By Holly Reisem Hanna

Just when you think women are making real headway towards equality, a dose of reality hits to remind you that we still have a very long way to go. Last week three startling news stories came out that really jolted me and reminded me that women are still struggling everyday to earn and gain the same respect as their male counterparts.

The first appalling story that I heard, was about the Associated Press’ 2009 Female Athlete of the Year award – while Tennis Star Serna Williams took the top spot, the humiliation comes when you know that the second best female athlete named was a horse!!!  In fact two out of the top ten female athletes were horses – what a slap in the face to women everywhere! You can bet that all top ten of the male athletes were human, and that had an animal or race car (NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson was named top male athlete of 2009) been chosen as a top pick all hell would have broken lose!

The second story that shocked me was when James Chartrand, publisher of the well known blog, Men with Pens came out and told the world he was a woman!!! Her story goes something like this… as a single mom desperately trying to make ends meet she decides to make some extra money online by writing articles. While highly motivated, educated and professional she is still treated like crap and still can’t seem to break through the glass ceiling. (more…)

By Holly Reisem Hanna

I have been trying to write this book review for days, for some reason I just haven’t been inspired. I had seen the ads for the Todoodlist all over the web, I even read a bunch of rave reviews about Nick Cernis’ Todoodlist – a simple book about falling in love with paper, simplifying your life, and following your dreams.

But for some reason every time I sat down to write my review on the book, my mind went blank. I honestly can’t say that I was blown away by the book (which I thought I would be). But at the same time there wasn’t anything wrong with the book either… so what was the problem?

After some reflection, I finally figured it out – Nick and I share the same views on simplifying your life.  The reason this book did not blow me away is because I already utilize the majority of the practices he talks about in his book. You see, I am a highly organized individual, I love planning, organizing and cleaning (crazy, but I find cleaning to be therapeutic). In fact I’m still very old school, I don’t have a smart phone and I can’t live without my daily planner, which is not online, but a traditional paper and pen planner. (more…)

By Cleo Stamatos

With the economy hurting, unemployment at an all time high and with the holidays at our feet, it is natural for moms and people everywhere to try to find ways to earn extra money.  The old saying “desperate times call for desperate measures” should mean cutting coupons and not buying your favorite shampoo – not being duped by a con artist.  When you are looking for ways to make extra money, you need to be extra careful to avoid employment and work from home scams.

When I worked for the National Consumers League, a victim of fraud told me, “I asked all the right questions.”  What this person – a very successful architect – didn’t count on was the fact that con artists are dishonest.  You can ask the right question, get the right answer – but still be in trouble. (more…)

Do you work at home?

Yes, I’m lucky to have a wonderful home studio where I create my botanical character studies and gift & stationery products.

How many children do you have?

I have two cute-as-aw-get-out boys.

How many hours do you work a week?

I average between 10 to 20 hours.

Tell us a little bit about Pippingtooth Studio and how you got started.

I named my studio after the little temporary tooth on a baby chick’s beak; the tooth a chick uses to “pip” its way out of the shell.  I was a chick hatching a business after 8 years of being a full-time stay-at-home mom.  I read everything I could about business start-up, the gift & stationery biz before exhibiting at the National Stationery Show in NYC in 2001 and subsequently printing 60,000 greeting cards to fill orders. (more…)

Do you work at home?

Yes indeed!

How many children do you have?

One very precocious 4-year-old.

How many hours do you work a week?

Depends on the week and the availability of childcare (typically around 25 hours a week). (more…)