Sandra Boynton has written and illustrated a lot of fun books for kids, but while we enjoy many of them, Barnyard Dance! is hands-down our favorite. In this book, Boynton combines her whimsical animal illustrations with words written to a rollicking, square-dance style beat. Every time we read it, my boys get up and dance.
This wonderfully silly book is a hit with everyone in our family, even after reading it frequently for over six years.… Continue reading
Whenever I cut open a fresh winter squash (pumpkin, butternut, acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and so on), the first thing I do is scoop out all of the seeds.
Did you know that with just a little bit of extra effort, you can roast those seeds and make a delicious, nutritious snack? Next time, instead of scooping those seeds into your compost or garbage, scoop them onto a baking sheet instead.… Continue reading
We often have multiple errands to run throughout the week: a trip to the library to pick up and return books, a deposit to make at the bank, a stop at the post office to mail a package, picking up our milk from the dairy, grocery shopping, and so on.
Instead of making each of these a separate trip, I find it’s far more time efficient to group several errands together.… Continue reading
Today while I was cooking, my boys were swooping in and out of the kitchen, pretending to be bats. As they dove after mosquitoes, the timer went off, and I was busy keeping an eye on them and reminding them to stay away from the open oven.
Apparently I was highly distracted, as I only had a potholder in one hand.… Continue reading
We have bag of plums, which were available unusually late in the season at our local farmer’s market last week. While we enjoyed many of them straight out of the bag (see HERE), I decided to make something special with the rest.
I came across this recipe for a Spiced Plum Cake at Gutsy By Nature months ago, and haven’t yet taken the time to make it.… Continue reading
“Teach us delight in simple things.” — Rudyard Kipling
There are abundant reasons to celebrate and delight in our everyday lives, if only we have the eyes to see them.
Today, take a moment to appreciate the simple pleasures that surround you: the hopping of a bird as it searches for a bug, the coziness of a warm sweater, the crunch of a fresh carrot stick, the smell of freshly ground coffee, or the sound of the rain as it dances on your roof.… Continue reading
With the arrival of fall, we now have many of the windows in our house open in the afternoons. Instead of keeping them shut against summer’s afternoon heat or the soon-coming cold of winter, we have them open to welcome in the fresh air and the crisp fall breeze.
I have wind chimes hanging inside my kitchen window. Hanging wind chimes inside may seem odd to you, but we get some pretty fierce winds racing through our canyon, so outside wind chimes can sometimes sound frantic and wild (in addition to the fact that, as a light sleeper, their nighttime chiming can wake me up).… Continue reading
A dear friend of mine headed out of town this week. While I always miss her when I don’t get to see her, she passed along her weekly CSA allotment before she left. In it was a lovely assortment of local, organic, seasonal produce, including beets, lots of greens, eggplants, and a bunch of parsnips.
Parsnips are an often overlooked root vegetable.… Continue reading
“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” — Melody Beattie
At a first glance, adding another practice to your life may not seem like a way to simplify.… Continue reading
