I never got to full-on be a mom. After years of trying to get pregnant, my first and only pregnancy ended in a miscarriage and after even more years of trying, it never quite worked out. This time of year, especially, is difficult for me. I realize in my heart that Mother’s Day is literally …
A few months ago I hired someone to clean my home. Things had gotten a little out of control and I thought if I brought in a professional they could help tame the wilds and bring me back to stasis so that I wasn’t ashamed of the dust bunnies who had taken over my living …
I stood in front of the bank teller waiting for them to explain how it would take ten days to return $300 that they freely admitted was an error on their part and then I was crying. Red, hot, embarrassing tears. Snot. The whole nine yards. My heart was pounding, my face probably very red, …
I didn’t grow up with eczema, but somehow in my adult life it has shown up with a vengeance. When it first happened, I had no idea what was going on. I woke up one morning with a tiny blister on the palm of my hand and wondered where it came from. I grabbed one …
We all think our kids are the most beautiful ever, but mine really is. She’s ten and has this long, blonde hair, huge pool-water blue eyes, and a smile that she must have stolen from her dad…because it’s the same smile that made me fall in love with him. And smart? This kid remembers just …
As a teenager one of my biggest obsessions were those afternoon talk shows. Ricky, Maury, and Oprah were my besties, and my favorite shows were the big reveal shows: the ones where someone who used to be an ugly duckling came on and surprised some creep-o they went to high school with by showing what …
Don’t get me wrong. I love being a mom. Most of the time. Most of the time it’s the greatest thing ever. Most of the time I look at those beautiful blue eyes and think, “Wow. You’re the coolest kid alive.” But I didn’t give birth to her. And since she is ten, she likes …
I didn’t get to spend Easter with my family, and it was more emotional than I ever thought it would be. Every holiday I find myself dreading going to family events. They’re crowded and being the only single, childless person there puts me in this ‘odd man out’ place that somehow feels worse Because I’m …
I’m a bright woman. If you’re reading this, you probably are, too. So know that I’m not writing this with pride, but with the great chagrin that comes from doing absolutely dumb-dumb things from time to time and feeling like we have to get them off our chests. My most recent dumb-dumb thing? I brushed …
It started innocently enough…I was in my early 20’s, my period was late, those tests are sooo cheap and I had to know: am I pregnant? I walked into Wal-Mart knowing I was going for the test, but I felt so dirty, too. It was like the first time I tried to buy condoms on …
A couple of years ago I spent about two weeks laid up in the hospital and became completely obsessed with the show Hoarders. It’s one of the most disturbing and mesmerizing shows on television and all I could think at the time was, “I might be super sick, but at least my bathroom doesn’t look like …
I live in a bubble. I will admit it freely, and happily, and for the most part I really really love not having it popped and here’s why: every time my bubble is popped, I find out something horrifying about life that I really wish I NEVER knew. Tonight, it was about toothbrushes. More to …
It’s all over Facebook: Donald Trump is the WORST PRESIDENT EVER! And if Facebook says it’s so, it Must be so! I mean, look at the hair, that alone is an affront to nature. And what’s up with the orange…like, has no one told him or something? He’s the worst! And we’ve all seen the …
The internet has ruined my expectations of what food is supposed to look like. Before all of these amazing food artists came out of the woodwork I always thought ‘I’ was an amazing food artist. Seriously, there are things I can make with ketchup that you wouldn’t even Believe. But, the internet. And while some …
I am a sugar-holic. A seriously addicted to sugar crazy person who sometimes drives to Wal-Mart in the middle of the night because I’m jonsing for an Oatmeal Pie. My biggest crazy sugar deal was the time I stress-ate my way through two huge bags of Easter candy and a gallon of ice cream all …
I hate mustard. Mustard is the sauce of the devil. So, when I finally sat down at the end of the day to eat a meal with my family, and I tasted the evil satan-mustard, I cried. Today, I cried over a sandwich. But you know what? It wasn’t about the sandwich. I was overworked and …
First off, June Cleaver is a freakin’ liar. No one smiles that much after spending all day cleaning their house, taking care of kids, and somehow creating a dinner fit for magazine covers. No. In fact, if she were real and expected to do all that she’d probably be crying in a corner by 4:00 and …
This post is sponsored by Socialstars and Tide, however all opinions are my own. #SmallButPowerful So, here we sit on yet another Super Bowl Sunday, and my family has no plans to watch, attend watching parties, or have anything to do with it at all, really. It’s weird, I live in Texas, and am totally …
I do not like Valentine’s Day. I am not one of those women who doesn’t like Valentine’s Day because she doesn’t have someone to spend it with. Quite the contrary, in fact, I have a husband that would spend the entire day with me, buy me fancy gifts, candy, and flowers. But, I asked him …
Reddit user bpwwhirl asked his wife to draw a picture of what’s on her mind. And…it’s a lot. And…it’s amazing. Basically, it’s the same things that are on all of our minds, I guess I’d just never seen it in picture form before… Yes, yes, yes, to all of this. Throw in a little bit about …
It’s not that I need to live with my mom or anything, but there are definitely times Someone should be the adult of me. Like the last time I dated a guy and wanted to break up with him, it would have been nice for someone else to step in and say, “Mary can’t play …
That dream of one day having enough money to make all of your problems go away is never as prominent as when there’s the potential for a huge lottery win on the horizon. This Saturday’s Powerball drawing saw not a single person walking away with a ton of cash, meaning that the next drawing comes with a …
I don’t even know how to start writing this. I’ve started it now three times and deleted it three times because it’s so embarrassing and frustrating and – what kind of a person makes up a kid? This kind. Me. Today I lied about being a mom and the second the lie slipped out of …
Every year I face this challenge of what should my New Year’s resolutions be. I know a lot of people choose not to make any, but for me it’s something I’ve always enjoyed and looked forward to. But what I realized last year is that I always make these resolutions knowing full well there’s a …
So you know that thought experiment/icebreaker question about what three things you’d save if your house was on fire, assuming your family and pets were already safe? You’ve probably thought about the answer to that question before, but answer me this, dear reader: Do you even know where those three things are in your house …
Every time I find out a friend of mine is pregnant, I feel a moment of intense happiness and sheer pain all in the same breath. “Oh my goodness,” I exclaim, the ecstatic feelings winning out. “When are you due?” And then we start gushing together and share in that intimately happy moment of knowing …
With the smart phones, tablets and laptops and available to us nowadays, you’d think the human race would have figured out a decent way to keep ourselves organized on a day-to-day basis. If your life is chaos and you feel like there’s no time to get everything done in a day, it might be time to organize your …
Where do all these toys come from? How do they just keep accumulating? I swear I’m living in a less-fun version of Toy Story half the time, and if you have children too then I know you understand this constant struggle of keeping their toys put away and their rooms uncluttered. It just never seems to …
It’s the stuff of nightmares. The place that fills you with dread and causes beads of sweat to drip down your spine. It’s like a scene from a horror movie that makes you cower in your seat and cover your eyes. That’s right: It’s the basement. That unorganized mess of a room that you keep …
For a lot of reasons that are the fault of so many different people, I am not on speaking terms with my family. Most of them have unfriended me on Facebook, I don’t get birthday wishes on my wall or cards in the mail anymore from them. This is my life, and there isn’t anything …
Guys and gals, we need to have a talk. When was the last time you cleaned out your fridge? If your answer is “Probably the day I moved in,” then I’m not sure I want to visit your house until you’ve read this post about Organizing Your Refrigerator. We’ve all been there before: the week-old leftovers, …
How many hours a day do you typically spend in your car? If you said “too many,” then I totally know the feeling. Why don’t teleportation devices that actually work exist yet? But I digress…If you spend a lot of time in your car, and especially if you spend a lot of time in your …
Coffee with your ex-husband is an art. I’ve been divorced for several years now, my ex-husband and I have moved on and both have serious significant others. It’s pretty safe to say we are over most of the emotion that comes with ending a marriage, and are now just committed to giving our daughter the best …
I totally get it. It’s that time of year when we are supposed to be reflecting on life, love, and all that is good, and instead you are standing in line at 4am waiting on the latest TickleMe-Hover-Poke-Furby and wishing you’d worn more sensible shoes. This is the month when we, as moms, completely forget …
It seems that no matter how much I vow that this year will be different, I Always seem to gain weight over the holidays. It’s like the siren call of cookies and egg nog is too much for me to bear and every single year I’ve struggled with guilt over it. And that sucks. I …
There are two types of people in this world, the kind that started counting down to Christmas back in August, and the other kind. You know? The kind that are just hoping to get through Christmas without incident so they can start the year shiny and new. But it doesn’t matter who you are, which …
It all starts out casual. Your child gets invited to a playdate and the mom has wine and cheese set out for all the other parents. Pretty much best mom ever, ammiright? So everyone’s laughing, and sipping, and you swallow that third bite of brie when it hits. The urge. You look around. It’s okay. You’re …
The holiday season is a time of joyous celebration, of giving, and of time spent with family. It reminds us all what it means to put others before ourselves. There is nothing more rewarding than to see the look on a child’s face on Christmas morning as the wrapping paper flies across the room, or the smiles …
It’s November which means it’s pretty much winter. Where I live, it went from 75 degrees one to 40 degrees the next and it’s COLD! As if battling the cold weather wasn’t enough, (I am not person that likes to be cold) now I have to worry about being itchy due to my dry skin. Well, …
Here’s the thing– I LOVE giving gifts to all my friends, but with shopping for the kids, I don’t have time to worry about finding super cool presents to get for everyone else. So, I came up with the most foolproof plan I have ever come up with. It’s How I Got All My Christmas Shopping …
When sickness calls, the first thing on your mind is getting better as quickly as possible. That my friend, is entirely normal because NONE of us like being sick and nobody has the time to sit around being sick all day. So most of us rush to the nearest drug store to purchase a bunch of medication that …
It’s seven o’clock at night. Dinner has been over for an hour, homework has to be done, baths have to be taken, and it’s almost time for bed…yet, you and your littlest are still sitting at the kitchen table locked in an eye-to-eye all out combat over that one bite of broccoli he refuses to …
Every year I go through the same thing…and so do you. Here’s the 100% honest reason why my candy (and yours) will never see Halloween. Why do we do it to ourselves—give in to the temptation of buying those delectable bite-size bits over-flowing on store shelves weeks before Halloween? We know the baby Butterfingers aren’t for …
As clowns are to parades and bling is to the football mom’s jeans, nothing says Fall in Texas like big-ass High School Homecoming mums. And in the land where everything’s gargantuan, these monstrosities take the strength of a pack-mule to carry and can cost more than your last vacation. Truly, in Texas, Mums the WORD! …
Springtime, for a lot of people, is their anthesis. It’s like their brains and bodies reawaken after a winter of slumber and they ache and claw toward putting their lives back in an orderly fashion. For me, not so much. I’m a fall gal. In fact, you could say I prep for Halloween year round: …
Every mom has lived through this: that moment where we just want a little time alone and we know it’ll never happen. For some of us, it’s hiding in the bathroom with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s. For this mom, it was hiding in the pantry with some Twizzlers. For all of us, the …
It’s October first. The day we are supposed to feel the snap in the air, crisp cool breezes, everything pumpkin spice, and Halloween. My favorite holiday of the year. When my daughter was five, I drove her out to the pumpkin patch, we stood next to all the pumpkins, took a thousand pictures, and spent …
I am on day nine of some sort of cold/flu/virus thing, I work from home full time and am the primary breadwinner at my house, last week my hot water heater went out, and one of my cats threw up everywhere. Ain’t nobody got time for any of that. 20 Things Ain’t Nobody Got Time …
Sometimes life doesn’t turn out the way we expect it. Not even a little bit. And sometimes the little miracle we waited nine months for turns our lives upside down in ways we didn’t want or expect. Here’s what to do when being a baby mama blows. This the picture I wanted to take of the …
We overachievers like to be the best at everything. As a result, we’re also the best at driving ourselves crazy, like, super duper fast. I’m not talking normal person speeds of maybe overreaching a little on our schedules…I’m talking full on, sobbing in the closet, eating ice cream out of the carton break-downs. Now, maybe …
Disclosure: This is sponsored by Trident. The opinions expressed remain 100% my own. Oral health is so important. According to the American Dental Hygienists Association, 80% of the U.S. population has some form of periodontal gum disease which means not enough people are taking care of their mouths properly. It could be a lack of …
There are many reasons that you might need to clean out and organize the garage. Maybe it’s just gotten a bit too out of hand lately, things keep piling up. Or maybe you have a two car garage but can only fit one in there. If your kids are grown and out of the house, maybe you …
This summer, we are all about chilling in the pool and enjoying the hot weather. Problem is, in Texas it keeps raining, and that’s making it hard to keep our pool in tip-top shape. We had a BBQ coming up, and our pool had started to grow some black algae. We can’t be having black …
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Office Depot. All opinions are 100% mine. The first year I bought school supplies, I ended up going to ten different stores over the course of three weeks. I searched high and low for all the right markers, writing tablets, folders and crayons. It …
I’m going to start out by saying, yes, I know there are people out there who have things worse than I do. Of course there are people worse off, but let’s face it…sometimes we all get to a point where our lives are overwhelming. Maybe we had an accident the day after our car insurance …
I’ll be the first to admit, I am not as organized as I seem. Yeah my house is clean whenever my boys haven’t crushed fruity pebbles into the carpet but the organized part is deceiving. Why you ask? Well, I have a secret. A DEEP DEEP DARK secret and I can’t tell you. Okay, I can. My …
Everyone in my house is messy. I’ve more than once spilled an entire container of spaghetti all over my shirt. When my daughter was younger, I wouldn’t even buy her white clothes because stains were way too hard to get out of them. That’s why I am so excited about working with OxiClean today to …
It’s tough to talk about fertility. But, it’s even tougher to talk infertility with the guys. I don’t know why, but the first place people look at is always the woman– and last time I checked it takes two to tango. That’s why it’s important to make a honey-do list and help your other half …
Here’s the deal, nothing makes me more insane than changing the sheets. You pull and you stretch, and it takes forever, and all I want to do is take a nap by the time I am done. So, I am working with QuickZip sheets to show you this new way to make the bed. Basically, …
Insomnia is no joke. Like, sure, I’m sure there are funny insomnia jokes out there, like, “I never get tired of telling insomnia jokes…” Think about it. Thiiiink about it. Seriously though, here is the true and 100% fact-filled reason Why I Have Trouble Sleeping Every Single Night. Me, all day, every day: I. Need. …
When I was a kid, my mom was the ultimate bargain shopper. We would pack up an ice chest, and head out for a day of garage sailing, thrift shopping, and finding deals. And I hated it. Like, seriously. But the days of waking up at 6am on your precious Saturday to make sure you …
Here I am snapping along, taking pictures of my kid and her friends, instagramming my latest meal, making a movie of my cat playing with a yarn ball, when bam… Out of Memory. I bought the biggest phone they had, with the most storage available and still it’s not enough memory for my “must video …
When you’ve had a baby, a lot has changed. I mean, you’ve been off work for 3, 4 or even 6 weeks (LOVE the 6-weeks off!) and, hopefully, you didn’t even have to wear make-up once during that entire mini-baby-cation. But, chances are, you need to Refresh Your Look to Go Back to Work After Baby. …
Maybe I’m totally weird, but my teeth are really sensitive little creatures. They seem to get fussy over the littlest things. During my pregnancy, they were really fine and I rolled through my morning sickness phase with no issues. But then, as soon as baby was born–oh, the sensitivity! So, I’m on the war-path with 5 …
I don’t have many scary things that happen in my life–I’m like the most vanilla person ever. Excitement for me is just fun stuff, never frightening. Until I was on the verge of bringing a baby into the world. My entire pregnancy experience (both times) was a horrible roller coaster. But the worst, the climax …
I feel as if my whole life has been a dieting journey. As a little girl, I never lost the baby fat (my mom is such a liar!), and being a bookworm certainly didn’t help me lose anything through high school or college. Pretty soon life started and somehow I just never figured out that …
My cats are a big deal. We love them so very much, and they really are like family. We can’t help it. They’re just so cute we can’t help but pamper them! And that’s okay, because I am pretty sure that cats were MEANT to be pampered. If you want to pamper YOUR cat, here …
Men prep. Every day of our lives we are preparing for something. We can’t make a decision without prep being in the step. I’ve spent my life prepping. I might be buying tools for any situation, or ammo for the zombie apocalypse, or keeping old car parts for recycled use. Being a First Time Dad, here’s …
This year, I turn 35 and I’ll be adding kiddo #3 to the brood. But I don’t FEEL 35 and there’s no way I want to look older than I feel just because there’s a little stress in my life! I’m busting out of the aging-trap with these 10 Ways to NOT Look 35 and Mommy-Stressed. …
Few things in life are as difficult to recover from as divorce. This is especially true when there are children involved. Whether you wanted it or not, there are things you have to tackle if you want to live a happy and fulfilled life after your divorce. While the road to happiness may seem long, …
Today’s culture is fascinated with social media and selfie. After all, who doesn’t want to take a photo of a good hair day or new outfit? Today’s technology elevates the selfie and photography game to a whole new level. People can use everything from the latest cameras to the smartphones and even apps to create …
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Nutrisystem for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. I have little or no patience when it comes to losing weight and being healthier. It can be like the worst thing EVER if it’s a drag. But I’m not messing around this year with un-fun, …
There’s a little insecurity running around in every pregnant woman–no matter how well she hides it. And here’s your instructions, world, on how to handle giving her the little bit of support she needs. Find your role. Fill it. That’s all I’m asking. No really. My first pregnancy was scary. This second one has been …
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Wrigley Jr. Company for IZEA. All opinions are 100% mine. The hardest thing for me about the idea of losing weight is the idea of it being “tough” or “hard”. It totally doesn’t have to be–that’s why I’ve decided to Make Losing Weight Fun! …
I always feel a little different–like maybe I’m a half-step out of sync with the rest of the world. But really, sometimes, there are things that are just odd and then there are things that are ODD. These 10 Weird Pregnancy Issues that happen to me are just downright strange. Being pregnant is such …
Regardless of whether blogging for you is full, part, or just-once-in-a-while -time, its totally smart to treat it like a business because it can totally save you money–even if it’s just a hobby! And to save the most-est this year, I worked with my accountant to come up with these 10 Tax Tips for Bloggers. Receipts. …
Last night my nine-year-old daughter walked up to me and said, “I love you, Mommy.” Which meant she wanted something. It used to not be like that. My daughter’s first word was Mommy, and she used it a lot. “Mommy, can you pick me up?” “Mommy, I can play with this toy?” “Mommy, you are my …
There’s nothing I hate more than cleaning before a holiday party-or just cleaning in general. And cleaning the floors can be the worst chore of them all! I’m not kidding. My floor took notes from this floor-then they shared a cry-session. That’s why I hunted the internet-verse and found these 10 Floor Cleaning Hacks I Can’t …
Let’s be honest, here. I’m new to this whole being a baby-momma and I had a preconceived notion (gasp!) about how I would be as a parent to my precious bundle of joy. It seems though I was wrong on every count of these Things I Swore I’d Never Do With My Baby. Yeah, I …
I love that people depend on me. I mean, it’s one of my favorite things in the world that I’m able to be there for people and help them with their daily, well, whatevers. But, sometimes it stretches me so thin I feel like a rubberband about to pop. It’s like everyone wants everything all at …
So… I was sitting around last night thinking about this… I wouldn’t consider myself particularly ‘green.’ Oh, don’t get me wrong. I think it’s a cool concept, and one I wouldn’t mind getting involved in, I am just kind of lazy, and green seems to take a lot of work. But, I started thinking about …
Unloading the dishwasher is one of those stupid things that you have to do ALL the time and feel like you are never done doing it… unless you get ahead of it… If you get up in the morning EVERY morning and spend eight mintues unloading the dishwasher, then you don’t have to worry about …