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Chatty Chatty
The past couple weeks I’ve found myself getting annoyed with cashiers and baggers at the grocery store who are overly chatty with me. I am perfectly pleasant to them and engage in polite conversation if they initiate, but I’m not happy about it. This is notable because for the past year I’ve noticed that I…
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Overheard at the playground
I took the kids to a local destination playground yesterday. We call it Chutes & Ladders but that’s not its real name. I used to hate Chutes & Ladders. I lost my oldest there when he was maybe four years old, and he was missing long enough that I was considering calling the police. On…
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Sun Damage
I spent last week at the cabin slathering myself and my kids in sunscreen as if it was my job (it actually is). This time of year, I seem to read an article every week in which I am reminded that “there is no safe amount of sun exposure.” It is not, they tell me,…
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Week at the lake
We’re spending the week at our cabin in Wisconsin, our annual tradition. I’m pretty sure every other cabin owner in northwest Wisconsin does the same, at least judging from the number of watercraft on the lake and people in line at the local grocery store. This is our fourth summer owning this place. I remember…
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Crescent City, California
And I’m not big into journaling. It takes special skill to record events and activities in a compelling way and I lack that skill. Nevertheless, if this blog is meant to record memories for my children I think I owe it to them to try to write about this vacation as thoroughly as I can…
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Odds & Ends
We have returned from our trip to Crescent City, California, and after a week of living my life by the tide tables I’m back to concerning myself with the patterns of the pedestrian walk signals in my city instead. Navigating my urban neighborhood is a completely different skillset than driving on a cliffside road and…
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Travel Style(s)
We are packing for a big trip and I am feeling some angst about the whole thing. I’m not a good traveler. I don’t like doing new things or meeting new people, and I definitely don’t enjoy the uncertainties inherent in the act of traveling. I like to be home. Home is reliable. Home is…
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Triumphant Return to Camping, an indoor plumbing appreciation post
We went camping this weekend for the first time in almost four years. Well, we went camper cabin camping. This is significantly easier than tent camping, in my opinion, but I do believe it still counts as camping. I felt like a camping noob, even during the packing process. How many bottles of propane do…
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Cosmetic Warrior Copycat Recipe
I have been battling acne for more than twenty-five years, and I only recently discovered something that really works: Lush’s Cosmetic Warrior face mask. I have to give my sister credit for this find. She has the same skin as me but is more adventurous about cosmetic products. I was amazed the first time I…
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Pandemic Camping Memories
We are going camping this weekend for the first time in almost four years. This is what happens when you buy a cabin. The cabin is all the good things about camping (catching frogs! morning campfire! drinking beer outside all afternoon!) and none of the bad things about camping (dealing with coolers for days! never…