Welcome to Hot Chocolate & Holding Close, a personal growth blog about wellness, relationships, parenting, pets, home maintenance, and writing.
Recent Blog Posts
A Note on Working from Home
Since I’ve become a permanent work-from-home employee, I’ve had several conversations with people about working from home that led to me writing this note. What I’ve come across is that people think it’s either really great or really horrible or they think “it must be...
Fun & Easy Summer Outdoor Activities for Your Toddler
Summer can be an especially fun time for toddlers. If yours is anything like mine, they love to spend time outside. Here are some fun outdoor activities to do with your toddler during the summer. Water Activities My daughter loves everything to do with water. Here are...
How to Create a Budget You Can Stick With
Perhaps you’ve tried creating a budget before. It can become tricky and overwhelming very quickly. Creating a realistic budget you can stick with is even trickier. Keep on reading to learn how to create a budget. My History With Budgeting For some reason, budgeting...
Deciding When to Leave a Marriage
Trying to decide when to leave a marriage can be difficult. No one ever thinks when they get married that they will be in that 50% that gets divorced. However, many people do at times find themselves unhappy in their marriages, despite the vows they gave on their...
5 Tips for Summer Self-Care
If you’re anything like me, fitting in self-care can be a tricky task. However, self-care is essential to do in order to maintain your best self. Read on for tips for summer self-care. Benefits of Self-Care You may be asking yourself, why is it that I should work on...
Summer Date Ideas: Covid Edition
Dating in the summer can be a lot of fun. Especially up here in Wisconsin where the weather is beautiful and you can finally get outside to enjoy the outdoors. I’ve compiled a fun list of summer date ideas: covid edition. While things in the covid world seem to be...
How to Get Your Toddler to Stop Biting
Having a toddler who bites others is immensely stressful. There is constant frustration about the biting. Figuring out how to get your toddler to stop biting is immensely difficult. Feeling bad for the kid who was the victim. Worrying about how the other toddler’s...
Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 8 Bring in Joy
Week 8 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge was to bring joy into your home. This week is all about showcasing the items that you love that you found in your home. It’s about finding pretty ways to store some items. And it’s about whimsically trying to find a way to use...
Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge: Week 7
Week 7 of the Marie Kondo Tidy Challenge was to find everything a home. Quite frankly, this has been the most difficult task for me so far. I’m not a huge fan of the options for storage in our house. It isn’t quite right for where I’d logically want to keep things....
How to Build a DIY Cushion Seat for a Toy Box
A few years back, my in-laws made our daughter a beautiful toybox for Christmas. We ended up having to keep it in our living room because her room is so small. I decided that I’d like to hide the toy clutter with a toy box cover. However, I also wanted the cover to be...