“How are those tattoos going to look when you’re old?!” This is one of the most common questions or critiques that heavily tattooed people... The post How will those tattoos look when you’re old? appeared first on Midlife Mama ..read more

Warning: this post may verge on – or even cross over into the hairy realms of – TMI and oversharing. I like to blog about medical and healthcare stuff because I know that when I’m about to have a new-to-me procedure, I go online searching for helpful information. I write the kind of articles that I search for when faced with a new diagnosis or life experience. My goal is to provide the same kind of helpful knowledge and insights that you might get from a sister, friend or aunt who had the same experience. Women’s healthcare shouldn’t be a morass of mystery. I believe strongly that we should ..read more

When I was a child, one of my favorite meals that my mom made was “oomiegoolie,” a dish that is as fun to say as it is to eat. It was a simple, hearty one-pot casserole made from macaroni with cheese, tomato sauce and ground beef mixed in. Sometimes, she would toss in a few peas, too. It was delicious, quick to make and our whole family liked it except for my dad, who probably found it unsophisticated. I have no idea where my mom got the recipe, but she made it throughout my childhood and I’ve continued to make it as an adult. I loved to make it when I was a broke college student and 20-somet ..read more

Our favorite place to cool down this summer is Delaware, Ohio’s best-kept secret. I’m talking about the Jack Florance pool at Mingo park, better known by locals and those in the know as just “Mingo pool.” It is our favorite place to swim during the summertime! During a summer this hot – central Ohio is breaking heat records left and right – you’ve got to find a nice, cool place to spend time. For us, that place is Mingo pool near downtown Delaware. Don’t get me wrong, we like North Orange pool too, right here in Lewis Center. It’s close and convenient – but, alas, it’s also very crowded. That ..read more

It’s been about three years since I gave up diets and diet culture for good. My last diet was in early 2021. In July of that year, after dieting consistently for 38 years, I committed to never doing it again. I had been dieting since about 1985, when I discovered Weight Watchers at age 15 and was encouraged, validated and celebrated for losing weight that, looking back, I didn’t need to lose. That’s almost four decades of hardcore yoyo dieting; alternating between starving myself and overindulging. I grew up doing it, from high school, through college and on into my 20s, 30s and 40s. I felt d ..read more

Columbus, Ohio is way cooler than it gets credit for. We recently observed “614 Day,” a local holiday and celebration of all things Columbus. It takes place every year on June 14, aka 6-14, aka 614, the Columbus area code. 614 Day even has its own Facebook page. I love that we have a special day to celebrate our town because this place is truly awesome. Having lived in NY (both on Long Island and in upstate NY, and worked in Manhattan) and in a few different suburbs of Dayton, Ohio, I had a pretty good sense of what it’s like to live and work in other places when I moved to Columbus. I was 35 ..read more

Nestled in the winding green hills of West Virginia, there is a gilded palace unlike anything you’ve ever experienced. It’s not a theme park, exactly, although it attracts many visitors. It’s more than a religious wonder or spiritual destination; it’s cultural, architectural, historical and international in its significance. Considered one of the 30 most beautiful places to see in the USA and one of the top 8 religious wonders in the U.S., this place is located just 2.5 hours from Columbus and you can spend an entire day or more there. Prabhupada’s Palace of Gold is an ornate structure featur ..read more

When I married the king of DIY home maintenance, I didn’t realize that I would gain so much valuable experience and knowledge over the years. During our 20+ years together, I’ve seen E tackle home improvement and maintenance projects that would intimidate a team of pros. E is not afraid of a big – or tall – DIY project. He once rented a crane and single-handedly rebuilt the chimney on our three-story house. A few years ago, he rented a Bobcat, put down thousands of pounds of dirt and resurfaced our entire backyard. He’s torn down walls and put in sliding glass doors. He’s built kitchens and d ..read more

Can you enjoy art when you suspect the person who made it is not a good person? I struggle with this. I often find myself wanting to love art or music while also desiring to disavow myself from the actions or beliefs of the person who created it. This is apparently quite a common phenomenom. The most glaring example of this dichotomy in my own life is J.K. Rowling. I’ve wrestled for years to reconcile my love of all things Harry Potter with my distress and discomfort around the author’s anti-trans rhetoric and actions. It’s devastating to me that someone with so much hate in her heart created ..read more

I’m typically a pretty positive person – some might even say too positive. That’s why you may be shocked to hear that I feel like I’m being tested like Job right now. Somehow, our darling daughter managed to contract a case of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD). She then promptly passed it along to me. It is sheer misery! We all managed to avoid getting HFMD during Z’s infancy and toddlerhood. I remember it going through our daycare like wildfire and the babies crying inconsolably. Now that I’ve experienced HFMD as an adult, I can understand why they cry. It’s a pain and discomfort like no o ..read more