Hey all! Happy weekend! Yesterday was such a fun day! We went to the Michigan Renaissance Festival and it was just like I remembered it. We had a great time. I plan on sharing more about it later this week. Today we laying low, other than picking up a little wooden playhouse from my friend’s house. Her daughter no longer plays with it and Wyatt still loves things like that so it will be in our yard later today.
CurrentlyReading:
Truthfully, I am still making my way through this one. Not due to lack of interest, because I love it, but because I am so slow and weird about reading on my Kindle. I know so many people prefer ebooks but I am a traditionalist I guess.
Reading Next:
I’ve been eyeballing this book for a while now, and it seems like a fun one to end the summer with. I know summer is not officially over until the equinox but for me fall begins when September does. Lol.
Reading With Wyatt:
I picked this up for us to read as our read aloud because it is has so many elements our family loves – foxes, badgers, the woods. However, it is pretty intense though guys. If you have sensitive readers I would read it yourself first.
Billy and I have been watching mostly Murdoch Mysteries this week, so nothing really new on that front. As for podcasts I have been listening to True Crime again – Redhanded, Morbid, and I started a long-form podcast called True Crime Bullsh**. I had to stop listening to that last one though pretty quickly. It was just too much for me honestly. It is about Israel Keyes, who is absolutely terrifying, and contains mostly interviews with Keyes. I couldn’t listen. However the host did have spots of interviews with other true crime hosts and fans, regarding the morality and the reasons why they think people listen to and read about true crime which I found interesting, so I wish I could have kept listening to those parts without the Israel Keyes parts.
Musically, we have been listening to a lot different playlists on Spotify, although mainly this one from our family party on the fourth of July.
And that my friends, is the news from around here. I hope all is well in your world!
It can be hard as a parent, whether you are a stay at home parent or a working one, to find time for your own pursuits and friendships. So yesterday when I had two opportunities (thanks Grandmas!) to take a little time away I took them.
My original plan was to go to a free yoga class in a nearby park. My mom lives fairly close, so I could drop Wyatt off, go to yoga, and even grab a coffee and read afterwards for a bit. However, I totally chickened out on the class part of that plan. It is has been so long since I have practiced yoga that I chose to skip the class and instead dropped Wyatt off, and went back home for yoga time in my den.
However, I soon remembered why practicing yoga at home is sometimes difficult too…
…Miso and Marlow like to join me. However, I prevailed and pushed on and Miso eventually lost interest and wandered off somewhere to dream in a pile of fluffy cuteness. Marlow stuck around though, and really liked it whenever I had a pose on the mat, like child’s pose. Stinker. Before the pandemic I was considering attending a goat yoga class – after this experience I think I will skip the goat yoga and just go to a goat happy hour instead.
A lot of people had recommended Yoga with Adriene to me and so I gave her channel a whirl. The video I chose was Morning Fresh Yoga and it was actually perfect for what I needed yesterday; it was just challenging enough, yet also familiar enough that I could relax as well. Lots of warrior, forward folds, downward dog, etc.
Afterward I enjoyed a nice cup of coffee at home, in the quiet, petting those cats who were so interested in yoga and doing a little reading before heading back to pick up the kiddo. He had been having his own fun playing with grandma and his cousin Mermaid Girl and was actually tired out! We both took a little rest when we got home (I listened to a podcast while he caught some z’ss) and then had a normal afternoon after he woke up.
It was going to be a special night though, because one of his other grandmas (Wyatt has 3) was coming over to hang out with him while I went to my friend Kelly’s house for a few hours. Billy had to work a little later so we had grandma to the rescue!
It was just Kelly and I last night, we were two buddies down as Jill’s bonus daughter starts college today and they had all sorts of things to finish up, and Chrissy has out of town family visiting. Kelly and I settled in on her deck, poured the wine, and started catching up. It’s been more than a month since I have seen her in person (we actually both had COVID at the same time but we hadn’t seen each other so it wasn’t like one of us got the other sick, just a weird coincidence) Her oldest daughter starts high school this year, which is unbelievable to me. I remember when she was little and would show me all of her dolls when I went over to visit. We talked about the upcoming school year, laughed about some crazy stuff that has happened to us lately, and then went on the plant tour of Kelly’s house. High School Daughter was all Mom, don’t take her on a plant tour! and warned me not to start a plant journey ~ Kelly had to break the news that I have already started one. In fact, the tour had a purpose. We were gathering cuttings so I could take them home to propagate! If you are a plant person, you know how exciting this is!
Kelly has a beautiful home and I couldn’t resist taking some photos of it while we were getting the cuttings. We actually decided I am going to come over and take photos for a blog post one day – she is proud of her house and she should be!
So, the plant cuttings I took home included a Silver Sword, A Baltic Blue Pothos, a Global Green, a Cebu Blue, a Golden Pothos, and a Horse Head Philodendron. The Silver Sword is one I am super excited about, it is beautiful and hard to find. They are all now currently hanging out in my baby plant/ propagation area. I also included a photo of my baby Brasil I picked up for $4.00.
The cutest thing though. When Kelly’s youngest saw that Kelly had given me cuttings, she gathered some marigold seeds from her garden and gave them to me in a little baggie, which was adorable. Kids are always watching and listening and learning. I love it.
Today I feel more refreshed and very grateful for having had that time yesterday! I think I am going to drop Wyatt off at my mom’s once a week so I can go to yoga, whether it is at home or in class, and let her teach Wyatt geography. I think it will be good for all us!
1. August 24th is National Waffle Day…what’s something you’ve ‘waffled’ on recently?
My son has Cerebral Palsy, and goes to various therapies during the week. I was looking at his schedule for fall, and it just seemed really overwhelming for him. We went back and forth about pulling him out of speech for a while, to give him time to adjust to starting school again, his new increase in meds, and to just sort of balance out his schedule. This was a very big decision; we don’t like to discontinue any of his therapies but we ended up putting speech on hold for a while. He is talking a lot at home, and is constantly adding words and putting together longer and longer sentences, while of course he goes to speech and doesn’t talk at all. Kids, I tell you. This was a tough choice for us though!
2. Do you like waffles? Make your own or ‘leggo my Eggo? Any favorite toppings or add-ins? Waffles or pancakes-which do you prefer? I am not a big waffle fan, but Wyatt loves them. He loves homemade, Eggo, it doesn’t matter to him, as long as it has butter on it. I am a pancake fan though. I love them. I love them just plain, with syrup, with jam on them, with cinnamon or chocolate chips or blueberries or strawberries – I love all the pancakes. My husband has sort of perfected his own recipe and they are delicious!
3. Do you have any momentos from this summer (or past summers)? What do you do with them?
I am always saving little mementos! This summer I have more nature based mementos than anything else though. I put those on our little nature shelf. I also try to a buy book from a local author when on vacation, or an art print.
4. One thing you’d like to do before summer ends?
I would like to go rock hunting before the lakes get way too cold!
5. Life is too short to___________________________________.
Worry about matching your socks. Just throw them in the drawer and wear them all mismatched!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Last week I posted a video of lasagna being made in a cast iron skillet. I could not get it out of my mind so the other night I made a cheesy ravioli and sausage bake in our skillet (on and in the stove though, not an open fire). It was fantastic, and only took about thirty minutes!
Today I am drinking Aldi’s Adventure Blend coffee and it’s not bad! Anyone else an Aldi’s fan? I usually pick up a few things there every week in addition to our normal shopping at Kroger. I try to steer clear of that aisle of shame though, because it is so hard to not pick up something random to take home with you. Like the other day I went in for bread and coffee and saw a spinning composter for the yard and almost bought that too. A few weeks ago I found a really cool wine from the Aldi UK in our little store too, it was a rose, strawberry, and elderflower botanical, according to the bottle. And it said it was crafted in the their British Wineries. I guess I didn’t realize Aldi had any sort of winery at all? It wasn’t very wine-ish, but it was pretty light and refreshing and delicious.
My shaggy haired boy also got a new look last week!
I have to admit, I was not prepared to see him transform into a little boy like that. It makes him look so different! His grandmas, his therapist, his swim instructor, everyone was so surprised to see his hair so short. Lol. While we all like his new ‘do, we all miss his shaggy hair. His hair grows so fast, it is already less defined with the fade so it won’t take long to return to his normal flowing locks. I think we will aim for a length that is not too long, but not this short either. Regardless, he is my handsome little guy!
Wyatt is also doing so well in swimming! We found a place (Aqua-Tots) that has swimming lessons for kids with different needs and he has been going for about four weeks now. They have him rolling over and he even kicked across the pool while holding a pool noodle under his arms last Friday. The instructor was very pleased with how he did, and so are we! He gets a little report card every week, it is so cute! They check off what he has done and what he still needs to do. Aqua-Tots is a different sort of swim program though, it is meant to be continuous lessons rather than a set number of weeks, and kids move up to different levels at their own speed. In fact my niece just leveled up! She is now a seahorse! Wyatt gets one-on-one lessons rather than group lessons due to his cerebral palsy and they are pricey lessons but he is learning a lot and it is so good for him. (and thank you grandpa for treating Wyatt to these lessons too!)
As for me, I am still just working away over here, getting things prepped for fall! I made a big batch of soap yesterday, and our house smells like lavender patchouli and I love it. We needed hand soap and now we have a ton all stored up for when we need it. This is only a small amount of what I made. Since this is for “everyday” (I feel so Little House saying that lol) it is not as pretty as the other soap I make. I made this in the long bread mold type thing and then sliced it up. I did add colorant though, to make it a light purple color. My pretty molds are all summery, frogs and mermaids and bees, and I may pick up a few that are more fall and winter.
My mom, sister-in-law Chrissy, her mom Michelle, and I are going to start having a craft night together once a month and I am so excited! I have a ton of projects I want to work on – needle felting, my patchwork rabbit, embroidery, and I never really craft in the summer for some reason. Maybe because I am busy with bugs and gardens? I put my rabbit on hold and I am looking forward to getting back to it again.
And I found a yoga class that works for me! It is outdoor, free, and at 8:30 in the morning on Wednesdays. I am going to drop Wyatt at my mom’s and then head over to yoga starting tomorrow. I am both nervous since it has been so long since I practiced but I am also very much looking forward to it. Then when I start school with Wyatt in two weeks, my mom is going to do his Social Studies/Geography with him while I am at yoga. I think it will be fun for them both!
Ok I feel like I should wrap this up. I will end on my most recently born butterfly, who escaped and flew around my office, taunting my cats on Sunday! When they first eclose their wings are all wet and need to dry before they can fly. I was checking to see if little Hallelujah was ready to be released, and he sure showed me! I had to hurry and scoot my cats out of the room and catch him. I was cracking up at having a butterfly floating around in my house! I eventually caught him when he took a little break on my plants and then released him into the zinnias outdoors. Also, please excuse the brown fronds on my little fern. In fact, does anyone know why that I have brown fronds?
We have read so many books together this summer! I set up a tent in Wyatt’s room and it has become a place for reading books together every day, which has been a pretty great addition to our summer. We’ve gone to the library countless times, and for the first time in two years Wyatt was able to go in with me and choose his own books. (I mean, I of course chose some for him as well – picture books are just so pretty!) We’ve filled bags and wagons full of books, happily carting them home with us, where we set them all out on the floor and look at them all, flipping through them before putting them on the library books shelf. With school coming up, we will still be reading a lot of books but we won’t be getting to the library quite as often as we do now, but I still will make it part of our Fridays, when I pick up my mom and the three of us go together, three generations who have grown up using the same library and still do.
I couldn’t list all of the books that we have read together this summer, but I do want to share our favorites!
We will start with Wyatt’s favorites, as is appropriate.
Knight Owl was adorable and Wyatt really got into the whole medieval theme, with the knights and dragons. You know I made a mental note of that! And it was super cute, about a little owl who becomes a knight taking over the night watch; unlike his predecessors who have gone mysteriously missing, he is able to stay up all night – and make some unlikely friends.
Don’t Eat Bees literally had him laughing through the whole book. Chip the dog is full of advice about what is ok to eat, and what not to eat…bees. It was cute and Wyatt loved it.
Cannonball was all about making a splash, learning how to execute the perfect cannonball, and to listen to your own voice even when you feel it is being drowned out by the voices and advice of others. Into the Outdoors was a simple little book, about well, being outdoors. My kiddo I think enjoyed the idea of being outside and the simpleness of the story. A Good Place is about bugs, so of course he loved that one. In it four little bugs are looking for a place to live; each place they try is not quite right. Finally they find the best place, the good place. He loved all the bugs and the colors – I liked the message regarding the importance of nature and gardens.
Acorn Was a Little Wild was another one that had him cracking up. Acorn was having himself a blast on all sorts of adventures when one day he is buried by a squirrel! There he is forced to stay patient because he is pretty well stuck. He still manages to enjoy himself, and never loses his free and wild spirit.
The Blue House by Phoebe Wahl is absolutely wonderful. Wyatt loved the illustrations in the is book, there is just so much to see. He also liked how the dad and son would have music and dance parties together, two things that Wyatt also loves. The overall storyline I don’t think he was too interested in, but he really loved looking the pictures over in this one.
And now for my favorites!
Let’s start with Sunrise Summer! I thought this book was so cool and different. It is about a family who relocates to Alaska every summer, not for vacation but for work. They travel as a family and work for a commercial salmon company, while living as part of a beachside community. They fish and get up in the middle of the night, eat cold spaghetti for breakfast in the rain, and overall just work really hard. But the sense of family and community and the satisfaction of doing a hard job well, while working together is sort of refreshing. This book also included infomation on how the fishing is regulated by the Alaska Game Office to ensure these fish are not overfished. It was sort of a fascinating book – for me at least. I think Wyatt was intrigued by the adventure of it all but wasn’t super interested in the fishing parts. Oh! The last few pages of the book are about Alaska and fishing and the author’s life and experience fishing for salmon in Alaska.
Sonya’s Chicken was another surprising book. Sonya is given three chickens to raise, and she cares for them well and loves them. One morning she discovers that a fox has stolen one of her chickens, and obviously is very upset. Her dad explains that “What might seem unfair to you might make sense to a fox.” He tells her a story about this fox, how he lives in the woods with babies that he needs to feed as well. So while they might be sad about the chicken, they can understand why the fox did what he did. Sonya still feels bad about her chickens but keeps the fox kits in mind. Eventually one of her remaining chickens lays an egg that hatches and Sonya has a brand new chick to raise. I really loved this one honestly. It is sometimes a tough subject, explaining to kids why nature can seem so mean, when other animals eat each other, etc, and I think this book did a spectacular job in explaining that, and how nature is a circle of life.
These next two are very similar. The More You Give and The Garden We Share both deal with grief and nature and lasting memories and honoring what you have been taught, and finally about the everlasting legacy of planting gardens or trees together. Let’s start with The Garden We Share. First, I loved that this book had characters that were friends despite decades between their ages. When I was little, I loved visiting my neighbors who were in their 80s and listening to their stories about Scotland and Canada and sitting with them on their porch in the summer. The little girl and her grandma in this book planted a garden together but by next spring the grandma had passed. I did surprise both Wyatt and I by bursting into tears in the middle of reading this book. It was just so beautiful but so sad and I thought about my uncle and how much I miss him, especially in the spring when planning and planting my garden. Just typing that makes my eyes well up with tears. Anyway, this book is gorgeous and if you have a child struggling with grief I recommend this book.
The More You Give…this is maybe one of my favorite books I have read all year, including books that I read for me. I feel like it is a modern day take on “The Giving Tree” which I loved as a kid but it is so depressing. In this story, a young boy and his grandmother live together and have a great life filled with pancakes and hugs and nature. Together they plant an acorn which becomes a tree, etc. Eventually the boy grows up and teaches his daughter this lesson and so on, until the meadow they lived in becomes a forest. I am not doing this book justice in this review. It is just so beautiful and I want everyone to read it because that will be infinitely better than whatever I have to say.
We are another week closer to fall! Everyday I find myself more and more ready for autumn. Be prepared for lots of autumnal love here very soon. Lol.
Until then though, we are enjoying what is left of summer, with lazy mornings and no agenda or schedule to follow other than Wyatt’s appointments. Last night my brother Devin and his family came over for dinner and it was so nice to hang out with them. It’s been a few weeks for some reason, and it was good to reconnect. I think that is one thing about summer – everyone is busy like the bees that at work in the gardens that sometimes we don’t connect with our families and friends like we do when the weather forces us to slow down. I snapped this photo of Wyatt and my brother, niece and sister-in-law, and I love everything about it; the colors, the chaos, the curtain dangerously close to falling down, the patch on my couch where I was testing a project idea then left it, the energy, and especially the people.
Read Last Week:
So I mentioned last week that I love Barbara Michaels but hadn’t read this book in a very long time. Well, I think I know why! I am used to a level of old fashioned ideas in her books, as they were written in another time, but this one had just a lot of ugly words and ideas that were pretty problematic and I really couldn’t finish it. I at least had my Nature Based Therapies book to read and enjoy. I am definitely buying a copy of this book for our own home library; I checked this out from a university library using our library’s inter-library loan system.
Reading This Week:
Oo I am so excited!! I love Sarah Addison Allen! Now, to charge my Kindle….
We are watching the new season of Shakespeare and Hathaway on BritBox, and we also threw a few episodes of Murdoch in there too.
As for listening, I’ve been listening to a lot of different stuff, mainly the 70s Classic Folk playlist on Amazon Music. We also have been listening to Rubber Band Man in the morning, because it just is a good wake up song sometimes. Lol.
I didn’t listen to many podcasts this week, which is weird for me. I’ve been searching for some new ones and haven’t landed on any yet.
And that is about it from around here! I hope you all are well and good!
Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I have been trading classic movies this summer, which has been fun! This time around Lisa chose His Girl Friday for me, another movie featuring Cary Grant. And dare I say, I can see why he was quite the leading man back then? I chose The Ghost and Mrs. Muir for Lisa – you can check out her post on it here!
This movie was non-stop wisecracks and action! I almost had to take notes just to keep up with the storyline. The energy was high from the start and just never ended, which made for a very exciting watching experience.
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell star as a powerful editor and journalist duo who are divorced from each other but married to the job. Hildy (Russell) wants out of the game though and after four months of travelling is ready to settle down with the reliable, trusty, somewhat boring, definitely naive, Bruce Baldwin, an insurance agent from Albany. She is looking forward to a quiet life, one where she is a wife and mother and no longer a working woman, but when her ex-husband Walter (Grant) learns of this he is determined to stop her, if only because he doesn’t want to lose her as an ace reporter. He manages to stall her departure and impending marriage by talking her into staying to report on the story of Earl Williams, a man who is accused of murder, by telling her if she gets the story she very well may save an innocent life.
We learn throughout the movie that Hildy and Walter are well matched in their desire for reporting and getting the scoop. They are quick thinking fast talkers, and poor Bruce just can’t keep up. I felt bad for poor Bruce – he just did not fit into Hildy’s world of breaking news. There is one scene where Hildy is typing at breakneck speed, to get the story out and Bruce is telling her that he is leaving on the 9:00 train and he finally realizes that Hildy, despite what she has said, is not ready to leave this life. She belongs in that newsroom, not living a quiet life in Albany with his mother. Poor Bruce.
As for the story on Williams, it just keeps rolling and picking up speed with a jail break, a prostitute who jumps out a window, corrupt city officials, and finally, finally the truth comes out – and the gaggle of “inhuman” journalists who are there for it immediately take to the phones and begin reporting what they just witnessed; however, every reporter has a different version of events…
And with that, Hildy realizes what Bruce did, that she is not ready to leave this life – or Walter. This time though she is going to get that honeymoon she wants – or so she thought for about thirty seconds before Walter got word about another breaking story.
I really enjoyed this crazy wild ride of a movie! Grant and Russell are amazing together, the comedy, the innuendo and insults, and the overall chaos of this movie! It was jam packed with action that just didn’t stop, and I loved every second of it.
1. August is National Back To School Month…how does that make you feel? Share a back-to-school memory.
I always loved back to school time! I have always loved fall, even as a kid and back to school meant autumn was coming, new school supplies, new clothes. However, the year I started tenth grade I caught the chicken pox right before school started! I missed the first two weeks of school, and I cried and cried about how horrible I looked. It was not the best start to the year.
2. Something you’ve learned in ‘the school of life’?
You’ve just got to keep moving forward. Things might seem tough and rough at times, but you just have to keep on keeping on. Most of the time things work out.
3. Three words to describe your current mood.
Tired, full, content.
4. A summer food you’ve eaten too much of/are tired of? A summer food you haven’t had enough of?
Watermelon! I am almost tired of it. Almost. We have eaten it almost every night and while I am loving it, it is on the verge of becoming too much. As for something summery that I haven’t had enough of, I would say ice cream.
5. What small stuff do you sweat that you know you shouldn’t?
I’m not much of a small stuff worrier – I do tend to go overboard worrying about the big stuff though!
A.M. Edit – So, after some thinking, I get very anxious about going new places. I don’t like not knowing where I am going, what to do when I get there, where to park, etc. That is very tough for me.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
My husband is a watching an ASMR video of a person making lasagna in a cast iron skillet, and the person is making it over an open fire next to a babbling brook, and it is pretty darn amazing. I want to be there, in those woods, getting ready to eat this delicious looking meal. The scenery is gorgeous, big trees, moss covered rocks, from scratch ingredients. It all looks wonderful, and it is seriously relaxing.
I have been getting weirdly excited about organizing and redoing little areas of our house. I have also been weeding through some of our things and donating and selling them, clearing out some of the clutter of things we no longer need or enjoy. We must be a family of magpies the way we hang onto things! Last week I tore apart our homeschool supply area in the basement, set up a little work station that has my binding machine, paper cutter, and miscellaneous supplies, organized the shelves, filed stuff in my filing cabinet – and basically just organized to my heart’s content. Next I need to focus on the areas where we will actually be doing our schooling – Wyatt’s desk area in his room and at our dining room table. I think I might put my grandmother’s china away for a little bit and rework the china cabinet to hold supplies – and maybe a new reptile tank… I mean, why not right? Lol. I think we would all like a snake, but as the caretaker I don’t think I could do the feeding. Ick. And what if it escaped? I read that snakes can be tricksy little Houdinis! So probably never a snake.
I am also working on ideas for our first day of school, to make it feel like the first day and special, which can be sort of hard when you homeschool. I did take Wyatt back to school supply shopping the other day (and I have since decided that for all future Target runs I will leave my two guys at home as they zoomed through the store without stopping every 100 feet to look at stuff) and let him pick out some stuff to use. I will say he has eclectic taste!
I mean, I did pick up some other stuff too – a few odds and ends from that Dollar Spot right when you walk in, like a United States puzzle since we are studying the U.S. this year, a planet puzzle just because it was $3 and wooden, that little fox vase in the top photo, a little wooden gnome all ready for autumn and holding a pumpkin ($1 everyone!), and of course I needed to make sure we had a supply of the basics to start the year. We needed new crayons, more glue sticks, a fresh sketchbook for Wyatt. And then of course I had to add a few shirts for Wyatt to the cart, as they were on sale for $8 each. We can cross the first day of school shirt off the list because we found the perfect one, blue with little lizards on it. Or maybe it will be the 70s vibin shirt. I guess we will see which he chooses that day!
We had my little niece’s birthday party yesterday. No surprise, Mermaid Girl wanted a mermaid theme! Well, mermaid/fairy, her two favorite things right now. It was a weirdly autumn like day, very cool temps, and I even found some yellow leaves on the ground. It was a very fun day though, the kids enjoyed playing on the playground, I enjoyed visiting with family, and of course eating the cake. We also took a little nature walk which was lovely. Lake Erie was looking mystical and perhaps, full of mermaids…
Tell me, are you Team Mermaid or Team Fairy?
I am super excited about my tiny baby Brussels sprouts! They have taken forever to grow. While I was checking on them, my little neighbor cat came to peep under the fence at me. He always startles me with how much he looks like my Maggie!
I cut back on raising butterflies this year, but I couldn’t help but bring some caterpillars in. This one was my eleventh Black Swallowtail of the summer. Sadly, I have had zero Monarch eggs or caterpillars on my milkweed. They were declared endangered this year, and frankly, I can see a huge difference myself between this year and last year. I have only seen a handful floating and flying about this this summer, and one of my friends whose backyard is an official Monarch waystation has seen about 50. Her numbers are often between 300-600 a summer, so this summer is dismal. Hopefully something can be done to increase their numbers before they are extinct.
And I don’t want to end on that depressing note! Let’s see…hmmm. Here is a photo of my pretty silly Miso to lighten the mood!
Last week was full of business. Getting organized and set up for school, gathering supplies, clearing out overgrown areas of the yard, starting PT again, and lining up a whole new round of appointments for kiddo. Just a productive, yet tiring, week!
Thanks everyone for the feedback on Abebooks and Thrift Books! It was very helpful information!
We also took a little trip to the library. We may have checked out a few books. We were laughing that there was barely room left for Wyatt in the wagon! (We are still waiting on his wheelchair – that is a fiasco that I may address in another post.)
Read Last Week:
I reread Wild is the Witch so that I could give it a proper review. I also started Willa of the Wood but wasn’t in the mood. I will have to try again another time.
Reading This Week:
I am reading the Mindfulness book above by Cheryl Fisher and it is really full of such wonderful information. I am taking note of some things I want to start to integrate into our days, such as a “time away” area filled with natural elements to touch and and play with and smell and soothe. The outdoors has always been beneficial to Wyatt (and us) and this book is giving me some great new ideas. And since I am reading something nonfiction and sort of textbooky, I am also reading a book by one of my favorite authors, who is always a go-to when I need something cozy. I haven’t read this particular title in a long time either so it is almost like reading it for the first time again.
Billy and I were on a roll with Only Murders in the Building Season Two, but then decided to hold off and let more episodes build up. Martin Short cracks me up! We decided to start the newest season of Death in Paradise while we are waiting. It will always hold a special place in my heart because we started it during Wyatt’s newborn phase, which was crazy. He was tiny, we needed to feed him a certain amount of food every three hours, but he also had acid reflux and needed to be held upright for thirty minutes after eating. And it took him forever to eat the smallest amount, like a 4 oz bottle would take 30 minutes. Billy and I did lots of just sitting and feeding Wyatt, and we subsequently watched a lot of tv. One of those was Death in Paradise and tiny baby Wyatt would shimmy his little body and chest pop to the theme song every time, without fail, which would make me laugh and smile. And he still loves the theme song and will stop what he is doing to dance to it!
Tonight we are watching our classic movie chosen by Lisa at Boondock Ramblings, His Gal Friday. I am looking forward to getting all cozy with some tea and watching. I am so ready for fall, y’all!
As for listening, I am still listening to Night Owl Podcast but sadly just listened to the last episode. The host has been unwell so he is taking a break. I’ve also been catching up on Lore.
And that’s my little update from our house! What have you been watching, reading, or listening to?
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 