Happy List: #260
Hello! Welcome to today’s Happy List. I’m glad you’re here.
This week on the blog we celebrated 3 years of living in this Colonial Farmhouse. We’ve actually been in New Jersey for almost 4 years now. That’s getting close to a record for us!
I also shared photos of our new flagstone path and our experience with setting flagstones directly on the ground. If nothing else, you can come here to learn from our DIY experiences – the good and the bad!
Thank you in advance for reading today’s blog post, sharing things you like, sending good vibes our way, and even engaging with us on Instagram or Facebook. This is my happy place and your support helps keep this blog running. I appreciate you.
Now, here’s the Happy List!
THOUGHTFUL REPURPOSE
This is a cool idea from The Painted Hive to turn director’s chairs into stools.
Get the tutorial here.
(image: The Painted Hive)
KUDOS
Kudos to this group of teens who not only recognized that bad things happen when kids feel alienated at school but stepped in to make a positive difference.
That’s the kind of leadership this world needs. If you want to feel all warm and fuzzy about humanity, go read the whole story here.
(image: Simone Lightfoot, KDVR via Good News Network)
COOL WALL
Dusting aside, this is a cool wall in this home by Cuppett Kilpatrick Architects.
(image: Cuppett Kilpatrick Architects)
MATTEL PLAYBACK
Did you know you can send old Barbie®, Fisher-Price®, Matchbox® and MEGA™ toys back to Mattel FOR FREE so they can be recycled?
The toys don’t need to work. This is a program Mattel created to keep old, unwanted, or broken toys out of landfills. How cool is that?
Find out how it works here.
WINDOW LOVE
Why aren’t more houses built with windows that go all the way down to the floor?
I imagine that windows like this would make you feel much more connected to nature.
See more photos of this passive house in Québec here.
(image: photography by Raphaël Thibodeau, courtesy of L’Abri, via Remodelista)
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that George Washington didn’t know dinosaurs existed? Neither did Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, John Adams, and most of the rest of the founding fathers who signed the U.S. Constitution.
Say what?!?!
George Washington died in 1799. Dinosaurs weren’t identified until the early 1840s.
While documentation of what we now know are dinosaur fossils go back to the 1600s, it was often assumed these fossils came from “giants.” It wasn’t until 1841/42 that British scientist Richard Owen realized the found fossils were too different from humans and that they came from an extinct animal species. He was the one who coined the term dinosaur, which means terrible lizard.
(image: Wikicommons)
Owen first mentioned dinosaurs in a speech in 1841 and later in a report published in 1842.
The sources for this interesting dinosaur fact can be found here, here, here, here, and here.
I cannot separate this tidbit about George Washington and dinosaurs when I think about the concept of originalism. Originalism is the legal concept that the U.S. Constitution should be read and interpreted exactly how the founding fathers thought or intended in the 1700s…when they didn’t know dinosaurs existed.
GLOW-IN-THE-DARK BIRDIES
This is the summer of badminton for our house.
Did you know they make glow-in-the-dark birdies? There is actually a little LED light you can turn on when using the birdies in the dark.
These birdies or shuttlecocks are made with goose feathers. They do move differently than plastic birdies. It takes some getting used to, but since we are terrible no matter what type of birdie we are using, it’s all good fun.
(image: Amazon)
BROCCOLI SALAD
I’m eager to try this Broccoli Salad recipe from Love and Lemons because it isn’t mayonnaise heavy.
There are just a few tablespoons instead of a cup as some recipes call for.
(image: Love and Lemons)
POETRY MOMENT
Allowables by Nikki Giovanni
I killed a spider
Not a murderous brown recluse
Nor even a black widow
And if the truth were told this
Was only a small spider
Sort of papery spider
Who should have run
When I picked up the book
But she didn’t
And she scared me
And I smashed her
I don’t think
I’m allowed
To kill something
Because I am
Frightened.
Thank you for reading today’s Happy List!
Be good to yourself and others this weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday.
*affiliate links in this blog post*
