I have a vivid memory of my mother from my childhood. I think of it often. She's folding laundry in her bedroom, and I'm chattering on about something as she holds out a fitted sheet. We each take our respective corners, create a crease and bend them in neatly while I continue talking. In complete unison, we fold the sheet.
Read MoreAs you may, or may not, know I no longer have a kitchen to clean out so this month’s posts didn’t exactly help my productivity. I spent days trying to rearrange everything into dysfunctional cupboards and then ended up removing it all and throwing it all in my home office!
Read MoreThe kitchen is the hub and heart of any home but what happens when the kitchen is a hot mess?!
Our kitchen is small, old, and extremely dysfunctional. It needs a renovation, it cannot be helped much without one. Although we’re saving our pennies and a renovation is in our future, it’s important to my husband and I that we can pay for it and we’re not accumulating more debt.
Read MoreGoing to Europe with three children for two weeks is a feat! Thanks to Tidying Up star, Marie Kondo, luggage for five doesn’t have to be overwhelming. All you have to do is Marie Kondo your suitcase!
We went to Europe a few years ago and the hardest part about travelling for me was the lack of sleep on the plane and trying to lug our suitcases up and down the European train station staircases. I brought way too much and had a heavy stroller (relatively heavy, it’s quite a small, light stroller compared to the average North American stroller).
Read MoreFrom heroin addiction to sharing her story of transformation on CBN, Mariah is truly an inspiration!
Read MoreOkay, well the name is super obvious but it’s having a vacation wherever you are!
I’d like to preempt by saying that my children and I have lived in my parent’s basement, in a 650 square foot apartment, a high-rise, and also a single family home- you can have a staycation anywhere.
I’m going to assume you have children because the majority of the readers here are married and in their twenties and thirties. If you don’t have children, so much easier.
Read MoreHave you heard the saying, “Put on your own oxygen mask first”?
If you’ve been on an airplane, you have! It’s counter-intuitive to help yourself before your children but the truth is, we cannot help anyone until we help ourselves. If Mommy is laying in the aisle, who will help the kiddos? It’s the same in addiction. Put on your own oxygen mask first!
Read MoreIs it possible to go to Europe, with a baby, a toddler and a tween for two weeks… as minimalists?
I’d first like to say that I am not a minimalist, yet! I’m merely a girl looking to simplify her life and get as bare-bones as possible so I can Marie Kondo my life to spark joy in as many areas as possible.
I did not plan the Fresh 2019 series to fall so perfectly in-time with Marie Kondo’s home takeover but she is here and it happened and it feels a little bit like fate. Although I will not be introducing myself to my home and thanking my belongings for their time with me (with the exception of my favourite sweater my husband sent through the dryer to which I mourned for a few weeks on chilly mornings and needed to give it a proper goodbye to let it go) I will happily buy tiny boxes and organize my drawers into slivers of tiny folded gifts.
Read MoreDo you remember 10 Things I Hate About You? My 1990’s self soaked that up like nothing else. Angry girl bands. Cute guy with curly hair. Crop tops and sullen faces. Yes, I was all about it.
Explains a lot.
Read MoreThe recovery process is a rollercoaster.
There’s an expectation that when the addiction stops, so do the issues. Now that the dreaded addiction is gone, your life can go back to normal. The problem is, there is no “normal” anymore. After addiction, your normal is “dysfunctional”. Normal is “messy”. Normal is “chaos”. Normal is “fighting”. Normal is “tension”. Normal is “mistrusting”. Normal is “out of control”.
My husband and I decided we would try a no buy month. Actually, I announced to everyone suddenly that it was “no buy month” and demanded they all follow suit- effective immediately.
Hm.
It last for about 15 hours before my husband had spent over $100 on a diet program. I have to say, I thought for sure what broke him would be Home Depot. I am honestly scared every time he goes there because I never know what he’s going to come home with. It won’t be what was on the list, though!
Read More1 in 3 Americans Will Have a Friend Die From a Drug Overdose
This statistic comes from a recent study done by American Addiction Centers. Among the other findings of this survey, they concluded that Millennials are most affected by these deaths, that 44% of those surveyed said the victim they knew was perceived to have a vibrant social life, and that those with vibrant social lives were less likely to be predicted to fatally overdose.
When I first read the statistic that 1 in 3 Americans know someone who has passed from an overdose, I was skeptical. Could that really be true? The opioid crisis is certainly a big deal, and the chickens are coming home to roost with Purdue Pharma now allegedly considering bankruptcy due to the lawsuits against them. But could a third of everyday Americans really know someone who has died from an overdose?
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