relationships – Aprons, Heels, and Yoga Pants

Closeness During Crisis

I am sure I am not the only one who has wondered how families will prevail through our current COVID-19 pandemic. I have looked deeply at my own situation, and asked some questions about our culture in general. Has being forced to pull back on activities created more time for family togetherness, or driven a…

Lock Down and Slow Down

I planned on journaling every day during our shelter in place, but that hasn’t happened. I also planned on cleaning out closets, handing each child a stack of great literature to read, and reading some myself…also has not happened. Like most things in life, my pandemic stage is not turning out as planned. I am…

The Exhaustion of Single Motherhood

I love to encourage moms. How can I not? Motherhood has been, still is, and always will be my passion. I sort of fell into it, and turns out it is the greatest gig in life. Today I want to encourage a special category of motherhood. It is another area I sort of fell into…single…

Facebook Friends

Sometimes life is hard…like really, really hard. For any of you reading this – I am proud of you. You have most likely been through something tough in your life by now, and you are still here. You are still trying. Some stages of life are like that. We just try our best, every day.…

Pacing The Floors and Learning To Streak

When trying to stalk your teenage son, to find out his whereabouts…you’ve got to be clever. You’ve got to think like a teenage boy, so he is not embarrassed by you. Here are some tactics I have found to work like a charm when my son is out and about with friends, and I am…

Sometimes We Have To Change.

This morning I woke up my 10 year old daughter. Need I say more? I’ll explain for those of you who don’t have kids in double digits. Waking a child who doesn’t like to get up, is a frightening experience. Maybe you can imagine waking a momma bear sleeping with her baby cubs as you…

Stop Empowering Me

On my quest to live my life my way, with little concern for what others think about it, I hit speed bumps daily. This learning to love oneself isn’t as easy as it sounds. It has to be more than just a nice little love. It’s got to be an in your face, you are mine and…

We Need Our Circle

I think there should be a lifeline for mothers…. You’ve been up since the crack of dawn, worked all day, picked up children, picked up groceries, made dinner, helped with long division, convinced teenagers that algebra IS necessary because you said so, worked out, cleaned up dinner, emptied gross lunch boxes, picked up a lot…

Less Pressure. More Oreos.

Something struck me as funny last night, as I was hurrying my children out of the house and into the minivan. I thought…..I’m not as good as I used to be. Yet, I also think I am better. We were heading for the school Christmas program. My 13 year old son wore his shirt untucked,…

Be Careful

My morning started with a bang, literally, as the garage door hit the front of my car on its way down. My son was in the driver’s seat and all I could muster out of my very sleepy mouth was, “Careful!” In his defense…careful of what? The poor guy probably felt helpless trying to assess…