A lazy day fit check with a trick for choosing hats that look right, the lazy salad I make almost weekly, and a case for having more than one child that maybe you haven’t considered?

Choosing the right sized hat

Happy Monday! Sunday I had my “regular” with my brother Allan. We had vegan Chinese food, and went to Goodwill, Costco, and the library. It felt like a lazy day for sneaks and comfy joggers. I’m kinda obsessed with my new red hat. ☺️

As someone who wears hats a lot, I’ve noticed the way to make them look right is to make sure the top of your head is touching the top of your hat here-

This is to make sure the hat doesn’t look too tall.

The lazy salad I make almost weekly

You know you’re a woman of a certain age when your favorite salad dressing is a combo of olive oil and red wine vinegar. 🤣

I crave some variation of this salad almost weekly. This is for one serving- like a big bowl for one. All it has is

  • 5ish slivers (must be slivers so it’s not too much of a bite) of red onion
  • Equal parts of any of the following, whatever I have on hand- garbanzo beans, chopped parsley, tomatoes halved (best is on the vine cherry tomatoes), hearts of palm, cucumbers, red, orange, or yellow bell peppers, or marinated artichoke hearts
  • A capful of olive oil
  • A capful of red wine vinegar
  • 15 turns of freshly grated salt (or more)
  • 15 turns of freshly grated pepper

Amazing with any meat dish and rice. My favorite is fried fish.

A case for having more than one child

My brothers Dee and Allan and I

I know not every couple is able to have more than one child, but if you are, please hear me out.

My father was just in the hospital with a host of problems after a bad fall he took last month. My brother Allan, in the medical field, was a much needed resource navigating this. My brother Dee, who works remotely, was able to drop everything in the states at a moment’s notice to fly to the Philippines to physically be with my dad. I’m mostly useless here, so the only job I had was to call and make follow up appointments for my dad. We have been on WhatsApp a lot over the last few weeks discussing all the details. My mom also needs 24 hour care.

It’s already so very stressful and emotionally exhausting to have a parent in the hospital, and I can’t imagine doing any of this without the support of my brothers. There are two of them and three of us.

So, please consider that if you only have one child, there is only one of them and there will be two of you to care for when you’re elderly. This is not something I have thought about until just now with my father’s stint in the hospital, but it has gotten me thinking about just how grateful I am to have my siblings to talk to, share with, and maneuver any health issues my parents go through. So, if you’re a couple with only one child and are debating about whether or not to have any more, please take this into consideration. I know there are many reasons to have one child or more than one child. This is just another case for the latter.

What do you think? I’d love to know!

New family friendly outdoor winter activity, my number 1 shelving trick that anyone can follow, and the easy peasy breakfast we are enjoying this week

Hi friends! Hubby is off for two weeks! What are you doing while kids are off school?

Outdoor cold weather family friendly outing

Today it was cold but sunny, so we took our family to their first ever revolving sushi restaurant. It was actually super exciting for them to open up the doors and grab their choices or rush to grab something on the conveyer belt before it was too late. Oh the thrill of firsts! We let them be next to the belt.

We asked Chatgpt to find us a sushi place that was next to a bike trail, and then Nate used the footpath app to mark our route. For boys ages 7 and 10, 4 miles one way is just about perfect for us- exercise with no whining yet 🤣 It also helps that we searched for two geocaches en route. Even on a day that was 39 degrees, it was surprisingly warm since it was full sun and we bundled up and started moving. Highly recommend a biking-4-miles-to-a-food-destination-and-finding-geocaches-along-the-way outing.

Any other cold weather outdoor family friendly activities you’d recommend?

My number 1 shelving trick that anyone can follow

Ok, let’s talk shelving! A lot of people on interior design facebook groups get really frustrated and can’t seem to figure out shelving. I’m sure there are lots of other tricks, but the easiest trick I’ve found is to separate all your groupings. Every separate grouping has either 1,2,3, or 4 items clustered together and all those items must be different sizes.

Check it out above with the clients I helped! It’s such a simple little trick.

An easy peasy breakfast idea we are loving currently

So Nate is off from Dec 25- Jan 4 which means I’m making breakfast every morning. How many ways can a wife cook an egg? That is the question and challenge for the week. 🤣 We love smoked cheese scrambled eggs with bacon and cubed hashbrowns with onions, over medium fried eggs with crispy eggsnest hashbrowns, over medium eggs on tomato and mayo open faced sandwiches, soft boiled eggs made fancy eaten in the shell and cracked on top served with little buttery toasts the size of fingers and dipped into the soft boiled eggs, and now this here taco has made the cut. Wish we had the cilantro and the avocados – would have made it over the top amazing adding that bit of freshness!

Do you have any favorite egg recipes?!! I’d love to know!

P.s. my absolute favorite egg recipe is this crustless quiche given to me by a bed and breakfast owner!

If You’re Having a Bad Day

A little hack I discovered when you’re having a crummy day or just need a quick pick me up—

Search your google photos for “hugs”

Everyone you’ve ever captured on film hugging will show up, including you and your beloved. It’s just a reminder of what really matters.

Every evening, I end my prayers with “Thank You Lord for another day that my family is all alive and healthy” knowing that one day I will not be able to say this and many people in the world cannot say this today.

“To be human is to know you’re going to die and everyone you love is going to die and you just don’t know when.” I saw this on a tik tok once, and I’ve never been able to stop thinking of it. That makes it easier for me to be gracious to others and more gracious to myself.

We all live in a state of this not potential unknown but this definite known truth and all it makes me want to do is hug the ones I love more often and treat myself with more tenderness. Sending you virtual hugs. ❤️❤️❤️