Tag: Confessions
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Learning a New Rhythm of Life
It’s Lent. Often during this season I undertake some type of fast, setting aside a habit or a routine from my normal rhythm of life in order to focus more on God. But this year — my first as an empty-nest mom — my rhythm of life is thumping to a different beat. And in…
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If Parenting Had Do-Overs
Being an empty-nest parent is like being a Monday morning quarterback. You find yourself looking back on a game you’ve already played, and analyzing what you could have done differently. Prior to motherhood, I was a reasonably confident decision-maker. Parenting turned me into a second-guesser. How would my decisions impact my children’s character and competency…
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Five Things That are Smarter Than Me
I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person. I can balance my checkbook, hard boil an egg, and navigate using real maps. I’m teachable and love to learn new things. I can re-light the pilot on the water heater and reset the smoke alarm when the ribs sit too long under the broiler. I do logic…
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Jack Misses His Breakfast
A Tale of Overthinking “Here, Jack! Here, Kitty, Kitty!” I shake the bowl so the kibbles rattle against the sides. “Jack-Jack! Come get your breakfast!” Most days, my cats come running within a few minutes of being summoned. But not today. I wait expectantly for the blur of orange to race into the garage and…
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I Set My Alarm Clock for Success
Waking up well starts at bedtime I enjoy being a morning person, but I’d never be a successful one without my alarm clock. In fact, the way I get out of bed determines my success as a human being each day. There’s definitely a science to waking up well. For me, it starts at…
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When Meal Planning Derails the Meal Making
The path to my kitchen is paved with good intentions Meal planning starts with the best of intentions. Every time I enter the kitchen I intend to create an amazing, nutritious meal my family will love. Unfortunately, the reality of meal-making squashes the fantasy of meal planning. Statistically, just 6% of the meals I prepare…
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Build a Better Fly Swatter
I don’t need a better mousetrap Build a better mousetrap and the world might beat a path to your door, but I won’t be leading that charge. I don’t need a better mousetrap (I have cats). I do need a better fly swatter. Because I can’t swat a fly to save my life. Instead, my…
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Memories Hide Within the Clutter
Why do we keep the stuff we keep? I alternately wage war and make peace with the clutter in my house. Occasionally my tolerance of “stuff” reaches critical mass and I go on a rampage against it. In those moods I’m determined to minimalize, simplify, de-acquire. But my clutter is sneaky. It knows how…
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Things That Go Ring in the Night
Video doorbells don’t always see everything Fearless, I’m not. In fact, sometimes I’m a downright sissy. Not that I haven’t done brave things. After all, I birthed two children without so much as a Tylenol. And I’m not afraid of the dark, but sometimes I’m afraid in the dark. I don’t like things that…
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Failure to Negotiate
Too Chicken to Haggle Over Chickens The root of most marital arguments is failure to communicate. In my marriage, it’s failure to negotiate. That’s because I married a man with the soul of a horse trader, while I possess the heart of a chicken. He relishes negotiating the numbers, but I abhor haggling. Our most…