My first blog...life is about trying new things, right?!  When I contemplated writing a blog my first thought was, "what do I have to share that others could relate to?".  I'm a 36 year old stay at home mom of two young children, step-mother of three, divorcee, and an average woman trying to balance it all.  Can anyone out there in blog land relate?  If not, I'll just start writing this as "Dear Diary" and consider it very cheap therapy.

Let's just jump in with a confession, I live in 1955 and love it!  I know the women liber's our there would be so disappointed that they worked so hard to get us the right to have a 9-5 job on a full time job at home (thank you so much), but I decided when my son was born two years ago that I was sick of doing both.  Since then I have become Betty home maker (with a touch of Betty Draper) who loves to cook, clean, do laundry, and the daunting task of taking care of my husband and five children.  I even went as far as to have a custom smock apron made to function exactly the way I wanted!  Is it the sexy French maid apron my husband would have picked out?  No, but it keeps my shirt clean from food when I'm baking so when I take it off Cole (the 2 year old) can put a booger streak across my shoulder or wipe his cheeto orange hands on it.

Why do I love living in 1955 and taking care of my family in a way that works for us?  I have this friend called perspective that comes around when I need it and slaps me in the face and says, "go back to 2006 and remember!".  Ah, the year that showed me what rock bottom looks like!  I was a 30 year old, recent divorcee, who had to accept the possibility that I would never remarry or have children, and that was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life.  To be honest, I was pretty sure those two things would never happen after I had to start dating again. (Side note: For those of you who are married and not happy, work on it as hard as possible, dating sucks!!!)  So, nurturing my marriage and family everyday is my full time job and I'm damn good at it because I know what the other side looks like, and it's ugly.

Thank you to my two readers!

The "Real Housewife of Owatonna" signing off...for now:)