House of the Blue Lights

I never knew why, but my mother always answered the phone with this phrase. It’s also the name of my first blog. I started it, like I started Mahlzeit, when the kids moved out.  Mahlzeit was meant to follow them, inasmuch as it was meant to just basically be the family cookbook, with all our [...]

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Dark Days Challenge recap: Week 6 WEST group

The Dark Days are really upon us in earnest, despite the extended mild weather in parts of our region (with apologies to the Plains, still digging out of the pre-holiday storm. The real Upper Midwest seems to have gotten hit, but here in the central midwest the mild weather extended into the new year. It [...]

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Flattered to be part of the community

Don’t lie–I know that the first thing you do in the morning is put coffee on to brew and then go online to see who has “talked” to you since you last signed off. And usually, it’s no one. (Well, what did you expect, they were all asleep, too!) But a few mornings ago, I [...]

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Recipe Swap! Squash ‘n’ Blog

This time of year many of us have squash coming out our ears. Have you been bombed with bags of zucchini yet? Are you wondering just what to do with all those crooknecks? Did you pick up too many of these cucurbits because they were on sale? If you have a favorite recipe or advice [...]

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Homesteading For The Holidays

Happy Holidays Everyone!  All the folks here at Roberts Roost hope that the Season is filled with Joy and the weather is as you would like it. (for us that’s snow everywhere except on the roads!) Life has been crazy for us as it is for everyone this time of year, but some of our craziness [...]

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We’re 1!

This past week marked one year since we began this amazing project here at Not Dabbling in Normal.  I don’t think any of the writers here could have possibly envisioned the community, readers, and conversations that have taken place here.  I think I can speak for all the writers past and current, in saying that [...]

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An Introduction

Hey, y’all, from southwest Mississippi. I am Cassandra of The Thinker’s Rock blog and I’m thrilled to be a part of the NDIN team.  I live with my husband, JF and five year old son in an old ranch-style house on a couple of acres in a very rural part of the state. Back in January, I [...]

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Homesteading Question: Original Vision Vs. Present Reality?

Last year on my personal blog, I decided to put forth some questions I had, in order to see what sorts of responses I’d get from what we loosely term the homesteading community of bloggers.  There is a wealth of wisdom to be had of the firsthand sort. In much of the future planning Jack [...]

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Tara’s Not Dabbling

I’ve asked a few different bloggers the question “How do you Not Dabble in Normal?”  Over the course of the next few weeks I’m going to share their answers with you in the hopes that we’ll all learn something new and perhaps get a different perspective on normal and the folks who choose a slightly [...]

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Fighting the Normality of the Suburbs

I’ve asked a few different bloggers the question “How do you Not Dabble in Normal?”  Over the course of the next few weeks I’m going to share their answers with you in the hopes that we’ll all learn something new and perhaps get a different perspective on normal and the folks who choose a slightly [...]

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