5 Quick Things #375 🎈

garbage disposals, little-girl ghosts, pillow cubes, & classical ed for youngins

Hi there!

A little reminder that these 5QTs are currently brief as I focus on my current book manuscript…

Teachers’ Birthday, by Norman Rockwell (1956) #

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5 Quick Things ☕️

1. It was my 48th birthday this week, and what with my book deadline + spearheading an open house for the co-op I lead, I had zero bandwidth to write one of my “X things I’ve learned in X years” essays here. So, here are a few random things I’ve learned lately: parenting young adults is the most emotionally exhausting AND the most fun in all of parenting (at least so far), the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible is a game-changer, as is a pillow ice cube (both birthday gifts), and also—weddings are still so expensive to plan, man. Good gravy. 🤯

2. For funsies, here’s a short story I wrote a few years ago.

3. The disposal delusion, by Nate Marshall at The Blue Scholar (if you’ve ever wanted a philosophical treatise on garbage disposals …well, here you go).

4. Last week I mentioned our set menu plan happening around here while I finish my book manuscript, and several of you DM’d or texted me, asking for the menu. Prepare to me wholly underwhelmed… Mondays: white chicken chili¹; Tuesdays: tacos; Wednesdays: yumm bowls², Thursdays: burgers; Fridays: MYOP (Make Your Own Pizza)³; Saturdays: slow-cooked meat of some sort (pot roast, carnitas, barbacoa, etc.); Sundays: scrounge night⁴. I carnivore-ify everything for me.

5. And finally, dear mom who wants to give her five-year-old a classical education, from Mystie Winckler at Convivial Housewife (I amen’d through every word of this).

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Currently Reading, Watching, Listening 📺

Rewatching Downton Abbey (man, that was a riveting series…)

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Quotable 💬

“May I learn to love learning, O Lord, for the world is yours, and all things in it speak—each in their way—of you: of your mind, your designs, your artistry, your power, your unfolding purpose. All knowledge is your knowledge. All wisdom is your wisdom.”

― Douglas McKelvey (the start of A Liturgy for Students & Scholars, a prayer I read aloud at the beginning of every school year)

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What's something from your childhood you'd be up for doing again as an adult? 🛝

I thought this was such a fun reader-submitted poll question! I’m Team Tree, all the way.

• Climbing trees: 38.7%

• Playground: 31.7%

• Grassy hill: 17%

• Dodgeball: 12.6%

Find next week’s poll here.

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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!

St. Monan's Harbour by Graham Turpie #

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Quick Links 🔗

• 📐Create your own Rule of Life

• 🎧 Listen to A Drink With a Friend

• 📖 Read my books

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Join the next pilgrimage!

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Question(s) For You to Ponder… 🤔

What’s a small simple pleasure of yours? (And when’s the last time you partook of it?)

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Have a great weekend,

- Tsh

p.s. - Oh look, it’s me.

1. Originally adapted from Shauna Niequist’s Bread & Wine: 4 chicken thighs (fresh or frozen; doesn’t matter), 3 cans Great Northern beans, one 16-oz. jar of green salsa (we like medium roasted), and one 32-ounce box of chicken broth. Toss everything in the Instant Pot and pressure cook for 30 minutes. Let pressure release naturally or manually; also doesn’t matter. Shred the chicken, put it back in the pot, then serve with cheese and/or sour cream on top. Done.

2. Originally from a restaurant in Oregon, this is basically a bowl of beef or chicken, beans, rice, and whatever else you want to toss in there (cheese, olives, tomatoes, etc.). Basically, a one-bowl dinner.

3. I toss the dough ingredients into my bread maker in late morning; after lunch I transfer it to a big bowl, then cover it and let it rise on the stove top; by dinnertime it’s nice and risen, when I then divide it into thirds for my gluten eaters, who’ll roll them out, top with whatever they want, then bake in the air fryer for 10 minutes at 415 degrees. I make myself a carnizza from Courtney Luna’s excellent carnivore cookbook.

4. We’ve been doing this on Sunday nights for literal years. Basically: the kitchen’s open; you know where everything is. Have a grand time.