Though Articles Club has faithfully continued meeting over the last two months, we’ve switched to focusing on “life lately” updates instead of our usual fare. I miss our deep dives into important (and not-so-important) topics, but have also been enjoying the simple, and shorter, time together – after a long day, Zoom fatigue is real!
In honor of Articles Club, I thought I’d collect a few of my favorite recent coronavirus thought-pieces to share – all reads and listens that would be just perfect for discussing around the table. They’re less about current events and more about what life right now means for life beyond the pandemic. I hope they light a little spark in you today!
P.S. Perhaps you’re tapped out on coronavirus reading right now. Been there! Just for you, I’m including a few photos from this weekend’s backyard campout :) Enjoy!
Present in the Pandemic | This sermon from Jon Tyson was a gentle but firm reminder to abide in the midst of difficulty and sameness. He speaks persuasively about distraction, and what it means for our core relationships and our intimacy with God. If you loved The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, you’ll be nodding along the whole time. In the words of Jon, let’s not say at the end of this, “It was kind of a blur, and then it was over.” The teaching starts at about 44:30.
It’s Okay to Be a Different Kind of Parent During the Pandemic | This is perhaps not the essay you’re thinking it’s going to be. Mary Katherine weaves insight from her husband passing away, leaving her and her two young daughters behind, into advice for parents dealing with our current upheaval. A poignant and lovely piece.
When the Small Things are Everything | Another simply beautiful essay, this time about being a “second responder.” If you’ve been moved by the kindness sprouting everywhere, if you’ve been a part of this kindness in any small way, you’ll love this piece.
Parenting in the Age of Anxiety | Though this is not, strictly speaking, an article focused on coronavirus, it is The Atlantic’s most-recent cover story and couldn’t have debuted at a more relevant time. This is an eye-opening, sobering, and yet hopeful read about the current epidemic of anxiety, focusing on the impact parental anxiety has on children. I think this is a must-read for basically everyone right now.
Have you read anything notable about our current times – something that moved you to action or made you see things in a different light? I’d love to hear. You know I’m always down for a good read!
P.S. Backyard camping was a success! June fell asleep about 10 and woke up with the birds at 6 :) John came inside and promptly crawled into bed next to me, ha!
The end of last month and the end of this one feel feel light year’s different, in many ways. At the end of March, I was still thrown off by all that didn’t go as planned – our Florida vacation canceled, my potluck party canceled, lots of things on hold.
My April goals, though, were set with a much more realistic picture of what was ahead. Just knowing that gave me a huge burst of energy – one I rode most of the month. Interestingly, it actually looks like I didn’t get much accomplished, but almost everything was moved forward in at least a small way. And in between, not shown on this list, we had SO many sweet, sun-filled, slow moments together. I’m looking forward to the same in May.
On my calendar this month: — Mother’s Day! I think we’re going to make bookmarks for the grandmothers and great-grandmother this year. If you’re looking for ideas, we’ve made this artwork in the past (celery!). — Picking strawberries! Our local field has done a fantastic job of keeping everything super-safe and we are loving having a bucket of fresh berries in the refrigerator at all times.
What I’m loving right now: — This shirt from Target is very, very cute and in my opinion looks WAY more expensive than it is. The woven fabric is so nice, too! Most definitely order a size down from your usual – it is billowy and beautiful, but looks cute tucked in :) See a peek here! — I mentioned these gingham placemats in passing in another post, but they’re so sturdy and so cute (great colors), and they wipe off really easily. The perfect foundation for meals and coloring sessions! We have the green but I also love the blue. — Have you tried out Peloton Family yet? June really enjoys the 5-minute classes, and now she walks around the house curling her biceps and saying, “I am strong! I am confident! I’m going to make it a really great day!” ha! Also it is embarrassing how sore I can be after doing this with her – clearly I need to incorporate more strength training with my cardio. The app is free for 90 days right now! — I have poached so many recipes from my sister-in-law, including most recently these sheet pan pancakes. As the one usually standing and flipping while everyone else is eating, this is a revelation!
What I read in April: As a library and physical book devotee, I am really struggling right now! I did breeze through my fiction pick for April, The Tattooist of Auschwitz, after borrowing it from my neighbor, and it was really good. Hard to read at times, of course, but definitely a page-turner. Otherwise, I have mostly been catching up on my magazine subscriptions!
Revisiting my April goals: Finish printing out Pinterest recipes and rearrange boards(Done! Feels so good!) Clean out our garage (This is the one item we made no progress on! Just couldn’t find a time without another priority where John and I could both devote some energy to it.) Make spring recipe cheat sheet (With finishing my recipe binder, I actually decided this cheat sheet wasn’t needed, so I scratched it off.) Design and print our first family photo album! (While I didn’t finish this, I did take the next steps forward! It was held up when I realized I still had about 75 loose photos that need to be digitized before I can finish the layout.) Finish reading Matthew with John and begin Mark (Still ticking away) Connect with each of my 8 focal friends in a meaningful way (Got 4/8!) Roast s’mores in our backyard Make an Easter egg tree with June for our dining room table
May goals: — Clean out the garage — Digitize loose photos from 2005-2009 — Design and print our first family photo album — Finish reading Matthew with John and begin Mark — Complete gifts for Mother’s Day (for grandmothers and great-grandmothers) with June + Shep — Send watercolor hugs (My friend Kristy is making these and they are SO BEAUTIFUL! Such a win-win to support a small business and send love to dear ones. I bought the big bundle!) — Go camping in our backyard — Complete friend dossiers — Experiment with a custom Publix shopping list — Make a list of all our non-recipe meals for binder
Friends, I would love to hear: what are you doing for Mother’s Day this year? My sisters and I are going in on Lake Pajamas for my Mom as well as the aforementioned bookmarks. Wish I could hug her, though!
My 2020 goal of streamlining meal planning is ticking along nicely. It’s satisfying to feel like I’m making real progress on something when so much feels out of my control – AND it’s something that’s making my daily life better right now! Progress has taken all different forms, but today I wanted to share one simple hack that’s been so helpful for us with meal planning.
June school photos!!!
Emphasis on simple. We hung a magnetic dry erase board on the side of our fridge and use it to track inventory of our freezer stash. Now, I can easily see what we have on hand without rifling through our cold storage. This is helpful for both deciding on our meals for the week – what’s in the freezer that we can base a meal on? – and for assembling a grocery list – what do we already have that we don’t need to buy?
You could certainly do this with a pad of paper, but the dry erase board is a neat solution. To note: we don’t include EVERYTHING in our freezer on the list – mostly just ingredients that are relevant for meal planning. For example, you won’t see frozen cookie dough on the list above, but rest assured we are always well-stocked :)
That’s it! A simple meal-planning hack that’s helped us plan more efficiently and waste less food.
I’d love to hear: what meal-planning hacks do you swear by? Also, a question: with my recipe binder pretty much complete, I’m curious if a video flip-through would be of interest? I could give you some commentary on my favorite recipes? I’m not really much of a video person, but thought this could be fun. Let me know what you think!
P.S. If our dry erase board is sold out, this one looks very similar! Ours is fine but nothing particularly special, so don’t worry about going with a different one :)
Today is the 50th anniversary of Earth Day! How cool! While I don’t think of myself as a traditional environmentalist (it’s just not one of the first labels that springs to mind when I think of myself!), I really, really love the Earth and think often about how I can keep her beautiful. We’ve talked about various efforts our family has made over the years, but today I thought I’d highlight a few in one spot (and I’d love to hear yours, too). If you, too, find a lot of the conversation around sustainability and eco-friendliness to be really discouraging and overwhelming, welcome. The power of little-by-little is alive and well here, and I’m excited to cheer each other on as we swap ideas today!
SUSTAINABLE SWAPS AND CHANGES WE’VE MADE:
Using cloth towels and rags instead of paper towels | I wrote about this 5 years ago, and I’m including it first on this list because it was a real aha moment for me: John was initially resistant to this swap, but I eventually realized even if he wasn’t onboard I could still change my own behavior. Half a decade later, we’re still going strong (with the same set of towels, ha!) – this change alone has saved us more than a thousand dollars! We’ve also used 100% cloth napkins for meals for years – our favorites are these from Ikea.
Reducing meat in our meals | Though we do have a few meatless meals in our regular rotation, something I’ve found to be even more doable in our current life stage is reducing meat instead of eliminating it entirely. In almost every recipe we make (aside from something like, you know, meatloaf), I’ll half the meat called for, and double the veggies or beans. This has been extremely successful for us – we still get the flavor and depth of meat, but our consumption has basically dropped by half. And I can still rely on my trusty stash of recipes instead of searching out all-new vegetarian favorites!
Buying secondhand, swapping with friends, and reselling or donating when we’re finished | 90% of our kiddos’ clothes is secondhand or a hand-me-down from a relative or friend. Likewise, most of our toys and kid gear is secondhand, passed down, or borrowed (as far as it’s safe to do so). When we’re finished with something, we aim to pass it on instead of trashing it, either through reselling at a consignment sale or on Facebook Marketplace or through donation!
Keeping things for a loooooong time | John and I both come from a hearty stock of thrifty people, and combined with our love for personal finance and hefty money goals, this is a no-brainer. Whether it’s a sofa or car we’ve had for a decade or a shirt we’ve worn since college, we simply don’t replace our things that often. And when we do, we almost always consider a secondhand option first.
Reusing wrapping items | Though I haven’t graduated to my grandmother’s level of folding and reusing wrapping paper, I use the same satin and grosgrain ribbon to tie things off year after year. I also store and reuse tissue paper, boxes, and gift bags, and wrap more things than not in recycled kraft paper (cheap and you can paint designs on it if you’re feeling crafty – fun with kids, too!).
Reducing packaging on cleaning supplies | After hearing rave reviews from friends, we bought the starter pack from Blueland (cleaning supplies and foaming hand soap you replenish with a tablet!) and can’t wait to get started! You can try it here with my referral link and get a free pack of refills with a new subscription.
Using a Lunette cup | I hesitate to recommend this, because I don’t feel like I’ve completely mastered it, but a few months ago I bought a Lunette cup after years of considering it. The waste from a monthly cycle adds up over the years, so I’ll keep experimenting!
Driving more than flying | Since having kiddos, we’ve done a lot more driving to destinations like Connecticut, Maine, and Michigan than flying. Though I don’t think this is perfect math, and we’ve made this swap firstly for other reasons than eco-friendliness, it’s a happy by-product.
Meal planning, eating leftovers, and using reusable containers | Pretty self explanatory, but all greatly help reduce food waste! We received a set of glass storage containers from our wedding registry (similar to these) and they’re still going strong 7+ years later – we use them to store leftovers and take food to and from work. June and Shep take their lunches to school in these bento boxes, which completely eliminate plastic baggies (we have 4).
Composting | The newest addition to our repertoire! I also come from a long line of composters, and it’s something I’ve wanted to try for several years – but I was intimidated by doing it on my own, and didn’t really want to allocate space for it in our small yard. Earlier this year, I had another aha moment: our neighborhood has a community garden with a compost barrel, and I could easily add our output to the community bin! I bought a countertop container in January and haven’t looked back. I empty it every 5-7 days when I’m already on my way out of the neighborhood, and it works great!
Loving the Earth and teaching our children to do the same | In How to Raise a Wild Child, the author makes the point that the best way to help the earth is to have a personal and deep connection to it – and to raise a next generation who does, too. We make a point to spend time in the beautiful places we love, both close to home and farther afield, to keep them close to our hearts. Many are pictured throughout this post.
Things we’d like to try next: using reusable bags at stores other than the grocery, shopping more at our farmer’s market, buying more of my own clothing secondhand, exploring refillable/reusable packaging for beauty products (like this deodorant), replacing Ziploc freezer bags, and bringing our own takeout containers to restaurants (feels so bold but I’m sure once we do it the first time it will be less scary!).
Friends, I’d love to hear: what Earth-friendly swaps have you successfully tried at home? What’s next on your list? I can’t wait to learn from your successes!
