Five Things

Friday Five Things 5/28

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“Try as much as possible to be wholly alive, will all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell.” – William Saroyan

May Book Report will be published mid-next week! I’m almost finished with a couple books that I want to include for May. In other news, we had a pretty productive week around here and I’m feeling really excited about this summer!

  1. Balance (or lack thereof) – I’ve talked a bit on here about different time/energy management techniques I’ve tried. Time blocking by days so different activities happen at different times. Time blocking by week so different activities happen on different days. Trying to match my daily energy highs and lows with different tasks to be more efficient. Etc… What has been working for me best recently is to let go of the idea that each day or week is going to look and feel the same. So I’ve been spending time Sunday evening or Monday morning plotting out my week with daily to-do lists and then each morning planning out my days based on what needs to get done. For example: Mondays are usually a day that I need to finish up some chores, grocery shop, and run other errands to places I avoid on weekends. I also like to get a long hike in on Monday mornings. So I don’t put writing on my to-do list and just focus on getting other stuff off the list for the week. Then I have writing on my lists for Tues-Fri. Another example is that I don’t always work out at the same time every day. For hikes, I like to go earlier in the day when it isn’t too hot. But I prefer late afternoon neighborhood walks and midday for strength exercises. Just another example of how things that are best practice in general might not be best for specific people! My days aren’t all balanced with each other, but overall I feel that I’m working towards a more even existence.
  2. New back deck furniture – Well, it’s just one piece of new furniture but I rearranged everything into a configuration that is making me want to spend more time out back! When we first moved into this house the back deck was literally falling apart, so we knew it needed to be rebuilt. Tyler put in a lot of time and effort to design and build a gorgeous back deck that really extended our living space outdoors. We got some chairs and a table and he put in some built-in benches around a little fire pit, but it just didn’t feel like a place you wanted to spend time. So I made it a priority this summer to utilize the space more and figured out a solution to maximize our space with only purchasing one new item! I moved the dining table over to the benches and it fits perfectly with them as seating. Then I moved the fire pit to where the table was with the leftover chairs and purchased this outdoor couch. We ordered it from Lowe’s on sale but I’m not seeing it on their site anymore. It’s pretty spacious and the armrests can lower to provide even more bench seating if necessary! Since I set it up we’ve come out here almost every evening and I’ve been doing my daily planning and journaling out here. Mission accomplished!
  3. Garden updates – Last week I finally purchased all my little veggies plants and got them into the dirt. Since we have chickens we don’t plant in the ground, everything is in containers or a table height raised bed Tyler build a few years ago. We’ve already had to fashion a cage of sorts to keep the squirrels off the strawberry plant and I’m assuming we’ll do the same for the peppers and tomatoes eventually, but so far so good! We have spinach, kale, zucchini, cucumbers, jalapeños, bell peppers, two kinds of tomatoes, strawberries, mint, sage, basil, and rosemary! I might still get a few more herbs but for now I think we’ve covered the things we eat most in our house. Also, when we were buying the veggies I saw two little red and white columbines on the clearance shelf and bought them for $4 each. They’re in the ground and coming back to strength nicely. Excited about my ever growing flower collection in the front yard.
  4. Hiking – I found a new trail that might be my new favorite! It’s right up next to the mountains but still had a lot of open meadows space with wildflowers. I also like it because it’s a perfect length and incline to really make it a workout for me, but I can finish it in under 2 hours. I hiked it twice this week, once with my dog (Bama) and once alone. And I’m sure I’ll be going back more in the coming months!
  5. Journaling – Since last fall I’ve been journaling pretty consistently every day. Sure I miss a few days here and there, but the point isn’t perfection. I feel like this habit has really paid off this week as I’ve had some not-so-great feelings swimming around in my head. Just articulating what is bothering me and getting it out on paper has been so helpful! I also think, as a writer, that it helps to start every day getting words on paper, no matter what those words are. “Morning pages” are a thing I’ve learned about and fully support!

Friday Five Things 5/21

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

This was one of those weeks that I hypothetically planned for at the beginning of the year. I spent two days staying with my mom and driving her to some appointments. She’s been sick for a couple weeks and my dad had to go out of town for work, so I happily adjusted my to-do lists for the week and drove 45 minutes to their house on Tuesday morning. I was still able to get stuff done, but being out of my normal routine always put a hitch in my productivity. I think if I had come into 2021 with the mentality that I had to hit hard and fast goals on a strict timeline, this would have thrown me for more of a loop. Instead I was able to take it, adjust as needed, and still make some headway on my own stuff while getting to be present and support my family!

  1. Rearranging and decluttering – This seems to be a never ending task in our house as we are constantly discovering new and better ways to use our space. Earlier this week we decided that we want to build a new kitchen table that will fit our space better and start utilizing the bar countertop we have. This meant I needed to find a new place/configuration for the storage shelves that are currently under the bar area. And then move the trash can under another counter into a cabinet area. Both of those actions required decluttering some other cabinets and drawers to free up space to relocate items. Whenever I have projects like this, I go into a bit of a frenzy to get it all done at once. But when I finished, everything had a place minus a few old pans, a teapot, and some other hodgepodge items to donate. And I like the new configuration so much more! We now have room to get a new table and some chairs for the bar!
  2. Watching Disney World YouTube with my mom – We had to postpone a big family trip to Disney World until next year, but we’re already in planning mode! Since we were just resting and relaxing at the house, my mom and I watched a couple YouTubers walk through Animal Kingdom and it was a lot of fun! If you are planning a trip anywhere, rest assured that someone has done a YouTube video with all the things you can do and see!
  3. Lilacs are blooming – Lilacs are pervasive where I live and I love this time of year when they all bloom in colors of purple, white and pink. In my neighborhood there are some giant lilac plants with tons of blossoms. My own little lilac didn’t bloom last year, we think some weed killer blew onto the buds because the leaves came in all deformed. But this year it is happy and healthy and full of flowers! Makes me very happy.
  4. Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup meal prep – I’ve been really into having soup for lunch but it was getting a little spendy to keep buying it at the store. I mean, I usually wanted to get the good soups, not just ramen or Campbell’s chicken noodle. So this week I told myself I’d make a big pot of soup for the week and it was delicious! I didn’t really follow a recipe, but I sautéed half a diced onion in a tiny bit of olive oil, then added a few cups of cubed red potatoes (I think they hold up better in soups than the big russets), chopped broccoli florets and 4 cups of vegetable broth and let that cook for awhile until the potatoes were just tender. Then I added 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream and 1/2 cup of milk. I let that simmer for a few minutes and then added a lot of shredded cheddar cheese. It was not a healthy soup, but it was deeeeelicious! And a small bowl of it was nice and filling.
  5. Writing inspiration – I had a few really good writing sessions this week where the words and ideas just flowed. It feels really great when you sit down and realize you’ve written 1500 words in 30 minutes! For reference, other days it’s like pulling nails to get 500 words on the page in a full day of writing. So hopefully I’m moving in the right direction with my ideas so inspiration keeps coming!

Friday Five Things 5/14

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“You build your mind, so make it into something you want to live with.” – Marilynne Robinson

Hi friends. As seems to be the norm these days, it was a week for difficult and upsetting news. The escalating conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and the increasingly desperate COVID situation in India make it feel like things are spiraling in a hopeless direction. I watch the local and national news every night, I follow news accounts on Instagram, I check the AP and CNN apps regularly throughout the day, so I am not sticking my head in the sand nor am I advocating for anyone else to ignore what is happening around us. But again, I think it’s important to acknowledge the good alongside the bad; the joy alongside the sorrow. So here’s what brought a smile to my face amongst difficult times this week.

  • Chicken field trip – Earlier this week Tyler texted me around 5:30pm to come out to the front yard. He had let the chickens through the garage into our overgrown side yard and they were having the time of their lives! It was all fresh, damp dirt for them to scratch through and I saw at least three of them catch and slurp up big fat worms like spaghetti. We had to herd them out of the neighbors yard a couple times, but other than that they were perfectly content to stay put and dig away. And it was so fun to watch them have a little field trip!
  • Cucumbers – I’ve been on a cucumber kick recently. Usually they are pretty low on my list of things I’m craving, but I have been making a lot of cucumber salads for lunch. Or slicing them and dipping in Bitchin’ Sauce or Yum Yum Sauce! Soooo good.
  • Getting dressed – After several months of simply changing from “last night’s pajamas” into “tonight’s pajamas” I have finally started to get dressed in real clothing every day. I think it’s mostly due to the fact that I’m getting out more thanks to the vaccine and nicer weather. But I have to admit, it’s nice to pick out an outfit that isn’t the same rotation of sweat pants and t-shirts every day!
  • Babies! – I have several friends who are pregnant right now and, while having kids isn’t the journey I chose for myself, I LOVE seeing my friends become moms!
  • Hanging baskets – Ever since we moved into our current house I have wanted to have beautiful, overflowing hanging baskets of flowers on my front porch. And last year was the first year I was able to keep any potted flowers alive on our west-facing front patio. It gets blistering hot full afternoon sun in the summer and usually my potted plants just wither and die from it. I think it helped that I was home and spent a lot of time out front to keep tabs on how they were doing. I just bought two gorgeous baskets of petunias, lobelias, and some kind of green vine-y thing. I have high hopes for them this summer!

Friday Five Things 4/30

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“I could never stay long enough on the shore: the tang of the untainted, fresh, and free sea air was like a cool, quieting thought.” – Helen Keller

Sorry I didn’t get this post out on Friday. I was at the beach with family! I went back and forth about whether to post about vacation here because I know it’s a privilege to spend a week at the beach in the best of times, let alone during a pandemic. But I want to be honest and authentic here as much as possible. We went to St. George Island in Florida. Aside from the kids, who were all from one household, only one adult wasn’t fully vaccinated and he’s had his first shot so he had partial immunity. We rented a house and were mostly just by ourselves at the beach or in the pool so it felt very safe in terms of contact with other people. We did go out to eat a couple times but all in open air dining with plenty of distance from others. The airports felt the most risky, but everyone had masks on and we could spread out for the most part. I know the idea of travel right now, especially for a non-essential trip, is controversial but I really feel like we did it in the safest possible fashion for both us and the people around us.

Anyway, that’s why I didn’t publish on Friday. I was actually able to be mostly unplugged last week which was a real treat! And without further adieu, here’s what is currently bringing me joy.

  1. The beach! Duh. It was so relaxing to sit near the water and listen to the waves crash on the beach. And to watch my niece and nephews play in the water and discover sea creatures. We ate grouper and shrimp and crabs and oysters. We soaked in the sun and the joy of each other’s company. It was the kind of vacation that fills your soul with sunshine.
  2. Budgeting. While this might seem really lame, being disciplined with our household budget for the past few years meant I had plenty of money set aside for our vacation last week and we could go out to eat and make other purchases without stressing too much about the cost. While tracking our budget takes time and discipline, it really makes things easier in the long run. I highly recommend getting a subscription with You Need A Budget. I like their philosophy on budgeting and the tool is super user friendly.
  3. Unplugging. I am a slave to my routine, which includes watching Good Morning America in the morning and then the local and national news every evening. This past week I didn’t turn on the TV at all! Of course I got a few news alerts on my phone, but it was nice to take a break from the self-induced onslaught of news media I usually get.
  4. Daffodils. The first flower to bloom in my yard every year are my daffodils and they are popping their little cheery heads out now. I was worried I’d miss them during our trip, but we got home just in time to enjoy them.
  5. Bees. We lost both our beehives at the beginning of the winter so we have been looking forward to replacing them this spring. We picked up our bees over the weekend and installed them in their hives. Last year we started naming the hives (King’s Landing and Gondor) and this year we have Tatooine and Jakku!

Friday Five Things 4/23

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“April hath put a spirit of youth in everything.” – William Shakespeare

  1. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – I am a big fan of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and this new series on Disney+ does not disappoint! It follows Sam Wilson (Falcon) and Bucky Barnes (Winter Solider) in navigating the world post Avengers: End Game. It’s full of action, bad guys, and fight scenes, but also explores the global socio-economic issues that arose after the events of End Game and also doesn’t shy away from the topic of systemic racism, which in this universe affects even super heroes. As of writing this, the sixth and final episode hasn’t aired yet, but I can’t imagine it will disappoint given how good the other five have been. If you are a fan of the movies but feel nervous about the stories getting the TV treatment, give it a watch. Also…WandaVision was great but I’m liking TFATWS more.
  2. Brookie Bites from Target – You might be familiar with two-bite brownies that are sold in a lot of stores. Or the ones that are a combo of madeleines and brownies. But last week I saw, for the first time, a combo of chocolate chip cookie and brownie bites in the Target bakery section. I bought them just to see if they were any good…and man oh man are they! Like, I am obsessed with them. The texture is super moist and the flavors are just so good together. Anyway, I know some people bake these themselves but I honestly see no reason to go through the effort when the store down the street sells them and I can find nothing that I would improve upon.
  3. 2nd vaccine dose! – I got my second shot this morning and I am so excited! So far I’m feeling fine, no bad side effects. Hopefully that doesn’t change throughout the rest of the day, but I’m prepared to just shut down and rest if I need to.
  4. Grocery store flowers – Recently, every other week or so, I’ve been grabbing a cheap bouquet of flowers when I do my grocery shopping. Nothing fancy, in fact I find the cheaper they are, the longer they last! It just brings a nice pop of color and cheer to the house. I do have to be careful of what I buy because both the cats seem to love when I have cut flowers in a vase and there are a lot of common cut flowers that are pretty toxic to cats (like lilies). It’s pretty funny though when Buzz sticks his whole head into the middle of the blooms!
  5. The jury’s decision in the Derek Chauvin trial – As someone who was not in the courtroom and only read about testimonies and evidence, it seemed pretty obvious to me that Chauvin should be found guilty. I am so relieved that the jury felt the same way. I am also relieved that there will be an investigation into the police department. Because it is not enough to convict one man of using unwarranted force if there is a pattern that isn’t being addressed. This really is so much bigger than what happened with George Floyd and while the verdict allowed for an exhale of relief, a lot of people followed that up with an inhale to ready themselves for next steps.

Friday Five Things 4/16

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“So joy can be joy and sorrow can be sorrow, with neither of them casting either light or shadow on the other.” Marilynne Robinson

Before I get into the five things that brought me joy this week, I want to acknowledge that it’s been a difficult and overwhelming week for many, including myself, as we have been buffeted with news of Chauvin’s trial for the murder of George Floyd, the shooting death of Daunte Wright, and the shooting death of Adam Toledo. My heart breaks at the loss of life. And I just cannot see how any of this was justified in any way. I believe there has to be another way to handle these situations and I’m working to educate myself on what it would look like to defund or abolish the police.

On top of those horrific stories came the news of the mass shooting at the FedEx facility in Indianapolis. It can be so difficult to find moments of joy in week’s like this, and I’ll be honest, I wrestled with whether I should share anything today or not. But I will because I think it is important to remember that life is complex. That we can have our hearts break while watching the news and simultaneously be happy that we are safe and cozy in our homes. We don’t have to only feel one way or the other at any given moment. So…if you are interested in where I found my joy this week, please read on.

  1. This recipe – I made this Skillet Chicken Enchilada Bake for dinner last night and I’m already looking forward to having the leftovers for dinner tonight. I added sautéed mushrooms just because we had some that needed to be used up. It was soooo good! And super easy to put together. Also, if you don’t want to deal with cutting fresh corn off the cob, I find that the Del Monte Summer Crisp corn is the best canned corn to use as a substitute. Or frozen would work too!
  2. Planning travel – I know this is still a controversial topic, but as more and more people are getting vaccinated (we are!) and infection rates are going down in areas, we are planning some trips to spend time with family. It’s exciting and anxiety-inducing all at once! But the idea of spending quality time with people we love is worth the other feelings!
  3. New Orleans – The book I’m writing is about New Orleans so the books I’m reading right now are about New Orleans. I spent two summers volunteering down there after Hurricane Katrina and then ended up moving there full time. I stayed for 2 years and I’ve been back to visit several times but I think it has now been the longest stretch of time between visits. Instead I’ve been traveling through my books. And hearing other people describe the city I love so much in a way that only someone who knows it can understand…I’ve even teared up a few times because it feels like home.
  4. Spring snow – We always get one (hopefully) final snowstorm in mid to late April. And it came this week! At our house we got probably 6-7 inches of heavy wet snow. Do I love having my spring interrupted by winter every year? Not especially. But it is bringing much needed moisture to our drought-prone state. And since it has been warm recently, the paved areas are already melted so no need for shoveling!
  5. New clothing – After doing a thorough inventory of my closet and making a list of specific needs/wants, I ordered some new clothes and most of them arrived last week. Some are replacements for other items that were worn out or didn’t fit any more. Some are specific items that I’ve wanted to add to my wardrobe for awhile. A few things didn’t fit as expected so I’ll be returning those and only keeping the things I loved. There’s an influencer I follow on Instagram (her name is Ailsa @_happygocurly_) and she likes to say “your clothes shouldn’t hurt your feelings.” While I’m still on a healthy journey that *might* result in losing some weight, I am so happy to have clothing right now that doesn’t hurt my feelings when I put it on!

Friday Five Things 4/9

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” – Robert Bault

Hello! This week it feels like things are getting back to normal at our house after the end of March went off the rails (in both good and bad ways!). So, without too much commentary, here are my favorite five things from this week!

  1. Air fryer shrimp poboys – Since I brought home the air fryer toaster oven, Tyler has slowly been realizing the possibilities. This week’s request was shrimp poboys! I found a recipe online and then altered it to what we like. Shrimp went in an egg wash and then a mix of regular and panko breadcrumbs with some Tony Chachere’s mixed in. Before they went in to cook, I sprayed them with a light coating of oil on both sides. The shrimp cooked on the air fryer setting at 400 for about 4 minutes, then flipped and cooked for another 2 minutes. Served them on some toasted French bread with lettuce, tomato, and an aioli we had in the fridge. SO GOOD!
  2. New Orleans research – This week I ordered a bunch of book, both fiction and non-fiction, to get my research started for the new book idea. I am so excited to start reading them! Expect the next couple book reports to be New Orleans heavy.
  3. Hiking – I’m fully back into hiking season! I look at my hikes as both exercise and meditation, so I’m very excited for it to be a regular part of my weekly routine. Today I’m meeting up with my mom to do one of my favorite nearby hikes. It’s been awhile since just the two of us have spent time together so I’m really looking forward to it.
  4. Geraniums – Last year, the geranium that I had kept alive for almost 4 years finally died when I forgot to bring it inside before an overnight freeze. I was pretty bummed. It had grown into this really weird woody stem with just a few green leaves, but it always flowered really well for me. This week I made a run to Costco and they had geraniums! So I bought two! They are currently living in my guest bathroom until they can move outside full time. They are one of my favorite outside flowers, so I’m really excited to have two already. I’m sure I’ll get more as the weather continues to warm up!
  5. Iced Brown Sugar Oatmilk Shaken Espresso – Have you tried it? It’s a fairly new drink from Starbucks and I hope they never get rid of it. It’s the perfect amount of sweetness for an iced coffee, which is not too much, and has a hint of cinnamon. The stores around us were out of the brown sugar syrup for a couple weeks but they’re back in stock!

Friday Five Things 4/2 – March Book Report

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“In the case of good books, the point is not to see how many of them you can get through, but rather how many can get through to you.” – Mortimer J. Adler

Happy Friday everyone! I hope you had a great week and were able to find some good things, even if things weren’t so good. Today’s Five Things will be about the four books I read in March plus a surprise good thing that happened this week!

  • Destination Wedding by Diksha Basu – This book was…frivolous is the best word I can come up with. It was about an Indian-American girl who travels to India with her parents and her best friend to attend her wealthy cousin’s opulent wedding. One of the themes is identity, as the main character feels out of place in both America and India. She attempts to resolve this by finding the “real India” only to make some pretty serious missteps along the way. The book also divides its attention between several of the characters, each going through their own “crisis” during their time in the country, but I felt it didn’t give any of them really enough screen time. I think it would have been better served by not splitting focus. The book resolves well enough…but I didn’t find any of the characters engaging enough to be rooting for a particular outcome, if that makes sense. This book would be fine for a quick vacation read, but otherwise I’d say skip it.
  • The Darwin Affair by Tim Mason – On the other side of the spectrum, I LOVED this book. It’s a murder-conspiracy story that takes place in Victorian London. It is a purely fictional story, but historical characters like Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, Charles Darwin, Karl Marx, and Charles Dickens make appearances. It isn’t a whodunit, because the reader finds out pretty quickly who the killer is, but then you get to watch the detectives attempt to unravel the mystery from their perspective and there are certainly surprises for the reader along the way. If you like The Devil in the White City, I think you’ll like this book.
  • Down the River unto the Sea by Walter Mosley – I wasn’t 100% pulled into this book while I was reading it, but by the end I was satisfied with it. The first half was pretty slow in setting up the action for the second half. There are a lot of minor characters introduced for a few pages, then referenced in later chapters and I had a hard time keeping track of who was who in those instances. The writing also kept making me think it was written in the 70s and I would be jolted out of the story with references to cell phones and Ubers. But it’s a gritty look at a corrupt underworld of cops in New York City and the casualties caused when someone gets in the way. A very interesting book, written by a very prolific writer. While this book didn’t necessarily do it for me, the style of his writing makes me want to check out his other books.
  • The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett – This was a page turner, as I knew it would be. Published last year, it hit the NYTimes #1 spot immediately and was on several “must-read” and book club lists. I was on the wait list to borrow it from my library for several months before I was able to get it and…it really lived up to the hype for me. The story is of twin girls who are Black and very light-skinned. They run away from home together but eventually one disappears and begins to live her life as a white woman. The themes of identity and authenticity are prevalent throughout the book, with the main characters and several more minor characters. I stayed up way past my bedtime several nights in a row to finish this because I didn’t want to put it down. There are a few overly convenient plot points designed but nothing out of the realm of possibility. Also, a lot of people I’ve seen review this book hated the ending, but I honestly thought it was the best possible way to wrap up the story. Highly highly recommend this book!
  • And…I’m getting my first COVID vaccine shot this week! I have Kaiser insurance and had signed up on their waiting list a few months ago. On Wednesday I got an email from them saying it was my turn to make and appointment and I was able to get one relatively nearby for this afternoon! I won’t lie, there was a lot of anxiety and guilt wrapped up in making the appointment because I know people who are higher risk than me in my state are still having trouble getting appointments. But then I had to remember that every shot in an arm helps the whole community and this was my turn. Hope you are all choosing to get the vaccine as well when it’s your turn!

Friday Five Things – 3/19/21

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“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood

I missed posting my Friday Five Things last Friday due to some personal stuff that came up. But I have still been finding joy in the little things. Hopefully you had some sunny moments in your week, both literal and figurative.

  • Spring weather in Colorado – For those who aren’t familiar, Colorado can have pretty extreme weather swings in March and April. So while the beginning of last week we had beautiful sunny weather with temps nearing 70 degrees and I was working in the yard, over the weekend we got almost 2 feet of snow at our house. Crazy! I kinda like it though. The snow was already half melted by Monday afternoon, but there’s another storm on the horizon for this weekend.
  • Journal prompts – A blogger I follow, Grace Atwood (thestripe.com) shared a link to 11 journal prompts to help you define your personal values. While I think I have a pretty good idea of those already, it’s been interesting to go through these prompts day by day and write about things I don’t usually think about. Check out the list here. So far I’ve discovered that I place a much higher value on things being ‘peaceful’ than I would have thought!
  • New caulk on my bathtub – For a few months I’ve been saying I need to recaulk my tub and I finally did it! I was mostly motivated by procrastination of other things I needed to do. But, once you strip off the old caulk there’s really no going back on the project! I’m proud of myself for doing that little home improvement project on my own and it looks nice and fresh!
  • A clean kitchen – I’ve been taking a few minutes every (well…most) nights to clean up my kitchen and ‘put it to bed’ before I put myself to bed. It started as a little stress reliever, both in terms of feeling productive and mitigating a messy sink in the morning. It has now become part of my nighttime routine that signals to my brain that the day is done. And I LOVE waking up to a clean kitchen with clear-ish countertops. We don’t have a big kitchen or a lot of space, so getting all the dirty dishes into the dishwasher or hand washed every night makes a huge difference.
  • And finally, my Neeno – My grandmother, my mom’s mom. She passed away last week after declining health and some physical setbacks. We never lived close by and in recently years I’ve only been able to see her a few times, the most recent being for my PawPaw’s memorial service in the summer of 2019. She was a smart, opinionated woman. She was so so creative and I think I get my love of storytelling from her. I remember she once wrote a short story about some stuffed animals and their friend Chester Drawers, which was what my uncle called a chest of drawers when he was little. She knitted numerous sweaters and hats and scarves over the years. I still have at least one sweater and a couple hats from her. She will be missed, but I believe she is at peace now and happily reunited with my PawPaw.

Friday Five Things

~ kofriedery ~ Leave a comment

“Don’t wait for someone to bring you flowers. Plant your own garden and decorate your own soul.” – Luther Burbank

  1. C.B. Strike – In my February book report I included the book Troubled Blood which is the latest of the Cormoran Strike series. I recently discovered the show C.B. Strike on HBO Max (originally aired on BBC One in the UK). It has four series each made up of 2 or 3 episodes that cover the first four books. I’ve been loving it! They deviate from the books quite a bit in the plot points, but I love a good detective show and I feel like they did a great job with the characters. Highly recommend, but warning of tough subject matter like murder, abuse, rape, and drug use.
  2. My cat Buzz – We adopted our two cats (Buzz and Portia) a little over two years ago. They were pretty hesitant about us for awhile, but eventually warmed up. Portia has always been a lap snuggler, but only recently in the past week or so has Buzz started joining me when I sit on the couch. He used to only cuddle up to Tyler in bed, but he has become such a momma’s boy recently and I just love it!
  3. Skiing – I had only gotten to ski a couple times before everything shut down last season. And we had no idea what this year would bring with Covid restrictions and the reduced capacity reservation system. But with my new flexible working schedule, I’ve already gotten to ski more this year than I have in the previous 5 years! Tyler and I skied on Monday and had decent snow with beautiful sunny bluebird skies!
  4. “Shopping” my house – I mentioned on Wednesday that we’ve been doing some big furniture rearranging and reorganizing in the house. It’s opened up some new spaces for decorating and I’ve been having fun “shopping” other rooms in the house to fill shelves and tables. It’s amazing how just moving some things around can have a huge impact and completely scratch the itch I get for buying new home decor.
  5. Chickens are laying again! – The winter drought seems to be over and we have fresh eggs again! Our hens stopped laying in the fall when they all started molting (losing all/lots of their feathers) and then they typically don’t lay during the short days of winter. But I peeked in the egg box on Sunday and there were several eggs in there! Unfortunately they had all frozen and cracked at some point so I tossed them, but it means we’re back into production mode!