My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer
Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Last week was just a week, living the everyday life. Meetings, appointments, dinners, errands. Not bad but nothing special. It does seem like winter has arrived full force in Michigan, with freezing temperatures and snow. We did play outside in the snow for a few minutes yesterday, not too long as it was sort of sleeting outside, so not the most fun, but we still got outside for a little bit in the snow. We are going to be talking about winter trees this week with the Exploring Nature with Children homeschool curriculum (Wyatt goes to school, but I do a little supplementing) and I am looking forward to this week! We already had a little bit of discussion and play having to do with trees last week, with our book and activity, which you can see in my Puddles and Pinecones post. As for what else we are doing, that is up in the air too! I guess we are totally flexible this week and open to anything!
Read Last Week/This Week:
Things are not going well here with reading. I seem to be in a…. slump. I pick stuff up and I am just meh, not interested. And these are books I know I will probably like! So this week I am just going to give myself some freedom to read whatever, and explore my stacks and see what pulls me, hopefully, from my reading slump. I do have some contenders, from my nonfiction reading stack, that I am going to try. So this week is all up in the air!
Posted Last Week:
Puddles and Pinecones – Scout and the Gumboot Kids
Watching:
We started watching The Ranch again, what a great show. I love the addition of Dax Shepherd! We finished up His Dark Materials, which was amazing, and also finished Anne with an “E”, which I loved and was so sad when the season ended! We are also watching The Elliot Homestead YouTube videos, and have a list of shows to watch, although we are not sure what is next. I kind of want to watch Troop Zero on Amazon, so that might be what we watch.
What about all of you? What is going on in your neighborhood?
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 
Winter has arrived here too…some snow and now this week, really, really cold.
I often find that if I get too regimented in what I am going to read, it doesn’t go well and that going with the flow is a good way to get out of a slump.
I forgot to mention, and thought about e-mailing you, but I’ll just leave the comment here: After our previous discussions about The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating, I came across the book as a withdrawn book from our library in large print and I picked it up. I didn’t realize it was so short and based on that…and of course, more importantly 🙂 your recommendation…I am going to read it sometime this year. I’m not sure when yet, maybe in the Spring, but I’ll let you know what I think when I do.
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Why are you following my blogger? 😉😂
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Lol!!
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He’s my nerdy brother. 😜
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Yes that bitter cold has really settled in here as well! It’s really the only time I won’t take Wyatt out, so it is a bummer. 😦
I think that is sort of what happened! I tried to start the new year all organized, but my inner reader rebelled. So I will have to find a balance, and still be organized with my reading and reviews. 🙂
It is so short! But packed full of good stuff. 🙂 I am excited but nervous to hear what you think! Lol.
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I love how your adventures are such great learning experiences for Wyatt.
I have watched The Ranch now and then, but started mostly because of Sam Elliott and Debra Winger. I like Dax Shepard, but couldn’t stand Danny Masterson…glad he’s gone.
Not a big fan of Ashton Kutcher, either, lol. But the other characters sort of make up for his character’s stupidity.
It’s funny how I can get emotional about characters in a show or a movie.
Enjoy your week. I find that following my moods in reading helps when I’m in a slump. Good luck.
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Thanks Laurel!!
Yeah, I feel the same about The Ranch! Billy and I were just talking about Ashton Kutcher and that very thing, about how is character is so dumb, and that Billy had read that Ashton Kutcher in reality is a really smart guy who does some great stuff. So we were talking about why he chooses to play that role a lot, which he definitely does! But Sam Elliot pretty much steals the show. And I love Abby too. 🙂
I definitely get all emotional too! Sometimes I get to anxious or embarrassed for a character and have to not watch for a second sometimes. Lol. I say I just have an abundance of empathy.
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I think your idea about listening to your inner voice when it comes to choosing your next reads is excellent. I always seem to have trouble when I try to force myself to read something I’m not in the mood for reading.
I’m terribly interested in exploring nature with children. One of our Sunday Salon friends, Stacy at Stacy’s Books, is trying to do a 1000 Hours Outside Challenge with her son this year. I’m not sure how that would work out in a very-cold place like you live in, but it might be fun to try. I don’t think I realized how lucky I was to grow up in the times I did, times in which I was able to spend lots of time outdoors.
Have a great week!
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I get so grumpy if I try to continue to read something I am not enjoying, so it is better for everyone if I set it down for a bit. Lol. Now to find something I feel like reading!
I meant to link to Exploring Nature with Children in case anyone was interested but forgot! I have bought two different curriculum that I use interchangeably with Wyatt, just to add in some extra stuff. I do this one and another that focuses more on reading and art and music, but we do that one really only in the summer. I send him to preschool but want to make sure I fill in the gaps with nature learning, science, and also just the nature is good for your health and soul stuff with Wyatt. This is the link https://raisinglittleshoots.com/buy-exploring-nature-with-children/
It is definitely harder here to get outside! I think that is why we really embrace the whole no bad weather, just bad clothing adage. But growing up here, in the land of snow and ice, it’s sort of just part of our world and we are used to it. 🙂 I love winter and struggle in the heat of summer. Wyatt is not a hot weather kid either, and you can find us in the AC in the heat of the day in the summer, and we tend to venture out in the morning and evening. But then there are time when we really can’t go out too easily, like during snow storms and ice storms and this really bitter cold weather – we will go out for a short while but nothing too long. 🙂 I am excited to see how far we get with the 1000 hour challenge, especially with the cold winter days still ahead!
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WordPress ate my comment! I had this whole long comment about this show we watch on YouTube about goats and how I hope you find a good book to read this week and how nice the tree study sounds. Then I rambled about the weather and yadda yadda and then the app said “there was an error processing your reply.” *sniff* so just know I really left a long one but I’m too lazy to write it all out again on my phone. If I was on the computer, I’d do it again but typing it out on the phone is annoying.
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Lol!! I hate that!! I also hate commenting from my phone as well – it’s why I usually wait until weekday mornings to comment everywhere, because I can actually have a moment to use my computer. Right now Wyatt is busy playing for a bit so I snuck away – no school today!
And I want to hear about this goat show!
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The show is Weed ‘Em and Weep and follows the life of this family on their goat farm. The woman started a healthier lifestyle to address some health problems and then they bought a house where they could start a farm in Arizona. She also provides recipes for what she is cooking in the episodes. I’m completely invested in the lives of these goats for some reason and my daughter knows way too much about how baby goats are conceived and born but I guess it will help me in the future when we have to have a discussion about the “birds and the bees.” Lol.my daughter also thinks I should cook all the recipes this woman makes. Her meals are super simple but I don’t always have the ingredients and my daughter is like “look, Mama. Watch her so you can make that for dinner..”
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Ooo that sounds right up my alley! I will have to look it up! And lol about er…the goat reproduction. Your daughter sounds like a hoot!
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Good luck with the slump! I was in one on and off all through December, and am just now getting back into reading more or less regularly. And yikes I hope your snow isn’t too bad! We didn’t get a lot but what we did get was heavy and wet, so the roads were not great. It’s better though.
That’s a serious bummer about Anne with an E. I haven’t seen it but I’ve heard good things, and I saw a drive to get Netflix to reconsider… hopefully they will!
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Slumps are the worst! I feel sort of lost without a book I am reading. Lol. Our snow wasn’t too terrible, but we did have a lot of sleet which was gross. By evening the worst was over though and we went out for a bit.
It is such a good show!
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We had some rain. We had some frost. We’re going to have some more rain. My weekly update
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This weather is wacky. And in Michigan, unnatural honestly. 😦
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I can understand your reading slump. Nothing on my review stack is really calling to me. I read a few pages and put the book down and move to the next. That isn’t the way to get anything finished. I pulled out an old favorite to give myself a break before I go back to the review stack. Come see my week here. Happy reading!
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Ugh that is just how I feel too. I pick something up, put it down. 😦 Dissatisfied with them all. I will try an old favorite, that works for me sometimes too. I hope your reading picks up too! 🙂 It’s no fun to be without a read!
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I’m in Michigan too, and it does seem to have gotten winter-y in a hurry! That’s helped with my reading – I’m hiding under a blanket with a book until further notice! Hope you get back in your groove soon 🙂
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Winter came all at once! 🙂
That sounds wonderful! I will be doing that very soon!
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My reading was slow this past week though I don’t think I’m in a slump. My husband is working nights this week so I’m hoping to work in more reading time after the kids are in bed! Hope your reading picks up. 🙂
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I can’t settle on a book. 😦 I read the most I have read in days though today, a book about owls. Lol.
Enjoy your quiet reading time!
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My kids and I watched Troop Zero yesterday and loved it. However, I should also qualify that by saying I’m a Girl Scout Leader–so a lot of it was very true to life!
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We watched it and I loved it! What a great movie. 🙂 And I am glad to hear that it was true to life! 🙂
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Maybe nonfiction might work better for you right now, have you read Overstory or The Secret Life of Trees yet?
Wishing you a great reading week
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I haven’t but they are on my list! I’ll see if my library has them in! Thanks! 🙂
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Quiet day around here w/it being the first day of Chinese New Year. I’m starting to watch this Korean drama online and it’s making me laugh. Catching up on blogs so I can maybe start cookies and knit and watch.
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I hope you had a nice holiday! And you can’t beat cookies!!
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