We met at work in 2006. After I agreed to go on a first date with you to another state where I would meet your entire family and stay at your mom’s house and run around the farm in a dress and heels on our way to said date so you could help your dad smoke a badger out of the barn (also my first time meeting your dad) (WHEW) I guess something must have gone right because here we are. We’ve lived in small houses, in bigger houses, with roommates, without them, in apartments, and – for a time…
As the designated Household Manager, I am the person in charge of the laundry. Which, for the record, is NEVER ENDING. I’m usually washing a load of something every day, because between four people, towels, sheets, blankets, dish cloths, and miscellanea, there is always something that needs cleaned. Today, I chose to wash my husband’s white t-shirts, throw blankets on the couch, and our bedsheets. These are the only three things I washed this day. Sitting on the couch this evening, watching one of our favorite shows, I pointed out how the throw blankets we were snuggling under were so…
For Mother’s Day this past May, the Husband gifted me a subscription to a “flower of the month” club. It works pretty much as you would expect – each month I receive a box. Packed inside is a flowerpot. At first it looks just like a pot of dirt, but with time and water the bulbs that are planted underneath emerge, revealing themselves and gracing our table with pretty blooms. The bulbs are chosen according to seasonality – Daffodils in April, for example – although I can’t easily identify them all because the packing slip does not provide any information…
Now that most of the major outdoor house projects are complete (**fingers crossed**), the husband and I have made a goal to spend some weekends going camping as a family. We really haven’t done this (with kids) but once, at a campground just a stone’s throw from our house in Iowa. It was amazing, and we stayed in a tent, but it wasn’t quite like true nitty-gritty camping. You can read about it here. Well, the weather looked to be warm, and we didn’t have any plans, so we decided this weekend was going to be our inaugural Missouri camping…
Let’s talk about it. I’d hope, by the title, that you will realize the serious content of this post. This is not funny, or witty, or irreverent, or insightful. It is raw and real and painful. But please, I hope you can do me (and my baby) the honor of reading it all the way through. I had a miscarriage. Let’s talk about it. I mean, let’s not just talk about my miscarriage. Let’s talk about them all. Statistics show that as many as one in three pregnancies can end prematurely. The odds are that you know someone who has…
“Mom,” my oldest son asked me, “why are you taking a picture of your shoes?” “Well bud,” I replied, “Do you know I haven’t worn these shoes in a long time? Do you know the last time I wore these shoes?” He shook his head. “My wedding. When your dad and I got married.” His eyes got big. “Yep, over 10 years ago. Before you and your brother were even born. So, I took this picture to remember how much has changed since then. And how much I love everyone and everything in our lives.” Okay, so maybe being at…
Today marks 12 years of marriage for me and the Husband. If I can say one thing about marriage is that it’s not an event. It’s not even a state of being. It’s an evolution. Okay, that was three things, but they’re all connected. This is because marriage is a union of two people – two imperfect people – and therefore marriage, by default, is an imperfect union. A happy, fulfilled marriage doesn’t just “happen” to you. Instead, you happen to your marriage. What I mean by this is that, as a person, I grow and change throughout my life.…
Everywhere our children go, they turn on lights. And don’t turn them off. Whenever we are getting ready to leave the house, I have to build in an extra five minutes just to go around turning off lights that they’ve left on. Last night, before bed, Chris went downstairs and noticed that our youngest child (the last one to set foot down there) had left EVERY SINGLE light on. Chris turned them off and we had an exasperated laugh together about it. This morning, after I’ve gotten the boys off to school and long after Chris has left for work,…
The boring version is that Chris and I met at work in Arizona, in the early months of 2006, dated for about three years and then got married. The more interesting version is that a guy I barely knew from work randomly asked me to fly out to Iowa with him as his date for his 10-year high school reunion. And I’d meet my future-mother-in-law when I stayed at her house for an extended weekend, where I’d also meet all of his siblings and attend his brother’s college graduation. And the first time I’d meet my future father-in-law it would…
If you’ve been reading this blog at all, you might have an idea. I mean, it spans over a decade of my life, and I’d like to think I share a balanced view of the highs and lows that life gives me. But here’s the current TL;DR in case you want to be my friend. Because I like friends. But I’m socially awkward. So here we are. A random list of things about me: I love this life I’ve built. I’m a born introvert. A shy book nerd who was bullied in school for being “too nice.” I’m an overthinker…