Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am delighted to see you here today, especially on Friday the 13th. I’m not sure December needs the energy from a Friday the 13th, but we’ll roll with it.
This week on the blog I shared the way I repurposed antique doorknobs to make Christmas decor. I’m obsessed with those cute little things. I also shared our Christmas tree! It’s in a new corner of the living room room this year. I’m really shaking things up. Haha!
As always, thank you for being here. I enjoy sharing what inspired me this week and I love connecting with you. If you want to reach out, and I hope you do, you can always comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also reach out on Instagram or Facebook.
Here’s the Happy List!
CALM RETREAT
The architecture in this bedroom stopped me in my scroll. Two ideas I thought could be replicable are the ledge behind the bed and painting just a little bit of the woodwork to highlight the bed nook.
(image: via Houzz)
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
Archaeologists in France found a message in a bottle left for them by another archaeologist who excavated that same site 200 years ago in 1825. How cool is that?
If you want to know the message and why the site was being dug up again, you can check it out in this BBC article. The handwriting is amazing.
(image: Guillaume Blondel via BBC)
P.S. This is exactly why I left a time capsule for someone to find in our basement.
SUCCULENT ORNAMENT
I never would have thought to make ornaments out of succulents. It’s so pretty, especially on a flocked tree!
Get detailed directions at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia.
(image: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia)
ONCE BITTEN
Did you know that the London Underground subway system has a distinct form of mosquito, Culex pipiens f. Molestus? It is genetically different from above-ground mosquitos and has been present since at least the 1940s. They were a real nuisance to people sheltering during WWII.
If you want to learn more about it, you can check out this paper in Nature.
P.S. We have been to London and, thankfully, did not get bitten by mosquitoes in the tube. I have a blog post about One Day In London With Kids.
FASCINATING
Handy Husband and I both watched this video about how a small bakery in San Francisco operates. Handy Husband said, “I’m not even into this sort of thing. It was fascinating.” Same.
If the video doesn’t load, watch it directly here on YouTube.
KINDLE IN COLOR
Are there any other Kindle readers out there? Did you know they just released a Kindle with color?
COLOR!!!
I haven’t seen a book cover in color in years. Graphic novels and magazines can now be read on the Kindle Colorsoft. Apparently, a single charge can last 8 weeks! Can’t wait to test that out. My current Kindle’s battery is failing fast.
Anyway, I’m excited for my Christmas present. Yes, I know what it is. Haha!
(image: Amazon)
P.S. If you need a stocking stuffer idea, I got this Clean Ball that goes in the bottom of your purse and picks up lint and crumbs. It’s around $10.
P.P.S. If you ever need a link for a book or product, especially for bigger websites, ask your favorite blogger. They’d be happy to provide a link for you. Affiliate links are a key way bloggers make money to keep their websites running. They get a small commission if you use one of their links to buy something. It’s important to remember you stay anonymous to the blogger when making purchases.
BANNING BOOK BANS
Speaking of reading, New Jersey just banned book bans. There are nuances to the law, including for developmentally appropriate material, but it also protects librarians who comply with the law.
My view on books and book bans is just because I don’t want to read something or don’t want my kids to read something doesn’t mean that choice should be taken away from someone else to decide for themselves or their family and vice versa.
If you want to know the books my kids read when they were younger, I have a whole series! You can start with Books My Kids Are Reading Part 13 and work backward.
FIREPLACE
This photo is from a guest house dating back to the 18th century on Guy Ritchie’s estate. First, I’ve never seen a fireplace with plasterwork like this. Second, do you see how the hearth is elevated and there are spots for wood underneath? That’s pretty smart.
I wonder if this is how our dining room fireplace was originally built. We know the bottom of the firebox and maybe the extending hearth were higher at one time. This is one of the reasons why we can’t use the fireplace – the airflow wouldn’t be quite right.
See more photos from this incredible home here. If you like old houses, it’s incredible.
(image: Alixe Lay for House and Garden UK)
FIGHTING TAX EVASION
South Korea has a creative way of fighting tax evasion.
If a company car in South Korea costs more than $58,000, it has to have an ugly green license plate. To quote an article in Morning Brew, “The brightly colored plates are intended to curb the practice of using swanky company cars for personal engagements and writing them off as a business expense.”
Imported luxury car registrations for business use dropped 27% since the policy was enacted.
Read more about it here.
(image: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of South Korea via Morning Brew)
PUMPKIN CRUMB CAKE MUFFINS
I quite possibly made the best muffins of my life this week. They were the Pumpkin Crumb Cake Muffins from Sally’s Baking Addiction.
I had some leftover pumpkin in the refrigerator that I needed to use up and what better way than with muffins? Seriously, make these for breakfast or a snack this week. You won’t regret it.
(image: Sally’s Baking Addiction)
P.S. I skipped the icing. They were plenty sweet without it.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“I’ll read you something pretty: People are unreasonable, illogical and self centered; love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, alternative motives; do good anyway. The biggest people with the biggest ideas can be shut down by the smallest people with the smallest minds; think big anyway. What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight; build anyway. Give the world the best you have and you’ll be kicked into defeat; give the world the best you’ve got anyway.” – Hedy Lamar
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*