Hello everyone! I have already started on my Summer TBR/Hopefuls list and managed to knock a few off already. Jane of Lantern Hill, Yesteryear, Dungeon Crawler Carl, The Last Resort, Deadly Summer Nights, but I decided to make an enormous list to choose from this summer, instead of a small list. I have limited time to read so I don’t get through books as fast as I used to, so my eyes are often bigger than I can read.
So I know I won’t even come close to reading all of these, but this is my pool of books I am choosing from this summer. There are some I want to read more than others, but that also depends on the availability from my library (Sea of Charms and The Smallest of Joys, I am looking at you!) since most of what I read I either get from the library or Pango (if you have never purchased from there you can use my code CRACKERCRUMBLIFE for $5 off), when I buy books for myself. My son also has a pretty extensive list of hopefuls as well – I think I will post his list later this week for fun!
And that is it from me today; I will be by soon to see your lists, as dangerous as that will be for mine!
I hope that whatever you do today, you something that makes you smile!
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
“Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.”
Natalie is a very unlikable character, and an unreliable narrator. She is really not a nice person at all, and never has been. When she leaves home for college, her mom implores her to “Be kind”, which doesn’t seem like it is in Natalie’s wheelhouse. She must have some sort of kind though, because she did end up getting married to Caleb. Who also is not a good character. This book is really full of unlikable people, who do ugly things. Natalie though has her social media audience fooled, or at least some of them. The Angry Women have never believed she was doing all that she said she was. Everything is an act with Natalie, and in fact she starts to view herself as Online Natalie and then just her regular self, and regular old Natalie is not a peach.
I don’t want to reveal too much here, or spoil anything so I am trying to tread lightly while giving an honest review.
Natalie is a master manipulator. She has a vision and forces people to follow her whims, whether that is through her money or fame or just dumb luck. And after the birth of her first child, she really needed some help but her mom managed that situation poorly, which did not help. Her mom perpetuated the old myth that Natalie could handle her own “baby blues’, and didn’t need any professional help, and instead recommended exercise. And this book is full of things like this, old worn out ways of thinking, tempered with the megaphone that is the internet.
And everything in her life is fake, fake, fake. And then one day, she is in 1855, with a family that she doesn’t recognize as her own. She suddenly has to live the life she pretended to live, and is not loving it. Her husband is a hard man, like a man from Puritan times, not the pliable husband she is used to.
And, I don’t think I should say anything else just in case.
Would I recommend this book? No, not really. It made me terribly sad, and was very heavy and intense. I understand why some of us want to read it though, just the curiosity of it all.
I am going to do a video for my secret YouTube later on, and I will post that link here if anyone is interested. I will explain a bit more there, and also reveal the twist for anyone who wants to know without reading the book.
Feel free to email me if you want to chat about it!
Hello everyone! I hope that you are doing well today! It looks like today is going to be a beautiful day for Father’s Day here. I am not quite sure what we are going to do, but we will do something.
Books:
So, I read Yesteryear and I am still processing it. It was a lot! I am still not even sure if I enjoyed it yet. It was very heavy and intense, and made me sad. I ended up reading The Last Resort afterwards to scrub my brain out afterwards, and it was a good choice. Review for Yesteryear coming soon. I may end up doing a spoiler video on YouTube to go with it, because I have things to say but I don’t want to put them in my review.
This week I am not sure what I am reading. I have two I am thinking about though. Maybe I will start with How to Survive Camping and move on to The Growing Summer.
Screens:
We finished up Widow’s Bay which was awesome. I was so bummed when we ran out of episodes!! We have moved on to Murder Most Puzzling, which I learned about from Lisa at Boondock Ramblings. We watched the first episode and really enjoyed it!
I mentioned that we are watching old fun movies from the 80s and 90s with Wyatt, and last Sunday we watched The Sandlot. It was so good. It is such an iconic summer movie. Billy said that was almost identical to how his summers were as a kid though, just hopping on his bike and running around town with his buddies all day long.
And who can forget this line? I say it at least once a day, still. Lol.
And just a reminder: Lisa of Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea.. Recently Cat at Cat’s Wire joined up with us as a co-host as well! This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
In-Betweens:
Yesterday we went on our first picnic of the summer! This was something we started during lockdown and the pandemic, and it has become just something we do now. We found a great spot at the park, which even on the hottest summer days is cool under the shade of the trees. We usually draw or color or paint and then one of us will decide we need to lay down for a bit because it is so relaxing. Then eventually the rest of us lie down too and just watch the leaves flutter in the wind and the sunlight play across the ground, while the birds sing. It is just so peaceful.
And I think that is all from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! I hope that the past week has been good to you!
Last week I mentioned that I had hurt my back, and I wanted to thank everyone for all of their well wishes. I am back to normal thank goodness! I had hurt it trying to get Wyatt to the basement during a tornado warning, and since then his PT and I have been working on different ideas on how to make this more efficient and also less painful for me since apparently the Midwest has gone crazy with the weather this year.
This past weekend was Wyatt’s last baseball game of the season. He had so much fun playing and I loved seeing his joy. If you read my Books, Screens, and In-Betweens post, I mentioned how a grandma there told me that she loves watching the little wheelchair boy because he is so happy. And honestly, he is. He has the biggest grin on his face while out there. I was happy to learn that there is fall ball, because I will be signing Wyatt up. He might miss some games though, because fall is usually so busy around here. We are also planning a trip to Louisville in September, which I am super excited about.
After the game, it rained all weekend. I had a project I wanted to work on anyway, so Billy and I started it. Our art cabinet. Ugh. It was just so uggo and a mess and just sad looking. Not the way an art (and homeschool) cabinet should look! I picked out a paint color, bought some neat contact paper, and we got to work! Also, by the end of the school year, things are just all out of order around here anyway. I had to straighten that whole area, put stuff away, etc. so it was the perfect time to spruce this up.
Billy sanded it all down, then it was my turn to paint. I of course had little furry helpers.
After it was all dry, it was back to Billy again to paper the back.
And then after two days of sorting through all of our materials, deciding what I could store in our basement art overflow area, and then organizing everything, I was done.
I am in love with it, and the best part is that the whole thing cost $30! It was a quart of Dutch Boy Deep Peppermint, and then this adorable contact paper with flowers and cats and chipmunks and birds.
Billy has until mid-August to paint the room, or I am doing it with my friend Kelly. I have literally asked him for five years to paint it. LOL. I am so tired of the lavender! I think he will now though because he also loves our new cabinet and a lighter color paint on the walls will make it pop.
Speaking of Kelly, we celebrated her daughter on Sunday at her graduation party! They had her party at a restaurant on the water, and the room was beautiful. I felt like I was on a boat, honestly, because we had a downpour that morning that was heavy and crazy, and apparently the room floods! Kelly and her family were in the room busily squeeging the floor, using a leaf blower to blow the water out, mopping, anything they could to get the water out of the room before the party. They succeeded, leaving only a few puddles here and there, which I thought added to the on the water atmosphere. It was a beautiful party though, with great food. I am so proud of her daughter too, she worked so hard and is a great kid!
And that is about it for now! We have a recital tonight for J & T, Wyatt’s little cousins, and then coffee tomorrow morning with friends before heading into Father’s Day weekend.
And now just some random snaps!
How is your June so far?
I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! Today is all about the books on our wishlist, and also the opportunity to gift another blogger with a book from their wishlist!
I do love to pick a blogger or two (by putting all the names of people with posted lists in a hat and having Wyatt pick) to gift a book. As Jana says, “This week’s topic, Bookish Wishes, is a popular one and one I host twice a year (around Christmas and again in June)! List the top 10 books you’d love to own and include a link to your wish list so that people can grant your wishes. Make sure you link your wish list to your mailing address or include the email address associated with your e-reader in the list description so people know how to get the book to you. After you post, jump around the Linky and grant a wish or two if you’d like. Please don’t feel obligated to send anything to anyone!”
These are the books that are at the tops of my wish list! Some of them I have read and want to own since I love them so much (I use the library for 99.9% of the time) and some are books that I think I will love so much I want to own them.
Cat’s People by Tanya Guerrero || The Smallest of Joys by Diane Shiffer || Off the Beaten Path by Eloise Corvo
The Correspondent by Virginia Evans || The Enchanted Greenhouse and The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst || Firefly by Robert McFarlane || The Tarantula in My Purse by Jean Craighead George (although I had better not ever find our tarantula in my purse!
I never know if I should share my link or not! I go back and forth, back and forth. I am going to do it in the spirit of the prompt, with zero expectations. 🙂 Amazon List
And that is it for me! I am excited to go read everyone’s posts today (or as many as I can before my son’s appts!), and hopefully grant a wish or two!
I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! Wyatt and I are one week into our six week break from school and it has been lovely. We had some lazy days, some fun outings, and also I managed to do some major cleaning and re-organizing I have been wanting to do. I also am zhuzhing up our art cabinet this weekend. I painted it a color that makes my heart feel happy, and then today Billy is adding a cute contact paper to the back of it, and I can’t wait. We also have my bestie’s oldest daughter’s graduation party today. I can’t wait to celebrate this very accomplished graduate! She graduated in the top ten of her class, is a star athlete, and was also prom queen. I am excited to see what she does next!
Books:
I forgot to post last Sunday, so I will add last week’s books as well.
I finished two books.
The League of Lady Poisoners was really fascinating. It combined a lot of history and context to some of the women’s stories written about here. I also love the artwork by Lisa Perrin!
I finished up Dungeon Crawler Carl as well, and I LOVED it. Billy was right. And I love Princess Donut. She is awesome.
I nearing the end of my current read, and I am poised to begin my next.
Deadly Summer Nights has been ok. It is not as good as I had hoped it would be, but I don’t dislike it enough to dnf. I feel like it has potential though as a series, so if there is a second I will probably put it on my list.
I am very excited to read Yesteryear! I almost never read books that are being talked about and are “hot” at the time that they are, but I managed to snag this one from Book of the Month so here I am, right in the middle of things.
Screens:
Billy and I are obsessed with Widow’s Bay. I love these kind of coastal thrillers during summer, and this one is so perfect. It is quirky, creepy, but also tempered with humor. We will watch the last episode tonight or tomorrow night and I will be so bummed out that we will be done. I am not sure what we will watch next, maybe Dark Winds.
I also mentioned in a post last week that we are hoping to keep watching 80s/90s movies this summer. Old favorites like Now and Then, The Sandlot, Holes, etc. It’s time Wyatt watched these oldies but goodies. We have already watched Matilda and Little Shop of Horrors (Rick Moranis version).
Oh and Billy got us a game to play as a family. It is super nerdy but we are all nerds in our house so it is ok. It is called Librarian, and you straighten up the library. That is it, that is the game. It is $5.99 on Steam if anyone is interested.
And just a reminder: Lisa of Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea. This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here.
In-Betweens:
This post is getting long so I will keep this part short. I will just tell a little story about baseball yesterday. It was Wyatt’s last game, and I had a lot of family show up to support him. My aunt, cousin, my cousin’s son, Devin, Chrissy, and the girls. We were all hanging out on the bleachers, and a woman sat near us. We all started chatting together about how much we love watching all the kids play, and she said she felt like she was on the wrong side, because her grandson played on the other team. I assured her it was fine of course, we cheer for all the kids on both teams. She said that she did as well, and that besides her grandson, her favorite player to watch is the boy in the wheelchair. Lol. I told her that boy is my son and we had a laugh! She said she just gets a kick out of watching his joy as he and Billy run around the bases. It was just a cute little moment.
We also got his pictures and I will probably share them all because that is me, but here is the cute little buddy pic they had done. This is Wyatt and his buddies. I love it! I also love that his friend Z. colored a picture to look like the three of them. I loved it so much I turned it into stickers for the kids, and moms.
And that is it for now! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I injured myself!! Not badly thank goodness, but enough where I have been ordered to rest by my husband and friends.
On Tuesday Wyatt and I were home, just doing whatever, and all of a sudden the tornado alarms all started going off. I immediately got Wyatt to our safety spot, which when Billy isn’t home is the hallway. Wyatt is 85 pounds and while transfers are no big deal for me, carrying him down the stairs would be dangerous for us both. I turned on Michigan Storm Chasers on Facebook, and they are so good, they zoom in and can tell you almost exactly where the tornado activity is. And apparently it was moving right at us, like literally our neighborhood, not just our city. I was not comfortable with this situation. I wanted Wyatt to be in the basement, safe and sound. So, I did what any mom would do. I summoned my mom strength and got him to the stairs, where I lifted him up and put him down on each step, one by one, while he had his arms around my neck. I was very scrunched up and standing all weird, and Wyatt was not happy, he felt very scared by the stairs. He almost cried but I asked him to trust me and he relaxed. I got to the bottom of the stairs, grabbed a rolling chair that is down there, and rolled him to Billy’s office. However, by that point I knew that I had hurt something in my back, and it turned out to be my sciatic. Plus, I didn’t know how we would get back up. LOL. So once the storm had passed, and we were safe, I called Billy to tell him we were trapped in the basement. He left work a little early to come home and rescue us. Billy however has pimped out his office with an enormous tv and couch, so we were comfortable, and once the danger was gone, I went up for snacks and water. We just had to hang there for about an hour and a half or so. It wasn’t too bad, except I was in pain.
I have been doing stretches and have been ordered to take it easy, which I have been trying to do but I get antsy. I felt better today and decided it was a good idea to go and try to dig up an area to plant some things, but realized that was a bad idea after I started. So I am back to resting. I need to be physically sound for Wyatt so I am doing it. Sigh.
So, we have been watching some YouTube, drawing and coloring, and reading. I feel terrible that I can’t get him out right now, but there will be other days to do that, IF I rest now. So I am trying.
On Sunday we celebrated my nephew B, who graduated from high school!! I am so very proud of him! He also has cerebral palsy like Wyatt, and has overcome a lot. He participated on the boy’s basketball team as manager, attended almost every school sporting event as their biggest supporter, and just shines his light on everyone.
The first is B. with baby Wyatt, and the second is his graduation picture. I wish him all the joy and happiness in this next chapter as he had his first.
This weekend we have the summer reading kickoff at the library, Wyatt’s last baseball game (this makes me sad, he has loved it so much!), and another graduation party on Sunday, for my bestie’s daughter. I am hoping that she has a beautiful day for it, with no rain!
We are done with school for right now, and are taking a nice break. I have some projects I want to get done, like painting our multi-purpose room and the art cabinet, finishing up the garden, and getting our crested geckos all moved into their new homes. We bought them taller tanks as they need more space to climb, and we just need to get them moved in – but that means substrate, and plants and getting it all in place. I want to totally change up our multi-purpose room because right now it is working but I think we could make it more functional and less…messy? We have a small house, lots of animals, lots of books and games, and lots of equipment for Wyatt. So I want to organize things a bit more, rather than just sticking things wherever in there. I want to move the games, get rid of the big tank that is in there and the table it is on, there is a small loveseat in there we can pitch as well. It needs more organization and less stuff, if that makes sense. I would love to have wall shelves for books and games where the tank and table are, but we will see. Maybe it would be better to have something to hide the games but also have shelves for books? We eat at the table in that room, as well as homeschool. I feel like I can do this. I just need to put on my thinking cap and get creative.
Billy and I have also been obsessed with Widow’s Bay, the tv show. It is soooo good! I love stuff like that, all coastal horror, small insular communities with secrets. Eeek! It reminds me of Haven or of the modern version of Nancy Drew that was on a few years ago. It is so good. We try to limit ourselves to one episode a night which is hard! I love a good summer thriller.
We also watched the Rick Moranis/Steve Martin version of Little Shop of Horrors with Wyatt the other night. It was so cheesy and camp and we loved it. Wyatt was just bopping along to the beats. It was a fun watch. We are really into these old 80s/90s movies right now. I think the tv show remake of The ‘Burbs sort of kicked it off for us. I have a bunch I want to watch this summer! Now and Then, Tremors, The Great Outdoors with John Candy, The Sandlot, Holes, some of the Muppet movies. Billy and I are hoping to watch a few other Kevin Bacon movies as well, minus Wyatt, like Stir of Echoes and The River Wild.
And, I think that is it from me today!! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I usually watch one or two YouTubers in the evening, and I have added a few new channels to my subscription list! Wyatt watches along with me, bless his little heart. It’s something we do, and it makes me think of when I would watch things with my mom at night, that I can’t say I really enjoyed but I enjoyed that time together.
The next two days are going to be in the 100 degree range with the heat index, so Wyatt and I will be stuck inside. We have lots to do but I am sure at some point in the day I will give up and throw on a “book lady” or two, probably from this list! (Wyatt calls them the book ladies)
First, let’s start with Amy Marie. She is mainly a cozy mystery and thriller book reviewer, and she is pretty prolific with her posting so I can usually count on a new video from her. I have added so many books to my TBR though watching her channel, so be warned. LOL.
Next up, is Rebecca from Rebecca’s Literary Wanderings. I enjoy her channel a lot, and I think that I have many reading tastes and ideas in common with her, so much so that sometimes she does a video and I am like dang, I was just going to write a post about this topic! I like her book choices, and her pursuit of a slow and simple life. She recently posted about a slow old fashioned summer, and it made me think of Wyatt and my Frog and Toad summer plans. (although our name is more fun) She reads a lot of gentle, vintage fiction, and is where I first learned about Gladys Taber.
I have also been watching Paula at Relatively Refined, although I do not usually watch her thrifting videos. I mainly watch her book videos. She reads a lot of different books, modern mysteries, vintage books, and has cute themed videos a lot, and we all know I LOVE a theme.
Finally, Jen at Jen’s Reading Life. She has introduced me to lots of new to me authors that are actually pretty old and vintage. She also reads a lot of Mary Stewart and I love Mary Stewart. Her latest video was all about summer mysteries for sunny days, which was a lot of fun. In it she mentions one of my favorite older mysteries, Hotel Paradise by Martha Grimes, and she is right, it feels so summer!
These women all have very watchable channels, full of book suggestions that range from cozy mystery to thriller to gentle vintage fiction to more classic mysteries. And my poor TBR pays the price.
I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I just stepped outside to water the plants and it is gorgeous out there! Although it will be a bit hotter today than I like, it is nice to have warm and sun.
So, I haven’t written one of these in a while! It looks like my last one was May 14th. Since then we have done a few things, and one big one, Wyatt’s surgery. We will start there.
Wyatt had his surgery last week at Mott Michigan Medicine, and they did such a great job taking care of him. He is at the age now though where he understands surgery and after his last one, he was pretty anxious and reluctant, which broke my heart. I hate that he has had to have all of these surgeries already. This was like number 12 or 13 and he is only 11. However, he had the staff rolling with laughter in pre-op because he is a funny kid and likes to make people laugh. The surgery went well, and was about 90 minutes or so. After surgery was rough for a few days, but he seems to be back to my Wyatt now. I took him to therapy yesterday and his PT cleared him for all physical activities to his pain tolerance. I won’t feel relaxed for a while yet, but that is because I am his mum.
Afterwards we went shopping for crickets for our lizards and Carl the tarantula, and the pet store we stopped at had an ice cream place right next store. I felt little man deserved some ice cream after the past week, so we popped over. I only ordered each of us a single scoop since dinner wasn’t too far off, but the guy working I guess didn’t feel like that was enough, as he added a few scoops to each of ours for free. Wyatt’s was fully loaded and overflowing, and he was one happy kid!
Speaking of ice cream, do you all have Superman ice cream in your state? Or blue moon? I read the other day that those were just Michigan flavors and that seemed crazy.
We have been consuming lots of delicious treats the past few weeks honestly. Lol. A few weeks ago, I helped out with the social media for a local bookshop owner who was putting on a book festival. (She did a great job, and if you are in Michigan try to stop by The Wandering Librarian bookstore in Monroe!) We had a great time meeting the authors, of course shopping for books and other items because that was going to happen of course, and obviously posting to social media. Wyatt and Billy went with me because we were leaving right after baseball, and it was fun to share that event with them! One of the perks that I got was a free dirty soda it was delicious. I had not had one before and now I feel like I need to find a place closer to me so I can have it again. Although, it is probably good there is not one! I shared it with Billy and Wyatt of course, and then we stopped for cookies at a bakery on the way home. Billy ran in and picked up four different cookies, and we split them over the course of four days, which took Willpower with a capital W.
Wyatt and I also have spent some time accumulating books from thrift stores, garage sales, and little free library hopping.
Max seems pretty excited about this stack too! I think we gathered some great books, and half of these were even free at a garage sale! A few of them made it onto Wyatt’s summer reading list (which is flexible and I am sure will absolutely change).
I also spotted this stack of strawberry Corelle plates while thrifting, although I did not buy them. I wanted to though, they feel so nostalgic to me! My grandma had Corelle plates when I was a kid. I have heard they are non-breakable, is that true? I will probably keep thinking about these darn it. I really don’t need more plates no matter how cute though.
The other day when Wyatt and I went to the library, the big front porch was open for the summer. We have been waiting because we (I) love to sit out there. In fact I am hoping for some time alone here and there over the summer to go by myself and read there with an iced coffee. Anyway, this time it was me and Wyatt and as soon as we stepped onto the porch the big door slammed shut and we were locked out of the library! I joked to Wyatt that at least we were in a nice shady spot with lots of books! We hung out there for a bit then I called the front desk to let them know we needed “rescuing”. Lol.
I like to sit here and imagine what it would have been like to sit there before the city was all built up around it. This is the old house part of the library, we also have a new annex. The annex was built in the 1970s but they very recently renovated it. I am not a fan of the new renovations though, at least not yet. It is really cold and sterile and gray. I can see how it makes the space more functional, but it is lacking the warmth it used to have. Maybe we just all need to live in the space more to make it feel that way, considering the way it used to look was the way that it looked my entire life.
And I have to hurry off now, Wyatt has an appointment and I just noticed the time. We are both still in our pajamas and we need to leave in 30 minutes!! LOL.
I hope you all have a great day, and do something that makes you smile!
