The Ups, The Downs, and Everything in Between
I recently had one of those days with a really high high, and then later the same day it plunged to a low low. I can’t say I enjoy these days; I’m more of an even keeled, keep it in the middle kind of person. My high came first. I have a family history of breast cancer, so every year I get a diagnostic mammogram. I started getting these at the age of 30. It’s nice to get the results right away, and breath a …
When my kids were little, we started a 12 days of Christmas tradition. I would map out on a calendar something we would do as a family on each of the twelve days, and post it on the refrigerator. It would be a combination of activities, small gifts, meals together. We’ve been doing this for 10+ years, and now that my kids are older (20, 18, 15) it’s fun to look back over the calendars and see what activities have made it on the list …
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season. As I enjoy the peace and quiet on this first day of the New Year (my family is all still asleep) I wrote down the things I want to work towards this New Year. I don’t like the word “resolution” – it’s too black and white, too final. If you resolve to do something, and then miss even one time, you may feel you’ve let yourself down, and drop off completely because you’ve already failed. This …
When my kids ask me who my favorite child is, I answer that they are each my favorite, for different reasons (the answer is always the same, yet it’s a friendly banter amongst them to claim they are my favorite). When I talk about my oldest son, I say that he’s my favorite because he taught me how to be a mom. He loved this answer when he was younger, and would ask me over and over to list the ways he taught me how …
I’m not good at making up recipes from scratch, but I’m decent at taking existing recipes and making them faster and easier to prepare! So when I recently came across a recipe for a lentil and rice salad, I knew that with a little help from Trader Joe’s I could make it in under 10 minutes, and even add some extra texture to the original recipe. The real time savers here are the pre-cooked lentils and rice from Trader Joe’s. It came out quite tasty, …
A few weeks ago we had school registration. My youngest asked if we could go to breakfast after his registration. “Great idea!” I replied. This year our school started something new; you could pre-fill out most of the paperwork and drop it off ahead of time. I told my son that if I did this, and we got to school right when registration opened, we could zip through the lines and have time for a quick breakfast before I had to get to a meeting …
Remember Amish friendship bread? You give sections of the dough to others to make their bread, and you keep some for yourself to bake? I was reminded of this when a friend of mine recently taught me how to make yogurt. I have an Instapot which I absolutely love. But I’ve been intimated to try the yogurt setting. Active cultures, bacteria – it sounded complicated, and hard to get right. Well I couldn’t be more wrong! It takes awhile (10+ hours when all said and …
I recently went to my cousin’s lake house in Michigan with my mom and my daughter for a girls’ weekend. We had an amazing time and I came home relaxed and refreshed. We did a lot of fun things; but it was more than what we did that made it so special. Our agenda, while full – my cousin is a person after my own heart – was nothing particularly out of the ordinary. Yet each event carried emotion and meaning for me. What we …
It’s almost here – the 4th of July! I love traditions, and home town celebrations. Last year we were in Orlando for my daughter’s dance competition over the 4th of July, and while we had a great time, I’m glad that this year we are back to continue our traditions at home. On July 3rd we head to a cookout with college friends and attend their local fireworks. It’s five families and the gathering has really grown over the years as we’ve all added kids …