Jennifer Lambert

A Sacred Balance

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Restoration and Recovery: Essentials for Protecting Your Home from Water Damage

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We’ve experienced two homes with water damage.

Our first was a huge basement flood in Utah on Memorial Day morning. We woke up to snow and too much groundwater with nowhere to go. There were lots of flooded basements in the valley that day.

Last year, we had a small leak in the cellar of our Ohio home. It was because the bathtub/shower unit in the basement bathroom had cracked. It had never been properly installed, so it was a miracle it had lasted as long as it did and we only had minimal damage. Our daughter got a remodeled bathroom!

Water damage can be scary, but there are ways to prevent and limit these issues.

Key Takeaways

  • Gaining insights on proactively preventing water damage and protecting your home’s sanctity.
  • Exploring various tools and strategies professionals utilize in the water damage restoration process.
  • Navigating the aftermath of water damage, from recovery to dealing with insurance claims.
  • Empowering homeowners with the knowledge to better fortify their homes against future water-related incidents.

Water damage is one of the most prevalent and destructive issues homeowners can face. It’s a pervasive problem that can cause immediate visual blights, profound structural damage, and health risks from mold and mildew. Therefore, it is essential to respond swiftly to water damage Kent area and understand the avoidance measures and procedures involved in water damage restoration. By acknowledging the myriad risks, one can be better prepared to protect and maintain their property’s condition over the long term.

Understanding the Risks of Water Damage

Water damage can manifest from various sources, ranging from natural disasters like flash floods and hurricanes to more commonplace household mishaps such as leaking pipes, malfunctioning appliances, and poor drainage systems. The consequences of letting water damage go unchecked are dire. Structural damages include compromised foundations and rotten woodwork, which can lead to longer-term issues. Beyond the visible decay lurks a sinister threat to your health in the form of mold and pathogens in stagnant water. In such cases, not only does the structural integrity of your home suffer, but also, the air you breathe becomes a silent hazard.

Proactive Measures to Safeguard Your Home

Preemptive actions significantly lower the peril of water damage. Regular inspection of your property’s roofing, plumbing, and drainage systems can help nip potential problems in the bud. Acquainting yourself with your home’s nooks and crannies enables early detection of moisture seepage. Moreover, installing water detection systems provides an additional layer of security, alerting homeowners at the first sign of trouble. A keen eye for detail and routine checks can prove pivotal in securing your dwelling from water damage’s intrusive and often destructive nature.

Immediate Response: Crucial Steps When Water Damage Occurs

Immediate response can drastically mitigate the impacts of water damage. Once you observe or suspect water-related issues, swift action can mean the difference between a quick fix and extensive, costly restoration. The first course of action is to stop the source of water ingress. This could mean turning off the main water supply in case of a burst pipes or securing a breach of external water sources. Removing valuables and furniture from affected areas and drying them off can help preserve your belongings. In the face of severe water intrusion, your next move should be to contact specialized restoration services that can manage the situation professionally and eliminate the likelihood of long-term damage and health risks associated with mold growth.

Tools of the Trade: What Professionals Use in Water Damage Restoration

Water restoration experts are equipped with specialized tools to combat water damage effectively. Submersible pumps, heavy-duty dehumidifiers, and air movers form the frontline to draw out water and moisture from your premises. Professionals also employ advanced techniques such as infrared thermography to detect hidden moisture without invasive procedures. These high-tech instruments enable experts to precisely assess the damage and strategize an effective restoration plan, ensuring every affected area is addressed thoroughly to thwart subsequent moisture-related issues.

The Recovery Journey: Resuming Normalcy Post Water Damage

After water damage, the recovery begins once the immediate crises are resolved. This phase might involve detailed assessments of the harm inflicted, interactions with insurance companies for claims, and the planning of repair works. Recovery is not just a physical process; it’s also about emotional resilience. Coping with the upheaval and the uncertainty that comes with repairs and restorations can be a challenging experience for many. Solidarity from family and community and adept guidance from recovery professionals can significantly ease this journey, helping restore those affected’s physical edifice and peace of mind.

Financial Considerations: Insurance and Water Damage

Water damage incidents can swiftly become hefty financial burdens without adequate insurance coverage. Grappling with insurance claims, however, can be daunting for most. It’s pivotal to thoroughly understand your policy’s fine print—knowing what constitutes a covered peril, policy limits, and the procedures for filing a claim can streamline the process. In the face of a water damage incident, solid documentation of losses can significantly assist in quickly resolving claims, allowing you to focus on the material recovery. Maintaining good communication with your insurer and restoration professionals can further smoothen the claims process.

Learning from Experience: How to Strengthen Your Home Against Future Water Damage

Lessons from water damage incidents should enhance your home’s defenses. Upgraded building techniques, thoughtful landscapes, and maintenance of water-bearing systems can reduce the risk of future water-related disasters, providing homeowners with peace of mind. For additional guidance on handling water damage recovery, visit the EPA’s official page devoted to flood cleanup and protecting indoor air quality. When addressing the aftereffects of flooding, the CDC’s cleanup advice can be invaluable to ensure a safe process for you and your family.

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Childcare Crisis

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My parents never engaged a babysitter for me.

I remember going to after school daycare for a few months after my mother returned to work when I was about ten to eleven years old. I begged to be a latchkey kid and they finally relented.

I remember babysitting for neighbors when I was probably about twelve years old. The couple left for a very long time and there were at least four kids under age nine. There was no food in that house. This was in 1988. There was no cable TV, no internet.

The eldest child told me I could get more money if I cleaned up. I swept their kitchen. There wasn’t much to clean. There wasn’t much to do. I felt responsible for keeping those kids safe and occupied. I remember spinning them on the floor in a papasan. The little one started crying because she was hungry. I traipsed all of them next door to my house and I asked my parents for a banana or something to feed that child. They soon moved away and I worry about them still.

I babysat for neighbors all throughout my teens, mostly good experiences that paid well for very little effort. Often, I would arrive as the babies or children were getting ready for bedtime. As I became more experienced, I would feed and ready kids for bed, then read or watch TV. I never felt comfortable eating the snacks or drinking the soda or whatever the parents left for me. Often the dads would drive me home, even though I was perfectly capable of walking.

I paid maybe $350/month for full-time daycare and preschool for my daughter when I was a teacher in Georgia in the early 2000s. Shoutout to Ms. Divina and Mrs. Kristie!

We had a lovely babysitter, Erin, when we lived in Hawaii and we paid her well and our kids loved her and she loved my kids. I trusted her. It was only a few times in the evenings so my husband and I could go out.

Since we homeschool, we never needed to worry about regular child care. I can’t imagine having to pay for regular childcare for my four kids. Thankfully, they’re all teens and young adults now.

When my eldest daughter became a teen, I was worried about having her babysit. She wanted to make her own money and there aren’t many ways for tweens and teens to do that, and certainly not in another country. We lived in Germany at the time, so the only families she babysat for were other American military families who lived on the nearby bases. We signed up for a babysitter training day with the Red Cross. They certify kids over age twelve in CPR and basic child care.

Unfortunately, I ended that little job when a mother required my fifteen-year-old daughter to babysit her special needs medically fragile epileptic toddler – with no instructions, no access to a phone or communications, no medical expertise, and no emergency information – for $5/hour. I imagined horror stories if something happened to that baby and my daughter couldn’t contact someone.

When we moved back to the States, to Ohio, I realized that few parents are willing to pay well for childcare – $5 was the norm per kid – and my teens were expected to cook, supervise those meals, clean up from meals and play, sometimes bathe, and get kids in bed and asleep – before the parents returned. My teens babysat a couple times before deciding it wasn’t worth the effort.

A local pastor did pay my teen about $10-20 an hour for one vegan toddler, but they had two rambunctious dogs, so she chose not to continue that business deal after a couple times – because of the untrained dogs.

During the pandemic quarantine, I noticed so many parents realizing that is not feasible to work from home, have their children learn online at home, and also care for homes. I do understand that if a model is working or at least familiar, and then that is removed, it is very stressful. So many families couldn’t get any child care when they returned to work. Other families couldn’t pay for child care if their jobs were terminated.

There is a childcare crisis in this country.

Children delight me with their brazenness and eye contact and how they say and do the most unexpected things. They cannot and should not be controlled. So many children are destroyed by school systems and societal systems and religious systems, by those same system values perpetuated at home. The system is broken and is working exactly as it was designed to work.

I see oodles of posts in the city and mommy Facebook groups begging for babysitters, nannies, and whatnot – all year long, but especially now that it’s spring and summer is looming. These parents are desperate for camps, nannies, day care, something – for their children over summer while they are at work.

Some of the posts are interesting and the requirements are a bit outrageous.

I’m sure these parents are super nice. I wonder if it’s even worth the money.

It’s normal and natural that people want the most value for the least money. But a true caregiver has to be insured and have some kind of access to social benefits. For most, it is just a glorified part time job for cash.

Babysitting seems like a normal, acceptable, easy job for a teen or college student, young mother, retired mom or grandma. I think it’s problematic that care giving is often one of few jobs available for women.

I don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s children in my house, yard, car, at a pool, amusement park, restaurant. I don’t really want my kids to be responsible for someone else’s children. We live in too much of a litigious society.

I have witnessed things, y’all. In these days of ring doorbells and nanny living room cameras, it’s just someone’s word against a kid’s. Who will the parent believe? And I see and hear what these kids say and do in the streets, y’all. Whew.

I’m sure many don’t think of the worrisome situations that I do. I wouldn’t want to be liable and I sure don’t want my kids to be liable in case something happened with these children on their watch.

Childcare in Crisis: Ohio

  • Ohio now has the lowest eligibility for Publicly Funded Child Care in the country for kids 0 to 5. North Carolina, who previously held last place, updated their eligibility to 200% FPL for children 0-5 in July of 2023, leaving Ohio in last place for the same age group at 145% FPL.
  • Between 2019 and 2021 (the most recent figure available), the number of children benefiting from publicly funded childcare in Ohio dropped by 28,697, from 172,585 children to 143,888. Publicly funded childcare enrollment peaked seven years ago in 2017 at 181,122 and has declined since.
  • From 2017 to 2022, the number of childcare workers in Ohio dropped by 35.89%, with the biggest decrease of nearly 5,000 workers happening between 2019 and 2020 Many areas around the state simply have not recovered from this loss of workforce and many remaining childcare facilities are at a high risk of closure as key federal COVID emergency funding ends.
  • The median hourly wage for childcare workers in Ohio is $13.15 — an annual salary of $27,352 for those working full time. For comparison, the median for all workers in Ohio was $21.51 an hour in 2022, with 13.4% of Ohioans living in poverty.
  • The amount the state reimburses childcare providers per child is not based on the actual cost of childcare, but rather on a backward-looking market rate survey of what providers recently charged for services in an area. This rate is important because it determines the amount of money providers receive and therefore their ability to stay open, improve facilities, and pay providers a living wage.
  • 39% of Ohioans live in a childcare desert. A childcare desert is any census tract with more than 50 children under age 5 that contains either no childcare providers or so few options that there are more than three times as many children as licensed childcare slots. 41% of white Ohioans, 37% of Hispanic or Latino Ohioans, and 29% of Black Ohioans live in a childcare desert. In Ohio, childcare deserts are most prevalent in rural areas.
  • Affordable childcare lets parents work. According to a poll done in 2023 by the First 5 Years Fund, nearly 59% of parents who are not working full time would do so if childcare was more affordable.

I don’t have answers to the childcare crisis in the USA. Other countries provide childcare and education and parent benefits and medical care. We don’t value families here. Get out and vote.

Some people have interesting requirements for pet sitters:

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Favorites on the Grill

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Growing up, my dad grilled only twice a year or so – burgers on the Fourth of July and steaks at the end of summer. I had burgers and hot dogs and grilled corn! at my aunt’s house on Easter. I remember my dad’s brother visited once and he grilled barbecue sauce chicken quarters and they were so delicious!

We grill year-round.

We own a nice propane grill, two charcoal Weber kettles, and a 7-in-1 dual fuel smoker grill.

We grill several times a week and it’s great to keep the kitchen cool in the summer. I prep salads and sides like rice or potatoes and steamed or roasted veggies.

Beef

Tritip is one of our favorite frugal meals and we even get leftovers! My kids prefer this on a gas grill.

Korean Steak is still a favorite and tastes best on charcoal.

Balsamic Steak – easy marinade with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, rosemary, and garlic. I often use a London Broil for this.

Vietnamese Steak – delicious and complex flavors! soy sauce, lime juice, fish sauce, chopped fresh cilantro, basil, and mint

Round roast or tenderloin – I make a paste with Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and grill until rare to medium.

Greek Burgers – so delicious and a little different from traditional American burgers.

Chicken

Vinegar Chicken – My husband’s father used to make this! Bone-in chicken pieces grilled on charcoal, basted with apple cider vinegar and butter with salt and pepper until cooked to temperature

Zaatar chicken breasts are fun and different and great with rice pilaf

Teriyaki chicken thighs are always a favorite!

Our favorite fajita marinade – great on chicken, beef, shrimp, veggies, tempeh!

Monterey Chicken Breasts – super simple and delicious, better than a restaurant!

Tandoori Chicken – great served with rice and naan and veggies

Chicken Satay with The Best peanut sauce – also great with rice naan and veggies

Pork

Souvlaki pork chops – great for boneless loin chop! lemon juice, olive oil, lemon pepper seasoning, garlic, oregano, salt

Sage garlic pork chops – chopped fresh sage, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil. I prefer these on charcoal.

Pork tenderloin roast – I make a paste with Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and grill until medium. The heat holds over and then it’s just perfect after resting.

Lamb

Lamb chops – I make a paste with Dijon mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, rosemary, thyme and grill until rare to medium. These are my favorite for Easter and Mother’s Day.

Lamb Burgers – these smell great and toppings like pickled onions and tzatziki are fun.

Seafood

I could eat seafood every single day, but it’s so expensive in landlocked Dayton, Ohio! We do purchase boxes from KnowSeafood every couple months and they have great quality! I eat seafood several times a week.

Plank Grilled Salmon – super easy and tasty and I could eat this every week.

Branzino – this might be my favorite meal! We also grill lemon pepper trout in a similar way.

Shrimp – I like to place these on metal skewers with lemon pepper and garlic. I use leftovers for shrimp and grits!

Lobster Tails – great butterflied and simply seasoned with garlic butter

Veggies

Tempeh – I love to marinate this in fajita seasoning!

Zucchini and Eggplant – sliced thinly and simply seasoned with salt and pepper and garlic with olive oil. Also great on pizza!

Corn – I love to marinade with olive oil and chili powder, but Italian dressing does great in a pinch!

Bread

Pizza – We often prep our pizza dough and do a parcook on the grill, then toppings, then grill a second time to melt the cheese. It’s so delicious!

Naan – It seems I can never make enough dough, even if I quadruple the recipe! So amazing with garlic butter. Goes great with Tandoori Chicken!

Also, a favorite appetizer is stuffed wrapped figs! I only get these maybe once or twice a year with the seasons. I stuff the figs with herbed goat cheese and wrap with proscuitto. After grilling to melt the cheese and fry up the ham, I drizzle with honey and sliced almonds.

Resources:

I post lots of our cooking adventures on Instagram.

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What’s your favorite grilled recipe?

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Shades of Gray

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When we moved into our home in Ohio, the walls were two shades of gray.

The dining room is two shades of gray. The powder bath is dark gray. The living room and kitchen and laundry room are light gray.

The good quality real wood kitchen cabinets had been texture-painted gray (why?).

The basement walls are gray. The upstairs hallway, two bedrooms, and bathroom are gray.

The cedar siding is gray.

The main bedroom/bathroom is beige. Brown is never a good choice in a bathroom!

We rented for almost five years, never realizing we might buy this home, that my husband could retire from the USAF here.

But here we are, slowly transforming this sad gray house into something cheerier and more our style.

I am not a minimalist.

Vehicles

Not too long ago, many cars came in fun colors like orange or green, but most new cars since the mid to late 90s are all neutral greyscale. And the designs all look the same – rounded rectangles. Maybe this is why we get excited for vintage car shows!

I still occasionally see a yellow or teal car, but they’re few and far between. They sure stand out on the road or parking lot! We even have a pink SUV around town that they got custom painted.

This video mentions the changes are due to resale value and luxury psychology.

@urbannic

why aren’t cars as colorful anymore?

♬ original sound – nicole urban

Minimalism and Decor Aesthetic

Having a capsule wardobe and neutral furniture and furnishings is fine if there are colorful accents and accessories. It’s frugal and easy to switch up with seasons. It can be classic and classy with quality items.

But some of it just goes too far.

Color theory is important for our moods to be uplifting. Sterile greyscale themes are depressing.

Colorful items are essential to child development. I loved showing my kids colorful toys, books, and natural items on our excursions.

The “sad beige” conceit has become part of the zeitgeist thanks to Hayley DeRoche, who under @sadbeige on TikTok and @officialsadbiege on Instagram makes comedy videos where, in the voice of German film director Werner Herzog, she hilariously narrates marketing images of colorless kids’ clothes and toys.

We live in a HGTV-inspired greige world.

I am bombarded with Internet reels and DIY videos and reality TV shows for furniture and home makeovers where people apparently hate beautiful natural wood, so it all gets painted. So many valuable and lovely vintage furniture pieces, cabinets, and wood trim are ruined by paint, whether it is stripped and sanded and applied well or not.

To prevent any political bias, many TVs in medical and dental waiting rooms are tuned to HGTV and it makes me so upset. I don’t want to see those horrible shows where lovely homes are gutted to make way for walk-in showers and white on white hotel-like or bank lobby sterile rooms.

It’s a weird thing to make people feel temporary in their own homes.

Residential Buildings

All the homes for rent or for sale at least the last decade and a half have been all neutrals. They’ve been stripped and remodeled with gray and beige and plain.

While it looks clean on the surface and is a blank slate for a new resident, it lacks anything personal and many landlords refuse to allow tenants to add any color.

We rented until 2020 and all the homes we lived in had white walls and cheap beige carpet and melamine cabinetry and countertops.

I miss the rich wood tones, wallpapered walls, textured carpets and hardwood floors of my childhood.

Commercial Buildings

All the bright fun buildings and fast food restaurants have depression makeovers.

They’re all gray, purple, brown, neutral. It’s like they want to look like a gym or hotel lobby.

I mean, schools look more and more like prisons or mental institutions, so why should we expect any commercial building to have any fun colors or details?

Many shows were filmed in front of a live-studio audience in Orlando, Florida. But in 2005, this original studio was abandoned and given a dull makeover, forever leaving nostalgic Nickelodeon fans with a dreary image.

McDonald’s and Taco Bell were remodeled and it’s as if they took out their souls.

When did we collectively decide we hate all color? When did we stop having personalities?

I am not a minimalist, but I like order and tidiness and being able to easily clean surfaces is nice.

We are slowly painting rooms in our house and upgrading the kitchen and bathrooms.

I’m all for color and personality and fun.

It’s just paint and decor and can be easily changed.

It’s boring when we are all the same, when we all look the same. It becomes dystopian.

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Gifting with Gratitude

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Way back when (in the early 2000s,) I loved Freecycle. It was fun and I felt so good not adding to waste. Then, we moved to Germany and I lost touch with it. Like Craig’s List, Freecycle forum doesn’t seem as popular anymore.

The “Buy Nothing Project” began in 2013 and local groups have gained popularity recently around the globe. People struggling financially or for lack of community have flocked to assist others in a gift economy. Not everything has to be a transactional relationship.

If we all bought less and shared more, we would save money and reduce the amount of waste going to landfills or washing up on our shores. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle…and Refuse.

Liesl Clark, Buy Nothing Project

Since the original creators of the Buy Nothing movement recently have created an app with lots of paywalls and tricks to find a local group, my geographic group has split from them and renamed our Facebook group. Because the truth is, most of us are on Facebook and it’s just easier for us to comment, tag, and send messages through that program than to fight with an app that is less than user-friendly. And of course they wrote a book and have a podcast. But I get it. Everything grows and sometimes gets out of hand, too big for two people to maintain. The app is surely progress, but we have chosen to be unaffiliated.

The founders created some rules:

  1. No buying or selling.
  2. No trading or bartering.
  3. No strings attached.
  4. No hate speech.
  5. Nothing illegal. So no firearms, drugs, prescription medications, or expired goods, including car seats or cribs not up to current standards.
  6. No judgment. Every gift has equal value. Every giver and asker have equal value.
  7. No penalties. If you loan something, you have to be OK with the possibility that it might get damaged.
  8. No double-dipping. You can only join one group. To be admitted, you have to live in that community.

I love to see it. It’s beautiful. It’s not even a barter system. It’s just donating, lending, and sharing with neighbors. Gratitude in action.

I love how different the Buy Nothing concept is than Buy/Sell/Trade pages and groups.

I feel fortunate to be able to donate generously than having to sell items to make ends meet. Because I have certainly been there and it was stressful.

I respect anyone who needs to sell items, but we also can specify if items we are gifting can be resold or not. I do get irritated by resellers who jack up prices on secondhand items as their job or hobby. I don’t care much for Marketplace and all the scammers who prey on people selling and seeking.

Subgroups are awesome too! We also have a Community Chat group for our greater area that encompasses a much larger geographic area. This ensures we can reach a larger audience if we have attempted a gift or ask with no response or if we have a question or concern for the larger community. Sometimes, members post challenges to help us declutter or do something fun for each other. It’s endearing to see how the community comes together to help people whose homes are devastated by fire or offering to outfit a new mother whose partner suddenly left her. It’s so lovely to see people helping others.

What can you expect to find in a gift economy group?

Everything.

I have seen incredible items gifted and asked for. I am constantly amazed and surprised by what people so generously gift. And I never thought to ask for things that I know I might use once and never look at again.

BOOKS!

Home décor.

Pantry cleanouts.

Closet cleanouts.

Bathroom cleanouts.

Baking pans to borrow for a single occasion.

Crafting supplies.

Kids hand-me-downs. These are so expensive and I love to see them used and reused and loved!

SHOES!

Vitamins and supplements tried and disliked.

Foods opened and used for a single recipe. It’s lovely to offer to someone instead of throwing out or letting it sit in the fridge or pantry for months until it is indeed thrown away.

Sports paraphernalia.

Lawn equipment to borrow or keep.

FURNITURE!

Winter gear to borrow or keep.

Barn cleanouts.

Regifting gifts received that didn’t work or were received from holidays.

Incorrect orders of really nice brand new items that are a hassle to return.

Broken electronics or lawn equipment for fixing up or taking apart and learning about. This was so neat to see!

Pet items.

Homemade items.

Leftover alcohol from a party or a flavor they didn’t like. For safety and legal reasons, these are always handed to a person who shows ID.

Coupons and gift cards!

Last minute supplies for a school project.

Gardening items – even live plants! I have scored a ton of houseplants and hostas and lilies this way.

Our group does Round Robins for puzzles, books, purses, seeds, and more!

Gifting with Gratitude

Gifting

Take a clear photo of an item and post it.

Facebook algorithms cannot handle multiple photos in a post, so additional photos can be placed as comments to the original post.

Honest descriptions are important. I try to post the true description and how old an item is. I post that we have cats in case someone has an allergy. Posting sizes for clothing or an item beside a common thing like a water bottle is nice.

Some people make it fun and ask for a favorite recipe or funny story in the comments or what is the person going to use the item for?

Once choosing a recipient, only then may the chosen person private message about it. If the person doesn’t respond within 24 hours, then choosing another recipient is reasonable.

I’ve seen gifts of time or people offering to pickup items for neighbors, friends, and family members. I love the people who offer to take things off your hands if you want to gift it but don’t have time or energy to sort and post it.

It really is a community.

Receiving

If I see an item I want up for a gift, I comment that I would like the item for me, or one of my kids, or my husband, sometimes why, and when I might be able to pick up the item.

There is no guarantee that commenting first or being able to pickup anytime will get me the item.

Some very popular and generous gifts are raffled off randomly either with a spinner app or names/numbers in a hat.

We do tend to see the same names come up a lot. We’re a fairly small group and I love to recognize people whom I may not really know in real life. Because we homeschool, my kids don’t participate in anything and we stay home a lot.

Certain people seem to get a reputation as being the plant lover or dog rehabber or foster parent. Some people are pickers and gather items off the roadside to regift so as to keep things out of the landfill.

Once chosen for an item, only then may a recipient private message about it, and in a timely manner, or it might go to another recipient.

Asking

I love how people ask for help or for an item to try or borrow, or something specific they realize they want or need. I’m not comfortable with doing that, but I love that others are! It truly shows how we are growing in community and helping each other when we can feel safe to ask and receive help.

Tip Tuesdays

Each week, one of the moderators of our group posts a tip to help us be kind or informed, based on the original rules or issues that have arisen in our group or community.

Wishful Wednesdays

Each week, one of the moderators of our group posts an image for a thread of asks that we can look over and see if we can meet anyone’s requests. It’s lovely to see these needs being met every week!

Thankful Thursdays

Each week, one of the moderators of our group posts an image for a thread where we can express gratitude over a specific gift or situation that has helped us in any way. It’s just gorgeous to see all the blessings!

Helpful

Archiving chats: in Facebook Messenger, instead of deleting chats after gifting or receiving, ARCHIVING is a great way to maintain the communication without clogging up my Messenger app. I can go back into the chat window history for addresses and gifts/receipts. Super helpful for when I find the charging cord that went with the thing or the 3rd book in the series I gifted last week.

Including the item in a message is helpful. Sometimes I gift or ask for several items in a week, so it helps for everyone to keep things straight. Something simple, like “Thanks for the blue shirt, I can come anytime tomorrow.”

Communication is great! Things happen. Let people know if you are running late or have some conflict with pickup. Letting people know you got the item is helpful too.

We are still in a pandemic, and lots of people are trying very hard to stay well, so please be kind and let people know if you or someone in your household is sick or has been exposed to someone is sick.

When gifting items, I usually leave them in grocery bags on my front porch. If there’s wind or precipitation, I place them inside a Rubbermaid bin. I attach sticky notes or cards to the bags with the recipient’s name. For larger items, it’s easier to set up a time window or even interact and help them load it into their car.

I love our local gift economy group.

I have enjoyed being generous in donating some of our items we no longer need, want, or use – clothes, books, décor, plant starts, craft supplies, our old TV and surround sound system, a water dispenser when we got a whole house system.

I have been gifted some amazing things! Homemade afghan and pot holders, vintage décor, holiday items, Indiana glass bowl, clothes, plants, furniture. I even scored a treadmill!

It’s such a great way to keep things out of landfills and into the hands of members of our community who really want or need it.

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Easy Summer Meals

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It’s summer and the kids are home more – whether they’re home from public or private school, co-op, or college. Mine still take some classes and participate in various day camps – and for the first time, my middles have overnight camps!

One of my biggest concerns for summer (and all the time) is food.

For whatever reason, the kids seem to eat more – quantity and frequency. They’re probably growing and more active and the sunshine and warmer temps make them hungrier.

Our local libraries provides lunches for kids under 18 and I think that’s great! When my kids go to events and classes at our libraries, they are pressed upon to take the food and some of it they like.

I’m struggling to keep us in Gatorade and Body Armor in the flavors we prefer!

Since our summer schedule is a little more hectic and sporadic, I have to think about meals differently.

My college kid has a part time at a local grocery store and often has to take a quick lunch to eat during breaks.

My son has elite baseball games and tournaments and we often travel and need to bring snacks and meals with us – because sometimes they’re in a cornfield in the middle of nowhere.

My kids are pretty independent and know their way around the kitchen. They can make their own healthy meals and often do so. I also want to provide easy options for when we’re in a rush or have different schedules. I’m super impressed when they make quesadillas, little pizzas, fried rice, or homemade ramen!

We love bento and other fun containers to keep foods fresh and cold for lunches and snacks on the go.

What our meals look like every week

Breakfast:

  • Hot and cold cereal cups
  • Oatmeal cups
  • Grits with cheese
  • Organic poptarts
  • Dinosaur eggs oatmeal
  • Bolthouse protein shakes
  • Breakfast lunchables
  • Croissants, English muffins, bagels for sandwiches
  • so many eggs (my husband has a coworker with chickens, so we get about 4 dozen a week!)
  • Frozen sausage links (we love the Jones brand and I stock up at the commissary or Costco.)
  • Frozen pancakes, waffles, French toast sticks (We like Kodiak)
  • Nature Valley almond butter biscuits

Lunch and snack items:

  • Tuna and salmon pouches and these fun new lunchables from Walmart or Costco
  • Annie’s mac and cheese
  • Ramen and noodles (my kids prefer organic pouches for quick and easy but often make their own homemade ramen with leftovers!)
  • Indian pouches with lentils or chickpeas
  • Rice and beans pouches
  • Canned soups and chili (Annie’s is a favorite)
  • Spam (we lived in Hawaii for three years)
  • Hillshire Farm ham, turkey, and salami
  • Lunchables – Oscar Mayer uncured ham, Hillshire Farm, and Kroger Simple Truth
  • Tortillas and naan for quick wraps and pizzas
  • Peanut butter crackers – the variety packs also have a yummy cream cheese one
  • Protein granola bars and protein brownies – Clif, Kodiak, Luna, Kroger, and Meijer brand
  • bananas, apples, grapes, oranges
  • Nuts in ready to go packs

Dinner:

I try not to stress over having dinner later in the summer. I prefer we eat together as much as possible. I am often thwarted by baseball games and the kids’ other activities.

I’m making many slow cooker meals for when my son has baseball games or my daughter works late or has aerial gymnastics class. We can eat whenever we each get a chance, and often still mostly together.

We also do a lot of grilling year-round (some favorites are burgers, tritip, and salmon) and we love big salads.

Resources:

  • The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
  • The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet by Nina Teicholz
  • The Great Cholesterol Myth, Revised and Expanded: Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won’t Prevent Heart Disease–and the Statin-Free Plan that Will by Jonny Bowden and Stephen T. Sinatra
  • Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver
  • Food Matters: A Guide to Conscious Eating with More Than 75 Recipes by Mark Bittman
  • VB6: Eat Vegan Before 6:00 to Lose Weight and Restore Your Health . . . for Good by Mark Bittman
  • In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto by Michael Pollan
  • The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Melissa Hartwig Urban and Dallas Hartwig
  • 100 Days of Real Food: Fast & Fabulous: The Easy and Delicious Way to Cut Out Processed Food by Lisa Leake

How do your meals look in summer?

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How Does My Garden Grow?

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We’ve lived in this house for about five years now, purchased it two years ago after we realized we were staying and my husband retiring from the Air Force here.

I feel like it’s finally starting to feel like home.

The kids love to help me in the garden and enjoy the veggies and herbs we grow. We all love bird watching and seeing the wildlife in our backyard woods.

We’ve always rented and it’s so nice to finally have a place to call home and the kids can start to grow some roots figuratively and literally. We have no family and few friends and always feel like outsiders since we’ve moved around so frequently.

It took me over a year to get the front yard weed-free. We had so much crabgrass from all the years of neglect. Neighbors who have lived on this street for decades have stopped to compliment my hard work, that it’s never looked better.

It’s a stress reliever for me to work in my yard and garden. I love cutting the grass and digging in the dirt, weeding, all of it.

I’ve had the herb garden since our first year here. The oregano, chives, and sage does come back every year. I can’t seem to get hardy rosemary and my thyme didn’t come back this year, so I had to replace it. I buy parsley and basil every year. I keep fighting cilantro which does ok until I harvest some, then it seems to get mad and wilt or go to seed.

I have strawberries, some lettuces, and a rogue green bean! I transplanted my Russian sage and a trumpet vine on the other side of the fence.

I love gnomes, mushrooms, and frogs. I have lots of fun little statues around the garden.

My spiderwort is very happy this year! I also have a huge hellebore. I got some free Heucheras that are doing great. My lavender is coming back from winter. The irises and gladiolas won’t bloom, so I think they need more direct sunshine, so I will have to find another place for them. In early spring, we have lots of daffodils and hyacinths.

I have a small sun-loving garden in front of our wood pile, at the end of the driveway.

I got this lovely forsythia free from a Buy Nothing group. I bought two purple azaleas and transplanted some grape hyacinths from the yard. There’s also some forget-me-nots in there from seed that I hope aren’t choked out! It was so pretty when it bloomed.

I have two rose trees that were just given to me and I really hope they make it, but their roots were chopped pretty bad, so we will see.

I have three kinds of mint in a half barrel pot so it doesn’t take over. I have prolific lemon balm growing, so I may have to put that in another pot or thin it out.

I love, love, love roses and I wish I had a larger space for a magnificent rose garden.

I’ve had roses at every house I’ve lived in and it’s always sad to move and leave them. I hope they’re being loved and cared for by whoever lives in those homes now.

There was one rose already here when we moved in. I have acquired the others from our local Buy Nothing group and I’ve purchased two – a Blue Girl and Elizabeth. I also have lavender, mini irises, and a peony that has been transplanted for the third time and looks like it might finally be happy to bloom!

I also just ordered some allium that I think will look lovely poking up around the roses. They also are supposed to ward off pests.

I just read that white geraniums ward off Japanese beetles, so we will see if these work!

Here’s my first rose bloom this year – Blue Girl!

The backyard is a lot brighter after we had the walnut trees removed. We tilled the soil and fertilized it well. This is our second year with a nice little vegetable garden. We had a truckload of topsoil and compost delivered last month and that really helped!

I love the raised beds my husband made out of pallets. We have carrots, beets, radishes, bok choy, leeks, green onions, sweet onions. We have several kinds of sweet and hot peppers.

We have peas, potatoes, tomatoes, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, cucumbers, raspberries.

I plan to get in green beans and sweet potatoes this weekend.

In the far right corner, I am slowly building up a shade garden with more hostas, astilbe, bleeding hearts, lily of the valley, Solomon’s seal, and a little lacy Japanese maple.

The hostas were almost all here when we moved in. I have divided them and acquired more from our local Buy Nothing group.

This is the edge of our backyard fenceline and I love the birdbath from Lowe’s and plan to get a 4×4 to make a more permanent bird feeder.

I have a jungle on my deck. I bring all my houseplants outside for the summer and they love it!

I love annuals in pots that attract hummingbirds and also help to keep mosquitoes and wasps away.

Lots of houseplants were given to me from our Buy Nothing group. I also scout the clearance corners at Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Walmart.

The clearance section also a great way to get very cheap orchids and tropicals!

These two plants were crammed into one container and very unhappy and I think it was only $7 or $8. I separated them and they seem more cheerful alone.

My bathroom windowsill is full of orchids! I can never have too many. Many people don’t want them after the blooms fall off. Maybe they’re not interested in waiting for more blooms or think orchids are difficult to maintain. I don’t know. But I love them!

I’ve always loved geraniums on the front porch. I bring my big geraniums inside for the winter, and they’re happy under the dining room window, so these are about four years old!

So, the landlady replaced the front door and sidelights all of a sudden with no notice while my husband was deployed. She wanted me to paint it, inside and out but I refused. After she berated the poor contractors from Lowe’s who didn’t have the holes drilled for a deadbolt, she painted it herself, white. I didn’t think there was anything wrong with the old door, which was red, like the frame surround. I would have never chosen this plain door with plain windows! Now that we’ve bought the house, I plan to get a beautiful front door and sidelights someday.

We have a magnolia and redbud tree that the kids enjoy when they bloom.

I toy with removing the boxwoods and barberry from the front of the house, but they’re quite large and I worry it would be a huge job and mess up all the other plants. I think it’s odd that the boxwoods do great on one side and always look burnt and yellowed on the other side. I don’t think they get enough sun. I’m not sure what to replace them with, and I can’t afford replacement plants that large, so it would look silly with tiny plants.

We have a hedge of lovely lilacs in front of our garage.

I’m so, so proud of our little pollinator garden.

Coneflowers were already here and I have added hyssop, bee balm, salvia, milkweed, SO MUCH YARROW, dill, fennel, a passion vine, cardinalis, foxglove, black eyed susans.

I love how all the plants are getting established and seem happy.

I enjoy working in my yard and garden and I’m constantly moving and evaluating and adding. I can never just sit and not think about how I could change or update some part of it. I love how it’s growing every year!

How does your garden grow?

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Easy Lunch Storage

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My husband recently retired from the Air Force after twenty years. He’s the lab manager at a local hospital now.

Suddenly, he wants to carry lunches to work and he needs all sorts of lunch containers.

My daughter also started a part time job and carries lunches to work.

It helps to have access to a break room with all the typical break room amenities.

Taking meals to work saves time and money while being healthier, since we know the ingredients rather than getting greasy fast food.

For lunch, we often have dinner leftovers or purchase organic healthy quick meals.

We like to use fun colorful containers to keep foods separate for field trips and road trips too.

I love containers with little compartments to keep everything fresh and separate. Bonus if they stack in our cooler or lunch bag to make it easy to carry.

Easy Lunch Storage

Bentgo® Stackable Salad

These are great to keep salad items fresh! Bentgo has lots of fun travel options for the whole family!

OXO Good Grips Lunch and Salad Set

Perfect system to keep salad items fresh and crunchy.

Sistema

My kids upgraded to these bento boxes last summer for art camp. They love the compartments for all their little snacks and different things to eat. There are lots of configurations.

Bentgo®

Super cute and sturdy bento boxes in different colors.

Yumbox 

Super cute bento for younger kids.

Sandwich boxes

We like our sandwiches to stay fresh and fluffy instead of crushed in a baggie at the bottom of the lunch sack.

EasyLunchboxes®

We have used these for years and years – for co-op, picnics, field trips, day trips. They’re so easy and convenient and color coded! They’ve held up so well for us.

Thermos

Great for drinks or soups and stews.

Snapware

We use this for all our leftovers. I love how stackable they are in my fridge. We can take them from the refrigerator to the oven or microwave to the dishwasher. They’re portable and easy!

Reusable Food Storage Bags

Better than single use plastic!

Cute Ice Packs

Why not have something better than plain to keep things cool?

ECOLunchboxes

See my review here.

Give green gifts with ECOlunchbox

Wildkin lunch boxes

Great insulated lunch bags with lots of room and fun prints for all ages.

MAZFORCE Original Lunch Box

Extra tough and modern lunch bag for all ages.

Bamboo Travel Utensils

Easy and safe eating utensils for all ages. Reusable!

Portable Flatware Set with Case

A great set with options for older kids and adults. I love the little case. Dishwasher safe!

What’s your favorite lunch to pack from home?

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Foodie Gift Guide

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My family and I love to cook and eat and cool gadgets often make our lives easier. Here are some fun gifts for people who love spending time in the kitchen or around the dining table.

We have certain kitchen essentials and have/had some fun cooking tools for our kids when they were little.

We don’t really care for many unitaskers or any multicookers. I actually enjoy cooking and my counters are already cluttered enough. I want good quality tools that are functional and beautiful that will last a long time.

We love good food and good wine. Dinner each evening is a feast.

Gift Guide for Foodies

Pepper Mill

I love this pepper mill because it’s easy to turn and refill. It gives lovely coarse grinds.

Whipped Cream Dispenser

We love, love, love this whipped cream dispenser, especially during holiday dessert season! I love making my own whipped cream with natural ingredients and flavors.

Kitchen Torch

I never thought I would like, use, or need a torch in the kitchen, but it comes in handy for more than just  crème brûlée!

Milk Frother

I have a microwave frother but I also love my electric frother and battery frother. We can use the flavored Silk almond creams or regular whole milk, cream, or half and half.

Dehydrator

It comes in handy to dehydrate foods when we garden and can’t eat everything right away. Also fun to make homemade fruit rollups or gummy snacks from fresh fruit! Loads of uses.

Food Sealer

We like our Food Saver, but we may get this Zwilling system. We like to marinate meats with no spilling. I often separate bulk buys into servings for our deep freezer. I need to remember to label everything!

Wine Opener

There are some fancy and expensive wine openers out there, but this is still my favorite wine opener! The electric ones worry me and my husband loves his waiter’s corkscrew from Laguiole from our last trip to Paris. This is easy to use and doesn’t hurt my hands or break the corks.

Wine aerator

We like aerating our red wines and the more complex white wines either directly into glasses or into a decanter for better and fuller flavor. This wine aerator is simple to use and easy to clean.

Decanter

We love our glass decanters to air our red wines and make pouring without spilling easier. And they’re pretty on the table!

Vacuum bottle sealer

We don’t often have leftover wine or soda, but these vacuum pump sealers work wonders to save it fresh. They can then last up to a week!

Wine Storage

We have a simple wine rack in our basement where the temperature is always cool. I also like this wine cabinet for our dining room. We have two!

Wine Books

Wine and cocktail books are great for learning about how to pair wine with food or discovering what you love!

Also, fun cookbooks are great gifts!

Specialty Glassware

I bought an engraved whisky glass for my husband last year and he loves it!

Fun wine glasses with cute sayings or insulated/unbreakable cups for picnics or backyard entertaining are popular.

Food gifts or subscriptions

I am always excited to receive a bottle of whisky or wine.

Cheese or salami is always welcome!

I love gourmet chocolate with fancy unique ingredients. My favorite is saffron!

One year, my husband game me an olive oil of the month subscription.

We’re excited to see fun food Advent calendars in our local grocery stores – cheese, wine, beer. These make great gifts or fun to try new flavors.

Wine

Firstleaf wine gifts are versatile and they can customize which wines they prefer – sweet or dry, sparkling, white, rosé, or red.

My husband and I gave ourselves a Firstleaf subscription last year. It’s been a fun adventure!

Seafood

KnowSeafood gifts or subscription for the seafood lovers! We live in Dayton, Ohio, and finding good affordable fresh seafood is difficult. We love, love, love the selection and quality at KnowSeafood!

What’s your favorite foodie find?

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Making a House a Home

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We bought a house!

The dream of a house can be the eternally postponed preliminary step to taking up the lives we wish we were living…If you lived in your heart, you’d be home right now.

Rebecca Solnit

We’ve rented this house for almost three years. I’m tired of paying high rent when we could be earning equity.

Aaron has about a year and a half until retirement from the Air Force.

We’re settling down in Dayton, Ohio.

Having always rented a house made us feel like we never had a home. We often wanted to do updates or improvements, but we didn’t want to sink a lot of money into a rental and landlords are often weird.

Home is another word for the Spirit that we are, our True Self in God.

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward

My husband and I have lived together in five houses:

  1. My little 3 BR that I bought and sold within a year in the town where I grew up. It doesn’t even count because we had just met, married, and he was going away for a year, but then we moved.
  2. The tiny hot ranch we rented in Texas where I had my two middle girls
  3. The handicapped accessible Hawaii house on Hickam AFB that the kids still call home
  4. The huge ramshackle rental behind the Mormon curtain in Salt Lake City, with our big vegetable garden
  5. The German house over the Getränke shop in a little village

Now, our Ohio suburban with a creek in the backyard. 

When we moved in, our son asked us if this was our forever home. He was tired of moving. We all were and are. We didn’t know then that we would be able to purchase this house and stay here.

The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.

Maya Angelou, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes

I lived in the same house for my first sixteen years. We moved to another house until I moved out. My parents now live in a house that will never be my home. I have no memories there.

My husband grew up in the same town – in two houses – where he lived all his youth and young adult life. His sisters still live there. His middle sister still lives in the house where they all grew up.

It’s hard looking back at all the houses I’ve lived in, all the houses our family has lived in during our military moves. I often get confused when I am sleepy or sick, my memories getting befuddled in all the hallways and rooms in my mind.

Home is that youthful region where a child is the only real living inhabitant. Parents, siblings, and neighbors, are mysterious apparitions, who come, go, and do strange unfathomable things in and around the child, the region’s only enfranchised citizen.

Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter

I can finally throw out all the boxes I’ve saved over the years since we had to pack some items in their original boxes for the movers to ship them, like our flat screen TV.

I love getting rid of the clutter! I don’t have to save anything “just in case” we might need it at our next destination.

I only have to keep things I find beautiful, special, nostalgic.

I can paint walls, update the garden, remove and replace fixtures. I can do anything I want!

At a crossroad, a kind soul asked aloud,

“Which way shall I turn? Which way is best?”

Quietly the Universe responded,

“Go until it feels like home.”

Adrian Michael

How I’m Decorating Our First Home

Entry Way

We usually enter our home through the garage.

We have some hooks for bags, hats, and jackets.

We can go straight through another door to the backyard. I have a shoe rack there blocking the seldom used door and I don’t like it, but it’s what it is for now.

We have a large pantry where we store seldom used and bulky kitchen appliances.

The coolest thing is there is a laundry chute from my closet to that pantry and I can scoot the clothes into the laundry room!

Laundry Room

I love having a large laundry room with lots of storage.

I have room for my chest freezer at the end of the counter. We store our baking molds, raclette, fondue, ice cream maker, and slicer on the shelf above the counter.

We often use it as a mud room since it’s right by the doors to the backyard and garage.

I have a huge pantry on the right and a big sink.

There are wire shelves over the washer and dryer and I would like to replace those with cabinets and solid shelves.

We may replace the tile floor. It seems like it needs regrouting or something.

Kitchen

All the flooring on our main level was updated with Pergo wood grain and it’s nice.

The cabinets were painted a weird textured grey and we plan to update those by painting the lower cabinets black and upper cabinets white. It should brighten the room immensely.

I love the granite countertops.

The stainless GE appliances are the best I’ve ever had.

On the right side is our fridge and coffee nook with the pantry we redid when we first moved in.

Breakfast Nook

I love my bay windows and mini jungle in our breakfast nook.

I scored this table and chairs in Utah over ten years ago- at two different yard sales – for a total of $30!

I loathe the little chandelier and will replace it soon with something less ostentatious.

Dining Room

The china cabinet and dishes belonged to Aaron’s grandma.

We all eat dinner together here almost every evening.

Fridays, we have homemade pizza in the basement with a movie on our TV.

Powder Bathroom

Could you believe we lived here almost three years and suffered with these light fixtures being upside down? And I would hit my head when I washed my hands!

We plan to get a better mirror, repaint, and maybe wallpaper an accent wall, buy a small cabinet vanity in place of the tiny pedestal sink and perhaps a shelf or cabinet over the commode. New rugs too.

Living Room

We have six people in our family, so all the cutesy seating arrangements for four I see on design sites aren’t right for us.

I bought a new sofa and loveseat last year. I love the sleek design. I chose the La-Z-Boy Dixie Sofa and Loveseat in Mocha.

The pink gooseneck rocker belonged to my grandma. My parents bought me the Harbor Town recliner last year.

I’m getting a new rug soon. I already have the smaller one by our sliding door to the deck and a runner and little rug at the front door.

It looks a little crowded, but it’s working for now.

Hearth

I love having a brick hearth and wood mantel.

We have shells from our travels and some fun collected items. I love candles and lanterns.

Reading Nook

We have this weird landing at the top of the stairs that seems like wasted space to me.

Other homes with our similar floor plan have four bedrooms upstairs, but we have only three. Our middle girls have always shared a bedroom.

Thanks to everyone who helped me create this space!

Aaron’s grandma’s chair with the kids’ bookshelf.

Photos of our parents and grandparents watch over the kids.

I plan to get some tall houseplants since it’s pretty bright from our foyer windows.

I just added a floor lamp too.

Bedroom

We have a tall vaulted ceiling that I have no real ideas what to do with. Maybe a center beam?

We plan to paint the walls a pale grey and perhaps get some crown molding.

I ordered some navy and beige paneled drapes to match our new bedding (from Target).

We finally got a new mattress set – after twenty years!

I’m still in love with my bedroom furniture and I couldn’t find any better. No need to update it when it works great.

Not in love with my crooked wedding pics over the bed. We have so much wall space and I have few ideas to update this room.

Kids’ Rooms

My middle girls share a room with bunk beds with one window overlooking the backyard. They hate it, but it’s the way it is. They share the hall bathroom that has two sinks.

My son has the other upstairs bedroom with two front windows and ceiling fan. We gave him that room because they bunks wouldn’t fit any which way and the fan would have been dangerous for the top bunk. He uses my bathroom but we may have to reevaluate this soon.

Basement

We love having a finished basement.

I like having the TV and video games tucked out of sight.

I have the kids’ white erase boards on one wall. I have the three kids’ desks where we do any formal homeschool lessons, mostly math. My home office is upstairs with all my bookcases is in a room opposite our dining room.

We bought a used elliptical very cheaply from an older couple moving away and it’s awesome.

Our sectional sofa is still holding up ok after 10+ years.

There is a wet bar that I want to update with a new updated counter, faucet, and hopefully a narrow refrigerator in place of the pantry or a short beverage cooler in place of a cabinet.

My eldest daughter, almost twenty, has a bedroom and bathroom to herself in the basement but no windows.

Garden

We have a large front yard. We’re tackling the clover and weeds and trying to grow grass in the bald spots.

We have a little garden beside the garage where we get the most sunshine. We have peas, spinach, lettuce, green beans, cucumber, yellow squash, radishes, and carrots.

Our back yard slopes down to a lovely creek. It’s very shady.

We’re updating slowly as we can afford it.

We added pretty stepping stones and pine wood chips to a muddy area.

I plan to turn the sand pit into a Japanese shade garden.

We plan to sand, repair, and repaint the deck in brown or gray floor with white railings.

There is a firepit surrounded by too large gravel. I want to place some flat stones around it for a seating area.

Hostas are poking through the wood chips on either side. We need a new fence and I think I will prefer a picket instead of rail and wire.

Four walnut trees are coming down next month. You can see two on the right. The walnuts fall on our deck and it’s dangerous!

It’s really quite scary knowing we are responsible for all the maintenance on this home.

We know we need new siding and deck repairs. Most of the inside is in fantastic shape and we just want to make some updates.

We got a 30-year VA loan and I wonder if it will ever get paid off.

Elemental Blessing For A New Home

Before a human voice was ever heard here,
This place has known the respect of stone,
The friendship of the wind, always returning
With news of elsewhere, whispered in seed and pollen,
The thin symphonies of birdsong softening the silence,
The litanies of rain rearranging the air,
Cascades of sunlight opening and closing days,
And the glow of the moon gazing through darkness.
May all that elemental enrichment
Bless the foundation and standing of your home.
Before you came here, this place has known
The wonder of children’s eyes,
The hope of mornings in troubled hearts,
The tranquillity of twilight easing the night,
The drama of dreams under sleeping eyelids,
The generous disturbance of birth,
The anxieties of old age unclenching into grace
And the final elegance of calmly embraced death.
May the life of your new home enter
Into this inheritance of spirit.
May the rain fall kindly,
May daylight illuminate your hearts,
May the darkness never burden,
May those who dwell here in the unseen
Watch over your coming and going,
May your lives of love and promise
Refine and deepen the mind of this land.

John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us

For a New Home

May this house shelter your life.
When you come in home here,
May all the weight of the world
Fall from your shoulders.
May your heart be tranquil here,
Blessed by peace the world cannot give.
May this home be a lucky place,
Where the graces your life desires
Always find the pathway to your door.
May nothing destructive
Ever cross your threshold.
May this be a safe place
Full of understanding and acceptance,
Where you can be as you are,
Without the need of any mask
Of pretense or image.
May this home be a place of discovery,
Where the possibilities that sleep
In the clay of your soul can emerge
To deepen and refine your vision
For all that is yet to come to birth.
May it be a house of courage,
Where healing and growth are loved,
Where dignity and forgiveness prevail;
A home where patience of spirit is prized,
And the sight of the destination is never lost
Though the journey be difficult and slow.
May there be great delight around this hearth.
May it be a house of welcome
For the broken and diminished.
May you have the eyes to see
That no visitor arrives without a gift
And no guest leaves without a blessing.

John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us
We removed the bottom hooks! We are HOME.

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HOME
Abraham Verghese, Cutting for Stone

What makes your house a home?

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