Life at the Lumberyard

  I was incredibly moved this Palm Sunday by a little detail in the Passion reading - which I have heard and/or read at least 50 times in my life. I used to preach to students about how you should read something once and then maybe twice and then try to read it again after a few years of life… you’ll be amazed at what you find. Amazed at what you never noticed before.  As a teacher, I seriously could have taught Scarlet Letter or To Kill a Mockingbird for an ENTIRE year. (I read Scarlet Letter 41 times and To Kill a Mockingbird 16 times.) I found a new detail almost each time for each novel. Talk about amazing! But I digress. The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ is one mass I know many dread.  It’s long.  It’s sad.  We’ve heard before.  Fussy kids whacking each other with palm branches in itchy clothes.    Or fussy kids during Friday nap time trying to rock them to sleep and you yourself not paying a bit of attention. I know. (Been there.) But I r...

"May we all do a little bit better than the first time Learn a little somethin' from the worst times Get a little stronger from the hurt times..." Nobody likes to make the call. The call it quits call. Especially not born and bred farmers. “Another round, another field, one more day and we’ll have ‘er." "Just another hour, just another bin full, one more push, crank on it one more time.." "We’ll try it again next year…” But it is time. And that pains me so so much, but yet I am filled with peace all in the same breath... it’s a wild and overwhelming emotion. Dad has spent his life working, loving, breathing, sweating, bleeding, milking, cutting, growing, sawing, laughing, cussing, reaping, crying, praying, and living on this farm. He’s burned the midnight oil. And he's drank the burnt coffee at twenty after four in the morning before milking. He’s made a lot do with very little. He's hunkered down in the mud and slop to help birth a calf that w...

It's been a little while since my last post.  I've been writing a lot, but haven't been posting them. Writing is so very good for my soul, and I love when people can relate or grasp something from my postings. But, as of late, my writing has been just that: my writings. I'm going to try to make this relatively brief and discuss the building materials market in a short form... no real panic talk, pretty boring overall, but just to be honest with what we are seeing and what we believe (all according to our suppliers unless noted otherwise) what we may see in the near future. 1.) Silicone: Silicone is on the rise and is in more items than I care to think about. Those blue switch/electrical boxes, caulking, many sealants/sealers, furniture gliders, and the list goes on. AND ON. Silicon (the primary ingredient in silicone) is imported from China. China stopped production entirely for 2 months in 2021 and new shipping rates/tariffs have only made a real problem, a worse prob...

I taught English for a little while and was often asked what genre was my favorite or what genre was my least favorite. You’d think for an English teacher, that would be a tough question.  But not for me. My least favorite is fantasy or sci fi or even mythology. Absolutely terrible. (I know, I probably just made some enemies.) But I think my dislike is because my love for my favorite is so incredibly strong. My favorite genre is American Realism.  Of Mice and Men. A Day No Pigs Would Die. To Kill A Mockingbird.  And though I’m in love with these novels for so many different reasons, there’s really just one thing that pulls at my heart. The rawness of normalcy in American culture during hard times. I am positive I sound like a lunatic, but I cannot describe my love for real normal life. There’s nothing grand about the vast majority of these novels yet that’s what makes them so grand to me. The profoundness of a normal life lived by ordinary people pulls me in so close, I a...

I never was a big Elf on the Shelf fan. I liked the premise (somewhat), but found that elf to be freaky and his ways of making messes to not only be annoying to me (the mom) as I need to make the mess and clean it up, but also not the greatest message to our children. Last year, I read about Mary on the Mantle and my girls LOVED it. I thought I would share what I did in case you want to copy or modify it for your children this Advent season! I bought a pregnant Mary statue. I really wanted to get a plush doll, but couldn't find one last year. I got this one and it actually worked out better than I thought. Because she was breakable, the girls seemed more reverent and aware. Because she wasn't a doll they could throw in the toy box, she was more special. I hadn't thought about that, but it was a positive. Here's what mine looks like: I have ZERO time for anything extra in the mornings before my kids get up. So Mary travels our home while we are gone. Pro Tip: I buckle th...