Stuff I Learned Yesterday

Today is the Friday Forum!! In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share contributions from Linda, Faith, and Dani. You can participate in the Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. Read More...

I met my husband, Derek, in 2009 when I moved in right next door to him. At the time, he drove a 1970s yellow VW pop top bus. He often pulled his coffee table outside in his front yard to have drinks with friends, and he always mowed his lawn wearing rain boots. Because these were the only things I knew about him, I figured he was a bit of a hippy, and I was cool with that. But as we started dating, and especially after we got married, I discovered that he wasn’t as carefree as I initially had him pegged for being. In fact, he was kind of a worrier, and I turned out to be the more carefree, risk taker in the relationship. Read More...

We crossed the line where we had been together longer than we had not in our whole lifetimes when we were 37 years old and I’m confident that we will be one of those couples that celebrates our 30th, 40th, and who knows maybe even 50th anniversaries together.Read more…

The end of each year brings multiple opportunities to be with family. It can be a hard time of year or a good time of year. With family, you should be yourself. So why is that it not the case so much of the time? Read more…

Times are changing. Our original plan was to get our kids a cell phone when they started driving. We thought that before then, it would be a waste to get them a phone. I think I also thought back to when I was a kid. I would ride my bike around the dirt roads for miles around our house and it was no big deal. My parents didn't always know where I was and that was never a problem. Is that true? I'm sure that's not the case. I'm sure there were plenty of times when my parents would have liked to be able to call me or my brothers up and find out where we were, tell us to get home for dinner, or just make sure we were okay. Of course, cell phones weren't a viable option in those days. Read More...

Today is the Friday Forum!! IIn today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a contribution from Mike. Mike shares lessons he has learned by observing the diffusion of responsibility principle in his family, co-workers, and himself. You can participate in the Friday Forum by visiting our Feedback Page or calling our voice feedback line at 304-837-2278. Read More...

You hear follow your passion all the time. But a potential problem with that is that sometimes your passion turns out to not be profitable. And what do you do if you feel like you don’t have a passion, or you don’t know what it it is? It’s seems pretty impossible to follow something that you haven’t even found yet. Also, the idea of following something indicates that you’re at the mercy of it. Wherever it takes you, you just tag along. That idea doesn’t sound appealing to me. It actually sounds passive. I like the idea of having more control over my journey. A better idea is to lead your passion. Read More...

Enjoying the fruits of our labor is more than just enjoying the food on our table. The fruits of your labor are the rewards that come from a job well done. It doesn’t matter whether the job you are doing is growing fruits or vegetables, creating a new product, or writing a book. You are investing yourself into the effort – your time, your money, your resources. Read more ...

I started Cub Scouts as a boy in the second grade back in 1978 and stayed active through Boy Scouts until my junior year in high school. I achieved a lot, I learned a lot, I built a lot of great friendships, but, I never got my Eagle Scout rank. I was a working lad from the age of 14 on in some capacity or another. By the time I was a junior I could drive and I was pulled away from Scouts by the fumesRead more ...

The year was 1992. I was 16 years old and like most 16 year olds, I wanted a car. My parents couldn't afford to buy me a car so if I wanted a car, I had to save the money and buy it myself. That reason was one of the factors that I considered when I chose to live with my grandparents for the summer. They lived within walking distance of several places where I could get a summer job, and that meant money! Read More...

Today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday is a Friday Flashback. Friday Flashback episodes feature some of the most popular episodes of Stuff I Learned Yesterday. Today we take a trip back to one of the first Friday Forum episodes we ever had, and the first Friday Forum we ever dedicated to mothers. It’s Stuff I Learned Yesterday Episode 40- Friday Forum Mother's Day Edition. Read More...

My husband and I are looking to move into our first house together this summer. Those of you who have been through this before know that moving can be a monumental task if you try to do it all at once. I’ve lived in this apartment since I moved from my parents’ house in 2005. I was a few years out of college and eager to have my own space. A few years later, my parents moved from their house to a senior apartment, and a few years later into assisted living. In the process of these moves, I learned that my mother was a packrat, which she learned from her mother. She inherited this house from her parents and there were years and years and years of things to go through before they moved. She didn’t want to get rid of anything but she knew that she couldn’t take everything she wanted to their apartment and she had to make the hard decisions of what long held possessions to part with, even though it was difficult. Read More...

The influence of music is amazing and even more powerful live. This is because you being there changes things. We live in a digital, on-demand world. You want something; you can get it in a snap. This is wonderful for discovering new music and artists. However it will never beat the live experience. Read more…

In today’s episode of Stuff I Learned Yesterday I share a lesson about being flexible when things don’t go according to plan, and how your attitude can help see you through.  Read more...

Moving, growing, learning, loving, and changing means that mistakes are heading my way. That's part of life. But mistakes are often when we learn and grow the most. And mistakes are the markings of life. If you cut down a tree you'll see rings. Those rings tell you how much the tree grew, how old it lived, where it had to make it through a dry spell, or even if it suffered a scarring blow. Those are the markings of life. If you look at sedimentary stone, it will tell you a very similar story. You'll see layer upon layer of age, growth, deposits, and the moments when the rock was cut the deepest. You'll be able to see where the rock stood firm, and where the rock gave way to let the water and wind pass by. Those are the markings of life. Read More...