Atmosphere
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How to Survive a Quarantine Without Losing Your Mind
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you make a purchase using these links. As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Because I live just 29 miles from Kirkland, WA, or what the LA Times affectionately calls, ”the U.S. epicenter of COVID-19,” I hear daily speculations about the possibility — and some are saying probability — of a mandated quarantine in the very near future. So what would that look like? How long would it last? And how on earth do you survive a quarantine without losing your mind? I’ve never been forced to stay in my home before, but I’ve…
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How to Make a Rainbow Rice Bin
When my daughter, Tera, was a little girl, she had a boatload of Barbies in her castle-themed bedroom, and a pink Barbie jeep. She also had several big, expensive porcelain dolls — all gifts from her grandmother. She had a growing collection of Build-A-Bears, including a cat, a poodle and a bunny. She had real live goats, sheep, pigs, ducks, chickens, dogs and cats outside … along with 12 1/2 acres of trees for climbing and fort-building. She had her own glue gun, and a teetering, six-drawer craft-caddy, full of feathers, googly eyes, colored macaroni, pipe-cleaners and sequins — all hers for the gluing. But if you ask her…
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Those Boots — and the Crab Fisherman Who Wore Them Home
Updated 3/6/20: My son left for the Bering Sea one day after the Scandies Rose sank last New Year’s Eve. I begged him not to go, knowing full well he would go anyway. I’m praying hard that God holds Zac in His hand, and that I get a repeat of this experience again soon. In the past, I’ve made a great big deal about the carpet, and what I permit to step upon it. But hear me out. Shoes bring germs. Am I right? If those shoes have walked the concrete of a city — and I’m thinking New York City here — they’ve stepped over spilled mustard, discarded gum,…
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Chalkboards … Everywhere!
I'm in absolute chalkboard heaven. About a month ago, I stumbled upon Martha Stewart's recipe for custom chalkboard paint. I'd seen black and green chalkboard spray paint at the craft store, but chalkboard paint in any color of the rainbow? O, could it be true? Martha generally tells the truth, except for those instances when she's trying to convince us that gold leaf-brushed cookies are edible and delicious. Anyway, I wanted it to be true, so I scribbled a quick list, flew to Home Depot and Michael's, and have been cranking out chalkboards in spare moments ever since ...
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Choices
In my defense, I have to say that I really never stood a chance. I was five, and my mother called me into the living room, where Grandma was waiting in a recliner. “Hello, Shanny,” she said. I screamed and and covered my eyes with my hands. For my grandmother had taken four or five of those chocolate, star-bursty medallions and situated them over her teeth … so that it looked, from where I stood, as if her mouth were nothing but a yawning cavern of brownness. My scream elicited an eruption of laughter from her. As I stood on my trembly legs, uncovered my eyes and watched her lick…
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Haven
Something I wrote about six years ago for Dave, and shared last night during my teaching on Proverbs 31. Just a reminder that our homes should be a place of respite; a refuge in which weapons are dropped and the wounds of a day are healed. He’s home. Watching him walk toward the house, I can tell instantly what kind of day he’s had. Once again, it’s been a battle. I don’t yet know the what’s or who’s, but I know he’s been out there with that shield again, deflecting barbs and blows, trying to block out just a small, safe place where he can catch his breath before the…
