Category Archives: Uncategorized

This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Summer is amazing and it’s bittersweet to see it depart, but I love me some fall. I’ve blogged about this before but it bears repeating: autumn is amazing. Now, there’s lots of stuff to love about autumn. First, the garden comes in and it’s just aContinue reading “Autumn’s Gold”

In our family, there is a debate amongst the Pumpkin Pams and the Margarita Marys. Practically speaking, you are deemed “not cool” if you are a Pumpkin Pam. Now, truth be told, the majority of my family lives on or near a lake. In the northeast, summers on the lake are out of this world.Continue reading “Pumpkin Pams vs. Margarita Marys”

Lately, life got out of control. The end of summer was not nearly what I had planned for. In fact, I often wonder how my best laid plans – such a skillset for my professional life – manage to go so seriously awry in real life. But, scratching summer off of my list, I’m nowContinue reading “The struggle is real.”

I’m not even sure where to start. The end of July blew up my world and August was less about putting it back together than just trying to tread water and doing it unsuccessfully. September? Hmm… I’m so far behind that I just can’t tell. So, let’s start with where I am. Currently, there’s aboutContinue reading “So far behind…”

Ten days ago, I had a conversation with my sister. We have a family member with a serious health issue and I was reciting new statistics I had found on my scholarly literature search of research studies. As I finished, her reaction wasn’t nearly as excited as I was expecting. Instead, it seemed to stressContinue reading “Choosing hope.”

Last November, Darryl started his dream job. While absolutely fabulous, it was a little outside of our plans. We had intended that between the two of us, he would work half-time and I would work ¾-time and that “extra” time could be used for us to live this yuppie homesteading lifestyle we’ve come to treasure.Continue reading “Then and now.”

Today, I officially change my FTE status. In true serendipitous fashion, I also wouldn’t have worked today anyway. Ever since I shifted to my earlier version of part-time, I do not work on Fridays. Today, I go down to just a tad over half-time. After making that decision on Christmas Eve, six months of planning,Continue reading “It’s official!”

This past month has been a huge transition. Each day, I lurched forward. Sometimes in huge, jarring leaps that made me see clearly my life was different. Sometimes, in small, barely recognizable movements that I thought I was stagnating or even moving backwards. And now, in large part, I think I’m just about “there”. AndContinue reading “Back to good.”

So, I broke out the canning cookbooks two nights ago. Once the calendar turns to late June and the garden is fully in, it’s time to think about all of the wonderful goodness that I can “put up” as my grandma would say. There is also a seasonality of sorts to canning. Early to mid-summerContinue reading “Canning Porn”

It happens every year around this time. Spring and early summer are overwhelming and a game of “Beat the Clock” with Mother Nature. Then, sometime around July 1st, the clock rings and whatever got done is what will be. Planting now – except for second harvests – isn’t going to do you much good. ThisContinue reading “Living by the clock…”