Thank you for joining me for Throwback Thursday, Blog style. This post is so dear to my heart as well…Bridget rocked. It was originally published on 30-APR-2013. Rereading it I cannot get over how far she has come since this was first posted. Continue reading →

Our town is currently going through the budget process for the upcoming year. Have you ever looked at your town budget? I have been going through just the school department budget (line by line) and it is enough to make my hair straight.

One of the reasons I love living in a small town is the opportunity to be involved in the process. Everyone truly has a voice, if they use it. In the school department case, the townspeople elect the (unpaid, volunteer only) school committee. The committee hires a superintendent. The superintendent hires the school staff. People unfamiliar with small town policies forget that at the end of the day, the school superintendent and committee answer to the townspeople. We are supposed to be involved and ask questions so we understand not only what is happening in our town but why our taxes get raised (every freaking year). Continue reading →

Throw back Thursday, blogging style. This post was originally published on 05-APR-2013. It was part of a series called 5-minute Friday. Where with a one word prompt you write for five minutes unfiltered.

It is time to join Lisa-Jo for 5-minute Friday. The time of day where you write for 5 minutes,unedited, just to show you can.

After I grow up I will do something meaningful.
After the kids go to bed I will relax.
After the husband goes to work I will clean the house.
After, after, after…. Continue reading →

Compassion: “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow who is stricken with misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering” (Dictionary).

I want to instill in Abby (and Bridget) what compassion is and is not. Sadly so many of us, myself included, forget the second half of the definition. Continue reading →

It has been a while since I was rewarded with the Leibster award. This is an award completely made up in the blogging world to validate that your blog does matter. Even if only 2 people read it. Lucky for me, more than 2 people read my words. However I am so very grateful to British Mum USA considered me the for the award.

Except, when I saw it on Twitter it said I was awarded the Lobster award. Which is cool because I totally love and I mean LOVE with capital letters lobstah. Have to love auto-correct, don’t you? At first I was just a little disappointed. Only because I had popcorn for dinner and was still hungry.

Now you are craving lobster, right? Instead I am going to gift the Leibster award to a few deserving writers.

Here is how it works, she asks me gives me an award and 10 questions. Then I pass the award on to some other wonderful bloggers.  I am supposed to ask them new questions, but I will probably cheat and reuse most of Ray’s awesome questions.

1. Where have you lived that you loved? Right where I am. Seriously, I love my town and my home. We have the best community ever.
2. Where would you love to live and why? If I had to move, and by that I mean was forced off the island, I would choose the coast of Maine. I just love being in Maine where you have the coast and the mountains within a few hours of one another.
3. Why do you blog, is it what you thought it would be? This should be two questions! I started to blog because I needed an outlet. I felt so alone with Bridget. The first year I kept the blog a secret from those who know me in real life. That was a mistake. While I made a tremendous friendship in Kristi  and others it took going public in 2013 to realize what I was missing with my real life friends. Between the two worlds I have succeeded in why I began blogging, to find my village. For the second part of the question, not at all. I never in a million years thought this blog would grow beyond Tia & Jenn reading it. To know I have impact on others? Holy crap it’s been a fantastic three years.
4. Do you enjoy time to yourself, solitude? I’m sorry, time to myself? I’m not sure I know what that phrase means!
5. Best book/movie read or seen lately? Killing Patton. It wasn’t really about killing him. He dies in the first chapter. But to learn more about the history of WW2 was quite amazing.
6. What have you learned recently? Not so much learned, but remembered that people are there for you if you let them. But you have to let them know.
7. What super power would you like to have? For Abby to do what I ask without questioning me
8. What plug-in or app can you not live without? Gosh, I hate to admit it but Facebook. I think I’m addicted.
9. Name a food that you hated as a child, and love now!  Just about everything. I was a wicked picky eater. I think my mom (and husband) would still say I’m the worst eater ever. But I’m much improved.
10. Have you ever found yourself in a LOL situation, what was it? This morning. I was trying a new exercise move in the bathroom (called the skater, don’t ask) when I tripped over my own feet and almost knocked myself out on the bathroom vanity. After I finished laughing I gave thanks that no one was there to witness it.

Thank you to British Mum for gifting me with the Leibster. I am sorry for being so late to respond. But well, holidays and hospitalizations cramped my style!

Here are the next group of winners (you can answer the same questions because they were fun!):

1. Looking for Blue Sky
2. Mardra
3. Sandcastle
4. The Maine Forest Cafe

Check out these cool bloggers for their unique perspective on the world. They are all very different and worthy of a peek!