Happy List: #221
Hello! Welcome to the Happy List!
I’m happy to be back with a new edition of the Happy List after a week off the blog. We did sneak away last week for some family time. It was the first time we’d left New Jersey in about 18 months. As much as I love our little piece of New Jersey paradise, it’s so much fun to see new scenery!
This week on the blog I shared two posts. The first was about ways to help kids transition to a new school. For better or for worse, we have a fair bit of personal experience on this topic! The second post was all about oil lamps. I’m late to the oil lamp game and I had no idea there were so many cool oil lamps on the market.
If you’d like to see what we are up to this weekend, please follow along on Instagram or Facebook stories. If you create something I should see, please tag me! I love to see your ideas come to life and how you find inspiration.
Now, here’s the Happy List!
POOL TIME
I wouldn’t mind seeing this pool in my backyard. It’s about time someone made cool-looking inflatable kiddie pools. There are other prints too and they range from $100 – $115.
(image: Design Milk)
DUTCH BABY WITH CUSTARD AND BERRIES
Elevate your Dutch Baby recipe with custard? Yes, please!
Get the recipe at Style at Home.
(image: via Style at Home | Food Styling: Denyse Roussin | Photography: Tango | Styling: Caroline Simon)
DIY CANE BI-FOLD DOORS
Erin revamped your basic, slatted bi-fold doors using caning and I am SO impressed.
Get the full, easy tutorial on her blog, Hackett House Studio.
(image: Hackett House Studio)
HALF TRUTHS
If you saw the picture of a reindeer with glow-in-the-dark antlers blowing up social media, you aren’t alone.
(image: illustrated by Vasjen Katro)
The problem is the picture is NOT REAL. It is a 3-D illustration by artist Vasjen Katro. The story is real.
USA Today and other news outlets published a fact check of this story thanks to what I believe is initial reporting by Truth or Fiction, a myth-busting website. However, there are still places on some social media outlets where this story can circulate without fact checking in place.
In 2014, Finland DID experiment with painting reindeer fur and antlers with glow-in-the-dark paint. The experiment did not work as well as they hoped at preventing vehicular collisions and the idea was abandoned.
They’ve had better luck since then with an app that alerts drivers to reindeer sightings.
This is a friendly reminder to all of us, myself included, to DIG DEEPER. This was a fun and probably harmless story, but half truths can be just as dangerous as outright lies, especially when it comes to folks’ safety and well-being.
Also, it’s really cool that Finland is experimenting in this area!
OUTDOOR LIGHTING
What type of climate do I need to live in for this outdoor lighting situation to be possible or practical?
Isn’t it great? More outdoor lighting ideas can be found in this article.
(image: SG Style Blog via My Domaine)
FELT PADS
I just reordered these nail-in felt pads! It’s the best 8 bucks I’ve spent in awhile! The felt pads come in different colors and sizes.
It has been so nice to not worry about felt pads slipping off our dining room chair legs. The only thing I have to keep track of now is when the felt wears down and the pads need replacing.
(image: Amazon)
After some trial and error, I used a screwdriver to remove the old nail-in felt pads. I wedged the screwdriver under the felt pad and wiggled it out of the chair leg.
LOST RELICS
Almost 10 years ago the North Sea floor was dredged for sand to dump on a beach in The Netherlands. This project was a coastal protection measure to combat the effects of climate change.
Lo and behold, folks started finding Neanderthal relics in the sand, many of the relics being tools used during the Stone Age.
Can you imagine finding one of these tools? Or being the archeologists who get to study them? What an incredible feeling that must be.
Read more about this in this Science article. I promise it will make for interesting dinner conversation. At least, it did at our house!
(image: photo by Manon Bruininga via Science)
WOW
This kitchen sparked my imagination.
Cabinets that look more furniture-like than kitchen cabinet-like.
That live edge backsplash is pure art.
The off-center shelving layout is super satisfying to look at, which is odd because I’m usually all about symmetry.
(image: photography by Michael Sinclair via the Nordroom)
THE CREATIVE ACT
“The creative act is a letting down of the net of human imagination into the ocean of chaos on which we are suspended, and the attempt to bring out of it ideas.
It is the night sea journey, the lone fisherman on a tropical sea with his nets, and you let these nets down – sometimes, something tears through them that leaves them in shreds and you just row for shore, and put your head under your bed and pray.
At other times what slips through are the minutiae, the minnows of this ichthyological metaphor of idea chasing.
But, sometimes, you can actually bring home something that is food, food for the human community that we can sustain ourselves on and go forward.”
Thank you for reading the Happy List!
Be good to yourself and others this weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday!
*affiliate links in this blog post*
