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Piles: A Poem for Exasperated Moms
Piles and pilesAnd piles galore,Piles all over the floor My son came homeAnd stacked up a pileOf papers returned that day My daughter stayed homeAnd built many piles Of delightful, five-year-old play The man of the houseStores his socks in a heap;I imagine things I’ll never say Really, they’re all heathens!But me?I’m perfect in every way Piles and pilesAnd piles galore,Piles all over the floor *** This post also includes something special! I had a good friend mention to me earlier this year that including an audio reading of blog posts, articles, etc. is becoming more popular online and allows more people to access information. So, without further introduction, here’s…
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Welcome Autumn and Winter and Cozy Family Gatherings
This poem took me a couple months to write. I started working on it after a walk in the fields with Luna, in which I noticed all the different flowers that were going dormant for the winter. They really do look beautiful, even as their time in this season ends. I think I got stuck in the middle of the poem because I didn’t know exactly where to go with the rest of the stanzas. I wrote the first stanza one day, the second stanza the next day, the first two lines of the third stanza a couple weeks later, made a lot of edits, and then finally finished the…
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Bill and Margie On the Open Road
School started about a month ago, and I can’t believe I haven’t posted since before then. I’ve been doing a lot of writing, but haven’t had a free moment yet to collect my writing and publish it here. I hope that now that the school year is underway, I’ll be able to start posting regularly again. This year I’m doing something new at school. I started a Story Club, inspired by Anne Shirley, which meets Friday afternoons during the school day. Each week I give the students a writing prompt, and then the following week we give each other feedback and talk about a writing-related topic. The students can write…
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New Family Goals: Homesteading, Hobby Farming, & More
Up until a couple years ago, Brian, the kids, and I lived in this cute little blue house on a quiet cul-de-sac: We lived on almost an acre of land, which we felt was a lot of land back then, and did as much on that acre of land as we could. Brian tilled a 40 X 40 foot garden and planted fruit trees. I maintained our landscaping and our wildflower garden. We also obtained five chickens, all Rhode Island Reds, from a friend a few years after we moved into the house, when the City Council finally passed the ordinance allowing homes in our neighborhood to keep chickens (no…
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Sweet Potato Curry Soup, For Wintery Spring Days
Earlier this week, the temperatures here in the Midwest reached into the high 50s, the sun shone with real warmth, and the robins sang their cheery, rollicking spring songs. Now, as I type this recipe, the wind is whipping snow around the house outside and the temperatures, taking into account the wind chill, have fallen into the low 20s. It is the perfect evening for soup. Here’s my recipe for Sweet Potato Curry soup, one of my original creations: Ingredients 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced 1 stalk celery, diced 1 tsp. minced onion 1 tbsp. butter 3 cups frozen sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed 1 tsp. curry powder Cilantro…