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You Are NOT Your Job!
This article is not about parenting or anything related to parenting, per se. I suppose I’m breaking the rules of the website but I had a thought I’ve been chewing around lately and wanted to record for posterity. And it is MY website so I’ll say what I want to say. LOL. This is my sad little version of creative freedom… The old trope goes: “Study hard, kids, so you don’t grow up to be a bus driver!” … (The other old trope goes: “Don’t live in a van down by the river!” Although living in a van is considered cool now.) Well, I worked at a bus yard five…
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Never a Kodak Moment… What baby milestones REALLY look like (PLUS: Fan Mail Bag!)
Praise Buddha! I finally ponied up the money to get my laptop fixed. Which means I can once again engage in my illustrious side hustles, AND I can flesh out a couple of these long-teased blog topics. Amazingly, Google Analytics tells me that I received many new viewers during my lengthy sabbatical. But based on the emails I’ve read, I fear it may be more quantity than quality. …Fan Mail Time! Here’s an email from one of my esteemed fans. DavidG666@outlook.com (very professional outlook name) writes: “RelationshipsdatingInside the harmful world of ‘Sugar Daddy’ internet dating sites”mister father” paid dating sites might appear like sexy chinese women a fun way to…
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Blogging… Like Opening Up Yet Another Taco Stand in Mexico
Way back in 2001, I was sitting in a college lecture when my professor proclaimed grimly to the class that journalism was experiencing its death knell. With tenure-backed boldness, he warned us all to pick a different major since print media was about to go the way of the dodo. In subsequent years, his prediction proved fairly accurate. While newspapers remain an important part of American life, companies have been hit hard as more and more Americans are consuming their news digitally. Since 2009, many major metropolitan news dailies have been either shut down or forced to make drastic reductions to stay afloat. Instead, people are going online to get…
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Don’t be a WORRY WART… Restructure your Thinking and FREE Your Head
For those of us moms who share parenting duties with the ex, there comes a time when we have to ask ourselves: “Is this a CPS-level offense or just dad establishing himself as the fun parent?” For me, that time came when my daughter was about ten months old, her father had her for the weekend and I gave them a call to see how everything was going. I asked him what they’d had for lunch, and he answered “blue cheese stuffed steak,” before hanging up on me. My daughter had eight teeth at the time. I called my mom in a state of anxiety and consternation —because moms are…
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Mother’s Day: A Surprising History
I’m sad to report that as with many holidays, the origin story of Mother’s Day is a dark one… And the nineteenth century was twisted times, y’all! Celebrations of motherhood can actually be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who honored their mother goddesses with festivals, and an early form of Mother’s Day known as “Mothering Sunday” was celebrated as a major tradition in the UK and Europe before fading in popularity. However, the modern version of Mother’s Day that we all participate in can be attributed to Anna Jarvis, daughter of Anne Reeves Jarvis. Anne Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia was quite the woman. She helped start “Mother’s…
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Daily Single Mama Gambles
…All the decisions we make on our own! Before I wrote this article, I was faced with a gamble. I was supposed to write an entirely different article, but my computer decided to turn against me and unleash an unholy virus. I then had a decision: whether to fix this old and not so trusty laptop, or save my money for a pursuit that would be more promising than the vague notion that there are people out there who will actually read what I have to contribute to this unending internet expanse. As single mothers, we often have to take daily gambles. We have to make decisions, big and small,…