What Work-Life Balance Looks Like For Me
Work-life balance feels like a joke most of the time. Truly, most of that is my own fault. Because of *all* the things that I do, I do have to make a conscious effort to improve my work-life balance. I juggle a lot of things – full time job, side hustle, supporting our food truck business, supporting my teammates, mom of two, stepmom of four, fur-mom of three…and that’s just the every day things. Here’s what work-life balance looks like for me: 1. I plan at least one weeknight each week where we can all eat dinner together. Wow, even writing that sounds like I’m never home. haha. In reality,…
National Step Family Day 2019
Today is National Step Family Day! If you know DJ and me, you know that neither of us are proponents of divorce, despite the fact that we are both divorced. Being part of a step-family can be challenging, both as the parent and the child. Despite that more than 50% of US families these days are re-married, it can be very isolating if you’re one of the few in your circle of friends who is living this out. For those of you who are living this blended family life, we are right there with you. ❤️ Did you know it takes an average of four years for a bond to…
Open Hearts
When I was in fourth grade, I experienced the loss of a relative for the first time (or at let the first one I remember). I was 9 years old. (Note: as I’m thinking about it…it might’ve been second grade…my memory from that far back has long-since faded with that level of detail.)My parents drove us to my grandma’s apartment one night. It was odd, but I didn’t think much about it. I mean, we were just going to Grandma’s. I had no reason to think it was anything other than a normal dinner with Grandma. We arrived and the feeling in the air was something I didn’t know how…
The Reality of Step-Parent Adoption
We have waited for this day for years. Literally, years. Now that the day has come, it feels somewhat anti-climactic. At the end of June, we were able to finalize the legal process of step-parent adoption. We are now officially the Stones, Party of Eight. While I’m obviously happy (and relieved) to be at the end of this legal journey, there have been all sorts of emotions during this process. In our case, there is still a biological father. This wasn’t an instance where the biological parent had died. In our case, the biological parent is still alive – just absent. I’m not going to go into all the legal…
2019 Words of the Year
A “word of the year” is a particular word that has meaning to you for the coming year. Some people choose something that they want to work on, like “faith” or “patience.” I’ve actually selected three words this year. I know, I’m an overachiever. These three words mean a lot to me, and are printed on the front of my planner for 2019 as a daily reminder. DREAM As a perfectionist at heart, allowing myself to actually dream is a challenge. To set goals without being absolutely certain that I can achieve them is not in my nature. I am blessed with an amazing husband who pushes me to believe…
You Get What You Get…
“You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit.” I don’t remember which teacher first said this to my kids, but it has served me well over the years as a parent. Complaining about what’s being served for dinner? “You get what you get…” Upset because it was a little sparse under the Christmas tree? “You get what you get…” That phrase gets said a LOT in this household. ? While this might be a great saying to help us teach our kids to be grateful for what they have, it doesn’t apply to business life. You don’t have to just accept what you’ve been given or where…
Personally Polished
Life in the Stone household is about to get a little crazier. I have decided to become my own boss lady by becoming a Color Street Stylist! I’m sure you’re thinking, “What in the world is that? And why are you adding ONE MORE THING to your plate?!?!” I asked the same things!! Haha! Let’s start with the WHY! First, why not? When I looked at the numbers, there was little to no risk for me. It’s a product I like and that I’ll use, and the fee to join as a stylist was less than the retail value of the product received, so even if I never sell a…
Take Time to Listen
Those of you who know me personally know that I’m an introvert. I enjoy being social with small groups, but I find large crowds very draining. You can imagine how I feel when we have six boisterous children around the house. The volume level increases by several orders of magnitude when everyone is home. I sometimes have to escape to my bedroom…and more often than not, am sitting on my phone. It’s so easy to get engrossed in our electronic devices, but I wanted to share a little today about putting down the phone and taking the time to listen to your kiddos. I’ll admit, I’m on my phone too…
Blended Families Are Messy
I’m sure that you get this question multiple times a day: “How are you?” It’s often preceded by “Good morning,” or “Hello!” I know I say that to most of my coworkers when I pass them in the hallway. More often than not, you probably receive back a standard response of “Good morning; how are you?” Note: your question was answered with…a question. As of late, my response has been “I’m hanging in there.” Now, I give a bit more honest and detailed responses to my closer friends than I do the random coworker walking down the hallway. However, even then, I wonder if they even believe some of the…
Though She Is Scared, She Is Brave
Since May is Food Allergy Awareness Month, I just want to talk about how brave my daughter is, even though she is scared. The back story If you’ve been around us much, you know that both of my children are allergic to peanuts and most tree nuts (we still avoid them all). Living with a food allergy can be quite scary at times. Until recently, I probably wasn’t as aware as I should’ve been about the risks, though we always check labels and the kids know to ask if they’re not sure about something. Last summer, the kids had an accidental ingestion, from pizza no less. They realized within minutes…
