Sara Strand
Sara is a stay home mom (not a regular mom, a “cool” mom) of two teenagers and two elementary grade kids, who is always stressed out because one has their driver's license, one is a free spirit, one is fearless, and one is always in the clouds. In her “free time”, she is a book reviewer, dance mom, true crime podcast junkie, Dateline/Keith Morrison fan club devotee, and an Amniotic Fluid Embolism survivor. Always honest and sometimes funny, you can also find her at her blog, Stranded in Chaos (www.strandedinchaos.com), where she shares good (and not so good) books, tales from mom life, recovery and life after birth trauma, and livin’ la vida loca after 40ish.
Holiday Gift Giving Organized
It’s officially December and most of us are in the flurry of holiday gift giving. Our family celebrates Christmas so I still have time to get myself organized. I will confess that my tree...
Taking a Stand Against Thanksgiving
I don’t remember much about Thanksgiving as a child. I know we obviously had some kind of big dinner because my mom would complain about having to cook it again. I remember the Thanksgivings...
Miscarriage: A Full Circle Experience
Surprise!
I remember going to the OB office to get these weird cramps looked at. Honestly, I thought I had cancer. My kids were six and nine so I knew I definitely couldn’t be pregnant-...
Meal Planning for Dummies
My husband and I often reminisce about our saltine crackers with peanut butter days. If we had a particularly good paycheck back then, we’d use bread and feel like total ballers. (Now, my number...
Bracing for the First Year: Don’t Let School Scare You
I remember when my oldest was starting Kindergarten and how stressful it all felt. Would she make friends or would she hide under a desk and cry? What if other kids bullied her? How...
Fourth of July: Celebrating My Favorite Holiday
It wasn’t until I had kids of my own that I realized that the Fourth of July was actually my favorite holiday. Christmas is a close second because I like presents (for myself, thank...
Living Day-to-Day: Navigating Mental Health After Trauma
After the birth of my fourth child, I had an Amniotic Fluid Embolism. I wrote in a previous post about it in case you are unfamiliar with the rare phenomenon. Coming home was terrifying...
My Brush with Death: I Survived Amniotic Fluid Embolism
Going into my fifth pregnancy--fourth birth--I considered myself an expert level of parent. I have dealt with everything you can imagine, including a child vomiting poop. (Yes, that can happen and yes, it happened...