I am loving the baby oak tree in the corner of my yard.

I said to them, “Hey guys, you need to pick up the stuff in the front yard before it gets dark.” They decided to WEAR all the things in the front yard while snacking on apples even though I was making supper.

I LOVE missing teeth, so I’m trying really hard not to be sad that this is my last baby to loose front teeth, and instead just enjoy the awesomeness of missing teeth.  The other front tooth is also wiggly, but not tremendously wiggly, so I’m really hopping that it comes…

  It doesn’t seem possible for the news to get darker every week, but somehow it does, doesn’t it?  And bit by bit, we are all getting more and more desensitized, and I think probably more and more glum, cynical and maybe more anxious all the time. Even though this…

I loved having the icky carpet out of my office so much that a few days later when Mr. SP spilled a large container of liquid onto the hallway floor outside the bathroom (I knew that wetness was damaging the floor) I decided to make him help me tear up…

Mr. TOF was super excited to go to the Lester River Rendezvous, which is a historical reenactment of a voyageur camp that happens at the end of September on the edge of town each year.  His first grade class has been learning all about voyageurs, and this kid loves a…

On my cello I learned the final tricky movement of a Vivaldi sonata, half of another piece, and how to play in two new positions, along with some three octave scales. Curious one day about how people started eating mayonnaise in the first place (I don’t particularly enjoy the condiment…

I’m taking just a minute to share a simple idea that came from the children’s ministry department at my church.  A few weeks ago our church had a week especially devoted to the discipline of prayer across all ages, and our children’s teachers  and leaders decorated hundreds of popsicle sticks…

Mr. TOF and I had a lot of fun watching this group of bugs at the beach last Friday.  They are asian lady beetles, and they are kind of fascinating up close.  I’ve loved bugs ever since I was a little girl.  I used to catch butterflies and display them…

This picture of beautiful beach grass has nothing to do with the mess of the week. Today was a hot, sticky day.  The humidity was positively ridiculous for mid September.  I walked in the bathroom in the late afternoon with plans to shower before getting ready to go to the…