What's making me happy: I'm happy that the road to Timberline Lodge was freshly plowed so that my husband and I were able to avoid putting chains on the tires. I'm happy that the architects of Timberline Lodge included this little writing nook way back in the 1937, and that no one besides me wanted to claim...
Four things that make me happy: I was able to slip way from my patient assignment for a few minutes yesterday to attend a talk about "Caring for the transgender patient." The speaker was an anesthetist who transitioned from male to female, and was always one of my favorite co-workers. What makes me especially happy...
It's time again for Five Things That Make Me Happy And One Thing That's Pissing Me Off. Why add the "One Thing That's Pissing Me Off?" Because I'm a realist, that's why. Five things that make me happy I stopped into Goodwill this afternoon to look for weird things to photograph for a piece I'm writing. I found...
It's time again for Five Things That Make Me Happy And One Thing That's Pissing Me Off. Why add the "One Thing That's Pissing Me Off?" Because I'm a realist, that's why. Five things that make me happy My neighbor and I enjoyed a lovely walk plus brunch this morning, which was her way of thanking me for...
Five things that make me happy: My son and I were craving a fresh re-watch of the original Wallace and Gromit short movies, and were able to find them for free through my mother's Amazon Prime account! (This was after using a RedBox code to watch Shaun The Sheep, which I highly recommend.) Clark Howard...
Five Things That Make Me Happy This picture of my now 17-year-old son holding a photo of his three-month-old self. It's all the parenting emotions wrapped up into a single image. Having a Grocery Outlet store that's an easy errand after dropping my son at school. I bought three full bags of food this morning for the...
Five things that make me happy: My own personally autographed from from Mr. Rogers, who was one of my grandparents' neighbors. It was glued onto the front of my childhood refrigerator door, which was luckily left to mildew archived in my father's basement. Yes, he spelled my name wrong, but it's a happiness sparker nonetheless. My neighborhood has...
Five things that make me happy: I made $100 selling a cool antique (but thrifted) coffee table that my mother wasn't using. She and I had spent a few hours going through the back of her kitchen and she'd encouraged me to sell anything she'd otherwise be getting rid of. (I think she was more excited about the...
Five things that make me happy Waking up yesterday to find that my 19-year-old son had stayed up all night to paint enormous watercolors of animals holding staffs for his drawing class. (Pardon the awful and blurry iPhone photo.) I think that he's actually going to be able to make a living from the thousands of hours...
Five things that make me happy: 1) The Non-Consumer Advocate had 105,741 hits last month, which is the first time it's gone over 100,000 since I was on The Today Show. 2) A local blog reader e-mailed me about a great 1998 Honda four-door Civic that her son will soon be selling. My husband is skeptical...
Happy: Building a fire in the fireplace. Not only is it relaxing and cozy, but it draws my teenage boys out to snuggle up with me on the couch. A rare and appreciated pleasure. And since my couch is on casters, I push it up comically close to take full advantage of the warmth, which yes, makes...
Five Things That Make Me Happy: The past two days here in Portland have been drizzly and grey, which somehow just feels right. I'm sitting on the couch drinking tea in my fuzzy flannel pajamas and thinking maybe I should add a pair of warm socks. My older son turns nineteen next week, which absolutely...
Five Things That Make Me Happy: My 14-year-old nephew is visiting us from New York for the next two weeks. Not only does he have two sets of Portland grandparents, but he's one of my younger son's best friends. I anticipate much fun and many shenanigans. My house sits on a city street paved with...
Five things that make me happy: 1) This photo of my son and his Japanese host family: 2) Netflix options such as Tiny: A Story About Living Small, Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, and Orange is The New Black. Especially Orange is The New Black, and especially the scene in Vee's apartment where she serves salad from one of...
Five Things That Make Me Happy and One Thing That's Pissing Me Off Happy: My recently purchased $30 thrift store loveseat had developed a break in the rear support. This made the couch very uncomfortable, and was a huge bummer. So yesterday I removed the bottom upholstery fabric and identified the culprit which was a...
Five Things That Make Me Happy: 1) This photo from 1990: 2) My next door neighbor and I took advantage of some lovely sunny weather to meet up for coffee and go for a walk. Great conversation and terrific company. 3) I extended my outside time by pulling out all the overgrown dead foliage from my garden, a...
It's time again for Five Things That Make Me Happy And One Thing That's Pissing Me Off. Why add the "One Thing That's Pissing Me Off?" Because I'm a realist, that's why. Five Things That Make Me Happy: I discovered that Pandora not only plays music, but comedians as well. I put in Jim Gaffigan's name and...
It's time again for Five Things That Make Me Happy And One Thing That's Pissing Me Off. Why add the "One Thing That's Pissing Me Off?" Because I'm a realist, that's why. Five Things That Make Me Happy: I stopped by my father's house to borrow his Squeezo Strainer, which allows me to make applesauce...
Five Things That Make Me Happy: The cafeteria at work has added salmon to the salad bar, which mean that for around $4.50 I'm able to eat an enormous salad comprised of spinach, beets, garbanzo beans, edamame, zucchini, sunflower seeds and lots and lots (and lots) of salmon. (I should try and remember to bring...
Five Things That Make Me Happy: 1) Reading and hearing about the soccer game between Mt Tabor Soccer Club's Green Machine and Major League Soccer's Portland Timbers. This was a Make-a-Wish Foundation event between an eight-year-old boy's team and Portland's popular soccer team. It was attended by more than 3000 fans and treated like a real...
Five things that are making me happy: Hosting Yu, the same Japanese exchange student who visited with us last year. And since my son attended his high school last summer, this is now the third time that these two boys have hung out. Also, when we first pulled into our driveway, he said, "Home." Skyping...
The bubbles that come to the surface of boiling water when I drop a package of dried tortellini into the pan. My son working hard and completely independently on his Halloween costume. A homemade waffle straight out of the waffle iron. Discovering that the audio book I randomly pulled from the library shelf is a...
Five things that are making me happy: I am flying to New York today to appear on Thursday's Today Show. (You know, of course, barring real news.) I get to visit with my dear friend Greta for two days, and then I get to take the train up to New Hampshire and stay a couple days...
Five things that make me happy: Having my son home from Japan. I am sad that his month-long adventure is over, but I just love having his energy back in the house again. Rearranging furniture. I spent half an hour decluttering and rearranging the furniture on the front porch last night. The seating area is...
Five things that make me happy: Watching my 14 and 16-year-old sons speak Japanese. It's at once both unexpected and wonderful. Hooray for a fantastic public school program that taught my blond sons such a very foreign language. Having a bunch of stuff to look forward to. Next week I'm going to hear Deanna Duke...
I woke today to find that I won a cookbook and gift card to Grand Central Bakery. All I did was post a comment about healthy eating on their Facebook page, which was "My healthy eating habit is to just keep the crap out of the house. This is also known as the why-I-don't-buy-Nutella theory."...
I am happy that our Portland summer has been so mild that I haven't needed to water my hydrangeas, even once. Normally I have to water them daily to stave off drooping and leaf burn. I am happy that my husband seems to be catching the bug for fixing up the house. He's normally pretty...
I have written past columns about five things that make me happy. I like these mini-posts because they're very to the point and keep the long winded side of me in check. It's good to remind myself of the happy things, as life can get a bit zooey around here at casa Wolk-Stanley. But today's five things that make...
I have written past columns about five things that make me happy. I like these mini-posts because they're very to the point and keep the long winded side of me in check. It's good to remind myself of the happy things, as life can get a bit zooey around here at casa Wolk-Stanley. But today's five...
1. Kristen from The Frugal Girl walked me through how to fix a couple annoying dysfunctional blog issues, specifically how to add back in the "Archives" link, which is now directly below the search bar. She also directed me on how get a "previous" and "next" option to show back up. (This'll show at the...
My husband and I took the opportunity to get out of town to celebrate my birthday. Of course, we kept it as frugal as possible. Katy Wolk-Stanley "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
1. I saw that the Leach Botanical Garden was offering free admission over the weekend, so I added it to my calendar. The price is normally $8/person, so this $16 savings was a nice frugal opportunity for my husband and I. The best part is that it was dramatically rainy over the past week, but...
2. I brought in a half dozen or so plants in from the backyard to winter over in my daughter's south facing childhood bedroom. I don't spend a single penny to fill my property with lush potted plants, which I accomplish by rooting from what I already own and accepting starts from friends. The pots...
Katy Wolk-Stanley "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to? Katy Wolk-Stanley "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." Click HERE to follow The Non-Consumer Advocate on Instagram.Click HERE to join The Non-Consumer Advocate Facebook group.
Someone left a cold seltzer can on my $25 thrifted coffee table, which left the above water mark. Luckily I noticed it the next morning and knew of a reversal method, which was mostly likely successful because the damage was fresh. That method? Running an iron on the lowest setting over a towel until the...
My husband and I stopped into normally pricey New Seasons Market and happened upon an excellent sale on Portland Coffee Roasters beans. I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but my husband is and this is one of his favorite brands, which is how we ended up buying eight pounds of coffee! My youngest just...
I cut a new batch of rosemary for the bathroom, which reminded me that it had been awhile since I offered any up to my Buy Nothing group. (I replace my bathroom rosemary every month or so when it starts to resemble a February Christmas tree!) I have just one taker so far, but that's...
Portland remembered who she was today with a full deluge of rain, which resulted in utter gutter mayhem. My neighbor texted me the above photo, pointing out that "Your gutter was not happy about the downpour." Luckily I have a handy husband, who was able to repair the entire situation using supplies we already owned....
I tucked a $1-off Twinings tea coupon onto the shelf for someone else to use, as I'm a Tetley "British Blend" girl through and through. However, it was a high value coupon and I didn't want it to go to waste. I stopped at the Lloyd Center Dollar Tree store to pick up a few...
I stopped by Portland's newest library branch and was awestruck by not only the beauty of the design, but also all the resources available to patrons. Albina library now has multiple levels offering designated teen and kids' rooms, as well as reservable large and small "community rooms," free laptops to check out, 3D printers, community...
My hairbrush performed an act of mitosis and split into two pieces.* Kind of a bummer, but I'm always happy to work on a repair project, especially when it's easy and requires nothing more than a tube of glue. I'd explain how I executed this grueling and formidable task, but I think you can probably...