I just finished reading The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother's Memoir by Katrina Kenison and it's left me feeling out of sorts. The premise of the book is one we've all heard before: Pay attention to the small moments that make up life and you'll be a happier, more content person for it. 

Unfortunately, and probably through no fault of her own, Kenison's writing had the opposite effect on me. After reading the tactics she uses to simplify and appreciate her life, I'm left feeling like I'll never measure up. Kenison, an editor who for sixteen years worked from home while raising her two sons is, by her own admission, put on this earth to nurture. Plants, people, flowers... it would not surprise me to find out she and Martha Stewart share a blood lineage or a telepathy link.