The #20BooksofSummer2025 challenge runs from Sunday June 1st to Sunday August 31st
The first rule of 20 Books is that there are no real rules, other than signing up for 10, 15 or 20 books and trying to read from your TBR.
Pick your list in advance, or nominate a bookcase to read from, or pick at whim from your TBR.
If you do pick a list, you can change it at any time – swap books in/out.
Don’t get panicked at not reaching your target.
Just enjoy a summer of great reading and make a bit of space on your shelves!
I have been seeing this around in the blogging world and thought I would add a small list myself! I like the flexibility of this challenge, since I often make a list then change my mind halfway through.
Also, since my son is having a major surgery in July, I am not sure what to expect at all in terms of anything but taking care of him. I figured though I would aim small and see what happens! I will be reading him a few books while he is recovering, so I am including those as well on here.
First, my own reading choices. I am throwing a bunch out here to choose from.
And then for books I am thinking about reading to Wyatt – some are ones he has had on his shelf, a few are some books I am just throwing in there. I wanted to find some quiet gentle type books for when he is home and not feeling that great but not wanting to sleep either. He loves being read to so that is always a win to make him feel comforted and better.
I guess we will see where summer reading takes us this year!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! I hope you all had a good week. Our week was very quietly busy, if that makes sense. Lots of appointments, lots of being at home. We did have a scare on Friday night. My dad was struck on the head by a baseball at a game and knocked unconscious! They transported him to the hospital by ambulance, where thankfully all his tests came back good!
What I have been reading:
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager. I was late to the party on this author, which I am thankful for on some level because now there are a ton of books I still haven’t read. Every time I pick up one of his books, I end up reading it compulsively until I finish. I can’t put them down! This one is maybe my favorite of the books I have read by him so far.
Death by Beach Read was also a very good read, but not as riveting as Home Before Dark. However, I don’t read them for that same thrill; I read them because they are just more relaxing and chill.
What I am reading this week:
Beaches, Bungalows, and Burglaries is a book I started on audiobook and decided I wanted to finish reading with my actual eyeballs. And Anywhere You Go sounds pretty cute so I am giving it a whirl.
Billy and I have been watching a mix of things lately. Brokenwood, Beyond Paradise, Wheel of Time, and last night we started The Essex Serpent, which was excellent!
We finished up our Springtime in Paris, and I miss it! It is fun to have a “Movie of the Week”. Lisa and I love doing our movie themed watches, but with our families dealing with some different things, we probably won’t do another one together here on the blog until fall.
Tonight, I think Billy and I might watch the movie Holland starring Nicole Kidman. It takes place in Western Michigan, and while her accent sounds all off in previews, I am curious about it. I love that area of Michigan. It is one of our favorite areas to visit! And now I need to know if that is how I sound to people?
And that is it from around here today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! Have you ever had those mornings where the coffee just hits perfectly? That is my morning coffee today. I don’t even know what I am drinking today, it is just good.
It was a bit of a week this week! I think our weeks are going to be like this for a while, while we are in the run-up to Wyatt’s surgery. Just a lot of different appointments and phone calls and arranging equipment, and so on. And if any of you have dealt with insurance companies, you know how many hoops you need to jump through first, and the amount of phone calls you need to make! However, it does look like things are starting to all come together, and as a person who needs things prepared and ready, I am starting to at least feel better on that front!
I made a joke yesterday that my whole week has been spent between doctors appointments and the fish store, because it has. Who knew this new fish tank would give me (and Billy) such a headache! It is our first community tank so it is a learning curve. We had a few losses right away, because our parameters were off, but we have been diligently doing 75% water changes almost daily and running up to the store for water tests. We have three lemon Tetra, that we named the Lemon Sisters, two albino African dwarf frogs who have had a few different names, we can’t settle on any, and one Khuli loaches. Once our water is perfect (and we are soooo close!) we are adding two more loaches because they prefer to live in a group. I read that they will actually die of loneliness if they are the only one in a tank! Ours should be ok since it won’t be that long of a wait – I asked Sam at the fish store to make sure! It seems like our little frog likes it though, and they hang out together. So maybe the loach doesn’t feel so lonely. That group needs a name too. If anyone has any name suggestions for the frogs and loaches, I would love to hear them! (and I snuck a photo of Wyatt’s favorite fish, Moon, into the group here, even though he lives on his own)
Wyatt and I also went for a stroll and browse through my favorite nursery the other day. I still haven’t given up on my plan to plant a tree or trees in my yard. I had originally wanted to plant birch trees, but with the new ramp I don’t think it will work. So I am thinking maybe a Japanese Willow now? I also liked the look of the Whipcord Red Cedar, but that might be a bit much too, lol. Wyatt found the name “Crabapple” tree hysterical, and laughed about the whole time we were there. I did buy two little rue plants to put on the deck, as a small offering to the butterflies.
Last night we had Cub Scouts!! It was a very chill, easy meeting this time, with the kids working on windchimes to hang in the yards. I would have said they were for their mother’s as gifts, but in our group, the mothers are there with their children and helped them make them. Our little pack is getting so close and it makes me so happy. Wyatt even allowed one of the other kids to push him in his wheelchair, which is unusual! He usually only lets family do that, so Billy and I were happily surprised at that development! Wyatt was playing, and with someone other than his cousins! He was slightly apprehensive, I could tell by his face, but his desire to play was greater than his apprehension. Progress!!
The kids all seemed to have a good time designing their wind chimes, choosing the best and most “aesthetic” beads as one little girl kept saying, and putting them together. The parents all seemed relaxed (even me!) and it was just a fun night.
Next month we have a few things lined up- a fishing derby, a meeting, and then the kids are helping my church pack bag lunches to hand out free to the community.
I even had an outing, all on my own! The clinic where Wyatt has therapy hosts a Mother’s Day event every year, and it so fun to go too. This year it was Kentucky Derby themed, and we had to dress up a bit and wear hats or fascinators. They had games, good food, prizes, and lots of togetherness. We all shared our wins for the past year, and there were some tears among us moms of special needs kids, feeling the hardships and pain, but also celebrating the wins, big or small.
And then that was our week! It was a week of ups and downs, but I think that is what life is, isn’t it? A series of ups and downs? We enjoy those up moments, and then rally together for the hard ones.
And I will say goodbye for today! I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile!
This week’s prompt: Authors (or books by authors) Who Live In My State/Country
I chose to go with authors from my home state of Michigan, or who lived in Michigan for a part of their lives. I apologize in advance for the length of this post!
Angeline Boulley: “Angeline Boulley, an enrolled member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, is a storyteller who writes about her Ojibwe community in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. She is a former Director of the Office of Indian Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Her debut novel Firekeeper’s Daughter was an instant #1New York Times bestseller and recipient of many internatioanl accolades including the ALA Printz and Morris Awards; the YA Goodreads Choice Award; the Walter Award for Outstanding Children’s Literature; and is Carnegie Mellon nominated. Angeline lives in southwest Michigan, but her home will always be on Sugar Island.” (from Macmillan Publishers)
I have loved both Fire Keepers Daughter and Warrior Girl Unearthed. I can’t wait to read her new one, Sisters in the Wind, that comes out in September. So far both books have been set in Michigan, in the area that Boulley is originally from.
Beth Nguyen: “Beth Nguyen is the author of four books, most recently the memoir Owner of a Lonely Heart, published by Scribner. Owner of a Lonely Heart was a New York Times Editors’ Choice pick and was named a best book of 2023 by NPR, Time, Oprah Daily, and BookPage. Nguyen’s three previous books, the memoir Stealing Buddha’s Dinner and the novels Short Girls and Pioneer Girl, were published by Viking Penguin. Her awards and honors include a Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Book Award, a PEN/Jerard Award, a Bread Loaf fellowship, and best book of the year honors from the Chicago Tribune and Library Journal. Her books have been included in community and university read programs around the country. Nguyen’s work has also appeared in numerous anthologies and publications including The New Yorker,The Paris Review, The New York Times, Literary Hub, Time Magazine, and The Best American Essays.
Nguyen was born in Saigon. When she was a baby, she and her family came to the United States as refugees and were resettled in Michigan, where Nguyen grew up.
She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan and is currently a professor in the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.” (From https://www.bethminhnguyen.com/bio)
I read Stealing Buddha’s Dinner for book club years and years ago it feels like, and I found it a very interesting read! It is a memoir and takes place in Grand Rapids, MI.
Jeffrey Eugenides: “Jeffrey Eugenides was born in Detroit and attended Brown and Stanford Universities. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, was published by FSG to great acclaim in 1993, and he has received numerous awards for his work. In 2003, he received the Pulitzer Prize for his novel Middlesex (FSG, 2002), which was also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and France’s Prix Médicis. The Marriage Plot (FSG, 2011) was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, and won both the Prix Fitzgerald and the Madame Figaro Literary Prize. His collection of short stories, Fresh Complaint, is from FSG (2017). Eugenides is a professor of creative writing in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton.” (From Macmillan Publishers)
I have read this book and watched this movie so many times, and it never fails to make me cry. What an absolutely heartbreaking story. I have not read any of his other work, although I feel like I should.
Christopher Paul Curtis: “Christopher Paul Curtis won the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Award for his bestselling second novel, Bud, Not Buddy. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham–1963, was also singled out for many awards, and has been a bestseller in hardcover and paperback. His most recent novels for Random House include The Mighty Miss Malone, Mr. Chickee’s Messy Mission, Mr. Chickee’s Funny Money, and Bucking the Sarge. Christopher Paul Curtis grew up in Flint, Michigan. After high school he began working on the assembly line at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 while attending the Flint branch of the University of Michigan. He is now a full-time writer, and lives with his family in Windsor, Ontario.” (From Random House)
I have this book on Wyatt’s list for next year!
Anissa Gray: “Anissa Gray was born and raised in western Michigan. She is the author of the critically acclaimed 2019 novel The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls. Gray is also a journalist whose work has been featured in The Washington Post, CNN, The Cut and Shondaland. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her wife.” (From https://anissagray.com/about)
I have had this book on my TBR for a while now. I didn’t know she was a Michigan native!
Joyce Carol Oates: Oates moved to Detroit in 1962 with her husband, Raymond Smith. The two were English Professors at two universities in Detroit. Oates worked for U-D Mercy, while Smith worked for Wayne State. At this point in her life, she had not yet published a novel. Her time in Detroit is said to be very influential on her work, as she took in the city as it was then. She was here during the riots in 1967, a time that has not been forgotten for anyone who was around then. My mom remembers the curfews, Billy’s dad was living in the city as well and remembers the violence of that time. She eventually moved across the river to Windsor, where she wrote the book, Them. The Detroit Free Press says about this book, ‘In her first months in Canada, Oates finished her novel “them,” in which Detroit is a character, just like human characters, scuffling, hurting, prone to violence. “All of Detroit is melodrama, and most lives in Detroit fated to be melodramatic,” the narrator says.” (Detroit Free Press)
I have not yet read this book. I went through a time where I binged Joyce Carol Oates and I am pretty sure it plunged me into almost a depression of sorts. It was all just so heavy and violent and tragic and sad, and I have not gone back to that well. She is an amazing writer – I just don’t recommend binging her work all at once!
Chris Van Allsburg: From his bio on Penguin: “As long as I can remember, I’ve always loved to draw. But my interest in drawing wasn’t encouraged very much. Growing up in the 1950s, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, boys were supposed to be athletic. Certain peer pressures encouraged little fingers to learn how to hold footballs rather than crayons.
My early love for drawing developed into a love for telling stories through pictures. Stories begin as fragments of pictures in my mind. I create a story by posing questions to myself. I call it the “what if” and “what then” approach. For example, for my book Jumanji, I started out by thinking “What if two bored children discovered a board game? What if the board game came to life? What then?” The Polar Express began with the idea of a train standing alone in the woods. I asked myself, “What if a boy gets on that train? Where does he go?” After the boy got on, I tried different destinations out in my mind. “What about north? Who lives in the north?” Then ideas of Christmas, Santa Claus, and faith began to take shape.”
He has many books, but Jumanji is my favorite.
Elmore Leonard: “Author Elmore Leonard was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1925. His family moved frequently until 1934 when they settled in Detroit, Michigan, when his father got a job with General Motors. Leonard joined the navy after graduating high school in 1943, and served during World War II. After three years, he left the navy and enrolled at the University of Detroit, majoring in English and Philosophy. Leonard worked at the Campbell-Ewald advertising agency while still in college.
Around 1950, Leonard began writing and publishing short stories and western novels for magazines, with the first being The Bounty Hunters in 1953. Some of the other most notable works were Three-Ten to Yuma also published in 1953, as well as Hombre, in 1961. Leonard then moved into educational films and crime novels. His first big crime novel was The Big Bounce in 1969; He followed that novel with titles such as Fifty-Two Pickup in 1974, and Swag in 1976. His breakout novel however, was his crime thriller Glitz, in 1985, which followed a Miami detective being stalked by a criminal he had sent to prison. Leonard based most of his novels in Detroit and Florida, and was known for his working-class protagonists, damsels in distress, and particularly colorful and sleazy villains.
Leonard and his novels have been nominated for numerous awards, such the PEN Lifetime Achievement Award. One of his short stories, Fire in the Hole, became the basis for the television series Justified. Some of his other short stories and novels such as Rum Punch and Three-Ten to Yuma have been made into films. Rum Punch was adapted into the Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown.
Other well-known works by Elmore Leonard include: City Primeval, Stick, Freaky Deaky, and Get Shorty. Elmore Leonard passed away on August 20, 2013, following a stroke.” (From the Detroit Historical Society website)
Leonard is an author I have never read, but my dad enjoys reading him so I wanted to include him for sure!
Jim Harrison: “Jim Harrison was born in Grayling, Michigan, to Winfield Sprague Harrison, a county agricultural agent, and Norma Olivia (Wahlgren) Harrison, both avid readers. He married Linda King in 1959 with whom he has two daughters.
His awards include National Academy of Arts grants (1967, 68, 69), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1969-70), the Spirit of the West Award from the Mountain & Plains Booksellers Association, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2007).
Much of Harrison’s writing depicts sparsely populated regions of North America with many stories set in places such as Nebraska’s Sand Hills, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Montana’s mountains, and along the Arizona-Mexico border.” (Goodreads Summary)
He has been on my TBR for ages. Maybe this is the year to read him.
Ok this last one… I debated on and then decided to just do it.
Ernest Hemingway: “Ernest Hemingway’s connections to Michigan began when his parents first brought their six-week-old son there for three days in September 1899. His father, a young physician, practiced medicine in his hometown of Oak Park, Illinois, and his mother was an artistically inclined woman who enjoyed the cultural aspects of their Chicago suburb. The previous summer the Hemingways visited Walloon Lake (then named Bear Lake) and were so taken with the area that they purchased two hundred feet of waterfront property. The 1899 trip was to finalize plans for the building of their cottage, Windemere. They took pictures, selected the exact site on the property where it was to be located, and arranged for construction during their brief stay. The next summer would be the first full one there for the family, and Ernest would return to Michigan each year until he was married in 1921. Even today members of the Hemingway family either summer or live year-round in the area.”
Hemingway is not a favorite of mine, but I do think it is cool that he visited Northern Michigan for so many summers, just like I have. He has a few books set there, including The Big Two-Hearted River (and just an FYI, there is also a Michigan craft beer named Two-Hearted as well). I think it is neat that I have walked in and vacationed in some of the same places Hemingway did, and found peace in.
And my friends, that is my very long post of Michigan authors! I can’t wait to hop around visiting this week – because it will take me all week probably to visit everyone!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! Our week was pretty good. We had some ups and downs but overall, pretty good. Wyatt and I had a nice routine week, we had some fun moments, we refreshed some of our fish tanks, we saw some cousins – those were all good. I had some news about my mom that was not so great, and is causing me some anxiety, but I am hoping and praying for a solution.
What I am Reading:
I didn’t finish anything last week, but I did start reading two books. Then Friday the book I was waiting for came in, so I am going to start that one too. So I guess I am reading a few books this week.
Version 1.0.0
I hope to finish A Prayer for the Crown Shy today at some point. I am also enjoying Budde’s book How We Learn to Be Brave.
We have been pretty much collapsing into bed after full days over here, so not much television has been happening. We did watch The Brokenwood Mysteries, Beyond Paradise, and The Wheel of Time.
In addition we have been watching our Springtime in Paris movies! Last week was The Intouchables, which was such a feel good movie. If you need a pick me up, watch this one.
This week we will watch our final movie in our six week Springtime in Paris journey. I will be sad to say goodbye! It was such a fun little movie watching challenge. We are ending things with Charade with Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, and I am very excited to watch it.
Online Things Happening:
While we are wrapping up Springtime in Paris, Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are still hosting our Drop In Crafternoons once a month. Lisa and I have been hosting crafternoons for fellow bloggers on Zoom since January, and it has been so fun. It is nice to meet the person behind the blog, hear their voices, and share more stories – all while we work on whatever craft we choose! There is no right or wrong activity, you don’t even need to craft if you don’t want to. Just hang out, that is fine too!
I have also started adding downloadable, printable children’s birthday invitations to my Etsy store, Fox and Firth. I have been trying to create three a day and adding them, so keep checking back as the inventory is constantly growing!
And that is about it from me today! I hope that you are all are feeling happy and loved, and do something today that makes you smile!
Hello everyone!! I hope you are having a good week. We have had a mostly relaxing week, which has been refreshing after the two months of crazy we went through. Next week we have a bunch of appointments again, but this week was a nice reprieve.
A week ago Friday we had Wyatt’s preop appointment. This is the first time we have had a planned surgery with Wyatt and it feels so different. All of his previous surgeries have been emergency and I didn’t have time to think about them. They just sort of happened while I was in a state of shock. This one I have months to perseverate on it – however that also gives me time to prepare everything. I had a lot of questions, about bathing and recovery time and the length of the surgery (3 hours) and just all sorts of things. I think the surgeon was slightly amused at my notebook of questions and comments, and at one point I mentioned something about Wyatt, and my dramatic son who likes to troll me, was acting out what I asked about. The doctor had a chuckle and looked at me smiling and said “Your son is messing with you,” and I was like, yeah, I know he does that all the time. Because Wyatt does like to mess me with me, the turkey. When the doctor walked out at the end of the appointment he ruffled Wyatt’s hair and said “Don’t give your mom too much trouble.” It made me feel better in a way – he seems very stoic and quiet, the surgeon, but he picked up on Wyatt’s personality very quickly. It was reassuring, to have Wyatt be seen like that.
Afterwards we treated ourselves to a trip to a French-Asian bakery in Ann Arbor. If you are ever in the area, you must visit. It was the best pick-me-up to follow that appointment. We went to Tous les Jours, which is near Jackson Road, and Schuler’s Books, if you want to combine a visit to a fantastic bakery and a bookstore. Just saying. Anyway, my brother Devin, SIL Chrissy, and the girls (Mermaid and Hurricane) went out there few weeks ago and told us that we needed to go. When I saw that it was a hop skip and a jump from the hospital, I was like perfect.
There was so much to choose from! It is definitely a place where you want one of everything. When you walk in, it is a nice spacious room with tables on one side, and baked goods on the other. Some of it is self-serve, and some of the treats are in bakery cases at the front, things like the macarons and cakes. We started with the self-serve, obviously, and may have gone a little crazy. They just had so many options! Chestnut bread, strawberry croissants, ube cream donuts, taro cream bread, apple caramel pie, different warm croissants like ham and cheese or garlic and cheese – literally too many things to name. We chose to buy a variety and share them among the three of us, each of us picking out things out. Wyatt picked a chocolate cream filled donut, and accidentally touched a shrimp kimchi cake in the process so we got that too, I picked a caramel apple pie pastry, Billy wanted the ham and cheese croissant based on Devin’s recommendation. Then we also added a milk cream red bean bread, cranberry cream cheese bread (these are like little buns), a blueberry bun, and two macarons, a pistachio flavored one for Wyatt and lemon for Billy.
We all had our special pick in the car on the way home since we had gone to the office super early and needed to eat still. Billy and I loved ours; Wyatt did not like his at all. It was very fluffy airy chocolate and it exploded all over him when he bit into it and he hated that. The only thing he actually liked was his macaron. I think he was wary of the other pastries after his chocolate experience. We also tried the cranberry cream cheese bread thinking Wyatt might like that; he didn’t, but I think under different circumstances he would. Billy and I loved that too. Big surprise. Lol. Billy said though that the best thing was the shrimp kimchi cake that we bought because Wyatt accidentally touched it, so that turned out to be a good thing!
Then, on Sunday, we had my mom, Devin, Chrissy, and the girls over to celebrate my mother’s birthday. It was a nice time – my mom just gets such a kick out of the kids. It was good to see her smile and laugh. She has gotten very frail everyone, and I hate it. It’s hard to watch your parents age. Just why did it seem to happen so fast and all of a sudden? It was nice having her here though, and the kids had a lot of fun playing. Hurricane had me running all over the house. She will come up and very seriously take your hand and lead you off somewhere to play. For some reason she was intrigued by my bedroom that night. I guess there is a lot to see in there. It’s sort of messy.
And then, gloriously, Wyatt and I had a slow week. We will be running again next week, but this week was nice and slow, and we needed that.
Here are just some random pics from our week!
And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, you something that makes you smile!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! Last week Wyatt and I took a break for spring and it was a very busy, very full, very fun week. I might still be recovering from all the activity! Today is my mom’s birthday party, and then I am not making anymore plans for this week. We need a break from our break, and by break I mean getting back to our routine!
Read Last Week:
I started two nonfiction books last week, and have been reading through them slowly. They are very different, and I am enjoying them both. One thing they have in common though, is that they both focus on how we view ourselves and our bodies and even how we keep house, and how we have been influenced to always regard ourselves as coming up short, how wrinkles or a few extra pounds or dishes in the sink can sometimes trigger negative thoughts about ourselves. I actually really didn’t know what either of them were about when I got them – I loved the cover of Women Living Deliciously so I picked it up, and then I’ve seen the book about keeping house around and thought I would read through it, since Wyatt’s surgery is coming up soon. I will be very busy for at least a month afterward caring for him and I thought this book might be a good read in preparation for that time.
Reading This Week:
This week I will still be reading my two nonfiction books, but adding in a fiction book too.
I am behind on this series. It seems like a good time to catch up!
We are watching a few different things. We recently finished up Our Flag Means Death, which we both enjoyed for its silliness, and we are also watching The Wheel of Time S3. We also started the new Brokenwood Mysteries. I wait so long for each season and I really love it.
Wyatt and I also are watching our YouTubers at night. We watch a video, read a book, then he goes to bed. Wyatt would love to have his own booktube channel, but that feels weird to me, for many reasons. However, I do wonder if it would help him to use his words more, because they are in there and we need to just encourage him to use them. Lisa at Boondock Ramblings mentioned that I could make a private channel or just share with specific people, so I am considering that. Maybe as his surprise after surgery, we can try one.
Anyway. Lately we have been watching a few different people, in addition to book people as he calls them.
In order, left to right: Real Vintage Doll House, Jay Lee Painting, and Plant Based Bride.
Real Vintage Doll House is a fun, realistic look at someone who enjoys vintage but also does not live it constantly. She has a job in the medical field, so her love of a vintage life is only part of her life, and I like that. She has a house that is circa 1940s and is so cute and apparently very small. She dresses vintage, keeps pigeons which I love, and has very interesting videos about British history mixed in.
Jay Lee Painting is just what you think – he shares different painting techniques and they are just calming and inspiring to watch.
Plant Based Bride is a booktuber. I love her videos, she has very in depth reviews, that are well thought out. I think she is interesting because she often does not like books that are getting a lot of love on YouTube or TikTok, and I like hearing another perspective.
And of course, we are watching our Springtime in Paris movies! We just watched Hugo, which I thought led to some great discussions and reviews. Next up we are watching The Intouchables!
And that is it from around here! I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile!
Hello everyone! I am sitting here typing away, with my coffee on one side, and Wyatt on the other. He is flipping through a book, and watching Frog and Toad, which incidentally is the cutest little cartoon. He is also chattering away so please ignore any typos. Billy is in the kitchen preparing the sourdough so that he can make a few loaves for Easter. It’s a pretty good morning.
It was a very busy week this week – our appointment season is almost over though! There are times of the year when we have all of Wyatt’s specialist appointments in a row, like a month or so of them, and it is crazy. We had his epileptologist appointment this week, and it went really well. We had nothing but good things to report and his doctor was very pleased! His EEG in June looks like it will only be one night now instead of two, so that was welcome news.
Last Saturday we had a little guest at our house. We watched my littlest niece, who we call The Hurricane because she is a whirling dervish causing mayhem. We had such a great time with her! She kept us soooo busy but it was really cool to hang out with her. We have time with her older sister all the time so it was nice to hang with just E. She went from one thing to the next to the next and so on. She loved our fish so much, they were a big hit. I had to stop her a few times from trying to reach inside the aquariums to grab them though.
Sunday we had a birthday party for another of our nieces. It was so cute to see T. full of excitement at her party. She had all of her friends and family there, and she was happy that she had all of her aunts there at one time. It doesn’t usually happen for some reason and I loved that that made her happy. She had an axolotl themed party with very delicious cupcakes!
This week we also had some sunny warm days, finally!! We are trying to get outside as much as we can on these nice days between now and Wyatt’s surgery. Wyatt and I spent almost all afternoon Wednesday playing basketball outside. It meant lots of rounding up basketballs for me though, so I got quite a workout. I need one of these nieces to come over and fetch for us! We also had dinner out there as well. Wyatt loves picnics, so we had a picnic, then he and his dad played outside until bedtime. It was awesome. This might not sound like much, but before the ramp was built, Wyatt was not able to go outside and play. Wheelchairs are not great on grass, and just getting to the yard was very difficult for the two of us. I would have to carry him out the front door and around the house to the back, which doesn’t sound too hard, but imagine the person you are carrying is 70 pounds. I am not a big human either, so it was getting sort of rough and we just didn’t do it very often. Now though, we have our freedom back and it has been wonderful. Using the ramp all winter to leave the house whenever we wanted, now using the ramp and being able to utilize the deck space, has transformed both of our lives. We were able to get out some yesterday as well. Today is going to be really warm apparently, so we are going to go out on his bike too.
Speaking of his surgery, we are working on preparing for it the best we can. We have pivoted from walking as much in therapy to more strength training, both there and at home. We have added a few extra home exercises to build up his muscle strength, which will help him recover easier, and are just trying to get him to move any body part as much as possible between now and then. We scaled back on school for the moment, focusing just on the essentials (I mean, I think it is all essential but we are sticking a pin in a few things for now – like the Revolutionary War and artist studies).
I also started thinking about what we will need during recovery. What will we do to entertain this kid while he is in bed, or stuck in traction for weeks? What special clothes might we need? Bathing, how does that happen? So we are looking for these solutions right now. I have a whole list of books I made the other day for us to try during that time. I think we will reread some old favorites like Frog and Toad and Mr. Putter and Tabby, introduce some gentle reads for that first week home, like Paddington, and then as he feels a bit better, add in books like The Hardy Boys. Then we will see what else he would like to read.
We had had reservations for Providence in August, which are obviously now cancelled. So, I put together a list of some books for myself as well, that focus on the seaside and the coast. They are not all New England based, but some are. That is the great thing about books, we can travel anywhere with them. And Providence will still be there in the future. The whales will have to wait!
Wyatt and I also convinced Billy to use some of the leftover lumber from the ramp to build little free libraries for us! We want one that two houses – one that is the typical height, and one that is lower for children and wheelchair users. We are also going to have Billy install a camera so we can see into the backyard while we are in his room if we want – we have three cats that like to hang around and I know Wyatt will want to keep updated on them. We have the neighbor’s cat, Knox, who is super sweet and we can actually pet. Then there are two cats that we don’t if they are stray or not. One is a big tabby, and I have named him Angus-Fergus, and there is one that just showed up, a big rough looking guy who has been around. He is white with black splotches, and we named him Brando. I don’t know why they like our porches so much but they do. And that is ok.
And jeez, I feel like I am just rambling away today!! I should wrap this up! Lol.
I hope that whatever you all do today, whatever you do this weekend, that you feel safe and loved and do something that makes you smile.
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello everyone! I hope that you are all doing well! We are doing ok over here, just keeping on keeping on. We had a pretty busy weekend that was full of family!
Read Last Week:
I’ve been reading monstery books this spring. Not sure how that happened, but it did. I absolutely loved Wormwood Abbey, and I can’t wait to read book two in the series. Greenteeth… I had higher hopes for it. I love this cover, I loved parts of the book, but it was a bit slow maybe? There was something about that I didn’t love. Maybe I was just too excited to read it; I grew up reading about fairies and loving faery lore and Jenny Greenteeth was one of my favorites so maybe I had too high of expectations. It still was a pretty good read.
Reading This Week:
This week I am stepping away from my monster books and starting my yearly reread of Watership Down. I can’t wait to get back to this little world again!
We have been hopscotching about, and doing less binge watching lately! This is unlike us. Lol. However, we are enjoying all of our shows that we are watching. Lately, that list has included Poldark (why did it take us so long to watch this!), Our Flag Means Death, Wheel of Time, Murdoch Mysteries, and Beyond Paradise.
We are also three movies into our Springtime in Paris movie watch! This week is Paris Blues with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier.
And that is it from around here today! I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date
Hello all! Last week was a pretty big week around here. Wyatt had multiple doctor’s appointments, and some of them were not the best. But, we are doing our best to be positive, as hard as it is at times. And for those times that are hard, I do have a good community around to help out.
Anyway. I didn’t get any time to read last week, until yesterday. So I didn’t make it too far into my books! I will be reading the same books that I posted last week.
I am halfway through Wormwood Abbey though now and I am really enjoying it.
Last week we watched a lot of Murdoch Mysteries, then when we caught up, we switched to Our Flag Means Death.
I also watched Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris as part of our Springtime in Paris movie event. I absolutely loved it. It was such a joy filled movie, which was something I really needed.
In My Blogging World:
Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I are hosting another film watching event for springtime. It is six weeks, six movies, and very easy going! If you want to watch one or all or a few, we would love to have you join in. Just watch along and comment on our posts or post your own thoughts and link up!
If you are interested, this is the schedule of movies! Our second post will be up this week!
Also, in January and February, Lisa and I were hosting Crafternoons and they turned out to be so much fun that we are continuing them on through the year. People craft, color, sometimes just chat, and we just have a lot of fun. They are drop in style, so no time commitment, just if you have some time to just craft or hang out one scheduled afternoon, drop on in! We will have our schedule up for spring this week!
And that is it from me today! I hope that whatever you do today, that you do something that makes you smile!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 