ra Dahmen is a successful small business entrepreneur, has been a contributing editor in trade publications and is a parent of three. She has written and illustrated a children's book series and belongs to local artists guilds. Her days are spent with her children, writing, painting, planning weddings and managing her cookware line, Housekeeper Crockery. She is a Plein Air painter and avid cook, a reader of history and religion books and the weekly Economist.