Four Fun Things
This month, I’ve been spotting cool braids all over Brooklyn. Here’s my friend Alison wearing a double-braid ponytail at our neighborhood café. “It took two seconds, cost nothing, and got a ton of compliments,” she told me. So chic and easy!
Do (or would) you burp your house? Basically, it’s a German approach called lüften where you open all your windows each day to air out your rooms, no matter the weather. My English dad does the same thing, and said Angelina about raising kids in Sweden: “Even in the thick of winter, many Swedish parents put their kids, bundled up in their strollers, outside to nap…. If you’re sick, your doctor will say, open the window.”
Last night, I went to see the new Guggenheim show, and, with 12-year-old Anton as my stylist, I decided to wear a black lace top with red lipstick. Here’s the shirt I’m wearing, plus three more pretty ones: gathered, collar, and short sleeve. (Hello to cute Anton drumming in the back of these photos!)
Now that I’m head chef (lol) for our little crew, I’m always looking for easy recipes that still have lots of flavor. I came across French Cooking for Two by Michèle Roberts at a local bookstore, and we’ve been trying her incredibly simple dishes — like, chickpeas with spinach; lentil soup; and baked pears. She also offers cultural tidbits — for example, in a recipe for scrambled eggs with mushrooms, she notes, “In France, you would not be offered this for breakfast but for supper.”
What have you been into lately? What glimmers are you noticing? I’d love to hear. xoxo
P.S. More fun things, and what funny books have you enjoyed lately?
(Linsey Laidlaw’s apartment tour photo by Alpha Smoot, styled by Kate Jordan, for Cup of Jo.)
Tags: fun things
Comments
125 commentsSome of you lüfteners don’t live in a hot/humid climate and it shows. . .lol. I do love to lüften when the outside air IS fresh, but like many commenters it is totally seasonal. Our house will take all night to recover from letting summer air inside. It also makes me think of the differences in construction in different parts of the world, but in the midwest US where we get cold/dry AND hot/humid we really rely on climate control.
As a German, just wanted to add: “Lueften” is actually not just a quirky habit, but something that is routinely included in standard rental contracts as part of the tenants’ responsibilities! I just checked the exact language in mine, and it basically says “Regular cleaning and sufficient airing must be assured [by the tenant].” (“Für die regelmäßige Reinigung und ausreichende Lüftung der Wohnung ist zu sorgen”.) This sentence is close to the front of the rentral agreement, right after rules about noise/disturbances. Airing reduces humidity/prevents mold (especially in solid brick structures like the ones you find across large parts of Europe) and reduces indoor CO2 levels. My husband is an enthusiastic “Luefter”, and makes sure we never forget :)
Fellow German here. ;-) Havin come across several posts about “house burping” recently, I find it a little bit funny that people in the US seem to now have found out that you can actually open your windows to let fresh air in… I was a little bit puzzled, I must say. Genuine question to readers from the US: Don’t you have problems with stuffy air or mold, especially in old, poorly insulated houses?
I love these monthly roundups! The double-braid ponytail is such a clever style — simple but so elegant. And I had never heard of “burping your house” before; it makes perfect sense to air out rooms even in winter. That French cookbook looks perfect for small households. Thanks for always sharing such thoughtful finds!
I love airing out my house in the shoulder seasons here in North Carolina. Windows are open now as we are hitting the 70s for a few days. But how do you do it daily with storm windows? Do you leave them cracked all season? It would take forever for me to open windows with those, even to get a bit of a cross flow and then close them. But maybe I’ll experiment with leaving them cracked next winter to air out the house. But hard pass when temps get into the 90s. It’s just too oppressive outside to let any of that seep in.
House “breathing” is hard in Miami where I live… it’s warm (or hot!) 3/4 of the year. If the air outside is not already a warmer temp than the inside of the house, it’s definitely more humid and you’re letting in all the damp. Our family lives with the windows open in the winter when the weather is extra nice. Otherwise, it’s a struggle.
That lip color makes your pearly whites really pop!
I’m only airing the house when aqi is below 100 which – is sometimes every few weeks. Living outside my country has shown me that clean air is a luxury we take for granted. Same with outdoor space to play- I’m lucky to access it at a private club, and the poorest live their lives marketing and playing outsides but middle class folks keep their kids inside because there’s no parks to go to, and windows shut because there’s air is bad. Just some perspective! I’m also not posting my location because air quality is a political issue.
I live in California, and the ONLY time I close my bedroom window is when it rains hard enough and at just the right angle to come through the open window and soak my pillow (I’ve woken up to rain on my face before).
I wake up to rain on my face here too ! :) Since I’ve moved West, I have all windows open 24/7 April through October. Bedroom window throughout the year. I love it so much. In PA with those hot humid summers we had A/C. Not here ! I love it.
My grandma, child of German immigrants, kept the bedroom windows cracked at night if it was 0 degrees F or above ALWAYS. Even though money was tight – lights off always as you leave a room and tupperware was old cool whip containers. I open a window regularly but not that militantly. I hate the term “house burping.” It’s cross breeze, it’s house breathing.
This whole post feels like a lüften! Thanks for the breath of fresh air, COJ <3
Hello smokeshow! You look gorge in that black top and red lipstick. Where is the lippy from (apologies if this has been asked and answered)?
Re: putting kids out in the cold. When I was an infant, we lived in northern Illinois with harsh, snowy winters. My English mother would take me out in the stroller for long walks in the worst of it. Neighbors would say, “There’s that crazy Englishwoman taking her baby out in the cold – she’ll catch pneumonia!” Mom said I was never sick a day.
I’m in Minnesota, I used to bring my baby out on the sledding hill and lay him down on a sled with lots of blankets. He slept very soundly. But I always had this fear I would somehow accidentally send him down the hill in the sled. Neither I nor the other children ever made this fear come true, thankfully.
I air out my house every morning as I make the beds, and airing out my bedroom is step 1 in my bedtime routine. I also open the kitchen window as I clean up from cooking — I don’t even think about it, just something that I was raised with as a Slavic woman, perhaps? Jo, that lipstick looks amazing on you. Great colour. Okay, totally different note…because I appear to come here with all life questions, big and small (CupofJo comments >>> Gen AI) I want to ask this hive for kitchen help! That kitchen photo above is so lovely, and perhaps there are creative people here who can help me. I love my home but I HATE my kitchen. The previous owners completely redid this 1960s house and everything looks great except they chose millennial grey for the kitchen (and everything, actually — took me a full year to paint out all the grey walls). Its dark and cold, and not my vibe at all, I’m more of a natural wood tones kinda hippy dippy gal. I can’t pain over them because they’re plasticky, and a refacing is out of budget. How can I love my kitchen when I seem to be stuck with cabinetry in a cold, cold colour I cannot stand? My kids have suggested covering the cabinets with their art work…and while sweet, also a no….open to other ides!
You might be able to use a high-adhesion bonding primer and then cabinet paint on them. If you do this you would want to rent a paint sprayer to make sure the coating is even. It could be a DIY or you can hire someone to do it for you (the abeautifulmess website has a great tutorial for DIY). Either way it’s way cheaper than replacing them.
My first thought into making this color more lovable is to add accessories that become the forefront of the kitchen. Ones which draw one’s eye first off thus making the gray recede into more of a background color. This can be a beautiful jewel of a light fixture, beautiful artwork on the walls and/or big rug. You just want the eye to look at these things first. They can lean towards whatever style appeals to you….calm and serene or bright and colorful. Whatever you choose, you want to have a small aspect of it that kind of ties in the cool tones of the cabinets. Maybe the art has a bit of paint that is in the same family as the cabinet color (doesn’t need to be much, just a touch so all the colors are all friends, holding hands). Also adding brass or wood cabinet handles will help warm it up. Then, wood or gold frames for your artwork will tie it in together. I think a creamy wall also makes it less cold, not too warm but not a gray toned white. Maybe something similar to BM White Dove or Dunn Edwards Milk Glass (but I can’t stress enough to test your colors on the wall first! The floor, cabinets, and lighting will change the tone). A live plant also makes so much difference. Even an easy pothos! Best of luck to you!!
could you try some fun backsplash tiles? I’ve seen a lot of renter friendly options online. I would add a unique wood toned rug, bring in natural elements like plants, possibly a hanging plant?
Hi Kay, First, what is the budget? Also are your cabinet doors full face meaning all you see are the doors and none of the frame? I’m a construction project manager and pro painter will be able to tell you in your kitchen can be repainted and how long it will last. They won’t be cheap but it would give you something nice until you were agile to redo the kitchen. If your current kitchen is the prefab kind, where they can removed in tact you can also sell the cabinetry to put towards the cost of upgrades. Cheapest option is wood contact paper which has come a long way. It’s labor intensive but if you take your time can be nicely done.
My first steps would be to change the hardware and lighting/bulbs to warmer tones!
This may not be in the budget, but there are companies that will paint your cabinets in including taking the doors off and actually spraying them in a painting booth like they do for cars. I would think that would work on pretty much any type of cabinets.
So clever replys! You can warm up the floor by laying wood over the existing or adding a colourful rug. Making something else a focal point as mentioned above is the key. I actually scrolled up to see wich color the kitchen above had (i hadn’t even seen its white (also a cool color) bc you look at the wooden tabel, the window, the red accesoires.) I think thats the way to go. Fingers crosses you get there!
Thank you all for these clever and creative replies! I have just installed new warm amber pendant lights, put up some whimsical small artwork in brass frames and am browsing runners. Merci!
The house burping is very funny to me as a New Yorker who lives in a radiator heated building. Opening a window is the only way to survive the steam!
this is so funny, i thought airing the house was something everybody did :D here in portugal we also do it. it’s unimaginable to leave the house without airing it out a bit in the morning, and most of the time (unless it’s really cold) we leave a window open throughout the day because we feel it doesn’t air out enough in the morning while we’re getting ready :) my sister lives in london, where it gets much colder than here, and she does the same :)
A huge “yes” to airing out the house daily! We live in a place that is cold and snowy in winter, but we do it once or twice a day for 15-30 minutes. It initially bugged me (“we’re paying to heat the outside!”), but we feel so much better and love how fresh the house smells and feels (plus, we just bought a CO2 monitor, and it seriously makes a huge difference in the numbers to air out daily). My son and I have colds right now and sat bundled in blankets in front of an open window this morning. It helped us feel awake and alive and filled our lungs with clean, fresh, air (it helps that we live in a forest)!
I honestly thought everyone in the world opened their windows to let fresh air in every day! I live in Scotland, snowy here today, but windows still open for 15 mins or so this morning. I can’t imagine sleeping in a bedroom with “stale” air. No judgement at all, just so surprised its not a universal thing!
It’s Friday morning and I just aired the ground floor of my house for 5 minutes. It is 44 degrees in the forest outside Port Townsend, Washington this morning and my thermostat did not drop its perception of the interior temperature during or after this lüften, which was fascinating! It was chilly during, but normalized within minutes. Yes, I realize that it’s probably -44 somewhere and that would be quite different; just sharing my local experience. What a delight it was to air the house this morning and wonder how many of you, my beloved Cup of Jo community, were doing the same around the world after our conversation yesterday! I was grinning so hard knowing this must be afoot. The connection was as delightful as the fresh air.
Ahhh Port Townsend Washington! We lived there shortly in late 80s We loved it and was just talking about an ice cream place that served Swiss Orange Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. Yum!
Haha such a funny way to put it.. but yes, burping the house is so refreshing!! Also, Joanna your big art in various rooms of your house inspired me to get a big print of my favorite beach in CA in my room!!! I love the large framed work in your kitchen so much too! It creates this almost life like escape through the art. Thank you for the inspiration and for cup of jo always being a soft landing place on the internet. You don’t know how soothing your site and all the community has been to me over the years!
My 7 yr old asks for a double-braid pony most days. We call it “The Earwig.”
Oh hell yeah you do!
We are incredibly stubborn and refuse to turn on the AC until it is absolutely necessary, so yes all of our windows on our second floor are open to try to keep it as cool as possible!
i think house burping must be HIGHLY dependent on where you live. i love opening the windows during winter to get fresh, crisp air. unfortunately, i live in tennessee and about…april (earlier and earlier every year..) this becomes a no-no because of the humidity. nothing about stuffy, muggy air makes my house feel better! the late spring/summer/early “fall” (let’s be honest, it’s hot and sticky here until mid-October) makes me yearn for somewhere drier! But then, we love how green it is where we live–everythings a trade off! :)
Isn’t it very inefficient? We paid for an energy efficiency audit to try and improve insulation, identify drafts, etc. so to the purposely create huge drafts seems odd!
From what I read about the science behind it, airing the house lowers the particulate level as well as harmful gasses. I saw a clip where the guy held a particulate meter and it was a significant difference.
Yes to burping our house! We sleep with our bedroom room window partially open 11 months of the year too.
Just a quick comment to say that the double (and even triple) braid trend has been going strong on the high school soccer fields for about a year. I haven’t seen it out and about, looks great!
Yes – I have a daughter that plays volleyball, basketball and softball and it has been the go-to hairstyle for most teams for the past couple of years for us.
My oldest plays volleyball, and she’s solidly in her bubble-braid era. I like the multiple braid look better.
Yep, hardcore Minnesotan and for 2+ years during Cov*D, I had the windows open, and still do!
Re: airing your house — I haven’t read through all the comments, I’m assuming some has mentioned this – but living in an old drafty house, it’s constantly being aired out, whether I want it or not, lol
this made me lol with recognition!
The open windows reminds me of the open-air schools for kids with “tubercular tendencies” from the early 20th century. It was a thing, even in Minnesota! There’s a great photo in my library’s Digital Collections. https://digitalcollections.hclib.org/digital/collection/p17208coll14/id/3915/rec/67
Oh my gosh, I’ve never heard of this and wish we still did it —my kindergartener is sick again for the 5th time (maybe he has “bad cold and flu tendencies”).
We call it “airing out the house” and it’s the best! I truly couldn’t live without it. We leave the windows open for as much of the day as we can, from March-November – winter here is regularly -15°to -30°C (5 to -22°F) but even in winter we’ll sometimes open them just for a few minutes to get that fresh air in. It’s definitely cultural though – my sister lives in London now, where it’s mild all year, so she (Canadian) is constantly opening the windows to air out the house, and my sister-in-law (Irish) is constantly closing them, because it’s letting in the draft!
I’m a Minnesotan, and I open the bedroom window for about 5 minutes every day when I make the bed, no matter what the weather is. I find I especially love it when it’s super cold out. It’s almost addicting to get that blast of cold air while I fluff the duvets and pillows and straighten it all out. I even use the fluffing time as a sort of ritual to “shake out” any old negative energy and start the day fresh. I actually saw that idea on a Nordic YouTube channel and it’s become an important part of my day.
I love the idea of just doing this while I make the bed. Thanks, Lisa!
love the idea of shaking out old negative energy each day too!
As a German this post really made me laugh: reading an American blog to learn something new about Germany is actually great. I didn‘t know that lüften was a German habbit. And yes: As soon as I get to work I open the window for about ten minutes.
ging mir auch so! Grüsse!
I open a window open (just a crack) most nights. It is my belief that fresh air improves the quality of my sleeping. It makes the room a little cooler too, which I find pleasant.
I love this ideas of burping but with my con ed bill hovering at 600 dollars for Jan and Feb I won’t open any windows, in fact I put Saran Wrap over some windows to keep the heat in this old house 🤣 But I do lower thermostat to 64/65 at night, cool air helps us sleep so much better :)
Right!? Both our water and power/heating bills went up by over $150 each the last two months while our utilization was LESS than both prior months and the prior year. It’s real and we’re definitely putting on extra blankets and lowering the heat!
I turn the thermostat UP to 65 during the day while I’m home! :) Winter is all about wearing cozy layers, indoors and out.
Are people dealing with this all over the US? Our electricity/gas bill DOUBLED this winter compared to last year. Use is about the same. We’re in MD and I know locally everyone has been shook by power bill increases. They passed some law that BGE can’t turn the power off but everyone still has to pay these bills eventually. So people are going to go into debt over a basic utlility. I don’t know who to be mad at about this but I’m thinking… AI data centers??? Every time I google something where a simple search engine answer would suffice and I get an AI summary instead I feel annoyed b/c our increased power bills are just not worth this modest improvement in search engine results. Also, I love the tradition of airing out the house and have some too-late editorial input on calling it “burping.” That does not make me think of air that is fresh.
The Philadelphia Flower Show (on now, but over this weekend) is one giant glimmer! So much beauty, greenery and happy (mostly female) people enjoying a day out. My friend and I shared a lunch table with two really lovely women from NC, and then in the enormous convention center, somehow kept bumping into them. We ended up taking a group photo. It was just all so sweet.
I just want to add my 5 cents to the House burping/lüften-Discussion: We turn the heating down, open 2 or 3 windows (prefearably on opposite directions of a house or flat, but opening 1-2 windows in a smaler flat is fine as well). Leave them open for 5-10 Minutes. Close the windows and turn the heating on again (in winter or fall). Best time to do it: In summer: in the mornings (when it’s still cooler,) or in the evenigs, when the sun is down (right before bedtime). In winter maybe in the afternoon (or when you live on a busy street at times with less traffic). It not only gives “fresh air” but also keeps the air in your home naturally moistured, and that keeps your respiratory system healthy. Thats why kids and their parents stay healthy and away from flu when you do this daily! Whole Europe does it, and we were surprised that this is such a “thing” right now in the US. So please try it, maybe you like it, and it helps with wellbeing and feeling fresh and crisp in you home.
I love opening the windows and getting fresh air circulating in the house. However my seasonal allergies have gotten so bad from spring-early fall that I can’t open them during those months to have a film of pollen inside. Bums me out because it’s so good to have fresh air!!
I went to a wellness seminar years ago and will always remember something on of the speakers said. “The solution to pollution is dilution”, which means open your windows lol. I am not brave enough to open them when it’s freezing cold out (especially since I’m already struggling to pay my electric bill lol), but any day the weather is mild enough I throw as many windows open as possible.
Greetings from Athens, Greece! Yes—airing the home every day is a very common habit here and in several other Mediterranean and European cultures. In Greek it’s called «aerizo to spiti» (to air the house). Opening the windows daily—even in winter—is the norm here!
Hi! In Spain is called “airear la casa” and it is a daily habit that everyone does to lee fresh clean air in.
I am German and did not realize that airing a room at least once a day isn’t done everywhere! Especially in bedrooms in the morning and after dinner, we do this no matter the temperature. We turn off the heating for those 10mins though to save energy!
Always opening windows here (in Scotland), every day even for 10 minutes! I thought it was fairly common practice for health and to prevent mould? I can’t bare the smell of stale air, especially in bedrooms.
Hi from Germany! Actually we „air“ our houses, it has nothing to do with burping. :) Every morning and evening we open all the doors and windows and let the wind run through the house for 5min. It is refreshing and also healthy. In the basements you get rid of radon etc. like that. If you don‘t have automatic ventilation I don‘t know how else I would get clean and fresh air in the house.
Joanna, that photo of the kitchen looked so familar and I was trying to place it. Google image search told me it was from your friend Linsey’s Brooklyn house tour 10+ years ago. Are she and her husband still in that apartment with their 3 kids? They must all be teenagers now. So fun to think I’ve been reading this blog for decades now. I was honestly so surprised to see that tour was from 2015. Where does the time go?
Oh my gosh I agree — whenever I look up a past post I’m like, wait, that was 5/10/15 years ago???? They’ve since moved — the ceiling fell down in that old apt! (For real!) — and now have two bedrooms for the kids to share, plus one for the parents. I’ll ask her if we can do an updated house tour! Joannaxo
Thank you! I came looking for a link to the kitchen art and the house tour helped me find it! https://lisagrue.com/en/collections/prints/products/sleeping-monkey
I grew up in Sweden, and am fascinated (and somewhat horrified) that not everyone airs out their house at least once per day. My favorite memories involve the sounds from outside my bedroom in the summer evening: sprinklers going back and forth, and running across the ice cold floor to dive into my bed with a hot water bottle in the winter! FRESH AIR! MOVEMENT! FLOW!
In Salt Lake City we often have the worst air quality in the nation (car pollution + inversion effect + Great Salt Lake drying up and mercury and arsenic from the lake bed going airborne). So on bad air days we sometimes have to keep windows closed and run the air purifiers. Sometimes my kids have to have recess in the classroom because it’s against policy to send the kids out when the air quality is too bad. Sometimes it’s so polluted you can *literally* taste it—fellow Salt Lake City folks will know what I mean (and you can certainly see it too!). That being said,! loooooove when the air is clean and we can open all the windows! And this comment section is fun to hear different customs in different places.
Reading this comment from my bed in SLC with my windows shut and my air purifier running! Ha ha sobbbb
I am German and all about the Lüften. Our rental agreement even contained instructions on how to properly air out the apartment on a daily basis, multiple times a day. I think a big factor is getting humidity out to prevent mold, since we regularly don‘t have AC. During Covid, classrooms were aired often in order to prevent infection. I still do this at home during cold season with larger gatherings too. We air out our rooms no matter the temperature, just for a short burst of air. I turn down the heater while doing so. It makes everything better!
I love fresh air and we open all windows and doors every morning. (It’s even better if you have one opened in the front *and* another in the back for better airflow.) Thankfully we have screens to keep the buggies out and pets in. However, my 2 year old rescue cat recently SCRATCHED BROKEN the door screens three times and escaped!! We thankfully found him and now we have to barricade the doors with ikea frames, dehumidifiers, garbage cans and luggages. The house looks like a war zone but by gosh I will have my fresh air! :)
you can try putting what’s called “hardware fabric”, 1/4″ wire mesh over your existing screens on the inside. This will prevent your cat from shredding the fine screen and is a not too difficult diy. I had to do this on all my windows when I lived in a jungle to prevent rats!!!! from waltzing through the thin screens. It totally works.
I’m a therapist working in an office and I open my windows every single day to get fresh air in. Clients have literally stated that it feels less “stuffy” so I keep on, even when it’s freezing!
Yes to letting the house breathe! I do this daily, first thing in the morning. I can’t sleep in a room with a closed window.
Love the idea of getting some fresh air in the house. I’m convinced not having fresh air is part of why my fam has been sick constantly since November. However I live in the Great Lakes area and it’s just Too Dang Cold. I’m talking -30. Not happening.
I have had open windows for decades, and I used to burp my classroom too! When I taught elementary school, waaaaaay before Covid, I would keep several windows cracked. It seemed like my kiddos experienced fewer colds, and fresh air is…refreshing. Now in Colorado, my windows are still cracked, every day. Maybe more expensive to heat, but the fresh mountain air is worth it! Also, I’m ordering that frenchy cookbook (not from amazon). How adorable! Thanks for the rec!
Jo the black lace top is so glamorous! I’ve honestly been having a very hard time noticing any glimmers, but this post was a good reminder to make an effort to turn away from the gloom and doom and focus on something lighter. Just this week I opened the windows after months of not due to the crazy cold NYC winter – my apartment doesn’t really get stuffy, but it felt like energetically much needed. Also would love to hear more about your head chef triumphs.
Hope things look up for you soon, Hil!
I open our windows every day in the winter or leave the back door open. You feel your body waking up and breathing deeper. You feel connected to the outdoors. We also do it every night, no matter how low the temp gets here in Colorado. My kids fall asleep in minutes and don’t even try to come out 20 times because they are so cozy in their warm beds. We do shut their windows before midnight just because, but I leave mine open all night. I sleep so much better.
I am constantly opening windows. In the winter, I crack the bathroom and kitchen windows and in the spring, summer, I throw every window/door open. When I visit my friend, I want to scream because every window and door is closed tightly. I am not claustrophobic, but I get a little anxious when her windows and doors aren’t open :-)
I was shocked when in the middle of winter we would go spend the weekend with my Dutch in-laws and I when I went upstairs to put our tiny baby to bed, all the windows were open and the rooms we were so cold I could see my breath. My mother-in-law believed in good old fashioned fresh air, especially the purity of winter air, and would send us all to bed (even the baby) with hot water bottles.
I absolutely love braiding my daughter’s hair–even though she’s 13 I still braid it for her multiple times a week. It started out as a way to keep her long curly hair from getting tangled when she was little but it’s become her signature style and she loves getting compliments on her hair. She’s particularly a fan of two dutch braids into ponytails at the base of her neck but we like trying lots of new variations. Since the Olympics she’s been into wearing Amber Glenn’s hairstyle from her free skate–the front part is split into dutch braids that wrap around to a ponytail in the back. I like this little ritual with her even on bleary-eyed mornings when she’s grumpy, it’s a quick way that I can still take care of her.
Emma O I don’t even know what to say– I live in the northeast and often it’s so cold in winter we try to dash out the door in the morning because holding it open for even a few seconds will let in a surge of freezing cold air. Our houses have air filters built in so the air is not musty or damp, however we pay a fortune to hover around 18 degrees C at night and 21 during the day ..airing out the house for 15 minutes like you suggest would be catastrophic. Like all my plants would die.
All winter long, the heat is off in my bedroom and the windows are wide open. I love sleeping in a cold room and make my bed with flannel sheets and a down comforter. Heaven.
Can we think of a more clean and welcoming word than “burp?” Nothing against burping! But not what I have in mind for a freshening up of the place. That being said, I live in SoCal and air my house out every day, especially while cooking.
Agree on both counts! Hate the term “burping” for the kinda basic ideas of opening windows regularly! And I also live in SoCal so having windows or our french doors into the back yard open frequently is a real benefit to the climate!
Agreed! For something so freshening, using the term “burp” just feels wrong! We always just said “air out” the house, but I’d love a more high falutin’ phrase!
The burp is the home’s interior air. Opening the window is “burping” the home to get the yuckier stuff out. To me it fits. But also I got no beef with burping. Airing out the house or freshening the air is less negatively evocative.
In German the word is lüften, which translates to airing. I’m not sure who came up with burping!
Hey Sarah, as a German native, I have no idea why it is translated thus! The German term for it is “Stoßlüften”. Lüften being the main verb which derives from the word for air (Luft) so it basically means airing. And “Stoß” means a thrust or push. And the whole point is to not leave the windows open all day, but for a small amount of time wide open to push all the fresh air in and then close them again! Best from Frankfurt (where we do this to all the rooms in the house every morning!)
In Germany, we call it “stoßlüften”. I had to translate it into English for a few documents and we decided to go with “shock ventilation” – not especially poetic, but I’ll take it over “burping”!
Right?? I’ve been trying to “unhear” the term and repeat “airingairingairing” as I open my windows each morning. My grandmother always did this so the scent of the fresh air coming through the windows reminds me of her house.
I love braids. I have very thick hair, and I often wear dutch braids. I feel beautiful when I wear them, and I like how they leave my hair with structured waves/curls for a few days afterwards, if I do them when my hair is damp. I don’t know if I’m a fan of this two braids from one ponytail thing though :-/ But to each her own!
Longtime Anti-House-Airer here! I feel a little abashed admitting that when it appears I’m in the deep minority, but: I don’t like opening my windows or doors at all! We’re in LA, so it’s not about letting out heat or AC, but I don’t feel like my house is stuffy at all? The real reason, and what makes me immediately insist that the front door not just hang open when someone pops out briefly: BUGS. I swear, as soon as we open a door or window, flies, mosquitoes, and terrifyingly once, a wasp just seem to come right on in. The air inside my house feels exactly the same as outside (maybe a bit cooler since it’s not in direct sun all the time), but inside is my safe haven against being bitten or having to listen to a fly constantly buzz while it sails from room to room. We just had some construction work done and the crew had our door open the whole time, and I’m still chasing down all the bugs they let in! I feel like this is an embarrassing confession, haha. Maybe our next house project should be to put screens on all of our windows and install a screen-door too!
Haha this is reminding me of one of my worst vacation moments ever. We had rented a cabin on a lake outside of Camden, ME. Everything about this spot was verdant freshness. Clear water. Shady trees. Spic and span whitewashed interior of the cabin. That evening we heard the crickets so I opened the bedroom window for fresh air and within seconds a dark cloud of tiny flying insects rushed in. They were swarming in through the window towards the light, covering the overhead fixture. I am from the south and I had never seen anything to this level of absolute pestilence. My husband and I screamed and shut the window but then the thousands of bugs were trapped inside with us. I found a can of exterminator spray and attacked, only to completely contaminate the air inside so my husband and I were spitting and coughing and he was yelling, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?? And I was yelling I DON’T KNOW THIS WAS A TERRIBLE SOLUTION!!! We ended up shutting the door to the bedroom and sleeping in the loft on the floor with our kids. The next day we opened the door to the bedroom and the sheets and coverlet were littered with thousands of little bug carcasses. Screens. y’all.
You are not alone, haha, Abby! I think many in the southeast region of USA are right there with you with the bugs (even with screens there are always cracks, and my family cannot stand when bugs get trapped in the house!) — and the humidity, as someone from Tennessee mentions later in the comments. Although it might be different with the climate/building materials in northern Europe and other parts of USA, I think the outside air is the opposite of “refreshing” for lots of months in the year. In SoCal, do you all also worry about the *outdoor* air quality sometimes being worse than indoor? I saw other commenters from Utah who said the air is too polluted to let in your house and they have to actually filter it *out* of the house. I was nodding along reading that, because it is often the same in Atlanta and I hear the same from friends on the west coast and Canada when fires are raging. Sadly I think climate change may bring that situation to lots of places where the outside air is actually worse :( This is getting me down, haha, but I just wanted to send you some solidarity on the BUGS and say you are not alone there :) I agree homes are not necessarily stuffy without having windows gaping open, especially when the building materials, ventilation, insulation, etc. are aligned with the general climate of their place!
Thank you, my people! Heather, I am shuddering right along with you and I wasn’t even there. That story is horrifying!! And Karyn, we don’t usually have bad air quality (for now), but when it does happen that you can smell smoke (or in my neighborhood, more likely would be weed) outside, I definitely avail myself of our solid doors and windows to keep that out!
Try arugula instead of spinach with chickpeas to mix it up – peppery and flavorful!
ooh I love this tip!
Yes! I love this combination
My glimmer is that my parents are visiting for ten days (their longest visit ever) to see us and also to escape some of the brutal New Hampshire winter where they live. I asked them what they wanted to do and they said “just be in the mix.” For my mom that means cooking us dinner, folding laundry, taking our fourteen year old shopping and playing with our four year old. For my dad that means renovating our wet bar for us. Yankees on vacation! My heart!
Oh my gosh, your mom and dad !! ” just be in the mix ” This is a beautiful way to put it. It’s making me cry actually. Yes, just being in the mix. The “day to day.” The sacred is in the ordinary. Happy for you !
My mom stopped by my house early before a kids function and she sat on my bed while I sat at my vanity and finished getting ready. It was lovely, for both of us!
Something in this post was sweet enough to put my whole life at ease for just a moment. In such a positivity-lean time, I thank you!
awww, brie xoxoxo
House burping is a must in Spain, i am not sure why is linked to Germany only.
I (in Maine) air out my house almost daily- I love it! I also keep the window in my school room cracked open year round- my students have become accustomed to it, thankfully!
As a perimenopausal woman in Chicago, I “burp” my house every night from October through May. We sleep with the window open a crack, even in the dead of winter when we’re hitting the negatives otherwise I don’t sleep well.
My heater died this week (fixed it just today) – so I’ve been sleeping in cold rooms and sleeping so much better!! – you’re on to something.
I am 49 and live in Chicago and I do the same! It is a must!!
I think after the second or third time I woke up in a puddle of sweat, I told the husband I need cold, fresh air. It does work like a charm! Every night, one of us will inevitably wake to use the restroom and we’ll shut the window if it feels too cold. I’ll add that we keep windows open all day/night in the shoulder months when it’s high 50s to low 70s outside. Those gorgeous days are fewer and farther between though.
My dad’s funeral was two weeks ago tomorrow and I was so, so anxious about it. A friend who has been through this before recommended that I make a list of post-funeral self care in advance since I would be in such a daze and one of the first things on it was reading that day’s CoJ pre-weekend post – and I did! Thank you for creating such a warm, inspiring place in this crazy world.
oh, Elizabeth, this means so much to me. I’m so sorry for your loss. sending you love. xoxoxo
Love to you xx
So sorry for your loss and hope his memory brings you comfort.
Immediately ordered the book for my mom. She’s caring for my aging father and used to love to throw dinner parties but now is unable to do so because of the level of care he needs. Her gift is cooking and I know this will be a glimmer of joy for her as she cooks for both of them instead of a crowd! xo
My glimmers are THOSE people who show up at the protests, vigils, rallies- wherever needed to help people. The other day, I had to walk a mile after parking to come to at a rally, and I was feeling a little tired already. And then I saw this man who was quadriplegic!!! And moms with babies in strollers!! And people who showed up with candles for Alex/ Rene, and brought water so those who were fasting for 12+ hours had something to drink. Glimmers who save lives.
<3
Yes to fresh air! I always open windows in the morning and evening, even if just briefly. But does the internet always have to give a cutsie name to just a totally normal everyday think? And why, “burp”?! Gross! My house is offended. ;)
completely agree! it’s just called airing out the house. and many cultures do it. in egyptian culture, even in dry cairo or suffocatingly humid alexandria, they air out, and i do it here every day even in winter. houses smell even if you don’t think they do. and they’re an easy way to get healthy. i feel better with fresh air, more alert!
Agree, Sarah! No internet cutsie/annoying names for everyday things. I’m glad I’m not the only one who felt that way haha.
Right??? Agree on all of this Sarah & Sandra. I’m interested in cultural terminology but this one got bad American branding—I just think of that Simpsons character Barney who burps obnoxiously.