Sharing My Jennarocity

Avery and I housesit for my seester in Waxahachie this past week. First - I am not cut out for country living. Second - it does have a few perks. Third - I realized that school starts Monday, thereby ending the longest Spring Break of all time (yippee!). Fourth - I realized that this is the year my daughter officially crosses the line into being closer to graduating than being born.  She keeps antagonizing me by saying, "Mom, I'm almost 10!" (She's been saying that since a month after her last birthday) and I say, "Stop making it go faster, you are 9....9 1/2....now it's 9 3/4."  Yep, that face is about right for that little munchkin, who's not so little anymore.  She's crossed over into the "I hate brushing my hair or fixing it in any way that isn't of my own choosing or instigation" phase. She's been in that phase, oh about 3 years now. (She's also crossed into the "I know how to get on the internet and read what you

11 and a half years ago, my friend Kate brought me a little black ball of fur and dirt and I named her Bella .  Bella was the sweetest puppy..... who became the sweetest young teen.... who became the sweetest young lady..... who became the sweetest middle-aged lady...... who is now the sweetest, most distinguished older lady of any dog that has ever lived.  I did a photoshoot tonight of my sweet Bella Girl. It's never lost on me, how wonderful this dog is, who's been my best friend and companion for the past 11 years. She came to me when I was so lonely and so ready for a family. She was with me when I got married, become a stepmom, and then had a baby. She was with me when I bought my first house. She was with me when I went through a divorce. She's with me now, laying on my bed, with her grey face and paws, as sweet as she's ever been.  She'll be 12 in February and she's showing no signs of being a 12-year-old dog. She's spry, she hops upstairs, she jumps

I'm sure you are thinking "Oh great, here comes another person with her entitled, uneducated opinions!" Don't worry, you guys. It's not going to be that kind of a post.  Research soothes my soul. Google gives me comfort. I know that the answers to my questions or queries lie on the internet in some form. It might take me a lot of digging to find what I am looking for and I might have to wade through a lot of opinionated drivel, but I will still end up finding an answer. It has been no different with COVID-19. I immediately started reading articles and studies about past pandemics and virus outbreaks. I would only read ones that were from before all of this happened so that I could get some good info from actual scientists and not journalists from some random website trying to get clicks. In the beginning, most of my Googling focused on how governments and societies have handled past pandemics and epidemics, along with ways they've succeeded and ways t

"You haven't seen American Grafitti ?" my dad says, in a shocked voice; the same shocked voice he had when I was 27 and told him I'd never seen one Star Wars movie.  So tonight, I watched it.  American Grafitti, not Star Wars .  Now, I'd seen movies like this before... Dazed and Confused, Superbad... those "it all happened one crazy night" coming-of-age movies that totally capture a specific period of youth in a specific decade of time. In this case, it's a movie made in the 70s, set in the 60s.  Just a little American Graffiti Trivia from good ole' trusty IMDb.... It was released in 1973. It cost $777,000 to make and grossed $115 million worldwide - it's one of the most profitable movies ever made. It was the second production of Lucasfilms, with Frances Ford Coppola as the director. Apparently, George Lucas had trouble finding financing for the film and after seeing how much money it made, Coppola said he never quit

We are all going through something very similar in this world right now - the threat of COVID-19, not only on our health but on our lives and economy. As much as it might not feel like this right now, the fact that we are all in this together is actually a really good thing. It's not often that events bring a world-wide sense of togetherness of one single shared experience. Unfortunately, those events are usually tragic in nature (the Royal Wedding notwithstanding). If we are all in this together, it means there's probably a lot of the same fears, anxieties and stressors that we are experiencing. How do we handle this in a productive and positive way? Here are some tools and tidbits you can use if you are experiencing anxiety this week.  Defining your anxiety. The definition of anxiety is a feeling of worry, nervousness or unease, typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain outcome. I'd certainly say we have an uncertain outcome on our hands, w