Happy List: #266 – A Pretty Happy Home

Hi! Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m glad you’re here.

This week on the blog I finished up the series on our Carriage House transformation with a reveal-for-now blog post. Is any house ever really done? No. I think not.

I also shared what will eventually be a funny mistake that we made while doing a hardscaping project around our very old pool. It’s still a little too soon for it to be funny, but every day we get closer. Ha!

Thank you for your continued support of this blog. Thank you for reading today’s blog post, saving and sharing things you like, encouraging us, and even engaging with us on Instagram or Facebook. Your support truly helps our family, helps restore this old house we live in, and keeps this blog running.

Here’s the Happy List!

CALM KITCHEN

I’ve spent a lot of time studying this kitchen. The floors and floor-to-ceiling cabinets with that window transom really stood out.

You should see the sink situation. I don’t hate it. See all the photos here.

(image: via Desire to Inspire)

WORTH A LISTEN

I binged a podcast about the Civil Rights Era that is WELL worth a listen.

At a minimum, it is a good history refresher. At a maximum, your jaw will drop over things like the FBI bugging the Supreme Court. I think you’ll be inspired by what regular people did when faced with overwhelming circumstances.

The podcast series is Momentum: The Ripples Made by Ordinary People from Sharon Says So. Sharon McMahon is a non-partisan U.S. government and law educator.

Check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts.

(image: Sharon Says So)

IKEA HACK

This is the best IKEA hack I’ve seen in a good long while. Isn’t it beautiful?

Check out this Domino story to see how Sarah and Kevin Reid-Morris made this wardrobe. You can also follow their Instagram here.

(image: Sarah and Kevin Reid-Morris via Domino)

THIS SEEMS ABOUT RIGHT

(image: @adamjk via Swiss Miss)

PIZZA RIDDLE

You go to a pizza parlor and order a 9-inch pizza.

The pizza parlor is out of the 9-inch pizza, so they bring you two 5-inch pizzas instead.

Is this a good deal?

This is the sort of thing we discuss at dinner. Don’t you wish you were here with us? Ha!

You can find the answer here.

Hint: you need to know how to calculate the area of a circle to determine if this is a good deal or not.

COLLABORATION WITH BEES

I’m still picking my jaw up off the ground after realizing what mixed media artist Ava Roth creates in collaboration with bees. Yes, bees.

What you’re looking at is a beaded circle done by Roth. She then turns it over to the bees and lets them build their honeycomb around her art. I would have been impressed by Roth’s beading and embroidery alone, but combined with the honeycomb – WOW.

See what else Roth has created and find out more about purchasing Roth’s work by visiting her website.

(image: Ava Roth)

BIKE SAFETY

We purchased this laser light for the back of our child’s bike and it might be the best $35 we’ve spent for a little added peace of mind.

It sits under the bike seat and has a brake light, turn signals, and laser guides that show where the bike is tracking. It’s operated by a button on the handlebars. Handy Husband said it was quick to install and recharges via USB.

We found it on Amazon.

(image: via Amazon)

If you or someone you know rides a bike on the road, this is a gadget worth checking out.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Bill Russell, a civil rights activist, 11-time NBA champion with the Boston Celtics, and the first Black head coach in the NBA, died on July 31, 2022. He was 88. Here are some quotes from Russell that were a slam dunk to me.

“The most important measure of how good a game I played was how much better I’d made my teammates play.”

“To love someone is nothing, to be loved by someone is something, to love someone who loves you is everything.”

“I’ve been fortunate to meet and work with a lot of really smart people. The thing that strikes me most about them is how they continue to explore and learn every day. I have tried to apply that approach in my modest career as well.”

See more quotes by Bill Russell here. Read his obituary here.

Thanks 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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