Disclaimer: This is only my perspective and experience. Results widely vary. Facebook reminded me that I have not posted in my Blended Family Hell on Earth small group in a while. Which is true. So today I did a little ..read more

I was enjoying a nice iced coffee yesterday morning watching Real Housewives of Dubai when this Blended Family Hell on Earth gold appeared on screen. You can see it throughout the show as a whole but this clip was on S2E6 around the 39 minute mark (with commercials). First, I will state that I am Team Caroline & Sergio. I think they’re a great couple and I hope Sergio gets the baby he is wanting. His reaction to her embryo was so sweet that I just can’t stand it. For context, I will say that when I married in 2010, I also had a teenage daughter who is now almost 30. Sergio, it gets better ..read more

I cannot believe it has been 8 years since we started working on our Blended Family Estate Planning. Eight!! In 2016, I was going to get right on it. Where did the time go? But 8 years later, we finally hired a lawyer and are getting our affairs in order. Woot Woot! Better late than never I suppose. https://blendedfamilyhellonearth.wordpress.com/2016/11/10/blended-family-hell-estate-planning-edition/ My grandfather passed away last year without a will in place and it was nothing short of a shit show. Legally, it was all good. The lawyer was fantastic and everything required by the Court was ha ..read more

I am absolutely devastated by the loss of Garrison Brown yesterday. My husband and I remember vividly life at Janelle’s house with all of that testosterone. All that teenage boyness. Because we lived it. We have 4 boys between us in our blended family (my 2 bios & his 2 bios ranging in ages 8 to 18 when we married – now 18 to 32) and our home often looked and felt just like Janelle’s. My husband would say “boys will be boys, always mucking around”. Then we watched as they joined the military and went to boot camp. When they came home, they were so grown. We ended up having 2 boys leave for ..read more

Y’all… I have to say that life has been 90% better now that our home is no longer involved in a parenting plan and we have been able to fully go no contact with the ex spouse. Now that all of the children are legal adults, there has been such freedom in that. Hallelujah!! That said, I still like to pass on helpful info to others when I find it. I recently stumbled upon the social media page of Samantha Boss. She showed up in some reels or clips while I was mindlessly scrolling. I have not done any type of deep dive, but I do enjoy the helpful clips and tips she shares. If you ‘re interested, y ..read more

I was watching the current episode of Love & Marriage Huntsville last night (Season 6, Episode 8) and y’all…. When it got to Maurice and Kimmi’s co-parenting situation with her husband and stepson I just wanted to jump through the TV and give her a big fat hug. This woman is battling CANCER, working, slaying life and what she needs and desires more than anything is support in her home with her stepson and chores and for her husband to see the needs in advance for himself and handle them FIRST so it’s not always falling on her or her having to be the one to handle it. That list. The Top 20 ..read more

There are 365 days in a year and usually I can manage blended life a good, solid 325-350 of those days. But there are certainly a handful of days that I just cannot. Looking at it, the days that seem the most challenging for me are the celebrations and holidays such as birthdays, Christmas, graduations, (future weddings, childbirths, grandkids birthdays, etc.). This past weekend a friend of mine had a similar overly stressful week with her ex due to her child’s Prom. For me, the question I have asked myself so many times, is at what point is it just too much? When is enough, enough? I have tri ..read more

I previously shared a blog about the Nacho Kid Theory and was reminded about that post this week which reminded me that I meant to blog about this new TV show. Have you seen the show The Parent Test on ABC (Hulu)? I absolutely love it. It is about different parenting style families who handle competitions and challenges and discuss their results among the group. There are multiple parenting styles covered including High-Achievement, Disciplined, Free-Range, Child-Led, New Age, Strict, etc. and various parent groups represented such as traditional heterosexual couples, single parents, gay paren ..read more

Y’all, I have watched this show since it began many many years ago. It feels like Zach is part of my own family at this point LOL. This week’s episode of LPBW (S23 E2) was so difficult for me to watch and the blended family train wreck made my blood boil. For starters, when did Matt become so greedy? Being a good “businessman” is about so much more than dollars and cents. He said that he had to take all of his kids into account, not simply Zach and his family. I think he may have lost the memo with that statement because Zach and his kids are the show. The other kids are not. The show is calle ..read more

I was scrolling Tik Tok for some laughable dog fun mindless entertainment when I came across a woman known as @cayleecresta (I will try to link the video below) discussing men reaching out to her asking her how to save their marriages. What I was most impressed with was her clear description regarding communication differences between men and women. Which we all know, right? You know, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus. All that good stuff. But this is what she said that really struck me as 100% valid. Like I could feel it in my toes, y’all. The topic was first over her discussing a vi ..read more