Mom Hacks, Tips & Tricks

Having a shared family iCloud album has turned into a new medium for communicating with my family. I got the idea years ago from a friend I worked for and tweaked the idea. She and all of her extended family all contributed pictures and updates from their families in a shared album. She loved it for keeping up with her nieces, nephews, and siblings. Only a handful of months after having my daughter, I was, frankly, exhausted from hearing my family tell me they hadn’t seen her lately… most of the time, they had seen her just the week before. I remembered my friend’s shared iCould album from years ago. I decided to take on the idea and tweak it to my...

It is comical that I, a mom free of any culinary ability, would offer up a recipe blog. You should probably not ask me for advice on how to make dinner for your children. Even crockpot meals intimidate me. But thanks to my mom, who has become quite the cook, I have mastered making bacon. So, if I can make perfect bacon, so can you. Because perfect bacon really is divine. Buy the good stuff. Thick-cut slices of bacon are where it’s at. Wright’s applewood bacon is my personal fave, although Wrights Hickory Bacon will also do. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Then loudly discourage your toddlers from touching the oven as it heats up.            ...

I … am a skincare junkie. I love it. I spend an inordinate amount of time searching about skincare, looking up trends, perusing beauty stores online, and generally obsessing over ways to stop the clock and bring out my clearest, brightest skin. In fact, I’m wearing a sheet mask as a type this, and I just spent waaaay too much money on a special light-up doodad that’s supposed to give me the perfect “at-home spa experience” (shhhh … don’t tell my husband.) And don’t even get me started on r/skincareaddiction #IYKYK Over the last 25+ years, my routine has consisted of the bare minimum all the way to the 10-step Korean skincare system and everything in between. I’ve used only all-natural, organic products. I’ve used...

When I had my twins, my cousin and her husband made an insane amount of frozen chicken enchiladas to have in the freezer. It was probably one of the most caring and best things anyone could have done. We had people bring us food when I had my fourth baby or when a baby had surgery. It literally made me feel so cared for. It also was wonderful because it took the guesswork out of dinner! It was literally something I never thought about prior. It had always been a thing to drop off food after a death in the family, but I never thought about doing it during other big life moments. I started making a dish for friends...

As the title of this piece suggests when it comes to my hair I. AM. LAZY. And it's not just the “mom who has too much on her plate” lazy.  No, I can’t use that as an excuse because I have always been this way. My mind literally boggles at the people who somehow manage to shower, blow-dry their hair, AND THEN use a curling iron to perfect their coiffure all before they start their day. Even when I worked a 9-5 job I couldn’t be bothered. It was just so much work.  Before work! Don’t get me wrong, I fully support this full-on lifestyle if that’s what you want and like. You do you, boo. And ya'll are great at it! But, I...