It’s zero dark thirty here in Cleveland and I’m up waaaaay past my bedtime thanks to the highest pollen count in weeks and those two iced coffees I knew were bad decisions today. Hi friends. I genuinely hope that none of you are up at this hour. The rain is slowly falling and it IS peaceful and that is something to be thankful for. The other day I looked at my husband and declared to him that I was the best thing to ever happen to him. His extremely pastoral reply was , “Abs

When I say she came from the womb smiling I mean it. With a full head of the darkest black hair and the chubbiest ruddy cheeks. Hi friends. My familiar desk next to the window here at Panera greets you. I wore short sleeves by faith today and might need to reheat my tea until the April sun decides to warm things up. When my second girl came around we felt we had waited forever and a day for dresses once again. Back-to-back boys and a trip to Mongolia and back made us wonder i

Earlier this week I carried that “I’m in a mess” nervousness into a yarn shop praying I’d find a kind helper. The thought of asking for help always makes me sweaty. I’m more concerned with being a bother than getting the help I need which sometimes KEEPS me from getting the help I need. Hi friends. A Spring breeze will be blowing in thunderstorms late this evening but for now it’s just the right time to sit and send some encouragement out. It’s the uncomfortable camp chair d

No one ever prepared me for little girls. Before we had even said, “I do,” we acquired one of those cards with the name and meaning on it and I kept it in my bible. It was a precious reminder to me that not only was I marrying this hunk from Youngstown but we were going to be a true-blue family. Hi friends. Web analytics tell me that Fridays between noon and four are the best time to send some encouragement to you all. And though now between college and work schedules my ho

With mostly adults now, there’s a lot of opinions at our place. Hi friends. Welcome to March where the weather men want to just pack it all in and we can’t blame them. Panera greeted me with, “Oh hey Mrs. Royalty!” As I left the pick-up window and now I’m wondering if I’m supposed to know their birthday and get them a gift. I now have no shame bringing my own tea in my own “Mom” yeti so I guess we are getting a bit familiar these days. Every once in a great while when the kid

How’s that for a title?! Did I scare most of you off or gain a few newbies out of curiosity? Welcome friends. I sit next to a lovely window here at Panera where a little girl leaves more of her muffin on the carpet than in her mouth and where a sweet older woman has been nursing her coffee waiting for a friend to join her. I love how she shifts her weight in her seat to look at the back entrance and then the front entrance hoping to catch sight of her expected guest. She does

Maybe it’s because snow days kept us kids from the long walk to the bus stop. Or perhaps it was the way that it made everything seem to stop and settle for a while with roads impassable and driveways covered. For whatever reason I have always always loved the snow. Hi friends. The month of February is chug-chugging along and here we are with more marriage mush than you want in a string of blog posts, but what can I say, I like a theme. I love sitting and talking with my FIL.

It’s the week friends. THE week. Did I leave the house to write with no less than TWO Valentine’s sweaters on? Why yes, yes I did. If you’re like me the events swirling around us make home and marriage and hot tea with the perfect ratio of cream and raw sugar seem so low on the totem pole that they almost don’t register at all. Good tea, good homes and good marriages just don’t seem like enough. I get it. But a candle in my kitchen window tells me another story. It reminds m

The snow quietly falls just outside the window once again and I’m not sorry about it. Hi friends. I greet you from Panera where the orange ginger tea is hot and lovely and the oatmeal cookie ain’t half bad either. Welcome to February where love just floats in the air and where we stick more things than should be hung on the walls and ceilings and especially make a big ‘ol deal each Friday. So in Good Friday-in-February-fashion I thought I’d leave you a marriage post each week

The tree(s) plural still hang around, the clock that plays Christmas carols just may stay for a few more months, the three hoodlums are back in college and I actually threw away a whole container of kolache just because it was "time." Hi friends. It's been a moment. It's been SO long that I had to have professional help just to get back on the blog if you can even imagine?! Panera's cookies still hit the same and no one seemed to be fighting me for my old seat so there's tha

Hi friends. Are you welcoming September with open arms like I am? It's a "make your way to Lancaster, PA for a very special wedding...

We are three and one half hours out from the infamous college drop-off for not one but TWO of ours leaving the nest for the first time,...

I just frantically searched for three solid minutes for my reading glasses on my head. I'm THAT many years old. And then ever so...

Well, one is wed, three head for college in two weeks, and the last of the mohicans begins her tenth grade year of home education. It's...

My younger brother, my only brother and the baby of the family as we like to remind him, has lovely blue-green eyes. BOTH of my older...

I recently read this question and it got the wheels rolling in my mind, "If you could give yourself permission to be curious about your...

Some people leave their heart in New York City, but I prefer to leave my right AirPod in Somerset, Pennsylvania. It does sound a little...

You can say that I have a strange appreciation for old movies. With "Fiddler on the Roof" being one of them. Hi Friends! It's my...

Hi friends. Happy Friday. I'm pulling one out of the "drafts" this afternoon from the site, quietly waiting to see the light of day. With...

When I first learned to drive I had a horrendous sense of direction. Hi friends. Happy Saturday. The dishes are caught-up for the next...