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Put yourself on the list…

January 8, 2009 By Mary E. Knippel

Living a Simple Abundant Life©January 2009

Welcome 2009! A new year and 365 opportunities to create the life you want for yourself. By now you have hung your wall calendar, picked up your daily/weekly/monthly day timer, or put the new pages in your planner. You probably entered school vacations, family birthdays & anniversaries, dentist appointments and annual doctor visits. But I’ll bet there’s one important item you haven’t entered on the calendar. It’s something that will delight you (I hope) when you learn the subject of this month’s Living a Simple Abundant Life.

Ready to find out what’s missing on those calendar pages? YOU! That’s what’s missing. Time for you, and just you alone. Time for you…to sip a cup of tea/glass of sparkling something and watch a sunrise/sunset, to read a chapter of a romance novel in a bubble bath, to go to a chick flick in the middle of the day, to take a yoga/exercise class, to have a manicure, to have a massage, to do nothing and enjoy the quiet. When my daughter was small, I got up before the rest of family so that I could write in my journal for 15 minutes in the morning. It helped me find clarity and focus for the entire day. That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Not hours–which would probably add more stress to your life and that is not what our goal here. I’m simply suggesting that we as wives, mothers, sisters and friends are usually so focused on the needs of others that we don’t see how taking care of ourselves fits into our daily life. Whether it’s a few minutes every day or a couple hours a week, everyone benefits when we take the time to recharge and refresh ourselves.

So, I want you to take a highlighter (a permanent marker or pen of any color will do) and look at where you can block off time for yourself. Please do not do this in pencil so that you can take yourself off the list. Even Oprah has admitted that she took herself off the list and realized she never had time for herself. If Oprah can do it, so can we!

Ready to give it a try? Feel guilty or silly? Well, let’s make it a game. Let’s use a secret code on our calendars for our time alone. Our initials backwards? The name of our childhood imaginary friend? Grandma’s pet name for us? I’m going to start using M.M.M. (Meria’s marvelous mischief). We’re the only ones who know what L.S.A.L. (living a Simple Abundant life) means and why they are there. If anyone inquires what those letters mean on the calendar, we can reply with the truth. We have an appointment with a very dear friend who needs our special attention. I’m so excited, I can’t wait to fill my calendar with MMM dates. What about you?

Wishing you a year filled with Grace and Courage!

Be well,

Mary

Christmas in a small town

December 27, 2008 By Mary E. Knippel

A Christmas memory

o

n a cold Minnesota Saturday afternoon in late December my mother is clutching my little sister’s hand as the crowd of women and children in their Sunday finery swirls around us. This much activity is not the norm. The sight of my mother in heels, hose and her “good” fur-trimmed coat meant a special occasion. The fact that we were accompanying her meant that something very extraordinary was happening: Santa was coming to town. Three-year-old Louise grips her brown paper sack of hard ribbon candy and popcorn ball in her mittened hand. Brownie, Danny Brown manager of the Adams Furniture store dressed in his clip on bow tie and short sleeved white shirt, was busy passing out the gift bags to impatiently waiting children. I’m a very mature 7-year-old who has important accessories, along with my personal stash of candy, in my shoulder bag which was now hanging around my knees. Five-year-old Gale, my little brother, sees a friend behind us and twists around to try to talk to him. We’re hot and sweaty after coming out of the warm, stuffy furniture store into the cold afternoon air. We’re wearing heavy winter coats, snow pants and boots.

If you are a grown up lady you don’t have to wear boots in winter unless there’s lots of snow. There are some women who treated the Saturday event almost as if it was any other Saturday. They came to town with their heads wrapped in scarves to thinly disguise the curlers underneath in preparation for their appearance in church on Sunday. They went about the business of getting their weekly groceries at Johnny Wagner’s Super Value, mailing a Christmas package of homemade divinity to their cousin at the post office, followed by picking up red and white stripped candy canes at Schaefer’s Drug Store. What made this day unusual was that these women, including my mother, brought their children with them because the Merchant’s Assn had a wonderful marketing gimmick.

They put their heads together and decided to encourage the farm families to come to town to shop by sponsoring free movies for the children on the Saturday afternoons in December before Christmas. Vernon Schaefer, father of 5, devout Catholic, member of the Merchants Assn who sold insurance and also ran the Adams Theatre, choose appropriate films for young children approved by the Catholic League of Decency. I think we saw Babes in Toyland every Saturday one year.

On the Saturday before Christmas the air was full of electricity as adults and children filled the stores and sidewalks awaiting Santa’s arrival. Seated his La-Z-boy throne, centrally located in the middle of the furniture store, Santa heard all the children’s Christmas wishes. I wanted a real baby doll with beautiful crocheted clothes. Louise wanted a real puppy to could sleep in bed with her.

That wasn’t something that you wanted to hear from someone you share a bed with. Gale wanted a real tractor he could drive to farm the garden.

We were a typical Midwestern farming community in the 50’s. Sacred Heart Catholic Church stood down the crushed rock road yards from my back door. Little Cedar Lutheran Church was directly across the street from my cousin Linda’s house at the other end of town. Marshall Lutheran Church was out in the country. We passed it going to my grandparent’s farm. My dad grew up there and two of his three sisters still lived there along with his parents.

We were not a diverse community. Migrant Mexican farm workers picked potatoes near Blooming Prairie, but that was miles from us and we certainly never came in contact with them. I never saw a black person, except in Missionary pictures of pagan babies, or Life magazine until I was 10 years old.

You wouldn’t know it to look at us, but my two brothers, my sister and I were all the result of a mixed marriage! Our definition of a mixed marriage meant that one party was Lutheran and the other was Catholic. My father was raised in a very strict Lutheran home. My mother’s mother was a devout Catholic who attended daily mass. Grandma was a favorite of the nuns and they often walked past our house on Friday, baking day. Grandma always generously gave them a fresh loaf of bread to take back to the convent.

Despite the fact that we lived a block from the center of town, we kids were never allowed to run wild like a pack of Indians. Getting uptown for the December movies was a mixed blessing. A small taste of the high life, while we were expected to be on our best behavior because after all Christmas was only days away! The unfairness of the pressure to be good.

My mother had a firm grip on her handbag in one hand and my sister in her other leather gloved hand. Mother hurries us along as Louise stared at her reflection in the Adams Furniture Store window. The bank president is passing buffalo nickels out in front of the Farmers State Bank and then it’s across the railroad tracks and home. I can almost feel the cold metal against my warm palm where I slipped it inside my mitten for safe keeping. A nickel bought a lot in 1957.

December's Simple Holiday Suggestion

December 9, 2008 By Mary E. Knippel

December brings us the holiday season which many consider to be the happiest time of the year, but the challenges of being a personal shopper, gourmet baker and chef, tree decorator and correspondence queen lead many of us to promise that next year we’ll do things much differently. Over the years I’ve tried to incorporate ways to make the short time between Thanksgiving and Christmas less hectic by buying gifts all year on sale and stashing holiday baking in the freezer weeks ahead. But then I’d forget where I hid the gifts, and somehow the treats would disappear from the freezer. Yesterday, I spent the day making sugar cookies, ginger snaps, banana bread, and a family favorite–my famous peanut clusters. The house smelled wonderful and with the combination of the scent of fresh Christmas tree in the family room, my holiday season had officially begun.

There’s still time this year to simplify and ransom the joy of the season that we wish for everyone else back for ourselves. My suggestion for living a Simple Abundant life this month has to do with wrapping your gifts. When wrapping your holiday treasures, choose one paper pattern for each gift recipient. You will know immediately who gets what and they will appreciate the fact that you took such care in wrapping their gift. It could even be a game to match the paper with a personality or the contents of the package. Have fun with it and be creative. Remember, gift wrap doesn’t have to come from the store. Think Green:  use the comics, newspaper, butcher paper, brown craft paper, or grocery bags. Or, “wrap” using a fabric bag.

Wishing you all the Blessings, Beauty and Joy

of this Holiday Season

and a Simple Abundant Life today and every day!

 

 

 

 

 

Giving Thanks for bread and being together

November 27, 2008 By Mary E. Knippel

As I write this the house is filled with a wonderful scent from my childhood. I’ve been baking bread all day in anticipation of our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. My assignment is rolls and Orange Sherbert Jello because it wouldn’t be a complete dinner without Aunt Mary’s rolls and Jello.

When I was growing up Friday was bread baking day. We children couldn’t wait until supper to have a fresh biscuit, we begged to have one right out of the oven with the butter still shimmering on the crust. Sometimes, we’d get to indulge in the treat. But usually we were told to wait because the hot bread wouldn’t digest well, or something like that which we didn’t quite believe. I was reminded of that simple joy when my daughter came into the kitchen as I was buttering a batch of dinner rolls and said she wanted to eat one right now because they smelled so good! I told her to go ahead and I sat down and ate one with her! It tasted like my Grandma’s best biscuits.

We’ll gather at my sister-in-law’s home for a traditional menu of turkey with all the trimmings. I’m grateful to be able to contribute in a small way and perhaps because my daughter, neices and nephew have grown up with my home made rolls, they’ll have stories to tell some day about simple things like fresh bread that made their childhood special.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving!

Living a Simple Abundant Life

November 10, 2008 By Mary E. Knippel

It seems as if it was only yesterday we were together at our Morning Break for Women Simple Abundance Close-to-Home Workshop. This picture shows the smiling faces of the wonderful women who invited me to lead them on a journey to discover their “authentic self.” We discussed how important it was to take time for ourselves and I recently sent out an e-mail with a little suggested activity. As we approach that season of frenzied activity, don’t forget that in taking care of yourself you will be in a better position to take care of those you love.

One of my favorite pamperings is to take a long, hot bath with Lavender bath salts. The salts smell heavenly!  I close my eyes and breathe in the lovely scent while the hot water soothes my sore muscles. After a full day of _____________ (you fill in the blank:  baking, card writing, decorating, craft making with the children, and of course, your “normal work routine”) perhaps that would be something you’d enjoy as well. I make my own bath salts and you can too.
You will need:  1. Epson salts (you can find this in any drug store, Target, or Wal-Mart)
      2.  Essential Oil (you can find this at a drug store, Target, or Michaels)
      3.  Glass jar with a tight lid (such as a Mason canning jar)
Fill the glass jar just full enough that the salts move freely when you shake it.
Add 2-3 drops of your favorite scent of Essential Oil to the salt, cover securely and shake several times to distribute the Essential Oil.
Allow several hours before using so that the Essential Oil is fully absorbed into the salt.
Then fill the tub, add the scented bath salts, pour a glass of Sparkling Cider, light candles, slide into the watery bliss and ENJOY!
Wishing you a Simple Abundant Life today and every day!

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