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  • Uhhh…

    How do you handle fear and self-doubt? Not very well sometimes…. You?

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  • Have a good REST of your day…. UGH!!

    What’s a word or phrase that annoys you? Simply saying, “Have a good day,” (or morning, afternoon, or evening) is the appropriate way to say that phrase. It sounds silly, unprofessional, and like a poor use of the English language to add “…rest of your day…” When what is truly meant by that phrase is…

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  • Plan perfect? Or perfectly plan?

    How do you plan the perfect road trip? Most road trips are not perfect. They may be perfectly planned, but they are not always perfect. For instance, when I was two and a half years old, my parents perfectly planned a road trip to Seattle to visit a cousin. It was about a 12-hour drive…

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  • Time is my enemy

    When I have a day off to spend it doing the creative things I enjoy, time passes quickly. Too quickly. Those days are few and far between because of all of the hours I work. There is enough to do, I could work 80 hours a week and barely make a dent in answering all…

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  • The end result

    How do you stay motivated when learning something new? I love learning! Sometimes, it is a challenge. To stay motivated, I keep the end in mind. And remind myself that learning new things takes time. The time will pass, and before long, the new thing will become something that is a part of my understanding…

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  • Just pick one!

    What do you do when you have more than one creative nerve signaling at all times? Write a story! Or journal! Or sew your current quilt! (I mean, the perfectly good fabric is already cut up so I can sew it back together. In puzzle pieces.) Get out in nature! Take your camera with the…

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  • Casserole or Hot Dish?

    It depends on where you live. How far east of the Rockies do you have to go before the dish morphs from Casserole to Hot Dish? My family and I lived for 15 years in a small town along the Mississippi River where it was definitely called Hot Dish. One of my favorite dishes from…

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  • Your Vote is Your Voice

    Do you vote in political elections? We lived by this belief or mantra: “If you don’t vote, you have no room to complain about things you don’t like going on in the world politically.”  I watched the example of my parents. They always voted. And shared their opinions freely. Not forcefully. Somewhat quietly. Let your…

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  • After a Good Night’s Sleep

    Anyone who knows me, knows I love mornings. I feel my best, think my best, and work my best at the start of the day. Just last week, I recognized something that I have always felt, but never really realized it until now. I had enjoyed a beautiful mostly productive morning. The time was approaching…

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  • Sleep is Healing

    Have you ever felt like you wanted to zip your skin off, crawl out of it, and leave it in your bed to disintegrate and go down the drain in the weekly wash with other skin cells sluffed off during the week? The covers were the first thing I threw off this morning. Those normally…

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  • DNA, The Tattler

    My aunt recently shared a photograph with me, one that immediately pulled me in. Sitting at the top of a set of steps in front of their home are my great-grandfather Carnahan and great-grandmother Elsa. On the grassy yard below them sits their young son, Richard, about five years old, along with a woman I…

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About the Author

My husband and I raised three daughters together, and when I look back, it’s hard not to feel a deep sense of nostalgia, not just for their growing-up years, but for my own childhood, courtship, and the early days of our marriage. Those memories hold a little bit of everything, laughter, heartache, and a whole lot of love woven through it all.

I’ve found such joy in journaling, writing, and blogging about the things that matter most to me like God, family, life experiences, thoughts and opinions, memories, feelings, traditions, hobbies, and family history. There’s something important about putting these moments into words, about capturing them in a way that can be revisited and shared.

Through my stories, traditions, and reflections, I hope to connect with others who value these same simple, meaningful parts of life, and who might be willing to share a bit of their own stories, too.

Many of you already have, and that means more than you know.