Jessica's Friday Five: Prank Your Family with These 'Brownies'
Published 29 days ago • 3 min read
Hi Reader,
I'm writing this earlier in the week than normal because, as you're receiving this, my family and I are in DC housesitting for some cute pups and one cat (I always love Trusted Housesitter + credit card points for making trips like this possible). If you're in the US like me (and especially if you do not consider yourself an activist), I encourage you to watch this video with some excellent advice.
Let's get to your Friday Five!
Print this for April Fool's. If you want to have a little fun with someone in your life on April Fool's Day next week, print this and cut it up, then put them somewhere (in the fridge, in an opaque container, etc.) and then say, "There are brownies in the ___ for you!". I made this last year to prank my own kids and figured it's an easy one to share with all of you.
Trusted Housesitter Q&A: I got a few questions from some of you a while back when I mentioned we use Trusted Housesitter to do house sits while traveling, and since many of you asked similar Qs I thought I'd share my response to Jennifer's questions here. She wrote, "I saw your plug for Trusted Housesitters and I looked it up, intrigued! Have you used it a lot? Have you done it abroad? Curious about how you get yourself “picked” from applications." Here’s what I said: "At this point we have done 5 or 6 sits! We haven’t yet gone abroad but I’m trying (you can setup alerts for certain cities/locations, so I have some set for places like Warsaw where we have friends). We definitely had luck starting out with some short sits that were close to home where we got some good ratings, and now we get a lot of good responses whenever we apply for sits because we have good past reviews I think. It’s been awesome for us!" Given the interest, I also asked Trusted Housesitter if they'd give us a discount for Friday Fivers and they said yes. So use JESSICA25 to get 25% off if you join (you can join as a sitter like us, or as someone who needs your own pets to be sit for when you're away, or both!).
Donate blood to reduce your cancer risk: Thanks to Friday Fiver and my friend Jen for sharing this article about how donating blood regularly is good for your health. I try to donate as often as I can since I was a teenager, but especially since my life was saved in 2016 by 9 donors whose blood donations kept me alive after I hemorrhaged after giving birth to my son. One additional tip? Schedule a donation appointment with a friend and while you are in the waiting room, while you're donating, and afterward when you're enjoying snacks you can also spend some time with a friend you've been wanting to see!
The most productive employees take breaks: Loved this article that explains the research that the most productive employees have one thing in common - they take breaks about every hour. If you're trying to sit at your desk for 2 or 3 hours straight and stay productive, the reality is that you are getting diminishing returns. Consider getting up to get some water, go for a walk, and/or look out a window. Share this with your colleagues and encourage everyone to report back with something they did to recharge during a short break before getting back to work.
2 dinner ideas: If you have a slowcooker or Instant Pot, I recently got a box from Beehive with a set of freezer meals that you can just drop in the slowcooker and serve in a few hours. We've had 3 of the meals so far and they're all delicious and so nice to simplify a meal a week or so. When we've eaten all 8 meals, I'll be ordering another shipment. Also, I was emailing a friend about the environmental impact of Home Chef (ingredients with a recipe you cook) v. Cook Unity (fully prepared meals you warm up). I really loved Home Chef for years (so delicious) and still recommend it, but these days, we've moved to the simplicity of Cook Unity and are digging it every week. Jenny asked about how they stack up packaging-wise, and here's what I said: "CookUnity happens to be way better on the disposable packaging front. The containers that the food comes in are either recyclable or compostable, with the exception of the thin plastic film on top of the meals. And, the container it comes in on your porch, they pick up again the next week, including the reusable ice packs inside. So I definitely appreciate that." My CookUnity friend link gets you $50 off.
