(If you’re a subscriber reading this in email, please click to website to use the audio player.) In this week’s three-minute podcast, I share a few thoughts in response to an article by Jeff Haden in Inc. about the difference between goals and systems. After you listen, I'd love to hear some of your own responses both to the podcast and to the questions below. Do … [Read more...]
Weeds Mean Work
My parents purchased their farm in the mid-1970s from Mr. Hayden, one of those wiry old farmers who was fully dressed at the crack of dawn, hoeing the garden, gathering eggs, scooping grain into the manger for the cows, and checking the fences.Fences need to be checked regularly to be sure they are intact. Like so many things in life, fencing can be broken, sagging, … [Read more...]
Tea Wallets!
Look what I just got:Tea wallets! Handmade by Megan Dunham of Half-Pint House. Aren't they adorable?When Megan isn't writing for WORLDmag.com, blogging, tweeting, or directing a Classical Conversations homeschool group, she's designing and sewing a variety of creative items. Megan sells her tea wallets for $8 each (which includes shipping and four complimentary tea bags) … [Read more...]
Bonus Bathroom Storage that Works for Me
Before I was married, I lived in a simple, inexpensive apartment with a couple of roommates. We all shared one full bathroom.Several other friends had newer, nicer apartments, and I coveted their master baths and walk-in closets. I told myself that if at all possible, someday, I wanted to own a house with a master bath and walk-in closet.That "someday" arrived nine years … [Read more...]
If You Want Something Done, Give It to a 10-year-old Girl
One time a speaker said that if you want to get something done, give it to a ten-year-old girl. They're enthusiastic, diligent, hard-working, determined, industrious, earnest...not yet consumed by the boy thing or makeup, yet able to tap into their childlike energy and accomplish a lot. As my kids have one by one turned ten, I've thought how true that is.They're … [Read more...]
Travel Tips
I'm home. Finally.Two loads of laundry out of the way. Most bags unpacked. Travel successes and failures still fresh in my mind.Here's are several things that worked for me on this vacation:Nylon sports bag.I threw this in my suitcase at the last minute, not knowing how much I'd use it.It became the ideal daypack, very flexible. For example, it stays inconspicuous as it … [Read more...]
WFMW Containerize Kids Laundry
Shannon is suggesting a "Greatest Hits" edition of Works For Me Wednesday. While last week's overnight crockpot steel-cut oatmeal instructions were wildly popular, this post was a big hit in its day. It first appeared in February 2007.I’ve never liked doing the laundry–especially for six people–but what aggravated me the most were two particular steps in the process: … [Read more...]
Where to Hang Washcloths?
Two clear, plastic suction hooks are functional and discreet.Suction stuff usually doesn't work very well for me--bigger items like shelves or soap holders have been known to un-stick from the shower walls and flop down in the middle of the night--SLAM! CLATTER-clatter-clatter!Scares the liver out of me.But these simple, basic hooks have fallen off only a couple of times … [Read more...]