Single Is Not A Status

I love camping and camping is a great way to explore new places on a single mom budget. There were always at least one of my children with me on our camping adventures and at most all five! The older my children get the harder it is to coordinate a weekend around everyone's different schedules.  This year as summer came to a close I made the spontaneous decision to reserve a spot at one of my favorite places, Hickory Run State Park. It's less than a two hour drive from my house, so it's doable for a quick weekend get away. My youngest son who still lives at home with me and is a senior in High School, was looking forward to our camping trip, but at the last minute he had to back out. He had a school project deadline and work scheduled for the same weekend. My daughter is in college and  isn't a huge fan of camping. And my three oldest son's live in Florida. I had two options, cancel my trip or go alone. That is how I found myself packing up my car for a one person c

Everyone has a bit of weird or crazy inside them and you get to decide how much you get to show and how it fits into your authentic self. I love animals and I have always loved the exotic animals you don't find commonly as pets. I have raised a wild baby racoon that was found orphaned,  on a construction site and a baby squirrel abandoned in our back yard. As a teenager I had a pet ferret who I adored and I knew one day after all my kids were raised and my bunny passed away that I would love to have another ferret. I didn't intend to get one this soon but fate stepped in and I ended up with two and a bunny.    I went inside the pet store to buy hay for our pet bunnies (my daughter has a bunny and two cats) and left with the hay AND a sweet baby ferret, I named Cosmo. It was a spontaneous decision made that evening, as I held this sweet baby boy. When he refused to go back into his cage, crawled up my arm and kissed me. It felt like he chose me first. I saw it as fate bringing u

I use to crawl into bed after a long day of mothering, expecting to lay my head on my favorite pillow, and snuggle down under the blankets I had carefully chosen with my husbands tastes in mind. Only to find my husband sound asleep and wrapped up in the blankets so tight. There was only a sliver of blanket left that I would gingerly pull ever so slowly, hoping that he wouldn't awaken and grumble at me. I would lay my head down on what I assumed was my pillow, only to discover that is was too soft and flat. Not my pillow at all! My husband had switched out my pillow for his and now lay sleeping on my favorite pillow!  Doesn't everyone have a favorite pillow? The right firmness or softness? I loved my pillow and my husband knew it. He liked to find ways to get under my skin.  If I confronted him about it, he would get defensive for accusing him of purposely taking my pillow and then he would make fun of me for having a favorite pillow. I would also hear how he makes the money tha