Those few days following Christmas can often seem almost empty. Sure, there is some excitement about the new year and the New Year holiday. And I even think there is something a little relieving about getting one’s living room back to its usual way once the tree is gone and the decorations boxed and stored away. But there is an edge to the refresh. Christmas is over. The cheerful season full of holiday tunes and merriment – gone until next year. The month of December flew by, and now it is time to haul out the Christmas tree, wind up…
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We woke up to our first blanket of snow this morning. The wonderful world of white bringing an insulation not only to the ground, but also to the air. The sound of everything somehow seems softer when there’s snow on the ground. I love the first snow. There is something utterly peaceful about the wet white stuff that I cling to all winter long. That first snowfall there is peace, but there is also excitement crested with an adequate layer of chaos. That early morning squeal from my littles when they first look out the window, followed by an hour…
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As the weather grows colder by the day, I find myself fully engulfed in the end-of-season push to get projects finished before the holidays. As if cold temperatures slowing down paint, finish, and epoxy dry times weren’t challenge enough, limited daylight hours and precipitation (both snow and rain) is making sanding my projects near impossible. With finish drying in the garage, I am left to enjoy an outdoor workspace for all cutting and sanding. And while an outdoor workspace has served me fine in the past, it’s much easier appreciating the great outdoors with a sander in your hand on…
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As I sit down to write each week – sometimes at my kitchen table, other times on the couch or at our home office desk – I often find myself almost frozen with doubts. I feel a dramatic scene from a B rated film where past voices from friends and family drawl in slow motion commenting over the fact I blog. If written words could better give tone to the words said … I’ll simply say the reactions I have received have been less than encouraging. Those comments, those doubtful tones and sneer remarks lock in my brain as I…
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Fall is in full swing. The leaves have changed color and the air is getting crisp. It’s firewood cutting season. It’s hunting season where I come from. And that means that it’s peppernut season at our home. Though Peppernuts might be a Scandinavian favorite around Christmas time, fond memories of firewood getting and hunting trips have me craving these spiced bites of goodness as soon as the weather turns cold. No hunting trip would be the same without a pile of peppernuts tucked away in your coat pocket as you trudge through the snowy mountains. Nor would a long, cold…
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We had our first frost last Monday. Though this is our first autumn season in our current area — and everything is new — the first frost still came as a bit of a surprise. I had fully expected to have another two weeks before that first layer of frost coated my garden, and the weather report indicated five degrees above freezing. I suppose the weather had other plans because frost it did. The frost was light, and within a few hours of daylight, my favorite crew of littles had helped me dig up all the potatoes, pick all the…
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When it comes to breakfast, our family meal planning looks a little different. In fact, it is more like meal theming than meal planning. Figuring out what to make family for breakfast – something that is healthy but also quick – is not a struggle I like dealing with five minutes after I roll out of bed. That early in the morning my brain is already having a hard time dealing with the reality that sleep time has ended, and to throw the puzzle of what to have for breakfast at it so soon after coming out of a slumber…
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At the close of every July, I find myself almost uncontrollably feeling the sad sense that summer is over. As a born and raised Idaho farm girl, I know that isn’t true. There is still plenty of farm work to do. Where I’m from, wheat harvest is just wrapping up. Neighbors will begin third cutting hay within a couple weeks, and fourth cutting won’t come until mid-September. The fields still need irrigated, and there’s plenty to do outside. I know this, yet I still find myself engulfed by that feeling. Summer is over. Reflections of Youth Likely, this feeling stems…
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The other day I found myself in the kitchen prepping lunch after a morning outside doing all the things – feeding the animals, weeding the garden, scouring the garden for any ripe produce (which was limited to a handful of sweet peas), and doing yet more sanding on a table build I have going in my garage. It was hot outside and a relief to come inside where the house remained a few degrees cooler. As I stood there in the kitchen, I could hear my three littles in the next room fully engaged in The Land of Make Believe.…
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Rather than a smoothie recipe followed by dozens of links to other smoothie recipes – this article is all about building a list of your favorite smoothie combinations for you to hang on your fridge or add to your cookbook to inspire your own smoothie creativity. We are on the downhill slope of June, now, and it is hot, hot, hot in the Rocky Mountains. When we get to this time of year – when summer weather descends, and you wake up feeling uncomfortably warm and know it is only going to get hotter as the day goes on –…











