Tis the season for engagements! Like me, I bet most of you are sick of the constant jewelry ads that are everywhere this time of year. But, the jewelry industry is well aware that Christmas Eve and Valentine’s Day are two of the most popular days of the year to “pop the question” so I don’t see the ads ending… Read more »
Nine years ago Thanksgiving wasn’t super happy for me. I’d lost my 12 year old cat to an autoimmune disease only a few months after losing my OTHER 12 year old cat to kidney failure due to diabetes. Plus, every year on Thanksgiving I think about my paternal grandfather who passed suddenly of a massive heart attack the day before… Read more »
As you know, I’ve had a blog for several years now and I’ve updated the look several times before. What makes this time different? It’s more than just a fun new layout- changes include: The debut of my snazzy new logo All new categories complete with humorous (to me anyway) descriptions if you hover over them I’m now self hosted… Read more »
The word “family” gets tossed around very casually these days. How often have we heard someone referring to their “work family” or their “(insert name of hobby here) family”? And what does that usually mean? Just a group of people who you like and/ or spend a lot of time with. Or, what we used to call “friends”. To me,… Read more »
“Are you going home for (insert name of holiday here)?” It’s a pretty common question asked of those of us who don’t currently live within a stone’s throw of the house they grew up in. What is “home”? Nine years ago my husband and I got married and I moved in with him. We live in the house he grew… Read more »
This is the 2nd edition of my yearly list of things I am thankful for. I think this is a great exercise for everyone to do and Thanksgiving time is the perfect time to do it. This year I am challenging myself to list 25 blessings in my life without duplicating anything from last year’s list. You can check that… Read more »
Tis the season to be thankful! Anyone able to read this had SO much to be thankful for. Instead of posting this day by day I decided to do it all in one fell swoop. This is in no means all the blessings I have in my life, but just a fun list that got me thinking and hopefully… Read more »
I personally know of 4 weddings and 2 marriage proposals that took place last Saturday. While I’m not sure if September is the new June I do know that all of these marital happenings around me have me thinking about my favorite blog topic again- marriage. And while I generally shy away from giving marital advice there are a couple… Read more »
One of my very favorite blog posts I’ve ever written was the one of my very first ones that I wrote 3 years ago about my childhood church’s annual summer Mission Festival, held in my uncle’s pasture, or as it’s called for one day a year, The Marquardt Grove. The 2012 installment just took place last Sunday and we had… Read more »
Lately I’ve been struggling with the fact that my parents (pictured at left a couple years ago at their 40th anniversary party) are aging. They both turned 65 this month, and while they are mostly in good health the cold hard fact remains that more of their lives are behind them than ahead of them at this point. Yes, of… Read more »