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We are alone. Parents are alone.

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Trick, or Treat? I’m seriously asking

Every day we reacquaint ourselves with our family’s ever-shifting needs. Every day we find ourselves at a place where we have to decide who we’re going to ignore, which way we’re going to triumph and which way we’re going to fail, what risks we’re willing to take for ourselves, for our kids, for grandparents who want to visit, for strangers who sell us yogurt, knowing that the best way to love our community is to isolate ourselves from it, and the best way to love our children is to let them connect, and the best way to get through this is badly and at great cost, making a fucking mess of it every day as we spin the wheel toward a harbor on the horizon between two untethered buoys that keep lurching in the swell.

I don’t think my room was ever this bad.

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I know I’m not supposed to care what their rooms look like but I CANNOT handle this. I am ready to clean it all out myself. As in empty it.

There were basically two schools of thought on Facebook:

  1. It’s her room. Let her live with it.
  2. OH HELL NO.

It’s just so frustrating. We’ve tried random and various rewards and prizes and money and everything is glorious for 2-3 days and then it stops. We’ve tried chore charts and boards and tokens and iPhone apps. Nothing works. Part of it is we just don’t have the energy to police everything. We also do it strong for a few days and then we miss a day and then it all goes to hell.

We do make them pick up their rooms every so often—they are supposed to do at least 5 minutes a day but they don’t even do that. Her room was decently picked up less than a week ago. 🙁

I have also bought a nice kid book that tells HOW to clean it. I have walked her through it (and done it with her) multiple times. She knows. And every time I try to help her or guide her, I get “I KNOOOOOOW MOM” but she doesn’t do it.

She did recently have a totally clean slate as we just moved in two month ago. But it’s pretty much looked like this since Day 3. I have told her she will not get a nice pretty new girly room (we are prepped to totally Pinterest her room) unless it gets and stays clean. And again, it works for 2-3 days and then…this. We moved at least five garbage bags of stuff we removed from her room already that she literally SOBBED over but hasn’t given a second thought to since.

Owen HAS lost everything in his room one time already (at the last house) and his isn’t quite this bad but it’s bad enough. But they know I’m serious when I say I WILL do it.

I lost a margarita!!!

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Tonight I called on the power of posting on Facebook to help me find my lost margarita earring. I had it at 8pm before I went to visit a neighbor for a driveway drink… (I checked my photos and I had happened to take a pic before I knew I was headed over.) I’ll look in the street tomorrow but I don’t have high hopes.

I was pointing out my ombre lip color for a post in the makeup workshop I was participating in.

After three hours of visiting and walking the neighborhood with her…

I joke about margaritas but they really are my thing. Check out my workshop bio.

Yes, I placed an ad for friends!!!

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So I might have just posted a “We just moved in! Who wants to be our new neighborhood friends?!” get-to-know-us post on Nextdoor and Facebook (in a local Mom’s group). YIKES! A TOTALLY Jen thing to do though, right?! I had no idea what to expect… but (fast forward) it has been amazing!

Well it went over smashingly! By the time I was able to check back in I had four Facebook messages waiting for me and a bunch of comments saying what a great idea it was and they wished they’d thought of it, etc.

I think I added at least 10 new Facebook friends today. We have a socially distant park game planned for Sunday night with two families and someone is coming over for a driveway drink tomorrow.

A FEW DAYS LATER…

I was TOTALLY blown away by the responses. They just kept coming and coming. I think I’ve friended about 20 people now and have met probably 10 people in person thus far!! This might have been one of the best things I’ve ever done! We’ve felt so welcomed in this neighborhood it’s been amazing!!

Now you can all finally understand what military families go through.

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And know that we survive…and you will, too. Also, maybe 20 years of training is why I’m surviving just fine right now (minus eLearning 😂).

People have said “I don’t know how Military families do it”.

Well, now most of the world knows a taste of how it’s done.

Birthdays can’t be celebrated as you like.

Vacations have to be canceled at the last minute.

Not knowing a date you can plan anything.

Emotions all over the place.

Unknown future state of life.

Here’s a plan. No, scratch that, this is the plan. Wait, that’s changing, this is the plan, yes, this is it. Oh, things are more serious than what we thought. The plan is this and we will update you with a revised plan as we go.

All holidays cancelled.

You can’t see your family.

You miss saying goodbye to a person when they die.

You miss a funeral.

You miss a wedding.

You miss your Anniversary.

You either embrace the suck or you lose your mind and happiness.

You can’t see your kids or grandkids.

The government pretty much dictates your life.

People are in danger.

Ok, also, these things are true-

You appreciate what you have.

You make the best of situations.

Dates on a calendar are just that and you celebrate things when you can.

You realize what’s really important in life.

You celebrate 4 holidays/birthdays at once.

You no longer judge people for having Christmas lights/trees up “odd” times of the year because you realize people do what they can, when they can.

Once your life gets back to “normal” you appreciate everything more.

You realize it’s ok there was a not so epic birthday because your perspective has shifted on what’s important.

You lean on your family.

You lean on your friends.

Your normal changes and you adjust.

You’re stronger because of your struggle.

In the end, it will all be ok. Even with tragedy here and there.


You will be stronger in the end of this journey. You will not be able to see it in the storm. You’ll feel weak, defeated and not sure how you can make it. When it’s over and the storm ends, you’ll stand taller, stronger, more capable and appreciative of what you have.

https://www.facebook.com/jenniferspencer.blazier – CREDIT!

This pandemic is a lot like bringing home a new baby.

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https://www.scarymommy.com/just-survive-somehow-quarantine/

She’s right. This pandemic is a lot like bringing home a new baby.

I realize I have it easier than a lot of people so I am not complaining, but I don’t have time to paint my bedroom or organize the pantry or read a shelf of books. I am busy all day long and at the end of the day I legit have no idea what I’ve been doing, but I do know I only crossed off a few things on my ever-growing to-do list. It’s infuriating. So while this isn’t the absolute worst thing that can happen, it certainly isn’t idyllic. And it isn’t that much fun. And my kids certainly aren’t getting a freaking adventure.

I’m a rising star!

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I rarely get recognized for any of my work accomplishments since I have no true working upline (and my “official” upline leader is the CEO of our company due to people dropping off… which sounds cool but is effectively useless)… I have been taken under the wing of an amazing leader, but I’m not in her back office (since I fall outside her dominion) but she still tries to keep tabs on me. Soooo she posted this in her 8000-member group today.

We tried the totwaffle!

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It all started with this viral Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/506801921/posts/10156771865371922/?d=n which starts like this:

So we decided it had to be done.

Step 1: Thawing

And Tom was in charge and I was busy working so I didn’t get any more pictures until the end.

Aaaand…it took much longer to cook than we thought, plus Tom didn’t fill it full enough to start so had to add some more tots halfway through. This pic is after we took some off for the kids.

We also made the syrup/ketchup mix (read the linked post for details) and it was yummy. The tots were crispy but I’d like them even crispier.

In short, they were good and a nice change…and the candied bacon and cheesy scrambled eggs were good sides…but I probably wouldn’t do the totwaffle again. I’m perfectly happy to expend way less energy and effort and just have tots.

Show me your drunk face v2

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I innocently started a Facebook group to continue the drunk face thing…and we had a mini explosion. Over 100 people joined and a fair amount of them have posted!

Most are my friends (from all times and areas of my life—going back to high school classmates and my first internet friends from 1997 to family members and of course Tivo peeps) but others are inviting people, too!

It really isn’t a drunken fest—it’s more a show me what you’re drinking but I just thought the original sounded funnier.

Show me your drunk face!

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Since everyone was getting on the virtual event bandwagon, I did as well. I scheduled an event on Facebook called Show me your drunk face and invited just about everyone I know:

After our first week of self-distancing and homeschooling I think we’ll all need a drink or six. Come share your poison in a photo or live video!

I wasn’t sure how well it would go over but figured what the heck. So imagine my surprise when people started posting anf posting and kept posting and kept posting… It was a success! I even went live a time or two, a bunch of us did shots at the same time, and it was really fun.

What really surprised me, though, that people kept posting even after the event was over! Like days later! So, stay tuned for what happened later…

#dollypartonchallenge

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Okay I’ll play along with the #dollypartonchallenge—the sad thing is I really didn’t have any good “business attire” photos for Linked In or Tinder-esque photos of the 8,590 pics on my phone. How is that even possible?! Oh yeah, I’m a SAHM who never really needs to wear business clothes and I don’t need pics for trying to find a date or hookup. (And the pics I have for my husband I certainly am not sharing on social media! 😂)

I was today years old when I learned…

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You aren’t supposed to burn your Christmas tree in the fireplace. Whoopsie.

I posted this pic and caption on Facebook:

When it’s time to take the tree down but you don’t want a trail of needles through the house and you love a good fire. 🎄🔥

Two friends immediately posted that was NOT A GOOD THING, but I didn’t see it because I was offline watching a movie with the fam. Then a friend called me to tell me about it. We were being careful, but we did stop burning it.

In one week our family will be on this ship…

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I honestly still can’t believe it’s real. This will be our first cruise with the kids and they are beyond excited.

And I am extremely thankful for SeneGence for providing me the opportunity to treat my family to this experience. Yes, you heard that correctly…this entire cruise from flights to excursions to souvenirs is MY TREAT—paid for totally by my little side gig. That was my main goal when I started doing this 2-1/2 years ago—totally a pipe dream and little did I know that the business would take off and I would be having so much fun and earning enough to spoil my family like this.

SeneGence has also totally changed my self confidence, changed my look, given me a whole new set of friends, and showed my kids that when you set goals anything can happen!

#senethankful