Happy List: #433

Hello! Happy May Day! I cannot believe we have made it to May already, but I’m glad we are here.

It was a big week on the blog, mainly because we finished our Basement Workshop Repointing Project! I hope you’ll check out how the space turned out. Now we have to work up the motivation to start something else.

I also shared a new word I learned: jollifier. I’d love to know what jollifiers you have in your home or life.

As always, thank you for spending a moment of your day here. The Happy List is meant to be a bright spot in your day and mine. It is filled with things that caught my eye this week or inspired me in some way. I hope they do the same for you. If you’d like to reach out, and I hope you do, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook. (P.S. I am much better at answering emails and Instagram DMs than I am at anything on Facebook.)

Here’s the Happy List!

WITCH WINDOW

I have never seen a witch window from inside a house, and I am charmed by this view.

The article talks about how they figured out how to install a curtain on this crooked window. Witch windows are primarily found in 19th century homes in Vermont, USA. You can learn more about them here.

The next time you have a window treatment issue, remember it could be worse. You could be dealing with a witch window! Ha!

See more photos of this home here. The stair runner is amazing, and the kitchen gave me so many ideas.

(image: Belle Morizio for Domino)

2,000-YEAR-OLD BREAD

Archaeologists have discovered a 2,000-year-old loaf of bread in Windisch, Switzerland. The reason it survived is, in part, because it was burnt. So relatable. Ha!

How would you even know what you were looking at? The answer is training, I know. Archaeology is so cool.

Learn more about how this was discovered and the history surrounding it here.

(image: Kanton Aargau via All That’s Interesting)

HAPPY WALKING SHOES

My walks just got a smidge better because of my new happy shoes. Pink gingham! What’s not to love?

If you need a good-looking tennis shoe with a wide toe box, try the New Balance 327 style of shoe. This is the fourth time I’ve purchased the New Balance 327s because I love them so much. They come in a variety of colors, not just pink gingham. I usually go for white, but decided to mix it up this time.

P.S. Pink used to be my least favorite color, but it has grown on me in the last few years when I realized it complements so many other colors such as blue, green, black, white, and red.

MEDICINE CABINET IDEA

I love this medicine cabinet idea from Bria Hammel Interiors. It looks to me that when the designer had the medicine cabinet recessed into the wall, they specified an extra shelf be built underneath the cabinet. The wall was already open and the sink doesn’t have a countertop, so why not?

If this was a heavily used space, I imagine you’d need to take great care with a painted surface, but there are solutions for that.

I am curious about how the sink skirt is attached. I attached a skirt to a laundry sink one time with sticky-backed velcro. It was an okay-ish solution.

(image: Bria Hammel Interiors via The Spruce)

BEES LOVE CEMETERIES

I learned in this Grist article that cemeteries may be ideal habitats for many creatures like miner bees that nest in the ground.

Why do the bees like cemeteries? They don’t flood. It’s easy to dig in the soil. The soil doesn’t c0llapse. In addition, humans, living ones, don’t bug them there. No word on spirits.

Read about the discovery Cornell University scientists have made at a cemetery in Ithaca, New York, here. I was fascinated by this.

FUNNY MOTHER’S DAY GIFT IDEA

This absolutely won’t work, but I do like the thought of this shirt from Etsy. I would laugh if I received this for Mother’s Day, but maybe it would make a better baby shower gift. Start setting expectations early. Ha!

My kids will STILL walk past their dad to ask me a question that he could easily answer or to get help with something he could easily handle. Why do they all do this?

(image: Sun of a Mother via Etsy)

PESTO RICOTTA

This Pesto Ricotta With Asparagus On Toast recipe stopped me in my scroll because never have I thought about mixing pesto in ricotta and using it as a spread. It sounds delightful!

Even though this was an award-winning recipe on Almanac.com, I probably won’t make this exact recipe because it seems like it would be hard to eat asparagus this way, but I do want to riff on the idea of using pesto ricotta. I thought you might like the idea, too.

(image: Sam Jones/Vaughn Communications via Almanac.com)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Here’s an excerpt of a commencement address given by David Foster Wallace in 2005 that I thought was very wise. The entire thing is worth a read. You can find it here.

“As I’m sure you guys know by now, it is extremely difficult to stay alert and attentive, instead of getting hypnotized by the constant monologue inside your own head (may be happening right now). Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about teaching you how to think is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed. Think of the old cliché about quote the mind being an excellent servant but a terrible master.” – David Foster Wallace

Thank you for reading this week’s Happy List.

Be good to yourself and others this weekend.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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