1) I pulled the car over for a promising free pile, as it had an upright vacuum cleaner. My daughter's last roommate absconded with hers which is super annoying. I'd just asked (like 30 minutes earlier!) in my Buy Nothing group for a replacement, so this was perfect timing. Kismet, bay-bee! Yes, it's grubby and...
Today's blog post leans heavily into "little," as I'm in a bit of a hurry. 1) I did a smaller than normal Winco grocery shop, as I still have a fair amount from last week. I picked up dry cat food for "Meatball," but grabbed an extra one for my daughter's cat as I hate...
1. The drain for our basement washing machine was revoltingly bubbling up and my husband was able to remedy the situation by renting a heavy duty drain snake. Unfortunately it was Easter, which meant Home Depot was the only tool rental option, but it's now taken care of. Without a shred of concrete evidence, I've...
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) I stopped by the Goodwill off S.E. Woodstock Blvd. to scout for stuff to resell. I looked up this Mr. Rogers mug, but they only sell for ten bucks or so on eBay. Still unlocked some memories though. My dad was from Pittsburgh and Fred Rogers lived on my grandparent's street, so they literally...
1) I stopped by the library to pick up my holds. Not sure which book I'll start with, but it's good to have choices. I know I criticized the new Belmont branch library in a previous blog post, but I did notice something on this trip that impressed me. A permanent "Official Ballot Drop Box,"...
1) I stopped into Trader Joe's to grab some 23¢ bananas and took a moment to photograph their $4.99 "Honey Plums." Six per plastic container. I then walked outside to my car and grabbed a handful of the plums littered under their plum tree. I am completely and unabashedly cheap without apology. And yes, I...
1) I popped into Trader Joe's to pick up a few things for my youngest's refrigerator after their long vacation. (I knew they'd be back late and then off to work early.) What can I say? I love spoiling my kids! I bought cereal, milk, hummus, apples, carrots, frozen taquitos, potstickers, pasta, pasta sauce and...
1) We've been living with the above light fixture since I thrifted it back in 2014. (Click HERE to read that blog post!) It wasn't rusty when I shelled out $2.99 to Goodwill, but 12 years in a steamy bathroom did some damage. Sure, I was able to sand down the surface rust, but that...
The blog has been running slowly and even straight up not loading recently, so I worked with my hosting company to investigate what was going on behind the scenes. It turns out the blog was "undergoing a pretty extensive attack," but they were able to work their magic/tech knowledge to put better protections in place....
1) My sister picked up an $8 antique "Porcelier" ceiling light fixture from a garage sale that's an exact match to one from our childhood house. Unfortunately it was missing the sockets and electrical parts. Luckily we'd recently been to Hippo Hardware and suspected they'd be able to help. I think the total after my...
1) I wanted a bookmark from The University of British Columbia's Anthropology Museum, so I grabbed a pamphlet. The paper was too flimsy for long term use, so I grabbed a thick postcard I already owned, glued the two papers together and cut it to shape. There, now I have the postcard I wanted and...
Goodbye, Canada! 1) My husband and I drove from Vancouver B.C back down to Portland, which took almost eight hours due to an hour at the Canada/United States border and inevitable Seattle traffic. (Even though it was a Saturday!) Seattle will never disappoint when it comes to inevitable frustrating traffic. We had a pair of...
1) My husband and I are getting closer to our vacation to Vancouver B.C., which puts a deadline on projects. I was unsure of whether to bring my thrifted platform Teva sandals, which I stopped wearing as the soles needed to be reglued. For four years I've been meaning to fix these shoes! Of course...