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The Good Stuff: this month's obsessions
Published about 2 months ago • 3 min read
Hi friend!
Welcome to The Good Stuff, a monthly roundup of the things that made life a little better - what I'm organizing and what I'm reading, what's making my life more awesome lately, and the things you and I loved most this month. The name is inspired by my website name: Small Stuff Counts. Think of this as our monthly catch-up over coffee.☕
Isn't it wild we're already done with a whole month of summer?! The big highlight in our house was finishing our basement - we hired everything out except painting, and somehow I'm still exhausted.😅 We are looking forward to an upcoming trip to the Wisconsin Dells. I'm excited to get away, but as a homebody, I'm equally excited to chill out at home for a few glorious PTO days when we get home. What was the highlight of your month?
-Emily
What I'm organizing
Our basement renovation is finished and we're going to start moving furniture down there today!
Our garage is currently stuffed with all the junk things that used to be piled in our messy, unfinished basement, and it's going to be a big undertaking to sort through and find a home for everything.
I'll be sharing the whole process of furnishing and organizing our basement, plus purging all of the leftover stuff from our garage so stay tuned :)
What's making my life easier
I've been engrossed in a thriller and staying up waaay too late reading. This book light is seriously awesome, it hooks around your neck and each end can be adjusted to any angle and the brightness levels can change, too.
You don't feel it around your neck and it keeps both pages lit up no matter which way you're laying down.
One of the top things I shared during Prime Day last week, and it's still on sale!
These are the things you and I loved the most this month!
Reef Sandals: I've had another pair from this brand for a while now and they're comfier than any sandal I've ever owned. I grabbed a new style this spring and have worn them a ton already!
Charging Cable Basket: Add a power strip inside, connect a few charging cables, and you have an instant charging station. This was a top seller this month!
Rubbermaid Brilliance: I have a longtime obsession with these, and it makes me happy to see so many of you picked up the starter set this month.
Apple Slicer: I am notoriously resistant to kitchen gadgets and small appliances, but it turns out this is a worthwhile tool. The perfectly thin apple slices are the BEST, we use it daily.
Pillows: David and I fell in love with these viral bed pillows a couple of years ago, and we're constantly annoyed that our preschooler doesn't have them on his bed since we end up laying with him a lot at bedtime. So I picked up a new set for our bed this month.
Green Chairs: Our goal is to turn our basement into the ultimate game/lego/craft room. We splurged on a fancy game table (will share that soon!), and needed some chairs for it. I've been drooling over these chairs for a while now, and they are soooo nice in person!
The Fun Stuff
What I'm doing instead of scrolling or folding laundry
Best Offer Wins: This story is totally unhinged in the all the best ways. I was not expecting it to go the direction it did - so many twists! Five stars from me.
Carrie Soto Is Back - I don't know a thing about tennis, but this book had me rooting hard for Carrie during her comeback to playing professionally. The full cast narration was very well done, highly recommend listening on audio.
Murdoku: This is like Sudoko meets Clue, and I'm here for it. It's been really nice to leave this puzzle book next to the couch to work on when I have a few minutes here and there. I've never been into Sudoku (numbers are not my thing), but these puzzles are so fun to do!
Piles: This card game is so fun! It's a free-for-all, everyone races at teh same time to sort their laundry into sets. I had my mom, sisters, and elementary aged nieces and nephews all into it!
Sticker scenes: I find these so fun to do when I have 15-20 minutes. They are super affordble too, great for a sscreen free summer activity for your kids, too.
Stack Attack: My sister-in-law brought this over recently and everyone from ages 4 to 70 was laughing and having fun with it - I love a good family game like that that takes no time to learn, you can just jump in and play.
Azul: The original game is one of my favorites, and the kids gave me this version for Mother's Day. It's equally as good and I love how they made the game play a little different in this one.
Bedazzling: This is a really soothing craft to do while you're zoning out listening to music or a book, or chatting with friends. I've been bedazzling the front covers of a few favorite books!
If you're new here, I love it when you reply to these emails! It's always nice to know people are actually reading these. And yes, I really will reply back to you!
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