MamaManagement

Here's a quick little book recommendation for you… I recently finished Along For The Ride by Sarah Dessen -- a recommendation from my YA novel-devouring, 17 year old niece. It's my first Sarah Dessen book (she's quite prolific) and I will read more. I found this book very sweet (in a good way, not syrupy-sweet). A quick and easy read. And well written. Dessen's writing style is engaging and she has good pacing. Her characters are smart and sometimes surprising.  And, as you know, I love these YA books that take me back to the feelings of being a teenager. Auden, our teenage protagonist who recently graduated high school, hasn't slept at night since before her parents divorced, and fills most of her time with homework and books…and lives mostly in her own head. Now she's been invited to spend the summer before college with her dad's new family in a small, quaint beach town. There she stumbles into the teenage life she's always avoided…friends, bo

It's Top Ten Tuesday! Hurray! (I know it's actually Wednesday, but just go with it…) This week's top ten list is pretty simple and straight-forward. As I'm sure you've gleaned from my blog, if you read along with any frequency, I am a coffee lover. A borderline coffee junkie. I love coffeeshops. I love coffee. I drool over a Starbuck's Nonfat Latte. And I savor a straight-up medium roast with room for cream at my local Cocoa Beanery. At home I brew with my trusty Keurig. I drink a lot of flavored k-cups at home. Regular in the morning. Decaf in the afternoon. I top it off with half & half…and on the weekends, a little whip cream. In the coffeeshop I shake in some cinnamon too. But my husband goes no-flavor on the coffee and then adds flavored creamer (he likes the Bailey's creamers). I also drink a fair amount of tea…both iced and hot. And brew those with my Keurig as well. We order k-cups in large quantities…giant boxes of warmth and happiness

Okay folks. Have you ever had one of those "Oh Crap!" feelings that comes with the realization that not only do you need to find something to wear to a party, you also need to come up with an appetizer to bring with you? And, of course, there's no time to get it all done with the chaos of kids at your feet. (Or maybe you just don't feel like chopping and mixing…) Well, though I can be of absolutely no help with what you should wear to the party (I have NOTHING either to wear either!), I can help with what appetizer to bring. And while I have lots of super yummy apps (the ones you eat, not the ones on your phone), this one is by far the easiest. And, absolutely every time I have ever served this dish people rave about it and ask for the recipe. When I tell them, they almost never believe me that it's this simple. But it is. And it's *that* good too. Trust me. Before I give you the easiest (yet deliciously impressive) party appetizer recipe you'll ever h

Welcome back! It's Top Ten Tuesday time again! I had planned to write a post about New Year's Resolutions sometime back around January 1, but for some reason I just couldn't get it together. I was delayed a bit in getting up and running, but I did eventually get engaged in things. I looked back over my resolutions from last year, like I always do. And I did my annual January resolution brainstorm at the coffeeshop….like I always do. Sidebar: Here's a little peek at my perch in my current favorite writing spot, The Cocoa Beanery. These were actually taken while I was working on my resolutions back in January. At some point I will share shots of my other favorite writing locals… But I kept wanting to spend more time with it all. It needed more thought. The thinking needed to be synthesized…simplified. And yet I never could get myself to do it. I just copied "Resolutions" from one week's to-do list to the next, never really doing anythi

I sat here just days away from my 40th birthday...40. For real. 40…and wrote most of this post. It is now one week after the calendar rolled over to a new decade for me and I'm coming back in to tweak the post with my new-found 40 year old wisdom. So bear with me... Up until I turned 38, birthdays never got to me. I never felt bothered by getting older. I never really felt like I was getting older. I was the same me. The same work-in-progress. But something happened in the last few years and I found myself far more bothered by age than I am comfortable with. Especially in these last few months as this particular birthday approached. Because it bothered me, it got me thinking about some of the things that may be playing a part in my new-found issue with getting older (and turning… gasp ...40): Actually getting older… There is no denying that I am actually getting older. I mean 40's not exactly over-the-hill these days. 40 is the new 30 or 20 or something like tha

Hello and welcome to another edition of Top Ten Tuesday ! Before I get into this Tuesday's top ten topic, I first want to acknowledge a little something: Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the launch of MamaManagement. Now, this is not a significant milestone to anyone but me. MamaManagement is a very small blog with a very small readership. And that's just fine with me. But this very small blog is very important to me. And this 2 year anniversary means a lot to me. It signifies that 2 years ago I decided to do something, small as it may be, just for me. Had that happened 10 years ago, I'm not sure it would have proved to be so significant. But when you are a mom of small children, doing something that is entirely for yourself can be a big deal. MamaManagement is not for my kids or my husband. It does not get anything off my to-do list and it does not help clean my house. It does not run errands for me and it does not take care of the dog. MamaManagement is ju

Lately, I've been trying to pay a lot closer attention to the differences between my good days and my not-so-good days, noting the things that seem to make me feel good…more like me ...and the things that drain me. And while it may be tough to get every single "feel good thing" into every single day, I figure that if I can try to work in as many as possible each day, I'm likely to have more of those good days and less of the bad. So here they are, the top ten things that make me feel like me… Top Ten Things That Make Me Feel Like Me: 10. Cuddle time with my kiddos 9. Getting creative 8. A little quiet time and/or a little afternoon nap 7. Some fresh air 6. Cuddle time with my main squeeze 5. A good cup of coffee 4. A chat with a good friend 3. Reading a good book 2. Writing 1. Working out P.S. If that doesn't scream Introvert! , I don't know what would! Oy! Until next time, go figure out what makes you feel good…and do more of that!