Tag: books

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized23 Comments

Hello everyone! We have been keeping busy but finding a balance over here, finally. I like when we can have down time but also activities and for awhile there, it was either too much or too little. It is finally just right.

Wyatt and I had our monthly book and cookie outing last Friday! It’s such a small little thing but we have so much fun. This time we went back to Barnes & Noble; the local bookstore in our town turned their store in a Christmas wonderland so I want to save that trip for December. Anyway, Barnes and Noble turned out to be a good time – partially because the Starbucks sugar cookies are freaking delicious. Wyatt has been binging the Frog and Toad cartoon, and now wants to revisit the books, so he chose Frog and Toad All Year as his pick. I lucked out and got the $5 Barnes and Noble Cafe book promo, where if you buy anything from the cafe, you get that one particular book for $5! It is a book called Murder at Holly House and I am really excited to read it this holiday season!

The next day was a get-together with my girls for my birthday party. They arranged a whole night out for us and I had such a fantastic time hanging out with them. I am so thankful for their thoughtfulness and friendship. We have all been friends for 20-30 years and I am hoping to have that many years more with them as well.

Our first stop was the Detroit Dye House, where we made tie dye! Kelly had arranged for us to do the class, and with the class you make three things: socks to be donated, a tote bag, and your choice of a few pieces. We all chose the pashmina scarf. I loved seeing where my friends creativity took them in the making of their pieces, what colorways we all went with.

Chrissy went jewel tones, very royal, and it reminded me a little of a peacock. Kelly was more earthy, Jill went for the colors of the ocean, and then I went for a more monochromatic look of different shades of green.

That place is really fun. I also like that it is fun for all ages; this is actually the place we celebrated Wyatt’s birthday this year for his tenth birthday! I threw in a picture of us at another creative get together, that one more than ten years ago! After getting creative, we went to dinner at Ima, a noodle house which was amazing!!

We woke up Sunday to the first snow of the season, and we had a perfectly cozy day, which I blogged about here! It was also the perfect weather for the eve of the anniversary of the Edmund Fitzgerald tragedy. It went down 5o years ago, 6 days before I was born, and my great uncles helped build it. One of them, Hugh McIlroy was actually the superintendent of the shipyard where it was built as well. My mom attended the launch as a kid, and remembers the surge of water when it was launched that soaked everyone. Apparently the surge of water was so great that one of the workers there actually had a heart attack, poor man. Another tragic casualty of this ship. My cousin Brian invited my brother and I out for a drink (I had a cider that was described as “cozy”) that night, Monday, in remembrance of the crew, and he also surprised me with a birthday gift. He wrote me a very beautiful letter that made me cry, and then gifted me with a first edition, seventh printing, first book club edition of To Kill a Mockingbird and told me that I always reminded him of Scout. He also again made me cry by gifting me a decorative Hummel plate of my aunt’s, that I remember being displayed in her home. I miss her so much everyday, and I am so happy to have such a memento.

The rest of our week was just routine (the balance I needed for all those outings!) and yesterday we had our Blackbirds meeting. The kids seemed to really enjoy our activity! We started with spending some time in the courtyard at the church, doing some stargazing, then we headed inside for snacks, a little art project designing their own constellations, and then ended with potting paperwhites to take home, which was a gift from my stepmom to the troop. I love being outside at night this time of year, I find it so peaceful and I even enjoy the chill in the air. They also all surprised me at the end of the night with a cake and singing happy birthday, and the smiles on all the kids’ faces warmed my heart.

And that is it from over here this week! I hope that whatever you do this week, you do something that makes you smile!

And now for some random photos.

Top Ten Tuesday: Books Outside My Comfort Zone

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized35 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

Today’s Prompt: Books Outside of My Comfort Zone

Hello everyone! Today I want to write about books I want to read outside my comfort zone. I actually had a goal to read some different authors and books next year, so my list of goal books are the books (plus a few more) that I will be including today. I don’t know if I will have ten, but I am excited about this goal! I like to push my boundaries sometimes as I think it is really good for our brains to be exposed to different type materials and different things.

First up, Terry Prachett. I have been toying around with wanting to read the Discworld series and next year I am going to start. I am not a binge series reader, so it will probably take a million years for me to read them all, if I even ever do. These are the ones I am planning on starting with. Let me know your thoughts about my choices!

I am hoping to read Hogfather in December, and The Wee Free Men in January. I feel like these are not too far from what I normally read, since I do like fantasy, but I honestly don’t read much comedy.

Next, science fiction and Becky Chambers and her Wayfarer series. Or at least the first book. I don’t mind fantasy but I am not usually a fan of science fiction or anything that takes place in space. And has spaceships. So, this will be interesting!

And following that, I promised Billy that I would read Dungeon Crawler Carl. Not usually my type of book at all, but I will read it for him. He has read so many of mine that I owe him. He is fairly confident that I will love Princess Doughnut. (Donut?)

Dungeon Crawler Carl

This next one is one that I have had on my TBR for a bit but I keep putting it off because the whole novel in verse is intimidating. However I do think it is sounds absolutely fascinating and like it would be a really good read!

Call Me Athena: Girl from Detroit

And…I think that is it from me this morning! Not ten but I think five really solid books out of my comfort zone!

I will see you all soon!

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized28 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!! It is snowing here! Our first snow of the year! I always feel like it is my personal gift from Mother Nature when it is around my birthday, which is next week. I am very Lorelai Gilmore about snow, especially the first snow. Tonight I am going to make soup and if I can, I am going to try to make cinnamon rolls for the first time as well.

What I Read Last Week:

This book was the perfect pick me up, full of cozy moments, snow, soup, and winged cats. I loved it!

Reading This Week:

I had started Shady Hollow when I finished The Enchanted Greenhouse, so I am reading that, but I also want to read A Land so Wide.

Posted Last Week:

Hello November

Good Book and a Cup of Tea Monthly Link Party

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Randomly Grabbed Off the Shelf

Introducing Soup and Story Saturdays

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

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Watching:

Billy and I must be craving cozy, because we have started our umpteenth rewatch of the BBC farm shows. We just finished up Victorian Farm again, and will probably move on to Edwardian Farm next. The hold these shows have on us! Lol. I am not the only one though. I found this reel on Instagram and it made me giggle. I even commented about how we love to watch this show, blah blah, and a bunch of people liked my comment, probably because they are the same!

//www.instagram.com/embed.js

Tonight we are watching the last movie in our Comfy Cozy Cinema line up, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry. Then after American Thanksgiving, we will begin our Comfy Cozy Christmas link party where you can all feel free to spread the holiday cheer, all winter holidays in December btw, not just Christmas, by linking up your holiday posts! With the snow today, I can feel the winter holiday season so clearly now!

Internet Happenings:

I’ve already talked about them all a little, but Lisa and I are hosting Comfy Cozy Cinema, then Comfy Cozy Christmas together. We are also co-hosting A Good Book and a Cup of Tea, which is a monthly book linky for anything book related. And finally, I am introducing my new Soup and Story Saturdays. It is, you guessed it, all about soup! Link your posts about a soup you made or have eaten, a recipe if you made it, and either a bit about the book you are reading, or a story you want to tell us about your own life. Pretend we are at dinner together, having a meal and sharing a tale. Because I want to be a hobbit with you guys.

I also just signed up for the Library Love 2025 Challenge – I guess better late than never. I will be watching for next year’s sign up now though, if it continues. 99% of our reads come from the library and I believe wholeheartedly in supporting your local library!

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

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!