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This is where we share what we're learning about making life easier—home systems, asking for help, navigating chronic illness, and everything in between. You'll find blog posts and free resources here. Take what's useful, leave what's not.

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The Power of Names in Home Management

|Lacey
In my Communication degree, one of the first lessons I learned was that we give meaning to words. We usually associate two types of meanings with words: denotation, which is...

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Getting Things Done Home Management Mental Health Sara Self Care Support Lacey Motivation Seasonal Parenting Mindset The Mddl
New Year, Same Me
|Lacey
You’d think, as a woman who struggles with the middle, I would love the New Year. I don’t. Read more...
It’s the Most Middle Week of the Year
|Lacey
Read that in the “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” song cadence This week is quite like a time vortex. It is like the ultimate middle. Many people have this week off work, but there are also many people who are still working. For those who have the week from work – it’s a weird time of what day is it? What is open? Do we take the kids to daycare? Wait, did we eat lunch today? (Just to be clear, I am not a girl to miss... Read more...
Normal Results - A Poem
|Lacey
Test come back “normal” or stabilizing. I feel just as ill and and it’s traumatizing.Tears streaming down my face,Just purely stuck in this place. How in the world can this be?There IS something wrong with me.Stuck with nothing to do.Don’t want to be a burden to you. Can never do enoughWanting to show I am toughFeeling so down and outBut still searching for clout My heart, it just hurtsThese big feelings are a curseSearch and wait some moreStill no movement, closed door My heart, it just hurts.Owning I’m the worst.... Read more...
Moving The Mddl
|Lacey
Ch-ch-ch-changes are a-comin! When I started The Mddl in October here on Substack, I thought it was going to be a little side thing I did to make myself happy. A place to share my writings and maybe at some point I would be able to make a little money from it. Then, my entire life changed. I am so thankful for that Lacey, and what she set into motion. You see, without The Mddl and the start that I already had, I don’t think I would be anywhere near... Read more...
What does Positivity look like in The Middle of a Struggle? Is it Toxic Positivity?
|Lacey
This may be an annoying toxic post about how maybe all of this is the best thing to happen to me? I’m an optimist. I have always been. There is no secret sauce recipe I can give you about how to be one. I wish I could because I could make some excellent money with it. In general, I am able to see the bright side of life and not get too bogged down in thinking the worst in the world and people. This doesn’t mean that I am infallible... Read more...
Waiting in The Middle
|Lacey
I’m too impatient for this shiz I would love to lie to you and tell you that I am so patient. I would love to tell you that I am at one with the world and whatever comes my way will be enough. I’m not and it isn’t. You see I am woman of action. I don’t like to sit and wait for things to come. I like to make them happen. This is a really hard place to be when most of what you can do is lay, and... Read more...
Lessons of Support
|Lacey
My husband is not one for the spotlight. I am definitely the attention lover and one to put myself out there. Because of this, I have really tried to be mindful of sharing my perspective here and not infringe on his privacy and tell a story that isn’t mine. It’s been soooo hard because he has been an integral part of how I make it from one day to the next. I decided to do what I do best, make it about me, and share with you lessons that I... Read more...
Middle of Labels
|Lacey
I sat down to write an entirely different essay, but this one has come erupting out of me, and I have to share it RIGHT NOW. Creating TikTok videos has become a new favorite pastime of mine. They are designed to be done on a phone, which is my main point of distraction at this point. My “wanting to do things” energy is having a hard time being so physically limited, so my “productivity” is coming out any way that it can. The beauty of these videos is that they... Read more...
Passing out in the middle of a cafeteria
|Lacey
So nice I did it twice In a conversation earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of fully telling my story from scratch to someone I don’t know. It was a fun experience to realize how much normalizing I have done with some of the most ridiculous things in my world. He asked me, “so, tell me how this all started.” Passing Out Makes a Great Story For me, it makes the most sense to go back to the incident that resulted in my vasovagal syncope diagnosis. This story... Read more...
Middle of a Struggle
|Lacey
I’m gonna be real honest with you. This isn’t a good post. I was trying to beat myself up to get a good written essay out for you all because I’ve set goals to send them every Sunday and Wednesday. Also, the last post of this you read was me declaring this to be my dream and ambitions. To not deliver for you, would break my heart and let you down right away. The reality, though, is that this week is a bad week. As much as I would love... Read more...
Manifesting the Middle
|Lacey
I had never heard of Human Design until a few weeks ago. Human Design is a complex system/chart based off the location and time of your birth. It combines aspects of many things like astrology and chakras to show how you were designed to operate in this life. I consider myself woo-adjacent. This means that I am happy to listen to and take wisdom and knowledge from things that others would write off, and just accept them for how they can work in my life. I have tarot cards that... Read more...
Lazy is a Bad Word
|Lacey
The word lazy haunts me.  The problem is that my brain says it to me over and over again. Negative Self talk has always been a difficulty of mine. I’ve read the books that are supposed to help me. I’ve worked with wonderful therapists who have tried to help me see and improve where it is happening. Not only that, but I’ve had friends unprompted tell me that there is no way that I am lazy and literally have urged me to not put it in my writing because it... Read more...