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Potato Gnocchi–A Nice Change from all the Matzo
One of the perks of having married my husband is that I have also had the chance to meet and become friends with his friends. (Thanks, Sweetie!) I recently spent a morning with his high school friend (and my current friend) Diane. She offered to teach me some Italian cooking. I was all in! Granted, at the time we made our plans, I had not realized that we would be getting together during Passover, so that affected what we made. We decided to make potato gnocchi which, although I would not be able to test out the day we made it, I would be able to freeze and eat after…
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Aspects of Passover 2019
My family always hosts at least one of the two yearly Passover seders at my home. Passover is the holiday that I have claimed for family hosting. The first year that my husband and I lived in our house, we hosted Thanksgiving. That was simply our trial run of hosting a family event. Once we acknowledged that we could handle it, we took over a religious holiday, and I am glad that we did! If you don’t have any idea what I am talking about when I use the term “Passover,” this link can provide some useful information. (FYI–the article in the link is from a previous year. The date…
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College Tour, Part 5: Last Stop–University of Louisville
The drive to Frankfort, Kentucky from Knoxville, Tennessee was uneventful (which is good). We arrived at the Capital Plaza Hotel and decided to have a mellow evening. My husband decided to just sit back and relax in the room. He had been doing ALL of the driving; he earned this! The kids were very happy to be able to enjoy some time in the indoor hotel pool (as you are farther south, you find fewer indoor pools). Shortly after we entered the pool, several other families showed up as well. Despite the noise and chaos in the pool, I was able to just sit and chat with another mom who…
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College Tour, Part 4: Time for Tennessee
After leaving the University of Georgia, we started on the next leg of our college tour–we were heading to Tennessee to visit the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. After a quick stop for lunch and to arrange for a hotel stay, we turned on the Waze app and started this leg of the journey. Foreshadowing: Sometimes things have ways of working out… We have some friends who live near the Knoxville area. We had previously discussed trying to meet up, but we knew that due to various circumstances, any plans would have to be made last minute. Unfortunately, our friends would not be able to join us that evening. We…
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College Tour, Part 3: Peachy Keen–Visiting the University of Georgia
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary stay at the hotel mentioned in this post for sharing an honest opinion in my blog. All opinions stated are my own. In a previous post, I mentioned that my family tends to make last minute hotel reservations. Well, this time we actually had a plan not one but TWO days in advance. Our initial destination on arrival in Athens, Georgia was Georgia Gameday Center. WOW! I think that I became a Georgia Bulldogs fan just by entering the building, lol! I honestly never really thought about the University of Georgia (UGA) before, but within moments of entering the building, I was a fan!…
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College Tour, Part 2: Carolinas on My Mind–University of North Carolina and Clemson University
The underlying purpose for our spring break trip should now be revealing itself. We arrived at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in time for our 1p scheduled admissions meeting and tour. OUR FIRST REAL COLLEGE VISIT!! The initial session was very interesting and helpful. Some assorted topics mentioned which were important for me to hear were that 78% of the classes have fewer than 40 students. There are also hundreds of study abroad programs. (When I was in college, I spent a year in Southampton, England. I really hope that my kids can take advantage of some international experience, as well, during their studies.) The students overall…
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College Tour, Part 1: From Home to Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary stay at the hotel mentioned in this post for sharing an honest opinion in my blog. All opinions stated are my own. An initial FYI–As you may know, I am all about “living and learning.” Saying that, I will often include links to other sites which provide additional information on a variety of topics or places that I think you might find interesting to read (because I do). Additionally, this was a college trip. I likely won’t include, however, a lot of school specific academic/application/housing/etc information. The better source for that would be on-line at the school’s website or directly from those who work or…
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From Darkness to Light–Fancy Way of Saying We Changed a Closet Light Fixture
My husband loves that I am doing my “Beckie Lives and Learns” blog, etc. “Why?” you may wonder. My husband is very handy and likes to tinker around and fix things. I am now a much more captive and willing audience. He knows that I am now willing to try to understand and learn what he is doing (as opposed to just walking away to do something else). This afternoon, we (term used loosely–I held a flashlight, watched, and listened) changed the light fixture in my bedroom closet because it would no longer stay on. I was ready to learn how to do what I envisioned would be a fairly…
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Making Natural Body Products
Back in January, I placed a post on a community Facebook page (see prev post). Shortly afterward, I received a message from Laurie; she offered to show me how to make some natural products. I was so excited! I have always wanted to try making natural body products, but I have never had all of the supplies necessary to do so. Laurie is also someone I had never met before, so I was looking forward to meeting another member of my community. (The suburb in which I live is small enough that you feel as though you know a decent number of people but realize that there are many you…
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Time to Try and Taste Tomatillos
My introduction to tomatillos.
If it's not illegal, immoral, or blatantly stupid, I am willing to give it a try!
