Category: Uncategorized

Book Review: Only Ever Her

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Goodreads Summary:

It was to be the perfect wedding—until the bride disappeared.

Annie Taft’s wedding is four days away, and it will be one of the grandest anyone can remember in her small South Carolina town. Preparations are in order. Friends and family are gathering in anticipation. Everything is going according to plan. Except that Annie herself has vanished. Did she have second thoughts?

Or has something much worse happened to the bride-to-be?

As the days pass, the list of suspects in her disappearance grows. Could it be the recently released man a young Annie misidentified as her mother’s killer? Could it be someone even closer to her?

While her loved ones frantically try to track her down, they’re forced to grapple with their own secrets—secrets with the power to reframe entire relationships, leaving each to wonder how well they really knew Annie and how well they know themselves.

My Thoughts:

I really could not put this book down! I read it in two days, which in the past was no big deal, but these days is a sign that I am hooked, since that means I squeezed reading in whenever possible, possibly even at the expense of laundry or grocery shopping…

Anywhoo, I wanted to know what the heck happened to Annie! Did she just take off, like a runaway bride, or did something more sinister happen? Told from multiple points of view, we got to know the people closest to Annie well. Their good points, their flaws..but we never really got to know Annie. And I think that was purposeful, as I don’t think the people in Annie’s life knew her all that well either. She was that sort of character, you know? Where you think you know someone, but then maybe yo don’t, not deep down? That is Annie. And this book was full of secrets – secrets by the bucketful. Every time you turned a page there was a revelation it seemed by one character or another. I loved learning all these hidden secrets as they were revealed. It was like going to coffee with a good friend and getting all the dirt on something crazy!

The ending gave me mixed feelings, honestly. A few things happened, and while one was pretty much like holy moly I didn’t see that coming, another one was a bit disappointing.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It was a bit slow to unwind itself, but once it did get going, everything really started to become undone. Not as good as When We Were Worthy, but still a good read.

I received an advance copy from Little Bird Publicity and Lake Union Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

Hi all!! Happy belated Easter if you celebrate and Happy Earth Day! I hope you all had a great weekend! Friday we had dinner at my brother’s house where we had a blast, hanging out and chatting while our kids were just being kids around us, the way it should be. Then yesterday we took a family hike by the lake, spotted lots of water birds, and then went for Easter dinner at my cousin’s house. She went out of her way to make a fun Easter for my son and niece. Her kids are grown, but my cousin put Easter Eggs all over the yard for the kids to find, and Wyatt loved it! My niece wasn’t able to make it, so Wyatt got all the treasures! It was a great weekend!

I am finally feeling myself. All last week I was a bit a run down and gross, my allergies were acting up like crazy, and I just wasn’t me. I had no get up and go, and to top it off, I was in a bit of a reading slump. I finally settled in with the perfect book though, and it is one one of my favorite reads so far this year. So from the slump I emerged with a new book to rave over!

Read Last Week:

In my slump, I picked this book up off of my bedside pile, and was immediately drawn into this micro world. This little books is a calm, gentle, beautiful read, one that speaks of perseverance and appreciating life. I completely loved it. Look for post hopefully this week!

Reading This Week:

I have been horrible about following my reading plans this month. Things just aren’t sticking. This week I am going to read my book club book Bohemian for sure, and then I’m going to read Bonavere Howl. Here’s to hoping I can stick to my plan!

Posted Last Week:

Earth Day Reads

A Poem for Everyone

How about you guys? Did you have a nice weekend? What’s going on in your neighborhood? Any plans for Earth Day?

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized22 Comments
sunday post It's Monday! What Are You Reading
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My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz 

 

Hi everyone!! My week was a bit hectic, playing catch up from spring break plus some family things going on as well. This weekend though we took a walk in the woods and saw so many signs of spring, including a little frog we spotted that was peeping out at us. We also celebrated my niece’s birthday today. She is such a little glamour girl already at two, walking around with her toy phone and toy lipstick, adorned in her sparkly shiny necklace and bracelet. Plus, there was cannoli cake!

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Read:

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I still didn’t end up reading Finale! I am not as great at reading on my Kindle although I am trying to be better about it, for many reasons. However, I did read this review book and I couldn’t stop reading it! I picked it up one afternoon and had it finished by the next day, which four years ago wasn’t a big deal, but now is a huge sign I loved a book. Review coming soon!

Reading This Week:

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I will probably be reading from these three over this week. I can’t quite land on a book fully it seems lately!

Posted Last Week:

Spring Break Staycation

Hello April!

Watching:

Not too much. We spent the week running about and by the time evening rolled around we were wiped out! When we did have a second to take a break and watch tv, we just watched whatever was on HGTV.

So what about you guys? What all is going on in your neighborhood?

Spring Break Staycation

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn day in the life, family friendly, parenting, special needs parenting, Uncategorized3 Comments

Last week was my son’s spring break from preschool, and for the first time in a very long time, Wyatt and I found ourselves looking at a week that didn’t have any doctor’s appointments, therapy (usually three times a week), school, or even work for me, as my boss (and cousin lol) was on a family trip for their spring break. I had planned at first to work on some potty training for my little CP warrior since we had all week to do it, uninterrupted. But, this kid works so hard, you guys. So hard all the time. So, I changed my mind. I was taking advantage of this wonderful gift of time, and letting Wyatt just be a kid.

We spent a lot of time outside – the weather was amazing, spring making its way to the Mitten state, finally! We took lots of walks, had picnics in the yard, ate lots of ice cream, practiced pedaling on the tricycle, and just lots of “play momma, play”.

We also went on a “zoofari” together. We picked three animals to go find at the zoo and then went and found them! He picked the zebra and giraffe, I picked the otters, one of my favorites – although Wyatt picked my other favorite, the zebras! He loves the giraffes, and I found out last night that his cousin does too!

We planted a few seeds for our garden – moon and star watermelon, cinnamon basil, and lettuce. We were also really excited to find a new friend, a neighborhood groundhog that we have named Stan. He lives under these steps of a church, and is always just hanging out on his porch. We would go check on him everyday, of course hanging back to not disturb him or interfere with him.

I even managed to get some adult time in! I had book club with my buddies, and then Billy and I reconnected with a friend who we were so close with for years and years, and then kind of fell out of touch for a bit. We met for dinner and it was like time had never passed since our last visit together.

It was a very full and wonderful week, full of lots of good times, laughter, friends, and just all those moments that make up life, everyday.

 

Hello April!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized5 Comments

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Hello April!

I always like to start the month by thinking ahead to what this month might bring, and what we might do. It is the month of the pink moon, named because of the pink phlox that blooms in April. April’s full moon also has a few different names, but I really like the thought of a pink moon – which might be slightly influenced by Nick Drake’s song, which really is so beautiful.

Spring is definitely here, although we might have some snow still this month yet! The weather has been so gorgeous, we were able to get outside and play for a bit. We have plans for our garden, we are even planting a cherry tree in our backyard and I can’t wait! We are also working on sprucing up our porch so we can do some porch sitting – in fact, I might try to steal a few minutes with some coffee out there today, if I get the chance. Maybe at naptime I will sneak out and just sit and listen to the breeze rustle the branches which are just now budding, the birds chirping away, my woodpecker couple who like to hang out in front. I like to hear their knocking for some reason – it feels comfortable in a way I can’t describe.

Since the 22nd is Earth Day, we want to try to make some more lifestyle changes, swaps that we can make, different things we can do to do our part in protecting and saving and reviving this planet we all share. We have done some small things already, like swapping to shampoo bars and regular bar soap, cutting down on our plastic in the shower. We have a reusable straw for the kiddo that we take with us when we go out, and I have started carrying our own silverware in case we we need it as well. I have some ideas that I am going to work on and I am looking forward to our new changes! I will be sharing our how they work out with all of you, and I would love to hear different things that you do too!

Easter is this month as well – our family celebrates but not like we do other “big” holidays. Usually something small and easy, and really for the kids to see their grandparents more than anything. I am looking forward to dying Easter Eggs with Wyatt this year, I think he is really going to enjoy it!

This month is about spring and cleaning and getting outside planting and just enjoying the nice weather for as long as we can. And is there anything better than a nap with the windows open, a just cool enough breeze drifting over you, as you drift off? Or a sleep after a long day outside? I know it is one of my favorite things!

My Sunday-Monday Post!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized23 Comments

 

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My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz 

Last week was my son’s spring break, and despite my efforts, it was rare I made it to my laptop or had time to read. My husband worked quite a bit as well, so it was mostly me and my little buddy everyday. We actually had a blast – the weather was wonderful, and we were outside or hanging out with friends most of the time. I also had book club on Thursday at my house, which was a MUCH needed mom break. I hope to share some of our humble staycation adventures and book club shenanigans this week!

Read Last Week/Reading This Week..

I made little starts on two books..

 

I am super excited to read Finale in the Caraval series. I was able to download it and begin reading but like I said, I just didn’t have a lot of time. And I grabbed The Witch of Willow Hall when Wyatt and I went to get library books for him last week and I started reading that as well – it is really good so far! Since I only really started these books, I am still reading them this week. We resume our normal schedule and routine starting tomorrow, and while I have to play some catch up around the house and on some projects I will hopefully have more reading time.

Posted Last Week:

I figured I wouldn’t have a lot of blogging time so I prepped last Sunday, in a rare flash of organization! I hope to get a few new posts up this week too.

Book Review: Girl Most Likely

What Wyatt’s Reading: March Edition

Watching:

Criminal Minds. Home Town, really not too much honestly

 

How about you? What is happening in your world right now?

Book Review: Girl Most Likely by Max Allan Collins

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review, Uncategorized7 Comments

girl most likely

NetGalley Summary:

It’s never too late for revenge in this thrilling novel by New York Times bestselling and award-winning crime master Max Allan Collins.

In a small Midwest town, twenty-eight-year-old Krista Larson has made her mark as the youngest female police chief in the country. She’s learned from the best: her father, Keith, a decorated former detective. But as accustomed as they are to the relative quiet of their idyllic tourist town, things quickly turn with Krista’s ten-year high school reunion.

With the out-of-towners holed up in a lakefront lodge, it doesn’t take long to stir up old grudges and resentments. Now a successful TV host, Astrid Lund, voted the “Girl Most Likely to Succeed”—and then some—is back in town. Her reputation as a dogged reporter has made the stunning blonde famous. Her reputation among her former classmates and rivals has made her infamous. Astrid’s list of enemies is a long one. And as the reunion begins, so does a triple murder investigation.

Krista and her father are following leads and opening long-locked doors from their hometown to the Florida suburbs to Chicago’s underworld. They just never imagined what would be revealed: the secrets and scandals of Krista’s own past.

My Thoughts:

This book starts off with a bang! Right out of the gate, the reader is introduced to mystery and mayhem, and the the first third of the book has great build up and suspense. Unfortunately for me, it sort of petered out until it was just over, and I was left feeling a little disappointed.

Krista and her dad have for me, a weird relationship that I had a hard time getting over. He is living with her at her suggestion following the death of her mother, and he repays her by going through her garbage and confronting her about things he finds there. I mean, I get he is a retired detective, but jeez – boundaries might need to be in order! Then later, she invites him to go with her to her class reunion. It has only been ten years, so it seemed like she should still be feeling young enough to go and cut loose with her old classmates, without her dad there. Maybe it is just me though. I love my dad and I think he is pretty cool, but I think he would feel wildly out of place there anyway, even knowing my classmates. Anyway, that is just a small part of this book, but it was weird enough to me to jolt me out of my reading experience.

Whena murder occurs, Krista, who is hailed for being the youngest female chief in the country, calls in her dad to help her out as a consultant. This made sense, she had never covered a murder before and she wanted to catch this killer. However, to me, it feels like she is just sort of there for the rest of the book. Like her dad is in charge, and is a much bigger character – he is the dominant character that emerges in this story. I wish there had been more about Krista, proving her capabilities and showing her strengths. And then when we find out the murderer, I felt sort of like we never got a true explanation of why they did what they did. I didn’t get enough of an explanation to satisfy me.

This book was not all bad though. Overall, I liked the premise, I liked the setting, I liked the characters – I liked the bones of this book, if that makes sense. To me, I feel it could have been fleshed out more, and that this reads more like a rough draft than a finished book. It was almost there, but not quite  I can see this as a series that will become more sophisticated, with more detail, more depth to the characters. I think this as a potential series has legs, but this book didn’t quite go the distance.

**Update! Check out the comments area for insights from author Max Allan Collins himself! It was a great conversation and I enjoyed hearing what he had to say – and I even came to a few different conclusions!**

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Thank you NetGalley!

What Wyatt’s Reading – March Edition

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized3 Comments

What

 

This March we focused on bugs and springtime and Easter!

We are getting ready for spring here, planning our garden, talking about bugs, learning about the changing of the seasons. Wyatt really loved Snail & Worm and Minerva Louse and the Colorful Eggs, which was really cute. He liked to compare his little toy chicken to Minerva Louise, because they look exactly alike. So we now have a toy chicken named Minerva. (interesting chicken facts- they talk to their chicks while they are in their eggs, and the chicks cheep back! Also, they can recognize up to 100 human and chicken faces!) My personal favorites from this stack were If You Plant a Seed (I must buy it!) and Snow Rabbit, Spring Rabbit. So cute. I really liked all of our books this month, but those were the standouts. And the entire Crinkleroot series is a must own now – my little bird boy loves this book, and I saw there are a bunch of Crinkleroot books that are guides for different outdoor things and birds, mammals, fish, etc that children should know. So it looks like Wyatt’s library is going to continue to grow rapidly!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn books and reading, Uncategorized29 Comments

 

 

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

This past week was a bit blah. I never seemed to have enough time to get stuff done – it was one of those weeks. Too much to do, not enough time! My husband and I did manage to get a few hours at Ikea together, when we left the boyo with his grandparents for a visit. It was nice, although we did spend a bit more than we wanted! And darn it, right on the heels of a Target shopping trip for essentials that should have cost around forty bucks, but ended up being a *little* more. I am also spring cleaning – I am on a purge and splurge I guess! LOL.

We also splurged and bought tickets with my brother and his family to see the Jurassic World Live Tour in November! Wyatt will not like it yet, really loud noises and things jumping out at him startle him too much, so he will be hanging out with a grandma, but it will still be fun – and we will get to hang out with my niece Bean, who loves loves all things dinosaur, especially Blue from Jurassic Park. So it will still be super fun – in November! Lol. We jumped on an email I got for pre-sale tickets so we have some time to wait.

As for our experiments in cooking this week, we made a fantastic spring minestrone soup!

 

Read Last Week:

 

 

Girl Most Likely was a review read from NetGalley that started off promising, but by the end, I was less than enthused. I won’t say I didn’t like it, but I definitely put it in the “It’s ok” category on Goodreads.

I also finally finished Little Dribbling! I loved it. I want to move to England now. Lol. Bill Bryson is hilarious. And Bill Bryson, if you are reading this blog by some bizarre chance and randomness, I would make a great research assistant! And we wouldn’t have to trade houses! (not being strange – he writes about weird fans in his book, and one asked him to trade houses lol)

Reading This Week:

 

 

This week we are working on some big stuff with Wyatt, and it is also his spring break, so I won’t have a lot of time to read or blog very much. (I don’t think – who knows!) Fingers crossed I find the time, I am super excited to read the newest book in the Caraval series, Finale! SO excited, that I am changing my plan for the week to read it. This post originally had a different book listed- but I was too excited when I saw I got this book on NetGalley (or NutGalley as it is today..lol)

I am also reading Cozy. At heart in my soul I am a cozy seeking person. Like all the time. This book is perfect for describing me. Lol. My only complaint so far is the overuse of the word “cozy”. I understand that is the whole premise of the book but it seems to be used in ways I would never use it. Maybe by the end of the book, it will all make sense!

Watching:

The Order – we binged this show all week. It was pretty much all we watched until there were no more left! 😦 We also watched a lot of Winnie the Pooh, Wyatt’s current favorite. He loves “Tiggaahh”

Posted Last Week:

I posted about our most recent but short hikes! Bird’s Eye View

 

How about you all? What is going on in your world?

A Bird’s Eye View

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn day in the life, environment, family, family friendly, nature, Uncategorized5 Comments

2019-03-25Saturday was a warm, bright, sunny day – the perfect spring day really.

Good thing we waited until Sunday when it was chilly, cloudy and gray for our family hike! Lol. Oh well. We dressed warmly and headed out – we usually try not to let weather stop us, unless it is extreme weather, of course.

So we headed out, braving the overcast skies and the cold air. We had a purpose to our walk this time too – to try out our new Kelty Kid’s hiking backpack carrier. We didn’t have a ton of time either, which ended up being perfect because we found a new cool place to hike when we want just a short little saunter in the outdoors. It is close to our home, and in a wetland area, which we normally don’t hike in for some reason, even though we live in the Great Lakes State!

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The trail was short but we saw so much during our adventure! We heard the whistle of the red-winged blackbirds, back in town after their winter away; we saw sparrows and chickadees, flickering about, singing and chittering to us from their perches high up in the still bare branches. We saw a plethora of waterfowl, from swans to mallards to ring-neck ducks to buffleheads (I love that name!) We even saw a beaver quickly duck under the surface of the water just a few feet in front of us! This was pretty cool, since beaver have just really recently returned to our area after 150 years – a very good sign regarding the ecological state of our waterways!

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As I said, we had a mission Sunday, to try out the Kelty. I was so impatient to get out and get going honestly, the excitement to see how it was going to work for our family was making me antsy! For us, it is not just a convenience but world-changing. As Wyatt has cerebral palsy, and is making progress every day with his walking, but we still need a way to get outdoors and take longer hikes right now. In our lives before becoming parents, this was something Billy and I did regularly and for vacations. Trips to walk the Appalachian Trail, trails “Up North” in Michigan, those are fun good times to us. It is so important for us to continue this, and share this passion with our son. We have so many national parks we want to visit – we just need to be creative! As Wyatt is getting longer and bigger (not necessarily heavier lol!) carrying him just in our arms isn’t cutting it. And honestly, it’s not cutting it for him anymore either. He needs to be able to experience the woods and trees and the birds and everything a little differently too – this way, in the pack, he can see looking straight ahead of him, see as we see, a whole new perspective! He can also reach up and out to touch things, learning and experiencing the outdoors in a new way.  He even got to use his own binoculars to look for birds! We loved it, and so did he!! He had such a great time, riding around on his dad’s back. He didn’t want to get out honestly, and wanted us to keep going! And we would have had we had the time. However, much longer adventures are now in our future!

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As we walked, I could swear I heard the hooting of an owl somewhere, although Billy missed it so I could have imagined it. I didn’t imagine however, the Bald Eagle that soared overhead. They really are such majestic creatures. It was a perfect ending to our walk, one that signifies more freedom for our family, with a visit from a Bald Eagle.