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Peer pressure
I’ve been hearing phrases lately that I last recall hearing as a teenager. “Everyone is doing it.” “No one will find out.” “It won’t hurt anything.” These kinds of arguments were usually reserved for PSAs with stilted acting warning thirteen -year-old me not to do drugs. But now I’m hearing them from family, coworkers, neighbours, […]
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#icreatedtoday
I turn 38 today. I’m not one to hide my age, or get terribly overwrought about it, but it does inspire some reflection. What exactly have I accomplished with those nearly 14,000 days on the planet? Quite a bit; lots of it good, some of it hard, most of it worth it. The trouble is, […]
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You don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone
After a few minor crises with teenage daughters over the last week, I’ve come to a shocking realization: I’m through the sweet spot. It happened without me really noticing, as happens with good things in our lives that we come to take for granted. I knew my oldest were getting up there, and that diaper […]
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Lawn Rx
This question came through the blog this week, and as it is a perpetual concern, I decided to share my answer with everyone. Q: We’d like to know how to get rid of weeds in the lawn – weeds and these vine things. My husband can’t bend down to physically dig out each bunch and […]
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How do I explain this; how do I put it into words?
I woke up this morning to the radio news telling me Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer. We’ve had many significant losses in the music department these last few months, many of which have touched my heart and my history, but this one cuts me to the quick. I am not a fan girl type, […]
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Things I don’t know
Sometime in the last several years, someone decided I was a fount of knowledge. I’m not entirely sure how this happened, as I am usually pretty upfront about my lack of credentials (if the ‘umm’s don’t give me away first). I’m a self taught gardener, the only formal writing teachers I’ve had were in my public […]
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No break this spring–and I love it
Many friends and co-workers have disappeared to tropical locales this week. The kids have been sleeping in and complaining about ‘everyone else’ getting to go to Hawaii (not to mention the work I’ve had them catch up on). Our week off probably does seem a little boring on the surface, and my husband and I agree that […]
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The parable of the mistaken oak
Last fall I sat on a lawn under an oak tree, surrounded by music and children. I brought home some acorns, researched, prepared, and planted one. It lived in the back of my fridge, in simulated winter, annoying family members just trying to put away the yogurt. Last month, I decided it was time to […]
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Maybe I just can’t take a compliment
Recently, an acquaintance of mine gave me a knock-you-over, stop-breathing kind of compliment. As a single woman with marriage likely in her near future, she said, and I quote, “I love what you guys have. I want a family just like yours.” More specifically, she explained, she wanted the relaxed, convivial atmosphere she felt in our […]