Five on Friday

Happy Friday; how has your week been?

I would say ours was ordinary, but in the best way. With every year older I get the more I cherish the ordinary.

Yesterday afternoon felt heavy because while I was waiting for an appointment I read Julie’s post about Pepper and could not stop the tears from rolling down my face. Her post made me feel so many emotions, but most of all my heart simply aches so deeply for her family. Julie is truly the kindest person and reading about her heart breaking broke mine.

I’m not the best at transitioning from sorrow back to my normal chit chat, but I did keep a note on my phone this week of things I wanted to share with you today, so here we go.

Signs of Spring

We had a tease of 70+ degree sunshine this past week and it was wonderful. We got ice cream with friends, swam in a friend’s (heated) pool for the first time this year (K, not me), planted some blueberry bushes and fruit trees, had the windows open, and my seed start kit proved to treat me well, as some little seedlings are beginning to stretch towards the sun. I have visions of zucchini bouncing through my mind!

I’ve also been motivated to do some spring cleaning/organizing. I tackled K’s room yesterday and after two hours and two full trash bags, it’s livable again. She was over the moon with gratitude, especially for her stuffed animal holder, which I appreciate, but we definitely will be implementing some strategies to help her keep it in decent condition. Next up is our master closet that also needs some reorganization and strategies itself.

Tween Shorts Favorites

Speaking of warmer weather, K has outgrown her warm weather clothes so I ordered a slew of skorts and shorts for her to try. Historically it’s been tough to find a good fit for her, but hooray for a growth spurt because we found these solid keepers, with this denim skort (with built in athletic shorts!) being the #1 fav.

College Admissions Tiktok

I somehow ended up on the side of Tiktok that discusses colleges, their acceptance stats, and what they look for in applicants. I believe the algorithm took me there because of all the research I’ve been doing trying to map out what high school will look like for H. I don’t know what she will want to do when she graduates, but I feel a lot of responsibility to ensure she has options and that I am in no way a limiting factor.

I owe you a whole post on our next educational move, as we hope to have most of the plan fine tuned in the next month or so. I’m not sure there’s much more I could learn about honors vs AP vs dual enrollment vs IB, but if you have tips to share, I’m all ears.

Sourdough Discard Buns

A friend of mine was telling me about an easy sourdough discard burger bun recipe that she likes to keep in her freezer. I immediately asked her to send me the recipe and on a day where I had 500 things to do, I decided, what the heck? Why not make it 501?? And I made the buns.

They turned out great! They smelled amazing and were all kinds of soft and fluffy. K ate one with dinner and gave it two thumbs up, but I sliced the remaining seven in half and stuck them in the freezer for easy access on our next burger night. Sure beats the heck out of my just tossing my discard (which I’ve been guilty of… when I actually discard…).

Side note: I am still not over how cool it is that all our eggs come from our yard. Will I ever be? I don’t know but right now it still feel like a dream!

Candle Wax Trick

I used to be an electric candle girl, and while I think there is still a place for them in high up or hard to reach places, I’ve been on a real candle kick. In Switzerland real candles were everywhere- on the restaurant tables, in the hotel, in stores. I loved the cozy ambiance and immediately implemented it in my home. There is only one problem- with so many of my candle holders, wax melts and gets pooled up and stuck at the bottom or drips all over the holder.

Well, you might already know this trick, but it’s been a game changer for me! Simple take the candle holder and pop it in the fridge. I leave it overnight and the next day, the wax easily pops off/out. You’re left with what looks like a brand new candle holder!

If your candle holder has a lot of little crevices, like my Christmas mouse one I love, do the same process then wipe it down with a hot wet rag to get off any remaining residue. Works like a charm!