Archive - August 2016

1
Back To School, What’s Cool?
2
Why This Mama Bird Ain’t Happy About Back-To-School
3
Our Back To School #CartersOshKosh Fashion Picks + Enter To Win a $500 Gift Card!
4
Why mindful? And what does that even mean anyway?

Back To School, What’s Cool?

  There’s a rumour going around that summer is nearly over. I refuse to believe it but we did some back to school shopping just in case… FYI—This post is not sponsored. I wasn’t paid to toot anyone’s horns. I’ll tell you if any of these items were given to us. Otherwise, I dug deep into my mom jean pockets and paid for these myself or plan to. By “plan to” I don’t mean to imply that I stole anything. I haven’t shoplifted since I was six years old and I took a tiny brush from the paint store I was in with my mum. In my defence, I thought they were free. My mother made me go back to the store to return it. I’ve never gotten a five-finger discount since. A few of this items are still on my wish list.  My ever growing, long, long, super list of wants.  TECH       BOOKS     LUNCH TIME     LOCKER LOOT      

Read More

Why This Mama Bird Ain’t Happy About Back-To-School

A friend posted a question on Facebook asking, “Are you happy or sad about your kids going back to school?” The majority of responses were something like, “It’s been fun but I want my routine back!”  My sad face emoticon response was in the minority. I am not excited about my kids heading back to school in the least.  That might make me sound all, “Oooooh, I’m such a wonderful mother. I enjoy every single second with my perfect children, crafting and baking wholesome snacks, and exploring nature on our many hikes and adventures. Hashtag…. #blessed” As if. The last thing I hiked up was my skirt at the waterpark.  Me lamenting my kids return to school doesn’t make me some kind of earnest earth mother who savours each second with her spawn. Of course I savour some seconds, but not all of them. Some seconds/minutes/hours are loud and clingy and annoying and totally cut into my highly coveted “me time.”  Admittedly, I’ve had it easy. My husband is a teacher, off for the summer. I always have an extra set of hands. I’d be singing a vastly different tune if I was home alone with my kids for sixty-eight days straight. […]

Read More

Our Back To School #CartersOshKosh Fashion Picks + Enter To Win a $500 Gift Card!

When my son was a baby the majority of his wardrobe was from Carter’s. OshKosh B’ gosh; he was a stylin’ little dude. He obviously didn’t care if his socks matched his overalls or if his onesies had cute sayings on them, but I did. He was my pride and joy and dressing him up in cuddly outfits made me swoon. Thirteen years later his socks no longer match his pants. In fact, they rarely match each other. This man-child doesn’t give a care about fashion and heaven forbid I should lay out a super cute outfit like one of these for him to wear… So thank goodness for my fashion-loving daughter. She loves dressing up. Hair accessories, purses and bracelets, dresses, cute t-shirts and pretty sparkly shoes…she adores all of it. A few weeks ago, before I even knew I’d be writing this post, we popped into the Carter’s | OshKosh store near our house. We needed tall socks for “Crazy Sock Day” at Avery’s bicycle camp and I knew I’d be able find what I needed. Neon star and polka dot socks in hand, we browsed for a bit. My son was with us and I felt a sudden[…]

Read More

Why mindful? And what does that even mean anyway?

I like to hang onto things—to cling to past experiences and their corresponding feelings (good and bad) like some kind of memory hoarder.  At the same time, I enjoy time travel into the future. If only I had a functional crystal ball, then I wouldn’t need to spend so much time guessing and imagining what lies ahead. I like to know how things are going to play out so I create possible scenarios in my head. It’s a crap shoot. About 90% of my predictions are wrong. Or more often, by the time the future becomes the now, I’ve forgotten what outcome I was trying to orchestrate in the first place.  My husband started actively learning about mindfulness years ago, long before it became a trend. And man has it ever become a trendy. These days you can’t swing a yoga mat without hitting a meditating millennial or a #mindful hashtag.  Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn is the first book on the subject of mindfulness that my husband read. In fact, it’s the first book he’s read from cover to cover in our entire marriage! Clearly it captured his attention.  I’m reading it now. It’s no ‘Girl[…]

Read More

All images and text are copyright © 2020 Forever In Mom Genes