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!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The African Queen

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Comfy Cozy Cinema13 Comments

Hello all! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I love to buddy watch movies together – even though I am in Michigan and she is in Pennsylvania! We don’t literally watch together in a watch party, although that might be fun one time! We wanted our fall list to feel fall cozy, move into some more chilling movies, than turn cozy again for November.

This week showed us that you don’t need a typical midwest fall to get cozy. You don’t need a chill in the air, leaves changing color and falling to the ground, none of that is needed to be cozy. You could be in Africa, sweating your behind off on a boat on a river surrounded by mosquitos, and still achieve that cozy feeling.

I have to admit, I am a little intimidated to write this post today! Soooo many of you said that this was one of your favorite movies, and I feel some pressure! But, I do have to say, I also too, now love this movie. Before my go-to Bogart movie was Key Largo; however, I think it might have been replaced by The African Queen. I love an adventure movie and this one was a lot of fun.

In case you are like me, and had never seen this movie, Katharine Hepburn plays Rose, an English missionary in Congo Africa who has been working alongside her brother, a Reverend. Bogart is an unkempt, vagabond captain on The African Queen, of which he is quite proud. He boasts that no one else can captain The African Queen, and while he seems to not care about too much, he does care about the boat. He happens to be near the village where Rose and her brother are working when WWI breaks out, and soldiers burn the village to the ground. Rose’s brother takes a rifle butt to the head during the invasion, and later on dies. Charlie (Bogart) shows up the day that the Reverend dies, and after Charlie buries him, he and Rose leave together on The African Queen. Charlie is concerned that the Germans will want the Queen for her cargo and has a plan to avoid being seen, mainly hide around the other side of the island. The Germans have a giant ship, the Louisa, that has a big gun and can go 12 knots. Rose however, has another plan, and that is for the two of them to take out the Louisa.

Rose’s character was impressive. She was way tougher than I would have imagined she would be, after seeing her in her muliple layers of clothing and pouring tea in her home in the village for Charlie and her brother. But first impressions aren’t everything, since she surely proves her bravery and fortitude. The duo endure rapids, waterfalls, hordes of mosquitoes, leeches, getting lost in the weeds and having to actually get out and push the boat, and Rose never gives up. For his part, Charlie doesn’t much either, but he also doesn’t like dragging Rose through all of that. The grizzly old gus is a softy and a romantic and respectful of Rose and her modesty.

Throughout this crazy journey, of course Rose and Charlie fall for each other, which was adorable. I loved this scrappy unlikely twosome as a couple. There were of course, a few scenes which were favorites. I loved when the first night they both decided they needed a bath, and Charlie took one end of the boat, Rose the other, and then Rose couldn’t get back into the boat and needed a hand. I thought that was very cute and endearing and handled so nicely. I also enjoyed all the scenes of Rose drinking tea on board. It just seemed so British. Like, here she is, the world has gone to chaos, she is floating down the river in a tempermental boat with a man she hardly knows, the weather is hot, sweaty, probably humid, (this would make me nuts, let me be honest), she is on a mission to torpedo a giant ship with a giant gun with a homemade torpedo, but still, tea is a priority and a must. And I loved it.

There is also a scene where poor Charlie is exhausted and sleeping on the floor of the boat, all tucked up under the blankets and she delivers him a cup of tea. It was adorable, such a huggable little moment.

Just look at these two. They made me smile. So sweet in the midst of craziness.

After a very harrowing night, they are both captured (separately) and both sentenced to hang by the Captain of the Louisa. Charlie quick talks the Captain into marrying them before they are executed and while he sputters over it just does it for them. And then, right before the hangman pulls the lever or whatever happens when you hang someone onboard on a boat, there is an explosion!! The African Queen has delivered its payload all by itself, and blows up the Louisa. During the ensuing chaos, Charlie and Rose escape. Huzzah!

I simply adored this movie, and all the cozy moments and tea drinking that happened. And of course, the action and adventure! I love a good adventure movie – I grew up on Indiana Jones and always wanted to grow up to be him. Or maybe more like Evelyn from The Mummy but that came out later. Anyway, I have gotten off track! If you haven’t seen this, I recommend doing so. We loved it.

You can find Lisa’s thoughts here!

Next up is Arsenic and Old Lace!

If you would like to join in on our Comfy Cozy Cinema you can print out our watch/post schedule here! You can either click the image itself or the download link below!

comfy cozy cinemaDownload

We plan on having the linky available next week.

And that is it for today my friends!! Enjoy your day, and stay cozy!

Book Review: Warrior Girl Unearthed

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Publisher Summary:

Perry Firekeeper-Birch has always known who she is – the laidback twin, the troublemaker, the best fisher on Sugar Island. Her aspirations won’t ever take her far from home, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. But as the rising number of missing Indigenous women starts circling closer to home, as her family becomes embroiled in a high-profile murder investigation, and as greedy grave robbers seek to profit off of what belongs to her Anishinaabe tribe, Perry begins to question everything.

In order to reclaim this inheritance for her people, Perry has no choice but to take matters into her own hands. She can only count on her friends and allies, including her overachieving twin and a charming new boy in town with unwavering morals. Old rivalries, sister secrets, and botched heists cannot – will not – stop her from uncovering the mystery before the ancestors and missing women are lost forever.

My Thoughts:

This book was thought-provoking, eye-opening, impactful, powerful. There is much more to this story of Perry and the running mystery throughout the book, that goes much deeper and speaks to a truth that is not often discussed or brought into the light. This book does that, drags these ugly truths out into the open, all within the confines of this young adult book’s pages.

Perry Firekeeper-Birch is feisty, proud, flawed, smart. She lives for fishing and her family and living a laid back sort of life – the exact opposite of her driven, motivated twin sister Pauline. When an accident at the beginning of what Perry expected to be a summer of fun changes that fun summer into one spent as a paid intern. Perry’s assignment is with kooky Cooper, at the museum where he is the curator. Perry also learns that he is in charge of repatriating tribal items from universities and museums, to bring these items back home where they belong. Through her internship, Perry is awakened to the atrocities that have continued to plague her people, that these sacred tribal items, funerary items, and even human remains of those who are in her tribe are stolen and kept in roadside souvenir museums, colleges, museums- robbing them of the dignity and respect that they deserve. Perry learns there is a process and a path that is challenging and complex and not necessarily fair to requesting their return.

Perry is full of youthful passion, idealism, and she makes some judgement calls that are much more emotionally based, and skirt the system. And pays the price, which Cooper will no longer work with her. However, the fire within her to repatriate these sacred items and ancestors is lit, and she will not give up, even when sent to other mentors, she is still working to try to help.

While this is all happening, young Native American women in the area are going missing, and often are found when it is too late, with little being done to find them or their killer/killers.

I had heard of NAGPRA before, in an Native American class I took in college. NAGPRA stands for Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. From the NPS website:

Since 1990, Federal law has provided for the repatriation and disposition of certain Native American human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. By enacting NAGPRA, Congress recognized that human remains of any ancestry “must at all times be treated with dignity and respect.” Congress also acknowledged that human remains and other cultural items removed from Federal or tribal lands belong, in the first instance, to lineal descendants, Indian Tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations. With this law, Congress sought to encourage a continuing dialogue between museums and Indian Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations and to promote a greater understanding between the groups while at the same time recognizing the important function museums serve in society by preserving the past.

A few weeks ago, I was on vacation not far from where this book is set. I am a lifelong Michigander as well, so this book sort of hit me hard. I live here, and I hear absolutely nothing about these issues and tragedies that hit our Indigenous people to this day. Billy wasn’t even aware that there were recognized tribes in Michigan, or that there was tribal land still left here. We know that in our area, the Wyandot Nation were sadly and wrongly forced out a long time ago, and were relocated in Oklahoma. So this book sent me down a bit of a rabbit hole; it was on my mind anyway since next month Wyatt has to do a research report to find out what lands our city occupies and then research the Indigenous people that lived here. However, his third grade history people won’t include some of the things that I am concerned about – mainly the MMIW.

I was going to write about this huge issue, then, realized I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough to tackle it on here. Instead, I encourage you to do some research yourself. Read about repatriation, read about the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Crisis. I know that I am not finished educating myself about it, and I hope that there is some way that I can help, even if it is just by learning and lending a voice, helping to shine a light.

This book is 100% worth reading, and I highly encourage you to read it.

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up: Van Gogh and Ghosts

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn autumn, Coffee Catch UP, Detroit, DIY craft10 Comments

Hello everyone! That fall chill is in the air here in the mornings now, making my morning coffee even better than normal.

I feel like I have so much to share today! I will try not to talk your ear off.

Two weeks ago was our city wide garage sale and we had such a good time checking everything out – and buying some things as well! Wyatt decided he had to have that tiny fisherman which he kept calling a fisherman gnome. We had picked that up while on a neighborhood walk and Wyatt rode his little bike home, holding it the whole time. Little fisherman gnome now lives in our den. My husband also found that giant snail in a box of tools, and knew I would want it. He knows me so well! I love it! And finally, we picked up four different paintings/pictures that I had a master plan for.

Wyatt and I also went to an immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Detroit with my dad. We had so much fun!! I thought this immersive experience would be much more accessible to Wyatt as we learn about Van Gogh this month, and it seemed like a fun way to start the school year, with a special field trip. It was pretty amazing actually. The walls, ceiling, floor, everything is covered in images and it moves and flows with music. You are literally in the paintings, and it sweeps you away into the scenes. When they played one of my favorite songs, Non, je ne regrette rien by Edith Piaf, I literally stood up, it was just such a powerful, exciting moment. I didn’t even film or take photos during that part, I was just fully in. I did talk to Wyatt about the scenes we were seeing, the music, and since there were only like ten other people there with us we were able to freely explore and walk around. I know that my dad loved it as much we did. I caught Wyatt bouncing around to the music, and clapping a few times throughout, and it made me so happy.

On this past Saturday, we went to a Halloween/fall themed festival with my brother and his family down in Detroit. It was a nice time! I don’t think any of us bought anything but it was fun to be together and chat. The kids enjoyed all the monsters and everyone enjoyed the Lyra Hoop aerialist.

Later that night, Billy and Wyatt and I put those paintings we got at the garage sale to use! I had been seeing around the internets how people were painting ghosts into old pictures and paintings. Well, we wanted to do that too, but we didn’t want to permanently alter the painting in the process. So Billy came up with the idea of using wax paper and it turned out so cool!! Wyatt did two pictures, I did one, and Billy did one, and we had so much fun! Wyatt wanted his ghosts to have happy faces so they are the cutest little ghosts you ever did see! Our works of art are now displayed proudly around our home – in the den, in the hall, and above my bed. Lol. We had to take a few things down temporarily but that is ok, this was so fun and festive. And after Halloween is over, I think two of the paintings will go to my mom’s apartment if she wants them, and one of them will hang in Wyatt’s room. The other we will just store until next year!

The lighthouse minus ghosts is going to hang in Wyatt’s room for a bit I think. He seems to like lighthouses and ship captains and nautical life lately. I blame Grandpa Rabbit on Peppa Pig.

And then here are some random photos from the old camera roll!

And now I need a coffee refill! Have a good one everyone!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 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 was a weird week around here – some school, some doctor visits, and a field trip with my dad to an Immersive Van Gogh experience. It was sort of crazy!

Read Last Week:

I can’t tell you how much I love this book. It was powerful, impactful, thought provoking, and kept me on the edge of my seat at times. It made me feel so many different emotions as well, and I think particularly as a Michigander who literally was just in this same area of Michigan just a few weeks ago, a lot of it hit me hard. It was an amazing read, and I already know it will be one of my favorite books that I have read this year. I hope to have my full review up on Wednesday!

Reading This Week:

The weather has turned, at least for now, and I am snuggling in at night with cozy mysteries by Amanda Flower. I already started Murders and Metaphors and will start Put Out to Pasture when I finish.

Posted Last Week:

Homeschool: First Week Back, Sunflowers, and Buckeyes

Comfy Cozy Cinema: Fantastic Mr. Fox

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Secret World of Arrietty

A Cute Little Cottagecore Autumn Halloween

Watching and Listening:

I feel like we watched so much last week! It must be that it is getting darker earlier these days. We have passed the point this year where I live where the sun won’t be out past 8pm anymore for a few months, which is crazy. I’ve been putting on my favorite pajama pants and climbing in bed a bit earlier, and I am not ashamed. Lol.

Last week we watched quite a mixture. We watched Hotel Portofino, When Calls the Heart, Death in Paradise, and last night we started Dark Winds. We weren’t sure what to expect from it but we were silent and glued to the screen the whole time, it was that riveting and good. It is pretty intense already and we are one whole episode in.

We also watched Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Secret World of Arrietty as part of our Comfy Cozy Cinema movie watching with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings. I love both of these movies and they were such cozy movies to curl up to. These are the movies we are watching (with some break weeks here and there, which I will announce beforehand) if anyone else is interested in watching along as well! Our next movie is African Queen, and we usually post on Thursdays!

As for listening, I’ve been listening to a lot of spooky podcasts but mostly The Midnight Library, which is fabulous!!

And that’s about it from around this here pumpkin patch! How are you all doing?

A Cute Little Cottagecore Autumn Halloween

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Finally, it is September and fall is basically here – close enough for me anyway! Fall is my favorite season of all, and I like to go all in, whether it is cozy or spooky and reading all the fall books and drinking the..no. I draw the line at pumpkin spice lattes. I am not a pumpkin spice fan – I am in the camp of apple flavor is better in the fall. However, my kid is a total pumpkin spice fan and I end up buying him pumpkin spice cereal and cookies and whatever I spot that I think he will like.

Anyway this post is more about the cottagecore cuteness that has edged its way into aesthetics, and I love it. I love all of these new aesthetics – dark academia, greencore, naturecore – but cottagecore is just adorable and whimsical and happy, and I love incorporating it into Halloween and fall, a season normally known for scary things.

Hot beverages are important this time of year – whether it is pumpkin or apple flavored, or a tea or coffee, a mug is essential. I like one I can wrap my hands around and cradle, and just absorb its warmth as I sip. I also have a ton of mugs in my cabinet, but I find myself reaching for favorites first, and they are generally the cutest ones. I may need to add a few more for fall though! I added quite a few to my list – and these are just my favorites from that list. There were many more!

This post does contain affiliate links. I would make a small commission if you were to purchase any item at no extra cost to you.

Chat Noir Avec Citrouille || Ghost Reader Mug || Baroque Ghost || Snail Mug

Boo! I was super into ghosts this year I think.

Felt Ghost Garland || Ghost Embroidery Kit || Tiny Ghost Vases

We are seasonal garland people. I can’t help it. I love changing up different strings of garland around the house and I love these little happy face ghosts. And those vases! How cute are those!! Finally, the embroidery kit. I am just beginning my embroidery journey and it is painful and not super awesome, but I will get better – I hope. I do want to add this ghost kit to my stash though!

A few more…

Ghost Holding a Candle || Adopt-a-Ghost Penelope || Ghost Hanging Laundry Print

I don’t usually change around the art in my home for the seasons, but I think about doing it every year. This might be the year! These two ghost are tempting, especially the laundry one because it makes me smile to look at it. I also love Penelope, the little artist ghost, which would look adorable in our art cabinet.

Ok moving on from the ghosts to more autumnal looks, not just halloween!

Embroidery Felt Bookmarks || Ceramic Mushroom Spoons || Mouse in Hole Wall Decal

I like to think those bookmarks would not only keep my page for me but keep that page warm. Plus they are so sweet and would inspire me to read more in fall gardens or under trees whose leaves are red and orange and yellow. And honestly, I have no idea what I would do with that mushroom spoon but it is super cute – just like that little mouse! I have been asking Billy to cut a little hole in our wall and create a tiny little world there, like in The Borrowers, but it hasn’t happened yet so, this decal would work for a bit. I think it would look adorable in my bedroom..

And finally- this is the end I promise..

A fall journal for all your ruminations – 200 pages with a cute little evergreen on every page to just make things more whimsical. And it is one I designed! I am pretty in love with it. Mine actually arrives today and I can’t wait. The pajama pants – can I just say I practically live in these? They are the Fall into Bed pajama pants from Lazy Ones and I LOVE them. I need to add more of them to my pajama wardrobe. (is that a thing?) They have these cute huckleberry ones that I have my eye on because they also have them in kids sizes too. Matching pajamas for fall! They actually have tons of different designs and they are all super cute. My sister-in-law and I each got a pair while we were on vacation and it was hard to choose. She ended up getting some with chickens on them which were super adorable.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together! Happy fall everyone, and keep it cozy!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Secret World of Arrietty

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Comfy Cozy Cinema11 Comments

Hello all! Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I love to buddy watch movies together – even though I am in Michigan and she is in Pennsylvania! We don’t literally watch together in a watch party, although that might be fun one time! We wanted our fall list to feel fall cozy, move into some more chilling movies, than turn cozy again for November. This week we had a double feature week, starting with Fantastic Mr. Fox on Tuesday and today, The Secret World of Arrietty.

Over the past year or so, I became a Ghibli fan. I had been urged for years to watch Studio Ghibli movies by my husband and brother, and eventually I gave in and found that yes, they were right, I love them as they knew that I would. Well, most of them. I like the more fairy tale, whimsical Ghibli rather than some of the more sci-fi type (like Nausicaa). In fact, one of my favorite movies as a child, The Last Unicorn (I still love this movie and the book) was created by the people who later formed Studio Ghibli. So I guess I was always a fan and didn’t know it.

The Secret World of Arrietty is one of my favorites. It is such a gentle movie, with fields of flowers and dreaming, a giant fat cat, a kind boy, a brave girl. This movie is based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton, and is about a family of tiny people who secretly reside in homes. They borrow only what they need, things that would not be noticed or needed, things forgotten, like Arrietty’s straight pin. They keep to themselves and remain hidden, for the rule is, if a borrower is seen, than the family needs to move to keep safe.

Arrietty sort of blows that being hidden and not seen thing out of the water. She is thirteen, adventurous, and wants to see what is out there, and one day on one of her forays, a new boy arrives to the home to live with his aunt and her employee. He has heart issues and is staying with his aunt until his operation, so that he can relax and be safe and rest. Arrietty doesn’t know this, or about his personality, which turns out to be kind – but she does know that there is a good chance that she was seen by him. She doesn’t say anything to her parents, Pod and Homily, and later that night goes on her first borrowing with her father. I love this part. The seriousness that is conveyed through animation is amazing. So much is said in the quiet moments, the heaviness of her father’s walk, the stoic way he handles the whole expedition. Homily, Arrietty’s mother, is a bundle of dramatic nerves and I have to say, I sometimes can relate to her. I would be terrified if my teen was going on a borrowing and we were only like 3 inches tall. Homily however knows that her child has to learn how to take care of herself, as the three of them, as far as they know, are the last of their kind. They don’t know if there are others out there, so one day Arrietty might be all on her own. She sends them off, imploring them to be safe and with a small list – sugar and tissue paper.

It’s on this expedition that things go awry. Arrietty is not only straight up seen by the boy, Shawn, but he speaks to her. He talks about his mother who grew up in that house told him stories of little people who live in the walls, and you get the sense she was a romantic dreamer, even though now it appears she has left those days behind her. Anyway, this is not good. Not good at all. Pod starts making plans to move, and spends the next few days finding safe routes away from the house. On one of these trips he becomes injured and is discovered by another borrower, Spiller. Spiller tells them he can help them leave, he knows more borrowers out there, and can help them escape to a new beginning.

Now that they have definitely been seen, they have to move and it kills me. There house is so charming and beautiful and every time I watch it I think about how cozy it looks. Just filled with color and life and useful items, books and herbs and quilts and it is all just so delightful. Plus Shawn and his aunt are sympathetic to the family, and not out to get them, although we do know that someone else is.

The animation is spectacular. The way that flowers move in the breeze, the homes with ivy crawling up their sides, plants with dew, the attention to detail is amazing and so real – the scenes without dialogue that are just quick views of the landscape or scenery are some of the most powerful (and relaxing) in the movie.

I could just lay in a field of flowers on a lazy day reading with a cat curled up on me too.

This movie is bittersweet, in the sense that new friends Shawn and Arrietty have to say goodbye to each other, and Arrietty and her family have to move. However, the last few lines of the movie make it seem a bit better.

It was the relaxing, cozy movie I needed last night, after a sort of stressful two days around here. I fell asleep dreaming of rooms filled with plants and life and color.

Next up we leave the world of animation and move back into classics, with the African Queen! This movie has been on my watch list for years and years and I am looking forward to finally watching it. When I feel like a Bogart movie, I almost always switch on Key Largo, one of my favorites, rather than trying a new one. So I am looking forward to finally watching it!

You can find Lisa’s post on Arrietty here! I am linking straight to her blog as I know she had some stuff going on and may not get her post up until a bit later.

Comfy Cozy Cinema: Fantastic Mr. Fox

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Comfy Cozy Cinema, movies9 Comments

I am so excited for the fall edition of the buddy movie watching I do with my friend and fellow blogger, Lisa, over at Boondock Ramblings! We wanted to watch some fall movies together and really couldn’t pick one lane. Or maybe I couldn’t, because that sounds like me. So we have a list that we compiled that moves from feeling all cozy autumn that moves into sort of creepy, then boop! Back to cozy again! We wanted movies that made us feel all snuggly, that made us want to get under blankets and drink tea, and then we wanted a little extra thrill for around Halloween. And I think we were successful in our list making! Feel free to watch along with us!

This week we are not just doing one movie, but two, and it has me all kinds of happy. I happily settled down Saturday night in my super comfy pajama pants, a cup of mint tea with honey, and my honey, Billy to watch the first up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, and from the moment it began I was glued to the screen. (sorry for the cheesy joke…)

This movie is a visual treat, and perfect for autumn with all of its super warm tones of yellow and orange. I have said time and again in this space that I am a sucker for a beautiful movie, and that even includes stop action animation. Also, Wes Anderson! I love Wes Anderson! He managed to capture the spirit of the book and blend it with his own style and aesthetic in the most perfect way. Or should I say, fantastic way?

This movie sticks to the core of the book, with Mr. Fox being a clever little fox vs. the villainous farmers, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean (one fat, one short, one mean..) The movie added a bit more to the plot to fluff it out a bit more, with the addition of nephew Kristofferson, Ash and his foibles, school, etc, and fleshed out the life of the animals more. In this version, Foxy is a former thief, and a very good one at that. However, he promises his wife Felicity (voiced by Meryl Streep!) that he will give us his thieving ways and get a safer job. So, he does, and becomes a newspaper man. He is suave, he is sophisticated, he is clever, but lives in a den underground, like foxes usually do. Foxy though, has higher aspirations and ambitions, and moves his family to a beech tree, right in the middle of a highly dangerous neighborhood, one occupied by none other than the farmers Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. And here the madness begins.

Oh Foxy. He causes So. Much. Trouble! Not just for his family, but for all the animals in the area, who are none too happy with him. And neither is his wife, Felicity. One of my favorite scenes is one where Felicity is giving him a piece of her mind, and she asks why he didn’t keep his promise to her, and he says, “Because I’m a wild animal”. And I thought what a great line, what a great moment. Because despite everything, he is who and what he is. A wild animal. They may be little animal versions of newspaper reporters, artists, lawyers, doctors, but they are all wild animals first and foremost. This actually becomes a much deeper theme later in the movie, that is expanded upon in a wonderfully fantastic way.

There is another scene that I loved just as much. Foxy and his gang are out on a mission, when in the distance, they spot the most wild animal of all, the wolf. There is this pause, a weighty pause full of emotion, more than you would expect from a movie like this, as the characters take in the majesty of what they are seeing.

It gave me goosebumps.

The voice actors all did a fantastic job (yes I am going to keep using that adjective) – George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, Meryl Streep, and Michael Gambon who managed to be 100% Gambon-ish even in the role he was voicing. And I loved how instead of swearing in this movie, the used the word “cuss”, where there would be a cuss word. So very very clever.

So, does Foxy beat the farmers? Are his family and friends saved? Well, you will just have to watch and find out!

You can find Lisa’s thoughts here!

Next up is The Secret World of Arrietty, another movie based on a children’s book. Arrietty is based on the classic The Borrowers, and oh do I love it so much. I want my whole house to look like their house. Anyway, that is for another day – Thursday, in fact.

This is our list of movies by the way. We do have some break weeks built in, so stay tuned for which weeks are break weeks!

Homeschool: First Week Back, Sunflowers, and Buckeyes

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling7 Comments

Last week was our first week back and it went pretty well! I thought Wyatt was going to be all grouchy about it but he was pretty happy about resuming our normal school schedule. I am going to take that as a sign I am doing all right at this homeschool thing.

He cracked me up when we made his “Back to school” sign. When I asked him what he was excited to learn about, he said “Ghosts!”. Ummm… I don’t have that as part of the curriculum obviously. So I am going to have do some research. I did find a unit study about ghost animals, like the ghost moth, ghost crab, etc that we are going to do in October, but I will also try to find something that is more what he is expecting as well.

For our first week, I sort of tiptoed back into school. We didn’t go all out, and I think we both appreciated that. However, I feel like we did do quite a bit.

My plan for the week included (besides the basics of readin’ and ‘rithmetic) finishing up a few more states from our Social Studies curriculum from last year, introducing the art of Van Gogh, and science. I haven’t rolled music in yet, and I probably won’t until next week. Also, I’m not starting our main history curriculum until October. We are doing a whole thing with Paddle-to-the-Sea for Language Arts and wrapping state studies up in with it. We focused on Ohio, compared sunflower seeds to buckeyes (or in our case, a chestnut), read about Van Gogh, studied his painting Sunflowers, and then finally painted our own version. Our painting is a combo of Wyatt and I both – sometimes he paints on his own, sometimes I do hand over hand if there is a special reason. For this lesson, I wanted to make sure we were getting long, feathery strokes for the petals of the sunflowers, and fat dabs for the seeds, as we read that Van Gogh did when he painted his famous version. We also talked about how the painting had a life cycle sequence in it, which is pretty neat.

Add in three therapy sessions, bike riding, and time for just fun and play, and we had a very big week! This week is sort of jammed with appointments and a field trip, so it will be another slow week and that is ok.

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

Vincent Paints His House || Vincent Van Gogh || B is for Buckeye || Camille and the Sunflowers

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 was our first week back to (home)school and it was a really good, productive week. Wyatt enjoyed it, I enjoyed it – it was a nice ease back into the school year kind of week.

Read Last Week:

I had plans to read a different book this week, but I was still lingering in the world of Tom Lake and wasn’t ready for another big read. So I read this one, which is an old favorite. It’s a good time of year to revisit Barbara Michaels!

Reading This Week:

Ok, I said this last week but I mean it this week.

Posted Last Week:

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Book Reviews: Tom Lake

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Shop Around the Corner

Spooky, Creepy, Dark and Twisty: My Autumn Podcast Playlist

Watching and Listening:

Well, you know what I am listening to – spooky podcasts! Also Lord Huron, I tend to listen to a lot of Lord Huron in the fall.

As for watching, Billy and I are sort of all over the place. We watched Hotel Portofino last week, Death in Paradise, Newhart in the early evenings with Wyatt, and I have also been watching Grimm. It’s been so long since I watched it. Monroe is still my favorite character.

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I have started our fall movie watches too. We were hoping for cozy type movies, with some getting a little more scary as we get closer to Halloween. We started out with The Shop Around the Corner, and then this weekend we had a double feature – The Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Secret World of Arrietty. Our posts on those two will be up this week!

And that is about it from around here today! How are you all doing?

Spooky Creepy Dark and Twisty: My Autumn Podcast Playlist

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn autumn, Podcasts2 Comments

Who else is ready for spooky season? This post has become one of my favorite yearly traditions on the blog! I listen to so many podcasts, and so many of them are on the spooky side! The podcasts I have listed in previous years have tended to be more true crime with some spooky – this year, maybe just one does both spooky and true crime?

I am all about the ghosts and cryptids this year. I find the lore of cryptids fascinating! My favorite cryptid to read about or listen to pods about is the Jersey Devil. I can just imagine the long dark nights when stories like this were born, can’t you? People huddled together inside around a fire, gossiping about the neighbors, telling some crazy tales.

These are my current listens – and since I like to set a mood, I like to have a warm beverage close at hand, maybe a soft blanket, and bonus points if it is stormy or rainy day, but that is not necessity. Be careful about turning the lights down too low though….you never know what is lurking in the shadows, as these tales might make you think!

Sinisterhood: I literally laugh out loud listening to this one. Christie and Heather are hysterical together! I love their vibe. I have only listened to their episodes that are about ghosts or haunting or cyptids, things like that, none of their true crime episodes, but I am sure they are just as well researched as the paranormal episodes, especially since Heather is a licensed attorney. My favorite episodes so far: The Nain Rouge (A Detroit Episode!!) and The Stanley Hotel (I will always love a good Stanley Hotel pod, and this one is awesome)

The Midnight Library: This podcast is a whole experience! I was listening the other night before bed and I didn’t want to stop. It is pure entertainment! From their website:

Proudly brought to you by the fine folks at the Astonishing Legends Podcast – Not just another show but a place you can go: The Midnight Library. You alone, can climb the stairs of the strange, old Victorian mansion and be somewhat welcomed by your Hosts, Miranda Merrick & Mr. Darling. Curl up in a window seat or beside the grand fireplace and hear a tale of times long ago. Be transported to forgotten lands, learn about ancient customs and mysterious happenings… all in the company of your unusual hosts in their unique setting. Just stay in the cordoned off areas, and you should be fine…

My favorite episode so far: Gargoyles (and now I want to take the Gargoyles tour of Pittsburgh!)

Old Gods of Appalachia: This is another podcast that is a immersive and dramatic. It draws on folk tales and tales of the supernatural for inspiration, and is all original fiction, which is brought to life by a spectacular cast. My cousin introduced me to this one and I am very thankful! My cousin actually had tickets to see them perform in person but they were flooded out. (I think that was the reason at least!) If you want to be swallowed up by a story, give this one a shot! Favorite episode so far: Hmm, too hard to choose!!!

The Night Owl: Ok, so I mentioned this one last year but I still love it to pieces and wait anxiously every month for a new episode. Yep, this podcast releases one episode a month – but the production quality and research that go into each episode are worth the wait. It is so well done! Each episode or haunt is treated so thoughtfully and carefully by Stephen and his team, and it is evident in every moment of the podcast. My favorite episodes so far: The Pioneer Farms episodes

Ghost Tales by the Fireside: Ooo this one is delightful and absolutely perfect on those rainy fall days. It is THE podcast to snuggle up under the covers, sip some tea, light a fire if that is something you can do, and just listen. It is exactly how you imagine a ghost tale should be told, hushed and quiet. My favorite episode so far: Ghosts of Ipsley

If you interested in my previous lists you can find them here: 2022,  2021, 2020