About (Belle Squeaks)

Hi there!  I’m Beth.  I’m a wife and mom attempting to figure out how to keep a regular laundry day in the mix while still enjoying sunshine from the tops of slides and how to stick to a stay-at-home-mom budget when those J.Crew ballet flats are pleading at me with their sequiny eyes.  I’m the type-A sort of person who loves, loves, loves to have it all figured out and who will never, never, never live up to her own expectations.  Luckily, I’m blessed with a husband (Big Friend), a daughter (Little Friend), and an awfully big God who all love the best of me and forgive the worst of me.

I love morning air filled with snowflakes, almond croissants, putting the star on top of the Christmas tree, a cup of tea while reading a great work of fiction, saving worms from being squished on sidewalks, home cooked meals shared with family and friends, the finish line at the end of a half-marathon, a clean pile of cloth diapers, drinking milk fresh from the cow, and simple, intentional living.

I don’t love teeth crunching on ice cubes, beets, running five minutes late for appointments (which means I don’t love most appointments), following someone else’s itinerary when traveling, most reality TV shows, and dirty piles of cloth diapers.

I’ve been an expatriate in France, a large animal veterinarian, a published author, and a ballerina in New York City.  Those things all happened.  Honest.  Once upon a time.  In other people’s stories.  At different times in my life, I thought they’d be my stories.  They just haven’t happened to me…yet.

My little (real) life has contained five years of teaching high school English (a job that I’m so passionate about I’d be willing to work most days for free), a stint as Director of Marketing for an ADD/ADHD clinic that changes people’s lives (a job I’m currently juggling during naptimes and early morning coffee-fueled hours), and motherhood (the job that I always thought I wanted and now know it’s impossible to describe how difficult and exponentially rewarding it is!)

I started writing Belle Squeaks in an attempt to pin down the bright and lovely things in life before today’s ephemeral joy faded into tomorrow.  Turns out, Belle Squeaks has become more of a baby book for Little Friend than the lovely purple number I bought when she was born.  The physical baby book is, three years into her life, ahem, half-finished.  Belle Squeaks, on the other hand, is a vibrant work in progress.

Thanks for reading along and appreciating the slice of life God’s put on my plate.  To me, life tastes yummy, scrumptious, surprising, and with all the good parts mixed in with the bad, well, I don’t quite notice the bad as much.  I keep coming back for more.  Here’s hoping you’ll want to, too!

To contact Beth Hendrickson:

bellesqueaks [at] gmail [dot] com

11 Comments

  1. Nancy Taylor said:

    Hi Beth,
    I am so glad you are doing this. You are an amazing writer with great insight plus we’ll get to hear how Bella and her parents are doing. Love you guys.

    April 16, 2010
    Reply
  2. Miriam said:

    Beth,

    What a treat to read your musings! You write beautifully, and you will surely inspire stay-at-home-mothers to be unafraid of creativity, and to enjoy the small (but in reality the most important) things in life. Thank you!

    May 17, 2010
    Reply
  3. Marsha said:

    Thank you for your loving musings. Stay-at-home mothers get a bad rap that isn’t fair in the corporate world. Time with infant Belle is precious. Time will pass and she will be a teen…college…wedding etc.

    July 21, 2010
    Reply
  4. Hi Beth,

    My name is Hannah and I saw your blog one day on WordPress and it caught my eye. I totally appreciate the ‘selfish’ reason behind the blog-as a stay at home mom myself, I understand the need to have some sort of outlet that allows you to get your thoughts out in a tangible way to someone other than your dearly loved (but on a different intellectual level entirely) child. Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you to keep going and let you know that some random stranger (me) saw your blog and enjoyed it.

    Hannah
    http://www.eagerappetite.com

    September 29, 2010
    Reply
  5. Beth Smith said:

    Hi Beth (great name by the way!!)

    You’re mom has been coming to some programs of mine at the James V. Brown Library in Williamsport with your niece and nephew (Lydia and Waylon)…she very graciously suggested I check out your blog because I have a 9 month old son who I’m trying to get to sleep through the night. Anyway…I just wanted to say how much I enjoy your website and I’m constantly checking to see what’s new! Cheers!!

    Beth 🙂

    January 20, 2011
    Reply
  6. i saw your happy baby ad and had to click the about page. another raw milk drinking, cloth diapering, pittsburgh mama? the internet is a small world, isn’t it?

    we used to live in bloomfield and now we’re out at a camp in westmoreland county. i miss the city something fierce, but the green space and chickens do a soul good as well:)

    April 8, 2011
    Reply
    • I’m envious of the chickens–really! We’re in Ben Avon and love being near Pittsburgh but also miss having fields, streams, cows, and chickens for neighbors. Oh to be the city mouse AND the country mouse all at the same time!

      April 8, 2011
      Reply
  7. Jes Beckman said:

    I saw your sister post your blogs on Facebook. I love reading them. My daughter is 2 and a half and my son 2months and I find myself craving something to make me laugh/cry and shake my head yes thats happened to me too, but just don’t have time to sit down and read a book in the madness of my life. Thank you for writing

    April 18, 2011
    Reply
  8. Burt Del Rio said:

    Great page and musings. I have held the title of stay at home dad for many years and really enjoyed it. I am not an English teacher, but an English major drop out:) In any event, best of luck with everything and keep on writing…..

    Burt Del Rio

    May 25, 2011
    Reply
  9. Hey! I nominated you for Versatile Blogger! Apparently there is a tradition of doing the three following things:

    1. Seven random things about yourself
    2. Nominate 15 bloggers that you follow
    3. put the “Versatile Blogger” picture on your post.

    My latest post is about it!

    December 30, 2011
    Reply

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