We arrived at the doctor’s office. You know when you walk into a place, and you immediately feel like something is off? That’s how I felt. This place was bare bones. No frills. Not even a fake plant in the corner. No posters on the wall about smart skin care. Like they just popped up shop here temporarily and threw in the necessary office supplies. Maybe I was biased. Our prior derm also did plastic surgery in another wing of their building so when you walked into their office, you were slapped in the face with elegance. Tiled floors. High ceilings. Swanky furniture.

You were dropping money there…and it showed.

Not here. Oh no. This looked like a place you’d get Narcan.

I’d like to think I’m a pretty great mother. Especially compared to what I had growing up. But I have to admit, there is one part of being a parent …

Vince made stroganoff noodles as a side for dinner last night. Nothing fancy, just a $2.89 bag where you only need to add butter and milk. As we all gathered …

Gianna asked me what time it was yesterday after watching Evie for me. I think she was exhausted and wanted to know how much of her life she just spent …

Sitting in the director’s office, I got choked up talking to her about my concern with Evie needing to socialize and separate from me a bit. I know this will be hard for her at first and I’m not looking forward to the frownie face and tears that will undoubtedly come. While almost crying myself, I glanced over in the corner of the room and noticed a pretty cool slime kit. Evie had been asking for pink slime and this had that and MORE. Though I hate slime, like most adults with a pulse, I asked the director where she got it. This thing would entertain Evie for at least 30 minutes, and I need all the time I can get.

In telling me where she purchased it, the director paused and said through her side-mouth (so Evie wouldn’t hear), “she can have it if ya want. Honestly I was going to take it to Goodwill because we aren’t going to use it.”

We went strawberry picking this past weekend. It’s something I’ve been wanting to take the kids to do for a while, but never seemed to have the time. This weekend was perfect. No soccer and cooler temps.

So I made plans to visit a nearby field (aptly named Berry Sweet Acres in Plant City) and we paid almost $40 to pick our own 8 pounds of berries. Why I had to pay to pick my own berries…and then pay for the actual berries is beyond me. But I did. It was expensive but sometimes you just gotta suck it up and pay the money. It was fun and the people that worked there were really nice. The girls all seemed to enjoy it too. I think it’s the “gatherer nature” in us woman. It’s really cathartic to pick fruit. I could probably do it for hours.