Living a Simple Life with a Back Porch View

Dot-to-dot. Connect the dots. As a kid, you probably spent time pouring over a page with numbered dots scattered around in what seemed like a random method. If we started at Dot One, drew a line to Dot 2, and continued in the same method, eventually the lines we use to connect the dots would form a picture.

But ‘connecting the dots’ isn’t just a puzzle game for kids. It is also used as an idiom in life. When we don’t fully understand a situation, we are told to ‘connect the dots’. In other words, we need to star...

Holidays have a way of eliciting excitement in our hearts when we think about them. We can’t wait to catch up with family, dig into food we usually only get to enjoy once a year, and celebrate with all the festivities and fun. 

But there is nothing that can burst our excitement bubble quicker than thinking about how much it will cost. The needle that pops our excitement bubble is doubly sharp when we think about all the time it will take us to plan, prepare, bake, cook, shop, decorate, and clean. It’s enough to serio...

Don't Lose Your Marbles!

In the heat of summer, we are often looking for fun ways to entertain ourselves and stay as cool as possible at the same time. We also want to take advantage of the season and host a gathering. But knowing what to do – other than a picnic and outside games and activities – can be tough. What we really want to do is escape the heat and the mosquitoes but still do something different than just a movie night.

It’s easier than you think – and maybe more fun than you can imagine...

The summer months bring out more than bathing suits, grills, and ice-cold Lemonade.  It also brings hot and humid days, some of which break the 100-degree mark.  With little rain fall to break the heat and humidity, life can become uncomfortable to almost unbearable. 

It isn’t surprising that the heat doesn’t just make us sweat – it can also bring out the worst in us. Even the smallest thing that would ordinarily get overlooked seems to bring on a full-blown hurricane of emotions. In other words, it becomes a Tempest in a Tea Pot, or a Storm in...

This week our nation will be celebrating the 4th of July, which we all know is the birthdate of our country gaining freedom. Our forefathers created and signed the Declaration of Independence, which gave us political separation from Great Britain. 

By choosing to live a simple life, you have gotten your own brand of freedom – the separation from the tyranny of a life where something or someone other than yourself dictates you where you live, how you live, when you can come, when you can go, what job you can have, or what lifestyle you can live. 

Mama taught all of us girls the basics of laundry.  We learned how to use the washing machine, the proper way to hang clothes on the line, and when we were blessed with an automatic dryer, how to use it.  Once everything was cleaned, she taught us how to iron, then fold items and put them away.  And yes, she even taught us how to fold fitted sheets.

Fitted sheets are the bane of our existence.  No matter how hard we try, they just don’t fold well.  Fold in half, tuck the fitted corners together, fold again. ...

Established in Washington in 1966, Reading is Fundamental (RIF) began when Margaret McNamara realized that students she was tutoring didn’t have ready access to books.  Today, we have libraries, bookstores, eBooks, and even online libraries.  Accessing books isn’t truly a big problem any longer, but finding time to read might be. Take a ‘page’ out of Ms. McNamara’s ‘book’, and discover how reading can be entertaining, educational, and the perfect way to escape the heat, stretch your mind, and relax for an hour or two.  The only real problem you may face is that you might just get to a good par...

The summer heat has a way of driving us indoors, but we struggle to find ways to escape the heat and still be productive. Summer is one of the best times to work on handmade Christmas gifts.  Listen in and discover some great ideas on gifts you can make, and a simple tip on how to keep them all organized!

Links:

Psalm 91 Throw

Embellished Bath Towels

Barn Quilt

Coasters

Wooden Spoon Butter

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It’s official. Summer has finally hit us between the eyes. The humidity may be more of a southern thing, but the heat affects all of us, at least to some extent. And it doesn’t just make us sweat. It can affect us physically, mentally, and emotionally. Whether we want to or not, we can’t avoid it, so we just need to learn how to handle it to the best of our ability. 

It isn’t really difficult to get ready for summer: you just have to plan ahead a bit, then dive in. Listen in as we...

I hope you are ready for today’s conversation because I am going to take you back in time. I’m doing this to answer a question proposed to me recently. It had to do with the differences between a Simple Life ‘back then’, and a Simple Life now. The question seemed to clash with a belief that ‘we can never go back; we can only move forward’. 

To a point, I agree with that statement. It is impossible to step back in time and change things. We can only move forward and do our best not to repeat our...

As much as we sometimes would like to withdraw 100% from society, in reality it isn’t practical or probable. As humans, one of our basic needs is to have contact with others – even if it is only one or two people at a time. 

Having neighbors and a community fills that need. It doesn’t mean we have to be surrounded by people every single day. A little aloneness is also good for the soul. But when times get tough or we just need a helping hand, it is nice to have someone who can help. 

In Epi...

Welcome back to the Porch! Help yourself to some tea cakes and lemonade and settle in for a few minutes. In fact, you showed up just in time to help me with a little project I’m working on. All I need for you to do is tell me – what is your favorite kind of cookie?  (Just send me an email and let me know!)

While I was in the kitchen baking those tea cakes you’re enjoying, I started wondering about who the first person was to actually bake a cookie. And as a random history buff, I...

Gardening as part of a Simple Life is more than just growing fresh food for your family. It is also finding a way to continue growing that food when money is tight or we find ourselves in the midst of floods, drought, or even food shortages. To do this, we need to take our gardens to the next level and learn how to save the seeds for the food we grow. Learning how to start your own Seed Bank is simple. Listen in and get started on the basics!

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