Fall temperatures finally arrived. After some 90 degree days early this week, it’s finally in the 70s, just where I like it. Jason is 99% recovered from Covid after two weeks, Gage is in school, and I’m trying to map out what I want for myself this year. Blogwise I’ve got some big goals. I’ve had my favorite 100 books and 100 movies posted here for years. I’m a list maker so I’m doing a rehaul. I’ve made lots of lists that you can see. But before a book goes on the new list, I’ll be giving it a reread or watching it again and posting about it. It’s a big project that will satify my goal to slow down and will, most likely, be ongoing for a year or two.
After a few friend recommendations we finally watched Jury Duty. We laughed at James Marsden, but it really just wasn’t for us. Ronald came across as very likable, but what did he do to deserve such a big, very public prank?
Puzzle
This was my 1000 piece puzzle from Completing the Puzzle and I loved it. It’s Tokyo from Coudberries.
Plans for the Weekend
Shopping for school clothes and seeing the parents for Grandparents Day!
What to do after a long hiatus, the longest I’ve taken since January 2008 when I wrote my first post here? I’m at a bit of a crossroads. After 3+ years of homeschooling, Gage had his first day back in the classroom this week. I had two full days to decompress and think about what I wanted this year (and beyond) to look like. Then Jason tested positive for covid on Friday morning and we’re in limbo again, waiting to see if Gage and I can skate by without it this time. Jason hasn’t been sick in over 7 years and the man is as healthy as it gets and I think he’s pretty surprised at how sick he is with covid. I guess if we don’t show symptoms I send Gage back to school tomorrow?
I’ve blogged about a lot of things over the years, like being a 39 year old first time mom, movies, homeschooling, and trips we’ve taken, but at its heart this has always been a place to document my love of books and share that passion with other like minded readers. I like having this little piece of the net to do with as I please. I’ve turned to Instagram the last few years too, but that satisfies a different, more immediate itch.
Do I want to continue to blog? My current feeling is yes. I just paid for my site for another year, so I’ve at least commited to that! Do I still want to blog about books? Yes, I think so. Do I want to do something different? Maybe. I’ve got some newfound time to think about the possibilites. Stick with me and we’ll see what happens!
It’s been a few weeks since a proper update, so we’ll see if I can wrap it up in a shortish post. This week I worked as a poll worker at the Ohio primary. There was only one choice, of judge, so turnout wasn’t good. But we still had to be there at 5:30 am and stay until it was done. I got home at 9:15 pm. On Thursday Gage had an initial appointent at the Cleveland Clinic Functional Medicine offices. Three clinicians, labs and 3 hours later we left only to have to go to his orthodontist because one of his cheeks was swollen from his mouth device. We stopped at 5 Little Free Libraries between the two offices to distribute leftover books from our book sale, lol.
We had to do something to our computer because of a suspected virus and now I can’t log into half of the things I need to, including this blog’s email. I’ll prbably spend too much time on that today.
As a reward we had friends over for a game night. Two of them will be taking their citizenship test soon so we played an American trivia game. Lots of laughs and a nice end to a stressful week.
Books
Since my last update I’ve read 13 books and they have been very diverse. 4 kids picture books, 2 kids nonfiction, 2 adult fiction, 2 adult nonfiction, 1 graphic bio, 1 romance, 1 kids fiction.
Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World by Penelope Bagieu is a fantastic graphic novel about 30 bold women from across centuries who really stand out. I knew most, but certainly not all. I checked this out of the library but may buy a copy because it’s a beautiful book.
Movies
We haven’t had time to watch any these last few weeks! But we did finally finish LOTR: The Rings of Power, season one . It was fun revisiting a favorite place.
Puzzles
We did ‘finish’ a 500 piece Fred puzzle this week and while I liked the art, I didn’t like the puzzle. In both the top and the bottom, the blues would fit together but not be right, they would fit ‘better’ somewhere else. Having to redo chunks of puzzle more than once was very frustrating.
Plans for the Weekend
Catching up and prep! Gage’s 2 hour tutoring sessions for homeschool ends tomorrow and that leaves me 2 hours of schooling to fill EVERY DAY!
This week Gage had the top part of the Herbst appliance put in and it’s been tough. There is a bar across the top of his mouth that makes talking, eating, and swallowing are a struggle. And there is so much drool and sores on the cheeks. It’s been a week for the little man and he gets the bottom half and connectors in two weeks 😦 *The white coming out of his mouth is nor part of the appliance, just the only pic I took.
The day after he got it ‘installed’ he was especially miserable so instead of school we spent the day doing good deeds like trying to remove graffiti that had been spray painted on trees and rocks at a local park and using the Little Free Library app to find LFLs to drop off books. The app itself wasn’t the best navigator for us, but being able to see where they were was very useful.
Books
I’ve read 7 books, all of them kids! Five non-fiction and two fiction. Here are a few standouts…
This is labeled as a teen book, but most stories could be shared with younger kids. So important for kids (and adults) to understand the why of the kids that are coming to America. I liked the individual stories. told in the voices of the children. Want to work on empathy with your kids? This will help them see through another kid’s eyes.
We read a few Iceland books this week, but this one, geared toward ages 5-8, was so well done. It’s our first Ranger in Time book and I was happily surprised at how well Messner incorporated historical facts into the story with additional info and pictures of her visit there.
Full disclosure, I’m not a fan of the Magic Treehouse series 🤷🏻♀️ But this series I can get behind! When we did our additional reading, so many of the things she included ended up in our timeline and fact sheet.
This was first published in 1971. It’s a lovely Russian folktale and the illustrations were fabulous.
I’m currently reading a lot of books, too many really but they’re all so good! Stay tuned.
Books read this year- 81
Movies
Jason and I both really liked this one. It definitely brought back the 1980s for those of us of a certain age 🙂
Puzzles
A little video of the one fun puzzle we did as a family…here
Plans for today
I’m the coordinator for our library book sale and it starts this Thursday and runs through next Sunday. I love it and will work pretty much the whole time plus Wednesday set up. Today will be spent emailing reminders to volunteers, redesigning our receipts, and getting though all of our signage and seeing what needs fixed and what we’re missing.
It was my husband’s birthday this week so I surprised him by whisking him away to a spa and inn for a night. I booked the big suite, reserved him 2 spa treatments, and we ordered room service a few times. We only had one night, but it was perfect (and all we could afford, lol). And, during his 4 hours at the spa, I spent time reading and drinking wine. A win for everyone!
Gage recovered from last week’s bug after a day but it took a few more days for his appetite to come back. He was more than a little excited about seeing the Super Mario Movie today. I even enjoyed it and I’m no Mario fan. This morning he made a game of tic tac toe for our cats for his YouTube channel 🙂
Broken Girls was such a haunting read that takes place at a creepy boarding school for girls. It has a 1950s storyline and a current day one, both equally good, a rarity. A found body, a missing girl, a dead sister, a corrupt police department, and old prejudices make this one a fast read.
Oh, did I mention the ghost? I’m not into ghost stories, really, but this one was good!
I’ve read all of Coben’s books and he’s one of my few auto buys. This one was not my favorite because too many over the top things happened right from the get go. And it was too short. I needed more. But a good Harlan Coben is still better that what most author’s can produce.
I read a few books on Antarctica for homeschool, bringing me yearly total to 74.
Movies
It was cute and Jack Black as Bowser was perfection. By far my favorite scene of the movie was this song, being recreated here.
Chaos Walking was such a disappointment for such a great trilogy.
I stayed up until 3:30 this morning finishing this ridiculous 1000 piece puzzle.
It’s one of our rented puzzles from Completing the Puzzle and I just wanted to be done. But sometimes when you make bad decisions, like staying up until 3:30 am, they come back to bite you. As I was getting my water to take to bed I hear Gage getting sick in his bathroom. So, I was up all night with him. When Jason got up at 8:15 I was able to nap for an hour and a half. The boy is still sick with vomiting and fever so it’s been a long day.
We’ve had a good week though. His friend had Spring Break so he spent a night here and they spent a day having fun together. One of the perks of homeschooling is being able to take days off for important things, like time with good friends.
Last week’s post mentioned a local puzzle competition and I’m happy to report that we won! Here we are with the 500 piece donut puzzle and the basket full of goodies we won. There were only 5 other tables and it was a fun family night for all.
The rest of the week was crazy busy. Election training and family in town for two days happened over the weekend and into the Monday. Gage got spacers in his mouth in preparation for an expander and, eventually, braces. I hosted book club for Other Birds and I WILL get a separate post up because it was a great book that led to a fun themed menu.
Books
Other Birds by Sarah Addison Allen. A comfort read. Look for a post this week.
Blackwater Falls by Ausma Zeharat Khan is the first in a series about Detective Inaya Rahman and I really liked it. It’s politically relevant and I’m looking forward to the next one.
I’ve read 5 picture books about China that will show up in a post soon.
Read 7 books. 62 for the year.
Movies
Nope, 2022. If you’re looking for something different this is the movie for you.
Puzzles
Sammi is turning into quite the puzzle model lately.
Plans for the Weekend
A friend started a virtual Romance Book Club and today is the first meeting. The sun is out so I’m hoping for some time outside.
March Madness is always a fun time around here. Since we first met Jason and I have always filled out the brackets and played for bragging rights and choosing the next 5 movies we saw at the theater. We just celebrated the 27th anniversary of our first date this week, so that’s a lot of years of competition. A few years ago Gage wanted to start joining in the fun so we made it a winner’s choice for what the prize would be. The first year Gage won he chose a YES DAY. Last year I won and we watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy in one day as a family (it was Gage’s first time seeing them).
This year I decided to follow our cat’s advice when filling out my brackets and I’m winning after the first round, hahahaha! If you want to see the video Gage made of our cats picking the Final Four, here it is. Time will tell how well this works out in the end. I’m guessing not very well.
I finished only 1 BOOK this week! That is a record low for sure. At least it was one I really liked, Stacey’s Abrams political thriller, While Justice Sleeps. It looks like the heroine, Avery Keene, and her friends will be back for book 2 in a few months and I’m excited to pick it up.
Movies
Jason and I went to the movies last weekend and saw Creed III. I loved the storyline of his deaf daughter, but missed seeing Rocky.
We finally watched Joker last night. I knew it was going to be dark, but not that dark. Joaquin Phoenix was amazing.
Puzzle
Aren’t these pink flamingos gorgeous? And Sammi too!
Plans for the weekend
Tonight, as a family, we’re participating in a local Puzzle Wars. It’s our first time so I’ll have to tell you about it next week.
Tomorrow I head downtown for election training. Elections always need workers, so sign up if you can. I’ve been a poll worker since before Gage was born and he’s 12, so I do my part.
My cousin and her family are also headed to town tomorrow and will be here a few days so I’m looking forward to that.
My to do list never seems to get shorter and what free time I have never really feels like free time with said list taking up space in my brain 🙂 So here I am with my weekly update a few weeks behind.
Exciting news for Gage fans. He started a YouTube Channel this week. I’d be much obliged if you’d give him a follow or even just view or like one of his photos. They are silly, but they are short 🙂 The process of him learning how to make videos and uploading them to a channel that he started all on his own while his parents were sleeping is the most initiative he’s ever shown and I want to support his excitement. We’ve had to put rules in place, including a weekly meeting where we approve all videos, but so far I love to see him creating stuff. He has like 20 videos but has only posted 3 so far.
I also love The Cottage Fairy videos. They are a relaxing and your mind has no choice but to slow down.
Books read since last update 20 (55 for the year)
A few standouts…
This past week I read SA Cosby’s first novel, My Darkest Prayer, and really liked it. The same narrator has done all three of his books and I would recommend giving it a try that way.
This was my favorite picture book of the week. King Sejong Invents and Alphabet celebrates learning in the biggest of ways. This is in preparation for studying Korea this next week.
We read the historical fiction Snow Treasure as we studied Norway this week. An inspiring book for 9-12 year olds.
Movies watched
Moxie! I really liked this coming of age movie and seeing Amy Poehler as the mom.
Solace was a good thriller for a date night.
I watched Bliss a few days ago and still don’t know what I watched 🙂
Puzzles finished
This 500 MasterPieces puzzle as so much fun!
Plans for the weekend
A date with the hubby tonight, but I’m not sure what we’re doing.
This week we celebrated my dad’s 76th birthday. Not bad for a guy who had a heart attack and double bypass at 37! The kiddo and the cats had various doctor’s appointments and Jason and I have continued our streak of weekly date nights, which we lost track of during these covid years. I met with a mom friend and we signed up our boys for 4 weeks of camps this summer. That’s nice to have out of the way early. This week is going to be crazy and I’m stressed, made worse by the sinus headache that woke me up at 3:30 this morning and is still lingering. Homeschooling during these kinds of weeks is always challenging and when I miss public school the most.
Books read 8 (35 for the year). Loved both Book Lovers by Emily Henry and If I Never Met You by Mhairi McFarlane, reviews to come. I also want to give a shout out to this new picture book about slavery that I loved for the content as much as the outstanding artwork. Do yourself a favor and take a look.
Jason and I went to an actual theater last night and saw M. Night Shyamalan’s latest mind teaser. This was intense and totally messed up. A mom at the theater was there with her son, maybe 8 years old? Don’t do that to your kid. And if you’ve ever had nightmares of planes falling from the sky, consider this your trigger warning.
On the Small Screen
We watched this as a family and it gets three enthusiastic thumbs up!
Puzzling – The fact that I still have a sizeable part of the 3000 piece puzzle to finish is also stressing me out. I had wanted to get it done before we left, but it might have to be left to the cats. That’s not good.
Plans for the weekend First, dinner. Then getting stuff marked off my extensive to do list.
Stacy's Books 