Skip to main content

Posts

Our Story

My husband, Ryan, and I met in college in 1991, although we did not date until a few years later. Our first years of marriage were spent renovating an 80 year old home in a precarious "arts district". And when I say renovate, I mean we did all the work and lived in two rooms in the house for five years. We both had full-time jobs too. We had no kitchen or central heat or air conditioning for at least two years. To say the stress of it all was horrendous is not giving you an accurate description. There were some good times, but it was difficult for me to live in carpentry filth, disorganized mess with uncompleted projects for that long. It took counseling to get us through it all. Although I would never put myself in that same position again, renovating the house ourselves allowed me to stay home with our children...which in so many ways turned out to be what we dearly needed when Ben arrived. Ryan and I were married 5 years when I gave birth to Ben in July of 2003. My p

ABLE Account Available

Good News: ABLE Account Available It's Official: ABLEnow is Open for Enrollment Today marks an exciting milestone for people with disabilities, their families and advocates. ABLEnow is open for nationwide enrollment at  able-now.com . The ABLEnow program opens today on the two-year anniversary of the federal Stephen Beck, Jr. Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act being signed into law, authorizing states to establish ABLE savings programs. ABLEnow provides people with disabilities the opportunity to save money for today’s needs or invest for  tomorrow . These simple, affordable and tax-advantaged accounts allow eligible individuals to save up to $14,000 a year without endangering eligibility for certain means-tested benefit programs such as Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). The ABLEnow program offers some of the lowest fees in the country, an online portal to manage your account and the ABLEnow Card—a debit card providing a simple, fast way to pa

Freelance writing taking a front seat

No, I have not forgotten about eSpecially Ben. This site is on my mind all the time as I write about topics from pickleball to running . Since January, I have become a full-time freelance writer with several paying clients. I am involved in a great freelance writer's group that I learned about through an online course  [ affiliate link ]. As my mother often reminds me, Ben is the reason I am going all-in with my new writing career. I started eSpecially Ben seven years ago, and it has connected me to so many people all across the globe. It has helped my family and friends understand our struggles and also help other families deal with their own issues. So you will see less and less new posts here, but I am thinking about creating an e-book based on this blog site. I still have much research to do before I make that decision. I will keep you updated. In the meantime, I will post my freelance writing on social media. Please follow me on Instagram , Twitter and Facebook