Tag: books

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized5 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 Uncategorized10 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!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

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

Hello everyone! Last week was yucky week! We all ended up with Covid. It was thankfully mild but we were still all super tired. We are feeling back to normal now though thank goodness!

Books:

While I was sick, I didn’t really feel like reading until I started feeling better. I did enjoy reading through Vivian Swift’s When Wanderers Cease to Roam, which was perfect. It was easy to read through, lots of pictures, and cheery. I am only halfway through it, but the chapters on the spring months were giving me life! About midweek I felt like reading again, and I ended up finishing two books.

I am really enjoying my slow “wander” through Swift’s book. Right now I am using it to get through these last dregs of winter, reading about all the seasons we have to look forward to, but I ended up buying a copy from Pango so that I can revisit it monthly or seasonally when I want to in the future.

The Cater Street Hangman is from a book series I used to read like crazy years and years ago. I often go back to it when I am not feeling well or need a comfort read.

And finally, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping was delightful!! I absolutely loved it. Also another buy from Pango. I also sell on Pango, and one feature of it is that you can earn Pango bucks. You can either have the money you make sent to your actual bank account, or you can choose to keep it on Pango and use it to buy more books. That is generally what I do.

Screens:

Well, I didn’t read much last week but I did watch television. We watched a lot of Olympics. I have such warm and fuzzy feelings about watching the Olympics with my mom as a little girl. It was always so exciting and such an event, especially when we knew figure skating would be on. We would sit under blankets on the couch with our cups of tea and watch all of the skaters. Such good memories. I wanted to make some of these with Wyatt too, but he wasn’t as interested in figure skating. However, he does like to watch moguls and snowboarding. We are watching everything we can, but those are his favorites. Our kittens like to watch too, which cracks me up. They really like the luge and bobsledding, but Mouse was riveted by snowboarding the other day.

We are also watching the tv show The Burbs, and we are both really enjoying it! It is like the perfect mix of mystery and thriller, as well as a comedy. I need to rewatch the movie again now.

Julia Duffy, who will always be Stephanie from Newhart to me, is on it, and she is my favorite character, but I do also really love Tod, who is played by Mark Proskch, or Colin from What We Do in the Shadows. He was hilarious in that, and plays a similar type character in The Burbs. Justin Kirk is also great in this so far, but again, I also loved him in another show, Weeds.

Last week on my blog, I posted:

In Our Homeschool

Friday Afternoon Coffee Catch Up, Minus the Coffee

Wednesday Morning Coffee (Covid) Catch Up

A Cozy Little Life: A Look at Book Journaling

In-Betweens:

Not too much, since we were sick, and I mainly blogged about everything else in my coffee catch up posts, except Valentine’s Day! Billy and I went for a walk and saw the sunset, with our Starbucks teas in hand, lol, and then we came home and he made us all pancakes with strawberry compote that he made himself, because I had weirdly decided I wanted those for some reason earlier in the week. They were delicious and we all loved them!

The kittens go in for their spay and neuter and surgeries tomorrow morning. I will miss them scampering and stampeding around the house while they are gone, and I will worry as well. My poor babies. It’s always so hard, isn’t it? We had our Blackbirds meeting last week, which was a lot of fun, and then this week our Blackbirds are going to a skating event I arranged. I am nervous about that as well! I want Wyatt to have all the experiences that he can though, so I will muster through it. This skating loop has an ice skating sled, that he can sit on and be pushed. There is also a cabana that we rented, a bonfire, and there is a restaurant that serves pizza. It will be fun although I will be a nervous mama until it is over.

And with that, I hope that all of you have a great day, and do something that makes you smile, even if it is something small!

A Cozy Little Life: A Look at Book Journaling

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized18 Comments

Hello everyone!! I am having a slow morning this morning, and it felt like the perfect time for this post.

For the past year I have been keeping a reading journal and “annotating” books, and I have gotten a few comments and questions about it all. I was inspired by a couple of different vloggers on YouTube: Elizabeth at The Plant Based Bride, Cups and Thoughts, and Katie is Reading.

Now all of these vloggers have much more involved and creative setups than I do, and also annotate quite a bit more than I do, but I wanted to share their setups and also Elizabeth’s annotation video as examples of how amazing this can all be, and how detailed you can get. Maybe one day I will be at their level but for now I am happy with what I am doing. It brings me joy and makes me happy and that is what matters. Do I sometimes start pages over, or rethink what I am doing? Yes, I do, but I also don’t compare what I do to these vloggers. For one, I don’t have nearly the number of supplies that they do, and I don’t think that matters. I think if you want to do this, you just need some sort of journal or notebook, maybe some markers, and if you feel the need for more, you can even check the dollar store near you. Ours has started carrying crafting supplies, including stickers and washi tape. Some of you might have a lot of supplies at home already. Whatever you have, you can do this. If you have a printer, you could print book covers, or different images. You could go old school and cut pictures out of old magazines even. The important part is to have FUN!

As far as my reading journal goes, I have a few sticker collections that I have picked up, and markers (that don’t bleed) and just regular journals that I got off Amazon. I did recently purchase some winter washi tape, and I am also using all of these items with my letter writing as well! I am slowly adding to my supplies, but like I said it is not something you need to run out and stock up on unless you want to.

These are just some examples of different pages I did for books I have read. Some are mainly quotes, others I have written more in depth thoughts and questions I had about the book.

As far as annotating, I am not that critical nor do I make that many notes in the book itself. My method is to just flag the passage or quote that I like, and when I finish reading, I look back through, and write my thoughts down from there, or not. If you watch Elizabeth’s video though, she has a fantastic video chock full of information about annotating. She is one of the vloggers I watch who actually challenges me to read more critically. I feel smarter after watching her book vlogs, honestly. They remind me of being back in my literature classes in college, and as a lit minor, I had a lot of those!

So I know I said you don’t need to buy stuff if you don’t want to, but I wanted to share some supplies in case you are interested in what I have around and use.

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links and I would receive a small commission if you were to purchase something.

Version 1.0.0

Blank Notebook || Peter Pauper Press Stickers (they have so many and they are so cute!) || Winter Washi Tape || Winter Stickers || Markers

However you choose to do this, if you do, just remember, it is all about fun and relaxing, not comparison to others or having all the things.

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

Wednesday Morning Coffee (Covid) Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

Hello everyone!!! It’s been a minute since I posted here. If you are on my socials at all, then you already know, but that illness that Wyatt had – and passed on to us – was Covid. Ughhh. I started feeling pretty crummy Friday night, and by the time we went to bed, I had an idea that is what it was. When I got up on Saturday morning I took a test and yep, that line showed up. Billy was starting to feel sick too by this point as well.

Billy and I both immediately set up virtual doctor appointments to get on Paxlovid. I know that this is not the choice everyone would take, but we thought since we have Wyatt to take care of and we were all sick at the time, that it would be a good idea to take it. The other time we had Covid, back in like 2021ish, Billy had it in May and then Wyatt and I had it in July. Billy set up in his office when he had it that time and I solo’d it with Wyatt.

Anyway, we were both super tired for like two days, and have Paxlovid mouth which is disgusting. Wyatt rebounded quickly, but as he has a certain level of dependence on us, ended up spending a lot of time watching tv in bed with his parents as we rested. Lol. However, yesterday I felt so much better! The sun was shining, it was warm (40 degrees!), and I threw open the windows a tiny bit to air out the house, and got busy cleaning. I scrubbed down the bedrooms with bleach, washed all the bedding, scrubbed floors, just pretty much went on a crazy deep clean spree. I also decided anything that made me think of winter needed to put away. Winter decor was banished to boxes, and snowy reads put back on the shelves for another time. I moved out books that feel like spring, changed our duvet cover, and by the end of it all, the whole house felt lighter. Fresher. And I felt happier and lighter as well. I saw Mireille posted about vignettes today and I need to pop over and read her post, but that is what I was doing yesterday too. Changing my vignettes. Changing my view, and my mindset.

It is still too early here in Michigan to start seeds, I think, but I think we will give it a try. I feel like if we get some wee plantlings that there is a way we could make a makeshift greenhouse situation on our deck for Wyatt and I to tend. We need to move our thinking forward to spring. As the seasons start to shift, so do we. It is premature to think of spring being here, I live in Michigan after all. Winter could be here until April for goodness sakes. But, I am going to start thinking at least of brighter, longer days. Of more color in the world, not just the blues and grays and whites of winter. We need pink and green, yellow. We need birdsong. I think that if the weather is a little better next week Wyatt and I might take a field trip to the zoo, walk around, go into the butterfly house, watch the otters play.

We have been watching the Olympics a lot around here, and playing with our three cats, little Miso who is like the Nana for our kittens. She follows them around, just sort of watching them. They nuzzle up against her and she sort of makes a face like eww but also allows it. But when I put them in the office for the night (I don’t trust them running around the house at night yet) she sits outside the door for a bit, and in the morning she waits for them to come out, and nose boops them. I had to laugh yesterday, Mouse, our little adventurer and scamp, ran by Miso and play swatted her poofy tail, and then ran off. She was brave, that could have earned her a little hiss but it didn’t.

I haven’t wanted to read much while I have been sick, but I did receive two letters from pen pals which made me smile. Yesterday while Wyatt was painting, I wrote them back. It was so nice to have a cup of tea, and just write out letters that I will send out to two very different places, while my son happily painted next to me. Poor Billy had to go back to work yesterday, but he was working from home so that was better at least.

Today we join the world again. Wyatt goes back to therapy, and I think he will be glad to get out. I know I will be happy! I think we might try to go to the library and pick up our holds as well. And maybe I will stop at Starbucks and grab Wyatt a cookie, and a Medicine Ball for myself. Then we will come home to our house full of animals and Billy and settle in for the evening.

And I think that is it from me today! I don’t know what is in my camera roll, we will find out here together I guess!

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

In Our Homeschool

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized6 Comments

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have posted about our homeschool studies. It’s not as visual for the blog as it was when he was younger! However, we are still working hard and doing some fun things.

Before Christmas, we finished up the Revolutionary War. I lingered way too long on that topic. I always joke that I spend way too much time on history but I can’t help it – I love history, and it is what my degree is in. That and literature. Wyatt loves history now too, and it cracks me up what he holds on to sometimes. He loved the story of Paul Revere, and loved shouting “The British are coming!”, which Revere actually never did but we talked about actual history and then also, this fictionalized version. He made a lantern with a tealight, and we just had a great time with it.

After Christmas, we moved on to the Lewis and Clark expedition, and westward expansion. This is a whole new adventure and he has been enjoying it. We are about to head down the Oregon Trail, and we are also reading Little House on the Prairie for Language Arts. When we finish that one up, we are going to start The Cabin Faced West, which I have actually not read yet myself!

I mentioned that we are reading Little House on the Prairie. I learned this morning that Friday is Laura’s birthday, so I am planning a few fun celebrations for that, like a mini Pioneer day.

Wyatt and I were both done with modern, abstract artists so I am starting a whole new unit with him in art – architecture! He is already excited over it and we have only been working on it for a week. We needed something new and fresh to liven things up! Wyatt loves houses and building things so it seemed like a good fit.

We started last Saturday with Billy, and talked about foundations, how important they are, the difference between shaky and solid. He got to do a little experiment with both as well, trying to float a foundation and building on it to see the difference. Then he and Billy built a “floating” building, the Sydney Opera House. It was a lot of fun, and he had a blast. We did have to crack up because the non-technical parent (me) bought the supplies and did not pick a large enough “harbor” for our opera house to float in. It more or less rested on the sides of the container. But, he got the idea!

We are using a slew of books for this, but there are a few that I really like.

Architecture According to Pigeons || Mini Architects || The Future Architect’s Handbook || Architecture for Kids

And that is it for now! I have lots of fun things coming up and I am so excited to do with them Wyatt!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized31 Comments

Hello everyone! I am writing this morning surrounded by jumping, bouncing zooming kittens, a sleeping cat, and a chatty little boy. I have already consumed two cups of coffee, which is my limit, but I could use another one to keep up with most of this crowd today.

It was a pretty slow, lazy week again. The cold is just keeping us inside right now. We are doing our best though!

Books:

Last week I read Secret Nights and Northern Lights which was a light easy read. I’d been reading a lot of moody winter books and I needed a bit of a shake up. This book was the antidote I needed!

I am still debating what I want to read this week. Do I want something light again? Something wintry? I am picking this one up from the library tomorrow, and I am pretty sure that is the one I am going to start. I learned about it over at Jeanie’s blog, Marmalade Gypsy and she loves it so much I had to look for it. Way to go my library! It has had all sorts of books that are older and out of print that I have been looking for this year. Never change, library.

I am also in the mood for something scary, or a ghost story. I need to look for one while I am at the library.

Screens:

This week Billy and I reunited with our old friends Ruth, Peter, and Alex, and watched Wartime Farm for the millionth time. We also watched Victorian Bakers, which wasn’t as good as the farm shows, but it was still very good. It also had the added bonus of making us want to bake bread. And eat bread.

Last week I posted a few times.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Discoveries

Coffee Catch Up

Mini Book Reviews

I’m playing with my little designs. Do I want one design for all, different? I will keep playing. I enjoy fiddling around with Canva anyway. Lol.

In-Betweens:

I got my first snail mail letter last week! Thank you Tina! I mailed one back to you – I was going to email and tell you then felt like that was silly. And now here I am posting it on my blog! LOL. I will get the hang of this eventually.

I also sent out a few other snail mail letters while I was at it, to the pen pals I have picked up from the Analog Life Project, and Wyatt sent one to his friend Little Miss, Lisa’s daughter.

I am really enjoying letter writing! And of course, picking out stationery.

Around the Internets:

Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea.  This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here. I was a very poor co-host this month as I was doing some life re-organizing and I am still catching up on some things.

And a kitten pic to end this post.

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

Mini Book Reviews: The Lady on Esplanade, Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge, While the Earth Holds Its Breath, Secret Nights and Northern Lights

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello everyone! I try to write mini-book reviews every three or four books and it is time to share again.

The Lady on Esplanade by Karen White: I really enjoy this series! It has so much that I love all in one book, from New Orleans to hold houses and historic preservation to ghost stories and a long arcing mystery that goes back to Hurricane Katrina. This one was no exception, and really brought all of those wonderful things into play. I was even freaked out a few times! There is one aspect to this series that I don’t enjoy though, and it is the very messy romances. I really wish they would resolve because it detracts from my enjoyment of reading these. Otherwise, this series is really a lot of fun!

In the Lady on Esplanade, Nola and her crew are beginning the new endeavor of flipping murder houses, and the house they are currently working on is a doozy, and includes…a doll. You guys, I am totally creeped out by dolls! I know so many people love them but there is something so uncanny about them, and they give me the weirds. This one almost gave me nightmares! The mystery unravels slowly and I really enjoyed the very climatic ending! However, those romances..not it.

Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge by Gladys Taber and Barbara Webster: I have gushed all month over this book. It is a collection of letters between two friends, where they just chat together about their lives. Their dogs, horses, gardens, literature, children, and it was a wonderful journey through a year of their friendship. When I finished this book, I was sad. I didn’t want to leave these ladies and their stories to each other. I am so glad that our library system has access to many books by Taber, so that I can read more.

Two quotes that I loved, out of a million quotes that I loved.

“I never feel any older, that much I know. I hope I feel wiser and more tolerant and more full of loving kindness.”

“And the eye that has seen the wild dark beauty in the gaze of a fox is never going to be impressed by a diamond clip.”

While the Earth Holds Its Breath by Helen Moat: This book was pretty good, but I didn’t fall in love with it as I had imagined I would. Maybe this is because I already love winter, and I don’t need to learn how to embrace it. I did enjoy reading about Moat’s experiences, the walks she took, her travels. I think that is another thing – I expected more travel. However, a lot of this book takes place during all of the lockdowns of the pandemic, so Moat is also learning to love winter and cold and damp while having to stay close to home.

“The steaming crumble was hygge in a bowl. No self-respecting Scandinavian or Northern European would ever think of dieting in winter. Food is comfort against cold and dark.”

Secret Nights and Northern Lights by Megan Oliver: I absolutely had to read this book. I dream of a trip to Iceland to see the Northern Lights one day. It just seems like one of the most magical things I could ever do. So of course I wanted to read this book set in the land of Fire and Ice!

This is a second chance romance, which was absolutely adorable. Mona and Ben have history, that goes way way back. Like all the way to kindergarten when they became friends. They bumble through trying to work together and navigating their feelings after being reunited after fourteen years, and they ultimately end up finding themselves as they learn who each grew up to be. It has cute moments, funny moments, tender moments, and yes, spicy moments. Not closed door, and there is swearing too if that bothers you. I really liked this debut romance by Oliver, and I will be looking for more in the future!

And I can add two of these to my total for the Nonfiction Book Challenge hosted by Book’d Out!