5 Quick Things #374 🥱

insomnia, coffee routines, menu plans, & love well

Aug 22, 2025

Hi there,

As I continue to furiously write my current book, I want to make sure that project gets the bulk of my good words each day so that I can give you, dear reader, an eventually good book.

Therefore, at the moment these weekly 5QT are brief. Onward!

*Landscape in the Rain*, by Vincent van Gogh (1890) #

5 Quick Things ☕️

Yep… this is a shortened version, too! Temporarily, I hope.

1. 14 reasons to stop normalizing vasectomies, with
Haley Baumeister
.
2. My coffee routine these days: my first cup, around 6:30 am—fully caffeinated and black; cup #2, around 7:30 am—half-caff with a tiny splash of heavy cream; cup #3, around 9:00 am or so—fully decaf, back to black; cup #4, around 11:00ish—decaf again but with a hit of heavy cream. Right now, any of these are a combo of iced or hot. And if I’m dragging by midday, I’ll do one more hit of decaf because even though it’s decaf there’s still a tiny amount of buzz in the cup, and it generates just enough of a psychological Pavlovian reaction in me to wake me up. …You never asked, but now you know. What’s yours?
3. How to cure insomnia, with
Griffin Gooch
.
4. While I’m in book-writing marathon mode, I go to a set weekly menu plan and simply rotate it until I’m done. Yep, for six weeks we’re going to eat the same thing each week. I did this two Lents ago, and I was surprised how much this lightened my load. My kids care not a whit, Kyle’s great with it, and in fact, this time they’re each in charge of making one of these meals each week. Hallelujah.
5. And finally, here’s the best thing Fr. Mike learned from his parents.

Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📺

Nonnas (not the most amazingly paced movie, but it was sweet and worth a watch)

Quotable 💬

“We don’t all have in us the stuff of sages or heroes. But by God’s grace we do have the stuff of saints.”

― Jacques Philippe

Summer: Overrated or Underrated? ☀️

It’s common and normal to pine for fall weather right now (at least here in Texas), but I’m soaking in shorts-and-sandals season for as long as it’ll be here. Seems like we’re all pretty evenly divided on summer.

Overrated: 49.9%
Underrated: 50.1%

Find next week’s poll here.

Join Me in Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Next summer’s family-friendly pilgrimage is the historic Highlands of Scotland — we’ll be visiting castles, exploring the Isle of Skye, attending the Highland Games, and more. I’d love you to join me and my family.