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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All About Transition: Wardrobe, Seasons, and Life
Every new season creates an opportunity for transition. At the most basic level, the weather goes through a transformation with each new season, in particular when you live in a climate that experiences four distinct seasons. As we enter each new season, we talk about transitioning our wardrobes. As warm blooded mammals we must clothe our bodies in apparel that is comfortable for temperatures that range from the frigid cold of winter where the air can feel well below zero degrees Fahrenheit to heat and humidity in excess of 100 degrees in the summer months. It is a huge range of temperatures that are quite uncomfortable for the human body…
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Confessions of a Judgmental Mom
I confess that I have judged other moms. Way more times than I am comfortable admitting. I know it’s wrong. I even wrote a post exclusively about how important it is to drop the judgments and keep kindness alive. Yet, I continue to do it. We all do. It really is part of our human nature. But there are many things that are natural and instinctual that we exercise will power to overcome. We can do the same with judgments. If we are alert and introspective, we can head off the unnecessary judgments before harmful words can escape our mouths. Now, we cannot necessarily stop the judgments from entering our…
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Conscientious Kindness Can Save Our Planet & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up #86
I am not going pretend that I am terribly diligent in my conscientious efforts to go green. But just like everyone else, I am a work in progress. Little by little, I make adjustments as they occur to me. I am not perfect and I am somewhat lazy, but I do my best to exercise some amount of regard for the state of our planet. I recycle what I can. I don’t litter. We turn off the lights when we are not using them. We don’t leave the water running unnecessarily. When I decided to address this topic, I was going to focus on how thrift shopping for clothing is…
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14 Life Lessons I Have Learned Through Blogging & Link Up On the Edge #108
Time really does fly when you are having fun, doesn’t it? I cannot believe that I have been at this blogging game for three years already! THREE years. That is kind of a long time to commit to something that you have to be 100% self-motivated to stay on track. Granted over the past three years, my commitment may have waxed and waned a bit, but for the most part I have remained fairly consistent. It is truly a labor of love…work of this sort. And so many things have evolved and changed since the beginning of Shelbee on the Edge. I have been brainstorming for weeks about what I…
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4 Ways to Deal with the Unstructured Days of Summer
*As I browse through the internet, blogs, and social media, I am reading how everywhere it is nearly back to school time. A week or two is all that is left of summer before school is back in session. However, in Northern New York, we still have a full four weeks of summer break remaining before the kids head back to their regular school schedules and this mother of two can finally return to my normal state of sanity. At this point in the summer, four weeks seems like an insurmountable time for me to survive to the end! So I thought it would be a good idea to revisit…
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My Stay-at-Home Mom Summer Adventures
Summertime with school aged children can really present some challenges for a stay-at-home mom. Well, it definitely presents challenges for this stay-at-home mom who writes a fashion and lifestyle blog that seems to revolve around very adult topics. Finding inspiration during the summer months when the children are constantly in my presence and adult interactions seem to be scarcer than ever forces me to be creative. I do find time to read books that discuss more mature topics such as psychology and mental health…you know, all that stuff that fascinates me. But if I am being real with you all, most of my days revolve around me making snacks, cleaning…
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Inspired by Jersey Girl, Texan Heart: Owning It in a Cropped Top & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up #82
If you recall just last week I shared a post about how blogging has made me bolder in my style choices. Well, it seems that one little post of wearing a cropped top (and walking around in public in said cropped top) has ignited an inferno of bravery coming from this 44 year old overweight married mom of two. And I am now taking the phrase I will wear what I like to a whole new level by my very own standards. With age comes wisdom. With wisdom comes confidence. And apparently with confidence comes a whole lot of nerve. When I saw my friend Monica of Jersey Girl, Texan…
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My Truth About Lies (This Might Make Your Brain Hurt)
Lies. Falsehoods. Deception. Deceit. Dishonesty. Slander. Myth. Misrepresentation. We all are capable of telling lies. We all possess the ability to deceive others and shade them from the truth. It could be as absolute as telling a blatant untruth or it can be as ambiguous as simply withholding pertinent information. We all have told lies in one form or another. Most of us will continue tell lies on some level throughout our entire lives. It might be a characteristic that is unique to human beings. Can other creatures in the animal kingdom practice fraudulence or deliver disinformation with purpose and intent? Sure, other animals can be sneaky and trick their…
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Inspired By Sheela Writes: Blogging Has Made Me Bolder
Blogland is filled with so many empowering articles and posts about body positivity and ageless style. While I am a huge advocate of those messages and can write equally inspiring and powerful messages suggesting that you all wear whatever makes you feel great regardless of age or body type, I am not necessarily so great at following my own words of advice. I often say how the most wonderful things happen when you step outside of your comfort zone and try something that you never before would have tried, but there are still lots of things outside of my own personal comfort zone that intimidate the hell out of me.…
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The Truth About Random Acts of Kindness & #SpreadTheKindness Link Up #80
I found this definition of random acts of kindness on Wikipedia, “A random act of kindness is a nonpremeditated, inconsistent action designed to offer kindness towards the outside world.” According to an analysis of this phrase and its origins, the original construction of random acts of kindness implied a level of anonymity which seems to have been lost in the current generation. A generation which has formed various groups throughout the world dedicated to sharing acts of random kindness. But anonymous or not, the world can use such acts of kindness even if they stray from the original concept of nonpremeditated and inconsistent. Premeditating and planning acts of kindness even…
