This Week's Winner

One of my good friends and I sometimes process the ups and downs of life by pretending to trade back and forth an imaginary prize for being the biggest loser-mom or biggest loser-friend or just for being the most generally lame. Then we trade our sad...

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My Trip to Utah

All went well on Friday morning and I made it to Utah just fine.  We landed in the middle of a wild little snow squall that reduced visibility to a couple hundred feet and completely surprised the pilot and crew-that was exciting.  My son Sam...

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Always an Adventure

This was the view out my window for an hour and a half at the gate in Baltimore as mechanics checked the plane. It's about 6 am Mountain Standard Time or Pacific Daylight Time, whichever you want to call it. Such chronological ambiguity must mean...

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The Light Changes and Spring is Here

Today, in the midst of studying for a mid-term, planning for a whimsical upcoming trip and trying to stay on top of work, I had the chance to dig into the garden for a soft, gray, early-morning hour. I thought it was a good way to commemorate another...

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Not Quite There Yet

The crazy pace continues. Every day this week I've worked to finish tasks and take care of obligations from early am till late, late at night, trying to squeeze every spare minute from every day. I'm really, really tired and I can't remember a time this...

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New Beginnings

The purpose of most youth programs in the world is to help kids know who they are and what they are capable of accomplishing. In my church, our youth program seeks to do that very thing. Of course for us the basis of that it that they are children of...

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Inspiration in My Mailbox

After my last post, I got lots of love and support from friends and family, which I greatly appreciate, and then this came in a daily inspirational email: Don't be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs.  Every time you conquer...

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Deadlines

Deadlines. Isn't that a lovely word? Do this or you're DEAD! The history of the word deadline doesn't help much: It refers to the line that actually existed around a prison and indicated the point at which a prisoner could expect to be shot. I think...

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Project Simplify Project #1 To Have or to Be?

I've been thinking a lot about the phrase in the title as I've worked on my closet this week. It's actually quoted from the title of a book that I bought in my youth at the behest of a friend but haven't picked up in too many years. It's by Erich Fromm...

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Spring Cleaning

I've been hit hard by the urge to purge my stuff. Last week I got a start on my craft supplies and was able to share with friends from church about half of what I was ready to let go. I've already got everything that didn't get taken in my giveaway on...

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Sick Day

Evan has strep again. He's always been somewhat of a susceptible kid, getting the worst possible version of whatever is going around, but this is bad even for him (he just had a case of strep about 6 weeks ago). Three others of us are on the edge of...

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Book Review: Sylvester

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer Adult fiction, romance I listened to the abridged audio book, read by Richard Armitage (He is a favorite actor, so finding him as narrator helped me to decide to listen rather than read. I usually avoid abridged versions,...

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Watching is Hard Sometimes

The lack of control a mother has is breaking my heart a little bit right now.  Emotions around here are thicker than usual as one kid didn't get accepted to go somewhere, and here is just not where he wants to be. Another kid has lost the record...

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