HomeLife
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. - Annie Dillard
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sort of poetry
I need to rest and I need to be awake. I need to write but my words are coming slow. It’s Too Much and it’s Never Enough. This is a Terrifyingly Hard and Beautiful Life and it only makes sense about one third of the time. In the mornings, after the long nights of Not Enough Sleep, what eventually propels me from the lying prone position in my bed to the feet sliding over the side, hit the floor, is not hope so much as gravity. Not prospect of good but responsibility and The Only Next Thing To Do. And if my heart feels a…
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just a day – in a few words and in a few pictures
Mid week and the grass is already high even though we mowed less than five days ago but the trash is at the curb despite the fact that our trash can has officially “lost” both of its wheels. It’s a race to departure day for our Beyond Wildwood adventure and the question looming of “Will I get all the tasks completed before we leave?” feels certain to be a resounding NO but I tidied up the front porch today (finally) and we are once again taking the majority of our meals together in its paint peeling glory and sunshine. My baby started his first practice of team sports and…
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Grove Collaborative Giveaway: All the Good Stuff
It’s spring! And, for some people – certain kinds of people, you know – spring means deep cleaning and airing out the bedding. I’m not really one of those people. But, living in a home with a half dozen humans, a dog and a new kitten (apparently) and a host of friends here and there, sometimes I have to sort of clean things up around here. And if I am going to clean, I want to halfway enjoy the process and for me – that means using products that smell good and look pretty. (Trust me, pleasing aromas and cute bottles go a long way toward motivating me.) The…
Keep Reading . . .
five finds friday
this little moment.
from the cabin: Bergen Hawkeye at Lost Valley
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sunday reflections . . .
Once a year our church holds an outdoor service in May. It’s loud and sometimes it’s hot (although today it was chilly by turns) and the field is slam packed full of people on blankets and in camping chairs and you have to arrive early if you’d like a chance to park in the actual parking lot. And every year I am so glad I attend this particular service. People get baptized periodically all throughout the year at church but at this service there is usually a larger number of baptisms. For a person who really likes words, I don’t know why but I always get a bit tongue-tied…
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Five Finds (potty humor & ill fitting t-shirts & irresistible creatures)
It’s Friday! And it’s oddly cold in SC – but I am not complaining because it gives me an excuse to pull out the flannel shirt for another day. This weekend promises to be as pleasant and as full as this week has been and that’s worth a high five or two. funny Piper came home from theatre camp last month or so singing a new version of the “My Little Pony” theme song. It’s ridiculous and loaded with potty humor and of course, the occupants of my home found it endlessly amusing. (They taught it to their friends. It’s possible that their friends’ mother thought…
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When Work Is Play and Play Is Work
This has been a week full of fun work events. First, there was our morning with Leon Logothetis from The Kindness Diaries. When I had my phone interview with Leon, at the end of our interview, right before hanging up and doing my embarrassing-to-my-daughter cheer, I told the English chap that I only had one last question. “Great,” he says. “Let’s hear it.” And then I asked, “Well, we have some friends here in our town who embody kindness, the sort of kindness that you travel across the world and promote. And these friends own a restaurant. They sell crepes. Leon, can my kids and I…
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How To Afford Adventure (When You Don’t Have a Fat Income)
There was a time, a very tiny sliver of a window of time, after college and before the onslaught of adoptions and births, that I was living in a two income, two full time employed people, home. Two incomes is a pretty sweet deal. Especially when the two incomes were both fair and generous and the debt ratio was nearly nil and the tiny home we were renting was quite the deal and our expenses were oh-so-low. During that time we could easily afford to travel – and we sometimes did. That was the year we made it to my only trip leaving the country (just barely) – Cancun,…
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weekend rambling
Here’s what I have for you – weekend thoughts, as discombobulated as my life is. (And it’s not even been an especially busy weekend or an especially discombobulating couple of days. Go figure.) The smell of scones has been ever present for the entire weekend. (It’s a delicious smell, for certain, but I don’t want to consume any more scones for a while.) I have encouraged the kids to find ways to earn their own funds for our Beyond Wildwood road trip. (I guess I’m going with that name, ya’ll.) London is a handy scone baker and she’s had a little Scout’s Scones business for a couple of years.…
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Five Finds Friday (good and bad drinks and one of my favorite novels)
This week has been less speedy, but not less full. Maybe it was the rain. The rain sloooooows me down. I’m sure the boys’ tomato plants are grateful for the rain, but it’s not my favorite thing. In the end, though, we made it to Friday . . . . funny This week we made iced tea for our weekly community dinner. Everyone had served almost all of the contents of the pitcher into their glasses when I poured the final glass of tea for Otto. Setting down the empty pitcher, I took a sip of my son’s beverage before I handed it to him. It.…
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garden variety hope (that isn’t actually garden variety at all)
For what is most assuredly the first time in the past two years (and longer), I feel something quite foreign to my heart. Something I am terrified to touch, something that scares me and thrills me and makes me long to stick my head in the sand instead of look it square in the eyes. I think it’s called Hope. Hope. Your regular, garden-variety brand of Hope. Not just the hope I’ve clung to tenaciously with the most precarious of grasps, the only deep abiding actual hope option I want – that eternal and perfect hope in Jesus and heaven and no tears and all things made right and ultimate…
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Our Next Road Trip — And Your Helpful Ideas
This summer (or spring still, technically) we’ve got a gigantic old road trip in our future. I heart road trips. I like it all, really. The driving. The planning. The seeing stuff we’ve never seen. The seeing stuff we saw on other road trips. Stopping at our favorite traditional stops. Car games. Singing (the same songs)(endlessly) in the car. Laughing through the ridiculous – like circling the same exit in St. Louis six times. Building memories and loads of “remember that one time?”. Finding out which restaurant serves the “best of” something in each city we drive through. Best BBQ in Memphis. Best donut in Nashville. Best burger in…
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What I Got To Call “Work” Last Week
Remember how I told you that Hannah told us to watch this TV series called The Kindness Diaries on Netflix? And how we did and then I told you guys about it? Right after starting the series, I saw a flyer and a Facebook post saying that the chap in the show – Leon Logothetis – was coming to my town! What? I did a tiny bit of asking and next thing I know, I’ve got a phone interview scheduled with Leon himself so that I can promote his upcoming appearance in our town on the Travelers Rest Here website! The phone call was scheduled for central time and I…
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Five Finds (a funny video, a weird shirt, a delicious cake)
I’m not even going to say it this week. Birthday weeks are fun. My life is time-consuming – to me and to the other people living near me and brushing around past me here and there. I sort of think I should offer a blanket apology to all of humanity that comes into contact with me. It’s like my Messy spills on other people – all. of. the. time. funny My friend Tyler is making this week’s “funny” category easy for me. He and Tripp have a new video up and it’s one of their “in real life” series. They’ve done e-mal in real life but…
