Hello and Happy Friday! Welcome to this week’s edition of the Happy List.
It might be the most exciting day, so far, of the year for my kid’s. Our pool is being opened for the season! We don’t have a pool heater, so it will be way too cold for me to swim for quite awhile unless we get a heatwave.
Last year my first swim in the pool was at night after a storm had come through the area. One of the outdoor umbrellas had blown out of its stand and into the pool. If the umbrella had stayed closed it wouldn’t have been a problem to extract it by myself. But no. Fate was not smiling kindly on me that night. That sucker was fully opened and upside down at the bottom of the deep end.
I did what any logical person would do in this situation. I jumped in the freezing cold pool in my nightgown.
Word to the wise…you cannot close an umbrella while it is open under water. I tried. The force on the umbrella is too great. My only hope was to drag/swim it out of the deep end to the shallow end where I then had leverage to get it up out of the water.
Do you know how heavy a fully extended 8-ft, upside down umbrella is in 9 feet of water? Heavy. It took me at least 20 minutes to muscle it out of the deep end. I’m pretty sure my kids had time to pop popcorn to eat while they watched this fiasco unfold and heckled me from the sidelines. “Mom! You’re in your nightgown!” Yep. Well aware.
Eventually, I saved the day and the pool liner from being cut by the end of the umbrella. I also didn’t get hypothermia, but that hot shower sure did feel nice afterward.
Where was Handy Husband during all of this? Asleep.
It wasn’t his fault. He was terribly ill with Lyme Disease and wouldn’t have been able to get out of bed and down the stairs even if he wanted to help. He’s fine now. Science is awesome and we are so thankful for modern medicine!
Well, that story was an unplanned detour on today’s Happy List! Before we get to the good stuff, let me first tell you that this week on the blog I wrote about how to fill gaps in wood floors using oakum and about the books my kids have been reading lately!
Finally, here’s the Happy List!
CHARMED
This scene captured by Bruce Fox Design on Instagram charmed the heck out of me. I love those old school rockers.
(image: Bruce Fox Design via Instagram)
MULTIPLE SHOWER CURTAINS
I am currently using two shower curtains in one of our showers because I like my shower curtain to look like actual curtains when closed. No pulled-tight shower curtains for me, if possible.
This same pattern, but different color combination of shower curtains put together by Heather Taylor Home for West Elm is cool. I wouldn’t have thought of doing that.
See more pictures of this space here.
(image: via Domino / Heather Taylor Home for West Elm)
LIST OF HOAXES
Wikipedia keeps the most interesting lists like the one about inventors who were killed by their own inventions, but I thought this list of hoaxes might be helpful to someone.
So if anyone tries to tell you a jackalope is real…
(image: Wikimedia)
U.S. CHILDHOOD REPORT
I’m sharing this next story not because it is happy, but because it is eye-opening.
We happen to live in the “safest” U.S. county for kids as determined by Save the Children. It ranks counties on things such as child poverty, child deaths, high school drop out rate, child hunger, and teen pregnancy.
However, even the “safest” county in the U.S. still has children who are hungry, who live in poverty, who don’t graduate, etc. There’s still work to be done.
See the full report and the interactive map here. There’s also a new ranking that incorporates safety during Covid.
(image: Save the Children)
SILLY
How about we lighten the mood?
This made me smile. That is all.
(image: Sad and Useless)
Yes, I scrolled through the entire photo album of bell peppers with googly eyes. Don’t judge. I needed a pick me up!
MINT GREEN
Might I suggest a door and transom in a mint green for your house?
More work by Anna Spiro Design can be seen here.
(image: Anna Spiro Design via House Beautiful)
SALVAGED TEXTILE TOTES
I should have learned how to sew!
I just learned about a company called Forestbound that takes salvaged textiles like quilts, WWII camouflage, etc. and turns them into gloriously stylish and functional tote bags.
They are expensive, but so neat.
(image: Forestbound)
SLEEPING PORCH
This VRBO in Maine has a sleeping porch!
Can you tell I’m almost fully vaccinated and itching for a vacation?
(image: VRBO)
SOMETHING TO PONDER
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain
Thanks for reading today’s Happy List!
Be good to yourself and others this weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday. In the meantime, come check out what projects we are working on over at Instagram or Facebook.
*affiliate links in this blog post*