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Puzzles. Why we love them.
Every holiday and on any vacation- especially a mountain cabin or a beach house sort of vacation – a puzzle is in mid-progress for our family. We’ve got out favorite brands but we’re not all that particular. Usually we pick a puzzle with more than 500 pieces and we like best the 1000 piece puzzles but we’ve tried all…
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a story of a tradition gone south
Maybe this just isn’t the year for keeping things the same. I didn’t chose a word. I didn’t make our annual list of things to accomplish this year. I already told you guys all that. But we always take a hike on the first day of the new year – or a day really close to that. It’s not…
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That Time We Went Inside a World That First Started on a Page
I was late to the express train that is Harry Potter and JK Rowling and the entire universe of wizards and Hogwarts. I had my reasons. (One of which was that in 1997, when the first novel was released, I was a newlywed working for a newspaper writing sports articles (can you even imagine?) and helping to put my…
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Grove Collaborative Giveaway: My Favorite Mrs. Meyers loot
It’s been a while since I’ve hosted a giveaway with Grove Collaborative but it’s only been about two hours since I’ve used a Grove Collaborative product. (Peppermint scented Mrs. Meyer’s dishwashing soap, if you’re curious. And also Method’s dishwashing tabs. Fun fact – Otto calls all of the Mrs. Meyer’s products Mrs. Myrtle Clean. Neither of us have any…
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the prayer of the every day
It’s not just a phrase or something to say. I say these literal words nearly every morning and almost every evening, lying in my bed before my feet hit the cold painted wooden floor and after I’ve reached up and turned out the lamp. “God, please rescue me from me.” That’s what I say. And this is what I…
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Five Finds Friday (quelf the game, oatmeal in the Instant Pot, kind words)
We’re back to school this week. It’s been good to be back to routine but it’s been painfully difficult to get out of bed on these cold mornings. It was also a four day school week and that has me thinking that ALL weeks should be four day school weeks. Can I start a utopian society where people only…
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2018 thoughts.
Looking backwards has always been standard procedure for me. Journaling. Reflecting. Keeping records and creating scrapbooks in their glory days. (And Chatbooks now.) Nature Notes that tell us what bird we saw on this day last year or six years ago and a daily family journal that reminds us that yes, we have completed a puzzle every December 26 for…
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wedding thoughts & musings.
We attended a wedding this weekend. A wedding we felt privileged to attend. (Remember our buddies who turned shaved ice and flavors into a career?) There was a giant field and a big open barn and a view of a mountain in the background. A hot cocoa and coffee bar was set up and a table full…
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Five Finds Friday (sweatshirts & cuddles & an easy soup recipe for your new Instant Pot)
You already know I love this holiday week. I wish all of life was like a holiday. No school. No pressure to rise early. No pressure to get to bed early. No pressure. That’s what I like. The unrealistic dream world of no pressure for anything. Ah. But we are grown ups here and we know that the…
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Holiday Break: Everything I Love
I love the slush of days that lie between Christmas and New Year’s. I count them each as some sort of Non Day. My expectations for myself and for the kids are pretty much nil and that’s so ridiculously marvelous, I can’t even begin to tell you. It’s the best week to do nothing. It’s incredibly satisfying.…
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sing about it ….
I have never been an enthusiastic fan of Christmas carols or Christmas music in general. I don’t have any all consuming reason or compelling story to justify my feelings. It’s just the way it is. This year though, for reasons not entirely understood or analyzed on my part, I have been experiencing bouts of genuine affection for certain classic…
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seven random bits
1. This weekend I started and finished one of the books you guys recommended for me last week. Charles Martin’s Water for my Heart. Not so much because I had loads of free time, but because it turned out to be so compelling that I just needed to find out what was going to happen and how it was…
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Five Finds Friday (maybe five, maybe four – I can’t guarantee anymore)
All of the weeks in December seem speedy beyond reason. It’s how the time works – right? But we’ve had marvelous quiet evenings home sitting in the living room near the tree’s twinkling lights and you could almost hear our collective sighs at the pleasantness of it. (Don’t worry – we’ve also had rush here and do this and…
