susiej posted an article on Susiej - Dec 3, 2009, 8:29 am
The boys found this blue parking ticket in the box while they were resurrecting my vintage album. This is from my little town’s Sesqui-Centennial, the town’s 150th Anniversary. This is th...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Dec 1, 2009, 4:53 pm
Last weekend I cleaned up the garden, folded in some leaves to mulch the soil for next spring. Then, I pulled out the shovel and started planting my garlic – yes I know – should have been planted ...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 30, 2009, 9:28 am
My, my this world can look dreary once the trees show their branches and the grass turns as gray as the sky. When the sun is obscured by the clouds, our blue clear lake reflects nothing but gray right...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 28, 2009, 7:47 pm
Such are the dreams of little boys in the midst of raking leaves. The leaves at the lake were so thick and so deep that they brushed against our knees as we walked. You could say the leaves were 3 fe...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 27, 2009, 6:10 pm
If you look closely at the glass here, you can see my doughy fingerprints all over my morning cup of pumpkin pie in a mug. I was busy making Thanksgiving rolls, while I sipped. I was thirsty… fo...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 24, 2009, 10:53 pm
The box is full of the stuff a daughter collects from her Mom’s house after she dies; the stuff she’ll never have the time to do anything with, yet wouldn’t dream of letting it go. “Must do s...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 22, 2009, 6:33 pm
Seriously, tonight this dessert drink counts as a health food. The pumpkin makes this drink full of beta-carotene, right? It’s been a busy week, and other than lots of pomegranates, we’ve ...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 21, 2009, 7:33 am
Courage, and blinders. The two ingredients you’ll need to see the end of life as a celebration. Courage allows us to feel the hurt, while simultaneously letting the joy seep into our hearts. Bli...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 18, 2009, 10:30 pm
Some of you may be traveling with kids over the Thanksgiving Weekend, so I thought I would share this story with you, in hopes of helping you plan with success, a bearable car ride. Last summer when ...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 17, 2009, 11:38 am
Where the Wild Things Are is only one of Maurice Sendak’s books. Higglety Piggelty Pop! or There Must Be More To Life was published in 1967 by Harper Collins. In this picture “chapter̶...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 15, 2009, 8:53 pm
Dad took off with my camera, and all four boys, to go trekking through the woods this morning. They all went, kicking and screaming out the door. And my husband captured this best shot. Well done, lov...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 14, 2009, 6:28 pm
I just heard somewhere that it costs about 40 cents to make a loaf of bread. (I’m thinking of doing a cost-by-cost analysis someday on this soon.) Given that the cost of store-bought bread is we...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 13, 2009, 7:11 pm
Congratulations. If you’re reading this, then the Friday the 13th Blackout of  Dreamhost websites must be over. After not being able to access my site for the last 48 hours, it’s nice to ...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 11, 2009, 9:42 am
It’s about 6 weeks before Christmas, a respectable amount of time to make your own pure vanilla extract and bottle it up to give as a gift. It takes about 8 weeks for the extract to sit. So, if you ...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 10, 2009, 9:49 am
She picks up the strings, laced through her brown leather shoes that no longer look as new as they once did — now that a crease is beginning to form on the shinny leather right under her toes. “N...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 8, 2009, 9:56 am
That’s because I wasn’t there.  I only ran one lap of  this weekend’s 5k because I was busy running the little kids around to basketball practice as soon as the kid run was over. This weekend...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 6, 2009, 9:55 am
Twelve reasons why I’m writing a novel in 30 days , via NaNoWriMo. To respect authors of other books; especially the writers of books that compel me to say, “I could have written that.” To reme...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Nov 4, 2009, 9:54 am
I keep the oddest sentimental things. The very last Christmas card my Grandmother signed in 1994 and sent off to me is stored with my Christmas ornaments. Every year when I open the card, I get a rush...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 14, 2009, 2:34 pm
When you stand in this spot in the front yard of my childhood home, and look directly across the street, and then just to the right, you will see the house that Mom would always nod to, and proudly an...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 12, 2009, 10:03 pm
On our way to pick apples, I drove along country roads, with a sketch of a map in my head for navigation. For the most part, I just followed a square grid in my head to travel north east, toward the a...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 11, 2009, 10:03 am
I’m so forgetful and I loose my lists. I find bits of scrap paper everywhere with lists I no longer need, and never the one I do need. I wanted a big place to record jobs, (water the Buckeye tre...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 9, 2009, 9:33 pm
But I don’t. The minute I pick the kids up from school I’m hit with no less than 15 requests for play dates, queries about “what’s for snack, ” and an avalanche of forms that the school need...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 8, 2009, 11:53 am
This pesto tastes so good that I briefly considered bottling and selling it. Then, I realized I would probably eat all the supply and have nothing left to sell. I whipped this up this morning, after m...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 6, 2009, 12:14 pm
and all I got was an empty pail. Actually, we picked 15 pounds and locked them in our freezer for pancakes, muffins and yogurt. Strange, I think, that this is one of the hardest hit states in our ec...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 4, 2009, 9:19 am
According to the calendar, we still have some 19 or so days until summer is over. But the onslaught of back-to-school, parent meetings, and the unseasonably chilly weather have set our mind into belie...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Sep 1, 2009, 10:27 pm
And, how I found my favorite Vacuum Cleaner. I’ve have spent the last 10 days culling vacuum cleaner reviews on the Internet; and it has not been an easy task to separate the fluff from the har...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Aug 30, 2009, 9:19 pm
The alarm sounded at 5:30 a.m., and my husband was soon pouring powder into his water bottles with the precision an alchemist uses to turn metal into gold.  Before the sun broke the sky, he was pedal...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Aug 28, 2009, 9:09 pm
With your baby face held high and a beaming grin, you marched off to school. On your BIRTHDAY, carrying news, “Grandpa is fine,” inside of your heart. We brought Popsicles in a blue...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Aug 26, 2009, 5:13 pm
I looked at my friend blankly when she posed the questions. Tough questions that could only be asked by a friend who knows that if she did pinch a nerve, she could handle any fallout that would come a...
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susiej posted an article on Susiej - Aug 25, 2009, 10:12 am
Fried zucchini is scrumptious, but time-consuming. The long fat zucchinis, as one reader calls them, the ones that “got away”, make great sliced discs, perfect for frying. From a time standpoint,...
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