Happy List: #435
Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m thrilled to see you here.
This week on the blog, I shared the finished repair we made to one of our gable returns. We even hired a painter to finish painting all of our roofline trim that we couldn’t reach. That job needed to be done for two years, and I used AI to help me find contractor leads. That was the overwhelming part of the job for me, and that research assistance got that project back on track.
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!
COAT RACK IDEA
Well, it is clear that I have not been imaginative enough about coat racks. Someone please do something cool like this in a kid’s room.
More pictures of this antiques-filled home can be found here.
(image: Liza Kuhn Interiors via Town & Country Living)
WATCHED
Design Evolution of Screwdriver Handles (YouTube) – This was fascinating!
Grandma Stand In NYC: talk to a grandma (YouTube) – This made me happy and sad at the same time.
Kid Confuses Uranus (Instagram) – I laughed and laughed and laughed. This will make your day.
MADE ME LAUGH
Does anyone else have pantry pants?
(image: cdamomof4 via Threads)
1776 GARDEN
The U.S. is counting down to its Semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026. Almanac.com has a GREAT article about what was grown in a garden in 1776, how it looked, when they planted.
I learned that potatoes weren’t a thing in the U.S. yet, but skirrets were a hardy root vegetable that was often grown along with turnips and parsnips.
I’d love to try skirrets. Anyone growing any? Have you heard of them? It was a first for me.
(image: Fine Dining Lovers via Almanac.com)
P.S. Based on that article, I wouldn’t be surprised if our house had a garden in the front of the house because that’s where the well is located. I don’t know how old our well is, but the well guy said it was “really old” and there’s a cistern next to it. We bought a hand pump for the cistern should we ever need to access the water.
RIBBON WREATH
I want to make one of these ribbon wreaths because it’s the happiest craft I’ve seen this week. There are only two problems with this idea. First, I’d need more than one. Second, I have no place to put these and they don’t match my current decorating style.
So, I’m going to need someone else to buy or make one so I can live vicariously.
(image: Fox Moon Finery via Etsy)
DID YOU KNOW?
Scotchgard has a UV protector? I just order it (Amazon , Walmart) to treat a new umbrella shade. I figure for nine bucks, it’s worth a try to eek more life out of our deck umbrella. This is going to be a slow experiment. Ha!
Make sure the spray can says Sun and Water Shield.
P.S. You can order replacement shades for your outdoor umbrellas from a lot of places.
TENDERLOIN STEAKS WITH PAN HERB SAUCE
We were gifted some tenderloin steaks (wow, right?) and I cooked them using this recipe with the pan herb sauce from Saving Room For Dessert.
It tasted like fancy restaurant steak. The herb sauce even went well on the roasted potatoes I served with the steak. I think Handy Husband was ready to marry me all over again after that meal. Ha!
(image: Saving Room For Dessert)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“Humility does not mean self-abnegation, lassitude, detachment; it’s more a calm recognition that you must trust in that which does not make sense, that which is unreasonable, illogical, silly, ridiculous, crazy by the measure of most of our culture. You must trust that you being the best possible you matters somehow… That doing your chosen work with creativity and diligence will shiver people far beyond your ken. That being an attentive and generous friend and citizen will prevent a thread or two of the social fabric from unraveling.
[…]
This is what I know: that the small is huge, that the tiny is vast, that pain is part and parcel of the gift of joy, and that this is love, and then there is everything else. You either walk toward love or away from it with every breath you draw. Humility is the road to love. Humility, maybe, is love.”
– Brian Doyle via The Marginalian
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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