Hi! It’s been just over a week since you last heard from me. (That is, unless you’re on the email list! Then you hear from me a few times a week no matter what. Want to get on the list? Click here.) We went to Wisconsin for a few days over Spring Break and for the Easter weekend. As soon as I got back into the swing of things on Monday, I came down with The Crud. You know the kind: High fever, body aches, deep cough. Ugh. I was down for the count for about 2 days. Thank God for The Mister, who came home from work and took right over. Always grateful for my partner in this whole parenting thing.
Whenever I’m sick, I am immediately transported back to my last hangover, on January 19, 2020. After over 4 years of sobriety, normally I can’t quite remember what it feels like to be hungover. When I’m sick? I’m reminded very quickly. And, man. That shit is for the birds.
So, now I’m feeling extra grateful for feeling good. It feels good to feel good.
PLANTS.
About 3 years ago, I made the brave decision that I was finished with fake plants. NO MORE. Was I terrified? Umm yeah. My track record wasn’t great. I’ve killed more plants than I can count, and I was skeptical that I could turn my black thumb into any shade of green. But I was determined.
Our home has an insane amount of natural light, which is why we fell in love with it. I wanted to take advantage. My starter tree 3 years ago? A fiddle leaf fig. I know, I know. What the hell was I thinking?? The most high maintenance plant? Really? Well, I’m happy to report that 3 years later, not only is my original fiddle leaf going strong, but I’ve also added 5 more into the mix and they’re all thriving. I cracked the code, y’all!
Fiddle leaf fig tip: you need to water them DEEP, but they can’t sit in water. Take them out of their pots and onto a plant saucer like this one. Water it A LOT, so it’s sitting in a shallow pool of water. Then I set my timer for 10 minutes and return it to it’s pot and dump out the remaining water. I do this every 10 days or when the first 1 1/2-2″ of soil is dry. Also, they like south or east facing windows. And don’t look at ’em funny. They don’t like that.
Here are just a few of my beauties. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me feel to watch these little guys grow. I love to collect baskets, which make perfect planters. Make sure you keep your plants in the planter pot it comes in, and then put a saucer/tray in the bottom of the basket.
LAUNDRY.
Alright I know, this is riveting content. A look into my laundry room! But, stick with me. I love to read about people’s day to day lives and the small things they do to make their days run smoothly, so I thought I’d share something I’ve started doing.
Sunday used to be my laundry day. I didn’t hate it. I would pop in an AirPod (and you know how much I love that), and I’d go to town, my current favorite podcasts keeping me company as I hauled, folded and put away our clothes. This was fine. Sure, I missed out of some family time. But I considered it a nice way to get some alone time.
Still, I kept hearing about how much easier it is to do one load of laundry each day. Influencers on Instagram, like my friend Courtney from @alifefromscratch comes to mind, would share how much better life is when they do one load of laundry a day. At first I didn’t believe it, but then I started noticing how the growing piles of laundry – in my hamper, on my oldest’s daughter’s floor, in my boy’s hamper, started to make me…annoyed. Or anxious. Or it would just weigh on me and my spirit, like a nagging reminder of all I had to do when my favorite day of the week, Sunday, rolled around again.
Three weeks ago, I decided to give the whole One Load of Laundry a Day Thing a try. Compared to 9 loads, one load felt really easy. Like…duh. I was still skeptical, but actually found it very easy to keep up with. And by the time Sunday rolled around, I didn’t have to hole up in the laundry room for 5 hours. Who knew?!
Now, I’m hooked. I love walking by EMPTY hampers in the middle of the day. I didn’t realize the mental load the piles of laundry represented – a constant reminder of what I needed to do. It feels so much lighter having it done – washed, folded and put away – one load, one day at a time.
A FOREVER FAVORITE.
This book. I first bought it in 2015 to read to my oldest at bedtime, and it quickly became our favorite book. It was traveled down to Evy and now to Gray, who loves it just as much as I do. We read it every night and it’s one of those things I never want to forget, like when he says “backaround” instead of “background” or “I think I have streck throat.”
CUT IT OUT.
Last week on my Instagram stories, I shared my new Happy Sober tee that I designed for The Sober Mom Life shop. I mentioned that I cut all my tees, since I have a long torso and short little legs. That way, my tees don’t cut me off and make my legs look even shorter. Well, I didn’t realize we aren’t all out there cutting our tees. I heard from SO many of you that this was a revolutionary tip that helped transform your tees and elongate your short little legs! Who knew?? And no, it doesn’t fray. Instead, the hem rolls a little a look like it was meant to be that way.
SHOP MY HAPPY SOBER TEE HERE (I’m wearing small in Heather Natural)
BEJEWELED.
I’ve been very into building my most perfect necklace stack (is that what it’s called??) lately. If I have some time to kill on the interwebs, I’m perusing my favorite jewelry sites for the next piece to add to my collection…
