So much has happened since we last picked up the podcast mic, so we have a jam-packed show to catch you up on all the things. We’re talking house updates, embarrassing stories, renovation plans, and we even worked in some bad metaphorical diagrams (because describing graphs and charts you can’t see always goes over well in an audio format). We’re also diving into how house projects have slowed down around here, the remaining projects on our list, and how our attitude towards having less on our to-do list has changed pretty dramatically over the years. Plus an impromptu musical exercise that captured our family’s contentment for living in a smaller home, and why Sherry can never show her face in one Florida city again. Also, a fun holiday game and the TV show we’ve been dying to tell you about.
You can also find this episode on your favorite podcast listening app, like Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, TuneIn Radio, Stitcher, and Spotify.
What’s New
- We shared in the episode why we’re not returning to weekly podcasting, but our hope is to drop in periodically with big catch-up episodes like this one. And above, you can see our extra fancy recording set-up from earlier this week when we recorded (and the Ikea cabinet boxes that we mentioned in the background).
- You can scroll down our blog’s homepage to see any and all house updates you might’ve missed over the last year, but some specific things we mentioned in the episode include our new pool, the pantry we added to our kitchen, the closet we added to our bedroom, our little firepit area, our hanging daybed, and our recent kitchen porch (and here’s what the inside of the kitchen looks like these days).
- Additionally, we shared a holiday gift guide, an update on our family room, 7 of our favorite storage pieces that help our house work harder, and a tribute to our dog Burger, who passed away in October. We never tire of looking at pictures of him, so here’s one for good measure:
- As for that narrow drawer we spoke of next to our stove, here’s a photo from an old kitchen organization post, back when it housed a single bottle of olive oil (and a jar of salt). You can also see how the frames on these old cabinets take up a lot of space. We’ll gain a lot more storage with our newer frameless cabinets (especially because we’re shifting the stove over a bit).
- We also spoke about paving our front driveway at some point, since we currently have this fancy pine-straw-over-sand setup (can you see my tire marks below?). Although our new favorite parking spot is around the side (right off the new kitchen porch) – so this spot will mostly be for guests. Yup, we’re still a one car household and we still have the same 8 year old Toyota Highlander (150,000 miles and going strong!).
- If we were ever to construct the “guest house” building (aka: our shed with a bed), it would basically go behind that large tree where the green fence is (the pool is on the other side of the fence). Obviously we’d have to reconstruct the fence differently, but our entire goal was to work around that gorgeous tree!
- Also, Sherry mentioned that “circles make you happy,” which is something we learned from the book Joyful by Ingrid Fetell Lee. We discussed the book in Episode #130 and later interviewed Ingrid in Episode #136!
What’s Not Game: Holiday Towns
- Here’s the article that rounded up the 29 American town names that “embody” the holiday spirit.
- You can also see more pictures of Santa Claus, AZ (the abandoned theme town) in this article
That’s Embarassing
- We did not capture Sherry’s embarassing moment in St. Augustine on camera (mercifully for everyone involved) but luckily it didn’t dampen our enjoyment of this beautiful historic city – which we happened to catch just after it was lit up for the holiday season!
- Beyond some of the usual/tourist trap stuff, some of our favorite things while we were there were Osprey Taco (the only place we ate twice in three days!), Mayday Ice Cream, and walking around the Castillos San Marcos.
We’re Digging
- Here’s Home Before Dark by Riley Sager, one my favorite books that I’ve recently read (which is why I also included it in our holiday gift guide last month!
- Also, here’s the trailer for Only Murders In The Building on HULU (warning: some language). We both enjoyed it very much.
- This is the weighted blanket Sherry sleeps with every night (it’s the OG I gave her years ago as a Christmas present). The washable cover, softness, and not-too-hot fabric is what she considers a few of its best features.
- But if you’re looking for a lighter option, this is the furry throw blanket we got recently for our downstairs sofa. The whole family is obsessed with (we have it in the neutral color).
- Here you can see the bed made with Sherry’s weighted blanket under the duvet on her side (hi again, Burger!). So it definitely can be made into the bed fairly discreetely.
If you’re looking for something we’ve dug in a past episode, but don’t remember which show notes to click into, here’s a master list of everything we’ve been digging from all of our past episodes. You can also see all the books we’ve recommended on our Book Club page.
And lastly, a big thank you to Agility Bed for sponsoring this special episode. Before December 31, you can use the code YHL to get 25% off any mattress + your choice of free gifts (a pair of cooling pillows or sateen sheets). And after December, you can still score $300 off any mattress by using that same YHL code. Just got to AgilityBed.com to snag either deal!
Thanks for listening, guys!
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