Happy List: #275

Hi! After taking last week off, I’m thrilled to be sharing another Happy List with you.

This week on the blog I tiptoed through a grammar minefield and wrote about our Halloween front porch and the witches’ hats hanging there. I also discussed the very important topic of how to decorate with wheat. Decorating with it is only second best to eating wheat-based products.

Thank you for your continuing to show up here week after week supporting this little spot on the internet. All of your engagement here and on Instagram or Facebook is important to us. Your support truly helps our family, helps restore this old house we live in, and keeps this blog running.

Here’s the Happy List!

CABINET PROFILE

Take a hard look at the profile on these cabinets in Marie Flanagan Interiors’ headquarters.

Have you ever seen a profile quite like this? I don’t think I have noticed it before, but I like it!

(image: Marie Flanagan Interiors)

REESE’S CHEESECAKE

This one is for the chocolate and peanut butter lovers in the crowd! This Reese’s Cheesecake from Spaceships and Laserbeams has a brownie crust!

Recipe here.

(image: Spaceships and Laserbeams)

HALLOWEEN CANDY

I don’t even have a word to describe how I felt when I learned that Americans are predicted to spend an estimated $3.1 billion on Halloween candy this year. This figure is according to Candy Store.

Yes, BILLION. Goodness, gracious. I’m not sure we should brag about that.

Don’t get me wrong, my kids are very happy about this statistic. Halloween is pure sugar joy for them.

It’s just an interesting thought exercise on how relatively small expenditures by millions of people add up to a sizeable number.

(image: Candy Store)

P.S. If I had to choose one candy on this list it would be Sour Patch Kids followed by Hot Tamales. Handy Husband would pick Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.

CLEVER POOL NOODLE IDEA

I would never have thought to use a pool noodle to help store fishing poles. Have you seen this idea before?

Full details at Family Handyman.

(image: Family Handyman)

DID YOU KNOW?

Here’s a bit of trivia for you. Did you know the average age of the signers of the Declaration of Independence was 44?

Here’s a sampling of the ages of the signers at the time they signed in 1776 from The Journal of the American Revolution:

Thomas Jefferson, 33
John Hancock, 39
John Adams, 40
Samuel Adams, 53
Benjamin Franklin, 70

(image: Wikipedia – Thomas Jefferson in 1800 | Portrait by Rembrandt Peale)

For a full list of the individuals (and their ages in 1776) that were important to the American Revolution, read this article. For instance, I didn’t know that Betsy Ross was only 24 on July 4, 1776.

P.S. Historians believe it is highly unlikely that Betsy Ross sewed the first flag. She might have come up with the 5-sided star shape though.

TABLE RUNNER

This table runner by Books and Timbers on Etsy that is made from book pages would be so versatile. You could pick book pages that work with a party theme for a bridal shower, baby shower, Halloween, or Christmas.

I’m sure you could make a table runner from sheet music. For a cheeky graduation-themed party, how about a table runner made out of graded tests or those Scantron forms? Do they still use Scantrons?

Or just buy one from this Etsy store that seems to have the idea down pat and you don’t have to do any work!

(image: Books and Timbers via Etsy photo credit: www.henry-tieu.com)

FAMILY PICTURE OUTFIT IDEAS

Some of you on-the-ball folks are taking family pictures for your holiday cards. I salute your initiative both for the pictures and the holiday cards.

If your teen needs an outfit for family pictures, let me recommend this Amazon dress. It looks great in person (way better than the picture) and can be dressed up or down with accessories. It also comes in black.

(image: Amazon)

POETRY MOMENT

I read this poem by Jack Prelutsky on Poets.org this week and it immediately made me smile. It was just the right amount of silliness to balance out the heavy news of the day. I hope you share it with your kids or grandkids.

Be Glad Your Nose Is on Your Face
Jack Prelutsky – 1940-

Be glad your nose is on your face,
not pasted on some other place,
for if it were where it is not,
you might dislike your nose a lot.

Imagine if your precious nose
were sandwiched in between your toes,
that clearly would not be a treat,
for you’d be forced to smell your feet.

Your nose would be a source of dread
were it attached atop your head,
it soon would drive you to despair,
forever tickled by your hair.

Within your ear, your nose would be
an absolute catastrophe,
for when you were obliged to sneeze,
your brain would rattle from the breeze.

Your nose, instead, through thick and thin,
remains between your eyes and chin,
not pasted on some other place–
be glad your nose is on your face!

I’m glad my nose is on my face and I’m glad your eyeballs read today’s Happy List!

Be good to yourself and others this weekend.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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