inspiration observations

No Spiders Here: Allowing Women to Look Less Than Perfect

I’m writing this while I’m on vacation, scheduling it to drop in a few days. Scheduling posts days or even weeks out makes it difficult to write with the immediacy of the moment. I have to be thinking about how to write for future relevancy. If a post ever feels slightly disjointed in time, that’s why. Just imagine me writing days or weeks earlier and figure for the time shift. What I’ve noticed during vacation…

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observations

An Ordinance That Works Against the Poor

It’s been snowing here in Central Minnesota over the past week or so. We’ll see how much eventually accumulates. When there is a significant snowfall event, we have to be up at the crack of dawn to move our cars from the street to the avenue so the plows can do their work. A few weeks ago, we got a notice from the city in our water bill regarding snow removal. It informs residents of…

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family observations thanks

Simple Christmas Gifts Make Me Feel Rich

Our family’s Christmas is different this year. Which has got to be the understatement of the year for everyone’s 2020 holiday season. A worldwide pandemic will do that. We thankfully haven’t lost anyone close to us to Covid, but as we approach 330,000 deaths in the United States, there are many people grieving for loved ones who’ve died this year. Plus, having just come through Thanksgiving, we’ve seen a spike in cases of people infected…

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observations

Performing Dryer Balls

Because of the strong scent of dryer sheets, along with the fact that they are made of some sort of plasticky material (do these things ever break down?), we have taken to using wool dryer balls in our dryer. We throw 4-5 of them in to cut down on the static. Hubby is not crazy about them because he hates hunting for them in his clothing, which for me is kind of the charm of…

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history observations pragmatic historian

Let’s Not Wait for History to Make Judgements

Throughout the four years of the Trump regime, as report after report came out about corrupt, unethical, possibly illegal, democratic-norm-breaking behavior, joined by an incessant number of lies, conspiracy theories, threats, and nasty comments, there has been a common refrain on Twitter. “History will not judge these individuals well.” As though merely pointing out how future people will look back on this time, shake their finger, and say, “Tsk, tsk,” and individuals currently engaging in…

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