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Money Matters: Kids & Allowances
It’s one of the ways my dad was most proactive in his parenting. Financial education. Money. Dolla’ bills. My dad hired us kids to do work on the family dairy farm. He paid us well and he expected quality work done right. Even as little kids there were paying jobs to be had. Picking up rocks out of the fields – one nickel per rock. We were hired to bale hay, stack hay, cut hay, rake hay. (Hay was a big deal.) We herded cows – and one particularly odd task I recall my younger brother and I earning a small income for was watching the herd of cows…
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10.
We started back to school last week. Maybe the week before. Did I take any darling photos of children standing beside chalkboard signs announcing their grade? No. We didn’t move into our new home yet. But we will. Soon. Until then we are living amongst the boxes and I can’t find the baking soda for biscuits because I guess I packed it already and yet there is still artwork on the walls so don’t ask me how I prioritize what to pack and what to leave out. Y’all. Air mattresses were not created for long term sleeping arrangements. As London says, “Mom, I think it’s just right that you…
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A Max Patch Visit
One of the lovely friends we met at Lost Valley Ranch contacted me. Told me that she had a timeshare that she’d be happy to share with our family because her family couldn’t use it this year. It is in the Pigeon Forge area. And the week it was available was the beginning of August. I wanted to say yes. But I was afraid it was going to turn out to be the week we were moving, or needed to move, or were packing, or would have just moved. And I was afraid the timing would be all off. Turns out, the timing is just about perfect. And we…
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Small Projects: Recycling Wooden Crates
Right now is officially an In Between time. We’re still living in our current rental home. But we’re mostly packed and we’re anxious to be living in our new home. And it will be time to move soon enough, that’s true. Unfortunately, I have never been good at limbo. Waiting is not what brings about the best version of me. (Which is unfortunate because if it was, I’d be my most awesome self by 45. Because I’ve waited for a LOT of things in my life.) I like beginning the new thing but I don’t like hanging out in the old thing. Rip the band aid off, right? Don’t…
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Five Finds Friday: unicorn mascots and repairs and glazed carrots
Summer was far too short. I know it’s not officially over, but at our house – it feels over. We had a soft start to school this week and I know the timing feels off, what with trying to move soon too, but we also love being finished with school in May and we all highly value the six weeks on, one week off system we’ve got going on currently so we know that in order to accomplish those things, we’ve got to kick it into gear now. funny It was so funny last week to take London and some of her friends on a…
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Just What We Needed: Rapid City/Black Hills KOA Review
We’ve been back from our Ranch Adventure all summer and between buying a house and preparing to move and running a business and taking care of five kids I’ve not taken the time I meant to to write some reviews of our experiences back and forth across these lovely United States. Our route this year was heavily influenced by our strong and whole hearted desire to circumvent Kansas pretty much entirely. I’m willing to forgive Kansas for her poor treatment of us, but forgiveness does not equal embracing. On the drive out west we were under time constraints to get to the ranch by a certain day…
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it’s alright . . .
Because we are downsizing, GET RID OF IT has been a mantra I have been embracing. Or, you know, at least trying to embrace. And I’ve given away, sold and tossed so very very many bits of this and that. As I am going through old boxes and high school journals (they’re not going away, so don’t think I’m ditching that goldmine for future novels that I’ll be writing in my “retirement”) I am finding stacks and scads of memories and treasures and trinkets and junk too. It’s reminded me of a lot of truths. Some that taste a little bitter going down, some that remind me…
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last week – a vanishing act
I think I’ve been maintaining this blog for a decade. Ish. That means I had five kids under five and still sat down at a computer routinely. When did I ever have time to write posts when I had so many babies? What was happening? Oh, right, yes – for all their exhaustion, babies do actually sleep. And take naps And lie down where you put them – for a short while anyway. And they go to bed unreasonably early. Shoot – sometimes even at 7 pm. It’s dreamy. In retrospect, of course. Now there’s no one sleeping at my house. Not ever. Do you know when teenagers want…
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The Friday 5: a new bag, cat photos and some things of more lasting value
I know it’s not called The Friday Five. But maybe it should be. This week has been one where I have been the taxi driver – even with daily carpooling to theatre camp, it’s felt like an awful lot of to and fro, which is what a portion of parenting is, of course, but it is still not my favorite portion. funny It’s funny how ridiculous my children act about our cat. That we’ve had for over a year. She’s so shamefully well-loved. Adored. Treated as if she is some sort of demi god. It is not at all unusual to find these sorts of photos…
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state of the union, currently
There are two screws loose on the lawn mower and is that some sort of metaphor for my life? Stuff gets almost done. Right? I’ve got five tabs open on my computer, various virtual carts waiting for me to push “order” but I’m waiting on some small detail in every tab before I can finalize the order. (And lest you think I am an online shopaholic, these five tabs are all school supplies and curriculum that of course cannot be purchased at one convenient site.) I’ve got four boxes packed and the grass is high and my car decided that yesterday was a good day to not start. Some…
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July Fourth and the Farm and a Few Photos
Twenty-seven? Or has it been twenty-nine? I can’t remember which of those numbers is accurate, but either way, it’s been a LOT of years that my family has been celebrating the fourth of July with my framily. It was just an idea a couple of decades ago. A casual “let’s have dinner together on July Fourth” sort of plan between a handful of families who lived near one another in the glorious state of Virginia surrounded by the ever inviting Blue Ridge Mountains. But over the years it has become a staple on the calendar. A must do. A can’t miss event. It’s part reunion…
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Get Your Grove On – it’s a giveaway this weekend
It’s been the busiest sort of summer and although it’s all been of the happy variety, it’s made our days feel a bit hurried. I should correct that to say it’s been a FULL summer – right? Well, whichever, it’s been both. When times are full and days are splitting wide open with things to do and places to go and people to see, I am even more grateful for systems and structures in place that take care of some of the ordinary for me that keeps this house running, even if it feels like it’s running on fumes and will power some weeks. With the modern blessings of…
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July Fourth – celebrating it all week long.
For the last 27 years I have spent July 4th at the farm in Virginia. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. It’s my favorite holiday. (Well, I did miss one holiday gathering the summer I worked as a camp counselor at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park.) The party is traditionally the Saturday nearest to July 4th and this year that puts the party on July 7th. Which meant that we stayed in our own actual town for the official Fourth of July! It’s truly a best of both worlds scenario for us this summer – we get to celebrate our favorite annual tradition…
