How to: Stepmom to a T

When I became a stepmom, I lost a part of myself. Now, don’t read that as a negative thought, because I gained so much. I lost my ability to move in an instant, but I gained a home. I lost sleeping in on the weekends, but gained three extra snugglers. I lost my desire to have a cat, but I gained another friend for my kids. Life is one big mystery. It never takes you where you think you’re going to go, but it drops you off where you need to be. However, boundaries are good. There are a few things that I see as non-negotiables in my life and my relationship with my step-family. If you are a step-parent and have some of your own, please share! Healthy eating  Home for hosting Must have love  First, I have healthy eating. This is important to me and a non-negotiable because I’ve done my research and I know the effects that food can have on our bodies. I used to not care - sugars, treats, pastas, ect - and by eating those, even playing three sports a year, I was...

I’m going to go there...so go away if you don’t like my opinion. You do not need milk to survive. You don’t even need it to thrive. You don’t really even need it. I know - I’m one of those hippie, fad diet, attention seeking health nuts that you hate. Wrong. I’ve done my research. I’ve looked into it. I’ve tried both ways. I grew up on milk. A glass of milk at every dinner. I don’t think it’s going to cause me cancer. I don’t think my mom did anything wrong. But I also don’t think milk is made the same way anymore. I simply don’t think it’s needed. And here’s why. We say we need to drink milk because of the calcium, the fat, and the protein. Which is all true - milk does have all those things. But there’s other parts of the label we need to take a peek at. One single cup of cow’s milk has 12 grams of sugar. That’s HALF of our recommended sugar intake each day. And I’m talking about white milk. Chocolate milk, Nesquick and Strawberry varieties have SO much more. We also think tha...

I'm sure all of you have many tips and tricks that you've learned over the years...so please share them!! Lately, I've been traveling for work a lot. It's mostly 24 hour trips and 4-6 meals eating out. Overnight in a hotel room, exhausted and long tired days on set.  To back up - I never used to travel this much for work. If I was traveling, it would be to see people and we would cook meals, or do races, or go places that I could get local cuisine homemade. I wouldn't need lots of extra caffeine and I always had time to "clean up". So, I used to have a rule: If I eat out,  I can have a "cheat meal" and I wouldn't worry about it. Cause, you know, moderation. But that's so not the case anymore. I used to do mud masks and have time to shower, but now it seems so exhausting.  So what do I do (well, try to do) to stay healthy and well during my travels.  1. You will never NOT find me with Fizz Sticks . I keep 3-4 in my work bag at ...

I am a list person. Like, I have lists where my lists are. I love to fill those lists. And I add to my lists just to cross it off. Sometimes it gets overwhelming when I have piles of lists and nothing seems to be getting completed. I once heard a speaker give a talk (I couldn’t tell you who it was, when it was, or what they were talking about) but I do remember the phrase “If you can get it done in 15 minutes or less, go do it now!” I thought, WOW! What a concept - just getting shit done. I love it!! But that’s still hard. Because some of my tasks take longer than 15 minutes. Tasks such as vacuuming the house, making dinner, putting away my clothes, etc. Those of us with kids know you can’t get through a single task without them interrupting. And those of us who don’t find our own ways to get distracted.  So, in our house, here’s my rule: The 5 Minute Rule. If you can do it in less than 5 minutes, it should be done. Examples of that include: Taking your clothes to...

So, if you’re anti-microwave, this blog won’t be for you. Just sayin. The majority of my weeknight meals comes from a microwave. However, the important part is that they weren’t bought in a package. I put them in the freezer first. Meal prepping is a huge part of how we maintain a healthy diet with a busy life schedule. It’s taken me nearly FOUR YEARS to figure out what works. What freezes. What doesn’t reheat well. What should be in the crockpot. What should be on the stove. And, it always changes. A child stops eating this. We start doing that. My husband finds a new food he’s into. My step kids have a new health issue arise. So we adjust. But underneath it all, there’s three principles that make up a good meal prep. Easy Cheap Nutritious In this first post, I’m going to talk about Meal Prep being easy. It’s a lot easier than a lot of these Pinterest folks make it look! I’m not going to lie, it will take a little bit of work, but we’re not restaurant chefs, we’re not building a ...

So I’m trying to figure out this middle ground thing. Some of my friends and I joke that we have kids, but our husbands can be counted as kids, too. And some days it’s endearing - watching them sled down the hill together, while I drink my tumbler of “hot cocoa”. Other days it’s annoying as...well, it’s really annoying.  I mean really!? How can a grown man just leave his socks around the house. How can he not see that the dishwasher has been clean for two days and it’s okay to empty it without me asking?! How can three kids all step on the same dirty kleenex and no one even flinch. Gahhh! That was one sacrifice I made as a stepmom...letting go of the idea of clean. You see, I went from having roommates my whole life. To finally renting my own studio apartment that was cute and clean and mine. I even have friends that tell me when they lived alone, those were the best years of their lives...even in 300 square feet. Then, I moved in with children. So what did I have to change in ...

Why is it so hard for people to be nice about being healthy? It’s the New Year and there’s going to be tons of people making resolutions. People going to the gym, starting diets, wanting to make a change. But yet, trainers have to put out PSA’s to be nice to new gym members, we have to give people a hard time when they choose not eat something, we don’t actually support them and help them on the track they choose. Maybe I’m just bitter today. But you wanna know why? My mom spent a LOT of money on a juicer that I asked for. So I started looking up recipes. You know which ones seemed to work best for immunity? Carrots and celery. What happens when you mix orange with green? Well if you ask people...sewer water, orange goop, stinky stuff, and “you gotta be kidding me.” Now, this isn’t a new year’s resolution. This is a way that my family and I can take another step in a direction to be healthy. But it would’ve been nice to be supported. Anyway, rant over. Here’s what I really wanna talk...