Pretty peonies and a perfectly honest review

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pretty peony side 2.jpg

Based on the lovely, amazing, productive, and responsible women my daughters have become, I'd have to say I'm pretty good at growing girls.*

Based on the colorless condition of my yard year 'round, though, I'd have to admit I'm no good at all when it comes to growing gardens or flowery sorts of stuff.

Which stinks because I'd like to be one of those people who display colorful cut flowers throughout my home. Sure, I could regularly purchase bouquets from the florist, plop them in a vase, and add water, but that gets expensive. And the flowers die — even for folks who have a natural knack with flowers.

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Word of the day: Freckles

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Word of the day: Freckles

Today's word is... FRECKLES!

Definition of freckle (per Merriam-Webster):

1: any of the small brownish spots in the skin due to augmented melanin production that increase in number and intensity on exposure to sunlight

Freckles on display:

Megan texted me this photo a week or so ago showing nine-year-old Brayden...

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Saturday movie review: Last Flag Flying

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Saturday movie review: Last Flag Flying

When I covered the Denver Film Festival last November, one of the movies I was especially excited about seeing was the drama/comedy LAST FLAG FLYING, directed by Richard Linklater and starring Steve Carrel, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishbourne. The trailers convinced me the road trip movie featuring the oft-comic cast as vets on a mission would be laugh-out-loud funny with a few touching scenes scattered throughout and a sure highlight of my festival experience.

Unfortunately I didn't see LAST FLAG FLYING at the festival. The movie was among the most popular and sold out quickly, so my husband and I missed out.

We hit the jackpot last week, though, when LAST FLAG FLYING hit the top of my Netflix queue. It took mere minutes after starting the DVD for my assumptions about the film to be flipped as it immediately proved...

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Throwback Thursday: The tunes they are a changin'

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Throwback Thursday: The tunes they are a changin'

This #TBT piece by Lisa Carpenter originally published March 24, 2011 on Grandma's Briefs.

I'm proud to say my family is musical. We dabble in playing — a guitar and piano here, a recorder and ukulele there — but it's in the listening to music that we really excel. As a whole, our hearts, minds and ears are open to myriad genres, everything from classical to Christian, country to show tunes, hard rock to soft rock and many that aren't really rock at all. We even have our family favorites in the rap genre. (I must admit, though, jazz and easy listening rarely pass notes in our homes, our cars, our iPods, or Spotify queue.)

Music plays a prodigious and powerful role in our family, which is why...

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Word of the Day: Jubilation

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Word of the Day: Jubilation

Today's word is... JUBILATION!

Definition of jubilation (per Merriam-Webster):

1: an act of rejoicing : the state of being jubilant 

2: an expression of great joy

Jubilation on display:

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A 'Disquiet Time' gem

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A 'Disquiet Time' gem

I am a sucker for a good quote, as this post and this post attest. I recently checked out from the library Disquiet Time: Rants and Reflections on the Good Book by the Skeptical, the Faithful, and a few Scoundrels, edited by Jennifer Grant and Cathleen Falsani, and while reading Tracey Bianchi's touching (and truth-filled) essay "One Disgusting Mess," the following passage jumped right off the page and into my heart:

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Now in the Recipe Box: Low-Carb, Low-Sugar Blueberry Muffins

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low carb low sugar blueberry muffins.jpg

Learning how to cut the sugar, cut the carbs has a steep learning curve, let me tell ya. After 35+ years of loving all things sugary, white, carb filled (and scrumptious... though unhealthy as all get-out), I'm struggling to find healthier foods we actually enjoy eating. 

I finally found success with these scrumptious muffins. The secret: almond flour, Splenda, and coconut oil. The surprise: My husband raved about the taste without me even prodding. Success indeed!

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