Month: November 2019

Currently..November

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

Currently..is a meme hosted by Anne in Residence. I had a great time last time and found so many great new blogs! Today we are sharing what we are currently….. picking, preparing, trying, feeling, following.

Picking and Preparing: Recipes! This kind of goes along with the next one, preparing, too, so I am just putting them together. We are preparing for our Thanksgiving gathering this year, who is bringing what, who is coming. My mom and I have a few recipes picked out, and my husband and I have been hitting the cookbooks and blogs for different things to try. My husband and I have a pie project going on as well this month, where we want to improve our pie game. It is going to be a month of planning and eating!

Trying: We are trying to do a fast food free November! Sometimes it seems like days run away with us and this month, we want to be more mindful of our minutes and our time, and what we do in that time. One way we can do this is by eating good food together, not just driving through Taco Bell, which we probably do more often than I want to admit. (but I do love their cheesy bean and rice burrito..) We are just going to try to menu plan better, so on the days that are going to be busier, have easier, quicker meals planned ahead of time, even if it is make our pizzas or homemade Mexican food.

Feeling: Cozy. We are settling into a new fall routine, our warmer clothes are coming out, our wool hats and socks, and we are enjoying filling warm soups and stews, with tea as our nightcap. The nights are darker earlier, and we are embracing this change.

Following: The 30 Day Slowdown Childhood Challenge by Wilder Child! We are on day 3 and so far it has been simple and gratifying. We have watched a sunset together, prepared a meal together, and tonight we are going outside to explore and find some treasures in nature to add to our nature table.

What about you? What have you been up to?

Hello, November!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized8 Comments

I have always thought of November as the pause between October and December – where for me October and December seem crazy busy, November is different. It is a the signal to slow down, to get cozy, embrace the season for what it is. And November is that bridge between fall and winter. It is also the month of my birth, and also the month that my husband and I got married! (19 years ago this year!) He is still my very favorite person, that I want to spend all my moments with, good, bad and all the rest. And bonus, we get to have adventures with our little guy too! My other favorite person in the whole world.

This month our adventures are simple, as they usually are, just the way we like it. We like to not spread ourselves too thin, to not have so much stuff that we can’t enjoy what we have, to enjoy our every moment that we can. We plan on visiting a few nature centers, going on an owl prowl (something we do every year for years now!), baking and cooking, spending time with family. I foresee lots of soups and pie in our future… We are also joining in with the 30 Day Slowdown Childhood challenge over at Wilder Child – and frankly, it is the perfect time to do it.

We are going to learn about owls together this month, and beavers, since the full moon this month is the beaver moon. I have to say I don’t really know all that much about beavers, honestly, so I am looking forward to learning with Wyatt. We are also getting the opportunity to tour the Detroit Parade Company, something I have always wanted to do! I am a parade lover, beginning when I was a little girl and my brother and I would drink hot chocolate and watch the parade under blankets together. Now I do this with my son and husband, while my brother watches with his daughter.

As for me, I am going to a needle felting class with my stepmom one night this month, and I have my book club with my friends pretty soon too. But for the most part, I plan to be home a lot this month, playing around here with my family. I do have a goal of being done Christmas shopping by December, so we will see how I do. I do like 99% of my shopping online though, so at least I don’t need to go in a store, one of my least favorite things ever. I might not be done entirely, but I think I will have made some good headway. I want to be done so that we can really enjoy December this year, and not have to worry about too much. I started in September and I have quite the collection of gifts adding up!

I plan on enjoying November with lots of tea and cookies, movies, music, some family hikes, and cozy nights at home. Nature is getting ready for this slowdown time as well, with trees dropping their leaves to preserve their energy for the cold months ahead, animals getting snug in their burrows, other animals heading to warmer climates until spring. I love how our lives have begun to fall into these natural rhythms, this more seasonal way of life.

How about you? Any plans for the month?

Nonfiction November- Book Pairings

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized33 Comments

Woohoo I made it through week 1! There is so much participation in this challenge, that it makes it so fun. I had a great time and tried to visit everyone, although I think I missed some bloggers near the end, due to my schedule and Halloween.

This week is all about book pairings!

Week 2: (Nov. 4 to 8) –  Sarah’s Bookshelves is back to host – Book Pairing: This week, pair up a nonfiction book with a fiction title. It can be a “If you loved this book, read this!” or just two titles that you think would go well together. Maybe it’s a historical novel and you’d like to get the real history by reading a nonfiction version of the story. SARAH

First Pair:

My first pairing is The Radium Girls with A Beautiful Poison. I love Lydia Kang and her books always send me down a rabbit hole to track down more information on what she writes about in her fiction. She is fascinating, and so are the real histories, although tragic for these women.

Second Pair:

My second pairing is The Children’s Blizzard with The Long Winter. This would be an interesting duo to “buddy” read with a child. I always loved this Little House book but when I got older and read the real history of that winter, I saw just really how lucky to survive Laura and her family were.

My Sunday-Monday Post!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized27 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

Phew! I don’t think I realized what a marathon Halloween can be until this year! And I even cut down on our planned activities. Our normal lives put on the brakes by Wednesday morning it seemed, with all the Halloween stuff we had going on over the course of Wednesday and Thursday. It was a crazy schedule but we had so much fun. Wednesday was Wyatt’s classroom Halloween party, then later in the afternoon he had a Halloween party and parade at the place where he goes to PT. So two costume changes in one day, and lots of candy and fun. On Halloween we went to my brother’s house and trick or treated with Wyatt’s cousin. It was a bummer, the weather was freezing and just a literal downpour. If it would have been one day later I could say it was a cold November rain, but alas, it was just a cold Halloween rain. Despite the weather, the kids were all smiles. We only did a few houses, but we still had fun.

Read Last Week:

The Wicked Deep: Oo, I loved this book!! It was a great read, and it seemed to dovetail nicely with The House of Salt and Sorrow that I read earlier in the month. I loved Ernshaw’s writing style, and this book was very original and well done. I loved it and now I can’t wait to read Winterwood.

Reading this Week:

I am participating in Nonfiction November this month, so I will be reading a few nonfiction books (hopefully!) I tend to read nonfiction slower than fiction, and I have never done a month of straight nonfiction, so I may mix it up a bit. We will see how it goes!

21st-Century Yokel: This was not in my plan at all until I started hopping around the blogs for #NonficNov! I saw it on The Secret Library Site and knew I had to add it to my list for the month.

Watching:

We didn’t watch too much, but we did catch the finale for GBBO! Oh my gosh that ending!

What about all of you? What is going on in your neighborhood?