Tag: books

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized8 Comments

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz,  Kathryn at Book Date, and  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone! I hope you are all doing well! We had a pretty quiet week around here last week, which was nice!

Books:

Last week I read Trixie Belden, which was a blast from my past, and it was a crazy ride. I enjoyed returning to the world of Trixie and Honey!

I also read the second in the Enchanted Garden series. This series is just what I am needing right now; it is light and easy, keeps my attention, and makes me think spring with all of the garden and flower talk.

This week I am planning on starting two books, maybe three if the third in the Enchanted Garden series comes in for me at the library.

I plan on starting these The Sugar Rush by Peter Gregg, and Heidi. I am reading Heidi as a buddy read with Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I am looking forward to it. I haven’t read it before! I missed this one in my childhood somehow.

Screens:

Not too much here on the tv/movie front, again. I have been going to visit my mom in the evenings, so I don’t get home until later and by the time Billy and I sit down to watch tv together we are pretty tired out. This usually means we watch a comfort show, and we are revisiting Brokenwood. I love that show so it is not a hardship.

I did post a few times last week.

Springtime Book Tag

Top Ten Tuesday: My Spring TBR

Coffee Catch Up

Also, just a reminder that Lisa and I cohost a link up, A Good Book and a Cup of Tea, for bookish links all month long. Anything book and reading goes! You can find it up in my header area.

In-Betweens:

We had a mostly quiet week last week, but we did go out yesterday to the Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor. We had a great time, ate some fry bread, shopped a bit, and watched some of the dances and the grand entrance.

Today we have a birthday party for the Hurricane. She is turning three! It was supposed to be last weekend, but illness just keeps getting in the way these days. My dad and stepmom can’t make it today actually, because they have Covid!

And I will leave you with just a few photos from my roll before I leave.

And with that I will end here! I hope that you are all doing well, and that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Friday/Saturday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized4 Comments

Catch up. That is what I feel like I have been doing for weeks now, catching up. On bills, on school, on therapy, on emails and phone calls, on blogging, just about anything that I need to maintain. However, today is the first day of our spring break! I am so excited – it is the reset that we need.

Today I think we are going to do some baking and independent art/project time. We are also going to start the Oregon Trail strain of sourdough that I sent away for! It is from 1847, and I just thought it was so cool that we could have this actual, physical connection to the Oregon Trail. Now, we just need to revive it, and keep it alive…. one of my projects for today and I am looking forward to it.

I don’t know what else I want to make. Chocolate chip cookies? Or sugar cookies shaped like snails? I am thinking whimsy might win. Today is supposed to be cold and snowy, so it might be a nice reminder that hopefully soon we will have good weather again.

Last Friday was actually beautiful, 68 degrees, sunny, breezy. It was perfect. It was also the first day of spring and I had to acknowledge it somehow. Something I did, just out of the blue and randomly, was cut like 5 inches off of my hair. I just felt like it was weighing me down, and I needed the freedom of a shorter cut. I need to get it sort of shaped, since now I look like Roseanna Roseanna Danna but I am still enjoying the ease of it, and the lightness. It is so bouncy and swishy!

Wyatt and I also started some seeds in honor of the first day of spring. Right now they are living in their starter cells in my office since we have a cold snap again. (It will go back and forth like this for a bit while spring and winter duke it out here in Michigan. ) I dragged out my container of seeds and we went through and chose some that we were able to actually start indoors. Some early season seeds needed direct planting and the ground was still a bit frozen so we had to wait on those. We planted way more than we are going to need: 3 types of tomatoes,  2 types of radish, beets, luffa fours, tigger melons, and orange watermelon. When the ground is soft enough, I promised Wyatt that this year would be the year he could plant watermelon and pumpkins. I am sure they will all be eaten by the squirrels and birds by fall, but we can try!

We also finished up the whole process of enrolling Wyatt in Little League teeball. He is on a special needs team with two of his friends, and is getting pretty excited! In therapy the other day, his therapist switched up her plans for the day and instead of his normal exercises and walking, she and Wyatt worked on hitting a ball off of a tee. We were both surprised at how well he did “right off the bat”. His hand-eye coordination was darn good for never doing anything like that.

His first game is in May. He gets a uniform and a photos on a baseball card and I am really looking forward to it as well.

** Ok – I stepped away for a minute and it turned into the rest of the day. So I am finishing up now. Lol **

This morning we are heading to a Dance for Mother Earth Powwow in Ann Arbor. I went in college once, and I think it would be a great event for Wyatt to experience. They welcome everyone as a guest, and encourage cultural learning and connection. I think it is good for everyone to experience different cultures authentically and respectfully, which is what I hope Wyatt learns today from me, and I also want him to have fun as well, which I am sure he will.

After I will probably go sit with my mom for a bit, then head home for a family game night.

I also am trying to line up some activities for next week’s spring break. I want to take it easy, reset, but we also need to do some things or Wyatt will be bouncing off the walls! We just renewed our Detroit Zoo membership and our Henry Ford Museum/Greenfield Village membership, so either of those should work in a pinch. (although the village isn’t open yet. That will happen sometime in April.)

Annnnd I think that is it for now. I am going to get ready soon for our outing, but first I want to finish this cup of coffee.

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Springtime Book Tag

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

Hello everyone! I saw this book tag on Heather at Bookables Youtube channel and it just seemed fun! I copied the questions from her YouTube channel.

Flowers: All the flowers we remember are blooming again. Pick a book that’s a fresh take on a retelling.

Heather Fawcett’s The Grace of the Wild Things. This is just such a fun, different take on Anne of Green Gables. I loved it! My review here.

Cadbury Mini Eggs: Obviously the superior springtime candy of choice. Pick a book that you consider to be a sweet treat.

Ok, I am not a super fan of Cadbury Mini Eggs. To me the springtime candy of choice is a Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg or Starbust Jellybeans. For my book however, I am choosing one set somewhere that is supposed to smell like marshmallows.

This is one of my all time favorite books. I just love it! I love everything about it. I also love that my dad read it and said the main character reminded him of me! What a nice thing to say. My review here.

Allergies: Seasonal allergies often make your eyes water. Pick a book that made you cry.

This book made me a soggy tissue. I just cried and cried and cried. I loved it though. My review here.

Spring Cleaning: Out with the old and in with the new. Pick a book to unhaul.

I have had this on my shelf forever and I don’t think I am ever going to read it. It seems too sad every time I start it. I should just donate this one and free up a little space, especially since this is a chunker.

Spring Break: It’s the perfect time for an adventure. Pick a book involving a road trip.

This is a wonderful book. I highly recommend it.

Rainbows: I just feel like Spring is made of freaking rainbows. Pick a book featuring an LGBTQ+ character(s).

This book is a fun read, and is perfect for spring! My review here.

Spring Awakening:. Pick a book that’s also filled with completely dysfunctional characters.

I had a hard time with this prompt. I think this one works though!

In like a lion, out like a lamb: Pick a book series that didn’t get better as it progressed.

This is a blast from my past. I loved these first books so much, and then, whoa. They went absolutely insane. If you know you know. I often don’t read all the books in a series anymore, maybe this series is the reason why?

Fun in the Sun: Tag some Friends!

If any of you want to do this feel free!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized30 Comments

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz,  Kathryn at Book Date, and  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone!

Books:

I finished this one up last week, and I adored it. It was just cute and light and easy which was exactly what I needed. I already have the second in the series in my stack to read.

I also read Agnes Aubert, finally, and I absolutely loved every minute of it!!

Which leads us to my reading plan for this week! I have a few I am wavering between so we will see where I land.

These are the two currently on deck for this week. I loved Trixie growing up so I am looking forward to reading at least this one again. And this cover for Nightshade for Warning! So many things that appeal to me – the colors and flowers and the little corgi! I love it.

On Screen and Off Screen:

Not much happening on this front. When we watch tv we are watching old episodes of Brokenwood, one of my favorite shows.

I joined the Analog Life project in January and it is interesting to see how it is has really unraveled in our lives. I will say, my house is a wee bit messier on days now, since all of us have our various projects scattered in little piles here and there as we work on them. My journaling supplies, books, stationary, embroidery, Wyatt’s drawings and colored pencils and paper spread out everywhere, Billy’s leatherworking and painting. I picked up a free puzzle at the library yesterday as well, so we may try that this week too.

We do still watch television though, don’t get me wrong. And I still do scroll and read the internet and watch YouTube videos. Just not as much. I think today we are going to have a family art session and then watch The Phantom Tollbooth with Wyatt. He loved that book so much that I think he will like the movie as well.

I posted a few times last week as well!

Top Ten Tuesday: Green Covers

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Mini Book Reviews and a DNF: The Hounding, Daisies for Innocence, La Vie, and A Bit Much

In-Betweens:

Things sort of began to fall into a routine again last week. I am a creature of routine, and it was good to find a new rhythm. I got the few last loose ends for my mom tied up, and now we just work on getting her recovered. Wyatt and I also did some book shopping and refreshed our Little Free Library from the library book sale. On Wednesday last week my husband also gave me orders to take it easy, so I had fun with all of my various hobbies and hanging out with Wyatt playing. It was a much needed rest day. I wrote a few letters to pen pals, experimented a bit with watercolor, worked on my journals – I have my reading journal and my whatever journal that I am playing around with.

I also made it through my Super Tuesday! It was a tough one, ten wheelchair/car transfers y’all with my little guy, and I was whipped. That was one reason Billy insisted on me resting on Wednesday, and like I said, he was so right. But we got a lot of good stuff done.

I’ll leave you with some randoms from my phone – beware, there will probably be lots of photos of Max and Mouse!

And with that, I will leave you for today. I hope that whatever you do, that you do something that makes you smile!

Mini Book Reviews and a DNF: La Vie, The Hounding, A Bit Much, Daisies for Innocence

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized13 Comments

It’s time for mini book reviews again! I like to do them in groups of three, although today I have a DNF to talk about it too.

Let’s actually start with that one.

The Hounding. I feel like this book has some really important things to say, that it addresses important themes, and is cleverly done. However, it was too grim, bleak, and at times too violent for me. As I was reading it I kept thinking it reminded me of The Virgin Suicides and of the witch hunts, and after I decided I wasn’t reading it anymore I went online to read more about it, where I learned that it has been compared to them both many times. I do think it has a lot to offer but I am not able to read it, at least right now.

La Vie. I always love a book by John Lewis-Stempel. His books are all nonfiction, generally nature nonfiction, and set in England. This one differed as it took place in rural France instead, after he and his wife decided to move there and farm for a change of pace. He was hobby farming, or more farming for the benefit of his family, instead of commercially farming and this book was very charming. It had some sad parts, but mostly happy little vignettes of their farm life in France. It reminded me of A Year in Provence but with more focus on farming and nature, obviously. And, it is another one I can count toward the nonfiction challenge! I already have a few memoirs so it doesn’t fit into a new category but as I am aiming for nonfiction nibbler I don’t need to always stick to categories.

A Bit Much. This book of poetry by Lyndsay Rush was amazing. The way I devoured this book of poetry this week! I’ve had some hard weeks, and honestly this book has helped me along, a poem here, a poem there. I shared so many with my friends as well, snapping a pic and sending it along with entreaties that they need to pick this book up. It is going on my must by list!

I had so many favorites but the standouts for me are Be St Fri Ends, Hysterical, Easy Breezy Lemon Squeezy, Cracks of Light, and Reassurances to Save for a Rainy Day.

Now I will say the same to you that I said to my besties – go find this book and read it. And follow Lyndsay Rush @maryoliversdrunkcousin on Instagram.

Daisies for Innocence. I love a good cozy mystery and I absolutely loved this one. The MC owns an aromatherapy shop, and she blends her own scents and recipes. Like The Good Witch, she has a knack or gift as well for knowing what people need, so there is a bit of a supernatural, or enchanted, element in this book too, another feature I love. And, of course, her corgi Dash. I love a corgi. It made me think of spring and flowers and walks outside, and had a good solid mystery as well. I liked it so much, I requested the second one from the library already!

And that is it from me here! Have you read any of these?

Also linking this up with the nonfiction reading challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized30 Comments

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz,  Kathryn at Book Date, and  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone. It has really been a tough two weeks around here. I shared on here the other day that my mom had a stroke and it has been very emotional and stressful and scary. She is now out of the hospital and in more long term care. She is actually better physically than she is emotionally? I am not sure how to describe it. I did read that this is common for people who have suffered a stroke, so we are just making our way through things day by day. She is also sleeping a lot, and I think she is in a sort of healing cocoon. When we sleep our brains heal and I think that is some part of what is going on. Plus, she does need rest, she went through a huge ordeal and was in the hospital for almost a week. She also had surgery for blood clots. It’s been a lot for her but everyday I see mini improvements, inchstones.

Books:

I haven’t read too much. I am still working on the book I started a few weeks ago, although I am enjoying it. I just keep falling asleep pretty fast at night. Lol.

I hope to finish it in the next day or two, and when I do I am going to start this one!

I thought it would be fun to get a photo with all three of my cats, but you can guess how that went. LOL. Max stuck around though.

Screens:

Nothing too exciting here either. When I am upset I want familiar shows, so we watched old episodes of Brokenwood.

In-Betweens:

I have been so grateful to all my friends for the support they have been given me this past week or so. My in person friends and also my online community. I also have gotten a few letters from pen pals this week that have brought a smile to my face. Thank you to Tina for the happy mail – Wyatt and I are excited to start the seeds soon! Yesterday I set up a small table next to my mom’s bed while she slept and wrote a few letters back to my pen pals, and it was a very therapeutic and calming activity.

I an hoping to be back in this space more this week as well. I am trying to establish a new routine to accommodate some of the changes in our lives for the moment. I just work better when I have a plan and order. I haven’t had one and things are just a mess here. No planned dinners have led to my family eating more fast food and junk than I like, the house is cluttered, things have just fallen by the wayside, even with my husband doing all he can to help. I have been a bit of survival mode, even with Wyatt’s homeschool, focusing on reading and math only and his home therapy routine. So I am working on a plan for the week.

Tuesday is going to be a nightmare friends. Send good vibes! Lol. It’s not really that bad, but between Wyatt and my mom I have three appointments one right after another with just enough time to drive to them all in between!! Not any appointments I am particularly worried about, it’s just the actual scheduling of them.

Around the Internets:

I have shared some posts in the past two weeks:

Little Life Updates

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy Mysteries with a Gardening Theme

Also, just a reminder as well that Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I have a link up for anything bookish! You can find it here!

And that is it from me today! Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello everyone! I’m going to be honest, this was not our best week, my mom hasn’t been well, although it did start off celebratory and fun, with Wyatt’s birthday! I can’t believe my kiddo is 11. Where has time gone?? He was just a teeny tiny peanut when he was born and now he is almost the same size as me!

I mean, look at my hand next to him. Lol. He was 2 lbs 15 oz and 17 inches long. He is a miracle honestly.

We were trying to figure out what to do to celebrate his birthday. It has been so cold and yucky out, and germs have not slowed down out there at all. Wyatt had wanted to go to the Toledo Art Museum, but then I learned that it is closed on Mondays – along with just about every art and history museum. I didn’t know this was universally a thing, but it is. So we owe him a visit to the art museum. We pivoted and headed for the Toledo Zoo instead, and had a great time!

It was a Monday morning, cold, gray, and we pretty much had the entire zoo to ourselves. There were a few animals not on exhibit, and most of the buildings were still shuttered and not open, but that didn’t stop us from having fun.

We saw otters (my favorite there!), elephants (which Wyatt loved because one of them did something that young boys find hilarious), wolves, among other mammals, and went into the aquarium, conservatory, and natural history museum. The reptarium was under construction sadly but that just gives us a reason to go back. The conservatory was so cool – it had reptiles just loose and free in it! We all had to watch where we were going so we didn’t squish any. I also did something purely out of love for Wyatt – I sort of am weirded out by fish, and they had two open aquariums where you could pet a sturgeon and manta rays (or some sort of rays) and Wyatt was not quite tall enough in the wheelchair to do it, so I did it for him and described it and it was super gross, which Wyatt thought was hilarious.

That 80s looking building up there used to be where all of the big cats lived in the 1980s. I remember visiting them there when I was a kid and before zoos became more knowledgeable about habitats and what is appropriate. Now it is used as a restaurant! I swear we could eat in that building even then, while the big cats lived there but I might be misremembering. That was a long time ago!

I mean just check out this photo quality! Lol. I am the second from the left, and my little brother is in the red shorts next to me, and my cousin Brian is the other big kid. Check out the giant thermos jug my Aunt has! Lol.

We spent a few hours at the zoo, then headed home. It was just about time for dinner when we pulled back into our driveway, after having stopped for a family size mac and cheese, which was Wyatt’s request for dinner. And that was that! Wyatt has two little family parties this weekend to celebrate as well.

The rest of my week has been sort of split, with a lot of time being spent doing things for my mom. She has a UTI and it has really affected her mentally and physically. So I have been in contact with lots of staff and being there in person and juggling all that with Wyatt’s school and his appointments. Watching your parents age is really really hard!

And I don’t want to end on that so we will talk about… the book of poetry I just read. It is called A Bit Much, it is so good! I absolutely loved it. So many of the poems resonated with me. You can find the author, Lyndsay Rush, on Instagram as @maryoliversdrunkcousin. Lol. I have been sharing poems from the book with friends all week, like this one I sent my friend Kelly.

And with that, I will sign off for today. I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized11 Comments

Hello all! February has just been a month. Yuck gray skies, cold, surrounded by illness, we got Covid – we are ready for March and hoping that it holds better things for Michigan and for us. However it did have small happy moments of joy, and those are the things that keep us all going, really, aren’t they? Moments like singing with your child while he shoots a big grin at you, your husband surprising you with your favorite chocolate bar when you are having a bad day, a phone call or a message from a friend that brightens your day. And that is how our month has been, nothing big or exciting but full of these moments. Watching the Olympics all shmooed out on the bed with family and cats and blankets, those few days where the sun peeked out and the skies were actually blue, Wyatt getting excited about the history or art lesson, opening the mailbox to find a letter inside rather than junk mail – you get the idea.

Wyatt’s birthday is Monday! I can’t believe my teeny tiny baby who was literally as big as one of our kittens when he was born is going to be 11. My silly goofy happy boy. He fills our hearts with so much good everything, everyday. We had to postpone his birthday party though unfortunately-everyone around us is sick! Hopefully they will be better by next weekend and we can celebrate with our family. This weekend the three of u will eat the cake we ordered the party, and I will just order another. And we will figure out what we are going to do. Will we brave the weather and go to the zoo? Will we brave the germs and mask up and go somewhere inside? Only time will tell!

Speaking of my Wy-guy, we signed him up for a local little league team! They have a special needs team and kiddo is now all ready to play baseball. My cousin has gloves from when her son played little league and he is also a lefty like Wyatt, so she is giving us one of his old gloves, so that is settled. I was talking to her on the phone yesterday about little league, and she asked if Wyatt had a glove yet. I was so confused. Why would Wyatt need a glove? I am not very sporty guys. Two of Wyatt’s friends from Blackbirds are on the team as well, so it will be nice to all go to the games together.

Wyatt will be having surgery again sometime during the season, but the surgeon has told us his recovery will be nothing like the previous surgery. This one will be just a few days and he won’t have any restrictions. He has to have the metal that they put in him in July taken out. That surgery will be happening at the end of April.

I have been really enjoying exchanging snail mail letters with a few different women around the country, and one woman in the Netherlands. It is always such a happy surprise to find a new letter in the mailbox! (thank you Tina for all of your letters! You have one on the way too) It was nice to sit down yesterday with a cup of tea while Wyatt was painting and write a few letters back. We had finished school and his exercises and I had completed a bunch of household tasks (litter boxes, dishes, etc) and I finally had a semi-quiet moment (there are never completely quiet moments when Wyatt is awake – he is always chattering away like a little squirrel), and it was nice. I have also received little gifts inside my letters, stickers and teas, and I need to get something to send back to everyone in my next letters. I am thinking about starting tea journal! I saw someone with one online and it is so cute. I mean, why shouldn’t I have a journal for everything? Lol. I am an archivist at heart!

I am so ready for spring everyone. Like major spring fever over here. I know that March weather is notorious for faking us out, and it is not spring weather yet – Wyatt was born on the coldest day of the winter that year – but this morning the sun is shining, and the temp is supposed to be 50 degrees and it just feels so close. Temps plunge again after this weekend but at least we have a day or two of warmer weather before it does. I am ready to see flowers and birds and to plant things, and try to tempt toads to our garden, and then for summertime fireflies at night and backyard barbecues and bonfires. I want to walk through a wood and hear the spring peepers, to watch people gather around our little free library again that has been sort of lonely little bastion of books out there in the snow all winter.

Is anyone else feeling spring fever? Or if you are in the southern hemisphere, are you ready for cooler temps?

And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Mini Book Reviews: A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping, The Amberglow Candy Store, Everyone is Lying to You

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello everyone! It is time once again for me to post a few mini reviews!

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping is perfectly adorable. This book is all about love, what we will do for those we love, and finding the people we love. Just so much love. There is also some very villainous villains in this one too, a zombie rooster, a talking fox who is really a witch who has been cursed by her own curse, and various other magics at play. The characters are all those who have been hurt by others, whose existences were not deemed acceptable, for being different or “other”. The inn is a place whose real magic is love and healing, and it is just such a cozy, heartwarming read.

Yay for book one for me this year in the Books in Translation challenge! The Amberglow Candy Store was a very cute, simple, and quick read. I wasn’t in love with it, and I felt like it read pretty young. I actually even looked it back up to see if it was maybe middle grade but it isn’t. However, it wasn’t a bad book. It is split up into different little stories, like most of these healing fiction style books, and I definitely had my favorite stories. I loved the story of Ayumu, and I loved the story about Kogetsu, the han-yu who runs the shop. His story was probably my favorite. This story also made me want to try the types of treats mentioned in this book! All of them are unknown to me, and now I want to try them myself!

I do love this cover immensely as well.

I picked this up as a blind date with a book and it was an amazing read! This is a fictional thriller, murder mystery book, and I literally didn’t want to put it down. The mystery was well done, but even more so the depiction of social media. The ups and downs, the reality and the facade. What is authentic, what is not. And how even when we know that, we are still drawn in by the images and stories we see. I loved too that this was all juxtaposed against investigative journalism and social media, and research vs. opinion. It was all fascinating and I couldn’t stop reading. This is not to say either that all stories and images we see online are inauthentic or fake; just that maybe we all need to realize that everyone no matter how perfect they seem online, is still human.

I also really enjoyed the author pointing out that these women influencers are very powerful, rich women, some of them billionaires behind the scenes from their work as influencers, yet they are under the radar or not acknowledged as such. They might have a different sort of job, but at the same time are CEOs of their brands, which can pull in the big money. Why are they not acknowledged as highly as other powerful CEOs, or even acknowledged at all? I thought this was a very interesting viewpoint.

J0 Piazza spent five years down the rabbit hole, doing research, and is in fact a journalist herself. When she had her baby in 2020 (I think) she began a deep dive behind the moms behind the blogs and Instagrams that always looked so perfect and had it under control, and began the podcast Under the Influence which is all about this topic. I of course started listening and it is just as fascinating as this fiction thriller!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized22 Comments

I am linking up with Deb at Readerbuzz,  Kathryn at Book Date, and  Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer.

Hello everyone! Just when we thought winter was ending, we got a fresh layer of snow. Sigh. More than the snow, I am ready for the germs everywhere to disappear for the season! Michigan is still at a high level for flu, and it has been holding steady for two months. We actually had to cancel our skating trip because all but two kids are sick! (and knock on wood they stay well!)

Books:

Last week I read two books!

Everyone is Lying to You is a library book I got in one of those blind date with a book things. I absolutely loved it and could not stop reading it.

The Amberglow Candy Store… not as much. It was very sweet (lol) but it read very young. I actually went and looked to see if it was a middle grade book but it is not. It was not a bad read, but I didn’t love it. I do love this cover though!

This week I am not sure what I am reading. I do have a few I am thinking about.

I am also anxiously awaiting a hold I placed on a book of poetry by Lyndsay Rush, who is showing up for me everywhere the last few days. She was on a vlog I watched, she was quoted in the book Everyone is Lying to You, and then she popped up on another person’s Instagram who I follow. I would buy the book but I like to use the library first, plus Billy and I are trying to do a no spend month. Well, we are buying groceries and necessities but nothing just for fun or because we want it. We have a million birthdays this month and want to stay on budget.

Screens:

In between the Olympics, Billy and I watched The Burbs tv show. We both really loved it! Then Friday night we started watching the Netflix series Death by Lightning, which is fabulous. The cast is amazing – Michael Shannon, Nick Offerman, Betty Gilpin, Matthew MacFadyen – so many great actors. It is about James Garfield and his assassin Charles Guiteau, and it begins by saying that these two and their lives have been lost to history. That we have forgotten who they are, and their stories. I feel like I am learning so much, and I want to read the book that the series is based on by Candice Millard called Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President. Billy and I have also talked about taking a road trip out to Garfield’s farm in the spring. I love when a show or a book brings history to life, and sparks a new interest. So far I highly recommend it, although we are only two episodes in out of a four part series. Was Chester A. Arthur also so rough and uncouth? I need to know! Just a note: There is swearing in this trailer.

In-Betweens:

Well, I mentioned we had to cancel our skating trip which was a bummer. I know the kids were excited; it stinks that the majority of the families got sick. We do have another outing coming up in a few weeks, to a maple sugar farm. Orchard?

I don’t have too much else to add! I just did my Friday Coffee Catch Up a few days ago and yesterday we spent catching up on things. I did have a nice chat with Lisa and Cat from Cat’s Wire during our crafternoon, which was a nice break in the day. I didn’t end up crafting at all, since I had a sleeping cat on my lap.

I did post a few times last week:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books for the Armchair Traveler

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

And, I think that is it from me today! I hope that you all stay safe and healthy!