Happy List: #119
Hello! This week I shared a potentially controversial opinion. I ditched my throw pillows and I’m not sorry about it. How long will this madness last? Nobody knows. Did you catch the reveal of my new outdoor dining chairs? I love them! I’d love them even more if Mother Nature would quit this rain business so I can be outside before the temperatures turn hotter than Hades. Here’s the Happy List! COUSINS CHART I’ve been labeling my relationship to my cousin’s children all wrong! This cousins chart article from Better Homes and Gardens helped me figure it out. It also explained the difference between great aunt and grand aunt. Another label…
Navy Blue Outdoor Dining Chairs
I mentioned a few weeks ago in this Happy List post that I was anxiously awaiting the delivery of my new navy blue outdoor dining chairs. They arrived and I can finally uncross all my fingers and toes because the chairs are even better than I hoped. And thank goodness because returning the outdoor dining chairs would have been a giant pain. Oy! Also, where I live on the East Coast seems to have a glorious, but short weather sweet spot. Not too hot. Not too cold. And not too many bugs! That weather sweet spot is now and I fully intend to take advantage of it this year since…
One Year Without Throw Pillows
Slap on your party hats because today is an important anniversary. I am celebrating one year without throw pillows! Yes, I know it’s a weird thing to celebrate. I am a little weird though, so just roll with it! I have been a card-carrying member of Team Throw Pillow my entire adult life. I love how throw pillows look. I love how they can quickly change the vibe of your space. I love that they aren’t super expensive. I love the cushiony effect throw pillows provide. But guess what? I’ve also been harboring a grudge against throw pillows for the entire time that I’ve been on Team Throw Pillow. See,…
Happy List: #118
Hello! I hope you all had a great week. Mine has felt very full, so I am happy the weekend is almost here. If anything about my website has been wonky (or wonkier than usual) this week, I apologize. Please bear with us. Handy Husband has been working behind-the-scenes on the site in the last 8 days to improve a variety of technical things that search engines care about. One “improvement” can inadvertently cause another feature to completely stop working. It is a good thing I did not get my blood pressure checked this week! On Monday I shared the trash my son found in the forest. I do love…
Books My Kids Are Reading Part 11
It has been longer than usual since my last “Books My Kids Are Reading” post. We’re still consuming stacks and stacks of books, but not as many that I’m reading out loud to the kids. In fact, there are only three in this list that I read aloud to the kids and there’s a reason for that. My 3rd grader needed to work on reading comprehension. Since I am a sucker for reading “just one more page” when the kids ask, it was cutting into his nightly independent reading time. We did a nighttime reset so that he has a solid 25 – 30 minutes of independent reading time. When…
Picking Up Trash in the Forest and Turning it Into Art
If you’ve ever doubted that kids are a product of their environment, let me share this story. Last week on a sunny spring day, I forced my kids to play outside. I’m a mean mom that way. Thankfully, we live in a neighborhood where I feel okay with our kids riding bikes and going out exploring. On this particular day, the kids took their bikes and rode around the corner to their “ninja camp.” It’s what they call the patch of forest next to a municipal building on a dead end street. They were gone for about an hour and they rode home when they got hungry. In my mind,…
Happy List: #117
I’m baaackk! Did you miss me while I was on Spring Break? I missed all of you and it has been good to be back to my regular posting schedule this week. This week I shared my tips for hiring a piano moving or storage company. These are things I have learned over the years and sometimes the hard way! Then I shared my favorite granola recipe. What is life without a little crunchy topping from time to time? Here’s the Happy List! FREE GREETING CARD PRINTABLE If you like goats, you’ll love these cute greeting cards from Boxwood Avenue. Chloe has a free PDF you can download to print…
The Granola I Make Once a Week
Ready yourself. I’m about to ask a presumptuous question. Have you ever wondered how I decide what to write about? See? Presumptuous of me to think you might wonder. I’m cringing too, but I needed a jumping off point for this post. Today I decided to write about the granola I make once a week because of sunlight. Yep, sunlight. As I was cleaning the table up after lunch I realized the outside light was streaming in on my jar of granola so beautifully. Pretty light on a jar of granola sitting on a messy table. The lens through which I view my surroundings might be a little…unconventional. Then I…
11 Things to Know Before Hiring a Piano Moving and Storage Company
I started playing piano in second grade on a second-hand upright piano bought for me by my grandma. I played that piano for 20 years. Later, with my first big work bonus, I bought myself a baby grand piano. It really is my ‘baby.’ It’s also my ball and chain. I can’t tell you how many of our housing decisions have rested on one key factor: Is there room for the piano? Scratch that. I CAN tell you. It has been ALL of our housing decisions. *sigh* My upright piano lived in five different homes. My baby grand piano has lived in six different homes and two different storage places. Needless…
Taking The Week Off For Spring Break!
It’s Spring Break in our house! Finally. Does it feel like a late Spring Break to you? It feels like one to me. Our kids won’t finish the school year until the end of the third week in June, so maybe it make sense. We do not have any Spring Break travel plans. Handy Husband has to work and the kids start spring sports this week. It doesn’t mean we won’t have plenty of fun on our staycation though. Although, I am not going to cross over a river on a pipe! I’ve done that once and don’t need to do it again. I hope you have a happy week…
