It’s a new month and the new year. That means it’s time for a new budget. Woohoo! Wait—Did you not join me in my celebratory whoop? Does that mean you approach budgeting the same way you approach a spoonful of medicinal cod liver oil? You know, you stick out your tongue, make disgusting noises, and […]
Forgetting to be grateful: unmet expectations and Not-Skis
December 25, 2013 By 7 Comments
Merry, merry, Christmas, everyone! So that I may spend more time with my family I am sharing a post from last year, written by my daughter Alexis. As I wrote last year, she is cute, witty, and a terrific writer. Plus, she and her hubby are parents now, so perhaps this is a timely story […]
Quick and easy Christmas breakfasts and tasty treats
December 20, 2013 By 13 Comments
Why am I sharing quick and easy Christmas breakfasts and tasty treat ideas on a blog dedicated to finding happiness right where you are, that helps you build stronger and more satisfying relationships? I’m talking about simple and yummy food that you gives you more time to enjoy family and friends. Prepared with lots […]
Help find the owner of this 1964 East TN Class Ring
December 15, 2013 By 20 Comments
Friends, I need your help. My husband has found an old ring and I’d love your assistance in finding the owner. Keith has been finding treasures these last few months as he enjoys the waterways in our new home in East Tennessee. A popular activity in this area—made more interesting this time of […]
Spending less at Christmas yields more joy
December 9, 2013 By 8 Comments
What do you really want to experience this year for Christmas? Less stress? More joy? If that is true for you, here is one way to get there: giving fewer gifts. I’m referring to reducing the number and scale of presents, which is not to be confused with your charitable giving. This can be […]
Making room for white space
November 25, 2013 By 10 Comments
Do you make room for white space in your life? This graphic design term is a great metaphor for how we choose to live. To quote graphic designer/publisher Fred Showker of DT&G: White space is important because it refines a design and gives the other elements, image and type, room to exist. Did […]
Discovering Joy: It’s up to you, but not about you, Pt 2
November 13, 2013 By 23 Comments
Welcome to the second half of Discovering Joy. If you missed the first, you can read it here. I wrote previously: I learned that really getting the most out of Allume (a recent blogging conference I attended), or any other gathering in life, really learning to discover joy right where we are, is that it is up to us, but […]
Discovering Joy: Turning neuroses into new roses Pt 1
November 11, 2013 By 20 Comments
Let’s see a show of hands: Who wants to go to a gathering of hundreds of strangers, where you don’t know anyone in real life, many who are more accomplished in their careers than you, have more friends, are more famous, well-spoken, fashionable, thinner, and especially aren’t just so darn plain-Jane average like you? Nobody? We […]
Let your caged bird sing!
November 5, 2013 By 3 Comments
We are all afraid of something, especially if we haven’t found our special something. Especially if we go to work, day after day, and are emptied rather than fulfilled. We wonder if this is all there is. And then we beat ourselves up for not being grateful enough for what we do have. Been there, got the […]
Mrs. McJudgy Pants goes to Allume
October 28, 2013 By 57 Comments
Have you ever traveled somewhere wonderful and discovered you brought along an uninvited and unwelcome guest? Last week when I packed for Allume—a conference for 450 Christian women bloggers—I had no idea Mrs. McJudgy Pants had come along for the ride. No wonder my suitcase was so heavy. Mrs. McP didn’t make her appearance until […]
