HomeLife
How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. - Annie Dillard
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why i wasn’t planning to write tonight
Last night I slept about four hours. I mean, it was the perfect combination to sleeplessness. Piper was not feeling well. She was quarantined to the living room just in case and there was no way that little blondie would have made it through the long night flying solo in the living room. We just have the one sofa. The one sofa upon which the eight-year-old was lying. The one sofa that is not an extra long sofa, but a sofa of more moderate lengths. At first I sat there, working on some editing projects, feet tucked up under myself, quilt on top of both the Willow and the Mommy. It…
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sleep education
I love how when you are teaching homeschool and you are studying one topic in particular, you hear references to it throughout everything else you are reading. (It’s sort of like when you buy a new car or get a new pair of shoes and you think you’ve never seen them anywhere before and suddenly they are showing up everywhere. Or if you are on a road trip and you just lost at the alphabet game because the word “antique” was only on one sign during the last two hundred miles but after one person wins then you see signs at every exit for quilts and quizzes and quarries. What…
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a little weekend whatnot and such
Some seasons of life feel like they are rolling through via slow motion. Some do not. Right now everything feels a bit like Fast Forward with the windows rolled down and the radio turned up really loudly. It’s not bad. That’s not what I’m saying. It’s busy. That’s what I am saying. (And. I know it can change faster than I can flip to a new radio station. So there’s that.) This week we had a handful of fun family moments that really should each have their own blog post. (Who knows? Maybe they still will.) My brother and his family are visiting from New Zealand and I cannot get…
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five finds friday (twelve)
FUNNY I hope that funny kids grow into funny adults. I think they will. We have such an amusing and varied group of friends young and old that I don’t really have a heavy dread of raising a gaggle of teenagers simultaneously – in fact, I think it could actually be (gasp) interesting and fun. Talented and creative young family friends such as our buddy Travis remind me that “teen” is not a curse word and that clever ideas begin early. He helped create a great video for one of our favorite local restaurants – Sidewall Pizza. Watch it. It’s all things promising – a community business partnering with a…
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ugh . . .
Have you ever glanced at the clock – or noticed the sun sinking in the sky – and then looked down at your own attire and thought, “Well. I’ve made it this far into the day. A shower now seems pointless.”? You know that portion of the day when it appears that every single flat surface in your home is covered with …. something? There is laundry on the line and you realize that the rain has been pouring for more than two hours and it’s too late to do anything about the soaking wet blue jeans and towels. How about when your own words about The Tired & The…
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The Tired & The Worn Out
Don’t you yet understand? Don’t you know by now that the everlasting God, the Creator of the farthest parts of the earth, never grows faint or weary? No one can fathom the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the tired and worn out, and strength to the weak. (Isaiah 40:29, The Living Bible translation) To The Tired & The Worn Out, I see you. I watch you rise up in the morning and feed the hungry faces sitting at your table. I know you drag your worn Bible across the counter top and you…
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Meaningful jewelry and a discount code!
A few Five Fridays ago I shared with you the stunning pendants and jewelry available from my friends at Honor Emblem. (They actually are my friends. It’s not just a phrase I’m using. I don’t know if that really matters to you or not – but it often does to me. I love buying products that are supporting real families with real children with real lives.) Their stuff is just gorgeous. (And you have options. I heart options. Leather cords or antique chains. Silver or bronze. It’s really hard to decide which to choose though!) It’s heavy and substantial and the items feel like talismans. Their jewelry all…
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Five Finds Friday (eleven) (forgotten funny & overpriced sweaters & good dads)
FUNNY What is funny? I don’t know. Calvin and Hobbes is funny. (Yes, it still is funny to me. And my son is obsessed with the cartoon kid. Every day he reads these cartoons to me.) I’d like a new laugh-out-loud funny book to read or television show to watch. Why don’t you guys help me out this week? Fill in the blank in the comments. (Pretty please.) A funny thing you should read is ___________________________. You could watch _________________________. It’s super funny. FASHIONABLE We stopped in REI today to purchase a birthday gift for my son-in-law. (Wait! What? I have a son-in-law?? How can I be that old?) And…
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contrary truth
You want to know something true but so contrary? You can have a day that feels as if the very air of the universe is aligning and giving you good gifts. Friends can send you the sweetest texts and your grocery bill can be paid by a complete stranger. You can hold the good gifts in both of your hands and count them two by two. You can laugh a little and smile some too. You can stare into the gloriously golden faces of the stellar humans who call you “mom”. And you can feel grateful. Grateful can ooze out of your lips and off your tongue and through the…
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procrastinating, a survey for you and the ramblings of life
Procrastination is for real, you guys. I mean – you might think it’s just for college students or something. But. It. Is. Not. Right now I am putting off completing an article I need to turn in. And putting off shifting the laundry from the washing machine to the dryer. Delaying folding the heap of clean clothes on top of the dryer. The dishwasher needs to be loaded and the kitchen table is no longer a location for family dinners, but instead is a holding tank for the flotsam and jetsam of returning from a Virginia weekend. I’ve got stuff to do, you guys, but what am I doing instead?…
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a Monday kitchen fix.
What? It was Monday? I mean, do you ever feel as if you blink and then – I don’t know – a week goes by? This morning when we left our home the kitchen legitimately looked as if a kitchen-sized hurricane had passed through. We visited the grocery store for the first time in two weeks the night before and had simply carried in the bags and dropped them on the counter. But not before we ran around gathering snacks and goodies to watch the final episode of The Great British Baking Show. And then, blink, blink, it was time for bed and I forgot about the kitchen until I…
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Five Fridays (nine)
FUNNY I sent this poem by Wendell Berry in a text to my dad the other day. Luckily he thought it was funny too. FASHIONABLE Undoubtedly, this is the hardest entry for me each week. What in the world do I know about fashion? Wait. I’ll tell you. Absolutely nothing. Recently hannaH told me that a friend of hers put me (and hannaH) and our chosen style of dressing in the category of Mary Poppins. I can’t even understand what that means but I feel confident that no one alive is thinking, “Who should I ask for fashion advice? I’ll ask Mary Poppins!” I’ll tell you what I do know,…
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your kryptonite
The conversation came up at dinner tonight. And my new best friend Jen Hatmaker talks about it in her book For the Love. (Which I am listening to on audio and which I am finding more hilarious than an early episode of New Girl. And loads more appropriate.) Everybody has a thing. Maybe you call it your pet peeve. Maybe your kryptonite. What’s your thing? You know – the thing that is so irrational that when you aren’t experiencing it even you can laugh at it but when you are experiencing it – well, everybody better run for cover and not mock you until the storm has passed and maybe…
