I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz, Kathryn at Book Date, and Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
Hello everyone! I hope that you are having a good weekend! Our week has been very very slow. Lol. That heatwave kept us indoors for a whole week for the most part. We ran out and did things here and there, but not anything too exciting. Wyatt and I spent a lot of time reading and painting, our two fallbacks for free time here. This week the weather is supposed to be a lot nicer, and we will be out and about. It is the annual art fair in our city this week and Wyatt and I always go one morning together, then I go again with Billy during the evening. Billy and I used to work downtown in our twenties and spent 12 hour days the week of art fair, but we absolutely loved every second. Ah to be 23 again. Lol.
Books:
I’ve fallen into this cozy mystery series and can’t stop! They are such perfect little summertime reads. They are set on the west coast of Michigan, in my favorite area near Saugatuck in a fictional town named Oriole Point. I am loving them! I read Dying for Strawberries and then immediately bought Blackberry Burial for my kindle, which if you know me, then you know I have not used my kindle for like five years. Anyway, I am loving this series, written by Michigan author Sharon Farrow.
Once I finish Blackberry Burial, which I should in a day or two, I am going to start My Own Cape Cod by Gladys Taber.
Screens:
Billy and I have been catching up on Only Murders in the Building this week. It just seemed like a good week to finally watch it. We have also been continuing on our nostalgic movies of the 80s and 90s watching with Wyatt as well! So far this weekend we have watched The Great Outdoors starring Dan Ackroyd and John Candy, Annette Bening and Stephanie Faracy. Wyatt was cracking up at so many of John Candy’s antics, much like I did in 1988.
Tonight Billy and I are going to watch one without Wyatt, I Know What You Did Last Summer.
We usually watch Jaws on the fourth of July but switched it out this year for The Great Outdoors. Sometimes you have to mix things up!
I am cohosts with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and Cat at Cat’s Wire, of the linkup A Good Book and a Cup of Tea for all things books -not just books read or reviews, but bookstore visits or author visits or whatever else bookish you can think of!
Here is the link for July’s link up!
I also posted a few times last week!
Books, Screens, and In-Betweens – June Wrap Up
In Our Homeschool – Out with the Old, In with the New
And finally, some in-betweens:
It was a pretty slow week, as I said above. I visited my mom quite a bit, read, painted with Wyatt, played games with Wyatt, went to therapy with him where he knocked it out of the park again, so there is not much to say here! However, one little thing happened.
On Friday, Billy had the day off. It was still dangerously hot but we needed out of the house, at least Wyatt and I did, so all three of us went for a drive. We popped into a few stores, I got a new dress to wear poolside at my cousin’s, we got blizzards from Dairy Queen (Oreo for Wyatt, Reeses for me, and mango for Billy), and then on the way home Billy thought our car needed a bath. We went through the car wash, and midway through my child decided he wanted a closer look at the machinery washing our car – and rolled his window down! He instantly panicked when water came flying in, and Billy scrambled to roll up the window from his driver side controls. It was one of those parenting moments where you just roll your eyes at each other over the crazy antics of your kid. We all cracked up too, because we never expected that to happen! At least now that he is 11! However, Wyatt is definitely turning into a tween boy, following his impulses, and reminding me of my little brother at that age. Lol.
I do have some photos from our lazy week! Not many though. LOL.
The drive thru line was so long at Taco Bell on one of those 112 degree days that I just read my book while I was waiting. You can also see my sunflowers that I painted from an Andrea Nelson art tutorial on Instagram, and then our two mischievous tween kittens, making a mess trying to catch a fly.
And that my friends is it from me today! I hope whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!!
It sounds like you had a lovely week despite the high heat. That car wash story had me LOL! I love your sunflowers too. Have a great 4th of July weekend Erin!
This kid is so silly. Lol. Thank you Jodie!!
What is with this intense heat! I am glad you made the best of it with inside activities and you sure can’t go wrong with Dairy Queen!
We are now on all rainy days. It’s better than the awful heat but I would like a normal summer now please. Lol. Dairy Queen was an amazing choice. I can’t believe how long it had been since I had one!
Reading and painting sound like perfect ways to spend the summer. I broke down and got a Blizzard (Heath Bar for me) this week, too. I may get another next week!
I think a Blizzard a week is self-care. Go for it! Lol. Our weather has been so goofy. We had a week of intense heat and now days and days of rain. It is good for the plants and animals here but I could use a normal summer day. Lol.
Blizzards from Dairy Queen sound perfect to me. So does Taco Bell for that matter. LOL I read a couple of the Sharon Farrow books. I started in the middle and need to go back and read the first couple. They were really good. Hope you have a great week!
Lol! They both really were good!
I am really enjoying this cozy series! Part of it is the summer in Michigan connection but they are also just really interesting and different!
Blizzards sound good in this heat!
They were delicious!!
I think our heat is continuing through this week. Although we got a nice break on the 4th thanks to some rain that came through and cooled it off. My family loved The Great Outdoors, even used to quote so many things from that movie. I think we had it on the other day and my nephew was hooked watching the part about the little girls in the cave and the bear coming after John Candy. Sounds like a pretty good week, hope this one is too!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/07/05/weekly-wrap-up-july-5th-2026/
For some reason a bunch of your comments were in Spam. WordPress is so weird.
We had a nice little break for a day or two, and now it is going to be hot all over again.
Yes! Wyatt loved the bear part. He also liked John Candy waterskiing. Lolol.
The sunflower painting is beautiful! I want to check out that Michigan author – thanks for sharing!
Aw thank you!! And I am really enjoying her cozy mysteries. I just finished the Blackberry Burial and I really liked it!
I’m waiting for the day when one of my littles pulls the window trick! You roll with the flow (no pun intended.) I think I might have to look into Stephanie Farrow!
Lol!! I couldn’t believe it. I was like Wyatt! But then we just laughed because seriously, what the heck kid. Lol. I have read the first two in the series now and I am enjoying them. The first two are very summertime in Michigan feels! They are light easy reads.
I’d rather wait for a while in an airconditioned car than cook in the heat.
Thanks for sharing your week, happy reading!
100%! I think everyone around me felt that way too. And it gave me a bit of time to read. Lol.
I understand wanting to see the mechanics up close, lol!
Here is my Sunday post, a bit special: https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/07/05/parisinjuly2026-and-sunday-post-162-my-current-french-books/
Lol he cracks me up. It was so funny. I will be over soon to read it!
Hahahaha Wyatt…I love that kid.
I appreciate you being mindful and telling us what kind of blizzard everyone got. I always and ever get the Peanut Buster Parfait. Not peanut butter…peanut BUSTER.
Taco Bell is always worth the wait no matter what the temperature.
You painted those sunflowers??? Beautiful!
He is such a silly kid. Lolol.
And lol! Of course! That is a very important detail. My brother always liked the Peanut Buster parfait too! I will have to find out if it is his standard order still. And yes, agree. I love Taco Bell.
Thank you! Andrea Nelson does these really short tutorials on her Instagram and it has been fun to try some this summer!
Oh no. LOL. At least nowadays cars are made with the controls for all windows in the front. Love the sunflowers. You did a great job! Cats and flies are always an entertaining combo. Lol. Those cozy mysteries look delightful! Have a great week! 🙂
Lol yes!! My husband had to hurry before the kid got soaked! Lol.
Thank you! And oh my gosh these two go nuts. My senior cat follows them around watching them and I wonder what she is thinking.
I forgot to say I love the looks on the cats’ faces and I love that desk the one cat is sitting on!
Lol that is why I had to take that photo! The looks on their faces! And thanks! I love that desk. It is a double desk from a school, and I got it for 50 bucks at a garage sale!
The Norther Hemisphere is melting. I think we won the lottery though. It was very pleasant here yesterday. In fact we had to put on coats to be comfortable watching the fireworks.
My post: https://headfullofbooks.blogspot.com/2026/07/sunday-salon-usa-is-250-years-old.html
Oh my gosh!! Where do you live, I will be there in a few hours. LOL. Thankfully our heat has dissipated, and now it is rainy.
Your week sounds very full and productive for such a hot one! I wish our town would have an art fair because I would go to it. There’s a huge one in Indianapolis, but I didn’t go this year. It’s hard to find parking near it which is always a big deal to me. I’ve been reading (and even did a blog post and linked it) a few books. I’m reading The Academy by Elin Hilderbrand and her daughter. I haven’t quite figured out what, exactly, it’s about. We are still watching “Grimm” and probably will be for quite a while. I’ve started crocheting granny squares to make a cardigan. So far, so good! I have always kinda wanted to do exactly what Wyatt did just to see what happens! Have a fabulous week!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
Our city has one of the largest in Michigan! I absolutely love walking around it. There is a really huge one in Ann Arbor but it is almost too big, and like the one near you, it is way too hard to find parking. Ours is hard to find parking, but not like out there.
I need to catch up! That is my plan today. There are four bloggers whose posts I want to catch up on. We will see how I do!
I loved Grimm. It is such a fun show. I love Rosalee and Monroe!
I am not doing well on my embroidery lately. I usually do it at night and I have just been pooped out by then.
And lol!!
We didn’t do much with the heatwave this week either… and I’m not sure we will the next couple of days either because even though it broke we’re now in a flood watch until Tuesday afternoon. The Great Outdoors is one of my favorites! Right up there with Money Pit, Uncle Buck, Mr. Mom, Big, etc.
Ugh!!! This weather is crazy. Hopefully you don’t get any flooding. It has been super rainy here too.
I love The Great Outdoors!! It’s a fave of mine too. We have Uncle Buck and The Money Pit on our list, I should add the others as well!
The heat has been crazy here too. My fiancee and I did a 5K on the Fourth – we usually walk with weighted vests – and I am pretty sure I was heading towards heat exhaustion – it took me about 20 minutes after we were done to stop sweating and my heart rate to come down! I LOVE The Great Outdoors (may John Candy rest in peace!). Enjoy the books!
Oh my gosh!! I probably would have passed right out. Lol.
It is such a fun movie!
It is a terrible temptation when in the car wash to open the window, though!! I used to call them “pandas” because the ones around us had black and white brushes. Love those kitty innocent faces: “How did that all fall down?”
Omg I love that Liz. That is adorable. There is something tempting about it, I will agree. Lol.
And seriously. They are so funny!!!
It’s so fun that you are watching old movies that you love with Wyatt – and that he finds them funny too. Your Michigan cozy series sounds good. Yikes! What a shocker that must have been with water splashing through the window at the car wash. Glad everyone found it funny.
He is so silly!! And it shocked the heck out of all us!! Lol.
I am really enjoying that series. 🙂
I love when books are set in a place that I already love. They’re like mini-vacations.
Sunflowers are a cheery subject to pain on a hot day. So beautiful!
Yes! I loved “visiting” that side of Michigan while reading.
And thank you!
I used to work and then go to music concerts be out late and then go to work the next day, so I know what you mean. I need some serious recoup time after if I did that now. I loved The Great Outdoors! What a great movie to introduce to our grandkids! We’re visiting with them next week so I’m putting that on the to-be-watched list! Nice that you’re getting some cooler weather. Have a great week, Erin!
Lol right?? I look back on those days and am like wow all that energy! I could use some of that now.
I hope they love it too! Wyatt loved the bear parts and the waterskiing scene the best. LOL
The car wash! 😀 You will all laugh over that one for years to come! My uncle drove into one of those car washes where the car sits still and all the machinery moves around it. In the south, most of those are open on both ends, but we’ve noticed that they’re often closed on both ends in the north. Well, this one was closed on both ends for some reason, even though he/we live in North Carolina. The entrance rolled up, he drove in, the car got washed, and nothing ever opened for him to exit! He was trapped! Luckily there was a phone number he could call. I don’t remember how long it took but holy cow! And then he, or maybe my aunt, went to the same car wash and the same thing happened again! I would never have gone back after the first time!
Your cats and the flies! 🙂 My husband destroys the room like that when he’s chasing a fly too! He can’t stand to hear a fly buzzing around.
Was it really 115 there? I’m not really surprised but wow! I don’t know what our official high was in Marquette but my car thermometer read 99 degrees and I drove by a bank that was showing 100. I don’t know how things are where you are, but so many locals up here don’t even have air conditioning. Luckily we have it in our RV so we made it through okay but they must have been miserable.
We absolutely will. His face! I wish I had gotten a photo. Lol. And oh my gosh your poor uncle!! That would freak me out!! I would not want to be trapped in a car wash. Lol.
LOLOL!! I am picturing your husband just bouncing all around like my cats! My dad is similar, they make him crazy. I told him to get a cat and his problem would be solved. Lol.
The UP is a whole different country than the lower peninsula. So much more rural, and usually a lot cooler! It was 115 here with the heat index, it was awful. We do thankfully have A/C. It is crazy to think it got that hot up there in Marquette!