Encouragement

Watch Out! I Have Discovered the Empowerment of Yard Work    Recently, my family and I moved to a new home with a bigger yard and more flower beds to tend. Prior to our current home, we didn’t have a lot of beds to flower and the lawn wasn’t much to have cut. Because of this, we hired help to take care of our yard. Now that we are in a larger home with a larger yard and a larger mortgage, we are pinching pennies by handling the yard work ourselves. Initially, I assumed my husband would be up for the task and never entertained the thought of doing it myself until one rainy morning I had an epiphany while...

Breath of Fresh Air Sitting alone in the backyard watching the sun set is something that I have not done in a long time. It is so refreshing to have this moment of serenity, birds flying in the air, feeling the breeze across my face, neighbors laughing and talking, kids playing in the backyard, and the grass seems to be greener than the day before, yet finally I have some me time. I close my eyes to enjoy this peace and take a deep breath and just smile. Today, we celebrated my son's birthday. All the running around, decorating, putting on life jackets, serving the kids, and socializing with family had me exhausted. I truly could not wait until it...

Quick Roadtrips & First Concerts :: How To Make Precious Memories On A Single Mom Budget You remember Middle School, it's the time when music really starts to resonate with you and you start to relate to the meaning of all those personal lyrics and you drown yourself and your newly developing hormones in solitude and become one with your favorite artist, wearing your air pods or dancing secretly in your bedroom. Nothing is better than this escape and you start to dream of seeing your favorite artist in concert. Seeing your dream concert isn't as accessible these days with the high cost of concert tickets and the rising cost of living, especially as a single mother, but when my daughter...

Raising Teens :: Not For The Weak "As much as I love raising my big kid I still long for the days that his hands were encapsulated in mine." Raising teenagers is not for the weak. When our children are younger we think those are the hardest days. Sleepless nights, temper tantrums, the works. Y’all know how it is. We’re often met with the sly comments of parents more experienced than us saying “just you wait” and we shrug it off. Caught up in the days we never think we’ll get past. The truth is though, all of those well-meaning naysayers were right. As I enter my third year of raising a teenager, I’ve indeed looked back on parents with toddlers...

Mourning a Dear Friend :: Crystal Welch I'm mourning the loss of my dear friend Crystal Welch, whose passing has left a gaping hole in my life and the lives of those who loved her. I have yet to tell her nephews. In the initial stages of grief, I'm struggling to come to terms with the news, feeling numb and disbelieving. It's hard to accept that someone so full of life and joy could be gone so soon. Crystal was more than just a friend; she was a loving aunt to my sons, a constant presence at every milestone, and a force of nature who embraced life with enthusiasm and passion who also loved snow boots. As the reality of her...