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My Photography Project: The Graduate
I haven’t worked on a photography project since 2024. Or, rather, I haven’t posted one since 2024. How could it possibly be that long? Have I been that busy with, ummm, what? Life? Let’s see, what have been doing? Oh, I know… I’ve been totally obsessed with my garden. Have you seen my greenhouse? You can check it out here. So far, I’ve harvested about 5 strawberries and handfuls of Sweet Basil and Rosemary. The Sweet Basil and Rosemary were used in pasta dishes and on some pork chops. Sooooo good. And the strawberries were amazing!! I still need to figure out how to control the bugs, so if you…
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Where Bloggers Live: What’s in My Bag
As always, I’m a couple of days late with my post. This time, though, I have a bit of an excuse: I was taking pictures of my granddaughter for her prom. You can see some of the pictures here, or you can wait for me to write a post {I promise it’ll be soon}. It wasn’t until a few years after I got out of the Army that I started carrying a purse. I carried diaper bags with my kids, but I kept leaving them places and would have to retrace my steps until I found them. To be safe, I’d put a bottle and a pamper in the pockets…
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Get Ready to Grow: My Greenhouse
I’ve always credited my grandma with giving me my love for coffee. One of my most vivid memories is of her sitting at the kitchen table watching one of her evening soaps with a cigarette in one hand and a coffee cup in the other, laughing and screaming at Alexis Colby Carrington’s shenanigans. Goodness knows I was way too young to be watching those shows, but Grandma and my aunt would always include me in their evening banter. My other memory is of my grandma working in her vegetable garden.\ Grandma had two massive gardens, one at the family home in Washington, D.C. and the other at her and Granddaddy’s…
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Fancy Footwear
Something happened that I never ever believed would happen to me… I became a Crocs convert. For years, my family has been telling me that I needed a pair of Crocs. “They’re comfortable.” “They’re convenient.” “They’ve updated the styles.” But I just couldn’t do it. “Crocs are so ugly,” I’d laugh as I shook my head wildly. Then I decided to start a garden; I needed a pair of shoes that I could wear in the yard without worrying about destroying. I needed something that could stand up to rainy conditions, so I started searching different online stores and happened upon the Crocs store. And that’s where I found them.…
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Where Bloggers Live: My Favorite Birthdays
When my kids were little, I used to say they were four parts who made a whole. They walked in a straight line, even though I never told them to. They crept into each other’s beds at night to watch TV or chatter long after lights out. I’d pretend I didn’t hear them giggling and they’d pretend they were sleeping every time I walked past their closed doors. Even now, we play the same game. Except I pretend I don’t know they have a group chat that excludes me and they pretend the only family chat that exists is the one with their dad and me. I love these silly…
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Emergency Preparedness
As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. One of the scariest things to happen is to get an evacuation notice in the middle of the night. This happened to us when we were living in Pennsylvania; emergency trucks came rolling through our neighborhood with their sirens blaring telling us to evacuate as quickly and safely as possible. Huntsville Dam was about to overflow. Naturally, I…
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Daenel
I was recently nominated for and accepted into Leadership Cenla. Leadership Cenla is hosted by LSUA and is an eight-month long series of workshops that include hands-on learning experiences, access to industry experts, tours of local businesses, and insight into the opportunities and challenges in our community. The goal is to strengthen our ties to the region and use our skills to make Cenla better place to live, work, and play. Our first assignment for Leadership Cenla was to write and submit our biographies. This is what I submitted: Daenel A. Vaughn-Tucker has served as the Director of Library Services at Central Louisiana Technical Community College (CLTCC) in Alexandria, Louisiana,…
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Container Garden
Y’all, I have turned into a full-fledged {container} gardener courtesy of TikTok. I’ve wanted to start a garden for years but I was hesitant to dig up my yard and fail, then I stumbled across container gardening and thought that met my needs. Container gardening is just what it sounds like, growing your garden in containers. But before I did anything, I did a deep dive on TikTok to find out what I needed to do to get started. According to the USDA Hardiness Zone Map, I live in Zone 9a, which means our average minimal temperature is 20 to 30 degrees. Knowing this information lets me know which plants…
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Boots on the Ground Line Dance
Y’all, my daughter and my grandchildren have me learning the Boots on the Ground Line Dance. I am perhaps the most uncoordinated, rhythmless person you’d ever want to meet. But I’m going to do it. And they’re going to record it. I’m about to make myself an internet laughing stock to amuse my family. My daughter sent me a link to a tutorial by Bizzy Boom. She used this tutorial to learn the dance, so she figured it’d be easy for me to learn too. I’m happy she has so much faith in me. LOL For reference, because I’m a librarian, here’s some background information on the song and the…
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Blogging from A to Z April Challenge: Artful Agenda, Almost a Year Later
As the blogger and photographer behind Living Outside the Stacks, I independently select and write about stuff I love and things I think you’ll enjoy too. Living Outside the Stacks has affiliate and advertising partnerships so I get revenue from sharing this content and from your purchase. Thank you for your support. I have always been a planner girl. In fact, my daughter reminded me this morning of how I used to carry around a purple snake skin planner with a bunch of little tabbies and sticky notes poking out. I used different colored ink pens to differentiate between my family, school, and personal calendars. I also doodled in the…