Rivers of Red Mud
When was the last time your socks turned red from the clay mud? Having grown up in Oregon with its dark and fertile soil, the rivers of red mud in Virginia were a shock to my college experience. Recently those memories flooded back when I was driving through my small town in North Carolina during a rainstorm. Rivers of red mud flowed down both sides of the road running off the construction sites of new neighborhoods. Rivers of red mud signal construction to me. My university was (forever) under construction during my college years. In the past, we have lived in new neighborhoods with constant construction. My current hometown is expanding by leaps and bounds. New neighborhoods are cropping up all over. Construction is not necessarily a bad thing, but the growing pains are more evident during these seasons. Rivers of red mud remind me that change is here. Have you been in a season of change this year? New job? New baby? New location? New heart attitude? New health plan? My business is in a season of growth and change as well. I’m learning to build a new website from scratch (coming later in 2023). I’m creating new courses,…
Christmas Pajamas
Will you be waking up in new Christmas pajamas this year? Somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, the soft package would be delivered in person or through the mail. One look at the return address or the tag, and my girls knew right away what it was. They could hardly wait to open their new Christmas pajamas from our dear friend. I’m not really sure who got more joy out of the gift – my girls or my friend! This sweet tradition continued for years. It really did not matter if they were Christmas patterns or not. My girls got a new pair of pajamas to wear, especially on Christmas eve. It was the gift that kept on giving all winter long. Many families have Christmas pajama traditions, including all the family members. Some wear them to drive around and look at Christmas lights, to sleep under the Christmas tree or for a special movie and hot cocoa night. The Holderness Family even went viral with their first of many Christmas Jammies videos. We did not go this far but certainly the thoughts of Christmas pajamas, hot coffee, and grandma’s special coffee cake brings up many sweet memories. As my…
Gutsy
Which friend of yours is gutsy? gutsy (guht-see) adjective with courage, pluck, or determination adventurous; undaunted, fearless I created this gutsy adjective art design for my youngest daughter. I was inspired by my daughter’s gutsy approach to life in spite of having a chronic disease. I wanted some art to remind her of how proud I am of her. Now I love seeing it in the background of her video chats and weekly family video calls. Adjective Art is a great gift for a friend, child, coworker, or teacher. This piece of art highlights and defines a specific adjective. Choose from 10 adjectives. Adventurous. Artsy. Capable. Classy. Determined. Generous. Gutsy. Inquisitive. Resourceful. Social. Adjective Art is available to download in my shop immediately upon purchase. The file is an 8×10 jpeg which can be downloaded and printed at home or at a printer of your choice. Grab a frame of your choice and you’ll have a quick, easy, and personal gift. Which adjective best describes your significant other? Print one for the desk. Which one best describes your child’s teacher? Print one for a thoughtful and personal teacher gift. Need a fun secret Santa gift? Adjective art is a great…
10 Things To Do With Kids During School Breaks
What’s your favorite thing to do with your kids over school breaks? Some parents love school breaks and some dread them. Most of those feelings revolve around what to do with the kids over school breaks. Here are 10 things to do with kids during school breaks, perfect for parents, nannies, or grandparents regardless of location or budget. Libraries are a treasure trove of free education and educational activities. Whether you are at home or on a trip, check out the public libraries. Many have story times or activities for kids. City parks, local playgrounds, and national parks dot most any map and many offer programs or activities. I remember one year when we tried to see how many parks we could visit once before repeating any. We were also new to town so this gave us insight into different parts of town and the kids could rank their favorites. If being indoors is a better option, drag out all the blankets and pillows and construct blanket forts or make mazes out of large cardboard boxes and packing tape. Research local museums for inexpensive options or free days. We once planned a whole spring break trip around free museums in…
Book Review: Lazy Genius Kitchen
Where do you put your dirty dishes in your kitchen? In the Lazy Genius Kitchen, we recognize we all have routines. In my house the dirty dishes go to the left of the sink before they get loaded into the dishwasher, which hopefully happens shortly thereafter. Best selling author Kendra Adachi writes Lazy Genius Kitchen so we can “have what you need, use what you have, and enjoy it like never before.” Do my dishes go to the left of the sink because that’s where there’s more counter space or because that’s the dirty dishes zone that frees up all the rest of my kitchen space for other things? Recently a friend loaned me this book and said it is much like how I already run my household. That was true! The book is a “slightly sassy” guidebook to organizing your kitchen using the Lazy Genius Principles. Adachi gives the framework to prioritize what matters most in your kitchen and build a system that makes it easy for you to enjoy your kitchen and mealtimes. This book is jam packed with helpful references on how to cook, how to make meals taste good, how to use kitchen tools, and how…
Small Business Saturday
What small businesses can you support this week? The week of Thanksgiving is all about turkey and transactions. It’s the rush of getting all the dinner supplies (or at least the few things you were assigned to bring plus a hostess gift to apologize for not wanting to go to all the trouble to host this year) and weeding through all the Black Friday ads in your inbox and phone. In the age of online shopping, Amazon has been bookmarked and bots are hired to do your searching. Too bad there is not yet a robotic maid, housekeeper, and cook to take care of Thanksgiving dinner. Actually there are plenty of ways to support small businesses in your Thanksgiving week. Instead of ordering it all online or purchasing at a big box store, try getting a few items locally from small businesses. Buy local produce. Pick up a fresh pie or flowers from a local business. Hire a friend to help cook or clean this week. This Saturday is Small Business Saturday. It follows Black Friday and comes before Cyber Monday. Sometimes the joy of shopping is lost in the rush of Black Friday. Think about how you can support…
Four in a Row Game Board
Was Connect Four a favorite game in your childhood? Four in a Row is a simple game where the goal is to score four boxes in a row in any direction, yet it becomes a complex game when you apply strategies to keep the other player from scoring four in a row first! The supplies are minimal – a four in a row game board and two colored pencils. To help one of my tutoring clients be more engaged in reading and comprehending his spelling word patterns instead of just memorizing the letters, I pulled up a four in a row game board and typed in his spelling list. In order to score a box, he had to correctly pronounce the word on the first try. He likes a good competition so this challenge pulled him right in! Soon he was thinking more about a word and sounding out in his head before saying it. Typically I like students to go ahead and attempt hard words and process them aloud and ask for help when needed. However, this was the perfect challenge to push my client to the next level! If he said it wrong, he did not get the…
Table Talk Cards Especially for Advent
What does advent look like at your house? Before we talk about the printable Advent conversation starters, let’s talk a little bit about Advent itself. The word advent means coming or arrival. Advent starts the fourth Sunday before Christmas. Traditionally each week has a different theme: hope, peace, joy, and love. Many people have different traditions regarding Christmas and Advent. The purpose of Advent is to help us remain focused on the birth of Jesus Christ and our hope in His glorious return one day. For many, it is a joyful preparation for the Christmas season, a season of great hope. You all know I love to ask questions that get people thinking and talking. I especially love to ask questions around the table! I created Table Talk card sets to be advent conversation starters. Let me introduce my newest card set: Table Talk card set 4 – Especially for Advent. You can use the Table Talk questions at home, on a road trip, on a bus, in the classroom, at a family reunion, in line, on a video call, in carpool, and just about anywhere. Most of these questions do not have a correct answer. I always ask people…
Souper Suppers
What is your favorite fall soup? It’s time for cozy soup and salad dinners – souper suppers! I posted some summer salad recipes last summer so now it is time for some fall soup recipes. I usually make potato soup, tortilla soup, and pumpkin black bean soup in the fall. Having a family member who is gluten free and dairy free has challenged me to rework a few favorites for when they visit. Surprisingly the potato soup turned out much better than I expected. Here are two of my favorite soup recipes with gluten free, dairy free suggestions plus a free Thanksgiving printable! Pumpkin Black Bean Soup 3 – 15-19 ounce cans rinsed and drained black beans 1 – 14 1/2 ounce can drained chopped tomatoes 1 tablespoon butter (or oil of your choice) 2 medium chopped onions 3 cloves minced garlic 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 4 teaspoons cumin (more or less to taste) 4 cups chicken broth 1 – 28 ounce can pumpkin (plain, not pumpkin pie mix!) In a large pan, heat butter on medium. Add onion, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin; cook 6 minutes or until onion of softened and light brown.…
Daily Writing Practice
How can you incorporation meaningful writing practice into daily life? Writer’s block tends to crop up every time students are given a time limit and a short writing project. They do well with week-long projects where they can think through things, but the short writes seem to stop them in their tracks. Getting started tends to be the biggest obstacle! Here are five suggestions for working writing into everyday life for students. Practice restating the prompt as a way to get started. One can always go back and strengthen the hook or opening statement at the end, but just get started by turning the prompt into the first sentence. Write often, even little things. Consider dictating your grocery list to your child or have them write down a phone message or note. Practice writing summaries of daily classes (great to use Cornel Note style and write a summary at the end) as a way to study. Use key vocabulary to strengthen the summary (great way to study for a test). The New York Times has weekly writing prompts for students. They can keep the writing in a journal or submit it online. (You don’t need a subscription to access the…