I’m a 29 year-old mother (of baby O born January 2012), suburban raised but escaped to the city until recently returning to the suburbs to raise O in a slower, quieter place. I’m married to the most kind, handsome and considerate man I’ve ever known. We are figuring out parenthood together while also adjusting to home ownership, career change and being “grown-ups”… still strange. I studied Fine Arts at NKU, dabble in everything from photography, paint and home decor to beading and refinishing furniture. I created this blog to record my attempts to navigate our new life, squeeze in some creativity and make a mark. I am trying new ways to save money, simplify life, make a home, be healthy and stay sane …and of course GLAMOROUS. I hope to share my experiences, money-saving ideas, time savers, helpful tips, recipes and creativity here. O is farsighted (R +5.00, L +7.00) with accomadative esotropia and amblyopia so you may see posts about kids with glasses, patches and Ophthalmology here too. It’s sure to be chock full of mishaps, mistakes and small life lessons. Buckle up…. I’m still learning to drive this thing.

You are probably wondering who Hilda is. The truth is, she doesn’t actually exist. It’s actually is my mother’s alter-ego. When we were kids we would call for her “Mom!…. Mom… Mom?” she often would answer (as most moms would) but occasionally she’d get tired of hearing her “name”. Of course Mom isn’t actually her name but I’m sure it got old quickly. So she would sometimes say, “I’ve changed my name!” because she was obviously tired of us calling her to settle tedious squabbles and such. For this reason I usually called my mother by her first name… she actually preferred it! But only in recent years did she reveal that when she “changed her name” as a young mom she had made up the alter-ego of Hilda Got-Rocks. Her simple explanation was that she felt that everyone deserved to be glamorous, even when doing the often grubby and thankless duties of a stay-at-home mom. My mother maintained her glamour very well among the chaos of a full house, laundry, carpool, sporting events and the like. She managed to eat healthy, exercise, travel, stay stylish, creative, incredibly kind and gracious while wrangling her own 3 daughters and often several extra kids (cousins usually). In fact, it was my mother who told me to carry a glass of champagne with me while I scrubbed toilets in order to “keep my day glamorous”. For no particular reason “Hilda” was a generic female name she chose to precede “Got-Rocks,” which is clearly a reference to bling (and who doesn’t appreciate a little bling?).

So I suppose I’m Hilda’s Daughter?

I like my eggs scrambled well, toast as close to burnt as possible and my milkshakes extra thick. I believe there is beauty in everything. I believe every thing and being has a purpose. I believe that those things and beings all deserve second (and sometimes third, fourth and fifth) chances. I enjoy creating, recreating, doodling, painting, baking, cooking, organizing, Scrabble, reading, movies, randomly rearranging my furniture, playing with power tools, making new things old and old things new again. I blog about life, mommyhood, home, art and food.