Good Monday to you.

My family is refurbishing our beach house, albeit a bit late in the season. I don’t consider myself especially good at decorating — I don’t have the patience or vision to pick out knick-knacks and accessories, all those little items that make a room look finished. But I learned one important thing about myself: I’m much better at it when it’s someone else’s money. When I’m not grimacing at the $80 pillow or the $200 difference in a panel vs. sleigh bed, I can bring fabrics and colors and textures together like nobody’s business. My house though? Still an embarrassing “work in progress,” after five years.

I joined Instagram this week. As if I needed another social media site to monitor. I’m way over Facebook, am sporadic on Twitter but can Pinterest like a champ. Apparently Instagram is the wave of the future, though. All I know is that I have no idea what I’m doing. But, come. Be my friend. I can promise you way too many dog-shaming pictures of Ollie, like this one.

Pet peeve #72: People who pull into parking spaces backwards. I mean, really. It’s not to save time. So, why, pray tell, do you do it? Please, enlighten me. Pleeasse.

I’ve been thinking. (I know, dangerous.) My family has a few cooking old wives’ tales. We put rice kernels in the salt. We add a pinch of sugar when cooking tomatoes. We boil peaches and tomatoes to peel them. I wonder what sorts of secrets/shortcuts/wives’ tales other families follow. It’s something I just might write about someday at Culinary Cousins, so let me know. Do you have any such cooking tips and tricks that have been handed down the generations? You may not even realize how unique yours are.

Have a good week, all.