Tag: books

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Hello everyone!! Today is looking like a low key, read under a blanket rainy day! However, I don’t think my ten year old will let me do that all day. Lol. Maybe I can get an hour or so in though this morning. I did promise him that we would go out for our mother-son book and cookies outing today, which will be fun. The rain will make it even better I bet.

I feel like so much has happened since I last did one of these, which apparently was October 24th!

We carved pumpkins, which is always a tradition around here. Wyatt had a very visceral reaction to touching the pumpkin insides which could have been disastrous, but he held it together. He was very excited to carve them though, and was cracking me up giving his pumpkin kisses before he carved it. He is a super goofball. Last year for Christmas we had given Wyatt a set of Makedo tools (which he loves) and we learned that they are also useful for pumpkin carving! They are designed for cutting and creating things out of cardboard but it was good to know we can use it on different things!

Our Jack O’Lanterns from top to bottom – Wyatt’s smiley happy one, Billy’s classic version, and my dragon/lizard.

The next day was Halloween! Wyatt visited Billy at work in his costume for Billy’s Halloween work party. They go big there for Halloween! Wyatt ended up being entered into the costume contest and won. He was very embarrassed however from all the attention. Ten is a hard age! He did enjoy visiting and they know him there obviously from Billy and from Take Your Child to Work Day. Billy and some of his coworkers dressed together as minions; I didn’t get his entire costume in a picture although it was really cool.

I mean, his costume is pretty amazing. Billy did such a fantastic job making the Toothless head and the rest. I was in charge of the Hiccup/Wyatt while Billy did the rest. Wyatt absolutely loved his costume. My little viking. And strangely, this is the second time that Wyatt was a viking – the first was when he was one. This time it was his choice though.

We went trick or treating a few hours and a nap later with his cousins, my brother’s children, Mermaid Girl and Little Bit. Mermaid Girl was Coraline, and she looked amazing as well. Little Bit was Elsa, but we had a little excitement and tears earlier when she fell face first onto the pavement and scraped her nose up horribly. Poor baby. She didn’t let it slow her down or diminish her joy of trick or treating though! Although she did have a really long much deserved cry beforehand. She loves Wyatt so much though that she was distracted from it when her parents told her that he was on his way over. She calls him Wy-ee and was waiting at the door and windows for him. It is so sweet and warms my heart!

We had some much needed downtime after the whirlwind that was October! We did however, teepee my brother’s house for their anniversary on the 2nd. Kids need a little good old fashioned mischief sometimes.

And then my brother is set to repay us, I know it because he was mad he missed when we went out for our anniversary on the 4th! Lol. He had thought we were waiting for the weekend but instead we went out on our actual anniversary. His kids were disappointed they didn’t get to return the favor but I assured him there will be plenty of future opportunities.

Billy and I actually were celebrating our 25th anniversary. I have known this guy a long time I guess! We started dating at 17, got married at 24/25 and here we are, much grayer, a few more wrinkles on our faces, but still all in love and all that sappy stuff. He is my guy and my other half and I have known that since the summer we started dating. We didn’t go big for our anniversary, we didn’t have much time available, as it is hard for us to have anyone watch Wyatt but we went out for dinner together and I was so grateful for it and for him. He surprised me with a unique gift as well. He had bought a silver Indian spoon, that depicts a shadow puppet or puppet, and he built a shadow box for it to hang in. When you shine a light on it, the shadow is cast on the inside of the box and it is really cool. He is so clever! He also got me two little anniversary red cherry shrimp for one of our tanks. (Ok that wasn’t really part of our anniversary but I am saying it was lol)

We went to HopCat which is a place I have been wanting to go, and we had a blast. It was a very fun vibe there. Although my hair looked terrible. I decided to straighten it and it was so bizarre looking.

And that is it for now! I will have more to share soon!

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

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized19 Comments

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie is The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain. A very long title for a cute little movie.

This was such a sweet little movie about one of my favorite things, a quirky little small town that is full of community. Rotten Tomatoes describes it as “With an ample serving of Huge Grant’s trademark charm, a quirky Welsh town comes together to put their town on the map in this feel-good folksy tale.”

And that is a very simplistic way of looking at this film, since there was a much deeper story under it all, but I will get to that later.

On the surface, this movie is about well, a man (and his boss) who arrive in the small town of Ffynnon Garw, Wales. WWI is still raging, and most of the younger men, sons, brothers, fathers, are off serving in trenches in France. It’s a rough time for people, wartime, full of worry and hardship. But one source of pride the townspeople have is their claim to fame -their mountain.

The rug is pulled out from under them however when two English surveyors (Hugh Grant as Anson and Ian Macniece as Garrad) come to town, and remeasure the mountain – and find out it is a hill. It’s almost like the town visibly deflates. And the Reverend and his nemesis, Morgan the Goat, decide that the English are not going to steal this from them (lots of English vs. Wales banter in this movie). Morale is low, and they need every bit they can to keep a stiff upper lip and all that.

And from there the shenanigans begin. The town works together not only to build up the hill an extra twenty feet to put it over the measurement required to make it a mountain on the map, but to delay the departure of Anson and Garrad. Anson is sheepish, adorable, and affable, while Garrad is a bit of a dandy curmudgeon. His outfits and poses cracked me up. The scene where they were going up the mountain and Garrad was just sprawled out on the ground made me laugh and almost wake my child up. He always looked fabulous though despite his attitude.

The other supporting characters and actors in this were fantastic as well. Colm Meany as Morgan the Goat, was a bit of a slimy character who I didn’t really care for. But Betty played by Tara Fitzgerald was my favorite, besides Hugh Grant, of course. I am sure they are everyone’s favorite characters though. (also adding I love her in I Capture the Castle) She was drawn into the plan to stall the two surveyors by Morgan the Goat, who wanted her to charm and seduce Anson, whose head was turned but he “was a gentleman” which melted Betty’s heart in turn. She made me laugh as well, with some of her comments, like when Anson and Betty were talking about the beauty of some flowers and Anson said they were pretty, and Betty replied with “Not as pretty as me… YOU’RE supposed to say that.” It was just a cute little moment.

There were some serious issues however tackled, regarding the war, especially the PTSD, or shellshocked as they referred to it back then, that the returning men suffered. Johnny Shellshock just about broke my heart, and doubly so knowing that this is such a real thing, then and now.

This whole movie is based on a folktale, and I legit thought it was true because of the ending of the movie, but after reading about it this morning, I learned it is not. Which I am sort of sad that it is not, although I was a little weirded out by one part and was glad that it didn’t really happen.

And now, just some gratuitous images of Hugh Grant because he is adorable.

Overall, this movie is a fun, charming, sweet movie. One for a night when you need a bit of cozy and happy to fill your soul.

You can find Lisa’s post here!

Next week is our last movie this time around, and we are watching The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry.

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

Top Ten Tuesday: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized49 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt: The First 10 Books I Randomly Grabbed from My Shelf

So today’s prompt is so random and fun! I unfortunately don’t own as many books as I once did, I use the library most of the time so I didn’t have as many books to choose from here but it was still a lot of fun!

We were supposed to “stand in front of your book collection, close your eyes, point to a title, and write it down. If you have shelves, point to your physical books. If you have a digital library, use a random number generator and write down the title of the book that corresponds with the number you generated. You get bonus points if you tell us whether or not you’ve read the book, and what you thought of it if you did!“

So, let’s get started!

Shady Hollow: I listened to this once on audio, and now I am excited to read the physical book. I want to read the whole series and need to remind myself about it.

A Natural History of the Hedgerow: I have not read this yet! Maybe this winter.

Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands: I have not read this yet either. I think I will next month.

Inkspell’s Enchanted Holiday: Not yet, I am saving it for December. I don’t know much about it but I bought it from a book festival of independent authors last month.

The Honey Witch: I did read this and I loved it!! This was a gift from an internet friend.

Nancy Drew The Bungalow Mystery: I did read it and I am going to read it again I think for Lisa’s Nancy Drew November. (I am not sure if this is linky event or if she is just doing it) Or maybe I will just get a new one since there are so many. Lol.

The Echo of Old Books: Jeesh, another no! But now that I have had it in my hand again I think I will soon!

Seacrow Island: Yes! I loved this book! I definitely recommend it.

The Blue Castle: Another yes, and another recommendation. And, another book gift from a friend!

The Salt Path: Yes, I read this and I enjoyed it. I did not however like the second book, sadly.

And there we have it!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: Coraline

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized11 Comments

 Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie was Coraline!

I always make Lisa watch an animated movie. I don’t know why. I even know which one I am picking next year, already. Lol. This year, I decided on Coraline, one of my favorites. I once dressed as Coraline for Halloween, and this year, my niece is dressing as Coraline, because she now loves the movie too. She even sort of looks like Coraline, but with curly hair.

IMDB summarizes this movie as: “Wandering her rambling old house in her boring new town, a young girl discovers a hidden door to a strangely idealized version of her life that seems too good to be true.”

Coraline is a curious and feisty girl, a bit snarky, and 100% with the attitude of basically all 10/11 year olds. Her family moves from Pontiac, MI to the Pink Palace Apartments in Oregon, and she is booooored. She meets Wyborn “Wybie” a neighbor, who gives her a doll that looks very very similar to Coraline, which is ..creepy. She also meets the lanky black cat who has a pretty important role in the story. She is not impressed immediately with Wybie, probably because she is a kid who just moved across the country and left her home and friends and school behind to a very sad looking apartment with parents who work all day. And it is evident as well, that the family is struggling. The apartment is fairly bare, dull, blah, even Coraline’s bedroom, and their meals lackluster. Coraline is pretty much stuck there, hanging around the apartments while her parents work from home on a gardening catalog, and one day, she discovers a small door in the wall. After convincing her mom to open it, it reveals nothing but a brick wall.

Later that night however, Coraline finds herself going through that door which now has a tunnel instead of a brick wall, and encounters her Other Mother and Other Father, who are cheery, welcoming, and seem to just want to make her happy. It is colorful, and is everything Coraline could want – even if the Other Mother and Other Father have buttons for eyes. The Other Father even plays a song, just for her, about her, which was performed by They Might Giants.

Coraline wakes up the next morning at home, in her real home, and tells her mom all about her adventures. She spends the day visiting her other neighbors, who are very eccentric – Spink and Forcible, two former burlesque performers with a love of schnauzers, and Mr. Bobinsky, who used to be a gymnast, and a liquidator, (and is voiced by Ian McShane). He is also blue, and has a mouse circus.

Coraline again visits the Other Mother and Other Father, and this is when things take a turn. This story moves fast! I loved the pacing in this movie, it just kept everything moving along. The Other Mother and Other Father present Coraline with an option – she can choose to stay with them, if only she lets them replace her eyes with buttons. And from here, if you want to know what happens, you will have to watch! Let’s just say, there are ghosts, black cats who can straddle both worlds, plants that are sentient, and for Coraline, a very high stakes game.

I love this movie because Coraline is a smart, resourceful, clever girl. She doesn’t give up or quit, is determined, and knows what she wants. She also has a great sense of style – I used to have a version of the hat she wears and I miss it. Her mother has enrolled her in a school where she has to wear a boring gray uniform, and Coraline is bummed. How can she stand out? Where is the color? The opportunity to show her uniqueness and originality? She does find a pair of gloves that would add some flair to her uniform, but at $24.99 a pair, her mom says no.

This movie is stop-action animation, and took 500 people to make. LAIKA Studios has a few videos on YouTube if you interested in some behind the scenes looks at how everything was achieved. And it was a work of art, truly.

There are also little hidden Easter Eggs within the movie, which you can read about here. However, my favorite little detail is about Mr. Bobinsky, the eccentric blue neighbor, and former liquidator and gymnast. If you look closely, he is wearing a medal in every scene, and upon closer inspection, it is a medal that was awarded to the emergency workers who cleaned up after the Chernobyl disaster. Just a little reason he might be blue. These workers were given the title “liquidator” by the Soviet Union, hence why he is a retired liquidator. A little story within a story!

Overall, I love this movie, and I love Coraline, although the author of this story is no longer one I choose to support much anymore. I love Coraline’s independence and spunk and spark and curiosity.

And not to spoil anything, but in the end, Coraline does get her gloves.

Next week we are going all out, in our way, with The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz. I love the character Evie. I am excited although it has been a while since I have seen it!

Be sure to check out Lisa’s post as well!

I hope that you are all enjoying the season, wherever you are on the spooky spectrum!

Mini Book Reviews: The Late-Night Witches, Falling Like Leaves, Uncharmed

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn book review, books and reading13 Comments

Hello everyone! I am having such a great time reading my fall picks. All the witches and ghosts and fall ambiance a girl could ask for!

I am loving Auralee Wallace’s books this fall. This is the second book that I have read of hers, and I know I want to read more of hers in the future.

” ‘There. You’re perfect. So pretty.’ She smiled. ‘But you might want to wash your hair later.’ “

I loved this book! It reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with a suburban mom of three as the chosen one. It cracked me up, and it was not too scary or gory either, in my opinion. Sort of Buffy-like/Charmed even there, I guess! The main character Cassie is a witch from a family of witches for generations – although she didn’t know it until the big baddie vampire woke up from his quarter century of slumber. This book is about family and duty and also being true to yourself and believing in yourself. It was such a great spooky-not-spooky read, with fun characters and lots of shenanigans.

Taking a step away from the paranormal for a minute, to just enjoy a small-town fall, that could be a Hallmark movie (YA).

“Come for the apple picking and pumpkin carving, stay for the coziness.”

This book is the epitome of fall cozy, with its small town feel and endless autumn activities during it’s Falling Leaves Festival, that includes things like pumpkin proms and bonfire nights, cafes filled with cats, and delicious baked goods and coffee. If I could transport myself to Bramble Falla for their autumn fest I absolutely would.

I also appreciated this book for the just plain high school experiences that made up a large part of the plot. Ellis is not good at being a normal teenager and when her mom moves her to Bramble Falls against her will, she sees her future disappear in front of her. Or so she thinks. This is a clean YA romance that just made me smile throughout the book. 

And now, a little Mary Poppins-like witch. Wait, was Mary Poppins a witch?

“Everybody knows that any kind of productivity is at least seventy-five percent reliant on the appropriate notebook and pen selection.”

I LOVED this book, although I have to say I was uncomfortable about how closely I could relate to some of Annie’s quirks! I mean, I 100% believe in having the appropriate notebook and pen, and then of course that hesitation over even using it because “what if make a mess on the first page, ruin the whole thing with ugly handwriting, or bad spelling?” I just might be a little Type A about some things.

Annie is a witch who believes in always going the extra mile, never having a hair out of place, the perfect outfit, the perfect thing to say, perfect perfect perfect. However, her perfect life gets upended when she meets Maeve, an orphaned teenager with big big magic, and agrees to be her guardian and mentor until she gets her magic under control. This might be a task that Annie can’t keep perfectly controlled.

This whole book is a wonderful cozy journey, full of realizations and delicious sounding coffee, baked goods that inspired me to bake apple cinnamon scones, love, and finding that perfection is maybe not all that great after all.

Have you read any of these? Do you think Mary Poppins is a witch? And are you Team Pumpkin Spice or Team Apple Cider? I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized22 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

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

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a good week! We have been just keeping on over here, having school, going to therapy, and attending appointments. We did make some time for some fun but it has just been life going on over here.

Read Last Week:

Falling Like Leaves was so adorable and the most autumn book I have read. I loved everything about it!

I am almost done with Uncharmed, and it is also pretty darn cute. It’s been a good week of reading!

Reading This Week:

I am so excited for these two. I was waiting until a bit closer to Halloween – and we are finally there!

Posted Last Week:

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I could Read Again for the First Time

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Young in Heart

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

Billy and I have been watching a few different things lately. We were watching Twin Peaks, but then my cousin reminded me that we hadn’t watched The Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix so we started that. It is so creepy but so good! We also started watching classic Twilight Zone episodes as well as episodes of The Haunted Hotel which we watch with Wyatt.

Last night we watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown with Wyatt. I love that he loves Charlie Brown too – probably because Billy and I love it. It would be neat if Wyatt grows up feeling nostalgic about Charlie and the gang too.

Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I are hosting Comfy Cozy Cinema again, and last week we watched an oldie but goodie – The Young in Heart. This week we are making things a little spookier, and we are watching Coraline.

I also just started listening to a podcast called In the Meadow. It’s been a nice, relaxing podcast to chill out to while cleaning. I have only listened to like two episodes, but they were good listens.

On the Internet:

Lisa and I decided to pause Crafternoons until after the upcoming holidays, which will put us into the new year – can you believe we are getting closer to 2026? So crazy! I am still participating in the link ups like this one, Top Ten Tuesday, The Weekend Traffic Jam, and A Good Book and a Cup of Tea too. And of course Comfy Cozy Cinema. We have a few weeks left if you want to watch along!

Friday Morning/Afternoon/Evening Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

Good morning! I am trying to drink my coffee at super fast speed this morning, as Wyatt has two appointments back to back. One for a wheelchair eval, since he is growing so fast, and the other because he either lost a tooth or broke part of it yesterday. So a trip to the dentist for him! I have to leave shortly but wanted to get this started.

We have a new pet! It is a tarantula, so if you don’t like spiders scroll super fast past its picture. We named her Dungeon Crawler Carl after the books, and because Carl will be living in Billy’s office in the basement after he makes room for her.

She was abandoned and then turned in to a pet store, where she was left in her really dirty enclosure, which was way too small for her. My friend saw her week after week in this condition and finally talked me into taking her if she paid for her. So, we now have Carl! She was in terrible condition when we got her, and I was worried she was going to die – she was in the death curl position, which indicates death is coming or severe dehydration. It appears Carl was dehydrated because she drank so much water after we moved her into her new, spacious home. I have to say, I never wanted a tarantula but Carl is endearing herself to me. She loves to watch Sid the fish, who is her neighbor, and sleep in her little burrow. We have had her a week and she looks so much better already!

We have been working hard at home and in school when we can around appointments this week. It was just one of those weeks. I will be grateful for when things settle down and we can just get to our work and routine. Wyatt kicked butt at therapy again this week, and stood assisted again but with less assistance, so he is getting stronger and stronger, week by week. We are pretty faithful with his exercises, and he is really good about doing them which makes it easier.

Billy has been busy too! He has been working super hard on Wyatt’s costume, and it is unbelievable. Like seriously. I have to brag on him a bit here. Wyatt is going as Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon this year, and I was like that meme, following Billy around with my bag of ideas, and said to him, “You know what would be really cool? If it looked like Wyatt was riding on Toothless.” So, Billy made our dreams come true, turning Wyatt’s wheelchair into Toothless. Here is a preview. Has my house turned into a war zone, filled with craft supplies and art stuff? Yes, yes it has. But it is worth it. I can’t wait to see it all come together on Halloween. Like Billy literally made that Toothless mask, out of foam and paint. It is crazy to me. He is so talented.

Our Halloween decorations served a practical purpose the other night when we suddenly lost power! Sunday night, the entire north end of town lost electricity and it was right at dinnertime, and the sun was getting ready to set, and in fact already had begun the process. Billy ran up to McDonalds for Wyatt, and I ran outside and gathered all of our pumpkins from the trees that Billy had put solar lights in last weekend. They made perfect little lanterns for dinner and inside until the power came back on. It was hilarious to eat by pumpkin light and later read by the same light.

We are back from the dentist’s office and it’s all good. He has lost two teeth that they said were probably already loose as they could see the new teeth erupting already. So thank goodness that turned out well. We were having ice cream of all things, when it happened. Wyatt had chocolate peanut butter with frozen tiny Reese’s cups and they were apparently rock hard. I heard a crunch, saw blood, it was a mess. He was fine though, and was more upset that I wanted to look inside of his mouth than he was about the teeth. I am assuming the ice cream helped, perhaps made the area cold and slightly numb.

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

And here are just some random photos from the past week!

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Young in Heart

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

 Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I are back to watching and sharing about comfy cozy (and as we move closer to Halloween, spookier) movies for the fall season. Feel free to join in with us!!

This week’s movie was The Young in Heart, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Janet Gaynor.

This movie was such a cute little movie.

It starts off with the Carleton family – Sahib, Marmy, George-Anne, and Richard – working their charms on the unsuspecting rich vacationing in the Riviera. George-Anne and Richard are pretending to be people they are not, while hoping to score a rich partner. That is, until their plans are foiled by the police. They are ordered out of town, practically run out on a rail(way) as they take the first train out.

Once on the train, George-Anne tells her suitor, who I thought was much cuter than Douglas Fairbanks (sorry Lisa, it was the Scottish accent), that she is not good enough for him, and for him to just leave her alone. She meets the sweetest elderly woman, named Miss Fortune. Billy and I both were like, hmm, Miss Fortune, or … misfortune? Well played, movie.

However, this train has an accident and their train car derails! Wyatt was watching this movie with us and he yelled “Whoa!!” when that happened and it cracked me up. Then my favorite line of the movie came up. Duncan came over to see what George-Anne was doing with the unconscious Miss Fortune, who had been injured in the accident and the family rescued, and he notices George-Anne actually appears to be helping someone! George-Anne however tells him to go away, saying “I am up to no good, and you are interfering.” I just loved that line.

The Carleton family winds up living with Miss Fortune, in her big mansion and off of her recently acquired wealth. George-Anne smells potential however for a bigger grift – they should pretend to be upstanding citizens, so that Miss Fortune chooses one of them or all of them to inherit her fortune when she dies. She tells Sahib and Richard to get jobs, when they have never worked a day in their lives, and says that she and Marmy will become caregivers.

However, jokes on them, because it seems living with the kind and gentlehearted Miss Fortune has grown their hearts at least three sizes. After a particularly adorable scene between Miss Fortune and Richard, where she nurses him through a rough morning after a night of drinking, Richard makes it his mission to find a dog like the one that once so captured Miss Fortune’s heart. A white dog, with a black spot like an eyebrow. This was probably my favorite part of the movie, because so many puppies!!!

And I am going to wreck the end for you all – so skip this if you want – but the family turns their lives around and become the fine upstanding people they are pretending to be. I won’t wreck it too much for you, you will have to watch the movie to see the ending, which is super sweet and adorables.

I mentioned I loved that line that George-Anne says to Duncan, but he also has some of my favorite lines. Lines like these:

“You’re a bad-mannered, bad-tempered, outrageous female… ..but I have discovered I cannot live without you. It’s a shameful confession for a sane man to make.”

So I saw that Lisa already talked about the car, which was Billy’s favorite part of the movie. He did a deep dive during the movie to read about it, because it was a spectacular looking piece of machinery. It must have been quite something back then, because it still is beyond impressive today. The movie called it a Wombat, but you might know it more as the Phantom.

Overall, this movie was just a fun delight to watch. It had plenty of funny moments, and it was nice to just decompress too after a long day.

Make sure to read Lisa’s post here.

Our next movie is Coraline! I LOVE this movie, and it is beginning our little trend to spookier movies for Halloween. Little bit of Erin trivia – I once dressed as Coraline for Halloween, and this year, Mermaid Girl is going as Coraline!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Wish I Could Read Again for the First Time

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized44 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt: Books I wish I could read again for the first time

Do you remember the books that made you love words and writing and books, landscapes and characters, books that stopped time as you read them? That formed your thoughts and helped you escape? I feel like those are the books I would like to read again, that had such a profound effect on my life as I grew up. To feel that magic all over again.

A Prayer for Owen Meany || The Prince of Tides || All Creatures Great and Small

These three books were given to me by my mom, my dad, and my uncle, and I think that helped make them special as well. My mom gave me the whole James Herriot collection when I was probably 10ish, and I adored them. I didn’t always understand them, but it didn’t matter. I understood what these stories represented – kindness, love, and caring for all of our creatures that we share this planet with.

The Prince of Tides was a book given to me by my dad. He loves Pat Conroy (and now me too!) and despite some tough subject matter I was wrapped up in this world. I remember I even stayed home “sick” from school one day so I could finish it. I went on to read the rest of his books, and each were as amazing but none could take the place of Prince of Tides.

A Prayer for Owen Meany was from my uncle. Another book that has stayed with me all through my life, that I think about all the time. I wish I could read it again just to see how masterfully Irving had the ending all planned, right from the very beginning.

The Lake of Dead Languages || King’s Oak || On the Banks of Plum Creek

The Lake of Dead Languages was Dark Academia before that was a thing. I remember reading it and thinking about how I wanted to throw myself into academia the way that these girls did – minus the big secret in this book of course. I love Carol Goodman still, she was my entrance into a world beyond my little town in Michigan, that was all about steel mills and auto factories.

King’s Oak took me down south again, this time introducing me to Tom Dabney, a character I would love to meet and hang out with. Like Luke in the Prince of Tides, he burned a bit too brightly for his world.

On the Banks of Plum Creek of course has to be on here. Who didn’t want to be Laura when they were younger? All those adventures and animals and running wild and living in a sod house! What! I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

Franny and Zooey || Remembering Blue || Charlotte’s Web || The Great Gatsby

Franny and Zooey was probably the first book by a classic author that I read and really loved. I know Salinger gets a bad rap but I always liked his work. Franny and Zooey is my favorite though.

Remembering Blue is just like a lovely romantic sad fairy tale. I attended a writing class, a small group of maybe 10 other people, with my dad at Connie May Fowler’s house in Florida (her husband made us dinner!) and it was so cool to talk with her about this book. I wish I wouldn’t have been so young honestly when I went; I feel like I could make more of the whole experience now as an adult. It was an awesome time though.

Charlotte’s Web. Yes, I know reading it all over again for the first time will be tragic but it still makes me cry anyway. Just the love that was in these pages between Charlotte and Wilbur. I read it with Wyatt a few years ago, and it struck me just how much Charlotte was like a mother to Wilbur, protecting him. And reading it with Wyatt for the first time was almost like reading it again myself for the first time, as I was reading it with a different perspective.

The Great Gatsby is another one of the first classics that I read and loved. I wanted to go back and live in the Roaring ’20s so badly, to be a flapper and dance all night in a fringed dress.

And that is it. These books worked magic on me that is not lost, but it would be amazing to feel that first wonder all over again.

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized29 Comments

My Sunday Post is hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

Sunday Salon is hosted by Deb at Readerbuzz

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

Hello everyone! That last week was a whirlwind, but we are taking it easy this weekend, and it has been a nice restful few days.

Read Last Week:

I finished up The Late-Night Witches and I really enjoyed it. It sort of reminded me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but with a suburban mom of three as the chosen one. It cracked me up, and it was not too scary or gory either, in my opinion. Sort of Buffy-like even there, I guess! The main character Cassie is a witch from a family of witches for generations – although she didn’t know it until the big baddie vampire woke up from his quarter century of slumber. It was a fun read!

Reading This Week:

I am hoping to read these two this week. I am starting with Falling Like Leaves, which is a YA romance so it should be pretty light and breezy and full of fall ambience. Then I am moving on to Uncharmed, which just sounds so cute and pink!

I really need to do a tally of how many books I have read this year with cats on the cover.

Posted Last Week:

Mini Book Reviews: In the Company of Witches, Ghost Business, Play Nice

Comfy Cozy Cinema: The Five Year Engagement

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

Billy and I have started rewatching Twin Peaks and it is so fun to watch again. It is so different to watch it as an adult, with an adult’s perspective. I still love the music, the styling, the setting, the whole aesthetic, and it’s craziness, and I love just how 90s it feels. But certain scenes are more powerful than they were when I was younger. We watched the episode with Laura’s funeral last night, and Bobby’s anger at the town, chastising them all, struck a note with me. I don’t think I picked up on just how perceptive and mature this was for his character at the time, since when I watched this show I was in high school, and just thought Bobby was very cute and rebellious. But he was so right in this scene.

We are also watching our Comfy Cozy Cinema movies, as well as mixing in other things as well here and there, mostly YouTubers.

Internet Shenanigans:

Lisa and I are co-hosting so many things together! We have our crafternoons, which are just fun get togethers where we hang out and chat and work on whatever projects we want with other bloggers on Zoom for an hour or so. We have one this afternoon actually, at 1!

Then we have our Comfy Cozy Cinema, where we watch movies and post our thoughts about them on Thursdays.

And finally, we have a monthly book link up, where you can post any book related posts throughout the month. Book shopping, book hauls, book whatevers – you can link up there!

If you wish to participate in any of these with us, feel free!! We would love to have you!

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