Okay. So I took a really long summer break from my blog, but it was necessary. I needed to focus on my other writing and to figure out what in the heck I wanted to really use this space for. With a little tweaking (more to come), I have landed on the angle of sharing thoughts from the perspective of well, being mental and living life. What that means to me as a person with my own mental health issues that is also submerged in the mental health of others is life from this view is unique and needs to be talked about as much as possible. We’re just all better off when we talk about our mental health struggles. I plan to continue with themes from the personal to the political, and I hope to offer more insight on everything from depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction, eating disorders, self-harm, adhd, bipolar, women’s issues, parenting boys, parenting in general and relationships just to name a few! Let me know if you have a particular topic you would like me to explore, and I’ll give it a shot.

For tonight, I’ll keep it short and end with a personal triumph. I’ve made five weeknight dinners in a row for the family (starting last Wednesday, skipping the weekend, and ending tonight)! Nothing amazing, some of it average (frozen cheese ravioli, salad and bread) and one kind of below average (bad experiment with the new instant pot and a pot roast), but that is no matter. The point is this: in the past week I have pushed past feelings of overwhelm, disorder, indecision and perfectionism to complete what I thought was a simple every day task (thanks Mom and Martha Stewart and the church I grew up in with all the amazing and passionate cooks for setting the unrealistic expectation that every dinner needs to include a multi-hour prepared meat, two starches, dessert, table cloth, napkins and at least two utensils)! I never cooked until I was married, not really cooked, and it’s been an uphill battle for the last twenty years. Don’t get me wrong. When I want to cook, it can be amazing. I just happen to only want to cook pastries. Add two kids with very different appetites and well, it’s been a recipe (haha) for disaster. I have much more to say on this topic. But that’s all for now. And no, I did not serve them spam this week. But when we are in Hawaii, we do have a traditional spam breakfast, hence the beautiful picture.

Good luck out there feeding yourselves!