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  • Blog—Maniacal Musings—Becky Lyn Rickman, Managing Editor
  • Blog—Jessica's Journey—Jessica VanVactor, Guest Contributor
  • Blog—My Armenia—Carol Rickman's Blog
  • Dealing with miscarriage
  • My Story
  • Circles
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Being Single
  • 5 Stages of divorce recovery
  • The Circus is in Town
  • (You're covered with) The Fingerprints of God
  • Thunder Roared and Love Soared
  • A Period Piece
  • A sneak preview of the Gertie sequel!
  • Six Steps to Cultivate your Femininity in the Business World
  • Chore Zoning or Don't try this at home!
  • The 50 with Meredith Morse—Opera Singer
  • The 50 with Jessica VanVactor
  • Memorizing Joy
  • AT LAST! My interview with Shan White, Life Coach for women in transition
  • Questions and statements we don't care if we never, ever get asked or told again (am I right, girls?)
  • The Date
  • Moonshadow's Spirit
  • Broken Writer + Hypnotherapy = Amazing Trips
  • The "R" Word
  • The 50 with Carol Shepherd Rickman
  • Triumph During Transitions
  • A Kentucky Afternoon
  • Mothers
  • 10 things chemo taught me
  • What if . . .
  • Forgiveness—A poem
  • Mantegories (n. from the Latin; man+categories)
  • Insomnia 101
  • Blooming Bud Interview: Sierra
  • Masterful Mindsets
  • It's in the bag!
  • Important lessons for children: Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can
  • Nursery rhymes, and times, and slimes, and grimes, and crimes
  • Things I learned as a single mom
  • Sadie's Soapbox: Dating
  • The Dress
  • 8 Things That Have Surprised Me About Having a Large Family
  • The gift of longing
  • The Semicolon Project
  • Most embarrassing moments—culinary edition
  • MilitaReality—a brat's perspective
  • About those elusive wisps of thought
  • Being there
  • The Giving Mom
  • How I still haven't learned to keep my smart mouth shut!
  • If you give a mom a cookie . . .
  • Cacti and Geraniums
  • The Three Gardeners
  • Beauty is as beauty does
  • Words for Sabra
  • Arm scratching in Baltimore
  • Pornography didn't kill our love and friendship . . . I did . . . and how we got it back
  • Hardening off our little bloomers
  • The Wonderful, Magical Women of Blooming Television
  • Shake it like a Polaroid picture!
  • 25 Date Nights (that aren't dinner and a movie)
  • Hills Like White Elephants
  • Maryland Beaten Biscuits
  • The night we thought the house was exploding
  • A mysterious case of goosebumps or "What is that on the wall?"
  • Militareality—Real stories of military wives
  • Finding my metal in wood
  • Another blooming bud interview
  • Chariot of Fire
  • Secret gifts of love
  • The best prank I ever pulled was . . .
  • Connie
  • Dating and other hazards
  • Favorite childhood memories
  • When God speaks . . .
  • Zanie gets into another sticky situation
  • No-see-ums: A little useful information
  • I love my kids, but . . .
  • Meg's poem
  • Another blooming bud interview
  • Some of my favorite herbal recipes are . . .
  • I love my cat, but . . .
  • I love all creatures, but . . .
  • The thing all girls and women must see and know . . .
  • The Great Chicken Debacle
  • The Powerful Influence of Brothers
  • How I feel about blooming is . . .
  • Sometimes grandma is up—other times she is simply upside-down
  • Anyone out there as anxious as I am?
  • Some of my funniest childhood memories are . . .
  • You might be addicted to Harry Potter if . . .
  • This month's survey:
  • Another Blooming Bud interview
  • The most valuable life lesson I've learned is . . .
  • The greatest blessing to come out of the most painful thing I ever experienced was . . .
  • The most powerful influence on my life is . . .
  • The thing that could have broken our family, but didn't was . . .
  • The funniest thing that ever happened to me was . . .
  • The time my dad really surprised me was when . . .
  • NEW FEATURE: Interviews with Blooming Buds
  • ANOTHER NEW FEATURE: A survey
  • The most valuable life lesson I've ever learned is . . .
  • My most embarrassing moment was when . . .
  • What really puzzles me is . . .
  • One of the most fun days I ever had was . . .
  • The most scared I've ever been was when . . .
  • The people who have been the biggest influence on me are . . .
  • I like to relax by . . .
  • The best way to do . . .
  • My most embarrassing moment was when . . .
  • The most fun I ever had was when . . .
  • When I grow up, I want to be . . .
  • What really puzzles me is . . .
  • The most amazing bargain I ever found was . . .
  • Those annoying things kids do and what they mean
  • My shameless self-promotion
  • The thing about getting older is . . .
To the victor, go the spoils!

  25 date nights                                                       (THAT AREN’T A DINNER AND A MOVIE)

By Hannah Sharpe, Guest Contributor
A brilliant list of *inexpensive* and creative ideas for date nights for young marrieds  


We are young. We are married. We are college students. We like each other . . . a lot. We like to have fun, but we are saving for life after school. These are not only ideas; they are things we have had a blast doing on date night.

Rap Battle
: Throw down some mad beats and challenge each other to a battle of the fly-est.

Gourmet Chef-ery: With a budget of five dollars apiece, go to the grocery store and buy ingredients. Best dish wins. Remember, presentation matters.

Fate T-shirts:
Put slips of paper with different nouns on them (Dinosaurs, Graffiti, Fruit, etc.) into a bag. Pick two at random and incorporate them into a t-shirt design.

Spa Night:
Your hubby probably doesn’t know how awesome bubble baths are. Introduce him.
Picture
Slumber Party: Move your mattress out to the living room, play games, and watch movies all night. First one to fall asleep gets pranked, of course.

Fort Night: Engineer an elaborate blanket fort. There’s no one stopping you.

Nerf Fight: Invest in some Nerf guns or plastic swords and battle it out.

You Make Me Feel So Young:
Watch classic cartoons on Netflix, color, blow bubbles, and have grilled cheese for dinner.

Thrifty:
Go to a thrift shop and play dress up. Take pics, and at the end of the night, buy each other a trinket.

Journal Roulette:
If both of you kept/keep a journal, take turns picking a random number and reading out loud the entry on that page.



                 The sting of defeat!

Picture
Penny Path: Get in the car and go straight. Each possible turn, flip a coin to determine your path. (This picture shows where we ended up one evening! ---->)

Super Models: Dress each other and have a photo session.

YouTube Binge: Watch all of your favorites on YouTube. Take turns picking the clip.

BFFs: Make friendship bracelets and wear them until     they fall off.

Jam Session: If you play an instrument, learn a duet and record it. If you don’t play an instrument, learn one together.

Bound Together: Go to your local bookstore and read to each other.

Wishes: Go to your local fountain with a roll of pennies for each of you. Don’t leave until you have made 50 wishes each. No fountain? Placing pennies on gravestones is another way to make wishes.

Family Holiday: Choose a day to be your family holiday. It could be the fourth Friday in June or the 12th of May, whenever you choose. Make a list of traditions and a name for your holiday.

Close Enough: Always wanted to go to Paris? Craving a trip to the beach? In the mood for a rock concert? Make it happen in your living room. Lay a blanket down, turn up the heat, and roast marshmallows over an unscented candle. See the sights with the help of Google Street View. It might not be the real thing, but  . . . 

Tourist Trap: Be tourists in your own town. Find a local museum, attraction, or park. Go to City Hall and learn more about your town. Rent a hotel for the night to add to the effect.

Alphabet Soup: Go Sesame Street and have a letter be the theme of your date. Wear Purple while dining on Pancakes and watching Pirates of the Caribbean.

Debate: Choose a topic and take a side. Do a little research and then hash it out. Remember to be respectful, but have fun with it. Teach each other a new point of view. Debate keeps your mind healthy and intelligence is sexy.

Fly High: Who can build the best kite using materials around the house? Find out and go to your local park to test out your skills.


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