Karen's Dangling Conversation

24 Things  encourages you to make room in your home, heart, and mind to create an inspired future. Being satisfied with little, you can gain much. Seeking much, you will go astray. The wise heed this precept. If it could only be so with all people. – The Tao Te Ching One spring day in March, I headed into my basement to clear out the piles and boxes of old stuff.  It turned into an exercise in introspection.  I wrote  Princess of Garbage Day  and was surprised at the reaction. People wrote and shared intimate stories of letting go and the fears attached.  I thought it would be an interesting exercise to let go of one item each day from April 1st until Easter, which fell on the 24th.  I noticed how some items were really difficult for me to let go of but in the end I felt free.  Free from my identification with the object and memory.  Free to create something new to fill the space. Letting go can be...

This salad makes a lovely spring tonic.  It thins the bile which in turn will flush the liver which will rid the body of unwanted toxins.  This is especially important in the spring after a long cold winter like we have had this year.  Do yourself a big favor and have some Apple Beet Salad today! Apple Beet Salad 1 medium beet, peeled  2 small apples, Fuji, Yellow Delicious, or your favorite 1 lemon 1-2 scoops powdered stevia Using a  spiralizer  or a food processor grate the beet and the apple together.  In a medium bowl juice the lemon, add the apple and beet and stevia to taste.

We waited 10 long weeks for Amanda's mission call to come!  She turned in her papers on December 16th and her call didn't arrive until February 20th.  That is an unusually long time to be waiting.  All around her friends and friends of friends were getting calls returned in as little as 1-3 weeks.  We were all starting to get discouraged.  Due to the new lower missionary age requirement we had been hearing that the MTC was being full to over flowing and we were beginning to worry that she wouldn't head out for her mission until late summer.  Not really what she planned on!  The last few weeks were especially difficult and I could tell Amanda was beginning to question and wonder if she had made the right decision and why in the world this was taking so long. It was so crazy! In the mean time Amanda and I had planned a trip to Seattle to visit Grandma Martenson and celebrate her 88th birthday!  I wanted Amanda to be able to see Grandma before she ...