Welcome to the Hot Mess Press

Put Your Life Into “Thirds”

I love my chiropractor. Doctor W is a super-nice guy who knows what he’s doing. I like the vanilla jokes he cracks and he just generally has a very easy-going type of vibe. I think we appreciate each other and the fact that we like to think about different sorts of things: holistic healing, what we’re [ keep reading ]

Detoxifying Home, Body, and Life

What types of images come to your mind when you think of the word, “toxic”? Sadly, when I think of the word, images immediately begin to scroll through my mind (like that sheet music on old tyme player pianos) of packaged foods, hormone-injected chickens and cows, and shelves full of lotions, soaps, sprays, shampoos and [ keep reading ]

Letting Friendships Cool and Fade

I’m a woman, totally in love with my hubby. We’ve created a beautiful family together, one that I am very proud of. We’ve been through a lot, especially as a military family. We have moved from place to place to place, and the one constant that I came to realize over the years is this: [ keep reading ]

Is Our Spirit Animal the Lone Wolf?

A few years ago, I watched a heartrending documentary about a woman in England who had been dead for two years before her body was discovered. The woman, Joyce Vincent, was an up-and-coming type of woman, popular with her friends and on the fast track to a promising career. After a bad relationship, she found herself [ keep reading ]

Should We Post Death Pics and Videos on the Net?

When I was a teen in the 80’s and 90’s, I remember being frightened by news images of riots and shattered glass. Spent shell casings and a drying pool of blood splayed across the TV screen would give me nightmares and a sick feeling in my gut for days. Flash forward to 2016–this week, actually. I came [ keep reading ]

When You Wish upon a Star…Nothing Happens

Okay, so I’m being a total pessimist…maybe something does happen when you wish on a star. Maybe every magical unicorn dream you ever wished for comes true. But chances are, that’s not going to happen. I’ve spent the last several weeks becoming that older person…the one you young ‘uns hear say, “Now that I’m older…”. Well, now that I’m [ keep reading ]

Not Spending Your Way to Savings

Living is expensive. Just sayin‘. Although, I’m sure that comes as no surprise to you. Even without luxurious and materially-centered expenditures, making ends meet is challenging for the average family in the United States. Finding ways to save money may be easier than you think. At least, finding ways to stop racking up debt by [ keep reading ]

It’s Crunch Time: My Love for Potato Chips

So it’s 11:11 in the am and I’m distracted by the constant crunch-crunch-crunch sound emitting from the kitchen bar a few feet away from me. My kiddos have made a meal of potato chips. My knee-jerk reaction is to ask, “Did you eat breakfast first?????”. Yes, at 11:11, we are sometimes eating breakfast. No early-risers in this house. [ keep reading ]

Bring Back Make-Believe

I read an article that said many children today have difficulty pretending. Apparently, this “disability” has developed due to extensive time spent staring at gadgets, screens and other devices where all the pretending has already been done…by someone else. Thus, kids are very good at watching what has already been dreamed, and also very good [ keep reading ]

Walking in America

I recently had the privilege of joining 16 other “pilgrims” in a journey to walk 100 miles across the Eastern Shore of the United States. My fellow pilgrims and I accomplished this lofty goal in a mere seven days’ time. We averaged 12-14 miles per day, except that one day when we got lost and [ keep reading ]