Currently

Here's what's up with me currently..

Reading Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon.. it's due at the library Friday so I'm hurrying!!

Loving the weather!!

Feeling so much better now that I quit my job.  I feel like I'm a bit of failure in that aspect because I just quit, but I need to take care of myself and taking care of myself is NOT working full-time busting my ass.  I always wanted to be a boss, and I was.  And now I'm not.  And I'm happier for it.

Thinking about how to revamp my eating to make it healthier but still yummy.

Anticipating the summer with my kiddo! I have big plans for us.

Watching Southern Charm, S.W.A.T. and lots of old movies.

Working on clearing out a bunch of clutter in our house and selling stuff we no longer use.

Grateful for a husband who as much as he can't understand me, allowed me to quit my job to be happier.  He's the best!!!

Listening to an abundance of podcasts! Current faves are The Girl Next Door , Oprah's Super Soul Conversations, and Annotated.

Wishing that our quest to get central air installed this month goes off without a hitch!

What are you reading? 

What are you watching?

What are you loving? 

Living in a Book World

Am I the only one that puts themselves into a cast of characters in a book? When I fall in LOVE with a book, I put myself into the setting, maybe as a player in the book or as a character.

I LOVED Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton.  I read this about 10 years ago, but I still think about it and envision a certain neighborhood in my town as where the book would have taken place if it was HERE at the time. 

Summer makes me nostalgic for the book and I honestly think I may need to re-read it this summer, but I'm afraid it will break the spell the book has on me.

But as I walk through this neighborhood looking at the well-kept lawns of the older homes, situated on shaded lots near the local park I just imagine what this neighborhood was like in the 1960s and wonder about the women who probably walked their little ones down to this park and the friendships they forged.  The secrets they kept even from the closest of friends as they watched their babies waddle around and get dirty in the sad. The lives behind those beautiful homes --- who had a drinking problem, a wandering husband, a secret of some sort.  It probably wasn't perfect and ideal, but I'm the voyeur who wants to tour the old homes and think of the people who lived there before.

throw back photo of a visit to said park that puts me into my dream world

Please tell me I'm not alone in this weirdness.

Summer TBR List

Ahhh, Summer! We had 80-90 degree weather all weekend long and so now I'm firmly in the WOOHOO it's Summer state of mind.  

I thought I'd share what is on my radar for reading this summer.  It's my current stack from the library/what I'm keeping my eye out for at the library.

Flight of Dreams by Ariel Lawhon - Recommended to me by Lisa and I just had finished The Wife, The Maid and The Mistress by the same author, which was super good! Hits my favorite topics, history and fiction! It's about the people on the final flight of the Hindenburg!

The Last Town on Earth by Thomas Mullen - My friend Allie, suggested Darktown by this author and when I went to the library I found two other books by him.  I finished The Many Deaths of the Firefly brothers which was really good.  It was set in the 1930s about brothers who robbed banks.  So I'm excited to check out more by this author!

Still Life by Louise Penny - Lisa also introduced me to the Armand Gamache series.  And I have not read them in order, so this is the first one and I'll be trying to hit up as many as my library has this summer.

Almost Sisters by Joshilyn Jackson - Because it's summer and I love Joshilyn's books! Excited to try this one.

A Scot in the Dark by Sarah MacLean - Because what is summer without a little romance? :)

We're Going to Need More Wine  by Gabrielle Union - I've heard great recommendations on various podcasts so I felt summer is a great time to check this one out.

American Lion by Jon Meacham - I've been reading books about presidents and/or their wives recently and this looked like a good one!

I'm also hoping to finally read The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Commonwealth by Ann Patchett, Love and Ruin by Paula McLain, and probably more mystery/thrillers.

What is on your Summer Reading List? What should I add to mine?

Looking Forward

Lately, I've been wanting to write more but felt too exhausted with life to come up with too many of my own thoughts.  So, here's too pre-scripted prompts..

This weekend we actually do not have anything planned, but a lot of our winter weekends have turned into extra chapters read in whatever Little House book we are in and extra episodes of the show.  I'm not quite sure what we will do when we come to an end to both!

This month not much.  February is such a blah month for me and after January felt like 2 years, this seems like this month at least has flown by.

In March my birthday! And the beginning of our road trip for Spring Break.  We will be spending the last bit of the month in Morgantown, West Virginia.  I can't wait!

In April I'm looking forward to our site seeing adventures in Washington D.C.  We have been watching you tube videos and talking about people in history and their memorials to get our daughter excited! 

This spring I'm looking forward to my program ending for the school year session in May.  It's been a very trying first year.  I will be glad to see it be done with!

This summer I'm looking forward to the sunshine! And hopefully visiting lakes and beaches in our pretty state!

What are you looking forward to these days?

Currently

Reading : I just finished The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie by Wendy McClure.  I'm about to start Longbourn by Jo Baker.

Loving: How obsessed my daughter is with Little House right now.  The books and the TV show.  We have been reading the series as a family read aloud and watching episodes together too!  Also plotting out a road trip to check out the various Laura spots.

Feeling: DONE WITH WINTER.  SO done.

Thinking: about summer and what our plans will be.

Anticipating: spring break and our road trip to Washington D.C.!

Watching: S.WA.T. is my new favorite this year.  I mean Shemar Moore.. :)

Grateful: we've been mostly healthy this winter!

Listening to podcasts.  I just started "My Favorite Murder," and its good!

Wishing: for vacation.  and the sun.

What are you reading, watching and listening to currently?

Because of Winn Dixie

I'm generally not a book after movie person, but I so rarely read middle grade books that I thought it wouldn't matter.  So I recorded the movie and watched it a few years ago.  It's just a glimmer in my memory.  I've owned the book for several years and in December I decided it would be a great last book of the year or a great first book of the year.

First book of the year it was! Such a great quick read.  It would be a great read aloud, which I plan to do with my own daughter after we finish the Little House Series. 

India Opal is a very lonely girl who has just moved to a brand new town with her preacher dad, who she calls, Preacher.  Her mama left and she doesn't really remember her.  Opal lives in a trailer park with no other kids and hasn't made any new friends since she moved.

Enter Winn-Dixie.  Winn-Dixie is a lovable dog that Opal claims one day while shopping in the produce section of the local... Winn-Dixie.  Winn-Dixie brings Opal a bright spot that opens the door to friendships and belonging.

Such a cute tale and I good see glimmers of the movie in the back of my mind as I read.

Definitely recommend!

Are you a book before movie person or does it not matter?

House Plans

I'm participating in Apartment Therapy's January Cure and today's task is to go through the house and find 3-5 big things in each area to attack this year.  I'm using this things that I need to update/organize better too.  Here is my list.

Entry Way
- Empty/clean/organize the closet
- Look into new tile
- Paint if windows/heating gets done

Living Room
- Empty/clean/organize my catch all drawer/cabinet
- Get bins to organize dvds (and/or get rid of them)
- Get bin to organize blanket area

Dining Room
- Clean Walls / add new photos to wall collage
- Get a system for storing homework/mail that doesn't include my kitchen table / possibly a small desk/table
- Look into getting a new overhead light

Kitchen
- Empty/clean/organize gadget cupboards
- Find a new overhead light
- Get new kitchen blinds

Kid's Bedroom
- Organize closet
- Get carpeting
- Paint/if windows/new heating system gets in

Bathroom Upstairs
- Organize Cabinets
- Clean Walls

Office
- Clean closet shelves
- Clean/organize desk
- Go through filing cabinet

My Bedroom
- Clean Out closet
- Get new comforter
- Go Through sheets

Laundry Room
- Donate the donate bin
- Go through closet
- Organize left over items

Downstairs bathroom
- Paint

Bar/Hang out Area
- Organize the toys

Storage Room
- Go through boxes

This seems super overwhelming but I need to get this house under control.  Our new big projects are to get central air and replace the windows.  We also want to get an estimate on an addition for a master bedroom/bath and deck.  Basically, if that's out of our budget/won't be worth it in our neighborhood we may sell.  However, we do need to do the central air and windows.  And carpet in the living room and bedrooms.  And then the entire house needs painted.  After windows are done we will most likely need to get new siding.  So it's a huge mess.  I suggest we just move.  Since we can do none of the things.   I basically need Fixer Upper to come and completely redo my house for me to even like it.  And that's not going to happen.  I'd rather be in a different neighborhood with a house that is all ready.  The end.

What big house projects are on your agenda this year?

Best Books Read in 2017

I went through a lot of reading spurts in 2017.  I like different little rituals that I do in different situations.  Listen to a gazillion podcasts? Monday, I go by the most episodes per episode and the least amount of episodes back and forth when I have time to listen.  Tuesday, the latest downloaded episodes and the newest.  Wednesday, I scroll down twice and pick the shortest length podcast.  Thursday, I scroll down once and pick the shortest podcasts.  And Friday, I go to specific podcasts I want to catch up on.  I am a bit weird.  Also, in the card and need a new one? That's one scroll and a random pick.

Around November I decided to help pick up my reading by grabbing one book from the New Section of the library which was a two week check out and one from the Express Section that was a one week section.  I'd say since I read 15 books between November and December it was a good decision. So this new reading ritual (obsession) may be my new thing.

Some of my favorites in 2017 in no particular order...

Goodnight June by Sarah Jio
I read this very early in 2017.  I was a super quick read and I wanted to then put it in the hands of all my friends that are going through rough patches and need a little encouragement.

Description: Goodnight Moon is an adored childhood classic, but its real origins are lost to history. In Goodnight June, Sarah Jio offers a suspenseful and heartfelt take on how the "great green room" might have come to be.

June Andersen is professionally successful, but her personal life is marred by unhappiness. Unexpectedly, she is called to settle her great-aunt Ruby’s estate and determine the fate of Bluebird Books, the children’s bookstore Ruby founded in the 1940s. Amidst the store’s papers, June stumbles upon letters between her great-aunt and the late Margaret Wise Brown—and steps into the pages of American literature

Wilde Lake by Laura Lippman
I love Laura Lippman's books,  and this one did not disappoint. 

Description: Luisa “Lu” Brant is the newly elected—and first female—state’s attorney of Howard County, Maryland, a job in which her widower father famously served. Fiercely intelligent and ambitious, she sees an opportunity to make her name by trying a mentally disturbed drifter accused of beating a woman to death in her home. It’s not the kind of case that makes headlines, but peaceful Howard county doesn’t see many homicides.

As Lu prepares for the trial, the case dredges up painful memories, reminding her small but tight-knit family of the night when her brother, AJ, saved his best friend at the cost of another man’s life. Only eighteen, AJ was cleared by a grand jury. Now, Lu wonders if the events of 1980 happened as she remembers them. What details might have been withheld from her when she was a child?

The more she learns about the case, the more questions arise. What does it mean to be a man or woman of one’s times? Why do we ask our heroes of the past to conform to the present’s standards? Is that fair? Is it right? Propelled into the past, she discovers that the legal system, the bedrock of her entire life, does not have all the answers. Lu realizes that even if she could learn the whole truth, she probably wouldn’t want to

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
Wow.  This was so good.  Such a good book about Ernest Hemingway and his first wife Hadley.  An interesting fictional insight into the Jazz Age Paris and the artists they came in contact.  What a time it must have been!

The Blinds by Adam Sternbergh
This was a great book I heard about on one of the Book Riot podcasts and one of my ritual pick ups from the library! Definitely recommend!

Description: Imagine a place populated by criminals-people plucked from their lives, with their memories altered, who’ve been granted new identities and a second chance. Welcome to The Blinds, a dusty town in rural Texas populated by misfits who don’t know if they’ve perpetrated a crime, or just witnessed one. What’s clear to them is that if they leave, they will end up dead.

For eight years, Sheriff Calvin Cooper has kept an uneasy peace—but after a suicide and a murder in quick succession, the town’s residents revolt. Cooper has his own secrets to protect, so when his new deputy starts digging, he needs to keep one step ahead of her—and the mysterious outsiders who threaten to tear the whole place down. The more he learns, the more the hard truth is revealed: The Blinds is no sleepy hideaway. It’s simmering with violence and deception, aching heartbreak and dark betrayals.

The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
Ah! I loved this.  It was good ole Karin Slaughter at her best.  If you are into  suspenseful thrillers you need to check it out! I mean any book that has the description.. "Two girls are forced into the woods at gunpoint. One runs for her life. One is left behind."

Beartown by Fredrick Backman
This was probably the book that was recommended the most that I held off the longest.  The description was sort of off putting to me, especially coming after reading A Man Called Ove, which I liked but took a bit to get into!

Refugee by Alan Gratz
This is a middle grade book that I highly recommend! It goes back and forth between 3 young kids in different time periods in different places throughout the world that need to seek refuge in other countries.  It is heartbreaking as hell and it makes you want to throat punch people who do not want to help those less fortunate than us lucky enough to not be a minority, under rule of a dictator or persecuted because of our religion. 

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
I love The Daily Show.  It's been a nightly ritual going back to 2002.  I was very leery when Trevor took over for Jon Stewart as Jon was my guy for so long.  So I was skeptical, but Trevor is Trevor.  And he's gotten my late night approval.  This collection of essay's of his life growing up in South Africa under apartheid was so damn good.  Highly recommend it and you don't even need to be a fan of the show.  Nothing about his current career is touched upon, but really focuses on his childhood and ridiculous adventures.

Dear Fahrenheit 451 by Annie Spence

This is so so good.  Highly recommend to all lovers of books.  Especially those of us who write letters to them in our heads or on paper or on the internet.  And you will then need to add 23434234 more books to your TBR list.

Description: A Gen-X librarian's snarky, laugh-out-loud funny, deeply moving collection of love letters and break-up notes to the books in her life.

Librarians spend their lives weeding--not weeds but books! Books that have reached the end of their shelf life, both literally and figuratively. They remove the books that patrons no longer check out. And they put back the books they treasure. Annie Spence, who has a decade of experience as a Midwestern librarian, does this not only at her Michigan library but also at home, for her neighbors, at cocktail parties—everywhere. In Dear Fahrenheit 451, she addresses those books directly. We read her love letters to The Goldfinch and Matilda, as well as her snarky break-ups with Fifty Shades of Grey and Dear John. Her notes to The Virgin Suicides and The Time Traveler’s Wife feel like classics, sure to strike a powerful chord with readers. Through the lens of the books in her life, Annie comments on everything from women’s psychology to gay culture to health to poverty to childhood aspirations. Hilarious, compassionate, and wise, Dear Fahrenheit 451 is the consummate book-lover's birthday present, stocking stuffer, holiday gift, and all-purpose humor book.

What were some of your favorite reads of 2017? Which book should I pick up next? Did you read any of these picks this year? What were your thoughts?

2017 Book Stats

How many books read in 2017? – 54

How many fiction and non fiction? Two non-fiction.. 2 more were novels but based on true events..

Male/Female author ratio? 34 female and 10 men.. I think… Some names were pretty unisex and I didn’t look too hard into figuring it out.

Favorite book read in 2016? According to my 5 star goodreads ratings Dear Fahrenheit 451: Love and Heartbreak in the Stacks: A Librarians Love Letters and Break Up Notes to the Books in Her Life by Annie Spence, Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng, Born a Crime by Trevor Noah, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman, I Know a Secret by Tess Gerritsen, Refugee by Alan Gratz, Bear Town by Fredrick Backman, The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter, and Goodnight June by Sarah Jio.  I definitely would say Bear Town , Born a Crime, and Dear Fahrenheit and Refugee would be my top 4.

Least favorite? Always by Sarah Jio or 16^th Seduction by James Patterson…

Any that you simply couldn’t finish and why? Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng due to it needing to be back to the library, Crimes Against a Book Club by Kathy Cooperman because I just couldn’t get into it, and Home to Big Stone Gap by Adriana Trigani because I realized I missed book 3! 

How many books from the library? 21 which is up from 15 last year.

How many books read did I purchase?  12 of the books I bought new/used this year, a few others had been purchased from library sales a few years ago..

How many were gifts? 2

How many borrowed from others? 0

How many were given to me for reviews? 6 were for reviews 

How many books read on kindle? 2… The Michigan Murders by Edward Keyes and Before I Go To Sleep by S.J. Watson.  Kept collecting more, but I prefer books in my hand. 

Any re-reads? Yes… Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Vacation Under the Volcano (Magic Tree House Series)

Which countries did you go to through the page in your year of reading? America, England, Italy, France, Switzerland, Spain, Sweden, Australia, Cuba, Germany, China, Syria, Hungary, Austria, Greece, Turkey,  South Africa to my best guess…

What states did you go through the page in your year of reading? Wisconsin, Georgia, Ohio, New York, Tennessee, Louisiana, North Carolina, California, South Carolina, Texas, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington, Michigan, Mississippi, Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virginia.. I think J
 
Which book wouldn’t you have read without someone’s specific recommendation? Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter, Double Image by Kate Francis, Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult, and Refugee by Alan Gratz.

Which author did you read the most of? Sarah MacLean.

What was your best reading month? November when I read 8.  Followed closely by December with 7.

What was your worst reading month? May, I only read 1 book.

2017 Reading Goals - revisited...

1. Read 52 books. – Wooooo… I read 54!
2. Complete the Book Riot Read Harder Challenge.  It does appear more interesting to me this year. – I completely never looked at it after I stated this.
3. Read more books that I own and continue donating. – I did this! Tons of donating and more to come!

2018 Reading Goals…

1.     Read 52 books.

2.     Keep doing Family Chapter Book Read Alouds.  We are currently on the second book in the Little House Series...

3.     Read more historical non-fiction.

A look back at 2016...

 

How many books did you read this year? Did you complete your 2017 reading goals? What are your goals for 2018? Which author did you read the most of? What was your most recommended book? Any you couldn't finish?

Currently: November

::dusts off the space and settles in:::  Miss me?  It’s been awhile….   I have a new job.  Was an unplanned new opportunity and in the meantime has sucked all of my time, energy and spirit.  Sounds depressing, but as much as I seek change, I don’t do well in the midst of it.  And basically everything with this change is one step forward is 324234 steps backward and nothing goes correctly the first time.  So challenging.  But I keep reminding myself, my mama did not raise a quitter.  That said, let’s try jumping back with something simple….

Reading:  I am supposed to be reading Crimes Against a Book Club for book club, but I got a few pages in and I’m not feeling it.  So I am thinking of starting The Lost Girls by Lee Smith.  I’ve been flying through books lately.

Loving:  snuggles with my best girl

Feeling:  stressed to the max 

Thinking:  about how cold I am. 

Anticipating: our spring break trip to Washington D.C.  I’m so excited.  It’s not a beach, which I wanted but we had to move up our family trip to D.C. because the person we are visiting is about to be transferred to Germany so we wanted to take a family trip while they were still there. 

Watching:  right this second, last night’s Late Show.  I love Colbert. 


Grateful: for the mom of my kiddos friend.  She is so nice, fun and helpful.  And her name is my name too!

Working: ugh.  I’m starting a program and there are challenges.  Lots of challenges.

Listening: I am still enjoying all the Crooked Media podcasts and am sooo behind on all my podcasts.  But I listen every day in the car for sure.




Wishing: for an impeachment.




What are you reading, loving and grateful for these days