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!
Today’s Prompt: Covers with [Item] on the Cover (You choose the item! It can be anything at all.)
Hello everyone!! I had a hard choosing this week – foxes or rabbits? I love them both and knew I wanted to pick one of them. Rabbits won out in the end, since my favorite book is Watership Down.
And because of that, it will lead the list!
I love this edition of Watership Down! I actually am asking Billy for it for Christmas. It is a tradition that he buys me a new copy for either my birthday or Christmas and this is the one that my heart is set on this year.
I absolutely loved The White Hare by Jane Johnson. It really set me in mind of a book written by Mary Stewart or Barbara Michaels, two of my favorites.
Our Crooked Hearts and Bunny were both bizarre and weird but I loved them both. Bunny especially felt like some crazy strange trip! Why are rabbits featured so heavily in horror novels and thrillers? Are they scary?
Speaking of horror and rabbits, I had to include Winterset Hollow. I never quite made it through this book but I need to try again. Although it is scary!!
Rabbit Hill I read a while ago, but I remember thinking it was a very good read and I am planning on reading it with Wyatt this spring, along with the next one on the list, The Remarkable Rescue at Milkweed Meadow.
I could not make this list without including these three – The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, The Velveteen Rabbit, and The Penderwicks. I love all three of them! The Velveteen Rabbit though makes me sob, and it made me cry even as a little girl. I never wanted to make my toys feel bad after that. And can someone tell me what a Skin Horse is because it sounds terrifying.
And a bonus eleventh book!
I absolutely love John Lewis-Stempel and this book was no exception. Hands down, he is one of my favorite nature writers.
And there we have it! All of my favorite books with rabbits on the cover!
Hello everyone!! Wyatt and I have been keeping busy the past two months! I am extremely excited about the year I have planned for him, and so far we have really enjoyed it.
We kicked off the school year with a field trip to the Henry Ford Museum to see their dinosaur exhibit that they had. It was all created with metal and steel and welding, and I loved the industrial feel of it. The dinosaurs were all interactive, with different ways to manipulate them into motion, whether by a pulley system or through controls on a computer system. It was a great way to start the school year and introduce our first science unit, which is all about prehistory.
We have slogged our way through all those single celled organisms that just keep evolving. They are not super interesting right away, are they? I did like learning that the first trees were giant mushroom trees! I didn’t learn that in school so that was a new thing for me too! We are starting with dinosaurs this very week, thank goodness! Wyatt is very excited. The Detroit Science Center just opened an exhibit with dinosaurs as well so we will be taking a field trip there soon too.
In history, but not prehistory, we have been studying the Anishinabe tribe of Michigan. We are focusing on Michigan history this year and the curriculum I bought is very open, with eras and prompts to guide me but the actual material is up to me. I decided we were going to read The Birchbark House and focus on the Anishinabe in particular. I tried to do this in as culturally sensitive a manner as I could. We spent time learning about what they ate, about their beliefs, what resources they used, what their homes were like, and so on. We spent about a week or so on each different aspect of their life. We built a wigwam, painted a winter cabin, and filled out a tissue box information cube, which Wyatt loved adding to every week. Every side covered a different topic, like a very short report in cube form. I also loved adding to the area of our table where we displayed his History materials. I added a pretend black crow that we named Andeg after the crow in Birchbark House, a bit of birchbark, his cabin and wigwam that he made. It started to take over! We are starting the fur trade next and we won’t linger long on that topic – and we aren’t going to keep trap or skin or keep pelts around either. Lol.
We both enjoyed The Birchbark House, but dang, I cried so much near the end! Poor Wyatt felt so bad that I was crying. It dealt with very real challenges and issues that Native Americans in that time would have faced, and Wyatt and I had some good discussions about these things, even though they made me cry.
In literature, we read Alice in Wonderland, which I have to tell you guys, I really didn’t enjoy it. I don’t think I am into absurdist lit very much! Wyatt however really enjoyed it, all the nonsensical of it, so maybe it is a hit with kids and that is why it is in the curriculum. I was happy when we were done. We started The Phantom Tollbooth next, which fits into that same sort of absurdist genre, but I am liking it so much better than Alice. Wyatt loves it too. We just started it this past week and had fun with the first project, which was creating a peg doll Milo and a clay Tock. I ended up making Tock since Wyatt had a challenging time manipulating the clay. He has limited use of his right hand and arm so sometimes things like that are a stretch. I usually make him try but it was so small that I ended up doing it. He painted Milo though, and I helped with the hair and face.
Wyatt is still working really hard on practicing and learning reading. We had two years where he was really heavily medicated, overmedicated actually, and it really slowed down his progress. Now that he is appropriately medicated for his seizures, things are so different and have returned to the way he was acting and learning before taking that particular medication. The past year it has been so great to see him really get back to the Wyatt he was, to be curious and energetic and lively again. He never really lost that but it was sort of cushioned by the sedative they gave him for his seizures. So we are going over basics again and he is on fire with it. We are using a program called Prenda Treasure Hunt Learning in addition to The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. We really spend a good chunk of our day working on these skills. He will get there in his own time – he loves reading and books and picks it up so quickly now, plus he is so motivated.
In art, we studied Charley Harper! We had so much fun. We studied him in September and then I let October be a more Halloween crafty month for art. Harper is a modernist who painted nature. He called his art minimal realism and I just love it. I am not usually into that style but I really like his version – perhaps because of the subjects of his work. Wyatt really enjoyed it as well, all the shapes and lines and colors. We did two projects, and had a third that never developed – which bothers me so we might have to revisit it so we can do it. I wanted us to construct an owl mobile inspired by his piece Hexit. I need Billy’s help though with construction as my brain couldn’t quite fashion the wings correctly for my design. The two we did complete turned out very nicely! We started out with Wyatt’s version of a woodpecker based on Harper’s Baffling Belly, and then I bought a unit study for Fall at the Pond from TPT and it was fantastic. Wyatt had so much fun with it!! It took a few days because there was a lot of time for painting and then waiting for it to dry, so that made it fun too, the waiting.
Next up we are learning about Canadian artist Emily Carr, and we will continue on with Michigan history, dinosaurs and math and reading! Wyatt has had a great two months and I am looking forward to the upcoming months and all of the various things we will be doing.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! We had a pretty good week last week – we love Halloween over here, especially Wyatt. I loved seeing him so happy and enjoying himself with his cousins! He wanted to be a snail this year, so Billy and I put on our thinking caps and made this kid a snail costume.
As for reading, it was dismal around here. I don’t think I read at all, all week, until yesterday when I got a chance to read for about fifteen minutes. This week, I am going with some easier reads, two middle grades from my November TBR. One is for my patreon book club that I am in and the other because it is written by the author of The Bear and the Nightingale and I am so curious about how she writes for kids.
Billy and I are deep in the world of pottery right now, watching The Great Pottery Throw Down. We are also watching What We Do in the Shadows as well. (Team Nandor!) We usually fall into bed wiped out at the end of the night, and I do embroidery while we are watching tv, so we have been sort of watching things that are easy to watch.
We are also watching our Comfy Cozy Cinema movies! We only have a few weeks left (then we start Comfy Cozy Christmas) and we watched a few Hitchcock films in October, then leveled off with Practical Magic. Now we are heading back into definite comfy cozy watches, with tonight’s movie Skylark. Then we just have the Grand Budapest Hotel, and our final watch Chocolat. We are actually having a watch party for Chocolat, where we all press Play together on November 17th and then chat over on our discord, The Dames. (no video chat so don’t worry about being in your pajamas!) Edit: Skylark wasn’t available streaming so we watched Bringing Up Baby!
And that is about it for today! I hope you are all doing well!!
I am looking forward to the relative quiet of November, after a very busy October. Every year our October is jam packed. I like to whirlwind our way through the month, soaking in the moments, then like magic, on November 1, seeking the quiet and solitude of my birth month.
This is when the fall gets slower for me. The days are now short, with night closing in early, and all the hijinks of Halloween are done. I look forward to our slower paced days. Days of school and our art projects, the wolf embroidery I am working on for Wyatt, a return to slow cooked meals, Billy’s sourdough. Quiet hikes in the woods. Books and reading, movies, comfy beds with soft cushy blankets and flannel sheets, backyard fires with family.
Wyatt has this picture book called Thanksgiving in the Woods, and I still read it with him every year, and Billy usually listens too. We all love it. It is about this family who has just what the title says, a big family Thanksgiving in the woods and it is based on the author’s real life Thanksgivings. Every year we read this, and every year, Billy and I talk about how cool that would be. Wouldn’t it? I would love to gather everyone I love together at a big table in the woods filled with food and laughter and music. With tents and lights and bunting, with a big bonfire and games. Wouldn’t that be amazing? I just need to find the woods. But on days like today, blustery and beautiful with bright leaves littering the ground, the crazy chaos of last nights trick or treating behind us, I can imagine it, that meal.
We do have some fun things planned, things like stargazing in our backyard under blankets, with hot chocolate and cookies, calling for owls, getting back to nature, to gratitude. I pulling out our sweaters and warm clothes today, in preparation for the cold weather that will soon be arriving. (even though it was 80 this week! Ugh)
I am excited about our November scouts meeting this month. Billy’s mom is a potter, and she is going to work with our kids on making ornaments, that she will take home to be fired in her kiln. We are also going to open the box that we received from another pack in Oregon, who lives in the high desert there. Our two packs each gathered nature items from our area to send to the other, and I am excited to share with the kids what the Oregon pack sent with them. I peeked at it already and I think they will all like seeing what is in there. In our box, we sent leaves that were labeled, a sprig of white pine, which is Michigan’s state tree, a cicada shell, acorns and sycamore seeds and chestnuts, seeds from a Michigan apple, an apple tree bud from my confused apple tree, local honey, and a few other fun things, like a bag of Petoskey stones. I am looking forward to what they think of our stuff as well! And if anyone lives in another region who is reading this, and would like to send nature representatives to our pack from your area, let me know, because this was fun!
And, I need to refill my coffee so I will end here. Have a wonderful day everyone, and whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile.
“In November, the earth is growing quiet. It is making its bed, a winter bed for flowers and small creatures.” – Cynthia Rylant
Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and sometimes, chilling) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!! Our link will be live for a whole week after we post about a movie. You can read Lisa’s post about Dracula here! This week was a wild card freebie week!
This week’s comfy cozy movie is Practical Magic, starring Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Diane Wiest, and Stockard Channing, all of whom are perfectly witchy witchy.
First, let me say that this movie had the best 90s vibes! It took me right back to my youth, being a teen/young adult in the 90s. The clothes alone – my own wardrobe could have stepped out of this movie back then, and was a blast from the past to see again onscreen. I mean, those dresses. I would have worn mine with Dr. Martens though. And those shorts with that tee? I think I had so many of those type shirts back then! I would probably still wear the green dress and cardigan look there honestly.
Ok, now that I have that out of my system, let’s go on.
Quick summary: Raised by their aunts after their parents’ death from a family curse, the sisters were taught the uses of practical magic as they grew up. As adults, Sally and Gillian must use their magic to destroy the evil spirit of Gillian’s abusive boyfriend before it kills them.
This movie is about, well, witches. The Owens women have always been witches, and everyone knows it. Growing up Sally and Gillian were shouted at by kids in the street, and watched their eclectic aunts, Aunt Frances and Aunt Jet, meddled in the love lives of others, mostly upon request.
They also lived under a family curse, one that states that any man that they fall in love with will die young. Love to Sally looks too dangerous, unpredictable, and tragic, and she vows to never fall in love. Gillian on the other hand is her complete opposite, and can’t wait to embrace that roller coaster that they see played out before them in their aunt’s kitchen whenever the lovelorn come calling. Sally even casts a love spell on herself, creating the perfect man who can never exist, full of qualities like two different colored eyes, one blue and one green and who can flip pancakes in the air, because if the perfect man can never exist, then she is safe and can never fall in love. Or so she thinks.
The sisters go their separate ways in life, with Sally living a quiet life on the island with her aunts, and eventually getting married and having babies, and swearing to live normally and without magic. Gillian is off on wild adventures, but the two keep in touch, writing long honest and open letters to each other. While they are not close in distance, they are close in spirit.
And that is my favorite part of this movie. Their sisterhood, their relationship. They are each other’s ride or die, the one you would do anything for. They are there for each other, and in one of my favorite parts of the movie, Gillian returns to town for just one night, when she senses her sister needs her, and they spend the night just talking and talking and laughing. When Sally wakes up the next day her sister is gone, like it was all just a dream.
This movie is full of cozy aesthetic – the big old Victorian, the beautiful garden, Sally’s shop, the cozy looking cardigans, the quaint village (full of jerks but whatever it is pretty),cats, the fact that Gillian never wore shoes, that GREENHOUSE, eating cake for breakfast, and of course midnight margaritas! (fun fact: they all were actually drunk in that scene) Just so many quirky weird little things. I love that kind of stuff.
But then there is the other side of the coin, as there always is. Darkness, anger, grief, sadness. The balance that is life, ups and downs, good and bad. And the real magic is how we get through those times, with help from those we love, from our family, from our friends.
Is this a great movie, on par with Rear Window? No. Was it a fun movie from my youth? Yes, 100%. Billy and I loved rewatching it together the other night (because you KNOW I dragged him to the theater to see it with me in 1998), and joked about getting up for a midnight margarita at 8pm but then opted for ginger tea instead. Ah the difference time makes.
And remember: “Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. Add pepper to your mashed potatoes. Plant roses and lavender, for luck. Fall in love whenever you can.”
If you watched anything this week link up with us! This week is wild card week! This link will be open for a week.
This week’s prompt is a Halloween freebie! Since Halloween for me is more about Wyatt these days, my post this week is spooky middle grade books that I want to read. Going to the library with Wyatt I see all these fun looking middle grade books that I want to read too! I usually end up with one for myself every time we go. I grew up reading Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Mary Downing Hahn, and Betty Ren Wright, all of which scared my socks off as a kid and made me sleep with the blankets pulled way up over my head. I haven’t changed too much!
The Vanishing of Aveline Jones – This is the third in the series, and I just read the first two this fall. It is really well done series, with just enough freak out factor even as an adult. I would have definitely loved this series as a kid!
The Legend of the Skeleton Man – I really enjoy Joseph Bruchac, and I think this one would be one that makes you want to sleep with the lights on.
Scary Stories for Young Foxes – Ok, I don’t know much about this one other than I love foxes and there are foxes. Sometimes that is all it takes for me!
Ghost Book had me at its comparison to Studio Ghibli and Coco. ( Can any adult watch Coco without crying?)
Small Spaces is by the author of The Bear and the Nightingale and I feel like I have to know how she writes for middle grade! I loved The Bear and the Nightingale.
Wyatt and I read a picture book a few years ago that was super cute about the jumbies – I don’t think that the middle grade of The Jumbies will be so cute however. It looks pretty scary to me! And I just learned that they were both written by Tracey Baptiste. Well, now I really have to read it!
That cover of Evangeline of the Bayou – it is just so full of rich color and it feels…mossy. And damp. You can feel that cover. And it takes place in New Orleans, one of my favorite cities!
The Secret of Nightingale Wood by Lucy Strange. Honestly, all of Lucy Strange’s books have been on my TBR for ages and ages. I really need to read them.
Doesn’t this name just sound good when you say it? The Clackity. The Clackity.
And then one reread!
The Dollhouse Murders by Betty Ren Wright. This book scared the heck out of me as a kid, and I sort of think it still might. Dolls scare me in general and the idea that they could move while I was sleeping or something is absolutely horrifying.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well today! I am tired this morning but doing pretty good otherwise. It’s a morning I am grateful for coffee that is for sure.
This is a short post from me today!
Read Last Week:
I loved both of these books! The Haunting of Aveline Jones was a fun Middle Grade, that was actually pretty spooky. It was extremely atmospheric and young Aveline reminds me of a young me. Lol. A Dark and Secret Magic was such a good read as well. I think it is the perfect Halloween read, with lots of autumn goodness tucked in as well as witches and ghosts and a big bad villain, and a romantic hero. Yep, I loved it.
Reading This Week:
Version 1.0.0
This week I am settling in with an old comfort read of mine, Witch by Barbara Michaels, and a new to me author, Bee Littlefield. I won a giveaway on Instagram for this book from Bee, and it came with some cute stickers, tea, a journal, and coffee as well! I am looking forward to both of these reads this week.
Nothing too different or exciting here, other than our movies for Comfy Cozy Cinema that I am doing with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings. We watched Dial M for Murder last week which was amazing, and this week we are watching Practical Magic. The post goes up Thursday! If you are watching or following along and posting, this week is wild card week – so free choice of movie, or you can watch Practical Magic as well! I wanted to add too, that our last movie is Chocolat, and we will be doing a “watch party” – basically we will all hit play at the same time, and chat on discord. (so you don’t have to worry about being on video in your jammies!)
Billy and I have also been watching What We Do In the Shadows which cracks us up, as well as The Great Pottery Throw Down. Now I am trying to convince Billy to build a kiln in the backyard. Who will win? Lol.
Hello everyone! This morning is rainy but we had the most glorious sunrise, the most amazing shades of pink and orange. It was spectacular. So is my coffee, which is Seattle’s Best Henry’s Blend this morning. I think it is my current favorite.
I feel like today is a big exhale, like I have been holding my breath for weeks making it through all of the various plans and appointments we have had. Nothing that should have been stressful, just low key busy.
Where should I start? It’s been a minute since I wrote one of these. I will start with my own good news! I have had high blood pressure since I was 24; my dad and brother since they were 13. We just have some weird genetics. Anyway, ever since I spent a month in the hospital with pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant with Wyatt, I have been extremely anxious about having my bp taken, which when you already have a history of high blood pressure is not super helpful. It’s controlled at home, but usually in the office is ridiculous. I have to take a blood pressure log and everything with me to appointments. Well, this week my blood pressure in the office was 123/85! I think my anti-anxiety medication is working! My doctor was extremely happy as was I. My log from home reflected these have been my readings at home too, that or lower, but to have it in the office was another thing altogether. So that was my little success this week!
Ok, moving on to more fun things!
We had our scout meeting the other week and we had a blast. We are exchanging nature boxes with another pack in Oregon, who live in the desert area of Oregon, so it will be really cool to see what we receive. Our scouts spent the meeting making pages of leaves stuck with contact paper and labeled. They loved it, and they also loved the leaf rubbing station we had set up as well. It was some of the kids first time doing a leaf rubbing and they thought it was magical, which was cute. The parents enjoyed it too, actually, with one of the dads making quite a few himself. I was happy to see the plans all coming together and everyone having fun.
Wyatt and I also had a fun day out the other week! We went to see the Wild Kratt’s Live Action Show in Ann Arbor, and it was pretty neat. It was Wyatt’s first show like that and he loved the being able to yell and cheer and interact with the rest of the audience and Chris and Martin. My only complaint about the whole day was the theater’s interpretation of wheelchair seating. I bought wheelchair seats and it literally was a regular seat where the arm raised up, and then Wyatt’s wheelchair, his only way to move around, was moved into the hall. We were also the last seat in the last row of the theater but that wasn’t terrible on its own, I guess just the idea of that is how they prioritize disabilities. What if there had been an emergency situation? What if I had not been able to transfer him on my own? It just felt extremely low effort on the part of the theater for accommodations for the disabled community. However, all that aside, Wyatt did have a good time and I did as well. It was nice just to have that moment and first with him.
This week we also went to the orchard and pumpkin patch! I look forward to this trip all autumn! We picked our pumpkins out and drank some hard cider (well not Wyatt), bought some apples for baking a pie and some honey, and just in general had a great time. They didn’t have doughnuts the day we went but that is ok, I think this weekend we will take a little drive to the Halloween bakery, although I haven’t told Billy and Wyatt that yet, it will be a surprise. After our pumpkin hunting, we took a walk on Grosse Ile, foraging for things to put in the scout nature box.
This month has been so full. Full of fun and family moments, watching the football game with my dad and stepmom eating our bowls of fancy ramen, a nice long massage, reading with Wyatt, sitting out on the deck for the ramp in the sun with Billy and Wyatt and Devin and my nieces. Stitching in bed while watching tv at night, our comfy cozy cinema nights, just all those little things that make up most of our days. It is apt maybe that this month is so full feeling, in tune with the season of harvest. A long time ago, when people still lived mostly off the land, this time of year would be their richest in food, as they laid up their food for the winter. We are reading about this right now in Wyatt’s read for history, The Birchbark House. I do like that the mom thought about those times they would need a little something extra too though.
I too often need a little sweetness to remain strong in spirit.
Hello everyone!! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and sometimes, chilling) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!! Our link will be live for a whole week after we post about a movie. You can find Lisa’s post here.
This week’s movie is Dial M for Murder, another Hitchcock film. This one stars Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, and Anthony Dawson and is summarized on IMDB as “A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.”
They probably have the same problem I do – not wanting to reveal anything about this movie so they kept their summary short and sweet.
Dial M for Murder is a typical Hitchcock, full of the twists and turns and tension that we are used to. This movie wastes no time at all in getting right down to it either. The movie starts building tension immediately, as Margot and Mark are in Margot and Tony’s apartment, anticipating his return home. Margot reveals that she has gotten two letters, blackmailing her over her adulterous relationship with Mark. As they are discussing what this means and what she should do, Tony arrives home, interrupting them.
And honestly, right from this point on, the game begins.
The viewer knows everything that is happening in this movie, unlike in Rear Window when we could only see what Jeff saw. Here, we see everything unfolding before us and despite knowing all the facts, we helplessly watch as things play out and keep us on the edges of our seats. Billy and I were fairly silent as we watched this movie; normally we chat here and there, or have little comments, but for this one, we were drawn in right from the start and barely spoke.
The movie for the most part takes place in one room, Tony and Margot’s ground floor apartment, and the fear that Hitchcock can create just using that one little room, a simple setting, is pure genius, and so much rests on the performances of the actors, all of which played their roles with equal talent and genius. I admittedly had a few scenes where I gasped, surprised or shocked, and scenes where I felt like shouting at the screen – I was all in. I really really didn’t like Tony, and he played the role of a diabolical schemer so very well.
The actual “big scene” was so scary, I barely took a breath! And when Grace Kelly flung out her hand, like in the movie poster, it sent chills down my spine.
This movie really did keep us guessing, and well, I loved it. It was perfect for mid-October, a movie that was a bit scary but not too scary, not gory, and as we made ourselves comfy, with our popcorn and for me, a glass of red wine this time instead of tea, it was that perfect near Halloween feeling. When I was younger I found it in horror movies and haunted houses; now I find it with old classic Hitchcock movies watched from the comfort of my bed.
Did you watch with us? Add your post to our linky, or if you’d rather, share your comments below! The more the merrier! Find Lisa’s post here!
Next week we are watching Practical Magic starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, or if you would rather, throw in a wild card movie of your choice! This post will live up on Halloween!
And one final thing – we are having a watch party for Chocolat! Stayed tuned for more details but the gist is that we will all watch independently, we will press play at the same time, then discuss and chat during the movie on our discord, The Dames! I am setting up a room today for the discussion of all of our movies – feel free to join and poke around. If you are nervous because you are not familiar with discord, well, I am still figuring it out as well!
Hello everyone! Today’s prompt is about how my reading habits have changed through the years. I am not sure I will get to ten but we will see how I do!
First, probably the biggest change of all – the number of books I read a week. Before I had Wyatt, I could read 2 or 3 books a week. Now I am lucky if I can read 1! I would spend whole weekends reading all day sometimes.
Second, the amount of books I would buy for myself has changed as well since before and after motherhood. Now I buy way more books for Wyatt, and maybe one a month for myself. I always used the library like crazy, but now the majority of the books that I read come from the library first. Then if I love it I buy it or add it to my wishlist. I used to buy a lot more books for myself a month. I don’t mind though honestly, I feel like now when I do buy a book I appreciate it more.
What I read has changed through the years too. I used to read more fantasy, romantasy , historical fiction, and horror, while now I read more thriller, mystery, and middle grade. I still read every the other genres that I used to, but just less of those and more of others. I feel like I cycle through phases of reading and what I like to read. Does everyone do this?
Hmm what else..
Oh! I used to read right before bed, sometimes for hours. I can’t do that now, I will just fall asleep immediately!
I still take a book with me wherever I go – now though I usually have my book and Wyatt’s book too. He loves books just as much as I do.
I also listen to audiobooks occasionally now, which I never really did. I like to listen while I stitch or clean.
I have also started annotating and highlighting and underlining in my books. I have my little setup next to my bed, and have a highlighter and one of my favorite fine point cat pens in my purse, along with some book tag things for when I am out as well. I like to match the stickers to the cover too.
I loan my books out more freely now too. Before they were all my precious and now I feel like passing them on so others can read them is more important to me.
And I think that is it! How have your reading habits changed?
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 