Tsh Oxenreider
About the Author

Tsh Oxenreider is the author of Notes From a Blue Bike and the founder of The Art of Simple. She's host of The Simple Show, and her passion is to inspire people that 'living simply' means making room for more of the stuff that really matters, and that the right,...

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(in)side DaySpring:
things we love
& you will too!
Find more at
DaySpring.com
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  1. Tsh,
    I am 52 years old and have always felt like the salmon swimming upstream. I fought for family dinner time when the rest of the world was popping dinner in the speedy microwave and sitting in front of the tv to eat it. I limited after school activities so that we weren’t spending life in the backseat running from practice to practice. I even let my kids get, heaven forbid, bored. I think it’s great that you are championing the cause of living more simply! My “word” for 2014 is “intentional”. I am with you on living life with intention – being present in the moment. I will join you to follow God’s way vs. the way of the world! Looking forward to reading your new book!
    Blessings,
    Bev

  2. I’m going to get this book!
    I am 49 years old, and finally gathering the courage to leave my marriage. I have a clear clean space in front of me (except of course for the parts taken up by my 12 and 15 year old children!) and I can decide how I want to fill it. How I want to live. I am taking almost nothing with me, so each item in my new life will be intentional. It’s such a gift, and I feel so lucky to be able to choose. I want simple, clean, pure and happy. Those are my goals.
    I’ll bet I’ll find encouragement for this journey in your book!

  3. I can not wait to read this book. I have been bucking the norm for several years in many capacities when it comes to my kids. I have been much more intentional more recently in regards to me and my time. My children have never owned any game systems, we read books, play outside. We do not watch DVD’s when we travel, we talk, sing, play games. We have never been to any theme parks, but have done several long family vacations viewing, hiking in God’s masterpiece. I have never had Facebook, nor do my kids, 13&16. They do not want it. My oldest just got a cell phone, when he needed it. I quit volunteering at school, and do more at church. Much less gossip and stress. I have had these convictions for a while and I am getting more comfortable in living “abnormally.”

  4. Yup. Got my helmet on as well. I’ve a pink one and a lime green one. I need to slow down and smell the roses as well.
    🙂
    I’m in.

  5. I found you, my long lost soul sister. Now that you have read my mind, I look forward to reading your book!

  6. When my son was little, he and my husband fixed up a birthday gift for me. It was supposed to be a BIG SURPRISE. So one day, hands in pockets he walked in and announced that I was going to love my gift, and he couldn’t tell me what it was, but it WASN’T a blue bike. Of course, it was a blue bike! I love your title – and it will always remind me of that sweet little boy and his delight in surprising me.
    I am looking forward to reading your book!

  7. None of our kids want to play Little League this spring. Part of me is sad, but a bigger part of me is excited to have so much more time to ride bikes with my family, both literally and figuratively. Looking forward to reading your book!

  8. Oh, I so miss my blue bike! I had a blue bike and wanted to take it across Europe for a summer of exploring after I graduated from college many, many years ago, but never did. I had always thought just a bit differently than everyone else, but have somehow found myself swimming with the rest of the fish. I am trying so hard to teach my children to swim away from pack and be themselves. It’s not always easy. My eldest(18) is in Africa right now learning who he is through extended mission work with YWAM. He found it so hard explaining and explaining to everyone what he is doing. He is alive and free. I am so jealous, but will be there too again one day.

  9. Slow down is my word for this year; but more than quit activities or reduce them, for me it starts in my mind; to purposely enjoy the moment, savor my food, enjoy my kids and what I chose to do. It is hard because my kind is always on the go and races to the next thing; so I am trying to be very intentional about it. I think I would enjoy your book.

  10. Tsh, I love the message from your blue bike. A simple one. Not with gears and all the inventions of our time. It resonates in my soul like the metalic twinkly sound of the windmill in the backyard calling mme to simplicity. Since last year as drawers and closets are been purged, I’m called to simplify as the wise travellers do as they sing along through the long streched roads.
    Bags of clothes, shoes, and hats are waiting in the car to the delivery at the Rags and Riches. Books and videos and magazines are side by side ready to go.
    I love each word of your message and I’m in awe before God who orchestrates and ordains our paths and will. Be blessed.

  11. My one word for the year is “intentional” (truly the broccoli of one words, good for you, but ugh). Your book sounds like the perfect antidote for that ugh feeling, like maybe the broccoli has cheese sauce;)

  12. Thank you for these words. They give me the courage to keep going the path that my family should go, not what the world around me says we should do and be part of. I have 5 kids, and there is so much around me to be part of, and when I get caught up in those things, our home life greatly suffers. My word for this year is freedom, and reading this, gave me more freedom to say no. God is so good!

  13. Oh, how I agree! I am 65 years old. During my 30s, 40s and many of the 50s I wore myself out trying to adhere to a lifestyle that was not in my soul. I have said that I survived instead of lived those decades, and I pulled three children right along with me! How terrible to realize later in life how valuable real time is; how important the small stuff of living every day is.
    I hope your book opens a lot of eyes and helps a lot of people realize that memories are made during the small moments as well as the big ones. That often the small moments are the ones we miss the most as we grow older.
    These days I know to look for the blessings in life with intention; to do what I can every day to make others feel better about themselves and this world we live in. I thank God for every good thing in this life of mine.
    Thank you for the illumination.

  14. You have taken words out of my mouth….I took my sons to Italy to a small medieval town where my father’s childhood home still stands…the home lacked modern inventions…no tv, no electronics, no radio, no washing machine, no dishwasher…I took great pleasure hand washing our clothing in the morning warm sun outside in the back yard. I wish I could go again. I will find your book with great pleasure! 🙂

  15. Reading this blog made me feel like a big light bulb was turned on…. I am swimming upstream against a current of today’s expected activities and falling further behind. And not really caring ….. I am hungry to read more of this book! Thank you Tsh, for confronting an issue that I believe so many of us have not been able to put a name on!

  16. Lately my life has been super busy with work, moving my aging dad into assisted living, running errands here and there. At this stage in my life I find myself wanting to slow down. I want to ride bikes, hike in the mountains, just sit by the beach and hear the waves crashing on the shore.

    I’m ready to simplify my life–get back nightly dinners with hubby, start exercising again, and just live simply. Few gadgets. Cell phone–NO I phone, computer, TV. I don’t do much social media, or care about it. Just want to start growing my own food some & enjoying this God given life without rushing around crazy like.

    Blessings 🙂