the mud

We have done a lot this week.  Cutting grass, painting a room, clearing out the basement, (well, not clearing out, but at least clearing off the floor)  Today we treated ourselves to brunch with all the change we've been finding doing all this work.  Grand total: $36.10.  Anyway we went out to eat at the Pop Shop in Collingswood and it was SO. GOOD.  Smore French Toast, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, Oreo Pancakes, and I had the Veggie Rollo Omelet.   I asked for the salsa on the side and I'm so glad I did.  Not because it wasn't good, no, but because this way I could savor the lime-y-good-ness-soaked-tomatoes and peppers and whatever else made it so.good.  It got me thinking of the myriad ways we can make a salsa.  Too many to count.  Which leads me to the topic of this blog. Summer afternoons are hot, sticky, slimy, tiresome.  We wish we lived in Europe so we could take a siesta, a long cool nap under the shade of a tree, maybe with a little sangria to induce a summer dream c

I have been praying for a really, really long time for something and it seems like it will never come!  I know that It wasn't meant to be and all that stuff, and that there's Something better down the road, and that where God closes a window, he opens a door, but sometimes I'm just like, Dude, where's the door?  I'm human. Shut the Front Door! But God does have a sense of humor.  I think last year I blogged about running shortly after my brother's funeral and crying and not knowing where to go, to stop by a friends or keep running home and then I looked down the street and saw this great Chair!  I'm like Cool chair, and I stopped crying and got myself together.  God was like, Get it together, I have great things in store for you, starting with this great Chair!  I ran home, got in my car and as I turned the corner, someone Else was lifting the Chair into the back of his car.  I'm like, Dude, that's my chair!  But the chair had served its purpose for

We recently took a trip to Massachusetts for Old Home Days.  Every year we visit my husband's homestead, which we still affectionately refer to as Grandfather's , although grandfather passed a few years ago.   If you want to see what it is like there, just read All the Places to Love,  by Patricia MacLachlan.  Most beautiful, gentle book ever! Anyway, we are no longer fitting in the Camp, Grandfather's house, so we rented a farm house with cousins. It was a magical utopia kind of farm, complete with sheep, (don't count the sheep, you'll fall asleep!) chickens and this summer house: I have more pictures but I can't download them right now.  Anyway you can get the main idea here:   A chalkboard for writing A desk for writing A sofa for lounging and reading Upper bunks for sleeping, reading, and the like Marshmallow roasters behind the door because you never know when you'll need them. The scattered rugs and the torn cushions just make i

Welcome back!  I have been out of touch and had summer between my toes, not doing much of anything, except if you count working full-time, job-hunting, and raising kids!  But the mud is back and hopefully with some fun stuff to blog about! We started summer by getting the house dressed!  Really, this is what we do, right?  We change things to look like we are ready for summer by getting the right clothes on, bringing out last year's shorts and tees and seeing what fits and what doesn't.  Then we create plans for shopping and outfits we can pack for every adventure we'll have. Here are the old house clothes: Still fits, but not with my new idea.  There's no ORANGE SPLOT here.  So out it's going.   UGH!  So my debate was whether to paint the whole door a new color:  magenta, yellow, aqua, orange.  People are getting really creative with door colors these days.  A new family moved in down the street and painted their door bright aqua green-ish.  It