In my first job out of college I worked on an in-home intervention team serving families who were focused on preservation. Or, in other terms, they were at risk of losing custody of their children because of abuse, neglect, poverty, and often abuses of power by the system, too. That job smacked me in my face with a PhD in The Real World. I'd grown up solidly middle class in an affluent community w…
On a regular basis I take a load of junk to the thrift store. I love shopping thrift, I love donating thrift. My husband and kids and I live in a tiny home in Minneapolis, and the key to it's success (and subsequently our enjoyably low cost of living!) is ensuring we don't overcrowd the space. When we've used something, enjoyed it, given it our all for the time it was ours, and realize its served…
When I was a kid my Mom had a special spot in the living room on a certain side of the couch where she had the phone - first the kind with the long cord, then the cordless one, a coaster for her coffee, some magazines, probably her prayer books, and we were mostly told to get outta that area. It was her's. It was like the sacred mother space where she could see outside, probably couldn't hear the…
