Happy Homemaker Monday ~ 6/6/2022

Come join Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday. 

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Hello, and Happy Monday!

The weather outside is:

Another gorgeous week ahead :)

On today's to-do list: 

We had a busy weekend full of great family time.  That means not much got done around the house.  I'll be doing my normal weekly cleaning or as the Fly Lady calls it "Home Blessing" :)

Happening this week:

Thursday is the hubby's 54th birthday!  He took Friday off work so we'll probably be going to see the new Jurassic World movie that comes out that same day.  First, though, I need to watch the 2nd movie of the Jurassic World series or I'll probably be lost!

Next week is Church Camp, so I don't know how much I'll be posting next week.  I'm helping with the Youth and also with the cooking.  I'm going to be busy, busy, busy!

Currently reading:

"The Rose Garden" by Susanna Kearsley is the Kindred Readers Book Club selection for July.  I started reading last week but didn't get very far yet.  I'm enjoying it but I'm finding that I am reading slower when I'm trying to come up with discussion questions.  I'm hoping to finish up before Church Camp.

Watching:

We watched "The Lost City" with Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum.  It was hilarious!  I laughed out loud many times.  I think we watched it on Paramount.

I set up y DVR to record a show on HGTV called something along the lines of "The Beach Project" (????).  I'm looking forward to watching it soon.

Listening to:

This week for "Songs on Sunday" I featured "The Healing" by Blanca and Dante Bowe.  I hope you'll check it out :) 

On the menu today:

Creamed Chipped Beef, Biscuits

In the Craft Basket:

I've been working on Sunny Blue Hawaii 2 and have made some progress.  I have two rows all tied off and crocheted together.  Only 49 squares to go!  Whooohooo :) 

Picture from the Camera

Memory Verse

"Rejoice in the LORD always.  I will say it again:  Rejoice!  Let your gentleness be evident to all.  The LORD is near.  Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 4:4-7

#P31OBS

Have a great Monday!

Colletta

Happy Homemaker Monday ~ 5/30/2022

Come join Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday. 

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Hello, and Happy Monday!

The weather outside is:

This weekend was BEAUTIFUL and Memorial Day is supposed to be GORGEOUS!  I don't even mind the thunderstorms here and there :)

On today's to-do list: 

We're having a cookout at my brother's house.  He's been working so hard to get their pool ready and even got a heat pump for the pool!  It is going to be lovely :)

Other than being Memorial Day, we are celebrating my nephew getting into the Tech Center for his first choice of Graphics and celebrating Laken finishing up her school work!  They both worked so hard!

Happening this week:

Proberbs 31's Summer Online Bible Study, "Fighting Words", starts Tuesday, May 31st.  It isn't too late to join in!

Wednesday, June 1st, The Kindred Readers Book Club will be starting to read and discuss "The Book of Lost Names" by Kristin Harmel.  Come join us!

Currently reading:

"The Rose Garden" by Susanna Kearsley is the Kindred Readers Book Club selection for July.  I like to read ahead and get the discussion questions ready.  I'm just getting ready to start reading this.

Watching:

We went to the theater to see "Top Gun Maverick" and it was AMAZING!  If you get a chance (and liked Top Gun) you really should go see it in the theater.  Great movie.

We recently got Paramount Plus so I think we'll probably be watching "1883" soon.  If you have Paramount Plus, is there anything we should watch?

Listening to:

This week for "Songs on Sunday" I featured "Let the Light In" by Joshua Micah.  I hope you'll check it out :) 

On the menu today:

Burgers, Hotdogs

In the Craft Basket:

I've been working on Sunny Blue Hawaii 2 but don't have any updated pictures.  I have probably 10-15 squares completed so far.

Picture from the Camera

Memory Verse

"But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them."

Psalm 103: 17-18

Have a great Monday!

Colletta

Book Review ~ The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

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Title:   The Book of Lost Names by Kristin Harmel

Series:  

Pages:  388

Date Published: July 21, 2020 

Publisher:  Gallery Books

 Blurb:

Eva Traube Abrams, a semi-retired librarian in Florida, is shelving books one morning when her eyes lock on a photograph in a magazine lying open nearby. She freezes; it’s an image of a book she hasn’t seen in sixty-five years—a book she recognizes as The Book of Lost Names.

The accompanying article discusses the looting of libraries by the Nazis across Europe during World War II—an experience Eva remembers well—and the search to reunite people with the texts taken from them so long ago. The book in the photograph, an eighteenth-century religious text thought to have been taken from France in the waning days of the war, is one of the most fascinating cases. Now housed in Berlin’s Zentral- und Landesbibliothek library, it appears to contain some sort of code, but researchers don’t know where it came from—or what the code means. Only Eva holds the answer—but will she have the strength to revisit old memories and help reunite those lost during the war?

As a graduate student in 1942, Eva was forced to flee Paris after the arrest of her father, a Polish Jew. Finding refuge in a small mountain town in the Free Zone, she begins forging identity documents for Jewish children fleeing to neutral Switzerland. But erasing people comes with a price, and along with a mysterious, handsome forger named Rémy, Eva decides she must find a way to preserve the real names of the children who are too young to remember who they really are. The records they keep in The Book of Lost Names will become even more vital when the resistance cell they work for is betrayed and Rémy disappears.

An engaging and evocative novel reminiscent of The Lost Girls of Paris and The Alice Network, The Book of Lost Names is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit and the power of bravery and love in the face of evil. 

My Thoughts:

This book was recommended by a member of the Kindred Readers Book Club for our June 2022 selection.  I'm so glad Kelly brought this book to my attention because I probably wouldn't have found it on my own.

The last book I read was "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank and this book was the perfect book to read next!  It was absolutely stunning!

From beginning to end I didn't know who could be trusted or what was going to happen next.  There were twists and turns, love and betrayal.  There was such a dangerous atmosphere that the book made me feel...I don't know...it just made me FEEL.  All the emotions.

I love when a book is a great read AND I learn about something I didn't know about before.  I think that is why I adore historical novels so much.

It might take me a day or two to process this book before I can start reading another!

I read this book as the June 2022 selection for the Kindred Readers Book Club.  We'd love for you to join in.  We'll be having discussion daily throughout June.  Just search for the group on facebook :)

Onto the next book :)

Tea Time ~ 4/21/2022

 

Grab a cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or your favorite drink
while I share a few things about my life lately...

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~I'm Back!  Just about a month ago, my desktop computer blew up on me.  It wouldn't even power on.  I took a bit of a blogging break to decide what to do.  I missed blogging but it was too hard to create a post on my phone or Kindle.  Finally, I decided to hijack my daughter's Chromebook to blog when she's not using it for her cyber schooling which means early morning or later in the night.  I've been back for a little less than a week so lots to catch-up on!

~I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend and celebrated the death, burial and resurrection of our LORD.  Laken was technically on Spring Break Thursday though Tuesday but had to do a lot of catch-up work all but Sunday.  All her classes have to be completed by May 20th so we're getting down to the wire!  She did take breaks to do the important stuff like coloring eggs :)

~The kittens are growing like weeds!  They have one more vet appointment for their last booster shot and then I have to make the appointments for spaying and neutering.  Flynn and Clover "think" that Kona loves them and they take every opportunity to snuggle with her that they can.  Kona is very patient with them even though she sometimes just gets up and moves to another room!

~The chicks have their feathers and are ready to be outside.  This is all a learning process for us so any tips on raising chickens AND/OR ducks would be greatly appreciated.  The coop is all ready except for the fenced in yard.  Still some work to do on that, but the girls are loving all their room!

~I've started reading The Definitive Edition of The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank.  It is the May 2022 reading selection for the Kindred Readers Book Club.  If you're interested in reading along, we'd love to have you join us!  I'm really enjoying the book.  I remember reading a version of the book in 7th Grade Reading Class but there is so much that I didn't pick up on or have forgotten.  It is a completely different experience reading Anne Frank as an adult!

 

I hope you enjoyed catching up!  I'll be back next Thursday with another Tea Time but I hope you'll check out some of my other posts :)

How was your week?  What's new with you?

 

Colletta

Tea Time ~ 2/17/2022

 

Grab a cup of tea, coffee, hot chocolate or your favorite drink
while I share a few things about my life lately...

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~February 12th was my 13th Blogaversary :)  Those early posts were awful but full of memories.  My babies were so little!  I still can't believe that I've been blogging for 13 years as it was something that I started on a whim.

~Laken wanted to make cake-pops to take to Church on Sunday for Valentine's Day.  They were yummy but the cake/icing center was very soft.  I think I might have made too much icing to be mixed with the crumbled cake.  They were a hit and not a single one was left :)

~The hubby and I had our Valentine's "Date" on Friday night.  Instead of dinner and a movie, we decided to split the money we would have spent on that and buy whatever our hearts desired.  Sadly, the shopping around is very limited.  The hubby spent none of his allotment and I only spent $20 on a new sewing box that I had been wanting.  I guess we still have some shopping to do!

~Saturday evening the hubby and Laken had a Daddy/Daughter date and went to see the newest Spiderman movie at the theater.  I had a quiet evening at home by myself!  That never happens!  I did some sewing and read a good bit of my book club book.  It is an amazing read and I didn't want it to end.  I had a lovely evening :)

~We had to break down and buy Laken a good Graphing Calculator.  Her math is just getting to the point that she HAD to have one to do well.  She had been using a calculator online but it was difficult to maneuver.  We invested in a good calculator that should be what she needs for the rest of High School.  We hope we got the one that was best for her needs!


How was your week?

 

Colletta

Book Review ~ What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

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Title:  What the Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Series:  

Pages:  402

Date Published:  March 1, 2019

Publisher:  Lake Union Publishing

 Blurb:

In an unforgettable love story, a woman’s impossible journey through the ages could change everything…

Anne Gallagher grew up enchanted by her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. Heartbroken at his death, she travels to his childhood home to spread his ashes. There, overcome with memories of the man she adored and consumed by a history she never knew, she is pulled into another time.

The Ireland of 1921, teetering on the edge of war, is a dangerous place in which to awaken. But there Anne finds herself, hurt, disoriented, and under the care of Dr. Thomas Smith, guardian to a young boy who is oddly familiar. Mistaken for the boy’s long-missing mother, Anne adopts her identity, convinced the woman’s disappearance is connected to her own.

As tensions rise, Thomas joins the struggle for Ireland’s independence and Anne is drawn into the conflict beside him. Caught between history and her heart, she must decide whether she’s willing to let go of the life she knew for a love she never thought she’d find. But in the end, is the choice actually hers to make?

My Thoughts:

Wow!

All I can think is "Wow!" yet that somehow isn't enough.

"What the Wind Knows" and the author Amy Harmon captured me fully from the prologue to the very last page.

I found myself pacing my reading because I didn't want it to end before it had to.  I made sure that when I sat down to read, I would be able to fully engulf myself in the story with no distractions.

I loved this book and am sad to see it come to an end :(

If I were a "star-giver" it would be 5 stars, all the way!

I bought a paperback copy of this book to read for the Kindred Readers Book Club March 2022 selection.  I'd love to have you come read-along with us :)

Onto the next book!

Kindred Readers Book Club ~ February/March/April 2022

 Kindred Readers Book Club 

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Genres/Themes for 2022

January- Nonfiction

February-Contemporary Romance

March- Time Travel

April- Humor

May- Memoir

June- YA

July- Beach/Summer

August- Historical Romance

September- School/Library/Books

October- Suspense/Mystery

November- Nonfiction

December- Christmas/Holiday

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We're currently reading our February selection of "The Ex Talk" by Rachel Lynn Solomon.

Our March 2022 selection has been chosen and it will be "What the Wind Knows" by Amy Harmon.

Voting is now open for the April 2022 book club selection but it looks like it is going to be "Fried Green Tomatoes" by Fannie Flagg.  There is still time to come vote though!

Click HERE to come check out our Facebook Group!

We hope you'll join in!

Colletta

Happy Homemaker Monday ~ 2/7/2022

Come join Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday. 

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Hello, and Happy Monday!

The weather outside is:

I.  STILL. Can't.  Wait.  For.  Spring.  :)

On today's to-do list: 

I'm a few days on my bill writing and banking.  ooops!  Must get that done today!

Other than that, I'll be doing my weekly cleaning and hopefully planning my menu and grocery list for my next shopping trip.

Happening this week:

It is a pretty ordinary week without much going on.  Tuesday evening I have Ladies Meeting but that is about all that is going on other than the ordinary routines.

Currently reading:

I'm getting ready to start reading "What the Wind Knows" by Amy Harmon for the Kindred Readers Book Club's March selection.  Since Bev and I lead the discussion, I try to read ahead and get the questions prepared the month before.  If anyone is interested in joining in, you can find the group on facebook.

On the TV:

Ghostbusters Afterlife (DVD)

The Gilded Age (HBO Max)

Coyote Ugly (Hulu)

Hidden Figures (Disney +)

Listening to:

This week for "Songs on Sunday" I featured "Woman at the Well" by Olivia Lane.  I hope you'll check it out :) 

On the menu today:

Baked Cheese Ravioli in Meat Sauce, Garlic Bread, Broccoli, Fruit Cocktail.

In the Craft Basket:

I worked on the "Sweet Dreams" sew along by Pat Sloan at www.ilovetomakequilts.com .  I finished the second block called "Boston Cream Pie"  I also worked on hand-quilting Mom's Blue and White Quilt while watching TV.

Picture from the Camera

Laken baking her birthday cake :)

Memory Verse

"If you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet."
Proverbs 3:24 ESV

Have a great Monday!

Colletta

Sewing Saturday ~ 1/15/2022

I'm going to be featuring my sewing, crocheting and crafting projects on Saturdays.  Some weeks this will include a finished project, a FNSI or FNWF or just a WIP.

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This week I'm showing a cute, easy-peasy, fast, flower bookmark.  I found the pattern on ravelry but tweaked it a bit here and there.

I used Peaches & Cream Stripey and an I/9 5.5mm hook.

The color is "Spring Blue Stripes"

It literally took me about 10 minutes to make this bookmark which is now being used in my latest Book Club read!

Tell me, what kinds of crafting do you do?  Quilting, crocheting, knitting, scrapbooking????  All the above ???  :)  I'd love to know!

Colletta

Kindred Readers Book Club ~ 2022 Genres/Themes and February 2022 Poll

 Kindred Readers Book Club 

We've decided on the genres/themes for 2022!!!  They are:

January- Nonfiction

February-Contemporary Romance

March- Time Travel

April- Humour

May- Memoir

June- YA

July- Beach/Summer

August- Historical Romance

September- School/Library/Books

October- Suspense/Mystery

November- Nonfiction

December- Christmas/Holiday

As I've mentioned before the January 2022 selection is "Year of Yes" by Shonda Rhimes.

We've started a poll on the Book Club group for the February 2022 book.  The selections are:

"The Next Always" by Nora Roberts

"Virgin River" by Robyn Carr

"The Ex Talk" by Rachel Lynn Solomon

"Nobody's Baby But Mine" by Susan Elizabeth Phillips

Click HERE to come join our Facebook Group!

We hope you'll join in!

Colletta

The Good Stuff ~ 12/9/2021

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~Kindred Readers Book Club!  I'm so excited to be co-hosting a brand new book club.  Our first book (for January 2022) is "Year of Yes" by Shonda Rhimes.  Click HERE to come check out the facebook group and, hopefully, join in :)

~A Baby Shower!  Saturday was the Baby Shower for, Rachel, my cousin's sweet wife.  Some family from Virginia even surprised us by making the 3 hour drive for the shower.  It was a great time of family and celebration of the new baby girl coming into the family.  Mom and Dad are keeping her name a secret until her arrival!  So fun :)

~A Baby Reveal!  Another cousin of mine, Nikki who lives in Florida, is having a baby also.  Saturday (it was a busy day) she had a gender reveal and they skyped us Pennsylvanians so we could be part.  Nikki's older sister, Heather, was the "gender keeper".  Oh, and the baby is a GIRL!! :)

~Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange!  I took part in the yearly Virtual Christmas Cookie Exchange Blog Hop on Wednesday.  Click HERE to go see what I shared :)

What has you thankful/smiling/exited this week?  Tell me all the good stuff! 

Colletta