3x5s Introduction

For her birthday in October last year, my youngest, who was then going to college, working, and being a wife, asked me if I would write out a year’s worth of Bible verses on 3×5 cards for her. Something she could read at breakfast with her tea. She also wanted me to comment on the verse, with the whole thing, verse and comment, not covering more than the front of a 3×5, and it had to be in my own handwriting. (Yes, she’s bossy, and she likes it. And,... Read More

Awaiting the Ascent

Our family went on a rope-climbing trip on Camelback Mountain Friday afternoon, and I thought it’d be a good opportunity to introduce all of them onto the blog. This is my husband, leader of many such expeditions. He’s a world history teacher, and runs the Adventure Club at his high school. Here, he gets his harness on, ready to climb. My husband checks my oldest son’s harness. This is a big day: my son is facing his fear of heights. I already have my harness... Read More

New Soil

This week marks the end of one phase of my life. Saturday, a moving van is showing up, so that my husband and I can load up our few belongings and transport them to our new home in small-town, south Kansas. This week has been crawling by, feeling much like one feels at the top of a roller-coaster, knowing the rush is coming soon. Paint colors have been picked, garden plans have been drawn (and re-drawn). Our new place is exceptionally modest, with the house being the least... Read More

Mischief

“I’m sowwy, Mom.” It was a tearful apology. She shouldn’t have been climbing on the counter in the first place. A Band-Aid for the pinprick of blood on her heel, a word of caution, and she was on her way – and off the hook. I liked that cup, outdated as it was. I remember it sitting with its match on my dorm windowsill in college. Usually it was full of healthy herbal tea, which I sipped while chowing down an entire jumbo bag…s of peanut M&Ms... Read More

My Blogging Break

This week is a blogging “break” for me (really… you’re not seeing this post). No worries, there’s lots to read, thanks to other family members! My brother set us up with our new self-hosted “spot” for the site, which really will make this blog’s existence so much happier in the long run. This week’s task was getting everything transferred from our old www.wolfewednesdays.wordpress.com to the NEW www.lettersfromtheloft.com.... Read More

Finding Life

My older sister and I have talked at random in the past several years about starting a blog together. I ended up starting this one last year, just to learn a new hobby and deal with the isolation of mountain life and early motherhood. It was only a matter of time, though, before I called and begged, “Um, Julie, is it time now?” Julie cuts straight to the heart of a matter – be prepared! Grab a cup of coffee, sit back, read her story, and get ready to be cut to... Read More

Close to Eden

As I was thinking about my beginnings in gardening, I suddenly felt an acute empathy for so many people in my life who claim that they simply “don’t have a green thumb.” Most of them use stories of pathetic, wilted, porch-grown tomato plants and neglected, forgotten, (and thus) deceased herb pots as evidence of their lack of the “gardening gene.” I believe my empathy comes from deep understanding. Sewing is my nemesis. My early failures and giving-ups have just about... Read More

The Deep-Dish Pizza Recipe

Someone asked for the deep-dish pizza recipe from this morning’s post (photos on that post). I’m cutting and pasting it from an email to my sister a couple years ago, with a few minor edits: Annie, Here’s my deep-dish pizza recipe. You realize when you ask ME for a recipe, you’ll get lots of details! 🙂 The pizza crust recipe I found online [I’ve made a couple changes to it]. The toppings are mine. It has morphed over the years, and we always say the most... Read More

A Big Slice of Love

For Valentine’s Day, I was planning to make dainty, heart-shaped, pink-frosted sugar cookies and photograph them. It was for the blog… but wouldn’t my own dear valentine be perfectly delighted, too? I had a timely reminder this week, though, that the man I married is the type who will always prefer meat lover’s over milk and cookies, so I ended up making deep-dish pizza instead. It’s not the traditional February 14th (or 4th) fare, but I’m sure we’ll get... Read More

Organization Inspiration

Last week I took the older three to their regular gymnastics class. The other moms there – really wonderful people – are very generous to me in providing mommy advice! I’ve wondered if it had to do with my son arriving in mismatched socks… balancing act One of the tips this time (solicited advice, to be fair 🙂 ) was to go visit the Learning Is Fun store. We hit the store immediately after gymnastics, and oh, it was wonderful. There were bookcases upon... Read More