I AM - BECAUSE YOU ARE

Apparently, I am really bad at keeping up with #CurrentlyReading, because once again I am late posting as this book is already finished! Clearly I have been reading more than writing these days! Actually, I tend to do that when I discover a new author. Plus, I wanted to get though all of her other stand alone novels in anticipation of her new book, The Wives , coming out later this week.  And that brings me to: Atheists Who Kneel and Pray by Tarryn Fisher It wasn’t a bad read, but I did struggle to get through it because I was losing interest in the subject. With the other books, I liked that I wasn’t always able to predict the outcomes, the psychological aspect to them, the twists and turns; but this one was very straight forward. Which is funny, because that’s the type of story I once preferred, but now I find myself needing something that uses your brain a little more. So, overall, this is how Tarryn Fisher’s books stacked up for me: 2019 F*ck Marriage – loved it,...

Remember when I said I go through reading droughts and then I simply devour books? Well, I did it again, because I actually liked Tarryn Fisher's F*ck Marriage so much, I went on to speed through F*ck Love , I Can Be A Better You (aka Bad Mommy) and now I am almost done with Mud Vein too! F*ck Love by Tarryn FIsher I Can Be A Better You by Tarryn Fisher Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher Despite the similarity in some of the titles, these books are not part of a series. However, she does have a few series and I plan to read those after I am done with all of the standalone books. Her stories have an aspect of romance to them, but in a dark and twisted way; they are mysterious, thriller style, suspenseful and psychological. Totally not chick-lit, but I cannot put them down! I have not been reading them in the order they were written, and because of this I can see a change in her writing - an improvement. The earlier books ...

I don't think I read one book the whole way through all summer long; I just couldn't get into anything. Once Fall started I finished off all of the remaining chick-lit reads I had lined up and then I read a couple of self-helps books recommended by my therapist and a couple of friends as well, and then the Friend Zone book I mentioned in my last post. While the last book wasn't amazing by any means, it did remind me that there are other authors out there that I should try! So, I went scouring for something new and I was pleasantly surprised by what I found! F*ck Marriage by Tarryn Fisher I couldn't put this book down! I was that girl with her nose in her book (now, cellphone) all the way to work again. It's a little bit chick-lit, a little bit romance (usually NOT my thing) and a little bit of heartbreak too. Divorce, affairs, engagements, and a really popular blog as the office setting! And the title was misleading, as in it does not condemn marriage the ...

The other day a friend mentioned that she had nothing to read and was looking for suggestions. I told her that I had exhausted all of my usual authors myself and had been picking up some random books these last couple of months. At that time I was reading "The Friend Zone" by Abby Jimenez, a cheap Wal-Mart find that wasn't totally horrible. Not a glowing review, is it? I will work on that! The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez Anyhow, we got to talking and she actually remembered that I used to have a widget on my blog displaying my digital bookshelf and she said she kind of missed it. While I don't feel like starting that up again, because most of my traffic is click-through and subscriber based, I thought I would start a new #CurrentlyReading hashtag so you can find book suggestions (or cautions) whenever you wanted to. Now, bear with me, I either go through a book a week... sometimes more, or I don't touch a book for months. I am kind of a book bipolar!

Lifestyle and nutrition changes are on the horizon, and in the last weeks I have been making the first of many baby steps to make that happen! While I am not ready to share all of the details just yet, I will give you all a sneak peak into what I have been working on. Firstly, I have created a sister blog that will only feature certain posts related to specific topics from this site. It will be self-maintaining once I get things up and running so way less work for me! Maybe over time I will develop it a bit more, make it a bit more distinct, but for now I want to keep everything simple. Visually, it is under construction so nothing to show just yet. I will post a link once it is ready. I have also created another Instagram account purely related to “healthy” posts. Why? Because, going forward on my journey, I don’t want to overwhelm my main account with healthy this and healthy that causing followers to mute my content. And, yes, I will admit that I have done it myself so I am spea...

Before Christmas I saw a lot of articles pop up on my social media feeds about leaving the smaller gifts for Santa to give, because not all parents have endless money to spend on their kids so it doesn’t make sense to have Santa give your kid an iPad (for example) while his best friend at school gets some new socks and a winter hat. While the LO is still too young to grasp this concept, I did try to explain that her bubble bath, lips gloss and chocolate stuffed stocking came from Santa and the rest came from Mommy and Daddy. We got her lots of smaller gifts, too many probably, but our main gift was the LeapFrog Leapstart 3D with a few books to get her started. It is a learning system that brings books to life with both audio and video. It is marketed towards 2-7 year olds, but at 3 years old I can admit she has some difficulty playing through the activities on her own. I would say that pen control is the biggest issue, so she often points and I press the pages for her. What I like...

Recently I saw that our Indigo Bookstore would be holding a free event, for children aged 3-6, introducing a relatively new toy from Fisher-Price called the “Think & Learn Rocktopus”. I was excited because a lot of the events they hold are usually aimed towards slightly older children and we never really get to participate, and because getting to try something before you buy is priceless! I immediately registered for the event and looked up the toy as well. It wasn’t easy to find as it has only been out for a few months, but I managed to find it on Amazon at about 55USD or 77CAD! Quite a steep price tag, so it had better be good! Think & Learn Rocktopus by Fisher-Price As you can see from the picture, it is super cute! But aside from cuteness, it is a mini music lovers dream! The toy boasts 15 musical instruments, 5 musical styles, and 3 separate ways to play. It incorporates Math, Music and Play at an appropriate level. It has fun lights and colors that help guide ...

As soon as I knew we were having a little girl, I dreaded one particular toy market we were headed towards in the future… dolls! I had over 100 Barbie dolls growing up myself, with all the accessories, and now that I am on the other side of the purchasing I understand the 1000 other times I was simply told NO! Dolls in general, Barbie or not, seem to have two prices – falling apart cheap and over the top pricy! But through my research I found that there are a select few manufacturers that are priced affordably, right in the middle, and the dolls themselves really appealed to me; namely Sears Canada’s Newberry Doll. I figured in a few years I would go out to the Department Store and let her choose her very own, hoping she didn’t discover the difference between these dolls and their pricier counterparts. And then Sears announced bankruptcy! Damnit! I went online and found a couple of dolls that I liked the most and raced to Sears as soon as liquidations started. Of course, tons o...

Well, it's that time of year again. The wonderful, stressful, holiday season. I am trying not to let it get to me but it always does. My work, which used to be a pleasant distraction, is only adding to the pile this time around as well.That said, I have tried to keep spirits up at home for the LO and I think I am doing a pretty good job. Last year I bought 2 very special hand made Christmas elves from a local, amazing, seamstress; both girls, lovingly named Danica (mine, a potential girl's name I will never use) and Marshmallow Snowflake (for the LO until she names the elf herself). This year, I added to the collection with our little blue-eared deer, named Larimar (after my favorite stone found in my favorite vacation spot). What I love most about the deer is that he is in the same fabric used for Marshmallow and they make a perfect pair! These two will always belong to my daughter, near or far. And, I guess next year it will be time to add a boy elf for DH since he doesn...

Summer seemed to linger on and then all of a sudden... it's FALL! I spent Friday at home not feeling well, mostly due to being stressed and overwhelmed at the moment. The weather wasn't great, but Saturday was looking beautiful and we had plans to play tourist with DH's cousin visiting from Italy. We were heading out to a small Zoo for part of the day and they don't have a restaurant on site but they had a small cafeteria area with microwaves available, so I wanted to prepare something for lunch ahead of time. I don't particularly love microwaved food, but chilli is one of those foods that tastes great any way you cook or re-heat it... plus, it wasn't something I needed to babysit over the stove; win-win! After dropping the LO off at daycare, I raced over to Wal-Mart and picked up a couple of Hunt's Chilli Mix packages, some meat and some corn. Really, this is all you need! Depending on how I feel I add other things in as well, like peppers or oni...

This summer I was given the chance to test products by Bear Paws (cookies) and Mabel's Labels in a joint venture marketing opportunity. I won't lie, I was previously aware of both these products but I had not sampled very many cookie flavors in the past and while I had a package of labels somewhere in the drawer already, I wasn't really using them on clothing and this is what I put to the test. The Bear Paws are great for snacks, but they crumble easily in the packaging so I prefer not to throw them into the diaper bag like I would other snack choices. I do have one of those Roots insulated lunch bags they sell at Costco and they fair quite well inside of the front pouch for road trips. In either case, they make a good special treat in this house! I especially liked the soft granola chocolate chip cookies because they only have one cookie per package so I can pair it with a sippy cup of milk and it's not too much to spoil dinner. I am definitely a fan of the molasses ...

I suppose the majority of my CMM readers have always been those close to my journey TTC, personally or following a similar path, but my goal with IABYA is to be a bit more broad in scope and reach a larger audience. I am not looking to take over the world wide web and become an empire, just a little slice! I will continue to keep this as a personal journal of sorts, but I also hope to share guest posts and curated content as well ( in other words - if you have something to say... please message me, I want to hear from you ). There is so much information out there regarding our health, parenting, relationships and anything else you can think of, but sometimes a story jumps out at me and I just feel like it is something I need to share! So, I will try and post a list of interesting reads from time to time alongside my own story. Some may be correlated or intertwined, others may just be an interesting read. I may even dig something up from my old blog! Being a new mom as well as a...