Thoughts of the Day
My life has qualified me as "experienced" on such topics as Army life, parenting, mental health, loss and grief, multi-tasking, and adapting to all things new (good, bad, or indifferent). I will share my thoughts on these topics and hopefully you will find some calm in the chaos knowing that others have been where you are.
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And in the Blink of an Eye…
…Eight years has flown by. Where does the time go? How can it move so slowly yet fly by so quickly? My baby is 8 today! We celebrated Radical Ralphie‘s 8th birthday yesterday with a few friends, some pizza, and an amazing strawberry flavored strawberry cake from my favorite baker ever, Monica of Europe Cakes. We started the day with a trip to the park while Archie and Jeff ran some last minute party errands. We ate and laughed and had an obstacle course in the backyard. Then we went to the playground with our friends for two hours in the evening. We finally have some beautiful spring weather here…
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Making My Way Back in Leather, Leopard, and Snakeskin & Link Up On the Edge #235
This week has been a rough one for me due to some circumstances that sort of sent me into a weird emotional spiral which resulted in some very eye opening revelations about myself and about people in general. I can’t really share the details for a bunch of reasons, mostly to maintain some privacy as well as to keep this post from getting overwhelmingly long and probably rather boring. But I learned some important things through the experience this week and I want to share them with you. I have learned that for a person who preaches a lot about not being judgmental, I have a difficult time accepting the…
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Welcome to Retirement, Army Style
I am still recovering from the weekend festivities celebrating and honoring my amazing husband on his retirement after 22 years of active duty service in the United States Army. It was a beautiful ceremony and we were so blessed by the few friends and family members who were able to make the trip to northern New York for our celebration. I wanted to share some photos from the weekend as well as a bit about Jeff’s military career. This is all official sounding, Army style… SSG Jeffrey M. Herling joined the Army after graduating from Weatherly High School (Weatherly, Pennsylvania) in 1999. Upon completion of One Station Unit Training, his…
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11 Years and Counting on Forever…
“Forever….it’s a really long time.” On this day eleven years ago, I married my very best friend in all the world, my lobster, my rock, the keeper of my secrets, and the healer of my wounds. I cannot imagine life without him beside me doing all the crazy things we do! He literally makes me laugh every single day…even on the days when laughter seems like an impossibility. And he gives the best damn foot massages I have ever known! Happy Anniversary, Jeff! I love you more than I ever thought I was capable of. To celebrate eleven years of marriage, I figured I would share with you all the…
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A Gratitude Alphabet for Thanksgiving Day
DIY Party Mom recently shared this fun activity for kids in her post, I Am Thankful Thanksgiving Printable Game. Since I am a big kid at heart and am feeling all kinds of gratitude this holiday season, I figured it would make a great Thanksgiving Day post. All you have to do is follow the alphabet and create a list of 26 things that you are thankful for this Thanksgiving. I have to be honest, this was a bit challenging! But the challenge gives you an opportunity to get creative. So here we go…the things that I am thankful for from A to Z. A is for Archie. I just…
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Ageism, Personal Style, and Poses & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up #198
I had a few brief moments of inspiration over the weekend for styling some fun outfits to share with you all including this tie dye and camouflage combination. But rather than discussing the outfit, I do have to admit that lately I have been feeling more and more silly about this little fashion blog of mine. I mean, I have yet to meet any person who would actually wear anything that I style so I am not certain how much outfit inspiration I am actually providing for anyone. But creating unique outfits makes me happy and currently it is one of the very few things that brings me joy. So…
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“To Thine Own Self Be True” & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up #194
“To thine own self be true.” William Shakespeare Dee of Grammy’s Grid recently shared a post discussing the meaning behind this age old adage. In fact, that post was the most clicked from last week’s link party and is featured below. Her analysis of this quote as well as how its meaning has evolved over the past 400 years inspired me to dive a little deeper into this topic from my own personal perspective. But before I do, click over and give Dee’s post a quick read. She poses a few questions to contemplate on a personal level. These are Dee’s questions verbatim and I am going to do my…
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A Bit of Gore for Our Halloween Porch Decor
Last year was the very first time that we have decorated for Halloween. Up until then, my kids were content with cheap costumes and candy. Now that they are 7 and 9, they are getting much more into all things gory and bloody and creepy and gross…especially at Halloween time. Probably because that’s the only time this mom will indulge them! Anyway, I promised to share our Halloween front porch decorations. It is nothing elaborate and probably a bit more silly than scary, but we had a lot of fun doing it. Remember these giant animal heads from last Halloween…I wore one in my Halloween Costume look with Monica and…
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‘Tis the Season for Gratitude with Bellelily & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up #191
As soon as October rolls around, I feel like we have to abruptly shift our mindsets into holiday mode. And I have to be honest, I hate holiday mode. I don’t like the commercialism. I don’t like the pressure to buy more. I don’t enjoy expectations placed on my time for the onslaught of celebrations and gatherings. And as much as I enjoy giving gifts to people, I really don’t like to be forced to choose something for the mere sake of giving a gift on a randomly designated day of the year, especially one that has drifted so far away from its original meaning. To be blunt, I really…
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9 Guidelines for Effective Communication
*I recently wrote this article for publication on Medium, but thought the content was worthy sharing here especially since the overarching theme of my 9 guidelines is kindness in communication. But if you don’t mind clicking over to the original article on Medium and giving it a read and a clap on that platform, I would really appreciate it! That is how I generate some income from my writing. It is all based on read time and claps and is a great way to make a little extra income doing what I love…writing (and communicating). 9 Guidelines for Effective Communication I have always been fascinated by the way people communicate…
