list of awesome, first edition

Awesome is probably my favorite word.   If I overuse it, or if it makes me sound too eighties, or if the things I describe are really just "good" and not necessarily "awesome" like a dazzling multicolor sunrise, I apologize.

While sitting down here to write this post, I wanted to mention a few unrelated things, and what ties them together is that they are all...awesome.

1. I listed pendants on Etsy yesterday, for the first time in, oh, a really long time.  I'm almost embarrassed to say that it's been so long that I didn't realize how much the listing process changed.  It's easier now.  I skipped the whole step of photo sizing which saved so much time!  And I like that I could crop the thumbnail photo.  This has probably been around a year or so.  Etsy, when the forums changed, I stopped keeping up as much, just being truthful.  But I feel renewed in wanting to build up the Mirthmarket.  Hooray!

2.  I have had a ridiculous, painful, coughing issue for about a month now.  I'm not sure if there were other issues at hand - the nurse practitioners I saw suggested different things - but nothing I tried was helping until two days ago when I bought a Crane Drop Humidifier .  How frustrating that it took me so long to try this.  The results were almost instant.  It probably also helped that I let myself sleep long and nap often this weekend, with the Crane Drop at my side, to feel less congested and more rested.  Sleeping + Mist = No more painful cough.  I cannot stress enough the difference this has made!

The Crane Drop is pretty, too.  Mine is the blue and white model that looks smurfy - it's the only kind Target sold at the store.  And they price matched it for me, because it's $5 cheaper at target.com.   The Crane Drop uses no filters, and the mist is adjustable in intensity and direction.  So worth it!!!

3. Two beautifully written blogs that have challenged me lately (that you may already read?):

Mabel's House, by Liz Owen:  I have read this blog for at least five years, through her pregnancy and health issues and beyond, but lately, she has been recapturing these events in her life in chapter form.  It is eye opening to see how she approaches the story that she hadn't completely told while it was happening.  She is brave and honest and real about some topics that many people would avoid.

Flower Patch Farm Girl, by Shannan Garber Martin:  I just don't even have words for this one.  I don't know how I had missed this blog for so many years.  When I found it a few weeks ago, I may have read most of it within a few days.  It's all awesome - but what has most impacted me are the posts about her newly adopted 19 year old son, who reminds me of so many youth I have known and still worry about, and how this relationship isn't always smooth, but it is always right.  Love is the solution.


Have a wonderful week!