Good Things No.66: Affordable Semi-Custom Sofa, Simple Fall Centerpiece, Natural Deodorant That Works, Book Reviews & More

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

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Hello November! This month can start the crazy for some of us, but I hope you are able to be intentional about what you can do (and want to do) in order to keep this holiday season as simple and meaningful as possible.

Want some help? This free Holiday Season Planner will guide you through thinking what is important and organize you through the things you want to do.

Some of you may have noticed that there wasn’t a good things list for October – I was working like crazy that week to finish the Green Tomato Cookbook and get it out to you while you still had green tomatoes.

Which means this month you’ll get an extra dose of good things and a few more book reviews. So grab a cup of something you love to drink and join me!

Good Things

Fall Sunrises

Some mornings the sunrise outside our windows are just spectacular with pinks and purples and oranges filling the sky above the hills. They are also very fleeting and sometimes disappear in as little as five minutes!

So I open the curtains as soon as I see light (later and later these days) in the hope I will see one. I snapped this picture from our kitchen glass door about mid-October because it was pretty breathtaking.

In this season of gratefulness, I am so thankful for our windows, view, and the colorful sunrises that we can sometimes see. As the world around us often seems dark and mean, I want to remember the beauty and color in it as well.

Simple Fall Centerpiece

We had about three days of temperatures below freezing this last weekend which signaled the end of the dahlias, zinnias and cosmos, to name a few flowers that can’t deal with frost.

I should’ve clipped the hydrangeas earlier to dry, but there is still time after a freeze if the flowers still look good (Did you know you need to wait until the last month or so of their growing season to clip the blooms for drying? Otherwise they just wilt). One of ours is growing in a container on the porch and while the leaves were brown, the flowers were a lovely dark purple color.

I clipped all the best looking blooms, brought them inside, and set them in the long reclaimed wood box Brian made a few years ago (it’s and easy DIY made like this but longer and with unpainted wood.)

In about ten minutes I had a gorgeous centerpiece that will last basically until next spring! I’ll just move it around places as the seasons change. Right now I love it on our table, during Christmas it will move upstairs, and for winter it will probably live on top of one of our tall amoires.

Don’t want to make your own? Here’s a very similar centerpiece reclaimed wood box (a little shorter at 24″) on Etsy!

New English Rolled Arm Sofa

After years (literally years) of research and decisions, we have a new couch!! Our old one served us well for 25+ years, but was really falling apart. It took a long time for me because I knew what I wanted – a rolled arm English style sofa in green with arms as high as possible with this style – and this wasn’t easy to find affordably in a color I liked.

I am super happy with the company we got ours from and they aren’t well known (at least in our area), so I wanted to share about the company and my experience in case you are also in the market for a well-made, American sofa.

The company is out of North Carolina and called Roger & Chris. I would consider it semi-custom since they have lots of styles and fabrics to choose from and they build it for you – all American made, kiln-dried, quality craftsmanship.

While I loved this, the main reason I ordered from this is that they had the style I wanted in the length I needed with the details I was looking for that I couldn’t get in places like Potter Barn or Anthropologie (the single cushion, higher arms, shorter depth, and lots of green fabrics to choose from). And surprisingly for only a little more than PB and Anthro (in the end it was the shipping that really added to the cost).

In my research, couches made to order with this much customization were at least $5000 and up, so this really is affordable for what you get. And I plan to have this couch for at least another 25 years – and pass it on to my kids if they want it!

So I ordered the sofa last June and while some of their projections had it not being finished and delivered until as late as December (!), it was actually built and ready to ship at the end of August. But the not-very-efficient delivery service they use didn’t get it to me until October 15 (a whole other story…) since we live on the other side of the country.

Specifics of our sofa:

• The style, a classic rolled-arm English sofa, is called The Basel at Roger & Chris. I got it in the 80″ length which their site says is one of the most popular.
• You can choose the overall seat depth, leg finish, and fabric – everything from leather to wool to stain-resistant fabrics.
• I ordered the couch in a 38″ depth with walnut legs and a single cushion in a green fade resistant fabric called “Hartwell Thicket.” (This was after ordering many swatches from them and other companies.)

I do love it, though there are two things that have surprised me – first, the fabric was a bit more on the yellow side than what showed on the small swatch. I’m not sure that can be helped when dealing with such a small sample – I did hold the swatch up to the sofa and it’s the same, it just looks lighter/yellower in the larger application.

Second, the cushion is very firm – like, so firm I didn’t think it had the down-wrapped cushion the site specifies. It is down, though – it’s just wrapped very tight.

The firmness scale on the Basel page says medium, but this is definitely more on the firm end. I see now where they say they can adjust that, but it wasn’t a question in the emails when I was ordering. I’m sure over time it will be loosen up some. (Brian really likes the firmness, though, so there’s that…)

Amazing Natural Deodorant

Nuud deodorant is nothing short of amazing!! (Can you tell I’m excited about it?)

I heard about this natural deodorant from Sherry of Young House Love in an Instagram story and took a chance because:

• It has nothing bad in it that we often hear about in deodorants or antipersperants
• You only use a little bit – like less than the size of a pea.
• And it takes away smells for up to 3 days.

And I’m here to second this – it really does work for three days, even in hot weather and taking showers!

Both Brian and I use this now and one little tube lasts each of us for 4 to 6 months! Meaning we each have our own, we’re not sharing, so one tube last one person that long.

While it’s not as cheap as regular stick deodorant, it is closer in cost to the natural ones I had been using – but Nuud lasts longer, making it the better deal in the end.

The biggest selling point for me, though, is that I could not smell myself all summer, even with all the sleeveless shirts. (If you’ve been around awhile, you may remember when I talked about this when making my own deodorant…I found that homemade stained my shirt armpits after awhile, so I stopped making it).

The one downside is that this is a European product, so it does take weeks to ship. There is an option for a subscription so you don’t run out, but other than that you have to be thinking in advance to get your next tubes.

Highly recommend! Check out Nuud Natural Deodorant here.

September & October Reads

Stardust, Neil Gaiman. Brian and I listened to this traveling and during breakfasts and lunches (our new way to get more listening time in for the audiobooks we’re going through) and both of us really liked it. I couldn’t believe we missed it in our “Neil Gaiman” phase a few years ago when we read through all the titles and short stories we thought we’d like of his (we’re not into things like The Sandman and American Gods type of reads…). This was actually a good fairy tale type of story with lessons learned and a moral for the ending. There were a few gross descriptions of things and a bit of fairy tale violence (a unicorn gets killed by a witch, etc.) but overall this is a fun story. We listened to it read by the author, which is our absolute favorite – he’s an amazing narrator. We also watched the movie that was made in 2007 – newsletter readers had told me it was good and while different from the book, it was a sweet movie (with a lot of big – or soon to be big – stars).

Be Frank with Me, Julia Claiborne Johnson. I’m not sure what I expected of this book that I’ve had waiting in my Chirp app for awhile but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it (do you use Chirp? I have only a few books there that I get when they’re running a sale). It’s the story of a young publisher’s assistant from New York who gets sent to Bel Air to help a reclusive author finish a manuscript. The author has a son, Frank, who is described as “different” – intelligent, interested in things that his peers aren’t, and likes to dress in 1930s style clothes. He’s very much on the autism spectrum with not understanding nuances, not wanting his things touched or moved and not being touched himself. And oh, this story has so much heart! Both Frank and his mom, Mimi (who is older and clearly overwhelmed) need the love and care that the assistant brings to the home. There is humor, love, chaos, and even danger (in the form of a fire and obsessive fans) and it all comes together in a story where you see them all grow and learn to accept each other for who they are. If you’ve read my reviews before, you will know that I appreciate an ending that is satisfying (and happy, lol), and this one kind of felt abrupt and left me hanging – but that is the only thing I didn’t like about it!

Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger. After reading that this is considered one of the best sports books ever written, Brian and I decided to listen to it together (we had watched maybe a season of the TV series). While there were hard things in the TV series, it had a lot of heart and goodwill. Um, not so the book. Mainly because it’s not a drama, it’s just the hard-bitten facts of a down-and-out town with one thing that gives them some hope: football. The pressure they put on these kids and the way the money is spent for football is unbelievable. And it’s throughout Texas, as one of their rivals for the state championship from Dallas area is covered in a few chapters who gave passing grades to kids who couldn’t do the work so they could play football (and even went to court over it and won – it’s almost ludicrous). I have to say it was a pretty depressing book, even with the 25th anniversary update at the end, not only because of the football craziness, but the racism and small-mindedness. I think the only thing that has changed is that the school featured no longer is able to win state championships for one reason or another. We did watch the movie with Billy Bob Thornton and it was okay, but it changed some things and wasn’t able to really get into the characters as much.

Enough Already, Valerie Bertinelli. I’m close to the same age as Valerie, grew up following her, and totally resonate with her struggles and how she feels she’s come into her own finally. I’m glad the tone of this book is authentic and accepting. That said, it didn’t really capture my attention and about half of it seemed to just say the same things over and over (I love myself as I am, enough already, etc.). The insights into her relationship with her former husband, Eddie Van Halen, stories from their relationship, and descriptions of his last days before his death were interesting. And I’ve never seen her cooking show, so hearing how many seasons she did was a surprise – and she adds a few recipes in here and there.

The Awe of God, John Bevere. I’ve often felt we’ve lost this aspect of God in our time – the idea that “awe” and “fear” with regard to God doesn’t mean cowering and afraid, but honoring, worshipful, and wanting to please God. This book helped me to define it more and confirmed what I’ve thought. The author goes so far to say that it’s the #1 thing the church needs to embrace and come back to – a healthy fear of the Lord God Almighty.

Open, Andre Agassi. I was completely surprised by how much I liked this book – and how much I’ve thought about it since reading it. It’s not new – it came out in 2009 only a few years after his retirement, but thankfully he’s still in a similar space as the ending: married to Stephanie Graff, father to two kids (who are now older of course), and still running his charter school for disadvantage youth. What I liked the most were the descriptions of his training (from as soon as he could walk, basically), what it’s like on a tennis tour, and the specifics of some of his best known matches. The behind-the-scenes antidotes he shares are really the things that have stuck with me – what many athletes require of their bodies and what they do to keep them going. Yikes. I wish he had narrated this, but appreciate the candor and the life stories he wrote that have stuck with me.

Every Duke Has His Day, Susan Enoch. If you’d like a fun, lighthearted read, this book is for you. This surprised me with it’s a male narrator (I listened to this) because usually light historical romances are read by women. A lot of the story is told from the male perspective, so it works. It’s a mix-up of comedy, romance, and mystery around stolen dogs during the season in London during the Regency era. One description calls it a “fresh take on the classic Bringing Up Baby” and if you’ve seen that classic movie, you know what this is like! (This is a closed door romance.)

Giant, Edna Ferber. I convinced Brian to listen to this with me (wanting something different after Friday Night Lights) so we could then watch the classic movie with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean afterwards. There are lots of thoughts and feelings on this book – both on what it says, how it says it, and how it’s held up through the years (it was published in the mid 1950s). Personally, I think it did a fine job of depicting Texas as it probably was in the first half of the 20th century – even though Edna wasn’t from there, you can tell by her descriptions she did her research and spent time there. You can see things needed to change (who knows how much they have…). What I DIDN’T like – really didn’t like – were all the scenes and stories and characters that she introduced, spent time on, and then didn’t finish their story. Especially the ending – the book starts with the big dinner for Jett Rink (the James Dean character in the movie) and a fight is just starting before we go back in time to hear all the story leading up to that night. Except she ends the book a week before the party! We never see how that ended and what came of it. Ugh, I really don’t like loose ends like this. Major disappointment. While the movie tried to rectify this a bit, they totally lost the nuance of the characters – going all the way to completely change the James Dean character so that the story didn’t really make sense. Sigh.

The Longest Ride, Nicholas Sparks. I was working on the upstairs bathroom and needed a book to listen to and this was available from the library. It tells the sweet love stories of two different couples, one older and on younger, and how their stories converge at one point. There was a happy ending. All the good things. But it was all too neatly tied up at the end, you know? Like the possibilities of all that happening are really far-fetched. But I think with Nicholas Sparks you have to suspend reality a lot of the time, lol.

Galatians For You, Timothy Keller. I’ve been reading through the Bible this year and have wanted to have some commentaries to listen to while I get ready in the morning that will build on that and found this “God’s Word for You” series in the Hoopla app. I admire and respect the work that Timothy Keller did and found his insights into Galatians to be applicable and relevant to our lives now. This book in the Bible is essential to knowing and understanding that we are saved by grace alone – and that it isn’t based on anything we can do (though we do need to then live in obedience and with our eyes on God).

Watching

The Creator. This is a PG-13 sci-fi that I really wasn’t expecting much from based on the trailer (Brian wanted to see it). I’m here to say that the trailer doesn’t do it justice or really tell what it’s about (although the one I share here does a better job than the original I saw). It is much more about heart and humanity than robots and sci-fi – are you more “human” based on what you are or how you treat others…? Recommended for sure. (Right now it’s only in theaters.)

The Bear, Season 2, Hulu. Wow, we loved the first season and everything and everyone just stepped up their game for the second season. We got to see more of the characters and learn what makes them tick – especially their families and background. Cheering them on in the opening of a restaurant and all that entails was also great. And the guest appearance of Jamie Lee Curtis? Emmy nomination worthy.

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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