Patrice Lewis likes things simple.

That doesn't mean she's not busy, which she is, homeschooling two teenagers, growing their own food on the farm and running a home business with her husband.

But she likes to make simple choices, she said.

Marry the right guy: Check. Raise the kids right: Check.

If everyone followed her strategy, she thinks, the world would be, well, simpler.

"They all need a good clonk on the head," said Lewis, who lives south of Coeur d'Alene. "They need a good dose of common sense."

So Lewis has provided just that.

In fact, she's provided 365 pages of common sense.

Lewis' first book, "The Simplicity Primer," is just what it sounds like. A guide with a different suggestion for every day of the year on how to simplify relationships, decisions and life in general.

It isn't the kind of self-help that folks are accustomed to, she said.

No philosophies about getting away, or connecting with an inner child.

This instead puts a magnifier over reality, with tips on making reasonable decisions every day that will prevent hardship down the road.

"The idea is if you fill life with as many good, sound choices as you can, then when something happens out of your control, you can handle it better," she said.

A few examples out of the book published by WND Books: "Don't divorce, it's bad for the environment," "stop recreational shopping" and "revenge is a waste of time."

If folks work to build a solid foundation, she said, like by marrying wisely and maintaining respectful relationships with family, they will have that safety net to fall back on when illness or joblessness or other chaos occurs.

"Simplicity is the product of personal responsibility, not a product of whether you recycle aluminum cans and get rid of call waiting," she said. "That has nothing to do with simplicity."

The tips in her book span finances, personal relationships and how to use free time.

Many suggestions include examples from her own life, she said, as well as those of her daughters', her friends' and family.

She said she hopes that the collection will help readers reduce stress and find a sense of security.

"If you can make good choices from now on, you can often if not fix what's complicating your life, at least mitigate it," she said. "Simplicity can be done by anyone, in almost any circumstances."

Lewis, who has an undergraduate degree in Zoology from U.C. Davis and a graduate degree in Environmental Education from Southern Oregon University, said she got a light bulb for the book when she was shopping for advice books herself.

The books she found didn't reflect her life at all, she said.

"The suggestions they would offer were not practical. I'm a busy mom," said Lewis, who was raised in California. "They said things like 'Take off for a retreat for three days.' I have little kids, how do I have time?"

She decided to write her own book, one for the pragmatist sort, and soon she was typing ideas in the midst of doing chores and cooking meals.

"It just poured out of me," she said.

Although her first publisher fell through, her book was later picked up by WND Books, which she writes a weekly column for.

"They took a chance on me," she said, adding that this isn't the usual genre the company publishes.

"The Simplicity Primer" is available for sale at Barnes and Noble and Hastings.

For information, go to: http://www.simplicityprimer.com/p/about-author.html.

Lewis, 48, tries to follow all the rules in her book, she added. She raises her 13 and 15 year-old daughters with necessary discipline, she said, and she is true to her husband of 21 years, Don, who she operates a woodcraft business with.

"We live a simple life because we're absolutely devoted to each other," she said. "We're not having 14 marriages and raising our kids out of wedlock."

If something unexpected comes their way, she added, they're ready.

Their choices have helped them weather trials before.

"Because of that rock solid foundation beneath us, anything thrown in our lap, we band together and we handle it," she said.

It's that simple.