Category: Posts
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Summer Survival: Cooking For Your Family Without Actually Cooking Your Family
Welcome, Summer. Is it sweltering where you live? I know what you’re thinking: Montana = snow, but it actually gets quite hot here during the summer months. Factor in our current lack of air-conditioning and shade trees (trees here are like shrubs to this native Oregonian), and you might get a picture of just how sweaty we are. We’ve become a family of cave-dwellers–…
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Simple Summer Fun: Putting the Kids to Work
When our big kids recently asked if they could expand our suburban zoo by a pair of pet bunnies, we asked THEM how they would earn the money to make that happen… We choose not to pay our kids a traditional allowance, their household chores considered just part of being a family. If they want to earn money, they must…
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Simple Summer Fun: Egg Roulette
Thank you, Jimmy Fallon, for the fun idea… Materials: A carton of [cheap, non-organic, NOT farm fresh] eggs. Instructions: Hard boil some, and leave some raw (we hard-boiled eight of twelve), then allow your kids to discover which are which by cracking them over their heads– ala Ramona Quimby. We conducted our experiment: 1) outdoors, 2) before showers, and 3) in…
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My Thrifted Wardrobe
I started thrifting for clothes long before it was cool… scouring the Union Gospel Mission thrift shop Mackelmore-style with my bestie after middle-school, back when the ‘Grunge Look’ of the early 90’s was all the rage. (Though we modeled our look more after the likes of Janis Joplin & Stevie Nicks than Drew Barrymore & Courtney Love.) These days, I aim…
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Good Things
For years, my dear Auntie-in-law blessed me with a subscription to Martha Stewart’s Living magazine. As a bumbling new home-maker, I looked forward to it’s monthly arrival in my mailbox with eager anticipation. Without fail, the highlight of every issue was the 1-2 page collection of Good Things; abbreviated little excerpts, ideas, or items carefully curated for beauty, simplicity,…
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Summer School
Once again, we are continuing our home schooling through the summer months. For now, year-round school is a good fit for our family– since we are mostly home, anyway, and actually enjoy it. The kids complete an abbreviated workload and I seek out additional, creative ways to daily stretch and challenge their minds… … like regular trips to our…
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Daytime Dating
Who’s got two thumbs and loves going on dates with her husband? This girl. As a homeschooling mama, I spend nearly every waking moment with my darling children; therefore, I feel no guilt at all in occasionally leaving them with a sitter (whom they adore) so Handsome Husband and I can have some PEACE and QUIET. I…
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The Hard Stuff
Most often, being Mommy is incredibly fun… The most fun ever. Watching your kids master a skill like tying their shoes, learning to read, blow a bubble with gum, or ride a bike; throwing them a super fun birthday party, saying yes to popsicles for breakfast, surprising them with a trip to Disney… these moments are the best moments, the mountaintop moments. The highlight…
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In Memoriam
Rest in Peace, Peppermint Patti. Marci and the rest of us will miss you terribly, and remember you fondly.
