Friday Five: May 2020

Happy day, reader dear!

Welcome to the last Friday of the month! That means it’s time to share what kind of trouble I’ve been getting into during the month of May. (Ha!) Some of us are still very much in lockdown. I recently heard the term Protective Posture, and I like that SO much better. For our family, this is almost the end of month three. Good grief. This month, I’ve worked with some new clients virtually, blogged, slogged along on the kitchen cabinets, and decluttered some more; I feel like I’m okay with this new normal. And that’s good, since I’m sure we’ll have to repeat these steps a few times. Covid is a virus after all; they don’t just go away. They pass in waves.

But the point of a Friday Five is to share what I/we’ve been enjoying to share the love, and find new things to tickle our senses. Finding joy seems especially important in these home bound times! I’m sure you remember hearing this before, but please feel free to Pin or share on social media images or ideas that tickle your fancy! Your introduction to others is one of the kindest things you can do for me and the blog. Neither of us is getting out much these days… Wink.

All links provided in today’s post are for your convenience. I receive no remuneration for purchases made through these links! Nada. Nichevo. La shay.

See & Read

I’m sure if you’ve read even one of these Friday Fives, you’ve noticed that when it comes to reading for pleasure, I have a preference for fiction. (I read a LOT of non-fiction for work!) But every once and a while some non-fiction grabs my attention like Gretchen Rubin’s Better than Before— The actual title is: Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits–to Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life, which is a bit of a mouthful, so I’ll just call it Better than Before. Ms. Rubin combines research with her own experiences and experiments on herself and family to lay out the complex concept that is a habit. Better Than Before has helped me see my own habits more clearly, and given me insight into some less than lovely parts of my personality. (Oh, well.) I wish I’d had this when raising our boys; I might have been more understanding of our differences and better equipped to work with those differences instead of fighting them.

And because our kitchen remodel project went south when the foundation project cropped up, I’ve been watching a LOT of YouTube videos… For inspiration. I hate our kitchen counters and floors. Especially the counters.

Hear/Listen

Home Cooking

I LOVE this podcast by Samin Nosrat (Author of the book Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, and the Netflix series of the same name.), and Hrishikesh Hirway (A serious podcaster AND purveyor of puns.). This podcast is perfect for the committment-phobe. There are only four episodes, and they are filled with all kinds of fabulous cooking stories and goodness. Real cooking. (Like we are doing every day.) Real advice. Real laughs. I, for one, hope it continues. I LOVE Samin’s laugh; it’s easy and generous. She sounds like SO much fun to be around! But not in that frenetic way, just in an easy, welcoming, pull up a chair kind of way… (Okay. I’m a Samin fangirl.) PS: If you buy the logo fridge magnet, all the proceeds go to No Kid Hungry. They need it even more now than before…

Smell & Taste

This month you get another amazing and drop dead easy loaf of bread from Kate at Cookie & Kate. Not chewy crusted like the last one, this loaf is dense but soft, slightly sweet (From the molasses..) and just all around darned tasty! (I shifted the flour a bit and used a combination of regular whole wheat and all-purpose flour. More W/W than A/P!)

It will make a believer our of whole wheat skeptics. This loaf tastes fabulous toasted with butter and jam, but is also a lovely contrast to cheeses and other savory yummies like cold cuts. Yum. Thinking I need to head to the kitchen to make another loaf…

My second taste of the month? The Lu’s Choice sandwich at Hildebrandt’s in downtown Augusta. I’d be happy to eat this sandwich every day. I’ve been craving a good sandwich, and this one ticked all the boxes. Thick, but not the kind that requires you to open like a snake eating larger prey. Rye bread. With seeds. Spicy mustard. Real mayo, not salad dressing. (That could be an entire post!) Lettuce AND tomato. Enough different meats and cheese to be interesting, but not so many that you can’t actually taste them. Local business. Win. Win, Win.

Touch

Multisensory… A walk along the Greeneway with Mr. CP was the bright spot of last weekend! We (like a gazillion others) took a drive across the river for a walk on the North Augusta Greeneway. It’s shady, and stays bearable even when the temps rise. The birds were singing, the wind rustled through the trees, friendly people happily called “Hello!” from a safe distance. The feeling of my hand in his as we walked along for miles with nowhere to be and no agenda… That jaunt to Hildebrandt’s came next, and we took our carryout back down to the river (This time the Georgia side!) to eat our lunch in the shade. So much goodness to appreciate!

So, how about you? What have you been getting up to (at home) this past month! I love your recommendations; I’m always looking for new things to read, watch, listen to, etc. Because there’s so much out there! And so little life to do it in!

Stay safe and sound, sane and stylish!