Good Things List No. 47: Seed Starting Shelf, Pillows, Emergency Light Bulbs, BEST Candle Lighter, Books & More

A monthly list of good things to see, do, buy, read and watch.

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Hello, March – I’m sure we’re all looking forward to the spring that you will be bringing!

In the meantime, though, we’ve got to get through a couple more weeks of winter rains, snow, and cold, which is why some indoor gardening is so fun this time of the year.

Whether it’s potting up some plants or starting seeds, digging a bit in the dirt reminds us in the northern hemisphere that things will be waking up soon.

So one of my favorite things below is figuring out where to start garden seeds in the farmhouse – and it was kind of a happy accident!

I’ve got more favorites for you, too, as well as the reviews of books and what we’ve been watching – remember I’d love to know any favorites you’ve discovered, too!

Good Things

Office Project Continues

Okay, this first thing didn’t start out so good, but it’s ending up better – the office makeover hit a self-made stall this month.

I decided I wanted to look under the wallboard on the big interior wall to see if it was tongue-and-groove shiplap like we could see around the exposed doorways and the wall Brian exposed in his office across the hall.

Sadly, no.

While there were big, old growth wood planks, they weren’t tongue-and-groove so had 1-2 inch gaps between them. And then a random door opening cut into the wood (why???).

So, on to Plan B.

We stopped pulling the wallboard when we saw the door opening and what we could see was under that section. Then we reinstalled a matching sheet on the right side, leaving a section of original wall in the center.

My idea was to create something of a focal point, covering the door opening with reclaimed wood and the gaps with a flat molding, then edging the whole wall with square trim to make it all coordinate.

(Okay, please, please don’t tell me you liked it unpainted – I get it and I did, too. But with the gaps into the wall – think cold, insulation, and bugs – there wasn’t a choice, I had to paint to make all the trim, wood fill, and caulk go together.)

So now the wall looks like this. It did blend in more than I thought, but I still like it better than just wallboard.

The day bed will be on this wall and I think it will make a nice backdrop for it.

But oh gosh, the time it took to fill, caulk and paint (raw wood soaks everything up)!

So the January office project is now ready to be finished in March – but with a fun wall now, lol.

Indoor Seed Starting Station

I used to have a great set-up for starting seeds in the mudroom of our cottage and ever since we’ve moved to this property I’ve struggled with where to start seeds.

I tried the garage since it is finished, but even with a heat mat, it was too cold and the tomatoes and peppers were stunted. Also, it was far away and I would forget to check on them.

One year I took over our daughter’s room with a DIY light stand when she was traveling for a year, but that doesn’t really work long term.

Last year because we were moving over to the farmhouse, I only started cold weather seeds outside in milk jugs (which was great and I’m doing again this year – it was so nice not having to deal with hardening off.).

I needed a more permanent solution for the farmhouse and so I decided to buy one of those mini greenhouse shelving systems, thinking I’d put it in the garage because with the extra plastic it might work.

Except for the whole forgetting about them thing.

When it came and we put it together, I realized it was super lightweight and exactly the size to fit a little landing area upstairs that really doesn’t have a use.

Like an exact fit as you can see in the photo – and I didn’t even measure before buying. I love it when that happens!

Right now I’ve just started pepper and tomato seeds, so the lights (I found these inexpensive grow lights for it) weren’t on in the photo because they haven’t come up yet (check out how to start seeds for why and more info).

I also will probably have to remove the top shelf as the tomato plants grow tall and place them on the second shelf because the light fixture can’t go up high enough from the top shelf.

I bought this set of two grow lights that fit the width perfectly. I’ve never used LED grow lights before, only fluorescent, so we’ll see how this goes. I’ve read they don’t dry out the soil as much.

I’m so happy to have a spot where I can easily check on them and where they won’t be in the way for the next few months.

And when I’m done, it will be easy to move the shelf into the garage.

See the Mini Green House Shelving System here and LED grow lights here.

New Outdoor Pillows

A blogger friend on instagram (Kim at Today’s Creative Life) shared some patio updates she was planning that included these pillow covers.

The thing is, they are really inexpensive – you get two in the pack – and I loved the cream and black colors, so I grabbed a couple sets.

They are well made from canvas and are listed as “indoor-outdoor.”

The canvas does repel water, though I’m not sure they’d be great in a downpour since they don’t seem to be actual outdoor fabric.

But I love them and think they will look great on our black iron table and chairs this summer.

See the pillow covers here.

Rechargeable Candle Lighter

I can’t believe I haven’t shared this with you guys yet – I got this rechargeable lighter a few months ago and loved it so much I bought them for my kid’s stockings at Christmas!

There are a LOT of these online and the reviews are all over the place. Some say they died or didn’t charge, others that they have a really loud sound.

A blogger shared this Vehhe lighter that she was using that worked really well and didn’t seem to have problems (thank you Jenna Sue Design!).

Obviously, you can tell I agree – this has been lighting for me for months now and doesn’t make any noise I can tell (and doesn’t bother our dog, either, which I’ve heard about).

I love it and will never go back to those gas-filled lighters!

See the USB rechargeable candle lighter here.

Two Types of Emergency Light Bulbs – Rechargeable & Battery

I bought two kinds of light bulbs a few months ago in preparation for our power going out over the winter months and I’ve been really impressed with them.

The first, pictured above, is a simple rechargeable light bulb that I’ve added to a number of lamps in the house – one in the living room, our bedroom, my office, and the guest room.

They charge when used (these aren’t our main lights, so they aren’t on all the time) and then when the power goes out, they come on automatically and will run for 3-4 hours.

Let me tell you, the first time it happened and the light stayed on when everything else went dark felt like a miracle!

No stumbling around for the emergency lighting box – we had time and light to gather what we needed.

You can even remove the bulb and use a carrying hook that comes with it if you need to move around the house with light.

I LOVE them and encourage everyone who lives in a place where the power goes out sort of regularly in the winter to have these available!

I plan to remove them in the spring and reinstall them next fall.

See the rechargeable 4-pk light bulbs here.

The second bulb is battery operated, and I actually bought it to light up a couple closets that don’t have fixtures, as well as to install in sconces where there isn’t electrical available.

But again, they worked great when the power went out for us, too.

They have a simple on/off switch and a base that can be installed on a wall or you can simply screw the bulb into a fixture.

Oh, and they come with a remote which would work great for sconces.

See the battery operated 4-pk light bulbs here.

February Reads

Until Unity, Francis Chan. I pretty much read anything by Francis Chan – his other books have been pretty life-changing for me and others I’ve known. While I get his heart with this book on unity, and understand the importance (which he emphasizes with a lot of scriptures), the book itself sort of fell flat for me. He was so over-the-top in his reading on the audiobook (passionate? crying?) and I didn’t feel like there was anything practical for me to DO besides love and pray (I can’t fix all the denomination issues…). Maybe it was written more for church leaders?

Messenger of Truth (Maisie Dobbs #4), Jacqueline Winspear. After a break from Maisie Dobbs (while growing tired of Inspector Gamache…), I picked it up again with this fourth book in the series. And was reminded again that I really enjoy them – the author is a very good writer, and while there is a mystery Maisie is solving, it always seems to be the background to all the character development and emotional growth going on. The setting between the world wars is interesting and this book in particular really brought home more of the long-lasting effects of war on the people who survived and their families.

A Single Thread, Tracy Chevalier. I chose this book based on the fact that I enjoyed this author’s, The Girl With The Pearl Earring. Um, yeah, I didn’t like this book. It wasn’t terrible, just sort of meandered with a LOT of information on embroidery on church kneelers/cushions and church bell ringing. Like a lot. It is set in the 1930s in a small English town but the heroine (a 30-ish spinster who lost her fiancé the war) doesn’t act like it. She acts like its modern time as well as do some of the people around her. The ending was ludicrous for the time – I really doubt that would ever be allowed. It was just sort of meh for me.

Hearts West: True Stories of Mail Order Brides, Chris Enss. A reader recommended this small book to me and with my love of history, I really enjoyed it. Super easy to read a chapter here and there and the true stories are gleaned from newspapers, letters, and other historical documents. Some of them are happy and some aren’t – but all are amazing. I couldn’t believe some of the things that happened were actually real, as well as putting myself in their place in time and history – we can’t imagine doing this now, but would I then, if it were my only chance for a different life?

Rejoice & Tremble, Michael Reeves. I listened to this book about fearing God in the mornings, and it was a great way to start my day with the right mindset. The author goes into details on how we view the word “fear” now and how the Bible writers did. This author wants to bring back the correct use of “Godly fear” as different from human fear. He points to our world being more fearful than ever as it has moved away from God, not the opposite that atheists believe would happen if we relied on science for everything. He writes:

“The loss of the fear of God is what ushered in our society of anxiety…and it’s the antidote.”

I had so many “ah-ha” moments with this book – it’s a good one.

Once Upon a Devilishly Enchanting Kiss, Bree Wolf. Oh, this is a terrible title, ha! But a sweet, clean romance that starts a series on all the siblings in the main family. Set in the early 1800s, there’s no new ground explored, but you’re guaranteed a happy ending without any terrible things happening in between. Sometimes that’s just what we need, right?

Truevine, Beth Macy. The premise of this true story sounded amazing to me – two albino brothers that were kidnapped in the 1800’s to ‘perform’ in circus side shows. The story ended up more about the Jim-Crow south, though, which is always eye-opening for me, and about circus side-shows, which I didn’t really know much about. There’s the whole question of if the boys were actually kidnapped, and then if they lived a better life than they would’ve otherwise (as many side-show performers did at that time). Interesting stuff.

The Exiles, Christina Baker Kline. You may remember that this author’s last book, The Orphan Train, made it onto my year-end best books list.

Well, this one won’t. It again tells a true story (which I love) – this time about convict women transported to Australia from England in the 1800s. While the story held my interest, and I appreciate that many of the characters are based on real people, at the halfway mark the main character we spent 5 hours learning about (in the audiobook), is not the main character anymore (it would be a spoiler to tell you why). Now it’s a girl we only met on the transport ship that we don’t know much about. Because of this, I never really connected emotionally with the “new” main character in the second half (and was really irritated with the author for doing this). Then I think the author tried to add too many stories into this tale and none of them got very good second halves or endings. They felt left off or rushed. I’ll probably read other books by Kline, but this one didn’t really work for me.

Watching

TV:

Abbott Elementary, ABC & Hulu. Love this show so far – funny and sweet. Told in an Office kind of way with a TV crew they talk to that you don’t see.

Ted Lasso (season 2), Apple+. Late to the season two party (and I did already read the ending spoiler), but I still enjoy this show. Especially after watching some heavier things that we tried and didn’t work out (I feel the same with PBS’ All Creatures Great and Small, which I continued watching this month, too – ahh, just nice to relax to, right?).

Olympics, NBC. Of course. Nothing too exciting, though I did find myself cheering for things I wouldn’t ever have thought about (monobob? freeski big air?), so it was still fun.

Reacher, Amazon. I could only handle two episodes. Adding it to this list to warn you that it’s super violent in a very gross and disturbing way (with weird humor – like we were supposed to laugh at some of this?). Ugh. Plus I think the lead is super wooden as an actor, but not many others seem to agree with me, thinking he’s “stoic.”

Dune, Amazon. I watched and read this in college, so was looking forward to this rendition and it didn’t disappoint. I really liked the visuals and how they brought the complicated story some understanding. Looking forward to part two.

I Am Legend, (watched before Netflix removed it – can rent it on Amazon). This is an older Will Smith movie that Brian had always wanted to watch. His acting is very good in this and it really makes you think about a lot of things about the world. But in the end was too disturbing for me and so many things in hindsight didn’t make sense or add up.

That’s it for another addition of the Good Things List!

If you’d like to see more of what I’m enjoying, you can check out all the Good Things Lists here. I’d love to know what you think – if you’ve tried any of these or what you’d recommend. Leave a comment below with your thoughts!

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