Rural Simplicity

I have a unique job, that allows me to take my daughter to work with me everyday. It is a huge blessing and I couldn't ask for anything better. But of course it comes with its challenges also. How do I keep her occupied while I'm working? She is not required to be overly quiet and she has plenty of room to run around. (at least for an 18months old she does.) Here are some things we use regularly at the office: 1) Stickers!  Any sort of pad or piece of paper, coloring book and sometimes (unfortunately) the floor works for stickers. Right now I have to help her get most of the stickers off of the page, but it does keep her occupied for a good long time. 2) Pre-K Activity Books.  I went to the $1 store and picked up some of these books. They have books for shapes, colors, numbers, etc... Some of the pages are too hard so she just colors on them, and all of them need adult supervision. We do a page or two a day together - we color and circle things a lot - and when the book

Today is the Fall Equinox! Happy Fall Everyone! In honor of this beautiful season I put together a list of unique fall activities for the family. I've also linked all of my ideas to a Pinterest board which you can access here ! There are loads of recipes and how to's for crafts. I've also pinned more than I wrote about here so check it out! 1) Make a Fall Bucket list!  Give one to each member of the family and see who can fill it out first. (hopefully most of them you will get to do together!) 2) Have a Carnival! Put on a family or neighborhood carnival. Enjoy silly games and win lots of candy (or whatever you choose) 3) Have a Pumpkin Carving Contest!  Competition is always fun. Choose a judge, find an awesome template, and carve away! 4) Race Through a Corn Maze! Create teams and see who can finish first! 5) Thanksgiving Walk/Run!  Everyone needs a good reason to eat more at Thanksgiving right? Why not have a family walkathon before dinner! Maybe have a gran

When I say the phrase - "That is such a waste of time" I am usually referring to television, video games, sporting events, Facebook, and other social medias, etc... It's an ongoing list to this time waster hater. Then a few days ago I began to count the ways we waste time in a less obvious way. 1) Complaining:  If you are a complainer you are probably a perpetual complainer wether you realize what you are saying is complaining or not. When you complain you usually stop what you are doing to complain about it. Also, when you complain someone else is usually there to listen and you might very well be causing them to stop what they are doing to listen. ("What did you say? Talking to yourself, oh, okay") 2) Not listening:  If you are being instructed by someone and you are only half listening, chances are you will either have to ask them to repeat what they said (which would waste both your time and theirs) or you will take longer trying to figure out just ex

It can take a lot of little blessings to get us through a day sometimes. Constantly refocusing our thoughts on what is good, pure, and lovely. Here are some of my favorite things that I incorporate into my day to encourage and keep me focused. Favorite Links: 1) Wellness Mama ; is a mother who does her best to raise her family away from the harmful chemical, sugar addictions, and stated "norm" of our society. She has a wonderful podcast, that you can get through iTunes, that she uses to interview professional wellness doctors, and give her own story and experiences. Her website is full of very useful advice and is a great source of information for a beginner, or someone already experienced in an organic, all natural way of life. 2) Power of Moms ; is run by April and Saren, two mothers who desire to encourage other mothers through programs, podcasts, books, and free information. I listen to their podcast while folding laundry or cooking dinner. They are full of

When you feel down hearted or out of place, usually you feel alone. You wonder - "Does anybody else have this problem?" Of course deep down in you know there is, you are no different than the next person when it comes to problems. For me it's living in the city. I look all around me - at my neighbors in the apartment next to me, the couple who walks together everyday down my street, the JW's that market my neighborhood weekly, the crazy kid speeding through my neighborhood in his junky sports car - and it's normal. Life is normal for them. They aren't bothered by the endless apartments and houses, the electric lines, the lack of privacy or open fields. No one seems bothered that they don't have a yard or a garden. And that's when I wonder - "Doesn't anybody else feel out of place here?" "Am I the only one who struggles with this?" My heart aches -until it physically hurts  - for the country. Sometimes I lay on m

I needed a bit of a creative outlet a few days ago and so I wrote another short story. I hope you enjoy.  Adventures at  Mushroom Manor There once was a Hedgehog who lived in a very large mushroom which he called Mushroom Manor. He didn’t have any neighbors, or really even friends that lived close by. He was a lonely little creature and talked to himself a great deal. One day- no particular day - the little Hedgehog came upon a field mouse.  “Excuse me,” He cried in excitement (for he hadn’t seen anyone for 3 weeks), “where do you live?”   Hedgehog had not seen the field mouse before and thought perhaps he was a new neighbor. The Field Mouse did not reply, he was busy and didn’t care to stop to talk to the hedgehog. Hedgehog, a little put down by being ignored mustered his courage and said again loudly (in case the mouse hadn’t heard),  “Excuse me! Where do you live?” “Over the river” was all the mouse gruffly replied.  “Oh! Hedgehog sadly replied to hims

Do you know what is common in most homes across America? What a common theme among women (especially Mothers) is? Do you know what that one looming dark corner is that gets everybody down? A cluttered, disorganized, messy home. The lack of ability to complete projects. A sense of never accomplishing anything.    If you want to be highly encouraged by other mom's and find a community of hard working moms check out powerofmoms.com . You will find a wealth of knowledge about many things on motherhood and life.  I say all of this because you will find these steps over at Power of Moms as well. Here are the  four steps to help you take the next step to dissolving your clutter and completing that project. 1) Pinpoint those Projects Do you remember that post about my  "Everything Book" ? You can check it out again if you need to, but in summary, I use a notebook to write down all of my lists. I am a list maker on steroids, but would usually lose the scrap

I'm really bad about taking photos of my kid and getting them to the grandparents. They've quite complaining because nothing works. I like to enjoy the moment instead of living behind the camera and when I do snap a few pictures from my phone they certainly never get printed. (who does that anymore anyway?)  My one redeeming factor? I love to do photo shoots and strangely enough so does my daughter. She can pose and smile on command.  So once a year around Grandparents Day (September 7th) we do a photo shoot. 2nd redeeming factor? Online printing and shipping. I go to walmart.com look through this years options and send it on to the correct address...I never have to touch it! Last years photo shoot.  Last year we did an art theme. Walmart has a $10.00 easel and 4x6 canvas set. This year we couldn't decided between these three pictures so we made a collage. $0.88 a print. We'll let the grandparent dig around for a frame. We know they have one! How do you

Our Day Trip to Canada Swimming and Playing on the Beach of Lake Superior  Sometimes I forget to think for me. I get so caught up in thinking for everyone else or reading and thinking other peoples thoughts that I forget to stop and think for myself. What do I think that about this? Or what are my thoughts on this subject. You say... isn't that what this blog is... your thoughts? A lot of times I catch myself reading an article or blog post and thinking; "that is such a great thought I should write something about that." which is quickly followed by, "oh that would be dumb they just wrote about it and you would say the same thing only not as well." When I'm prepping to go on vacation I usually dream of quiet time and reading, writing, and thinking. And I'm always alarmed when I return home to find that I packed my books and journal for no purpose at all. Other times I make up a grand schedule to figure out how to get some mediation and quiet

I've been able to get a couple more items done for my daughters fox/woodland theme room; The hair bow holder, and the pinwheel. I also plan on making hot air balloons, but I just can't seem to get around to it. I think its going to be hard, and so I just keep putting it off. My Fox picture came in the mail yesterday! It's beautiful! You can check it out at Lyndsey Green's Etsy Shop.  Most of my other projects will have to wait until I've been scavenging through my grandparents attic and the shores of Lake Superior! I can't wait for vacation next week!  Hair Bow Holder: I didn't have a tutorial or a picture to follow for this one. These have been around for years, so I just pulled it together out of my head. I took a cute child's hanger and sewed various lengths of ribbons to it. Then cut out a piece of card stock scrapbook paper to fit into the triangle of the hanger. Then I cut out the squirrel from the same paper and glued it on. I super glu

I have had an utterly Pink to the max nursery for a year and a half now. I'm not a fan of so much pink but was pleased to have a decorated nursery thanks to all of the decorations from my daughters baby showers and various items we already owned. But all cheap things must come to an end! We are moving on to a woodland/fox theme.  I chose this mobile/chandelier to hang over my daughters crib because it reminded me of a wreath of flowers that a little girl would make on an escapade through the forest.    DIY Baby Mobile/Chandelier   Find a round hoop about 12 inches across. I used the bottom of this old lamp shade. I just ripped the bottom metal band out of this lampshade and cleaned it off a bit. It was perfect! I used this pink all purpose craft ribbon. Any kind of ribbon or strips of cloth will do.   Then I wrapped the whole ring in the pink ribbon to hide the ugly metal.  I tied a knot where the ends came to meet and left it hanging .  Then I tied th

I get drawn into "weekend mode" very easily. It's the American Way. We love having our personal time to do the things we want. We enjoy the flexibility of time off, or making a little extra money; and entertainment is almost always a must.  The dictionary defines "weekend" as - the end of a week, especially the period of time between Friday evening and Monday morning. I also looked up some statistics on how the average American uses their time; especially their Sundays. I came to the conclusion that most people, sleep, eat and watch t.v. on Sundays. Their personal hygiene and care are lower on Sundays compared to week days (although not as low as on Saturdays).  So my conclusion from internet statistics and watching my friends, family, and neighbors is that most people use their weekends to relax, catch up on work (if you're a workaholic or have low income), and over all spend your weekend how you please.  After a long week at work everyone lo

"I wish I could just..." We think we want things, we think we will be happier if. But it takes going away to realize we love home, it takes our phone dying to realize that we appreciate even having a phone, we wish we could have a day off from the craziness of our children until we are leaving them. How quickly we forget what truly matters. How quickly we become discontent with what we have or think we need. Every once in a while, I will actually catch myself being content with something that is happening. Like a day off at home to do whatever you want. Time to actually be a housewife and mom. It's nice to catch yourself being thankful! Most times I chide myself for not being more thankful, more content, more this, and more that. Too often we put ourselves down when if we just looked around at the good things that we are doing and are happening to us we might start looking at the bright side of things. Because we all know that once something is in motio

We just got home from a weekend trip to West Virginia for a surprise 75th Birthday party! While planning for the trip we thought through a lot of options of whether to go or not, whether to drive or fly, etc... Because we all know that being stuck in a car with a grumpy baby is about the last thing anyone wants to do. With the help of my in-laws frequent flyer miles and the joy of having a child under two, we opted for flying. That decision brought on another set of options and planning. How do you keep a 17 month old happy on an airplane?  So I researched it, looked on blogs and pinterest for ideas and helpful hints... and here is what I found and what we tried. Super early morning flights are the best!! Late evening and night flights...bad idea! We left our house at 4:00am and landed at our destination at 9:40am. My daughter stayed awake the whole time and was very calm and happy the whole flight. Our return trip left at 5:40pm and didn't arrive home until 9:30pm. After a we

I've had around 10 or so paying jobs in my short 25 years of life. Many of them part time and summer jobs. But one thing every single one of them had in common was that I had to learn the skill of the job; whether it was cashier, or babysitter. One of the first "real" jobs I had was at a fast food joint. I went through multiple training videos and at first had a manager helping me through the buttons and requirements of the register. When I finally got it down I officially started working on the front counter taking orders.. .and then I added people. Another job I've had is office manager for a small apartment complex. It took  several days to learn where everything was, memorize the phone reel, and be able to walk someone through an apartment. I got the hang of it pretty quick and felt pretty comfortable except maybe for the phone schpeel... and then I added people. I worked at a summer camp 3 years in a row. Every year you had assignments to fill out befor

Welcome to part 1 of a mini series on "How to Make Your Apartment More Homey". If you have a house, don't ex out of this post, there are tips here for anyone living anywhere. Sure it's geared toward those of us who can't paint or put nails in the walls, but sometimes you need a little bit of unconventional artistry in your home (no matter what kind of home) to give it a fresh look.  Today we will be focusing on Buy Big - Buy Quality.  Your first thought is probably, "But I have a tiny apartment!" I'm glad you mentioned that. It doesn't matter what size apartment or home you have to use this trick. Yes you have to buy furniture that proportionately fits your home, but you don't have to buy knick-knack furniture just because your space is small.  1) Buy the biggest piece of furniture that looks right for your space. When we think rich, large house, lots of money, etc.. we think BIG. So in order to give your apartment a sophis