Monday Melange, Marital Missives

In May, I published a round up post of some of the links I have sent to Mr. PiN in the last year. I was pretty surprised at the number, and decided to split the list into 2 posts.

Many of the subjects are similar to what I write about on the blog, so I hope that you might find this collection interesting.

Because this just makes me smile.

Travel

Mr. PiN and I love to travel, so it should not be surprising that many of the links I send him are about places to go or see. I had so many, that I didn’t fit them all in one post.

I had one more post about Australia, this one from Frogdancer Jones at Burning Desire for Fire, planning a road trip during the pandemic. Her pictures look amazing.

I don’t remember how I found Girl On the Go, but I loved this post about New Orleans. Mardi Gras: a Parrot, a Parade, and a Porch at the Pontalba.

I have never been to Cuba, but this post from This Big Road Trip–with amazing photos and prose–paints quite a picture. Go read Cuba. Rum and Contradictions.

Food and Health

Here in the PiN household, we cannot live on travel tales alone.

Sometimes I will forward recipes that Pocket has served up to my hungry eye. So far, none of these have graced our table, but I can dream about 3-ingredient Sheet Pan Gnocchi Dinners and One Pot Tomato Chickpeas and Orzo.

Sometimes work and home collide in unexpected ways. Mr. PiN grew up with parents who were, frankly, health nuts, and he likes to read about the latest trends in healthy eating and living. Read on for two articles I sent to him, about “healthy” things that aren’t. Coconut Oil and Heart Health: Fact or Fiction? and Banned Stimulants Again Found in Supplements.

I also found this article from the New York Times on coronavirus and football interesting enough to pass on. It may be behind a paywall, but if not (or if you subscribe), you can read The NFL Had Over 700 Coronavirus Positives. How the Seahawks Had None.

What Caught My Eye

I also sent on this post from Becoming Minimalist: Remove Possessions to Remove Visual Noise. It strongly suggests a correlation between clutter and brain issues. To be clear, I did not send it to Mr. PiN as an admonishment to tidy up–actually, I was asking if the view of my cluttered desk from his thinking chair was bothersome.

I am still trying to introduce minimalism–at least a little (silly joke!)–into the house. It has been tough for me, coming from a house where my mom always has something put away for in case. It has been harder for Mr. PiN, whose dad’s behavior borders on hoarding, and who went through many years where he couldn’t have the things he wanted. I liked this guest post on Becoming Minimalist: Minimalism in America is Hard. Here’s How to Do It.

I sent this post to Mr. PiN months ago: Free College Education? Ten Big Problems With Biden’s Plan. We are both college graduates, one had more debt than the other, and we pushed The Kid to finish his degree as well. Neither son nor father really pursued a career that directly required a college degree, but I know that Mr. PiN certainly benefited (indirectly) from his college education. I thought the post from A Lawyer and Her Money was thought-provoking, especially the last part that proposes abolishing college (!!!).

Lastly, I enjoyed this post from Accidental Fire on the decrease in violent crime. Maybe because he starts out speaking exactly to my age group–I remember a school mate’s dad being killed in a drive-by shooting while in high-school, as he returned from volunteering. Maybe it’s because he makes data so interesting by augmenting his charts and graphs with maps (and commentary!).

Let me know if you had a favorite.