Happy List #18

Hello everyone! How is spring treating you?

Fun tidbit. We don’t spring ahead for daylight savings time here in Ireland until this weekend! That’s why my posts have been publishing an hour earlier recently. Here’s a list of countries around the world and when and if they do the daylight savings time switch.

Also, Sunday is Mother’s Day in Ireland. I had been wondering why the stores have been carrying Happy Mum’s Day items for weeks. Now, I know! I’m not sure losing an hour of sleep is a very good way to celebrate moms though.

This week I discussed how well my green thumb is working with my newly acquired houseplants. I also showed you some awesome outtakes from some recent attempts at family photos.

Here are all the random things on my Happy List this week.

Sesame Chicken

I made this recipe on Monday night. We all loved it. Even Picky McPickerson – the youngest member of our clan.

I did not put sesame seeds on top because I did not have any, so don’t let that deter you. I’m not going to say it’s super healthy because the chicken is batter fried, but I did add green beans, snap peas and carrots to the dish to make it a one pan meal.

If there are members of your family that don’t enjoy sauce, they will enjoy the “chicken nuggets.”

Get the recipe at RasaMalaysia.

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Built In Shoe Drawers in an Entry

Honest to goodness, where has this shoe storage solution been all of my life?

If you had the right space configuration to build shallow shoe drawers into your wall, it would be amazing. Especially in a split level entry where space is already tight and awkward.

Read more about how they built this brilliant idea at Lemon Thistle.

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Cat Pillow Covers

These aren’t my thing, but I’m thinking about ordering these pillow covers off Amazon for my daughter. If you know her and you’ve seen her colorful room, then you’d know why she’d love these.

Cat Reading Pillow Cover

Purple Cat Pillow Cover

The Scarcity Trap: Why We Keep Digging When We’re Stuck In a Hole

This story on Hidden Brain explains a lot! If you’ve ever wondered why it is hard for individuals to breakout of a cycle, such a poverty, researchers have a theory. The implications of their research, if applied to social welfare programs, could actually do what we want those programs to do: give people a leg up, not a handout.

“Have you ever noticed that when something important is missing in your life, your brain can only seem to focus on that missing thing?” Two researchers have dubbed this phenomenon scarcity, and they say it touches on many aspects of our lives. “It leads you to take certain behaviors that in the short term help you to manage scarcity, but in the long term only make matters worse,” says Sendhil Mullaianathan, an economics professor at Harvard University.”

Listen to the entire story here on the Hidden Brain site. It’s fantastic food for thought.

Map Art

I just found a new website called Gale Nation. Gale is from Kansas and she is a hand-lettering artist. How cool is that?

I love how she applies her craft to maps and globes. (All images from her site.)

And if you need a teacher gift, I love this t-shirt.

To Mom

Speaking of children being the future, my son brought this artwork home from school yesterday. It’s the cover for his scrapbook.

The scrapbook is supposed to be about Poland, but he got a little off track, I’d say. In the best way possible.

I love that boy. I’m not sure what he knows about Poland, but I know he’s thinking about me even when he’s at school. Aw, MUSH!

Working With What You’ve Got

Here’s an amazing example of taking something that’s not your style and not in your budget to change (purple countertops) and making it look intentional.

Here’s the before:

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And here’s the after:

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Pretty amazing transformation, right? Whether or not it’s your style is beside the point. The point is this homeowner made it work! She’s far more imaginative than I am.

Read more about it here.

Kitchen Inspiration From the UK

Now for a completely different kitchen!

As much as I swoon over dark kitchen cabinets, I really like the taupe cabinets in this kitchen by UK company, deVOL.

It’s a good thing I’m not building or remodeling anytime soon because it would be hard to decide which direction to go. I’d probably split the difference and go dark on the bottom cabinets and light on the uppers. What would you do?

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Happy Friday, everyone! I hope you have a fantastic weekend!

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