On Tuesday, May 4th, 2021, I will be undergoing brain surgery. In October 2020, after losing the hearing in my left ear and experiencing alarming vision changes due to nystagmus, I was ultimately diagnosed with Chiari Malformation Type 1.5. Essentially this means that my cerebellar tonsils and my brain stem…

2020 and 2021 have been full of surprises and challenges for all of us. Thankfully, our family has adapted to social distancing, wearing masks and mainly only seeing family over FaceTime. One plot twist that I did not envision was that I would be diagnosed with a brain deformity that…

4 years. Last month on January 11th, marked 4 years since Jim passed away. The saying “time heals all wounds” does not seem to apply to this grieving widows heart. At least not consistently.  Yes, I absolutely have times filled with laughter, joy, happiness and lots of love and I…

On June 8th, 2019, my husband Jason and I renewed our wedding vows and held a wedding reception at our house. We had married last August but only with our children, our parents, Jim’s parents and Jason’s grandmothers present, so this was our big celebration with our friends and family.…

March 18th will always mark the date of the “before” and “after”. On March 18th 2013, Jim was diagnosed with cancer. The following day, we learned it was colon cancer. We wouldn’t get confirmation until March 22nd that it was stage IV colon cancer, even though we had been told…

Today, January 11th, marks the three-year anniversary of my husband, Jim’s passing.  As many people feel when they’ve experienced great, life changing loss, it feels like an eternity has passed – while simultaneously feeling like it was only yesterday because the memories from that day are so clear. In the…

Well, this Cat let the “cat out of the bag”! Jason and I “secretly” got married on August 11th, 2018. We had been approached by our pastor with the idea, back in June, but did not actually decide to pick a date and make it happen until mid-July. We decided…

Summertime, My 4-Boys Under the Age of Eleven, and Cooking!  It’s hard to believe that the boys and I moved from Wisconsin to Illinois – two months ago, already. It’s even harder to believe that Shamus and Finn will start 3rd grade and 1st grade at a new school in…

I SAID “YES”!!  – I said “Yes” to Jason’s proposal. I said “Yes” to “Him”. I said “Yes” to becoming a “Bonus Mom” to his boys. I said “Yes” to him becoming a “Bonus Dad” to my boys. I said “Yes” to a Life of Love, Laughter, Adventure and whatever else life throws at us. Jason and I had been discussing an…