Learning to Love the Process Slow decorating has been on my mind as I’ve been slowly cleaning, decluttering, and trying to reclaim our home. I’ve found myself dreaming of all the ways I want to update and decorate. (It’s funny how uncovering things makes you want to improve them.) New paint colors, cozy nooks, old-world…
How to Savor Summer: Embracing Beauty Even When It’s Uncomfortable
Let’s be honest. Summer isn’t always sunshine and smiles. It’s hot. It’s humid. The bugs are relentless, the kids are loud, and your shirt has been stuck to your back since 10 a.m. And yet… somehow, it’s still magical. There’s something deeply beautiful about this messy, lively, sensory-overloaded season. In this post, we’re talking about…
How We’re Living Without AC in the Midwest | No-AC Summer Survival Tips
Thriving in the Summer Heat Without Air Conditioning: How We Stay Cool in the Midwest Living in the Midwest—southeast Indiana to be exact—our summers are no joke. We regularly see temperatures in the high 80s and 90s, and it’s not unusual to hit 100°F during peak heat waves. But here’s the thing: we’re living without…
I Asked for Help: What Happened When I Said “I Can’t Do It All”
Let me just say it plain: This week I asked for help. And if you’re anything like me—a stay-at-home mom juggling homeschool, homemaking, garden work, and trying to keep your family healthy— you know how loaded that sentence can feel. We’re the ones who hold it down. The figure-it-outers. The ones who hold the vision…
Creativity in the Cracks: Prioritizing Beauty as a Busy Mom
There’s this moment—right after the baby drifts off during a contact nap, when the house is (almost kinda) quiet except for the big kids playing or watching Wild Krats—and I pull out my phone or notebook and write another sentence of my novel. Not a whole chapter. Not even a full paragraph sometimes. Just a…
What Garden Lessons (and a Broken Incubator) Taught Me About Starting Over
The garden was supposed to be peaceful this week. After days and days of relentless spring rain, some so heavy that towns near us had to evacuate, I was just grateful to see the sun again. We didn’t have any flooding in the house, thank God. But road closures and detours were enough of a…