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

It feels like it has been so long since I have shared here on the blog for some reason! It’s just been really a few days but it feels longer. We had another repeat of the week before – Billy working lots of late nights, Wyatt and I hanging out, homeschooling, playing games, that sort of thing. We have also been really busy with home projects, finishing up things we have wanted to do but never get around to. So that feels good and I will be happy when they are finished. I will be especially happy to have an office room again! We are getting ready to paint and I ordered a few things to spruce it up, a new rug, some new curtains. Nothing major but enough to make it feel all different. We also splurged on new dining room chairs as one of my cats has destroyed the ones we have. Thanks Mags. These are hopefully indestructible as there is no fabric on them at all! It’s been fun to rework our space a bit. We have lived here twenty years and Billy and I realized we have not done too much to change things at all in that time. LOL. My car’s service engine light came on too, and Billy ran it up to the dealership and it is some sort of transmission slipping gears issue that is thankfully covered. So my car goes in on Monday for a few days. Just a little bit longer without a car – I haven’t been driving it since the light came on, right after Christmas! With COVID and everything we had to wait until the stars aligned and Billy had a moment to take it up there. We don’t really go anywhere but it is nice for Wyatt and I to at least take a ride sometimes during the week to break things up! I also somehow got one of my besties to adopt a tiny little pixie frog from the pet store (although pixe frog is a misnomer in my opinion, they get quite huge!) I spotted it when I ran in to buy crickets for Harry and snapped a photo. It looked so cute! Apparently Kelly thought so too, because she went and got him the next morning.

Meet James Lime! (she also has a Pac Man frog named Frances Lemon)

Read Last Week:

I am still working on both of these, but I think I will be done with both of them in the next two days. I have been enjoying them a great deal! After these I am not quite sure what I will be reading. I am hoping I get approved on NetGalley for the new Erin A. Craig book Small Favors. If that happens that is what I plan to read. So fingers crossed!

Watching:

All Creatures Great and Small. LOVE this show so much. As much as the original show, if not more honestly. I have loved the books my whole life, and this show feels so perfect. We finished up Wartime Farm, and started The Hardy Boys, which is pretty good!

And really that is about it from around here! Stay safe and well everyone.

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

We had a quiet week around here, working on our projects, homeschooling, and not really a whole lot else. We made a big decision mid-week, to send Wyatt back to physical therapy starting in February, and I have been wrapping my head around it since then honestly. I probably won’t be comfortable with the decision ever at this point but we need to do it. He is so motivated and while I do ok homeschooling, I just can’t replace a physical therapist.

Read Last Week:

This book was so good – and so scary! Alex is one tough cookie. I was in amazement over his strength and the strength of his team, especially the group leader Dan, throughout this whole ordeal. I hope to post a mini-review with my thoughts sometime this week.

Reading This Week:

My mom and I are both reading Murder on the Orient Express, which is so good! I am also reading Wintering, A Season with Geese, starting this week as well. I am finding a haven in nonfiction right now that I am not in fiction.

Posted Last Week:

What We’ve Been Up To This Week

Homeschool: The Arctic Week 2

Watching:

We started the new All Creatures Great and Small and it was all I had hoped it would be. Just watching the trailer gave me goosebumps, so I was super excited to watch it. I love the cast, I love just everything about it. I have loved this book series since I was a little girl, when my mom gave me the books for Christmas. I was like eight or so and while some of it was over my head I understood most of it and was charmed forever by farm life and James Herriot (Alf Wight). He was born in Sunderland, England, the same place as my grandfather, and almost year to the date after my grandfather. And lived in Glasgow, where my grandma’s family is from. His father worked in the shipyards, the same as my great-grandfather. And.. I digress. We also watched Wartime Farm (check it out on Absolute History YouTube), and finished up His Dark Materials. For our movie night we watched The Secret Garden, which was a visually stunning movie. It has been er, decades, since I read the book so I don’t remember much of the story, but I loved the movie.

And that is about it from here! Stay safe everyone.

It’s been a week of projects around here. We always feel so energized this time of year, getting stuff done, or at least making a good attempt. Over the weekend my husband worked pretty tirelessly on getting my old office ready to painted. We moved stuff out and did some basic maintenance as this room was not being used by anyone other than our cats and boxes of books and odds and ends. It was sort of like a catch-all room, plus cats hanging out. So he worked on that. I was supposed to go through the closet in there and ditch or donate or pack up the stuff in there (mostly books..) but then Billy worked eleventy-billion hours this week and I never got the chance. So a project for this weekend- yay?

I also made a garden plan, and a list of seeds we have and what we need to order still. I have quite a few still from last year and the year before, so I probably don’t need too many! I just need to check their viability. I don’t know how to do that quite yet, but I plan on looking it up later today. We also got our elderberry root cuttings delivered, so we set those up in our fancy solo cups of dirt as our ground is not quite able to be dug into to plant them.

I also wanted to learn to sew this year. I literally could not thread a needle (I mean, I knew the mechanics of it but why so hard???) and I was texting my husband my step by step progress. And I couldn’t believe I even got that part wrong but hey life is about learning right? I started out pretty easy.. I wanted to make Wyatt a little hat for the Kids Moon Club thing we do. We did this two years ago, skipped last year, and I am excited to do it again this year. It is a really unique way to teach kids about the phases of the moon, folklore and history surrounding the different full moons each month, space, and nature. I am excited because before we just kind of focused on the more fun things, like the crafts and snacks, but this year we are really going to focus on the science part of it. But you know me, I have to have a little fun and whimsy in there too. Therefore, my very first sewing project, a little crown for my own wolf cub boy. It’s pretty basic and imperfect but I made it! We all start somewhere!

Wyatt has also had a huge week. As you may know, Wyatt has cerebral palsy and it affects his mobility and right side. This week he has been going up on “high knees” and learned that he can brace himself against the door frame with righty (his affected hand) and open doors with his left. This is huge! He has been really exploring and pushing his own limits which is just what we want, that motivation. We also had a televisit with his big doctor, his PMR who is like the quarterback of his care, which went really well. But, we also made the huge decision to send him back to physical therapy. We have been staying home for ten months and while homeschooling is going well, I just can’t replace his actual physical therapist, and he is getting behind. And since he is so motivated, it is time. I can’t hold him back although I am absolutely terrified. I tell myself though that these doctors and therapists have known Wyatt since he was six months old, and love him as well, and will do their best to keep him safe. (since I have to wait in the car!) So starting in February, Wyatt will be going once a week again.

We have also been doing our normal everyday things, homeschool, cleaning, all that jazz.

So while it is nothing too glamorous and exciting, that is where we are at this week! Stay safe everyone!

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

Hi all!! And Happy Belated New Year! We have had a nice two weeks, my husband was off for quite a bit of it, and we put aside a lot of everyday work and projects so that the three of us could just hang out together, whether it was hiking or playing games (Wyatt is enjoying Go Fish these days) or binging television. We also each had a virtual friend’s night, which was much needed as well. I miss my crew! But this week we will back at the normal routine, with some changes. I am recommitted to actually cooking more – I think last year I fell into a huge rut and when grocery shopping became harder in the spring, relied more on easily gotten items then we just sort of kept on with those. And I miss making good meals. So, meal planning begins again this week. I am looking forward to it actually.

Read last week:

I really enjoyed Ash’s book about fishing in Cornwall. It gave me a whole different perspective, and it was beautifully written. And I absolutely love John Lewis-Stempel and was super excited about receiving two books of his for Christmas.

Reading This Week:

I am all about nonfiction right now. I am still finding it difficult to read much fiction but I am finding great joy in nonfiction.

Posted Recently:

A Quiet Holiday

My Favorite Reads of 2020

One Word and First Read of the Year

Watching:

We finished The Witcher, which I loved. We started This Farming Life on BritBox, and we watched one episode of Bridgerton. We also watched the new Rebecca which we both really enjoyed, Death to 2020 which cracked us up, and I hope we can watch Midnight Sky tonight. I’ve also been listening to the podcast Ologies with Alie Ward, and I love it. I highly recommend it if you are into science at all.

And that is it from my little house in the mitten! Stay safe everyone.

I was lucky enough to receive two John Lewis-Stempel books for Christmas to add to my collection! I got The Wild Life of the Fox, which I read immediately, and then saved The Private Life of the Hare for today. Rabbits and foxes, my favorite! Wyatt wanted me to take his photo with the book too, so of course I did, because he’s cute.

I have never done the word of the year before, but I thought I would try it out this year. After much thought, I have decided on Connection. I really felt disconnected in 2020, with all the changes in our life and routine. No breakfast or coffee dates with friends, no book club, no taking Wyatt to therapy twice a week and seeing those people that we saw twice a week for five years. No work. Just lots of not seeing anyone. And I have a personality that tends to be solitary anyway honestly – and once I am home, I can really dig in. I feel like I really sort of lost my mojo as well – I didn’t feel as connected to nature as I have in the past, and I want to rebuild that feeling. We were outside but I didn’t feel as in tune with it as I normally do. So this year, I am going to connect. With myself, my circle, nature, my home even, adding in more warmth as we are minimalists and I needed to add in some warmer elements (like lots of plants! I am loving all of the green in our house!) So, this year is about connection, and trying to find ways to connect even with what is happening in our world.

It was a different Christmas for us this year, as I am sure it was for a lot of people. For the first time ever in my life, I woke up on Christmas and stayed home. Wyatt stayed in his pajamas all day, playing with his presents, which were considerable (looking at you family….lol). We had multiple video chats to open gifts together virtually with Wyatt’s grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles; we ate leftovers and drank lots of tea and coffee. We left the mess. My dad and stepmom drove two hours in the snow to deliver gifts in their Santa hats and stand outside and wave to Wyatt. It snowed all day, quiet and peaceful outside, warm and a bit nuts inside.

We missed our big family shenanigans, missed our family. But despite it all, the kids had a fun happy Christmas and that is what our goal was, for all the kids to feel the magic still this year.

The next day we began the task of putting our house back together, and even went through Wyatt’s older clothes and toys and were able to put together two bags of items to donate that he had outgrown. I ordered a new bookcase with a bench for his room, for his collection of books has also outgrown their shelves. We organized and cleaned and played with the kiddo, taking another slow day for ourselves. I read one of my new books while Wyatt and Billy watched a cartoon in another room, and I looked out at the snow, with a glass of wine and a cat either on my lap or next to me. And a random windowsill crayon, because don’t we all have those?

We spent the following two days outdoors, but those are adventures for another day.

I hope you all had a good Christmas, that still had some magic this year.

Happy Holidays to those who are celebrating! I wish everyone peace and joy this season.

Stay safe all!

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! I am sitting here drinking my coffee, looking back over the past week, waiting for my breakfast pie that I made to cool, because everyone needs pie for breakfast once in a while. Then this afternoon we are going to go for a hike and make a dried orange garland. Last week wasn’t too bad, but it sure was busy! I feel like I am in a good spot with the upcoming holidays as far as preparations, I had a video chat with a blogger friend which was a nice change in my week, we had takeout tacos on Friday, and all in all, it was a pretty ok week. We were supposed to have our virtual bake-off yesterday, but all of us were having a hard time finding some of the ingredients we needed so we decided to postpone, which is a bummer.

Read Last Week/Reading This Week:

I am almost done but not quite there! I am enjoying this read, although slowly. I don’t have much time to read right now but I am enjoying the calm I am finding in these pages when I do have the time. And my dreams lately have been so filled with the sea and water..I wonder why?

Posted Last Week:

Snow, Christmas, Quiet

These are a few of my favorite things..this year

Watching:

Sherlock! Whoa that last episode we watched..this show is amazing! So glad that we are finally watching it. We thought we were at the end but then saw we have one more season yay!! We are also watching Edwardian Farm, and finishing up Virgin River. As for movies, we have watched Christmas Eve on Sesame Street which was my favorite as a little girl. Watching it with Wyatt took me back to my childhood watching it with my parents. We also watched Charlie Brown’s Christmas, and a non-Christmas movie, Fisherman’s Friends which we loved!! This week we will watch Love Actually and The Muppet’s Christmas Carol, which we are saving for Christmas Eve this year.

Stay Safe everyone, be well, and happy holidays!

This evening I felt something I haven’t felt for quite a while. Content. Maybe it was the chili bubbling on the stove, the dark night folding our house up, Carol King singing away in the background, the falling snow outside, I don’t know. But there it was finally. Contentment. Peace. It’s been a rough hard year, but today, I felt it. Hope.

Lately, I seem to have grown some solid roots at home. In a previous life, way back in 2019, we would be out and about, going to different events, hanging out with family and friends, enjoying our holiday season in a very social way. And while I miss those times and those PEOPLE, very much, we are having a very quiet season at home right now, leaving only really for our hikes, and Billy to work. I think about how this full moon cycle is the quiet moon, and it makes sense. In the past, no one would have ventured far this time of year, opting to be at home, safe and snug and warm. Kind of like we are doing now. Our evenings are full of hearty warm comfort foods, listening to music, creating, and snuggling up under blankets to watch movies and binge tv, like Edwardian Farm. Wyatt has been spending every evening after dinner these days with his crayons and paper, in the shadow of my Monstera, Goblin, drawing the night away, or flipping through his books. I am working on my own projects, my little gnome trinket tray for Dinogirl, my little peg dolls for my other nieces, Glitzy Girl and JayZ. Billy is usually drawing up ideas and plans for things he wants to build, and we are just all together in our little den, with each other in our own little worlds.

Tonight, I was thinking about Christmas and Christmas carols and how my favorite has changed over the years. When I was younger, I loved Good King Wenceslas. It’s upbeat tempo, its message of helping our neighbor, I just really loved it. But these last few years, my soul is called to O Holy Night. I can’t seem to listen to it without tearing up, every single time. “The thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices/For yonder breaks, a new and glorious morn..” This year, more than any other, these words speak to me so deeply they resonate within. I listen and let the tears flow, quietly. My husband doesn’t laugh or poke fun, just looks at me, touches my hair. He knows what it is like when music grabs you that forcefully.

This year we are supposed to be able to see “the Christmas Star”, Jupiter and Saturn coming close together for the first time since the middle ages, on the night of the Winter Solstice. The longest night of the year, it is also signifies the return of the light to the world after so many months of darkness. And I feel like that, that we are coming out of this darkness. We are not through the woods yet, but we have a light.

Stay safe everyone.