I've been working steadily to create good writing habits. In the process, I've felt the need to organize some of my writing space and that includes the myriad of journals, steno notebooks, loose leaf papers, drawings, lists, business cards, past conference materials... You probably get the idea - there's a lot I need to sort through and organize. How, and even if, a writer can organize their stuff is rather doubtful to me, but it won't stop me from giving it my best shot. In

Giving thanks for - heat. Cold physically hurts. Every time my body feels the physical pain of stabbing cold (which isn’t often because… menopause), I can’t help but recall the true story of the tragic deaths of a fellow local homeschooling family while they were on a hiking trail in January on an unseasonably warm day and a sudden, unexpected ice storm stranded them, completely exposed. The mom wrote her story and published it years later. The gut wrenching account comes to

We are not responsible for other people's happiness. Neither is anyone else responsible for ours. That's a hard won lesson but one that will set us free when we are able to fully grasp it. It allows space to discover what it is that will truly make us happy. What is it that I want to do? What do I need to do to make that happen? I don't have to wait on anyone else to do something for me, I can take the steps toward making it happen. And when others are unhappy, we don't have

I really don't know how to find the original recipe but I definitely want to keep track of it. It came across my Facebook feed and looks delicious! 1 head of cauliflower 8 oz fresh mozzarella balls 1 cup of grape tomatoes 1 cup of spinach 1/2 cup red onion 1/2 cup peperoncini’s 1/2 cup black olives 4 oz Genoa salami 4 oz pepperoni Dressing: 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil Juice of one lemon plus 1 tsp lemon zest Tsp Salt Tsp Oregano Tsp Basil Tsp Rosemary 2-4 garlic cloves

You may recall that I previously shared that my bestie gifted me with this awesome menu board for my birthday in 2020. It may have been one of the best things about the year :-) Each week she invites the women in The Real Sisterhood to share their menu plan for the week, and I just upload a photo of the board. How easy is that!? This week, as part of working through The Artist's Way, I am supposed to be doing an exercise called Reading Deprivation (in newer editions she appar

I had an epiphany last week. Not the kind of epiphany that people celebrate shortly after Christmas Day - although I think that's somewhere in this vicinity, right? I had a personal epiphany. Then yesterday, I had the beginnings of another epiphany. Well, really it seems to just keep rolling so more of a second wave of the first epiphany. One of the definitions of epiphany is an illuminating discovery, realization or disclosure (according to Merriam-Webster). I have been stru

I'm considering making this space what it actually is rather than what I think it's supposed to be - my life in progress, not the life I hoped would be in progress. :-) I'll try to knock out a Daybook post tomorrow. Some of the categories may need to be changed up a bit. I'm also considering a podcast - one where I just sit and talk to myself and record it instead of just sitting and talking to myself - and not recording it. I may as well feel productive if I'm using valuable

Well, that makes sense. I see I posted nothing the entire month of December. There is good reason for that. Let's just say that there were some surprises and a whole lot of demands on my energy and time. I usually get to enjoy the week between Christmas and New Year's Day reflecting on the past year and doing some "4th step" work - aka personal inventory. It's not the same at all really. The kind of inventory that I do now involves looking back over the year and taking note o