Of course, I will acknowledge that not all of our readers here at Today’s Modern Family will share in this experience as we acknowledge that not all stepchildren share a good experience with their stepmoms.  With that being said however, there are many stepmoms who through the years have never given up, that have worked hard at the relationships they share with their stepchildren (Kela and myself alike) and this ode, whether we feel the love right now or not, will give those stepmoms hope that their stepchildren may one day, when the smoke clears, also feel the same way.  Today’s Modern Family would like to say Happy Mother’s Day to all moms and stepmoms out there and wish you all a wonderful and blessed Mother’s Day!

A Mother’s Day Ode to Stepmoms Who Never Quit

Written by:  Katherine Stone for babble.com

Dear Mom,

I think I was nine or ten when you took me on. You decided to get married to my dad and, with that, take the responsibility for his two children, children who had been through a lot and were very unsure.

You hadn’t ever had children, so to march right in to the lives of two elementary school kids with confidence and caring was quite something. Being a parent now I can see that.

You tried. You worked so hard. Even when we said we didn’t like the food you cooked because it wasn’t like our other mom’s, you kept on cooking. Even when we wouldn’t ride in the same canoe with you, both of us preferring to stay in our dad’s on a family trip because we just didn’t feel right with you yet, you kept on paddling. Even when it took a long time for us to get used to the idea of calling you mom, you kept on caring.

I’m sure it was frustrating and sometimes hurtful, yet you didn’t let that stop you. You continued to show us you loved us and you wanted us to be healthy and happy. You kept trying to prove that you were there for the long haul and that we could count on you, and oh how we needed someone to be able to count on.

You waited us out. You were patient and you never quit. You leaned in and held on tight and it worked. Thank you. Thank you for coming into our lives when you didn’t have to and being willing to love us as your own and for working so damn hard to convince us that we were, in fact, your own.

I am your own.

I love you. Happy Mother’s Day.

Katherine

Ingredients:

1 pound of bulk Italian sausage
1 pound of fresh cheese tortellini
4 cups of chicken stock
1 – 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes
1- 14 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 medium onion chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup bell pepper, chopped
4 cups fresh, washed spinach
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon Pizza seasoning (optional)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Instructions:

Brown sausage in a large stock pot until it is no longer pink.  Ad salt, peper, Italian seasoning and pizza seasoning, stir well to combine.  Add in onion, garlic and peppers and toss well.  Pour in chicken stock, crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes.  Give everything a good stir to incorporate well.  Add in tortellini and stir.  Simmer for 15 minutes over medium heat until tortellini puffs up and everything is heated through.  Add in spinach and stir just until it has wilted.  Serve with crusty bread and/or a side salad for a complete meal.

Noreen Lambert is a wife, mom, stepmom and homemaker who loves to cook. You can find Noreen’s channel on YouTube with the tag name of atticus9799 and at Noreen’s Kitchen.

A helpful hint here is that if you might have a little extra time on the weekends to plan your meals, you can buy most of the ingredients you need and chop and prep on the weekends and seal in ziplock bags everything you need so that when it’s time to put this all together, you are only browning the meat, sauteeing the veges with it and making the sauce.

TMF Readers, there is nothing better than to come home from a long days’ work and create something so simple, yet so delicious.  Check out the recipe below and the video up on our own TMF TV on our homepage.  Enjoy!

Spicy Thai Beef Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients:

2 pounds of lean ground beef
1 tsp. of salt
1/2 tsp. of cracked black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large carrots, shredded or chopped fine
1 can bamboo shoots, chopped
2 tablespoons ginger root, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon grass, minced
4 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper, chopped
1 tsp. tasted sesame oil

Sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup plain rice vinegar
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
2 tablespoons of Thai sweet chili sauce
2 tablespoons of sugar

Instructions:

Brown and drain ground beef in a large skillet until no pink remains.  Add salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Add onion, garlic, ginger and lemon grass and saute until you can smell their aroma.  Add in carrots, water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and stir to combine.  Allow to saute for a few minutes while you prepare the sauce.  Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together well.  Pour sauce over meat mixture and stir well. Get ready for the amazing smell!  Turn off heat and add green onion, cilantro and chopped jalapeno.  Stir to combine.  Drizzle over toasted sesame oil and stir in.  Serve with rice and fresh, washed lettuce leaves and cucumber spears.

Noreen Lambert is a wife, mom, stepmom and homemaker who loves to cook. You can find Noreen’s channel on YouTube with the tag name of atticus9799 and at Noreen’s Kitchen.

With that being said, I wanted to give my newly divorced readers some strategies on surviving through this period of time in order to help you begin to rebuild your life.

You Are Enough

The title above says it all!  Your divorce doesn’t have to change who you are as a person.  When we hear those nasty words…”I want a divorce,” the first thing our minds default to is “there must something wrong with me.“  It is perfectly normal to feel rejected and to want to analyze the situation to acknowledge what role you may have played but what you have to remember is that your spouses decisions do not have to define you and they should not dictate your self worth, and sometimes, it’s okay just to accept that things don’t always turn out the way we plan it.  Life throws us curve balls  but blaming yourself doesn’t change anything.   Your feelings of rejection can be used as motivation to move on and to redefine yourself.

Seek Out a Valued Support System

With divorce comes grief.  It comes and goes in stages just as if you were experiencing a death of a spouse.  Allow yourself plenty of time to go through this process and also lean on the shoulders of those you trust who are willing to support you through it.  There’s nothing like the shoulder of a good girlfriend or the lap of your mother when you need a good cry.  Seeking out a private therapist is also always a good option.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Dating after divorce has its own set of challenges.  If you have children, dating after divorce should be a slow and thoughtful process.  All of us desire to be in loving, committed relationships but those desires, at times, can lead us to rush.  Why do we rush you might ask?  We rush because we believe that if we immediately put our dating hats on, it will take the pain away that we are currently experiencing.  We go into these new relationships full steam ahead without considering what is truly best for us and our children. Dating for the right reasons is key and slow and steady always pays off.  Take your time to reinvent yourself.  Take your time to find yourself as an individual.

Reinventing Yourself

Now is the time to take charge of your life.  You’ve gone through it and now it is time to get to it! A celebration is in order and you deserve a reinvention.  Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Accept that your life has changed and take 100% responsibility for your new life.
• If your finances and time allow, take an educational course that you have always been interested in.
• Find a craft that you enjoy and begin creating!
• Make a standing date with your girlfriends.
• Join a book club.
• Start a journal listing your long and short term goals.

TMF Readers, facing anything that causes pain, stress and difficulty and not withdrawing from the world is called “COURAGE!”  There is nothing more courageous than getting through something as stressful as a divorce, but to that end, your new life begins.

Peace & Blessings,
Diane

Athough they have been trying to keep their relationship under wraps for quite a while, the two have been spotted in Hollywood, California wining and dining. It has also been rumored that Regina and her son have moved in with Warner. King and Warner have been friends for many years, but they only recently began dating. King, however, says that timing is everyting.

“I believe the universe has a plan, and we probably wouldn’t have been ready years ago,” the actress explained. “we both had to do whatever we had to do to be ready for each other now.”

Recently, there were rumors that the pair split but Regina confirmed via Twitter that there is absolutely no truth to those rumors.

King went through a nasty split in 2006, when she and ex-husband Ian Alexander, Sr. decided to divorce after nine years of marriage.

Hopefully, this will be a beautiful, fresh start for both Regina and Malcolm and Today’s Modern Family wishes them the best of luck!

Eco-friendly designer Robin Wilson, president of RobinWilson Home in New York City, one of the pioneers of eco-friendly design and an ambassador for The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, offers these nine tips for taking spring cleaning to another level this season:

1. In the bathroom, get rid of your vinyl shower curtain because it holds mold more easily and off gases. Use a nylon curtain instead. It’s also less expensive. Use non-toxic cleansers, always lower the toilet seat when flushing and fix a leaky faucet (which will also save you money!)

2. For bedding, use synthetic pillows over feathered ones if you suffer from allergies or asthma. Wash your pillowcase once a week, your pillow protector at least once a month and replace pillows every three years. Cover your mattress with a hypoallergenic cover and wash it every two months. Make sure that it is non-toxic without formaldehyde-based fire retardants.

3. Use non-VOC paints in your home, which won’t off gas, leave an obnoxious paint odor or stir up asthma or allergies. You can’t even tell the difference in how it looks on the wall.

4.  Avoid wall-to-wall carpeting. Tile and hardwood floors are a much better choice, but must be vacuumed or cleaned on a regular basis to eliminate dirt and dust. Each Spring, remove everything from the room as if you were moving, and mop or steam clean the floor.

5. Check for mold in dishwashers and under the fridge in the water pan. Regularly change the water dispenser and icemaker filters.

6. One of the biggest trends today is eco-friendly cabinetry because it has no formaldehyde adhesives and is made with low VOC stains.  Consider frameless cabinets, which won’t collect as much dust.

7.  Wash or freeze your child’s stuffed animals to kill dust mites.

8. Consider using slipcovers, which can be washed regularly on your upholstered sofas. Make sure you limit the use of drapes as they are “dust catchers.”

9.  Always take off your shoes when you enter your home to prevent the outside world from coming in.

Sherrell Dorsey is an eco-glamour expert, trained aesthetician and creator of the blog OrganicBeautyVixen.com. Find her beauty, style and green living tips on Twitter and Instagram: @organicvixen.

Ingredients:

1 Rye Pizza Crust baked and cooled;

1 pound good quality corned beef, torn into small pieces;

1/2 pound Swiss cheese, shredded;

2 cups good quality sauerkraut that has been squeezed almost dry;

1 cup thousand island dressing.

Step by Step Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread dressing on the pizza crust. Spread sauerkraut evenly on top of dressing. Spread torn corned beef on top of sauerkraut. Sprinkle shredded Swiss cheese on top of corned beef. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until cheese is just melted. Slice into 8 pieces and enjoy!

Noreen Lambert is a wife, mom, stepmom and homemaker who loves to cook. You can find Noreen’s channel on YouTube with the tag name of atticus9799 and at www.noreenskitchen.com.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour;
1/2 cup rye flour;
1 tablespoon instant yeast;
1 cup warm water;
1 tablespoon light olive oil or vegetable oil;
1 teaspoon salt;
1 tablespoon sugar;
1 tablespoon rye bread enhancer* or vital wheat gluten 1 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional)

Step by Step Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your mixer with the dough hook attached. Mix on low to incorporate all of the ingredients. Turn mixer to the second speed and determine if you need more flour.  If you do then add it two tablespoons at a time until it reaches the proper consistency. Continue kneading the dough for 7 minutes. Remove dough from bowl and spray the bowl with cooking oil and return the dough to the bowl.  Spray the dough as well. Cover the bowl and allow dough to rest for 10 minutes.  Press or roll dough onto 16 inch pizza pan and “dock” with a fork to allow steam to release while baking.  Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown.  Allow crust to cool before constructing Ruben Pizza.

Enjoy!

* Rye Bread Enhancer available from King Arthur Flour online (www.kingarthurflour.com).

Noreen Lambert is a wife, mom, stepmom and homemaker who loves to cook. You can find Noreen’s channel on YouTube with the tag name of atticus9799 and at www.noreenskitchen.com.

Another thing that doesn’t surprise me is the lack of the same type of empathy that people have when it comes to stepmoms. It is common, accepted and supported for women to rave about what they refuse to feel guilty about as a mom. But it is seen as evil if it comes from a stepmom. Well, the only way to change those stereotypes is to discuss them so here it goes. Just like there are things I refuse to feel guilty about as a mom, there are things I refuse to feel guilty about as a stepmom. For example, I refuse to feel guilty for not being friends with my husband’s ex-wife. There is way too much combative, negative history between her and my husband. I will always be cordial but I have no desire to be best friends and that’s perfectly ok. I also refuse to feel guilty about making my marriage a priority instead of trying to help my husband fix a broken relationship (between him and his ex-wife) that I didn’t break to begin with.

I was happy to hear that other stepmoms weren’t afraid to speak up about what they refuse to feel guilty about, too.We asked some of our stepmom friends what they refuse to feel guilty about and compiled the top 10 list below.

1. I use to feel so guilty if the step kids werent with us and we did fun things with my kids. I finally realized that their mom does fun things with the step kids and my children aren’t involved in that so why should I feel guilty for doing for my own?
2. Asking for “me” time. Sometimes I just want to enjoy my days off instead of babysitting.
3. Loving my stepdaugther as my own daughter.
4. Putting my son with disabilities first,  no matter what.
5. Not being peacemaker between my husband and his ex-wife. I’d prefer to support my husband but otherwise, stay out of it.
6. Stepping back.
7. For making mistakes along the way.
8. For being a caregiver and role model to my step children, but leaving the responsibility of how they turn out and their personality flaws to their mom and dad.
9. Not paying for things for my step children when I don’t want to. They have two parents for that.
10. For supporting my husband 100% when it comes to disciplining my step children.

Moms or Stepmoms, what are some of the things that you refuse to feel guilty about?

Who’s on your celebrity modern dad hot list? Let us know in the comment section.

Michael Strahan is a former NFL player, co-host of Live with Kelly and Michael and engaged to Nicole Murhphy (ex-wife of actor Eddie Murphy) and together they have 9 children!

Brad Pitt is a modern family dad of 3 biological children and 3 adopted children with his wife, actress, Angelina Jolie-Pitt.

Tom Brady is a quarterback for the New England Patriots with 2 children by his wife and supermodel, Gisele and one with his ex, Bridget Moynahan.

The ulitmate funny man is sexy because he keeps us laughing and is not afraid to shout how much he adores his wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith. He has 2 children with her and one with ex-wife, Sheree Fletcher.

Oliver Martinez is a french actor with a sexy accent, who is engaged to oscar winning actress, Halle Berry and has already stolen the heart of her daughter, Nahla.

Donald Faison is an actor with four children from previous relationships and one of the way with his wife, CaCee Cobb (BFF of songstress, Jessica Simpson).