Posts made by author 'Eileen Smith Voyles'

When I moved to Hershey 10 years ago, it was under duress; we had lived happily in Tennessee for 17 years and never planned to move. But our job situation, as many of yours, changed during the "great recession." For us, that meant moving to Pennsylvania. We had leveraged our home to buy a small business a few years earlier. Now, the housing market was down, our equity gone. Investments? Tanked.

After being homeowners for 16 years, we moved into a rental house in Hershey. It was small and old. Our chipper first-grader, after walking through for the first time, asked excitedly, "Where's the rest of the house?"

I spent several weeks on the verge of tears, feeling sorry for myself and lonely. What happened to my old life? Our nice home? Our "roots?"

One afternoon, I compl...

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Hi Friends,

Here's Day 6 of my 7 Day Video Gratitude Journal!  #givethanks

Hi Friends,

Here's Day 6 of my 7 Day Video Gratitude Journal!  #givethanks

Someday you might be texting me and then your text shows up in the family blog. Such is the case this week for Jay, my son-in-law.

In preparation for their Thanksgiving feast, earlier this week, my son-in-law, Jay, was trying out a new recipe he wanted to bring to their feast (NOTE: I've found it quite wise to try a new recipe FIRST before it's crunch time and your culinary reputation is on the line because almost inevitably, you will make at least a slight mistake the first time you make anything). So anyway, Jay was making this pie and my daughter Annie sent me pictures and told me the many intensive steps of the recipe. Homemade crust, homemade whipped cream, scratch caramel, etc. LOTS of steps. Then she sent me the pictures....

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