Happy List: #374

Why, hello there! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am happy as a clam that you are here!

This was Refrigerator Week on the blog. It’s more exciting than it sounds, at least for me. Ha! I wrote about the effort we expended to prep our kitchen to build a cabinet around the fridge. I also wrote about the things we did to customize an old refrigerator to make it look as close to panel-ready (a fridge with cabinet fronts) as possible without actually giving it cabinet fronts.

Also, special thanks to Beth at Creatively Beth for featuring not one, but two of my Valentine’s Day crafts on her Link Party #230. That was super fun!

Of all the ways you could spend your time, I am so thankful you chose to spend a few minutes of it here. I enjoy sharing what creatively inspires me and I love connecting with you. This week I’ve answered emails, responded to comments, and a few of you even sent me pictures of what you’re creating. I love hearing from you. If you want to reach out, 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!

INTERIOR SHUTTERS

Look closely at the windows in this home. They have interior shutters, which means you don’t need curtains or other window treatments. When they are shut it blocks all the light but also looks like gorgeous paneling. I love this.

You should check out the rest of this home in England photographed by Michael Sinclair for House and Garden UK. It is a conversion from a commercial space.

(image: Michael Sinclair for House and Garden UK)

AROUND THE WORLD AT 80

The “TikTok Traveling Grannies” are two 81-year-old friends, Sandy Hazelip and Ellie Hamby, and they are inspiring people of all ages with their friendship and their travel adventures.

If you want to feel uplifted today, read this story in Afar! You can also follow them on Instagram or read their blog.

I want to be them when I grow up.

(image: via Afar)

PLANKED DOOR DIY

If you have hollow core doors and like the look of planked doors, Jenna from Jenna Sue Design has a tutorial on how you can transform those doors. It’s pretty straightforward and uses something readily available from the home improvement store.

Check it out here.

(image: Jenna Sue Design)

P.S. Planked doors aren’t just for modern homes. Our house has planked door that are hundreds of years old. You can read about how I refinished them here.

FINLAND’S ZERO HOMELESS STRATEGY

Ecoscope reports that Finland may end up being a model for other countries to reduce their unhoused population. Their strategy includes a three-pronged approach of financial assistance, support services, and permanent housing.

“The number of homeless people in Finland has continuously decreased over the past three decades from over 16,000 in 1989 to around 4,000, or 0.08% of the population (Figure 1). This is a very low number, especially considering that Finland uses a relatively broad definition of homelessness, whereby in particular it includes people temporarily living with friends and relatives in its official homelessness count. In 2020, practically no one was sleeping rough on a given night in Finland.” (source)

Read more about their strategy here.

(image: Report 2021: Homelessness in Finland 2020, The Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland (ARA) via Ecoscope)

VALENTINE’S SWEATSHIRT

The heart elbow patches on this sweatshirt from Amazon are fun.

I might do this to a shirt I already own. It would be neat to make them out of a plaid pattern. Hmm…

(image: Amazon)

HAVE YOU HEARD THIS?

I saw this name history circulating on Bluesky and it made me wonder. Is it true? I can’t find any definitive source that confirms it, but it makes sense. Some people also just name or nickname their kids whatever they want and it doesn’t conform to this structure.

Both things could be true.

You can read the entire post here.

(image: screenshot of Bluesky user Angus Johnston)

COPYCAT PANERA MEDITERRANEAN GREENS SALAD

We don’t eat at Panera Bread very often because it costs eleventy billion dollars (I’m sure that’s a real number) to feed our family of four there.

The last time I was there I ordered their Mediterranean Greens with Grains salad. It has a dollop of hummus which makes a huge difference and the grains add a little heft to the salad because I’m not a rabbit.

Anyway, I found a copycat recipe from Keeping The Peas and I’m making it this weekend. I’ll probably add chicken because Handy Husband thinks every meal needs meat.

(image: Keeping The Peas)

P.S. Love the blog name pun.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

– George Bernard Shaw

P.S. If you want to see Jeff Goldblum recite this quote from memory – it’s so good – watch this short YouTube video.

Thank you for reading today’s Happy List.

Be good to yourself and others this weekend.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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