I am a big fan of websites like “Grown and Flown” and “Scary Mommy”. They are filled with smart, funny and insightful articles about all the Mommy stages raising kids in all kinds of situations. However, if you search the interwebs and read the article titles on raising kids, teens, college kids and young adults, you will lose your ever-loving mind. Advice from other parents on how to parent can only go so far. YOU, as a parent, need to have some sense to raise your own kid, your way. What works for others, may not work for your family. And judging from the article titles, there are some major ..read more

I know you are going through a ton of feels right now, but you will get through this. Pinky swear! I’ve gone through all of this twice now and the youngest is back at in Grad School. It gets easier but don’t put your feelings on the back burner. You need to work through them. Trust me on this. Let me just list out all the feels I went through: Sad Happy Confused and not knowing what I am feeling Wondering who I am now that no one really needs me Angry that my kids are not taking my sadness seriously Ready to throw the kids out on the street because they are no longer listening to my advice or ..read more

I’m not the best parent. I don’t even pretend to be. I guess you could say I’m a realist. But my kids are grown, left the nest and they do still visit on occasion. And while I admit to not being the best mom in suburbia, my kids are healthy and for the most part, mentally stable. (some might question this) So I guess I didn’t do too bad. Most of the good genes credit will have to go to my husband. While the kids are grown and flown as they say, they still have stuff at my house. I should just back up a dumpster to the house and toss out what’s left of their stuff into the giant dumpster. I’ve ..read more

I thought the days of Helicopter Parenting were over. Apparently they follow their kids right through college and beyond. Please people, DON’T be this parent. You are straight up hurting them. At first I thought it would be helpful to join a parent group, on social media, for my kids college. Comes in handy when you can’t figure out when breaks are because your damn college kid won’t text you back! Which is normal. I remember going for weeks between phone calls home to my parents. Now we can text our kids everyday. But do we really want too? Or need too? Since my kids have been in college ove ..read more

Thing 2 left for his sophomore year at college. This year, he is off campus in an apartment with two friends. I’m not a fan of living off campus. I know all the kids do it, yada, yada, yada. I lived off campus for a brief time. Hated it. No desire to get up and drive to campus to go to class. Had to clean my own space, had one roommate so no real distractions and way too quiet. I was one of the weird kids who loved living on campus. So last week we drove to the coastal town where Thing 2 goes to school and helped him move into his apartment. We had seen the model apartment last spring when he ..read more

Here in NC, it’s hotter than Satan’s kitchen! It’s probably hot where you are too but add 100% humidity and, well, we have moisture every freaking where. I have asthma so I can’t breathe and just walking to the mailbox, I feel like I’m gonna pass out. Right there in my driveway. Where all my neighbors would just drive by and say, “why is our crazy neighbor laying in her driveway? Doesn’t she know it’s super-hot outside?” Yep. Welcome to my ‘hood. Add the super-hot weather to the fact that the dog wants me to play outside with him ALL THE TIME. And you can see why I’m in a bad mood all da ..read more

I’ll just come right out and say it. Either you are overjoyed that your college kid is home and it’s all rainbows and butterflies or you’re upping your anxiety meds to deal with the unknown. Either way, I have the answers. I am a pro at college kids now. (Not true. No one is.) I’m going to give you some tips on getting through the summer with your college kids that will help you not to kill each other or ruin your relationships. But you’re going to have to trust me on this.  Take a deep breath. Learn Yoga and mediation. If you’re a drinker, stock up! Either way remember you are not alon ..read more

What really truly keeps you up at night? What scares the hell out of you? What keeps you going? Lately, I’ve had trouble getting to sleep. My mind won’t shut off and I find myself staring at the clock and thinking about all the things I can’t change. Maybe it’s time to up my anxiety meds. Having a college kid and a grown kid, I worry a tiny bit less day-to-day but then I read about the college kids disappearing and being found dead. Just this weekend a USC student went missing after getting an Uber lift that wasn’t really her Uber. She didn’t survive. They caught the bastard though. Then ther ..read more

  Can You Keep Your Sanity and Raise Kids? Being a mom to two grown boys has been a huge blessing. But we’ve done all we can to instill our values and beliefs onto them. Now it’s time to let them fly. Or push them out of the nest. Whatever, it’s on them now. We did what we could as parents and so far (knocking on wood) we did it! Now before we go any further, I do not claim to be a professional, doctor, therapist, etc. So all the info in this post is advice from an imperfect mom.  No mother-of-the year awards here folks. But, here is my advice to new parents on keeping sane. Advice ..read more

I keep hearing commercials on the radio for JUUL. In case you are unaware, Juul is a vaping tool. Like cigarettes but way more techie. You have to plug them in and charge them, put flavored pods in etc. Just seems like a lot of work. But the weird thing is, I thought you could no longer advertise cigarettes or any tobacco product on TV or radio since the 70’s and early 80’s. Sometime in the late 90’s when cigarettes were being banned in public restaurants, buildings, bars, malls etc… there seemed to be a huge decline in smoking. It was becoming taboo. If someone saw you smoking you were tatto ..read more