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  • happy birthday cake happy birthday handy husband
    Family

    About That Baby Book

    I’m taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming to wish a very happy birthday to my kids! Yep. Both of them. This week. If you are new here, my kids were born 3 years and 1 day apart. I started blogging when they were about this age… Now they are wrapping up their last year in elementary and middle school. Don’t worry. I’m handling it well. Well-ish. Actually, let’s not talk about it. Have I ever told you they started reading my blog this year? The pandemic boredom must have really gotten to them. Ha! They change their minds regularly on what they feel comfortable being shared about them…

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    Wedding Anniversary Card Tradition

    My husband and I have started a new wedding anniversary card tradition. Instead of buying new cards for each other every anniversary, we are reusing the same card year after year. Every year we will take the time to write a note to each other in the card, making sure to date each note so we don’t have to look back and guess which year it was written. I suppose you could implement this wedding anniversary card tradition with two cards or share the same card. Either way, the point is to keep an ever-growing collection of anniversary notes all in one place.   I’m fully expecting that after decades of doing this,…

  • happy 75th dad
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    Happy 75th, Dad

    I know I said I wouldn’t be posting until the new year started, but I changed my mind! My dad is turning 75 this week and I won’t be there to celebrate with him in person. The next best thing is to write a blog post letting the world know that I think he’s pretty great. Don’t worry, I’m going to call him too.   In no particular order, here are 75 things about my dad that warm my heart.He listens more than he speaks, which is a sound policy for life. He can nap anywhere, even on airplanes. It’s like a superpower. He used to play basketball with me in the driveway…in his cowboy…

  • flamingo pool float summer bucket list: covid-19 edition
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    Summer Bucket List: Covid-19 Edition

    I’m no stranger to a summer bucket list, but I never thought I’d be writing a Summer Bucket List: Covid-19 Edition. Our quiet summer is proof that 2020 is not at all what I anticipated it being. I know I’m not alone in recognizing that 2020 has thrown us all for a loop. In fact, if ever there was an understatement, that would be it! I fully expected us to be traveling outside of our state this summer. As it turns out, it is hard to leave our state now without having to self-quarantine when we return. I fully expected us to be hosting visitors for at least a month…

  • inner tubes on a beach living in the moment
    Family

    The Magic of Living in the Moment

    Editor’s Note: I originally wrote this post 3 years ago. However, I’ve been trying to spend less time on my phone lately. Or at least be more intentional with the time I do spend on my phone. So far, the least amount of average time I’ve spent on my phone per day is 2 hours. Most of that is work-related, but plenty of it is simply idle scrolling, which doesn’t bring a whole lot of added value to my life. Since this topic has been on my mind and there are a whole bunch of new readers in the last 3 years (thank you!), I thought it would be a…

  • sunset over rock wall halcyon
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    Halcyon

    Halcyon, when used as an adjective, denotes a period of time in the past that was idyllically happy and peaceful. Isn’t that lovely? The word is pronounced hal-sÄ“-en (hal-see-en). I ran across the word halcyon in two different books last week and did not know what the word meant when used as an adjective. When it is used as a noun it refers to a bird. One of the books was a children’s book, so that prompted me to pause and question the depth of my vocabulary. How many words DO I use in a day? Also, this is the second time I’ve read this particular children’s book out loud to…

  • wedding picture from 1999
    Family

    What We’ve Learned About Our Marriage While Quarantined

    Handy Husband and I had an insightful chat about what we’ve learned about our marriage while quarantined during the Covid-19 pandemic the other night. I was cutting his hair, so I had a captive audience to discuss all the observations and mushy feelings that had been floating around inside of me the last 49 days, 12 hours, and 47 minutes. Before you think this hair cutting thing was an act of desperation while quarantined, I can assure you it was not. We cannot blame quarantine on how he looks because I’ve been cutting this man’s hair for over twenty years. I’m pretty sure even before we got married he asked…

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    13th Birthday Tradition

    I’ve waited my whole life for the moment I could carry on a 13th birthday tradition with my daughter. Well, my whole life minus 13 years. When I turned 13 my mom gave me a Black Hills Gold ring. This may not seem significant to you, but to 13-year-old me back at the start of the 1990s, this was HUGE. It was a rite of passage to receive my first piece of real jewelry. A ring that didn’t have an adjustable band! I felt so grown up. That ring was probably the most expensive thing I owned at the time and that’s saying something because it’s not an expensive ring.…

  • happy birthday cake happy birthday handy husband
    Family

    Happy Birthday Handy Husband

    I’d like to take a break from our regularly scheduled programming to wish a very happy birthday to Handy Husband. In case I haven’t made this abundantly clear, this blog would not exist without Handy Husband’s support behind the scenes. It is his technical skills that keep this blog online. My brain has no desire to handle all the programming that is required to keep a website running, so I’m thankful that he handles this aspect of the business for me. It is also his DIY skills that give us 93% of our blog content. That’s a wild guess at the percentage. It’s probably closer to 99.99%. He has no…

  • online learning during pandemic weekday quarantine schedule
    Family

    Our Weekday Quarantine Schedule

    We are following a loose weekday quarantine schedule during the Covid-19 pandemic. Why? Since we are staying home can’t we cut loose when it comes to schedules and routines? The urge is there. Trust me. However, our household seems to function a little better with a bit of structure. Plus, things still have to get done while we are staying home. Handy Husband has to “go” to work. The kids have to “go” to online school. Blog posts need to be published. Oh, and we all need to stay sane. Minor detail. Here’s a glimpse into our weekday quarantine schedule. 6 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.: DON’T BUG MAMA HOURS My…