Tag: romance

Hello March!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized16 Comments

Today it is sunny and snowing – and this is so like March here in Michigan. It doesn’t know whether it is winter or spring and just throws everything at us at once.

I love March. Do I love it more than I love October? Probably, because something very special happened ten years ago in March. And as you probably have guessed, that something (someone) is Wyatt! Wyatt turns ten tomorrow! I can’t believe my tiny little peanut baby is now going to be double digits. He is growing up! I will probably be all weepy and emotional tomorrow; in fact, I guarantee it. We are going to the zoo to celebrate, because that is where we went on his first birthday together. Of course then he was in one of those babywearing carriers and in a cozy little full body bear coat thing that you tuck little kids in and he looked super adorable. He also shares a birthday with Dr. Seuss, which I think is perfect for a boy who loves books. We took him there for his birthday too, and look how giant Billy’s hand looks next to him!

March is also the birthday of three other very special children in my life – I have two cousins who had children in March, and then my brother’s youngest daughter, Hurricane, was born two years ago in March as well! Her birthday party is in a few weeks. We don’t usually do a big party for Wyatt, and after age like five I think, didn’t have a real party at all, preferring to go away for the weekend somewhere nature-ish. Last year we went to a dark sky park; the year before that we went to the wolf sanctuary. But we decided for number ten we would give the big old party. So Wyatt is having a wolf themed party at the nature center next weekend with most of his family in attendance, along with some friends as well. I am extremely nervous about getting everything perfect because I am a weirdo, and I am trying to remind myself that is not the important part.

I think March is so full of magic and wonder, don’t you? Here in Michigan, it is the turning point month usually. We have wild weather to start the month, cold and snowy somedays, warm other days. The day Wyatt was born it was the coldest day of the year, in the negative temps, and this year it is going to be 30 degrees. Other years it has been warmer – I think last year we were wearing sweatshirts and no coats up north on our trip. Spring bulbs might be starting to wiggle their way up to the surface. (and for other nature nerds, worms are as well) Birds are returning. Soon we will hear the spring peepers going crazy in the marshes and ponds, one of my favorite sounds of spring. On warmer days we might see a bee lazily bumbling around, maybe a bit confused about why she is awake. Spring ephemerals will soon be able to be spotted in the woods, adding a tiny bit of color. In short, the world here is waking up, and it always seems so magical. We are starting to emerge from our cozy winter cocoon as well.

It would be hard to ignore St. Patrick’s Day, with its leprechauns and rainbows. I love to visit the fairy tales and mythical creatures of Irish lore in March, and this year Wyatt and I are going to do a little study on them. I have books and stories lined up, from real life people like St. Patrick and Brigid, to people of myth and legend like Finn MacCool, and then scary little creatures such as pookas and water horses and banshees. I think it will be a fun little shake up for school.

It is funny because the book Wyatt and I are reading for school is a more fun book than anything else. We were supposed to be reading Ronia, the Robber’s Daughter for language arts but neither of us could get into it so I switched to one of Wyatt’s books, The Wolves of Greycoat Hall. Well anyway, this book takes place in Scotland so we are going to be learning a bit about Scotland as well.

Last year Billy and our friends and family built a ramp for Wyatt, so he can go outside into the yard and play. One of our friends convinced us to make it a little bit wider, so that he can also go outside and play on the deck itself, which we did. I am so grateful for this suggestion because Billy and I realized that without it, he would only have been able to play on the driveway as wheelchairs are not good on grass. We were so focused on the getting outside part that we neglected to think about what would happen next! Billy finished it up right as the weather was turning, so we didn’t get to get outside with him too much before it was too cold. But now with the weather turning, I am excited to get outside with him more. We have been coming up with different activities and items for him to do out there, from a basketball hoop to a mounted bow and arrow (for kids, not like real arrows, he would kill a neighbor accidentally) to a raised garden bed on legs that he can roll up to and plant things. I am excited, and I know he will be too.

I could go on and on today I think! I should probably wrap this up before it becomes a novel!

So, that being said, that is it from me today. Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

Mini Book Reviews: Sad Ghost Club, Temple of Swoon, and The Honey Witch

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Hello all! Welcome back to another edition of mini book reviews! It seems to be the best way for me to write reviews, in these little bite size reviews.

First up! The Sad Ghost Club

The Sad Ghost Club by Lize Meddings: “The universe is most pleased we met.” You guys this book was just so good. I could relate to this so well; I was so shy and awkward in high school and had such anxiety over social things, much like these characters. This graphic novel is a very sweet look at anxiety, loneliness, feeling like you don’t belong anywhere.. it is just wonderful honestly. I am adding the rest of the series to my library holds ASAP!

Two “ghosts” meet at a party, both out of sync with the rest of the party goers, and it is a wonderful conversation between two people who have possibly found a kindred spirit. If you visit The Sad Ghost Club website, and you are in the UK, there are also helplines posted for those who are feeling like thye need a helping hand.

Temple of Swoon by Jo Segura: I’m an adventurer at heart. While in reality I am an introverted stay at home homeschool mom, there was a time I dreamed of discovering lost cities and digging up relics, having all sorts of wild adventures along the way. I am glad I actually pursued that outside of daydreams, because the reality is I much prefer reading about them in climate controlled, bug free spaces. Temple of Swoon is the perfect read for armchair adventuring archaeologists like me – this book has danger, a steamy jungle, a lost city, some crazy shenanigans, and romance. I ate this book up, like Miri eats her snacks. Miri is the main character, who is smart, resilient, a bit of a goofball, and prides herself on always having the best snacks. I thought she was awesome! Rafa wasn’t too bad either…

This book is for you if you like

🥾 Enemies to lovers
🥾 Indiana Jones
🥾 Cinnamon roll MMC
🥾 Smart women

Also if you like this book I highly recommend the old classic movie, African Queen. It was also an adventure story that made me laugh out loud.

The spice level: It is explicit open door, but it is almost all the way at the very end of the book. If I compare it to Under Loch and Key, which I reviewed last round, it seems tame. I haven’t read many romances honestly so I am still working out a system. Let’s say if Under Loch and Key is 5 jalapenos, this one is 3.5?

“These are the wild women who run barefoot through the meadow, who teach new songs to birds, who howl at the moon together. Wild women are their own kind of magic.” After all of this snow and being indoors – as cozy and wonderful it has been – I am more than ready to wake up to the songs of the birds in the morning and to run around barefoot again, to see colors again! That is why I decided this long gray February of the snow moon was the perfect time to read The Honey Witch – and it did not disappoint. The imagery was beautiful and conjured up long summer lazy summer days, bees buzzing around the garden, fireflies at night. It had a very cool magic system I thought, of a honey witch and an ash witch, a yin and a yang, balance. But the balance was out of order in this book, and Marigold had to find her place as the new honey witch and overturn the curse .. and that is all I will say!

This book:

🐝 Cozy Fantasy
🐝 Enemies to Lovers
🐝 Sapphic
🐝 Slow Burn Romance
🐝 Cool Magical System

For the spice level, which is sapphic, I would give it the same as Temple of Swoon – 3.5 jalapenos. Explicit open door but it is fairly short as well as near the end.

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

Monday Morning Coffee Catch Up: Birthday Books

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized20 Comments

Hello everyone! It is absolutely freezing this morning here! Like seriously frosty. I am letting Wyatt sit in the bed and eat his breakfast while I drink my coffee there as well, all covered up, that kind of cold. And..I love it. I do.

It’s been a few fun weeks around here. I think I last left off with our Halloween and anniversary shenanigans. Since then we have had Scouts, my birthday, and just fun days with family sprinkled in here and there.

We had a fire with my brother and family, went to my dad’s, and my cousin and her daughter were there, as well as my stepsister and her boy (although he is 17 and like 6 foot 5). And we got fun happy snail mail from Deb at Readerbuzz! We were super excited to get her cheerful letter, telling Wyatt what life is like in her part of the world, and to look through the little zine she made as well!

Scouts this past week was really fun as well. We started with going through our Oregon nature box that the pack from Oregon put together for us (we had sent them one from our area as well). The kids and parents loved it. I think one of my favorite parts of Scouts is not only the excitement from the kids, but also seeing the parents involved and excited about the activities. When we did leaf rubbings last month, one of the dads made rubbing after rubbing all by himself at the table, he was just having such a good time. And I love that. It wasn’t an aspect that I had planned for or considered but it has been a cool little extra bonus. This week we all marveled at the neat things that were sent to us – a giant pinecone from a Ponderosa Pine with bits of the puzzle bark as well. The trees have bark that comes off in puzzle like pieces, and it is really cool! They also sent sunstone rocks, which are only found in their area in the condition they are in. Each kid got to take one home too, which was neat. They sent bits of flora from the area, including a rabbitbrush specimen, which they said is everywhere in their area and causes allergies in the fall.

After going through the box, we started on the big activity, which was making ceramics with my mother-in-law. She had made a smattering of little ornaments, penguins and cats and little houses and flames but not traditional “Christmas” type ornaments, as we have some scouts who observe different religious holidays and we wanted to make sure we respected that. Then she also brought in some air dry clay as well, to show the before and after of ceramics. She started with that, having them touch and feel it and push cookie cutters into it to experience that part, then explained that they then go into a big oven called a kiln where they are fired. When they come out, they are hard like the finished ornaments. The kids had so much fun – even though my MIL brought the thing most dreaded by parents everywhere. Glitter. Glitter! Thankfully only two kids left absolutely covered in it. And who were they? The ones related to me. Wyatt and Mermaid Girl. I mean, if you know me and my brother, that tracks.

Wyatt had so much fun, as did all of the kids. I also had my heart completely melt because my littlest niece, Hurricane, immediately wanted me to hold her and carry her around as soon as she spotted me. Then when the meeting really began, I handed her off to her mom and she apparently squirmed free to run after me in her little 18 month old teetering galloping stomp. She sat on my lap and painted two ornaments too. She took it very seriously.

Two days later, it was my birthday! Billy put together the very best, perfectly perfect Erin day. First we went shopping at this store that specializes in Japanese food and other Japanese items. We all had a lot of fun picking stuff out. Pocky in all different flavors, Sake for home sushi nights, and I picked out a bunch of little bowls and plates because I am obsessed with that sort of thing. Bowls with cats, and a bowl with little Shiba Inus, including a little fluffy butt. We also picked up a few things for stocking stuffers and for other kids in our lives for the holidays. Wyatt got little training chopsticks with an owl on them, and dang, if he didn’t learn how to use them in .5 seconds. We practiced with fruit snacks and he just took off with it right away.

Next stop – Barnes and Noble. I had birthday money from different family members, including Billy and Wyatt and my mom for books, and I had a good time picking them out. I was picking books up, considering, deciding if I wanted to buy books for now me, who is in a reading slump and needs something different, or for future me, who knows what she likes to read. I ended up going with a little of each, and then Billy and Wyatt picked out a book for me as well, that is described as being a cross between Princess Bride and Legends and Lattes which is right up my alley. Wyatt of course got a book as well. And then when I got home, I had book mail waiting from a giveaway I had won!

However, the fun wasn’t done for me. We went on a chilly, twilight hike through the woods, which is one of my very favorite things on earth. We saw deer and woodpeckers, spotted mushrooms, and had a little impromptu school lesson, since Wyatt has been learning about the fur trade, voyageurs, and the Anishinaabe, and the nature center sparked a discussion about all of that.

Finally, we finished up with my favorite tacos for dinner and headed home, where we all happily collapsed and were lazy after a very full day.

I hope you all had a nice weekend as well!

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Was Assigned to Read in School

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized45 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl

This week’s prompt is: Books I Was Assigned to Read in School

This is a fun look back at high school and college!

The Jungle and Animal Farm were both assigned in high school and they both were pretty mind-blowing to my 16 year old self. The Jungle actually turned me into a vegetarian, from like 18 until recently. So it is safe to say it made a huge impact on me!

Frankenstein was a college read, and probably one of my favorites. I absolutely loved it, and found it so very sad as well, the loneliness of the monster.

The Great Gatsby took me to wild parties, the glitz and glam of the roaring twenties, dancing, and what looks like freedom and happiness. But the reader begins to see through this to the classism and lack of compassion and caring. It is still a favorite classic of mine. I am going to stop saying this because I feel like I will just keep repeating myself.

Their Eyes Were Watching God is an amazing book where we watch the main character learn to find herself and her voice. And the book that made me terrified of rabies. Plus there is a character named Tea Cake which I loved when I first read it in college. His character was not the greatest but his name was.

Beloved is a story that haunts you, and I am not trying to make a joke. I think this book and story is one that stays with you, the trauma and fear of the characters in a world of slavery that drives people to do things they would not do under normal circumstances.

Annie on My Mind is a book I read way back when in college, in my children’s lit class. It stands out as the very first LGTBQ book I have ever read, and also because it introduced the Cloisters to me.

The Metamorphosis by Kafka is one I feel like I read in high school and in college, and I liked it both times. It was so crazy but it is possibly the only existential book I really understood in school.

In high school I was introduced to The Canterbury Tales, and I just loved them. I loved discovering all the characters stories. Another one I should go back and reread.

I had to take sooo many Shakespeare classes in school, and of all the plays that I read, Hamlet was my favorite.

And that wraps it up for me today! What were you assigned in school that stood out to you?

My Sunday-Monday Post

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized27 Comments

Hello everyone!! We had a pretty busy week last week with just life stuff and it being summer. I have been working super hard on Wyatt’s big room update and I have finally made it to the last stage – the decorating. Hanging the artwork, the final touches, etc. It should be done pretty darn soon! It’s been so difficult getting rid of some of his picture books though. We just have so many it is insane – I have collected so many over the years from book sales, garage sales, from book stores and holidays, plus I worked in an elementary school library for years before Wyatt was born and bought books from the Scholastic Book Fair and from the used book fair, making a small library before Wyatt was even a thought. We have been giving them away to people though, and putting them in little free libraries whenever we see them though so that makes me feel better about getting rid of them. They are getting a new life now.

Read Last Week:

Getaway with Murder was a pretty fun and light cozy. I loved the setting of the mountains and the lodge. I also enjoyed the little one or two paragraph chapters from Yeti the cat’s point of view. As for The Only One Left, holy cow what a ride!! It was amazing. I could not stop reading it!!

Reading this Week:

I need a bit of cozy this week after The Only One Left, so I am reading Verse and Vengeance from one of my favorite series, the Magical Bookshop series by Amanda Flower. I really can’t wait to relax with this one later.

Posted Last Week:

Top Ten Tuesday – Books That Feel Like Fall

10 on the 10th – July 2024

I meant to blog more last week, and to go commenting on everyone’s posts but things got away from me! I hope to be more present here this week.

Watching:

We are still watching The Great British Sewing Bee. It is just as wholesome as you think it is. More so even. The judges on this show are more like teachers and you can sense the connection between them and the contestants. We are loving it and it is the ultimate relax show after a long day.