So to all of you who have checked in on me of late, Thank You! And hugs to Joan G. and Diane M. who wrote me in the last two weeks to nudge me into bringing the Five Things newsletter back to life. So cheers to the pair of them!

What have I been up to? Facing my challenges and bringing all the attitude, of course.

“Life is about challenges and how we face up to them and the attitude we take into every day.”
~ Martina Navratilova

Recently I posted Martina’s wise advice on my desk. That’s because I’ve finished my next book. Cause for celebration in and of itself. Hurrah!!

However, I also amiably parted ways with my agent, and now am shopping my big hug of a book around to new agents. It is not an easy process, and this story has some strikes against it (Hello! It is LONG.) But I believe in this book with all my heart, so I am bringing the attitude to the challenges ahead to see it published.

Keep your fingers crossed for me.

But you aren’t here to hear all my blathering on. Let’s get to those wonderful Five Things I’ve collected for you.

One

When we remodeled last summer, I lost the spot where I had a coat rack on the wall and had all my scarves and extra bags hung up. Searching for a solution, I found this: A combination of a hanger and shower curtain rings. But instead of using it for tank tops like this ingenuous soul did, I’m using mine for scarves. So if you are looking for an easy way to have all your scarves in one place, this is a neat trick.

Two

Over the holidays I was looking for a quick and easy gift for friends and came up with doing a homemade cocoa mix and marshmallows. The cocoa mix is behind a paywall (but if your library has Overdrive and magazine access, get the December issue of Cooks Illustrated and you’ll find the recipe on page 17 without all the headaches).

The marshmallow recipe is available to everyone.

If you are thinking to yourself, “Elizabeth, have you lost your mind?” you might be right, but also, homemade marshmallows are divine. And they will make a cozy and unique Valentine’s Day gift.

Also, I’m telling you this now so you can make a few batches ahead of time. You know, for practice. 😉

Image Courtesy of Svetl

Three

I am nearly done with the monster crochet project I started a few months ago: The d’Histoire Naturelle CAL (Crochet Along). First of all—I don’t crochet. Not very well. But I got obsessed and decided that I could learn along the way.

This CAL comes with an amazing series of YouTube videos by a master of the craft, Esther, of  It’s all in a Nutshell Crochet. Her YouTube channel is an amazing master class in crochet. And she is so soothing. I got so I just turned YouTube on to listen to her calm encouragement and to watch her crochet.

So I guess what I am getting at is two fold. Dig in and try new things that scare the pants off of you.  AND there is probably a YouTube channel that will show you how.

Four

Okay, I’m probably already telling you all about the latest craze, but just in case you’ve been baffled, you need to try Wordle. You’ve certainly seen the posts:

If you haven’t figured out how to play, it is very easy. Type in any 5 letter word. Wordle tells you if your guess is wrong (gray boxes), right letter/wrong place (yellow), or spot on (green). From there you continue to guess words using your scrambled letters.

And if you worry about getting addicted and wanting to play all the time, never fear. There is only one word a day. But it can be a doozy. Which happens to be 5 letters…..

Five

Suzanne Enoch just posted the cover for her September 2022 book, Something in the Heir. I think it’s delightful and am so glad to see publishers doing something new with historical covers. What do you think?

If you love this post, please feel free to share it with friends and if you aren’t getting my weekly newsletter, sign up at the top right hand side of this page. See you next week.