We had a pretty good day. The kids arrived home from their mom and grandparents house around noon, and we had a quiet afternoon. Gavin decided he wanted pizza and chicken for his birthday dinner. We're not actually celebrating his birthday until Sunday but we always do a special dinner on the actual day. We started that tradition because there were times in the past where money was so tight, ordering dinner wasn't easy. On birthdays, we wanted the kids to have something special, something that we couldn't do very often. Anyway, I ordered Gavin's dinner and we watched  Impractical Jokers. It was a nice evening. Tomorrow, we're going bowling and out to dinner with family. It's kind of a unique way to celebrate his birthday. There's no school on…

The boys are gone and I have a really quiet evening. I took my nap and finished season one of Guardians of The Glades before getting some work done. I'm still finishing up the next podcast episode and I'm not sure when it will release. Probably next week. I really want to get a few episodes in the tank, especially with our pending trip coming up. I need to book a few more interviews and go from there. It was important to me that I release the first two episodes of the season because they dealt with vaccines and vaccine preventable diseases. I wanted to bring everyone the facts from professionals in the medical field. I'm really struggling to find a better balance in my life. I have so many…

The boys are gone for the night and I can just sorta exhale for a bit. I absolutely love my kids but it's so hard to see them hurting all the time. It eats away at me and it's tough to deal with. I just finished a 3.5 mile walk with my Mom and I think I'll get a nap in before getting some recording done for the podcast. I'm really tired and it's freezing in the house for some reason. The thermostat reads 68°F but it doesn't feel like that. I'm gonna crawl into my nice warm bed for a little while and recharge. It's just me and Ruby. The house is quite and I haven't heard gunshots in a while. ☺ The kids will be home around noon…

I wanted to share a bit of very positive news this morning. I know it seems like everything is always negative here but it really isn't. The idea of being transparent means that you get a glimpse into the reality in which I live. The reality is, there are major challenges in my life and if I wasn't open about them, what you'd be reading was nothing more than spin or fantasy. With that said, I'm super stoked to share this today. For months and months, my youngest, Emmett, has refused to sleep in his own bed. He's been through so much and sleeping near me is the only way he was able to fall asleep. It's problematic and has significantly reduced my overall quality of sleep, but as a…

Many of you know, we just recently got a new car. It's a 2016 Buick Regal Premium II Turbo. It is a significant investment and the first one I had to make as a single parent. I just made my third payment this month and while it's a challenge, it's something I'm very proud of. I was able to do this completely on my own and that feels so good. Twice this week, I've experienced car problems. It's a 2016 and I was hoping to have a bit of time before having to deal with anything like this. Earlier this week, the car wouldn't shut off properly. It's passive entry and push button start, so I can't just turn off the ignition and pull the key. It only happened the…