For weeknight dinners, I'm all about quick and easy recipes like this Taco Chili Mac! I don't like to spend a ton of time in the kitchen when my kiddos are clamoring for dinner, and I definitely don't like to create a lot of dishes to wash later! One of my favorite things about bulk purchasing meat from a local farmer is that I always have meat ready to be defrosted! So often, I pull out a pound of ground beef from the freezer in the morning without really knowing what I'm actually going … [Read more...]
Want to Live More Intentionally? You Need to Simplify Your Life!
This post is part of the Blue Bike Blog Tour, which I’m thrilled to be part of. To learn more and join us, head here. In that moment, watching snow flurries fall against a redbrick backdrop out of a coffee-shop window in downtown Bend, I realized that unless our family made more intentional, proactive choices, instead of just constantly talking about wishing things weren’t so busy, we would go on forever wanting a different life. -Tsh Oxenrieder, Notes from a Blue Bike In the … [Read more...]
Introduction to the Green Your Life Challenge: Video
So I did it, I recorded my first video! I wanted to share with you a little bit more about the Green Your Life Challenge that's coming up in February because I'm really excited about it, and excited about the difference it can make for you and your family! (Remember, if you purchase Green Your Life the ebook this month, you get FREE full access to the Challenge!) While I named it the Green Your Life Challenge - it's really going to be more of an online e-course. Over the 4 weeks, we'll … [Read more...]
Tame the Toy Chaos: Setting Up a Toy Library
*Emily's note: Elizabeth and her family have been on a journey to simplify and minimize their stuff around their home for the past few years and back in September, she shared with us her plan for taking your home from Madness to Managable in just one weekend. In that post she mentioned her family's toy library, and we received a lot of comments and questions asking more about how to set one up, so she's sharing her family's toy library system with us today, perfect for getting control … [Read more...]
Anticipation in A Season of Joy and Brokenness
Christmas is right around the corner, and I have to say that I really do love this time of year. This morning I was sitting in our living room sipping my coffee and enjoying the way the lights of our Christmas Tree dance and reflect off the ceiling and the windows in the peaceful darkness of the early morning. While all was calm and all was peaceful (at least for a few precious minutes until the littles woke up!) there was also a hint of sadness around the rough edges of my heart. The places … [Read more...]
How to Have a Meaningful and Simple Christmas
By Elizabeth of RunningFamily.net, Contributing Writer Since we have given away over half of our household items (190 bags to charity), we have gained a whole new perspective on our consumer culture. Basically, it stinks. Yes, we need stuff to live as human beings, but truly over-abundance has become the curse of our post-modern world. Then comes Christmas. How do we celebrate Christmas without giving into the consumer culture when we have children who want presents? And what … [Read more...]
Saving Time in The Kitchen (With Kids)!
Young kids in the kitchen and saving time in the kitchen are not two things that you usually see together in the same sentence, right?! I'll be the first to raise my hand and admit that when my kids are in the kitchen with me that we often waste more time than save. And yet, over the past six months or so, I've really begun to see that with a little teaching, help, direction and then ongoing supervision (while I'm accomplishing other things!), my kids can actually help me with tasks in a … [Read more...]
How to Give Extended Support to a Grieving Family
How do you provide extended ongoing support to friends or family after someone they love has died? After writing last week about cancer and losing my dad, and with the Holiday Season upon us, this topic has been on my mind. In my experience, after a family loses a loved one, it can be a hard and awkward time for people around them. This has been true both for me when I lost my dad and as I have had close friends who have experienced loss. It's hard to know what to say, what to do, … [Read more...]
Planning for a Green Christmas (Green in 365)
This is Day 314 of the Green in 365 series! By Renee from Joyful Mom, Contributing Writer Here I am: 6 weeks away from Christmas, and I don't quite have a plan! How does this happen every year? Last year I downloaded a "six weeks to the perfect Christmas planner" and did not use it. I looked at it - each and every day. For me, all that planning and boxes to check off, that system to enjoy the holidays... did not create joy. So here I am. No plan. The best part of not having a … [Read more...]
On Cancer, My Dad, Moustaches, and Standing Up For…?
I sat watching the World Series game between the Boston Red Sox and my dad's beloved St. Louis Cardinals. For the 7th inning stretch everyone around the stadium, including all the players, fans, and even those working - the cameramen and umpires - stood holding signs with names on them. The signs read "Standing up for..." Many filled in the blank with: Mom, Dad, Grandma, or Grandpa. And as I sat and watched the camera pan the crowd, I couldn't stop the tears as they welled up in … [Read more...]
