Author: Erin @ Cracker Crumb Life

I try to create a culture of celebration in our home. For life, for the little things, for wonder and for whimsy. I try to find the beauty around us and teach my son Wyatt to find it, and appreciate it and love it as well. We are a homeschool family, and we love it. We love the freedom it gives us to explore a topic or idea more deeply, and I like that I can adjust our schedule around Wyatt’s other needs. Wyatt has cerebral palsy and epilepsy, and his week often has therapy, doctor’s appointments, naps peppered throughout which would make a traditional school schedule difficult. He is also an asynchronous learner, and I love that I can tailor learning to where Wyatt is at that moment. We have a house full of animals and will probably add more because we like a zoo. We have one cat, Miso, who is a rescue. She is 14 years old and my little floofy girl. We also have one leopard gecko, Luna, a pictus gecko named Harlow, a pacman frog named Freddy, and two crested geckos, Applejack and Oliver. We love all of our little friends! My husband Billy, Wyatt, and I are all curious, creative, stubborn humans which makes for some fun times around here. We love the outdoors, except we are not made for high temps so we retreat inside when the temps start to soar. We are nature lovers through and through. We are trying to downsize our lives too, to live more simply, to buy things that last and eat real food from small local farmers. (and of course Goldfish crackers) We live seasonally and are always up for adventure. We love books and reading, and can be found at the library at least once a week!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books on my 2025 Spring TBR

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized58 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week’s prompt is:  Books on My Spring 2025 to-Read List

One book I read without fail every spring is Watership Down. It is my favorite book and I read it every year, and I have for years and years. I am not adding it to this list, but I wanted to mention it.

Ok, now the rest!

Those We Drown || Malamander || Of Salt and Shore

I am feeling very coastal and watery right now – maybe it is the thawing of the ice on our lakes and rivers here in Michigan, the spring rains, the mud, and just the wet damp of spring. Whatever it is, so many of the books I have saved on my TBR lately are water adjacent.

Those We Drown: An ocean-drenched, atmospheric horror debut! Liv’s best friend disappears on their first night aboard their dream semester-at-sea program—but is he really sick, like everyone says, or is something darker lurking beneath the water?

Malamander: Nobody visits Eerie-on-Sea in the winter. Especially not when darkness falls and the wind howls around Maw Rocks and the wreck of the battleship Leviathan, where even now some swear they have seen the unctuous malamander creep…

Of Salt and Shore: Every evening Lampie the lighthouse keeper’s daughter must light a lantern to warn ships away from the rocks. But one stormy night disaster strikes. The lantern goes out, a ship is wrecked and an adventure begins.

Somewhere Beyond the Sea || Death Bee Comes Her || Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree

Somewhere Beyond the Sea: A magical house. A secret past. A summons that could change everything.

Death Bee Comes Her: With her Let It Bee honey boutique buzzing along nicely, life is as sweet as nectar for Wren Johnson—until she takes a morning walk along the Pacific beach with her Havana Brown cat, Everett, and stumbles upon the body of Agnes Snow, the cranky queen of the local craft fairs, stiff as driftwood. More unfortunate? Clutched in the victim’s fist is a label from Wren’s homemade beeswax-and-honey lip balm. Which makes Officer Jim Hampton focus his dreamy-blue Paul Newman eyes on Wren as suspect number one.

Gladwynn Grant Shakes the Family Tree: Working as a small-town newspaper reporter and trying to keep up with her grandmother, Lucinda, has kept Gladwynn Grant busy, but, otherwise, life has been quiet.

Everything changes, though, when her older, aloof sister, Sheena, shows up unannounced at the front door. As if that isn’t enough to deal with, she finds one of her interview subjects dead.

Wormwood Abbey || When Women Were Dragons || A Study in Drowning

Wormwood Abbey: As a Victorian clergyman’s daughter, Edith Worms has seen everything — until a mythical salamander tumbles out of the fireplace into her lap.

When Women Were Dragons: A rollicking feminist tale set in 1950s America where thousands of women have spontaneously transformed into dragons, exploding notions of a woman’s place in the world and expanding minds about accepting others for who they really are. 

A Study in Drowning: Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.

Raising Hare

I am so so excited to read this one!! I love rabbits, rabbit books, all things rabbit and this one sounds so good. Although I am scared of a sad ending. This is like Widow Tweed dreams, although she had a fox.

Raising Hare: Imagine you could hold a baby hare and bottle-feed it. Imagine that it lived under your roof and lolloped around your bedroom at night, drumming on the duvet cover when it wanted your attention. Imagine that, over two years later, it still ran in from the fields when you called it and snoozed in your house for hours on end. This happened to me.

And that is it from me today! I can’t wait to hop around and see what everyone else is looking forward to reading!

Mini Book Reviews: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, Emily of New Moon, and Greenwild

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Hello everyone! It’s time for another mini book review post!

First up: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa, translated by Eric Ozawa

A book about books and bookshops – I had a feeling I was going to like it. And I did! Takako is a young woman, who was blindsided one day by her boyfriend, when he tells her that he is getting married – but not to her. I think this could throw anyone for a loop! She falls into a depression, and an unexpected phone call from her uncle whom she hasn’t spoken to in years changes her life, when he offers her a job, working for room and board in his bookshop. For maybe anyone else this would be a dream come true. But Takako is not a reader.

I of course loved all of the aspects of being a reader who loves books that is touched upon in this book, but what I loved most was the relationship between uncle and niece. It just felt unexpected, and I found it refreshing. Her uncle Satoro is a bit of a free spirit, and at first Takako has a hard time relating to him. Throughout the book however, their relationship figures itself out, and Takako learns some things about her uncle she didn’t know. I absolutely loved this short read.

“No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live our lives trying to find our way.”

Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery

I had been wanting to read Emily of New Moon for awhile, although I wasn’t sure if I would like Emily as much as Anne. Imagine my surprise when I liked her maybe a little bit more? Don’t come for me Anne fans! Lol. I still love Anne!

However, I loved Emily of New Moon. She is feisty and temperamental, resilient and independent. I loved reading her story. There were flashes of Anne, with her whimsy and love of words and writing and poetry, but Emily is her own character. In the foreword written by Kate MacDonald Butler, Montgomery’s granddaughter, she states that Emily was her grandmother’s favorite creation, and that her grandmother has been quoted as saying “People were never right in saying I was Anne, but in some respects, they will be right if they write me down as Emily.”

I only had two criticisms – and a TW – there are a lot of references to cat deaths and also a character that had some off-putting vibes.

Otherwise I was completely sucked into this story that Montgomery has said reflected a lot of her own inner life in childhood.

“Emily had inherited certain things from her fine old ancestors – the power to fight – to suffer – to pity – to love very deeply – to rejoice- to endure.”

Greenwild by Pari Thomson

I loved this book. I love the idea of green magic, the green wild, the characters. It was just a really fun middle grade read for @middlegrademarch!

One thing in particular that I really loved was the fact that they said they were not witches – they were Botanists who worked with the magic of nature, but not witches. I thought that was just a neat distinction. I also loved that all wore overalls; I too love overalls. The whole Greenwild reminded me of Harry Potter, if Harry Potter was all nature-based and immersed in plants and greenery, greenhouses, trowels, dirt, parakeets. I could go on and on but I won’t. I will just urge you to go ahead and read this! I have already recommended it to all the moms I know who have middle grade aged children, but if you are an adult who enjoys middle grade, like me, I suggest you read it as well!

“Daisy began to feel like a seed taking root. She was insect-nibbled and wind-ruffled and elbow-skinned. Her hair was full of twigs, her fingernails were filthy – and every part of her felt hungry and alive.” That passage just feels so spring to me! It makes me excited to get outside and get my own hands in the dirt, planting things.

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello everyone!! We have been going hard the last few weeks, and it has caught up with us. Wyatt has a cold – so we are hitting the brakes and slowing way down. We have been doing just small lessons in school this week, and having more free time to just relax and rest up.

I shared last time about Wyatt’s actual birthday, that we celebrated the three of us by bopping around Detroit and hitting a few really cool places. We didn’t do much again until Wednesday, when Mermaid Girl came over for dinner and a makers night. We had hamburgers and Doritos, a Mermaid Girl favorite, and then broke off into groups. I was showing Mermaid Girl how to embroider and chatting with her about different things, while the guys were on the floor making a cup holder for Wyatt’s wheelchair out of leather. This wasn’t a boys and girls thing; I just wanted some one on one time with my niece and it was good for Wyatt to have some one on one with just his dad as well. We worked on our projects for almost an hour, then I got out a chart I have been making for Mermaid Girl. She has been interested in our family tree, so I got it started and then she and I will continue to add to it in the coming weeks. We had a really good time, and loved having her here with us!

The week kept rolling along, way too fast for me. I did squeeze in a girls night though! Chrissy and I spent an a few hours at Kelly’s house, and it was some much needed time with my crew. Kelly has a menagerie of animals as well, cats and toads and frogs. I managed to catch a few in photos while I was there. Her toads are coming out of brumation from the winter and they are so huge!

I also scrambled about making sure I had everything I needed for the party Saturday, along with help from my dad, stepmom, and mother-in-law. Thank goodness for family! We had it at the nature center at a local metropark; now this particular nature center is one Billy and I have been going to for at least twenty years. We are friends with the interpreters and they have known Wyatt since he was born. We had his last big party there right before Covid, and this was sort of a nod to that one, five years later. We had around 40 people there, and it was so awesome to be surrounded with people we love and who love Wyatt, including the interpreters. We had pizza and cupcakes that turned everyone’s mouths blue from the frosting, a presentation by Roni for the kids on different animals in Michigan, and the kids just played and played in the kids area, people took walks nearby on the trails, and there was so much chatting and catching up. Some people hadn’t seen other people at the party since the last one five years ago, and the room just felt full of love and joy to me.

Sunday was bowling! He is hit or miss (lol) with attendance but it is a non-competitive type of thing and it is ok if they don’t go every Sunday. Which is good for us, because we missed on his birthday and we will miss next Sunday for the Hurricane’s birthday. Wyatt had a really good time this last Sunday, although, halfway through he asked if we could leave and go shopping. I swear, this kid! It’s only an hour of bowling so it’s not like it’s too long. Afterwards though, we realized we could go to Ikea for lunch since we were five minutes away – and Wyatt could get his shopping fix in. We had lunch (those meatballs are so good!) and then shopped the main shopping floor and skipped the whole showroom floor. We didn’t buy much, since we hadn’t planned on shopping. We got some chocolate, some small plastic organizing bins that I use for our homeschool and art supplies, a medium sized pot since we ruined one of ours boiling wood for our fish (don’t ask), chocolate of course, and a new bath mat for my mom’s bathroom. I also bought two new plants, since they were $2.99 and 20% off! One of them landed in Luna’s tank vivarium, and another is in our all purpose room.

And then, Wyatt woke up Monday all congested. And now he is in the congested and coughing stage. He is acting normally and eating and drinking so I am hoping this is just a short lived little cold thing. But we have been laying low, and I have been catching up on things here.

I’ve been reading a lot on the interwebs this past week, and I read that Scotland has designed a new tartan to honor the women killed under the Witchcraft Act between 1536 and 1763. Every single bit of this tartan has been thought about carefully and meaningfully, from the thread color to the thread count. I love that this is how Scotland chose to remember and memorialize these women, it is such a living remembrance, organic and fluid and easily accessible. This project was the idea of two women,  “Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi, who founded the Witches of Scotland campaign in 2020.” I just thought this was such an amazing memorial for these women, and wanted to share, especially during Women’s History Month.

And I think that is it from me for today! Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile my friends!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Feature Found Family

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized50 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt:  Books that Include/Feature [insert your favorite theme or plot device here]

I went with one of my favorite tropes, found family. There is just something so heartwarming about it. I am a family person; I have a large family that I love, and we are all so close. I also have a few friends that I consider family. They are my friends who are really like sisters, so for me, a book with found family is just one of my favorite things to read.

The Raven Boys || The Honey Witch || The Healing Season of Pottery

The Raven Boys: This group was just such a crazy hodgepodge to me, and I loved the way they all fit together. On the surface, they really shouldn’t have but they clicked and worked.

The Honey Witch: I just recently read this one, and it is still super fresh in my mind. I just loved the friendships and love between Marigold and her group that she finds after she becomes the Honey Witch; a rekindled old friendship, new friendships, love. (and this was a gift from a little book fairy from TTT!)

The Healing Season of Pottery: I could vividly picture this group, creating their pottery together in the studio.

The Teller of Small Fortunes || Other Birds || The Hollows Series

The Teller of Small Fortunes: I absolutely loved this little friend group that formed, town by town and bit by bit. I loved it so much that I hope there is another book in this series!

Other Birds: This is one of my all time favorite books. I love the residents of the Dellawsip, and I love just everything about this book. I also love that my dad said that the main character Zoey reminded him of me.

The Hollows series: This is throwing it back there. I LOVED this series and met the author a few times at author signings. She doesn’t live too far away. Anyway, this series was such a great series and the characters are all so different and make up a wonderful found family – especially Rachel and Ivy. Dead Witch Walking is the first in the series.

Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop || Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers| A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic

Welcome the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop: Found family and books! And coffee!!

Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers: I didn’t expect to find found family in this book, and so I was pleasantly surprised by it. I love Vera.

A Fellowship of Bakers and Magic: This book is such an easy little gentle read, and I love how the characters become a family. I love this cover too! It was illustrated by Katie Daisy, and I love all of her illustrations!

The Last Unicorn

The Last Unicorn: This is one of my all time favorites. I will never not love this book (and the animated movie) Amidst all of the magic, a real family of sorts forms. I love it.

And that is it from me today! I will be popping by all week I am sure!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized31 Comments

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

Hello everyone! Last week we had a crazy busy week but I *think* that this week should be a more relaxed one. Here’s to hoping! I am falling behind on my extracurricular activities, like blogging and reading and sewing! Lol.

Read Last Week:

I read Emily of New Moon for Middle Grade March and I absolutely loved her. Dare I say it? But I think I liked Emily more than Anne. Review coming this week!!

I also read The Sad Ghost Club 2. These books are just so well done. The blurb on the back cover says “This is a story about what happens after you find your kindred spirits. Because people are great but also…complicated.” The review on this one will be up this week as well.

Reading This Week:

I am so excited to start these this week! I am reading Greenwild as part of Middle Grade March, and I anticipate finishing it pretty quickly. Then I will start The Spellshop, a book that has been on my TBR for a while now!

Posted Last Week:

Coffee Catch Up: The Birthday Boy

Springtime in Paris: A Film Event

Watching:

We have been watching a lot of the same. Murdoch, Ghosts, The Great Pottery Throw Down, and Dickinson. I really want a new season of Beyond Paradise or Brokenwood. When will those happen?

I do however have a some fun movies to look forward to! Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I are hosting another film watching event for springtime. It is six weeks, six movies, and very easy going! If you want to watch one or all or a few, we would love to have you join in. Just watch along and comment on our posts or post your own thoughts and link up!

If you are interested, this is the schedule of movies!

And that is it from around here today! Whatever you do today, I hope you do something that makes you smile!

Springtime in Paris – A Film Event

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Hello everyone!!

Spring is such a dreamy time of year, isn’t it? Warm breezes, violets and flowers blooming, and daydreams go together in my mind, and sometimes dreams of far off places, full of little adventures, new treats, new sights play large in my woolgathering. Along with lattes and macarons, baguettes with radish and butter and a little bit of salt, chocolate.

This year I am steering my springtime daydreams to Paris, a city to me, who has never had the opportunity to visit, is full of romance and beauty, perfect for this time of year in my opinion. And Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I will be helping these dreams along with movies set in Paris. We would love it if you would watch along with us!

It’s a short but sweet six weeks, with a group zoom watch if anyone is interested. You can watch along and post on your blog, or just watch along and comment on our posts. The dates listed are the days our posts will be published.

I am very much looking forward to this event and I hope that you will join us!

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up: Birthday Boy

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized19 Comments

Hello everyone! It is a sunshiney morning here today, although we do have some severe weather on the radar for tonight. We are also having Mermaid Girl over tonight! She is coming for dinner and then we are going to hang out – I am going to teach her embroidery. I think she is going to come over once a week for dinner, we have missed her! We will also work on our family tree some too, per her request. I am looking forward to it.

So the big thing around here lately has been Wyatt’s birthday! Double digits for this kid! It is so hard to believe sometimes – time has flown. I feel like it was yesterday he was born. I am planning to share our story about his birth this month. It just feels time, and maybe it will help someone who stumbles on my blog. March is also cerebral palsy awareness month, so it is all sort of fits.

Anyway, Wyatt turned ten Sunday! We had a celebration the three of us, and he is having a big party this weekend. We haven’t done a big party in years but we felt like we needed to this year, for many reasons. I am all nervous about it but it will be ok. However, Sunday was a blast! We had a slow morning, Wyatt opened a few little gifts (he is my kid – his favorite was the scented markers), and then around noonish we rolled out. We had a big day planned! We had originally planned to go to the zoo, but the temps stayed solidly in the teens, so we pivoted.

First stop, the Detroit Dye House! This is a tie dye place in Detroit, and my friend Kelly goes here all the time and has told me over and over to take Wyatt. Well, we did on Sunday. We did the drop in sessions, instead of a class, and it was so fun. The woman working was sweet and nice too – she explained what we needed to do, made sure the tub was low enough for Wyatt, and then it was time to begin!

That place was really cool. I want to go back and make something myself! They have a lot of different things to make, from tshirts to scarves to wraps to headbands. If you take a class, then you also make a pair of socks, that the Dye House provides, and then they donate the socks to the unhoused population in Detroit. They are having a peace sign design class in April that I want to go to. I want a headband and I don’t know what else.

Wyatt had a great time doing this, and so did Billy and I. He chose a spiral design because it reminded him of a snail. Of course.

After we finished here and had our saturated and wet shirt safely stowed in a special bag to take home with us, we headed to our next stop. We were all a little peckish so we stopped in at Mexicantown Bakery to choose a little something. Billy and I each got a ham and cheese empanada, Wyatt chose an M&M cookie, and then we picked up a few extras for the next day while we were at it. That big gigundo cookie tasted like a churro and was delicious! We ate it over the last few days.

We had reservations for an early dinner but we still had a few hours before it was time to go there, so we went to an old favorite – Belle Isle. And we hit all the attractions! They are all free to the public, so we just made our way around the island stopping at them all. It was a really fun way to spend those few hours!

We explored the Conservatory, which has recently reopened after being updated and restored, the Aquarium (the oldest one in the United States!). It was so refreshing to see all the green plants, and even the citrus trees with their oranges and lemons. It was jam packed in the conservatory since it recently reopened, and everyone is flocking there so we sort of were in the shuffle along and look mode with everyone there. but it was still nice. The aquarium was busy but not as full so that was a little better. They had a scavenger hunt for kids and at the end Wyatt got to pick a sticker. He chose an otter and then wanted me to wear it so I did.

After we visited these two, we went through the recently redone Nature Center. They have been doing a lot of work on the island and it shows. The nature center looks really cool! I actually didn’t get any pictures here, we were just busy looking around and playing with the exhibits.

By the time we left here, it was time to go to our reservation at JoJo’s Shake Bar, near Comerica. I was super excited about this place. It looked like it was going to be an awesome place for a kid, full of music and big giant shakes! I was so glad that we had made reservations, even at such an early time (4:00) because it was PACKED! Like literally parents and kids and strollers everywhere, out the door, inside… it was a bit overwhelming for me, who gets a bit of sensory overload! However, I knew that Wyatt was going to love it. And he did! Everything there was huge – the sandwiches, the shakes, the drinks – it was crazy. It is a bit pricey, but since everything was giant and we knew that we were all splitting a giant shake for dessert, Billy and I split a sandwich and Wyatt got a grilled cheese and fries. Billy and I split the Clevelander and it was freaking awesome! We also sort of shared an adult beverage. It was mostly mine though as he was driving. I saw it on the menu and I had to order it, out of nostalgia for the name. The Blueberry “Gin and Juice.” This place is crazy y’all. It is kid friendly but also, has drinks. It was also huge so I was nervous to drink it all, so I only drank about half, with Billy taking a few sips. It was delicious.

Then the grand finale! The shake, the whole reason I chose JoJo’s. Wyatt chose the Birthday shake, of course. This thing had a huge full size cookie, a giant cake ball, and cotton candy, in addition to cotton candy (he was not a fan). Even with the three of us sharing it (Billy again only having a bite or two) we couldn’t complete it, and we took the cookie and cake ball home, minus a few bites from Wyatt. It was fantastic though.

After this totally hedonistic type meal, we finally headed home. And we were all ready for it. We were exhausted by the time we rolled through the door! We all sort of found our little places in the den and decompressed. Wyatt was quietly drawing with his new markers, and Billy and I vegged on our phones. It was a very full, very fun day, in celebration of our little guy – who I guess is now a bit bigger guy.

And that is part one of Wyatt’s birthday story this week! Saturday is his party. Wish me luck!! Oh, I forgot to share a picture of his finished shirt! I think it looks really cool!

Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile my friends!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized35 Comments

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

Hello everyone! Today is Wyatt’s birthday – he is a big time ten years old today! I am all sorts of emotional over this. We are going to the zoo (even though it is absolutely freezing today!) and then a special meal at a fancy shake place in Detroit.

Read Last Week(s):

These were both really good!

Reading This Week:

It’s Middle Grade March! I don’t usually do reading challenges because I am usually trash at them, with no discipline. This one is pretty simple with five prompts, and I think I can do it! Week one we are supposed to read a book by an author with three names – so I am picking Emily of New Moon! I love this cover btw. These are the prompts, in case anyone is interested!

1. Read a book by an author with 3 names
2. Read a book with flowers on the cover
3. Read a book that is part of a series
4. Read a book that involves travel
5. Read a book written in the 1900s

Posted Recently:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Read and Never Reviewed

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Set in Another Time

Down the Rabbit Hole: How My Crafternoons Led To A New TBR

Sunday Afternoon Coffee Catch Up: Tulips on the Window, Bowling, and Scouts

Mini Book Reviews: The Sad Ghost Club, Temple of Swoon, and The Honey Witch

Hello March!

Watching:

We are watching a few different things! We have been watching Murdoch Mysteries, The Great Pottery Throw Down, and we just started Dickinson. Dickinson is a fun little show, and is just silly and escapist. However, I do feel they get some of the details about Emily’s life correct, like her intimate relationship with her friend Sue, who her brother later marries. It is done in the style of the movie A Knight’s Tale, or Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes, with modern music, language, sensibilities interspersed. I am a Dickinson fan, so I hope that this show sparks interest and curiosity in young people for poetry and words and Dickinson herself, and maybe they will watch and search out more information or look for her collections of poetry.

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Hello March!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Today it is sunny and snowing – and this is so like March here in Michigan. It doesn’t know whether it is winter or spring and just throws everything at us at once.

I love March. Do I love it more than I love October? Probably, because something very special happened ten years ago in March. And as you probably have guessed, that something (someone) is Wyatt! Wyatt turns ten tomorrow! I can’t believe my tiny little peanut baby is now going to be double digits. He is growing up! I will probably be all weepy and emotional tomorrow; in fact, I guarantee it. We are going to the zoo to celebrate, because that is where we went on his first birthday together. Of course then he was in one of those babywearing carriers and in a cozy little full body bear coat thing that you tuck little kids in and he looked super adorable. He also shares a birthday with Dr. Seuss, which I think is perfect for a boy who loves books. We took him there for his birthday too, and look how giant Billy’s hand looks next to him!

March is also the birthday of three other very special children in my life – I have two cousins who had children in March, and then my brother’s youngest daughter, Hurricane, was born two years ago in March as well! Her birthday party is in a few weeks. We don’t usually do a big party for Wyatt, and after age like five I think, didn’t have a real party at all, preferring to go away for the weekend somewhere nature-ish. Last year we went to a dark sky park; the year before that we went to the wolf sanctuary. But we decided for number ten we would give the big old party. So Wyatt is having a wolf themed party at the nature center next weekend with most of his family in attendance, along with some friends as well. I am extremely nervous about getting everything perfect because I am a weirdo, and I am trying to remind myself that is not the important part.

I think March is so full of magic and wonder, don’t you? Here in Michigan, it is the turning point month usually. We have wild weather to start the month, cold and snowy somedays, warm other days. The day Wyatt was born it was the coldest day of the year, in the negative temps, and this year it is going to be 30 degrees. Other years it has been warmer – I think last year we were wearing sweatshirts and no coats up north on our trip. Spring bulbs might be starting to wiggle their way up to the surface. (and for other nature nerds, worms are as well) Birds are returning. Soon we will hear the spring peepers going crazy in the marshes and ponds, one of my favorite sounds of spring. On warmer days we might see a bee lazily bumbling around, maybe a bit confused about why she is awake. Spring ephemerals will soon be able to be spotted in the woods, adding a tiny bit of color. In short, the world here is waking up, and it always seems so magical. We are starting to emerge from our cozy winter cocoon as well.

It would be hard to ignore St. Patrick’s Day, with its leprechauns and rainbows. I love to visit the fairy tales and mythical creatures of Irish lore in March, and this year Wyatt and I are going to do a little study on them. I have books and stories lined up, from real life people like St. Patrick and Brigid, to people of myth and legend like Finn MacCool, and then scary little creatures such as pookas and water horses and banshees. I think it will be a fun little shake up for school.

It is funny because the book Wyatt and I are reading for school is a more fun book than anything else. We were supposed to be reading Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter for language arts but neither of us could get into it so I switched to one of Wyatt’s books, The Wolves of Greycoat Hall. Well anyway, this book takes place in Scotland so we are going to be learning a bit about Scotland as well.

Last year Billy and our friends and family built a ramp for Wyatt, so he can go outside into the yard and play. One of our friends convinced us to make it a little bit wider, so that he can also go outside and play on the deck itself, which we did. I am so grateful for this suggestion because Billy and I realized that without it, he would only have been able to play on the driveway as wheelchairs are not good on grass. We were so focused on the getting outside part that we neglected to think about what would happen next! Billy finished it up right as the weather was turning, so we didn’t get to get outside with him too much before it was too cold. But now with the weather turning, I am excited to get outside with him more. We have been coming up with different activities and items for him to do out there, from a basketball hoop to a mounted bow and arrow (for kids, not like real arrows, he would kill a neighbor accidentally) to a raised garden bed on legs that he can roll up to and plant things. I am excited, and I know he will be too.

I could go on and on today I think! I should probably wrap this up before it becomes a novel!

So, that being said, that is it from me today. Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

Mini Book Reviews: Sad Ghost Club, Temple of Swoon, and The Honey Witch

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Hello all! Welcome back to another edition of mini book reviews! It seems to be the best way for me to write reviews, in these little bite size reviews.

First up! The Sad Ghost Club

The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings: “The universe is most pleased we met.” You guys this book was just so good. I could relate to this so well; I was so shy and awkward in high school and had such anxiety over social things, much like these characters. This graphic novel is a very sweet look at anxiety, loneliness, feeling like you don’t belong anywhere.. it is just wonderful honestly. I am adding the rest of the series to my library holds ASAP!

Two “ghosts” meet at a party, both out of sync with the rest of the party goers, and it is a wonderful conversation between two people who have possibly found a kindred spirit. If you visit The Sad Ghost Club website, and you are in the UK, there are also helplines posted for those who are feeling like thye need a helping hand.

Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura: I’m an adventurer at heart. While in reality I am an introverted stay at home homeschool mom, there was a time I dreamed of discovering lost cities and digging up relics, having all sorts of wild adventures along the way. I am glad I actually pursued that outside of daydreams, because the reality is I much prefer reading about them in climate controlled, bug free spaces. Temple of Swoon is the perfect read for armchair adventuring archaeologists like me – this book has danger, a steamy jungle, a lost city, some crazy shenanigans, and romance. I ate this book up, like Miri eats her snacks. Miri is the main character, who is smart, resilient, a bit of a goofball, and prides herself on always having the best snacks. I thought she was awesome! Rafa wasn’t too bad either…

This book is for you if you like

🥾 Enemies to lovers
🥾 Indiana Jones
🥾 Cinnamon roll MMC
🥾 Smart women

Also if you like this book I highly recommend the old classic movie, African Queen. It was also an adventure story that made me laugh out loud.

The spice level: It is explicit open door, but it is almost all the way at the very end of the book. If I compare it to Under Loch and Key, which I reviewed last round, it seems tame. I haven’t read many romances honestly so I am still working out a system. Let’s say if Under Loch and Key is 5 jalapenos, this one is 3.5?

“These are the wild women who run barefoot through the meadow, who teach new songs to birds, who howl at the moon together. Wild women are their own kind of magic.” After all of this snow and being indoors – as cozy and wonderful it has been – I am more than ready to wake up to the songs of the birds in the morning and to run around barefoot again, to see colors again! That is why I decided this long gray February of the snow moon was the perfect time to read The Honey Witch – and it did not disappoint. The imagery was beautiful and conjured up long summer lazy summer days, bees buzzing around the garden, fireflies at night. It had a very cool magic system I thought, of a honey witch and an ash witch, a yin and a yang, balance. But the balance was out of order in this book, and Marigold had to find her place as the new honey witch and overturn the curse .. and that is all I will say!

This book:

🐝 Cozy Fantasy
🐝 Enemies to Lovers
🐝 Sapphic
🐝 Slow Burn Romance
🐝 Cool Magical System

For the spice level, which is sapphic, I would give it the same as Temple of Swoon – 3.5 jalapenos. Explicit open door but it is fairly short as well as near the end.

Thanks for reading! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!