life + happiness

It is really easy to become blind to the beauty around you. Each October reminds me why I live in a place where both the summers and winters can be unbearable.

I got a new vacuum, and it might just be love!

I pre-ordered Anne’s book, Don’t Overthink It. This sounds like a book most women can use.

I read a while back that you should keep a dish brush full of soap in your shower for a quick and easy way to clean up while showering. Sure as shit, this is amazing.

I started giving myself weekly bentonite clay face masks and my skin has never looked better. Just mix the clay with a bit of apple cider vinegar and spread on your face. Wipe off with warm water and a washcloth when it is dry.

I live in apple country. I have eaten so many Honeycrisps it is getting a bit out of hand.

The weather is starting to turn pretty wintery around here, so I treated myself to a new winter coat. Even the pockets are soft!

I finally, FINALLY, finished Breaking Bad.

I read the much anticipated (for me, anyhow) finale of the Carnival series. Which is aptly names Finale.

And last but not least, nine wonderful years with my husband.

When October rolls around, I compile every creepy movie, book, or television within arms reach. And I read and watch until I can’t sleep through the night. Halloween is just around the corner, so I am jumping in here and share my favorite creepy TV shows. All are available on Netflix.

The Haunting of Hill House

This series is based loosely on the story by Shirley Jackson and follows five siblings who spent a horrible summer living in the infamous Hill House. The story alternates between the stories of the adult siblings in the present day and the events as children that changed them forever.

Penny Dreadful

The series, whose name comes from 19th-century creepy British stories, is a combination of many classic Gothic horror stories. I am talking Dracula, Frankenstein, Doran Gray, and Dr. Jekyll. The storyline is strange, intense, and utterly fascinating. And it’s bloody AF.

Stranger Things

Stranger Things follows a group of middle schoolers in the 1980s in the fictional town of Hawkins, Indiana. There is a government facility in town up to God-knows-what which leads to missing kids, monsters and alternate dimensions.

American Horror Story

AHS is an anthology horror series created by the guys who also brought us Glee (weird, right?). But these guys have been showing up for nine seasons Each season, and each is its own self-contained story. The seasons range from a haunted house, a carnival freak show, a coven of witches, and a lunatic asylum. This show is scary, hyper-sexualized, and deeply unsettling. I, for one, love it.

Now it’s your turn! What are your favorite creepy shows or movies?

Yesterday Jesse and I had our ninth wedding anniversary.

Nine years isn’t long in the grand scheme of life. But Jesse and I have had our fair share of ups and downs: we found out we are unable to have children and both of my parents died during those nine years. And that is just the start.

Here is to many more years.

I did think, let’s go about this slowly.

This is important. This should take

some really deep thought.

We should take

small thoughtful steps.

But, bless us, we didn’t.

– Mary Oliver

I am in the midst of fall cleaning and was able to get rid of some bigger items (one was a large dresser I passed along to my sister). With every item I remove from the house make it easier to breathe.

Jesse and I got delightfully day drunk in a funky bar or Madeline Island on our road trip.

Mackinac Island is quite something. And hearing horse-drawn carriages clomp down the street is a bit jarring at first.

There are Grandmas making beer in The Lager Queen of Minnesota!

And if you haven’t checked out any of Sandhya Menon’s books you are really missing out.

I am too sweaty to be a summer person, so I am thrilled for the cooler temperatures are finally here. I hope it is cooling off wherever you live!

I instead of the usual things that I learned I wanted to try something a little different this time around. I wanted to share personal-ish things that are going on in my life and maybe a bit of thing I am planning/dreaming of.

Imagine that we are sitting at our favorite little coffee shop, we just placed our order and are sipping chai as we catch up.

So what I am drinking on this coffee date? A black coffee (Kickapoo Radiowave) with a bit of raw sugar stirred in.

What are you going to have?

Weeds

When we first moved out to the farm, I had visions of making our yard a beautiful park-like grotto. Life caught up with me pretty fast, and the last few years, I have let everything go.

Now I have a gross pile of weeks, right where every visitor to our house can see it when they pull into the driveway.

Now I have a massive pile of weeds with a few perennials mixed in. It was my goal this summer to get the bed under the windmill cleaned up and mulched.

Instead of using bark mulch, which is usually standard, I am using gravel from a pile that is on the other side of the driveway from the windmill bed.

Why you ask? I didn’t want to have to spend the time and the money going back and forth to the store to buy the bark.

Shockingly enough, It is really starting to come together.

CSI

I have become horribly obsessed with this show. I watched it while it was on originally, through most of its 15-year run. But for the last few weeks, it has been playing in my house on evenings and weekend almost non-stop.

It didn’t choose it; it started playing when another show finished and I just kind of got sucked in.

My mom, even with all of her squeamishness, watched this show religiously. For her, it was like the James Patterson novels she loved so much: interesting, fast-paced, and easy to read/watch. I am finding some kind of weird comfort in that now while watching gruesome deaths play out on the screen.

Fall Cooking

The temperatures around here have moved towards fall-like (warm days, cool evenings), which has been a relief. Weeks on end of hiding in the air-conditioning is the worst.

When the temps cooled off I came out of hibernation and started on some yard work (see the weed section above) and dug out some recipes that require some serious oven time. I made a couple of beautiful batches of banana bread, and I spent most of a Sunday afternoon slow-roasting a chicken.

I hope September treats you well and thank you for joining me for this first edition of coffee talk. Until next month!

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. That means if you click through a link and buy something, I get a small commission and it doesn’t cost you any extra. Awesome, right?!

It has been a weird summer.

Spring rolled in cold and rainy. As we moved to summer, things got hot, humid, and damp.

The particular day I am writing this we are having both an Excessive Heat Warning (Heat Index of 110) and Flood Warning. Jesse and I also woke up to a couple of feet of water in our basement.

Climate Change is Real, my friends.

Keeping track of the things that are saving my life throughout the year was something that I picked up as an exercise of self-reflection as an avid reader of Anne’s blog. It is easy to remember what is driving you crazy but to pick out the little things that are saving you take a bit more thought.

Here a few of the simple, everyday things from my list.

Buggins

There are certain spots in my yard (and the surrounding area) where when we get a big rainstorm the water collects. These spots have been holding water most of the summer. And that means bugs. Biting gnats in particular.

Buggins sprays started showing up in my area a couple of years ago, and it is the only thing that keeps that gnats away. On top of that, it uses natural ingredients and smells good. It has been my perfume all summer.

My Robot Vacuum

We are just at the tail end of the three-month-long season where my husky, Dru, sheds uncontrollably. We spend those months pulling out his hair in chunks when we are on walks and vacuuming the house. Since Derek, my robot vacuum, has joined the family, he has been able to take over the vacuuming duty. Using the app, I set up a daily timer, and Derek is finishing up when I get home from work.

Extra days off work

I work four 10 hours days right now and my days off shift. So every other weekend is a four day weekend, without having to use any PTO. These long weekends have been an excellent summertime perk. I have been able to get projects done around the house, spend time with family, and still spend time binging Stranger Things.

Pattiegonia

I did a digital detox a while ago. When my head cleared, I made some social media choices, and one of the big ones is to not following people that make me angry or feel bad about myself and support people that make me feel good.

Enter Pattie.

I can’t express or explain why I love Pattie so much. I think it is best to let Pattie explain themselves:

“she’s your backcountry queen bringing inclusivity, positivity, and drag into the outdoors. proud lgbtq+ & outdoors advocate.”

So what little things are making you happy this summer? I’d love to hear about them!

Photo by Silvana Carlos on Unsplash

PS What is saving my life right now.

Instead of a gratitude journal, I keep a list of things that I learned in my planner with my to-do list. Paraphrasing Emily P. Freeman this list is a way of purposely looking back before moving forward.

Self-Care is not watching Netflix all day.

For the last nine years, I get a little lethargic in mid-July. This happens right around the anniversary of my mom’s death. Obviously, this lethargy is not a coincidence.

This year I decided to lazy around on the sofa watching CSI reruns. This went on for weeks. I did this under the umbrella of ‘self-care’. And, shocker, I felt like crap.

Do you know what did make me feel better? Working in the yard, taking walks with my dog, and a lunch date with my sisters.

Small updates make a big difference.

During our heatwave, I spent a lot of time trapped in the house. For months the spot where the old hutch used to need paint. I had the color, just not the motivation to do it.

I drug the paint out, grabbed a brush, and took care of it while watching reruns of CSI on Hulu. While I was at it, I touched up paint around the thermostat and in a couple of spots where I hung a mirror a few years ago.

There are still tons of little projects that need finishing around the house, but these small updates at least give the illusion that we finish what we start.

What did you learn in July?

PS. That pic above is from one of my early morning walks. It is mornings like those that make me remember why I live here.

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. That means if you click through a link and buy something, I get a small commission and it doesn’t cost you any extra. Awesome, right?!

Instead of a gratitude journal, I keep a list of things that I learned in my planner with my to-do list. Paraphrasing Emily P. Freeman this list is a way of purposely looking back before moving forward.

I crave routine.

Sometime in Mid-May, my supervisor gave us the option of working four 10-hour days. I am accustomed to long hours and since the days off rotate every-other-weekend is a four day weekend. It was a pretty easy decision.

My new start time is only a half hour earlier, but it has torpedoed my whole morning routine. It has left me feeling out of sorts and I don’t like that feeling. The biggest thing I am struggling with now it not having enough time to take a morning walk. I didn’t realize what a great way that was for me to get my day started out right.

Veronica Mars is coming back!

I came across Veronica a few years ago. I figured it would be one of those shows that I would watch by myself while folding laundry, but my husband wandered in and announced that I couldn’t watch an episode without him.

I was thrilled when I logged into Hulu a few weeks ago and saw a new season was dropping soon. If you are a fan, you should check out the trailer. If you are not a fan, you should watch the trailer anyhow.

Decluttering is a lot of work.

My husband says I am the queen of throwing stuff away. Ever since we moved our house, I have been KonMarie-ing the shit out of it. And the thing about decluttering is once you start and enjoy the freedom that less stuff gives you and your family, you want more.

Jesse was a little off on the ‘throwing stuff away.’ I usually only toss something at the last resort. I look for a way to donate (or sell) items if possible and recycle if not.

I want to donate items that do good in my community first, if possible. Local Donation involves lots of research to find who needs what and lots of driving around with bags or boxes of things in my car. If the item is not donatable (i.e., broken), I try to recycle it. One of the cons of living in a rural area (or at least my rural area) you have to WANT to recycle because there is a tiny window of time during the week that you can do it.

Decluttering can be easy, but if you also want to be a good steward of the envoiroment, it takes some time too.

Books and other things of note:

I got wrapped up in Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix. Both of them are creepy, but Sabrina is also campy. I love them both until I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and am thoroughly creep-ed out. That is when I am rethinking my life choices.

On the book front, I finally got to Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw (which, if you are a Bourdain fan, is great). I fell more in love with Helen Ellis after reading Southern Lady Code, and I got lots of food for thought in If Buddha Got Stuck.

What things did you learn in June?