Friday night found me in a bit of a panic. I was set to do a holiday center piece make ‘n take early Saturday morning. I was unwinding with a cup of tea to calm my nerves. It seemed colder than normal in our house so I went to check our thermostat. Sure enough it was 62 degrees. Our heat is set to 70. Our main source of heat and our back up heat had gone out in the same night. When my husband got home from his overnight shift our house was down to 58 degrees.

Our house is right near its 25th birthday - aka past the expiration date for many appliances. In our three years of ownership we have found ourselves replacing the well control box one year, the wellpump the next year, parts of our geothermal heating system and water heater this summer and a few miscellaneous appliances along the way. Every single time this happens, it sets me in a panic. It leads me down a how are we going to afford this road and brings out the worst of my deeply embedded scarcity mindset. But the strange thing is by the time the next roadblock comes along, I have forgotten about the ones that came before. The thing I though we might not get over has completely simply slipped my mind. Contrary to my excessive overthinking and panic in the moments, life has gone on and it has gone on quite beautifully actually.

In life we are often told not to sweat the small things, but the truth is when they are looking you in the face very few things seem small. So maybe we should also be told not to sweat the big things either. Or in the lease we should try to approach them with a little more of a laissez-faire attitude. Understanding that many of these big things are out of our control. We are capable of making smart and good decisions and adaptions without the excessive worry that takes away from the enjoyment of our other good things.

So thank you to all who came out to The Barn at Dunvilla for the Holiday Glam event. I had a blast doing our first Holiday Centerpiece Make ‘n Takes - it was a wonderful day. After watching everyone create such beautiful pieces, I am fully in the Christmas Spirit! So cheers to a wonderful holiday season, and remember, give yourself a little grace this time of year and try not to sweat the small - or the big - things.

“When will we realize that the unfolding process of our lives is so much richer and varied than we ever could have planned?”

Also for those wondering - we are going on day 4 with no furnace! Thank goodness a woodburing fireplace, small house, and mild Minnesota weather ( the lowest outside temp. has been 7 degrees but has been averaging in the 20’s).

Yoga has been a the tool I turn to when I am faced with big things. Several years ago I started with simple 15 minute practices with Yoga with Adriene. Adriene’s free at home practices gave me the confidence to branch out at try yoga in several other forms and places. This summer Twisted Yoga by Kari led a beautiful practice among the flowers every Sunday and it was the day looked forward to most. A friend has turned me on to occasional Sunday Hot Yoga at 180 Balance in DL. I am now lucky enough to partake in a weekly practice with a wonderful yoga therapist through my mindset coaching program. Wherever you are, whatever you are faced with, I highly suggest giving a few moments on a yoga mat a try.

True loves to be outside no matter the weather! This sweet little boy has been enjoying some time out of the house and so has dad now that ice fishing has begun. My days have been busy figuring out the details for holiday centerpieces. I have never had to order any greenery of flowers -taking pride in growing all of our own in the summer. For these centerpieces I knew we would need to order in so long lasting greenery, but I still wanted to make some adaptions to keep our environmental impact in mind. The containers used are made of steel and tin instead of plastic, all berries and ornaments used in the containers are all biodegradable (fresh or dried not dyed or bleached) , and the greenery was held in place without the use of floral foam. While we are not perfect, I do think it is important to make adaptions where we can to keep our footprint in mind.