• A stack of children's books sit on a fall-themed coffee table.
    Homegirl

    One For The Books

    Have you ever seen an upright freezer the size of a fridge? It was a beautiful sight to behold that September morn — especially when you’re doing once-a-month long distance grocery hauls during a pandemic and there’s late autumn snow in…

  • An autumn display decorates a yellow kitchen table. Colored pencils in fall hues surround a coloring page of a cute squirrel in the forest holding a chestnut with the words "Fall Vibes" above his head.
    Homegirl

    Falling Into Place

    The subtle sign of autumn began peeking through this past Friday afternoon in Anaheim. It’s one I recognized from my many years of living in Southern California: a softer glow of sunlight filtering in through the window panes. Fall has arrived…

  • granny square in fall colors with crochet hook case with deer drawing and words "be kind."
    Homegirl

    One crafty mother blogger.

    I burst onto the Southern California scene in 1975. A bunch of stuff happened between infancy and when I started blogging in 2005 with Stix On The Beach: Tales From The Happiest Hooker on Earth! For over a decade, the popular…

  • Homegirl

    Dark Thoughts

    It’s here! Halloween is over, our new Christmas tree is up, the clocks have been set back, and I can hibernate again! It’s such a physiological shift as it is a psychological one, that it makes me believe I was a…

  • Cozy Hobbies,  Homegirl

    Octoblur

    For a long time October was a month I couldn’t wait to be over as it marked anniversaries I didn’t care to acknowledge. However, since moving to Oregon, October has become a welcomed buffer between seasons. But where I thought autumn…

  • Homegirl

    Mini Pause

    When we first moved from Southern California to Oregon in the spring of 2019, we lived just east of the Cascade Range in the mountain resort town of Bend. Bend had just thawed out from its Snowpocalypse and “Bendites” were quick…

  • Photo collage labed "Life in Oregon again." First photo: Emilia's First Day of Second Grade chalkboard sign. Second photo: Emilia waving from atop a carousel horse at Oregon Zoo. Third photo: Vanellope, a tuxedo cat, lies on top a multicolored crochet ripple blanket with cheerful, bright school table/craft space in blurry background. Fourth photo: Emilia smiles at camera while sitting and drawing with Crayons, color pencils, and schoolbooks scattered around her on red and white checkered picnic blanket in a forested backyard.
    Homegirl

    Homeschool, Homelife, Homecoming.

    And we’re back. Back in Corvallis. Back to homeschooling. And (in the words of Caron Wheeler), back to life, back to reality, back to the here and now, yeah. The condensed backstory goes like this: due to unforeseen circumstances, we reluctantly…

  • Homegirl

    The Nature of Blogging

    I grew up a Southern California city kid surrounded by surf and astroturf. “Being out in nature” meant driving 90 minutes to an overpriced resort town to stroll through souvenir shops and strip malls. We didn’t go to the mountains in…