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In generations past most people believed in witches. They believed there were special evil spirits that had given witches magical powers. Lady witches were usually quite old and very ugly.
Witches were supposed to have two meetings a year. […]
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I memorized the first verse of this poem while driving to work one day last year. I think of it often, especially when my son is crying! Ella Wheeler Wilcox, author of Worth While and one of my favorite poets, was a brilliant writer and poet. Enjoy!
Worth While
It is easy enough […]
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Halloween is not one of my favorite holidays. I don’t love dressing up, but I do love making yummy Halloween treats. We like to make sugar cookies for every holiday and use colored frosting and festive cookie cutters to make them appropriate for the day.This year I am going to try a few […]
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Katy Bratun c 2007
katybratun.com
For centuries farmers and gardeners have fixed scarecrows to frighten birds and small animals from their gardens. In the New World the Indians and the Pilgrims used them too.
Usually the scarecrow is put out as soon as the crop is planted. He stays all summer long. During harvest we […]
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A treat for the whole family.
1 small to medium pumpkin
1 onion, chopped
2 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 to 2 lbs ground beef
2 T soy sauce
2 T brown sugar
1 (4-oz.) can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 (10 3/4-oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 c cooked rice
1 (8-oz.) can sliced water chestnuts, drained
Cut off the top of pumpkin […]
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An old Irish tale tells of a man, Stingy Jack, who as a young man tricked the devil. After his death he tried to get into heaven but was refused. The devil would not allow him to enter the lower world either. He threw Jack a hot ember. Jack caught it […]
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This week’s “book talk” book is The Outlaws of Sherwood, by Robin McKinley. My favorite genre of books is historical fiction, so I love stories centered around events in European history especially, as this one does. I know that many many books have been written about Robin Hood by many different authors and […]
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On Tuesday night I got together with a group of my girlfriends for our monthly cooking group. Yesterday was our first time doing it, and it was so much fun! We picked Mexican food as our theme and everyone brought a favorite Mexican dish along with the recipe to share. I took […]
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I have a secret love of art and art history. I took a few art history classes in college, and I’ve loved learning about the subject ever since. I love all the different periods and styles of art and how every painting tells a story. I love looking at a beautiful […]
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The day after Thanksgiving (AKA Black Friday) is probably one of my favorite days of the year. Call me crazy, but I love the adventure of running through a store alongside a billion other greedy people to get to the sheets first!Last year I was pregnant and had spent Wednesday in the hospital because […]
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This week’s “Happy Thought” is a poem that I memorized a while ago. I love memorizing poems and quotes for a few reasons. Memorizing makes me feel like my brain is going to last longer and I also like to be able to think about happy and uplifting things when there’s nothing else […]
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This summer I was visiting my sister in Seattle and her husband came home on Saturday morning with a box full of treasures, all for only $1. How is that possible, I wanted to know. Two simple words: Garage sale.I know it can be kind of embarrassing to rifle through other people’s […]
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One of my favorite books that brings back lots of happy childhood memories is The Story of Chinaman’s Hat,” by Dean Howell. It’s the story of how the Hawaiian island, called Chinaman’s Hat, came to be. My grandma used to read this book to me all the time. It is not only […]
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Before we had kids, my husband and I decided that we wanted to be very selective about the movies our family both viewed and owned. We decided that we only wanted to own movies that are family friendly and appropriate for most everyone. We feel that sexual content is the most offensive and […]
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If you’ve learned anything about me so far, it should be that I love reading and books. Further evidence of this is demonstrated in this morning’s happenings. My husband and I woke up bright and early to get up to the Salt Lake City Library for a book sale. Second only […]
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My husband’s grandmother is in the process of dying, and because of this I wanted to write a post advocating hospice and palliative care. Palliative care focuses on making a sick person as comfortable as possible and reducing their symptoms and pain. Hospice is a palliative care program. For my husband’s grandma, […]
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This poem is the perfect description of what books are to me.
Books are keys to wisdom’s treasure;
Books are gates to lands of pleasure;
Books are paths that upward lead;
Books are friends. Come, let us read.
Emilie Poulsson
In my last semester of college I took a calligraphy class and I actually used this poem for my Italic […]
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I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie; Alison Jackson (Thanksgiving)
Little Miss Spider: A Christmas Wish; David Kirk (Christmas)
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Cars; Patricia Hubbell (Cars)
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Mr. Tuggle’s Troubles, LeeAnn Blankenship (silly)
Last One in is a Rotten Egg, Diane deGroat (friendship, sharing)
The Cuddle Book, Guido Van Genechten (love, family relationships)
The Deep Blue Sea: A Book of Colors, Audrey Wood (colors)
What Eddie Can Do, Wilfried Gebhard (imagination)
A Nap in a Lap, Sarah Wilson (love, family)
The Wizard Next Door, Peter Glassman (imagination)
I Love […]
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A lexophile is a person who loves words and word plays. I do, do you?
A bicycle can’t stand alone; it is two tired.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
A backward poet writes inverse.
A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
If you don’t pay your exorcist, you can get repossessed.
When a […]
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Zoe’s Hats, Sharon Lane Holm (Colors and patterns)
Water, Water; Eloise Greenfield (Nature)
Look at the Baby; Kelly Johnson (Body parts)
The Cuddle Book, Guido Van Genechten (love, family relationships)
A Nap in a Lap, Sarah Wilson (love, family)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle
Is Your Mama a Llama?, Deborah Guarino
Sometimes I Like to Curl Up in a Ball, Vicki […]
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While I was in college I became a transcriber for deaf and hard of hearing students. I was trained on a program called TypeWell, which is a short hand/abbreviation word processing program. In short, this is how it works: A transcriber goes with a deaf student to class and types the lecture as it happens. […]
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“A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is …. You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. ”
C.S. Lewis
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