Category: single mom

Yearly Reflection (2021)

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Each year I like to take the time to reflect on the good and the bad and the ugly. Let’s face it, life is always up and down. I personally and truly enjoy where I am at in life. I have been working on my self-growth and development for many years. This is such a great feeling to have. 

I simply like to like to share my story with others to let them know they are not alone in whatever they might be struggling or content with. We all go through things in life that we can’t control. I love sharing experiences with single, autistic, and entrepreneur moms. 

Here are some good things that came out of 2021 

  • Grew my business 
  • Antonio started kindergarten (at the best school in the area) 
  • Antonio starting talking 
  • Antonio started to actually read aloud 
  • Antonio had such great progress in all things this year 
  • Made business clients and friends along the way 
  • We are all fully vaccinated. 
  • Slowly started to redecoerate the house 
  • Lost my last 8 pounds 
  • Worked on a healthier me 
  • Fully invested into my faith with Jesus 
  • Gave back to the local communities a lot 
  • Launched a podcast and reached over 3 countries
  • Decluttered my house (got rid of baby items + old items I dont use) 
  • Learned how to outsource in business 
  • Found an amazing dogsitter and babysitter

There was of course some ‘bad’ things that happened: 

  • Had a Gas leak 
  • Home repairs happened more than I’d like (lots of toilet fixes + fridge)
  • My cane corso had chronic ear infections 
  • Pandemic was still here 
  • I had to put down my cane corso (carbon) 

I truly love the independence that I am at right now. You see whenever something ‘bad’ happens it could be worse. Yes, my gas leak happened and cost a ton of money, but I was thankful that we did not get hurt in any way and that was found quickly. I learned a lot along with these areas. I love growing into this wonderful person each day by learning each day about new items, but also by truly being independent. 

As an Art Director with over 10 years of experience in the agency and corporate world, I saw global and local clients missing out on so many opportunities to get leads because of inconsistent branding. My goal is to help them generate new clients with my strategic processes. I help businesses NOT waste time or money and provide the highest quality design and service. As a single mom to an autistic child, I know how valuable time and money is. 

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

What I Like Most About Being Single

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When I realized I was going to be single, and a single mom, I was scared. I felt a lot more emotions than that, but it felt the strongest. As time went on I was able to feel other things and gain the confidence that I needed in order to be a successful mom and business owner. 

However, here I am still single years later, people often ask me why. There are a few different reasons, all of which are that I am enjoying life. There is so much that I am enjoying right now. I got married young and I wasn’t able to truly enjoy my 20’s the way I could have. I am thankful for the past, but living in the present right now I am doing things that I want to do. 

Too many times people think there is something wrong with the person if they are single for too long. I can let you know that I have boundaries, but also I am able to truly enjoy my life and go after my goals and hobbies. Here are some quick things that I enjoy the most: 

  • Do whatever I want. If I cant get the dishes done, then it’s fine. If I want to go out to eat with myself or son, I can. I make my own time and schedule. I can organize my schedule and house as I see fit! 
  • Enjoy the extra time with my son. I get twice the cuddles and hugs and LOVE IT.  He is growing too quick. 
  • Work on myself. I have been working on myself in many ways: spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. I realized that I needed some assistance and took action. 
  • Enjoy hobbies. I am getting back into the swing of this, people ask me what I do outside of work and I honestly don’t even know! So I started to spike an interest where I saw fit. 
  • Relax. I can sit down and take time out to pause through out the day! 
  • Rely on me. I like being in control and taking charge of my life. I enjoy being able to trust in myself and make decisions. 

Yes, I get lonely but I wouldn’t change it just yet. I will only be at this place one time in my life, so I might as well enjoy it and embrace it. What tips do you have for other parents who are single? 

Susie Liberatore is the owner, and Art Director, of Visions2images Creative Services. She helps established businesses grow their brand awareness by using digital marketing and professional branding techniques. With over a decade of agency and corporate experience, she brings businesses’ visions to life, while watching their return on investment increase.

Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

Balancing life as a single mom and entrepreneur

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I wish that I had advice for single moms…. balance, and entrepreneur life. I do not have much to say other than I need help. I am burnt out, I am tired. 

I beat myself up day in and day out, am I doing what’s best for Antonio? Am I taking time for myself? Am I growing my business the way I have planned? 

A year ago, I never thought I would be where I am today, but I also know that it is okay to ask for help. I am grateful and blessed, but sometimes being a full time single mom can be overwhelming. 

I see my other friends or entrepreneur friends who are married, and they don’t get it. It is one of the hardest things ever to be a single mom to a special needs child and have a business. I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I just wish there were more awareness and local groups to help cope. Sometimes it can be hard to cope or find people WHO get it and will offer support. 

My advice? It is important to choose good people and build trust with others so you can ask for help knowing that you can rely on them. It is also important to know it is okay to take time off of work and enjoy time with your children. Life is too short to not enjoy it.

Susie Liberatore is the owner, and Art Director, of Visions2images Creative Services. She helps established businesses grow their brand awareness by using digital marketing and professional branding techniques. With over a decade of agency and corporate experience, she brings businesses’ visions to life, while watching their return on investment increase.

Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

Best Banking System to use: Get FREE $50.

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I switched over my banking when I was going through a divorce. Still to this day, I am using it. Now I have transferred all my accounts to KeyBank. This bank has been so kind and amazing; they have truly provided amazing customer service. 

I think I have about 10 different accounts with them and I LOVE all the rewards and perks that come with this bank. It is also makes transferring money between accounts easier instead of writing checks or wire transfers. 

With the credit cards that I have now, I get cashback so that is a win-win. I have a local bank about five minutes from my house and they know me; I can rely on them and ask questions. 

Earn $50 when your friend opens a new checking account with a minimum opening deposit by December 31, 2021, and makes one $500 direct deposit in the first 60 days. Your gift will be delivered to you within 60 days of meeting the requirements if the account is still open and not overdrawn. They’ll get a great new checking account and $50, too. 

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Susie Liberatore is the owner, and Art Director, of Visions2images Creative Services. She helps established businesses grow their brand awareness by using digital marketing and professional branding techniques. With over a decade of agency and corporate experience, she brings businesses’ visions to life, while watching their return on investment increase.

Susie helps businesses grow their brand presence and connect with their target audience.

The Ultimate Branding Guide to Win New Clients in 7 Days

HelloFresh Is The BEST Way To Get Your Food

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This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. 

I HATE COOKING and I hate meal prepping. It is one of my worst features. I would do anything to get out of it if I could. I am not the healthiest eater since I do not like to cook so I eat fast food or carbs. 

Since all this pandemic has happened, it has been near impossible to get groceries. I typically order my groceries online, and it takes WEEKS to get them now. I was thinking of how to get the food that I need. I was doing local carry out for a little while as well, but I just felt like something was missing and it was getting repetitive. When you are stuck in quarantine you constantly want to eat and eat junk. 

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My brothers sent me a text and said here you go, we ordered you HelloFresh.   I knew about it before, for sure but never tried it. I was only on the fence because I had to still cook and didn’t know if I would like it and thought it was pretty pricey as well. 

It seemed like it is was the perfect time to try out HelloFresh now. I have to say that I was quite impressed with it. I was in love with how the packaging was, the instructions were so easy. I really enjoyed cooking for once. The food was quite tasty of course. I had three different meal options for the first round and each one was delicious. 

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There are so many options for meals and I love how diverse they are. It fills you right up and you have so many healthy options with it. The best thing is there is also no commitment you can skip or cancel weeks if you have other meals in mind. 

The best benefits of HelloFresh: 

  • Easy-to-follow recipes with clear nutritional info
  • Fresh food and affordable 
  • High-quality ingredients sourced straight from the farm
  • Convenient meal kits that fit perfectly in the fridge
  • A fun cooking experience that makes you feel unstoppable

Another great thing is I love how there are leftovers and super easy to make; it makes me feel productive and like a great cook. I can eat the leftovers days later and it is still as delicious as ever. 

Go ahead and give it a try 

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This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

How To Keep Calm During a Pandemic

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So many people are hurting from the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). I know people are hurting. I know people are sad, miserable, and worried. People aren’t working, kids are home from school. Life is a MESS. I get it. We all have our own thoughts and feelings of what is going on. I am a single mother to an autistic child, I get it. My mothers surgery got cancelled… her trip got cancelled.. so many things are affecting us. Friends have gotten tested, anxiety has been high trust me when I say you are not alone. 

Everything is closing, or is already closed. Schools are being shut down, children are at home. I GET IT. Do you hear me?! I GET IT! There isn’t much of anything open and they don’t want people going out if they don’t have to. We are staying inside since my son is high risk. 

Here are a list of ideas for you to do…  FOR FREE. You can have fun and even learn with your children right at home. 

Virtual Tours FOR CHILDREN:

ACTIVITIES FOR CHILDREN:

  • ABC MOUSE First MONTH FREE!  :More than 850 Lessons Across 10 Levels. The Step-by-Step Learning Path presents the full ABCmouse.com curriculum in a carefullydesigned program of more than 850 lessons in ten levels. 
  • Scholastic: Scholastic is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books, connecting educators and families through accessibility, engagement, and expertise. We are a leading provider of literacy curriculum, professional services, and classroom magazines, and a producer of educational and popular children’s media.
  • Rosetta Stone: Start fine-tuning your pronunciation from the very first lesson with our patented TruAccent speech-recognition engine. That way, you’ll be confident that you know what to say and how to say it.
  • Melissa and Doug: Play ideas for when you are stuck at home, because let’s face it – you are. 
  • Crayola: unleash your imagination and create~ DIY things for the kids through coloring, drawing, and painting.ACTIVITIES FOR PARENTS 
  • Instacart: Groceries delivered in as little as 1 hour. Find 1,000’s of productsfrom the stores you already shop at.
  • HelloFresh: America’s Most, Popular Meal Kit. Now offering the most recipe variety

    and meals starting at $7.49

  •  Blue Apron :Choose your meals Our chef-designed recipes include balanced Mediterranean meals, quick one-pan dinners, and top-rated customer favorites.

  • Uber Eats: Order with $0 Delivery Fee. To support the community, you get a $0 Delivery Fee on any order from a local restaurant.
    This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

  • pandemic

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How to Protect Yourself At All Times

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Since going through a divorce, I have realized that I need to be able to cover myself and my family. I needed to step up mentally for myself and my son. I do not trust anyone, right now, and don’t know if I ever will again. When I say mentally, what I mean is change my mindset. You see when you change your mindset and realize that you have happiness right in front of you.

Going through a divorce caused me to make a lot of changes, changes that needed to be made. I am thankful for these these changes as they have helped me become the person that I needed to be. For so long I felt like I wasn’t the Susie most people knew and I was lost. It was because I let go of myself.

When you think you can trust someone and all the things go wrong, you learn real fast to protect yourself. Whether you are going through a divorce, or just are going through things, there are a few things you can do to protect yourself:

 

  1. Get everything in writing: This is key, you need to make sure that you are always watching your shoulder. Anything of any importance needs to be always documented. This will protect you so much in the long run.
  2. Bite your tongue: There will be drama, but you need to know it doesn’t matter. Just bite your tongue and let the he/she said crap go away. No one cares about it in court.
  3. Watch who you talk to: I deleted a TON of people out of my life. This doesn’t mean necessarily deleting off social media, but rather not talking to them about anything that could harm myself. If you decide to talk mutual people, just keep what is going on to yourself.
  4. Do not lie: I don’t ever lie period. SO this is a no brainer to me. But if you have everything in writing there is no way to lie.
  5. Have a mentor: Someone you can help you, and listen. Whenever I wanted to react to something I would call this person and they would talk me out of doing something stupid. This person could be a sibling, best friend, or parent. You want to make sure that it is someone you can trust.
  6. Hire a lawyer: My lawyer bill is HIGH. But I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way simply because I never went through this before so I did not know what to expect. I had to ask tons of questions and send tons of information including screenshots and it all added up.

You need to protect yourself at all times, since there is going to be so much going on. You have to “do you” and take care of you that is it. Do not second guess yourself AT ALL. You will get through this hardest time of your life, do not worry.

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Three Daily Easy Routines For Single Mom’s 

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Three Daily Easy Routines For Single Mom’s 

Being a single mom I have learned how to manage my time better than ever before. I have learned how to really track every single minute of the day in order for it to be successful. I do not like being in a rush or being late whenever possible; this is why I have such a great system and routine in place. 

    1. Start the night before: I am not a morning person. My brain is barely awake in the morning and therefore I do not like doing a whole bunch of things in the morning. When I wait until the morning to do things that is when my anxiety and stress kicks in.  There is a ton of things to do in the mornings and I do not have time to do it all. 

 

  1. Making sure they have a set bedtime: Enforce your children’s bed time. This might take some getting used to, but when it is bedtime Antonio goes into his room and goes to bed. I make sure that his isn’t on the phone or watching tv. I let my son go in his room at 9 P.M. and sometimes he sits in there and talks or plays, but he is in bed ready to fall alsleep. You also want to make sure that you FOLLOW a bed schedule. This will help you in the long run for sure. You do not want to not get enough sleep only for the morning to be a nightmare when you can’t wake up on time.
  2. Prep the night before: This means for yourself and the children. Get the clothes out for the next day, take a shower/bath, do your hair, meal prep and get lunches ready, have any bags packed, etc. Making a checklist for each night will be so helpful for you, and the kids, as well. 

When it is just me as a single mother there is so much more to every single minute of the day; I follow some easy tips and routines to help my schedule flow nicely. Find ways to make your schedule efficient as a single mother. 

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Marriage: When/How to Know It’s Time to Let Go

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When it is time to let go.

There are only some parts of life you can change or fix. You cannot correct someone else or their problems. Rather, you can only fix yourself and work on yourself. If the other person isn’t wanting to make changes or move forward, then there is nothing you can do. I have to say that I am all about self-development. I don’t mind going to counseling, etc. So, if the other person isn’t seeing wrongdoings that they did, then it’s not going to matter. I don’t want to be with that person.

I go to counseling to help make myself better, to realize my goals, and to help me understand myself better. We all need self-growth at one point or another. We need to let our thoughts and feelings out so that we can move forward. Again, this is all so great. The other person needs to be willing to want to save or help their marriage/self.

There comes a time when you have to let go, though. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt like hell; like NOTHING ELSE you’ve felt before. You will feel sick every day. You will feel hate and anger. Tears will fall. You won’t sleep or eat. You will overeat. This cycle will continue for what seems like FOREVER. However, it’ll only last for a little while. Eventually, the period will get longer and longer, so you can be stronger in no time.

How do you let go?

I wish I had an answer. A lot of things in my life changed to move forward. I found a support system. I focused on me and my goals, leaned on God + my parents, and opened up to people around me. Also, I worked out and took care of my son. I realized what I had to do to move forward and make myself better all in time.

Don’t think it won’t hurt. You will be better in the long-run; remember, the long-run is going to take time. I used to believe that there was always hope. You know, you think of the love movies, and people come around. Or you hear about your friends getting remarried to the same guy years later. Whatever it is, do not think about it. For it to come back to you, you need to let go and do you. It is going to be the HARDEST action ever. I went through three deployments with my ex, and this is WAY more difficult than that. This stint is worse than mono and childbirth. God prepared me for this through all of those fierce battles.

Stop over-thinking and act on the future. Imagine your future. Where do you want to be? Who do you want to be? How will you go on and take care of yourself? Focus on YOU, and don’t let anything get in the way. What’s meant to be will always find a way.

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What’s Worse Death or Divorce?

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I have been thinking about the two of these options for quite some time. When I went through a divorce, my parents told me that this feels like death has happened in the family. I couldn’t help but let that sink in and sit. It stuck with me for a while.

I didn’t think of divorce like death until they made that remark. I wonder why it felt that way. It’s like we all went through the same stages together; you know, denial, anger, acceptance, etc. Once we realized that it was happening, we all felt like it was a death.


While parting ways might not be a real death, losing the person you love from the family as a whole is rough. We didn’t have a wake or funeral, but we know that nothing will be the same. We had to let go of all the good times we shared knowing that those people won’t be together anymore. It’s like you just released. So many people are affected by the process of divorce including parents, siblings, grandparents, children, etc. It can be so hard to add that to the list of worries when separating. It’s important not to take sides or try to make someone else look better or worse. It is what is, as my dad said.

No matter how mad my family was at my ex, they still know he’s the father to my son. They know there are two sides to the story; they understand it takes two. They are aware that we both said and did a lot of wrongs, but I would much rather have a divorce than death for my son’s sake if that makes sense. So, we have to handle the cards that are dealt to us and go through all the stages of life and grief.

Being civil is a must now. You miss out on all the things that you had planned for the future together. The holidays won’t be the same. You won’t get to celebrate together but separate instead. How does that even look and feel? I don’t understand how that is going to be.

It does feel like a death happened. The heartbreak is horrible. And yet, they are still there. Enjoy the new life and don’t dwell on what could have been because life is too short. Be thankful for the divorce and make it amicable for everyone around you.

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** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.

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