Tag: writing

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized14 Comments

Hello everyone! I am under strict orders from my husband to take it easy today. He told me to blog, catch up on my life, and recharge so I guess I am doing that. And he is right, I do need to do that.

My mom is all settled in her apartment now, and we have all of her services lined up. It was a herculean effort, it seems, and I will say it again and again that this system should not be so difficult. It should be an embarrassment to these places that it is so hard but we know that this all just trickles upwards, and the people I am dealing with are not the people making the policies. However, when all is said and done, I managed to get my mom into a situation where she is safe and comfortable and taken care of. Since it is still within her apartment at the assisted living/senior living center she is also not as scared as I think she would be in a new place.

On Sunday, I did have a break from everything and it was exactly what I needed. Our Blackbirds group had an outing at a farm to experience the process of maple sugaring, and they had such a good time! I think everyone did, including the adults. The woman who owns the farm is a retired elementary special education teacher, and already knew some of the kids and parents, which is how we learned about it. She was so welcoming and you could tell she was a retired teacher, she was amazing with our kids.

She had everything all set up when we got there. Books, handouts, a video to start, and then she poured sap fresh from the tree into a filter to show the kids, and we were all surprised to see that it was clear like water. Then we all tasted it, which was also surprising. It tasted like water with a tiny bit of sugar. I had expected it to be sweeter!

After this presentation, which the kids all listened to very well, we headed outside to tap a tree!

Wyatt was very excited to be able to dump the sap into a bucket.

After we finished up outside, it was back into the little studio for a craft, where the kids fashioned their own “sap buckets” and ate hot off the griddle pancakes served with fresh maple syrup! Another activity everyone loved.

After we were all done with the lesson and activity, she said we were welcome to explore the property and just hang out if we wanted. She was so nice and has invited us back whenever we want. We are definitely going back next month for lessons on frogs and ponds. And I could hear the spring peepers there, which did my heart good!

It was a fantastic way to start the day, honestly. We all explored and the parents bought maple syrup and fresh eggs and honey. And some of the parents got to live their dream of holding a chicken… that is my friend Kelly I talk about a lot, holding Nora. She was very excited and that made her day.

We all had a great time and it was the breath I needed to start the week.

When we left, we had time to run home for a bit before meeting my brother, who didn’t get to go to the farm because my niece had a birthday party to go to, at our mom’s apartment to change things around. We turned her bedroom into more of a sitting room, so that when she has visitors they have a place to sit while they are there. It looks very cozy and homey in there now, although she still needs more pictures for the walls, something she has needed for awhile now. However, when we left I felt pleased with what we had accomplished. It is a start! It’s hard to make those spaces seem cozy – if you know, you know.

Oh, I forgot to mention Saturday! On Saturday I wanted to get Wyatt out of the house. He has been cooped up a lot, and when he did go out, it was either to therapy or to my mom’s. So we did one of his favorite things – book shopping. One of our local used bookstores is having a buy one get one free sale on kids books this month, so we went there, and he picked out a nice stack (with a few additions from me). Then we hurried to another bookstore to get there before closing so I could use the last of my birthday gift card on a book I have been wanting for months, Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter.

That Trixie Belden is for me. When I was a kid I loved those books so much that I wanted my parents to call me Trixie. Lol. I also added Betty Before X to his stack, and Fever 1793.

So, while things have been rough around here, we did fit in some time to relax.

How are you all doing? I hope that you are taking time to do things that make you smile as well!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized30 Comments

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

Hello everyone. It has really been a tough two weeks around here. I shared on here the other day that my mom had a stroke and it has been very emotional and stressful and scary. She is now out of the hospital and in more long term care. She is actually better physically than she is emotionally? I am not sure how to describe it. I did read that this is common for people who have suffered a stroke, so we are just making our way through things day by day. She is also sleeping a lot, and I think she is in a sort of healing cocoon. When we sleep our brains heal and I think that is some part of what is going on. Plus, she does need rest, she went through a huge ordeal and was in the hospital for almost a week. She also had surgery for blood clots. It’s been a lot for her but everyday I see mini improvements, inchstones.

Books:

I haven’t read too much. I am still working on the book I started a few weeks ago, although I am enjoying it. I just keep falling asleep pretty fast at night. Lol.

I hope to finish it in the next day or two, and when I do I am going to start this one!

I thought it would be fun to get a photo with all three of my cats, but you can guess how that went. LOL. Max stuck around though.

Screens:

Nothing too exciting here either. When I am upset I want familiar shows, so we watched old episodes of Brokenwood.

In-Betweens:

I have been so grateful to all my friends for the support they have been given me this past week or so. My in person friends and also my online community. I also have gotten a few letters from pen pals this week that have brought a smile to my face. Thank you to Tina for the happy mail – Wyatt and I are excited to start the seeds soon! Yesterday I set up a small table next to my mom’s bed while she slept and wrote a few letters back to my pen pals, and it was a very therapeutic and calming activity.

I an hoping to be back in this space more this week as well. I am trying to establish a new routine to accommodate some of the changes in our lives for the moment. I just work better when I have a plan and order. I haven’t had one and things are just a mess here. No planned dinners have led to my family eating more fast food and junk than I like, the house is cluttered, things have just fallen by the wayside, even with my husband doing all he can to help. I have been a bit of survival mode, even with Wyatt’s homeschool, focusing on reading and math only and his home therapy routine. So I am working on a plan for the week.

Tuesday is going to be a nightmare friends. Send good vibes! Lol. It’s not really that bad, but between Wyatt and my mom I have three appointments one right after another with just enough time to drive to them all in between!! Not any appointments I am particularly worried about, it’s just the actual scheduling of them.

Around the Internets:

I have shared some posts in the past two weeks:

Little Life Updates

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

Top Ten Tuesday: Cozy Mysteries with a Gardening Theme

Also, just a reminder as well that Lisa from Boondock Ramblings and I have a link up for anything bookish! You can find it here!

And that is it from me today! Whatever you do today, try to do something that makes you smile!

Little Life Updates

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized18 Comments

Hello everyone. It ‘s been a crazy week and a half around here. I mentioned the other week that my mom wasn’t well and she had a diagnosis of an UTI. It turns out she also had a stroke, which we learned as her condition began to deteriorate instead of improve throughout the week. She has been in the hospital since Saturday night, and it has been a confusing, emotional, stressful time. I would like to see the adult in charge please?

Despite everything she has been going through, she is doing ok. The stroke affected her left side, and mainly the vision in that eye, and her arm. Her arm however seems to be doing better, and it seems as if her vision is as well. Before she wasn’t turning her head to the left at all, and now she will track me if I move around the room, from one side of the bed to the other. Yay for improvements!

I feel so guilty everyone. I am not able to be there all the time and I feel awful. But I have a son who is also medically complex who needs me as well. It is hard for my husband to get time off easily, and I am there as much as I can. This is such a very difficult situation for me- and I feel so bad. This is all just so hard.

I actually spent all morning this morning speaking to the hospital social worker, insurance, and the place where she lives, basically negotiating for care for my mother. I hate that this is our system. It is absolutely deplorable. However, I managed to get the best I could for her, with her resources and the hospital timeframe. I think I have a good plan in place and it gives my brother and I more time to research if this is the best option. We were told my mom needs long term care and was not recommended rehab, but also where she lives, she wasn’t receiving all those extra services, plus, they wanted to send her back today. Make it make sense people. She needs long term care but send her back to independent living? I managed to set everything up and they will discharge her tomorrow.

Needless to say, I am exhausted. After I visit my mom tonight, I am going to come home and take a dark shower, do some serious skin care, and crawl into my freshly made up bed for the remainder of the night. Maybe watch an old Brokenwood, have some tea.

This weekend I do have something fun lined up for Wyatt and his friends. Our little Blackbirds group is meeting at a local farm that is currently in the process of maple sugaring. So the kids will be able to see and participate in that process. The farm owner is a retired special education teacher as well, and she is very excited to be hosting our scouts.

We also had two birthday parties over the weekend, despite my mom’s hospitalization. It was not easy honestly, but we did it. I think they went well even with everything that was happening.

I am going to end here today, but I will be back to blogging again on the regular again soon, hopefully.

Take care of yourselves out there, and help others when you can!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized12 Comments

Hello everyone! I’m going to be honest, this was not our best week, my mom hasn’t been well, although it did start off celebratory and fun, with Wyatt’s birthday! I can’t believe my kiddo is 11. Where has time gone?? He was just a teeny tiny peanut when he was born and now he is almost the same size as me!

I mean, look at my hand next to him. Lol. He was 2 lbs 15 oz and 17 inches long. He is a miracle honestly.

We were trying to figure out what to do to celebrate his birthday. It has been so cold and yucky out, and germs have not slowed down out there at all. Wyatt had wanted to go to the Toledo Art Museum, but then I learned that it is closed on Mondays – along with just about every art and history museum. I didn’t know this was universally a thing, but it is. So we owe him a visit to the art museum. We pivoted and headed for the Toledo Zoo instead, and had a great time!

It was a Monday morning, cold, gray, and we pretty much had the entire zoo to ourselves. There were a few animals not on exhibit, and most of the buildings were still shuttered and not open, but that didn’t stop us from having fun.

We saw otters (my favorite there!), elephants (which Wyatt loved because one of them did something that young boys find hilarious), wolves, among other mammals, and went into the aquarium, conservatory, and natural history museum. The reptarium was under construction sadly but that just gives us a reason to go back. The conservatory was so cool – it had reptiles just loose and free in it! We all had to watch where we were going so we didn’t squish any. I also did something purely out of love for Wyatt – I sort of am weirded out by fish, and they had two open aquariums where you could pet a sturgeon and manta rays (or some sort of rays) and Wyatt was not quite tall enough in the wheelchair to do it, so I did it for him and described it and it was super gross, which Wyatt thought was hilarious.

That 80s looking building up there used to be where all of the big cats lived in the 1980s. I remember visiting them there when I was a kid and before zoos became more knowledgeable about habitats and what is appropriate. Now it is used as a restaurant! I swear we could eat in that building even then, while the big cats lived there but I might be misremembering. That was a long time ago!

I mean just check out this photo quality! Lol. I am the second from the left, and my little brother is in the red shorts next to me, and my cousin Brian is the other big kid. Check out the giant thermos jug my Aunt has! Lol.

We spent a few hours at the zoo, then headed home. It was just about time for dinner when we pulled back into our driveway, after having stopped for a family size mac and cheese, which was Wyatt’s request for dinner. And that was that! Wyatt has two little family parties this weekend to celebrate as well.

The rest of my week has been sort of split, with a lot of time being spent doing things for my mom. She has a UTI and it has really affected her mentally and physically. So I have been in contact with lots of staff and being there in person and juggling all that with Wyatt’s school and his appointments. Watching your parents age is really really hard!

And I don’t want to end on that so we will talk about… the book of poetry I just read. It is called A Bit Much, it is so good! I absolutely loved it. So many of the poems resonated with me. You can find the author, Lyndsay Rush, on Instagram as @maryoliversdrunkcousin. Lol. I have been sharing poems from the book with friends all week, like this one I sent my friend Kelly.

And with that, I will sign off for today. I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Friday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized11 Comments

Hello all! February has just been a month. Yuck gray skies, cold, surrounded by illness, we got Covid – we are ready for March and hoping that it holds better things for Michigan and for us. However it did have small happy moments of joy, and those are the things that keep us all going, really, aren’t they? Moments like singing with your child while he shoots a big grin at you, your husband surprising you with your favorite chocolate bar when you are having a bad day, a phone call or a message from a friend that brightens your day. And that is how our month has been, nothing big or exciting but full of these moments. Watching the Olympics all shmooed out on the bed with family and cats and blankets, those few days where the sun peeked out and the skies were actually blue, Wyatt getting excited about the history or art lesson, opening the mailbox to find a letter inside rather than junk mail – you get the idea.

Wyatt’s birthday is Monday! I can’t believe my teeny tiny baby who was literally as big as one of our kittens when he was born is going to be 11. My silly goofy happy boy. He fills our hearts with so much good everything, everyday. We had to postpone his birthday party though unfortunately-everyone around us is sick! Hopefully they will be better by next weekend and we can celebrate with our family. This weekend the three of u will eat the cake we ordered the party, and I will just order another. And we will figure out what we are going to do. Will we brave the weather and go to the zoo? Will we brave the germs and mask up and go somewhere inside? Only time will tell!

Speaking of my Wy-guy, we signed him up for a local little league team! They have a special needs team and kiddo is now all ready to play baseball. My cousin has gloves from when her son played little league and he is also a lefty like Wyatt, so she is giving us one of his old gloves, so that is settled. I was talking to her on the phone yesterday about little league, and she asked if Wyatt had a glove yet. I was so confused. Why would Wyatt need a glove? I am not very sporty guys. Two of Wyatt’s friends from Blackbirds are on the team as well, so it will be nice to all go to the games together.

Wyatt will be having surgery again sometime during the season, but the surgeon has told us his recovery will be nothing like the previous surgery. This one will be just a few days and he won’t have any restrictions. He has to have the metal that they put in him in July taken out. That surgery will be happening at the end of April.

I have been really enjoying exchanging snail mail letters with a few different women around the country, and one woman in the Netherlands. It is always such a happy surprise to find a new letter in the mailbox! (thank you Tina for all of your letters! You have one on the way too) It was nice to sit down yesterday with a cup of tea while Wyatt was painting and write a few letters back. We had finished school and his exercises and I had completed a bunch of household tasks (litter boxes, dishes, etc) and I finally had a semi-quiet moment (there are never completely quiet moments when Wyatt is awake – he is always chattering away like a little squirrel), and it was nice. I have also received little gifts inside my letters, stickers and teas, and I need to get something to send back to everyone in my next letters. I am thinking about starting tea journal! I saw someone with one online and it is so cute. I mean, why shouldn’t I have a journal for everything? Lol. I am an archivist at heart!

I am so ready for spring everyone. Like major spring fever over here. I know that March weather is notorious for faking us out, and it is not spring weather yet – Wyatt was born on the coldest day of the winter that year – but this morning the sun is shining, and the temp is supposed to be 50 degrees and it just feels so close. Temps plunge again after this weekend but at least we have a day or two of warmer weather before it does. I am ready to see flowers and birds and to plant things, and try to tempt toads to our garden, and then for summertime fireflies at night and backyard barbecues and bonfires. I want to walk through a wood and hear the spring peepers, to watch people gather around our little free library again that has been sort of lonely little bastion of books out there in the snow all winter.

Is anyone else feeling spring fever? Or if you are in the southern hemisphere, are you ready for cooler temps?

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

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

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

Hello everyone! Last week was yucky week! We all ended up with Covid. It was thankfully mild but we were still all super tired. We are feeling back to normal now though thank goodness!

Books:

While I was sick, I didn’t really feel like reading until I started feeling better. I did enjoy reading through Vivian Swift’s When Wanderers Cease to Roam, which was perfect. It was easy to read through, lots of pictures, and cheery. I am only halfway through it, but the chapters on the spring months were giving me life! About midweek I felt like reading again, and I ended up finishing two books.

I am really enjoying my slow “wander” through Swift’s book. Right now I am using it to get through these last dregs of winter, reading about all the seasons we have to look forward to, but I ended up buying a copy from Pango so that I can revisit it monthly or seasonally when I want to in the future.

The Cater Street Hangman is from a book series I used to read like crazy years and years ago. I often go back to it when I am not feeling well or need a comfort read.

And finally, A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping was delightful!! I absolutely loved it. Also another buy from Pango. I also sell on Pango, and one feature of it is that you can earn Pango bucks. You can either have the money you make sent to your actual bank account, or you can choose to keep it on Pango and use it to buy more books. That is generally what I do.

Screens:

Well, I didn’t read much last week but I did watch television. We watched a lot of Olympics. I have such warm and fuzzy feelings about watching the Olympics with my mom as a little girl. It was always so exciting and such an event, especially when we knew figure skating would be on. We would sit under blankets on the couch with our cups of tea and watch all of the skaters. Such good memories. I wanted to make some of these with Wyatt too, but he wasn’t as interested in figure skating. However, he does like to watch moguls and snowboarding. We are watching everything we can, but those are his favorites. Our kittens like to watch too, which cracks me up. They really like the luge and bobsledding, but Mouse was riveted by snowboarding the other day.

We are also watching the tv show The Burbs, and we are both really enjoying it! It is like the perfect mix of mystery and thriller, as well as a comedy. I need to rewatch the movie again now.

Julia Duffy, who will always be Stephanie from Newhart to me, is on it, and she is my favorite character, but I do also really love Tod, who is played by Mark Proskch, or Colin from What We Do in the Shadows. He was hilarious in that, and plays a similar type character in The Burbs. Justin Kirk is also great in this so far, but again, I also loved him in another show, Weeds.

Last week on my blog, I posted:

In Our Homeschool

Friday Afternoon Coffee Catch Up, Minus the Coffee

Wednesday Morning Coffee (Covid) Catch Up

A Cozy Little Life: A Look at Book Journaling

In-Betweens:

Not too much, since we were sick, and I mainly blogged about everything else in my coffee catch up posts, except Valentine’s Day! Billy and I went for a walk and saw the sunset, with our Starbucks teas in hand, lol, and then we came home and he made us all pancakes with strawberry compote that he made himself, because I had weirdly decided I wanted those for some reason earlier in the week. They were delicious and we all loved them!

The kittens go in for their spay and neuter and surgeries tomorrow morning. I will miss them scampering and stampeding around the house while they are gone, and I will worry as well. My poor babies. It’s always so hard, isn’t it? We had our Blackbirds meeting last week, which was a lot of fun, and then this week our Blackbirds are going to a skating event I arranged. I am nervous about that as well! I want Wyatt to have all the experiences that he can though, so I will muster through it. This skating loop has an ice skating sled, that he can sit on and be pushed. There is also a cabana that we rented, a bonfire, and there is a restaurant that serves pizza. It will be fun although I will be a nervous mama until it is over.

And with that, I hope that all of you have a great day, and do something that makes you smile, even if it is something small!

A Cozy Little Life: A Look at Book Journaling

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized18 Comments

Hello everyone!! I am having a slow morning this morning, and it felt like the perfect time for this post.

For the past year I have been keeping a reading journal and “annotating” books, and I have gotten a few comments and questions about it all. I was inspired by a couple of different vloggers on YouTube: Elizabeth at The Plant Based Bride, Cups and Thoughts, and Katie is Reading.

Now all of these vloggers have much more involved and creative setups than I do, and also annotate quite a bit more than I do, but I wanted to share their setups and also Elizabeth’s annotation video as examples of how amazing this can all be, and how detailed you can get. Maybe one day I will be at their level but for now I am happy with what I am doing. It brings me joy and makes me happy and that is what matters. Do I sometimes start pages over, or rethink what I am doing? Yes, I do, but I also don’t compare what I do to these vloggers. For one, I don’t have nearly the number of supplies that they do, and I don’t think that matters. I think if you want to do this, you just need some sort of journal or notebook, maybe some markers, and if you feel the need for more, you can even check the dollar store near you. Ours has started carrying crafting supplies, including stickers and washi tape. Some of you might have a lot of supplies at home already. Whatever you have, you can do this. If you have a printer, you could print book covers, or different images. You could go old school and cut pictures out of old magazines even. The important part is to have FUN!

As far as my reading journal goes, I have a few sticker collections that I have picked up, and markers (that don’t bleed) and just regular journals that I got off Amazon. I did recently purchase some winter washi tape, and I am also using all of these items with my letter writing as well! I am slowly adding to my supplies, but like I said it is not something you need to run out and stock up on unless you want to.

These are just some examples of different pages I did for books I have read. Some are mainly quotes, others I have written more in depth thoughts and questions I had about the book.

As far as annotating, I am not that critical nor do I make that many notes in the book itself. My method is to just flag the passage or quote that I like, and when I finish reading, I look back through, and write my thoughts down from there, or not. If you watch Elizabeth’s video though, she has a fantastic video chock full of information about annotating. She is one of the vloggers I watch who actually challenges me to read more critically. I feel smarter after watching her book vlogs, honestly. They remind me of being back in my literature classes in college, and as a lit minor, I had a lot of those!

So I know I said you don’t need to buy stuff if you don’t want to, but I wanted to share some supplies in case you are interested in what I have around and use.

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links and I would receive a small commission if you were to purchase something.

Version 1.0.0

Blank Notebook || Peter Pauper Press Stickers (they have so many and they are so cute!) || Winter Washi Tape || Winter Stickers || Markers

However you choose to do this, if you do, just remember, it is all about fun and relaxing, not comparison to others or having all the things.

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

Wednesday Morning Coffee (Covid) Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized25 Comments

Hello everyone!!! It’s been a minute since I posted here. If you are on my socials at all, then you already know, but that illness that Wyatt had – and passed on to us – was Covid. Ughhh. I started feeling pretty crummy Friday night, and by the time we went to bed, I had an idea that is what it was. When I got up on Saturday morning I took a test and yep, that line showed up. Billy was starting to feel sick too by this point as well.

Billy and I both immediately set up virtual doctor appointments to get on Paxlovid. I know that this is not the choice everyone would take, but we thought since we have Wyatt to take care of and we were all sick at the time, that it would be a good idea to take it. The other time we had Covid, back in like 2021ish, Billy had it in May and then Wyatt and I had it in July. Billy set up in his office when he had it that time and I solo’d it with Wyatt.

Anyway, we were both super tired for like two days, and have Paxlovid mouth which is disgusting. Wyatt rebounded quickly, but as he has a certain level of dependence on us, ended up spending a lot of time watching tv in bed with his parents as we rested. Lol. However, yesterday I felt so much better! The sun was shining, it was warm (40 degrees!), and I threw open the windows a tiny bit to air out the house, and got busy cleaning. I scrubbed down the bedrooms with bleach, washed all the bedding, scrubbed floors, just pretty much went on a crazy deep clean spree. I also decided anything that made me think of winter needed to put away. Winter decor was banished to boxes, and snowy reads put back on the shelves for another time. I moved out books that feel like spring, changed our duvet cover, and by the end of it all, the whole house felt lighter. Fresher. And I felt happier and lighter as well. I saw Mireille posted about vignettes today and I need to pop over and read her post, but that is what I was doing yesterday too. Changing my vignettes. Changing my view, and my mindset.

It is still too early here in Michigan to start seeds, I think, but I think we will give it a try. I feel like if we get some wee plantlings that there is a way we could make a makeshift greenhouse situation on our deck for Wyatt and I to tend. We need to move our thinking forward to spring. As the seasons start to shift, so do we. It is premature to think of spring being here, I live in Michigan after all. Winter could be here until April for goodness sakes. But, I am going to start thinking at least of brighter, longer days. Of more color in the world, not just the blues and grays and whites of winter. We need pink and green, yellow. We need birdsong. I think that if the weather is a little better next week Wyatt and I might take a field trip to the zoo, walk around, go into the butterfly house, watch the otters play.

We have been watching the Olympics a lot around here, and playing with our three cats, little Miso who is like the Nana for our kittens. She follows them around, just sort of watching them. They nuzzle up against her and she sort of makes a face like eww but also allows it. But when I put them in the office for the night (I don’t trust them running around the house at night yet) she sits outside the door for a bit, and in the morning she waits for them to come out, and nose boops them. I had to laugh yesterday, Mouse, our little adventurer and scamp, ran by Miso and play swatted her poofy tail, and then ran off. She was brave, that could have earned her a little hiss but it didn’t.

I haven’t wanted to read much while I have been sick, but I did receive two letters from pen pals which made me smile. Yesterday while Wyatt was painting, I wrote them back. It was so nice to have a cup of tea, and just write out letters that I will send out to two very different places, while my son happily painted next to me. Poor Billy had to go back to work yesterday, but he was working from home so that was better at least.

Today we join the world again. Wyatt goes back to therapy, and I think he will be glad to get out. I know I will be happy! I think we might try to go to the library and pick up our holds as well. And maybe I will stop at Starbucks and grab Wyatt a cookie, and a Medicine Ball for myself. Then we will come home to our house full of animals and Billy and settle in for the evening.

And I think that is it from me today! I don’t know what is in my camera roll, we will find out here together I guess!

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

In Our Homeschool

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized6 Comments

Hello everyone! It has been a while since I have posted about our homeschool studies. It’s not as visual for the blog as it was when he was younger! However, we are still working hard and doing some fun things.

Before Christmas, we finished up the Revolutionary War. I lingered way too long on that topic. I always joke that I spend way too much time on history but I can’t help it – I love history, and it is what my degree is in. That and literature. Wyatt loves history now too, and it cracks me up what he holds on to sometimes. He loved the story of Paul Revere, and loved shouting “The British are coming!”, which Revere actually never did but we talked about actual history and then also, this fictionalized version. He made a lantern with a tealight, and we just had a great time with it.

After Christmas, we moved on to the Lewis and Clark expedition, and westward expansion. This is a whole new adventure and he has been enjoying it. We are about to head down the Oregon Trail, and we are also reading Little House on the Prairie for Language Arts. When we finish that one up, we are going to start The Cabin Faced West, which I have actually not read yet myself!

I mentioned that we are reading Little House on the Prairie. I learned this morning that Friday is Laura’s birthday, so I am planning a few fun celebrations for that, like a mini Pioneer day.

Wyatt and I were both done with modern, abstract artists so I am starting a whole new unit with him in art – architecture! He is already excited over it and we have only been working on it for a week. We needed something new and fresh to liven things up! Wyatt loves houses and building things so it seemed like a good fit.

We started last Saturday with Billy, and talked about foundations, how important they are, the difference between shaky and solid. He got to do a little experiment with both as well, trying to float a foundation and building on it to see the difference. Then he and Billy built a “floating” building, the Sydney Opera House. It was a lot of fun, and he had a blast. We did have to crack up because the non-technical parent (me) bought the supplies and did not pick a large enough “harbor” for our opera house to float in. It more or less rested on the sides of the container. But, he got the idea!

We are using a slew of books for this, but there are a few that I really like.

Architecture According to Pigeons || Mini Architects || The Future Architect’s Handbook || Architecture for Kids

And that is it for now! I have lots of fun things coming up and I am so excited to do with them Wyatt!

Books, Screens, and In-Betweens

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized31 Comments

Hello everyone! I am writing this morning surrounded by jumping, bouncing zooming kittens, a sleeping cat, and a chatty little boy. I have already consumed two cups of coffee, which is my limit, but I could use another one to keep up with most of this crowd today.

It was a pretty slow, lazy week again. The cold is just keeping us inside right now. We are doing our best though!

Books:

Last week I read Secret Nights and Northern Lights which was a light easy read. I’d been reading a lot of moody winter books and I needed a bit of a shake up. This book was the antidote I needed!

I am still debating what I want to read this week. Do I want something light again? Something wintry? I am picking this one up from the library tomorrow, and I am pretty sure that is the one I am going to start. I learned about it over at Jeanie’s blog, Marmalade Gypsy and she loves it so much I had to look for it. Way to go my library! It has had all sorts of books that are older and out of print that I have been looking for this year. Never change, library.

I am also in the mood for something scary, or a ghost story. I need to look for one while I am at the library.

Screens:

This week Billy and I reunited with our old friends Ruth, Peter, and Alex, and watched Wartime Farm for the millionth time. We also watched Victorian Bakers, which wasn’t as good as the farm shows, but it was still very good. It also had the added bonus of making us want to bake bread. And eat bread.

Last week I posted a few times.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Discoveries

Coffee Catch Up

Mini Book Reviews

I’m playing with my little designs. Do I want one design for all, different? I will keep playing. I enjoy fiddling around with Canva anyway. Lol.

In-Betweens:

I got my first snail mail letter last week! Thank you Tina! I mailed one back to you – I was going to email and tell you then felt like that was silly. And now here I am posting it on my blog! LOL. I will get the hang of this eventually.

I also sent out a few other snail mail letters while I was at it, to the pen pals I have picked up from the Analog Life Project, and Wyatt sent one to his friend Little Miss, Lisa’s daughter.

I am really enjoying letter writing! And of course, picking out stationery.

Around the Internets:

Lisa at Boondock Ramblings and I host a monthly bookish link party called A Good Book and A Cup of Tea.  This link-up is for book and reading posts or anything related to books and reading (even movies based on books!). Each link party will be open for a month. You can find that link up for this month here. I was a very poor co-host this month as I was doing some life re-organizing and I am still catching up on some things.

And a kitten pic to end this post.

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