The Weekly Digress | 3.27.26
Raspberry crumble bars! Lemon poppyseed muffins! An incredible book! And SO MANY HOUSE PURCHASES!
Helllllllooooo. Coming to you live while I eat cereal in my underwear (never doesnât hit). Todayâs Digress is a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and so many godforsaken links to all the small things I continue to buy for our new home so letâs get right into it because I have a lot of linking to do.
But wait! Iâm going to include a very short story at the end of this Digress for paid subscribers. Itâs about something very touching that happened the day I had to get Ziggy from school because he was throwing up, and I feel compelled to share it.
READING
I started and finished Life, and Death, and Giants in about a week and a half and it was absolutely fantastic. It was an Ellen recommendation, which almost never steer us wrong, and this one definitely didnât. Itâs a beautifully written, narrative-heavy novel about how the birth of a literal giant affects a small town and is told from multiple POVs including the townâs resident vet, a local bar owner, the high school football coach, and the giantâs devoutly Amish grandmother. Itâs so different and so, so, so good.
For my next book, I completely shifted gears and started The Knight and the Moth. I found this book by scrolling through Goodreads one random evening and being intrigued by the extremely rave reviews it has. Itâs a fantastical kind of book and itâs the first in a series, so I decided to give it a try since I loved ACOTAR so much. Iâm only about 10% in, but I am really liking it. I have no idea where itâs going, but Iâm excited to find out.
WATCHING
Weâre in a good enough spot with the house that weâre finally able to watch a little TV at night again (itâs hard to take that time when thereâs so much to do and youâre living amongst chaos). So this week, we started the new Bill Lawrence comedy starring Steve Carrell called âRoosterâ and holy shit â IT IS SO GOOD. The writing is fucking hilarious and the plot is different and engaging. To summarize (but not spoil): a bestselling beach-read writer ends up taking a short-term job on the campus of his alma mater to keep an eye on his daughter who also teaches at the college, but is going through a recently failed marriage with her husband⊠who also teaches on campus. Itâs just so damn good and laugh-out-loud hysterical. 10000/10 recommend! Watch on HBO.
MAKING
No one loves a raspberry crumble situation more than my dad, so to help his very broken shoulder heal (he already got surgery and is on the path to recovery), I made him these Raspberry Crumble Bars, and they were better than I couldâve ever imagined. My dad lost his mind over them, and thatâs exactly what I was going for. Of course, I kept some for me and Zac, too (Iâm not a psycho) and Zac also couldnât believe how incredible they were. Theyâre easy, too. And served a little warm with a scoop of vanilla? GTFO.
Last weekend, I made Butternut Bakeryâs Lemon Poppyseed Muffins since we had company staying with us and I wanted to pull a Cher and have something freshly-baked when they arrived. They were SOOOOO good. A perfect muffin. And, again, super easy.
As far as dinners go, one standout in the last week was this Peking-style Beef dinner by Simple Home Edit. I didnât do the cucumber part â I just made rice and roasted broccoli to serve along with it and it was very tasty! And super quick and easy for a weeknight meal.
SHOPPING
Okay. Now for 1 million links.
I only use velvet hangers for our clothes so nothing slips, and I do the same for Ziggyâs clothes and Iâll do the same for Baby Broâs clothes. While organizing Zig and Beanâs stuff, I realized we needed more of both shirt and pants hangers, so I ordered a bunch!
Speaking of organizing kidsâ clothes, these drawer dividers are everything when it comes to separating out shirts from shorts, etc. Got a set for both boysâ dressers and theyâre amazing.
One more closet organization thing â this belt hanger. Itâs perfect.
In case you missed my World Market stories last week, I found this funky ottoman to use for seating at my new vanity (that is now apart of our family) AND this crazy-cozy throw blanket that is so soft and sparks so much joy because of its color scheme.
If washing dishes is part of your daily repetoire, you need a thick, cushioned mat to stand on at the very least. Love this one in this pretty sage green color from Target.
Canât believe Iâve been sleeping on Trader Joeâs hand cream this long. Itâs INCREDIBLE? So thick, so creamy, and smells so divine. And itâs only $5. WTF? Same goes for their hand/body cream that comes in a bigger bottle. I got one for every bathroom. In factâŠ
In every bathroom of this home, I have these three products lined up on a vanity tray. All bathrooms have this rattan tray with a matching waste basket (both from Target, so cute) except for one, which has this brass vanity tray because it just made more sense in this one particular bathroom. GIVE ME ALL THE TRAYS!
Please ignore the wallpaper. Sheâs hideous. I treated our guest bed to some new sheets (she needed them) with this super pretty floral set which is on sale right now! Also got a set of their standard-sized pillow cases because who actually uses king-sized pillows on king-sized beds?
The guest shower also needed a curtain, and I was so pleased to discover that Target is still carrying this exact one I got for our old houseâs shower! I love it so much. Itâs simple but has a little something going on.
Lastly (for today), I got this Malin + Goetz lip balm for Zac last year and, true to form, he threw it in a drawer and forgot about it. But I didnât. While unpacking our bathroom, I rediscovered it and yâall⊠itâs the best lip balm Iâve ever used? Itâs so thick and hydrating and STAYS ON ALL NIGHT? I swear to G. I wake up and my lips still have a thin coating of it on. I like it so much that I think itâs going to replace my Laneige balm that Iâve been using for a good 5-7 years now.
And now a quick story about the unspoken language of mothers.
