Jan 1

Jan 1 5 Dog Pinches You'll Want

Healthy Family, Holidays/National Days, Products & Gift Ideas

It’s the very last day of December and I’m looking at a section in the mudroom. For those who don’t need a mudroom in your home - consider yourself lucky. Our mudroom is the space between our garage and our kitchen and in the winter, we hang all sorts of jackets and we stuff our hats, gloves and scarfs in rows of drawers. You can find boots under benches which are there to sit on while you put on said items. This same room is where we keep our washer and dryer and there is also a sink and a hamper.

Dec 25

Dec 25 Kind Lips

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas, Holidays/National Days

A really good problem to have is that some of the teachers at my kids’ school actually read my blog. This means I can’t always write about what we are going to give them before a holiday because I want them to be surprised.

Dec 18

Dec 18 6 Phases of Getting Ship Done

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Holidays/National Days, Products & Gift Ideas

I’m pretty proud of myself. Last week I shipped all of the holiday gifts to our out-of-state friends and family. This is a first for me because I’m usually scrambling for gifts and then standing in long lines at the post office on multiple trips, sweating. I found a way to beat the post office sweat and actually enjoy the shipping process of our gifts.

Nov 20

Nov 20 Simple; Uncomplicated

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Holidays/National Days, Products & Gift Ideas

I love it when my daughter shares her creative genius with me! Thanks to her, the thoughtful pinches that we gave to the teachers this year for Thanksgiving Day were simple; uncomplicated. I can say that now but I have to tell you, right before I went out to buy the gifts, it became complicated.

Nov 13

Nov 13 Pot Stirrer

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Holidays/National Days, Politics & Religion

My definition of a pot stirrer is: Noun - 1) a person who uses a kitchen utensil to mix food in a heatable container. 2) a person who can influence another person or a group of people into having either an uncomfortable conversation or an undesirable experience.

Nov 6

Nov 6 Habits That Transform

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas, Seasons, Holidays/National Days

My social media newsfeed is loaded with friends forming a habit of posting daily gratitude posts and I am loving it. The more thankfulness shared in the world, the better! This habit will transform my friends by the end of the month and it will be amazing.

Oct 30

Oct 30 Pumpkins Etc.

Barb Pellicer Paton

Food & Beverages, Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas, Seasons

If you don’t like the flavor of pumpkin, you’re pretty much counting the days for this season to end. Everywhere you turn, there are pumpkins and pumpkin-flavored products. Halloween is among us, which means there is an abundant amount of pumpkins everywhere!

Oct 2

Oct 2 Sorry, Not Sorry

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas

In my book, there are two sets of people that should be completely excused from sending thank you cards after they receive gifts. The first set, is any woman that just gave birth or adopted a baby or child. I don't care if it's her 10th child, no woman who has a new child should have to write a formal thank card for a baby gift. Ain't nobody got time for that. The second set of people who shouldn't be expected to write thank you cards are the ones who have lost a loved one. No further explanation necessary.

Sep 25

Sep 25 Sweet and Sour

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family

On Saturday, September 22, 2018 I did one of the hardest things I have ever done. I put my dog down. He wasn’t so sick that euthanizing was the only option. On the contrary, he was still gladly shaking his paw and giving us kisses to earn his treats up until the very minute he was put to sleep. Bruin would have been fourteen years old on September 30th.

Aug 21

Aug 21 First Day of School

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas, Seasons

I left my girlfriends in Sun Valley, ID today in order to make it back in time to tuck my kids into bed on the eve of their first day of school. I know that there will be many first days of school but missing the first day of school for my kids wasn’t an option for me. My son doesn’t like school very much. In fact, he hates school.

Aug 14

Aug 14 Signs

Barb Pellicer Paton

Food & Beverages, Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas

My friend Rose, who was on her annual visit from Switzerland, wanted to meet up to shop and squeeze in our last chance to see each other before she left MPLS. I was brutally honest when she called to ask what I was doing at the moment. I told her I was about to take a nap.

Aug 7

Aug 7 How Does Your Garden Grow?

Barb Pellicer Paton

Healthy Family, Products & Gift Ideas, Seasons

For a couple of summers, my children and I tried to have a garden in a shared plot of land at our church. We were successful in planting the garden but horrible at maintaining it because as the saying goes, "out-of-sight-out-of-mind." This summer was the very first summer that we have had fresh herbs at the ready and I owe it all to my mother-in-law, Carole.