I love gardening. And plants. And growing things. The amazing moment when seeds sprout or when I can harvest a fresh tomato or appreciate the delicate beauty of a flower – all of these things give me a thrill. But I don’t love all the bugs and dirt. I feel inadequate and hopelessly disorganized when I think of all the things you are supposed to remember to do like fertilizing and pruning at the right times, weeding, amending the soil and getting rid of all the icky bugs (aphids make my skin crawl!) But there are some plants that are worth the effort. The pleasures I get from them make…
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The Lost Art of Dress ~ A Book Review
One of the hazard of my former job at the Library is that I can never keep up with my “to read” list. The latest book that I just finished and thoroughly enjoyed was called The Lost Art of Dress: The Women Who Once Made America Stylish by Linda Przybyszewski. It’s a fascinating mix of early 20th century history and an overview of the principles taught by the so called “Dress Doctors”. I learned quite a bit about everyday American fashion in the 20th century as well as the history of home economics courses and books that taught women about style and fashion. I also was inspired to dress a…
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Learning Contentment
Contentment… Ahhh… What an interesting word. Most of us know what it means at least in theory. And many of us might even say that we are content at least some of the time. But goodness! If I listen to myself complain on any given day, it’s pretty embarrassing. I have always considered myself a fairly optimistic person, but I’m ashamed to admit that I complain far more than a person who claims to be optimistic ought to do. So what is contentment? And how does one go about learning it? Dictionaries usually say contentment is a state of happiness or satisfaction, but my favorite definition included the idea of…
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What is the Comfortable Life?
Lately I have been questioning this idea of a “comfortable life.” When I first started this blog, (yes I know it has been more than a year since I started this blog and this is my first post- procrastination anyone?) I loved the idea of a blog about life and all that goes into that- for me it was the blessed opportunity to be a stay at home mom and all the things in my life that made it comfortable and special. I wanted to write about sewing and knitting, family, cooking, decorating, housekeeping, parties, and fashion. Well, a lot has changed in my life since then. I have had…
