First of all, I want to say thank you for visiting my page, and I want to share a bit of my background with you so that you can get to know the woman behind all of the advice, tips, tricks, and experience surrounding my posts and content on this site.
...and maybe a little glimpse into "ourmickelsonlife".
Creating this was so important to me because during and after some of my biggest hurdles and struggles in life I learned and grew so much, so why not share my lessons with as many people as i can. I didn't do it alone and I didn't get through it without the help of either someone or getting my ass up and changing my surroundings. There was always a book, a movie, or a documentary, the advice from a friend, family member or stranger, a simple quote or the lyrics to a song, that made a difference.
These are my stories and experiences that I've had and have gotten me to where I am today.
Let's start at the beginning with the hard stuff first...
When I was little our family suffered an extreme tragedy... my mom and dad lost their baby girl, my 3-month-old sister, Brandi, to SIDS, while she was at daycare. I was 6 years old at the time so I don't understand why being that I was so young, and now 40 years later, that sometimes it feels like yesterday. It's hard to talk about but I need to talk about her because I don't want to ever forget. Like I said, it's part of who I am today. On the other side of the tragedy, it's affected my relationship with my children, and now my grandchildren, but you'll understand why and how as I write other posts.
As I entered the first few years of elementary school, the bullying started, and from there I struggled with weight/body issues, depression and anxiety, and developed many insecurities surrounding that. I experienced a brief period of my life on the streets, have been involved in gang relations, raised my children as a single parent for many years, was on welfare, and at times needed food stamps to feed our family which was completely unavoidable and my own doing.
I've worked through some of the struggles of ADHD, gambling, alcohol and drug addiction, and I've had the stress of juggling multiple jobs with young children as I'm sure so many of you are able to relate. I wanted to share some of the hurdles that I was able to overcome in hopes of helping, and to show my readers what we are all capable of.
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I'm a Mother, Mom, & Momma to three grown children, and yes, they all have their own way of calling me M-O-M. We are a mixed bag of complicated, are completely dysfunctional in all sorts of ways, but it's what makes us "us". We drive each other crazy, love each-other every day and like each-other on most days. We're totally opposite and completely alike in more ways than we'd like to admit and I think that's ok.
I was first married in 1996 and as you can imagine my ex-husband and I were children ourselves when we had our kids. We had to grow up faster than we expected as our twins were born around Christmas in 1994 and three months after they were born, we got the news that we had another on the way. It was not the news we wanted because like I said, "we were children ourselves", but looking back, I wouldn't change having our three children when we did for anything!
By the time I was 24, I had been married and divorced from their father and through many years of drugs, fighting and a lot of struggle, we made it to where we are today.
I met Brett in 2012 and because of the 9 year age gap, I think we both thought that it wasn't going to be any more than just a fling. My kids would tease us, call me a cradle robber, but little by little, we all fell in love with him. It's been 12 years together, 7 years of marriage, 6 grandchildren, 9 moves, 2 businesses, and now living fulltime at a ski resort managing a lodge while one of us has become a volunteer firefighter, and we're still just as much in love as the day we met.
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Why I choose to share what I share and a bit of my resume...
After my children were born I started a regular workout routine and became more involved in my health and wellness, but it wasn't until 2009 that I quit smoking. I was a chain smoker and I Ioved it, it went hand in hand with my gambling addiction... more on that later too. By 2010 I had quit gambling, bought a house, turned our life around and competed in a figure competition, one of the hardest things that I've ever done. Although I placed 2nd last and truly feel that I DID NOT give it my best, I took away so much from that experience. I've worked out and learned so much from some of the best trainers, dietitians, and nutritionists for over 20 years, so why not pass that along too.
The cleaning and organizing side of my life started when I was a teenager working with my mom and her cleaning company. Later in life I also found a passion for organizing for friends and family and then dove into design and renovation with my first home. After renovating it from top to bottom, inside and out, I was hooked! I realized after my second home that I had a gift for much more than cleaning and organizing, so that's where I started a side gig while working full-time as a fiber technician. I have worked with many clients over the years, both young and elderly, designed and renovated many spaces and I absolutely LOVE sharing the do's and don'ts, how's and why's with all of the above when it comes to clearing the clutter, hiring a contractor and cleaning toilets!
I look forward to sharing my experiences with you, being transparent about my ups and downs, and the lessons that have helped me gain my strengths and accomplishments.
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With Love,
~Joelle Sloboda Mickelson
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