When you run a website like I do, you spend a lot of time online.  And lately, it has been so incredibly draining.  There is a lot of ugliness in the world right now.  There is a lot of anger and judgment.  There are also many people suffering with job loss, heartbreak, mental illness, and physical ailments.  Then there are others who are caught up in the consumerism, who believe that buying the right things means you're "winning" at Christmas. I find it sad to see so much pain and ugliness … [Read more...]

This was the year of the great decluttering.  Millions of people read Marie Kondo's Book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up and tried to figure out which items in their home sparked joy and which did not. We saw people declutter, downsize, and minimize. And now it's the holidays.  We want to give  gifts that spark joy.  We want to give things that won't create clutter or cause unnecessary work.  How do we give gifts that don't undo the hard work of those trying to live with less?  … [Read more...]

Every holiday season it happens.   We head to the kitchen to bake, armed with ingredients, cookbooks, and determination. We bake all kinds of goodies. Some are traditions we simply refuse to skip.  Other times we itch to try a new holiday recipe. But have you ever stopped to think how many of those holiday treats go to waste?  How many times have you tossed out a tray of Christmas cookies because you simply could not eat any more goodies? One way to save time, money and effort is to start … [Read more...]