We have a family calendar we print and keep on the fridge. Yes, a paper calendar. If you don't have kids, you won't understand this, but kids don't have smart phones they can use to check what's happening on any given day. Heck, even my husband can't be bothered to check a shared google calendar, so... I prefer the DIY calendar you just print yourself, month by month, and fill out by hand, anyway. At the start of each new year, I'll print out each month, and fill in the little I do know - … [Read more...] about Our Family Calendar – April 2020
Moving During a Pandemic, Because Apparently That’s How We Roll
In our married lives, with regard to housing, our timing is everything. We moved to Phoenix in 2006, at the peak of the housing market. By 2013, when we had 2 children, we had been desperate for more space. For a Very. Long. Time. But why hadn't we moved? Oh a little thing called the Great Recession. Eventually, in 2016, our home value had finally come back enough that we could walk away. Except then, only I could qualify for a mortgage (not both of us). Why? Because no lender recognizes … [Read more...] about Moving During a Pandemic, Because Apparently That’s How We Roll
Another empty sky day
In September 2001, I was working for a federal agency in Flagstaff, Arizona. It is absolutely stunning there in September - deep blue skies, wispy clouds, and aspens starting to turn gold in the warm afternoons, before the nights grew cool. I fell in love with hiking by myself there, and would spend most afternoons and weekends exploring and just being in nature. This is a picture I took shortly after September 11, 2001 on one of my favorite trails. I don't know what you see when you … [Read more...] about Another empty sky day
sh*t’s getting weird. real weird.
This whole coronavirus thing is getting weird, ya'll. Like really, really weird. Yesterday I couldn't focus at work, at all. I was sitting in my cubicle all day, my mom at my house, visiting for spring break to help with the kids, who have been in spring break camp this week, but who we've kept home anyway since Wednesday to be with her and to not be around other humans. And today I just dropped her off at the airport to go home. I felt simultaneously both overzealous for asking her to … [Read more...] about sh*t’s getting weird. real weird.
a literal sh*t storm
Today's my birthday. For whatever reason, I often struggle around my birthday. It triggers an annual depression, which boils down to feelings of: I haven't done "enough." Or "I'm not where I should be in life." This year, those feelings are even more painful for me, because I've had some career bullshit that has been a wrecking ball to my ego. On top of that, my parentified childhood means that I get intrusive and cyclical and DEEP sadness leading up to and just after my birthday, mourning … [Read more...] about a literal sh*t storm