Being Grand

Welcome to Being Grand, my online home. Come on in to the kitchen. Take a chair and make yourself comfortable.

Being Grand is about God, home and family. I focus on the everyday day home kitchen cook and what you might like to know about food, food products, recipes and everything related to family. Now, please check out my disclaimer. I didn't create these recipes. I just like them, and I thought you might, too.

This blog is like a diary of my life experiences. I blog about  my own home, being a homemaker, parent of kids and puppies; and what it takes to be a work-at-home mom.

I chose the kitchen because everyone has to eat and drink. Most family and friends gather in the kitchen, especially on holidays to join the “catchup” conversations.

I believe when people share time together, you make mental snapshots of that time together that become a "picture" saved in the memory-of-life book. The best part is that you can recall these "pictures" anytime for the rest of your life, and it's free. No disc storage or data plan fees needed.

Anyway, you can read selected recipes, food flavors, vitamins, spices, stocking kitchen shelves, the pantry, saving and storing leftovers, buying ingredients, creating menus, preparing and cooking a nice meal.

It’s a source for menu and meal ideas with information about the kitchen to help you more easily decide what foods you want to budget, shop for and choose for the meal.

In bite-size pieces, you learn more about cooking, recipes, food flavors, stocking kitchen shelves, the pantry, saving and storing leftovers, buying ingredients, creating menus, preparing and cooking meals for you, your family and your guests.

I sprinkle in a little bit of family doings, puppy tales, my dad's words of wisdom. A tad about current events, the old days and forgotten times and issues family might talk about sitting around the kitchen table,

You can find a list of topics on the sidebar. For example: Recipes for Home Cooks: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Salads, Desserts and so on.

Other topics are organized by subject matter of similar interests. Hopefully, this makes it easy to find something you are interested, too. For example, WAHM stands for Work At Home Mom. I am not an expert, but I share my own experiences on why and how to Start a Home Business. 

You can also search. Use one word for best results. Two, if needed, but no more than three words for good results.

I want to be helpful. You know, connect with other humans who might find my life experiences helpful.

Life is short, even when it's long. Be happy. Be grand.

My hope is that you can gain just one tiny tidbit visiting my online kitchen that makes you feel happy.  Welcome again. 

My Background

Yes, I started a home business when it wasn't popular. I started as a freelance writer and added web design and online marketing. To be a good writer, it took me years to figure out that you need LIFE to happen before you can connect with words.

I started writing when I was in the fourth grade. I rewrote the Lord's Prayer. The Nuns weren't too pleased, but maybe they smiled a little when I wasn't looking.

It's valuable for a writer to be well rounded, isn't it? What I mean by that is to live life and gain experiences, impressions and different sides of the story. See things from different sides, different points of view.

I worked as a freelance copywriter in one form or another my entire life. I've worked from home writing articles for magazines, journals and company newsletters. Worked for a direct marketing company in California writing direct mail, sweepstakes campaigns, advertorials and direct marketing infomerical scripts. I worked from home for a long time. Tthat's when a "home business" was thought to be for, well...At that point in time, I couldn't leave home.

Self Employed. After a few years, long story short,. I opened a small brick-and-mortar business in Deep Ellum (the Dallas Arts District when I landed a contract with the Dallas Business Journal to interview advertisers and write copy for advertiser ads.

I composed high-return direct response copy for web pages, SEO copy, sales letters, squeeze pages and landing pages; advertising copy for ads, brochures, direct mail, mail order, sales letters, catalog and web pages including search engine optimization. Selected email marketing lists and dropped email marketing campaigns for clients.

In 1996, I authored, "How to Write a Money-Making Marketing Plan" (Lifetime Books) — a fully illustrated 6x9 softcover.

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I suffered an injury, closed "Copywriters" and moved back to the bedroom, my home office. I used those years of rehab to build an online freelance copywriting business and became permanent work at home mom. (WAHM)  I authored 50 PDF ebooks.

I'm proof that education never stops, You can learn beyond the traditional schoolroom. As my quest to make a living wiggled down the path of life, I learned what I could never have in a classroom.

I studied successful writers like David Ogilvy, Dan Kennedy and Mark Joyner; as well as, sales coaches like Tom Hopkins (Champions Unlimited), Brian Tracy and Tony Robbins. Learned Mike Filsime's Butterfly Marketing techniques, followed Tom Hua, Ewen Chia and Steven Pierce. Studied private label rights (PLR) master resell rights and resell rights. Student of Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and Feng Shui.

There was no school for the web or HTML or PHP or back end, front end, images or Google back then. I learned-by-doing and made a decent living for over 20 years from my home business office. I am proof that anyone with the will and want can face trouble and raise up their inner strength to learn and prosper to the field of their choice.

Personal Experience 

I've lived through one of the most historic times in history. I grew up in Southern California with "The Golden Age of Hollywood" and experienced classic film stars, television, the Beatles and Elvis, "No Dogs or Mexicans" racial segregation, the Vietnam War, Hippies and Haight Asbury, Woodstock, Disneyland, Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK Assassination, Civil Rights Movement and the murder of MLK, Apollo 11 Man on the Moon, Watergate, First Woman on U.S. Supreme Court, collapse of the Soviet Union, World Trade Center, Computers, Internet and Cell Phones. Incredible years, decades. I have many stories. Life offers unique wisdom, doesn't it?

That's what "Being Grand" means: Be all you can be, and if LIFE gets you down, just get right back up and keep going. You can achieve your dreams. 

Becoming a Home Cook

When my children were growing up, I would sit at the kitchen table and try to figure out what to make. I'd scour through cookbooks, old recipes cut out of magazines or newspapers, rummage through clippings from my childhood.

I wanted a different recipe than what I'd already served dozens of times, but I was blank. I needed menu ideas, meals that I had all the ingredients to and food I could cook that looked as good as it tasted.

Some recipes in cookbooks were too difficult or complicated or had ingredients that I knew the family would question. I wanted simple meals, easy to prepare, full of flavor that satisfied hungry mouths. Even though the neighbor across the street owned the local "fast food" drive through, I wanted to limit fast food pickups. I cooked -- even when I thought I wasn't the best cook. If you're like me, you know what I mean.

I may have overshared, so just skip the parts you're not interested in. Many thanks .