This Week – Paris is July Fail

July 31, 2022July 31, 20228 Comments

This whole month has been something of a anxious mess for me and Paris in July had to be left behind for sanity’s sake. I’ll try and give it a go next year.

Gage finished his sixth, and final, week of camp, so it’s been a fun summer. I went to my yearly family weekend with 12 of my aunts and cousins for the first time since covid. We rented a B&B in Jeffersonville, Indiana and it was a great weekend, but also a bit stressful since I had to walk the fine line of having a blast and trying to make good covid choices. The time with the women of my family was much needed.

Tomorrow we start half days of homeschool and I still need to come up with our concrete schedule and activities. On Tuesday, I’ll work at our primary election so my mom will take over substitute teacher days two days in. I’ve been called for jury duty next week and the week after that we’re on vacation to Michigan. Today will be spent trying to figure out our school schedule in all that mess.

On to the books! I finished 17 books. Six adult books and 11 kids books with Gage or in preparation for school.

Gage and I started reading this series together and it’s my favorite book of the month. Why? Because Gage still looks at reading as a chore and this book actually had him looking forward to our reading time. The whole book is a foreshadowing of terrible things happening to three orphan siblings and my kid can’t resist a train wreck. We’re reading book 2 now.

Time is too short for more. Hopefully, calm will prevail this week. Has your July been crazy too?

Paris in July, first week with puzzle giveaway!

July 9, 2022July 9, 20225 Comments

Hosted by Thyme for Tea and Readerbuzz.

My first week has been slow to Paris, but busy here on the homefront. If you are participating in Paris in July this year and would like to try your hand at this puzzle, I’d love to send it on to you. Leave a comment telling me you want it and I’ll get it sent out next week!

On the 4th of July I finished The Third Girl, the first of the Molly Sutton mystery series set in a small French town. Molly is 38, a recent divorcée, and the new owner of a property near the village. As she settles into her new country and new job renting out the cottage on her property, a local art student goes missing and casts a spell over her new home. I liked it. An American goes to France and falls in love with small village living. I plan on reading the next in the series soon.

1,000 piece Hinkler puzzle while drinking tea from Paris and listening to The Little Paris Bookshop. Sammi loved Paris too 😻

The Little Paris Bookshop has such a great premise. Monsieur Perdu has a floating bookstore in Paris where he interviews customers to chose just the right book for what ails them. He’s a book doctor! That’s not the plot, but those parts were my favorites. After chapter 6 or 7 I had to stop and think about my reading habits. He really made me want to elevate my choices, which went along well with Read Dangerously that I read last month. I read to escape, but choosing quality choices for me is also important. The story wasn’t what I thought it would be, but I did really like it and some parts were pure magic.

I’m hoping for more Paris and more posts (reading and writing) this week while Gage is at camp.

June Movies and Money for Charity

July 2, 2022July 4, 20221 Comment

You know the drill, add your 5 words (or less!) to mine in a comment and earn $1 for charity. Once we get to $100 the person with the most reviews will choose the charity. Click here to see the past winners, the charities they chose and the other reviews you can add to. Anyone is welcome to join in at any time. Click here to see past movie posts.

We’re at $85 right now. Your charity could be next

Shows I binged this month… We finished the first season of the network comedy Ghosts (so much fun!), watched the first half of Stranger Things, season 4 (started slow, but looking forward to series finale next week), and the mini series The Night Manager with Hugh Laurie and Tom Hiddleston.