Who is Heather Moore??

Good Morning everyone! I am nervous and excited about this new adventure, but most importantly glad you are taking it with me! I’ve had tried for years to find a way to integrate my talents, interests, and education to help and assist other’s. However, my attempts in the past have left me discouraged, disappointed, and honestly just unfulfilled. I’m simply just a farm girl, a mom, a teacher, a wife, and a homemaker from Jackson County, TN that has tried in every way to find peace and wholeness in all the wrong places and in the wrong people.

I grew up on small 33 acre farm where our family raised sheep and tobacco. I spent my summer’s traveling the sheep show circuit, attending every 4-H camp and conference there was available to get out of early morning tobacco plant pulling and the ever exhausted job of following the tobacco setter. If you have ever experienced this type of physical labor you understand why I tried in every way to escape it! I spent many days bargaining with my parents to just let me stay in the house and cook and clean to get out of the heat and it worked! That’s where I learned to become a homemaker, well that and the fabulous skills of my mom and grandma! My goal in life was to leave the family farm, get an education and never return because I “didn’t want to be a poor farmer”. Guess what? I returned!

So at 18, I put on my big girl panties and moved into a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 of my best friends. Well, working 3 jobs and never sleeping quickly changed my mind on this whole independent living arrangement. So, within a year I was back home with mom and dad and I discovered very quickly that wasn’t what I wanted either, LOL. So, I applied to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and got accepted. Woo hoo, right?? Wrong! I spent one semester there and decided it was in my best interest to move back home, grow up a bit, and try it again in a year or two.

During my break from higher education, I once again began working in a series of jobs that gave me all kinds of experience from baking cookies at the Cookie Jar (yummy), to becoming an assistant manager at a children’s clothing boutique, to working at my best friends tanning bed, to working at the Sound Shop (which was a music store and my all-time favorite job). I guess you can say, I have a little bit of experience in a little bit of everything. In 2001, I moved back to Knoxville and finished my Bachelor’s Degree in Human Ecology with a concentration in Family Studies with minor in Psychology in 2003. Your probably thinking what in the world is Human Ecology? Simply put, it’s the study of humans within their environment (social, family, community, etc..) My focus was on the family and my ultimate goal was to become a Marriage and Family Therapist. I did get accepted to several different graduate schools (Colorado State, Auburn, Kentucky) across the US but I decided to go to work full time and gain some experience within my field before starting grad school. Well, life happened and my vision got thrown off course in 2008 when I became pregnant and then tragedy hit. I was left pregnant and alone, after the sudden loss of my daughter’s father. It turned me and my life upside and inside out! I did complete my Master’s degree in 2010 but after all the trauma I had endured the last thing I wanted to do was help other’s with their problems as a job, I had lost of piece of my heart and compassion.

In 2008, God gave me the most precious, lifesaving gift and that’s my little Shelby. To this day, I honestly think God placed her in my life at the perfect time (however, it didn’t see it as perfect then). I know every parent feels this way about their child but for me it’s different, I feel like I was created for her and she was created for me and my sole job here on earth is to guide and love her.

I have tried in every way to give back and help others in the capacity of a profession because that is what I went to school to do and what I was supposed to do, right?? However, I found that for me helping others cannot come with a pay check, it has to be a want to and come from my heart. Not saying those who get paid aren’t giving from their hearts, I am very thankful for those that do. I’m just saying I personally cannot. Crazy, I know… but honestly true altruism cannot and will not for me ever have $$$ attached to it!

So here we are in the here and now. What does all that history have to do with this blog? Well, really EVERYTHING!! I’m a well rounded, experienced person with a wealth of knowledge in human interaction, daily living, mental health, cooking, design, farming, sports, teaching, candle/soap making, caring for animals, the list can go on and on………… so you will have to stayed tuned to see.

My goal is for this blog to be a fun and a helpful place to read about a variety of topics and adventures in the life of Heather Moore! I hope you will continue to follow me in the days ahead!

Have a Beautiful Day,

Heather