I had intended to post my first Christmas blog of the season yesterday, but every time I went to push “publish” it didn’t feel right, and I think it’s because I didn’t give Halloween its due. I love the spooky…
Category: Whims & Words
Happy Birthday, A Momma & Her Pen!
Today marks the two-year anniversary of A Momma & Her Pen. Holy shiitake mushroom sauce! Two years?! I can’t believe it—where has the time gone? The older I get, the faster the years seem to fly by and that terrifies…
The Cold Is My Shield
“There was an odd comfort in the cold, as if it were a shield.” I spend a lot of time reflecting on the “whys” of life. They are critical to understanding, to learning, to growing. And if there’s one thing…
Autumn In The Grotto
My family and I recently discovered a grotto at a Catholic church not far from our home and we’ve taken to visiting as often as we can. I suppose that speaks to how much we crave prayer and answers and…
The Allure Of Simplicity
I love the symmetry, the ingenuity, the poetry of words—and how they marry to create the most vivid of pictures. But I also love when those words stir my passions because they are so perfectly reminiscent of the world in…
Self-Care, Take Me Away
Remember the ad campaign for Calgon bath products back in the 1970s and 1980s? “Calgon, take me away!” My mom used to bellow this phrase all the time when I was a kid and it always made me laugh. Maybe…
Glamour, Guts, & Glory
Sometimes being a woman is the worst. I’ve had all sorts of crazy symptoms and complaints over the past few years. First from pregnancy: flabby, streaky skin on my tummy; an unfortunate and uncalled for reduction in my breasts (as…
Our Past Is The Canvas For Our Future
“You shouldn’t envy me. Mostly I live in the past.” –Brandon Stark (Game of Thrones, season 8, episode 4: “The Last of the Starks”) Apologies for always quoting Game of Thrones—the series is littered with profound and poignant one-liners (and…
Preserving My Inner Guide
Salvation sometimes comes in the unlikeliest of places. For me, it’s almost always Josh (and all genres of music), books/TV shows (fantasy and historical fiction are my go-tos right now), cooking/baking, writing, coffee and wine, my husband. Hell, even my…
The Irony Of Time
I’ve often wondered what a midlife crisis would look like—and when it would happen. As a young adult, I pictured an abrupt, bold, seemingly catastrophic event during a specific time in one’s life—somewhere around the 50-year mark—that comes roaring in…