July 2021 Wrap-up

July TBR Pile (17/19):

Book of the Month Club: ???
Formerly Girly Book Club now Bookworms: Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid ✓
Friend Book Club: Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue ✓
Friend Book Club: Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy ✓
MMD RC: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry ✓
Nonfiction: Wintering by Katherine May ✓
Fantasy: Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo ✓
Fantasy: Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo ✓
Comic: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 3 ✓
Science Fiction: Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
Romance: Friends without Benefits by Penny Reid ✓
Kid Read Aloud: Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis ✓
Kid Read Aloud: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis ✓
Added: Love Hacked by Penny Reid ✓
Added: Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid ✓
Added: Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid ✓
Added: Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid ✓
Added: The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley ✓
Added: Folklords ✓

1,000,000 Page Goal:

Monthly Total: 5836 pages
Pages Remaining: 463,161 pages

Current Read - Dating-ish by Penny Reid

Books I Gave Up On (0)

Books Bought/Received (0)

UnRead Shelf Progress

Starting Number: 283
Books Read: 0
Books Acquired: 0
Books Unshelved: 0
Finishing Number: 283

August TBR Pile: Again, I’m changing up my TBR for this month. The new television series based on Isaac Asimov’s Foundation world is dropping at the end of September. I’ve been reading the main 15 book series for awhile, but I still have 9 books to go. I’m committing to reading those 9 books this month in preparation. I fully expect that one or two books will bleed into September, but I really want to knock out most of them. Beyond those books, I have some library books lying around and a few ebooks that should be coming up off hold soon.

Book of the Month Club: TBD
Bookworms: Already read August’s selection
Friend Book Club: TBD
MMD RC: TBD
Kid Read Aloud: The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Foundation: The Currents of Space by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Pebble in the Sky by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Forward the Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Foundation and Empire by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Second Foundation by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov
Foundation: Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov

Movies watched

America: The Motion Picture - Wow, that was wild…
School’s Out Forever - We were expecting a comedy filled apocalypse movie. Instead we got a very serious apocalypse move.
The Tomorrow War - Oooff… that was not good at all. So many logical inconsistencies.
Black Widow - Good movie, however, I think it was about 5 years too late. Felt like an afterthought and that’s disappointing.
Inside - Bo Burnham’s passion project during quarantine. Fascinating.
Werewolves Within - Fun horror comedy. We do so love our horror comedies.
Gunpowder Milkshake - Fun action film, even if it will ultimately be pretty forgettable.
Faith-Based - Quirky little comedy
The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard - Silly, but good fun. We definitely watch for the banter between Ryan Reynolds and Sam Jackson.
Woodstock 99: Peace, Love and Rage - Even though I very much remember the event, the documentary gave me so much information I didn’t know. Depressing but good. Also, the film makers really needed to press the two organizers more about their lack of planning.

TV Shows watched

Loki S1 - I am gutted. So good.
Schmigadoon S1 - Delightful little show full of Broadway stars!
Making It S3 - Our current reality competition full-good show.
Holey Moley S3 - Rob and Joe are delightful. Plus, Double Dutch en Fuego is my favorite!
Star Trek: Voyager S4 - Slowly making our way through.
Hustle S5 - We’re flying through this series.

Comments - July was a rough month. The temperatures have been very high here which has caused all kinds of lethargy. My reading was robust, but I feel strangely detached from my reading right now. August will be bringing up back to a normal routine and I’m hoping everything settles.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Wintering by Katherine May

Title: Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times

Author: Katherine May

Publisher: Riverhead Books 2020

Genre: Nonfiction

Pages: 255

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Seasonal TBR

Sometimes you slip through the cracks: unforeseen circumstances like an abrupt illness, the death of a loved one, a break up, or a job loss can derail a life. These periods of dislocation can be lonely and unexpected. For May, her husband fell ill, her son stopped attending school, and her own medical issues led her to leave a demanding job. Wintering explores how she not only endured this painful time, but embraced the singular opportunities it offered.

A moving personal narrative shot through with lessons from literature, mythology, and the natural world, May's story offers instruction on the transformative power of rest and retreat. Illumination emerges from many sources: solstice celebrations and dormice hibernation, C.S. Lewis and Sylvia Plath, swimming in icy waters and sailing arctic seas.

Ultimately Wintering invites us to change how we relate to our own fallow times. May models an active acceptance of sadness and finds nourishment in deep retreat, joy in the hushed beauty of winter, and encouragement in understanding life as cyclical, not linear. A secular mystic, May forms a guiding philosophy for transforming the hardships that arise before the ushering in of a new season.

I am a bit speechless about this book. I expected to zip through it and write it off as another memoir/self-help style book that I did not enjoy. Instead, I read the introduction and was absolutely floored by how much I was connecting with the author’s philosophy of life. But I also didn’t want to speed through it. I ended a chapter every few days to allow myself to really sit with the messages. At about the fourth chapter or so, I declared that I needed to own this book. As a 39 year old woman, I feel like I’m hitting of lot of the rough patches in life that May dealt with. I can definitely place myself in her shoes and contemplate how to move forward. I’m definitely experiencing a wintering season in my own life. The book may have been written pre-pandemic, but it’s exactly right for right now. The copy I read is from the library’s and will be returned this week. But I will be ordering my own copy and soon. I want to read the sections along with the calendar. As the book really starts in September, I have a few weeks to acquire my own copy. This is a contender for my Top 10 books of the year.

star-rating-remains-the-most-important-part-of-a-review-cad0047.cad0047.png

Next up on the TBR pile:

Is It August Yet? Videos

Two years old, and yet I just found this. It is perfection!

The Kingdoms Natasha Pulley

Title: The Kingdoms

Author: Natasha Pulley

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing 2021

Genre: Science Fiction

Pages: 437

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Modern Mrs. Day Summer Reading; Seasonal TBR

Joe Tournier has a bad case of amnesia. His first memory is of stepping off a train in the nineteenth-century French colony of England. The only clue Joe has about his identity is a century-old postcard of a Scottish lighthouse that arrives in London the same month he does. Written in illegal English-instead of French-the postcard is signed only with the letter “M,” but Joe is certain whoever wrote it knows him far better than he currently knows himself, and he's determined to find the writer. The search for M, though, will drive Joe from French-ruled London to rebel-owned Scotland and finally onto the battle ships of a lost empire's Royal Navy. In the process, Joe will remake history, and himself.

This is one of those books that I really loved, but I won’t be recommending to most people I know. This story meanders through the plot both past and present and keeps you slightly confused and in the dark about the characters. I really enjoyed the world setup and see the alternate history play out. I really enjoyed the time at the lighthouse and the interactions between characters there. Once Joe passes through the pillars, the action speeds up a bit and we finally start learning what’s going on. Early on I totally called Joe’s identity in the other timeline, but it was nice to question my own suspicions right along with Joe. I didn’t power through this book, but took it slowly and let myself really sit with the prose. I put it in the same category of books as Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell or The Night Circus. Books full of mystery, atmosphere, and slow moving plots are apparently my jam.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Folklords by Matt Kindt and Matt Smith

Title: Folklords

Author: Matt Kindt, Matt Smith

Publisher: BOOM! Studios 2020

Genre: Comics

Pages: 144

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

In a world of magic and monsters, Ansel is an outsider haunted by visions of our world - and will risk everything to find the mysterious Folklords who can reveal the truth about his existence!

WHERE DO YOU BELONG?

In a world of magic and monsters, Ansel is an outsider haunted by visions of well-pressed suits and modern technology. When it comes time for him to declare his Quest, Ansel decides to seek out the mysterious Folklords, hoping they can explain his visions...but looking for the Folklords is strictly forbidden, punishable by death. How much is Ansel willing to risk to find out about the world he has never truly belonged in?

This very short trade started out strongly, but ended very abruptly and confusingly, but yet very predictable also. I love fairy tale riffs in literature and so I had pick this one up. I loved Ansel’s entire “fish out of water” character and wanted to see how he would find his place. The first issues have him begin his quest and acquire companions. Pretty standard. But there are cryptic messages and the beginning and ending of each issue and I wasn’t really loving those. And then Ansel finds the Folklord and everyone is very confused. He escapes and then…. what exactly? I was very annoyed at the ending. it doesn’t look like there is another set of comics ordered, so that’s it I guess.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Robert DeLong feat. Lights "I Did It to Myself"

Oh goodness. This is a great new song!

Life Right Now #23

As I look outside my window: It’s very overcast and humid today. Still going to be hot, but right now it’s kind of nice outside.

Right now I am: Heading out to read my book on the deck.

On my bedside table: Dating-ish by Penny Reid; lots of Isaac Asimov

On my tv this week: Continuing with Hustle and Voyager and the Marvel movies with the kids (we just watched Guardians of the Galaxy).

Listening to: Nothing that exciting

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Hawaiian Pulled Pork Nachos
Tuesday - Fish of some kind
Wednesday - Vietnamese Crab and Asparagus Soup
Thursday - Jamaican Prawn and Sweet Potato Curry
Friday - Fiesta Chicken
Saturday - Fish and Chips
Sunday - Leftovers

On my to do list: So many things probably. I’m almost finishing with road trip planning and getting close to finish August’s lesson plans for homeschooling. I should definitely update my brain dump list.

Happening this week:

Monday - Home day
Tuesday - Lincoln Adventure Day: Zoo and Ice Cream!
Wednesday - Errand Day; Music Bingo Night
Thursday - Park Playdate and Splashpad
Friday - Home day
Saturday - Bookworms Book Club
Sunday - Home day

What I am creating: Mostly lesson plans. I really hope that the fall season allows more time for my personal crafting. But for right now, I’m just working on curriculum for the next homeschool year.

My simple pleasures: A good cup of coffee and listening to nature sounds on the back deck.

Looking around the house: Decent, but I should really make one day a chores day to maintain things around here.

From the camera: Loving my Sunday morning ritual of coffee and a book on the back deck.

Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid

Title: Beauty and the Mustache (Knitting in the City #4)

Author: Penny Reid

Publisher: Cipher-Naught 2014

Genre: Romance

Pages: 438

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

There are three things you need to know about Ashley Winston:
1) She has six brothers and they all have beards,
2) She is a reader, and
3) She knows how to knit.

Former beauty queen, Ashley Winston’s preferred coping strategy is escapism. She escaped her Tennessee small town, loathsome father, and six brothers eight years ago. Now she escapes life daily via her one-click addiction. However, when a family tragedy forces her to return home, Ashley can’t escape the notice of Drew Runous—local Game Warden, bear wrestler, philosopher, and everyone’s favorite guy. Drew’s irksome philosophizing in particular makes Ashley want to run for the skyscrapers, especially since he can’t seem to keep his exasperating opinions— or his soulful poetry, steadfast support, and delightful hands— to himself. Pretty soon the girl who wanted nothing more than the escape of the big city finds she’s lost her heart in small town Tennessee.

Thank goodness! We’re back to a very enjoyable, sufficiently steamy romance. I immediately fell for Ashely, her family, and Drew. I loved their back and forth between all the characters. I loved that we moved the setting to Ashley’s hometown in Tennessee. As much as I enjoy the various members of the knitting group, it was a good change of pace. As for the romance itself, these two characters are perfectly suited to each other. I was rooting for them from page one. So good! And we do get some great teases into Reid’s other romance series, Winston Brothers, detailing the adventures of Ashley’s brothers. As much as I dislike some of the names (seriously, Cletus?), I will probably end up reading that series also.

Knitting in the City

#1 Neanderthal Seeks Human
#1.5 Neanderthal Marries Human
#2 Friends Without Benefits
#3 Love Hacked
#4 Beauty and the Mustache
#4.75 Ninja at First Sight
#5 Happily Ever Ninja
#6 Dating-ish
#7 Marriage of Inconvenience
#8 Neanderthal Seeks Extra Yarns

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 2! Planning and Schedule

Our Schedule

So now I have the supplies, it’s time to start planning and gathering everything I want to do. I’m a Type A planner that always feels better with a good plan going in. I’m always up for flexibility and change in the spur of the moment, but I need a plan to reference when things change. I started with making a simple list of of the various curriculum we will be using.

I’m a big fan of time blocking, but we have the added complications of Quentin’s preschool curriculum, our new STEAM coop, and our weekly field trips. My first pass at scheduling our day began with these three items. From there, I came up with this basic schedule:

From there, I broke the week schedule down into days to better see if everything would fit:

My next step was to create an overview calendar with our big themes. I used index cards cut into smaller pieces laid out on my desk so I could see everything at once and move things around. Very low tech solution, but sometimes paper really is better.

I’ve been experimenting with the idea of loop scheduling to help Arthur stay on task while I work with Quentin. I made a very long and detailed week loop (on the left) for myself and a much simpler daily/weekly loop (on the right) for Arthur to check off. We’ll try this out and see how it goes for the first few weeks.

From here, I pulled out my trusty cheap paper planner and started jotting down basic plans for the week. I love to make things easy to see at a glance, so I color coded all the different subjects. in case you are wondering:

Pink is ELA
Purple is math
Orange is history
Light green is Quentin’s preschool
Light blue is music/art (not on this spread)
Dark blue is coop/science
Red is field trips/games/crafts.

Because there was too much to shove onto the small lines of my paper planner, I pulled out Quentin’s curriculum onto a separate paper planner sheet. This has helped me wrap my brain around all the different activities that I’m hoping to accomplish during one-on-one time with Q.

My last big planning step is to create very detailed lesson plans including videos, books, and details. Last year, I started in August with just a simple Pages document. Sometime in the late fall, J downloaded and started using a special note talking app called Roam. He really loved it and turned me onto using the system. I’ve been actively using Roam since January to collect all my notes, lesson plans, scheduling, and other miscellaneous items. (Also, you can see from the sidebar that I use Roam for a wide range of projects, not just homeschooling.) I’m still exploring the various tools on Roam and I’m sure that my planning with get more advanced and efficient as this year goes on.

Screen Shot 2021-07-23 at 9.35.29 AM.png

And that’s it! My planning and scheduling process seems very complicate but most of it is prep work before the year begins. Once we start, I mainly use the paper planner as reference and work inside Roam for the day-to-day planning. As usual, I tweak the process as I go along but this is my starting place.

We’re officially starting our homeschool adventure the first week of August. Starting August 9th, I’ll post a weekly wrap-up. I hope to do weekly updates highlighting our highs and lows on this journey.

Next up on the TBR pile:

We're Homeschooling - Year 2! Our Curriculum 2nd Grade and PreK

We did it! We made it through our first year of homeschooling! Right now we are taking a “break” and doing a pirate unit full of fun, games, crafts, and books. We have planned to start our next year’s curriculum the first week of August along with our STEAM coop. In the meantime, I’ve been deep into planning our this coming year. We are entering new territory as I am officially adding in Quentin to the mix. That means we will have a child in 2nd grade and a child in PreK. Quentin’s PreK curriculum will be much lighter than Arthur’s 2nd grade curriculum, but I want to make sure that I have resources for both.

As a reminder, we are a pretty eclectic household with a strong literature base. My criteria when looking for curriculum:

secular
rigorous
wide world perspective
not necessarily all-in-one
at least some physical items, not all online
cheap (not necessarily the cheapest, but not expensive)

Let’s take a look at what I’ve bought for curriculum for next year!

Arthur - 2nd Grade

Math

We will be continuing with Singapore Math Common Core Edition as our base curriculum. Arthur will be starting with 3A and will probably push through 3B, 4A, and 4B by the end of the school year. Beyond the basic text, we will be supplementing with Khan Academy, lots of math games, and random workbooks and packets. I’m really excited to dive into Primarily Logic and Logic Countdown.

Singapore Math 3A and 3B
Singapore Math 4A and 4B
Target dollar spot workbooks
Primarily Logic
Logic Coundtown
Bedtime Math
STEM Starters for Kids: Math Activity Book

Language Arts

I bought Blossom & Root’s 2nd Grade Language Arts curriculum for our base. The theme is Fantastic Journeys and Perilous Quests. I was very excited about the read aloud list, but we did make a few substitutions. We have read a few of the selections, and I added some more to our big list.

In addition to our big read alouds and projects,

Visual Guide to Second Guide (grabbed at Half Price Books)
10 Minutes a Day Spelling Grade 2 (grabbed at Half Price Books)
Scholastic Reading Comprehension Grade 2
Scholastic Writing Grade 2
Scholastic Grammar Grade 2
Tinkeractive English Grade 2
Sightwords Grade 1-2
Journeys Grade 2 (grabbed at Half Price Books)
Mad Libs Grade 1 Reading

Social Studies

It’s not pictured as it’s in ebook form, but we are using Pandia Press’s History Quest Middle Times as our base. I really enjoyed their Ancient Times and thankfully the Middle Times volume was just released this summer. Hopefully, Blossom & Root’s A River of Voices Volume 2 will release soon. We’ll fit that in sometime later this fall or winter. The above books (except DK History, that’s new) were all ones that we bought last year and will continue to use.

I also grabbed this collection of Map Skills books to work through. Arthur will start on Grade 1 and just work through the first couple. I imagine Quentin will also get into the Grade 1 book at some point this year.

Science

Our science will be a collection of unit studies correlated to our coop themes. Some of these texts are carry overs from last year. And some I ended up buying new this year.

Quentin - PreK

Primarily Quentin will be using Blossom & Root’s Early Years Vol. 2 curriculum. This includes early literacy and math, art and music exposure, and kitchen and nature explorations. We will be adding a ton of activity books I had laying around and a few new titles.

Highlights Amazing Mazes
I Spy Learn and Go
My First Book of Tracing
Busy Day Sticker Book
Color Cut Create: Dinosaurs
Scissor Skills
Lots of back issues of High Five magazine

BrainQuest K (we are also using BrainQuest PreK but I didn’t include it in the photo)
Big Preschool Workbook
Tinkeractive Science K
Tinkeractive English K
Highlight Amazing Mazes
Big Mazes
Tinkeractive Math K
Singapore Math 1A and 1B

Odds and Ends

Here's my randomness for the week:

The heat is terrible again. I’m not a fan at all…
I’m in a weird reading rut. I’ve read some decent books lately but nothing has really grabbed me.
Multiple field trips in one week has drained my energy levels.
I’m a bit nervous for the first week of coop. I have my lesson prepped, but as it’s the first coop meeting, I’m unsure of how this is going to go.
Closing in on completing the plan for our family road trip. Very excited about our possibilities for this fall!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Neanderthal Marries Human by Penny Reid

Title: Neanderthal Marries Human (Knitting in the City #1.5

Author: Penny Reid

Publisher: Cipher-Naught 2014

Genre: Romance

Pages: 392

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

There are three things you should know about Quinn Sullivan:
1) He is madly in love with Janie Morris,
2) He’s not above playing dirty to get what (or who) he wants, and
3) He doesn’t know how to knit.

After just five months of dating Janie, Quinn—former Wendell and unapologetic autocrat—is ready to propose marriage. In fact, he’s more than ready. If it were up to Quinn, he would efficiently propose, marry, and beget Janie with child all in the same day—thereby avoiding the drama and angst that accompanies the four stages of pre-matrimony: engagement, meeting the parents, bachelor/bachelorette party, and overblown, superfluous wedding day traditions. But Janie, much to Quinn’s dismay, tosses a wrench in his efficacious endeavors and challenges him to prove his devotion by going through the matrimonial motions, no matter how minute and mundane.

Will Quinn last until the wedding day? Or will he yield to his tyrant impulses?

After a miss in this series (I really did not like Greg and Fiona’s storyline), we are back to good contemporary romance fun. Janie and Quinn aren’t my absolute favorite, but their story is delightful to read. And we finally get to learn more about Quinn’s past and family. Thank goodness! He’s not just a man of mystery anymore. The entire scene in Vegas is worth the entire book. I was so very excited to see Nico and Elizabeth’s wedding! They are my favorite couple so far. It was nice to see how Janie and Quinn got to the next stage in their relationship. I’m excited to dive back into this series.

Knitting in the City

#1 Neanderthal Seeks Human
#1.5 Neanderthal Marries Human
#2 Friends Without Benefits
#3 Love Hacked
#4 Beauty and the Mustache
#4.75 Ninja at First Sight
#5 Happily Ever Ninja
#6 Dating-ish
#7 Marriage of Inconvenience
#8 Neanderthal Seeks Extra Yarns

Next up on the TBR pile:

Something is Killing the Children Vol. 3

Title: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 2

Author: James Tynion IV, Werther Dell’Edera

Publisher: BOOM 2021

Genre: Comics

Pages: 144

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

As the House of Slaughter arrives to clean up the situation by any means necessary, Erica will find that the true threat to those around her isn’t who - or what - she ever expected. And the cost of saving the day may be too high for anyone to pay...

NOT ALL MONSTERS HIDE IN THE DARK.

Archer’s Peak is in lockdown, as Erica Slaughter has lost control of the situation and news of the killings has spread outside the town. But as the House of Slaughter arrives to clean up the situation by any means necessary, Erica will find that the true threat to those around her isn’t who - or what - she ever expected. And the cost of saving the day may be too high for anyone to pay...

A fitting conclusion to this storyline. I love horror comics and this one did not disappoint. We get a fascinating world full of monsters and monster hunters. Erica is very entertaining, but I loved the inclusion of other members of the House of Slaughter. I’m glad that this storyline wrapped up with this volume, but left the world open for more stories.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Currently #6

Reading: Wintering by Katherine May… I’ve been taking this book slowly and definitely need to own it to reread every few years.

Watching: We’re still working through Hustle. Up to Season 4 now.

Listening: The kids are not doing well this month and have been spending a lot of time bickering. I think it’s a combination of quarantine months, the heat, and non-routine days. I’m hoping August will be better for all of us.

Making: I’m currently working on a variety of coop lessons for the fall. I have our Math in Nature lessons prepped, but need to finish Birds, Mammals, Dinosaurs, and a few others.

Feeling: After a brief cool down, we’re back to temperatures in the upper 90s. I’m so very hot and tired.

Planning: Before we start our next year of homeschooling, I have a few more field trips scheduled. Today we are heading to Morrill Hall in Lincoln. Later we will take another trip to Lincoln for a zoo visit and a few more zoo visits.

Loving: We had bulgogi last night from a new-to-us Korean restaurant. It was just what I wanted!

Next up on the TBR pile:

Music Monday - Savage After Midnight "Remedy"

A featured song on Octane that I’m really digging.

Life Right Now #22

As I look outside my window: The rain from yesterday has cleared up. It’s not super hot right now, but very clear and bright.

Right now I am: Making my coffee to go sit on the deck and read a book.

On my bedside table: Something is Killing the Children Vol. 3; Beauty and the Mustache by Penny Reid

On my tv this week: We finished S1 of Loki and I’m so incredibly sad that it’s over. I need more Loki in my life. We also continued with our usual shows and started Schmigadoon.

Listening to: My usual politics podcasts. Nothing that exciting really.

On the menu for this week:

Monday - Honey and Line Jalapeno Chicken
Tuesday - Green Chile Enchilada Soup
Wednesday - Baked Cod with Fennel and Lemon
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Crab and Asparagus Soup
Saturday - Hawaiian Pulled Pork Nachos
Sunday - Prawn and Sweet Potato Jamaican Curry

On my to do list: Mostly a lot of prep work for August. We have so many things happening this fall. I need to get a jump on a lot of them.

Happening this week:

Monday - Mahoney State Park Visit
Tuesday - Lincoln Adventure Day
Wednesday - Grocery and Library
Thursday - Park Playdate
Friday - Home Day
Saturday - Home Day
Sunday - Home Day

What I am creating: So many piles! Working on our first couple of weeks of school and making lesson plans.

My simple pleasures: Mid-afternoon rain storms, putt putt fun, ice cream

Looking around the house: Better than it was yesterday. We cleaned the playroom and it made me feel so much better!

From the camera: The boys got new Dog Man books and immediately sat down and started reading. Love it!

Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy

Title: Shoulder Season

Author: Christina Clancy

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press 2021

Genre: Historical Fiction

Pages: 336

Rating: 2/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

The small town of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin is an unlikely location for a Playboy Resort, and nineteen-year old Sherri Taylor is an unlikely bunny. Growing up in neighboring East Troy, Sherri plays the organ at the local church and has never felt comfortable in her own skin. But when her parents die in quick succession, she leaves the only home she’s ever known for the chance to be part of a glamorous slice of history. In the winter of 1981, in a costume two sizes too small, her toes pinched by stilettos, Sherri joins the daughters of dairy farmers and factory workers for the defining experience of her life.

Living in the “bunny hutch”—Playboy’s version of a college dorm—Sherri gets her education in the joys of sisterhood, the thrill of financial independence, the magic of first love, and the heady effects of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. But as spring gives way to summer, Sherri finds herself caught in a romantic triangle—and the tragedy that ensues will haunt her for the next forty years.

From the Midwestern prairie to the California desert, from Wisconsin lakes to the Pacific Ocean, this is a story of what happens when small town life is sprinkled with stardust, and what we lose—and gain—when we leave home. With a heroine to root for and a narrative to get lost in, Christina Clancy's Shoulder Season is a sexy, evocative tale, drenched in longing and desire, that captures a fleeting moment in American history with nostalgia and heart.

Ugh! We picked this as a fun summer read for book club, but it definitely was not that. The cover is extremely deceiving and the even the summary makes this book sound like it’s going to be a story of a woman growing and finding herself. But! I just didn’t see the growth. For starters, Sherri is not a great person. She’s not in a great place when the story begins, and I totally understand that. However, I was expecting Sherri to grow throughout the novel. She got worse. She became a not great person. Most of the book highlighted just how awful humans can be toward each other. I was alternately angry with the characters and bored with the storyline. I just didn’t care at all about what happened.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Happily Ever Ninja by Penny Reid

Title: Happily Ever Ninja (Knitting in the City #5)

Author: Penny Reid

Publisher: Cipher-Naught 2016

Genre: Romance

Pages: 312

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges:

There are three things you need to know about Fiona Archer… I would tell you what they are, but then I’d have to kill you.

But I can tell you that Fiona’s husband, the always irrepressible and often cantankerous Greg Archer, is desperately in love with his wife. Yet as the years pass, Greg has begun to suspect that Fiona is a ninja. A ninja mom. A ninja wife. A ninja friend. After fourteen years of marriage, Greg is trying not to panic. Because Fiona’s talent for blending in is starting to resemble fading away. However, when unexpected events mean Fiona must take center stage to keep her family safe, her response stuns everyone—Greg most of all. It seems like Greg’s wish has come true. Except… not.

Due to the library randomness, I ended up reading #5 before reading #4 in the series. While I usually read series in order, this one wasn’t terrible to read slightly out of order. I was very intrigued by Fiona and Greg and we very excited to read a romance centered on a married couple. Usually we get the beginnings of a relationship, so I was excited to see the middle of one. Unfortunately, this one really did not land for me. My biggest problem with this story is that the two characters did not actually resolve the core issues in their relationship. A silly twist at the end of the book brushed those issues under the rug. I was not happy at all. I wanted to see a healthy relationship come out of the book, but it was not resolved in any way that made me happy. This volume really fell flat for me. I really hope the rest of the series works better.

Knitting in the City

#1 Neanderthal Seeks Human
#1.5 Neanderthal Marries Human
#2 Friends Without Benefits
#3 Love Hacked
#4 Beauty and the Mustache
#4.75 Ninja at First Sight
#5 Happily Ever Ninja
#6 Dating-ish
#7 Marriage of Inconvenience
#8 Neanderthal Seeks Extra Yarns

Next up on the TBR pile:

Summer Break Videos

Quirky apocalyptic comedy? I’m there!

Not usually one for thrillers, but this looks good.

Most definitely, we need to see this…

This looks very strange. I must see it.

Haha yep. Very accurate!

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

Title: People We Meet on Vacation

Author: Emily Henry

Publisher: Berkley 2021

Genre: Fiction

Pages: 382

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Modern Mrs. Darcy; Seasonal TBR

Poppy and Alex. Alex and Poppy. They have nothing in common. She’s a wild child; he wears khakis. She has insatiable wanderlust; he prefers to stay home with a book. And somehow, ever since a fateful car share home from college many years ago, they are the very best of friends. For most of the year they live far apart—she’s in New York City, and he’s in their small hometown—but every summer, for a decade, they have taken one glorious week of vacation together.

Until two years ago, when they ruined everything. They haven't spoken since.

Poppy has everything she should want, but she’s stuck in a rut. When someone asks when she was last truly happy, she knows, without a doubt, it was on that ill-fated, final trip with Alex. And so, she decides to convince her best friend to take one more vacation together—lay everything on the table, make it all right. Miraculously, he agrees.

Now she has a week to fix everything. If only she can get around the one big truth that has always stood quietly in the middle of their seemingly perfect relationship. What could possibly go wrong?

I’ve seen so many mixed reviews of this book. As in, if you liked Emily Henry’s first book Beach Read, you won’t like this one and vice versa. Somehow I fall into the very tiny camp of really really loving both of them. At first glance, we get a straight up romantic comedy with flawed but lovable characters and a slightly exaggerated plot. Seems on par with the rest of them. But then Henry really infuses her characters with very real insecurities and problems. We see two people who, on paper, shouldn’t be together and yet we know that they should. We see them struggle with events and people from their past. We see them attempt to communicate, but often do it wrong or make some missteps that lead to more obstacles. And finally, we know that their story will have a resolution. It may not be a HEA, but I don’t always need those anyway. We get some kind of understanding with the characters. I read my fluffy romances that I know will end in a HEA. But I also really love these real romances where we everything (well, almost everything) could happen in our world. Emily Henry is definitely going on my must-read list.

Next up on the TBR pile: