About Me

Hello! Thanks for stopping by A Very Small House to visit.  For many years I blogged at Mamapundit.com but after a long spell of writer's block starting in 2014 - an issue with which I am still struggling - I took some time away from blogging. When I returned, I decided that my fresh blogging start was deserving of a fresh new name to go with it. I picked A Very Small House because, well, we've just recently moved from our very large Victorian house into a tiny cottage of less than 1k square feet. Hence, the "small house" in the name.

In addition to being a blogger, I am a freelance digital and social media marketing consultant working with some very cool brands. I am married to the most wonderful Jon (ten years this summer!) and I am the mother of five children, ages 5-20. My oldest son, Henry, died at 18 of a drug overdose in 2010 and as you can imagine, my life has never been the same since. Losing a child is just as awful as you imagine it might be....times 100.

To honor Henry's memory, our family founded Henry's Fund.  The fund is administered by the East Tennessee Foundation , with Henry's Aunt, Betsy Allison Tant, MSW serving as Executive director.

In addition to my time spent mothering, working, volunteering for Henry's Fund and washing people's socks, I am an avid gardener and a backyard chicken enthusiast. I am also a freelance writer and my work has appeared in The New York Times, Huffington Post, Babble, Yahoo! Shine, the Knoxville News Sentinel, Your Tango, Slate, Salon and a bunch of other places as well. My essays have also been included in several literary anthologies. 

Well, that's me in a nutshell. I'd love to learn more about you. Please feel free to jump right into the comments section of the blog posts here to offer your opinion, pose a question or just introduce yourself. I've met some of my favorite people through my blog, including my husband Jon! (Someday I have to blog about that story!)

Welcome!