-
The Soft Autumn Reset: Cozy Habits That Actually Stick Past November
You know that cozy Instagram energy — fuzzy sweaters, pumpkin-spice everything, candles, soft lighting and lazy Sundays — that vibe everyone seems to chase when the leaves change and the wind turns brisk? Yeah, I get that too. But by mid-November, instead of feeling calm and recharged, you may be doom-scrolling, chugging extra lattes, and juggling a brain that’s still stuck in August (no, of course I’m not talking about myself…) I get it, we’ve all been there. I get all hyped up for the season and as soon as it hits, my energy level plummets like a cliff diver. I’m burnt out even before all the festivity begins. It…
-
Package Deal
We used to have this innate fear in my former line of work about accepting outside food. Officers aren’t exactly favorably viewed, so we never knew what we were getting. There were those who supported us, but there were also those who hated us. I played into that idea with this short story. The murmur of the bystanders was deafening. Mike held his breath and tried to block out their sounds as he maneuvered the robot into position. Don’t they understand defusing a bomb takes concentration? he frustratingly thought. He slowly shifted the brown paper box with the mechanical arm. It seemed mundane – a simple package with the address of the…
-
When the Veil Thins and the Bread Rises
Sometimes, it’s the deeper meaning of the season. Halloween used to be the night of the year for me. Where else could you shapeshift into anything — a crazy-earring glam witch, a cat with questionable eyeliner, a vampire who clearly spent too much time with Hot Topic’s clearance rack — and get rewarded with candy for it? It was pure, sanctioned magic. As a kid, it was about imagination. But, as a parent, it became a new kind of celebration — tiny hands clutching pumpkin buckets, sticky candy negotiations, chocolatey hugs, and me quietly stealing the Reese’s while no one was looking. (Don’t judge; parent tax is real!) But now…
-
The Witch Has a Cubicle
I finally have my own cubicle!! Not a shared one. Not the “car-as-my-office” era I survived during field assignments. A real, actual, mine-only cubicle — and yes, I might’ve been unreasonably excited about it. So when Halloween season rolled around, I knew exactly what I was going to do: claim my little corner of the workplace realm and turn it into a full-on witch’s lair. Not a subtle one, either. We’re talking faerie lighting, spellbooks, LED candles, and enough black creepy cloth to make the HR department side-eye me. I even handmade the potion bottles — each one labeled, sealed, and brewed with equal parts glue, glitter, and chaos. (Full…
-
The Birthday Curse
There’s not enough sage for this shit. As a child, birthdays used to be magical. Themed decorations, balloons, cake, friends — there was nothing more epic as a kid. Who wouldn’t count down the days, plan outfits, and revel in the one time of year it was completely acceptable to be the center of attention?? But somewhere along the way, that magic… lit on fire. I suddenly hit a point where if it could go wrong on a milestone birthday, it did. Horribly wrong. The Shift For some unknown reason, the Universe has yet to reveal, it started on my 16th birthday. I failed my driving test — bad. Like really bad. I went to…
You May Also Like
So… Here We Are… I Did a Thing…
-
Friendship… Interrupted
The truth about having friends in an autistic world. Making friends is supposed to be easy, right? Natural. Normal. It just kinda happens. At least that’s the story we’re told through books, movies, and TV. It was when I was growing up, and what I saw surrounding me as I got older. You meet someone, you “click,” and from there it’s late-night phone calls, inside jokes, matching your energy, and sitting with you during the hard times. By adulthood, you’re expected to have that “best friend” — the Thelma to your Louise, your ride-or-die buddy, your ‘person,’ the one who shows up with ice cream when life falls apart and…
-
One Moment Changed the Next 20 Years of My Life
Time is just a blink of an eye and moments can be monumental. A moment can be defined as a snippet of time. It could be a day, a minute, or a second. We’ve got quite a bit of space for anything to happen within the 525,600 minutes in each year (or 31,536,000 seconds if you really want to take a deep dive). And a moment is all it takes for your world to change forever. If you had told me back in 2005 where I would be today, I never would’ve believed you. We don’t always see the potential for the butterfly effect, but it’s pretty cool to open…
-
Finding My Voice… Again
Don’t let others silence you. I’ve been a writer my whole life. I just didn’t know it. Not really. The first time I really put pen to paper in a creative way was in first grade. We were tasked with writing a Haiku (yeah, my elementary school was a little on the overachieving side). I silently formed it in my head and scribbled it on some loose-leaf paper with my No. 2 pencil. “Oh, little bluebird. Flying swiftly through the air. Spring is really here.” No idea where that came from, but I felt a shift and a whole new world of words opened up to me in that moment.…
-
So… Here We Are… I Did a Thing…
Let’s hypothetically say we’re sitting across from each other in a coffee shop (because I love me some coffee shop vibes!). This would be the moment I take a sip of a dairy-free iced mocha latte, lean in, and say, “So… I did a thing. I finally stepped out of my comfort zone. And I have NO IDEA where to go from here.” *nervous chuckle* I like to call this thing “Too Many Tabs with Wendy.” Full disclosure from a reluctantly social yet ironically neurodiverse chica: my brain is basically a browser window that never got the memo about closing tabs. You know that meme where the person has too many…
You May Also Like
The Birthday Curse
-
I’m Finally Here!!! (And, Yes, I Brought All My Tabs with Me)
Hello!!! Let me start by saying, “Thanks for stopping by!” I know you don’t know me, so let me introduce myself. My name is Wendy (or WendyWanda if you’re feeling adventurous). I’m currently a 40-something GenX working mom with more interests than I know what to do with. Why, you may ask? Because being neurodiverse has made my life incredibly interesting. It only took me 27 years, 154 cups of tea, 12 notebooks, and more computer tabs than I can count open at any given time to get here — but here I am! Too Many Tabs blog with yours truly is officially live!!! If you’ve stumbled across this corner…
