Happy List: #420 – A Pretty Happy Home

Why, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I am so happy to see you here.

This week on the blog, I shared the new-to-me fiber art I hung in our living room. It’s been an exercise in patience to decorate this particular corner, but worth the wait…not that I’m ever really done. Ha!

Something else that’s not quite done, but pretty close, are the stairs to our basement. I wrote about those on Wednesday.

Thank you for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here. I’m very aware that lots of injustices are happening in the world and close to home. The Happy List, and this blog, are my way of bringing balance to my life. Continuing to make art, being inspired, building community, and laughing are all ways to stay hopeful when the world feels bleak. I like to think of it as creative resistance. To that end, I hope you have fun, learn something new today, and leave feeling inspired.

It truly makes my day to connect with you. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook.

Here’s the Happy List!

BRICK AND STONE

If you love homes from the 1800s (raising both my hands), you’ll enjoy looking at photos of this 1829 home with an addition by Peter Zimmerman Architects.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a brick wall laid out that way, particularly in a very old home.

(image: Peter Zimmeran Architects via Town N Country Living)

FELT FLOWER HEART WREATH

Here’s a colorful combination of a few of my favorite things: hearts, flowers, and wreaths.

This Etsy shop has a variety of color schemes for this wreath, and I finally just closed my eyes and let my cursor pick one of these happy wreaths to share with you.

(image: etsy shop juliettesdesigntr)

TUNELESS CHOIRS

Can’t carry a tune, but enjoy singing? You could join a tuneless choir! Tuneless choirs exist in the U.K. and Canada. I don’t know about other countries.

I adore this idea so much. It’s all for the love of singing.

Fun fact, tuneless choirs actually sound okay because it doesn’t take very many people to hit the right note to make a decent sound. A congregation singing at church is a good example of a tuneless choir.

(image: Tuneless Choir)

HELLO, YELLOW

This photo by Michael Sinclair in House and Garden UK makes me want to paint our front door yellow. It’s so happy!

Should I do it?

I’ve also been toying with painting the door blue, green, or red. I’ve really narrowed it down, as you can tell. Just call me decisive.

(image: Michael Sinclair via House and Garden UK)

RECEIPT LOTTERY

Gambling is illegal in Taiwan. However, they have a VERY successful receipt lottery (tǒngyī fāpiào) that’s all about ensuring tax compliance. Every sale must be accompanied by a receipt in Taiwan. To discourage businesses from conducting under-the-table deals, every receipt includes a lottery number, which encourages customers to ask for a receipt. Everyone wants a chance to win!

Fascinating, right? Learn more here and here.

(image: via Pablo Musumeci)

CALF COMPRESSION SLEEVES

I got new calf compression sleeves for Christmas. I’ve worn them every single day since Christmas. That’s how passionate I am about them. Don’t worry. I have more than one pair.

First, they keep me warm. That could be the end of the list. Ha! Second, they feel like a lovely hug for my calves. Third, I can still wear my fun winter socks because my feet aren’t involved in this compression hug. Last, I’m sure there are circulation and other medical benefits, but I don’t have a way of measuring that, and I’m not a doctor.

The only downside is that you do have to measure your calves to make sure you’re ordering the correct size. Large calves here. *sigh*

(image: Amazon)

DIALED, LISTENED

Here are a few great links:

5Calls.org – If you’re in the U.S., I like to use this website/app to call my elected federal representatives.

Brain Balls – I lost track of the number of times I gasped during this podcast about the science of brain organoids. They aren’t brains exactly, but they kind of are.

ldial.org – Still into this neat way to listen to independent radio stations.

CARMELIZED GOCHUJANG TOMATO SOUP

I’m making Justine Doiron ‘s Carmelized Gochujang Tomato Soup recipe tonight because my friend Nancy told me it was delicious. Nancy never steers me wrong. Get yourself a friend like that.

As a plus, I can drizzle my favorite condiment, chili crisp, on top of it. So much winning is going to be happening. I’m going to serve it with this Naan bread.

(image: Justine Doiron)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“Sometimes people use “respect” to mean “treating someone like a person” and sometimes they use “respect” to mean “treating someone like an authority”

and sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say “if you won’t respect me I won’t respect you” and they mean “if you won’t treat me like an authority I won’t treat you like a person”

and they think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not okay.”

– Autistic Abby (user name) writing on Tumblr in 2015

Thank you for reading this week’s Happy List.