Category: Holiday
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Plans for 2026: Garden, Travel, Scrimp, Party!
My goal was not to be sick on Christmas, and I wasn’t. But most of us had strep throat this week. I guess it’s better than a cold or flu since once you get the meds it goes away. I resent having to pay $135 to urgent care so far. (But grateful for urgent care…
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Cozy Christmas
My homemade, handcrafted holidays are finally over, though I’ve still got time off coming up to enjoy. Last Tuesday and Wednesday I was on my feet a lot, and definitely had moments of “never doing this again.” Two of the kids were sick and thus I didn’t have a lot of help in terms of…
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Solstice Night
Now comes the time of the holiday season when I veer between rash, “Christmas comes but once a year” decision-making and “nope, I’m done” cost-cutting. This week, I had to chart a course through the middle, as I still had gifts to buy, and I had to start planning for hosting Christmas Eve. I should…
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Supporting Small Businesses This Holiday
I’ve been sick for just about a solid week now, and I am cranky. I guess I should be happy that I am getting a little better every day and I can breathe out of my nose again, most of the time. Still, Christmas doesn’t care that you’re sick. To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, it will…
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The Anti-Black Friday
How did I spend my Black Friday? Instead of shopping, I repaired: I sewed holes in three items of my clothing, so I can continue to wear them. I’m not particularly good at it, but I don’t mind my revolutionary mending showing. I created: I had a hankering to create something that wasn’t food. Poking…
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In Over My Bread
This week I was off two days and was only in the office one day. I was able to continue my streak of using up the food we have. Happy to report that we have eaten in the past six nights AND I even managed to bring leftovers for lunch on my office day. I…
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Waste Not, Spend Not
Since Christmas I’ve been trying to avoid food waste. I made potato soup on the 26th to use up potatoes, carrots and heavy cream that were in danger of being wasted. We all had it for dinner–delicious. On the 28th, I cleaned out the fridge and made apple pie filling with some Gala and McIntosh…
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Pretty… Pretty Good
It’s Christmas Day. I feel… well-rested? At peace? Not overstuffed? Is this for real? I guess this is Christmas when the kids are 13+ and you are really, truly trying to eat less. Feels great! Also, unlike some other years, I didn’t try to do too much. This year was simple, streamlined. Despite, or perhaps…
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Abandoned Carts
Tis the season for filling online shopping carts and then, if you’re me, leaving the tab open on my phone for a couple days or months. Sometimes I intentionally abandon the cart, hoping that the retailer will notice and send me a coupon code. Sometimes the cart holds something that really seemed like a good…
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Wrapping Up November
I decided to move this blog back to WordPress, after trying out Substack for a couple months. I just never could get the hang of Substack, and it didn’t seem to get me. My feed was full of religious posts, and when I tried to search for homesteading/gardening accounts, I could never find any, or…
Garden State of Mind 