodie, coffee addict, wine enthusiast and teaches the occasional yoga class. And yes, Kat is a Stepmom!

On this segment, we're diving deep into the Third Agreement, "Don't Make Assumptions." As if we expect other people to read our minds, know exactly what we're thinking or "he should know better." In fact, we make assumptions all the time and boy oh boy do they get us wrapped in a sticky ball of goo...

Chris is a Certified Wellness Coach who happens to be living well with Multiple Sclerosis. Through her coaching and training firm, Priority Wellness (http://www.prioritywellness.com), she helps individuals in a life or work transition navigate the process to achieve the best possible outcome, while maintaining their well-being. She also works with stressed out and depleted people who are ready to increase their energy and decrease their stress, so they can perform better and be more relaxed at work, life and the things they love. Chris can be heard twice a month on her internet radio show, Energizing You, on blogtalkradio.com. She is currently co-authoring a book on women business owners who have experienced a personal crisis while running their business. Chris can be contacted at chris@prioritywellness.com. Join Peggy and Erin as they dish tips, tools and advice with Chris on how to "Energize You" and bring back the you who you were before you got bogged down in all that stepmom stress!

This morning we’re diving into Don Miguel Ruiz’ second agreement, “Don’t Take It Personally.” Has someone said something to you that you took personally? I’m sure you have…I know have… “I hate you!” screamed my youngest daughter. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” she continued.“You can’t make me….I’ll go live with dad…” the final nail in the coffin. She might as well have pulled out my heart. My daughter pushed every button, plucked every string, and sucked me into her turmoil, her dream, her reality. Wasn’t difficult…my reality was full of guilt and she knew exactly how to play me like a Stradivarius. She hated me and I took it personally. She wanted to be left alone and I took it personally. She threatened to move out and live with her dad and I took it personally. Ruiz states, “Personal importance, or taking things personally, is the maximum expression of selfishness because we make the assumption that everything is about “me.” Isn't it time you and I both end our suffering and our need to make others suffer just because we take it all so personally?

Think of a basecamp as home and in our homes we want peace, sacredness, calm...home is a sanctuary from the drama and chaos of every day life. Yet, so many stepmoms do not have a strong basecamp, a strong home, a strong center. In this episode, Peggy Nolan and Erin Erickson will be dishing tips, tools, and advice with the Wilma Ham, the creator of the breakthrough online program, "Women Like Me" (http://womenlikemeonline.com) We'll be chatting with Wilma on how to end the drama and create a strong center...strong basecamp...strong home.

"The First Agreement is the most important one and the most difficult one to honor. It is so important that with just this first agreement you will be able to transcend this level of existence to what I call 'heaven on earth'" ~ Don Miguel Ruiz. Join me as I introduce you to my workshop training partner, Theresa Thompson, and together, we will dish on how this agreement works in our lives and how it can work in yours as well.

If you are one half of a remarried couple, grab your sweetie because you're both going to want to listen in as The Stepmom's Toolbox dishes tips, tools, and advice with Ron L. Deal, author of "The Remarried Couple's Checkup." Strengthening today's remarried families...

Grab your latte, cappachino, chai, or whatever your favorite beverage is because today we're taking a ride on the wild side! The wild side of using your attention to create your reality, your dream, your life. This is the introduction to Don MiguelRuiz' book "The Four Agreements." Where thoughts go, energy flows...what you think, say and do creates your world, your reality, your dream. In this segment, I'll be delving into the how we create our reality by using our attention.

When you spend all your waking stepmom moments focused on the negative and controlling others, the life you cling to begins to crumble. Listen in as sister stepmom Cori Lynn Bailey shares her story of how negativity destroyed nearly everything in her life and how she bounced back stronger, happier, and healthier. Jacquelyn Fletcher, author of "Becoming A Stepmom" will be on hand to discuss the consequences of negativity, anger, and frustration - PLUS, we'll be dishing tips, tools, advice and EDUCATION on how you can turn your negative poison into positive medicine!