Tiny Fixes In A Broken World

A Joyful 2026 - Week 4

I’ll be honest, it’s pretty disheartening that I feel the need to begin each of these with a disclaimer about the state of things in our country, and how profoundly it affects my ability to write. Finding even a sliver of joy is proving to be much more of a challenge than I anticipated. Mostly, I’m angry. And I’m sad. And I’m filled with despair.

I told my husband yesterday that I wish we lived in a time where we only had to deal with mundane, everyday problems, not the constant crisis that seems to define our human existence. Because of this lack of control, I’ve decided that this week I’m going to focus on the easy issues, the ones I can take care of, the ones that actually have resolutions.

Vet Visits and Gratitude

Last Sunday, I noticed that Twix was showing very classic signs of a UTI. She’s dealt with these in the past, so it’s something I pay close attention to. The symptoms appeared around 10:30 in the morning and were severe enough that I knew she was miserable and needed to be seen as soon as possible.

If you know anything about veterinary care, you’re probably aware that most clinics are closed on Sundays, and somehow, pets always get sick on weekends. Thankfully, a new clinic recently opened near us that’s open 365 days a year, and they were able to squeeze us in at 11:45. We were back home and giving Twix her first dose of medication by 12:30.

I’m incredibly grateful that Tyler and I are in a stable enough place financially that when an emergency pops up, we don’t completely panic. It’s an enormous privilege, and one that feels increasingly rare.

I should also add that both cats already had scheduled checkups later in the week, and they both received clean bills of health. A win for me, because I need these ladies to be around for many years to come.

A rare moment of Twix not berating us about her current circumstances.

Wonky Closets and Burning Sinks

There are times when extremely minor inconveniences just… live with us. They exist in our homes for months or years, and for some reason it never occurs to us to simply fix them.

Recently, I finally dealt with two of mine.

There’s a small closet near the entryway of our apartment whose door never fully latched. If you pushed on it hard enough, or lifted it slightly while pushing, it would sometimes close. One day, for reasons I can’t even explain, I stuck my head inside the closet and noticed that the strike plate wasn’t fully screwed in. It took longer to find the screwdriver than it did to fix the problem. And now the door just closes.

Ever since we moved into this apartment, I’ve also been worried that someone would try to wash their hands in my bathroom sink, burn their skin off, and then sue me for damages. Okay, maybe that’s dramatic, but the water got so hot, almost immediately, that you couldn’t turn the handle past the midpoint without risking injury.

Again, this had been quietly bothering me without much thought until one day, while washing my face, it occurred to me that the issue probably wasn’t the sink itself, but the water line. Sure enough, I opened the cold line a bit more, and suddenly my faucet became a perfectly reasonable temperature.

All this to say: sometimes these tiny issues require the smallest amount of problem-solving, and the relief they bring is wildly disproportionate to the effort involved.

Not the closet, but I did recently discover this nickel in my door which puzzles me.

Sweet Treats

I don’t really have any vices. Smoking, drinking, and drugs have never tempted me. But dessert? That’s my downfall. I love a sweet treat, cake, cookies, doughnuts, all of it.

In an effort to consume less sugar, I’ve been trying to avoid buying desserts at the grocery store. You know the logic: if they’re not in the house, you can’t eat them. Unfortunately, there’s a fatal flaw in that thinking, I will absolutely scrounge something together. Even if that means melting chocolate chips and peanut butter in the microwave and stirring in Rice Krispies.

This week, I made myself two genuinely delightful treats, which I’ll share in case you’re also a sugar fiend.

My favorite chocolate mug cake recipe: (Easy Chocolate Mug Cake). It’s simple, yummy, and if you’re feeling generous, perfect to share.

I also made some mock ice cream sandwiches. Thanks to my Christmas baking, there happened to be graham crackers sitting in the cabinet. I made up a small batch of homemade whipped cream (insanely easy, by the way), spread it between the crackers, and popped them in the freezer for an hour.

Delicious. And most importantly, it hit the spot.

In conclusion, I can’t control the larger forces shaping our lives, no matter how much I wish I could. But I can notice when my cat is hurting. I can tighten a screw. I can adjust a valve. I can make myself something sweet when I need it. None of this solves the big problems, but it reminds me that care still works where it’s applied. And right now, that feels like a small act of resistance, choosing to tend to what’s right in front of me when everything else feels untouchable.