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Ways to Support Your Local Economy During Coronavirus 2020
This certainly feels like a crazy time to be living in. We all know this exactly how every zombie/apocalypse movie starts. And it’s all fun and vacation until you take a moment to realize the catastrophic effect that a shut down like this can have on small businesses. In an effort to protect our community, the best thing we can do right is practice social distancing– and we can do this while helping to ensure that our local businesses don’t close during these uncertain times. We shouldn’t be gathering in large numbers but this doesn’t mean we can’t come together and throw our support behind the businesses that faithfully serve…
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Trying out Cleancult; an eco-friendly alternative
**For every purchase of a Cleancult product, this blog gets a kickback. It helps to keep us afloat and pay our bills. I am constantly trying to do my part to make my household as eco-friendly as possible. But it’s hard. And it can be expensive. I have three little kids and I’m not a millionaire. I want easy, affordable solutions to my everyday plastic problems. And that’s where Cleancult comes in. I have slowly been going throughout the house trying to switch out any one-use plastic and substituting it out for something sustainable. My latest project? SOAPS. My kids are dirty little bastards. They need to wash their hands…
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The Audacity of a Weed
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How NOT to be stressed out at the Holidays
The holidays can be rough. Most of us are exasperated by traveling, buying gifts, and preparing lavish meals. It is easy to fall into over-extending ourselves and letting the joy of the day pass us by. But I will not. I refuse to be held back by stress or perfection. This Thanksgiving will be a day filled with laughter. And food. And family. And I am so thankful. This time last year, I had just lost my father. I don’t remember much about Thanksgiving day except that at one point I was sobbing, sitting at the kids’ table. I don’t remember eating turkey or unbuttoning my jeans. I can’t recall…
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Affordable Outfits for Your Family Photos
If you are like the rest of us busy moms out there, you are probably struggling to fit in your family photos before the holiday season. Girl, I hear you. As a photographer and mother to three little people, I know the pain. Who has the time to go shopping? Not me. Any photographer worth their salt will tell you that outfits can make or break your pictures. You want them to be coordinated but not too matchy, cute but comfortable. Not too many prints but not too boring. But as parents, don’t we also want them to affordable? And no hassle? If you feel confident in your outfit, it…
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Women’s Amazon Must-Have’s
I’m gonna be honest with you, friends. You may not know this about me but I am incredibly, painfully lazy. To be fair– I have three little children and they seem to take up an awful amount of time. Who knew? Most of my shopping, both clothes and otherwise, comes from Amazon these days. The thought of dragging my kids into a store to try on clothes gives me hives. Immediately. I have been product testing these items myself– I bought them all myself. I wanted to test out some fail-safe steals that would be helpful for other busy moms like myself. **Although I did not get paid for these items,…
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Ways to Make Your Home More Eco Friendly
We all have that friend that is just obnoxious; they lecture you on recycling, they tell you the dangers of eating fruits and veggies that aren’t organic (they even use the word dirty), and they make you feel bad about trying to live your goddamn life. We’re all busy. We have all have shit to do. And especially us parents have a whole other burden. We are responsible for keeping little people alive and all the crap that goes along with it. The last thing we want is to be guilt-tripped about our use of a plastic fork, AMMIGHT?! Except I am that friend. I am that annoying mother who watches…
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My Kids Are Awkward
Today my five-year-old handed me his yogurt to open and asked, “Would you like to do the honors?” I texted my husband regarding his child’s absurdity and he was quick to remind me about this running list we have going about all of the funny things that our kids often say. I opened up the page in my notes and read the last entry which was dated from last year. The quoted text was between my then four-year-old son and my dad, also known as Grandpa Dick. (Make you sure that you double check with Alannis, but I’m pretty sure that his name is more ironic after this conversation…) It…
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I Am An Exhausted Parent– And I Miss “The Village”
Today as I sat stuffing Cheetos into my mouth, my three-year-old sitting on my lap and my five-year-old telling me a 45 minute Ninjago themed saga, I was struck by this simple fact: as parents, we no longer have “the village”. We’ve all heard the adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” And while this may seem elementary and passe, there really is something to it. I consider myself a decent enough mother but I am not too proud to admit that other adults will only add to my children’s upbringing. I am one woman, with one perspective. I want my kids to be exposed to many. I get tired–…
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To All The Parents Who Are Struggling—Your Strong-Willed Children Are a Blessing
To all you parents who are struggling out there– I see you. I nod in silent understanding when I see you gently trying to reason with your five-year-old, explaining with great animation as to why pairing one high heel and one flip-flop is a bad idea. I see you and I am right there with you. But I want to remind you that in the long run, your strong-willed child is a blessing. I was struck recently by the notion that some of the things that we are coached to teach our children when they are small are actually the things that I hope my children discard as they…