One Thing. I Can Do That.

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.” 
― Meister Eckhart

Busy, busy today! So here's a re-run post from many years ago, one which still tickles my head each week...



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Years ago I read that a woman made one new improvement to her home each day. I was inspired! I mean, just think--if you changed just one thing about your home or about your life each day, by the year's end, you'd have made 365 changes.

And the kinds of changes I'm speaking of are simple:

Rearrange the furniture in one room.
Wash one shelf of knick-knacks.
Clean-out one closet, one drawer, or one cupboard.
Paint one chair or one wall or one table.
Place pretty contact paper in one drawer.
Visit one coffee shop for the first time.
Take one photo from your home on a gorgeous day.
Create one quiet reading corner just for you.
Rearrange the items on one table.
Deep clean one room.
Gather one bag of cast-offs for a thrift shop.
Sew one decorative pillow.
Hang one lovely picture.

...and I'm sure you can think of a hundred more 'one things,' non-oh-so-daily things which make a pleasant difference in your day, your outlook. Tasks which whisk you away from deep, dull ruts. (The stuff we 'should' do each day doesn't count).

Sometimes we just get stuck in an overwhelmed frame of mind, dreading the one-hundred things we believe need to be done. Yet just by doing that one simple thing, we are often inspired, freed to do yet another thing and then another... 

It's the pushing past that awful weight of lethargy or a same ol,' same ol' frame of mind that can release creativity and a smiling sense of accomplishment.

One thing--one new thing each day. I love that.

It also works for relationships: one new thing to resuscitate that friendship I've let slide. One thing to show my husband he's still my favorite friend. One thing to show Naomi she's always in my thoughts even though she's no longer living in our house...

... and so on until one thing has become thousands of delightful things over the years and feeling overwhelmed or bored has become just a vague memory.

(Photo by Scott Garlock.)

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"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."   ... 2 Corinthians 5:17

“I want every day to be a fresh start on expanding what is possible.” 
― Oprah Winfrey


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Did you pick up a free copy of Let Them Eat Cake for your Kindle when I listed it? My friend, Kristi, highly recommended it, I'm reading it now and oh! Totally enjoyable, just as she said.

It's $3.99 now (unless you have kindle unlimited) , but I thought I'd mention it in case it's already sitting in your Kindle waiting for you...


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Free Kindle books:


Sara in Montana

The Charms of Miss O'Hara

I truly enjoy  my 'Baker Boys.' They make me smile even on bleary-eyed mornings.

Being My Own Doctor

When you go online, you discover some interesting things. 

Like, back around 2000, I used eye drops nearly every day to relieve redness, but then I read on the Net--oh my! Many eye drops are designed to actually redden your eyes so that you'll feel the need to keep buying and using them.

I immediately stopped using eye drops and the whites of my eyes have remained just that--white.

Similarly, I'd get daily headaches so I'd take an ibuprofen or naproxen each day for, gah, over a year. But then I read online that I was getting rebound headaches because of the medication. I stopped the meds and all these years later? I've only had the occasional sinus headache, maybe three per year.

And well, if I do begin to get a sinus headache, I immediately take 1,000 units of Vitamin C, drink a glass of water and plop my head into my handy-dandy facial steamer. Takes it all away 98% of the time.

To avoid those sinus headaches, I've had to cut waaay back on dairy products like milk and cheese and I had to totally give up oranges and lemons, including citrus juices. I can take all the Vitamin C pills I want (appreciating what they do for my health and my gums, even), but oranges, etc. (in tandem with milk products, especially) can start a sinus infection faster than you can say, "What were you thinking?"  :)  Oh, and I've not had any kind of sinus infection in ten or so years.

Speaking of headaches, many years ago I had to give-up caffeinated coffee (much to my distress) because it began giving me headaches. But once I did (after the painful withdrawal part), I immediately felt better all over, perhaps partially because I slept sounder, also. It's certainly been worth it. 

I can't drink too much decaf, either, because it can bring on arthritis symptoms, so years ago I came up with a hot chocolate recipe that I love. It uses baking cocoa which--I've read--can be as healthy in antioxidants as green tea. Since I can't stand green tea, I'll take the chocolate. heh.

If either Tom or I even begin to feel a little indigestion, we immediately chew a (tasty) acidolphulus tablet from the refrigerator. Occasionally we need two, but they always work. Daily we take one or two of these because they're vital for good digestion and getting rid of bad bacteria and adding good. I've not been sick in 3 1/2 years and I believe these (and Vitamins D3 and C and krill oil) are major reasons why my immune system is strong.

To get a good night's sleep, I can't eat dinner too late, avoiding these foods in that meal: potatoes, chicken, rice, pasta, apples and dessert. Protein like beef and peanut butter (and bananas, as well), help me sleep better, as does melatonin, krill oil and half a caplet of magnesium. Working and exercising earlier in the day, help, too, as opposed to sitting around and doing lots of nothing.

Oh, and I drink a quarter cup of cranberry juice each day.  :)

Also? God and I have trained my mind not to worry, to release the past and to--instead-- think upon these things:

"...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--anything that is excellent or praiseworthy..."   Philippians 4:8

And personally, I have found thinking those thoughts to be huge when it comes to both my mental and physical health. That, and laughter. Oh, the healing power of a merry heart.

Of course, I'm not saying anyone else needs to do any of these things. 

But I guess I'm sharing these to illustrate that I've chosen to be my own doctor in these areas. I've had to learn much by trial, error and research online and really, I could, instead, whine a lot, complain, or take a bunch of meds. But I've chosen not to do that--at least, for now. 

Now my research and choices seem to be working... and that's what matters to me.

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" A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit dries up the bones."   ...Proverbs 17:22


(I love that verse because it shows our emotions and physical health are connected.)


"Do not let your hearts be troubled."   ... John 14:1


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“Don’t fail through defects of temper and over-sensitiveness at moments of trial. One of the great helps to success is to be cheerful; to go to work with a full sense of life; to be determined to put hindrances out of the way; to prevail over them and to get the mastery. Above all things else, be cheerful; there is no beatitude for the despairing.” 
― Amelia E. Barr


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Free Kindle books:


A Stranger on my Land

The Trouble with Holly

That Sense of Impending Winter

"But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead..."   ... Philippians 3:13


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Brrr! Here in Buffalo, Winter always seems to arrive on the night children knock on doors and shout, "Trick or treat." That's the trick that Winter plays on us--his early arrival--and he played it again, especially when he spit some snow at us on Saturday.

Oh well. I'm kinda ready for the constant cold. Maybe if I play mega doses of Rehab Addict I'll finish the Tackling All Things Annoying at Hobbit Cottage Game which I've played since Springtime.

Ah, sweet Springtime. Just the other day I planted marigolds beneath the cranberry tree and--. No, no... better not go there. Gazing backward never accomplishes what needs to be finished today, lest I find myself unprepared and too mentally tired to face tomorrow's challenges.

Anyway. Our big picture window did get installed this year (and lest you lost sleep over this, I finally painted the frame) and the wonderful news? Not a single river-view-stealing machine has parked down the street since Thursday morning. I'm thinking, hoping, that their work for the year is completed and inside I'm still doing giddy cartwheels. 

Such a busy week ahead for procrastinator me! I may go all "Best Of" here in my blog and I would apologize, but I still find some of those "Best Of's" helpful. Their lessons which took me far too long to learn, well, they help keep me sane and off the streets. There is that.  :)

Oh, and speaking of Halloween, some years Tom and I hand out candy, other years we sit in the dark. This year we sat in the dark. We munched on candy which Tom should not have brought home and watched Alaska: The Last Frontier, a series we never tire of and one which reminds us of two very important facts:

1.) Some people are called by God to live off the land.

2.) The rest of us are not.


Tom and I appreciate anything God uses to solidify the simple lifestyle we're discovering at Hobbit Cottage. Any day we'll take simplicity lessons which warn us out of complication/drama/discontentment. Gladly.

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The one thing I love about Winter? Not having to mow the lawn, of course!


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"While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”   ... Genesis 8:22

(I must remind myself of that verse whenever I begin wishing all this gold outside of my windows would remain over the Winter.... That verse and Ecclesiastes 3:1, of course.)

“Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.” 
― Edith Sitwell

“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” 
― John Steinbeck



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Free Kindle books:


Hearts in Defiance

Whimsy and Soda

Cat-Eye Witness