For the last several years, I’ve had fun putting together a list
of some of our favorite finds throughout the year. I pass them along to you in
case you’re looking for gift ideas or want to try something new for your own
home! At the bottom, I’ll include the links to previous years’ lists, but here
is our list for 2023. Maybe you’ll find a gem on here!
1.
Toothbrush
Sanitizer – Ryan found this, and we bought it right around the time we
moved to the lake earlier this year. It mounts to the wall and has space for five
toothbrushes. They can hang inside, with the brush safely covered and protected
from weird bathroom debris. We run ours at night, after we brush our teeth, and
the UV light inside cleans the toothbrushes. We hope it helps keep us a little
healthier, and it also gives our toothbrushes a safe place to live without
being seen! We mounted ours on the wall behind the freestanding towel rack, so
it isn’t even very noticeable! (It’s battery-powered, so we charge it now and
then.)
2.
Vornado
Desk Fan – This was a love gift to me from Ryan earlier this year. Even
though we have great air conditioning in the house, sometimes I get warm
sitting at my desk. (This is just during the warm months when the sun is
shining on me.) This little fan is cute, first of all, but it provides the
perfect amount of extra air when I’m feeling warm. And it’s so small! It folds
down into a bullet shape when not in use, so it doesn’t take up a ton of space.
That is important for me, because I don’t have a lot of spare real estate on
the desk.
3.
Compost
Bucket – We wanted to try our hand at composting when we started a garden
this year. To be fair, we still have much to learn about it, and I’m sure we
did many things wrong, but this little bucket allows us to store our compost in
our kitchen until it moves to the next spot outside the house. It doesn’t allow
odors to escape, which is really important! It’s a heavy-duty little bucket
that we slide in the cabinet on the lower part of the island and pull out when
we have egg shells or banana peel or other compost items.
4.
Slippers
– I had these on my wish list for two years before I gave up and bought them
for myself. Ha! I learned about them from an Instagram influencer. I rarely
listen to what they say and watch instead what they DO. She was wearing these
slippers all the time in her posts, and she said they were great, so I believed
her. She wasn’t wrong! Our house has all laminate/stone flooring, so in the
colder months, the floor is CHILLY. I love wearing these all day and night
while I’m at home!
5.
Digital
Food Scale – We actually ended up getting this for free with some points,
but it’s been super helpful. I’ve never owned a digital food scale before, but
we needed it for our bread baking adventures. Some of the recipes call for
specific weights of bread dough (pre-baked) per serving, so it’s helpful to
have this. It’s tiny, easy to use, and wasn’t that expensive!
6.
Flour
Mill/Wheat Berries – Speaking of the breadmaking, one of our
save-and-splurge purchases this year was the flour mill we purchased through
Unsifted. I had researched this for about a year before we finally purchased
the starter kit, and we have loved it. Unsifted has a helpful website
with great recipes, lots of tips, and yummy products! We have enjoyed making
sandwich bread, baguettes, pizza crusts, breadsticks, biscuits, cinnamon rolls,
and more. So glad we decided to go for it!
7.
Waterlogue
App – I am not really an app girl, so it makes me laugh that I even have one
one here. Not only am I not an app girl – I’m really not into paying for them. But I read about
this one on Pinterest and found it to be worth the roughly $5.00 it cost. If
you purchase and download this app, you can take any picture you have on your
phone and turn it into a watercolor painting. We used it to make temporary art
for our gallery wall of house pictures, but I also love playing around with it
to see how other pictures look. You can make great personal gifts using this!
8.
Weather
Radio – This was in Ryan’s Easter basket from me (we give the coolest
Easter gifts) and I’m so glad we have it. We had some rough storms this spring,
where we weren’t sure we would keep our power on. Without power or internet, we
knew we wouldn’t be able to keep up with weather reports, so now we have this
to keep us safe and informed in the event of a tornado (or some other bad
weather event). Thankfully we haven’t had to use it often, but the peace of
mind in knowing it’s there is worth it!
9.
Fireplace
Coffee Table – This is our Christmas gift to each other this year. Every
year at Christmas, we try to think of something we can use together throughout
the year and that becomes our gift. Though we do have a rock fire pit for
wood-burning on the lake shore, we wanted something to keep us warm up on the
patio – and something that didn’t require the commitment of a long-term fire.
Ryan found this coffee table on a great sale back in the fall and we went ahead
and got it so we could enjoy it during the warmer days. It’s powered by a
propane tank, so you can turn it on and off on demand – and it’s both pretty
and warm!
10 Zojirushi
Bread Machine – Along with our journey into milling our own flour, we also
got a bread machine! It’s such a time saver for kneading, as many of the bread
recipes call for over 20 minutes of kneading. We bake loaves in the machine,
but even if we’re hand shaping or rolling out dough, we use the machine for the
kneading portion of the adventure. Worth it!! (Also fun? Listening to Ryan try
to remember the brand name. It’s something different every time!)
Hope you find something fun along the way! And here are the links to previous years’ finds!
1 comment:
I love how many of your investments are for your bread baking adventures!
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