Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On January 4, 2026 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized38 Comments

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

Hello everyone!! We have had the most chill week ever, and it has been so nice! We are deeply wintering over here, I guess. It has just been so cold, and Michigan is one big virus out there, and we are content and happy and aren’t feeling the need to go anywhere, so… we didn’t. Billy has been off work for almost two weeks and it has been so good to just be together, having all of this family time.

Books:

I have been working on three different reads over break! I am slow reading Stillmeadow and Sugarbridge, which is a book from 1953, and is a collection of letters between the two authors about their rural lives. I love it and pretty soon it will be my main read.

I am also halfway through Moon of the Crusted Snow, a book I have wanted to read forever, and that I received from Dini from Dinipandareads. It was so sweet of her to send it to me, and I am finding it a fast, compelling, scary read! I am enjoying it very much.

I also listened to Dinner for Vampires, which ended up being my first book finished in the new year, and since it is a memoir, I get to check that off my challenge list. Lenz, known for her One Tree Hill fame, lived for almost a decade under the control of a cult called the Big House Family. The audiobook is read by Lenz, and it made the book feel so much more real, to hear her story in her own voice. I am glad that she has since been able to find happiness and independence.

Screens:

I told you we have been watching a lot of movies! The Paddington series of movies was adorable; I am pretty sure they are a family favorite for all three of us. I think we might actually make orange marmalade today even.

Wonka was the perfect Christmas break movie! Over the top, beautiful, musical, heartwarming – I absolutely adored it.

Hot Fuzz and The Big Year are old favorites. The Big Year is a movie that we watch every year, since maybe 2012? It just kicks off our year. And Hot Fuzz is our favorite of the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost movies.

We couldn’t believe how many actors we kept seeing pop up in the different movies. It became a game, like let’s see, is Olivia Colman in this one too? Hugh Grant? Just so many. We were definitely in a groove.

In-Betweens:

In between all of this, we have been organizing and cleaning, and working on our own little projects. I have been fun creating embroidery pieces that are personalized to my friends and myself. I have only made 2.5 so far, I am still working on mine, but I love this new phase of my embroidery.

The first two have very long stories behind them. Also, rest assured that none of us think ferals are trashy. I can’t do them freehand yet, and I am still working on my lettering skills, but I am really enjoying this. The rabbit with the Watership Down quote is for me. And ignore the shoddy print job, my printer doesn’t like the transfer paper.

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Comfy Cozy Christmas: Our Christmas Celebrations

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Reads of 2025

Hello January and 2026!

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

Hello January and 2026!

On January 2, 2026 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized23 Comments

Happy New Year everyone!! It’s a fresh new year out there, full of first sips of coffee to be had, new books to flip through, blank journals to scribble in.

The past few years, my word of the year has been “community”. I wanted to build a bigger community for myself, for Wyatt, for our family. And I feel like I have really done that! Through new blogging friends, our Scout/Blackbirds group, new friendships here, church, and all of our relationships built at our favorite destinations, I feel like we have a nice little community out there for us. As a very shy person, this was actually difficult for me. I had to push past my nerves and learn to find my voice. To engage with other people, to initiate. Sometimes this can be very scary for me, and it is easier for me to stay in my nice cocoon of comfort at home. Which if it was just me, that might be ok. But it is not just me. I mean, Billy is able to do all this for himself, and he is an extremely outgoing and extroverted person so he does, but as Wyatt’s parent at home and the parent who spends the most time with him, I can’t keep him in this cocoon. He needs to do things, experience things, have friends, see all he can. So, I made it my goal to make sure that happens, even if it gave me butterflies. And the more I did it, the easier it became for me. And so this year, my word is “connection”. I want to connect more deeply with what we are doing. I can move past the nerves now, and really experience what we are doing, and who we are with.

I also want to reconnect with nature. This is a part of my life that has been neglected for a few years. Billy and I used to be out in the woods all the time, and that is one area that we haven’t quite figured out yet, accessibility for Wyatt. I did find a front wheel that we can add and remove from his wheelchair and I am going to try to apply for a grant for it this year, but until then, it is tough unless it is paved. But, now with our new deck and ramp in the yard, we can turn our yard into an outdoors area that is accessible right here. Billy is putting in a pond this spring, and we are laying pavers in part of the yard to place wheelchair accessible raised garden beds, and a space for his outdoor toys. Billy and I are also hoping to get some flowers in this year. I dream of adding trees but I have been saying that for years now. Maybe this will be the year!

2025 had it’s challenges – the biggest one being Wyatt’s surgery, which all of you know about it if you read here regularly. That was a difficult time, and I honestly didn’t know before the surgery how we would make it through. And then it happened, and the support we received from people blew me away. We had neighbors send meals for days, friends drop by with food or sending gifts in the mail to make Wyatt’s days easier (and mine), grandparents who stepped in when Billy had to go to back to work and spent the entire day with Wyatt and I, helping me through the hard stuff. Cards and e-cards, comments of support here on the blog. There was just so much love and kindness and encouragement. And that was honestly my biggest takeaway from 2025. Not the hard stuff, but the love.

And we did do some really great, fun things too last year. Wyatt was on a bowling league, and went to music camp. It was a year of bookstores, and dragons. Of milestones – Wyatt turned 10, Billy and I turned 50, and our marriage turned 25. I got my mom’s insurance and medical help all settled, and I know that she is safe and taken care of where she is. It was a year where I found the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, and the perfect lipstick color.

This year, one thing I want to do is keep reconnecting with myself as well. Somewhere in parenthood I lost a bit of me, which I think is normal. You live for your child. But there are places I can still be me, Erin, not “Wyatt’s mom”, which is what I am known as most of the time when I go places. I used to love getting cute outfits together, and now that I am no longer in my 30s (wahhh) and just didn’t bother much in my 40s, I want to reclaim that part of me now. Maybe not on an everyday basis, but I want to find my style now. One that works for my lifestyle but also is more than a tshirt and yoga pants on the daily. I’ve been on that quest for a while, and I have steps one and two conquered, now I am on to the harder part.

I also joined a movement from Little Truths Studio, the Analog Life Project. I’ve been listening and reading a lot about this new move back to life before all social media all the time. Like life in the 90s, the early 2000s, when we had access to the internet and social media but it wasn’t what it is now. I don’t want to give up social media and the internet, I believe it is important for access to all sorts of things, but I want to reclaim that space. I don’t want it to be a place I retreat to in order to doomscroll because I am bored or need to decompress or whatever. I want to put that energy or lack of energy in some cases, into other things. My journaling, reading, game nights, art nights, daydreaming. Puzzles and crafts. Learning to draw and paint. Pen pals and snail mail. I just don’t want to aimlessly scroll anymore. I also did a crazy thing and bought a book that is written in French. Do I speak French? No. Do I read French? No. I took French in high school, I took Latin for four years, and I took Russian in college, and I have always been pretty good at picking up languages when I try them. So, this will be something I do to decompress. Slowly, slowly translating this book. It might take me a very long time but I will do it!

I am also attempting two different reading challenges this year. The Nonfiction Reading Challenge hosted by Shelleyrae at Book’d Out, and the Books in Translation challenge hosted by Jennifer at Introverted Reader. I think I can manage probably the smallest level of each. Maybe more! We will see. I am excited about both. I am already working on a memoir for the Nonfiction Challenge, Dinner for Vampires by Bethany Joy Lenz.

And that is it from me this morning my friends. I will leave you with some random photos, and as always, I hope that you do something today that makes you smile!

Comfy Cozy Christmas: Christmas Celebrations

On December 29, 2025December 29, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello everyone!! It is a super windy day here today as I type this up. It is whipping past the house, causing the windows to rattle, or something to rattle on the house, but we are all cozied up in blankets and warm inside. A big thank you to the workers out there delivering stuff today!

We had a bit of a mixed up Christmas but it it ended up a good one. The Friday before Christmas my niece tested positive for flu b and then my brother and his wife did as well. Thankfully they didn’t have it bad, Mermaid Girl had a cough and was tired, while my brother and SIL had very bad headaches for three days. However, since Christmas day we were going to celebrate with other family members who are more compromised, like my mother and my MIL, and Mermaid Girl was still tired, we at the last minute shifted plans. They were going to stay home, as it was day 7 and the contagious period says 5-7 days, and then we would celebrate with them on the upcoming Saturday at my dad’s. However, we had all planned a dinner together, with everyone supplying something. So, we decided to stick with that plan, and just made enough for each other and my brother came and picked it up and dropped off.

But ack I get ahead of myself!! The week of Christmas I was still recovering from whatever I had, which I wonder now if it was flu b as well. I never felt terrible, just run down and coughing, with laryngitis. By the week of Christmas I was good, just still hoarse and raspy. Wyatt and I spent the week baking together, which was really fun. He was a good little helper! We made four dozen chocolate chip cookies (these are a family favorite!), gingerbread, and my grandma’s coconut tarts. I felt like I never stopped baking.

Christmas Eve we were supposed to go to my BIL’s, Billy’s brother’s house, but there was going to be a lot of kids there, my nieces and some of their friends, and I got nervous about my own lingering illness and so Billy went on his own for a bit, and wore a mask. When he got home, we simply ordered a pizza and watched A Muppet Christmas Carol. It was one of the most relaxed Christmas Eves I have had, and it didn’t feel too much like Christmas Eve until after Wyatt went to bed and Billy and I did our Santa duties. Then I couldn’t wait for Christmas morning to watch Wyatt and Billy open their gifts!

Christmas morning started early, and hallelujah, I woke up finally without laryngitis. We bumbled our way into the living room and Wyatt was beside himself with excitement. But, he didn’t want to open his presents right away – I was stunned. He wanted Billy and I to open a few of ours. So I opened one and we had Billy open one as well, the one I was super excited about, his tiny baby bonsai. I wanted a picture of Billy and his baby bonsai and he turned it into a model photoshoot. Lol. Billy was very happy about his new baby and after opening gifts watched multiple videos on how to care for them.

Then Wyatt ripped into his gifts. We got him the usual type kid things, and then for his big gift this year, we got him a phone. All of his friends got them for their birthdays, and I think he felt left out. It wasn’t very much actually to add him to the plan so .. a phone it was. And he loves it. We also got him an instant camera and he has been taking photos of us all that low key look like they belong in a horror movie.

The guys got me gifts that are all for my little projects – crafting and drawing and sewing things. I am so excited!! And of course, my orange kitten. Only a few more weeks until I can bring her home! Until then she will be with her mama at our friend’s house.

And then we just proceeded to play around with our gifts! We had a pretty lazy day ahead, as our Christmas Day was reduced to hosting three people, Billy’s parents and my mom. They all came over later, and we did the normal things, and it was a great time. My mom, who has been struggling a bit, did fantastic. I was so proud of her and so glad that she came!

Saturday was Christmas at my dad and stepmom’s and it was another fantastic day. Lots of food, kids playing and laughing, presents and Christmas crackers with crowns. We had so much fun, and I think Wyatt fell asleep pretty early that night.

And here are a few random photos from the camera roll..and one of a very fancy baby Wyatt a few Christmas’ ago. Like ten Christmas’ ago.

And that was Christmas!

I hope that you all have had a wonderful holiday season doing what it is you love and being with those you love. I hope as well, that you stay healthy and do something that makes you smile today!

My Favorite Quotes From Every Book I Read This Year: Part 3

On December 17, 2025December 17, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized8 Comments

In case you missed Part 1 and Part 2: So, on November 22, 2024 I started a little book book, as I call it, but it is a journal of the books I have read with a few jotted thoughts, quotes I like, and stickers. I am an archivist and chronicler at heart, and I have been having so much fun journaling my reading experience this way. I thought it would be neat to share my favorite quotes from all the books I have read – in different parts of course.

We have made it into May!

“Life, I know is written on our faces. I lifted my right hand and involuntarily stroked my own cheek, wondering what stories life would have written there when I reached the end of my days.”

“One belief does not negate the other. They can exist at the same time.”

‘Every time someone wants to throw away a book, a little bit of my soul dies.’

“The girl knows, though, that remembering can be difficult. She always has so much inside her head: songs, stories, things she has to learn, things she wants to forget but that keep coming back. When she needs to remember something, she often forgets it, but she always remembers whatever she wants to forget.”

“…’ the guy wears a tweed coat, Edwards! Willingly! That’s super shady in my book. And he says he’s an archaeologist but I don’t think that’s even a real job. It’s a job that people have in movies, like pumpkin farmer or professional Christmas tree stylist.”

“How many times in her life has she said yes to a boy or a man just because it was the easiest thing to do? How many times has she let a man take what he wanted, instead of taking something for herself?”

“I’m not good at staying mad at people.”

I read this right after Wyatt’s surgery and I wasn’t working on my book book. I will tell you that I wrote down in my two lines of notes that my favorite part was Fifi.

Same as above. I wrote that my favorite part was the descriptions of fall in the Daniel Boone National Forest.

Same. Lol. My favorite parts were the reunion she had with someone special and the cozy snowy vibes.

Same, and last of the survival reading mode. I also decided after this one I wasn’t reading anymore in this series. I didn’t really enjoy it.

“Outside it was the coldest of winters. Cold stars shone over the icy bay and the cold hit you as you turned the corners. Then it was delicious to settle down in a warm kitchen. Pelle beamed and filled the stove with wood; this was all just as it should be, with everyone sitting together, warm and cosy, singing and talking.”

And that is it for today! Have you read any of these?

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On December 12, 2025December 13, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized10 Comments

Hello everyone!! I hope that you are all doing well! As for me, well I caught the cold that Billy and Wyatt had. Yay. Thanks for sharing guys. I’ve been laying low the past few days, trying to get that rest in. We canceled our Blackbirds Troop meeting last night and it hurt me to do it, but I didn’t feel well, Billy and I both have laryngitis, and we don’t want to share our germs with our friends for the holidays most importantly.

The Monday after Thanksgiving, Wyatt and I took a little road trip to my dad’s. We had a secret mission to get Billy’s Christmas present, and there is a store there that sells them – bonsai! I am telling Billy not to read this post too, I obviously don’t want to spoil the surprise. He has wanted one forever, and we found a great nursery called Green Witch Gardens. My dad and stepmom went with us, and my stepmom is babysitting the bonsai until I get it closer to Christmas. It is the coolest store, with a tortoise and cats and a ton of bonsai. However, they only had teeny ones or huge ones, and the huge ones were very pricey. So, Billy is getting a tiny baby bonsai. He will be happy though. Then I realized I needed to come home from our shopping trip with Shellie, that I told Billy we were doing, with something at least. So I picked up a teeny little baby cactus.

Two days later though, Wyatt was congested. No runny nose, just all in his head, I could hear it in his voice. Then a few days later, had a cough at night and that was it. Then Billy caught it, and he had the same. Now, my turn. Blah. I have drainage and laryngitis and it is no fun at all. I have way too much to do but I want to get this out of my system before Sunday so I am resting. Lol. Billy and Wyatt were doing much better after like four days so I am hoping I will too. And enough about this, blah!

Before all the sickness, or in between, we masked up and went to a local event at the River Raisin National Battlefield. It was so cool! It was called Echoes of a French Noel, and I thought there would be more Christmas stuff (there was none lol) but we still had a lot of fun. There were re-enactors, interactive displays, and a huge longhouse to walk through. They had a candle making station, which Wyatt really loved and it cracked me up that he was so excited over it but he is my child so it tracks, a cannon that we could load (obviously not a working one), madeline cookies which we love, and it was just really neat inside. We found an opportunity for our Blackbirds to try archery there, which I need to follow up on.

I of course had to look around the gift shop – they always have unique items and Christmas is coming! However, I was excited that they had a section of used books, and I bought two, and paid a total of $5.00 for them!

We then popped over to the Conservatory, one of my favorite shops in SE Michigan. I am usually successful at finding a plant as a gift for my MIL there, but this time they were low in stock. I will check back closer to the holiday to see if they restocked. It was super pretty though, decorated for the holidays. Wyatt kept telling me he was happy too, so that made me happy. We didn’t find anything for my MIL but we did buy another cactus. I am going to just blame homeschool for this new interest. Wyatt is learning about deserts and desert life, the things that live and grow there, and we did a whole section just on the Saguaro.

I mentioned that Wyatt is studying deserts and one thing that I thought make it more fun this December is filling out the paperwork to get another junior ranger badge online. We are doing the steps for the Sonoran Desert National Park junior range badge, and I was just going to skip over the nature center scavenger hunt, when I realized we had a lot of the items on the list here in our house.

Sunday morning I got up early and drove my friends and I through a winter weather advisory to the Annual Potter’s Market that we have been going to every year. I wore my mask and I am glad that I did, since my family is sick and I was maybe coming down with it. We all poked around, putting stuff in our baskets, taking it out, adding new things. I just love it, and we saw such cool items! I bought more tiny things. I am obsessed for some reason (I’m a goblin, that is why). I did buy a small turtle for Wyatt’s stocking, and I think he will like it.

I had a great time with Chrissy and Kelly. It is hard to carve out these moments but they are always special when we do.

Later that night, we watched Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, and I wanted to make it seem happy and magical, so I rearranged things and changed the lighting and added some treats.

Then we had the rest of the week. Mainly all of us trying to not feel yucky, resting, and that sort of thing. I did make scones before I went down, and they are fantastic! I have been adding different family recipes or recipes that I have found and that turn out well to a journal and using it as a cookbook. This scone recipe is my stepmom’s and they are so good. Wyatt doesn’t usually eat baked goods, except cookies, and he loves these!

And that was the last interesting thing that I did this week. I am super bummed can you tell? I had so much fun planned! Now I just need to wait this out a bit but it is hard! Send me all your good healing vibes friends!

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

My Favorite Quotes From Every Book I Read This Year: Part 2

On December 10, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized15 Comments

In case you missed Part 1: So, on November 22, 2024 I started a little book book, as I call it, but it is a journal of the books I have read with a few jotted thoughts, quotes I like, and stickers. I am an archivist and chronicler at heart, and I have been having so much fun journaling my reading experience this way. I thought it would be neat to share my favorite quotes from all the books I have read – in different parts of course.

“What any woman wants is not for you to decide. You would do well to remember that.”

This is actually a quote from the translator’s note.

“This book catalogs the many pleasures of reading: the joy of discovering a new author; the hedonism of staying up too late to finish a book; the surreptitious thrill of getting to know someone by reading their favorite book; and the freedom of walking into a bookstore and scanning the titles, waiting for something to catch your eye..”

“Emily had inherited certain things from her fine old ancestors – the power to fight – to suffer – to pity – to love very deeply – to rejoice – to endure.”

“Daisy had begun to feel like a seed taking root. She was insect-nibbled and wind-ruffled and elbow-skinned. Her hair was full of twigs, her fingernails were filthy – and every part of her felt hungry and alive.”

“There was something so special about a notebook without a single note in it. It felt like touching pure potential.”

“Tea doesn’t wake me up like coffee does. It doesn’t hug me and tell me everything is going to be ok if I just drink it.”

“He was all dreams and wild ideas, and she was more….sciency.”

“I looked at Francis and began to wonder why I had ever thought I had lived in a world without dragons.”

“You are amusingly soft-hearted for a villainous swamp creature.”

“Being a good neighbor is all about making sure that the people you share land and air and water with don’t need anything either.”

Phew. Part two done, and we have made it to May in my journal. I did skip over Watership Down, which I read in-between Greenteeth and A Prayer for the Crown Shy.

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

Soup and Story Saturday

On December 6, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized8 Comments

Hello everyone!! This is just a little Saturday post, where if you want to chat about soup that you have made or eaten or a recipe you have, and tell a story about your life, a memory, a book you are reading, anything, here is your chance!

The soup for today is broccoli cheese, a favorite of mine during the winter. It is just so creamy and delicious!! Wyatt asked for a painting dinner, where we all do various art projects and eat, which Billy was skeptical about but it worked! I thought we would give it a try and if it didn’t work, we would just pause painting/drawing/coloring until we finished eating. It went fine! When I was kid we used to have reading dinners, where we would allowed to bring our books to dinner and read while we ate. Those were always a treat, so I thought it would be fun to let Wyatt have this easy wish. Especially since he didn’t feel super this week. He was all congested poor kid. He had a great time painting and eating his dinner. We all just scraped together whatever and did our own little pursuit.

Lately, I have been daydreaming about snug cabins in the a snowy woods, thick blankets, warm fires, mornings drinking coffee slowly. A trip away at Christmas. Just a short one. Like a night or two, me and Billy and Wyatt, a quiet in the chaos. A step back for a moment. I wouldn’t miss Christmas with my family and friends for anything, but a little trip to a little cabin might be nice. It is too late for one this year, but maybe next year. I even started looking at different places on Airbnb. Chalets, A-frames, little log houses. Deer and woodpeckers and rabbits – and hopefully not bears. We don’t need to drive all that far to find ourselves in the “wilderness” here in Michigan. I can see those evergreens lining the roads now, all covered in white.

The closest I ever came to this dream, because I have had it before, is a snowboarding trip Billy and I took with my dad, my brother, and one of his friends. My brother and his friend were both in high school, and Billy and I were in our early twenties, recently married. We arrived to my dad’s friend’s A-frame in the woods in the dark of night, and on those country roads it was difficult to find. It had been snowing hard the whole way, and the snow was already piled high. We found it finally, then moved our bags inside, claiming our rooms. Billy and I took the main floor, that had two walls of windows. Which was pretty cool in the morning, but that night was sort of intimidating, all those big trees and who knows what else lurking outside? My dad and the guys were upstairs in the loft and it was late, so after a quick look around we went to bed. We were going to the resort the next morning early so that all the guys could hit the slopes. They were all snowboarding, while Dad and I were hanging out in the lodge. It was not as picturesque as I romanticized though. I had pictured reading in a big chair near a fire, hot chocolate next to me, while they all exhausted themselves in the snow. I still had fun however reading, it just was not the hallmark movie setting I pictured.

Eventually the guys all tired themselves out – or at least Devin and Shaun. They came back, minus Billy. I was of course like where the heck is Billy? And my brother was like, “Oh, we passed him on the way down. He was laying in the snow.” I immediately panicked and ran outside like I was going to run up that mountain and find him, maybe a St. Bernard with a cask of rum or whatever by my side. I stood at the base of the ski lift, contemplating my next move, when I could see my own little Crash coming down the mountain, back on his board. I let out a sigh of relief, both that he was ok, and also that I did not have to go up that mountain. I am terribly afraid of heights and can’t even fathom getting on a ski lift. We thankfully were heading back to the lodge to get cleaned up, and go to the city of Boyne Falls for dinner and for some shopping. I think it was Boyne Falls at least.

The next morning, we piled back into the car, and headed back downstate, stopping at one of my favorite places in Michigan – Hartwick Pines. I love going there, and I love it even more in the winter. We hiked the trails in the snow, surrounded by some ancient trees, stumbling onto the maple sugaring shack they have there, the historical lumberjack camp, the church. I loved every moment of it. We went inside to warm up before heading back to the car, and gazed through the huge windows at the birds feeding outside. Well, I did. The guys were exploring the nature center but I was glued to that vision of snow and trees before me.

Eventually we hit the road again, and in a few hours we were home, all tuckered out by our adventures. But I remember what those days felt like, the glorious majesty of the woods and forests and snow. And I want Wyatt to see that too, and feel that magic of winter.

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

If you have a post, feel free to link up! Or just share in the comments!

My Favorite Quotes From Every Book I Read This Year: Part 1

On December 3, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized18 Comments

So, on November 22, 2024 I started a little book book, as I call it, but it is a journal of the books I have read with a few jotted thoughts, quotes I like, and stickers. I am an archivist and chronicler at heart, and I have been having so much fun journaling my reading experience this way. I thought it would be neat to share my favorite quotes from all the books I have read. It will be multi-part, because it would be like a crazy wall of text post if I did it all at once.

Jan. 4, 2025 – 1st book of the year!

This is just a snippet of a quote.

“…a little life surrounded by love and hope and magic.”

Jan. 5, 2025

“She and Coco were sitting in the kitchen of the Egg, Ollie’s rambling old farmhouse. They’d gotten themselves mugs of hot chocolate and were seeing who could build the biggest marshmallow pyramid on top.”

Jan. 7, 2025

“Too many men were raised by families that expected them to hide their emotions at all costs.”

Jan. 14, 2025

“…all around us the earth had erupted with silver rabbits washing their faces with moon dew.”

Jan. 26, 2025

“I mourned the loss of older lighthouses like Pottawatomie. There was something magical and romantic about them.”

Feb. 1, 2025

“Matthias gazed upwards, feeling as if he were slowly turning with the silent Earth.”

Feb. 5, 2025

“Either her laugh is starting to sound attractive – or I really am going mental.”

Feb. 8, 2025

“Shooting stars and auroras – things people come to love without the need to interrogate what makes them beautiful.”

Feb. 9, 2025

“Allow yourself to be where you are”

Feb. 16, 2025

“Being content with not being some extraordinary, larger than life badass, and instead loving being me. Sometimes talking too much. Often daydreaming about nothing. Being a good archaeologist, even if it means never being a great one. Telling corny jokes. Being known for always bringing the best snacks. And wearing fanny packs like they are going out of style.”

I think I am going to like this lookback.

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

Soup and Story Saturday

On November 22, 2025November 23, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized18 Comments

Today’s soup was made by my mother-in-law! Homemade wonton soup, and it is delicious and warm and not something I get to eat very often. I love wonton soup though and I needed some soup today! We got up early to go to the Christmas parade and it was very chilly first thing this morning!

It was perfect. I loved that it was not overly salty, and she added water chestnuts which I love. It was very warming and I was thankful to have it.

Last weekend Chrissy, my sister-in-law, and I were standing in the kitchen at my dad’s reminiscing about our grandmothers. It started with spaghetti, and she talked about how when she was little, one of her very favorite things was her grandmother’s house on cold days, because her grandma would always have a pot of bolognese sauce simmering away on the stove. She said it would bubble away for hours, while they played and her mom and grandma visited, and it smelled so good, and she couldn’t wait to eat it. She said it would get a layer of grease on top, and when I asked if she ate that, she emphatically said, yes, that it was part of the experience, and they would dip their bread into it too. Her memory sounded so vivid and I could imagine the feeling that would give, of family and homeliness, and it made me remember my grandmothers’ kitchens.

Neither of them ever really had any money, but you never went hungry when you visited. In fact, quite the opposite. Both would steam the windows of their houses up, cooking and baking. My grandma Marian, whose birthday would have been tomorrow actually, made the best chicken paprikash, the best bean soup (which I don’t have the recipe for and haven’t found anything to replicate it), and the best rice pudding. The chicken paprikash is the one I remember the best. She made it with the dumplings, and they were my favorite part, those little bits of dough were like treasures for some reason, and I would search the bowl for them before moving on to the rest of the bowl. We would all be crammed into her smallish kitchen, seated around her round wooden table, and I would be next to my cousin Melissa in the back, squished along the wall because we were the littlest and youngest.

Now my grandma Keedy, she was also a good cook and baker, and I live in the house that was hers, so I am continuing to make memories here. I remember our crowded Thanksgivings and Christmases, my entire rowdy family spread out wherever we could find a seat until dinner, when we again would cram around a table in the dining room, until the year when my cousin Brian, Meghan, Michael, and my brother Devin and I got our own table in the other room. We had slightly outgrown this tiny house but that didn’t stop us from being together.

The kitchen here, the one that my grandma used, is so tiny. I joke all the time that they built this house and then were like, “Oh no we forgot the kitchen” and managed to squeak one in. Despite its diminutive size, my grandma would turn out a huge feast, complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, corn, salad, cranberry sauce, and Yorkshire pudding, followed by pumpkin pie, cherry pie, coconut tarts and Empire biscuits. We all would fight over the last piece of Yorkshire pudding, and had great debates over which dessert was better, the tarts or the biscuits. I have always been a coconut tarts fan but I am among the minority. The house would be so hot from the stove working hard all day, and after dinner my cousins, brother, and I would go back to the den in the back of the house. We would occupy ourselves with books or and drawing and tv if there was a tv in there, which wasn’t always the case, and my brother and boy cousins would wrestle and Meghan and I would try to stay out of the way because they would get wild and it was not that big of a room.

Inevitably we would get bored and wander back into the dining room and living room, and listen to the stories our parents and grandparents were telling, about dancing at the highland games or the time my uncle scored for the opposite team during a basketball game in middle school or ice skating on the creek, or how my mom was hula-hoop champion in elementary school and got to hula-hoop before a high school football game, where my aunt was a cheerleader.

I feel like I have so many memories wrapped up in these nights, dinners and meals with family, and I hope that I am providing these memories to Wyatt. I want him to remember these holidays with fondness one day, the food that we made, the stories we told.

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle has an awesome soup and story to share as well!! Check out her post here!

And that is it from me today. Thanks for stopping by, and if you have anything you want to share, please leave a link below! InLinkz is still telling me that it is incompatible which is annoying, so if you leave a link in the comments, I will share it in my post!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On November 21, 2025November 21, 2025 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized9 Comments

Hello everyone! I am writing from my bed this morning, it is so cold and I am not ready to get moving quite yet. I do have a cup of coffee next to me though, thank goodness, that will help with both issues, although it is Friday and Wyatt and I have a lighter day on Fridays.

This past weekend was my birthday! I feel like I have been celebrating all month, with all of the surprises my family and friends have had for me. They have all been so thoughtful and made me feel very special for my 50th.

On Saturday, my dad and stepmom had a party for me out at their house, and it was so chill and relaxed and just what I needed. Good food, lots of cake, family, and laughter. I loved just hanging out with my family, chatting and eating and then I took the kids outside and they were all playing hide and seek, even Wyatt. It was a nice time.

Sunday morning Billy, Wyatt, and I had plans to go to Le Supreme in Detroit, which is a French brasserie. We love their brunch menu and we got all shined up to go (Marsha, I wore my fox dress outfit!) – however, my son decided to gift me a special surprise right as our food arrived, by throwing up right in my lap. I told him I have had better gifts before. We managed to keep things low profile and cleaned up and then packed Wyatt’s food up and went home. Billy and I both had egg based breakfasts and left them behind. The waiter was so nice, and gave me a raincheck for a free creme brulee when we go back. And we are having a redo, and this time I think Wyatt will stay home with a grandparent. Ah, life with a medically complex child. Lol. It is that pesky side effect of his medication – and we never know when it will occur since it is not everyday.

The day after my birthday would have been Billy’s older brother’s birthday, and we remember him every year on that date (well we remember him everyday, but especially the 17th). He passed at 26 from squamous cell cancer of the mouth, and we tell stories about him to Wyatt all the time. About George’s tarantulas, which is one reason I took Carl in, his love of old cars, his carpentry and automotive skills, which is where Billy learned a lot of what he knows, from his older brother. He would have been 53 this year, and probably still been giving Billy a hard time but then bailing him out as well. He was a good big brother. I remember one winter, Billy and I had been watching a movie and it was over about 1 am. Billy went out to his car, and the battery was dead, so he called George. George came over in the bitter cold, and together they jumped Billy’s car, while sitting in George’s. I would check on them occasionally out there, chatting while they waited, and I remember thinking how happy they both looked, despite it being freezing cold, pitch black, and jumping a car. Just two brothers doing brother things. He was one one of the good guys, and we miss him everyday.

On Wednesday my dad came by and kicked me out of the house, telling me to go do something for me. I decided to check out Brooks Books, a local bookstore. I knew they had decorated for Christmas, and I thought it would be nice to take Wyatt there next month for our book and cookie outing. However, it was very nice to go by myself for once. I had so much time to just look at everything, in quiet. I picked up a book while I was there, Cold Clay, the second book in the Shady Hollow series. It was a nice refresh midweek!

And, I also got my items from when I went to the tie dye place with my friends! I had made a pashmina scarf, a tote bag, and socks, which they donate to the unhoused. I really love how both my scarf and tote bag turned out! My scarf makes me think of malachite, and it is so pretty!