Carrie's Corner

I tend to avoid political rhetoric on any social media forum, but I am compelled to write a few brief thoughts and I hope you will really listen. As a life-long American, I grew up saluting the American flag, singing the National Anthem with pride and held dear in my heart all things patriotic and noble. I was taught to respect the office of President, regardless of who held the office. I was taught that voting was not only my civic duty, but that giving up my right to vote was paramount to spitting on the graves of the soldiers who had died to preserve my right to vote, my right to speak freely, and my right to worship as I chose. Honestly, not much of that has changed in my heart, but like many of you, my heart is wearied this season. Hopelessness? Yes. Fear? Yes. Anxiety over the future of our country? Yes. Honestly, regardless of which side of the political fence you fall on, these thoughts seem to be a common theme. Fear is the biggest one I see storming most of the ...

Oh My! It's almost Christmas time!?!  Can you believe it?    I chuckled to myself yesterday while I was at the store and I watched the clerks frantically shelving this year's Christmas decor.  Of course, if you walk into the garden section at your local Walmart it already looks like a Winter Wonderland. Truthfully, I kind of enjoyed walking around seeing what this year's offerings would be for Christmas decor.  I'm always tempted to add something to my collection, but the truth is, I already have far more Christmas decor than I need. What is even more amazing to me though, is how fast the holidays come upon me every year.  Last I knew, we were just starting a new school year and now we are in the middle of fall and looking forward to Thanksgiving.  But Christmas?  I just finished getting my pumpkins placed everywhere! Sometimes I long for the days of mystery and intrigue that I experienced as a child when the holidays came around.  Septemb...

I just hit a milestone birthday a couple of weeks ago.  Funny--I don't feel any older, but the calendar is claiming that I am. I find myself scratching my head sometimes and wondering when I became old enough to have married children, old enough to be called "ma'am" in the grocery store, and old enough to realize that I am now the age my parents were when I was stepping out into young adulthood.  The cliche's are true.  Time flew by at warp speed, and yet I still remember holding my newborn babies as if it were just last week.  It would be easy to fall into thinking that my life is half over and therefore I should hit the panic button, create a bucket list, or try to repair the broken pieces I left behind in the past, but I choose to think a bit differently. I'm moving forward and embracing the idea that it's never too late, as long as I'm alive.  And just where did that idea come from?  The obvious answer would be from God's word.  After all, th...

You might be assuming by the title of this blog that I will be talking about 2 and 3 years old kids, but I'm not.  I'm talking about me.  Yep. You got that right.  Me.  I threw a pretty good tantrum a couple of weeks ago.  I was trying to pack up to leave for a weekend away and had gone to the laundry room to throw in a quick load of clothes I needed for the trip.  When I opened the washer, it was full of clothes.  I opened the dryer, which was also full of clothes. I then looked at the laundry basket and someone had taken MY clothes out of the dryer and thrown them in the laundry basket without me knowing it.  The clothes had not only been sitting there wadded up in the basket, but our lovely cat had decided that a basket full of clean clothes was the perfect place to nap.  While this is not the first time for this kind of incident in our home, I decided that day that it was to be the last time it would ever happen.  I started yelling...

Have you ever looked back at something and you were surprised by the amount of time that had passed since you engaged in that activity?  That happened today, when I realized I hadn't written on this blog in over a year.  And what a year it has been.  I've had a death, a wedding, my oldest child moving out, my 2nd oldest moving back in, my mother moving closer to me and her adjusting to a new life.  That is on top of my regular life which consists of homeschooling and various volunteer activities, as well as just being a parent, a wife, a friend and daughter.  I had that persistent nag cross my mind often, which said, "You need to get back to writing on your blog!"  But I would ignore it and so here we are...a year later. It reminded me of other things that I have put off.  Number one is rebooting my exercise program and getting back to my healthy eating.  Another one is cleaning out some closets that are calling my name and another that i...