Five Things.

Here are five things that have made my week – the chatty version: 
1. January is designated as signage month at the bookshop. We are going through and updating all the shelf labels, all the category signs. These two are the most visible (and most expensive) signs we are doing. The hours sign was just put on the window this morning. I can’t stop looking at both. So pretty! New shelf labels all in the same font and size are not as visible and somewhat tedious to do but also very satisfying.

2. We have been a firm Bird Bingo family for the past couple of years but we branched out to Candyland this week. I can’t say I love this game but I do love the forced togetherness and stillness – both for me and the girls – that game-playing brings.

3. No picture here because who wants a picture of a pot of beans? Not me. After reading Jenny from Dinner: A Love Story’s post about her slow cooker (side note: I feel the exact same way about my slow cooker. I have one really good soup recipe I make but other than that, everything comes out tasting a little bit worse than if I had just gone ahead and used my dutch oven). But beans in the slow cooker? A totally different story. Like Jenny, I made cannellini beans and didn’t overthink what I put in. Leftover ends of bacon, a can of tomatoes, the last of the thyme from our garden, a couple of bay leaves, carrots, celery, onion, etc. Absolutely delicious and the perfect meal for a Sunday evening in January after cleaning out the upstairs of the bookshop.

Another side note: we found so many gun casings in the floorboards of the upstairs of the shop. So many! The building used to be a bar and apparently it was a pretty rowdy bar from the stories I have heard and well, the fact that we found tons of shell casings in the floorboards.

4. After spending a few months with two jobs and a ton of stress and mental distraction, this month has felt so chill. Of course there’s always work to be done when you own a small business but right now, there’s nothing that needs my attention after 9:00 PM. I have felt a little bit guilty reading so much again but boy, I am such a happier person when I am reading. This last week I read this lovely cookbook above and The Accidental by Ali Smith (eh) and Slammerkin by Emma Donoghue which I loved. I have carted it around since our apartment days in California and finally, finally! read. Instant hook (but maybe not for everyone).

5. The morning roll and I go way back (since Cate at two decided it was her favorite food of all time) but I used to have to kind of work for one. I could walk down to the Bread Peddler or invent a reason why I needed to go downtown. I would have one maybe every two weeks. I now walk by the Bread Peddler at least twice a day, sometimes more. I love morning rolls (they are like a sugary croissant). I basically need an intervention at this point. I don’t get one every day, I certainly usually make my own coffee, but I am not sure how to break this habit. Basically, I am not quite ready to break this habit!