Skip to content
  • Home
  • Blog
  • PagesExpand
    • My Favorite Things
  • About
  • Contact

This Life in the Middle

Living The Life I Love and Loving The life I Live.

Facebook Instagram Pinterest Amazon Goodreads
This Life in the Middle
Living The Life I Love and Loving The life I Live.
  • Married! Finally!
    Family | Life in the Middle | Love

    Married! Finally!

    August 26, 2025January 22, 2026
    0 Comments

    Always unconventional, and we love it that way! We have spent the last 19 years together, navigating this journey, building a life, creating a home that started as just me and 3 kiddos and 3 cats. As a single mom, my life was busy. James was long haul trucking, gone for 3+ weeks a time,…

    Read The Post Married! Finally!Continue

  • April Fools Snow
    Life in the Middle | Mindset & Growth

    April Fools. WTF?!

    April 1, 2025April 9, 2025
    0 Comments

    Happy April, friends. I know, it’s technically spring, but as per usual here in North Dakota, it looks more like a snow globe than a ray of sunshine and breath of fresh air. Honestly, I was hoping this year would be different, that we’d move right into the spring months like other places, but instead, we’re bundled…

    Read The Post April Fools. WTF?!Continue

  • jeep life freedom
    Life in the Middle | Mindset & Growth | Wellness & Midlife Health

    Rewriting My Rules: That’s Freedom!

    March 27, 2025January 22, 2026
    0 Comments

    What was, isn’t always what is. It doesn’t matter that I have felt invincible, that everything was on the right track, or that my passions were concrete. Sometimes things just change. Sometimes that feels like a gradual, harmonious transition. Other times it’s a 9.9 on the Richter Scale and the abrupt shake up leaves you…

    Read The Post Rewriting My Rules: That’s Freedom!Continue

  • Heidi Smith, writer of This Life in the Middle, embracing midlife transitions with humor, wisdom, and Survivor water.
    Life in the Middle

    Wondering, Thinking, Figuring It Out – What Am I Doing Here?!

    March 3, 2025January 22, 2026
    0 Comments

    Midlife is so incredibly weird. One day you feel like you have it all figured out, the next you’re questioning everything. And honestly? That’s exactly why I’m here. By this time in my life, I thought I’d be living my life’s plan in full effect. But some days, I just sit here and shake my…

    Read The Post Wondering, Thinking, Figuring It Out – What Am I Doing Here?!Continue

Welcome to This Life in the Middle! Where we are still trying to figure life out.


  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest


These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things



Jump On The List

subscribe to the newsletter here

missed something?


Recent Posts

  • Married! Finally!
  • April Fools. WTF?!
  • Rewriting My Rules: That’s Freedom!
  • Wondering, Thinking, Figuring It Out – What Am I Doing Here?!

Recent Comments

No comments to show.


Archives

  • August 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025

Categories

  • Family
  • Life in the Middle
  • Love
  • Mindset & Growth
  • Wellness & Midlife Health

This Life in the Middle

Welcome to my corner of the internet where I share the real stuff - midlife, motherhood, mindset, and the little lessons I’m learning as I go.

If you ever want to say hi, I’d love to hear from you! contact me.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest

Jump On The List

subscribe to the newsletter here

thislifewithheidi

▪️Keeping us afloat & the house (mostly) functional
▪️Finder of everything & the only one who knows what day it is
▪️ Sharing my midlife journey ⬇️

It’s been 6 months since we finally made it offici It’s been 6 months since we finally made it official and through all 19.5 years together, I still love you more every day.

My forever. My calm. My steady. My spontaneous. My carefree. My strength. My partner. My laughter. 

My everything.♥️
Day 7: As I sat down to do my morning mindset, I h Day 7: As I sat down to do my morning mindset, I had a different plan to share with this photo. As I listened and journaled and had a conversation with myself, I came to the realization that this is about as far as this project is going to go.

Yep, a whole 7 days.

Looking back on the yearly memories of attempts in the past, I’m pretty on par. The excitement of sharing a photo and story every day was ambitious, and exciting, and I felt dedicated. But through today’s thoughts, these are exactly the kind of projects that lead to stress and overwhelm for me and I should have known better. 

Sometimes as much as we want things to change within us, they don’t, maybe we aren’t wired that way. 

I’ve learned of myself that when I feel obligated to do something scheduled daily or when I don’t feel like it or when I’m busy, it’s really hard for me to stick to it. I build up all these crazy thoughts in my head and it becomes not fun, definitely feels like a chore. And that’s not how creative things should be.

I made a promise to myself this year that I was going to let go of feeling like I needed to do things a certain way. I wasn’t going to let some set of rules or guideline run my day. And here I am, doing that to myself. And today, it felt heavy.

So with that, and no need for that kind of energy in my day, I’m letting it go. It’s not a discipline I need to develop, it’s ok.

But as I let go of content that was, for years, fit was focused, there will be a switchover here, I’m still figuring out who I want to be when I grow up, and who knows what that will look like as I go. 

Sorry to disappoint if you were already invested. ☺️ 

#heidisproject365 #theend
Day 6: This is how we procrastinate. I got busy wi Day 6: This is how we procrastinate. I got busy with miscellaneous things and just when I was finally going to workout, Chloe trapped me. Over an hour later and I couldn’t bring myself to move her.

When you have procrastination tendencies, cats multiply them. It’s easy to stay in the snuggle a bit longer. And having 4, some days I’m nearly useless. 🤣

The workout eventually got done, I was able to get things done today despite a headache, and now that I’m done for the day and on the couch, Chloe is on my lap again. ♥️

#heidisproject365 #cats #cattrap #procrastinator
Day 5: The days sometimes get away from us, but a Day 5: The days sometimes get away from us, but a good dog or two will help keep you on track. Maybe they have strong instinct, maybe an internal clock, maybe just creatures of habit and routine.

But they know when the bus is coming and their kids are about to be home!

Maybe they got that from me. Maybe I got some of that from them. I do like my routines, thy keep me grounded.

And so do my dogs. To think that when Casey passed, I said I didn’t want any more dogs.  My heart was broken. And then it was lonely. And then we only planned on getting one, but we can’t leave one behind, so we got two. And our lives are so much better because of them. 

Being home all day, me, these dogs, 4 cats, we have our routines, quirky habits, we keep things lively until our people are all safe back at home. I still get to mother the critters even though the humans have gone for the day. 

And that makes me happy.

I’ve struggled to find my path and know my worth at times. And then in other moments like this, I am so confident and sure, I’m exactly where I’m meant to be. 

#heidisproject365 #dogs #corgis #parenting #motherhood
Day 4: Going old school. We decided to make a few Day 4: Going old school. We decided to make a few changes to better our eating habits and ditching packaged shredded cheese is one of them. Our kids have no idea what kind of fear the cheese grater brings out. If you grew up before you could buy shredded cheese, you know what I mean. I even grit my teeth just a little as I picked it up off the shelf to put into my cart this morning.

When making dinner tonight, James said, “anyone want fingertip cheese on their taco?” 🤣

In case you wondered, no fingers were harmed tonight but both James and I sweat a little while taking our turns. 

It’s been 2 hours and I still feel a little anxiety.  A little childhood trauma coming to the forefront? Maybe!

#heidisproject365 #genx #goingoldschool
Winter in North Dakota can be heavy. I’ve never be Winter in North Dakota can be heavy. I’ve never been good at embracing the season. I dread it in the warmer months and spend most of the frigid season in hibernation.

I have a little love for it when the flakes are ginormous and the wind is still.  Or when the sun shines enough to make it sparkly. Those days just aren’t many. Maybe just enough to awaken my mood a little, but it’s nothing like the heat of July.

I’m grateful to be able to spend the months inside most of the time. I enjoy watching the dogs and kids play in the snow. I try not to rush time, but so much of me can’t slow down enough to rest, let the season be what it is, I just keep anxiously awaiting spring, when everything comes alive again, even me. 

It’s seasonal affective disorder, it’s living in the wrong hemisphere, it’s impatience.

But I’m vowing to change perspective some. Be more ok with a slow season. Make more time for reading, writing, and tea. Cozied under a blankie with my furry crew weighting me down. Soak in time for what it is right now, which means being more present, but not necessarily more public. It’s ok to retreat. 

The winds will howl, the snow will turn to ice, the sun will be an occasional sight, and I’ll be in. Warm. Content. Focused on family. Letting go of things that no longer serve me. 

#heidisproject365 #winter #wintering #SAD #seasonalaffectivedisorder
The winter glow leads the way to our little neck o The winter glow leads the way to our little neck of the woods in the middle of the city.

HOME.

Despite the constant winter months questioning of “why do I still live here?” in a place so cold and dreary, there’s something extra lovely about arriving home. To the warmth, the comfort, the family. There’s always critters to welcome me in, while the tasks can wait, we snuggle up for a bit.

It’s not just where we live, it’s where we tell stories, make jokes, learn life lessons, gather, relax, find comfort in the mundane and in the familiar. It’s where our older babies grew to adults, but always know they can come back to. It’s where our younger babies are now tweens and teens, but they were once tots.  This is where our family thrives, we’ve grown and changed, but we’ve also stayed the same.

We aren’t fancy, things are dated, but it’s ok because we LIVE here, this isn’t just where we reside. When the house is a HOME, there is so much more meaning than what others can see. Maybe they’re our inside jokes, or forever stories to tell, memories wrapped up in paint dings or carpet spills.

Home is where my introvert feels safe, welcomed, and understood. Where I love my people the most, and the best. It’s where when nobody else is home, I can still see and hear tiny voices and squeals, tutu’s and superhero capes, scooter tricks and large family chaos, and I close my eyes and soak it all in. Memories are so real sometimes.

This is just a small part of why I still live here. This is where my heart lives.

#heidisp365 #home #winter
Once upon a long time ago, I was a photographer an Once upon a long time ago, I was a photographer and we used to do Project 365 (P365) on the regular - one photo a day for a whole year - a tiny peek into our lives from the other side of a lens. 

I think if I were to scroll back far enough, my early feed would show some of these pictures. Back in a time when Instagram had just a few frames to add around pictures and captions were limited to a short sentence - a caption, not a whole paragraph, no crazy filters, sound, stories, influencers, or ads.

Somewhere along the way, social media got complicated and weird and sometimes hard. In my own new era, I feel a tug to simplify a lot of things in life.  This is going to be one of them.

It’s been about 12 years since I’ve completed a P365 and in that time my camera and skills got really dusty. My big camera has been tucked away in its bag on a shelf in the closet for almost a decade. I let photography go in the midst of having more babies and raising my big family. I was more concerned with catching the quick moments from my phone and not worrying about getting the camera out and the time to edit and things. And my camera roll has a bazillion to show for it!

But here I am again, starting a fresh project from my phone.  Not with skill and perfection in mind. Just the simple things in life, the day to day moments, adventures, and everything in between in this life of a full time mama, wife, and keeper of the house. Sometimes it’s pretty, sometimes not, but it’s mine and I love it, and my focus for the year ahead is to spend more time in the moments, and savor them a bit longer.

Here’s day 1, cozied up with the corgis, starting a new book, and enjoying the last few days of winter break before sending the kids off to school again. 

p.s. using the same hashtag as years ago, click it to see a peek back in time. ♥️

#heidisproject365
And just like that, November came and went. The we And just like that, November came and went. The weather was quite mild here in North Dakota compared to years past. The kids enjoyed more outside time without having to bundle up which was nice. 

Our critters got plenty of cozy time. Hannah got to celebrate her birthday at home this year. We finally got to see the Northern Lights in person. Keira and James hauled Christmas trees, it finally snowed a little, and Levi was diagnosed with Scoliosis, which threw us for a loopy new adventure but we are just going with it. 

Every day, I’m grateful for this life, the time I get to spend with family, taking good care of all of us, managing everyone’s schedules, and being able to be present as much as possible. 

We are just out here, living life our way, hugging our people lots, and looking forward to whatever comes next. 

Thanks November, you were a good one.
October was an emotional roller coaster in many wa October was an emotional roller coaster in many ways but in between the twists and turns was lovely weather, pretty colors, lot of family time, cozy evenings, and fresh starts.

Hannah moved home, Connor moved away, and life likes to remind me that we keep moving and growing, we don’t sit still around here. 

Change of seasons will soon bring hibernation months and I’m so grateful we took time to soak up October.

#lifelately #october #memories #family
Follow on Instagram
  • Home
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

© 2026 This Life in the Middle

Scroll to top
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Pages
    • My Favorite Things
  • About
  • Contact
Search