Your Writing Mentor

Mary Knippel

December's Simple Holiday Suggestion

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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

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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

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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!

October: beauty, blessings and blues

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This month has brought good times and sad times as I witnessed beginnings and endings.

I gratefully acknowledge I am able to celebrate another birthday and another year full of the creative pursuit of healing.

I observed the crisp fall days signalling that summer had ended and another season has begun.

I the welcomed my great neice when she was just hours old and days after we buried my father-in-law who died suddenly when the month was new.

I launched my Simple Abundance Workshop Leader career in the company of enthusiastic Sarah supporters.

I discovered a wonderful new tea place and reconnected with a Kindred Spirit.

I attended my 40th high school class reunion; thoroughly enjoyed reminiscing with old friends for hours and the synchronicity of the fact I’m embarking on a new career while many of them are relishing retirement.

I presided in my official WNBA capacity at a Natl Reading Group Month event and was delighted at how comfortable I have become speaking in front of a group.

I sat among the 14,000 women who filled the Long Beach Convention Center for the California Women’s Conference organized by Maria Shriver which had all the glamour of Hollywood with the intensity of Washington D.C.

I slipped away for a Napa retreat and found myself in an Italian Villa designed to facilitate rest and relaxation. It was an incredibly inspiring atmsphere and I can’t wait for another opportunity to be surrounded by the company and the setting.

 

 

 

 

September's song

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Here we are notebooks in hand, pencils freshly sharpened and a new pack of 24 Crayola Crayons ready to face the classroom again. I know, I know many of us haven’t seen the inside of a classroom in quite some time. But doesn’t the calendar page turning from August to September automatically take you back to getting ready for school? With the weather we’ve been having on the Coastside I’ve defintely been thinking Indian Summer – without the glorious oranges and reds of the Fall leaves, but with lots of unsually warm temperatures.

The air is deliciously full of possibility this time of year; a pre-schooler is suddenly entering elementary school, a shy child has discovered her peers and bounds into middle school, an awkward adolescent has blossomed overnight into a high school student who will soon disappear into the “real world!”  And it occurred to me that we are all those individuals every time we step out to try something new as “students of life.”

I am so grateful that I have the ability to tap into my creativity to help me cope with the challenges I encounter along the way. Being able to dream, to hunger for something more, to risk falling by reaching beyond my grasp for new experiences and stepping into the unknown. What shall I be today? The options are just too exquisite and I’m hugging myself in anticipation.

I wish you freshly sharpened pencils, pages of unblemished paper, a wild pallet of pigments and time to create a splendidly educational opportunitity for yourself – as only you can…