Where Bloggers Live 07.2026: My 10 Daily MVPs

 

Hello from the Gila National Forest and our cabin at Salt Creek Ranch.  We are in New Mexico for a 3-day fishing getaway.  Our cabin is so nice and looks onto pastureland with horses in the front and forested mountains in the back.  We only have connectivity right here on the bed in the cabin!!  And, as is generally the case, I am scrambling to finish this month's Where Bloggers Live post so that it can go live tomorrow, which is already the second Friday of July.  

Where Bloggers Live 07.2026

Our prompt this month is "10 Daily MVPs: Things in My Home That Get Me Through the Day."  I thought this would be an easy one to put together but it proved to be more difficult than I anticipated.  Unless I list all of the folks I love most of all...PC, Brennyn and Lauren (that's 3), Cadence, Lucia, Camila and Declan (a total of 7), my son-in-laws, Mustafa and Francisco (up to 9), my siblings and kitties.  All told that would be 13...always the over achiever!! And there you have my list!!

Okay, not really.  Although family and loved ones and LOVE definitely get me through my days.  But I think Bettye had in mind inanimate objects.  Or as we teach the kids in school - nonliving objects.  Here's what I came up with.

My 10 Daily MVPs

These are items - appliances, gadgets, helpmates - I wouldn't want to try to live without.  Of course, in almost every case, people have lived well without each of these things for eons.  But I am a bit of a princess, and really, really appreciate my first world life with these MVPs.

In ABC order:

• air fryer:  when my daughter Brennyn first told me about her air fryer I thought it was just another culinary flash in the pan.  After visiting her and seeing hers in action, I knew I had to have one of my own.  A red one, of course, to match all of my other red appliances.  This Dash Deluxe 3-quart air fryer is the ticket.  It has an auto shut-off feature that I love, a timer, and temp control and the basket is nonstick for easy clean up.  And did I mention it is RED.  We use it daily.  It is especially nice in the summer when I can use it instead of heating up the whole house with the oven.

• book club:  as I have mentioned over and over and over again, when I retired I was really lost. Had no idea how to fill the idle hours of my idle days.  That first summer of retirement, 2014, I asked Facebook friends if anyone wanted to join me for a summer book club.  What I thought would last 3 short months is now celebrating its 12th anniversary!!  I know that a book club isn't an object exactly but "Come Read with Me" has given my life purpose beyond housekeeping and family.  And the 150+ members have become friends.  

• coffee maker:  I am the only one in our house who drinks coffee.  It's a hard pass for PC and the kitties.  But I only drink one cup a day, in the morning at breakfast.  This Hamilton-Beech Flex Brew coffee maker is perfect for my cup-a-day habit.  I can use Kcups with it or loose coffee grounds in the brewing basket.  And it is...yup, you guessed it...RED.  Francisco bought me reusable Kcup pods that I fill with my own grounds and use on repeat.  They have lasted for years; if only they came in red.

• glue press:  my sweet sister bought me this handy dandy gadget for scrapbooking a few months ago.  It has changed my (crafting) life.  For years I would put together scrapbook layouts then DREAD having to glue everything down on my page.  Often times, I would move things to glue them and not get them back where I wanted them.  I would tell my sister I was going to just leave my pages unglued overnight in hopes that the glue elves would glue things down for me.  Well, this Sweet Petunia glue press is as good as any glue elves and maybe even better.

• lotion:  on my annual visit to the dermatologist for an all-over skin check, she asked what body lotion I used.  At the time, I alternated between baby lotion (that delicious smelling pink stuff), Vaseline Intensive Care (or the Walmart equivalent) and Bath and Body Works body lotion.  She suggested I try CeraVe.  I've never looked back.  The doctor suggested that after a shower I leave my skin slightly damp to make applying this thick, hydrating cream a little easier.  Many days I mix in a little of my favorite BnBWorks scented lotion because CeraVe is fragrance free.  Truly, my skin never looks dry anymore - even living in the El Paso desert.  

• pool floats:  clearly, these are seasonal MVPs, even in El Paso.  We have had our current floats or mattresses for several years and they have really held up.  Best thing of all - they are not inflatable so we don't have to blow them up.  We do have to store them in the winter, which takes some doing.  PC rolls them up like cinnamon rolls and puts a bungee cord around each.  We keep our thermostat set at 82* in the summer.  The second story of our house is especially toasty until after the sun sets.  So we float each afternoon about 4:30 or 5:00 pm for about an hour and get good and cooled off.  Then we are comfortable until bedtime. Here's Lucia modeling mine.

Okay, we are over half-way there.  What's next?  My final 4 MVPs.  Which are not in ABC order.

I asked PC what his daily MVP would be and he replied his car.  His 2012 silver, convertible Ford Mustang.  So following his good lead, my seventh MVP is going to be...

• my car:  PC's response made me realize how much we count on having our own transportation every.single.day.  Although, we rather enjoyed getting around on public transit in London and Edinburgh.  But trying to do so in El Paso would be a nightmare.  It would mean several different Metro bus connections and walking from various stops to get to our locations.  So glad that I have dependable transportation (with a sunroof) and can go when I get ready to go.  Cadence was with me when I picked up my brand new 2023 Nissan Rogue at the dealership.  We listened to the Beatles all the way home.

Okay, okay, I am going to say it...

• my phone:  I curse it more than I compliment it but the bottom line is my phone saves my neck over and over and over.  And makes life a whole lot easier in many ways.  Thankful for the phone camera as I average probably 20 pictures a day and sure wouldn't want to haul around the Sony DSLR camera I thought I needed ten years ago.  I get annoyed with myself that I carry my phone everywhere I go, even from room to room at home.  Would NEVER have done that with a landline for heaven's sake.  But phones are so much more than phones these days.  Even though it cannot understand me to save my soul when I try to talk into it.  And even though I could absolutely throw mine at any given moment when it switches from English to Spanish (voice to text) and when it switches without notice from miles to meters (Maps).  My phone is a necessary evil.  

• my phone case:  because I am dragging my phone all over creation, I decided to buy this phone case with a little bracelet attachment.  It frees up my phone-holding hand so that I can actually multitask while holding my phone.  The case is magnetic, has a kickstand, and slots for IDs and debit cards.  I am sure this case is the only reason I returned from our trip to the UK with my phone. 

And by my count, that is 9 daily MVPs.  That means I have one MVP left, right?  Well, here is my number 10, my numero diez if you will...

My Number One (or number 10) MVP

• PC, my family and LOVE:  I had to do it.  Had to include them. Bettye's prompt asked us to list things in our homes that help us get through the day.  I would not want to even try to get through the day much less the rest of my life without PC.  He is my MVP everything.  Best friend, help mate, chauffeur (often), handyman, pickle jar opener, pool float companion.  He is the best thing that has happened to me since my daughters' births.  And of course, they - my girls - are MVPs in their own right as mentioned at the beginning of this post.

And where would any of us be without love?  We probably wouldn't even be here!!  So, I have to give mention to that emotion that makes every minute of every day worth living.

PC and I are celebrating our 💗18th anniversary 💗(I typed birthday first, hahaha, that ship has long sailed) this weekend on Saturday.  I only dreamed that someday I might be happily married long enough to make it beyond the first decade with someone.  And here I am, here we are...  happy anniversary to us.

Your Turn

The Where Bloggers Live series is kind of like HGTV’s “Celebrities at Home,” but…with bloggers!  These posts have been some of my most popular.  And they are fun to write!!    The creator of this series, Bettye from Fashion Schlub has put together a list of fun themes for Where Bloggers Live even into 2027!!  Love her organization.

What would a list of your 10 daily MVPs look like?  Please let me know in a comment below and then join me in visiting the other WBL bloggers for their posts.

Daenel at Living Outside the Stacks

Bettye at Fashion Schlub

Jodie at Jodie’s Touch of Style

Em at Dust and Doghair

Yours truly

Sally at Within a World of My Own

We have just finished enjoying a makeshift, roughin' it style charcuterie board with smoky sausage, shrimp and cocktail sauce, sourdough bread and 3 different cheeses.  Washed it down with a Michelob Ultra.  Cheers!!  Now, off to do a little pre-sunset fishing and hiking.

Hope this weekend allows you some down time to do the things you enjoy doing with your MVPs.  Thank you for stopping by to say hi!

Hugs and kisses,