Hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m thrilled you could make it.
We are on a fast track to the end of 2025. That feels weird. It also feels weird that I did a 5-year update on how well the mini makeover we gave our kitchen is holding up. That makeover was supposed to be a short-term fix until we built a new kitchen. Haha! It just goes to show that we are not the boss of this house. This house is the boss of us.
I also shared a roundup of beautiful Christmas ornaments from small shops. If you add to your ornament collection each year or are shopping for someone else, that post is a great place to start.
Thank you for choosing to spend a few minutes of your day here. I hope you leave here feeling inspired and less stressed out. Maybe you even laugh. Too many things on the internet raise our blood pressure, and I hope the Happy List is the opposite of that for you. I also enjoy connecting 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!
BARN DOOR INSPIRATION
These barn doors caught my eye because they would be a fairly straightforward DIY. The corners aren’t even mitered, and the lumber cost would be reduced because the panels are made with window screen. The most expensive part of the project would be the barn door hardware.
See more photos of this home by Kristina Crestin Design here.
(image: Kristina Crestin Design via Town N Country Living)
CAR HEADREST HOOK
I’m not saying these hooks for your car’s headrest will change your life, but they might. The hooks can go on the front or back of the headrest. A 4-pack is only $6.99, and they come in different colors to match your vehicle’s seat color.
These would make great stocking stuffers or a gift for a “favorite things” party. I’ve already gifted a set to myself. I’m generous that way. Haha!
(image: Amazon)
SHORT IMAGINED MONOLOGUES
If you enjoy sarcasm, you’ll like McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. The essays are snarky, timely, and hilarious.
A recent one by Ria Sardana that made me laugh because it was SO relatable was titled “I’m Your Uploaded Bloodwork Results, and No, I Will Not Explain Myself to You.“
The tiniest excerpt from this short essay, written from the perspective of the bloodwork results, is as follows:
“When you open me, you might be looking for a spot where someone, anyone, ideally the doctor, explains me to you. It gives me more pleasure than I care to admit that there will be none of that here. (…) I will, however, throw you a bone and color-code myself for you.”
DID YOU KNOW?
An owl’s eyes make up 5% of their body weight! As a comparison, your human eyes make up 0.0003% of your body weight.
Check my facts here. Better yet, go listen to the Ologies podcast about owls. It’s a hoot.
(image: Wikipedia, public domain)
P.S. Strigiformology is the study of owls. Say that five times fast.
THANKSGIVING PARTY GAMES
For my readers in the U.S., if you want 30 game ideas to play at Thanksgiving for kids and adults, check out this article by Play Party Plan. I was surprised by how many of the games would work for people of all ages.
Shown below is a pumpkin roll game. I thought “Thanksgiving Danger Words” and the “Candy Dice Game” looked fun, too. These games could all be adapted for Christmas.
(image: origin unknown via Play Party Plan)
TENDERNESS
This breathtakingly tender photo was taken by wildlife photographer Shazz Jung.
To learn more about the mutually beneficial relationship between elephants and myna birds, read this article in Only Good News Daily. You can order various wildlife prints from Jung’s website.
(image: Shazz Jung via Only Good News Daily)
P.S. I felt my soul exhale when I looked at that photo. I could stare at it all day.
WOOD AND BRASS PICTURE BOX
Shhh! I’m ordering this wood and brass picture box from Artifact Uprising for a friend for Christmas. It’s the analog version of a digital frame. The frame holds multiple photos, so you can switch them out whenever you’re in the mood.
They even print the photos for you. The easy factor is what sold me. I’m going to use the photos my friend has messaged me this year to upload for printing. Check out the size and color options here.
(image: Artifact Uprising)
FAUX VELVET ORNAMENTS
This year, I’m finally going to try the baking soda on wet paint trick to make faux velvet or flocked ornaments. I liked this tutorial from The Navage Patch because it was funny, and he used spray paint.
(image: The Navage Patch)
RAG RUG TREE COLLAR
You should know there isn’t a rag rug that I haven’t loved. I can’t explain it. Needless to say, I gasped when I saw this rag rug tree collar by Terrain because this is such a fun idea! The happy factor is off the charts.
The reviews made me laugh, though, because people were mad this wasn’t a basket. It clearly says “tree collar,” not basket. You can’t win these days.
I would try to make this, but I don’t have the fabric for it. I also don’t know if I have time to learn how to make a rag rug in the next month, let alone a circular tree collar shape.
(image: Terrain)
P.S. The scallops on this rattan tree collar are perfection.
PUMPKIN CHIFFON PIE
If you ever taste a pumpkin chiffon pie, you’ll never eat regular pumpkin pie again. Trust me. It’s lighter, fluffier, and has a much better texture.
I grew up on pumpkin chiffon pie, but it’s a little hard to decipher my Grandma’s recipe card, so I’m going to try this recipe from TidyMom. It looks similar to my Grandma’s recipe, but adds layers. Love layers.
(image: TidyMom)
POETRY MOMENT
Sound Bath by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer
Even now, imagine, we could step through
one of the infinite doors of the moment
and find ourselves in another life—
repairing a net on the banks of a vast river
or herding cattle down a two-lane highway.
Standing in line a block from a soup kitchen
or guarding the entrance to the Forbidden City.
Instead, we are here in the lives we inhabit
But press your ear to the other doors. Hear
the traffic. The sobbing. A swelling of symphony.
Gunshot. Thunder of feet. The whimper of an infant.
The world enters us in waves, waves that seep
through the doors and we wade in them.
Wading, we come to know there is no way
to not be touched by every other life,
no matter how distant. If you put your ear
to the moment, sometimes you can hear
every other ear listening for what you will do next.
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.
*affilaite links in this blog post*