Happy List: #241

Hello! Welcome to the Happy List.

This week on the blog I shared a bunch of shelf ideas. Getting organized helps me feel like I have a little more control over my world. Notice I said MY world, not THE world. I have no control over that. Ha!

I also shared the joy that is miniature table clocks. Have you ever had or do you currently have a miniature table clock?

If reading this blog three times a week isn’t quite enough, please join us over on Instagram or Facebook. Also, we love to see what you are making and creating. Please tag us or send us a message so we can celebrate your project wins with you!

Now, here’s the Happy List!

I CAN RELATE

We got the kids new hoodies for Christmas and now they won’t wear their jackets to school, so I feel this tweet deeply!

(image: Simon Holland via Twitter)

POWERS OF TEN

For all of you visual learners, this is so cool. It is worth a watch to not only help you understand the powers of ten and exponential growth but our universe too.

If the video doesn’t load, here is the direct YouTube link.

CASTLE KITCHEN

I’m always interested in how kitchens looked before we started installing fixed cabinetry.

This is a picture from Château de Gudanes in the French Pyrenees. When the present owners bought the castle only three of its ninety-four rooms had floors and ceilings!

You can follow along on their renovation journey via Instagram. You can see more pictures of the castle in this Desire to Inspire article.

(image: via Desire to Inspire)

WINDOW SEAT

I love how this cozy chair sits facing the view instead of facing in toward the room.

We used to live in a home with a huge picture window overlooking a pond. I created a seating area facing those windows and it was the best spot to sit.

(image: Thomas J. Story via Sunset)

UNDER-THE-BED LIGHT

The older I get, the more a motion-activated under-the-bed light makes sense to me.

We have night lights in our hallways, but I don’t like to sleep with one on in our room. This motion-activated light would make getting up in the middle of the night a little less hazardous.

(image: Amazon)

ICELAND

We want to see the Northern Lights at some point in our lives. Experiencing them from Iceland seems like a good idea!

I mean, look how pretty it is there!

More pictures from the Diamond Circle Road Trip can be found in this Conde Nast Traveler article.

(image: Visit North Iceland via Conde Nast Traveler)

LOST LETTERS

Did you see the story about how a Southwest Airlines employee went above and beyond normal protocols to return letters accidentally left on a plane?

The collection of letters was from the 1940s to the 1970s. If you have any old letters from your parents or grandparents you know how precious these are!

This story warmed my heart. Read about it here.

(image: Rachel DeGolia via CNN)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

If you don’t remember or were not alive for Al Gore’s concession speech, it’s a good one to revisit. Because I feel it is so important, I’m going to share the entire speech here. It’s worth the two minutes it will take to read it and absorb the wisdom to be found there. If you’d rather listen to the audio, you can find it here along with the speech transcript. 

Good evening.

Just moments ago, I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States. And I promised him that I wouldn’t call him back this time. I offered to meet with him as soon as possible so that we can start to heal the divisions of the campaign and the contest through which we’ve just passed.

Almost a century and a half ago, Senator Stephen Douglas told Abraham Lincoln, who had just defeated him for the presidency, “Partisan feeling must yield to patriotism. I’m with you, Mr. President, and God bless you.” Well, in that same spirit, I say to President-elect Bush that what remains of partisan rancor must now be put aside, and may God bless his stewardship of this country. Neither he nor I anticipated this long and difficult road. Certainly neither of us wanted it to happen. Yet it came, and now it has ended, resolved, as it must be resolved, through the honored institutions of our democracy.

Over the library of one of our great law schools is inscribed the motto, “Not under man but under God and law.” That’s the ruling principle of American freedom, the source of our democratic liberties. I’ve tried to make it my guide throughout this contest, as it has guided America’s deliberations of all the complex issues of the past five weeks.

Now the U.S. Supreme Court has spoken. Let there be no doubt, while I strongly disagree with the court’s decision, I accept it. I accept the finality of this outcome which will be ratified next Monday in the Electoral College. And tonight, for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession. I also accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new President-elect and do everything possible to help him bring Americans together in fulfillment of the great vision that our Declaration of Independence defines and that our Constitution affirms and defends.

Let me say how grateful I am to all those who supported me and supported the cause for which we have fought. Tipper and I feel a deep gratitude to Joe and Hadassah Lieberman, who brought passion and high purpose to our partnership and opened new doors, not just for our campaign but for our country.

This has been an extraordinary election. But in one of God’s unforeseen paths, this belatedly broken impasse can point us all to a new common ground, for its very closeness can serve to remind us that we are one people with a shared history and a shared destiny. Indeed, that history gives us many examples of contests as hotly debated, as fiercely fought, with their own challenges to the popular will. Other disputes have dragged on for weeks before reaching resolution. And each time, both the victor and the vanquished have accepted the result peacefully and in a spirit of reconciliation.

So let it be with us.

I know that many of my supporters are disappointed. I am too. But our disappointment must be overcome by our love of country.

And I say to our fellow members of the world community, let no one see this contest as a sign of American weakness. The strength of American democracy is shown most clearly through the difficulties it can overcome. Some have expressed concern that the unusual nature of this election might hamper the next president in the conduct of his office. I do not believe it need be so.

President-elect Bush inherits a nation whose citizens will be ready to assist him in the conduct of his large responsibilities. I, personally, will be at his disposal, and I call on all Americans — I particularly urge all who stood with us — to unite behind our next president. This is America. Just as we fight hard when the stakes are high, we close ranks and come together when the contest is done. And while there will be time enough to debate our continuing differences, now is the time to recognize that that which unites us is greater than that which divides us. While we yet hold and do not yield our opposing beliefs, there is a higher duty than the one we owe to political party. This is America and we put country before party; we will stand together behind our new president.

As for what I’ll do next, I don’t know the answer to that one yet. Like many of you, I’m looking forward to spending the holidays with family and old friends. I know I’ll spend time in Tennessee and mend some fences, literally and figuratively.

Some have asked whether I have any regrets, and I do have one regret: that I didn’t get the chance to stay and fight for the American people over the next four years, especially for those who need burdens lifted and barriers removed, especially for those who feel their voices have not been heard. I heard you. And I will not forget.

I’ve seen America in this campaign, and I like what I see. It’s worth fighting for and that’s a fight I’ll never stop. As for the battle that ends tonight, I do believe, as my father once said, that “No matter how hard the loss, defeat might serve as well as victory to shape the soul and let the glory out.”

So for me this campaign ends as it began: with the love of Tipper and our family; with faith in God and in the country I have been so proud to serve, from Vietnam to the vice presidency; and with gratitude to our truly tireless campaign staff and volunteers, including all those who worked so hard in Florida for the last 36 days.

Now the political struggle is over and we turn again to the unending struggle for the common good of all Americans and for those multitudes around the world who look to us for leadership in the cause of freedom.

In the words of our great hymn, “America, America”: “Let us crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea.”

And now, my friends, in a phrase I once addressed to others: it’s time for me to go.

Thank you, and good night, and God bless America.

Thanks for reading today’s Happy List!

Be good to yourself and others this weekend.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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