Happy Friday and welcome to another Friday List. In case you missed last week, this is just a place for me to share things that are making me happy and bringing me joy this week plus a Five Minute Tip at he very end. Be sure you share your list too. I'll go first...
1. All the new flowers…. Obvs this was was going to be number one but have you seen our new flowers? We still have a a great selection of tulips, peonies and ranunculus available plus the precious crosses and birds nests. They are just the perfect spring touch! I’m putting flowers all.over.the.house! Shop them all here.
2. Spending time outside: Spring is here! This week we had our first after dinner family bike ride in forever plus Tripp and I took school to the park on Thursday. We usually conquer a short trail, have a picnic and tackle our schoolwork for the day plus spend as much time as possible on the playground. We’re both really burnt out and exhausted from school right now so it was really a great way to break up the week while still getting our work done.
3. Meal planning: You know I really struggle to find balance here. I’ll try to plan a month or plan nothing and stand at the fridge hoping for inspiration. But with grocery prices rising so much, I feel like I need to be more intentional with our food and funds so I set out a rough plan on Saturday. And that gave me some ideas of options for the week based on the meats we have in the freezer. It’s really worked and helped me eliminate a lot of afternoon stress wondering what we’re eating. I also prepared some breakfast items so we have those to grab. It’s totally worth the weekend work.
4. Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: Does this one sound crazy? I’m sure it does and that’s ok. So much TV is just garbage right now so we went way back. We are absolutely loving watching Dr. Mike for the second time. There are some rather grown up topics in some episodes (and a saloon 🤦🏻♀️) and you may want to preview before watching with your kids but it’s been so great for us! We’re studying US history and so much of it comes to life in the series. It’s free on IMDBtv and such a good show! Little House in the Prairie is also wonderful and on Prime #NerdAlert #IDon’tEvenCare
5. A clean shower: If you follow along in stories you know this was a big “goal” of the week and I finally did it. It gets a spot on the list because I DID IT! I actually did it in phases and I let the doors go so long that I’m still working on the spots #HardWaterProbs but I can’t wait to share something with you next week that will make this job even easier. Yay! Our bathroom is one of those spots I can let get out of control before I know it (see the 5 minute fix this week for more on that) but I genuinely feel better when it’s in order. Now maybe I’ll conquer under the cabinets next week… maybe.
6. Books: I am reading more than ever this year and loving it. It really helps that I have a kid who loves to be read to (and also loves a good series) so we spend lots of our school day in books. Here’s one we’ve read together and on I read alone…
The Boxcar Children: My BFF is the literal book whisperer. She’s not only a real life librarian but takes the time to listen to what he likes and makes recommendations based on that. She gave him his first Boxcar Children book and let’s just say it was a hit. We devoured it in a couple of days and then got the next two from the library. He loved the adventure part and I loved how creative and resourceful the kids are. And grownups can read these too. They’re so good!
Find Your People: Somehow I got Jennie Allen’s new book first when it came to the library. It was a really good read but I think it would be more effective it I didn’t have to return in. I loved the insight into how our culture doesn’t really do us any favors in cultivating friendships and think her ideas would really work to strengthen relationships (if you can keep the book for longer than 14 days)
5 Minute Fix: Let’s call this one Five-ish minutes but it’s a good one. Do one thing you’ve been putting off and set a stopwatch to see how long it actually takes. Now I’m not talking about cleaning out the entire garage or reorganizing your closet but one of those lingering little annoying tasks that you just can’t seem to knock out.
Mine was putting away a basket of clothes that needed to be hung up. I left the basket in the middle of the bathroom floor for a ridiculous amount of time because I just couldn’t. But this week I did it and it took less than 10 minutes. I probably spent more effort walking around it than I did actually fixing it! So what can you knock out in 5ish minutes?
Thanks for chatting! I can’t wait to hear what’s on your list.