I AM - BECAUSE YOU ARE

I took the day off yesterday with the best of intentions, but things did not work out as planned... and that's OK! Half way through the LO’s Birthday Party on Sunday, at a toddler amusement center, I became severely nauseous. I wasn’t sure what it was exactly, but I knew it was bad so I raced home and that’s when it hit… gastro! Yup, 11 long and endless hours of it! Thankfully we had taken 2 cars to get there so DH was able to stay and let the LO run around a while longer while I rested. Monday morning I hear DH up in the bathroom. Sure enough, he had it now as well. Thankfully the LO was fine so off to daycare she went. We both missed work and stayed home to sleep; DH at the beginning of it all, myself in pain from head to toe and now coughing too. Tuesday was supposed to be a quick check-up with the pediatrician followed by a birthday fun day; a visit to our old playgroup and an afternoon with some friends. But, I wasn’t the only one up coughing all night! Sure enough, medi...

As I reset the numbers on a date stamp in the office today, I realized it had been one year since I had returned to work from my maternity leave... And then, I got depressed. Because had I been able to take an additional year of like I had wanted, today would have been my first day back. Because had today been my first day back, I wouldn't have had to endure the turmoil I experienced at the office this past summer. Because while I still love my job... I cannot breathe in my environment. Because I am fed up... of not being listened to, not being heard.. and feeling like I am nothing but a number. Before I went for surgery I applied for, interviewed and was offered another position. After much debate, I turned it down. No, officially, I withdrew my candidacy. My guilt about leaving for surgery, my loyalty to a project that was coming to fruition weeks after my return, a long unexpected talk with a coworker and my hope that things would get better made me do it. Don't g...

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...

By now I am sure most people have seen the post entitled "She divorced me because I left dishes by the sink" making the rounds on social media in the last year. But, how many of you actually clicked on it? If you are like me, I initially thought the title was so petty that it would be an eye-roll of a read. But, I had extra time one day (imagine that!) and it popped up in my saved links on Facebook so I gave it a try. And I cannot tell you how many people I have forwarded it to since! The wife doesn’t want to divorce her husband because he leaves used drinking glasses by the sink. She wants to divorce him because she feels like he doesn’t respect or appreciate her, which suggests he doesn’t love her, and she can’t count on him to be her lifelong partner. It is an excellent read if you are having troubles or not; whether you are the one leaving the dishes or the one cleaning them up. To read the full piece, head over to Must Be This Tall To Ride .

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 ...