Summer is canning season! I love canning. It’s how I use up the produce from my garden to last me all year long. This is one of my favorite recipes that everyone asks me to share. Raspberry Pepper Jam is amazing over brie, mixed with cream cheese or even drizzled over vanilla ice cream! We grow a lot of peppers in our garden, so finding fun ways to use and… Read More »Raspberry Pepper Jam
Would you like to be featured as a Firefly Guest Blogger? Our guest bloggers receive more exposure for your writing. If you are looking for ways to position yourself as an expert in your niche, guest blogging is key. We are not able to provide compensation at this time, but this will be a great opportunity for contributors to receive exposure to a new audience across the web and all… Read More »We Are Accepting Summer 2021 Guest Posting Pitches
When I was a little girl, living in rural Tennessee, the story of the Bell Witch was as common as any story ever told. The Witch was real and so was her trail of death and terror. The haunting of the Bell family by the famed witch was both a story of how to treat your neighbors and a fairly amazing ghost story. Because the story of the Bell Witch… Read More »The Bell Witch
When the weather starts to turn up the heat, we like to turn up the flavor in our kitchen. I look for recipes full of color, fresh in-season fruits and veggies, and not a lot of cleanup. That’s why we chose these recipes for easy pescatarian cooking with lots of options for vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free meals. In the summer, I’m spending a lot of time out in the garden.… Read More »5 Easy Summer Pescatarian Recipes
I have a special friend who lives with Depression. There are days when I wake up wondering if he will still be alive when I go to check on him on Facebook. I know a few people with clinical depression. But he is the one that I watch the most.
Hey everyone, it’s Crysta, and I wanted to take a few minutes to talk to you and share some of my thoughts about what’s going on in the world and the Covid-19 threat. First of all, I want to thank each of you for taking the time to read my blog, for sharing your thoughts in the comments, for sharing the posts to your friends and families. It really means… Read More »A Word From DWF About The Virus and Life
When I talk about Dancing with Fireflies, I want to share the notion that you can chase your dreams, no matter how big or how small. But you must move forward in order to chase that dream. My dream was to become a writer. When I first began, I wasn’t sure exactly what sort of writer I would become, I simply knew that I love to write, tell stories, and… Read More »Take Your Next Best Step
When people ask us how we met, we always smile and usually we look at each other. I’m not sure why it’s just a reaction I guess. We used to be a little nervous about telling people we met in a chat room. Now sites like Match.com make finding a mate online common and acceptable. In the 90’s when we met, it was new territory and a little scary. The… Read More »+1 to Romance – How I Met My Husband
“I hate cooked carrots!” That’s what I hear many people say before trying my Sweet & Spicy caramelized carrots. After that my friends and family have all asked me for the recipe or to make them for another dinner we have together. The problem that most people have with cooked carrots is that they have had them boiled or not seasoned very well. But carrots can be very versatile. What… Read More »Zesty Caramelized Carrots – Sweet and Spicy Recipe
I love a clean kitchen. But, if you are like me, the idea of scrubbing the kitchen from top to bottom feels like the worst job ever. But we have some easy tips to clean your kitchen and keep it clean. We share our daily routine for keeping the kitchen clean. Fun hacks to keep the grime away! Think like a Minimalist! Big or small, when your counters are filled… Read More »How To Clean Your Kitchen And Keep It Clean Daily
There are few seasons l like more than summer, but Fall is quickly starting feel like the place where I want to be. It’s growing on me, year after year I find something else that draws me into the embrace of Fall’s enchantment. Summer was my season. I love the warm lazy days, sleeping in late, and don’t forget the fireflies. Summer has it’s own vacation title, people go away… Read More »Falling for Fall
Take action today to simplify your life and your home! Today we have 100 ways you can easily simplify your life and your home. Baby steps anyone can do, and things that might be a challenge but will help you master the clutter! I know like myself, many of you have walked through your house and wondered how it has gotten so cluttered. I’m going to let you in on… Read More »100 Ways To Simplify Your Life and Home
Hey everyone! I can FEEL Fall is so close! Today I sat outside early this morning on the porch while the hose was soaking in the front flower beds. I wanted to take in some of that fresh fall air that was lightly scented with the crispness of freshly cut grass before heading up to my office. It didn’t help my blogging productivity at all! All I wanted to do… Read More »The Best Way To Season Cast Iron Pans
Our farmhouse kitchen is the heart of our home and I think it might be our favorite place. I love making something creative and wholesome to feed to my family in this space. There are a few things in my kitchen that I LOVE so much and I’m excited to share with you! If you haven’t tried an Air Fryer yet, you are really missing out. We love ours so… Read More »Our Farmhouse Kitchen: Our Favorite Things
Our Modern Farmhouse Kitchen: The heart of our home One of my favorite places in my house is definitely the kitchen. It’s the place where everyone gathers, and like most homes, it’s the heart. When we were designing this house, my goal was for the kitchen to be expandable and adaptable to our needs. So every part of this kitchen was designed with a purpose in mind. When the kids… Read More »The Farmhouse Kitchen: the heart of our home
Hands Off! No touching, please. Nope, I’m not a hugger or a casual cheek kisser. I don’t like it and I have my own reasons for setting down this boundary. I’m polite when I take a step back from the group body smashing. I smile and wave when I meet people and offer a “Hello” to offer my introduction instead of free access to my body. I am just one… Read More »I’m NOT a Hugger. And I’m still worth loving.
There are reasons for WHAT I do. I write because I feel I am.. a Writer. But WHY I walk towards that life is very different. (This post includes affiliate links. Should you click an affiliate link and make a purchase I may make a small commission at no extra cost to you.) “When you know your ‘Why’, your ‘What’ has more impact, because you’re walking in or towards your… Read More »Why I Write
As a child, I was bullied not only by children, but by adults. I was different because I had a very traumatic home life. This is part of my story. Every year children take their own lives, I hear their names and I cringe because I know their pain. I almost took my life several times as a young child and I share my story now so parents and educators… Read More »She didn’t know… ( My story about being bullied almost to death.)
Dancing With Fireflies is looking for writers to contribute articles to our blog. Would you like to be featured as a Firefly Guest Blogger? Our guest bloggers receive more exposure for your writing. If you are looking for ways to position yourself as an expert in your niche, guest blogging is key. We are not able to provide compensation at this time, but this will be a great opportunity for… Read More »Guest Bloggers! We Want You!
We all love aromatherapy. Filling our homes with calming scents, helping to battle the cold and flu season, and the lovely uplifting scents of citrus, aromatherapy is wonderful. But what isn’t so great is the fact that most oil diffusers are made with plastic. And if yours is made with plastic, unplug it immediately because it can be toxic! (This post includes affiliate links. Should you click an affiliate link… Read More »Warning: Aromatherapy Diffusers Can Be Toxic
I am the bearer of guilt. Not just growing up guilt that we are all given as children, but the guilt I gave to myself. I don’t believe that self-guilt is primarily a woman’s affliction. Women are the loudest about their burdens. We like to talk about them, regret things, and ponder them out loud for discussion. While men tend to clam up and silently carry around their guilt. However,… Read More »5 Things You Should Forgive Yourself For, but probaly wont.
Gram gave me a chicken, brownish red and too gentle to eat. She said it would be my friend if I took care of her, talked to her in a gentle voice and kept her safe from the dog.
I found this letter that I’d written to myself many years ago. It broke my heart to see that I was in that place. I think we all have these moments when we feel like everything we tried to do wasn’t right at all. That girl so many years ago, alone and struggling to be a single mother and raising two little boys, she was so strong and never had… Read More »Confessions from a bad mother.
“Where and then feast have we sat together but to build and pray. Have words smelled of color that wrap in winters breath as we lie in tranquill. When, in the peace of time, does the sound breathe. Together, lost in love and patience…..”
~ Lance Kassle November ’04
The world lost an amazing artist of words this week.
We have been out to the house, taking photos and dreaming dreams. It’s a lot of fun watching this come up. We now have the 1st floor! The weather is getting colder, the rain pushed things out. But finally, they were able to get our first floor up. It’s starting to feel more like a house and less like a weird hole on the property. We are starting to see… Read More »New House Update: 1st floor!
Dark green, grassy, and just a hint of something familiar, we gave CannaTrust’s Hemp Extracts a try this week, and we learned so much about hemp and whole plant extracts. Thanks to CannaTrust for sending us their dietary supplements for us to review for you! What is Hemp Extract? Hemp extract is made from agricultural hemp. The extract is made from the seeds and stalks from the hemp plant. It… Read More »Hemp Happy Smoothies
Love and pain, beautiful and heartbreaking. Truth. These are dancing words. Poet Neil Hilborn shared his emotional dance with the world. Now around the world people are nodding their heads with tears and cheers for his piece about living and loving with OCD. Neil Hilborn performed ‘OCD’ in June during the individual finals at the 2013 Rustbelt Regional Poetry Slam. I haven’t been a fan of poetry, but this piece… Read More »Poet Neil Hilborn “OCD”
This post contains affiliate links that I make a small commission on with no added fee to your purchase. I knew something was different that day. I wasn’t sure what it was, perhaps the weather was about to change again, perhaps there would be snow. Yes, that would be a welcome change from this hot and sticky air. All day I went to the window and looked out and waited… Read More »Perhaps today will snow
When I was little, I loved Snoopy and Charlie Brown. I looked forward to the holiday traditions of watching Snoopy and the gang remind us of the importance of being kind, looking out for each other, and the true meanings of the holidays. Sadly this year I didn’t want to watch The Great Pumpkin. Maybe it was because our children have all become too grown-up or too busy… Read More »Childhood Memories – The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown
Fall is here, and for many of us, the cold weather is drawing us into our homes to settle down and try to warm up. I love ending the day in my favorite comfy pajamas and crawling into my bed to settle in and relax. I’ll admit it; I like to be in my bedroom by seven each night for my nightly routine. So my bedroom needs to be a… Read More »5 Tips to Make the Bedroom More Relaxing
The last few months have been pretty stressful for me as we prepare to move across the country and build a new house. For various reasons I often feel like I forget how to relax and trust that it will be ok. I allow conflict and complication to come into my life. Now I can say that I didn’t set out to look for crazy people to wander into my… Read More »Holding On To Your Happy Place
“What’s the worst thing that can happen to you with this disease?” she asked me on our first meeting?
Looking back, she was asking a different question. She honestly had no idea what Lyme disease was and was asking for clarification. But I heard the one I needed to hear. I heard a challenge.
I read this post this morning and it brought me to tears. This is such a brave, beautiful girl, reaching out to the world and daring them to think differently. (I can’t figure out my feelings for this picture) ✨ shout out to the kids with chubby cheeks and big noses, with crooked or chipped teeth and chapped lips, with round faces and long necks, small and thin lips and… Read More »Dosie.Rose – a shout out to the kids with chubby cheeks and big noses, with crooked or chipped teeth and chapped lips
This week’s article is a guest blog post written by the fun people at Flowers Across Sydney. They are an Australian based florist offering flower delivery right across the suburbs of Sydney. I hope you enjoy it! ~ Crysta 6 Flowers You Can Use to Spice up Your Cooking When it comes to cooking, most people in the West associate flowers with garnishes; as something that adds a little… Read More »6 Flowers You Can Use to Spice up Your Cooking
I’ve been taking a blog break. It was all about me; I needed to slow down and put some things in perspective. I struggle with writing when my head is clouded with emotions. As a writer, most of what I put into my blog is somehow connected to who I am personally. From food cravings to holidays, I write about what I know. And what I knew was that I… Read More »Why I took a blogging break
So much history London has a special energy. It is older, wiser, sophisticated, and yet it keeps up with the times. The beautiful city grew from a little village called Londinium, founded by the Romans in 42 AD along the Thames River. Today it is one of the great cultural centers of the world. The largest city in the UK, London is a busy place with so much to see… Read More »5 Things You Must See While in London
I should tell you what exactly the 9’s are. The 9’s are 19,29,39,49 ect… that year before the big change in your life. That year when you try to wrap it all up and make it look like the last 9 years you spent doing something lasting and memorable, those are the 9’s.
Don’t ask me to apologize for being the kind of person you asked me to be when you needed someone strong enough to be your friend.
There are a lot of blogs out there. Mommy blogs, Review blogs, make-up and photography blogs pop up every day. Some make it, some have great content and gain readers. Some don’t.. the writer gets bored and eventually walks away. I love to write, I always have. It was a great way to cope with life and stress. I loved writing in diaries and little notebooks. All were filled with notes about life as I saw it.
We flew home last night from Ft. Lauderdale after an exciting and fun filled cruise to the Caribbean. But the flight home was both terrifying and long. We left sunny Florida and thought we’d get home and get unpacked and ready to jump back to work. Not so much. Note: The Ft. Lauderdale airport feels like it doesn’t even belong in the US. It is old, dirty, and apparently waiting… Read More »I’m Exhausted!
There have been times that I truly wish could have lingered on a little longer. Moments when I knew this was one of the best moments of my life and I wanted to hold on to them. Sometimes in daydreams I go back in time, trying to feel that specialness again. They sit on the protected shelves in the halls of my memories and from time to time I take… Read More »Let it Linger
Our family used to be the typical get up at dawn, grab donuts and stand in line in front of the department store kind of gang every Black Friday. We would load up in the minivan with the kids still full from the Thanksgiving feast, bundled up against the chilly November air and set off at 7 a.m. I would always have my first eggnog of the season and… Read More »Being an empty-nest parent changed my Black Friday traditions
This week here in the US we are faced with the news that yet again one of our candidates for Presidency, Donald Trump, is not only a racist, a liar, and morally corrupt but he is also so insecure that he attacks and devalues women. Mr. Trump’s vile verbal attacks on women have been ignored, laughed about, and even supported. This week a audio clip of Mr. Trump and his… Read More »My Harassment Story
Recently I ended a longtime friendship. It hurt, it felt like I was giving up on a part of my life that even as hard as I tried, no matter as much as I wanted it, it was just broken. I wanted to fix it so badly that I was always willing to give my own happiness in order to keep it. That’s not friendship, it’s obsession. Our relationship was… Read More »Treat Her Better
I love cooking a big Sunday meal for everyone. Growing up Southern, Sundays meant getting up early and heading to church. Then we’d head home and my Gram would make an early dinner. Usually those meals were her chicken fried steak, greens, potatoes, biscuits, and if I was lucky she’d make my favorite fried apple hand pies. But in my household now, most of us are vegetarians and I… Read More »Weekend Recipe- Broccoli Tortellini
I wrote this a few years ago after my best friend and “brother” died. I just didn’t know how I was going to get through this horrible feeling called grief. I took to writing as a way of getting all of those emotions out of my head and setting them free. What I learned was that there are so many people out there trying to figure out how to cope… Read More »Tuesday
Dear people who pretend to be your friend and then talk shit about you on Facebook, Wow, what a world we have turned into. People walk around spewing crap and pretending that they know what they are talking about all the while smiling and pretending they are your good friends. How good it must make you feel to slam your friends in a public forum to get someone upset and… Read More »Dear people who pretend to be your friend and then talk shit about you on Facebook,
I recently gave up hating my body. I stopped calling myself names and I am loving my body . For far too long, I was my own worst critic. I said things to myself that I wouldn’t say to anyone else, but I am done with that now and am learning to love my body just the way it is. More: I was a teen scheduled for an abortion — instead I kept… Read More »Embracing my body means loving all of it
I wrote this August 5th 2015… after being told AGAIN that my mother was on her deathbed. She had a habit of “dying” and after a few years of going through hell with the emotional roller coaster, I stopped getting on the ride. It took me a while to stop looking back to see if I had done the right thing and a lot of tears when I wasn’t… Read More »Making peace and saying good-bye
A few years ago, my best friend and brother died tragically in an accident. I struggled to figure out how I was going to make it through such a terrible event in my life and I turned to writing as an outlet. Writing, art, music, all are healing and really helped me to leg go for a while and slip into my thoughts without them taking over my life. Grief is hard, it is… Read More »3 – looking at grief in moments of 3.
I’m not sure if it is because I am a creative person or perhaps growing up religious opens my mind up to the possibilities, but I believe in the Afterlife. I am a spiritual person. I always have been. I believe in spirits, Angels, lives before this one, and Karma. I have a fondness for the teachings of Wiccans, Jewish Kabbalah, and even a brief understanding of several… Read More »Thoughts About The Afterlife
It’s been a hard few months. I am struggling to find my spark right now. 🙁 I lost my Dad in December, suddenly in the middle of the night due to a heart attack. I found out over Facebook that he’d passed and there wasn’t anything I could do about it. I grieved for the loss of my father, but really I grieved for the idea. I loved him. He loved… Read More »Bad Days – Taking Time In the Dark
The tears are fresh, still lingering just under my lids. I can’t believe she’s gone. She was just here, just snuggled up warm under the sheets with me, how can she be dead? Last night my sweet kitty woke us up screaming in pain. She came into my bed, told me something terrible was happening to her and she needed help. After rushing her to the emergency vet, we were… Read More »Letting Go – When Pets Die
Here’s the Wow story of the day. Fellow blogger, Victoria has a new blog about her life and this amazing adventure she’s on. At first I was pretty sure she was going to say she and her husband were trust fund babies living the hippie life, however read til the end to see how I was surprised.
Many of us start our blogs as diaries, a place carved out on the web for our dreams, thoughts, sometimes rants, and a few crazy memes. These blogs are created by the hour, last for a while, and usually die in a year or so. However the blogs need focus, and a purpose. You won’t create a blog that people want to keep reading if your readers can’t pinpoint what… Read More »Changing Focus and Gaining Strength as a Blogger
Before I head out on a new travel adventure, I like to look through the travel guides to see what recommendations I should make sure are on my list of MUST DO’s. They are usually a great way to make sure you can fill your itinerary with local highlights. I love being a tourist and seeing the treasures of a town as well as an explorer and discovering local favorites… Read More »My Travel Guide Didn’t Say THAT!
My husband and I took a quick trip down to California for the weekend. It was great to get away for a bit, explore Berkley with my friends, and really relax. So now I am sitting at the airport waiting for my flight back to Seattle. The Oakland airport is under construction and the security is a bit chaotic. But you can get through here pretty quickly. One of the… Read More »Weekend Vacation – Berkley,California
16… I believed him when he said he loved me. Believed that word meant something powerful and important. The way he cupped my face, held me there so I wouldn’t back away, kissed me as if he needed that kiss to save him. My heart beat so hard in my chest, made my blood rush with pulses of electricity in my veins as he looked down at me with those… Read More »16
I love the passion of our younger generation, the Millennials, express when they see each other going against what they believe in. In a letter addressed to another blogger, Angry16, tries to explain the dangers of adopting titles for attention. The blogger, Non-Binary Girl, has outraged her fellow teens by claiming to be part of not only gender issues, but social minorities, religious minorities, and now having mental illnesses that… Read More »Brave Millennials Speak Up
When you cross the 40-year line, there are certain expectations that you put on yourself. These are things that you forgave yourself for not being so good at when you were in your 20s, or maybe even your 30s. I thought “40 years old” was a finishing line, the place that marks when you are a “mature adult” — when you have all of your beans together. I had some… Read More »7 Things I thought I’d be better at by the time I was 40
No matter who we are, our life choices, or the number of people we are surrounded by, all of us want to know that we are not alone. We want people in our lives that know us for who we really are and love us in spite of knowing. We call those people family. It used to be that you were bound together first by blood, then by clan, and… Read More »Family by Choice
Image: Mark Bowden/Getty Images
I'm a mother of five kids who somehow all managed to make it through infancy, toddlerhood, tweens, teens and some even into their 20s. I know firsthand that if there are rules to break, you will at some point break them before they leave the nest. Before becoming a mother, I had the list of rules that I would never break as a parent. Things that I swore I would do differently than my own upbringing went on that list.
I swore I'd never send my child to bed without dinner. I'd never scream at them. I'd never raise a hand to them. I'd be nice all of the time. However, the reality is that there are moments when those rules bend. My children, four boys and finally a little girl, were not angels. In fact, each of them challenged not only my parenting, but my sanity.
Read More »How breaking my parenting rules made me a better mother
I loved passing by her bedroom in the mornings, she was always immersed in a magical world of her own creating. Her friends would be ready for tea, packed for a vacation, or settled down for a story time, just where she placed them. Silly bear, quacking duck, and baby Ben the weird baby doll that had been given to her by the neighbor child across the street, all were… Read More »Teaparties
It is not flesh and blood, but heart which makes us fathers and sons. ~ Friedrich von Schiller. One of my boys, Harry, is getting married in a few weeks. And even though this isn’t shocking news, it is something that leaves me conflicted and thoughtful. How is it possible that in just a few short weeks, one of my boys will be standing in front of friends and family… Read More »Mother of the Groom
She loved hummingbirds. We always had feeders filled with sugar water tinted ruby red for her little friends. My Gram would point them out, knew them all by their colors and personalities. I always loved the blue and green ones the best. Sitting on the front porch in our rocking chairs, she’d sip her iced tea and watch the little guys come buzzing up to the feeders. She had two… Read More »Hummingbirds
Like so many, I have always struggled with the concept of family and that historical bond that is said to connect people together and give them some sense of pride and bonding. Yet in my own history I’ve seen blood family have little more to do with each other than passing strangers or childhood friends, such connections were not part of my world. Blood connections were there, but not a… Read More »Kindred connections
When I was little my best friend was old. Not just older, she was OLD. In fact she was my best friend until I was an adult and the whole time I knew her she was old. But not old and boring, she was far from that. I mean she was from a different place in time old. I loved her so much that I adopted being old for myself. We… Read More »Old
Dear You Know Who You are,
I forgive you for dying and leaving me here in this world without a clue as to how I am going to be able to get through a whole day without seeing something that reminds me of you and missing you even more.
Beautiful!
“Crying is all right in its way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Silver Chair We are all there sometimes, when it feels as if there is nothing left in your soul but hurt. It hurts to think; each thought just rips open your heart and leads to more pain.… Read More »Cry til you can’t anymore…
In August 2012, I lost my best friend in a terrible accident. He was so important to me and I was so freaking mad after a few months that people started to worry about me. So after a few months I went to a therapist to try to feel better. She tried to explain the steps of grief to me and I explained that I knew all of that and… Read More »His Letter to Me – A letter of grief, friendship, and letting go… sort of.
The Boulder County Coroner’s Office today identified the motorcyclist killed in a collision with an SUV on 30th Street last week as Lance Gurney, 40. At 4:53 p.m. Aug. 21, a woman driving a 2000 Lexus SUV told police she was pulling out of a private parking lot driveway and attempting to make a left turn onto northbound 30th Street near O’Neal Parkway. She told police she thought she had… Read More »Gone too soon.
Today my week ended differently than it usually does. We spent time at the Har Sinai cemetary with the kids from the synagogue. Honestly this was something I had been trying to get out of doing. I didn’t like the idea of spending my day at a cemetary. It seemed depressing and not the way I wanted to end my week. But that wasn’t the kind of example I wanted to set for my… Read More »Let me remember you
