Issue # 117 | Date May 1st 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Let me tell you a quick story about Shera. She-Ra was a fearless cartoon warrior I used to watch on Saturday mornings in the 1990s. Shera was also a bully I went to school with in Paterson, New Jersey. I don't know her real name—she was nicknamed Shera after the warrior cartoon. You can imagine why. One day, I instigated Shera. I jokingly put my foot out pretending to trip her on Field Day. She did NOT think it was funny. The more...
11 days ago • 3 min read
Issue # 116 | Date April 24th 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Yesterday, I woke up and my body delivered a clear message: Today is a rest day. The kind where you stay in bed all day. As a feral housewife, I preach that kind of tiny rebellion. (I better practice what I preach, right?) I had a choice to make. Listen—or push on, ignoring my intuition? Last week, I was miserable. I had multiple doctor’s appointments, took other people to theirs, and did it all with stress, bloating, cramps,...
18 days ago • 3 min read
Issue # 115 | Date April 17th 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Today my mind feels scattered. Or better yet, it took off on vacation and left me here. Every week it's my intention to sit down and write something thoughtful, meaningful, maybe even a little funny—but life sometimes has other plans. Appointments, interruptions, responsibilities, cooking, movement, people needing things. Some days the words flow.Some days they hide under the bed and refuse to come out. So today, this is the...
25 days ago • 1 min read
Issue # 114 | Date April 10th 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Every week I have a million things I want to share with you. My mind is like a race track with several cars competing for first place. I'm always reading, analyzing, sorting, researching, filing, noting, learning, etc. Life is rich with color, beauty, experience, and yet it's hard to feel "alive" sometimes. Still, I'll never understand people who are bored with life, and maybe even themselves. As Dr. Seuss said in one of his...
about 1 month ago • 3 min read
Issue # 113 | April 3, 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Are you thinking...please not another email from Anna about learning, growing, improving, changing, bettering myself, etc.? I hear ya. You might be thinking... Why do I always have to be the one to change? Why can't others do some growing and bettering of themselves too? You're not wrong for thinking this. I think this ALL THE TIME. Sometimes it's exhausting being the aware one. The one having to figure everything out. The one staying...
about 1 month ago • 4 min read
Issue # 112 | Friday March 27, 2026| Previous issues Hey Reader, If you've got an eye for detail, you may have noticed how many times I get the date wrong or miss it entirely. 😳 I won't belabor the point. For most of my life, I've been mortified of sounding stupid in front of others. Well, perimenopause has cured me of that 🤣. Seriously! I thought motherhood stole my brain, but that's nothing compared to this mid-life hormonal shift. Ladies, if you have no idea what I mean and you're in your...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Issue # 111 | March 20th, 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Here’s a truth I’d like you to sit with for a long moment. No one else is you or can live for you. Powerful thought, isn’t it? There will never be another you. No one can live your life for you. That’s your responsibility. Aren’t you glad? So then, why do you live the way you do? You know what I mean. Jumping out of bed in the morning. Downing coffee before you rush out, or grabbing one from a drive-through on your way to work, or...
about 2 months ago • 2 min read
Issue # | DATE | Previous issues Hey Reader, Have you ever heard the expression, you can’t have your cake and eat it too? Ugh. My mom used to say this to me when I was a child, and I remember replying: “why have cake if I can’t eat it?” What a silly expression! The logic never sat well with me. If someone brings you cake, where’s the fun in staring at it? No way. I’m eating it. And probably two slices. I don’t know where that cliché came from and honestly, I don’t care. Nor do I care what it...
2 months ago • 4 min read
Issue # 109 | March 6th, 2026 | Previous issues Hey Reader, Last week I made a small boo-boo. I forgot to update the newsletter issue # and date, therefore last week's info was incorrect. You have so much on your plate to worry about you probably didn't even notice. I apologize to my new subscribers. There's nothing like getting started on the wrong foot lol. As a recovering perfectionist, the old me would've been mortified for days. (Self-talk would've sounded like, 'can't believe how stupid...
2 months ago • 3 min read