Home Management
Scheduling Your Family: How Do You Choose?
I hate to bid farewell to summer, the season of flexibility and spontaneity. Eventually, though, summer schedule gives way to fall, and the freedom to be flexible is replaced by appointments, deadlines, expectations. The whole family shifts to a more disciplined, scheduled life. And the hardest part, I think, is the time of transition when…
Magic Formula For Staying Clutter-Free For Life
You know that lovely feeling you get when you’ve just organized your shoes, cleared out the filing cabinet, or streamlined your vintage doily collection? *insert whiny voice* Why does it never last? Why must entropy rule? Why do you invariably end up right back in clutter and disorganization? The answer is that backsliding is actually…
The Passionate Writer
Home and family, my passions, swirl through everything I write like a cinnamon ribbon spirals through breakfast bread. I stand at the kitchen sink, my brain ticking off Fifteen After-School Snacks that Spell Love to Your Teenager. I separate the t-shirts from the socks ruminating on Five-Minute Recipes to Romance Your Husband. I walk to…
Stash it? Trash it? Or Cash it?
Too much stuff? You’re not alone. Our families are getting smaller – but the top reason people move into a larger home is so they’ll have more room for their stuff. Combine that with another scary statistic… the average person spends 4 1/2 hours a week looking for stuff they can’t find. Sigh. I can…
Pinching Pennies: New Uses for Coffee Filters
When it comes to the writer’s REAL life, every penny counts. Here are some tips for making good use of that stack of coffee filters in your cupboard. Cover bowls or dishes when cooking in the microwave. Coffee filters make great covers. Clean windows and mirrors. Coffee filters are lint-free so they’ll leave windows sparkling.…
A Resolution Worth Keeping
I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” Job 42:5 Good intentions. Our lives are full of them. And when it comes to finding time to spend one-on-one time with God, the proverbial “road” is paved with them. Well aware of this struggle in my own life,…
Giving Back
Butchering chickens, wildcrafting, soap making, pressure canning, making herbal tinctures and supertonics–I’m fascinated by these basic survival skills, but primarily, I’m a homeschooling mom who loves to write. Meaning, I’m busy already and have plenty to learn! But to learn, one needs a teacher. Books and online resources can be excellent initiators to a subject,…
Only 24 Hours in My Day
Idyllic perfectly describes our summer. Plenty of time to hang out together, garden, entertain, plan camping trips with friends. I have to admit, one of the biggest perks of summer, to me, is just plain “time” out. Time to keep the house clean, for instance. Then another school year begins. The alarm clock moves back…
A bad case of CAS (Cleaning Avoidance Syndrome)
Sometimes I wonder if only writers think this way. I can’t get the a scene in the Wizard of Oz out of my mind. Remember when Dorothy is walking through the woods with her entourage and chanting… “Lions and tigers and bears! Oh my!” That’s how I feel about venturing into my teenager’s bathroom these…
Organized Kids: Five Habits to Cultivate
Get summer off to a great start by helping your kids cultivate some clutter-busting habits. You might learn something too! 1. Teach kids that less is more. The less stuff you have, the easier it is to keep things organized. Encourage kids to ask themselves why they are keeping toys that are broken, missing pieces…