It’s that time again. You ask, and I pretend to know things and answer your burning questions. It really is so much fun to open my inbox and see the wide variety of questions you guys have. Reminds me that my readers are so diverse and pretty dang awesome. So keep those questions coming and I’ll keep racking my brain for answers. As always, please pipe up if you have any input or are knowledgeable when it comes to any of the following questions:
Where do you recommend staying in London?
~Melodee
If you want a splurge – The Beaufort Garden Hotel in Knightsbridge {The Girl and I have stayed there 3 times}. Complimentary evening drinks, tea and scones. Near Harrods and the tube and you can walk to Hyde park, museums and local restaurants and pastry shops. Super safe area.
We’ve also stayed at The Park Lane Hotel London {with free hotel points} and it was very posh. Expensive though for just a hotel room with no perks. Great area.
Mavis, you inspired me to grow a garden this year. It’s small, but I have enough zucchini that I could eat it every meal and still not use it up. What’s your favorite way to use zucchini? I am running out of creative ways to eat it! ~Tonya
Zucchini and I kind of have a love/hate relationship. I LOVE it, until I can’t eat one more bite of it, and then I start to get really adventurous with it. After you’ve grilled it, sauteed it, etc, the best recipe I have to hide it and still use it up is Super Moist Chocolate Zucchini Cake. It’s honestly delicious–and who doesn’t want to say they’ve eaten their veggies after a big slice of chocolate cake?! I also recommend freezing some for this winter. I know you can’t imagine wanting it now, you will miss it when it’s gone. It’s back to that whole love/hate thing.
Mavis, a LONG time ago, when you decided to cancel your trash service, you mentioned a book that had inspired you to reduce your waste. I wrote it down, but wouldn’t you know it, I have misplaced the paper! Do you remember what it was called? ~Judy
I do! It’s The Zero Waste Home by Bea Johnson. I actually read it in 2015–and thought it was a little extreme {fair warning!}, but the longer the ideas sat with me, the more they made sense.
Mavis, I just found your blog and I love reading about all of your adventures and those darling pictures of Lucy. I am wondering, what do you do with Lucy when you travel? I would like to start traveling more, but have a “baby” beagle of my own that I am hesitant to board. ~Janet
Janet, I am lucky, because most of my travels mean that The Girl and I go out exploring while the boys happily stay home and play video games and eat shocking amounts of Doritos. On those occasions, the boys watch Lucy. I DID recently take a road trip with Lucy and learned a lot about traveling with a dog–and totally recommend it if you have a dog that is old enough to stay behind in a hotel room and not get up to any trouble.
Hi Mavis. I have been trying to follow your “purging” of 1,000 things, and have watched you pile up some pretty nice items. Have you had your garage sale yet? I have been very curious if the purge paid off. ~Rebecca
Rebecca, I did have my garage sale, and crazily enough it totally did pay off. I didn’t think all of that stuff would fetch much, but I ended up with over $600 dollars in my pocket and a lot less STUFF to clean around. It was win-win. Looking back, I really think the key is organizing your garage sale so that peeps want to buy–and then pricing your items right. Either way, I am just happy to feel a little lighter and have cash in hand.
Mavis, I know your kids are grown, but when did you start allowing them to stay at home alone? This summer has been a little rough, because while I have a very flexible work schedule {I am a realtor}, sometimes I need to leave at a moment’s notice and finding a sitter is impossible. My kids are 10 and 12 and seem ready to manage themselves for an hour or two. Thoughts? Carrie
My kids {especially The Girl, who is oldest} were very mature and I would have absolutely run to the store and left them at home at that age. I think it totally depends on each kid, though. I know some parents would say their kids would kill each other while they were gone. I think you need to judge your children’s ability to react in an emergency and then lay down some ground rules and run through some scenarios. Readers, when did you start leaving your kiddos for an hour or two at a time?
That’s it for this installment of asked and answered {ish}. Thanks for sending in your questions!
~Mavis
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