There are so many blogs about being “fabulous after fifty” or “fit after fifty”…blah blah blah. This is more about “fearful after forty-five” “flabby after forty”, “free after fifty” and even “fucked after forty-five!”
This is for the mom who still doesn’t have their shit together even when their kids are almost grown.
This is for the mom who is caring for aging parents and struggling kids.
This is for moms who have let themselves go and don’t know how to find themselves again.
This is for moms that are having a mid-life change, going through divorce, losing weight, battling chronic illness and navigating empty nest syndrome.
This is for moms dealing with high school drama, college applications, teenage kids.
This is for women looking to spruce up their house that’s stuck in the 90s.
This is for women who lose their reading glasses 20 times a day, and they’re usually on their head.
This is for the woman who is suddenly beet red and sweating as a hot flash takes over.
This is for the woman who struggles with self love and for women who love themselves.
This is for the women that likes simple crafts and recipes, but is a Pinterest failure.
This is for the mom that makes most meals from a box or orders in.
This is for the stay at home mom who doesn’t know what to do now that the kids are older.
This is for women who battle their weight and self-esteem.
This is for women that have tried every diet and failed.
This is for women wanting a second act in life.
This is for the woman who wants it REAL.
Starting on Monday is for YOU and me to post fun stories, experiences, crafts, recipes, home improvement, essays and more.
I’m Ana.
I’m a 54-year-old mom who acts like a 12 year old. I think the same as I did in my 30s but feel like an 80 year old. My hobbies include reading, eating, and scrolling social media. I have chronic pain and I’m 50-75 lbs overweight, and I’m too lazy, high and set in my ways to do anything about it. I have 2 boys: a high-schooler and a 24-year-old musician who lives on his own. I am recently divorced and took on remodeling my house top-to-bottom myself last year and loved it. Now I’m helping others do the same. I have had a book blog, Ana’s Attic Book Blog, for 10 years this year and I also organized Wicked Book Weekend Book Signings for 6 years.
I started this blog years ago, let it go for a while, and now I am bringing it back because I am tired of the perfect mommy blogs, the beautiful home blogs and all of the middle-aged blogs I have seen still feel like my mom’s kind of thing. But now I am bringing reinforcements! Two of my besties will also be contributing, and we will be blogging about our new accountability group for weight loss and movement as well as anything else that comes up.
We will be posting about parenting struggles with older kids, weight struggles, home design, friend drama, self-love, marriage, mid-life divorce, sex, weed, shopping, reading, TV, books, movies, pets…nothing is off the table.
We will have some regular guest posts as well. And we welcome related guest posts and collaboration.
You can also find me on my book blog anasattic.com
Reach out to me at ana@startingonmonday.com
Meet Lori:
Hi, I’m Lori. I’m the Grandma of the group. Yes, I started young and so did my daughter! I’m 51, married 21 of those years, have a Navy daughter and a college son. My grandson is 5 already!
A lot of you will know me as Ana’s HBIC at Wicked Book Weekends. I’m the most extroverted introvert you’ll ever meet. I volunteered for Wicked because that’s the way I meet people, with a purpose. Otherwise I’m pretty awkward in social gatherings where I don’t know anyone.
I was coming off of a very long and extraordinarily social “situation” (a topic for another post) when Covid started and tbh, I’ve really enjoyed 2 years of quiet solitude. Between that and some joblessness I gained a LOT of weight. There were other reasons but again… another post or maybe a therapist’s couch would serve me better to go into all that!
I do condo and HOA management for a living. It’s a tight rope to walk between good manager and most hated person in the ‘hood. But I’ve done it for 16 years and love it.
I live in Boynton Beach with my awesome husband and our old, stinky dog Zeus (moose, moo, moomoo, stinky or dumbass for short).
I’ve never blogged before so please be kind. 🙃
Hi all – my name is Robin and I have been friends with Ana & Lori for 6 years. We all met through our mutual love of books although I became a lot closer with them when I volunteered for Ana’s most recent Wicked Book Weekend. Ana invited Lori & I to join her on this blog as we initially decided to be each other’s accountability buddies on our path to a healthier lifestyle in 2022 (which includes nutrition and fitness) but felt parts of our journeys will not only benefit us in sharing with each other but with the readers of this blog.
My “day job” is a full time paralegal and then I come home to my husband and my very cute dog. My 19 year old daughter is a college sophomore about 3 hours away. Still getting used to being an empty nester.
A procrastinator by nature, and even more recently, Starting on Monday has become part of my mantra, although I made a promise to myself (some may call it a resolution but I don’t plan on breaking it) that this year will finally be the year I commit to ME! I have gone through several surgeries (2 writs and 1 knee the year before Covid hit) which made me not only have to reevaluate my exercise program, but also due to the lack of not working out, put on the weight I had worked so hard to get off. It is getting harder as I get older too – I’m the old lady of our group at 56.
I also have renovated my house (not to the extent that Ana did but more of an update!) and am still working on details (pillows, decorations) to complete the job. Getting used to only cooking (when I actually cook!) for 2 and having more free time than I sometimes know what to do with!
Like Lori, I’ve never blogged before and I’m used to writing in legal language, so please bear with me (us!!)🙃

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