The Jersey Momma

Sometimes people refer to Bloggers as Influencers. According to Merriam-Webster, an Influencer is " a person who is able to generate interest in something (such as a consumer product) by posting about it on social media." I used to say, 'please don't call me an influencer,' because   I felt there was more to me than that; more to what I do. There's nothing wrong with being an Influencer, of course, it's just not exactly who I am. First and foremost, I am a writer. I've always been a writer, even when I was a teacher. I write for me, I write for you, and sometimes I even write for other people. Secondly, I'm a blogger. My blog is my pride and joy, and I fuss with it daily, the same way you'd fluff up the pillows on your living room couch or mess with your child's hair to get it just right. But it never goes as planned, does it? The dog comes in and crushes the pillows, or the wind blows and screws up your kid's hair, or a pandemic happen...

Did you ever come across something you wrote years ago that suddenly defines who you are, decades later? Maybe even a photo of yourself or a keepsake from another time in your life? I recently came across a story I wrote while I was cleaning out a box in my bedroom. I have boxes of ‘stories,’ sitting around here and there, pieces I started and never finished, and pieces, like the one I'm going to talk about, that I wrote just because I needed a voice. It was written in 2000 from my dog’s point of view. Writing from his perspective let me reveal something that I was afraid to talk about in my own voice. It didn’t have a title at the time, but I have since called it Wounded, named after a song by Third Eye Blind.  Read more »

I was originally going to make this post a rant about how sucky it is to get older. Gray hairs, reading glasses, cellulite, wrinkles, spider veins - the whole shebang. But there is a wisdom in growing older, and as much as I hate the physical part of time passing, I wouldn't trade it. I embrace my age, and I'm proud that I can tell my son those 'remember when' stories, (like, I remember our first microwave oven, the creation of liquid soap, televisions with remote controls, the first moment MTV aired- I mean, it's cool to think we saw all of those things come to life, right?). Although I embrace my age, that doesn't mean I can't gripe about it a bit. I want to tell you about my experience with Dysport. If you don't know what Dysport is, it's kind of like Botox - it's an injection (or several injections) used to treat wrinkles, fine lines, crow's feet, etc. Do you want to know why I tried Dysport and what happened? Of course you do! Read on! ...

Any mom will tell you that it’s not easy to make ‘mom friends.’ There are memes and jokes all over the internet about how hard it is for moms to accept one another and how difficult it is to make friends with other women at playgrounds and playdates. I can attest to this on so many levels, wondering why, as an adult, I often feel like I don't fit in, or that the cattiness of high school still exists among grown women (and I’m not pointing fingers, every woman out there knows that this is true). But I’m happy to say that I did make friends when my son first started kindergarten. But friendship comes in many forms, and sometimes friendship appears when you least expect it. Read more »

Happy Friday! So now that the cat is out of the bag and I've made it vocal that I'm adding some more personal posts to The Jersey Momma (called Momma Musings , which I seriously hope I don't regret), I'm going to share the funny story of my mental epiphany with you. At least I hope you'll find it funny! Read more »

The Jersey Momma is changing. Truth is, she's been changing for a long time now, but I just haven't acknowledged it much here 'on the blog,' as I've come to say. I started The Jersey Momma way back in 2013 (and you can read about that here ), when I was a new mom with no friends (but with two great parents who went on tons of adventures with me). Back then I was working through so much, from leaving a career in teaching to grieving over personal losses. The Jersey Momma was new and exciting and fresh.  Read more »