Carrie Saum

Bitter Buddy Mix is a take on an old familiar recipe of rice cereal mixed with chocolate and peanut butter, then coated with powdered sugar.

When I tasted creamy jalapeño dip for the first time, I had to figure out immediately what was in it and how to make it. I was instantly addicted to the herby-creamy-spicy hit with just the faintest vinegary undertone. And by addicted, I mean that I wanted to drink it through a straw.

Not only was TV working as part of my parenting routine, we also unashamedly used it as a babysitter. Yes, you read that correctly!

For the first time in my life, I was lost after leaving Evangelical Christianity. I watched the shores of everything safe and familiar wash away.

I made you these cookies. They are special cookies that are made from pulverized cookies that became butter that then became cookies again.

I cracked the sugar crust, took a bite, and then I actually DID cry. Huge, crocodile tears because it was good and this food tasted the way the city felt. It was home.

When I talked to my doctor about the forgetfulness and resulting anxiety I was experiencing, she suggested that I make lists, try bullet point journaling, and work on taking more time for self-care.

When I have difficult life decisions or conflict with people who are close to me, I now have the working understanding of what peace truly looks like for me. It looks like freedom to be fully who I am.

I now interrupt your frantic turkey preparations for the following announcement: 

EAT PIZZA, INSTEAD.

I can't do this on my own. This life thing, this parenting thing, this figuring out how to make it all work thing? Yeah, those things. I can't. And what's more is I don't think any of us are meant to. It's time to shed the taboo around asking and receiving help.