I’ve been divorced for nearly 15 months now. Last Sunday, I reluctantly attended my first Single Adults fireside at my stake while my home teachers watched my children. Since it was Sunday night, I dressed in Sunday clothes and made myself presentable, and heading off with great recalcitrance to my unknown future. Let me tell you: It’s grim. My intent is not to bag on the LDS singles scene- that’s a book in and of itself. Rather, I want to offer some unsolicited advice to those of you with good husbands…

I was with my now ex-husband for almost 20 years. We met when I was seventeen, and divorced last year. Do the math. I know what it means to be with someone for a long time, to know their quirks and idiosyncrasies. I understand how life can be, and how hard it is to balance motherhood, bills, stress, life and marriage- and clearly something went wrong, because I am parenting three children now on my own. But I think I still have something valuable to contribute, and I’d like to place my offering on the altar, where you are free to pick through it and take whatever might be helpful or useful to you. (more…)

Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at Mormon Mommy Wars! We love and appreciate you and the community we have here- and wish you and yours a happy and stuffed holiday! Now get eatin’!

My friend recently shared a link on fb - all about how to shave calories and fat on Thanksgiving.  I read it, thinking it would have good advice on how to cut the fat in mashed potatoes, or possibly cut the sugar in the pies. You know what it said?  Don’t eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast - have oatmeal instead.   It also told you how many calories you saved if you avoided the egg nog as a snack before the big meal.  Seriously - this was the advice.  (It also made the brilliant deduction that if you filled your plate for seconds, you would eat, oh, roughly twice as much.) (more…)

…..is kind of a funny place to be. 

People staring at cans of condensed milk, asking questions on their cell phones. People wandering the aisles clutching lists, eyes glazed over.  It was enough to make DH want to go up to people and say “Look. This is what you want.  LOW SODIUM chicken broth.  That way, you control the salt level, and everything doesn’t end up tasting like a salt lick.  See?  Here.  Get this one. What else do you need?”  Of course, he didn’t, but I wonder if people would have been grateful or creeped out. (more…)

I finally read ‘The Scarlet Letter.’ because the download was free, and I have a new phone with a kindle app.  You know, for a book about adultery and sin, it’s….kind of a snoozer. Totally glad I didn’t have to read it in high school, although I was forced to slog through ‘Billy Budd.’ (more…)

We’re talking about helping everybody feel welcome in the church. Come join us over at Segullah.

I think our blog is possessed. Sorry about that–I have no idea what’s going on. A virus, a screwy code, an advance hacker who likes to mess up mommy blogs? Regardless, we’ve got our best guys on it, and when I say “our best guys”, I really mean The Wiz’s husband, and when I say “on it”, I really mean that I’ll give them a call today when they get home from church. (more…)

So I got an email from a reader who I offended. I haven’t gotten one of those in a quite a while, actually, so it was a bit of a shock. I offended her not because of anything I said on the blog (surprisingly—I’m sure I’ve said enough over the years to offend legions), but because I chose not to respond to some of her emails she sent me. (more…)

Or poem. Or short fiction. Whatever you’ve got, we want it.

The Heather Campbell Personal Essay contest is coming up, and we want to read what you want to write. Also, we have some new contests this year—poetry and short fiction, and all come with cash prizes. Yup, CASH FOR WRITING! What a concept.

So go here for details, and start writing!

I have been ruminating about a couple of things the last few days, and I’m going to abuse my blog (and, I suppose, by extension, you, the reader) by venting. Here goes.

Bee #1

Haiti

Haitians are not stupid or lazy. Or if they are, it’s only some Haitians that are stupid and lazy, just like some Americans are stupid and lazy. But their economy isn’t collapsing because they are stupid and lazy, or, worse yet, dark-skinned. It’s a little obscene to say that Haiti as a country isn’t working because there is something inherently wrong with the Haitian people, or that black people can’t make a country work. The problems behind Haiti’s poverty are complex and varied, and involve long standing agricultural, political, environmental, and economic issues that the average Haitian family has almost no control over. And Haiti is NOT IN AFRICA. (more…)

1.Go to Google maps.
2. Go to “Get Directions.”
3. Type Japan as the start location.
4. Type China as the end
location.
5. Go to direction #43.
6. Laugh, and send it on.

Yesterday, I was “having a bad hair day”.  That was my status update of Facebook. Some of my friends guffawed, because honestly, I do have pretty good hair, but believe me when I say sometimes it gets ugly. U.G.L.Y. But with my 30-*mumble* something years (egad!) had come some wisdom, and I finally am not at war with my hair. I teased the crown, popped it  in a ponytail, and turned lemons into lemonade. I tossed this snapshot up to show my friend who had asked for a pic. Lame story that actually leads somewhere… really. The Wiz chimed in, curious not about my hair, but about my eye make-up, and a conversation ensued.  It’s been brought to my attention that maybe some mommies need a little make-up boost and a short lesson on how to make the best of their assets, in a simple, easy and quick way. Et voila… (more…)

Come run the Sustain Haiti 5k this Saturday in Orem. I’m not going to be there, because, you know, I live kinda far from Orem, but if YOU live close to Orem, you should totally go. Proceeds from the race go directly to Sustain Haiti’s efforts in Haiti, which, if you haven’t heard, has had some extra problems with pesky things like cholera and hurricane Tomas. A team from Sustain Haiti is going down in January to make assessments about how these funds could be applied in the most effective way, so you can feel good that the money won’t end up in some administrator’s pocket. Some of my very most favoritest people are going to be there, and it breaks my heart that I can’t be there with my friends and favoritest people to raise funds for my other favoritest people in the world.

Click here for more details. And happy running!!

Called to see the progress on getting an appointment for a neuro-psych eval.  All referrals in place, etc?  (more…)