Today is my dad’s 81^st birthday. We had a family dinner for him yesterday when my brother could visit and will probably have another lunch together with the kids and I today.

We had ham and bean soup yesterday and today we will eat some sausage balls I plan to  make in memory of my aunt Dianne, as well a beef roast.

Last night we played a game of Uno that got a little crazy and felt like it might ever end. We ended up laughing and shaking our heads at how long it seemed to be going on.

This upcoming week we have nowhere to go which is fine with me because homeschool has to get back under way first thing tomorrow. Ha. First thing. Yeah right. It will probably be afternoon before we do anything, but it sounds better if I write “first thing.”

Having an easy-going week is something I am looking forward to after a pretty nuts Christmas break. The Husband was in the ER and diagnosed with Diabetes a few days before Christmas, so it’s been a period of adjustment and him not feeling well. He slept or rested most the break, which he needed and I’m glad he wasn’t working when this all hit.

I also injured my knee by – I don’t know how actually. By rolling over in bed or something. Who even knows.

So far we have not caught any of the various illnesses going around but I know our time is coming and I’m pretty worried about that happening.

I’m reading Christy by Catherine Marshall and really enjoying it. I loved the show that was based on it and aired on CBS in the 1990s and the book is fairly close to it from what I can see so far.

The book is a fictional book very loosely based on the life story of Marshall’s mother, if you’ve never heard of it. The main character travels to a very remote area in the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina in the early 1900s to become a teacher at a missionary school.

As a young, inexperienced woman she is for a rude awakening but also an amazing experience of learning about the determination of the people who live in the mountains.

Upcoming books for me:

• I have three Nancy Drew books coming in the mail from Thriftbooks and hope to read at least one of those after Christy.
• World Travel: An Irreverent Guide by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever
• Little Men by Louisa May Alcott
• The Two Towers by JRR Tolkien

Little Miss finished Harry Potter Chamber of Secrets yesterday while reading at her grandparents. She even made us wait for our game of Uno so she could finish the book. I’m very proud of her for reading the first two books. She was bothered by some of the violence in the end of the Chamber of Secrets so says she will be taking a break before she decides if she want to read book three.

The Boy and I will be starting Frankenstein soon, which he’s looking forward to a lot more than me. If you know anything about what I read, Frankenstein isn’t my normal read. We are reading through British literature this year and he likes the story of Frankenstein so we will go for it.

After that I’ll be having him read some Agatha Christie so that will be more up my alley.

The Husband is reading Bourdain The Definitive Oral Biography by Laurie Woolever.

This past week I watched The Power of the Press, a 1928 silent movie starring Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Morning Glory, a 1933 movie starring Fairbanks Jr. and Katherine Hepburn, a few episodes of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, and videos by Booktubers preparing their 2025 reading journals.

I enjoyed  this video by Plant Based Bride. It scratched some sort of crafty itchy for me, but I don’t think I’ll ever be as detailed or organized in my reading journal.

I also watched A Victorian Farm: A Victorian Christmas this past week and am now starting A Tudor Farm.

I am finishing up corrections to Gladwynn Grant Shakes The Family Tree and started a Patreon, which you can subscribe to here if you’d like a sneak peek of the book.

Last week on the blog I shared:

Recent Posts

• Winter of Fairbanks Jr.: The Power of the Press
• Join us for our Cozy Crafternoons on zoom!
• Top Ten Tuesday: My Top Reads of 2024
• Sunday Chat: A nice, calm Christmas, getting ready for the first book of 2025, and join us for a cozy crafternoon

I’ve been listening to the podcasts Pop Culture Preservation Society, which is aimed at us middle-agers to talk about some of the odd pop culture from when we were teens, etc. and True Drew, a podcast about Nancy Drew. I would recommend them both.

Now it’s your turn! What have you been doing recently? Watch anything good? Read a good book? Go anywhere interesting? Let me know in the comments.

---

This post is linked up with The Sunday Post at  Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer, The Sunday Salon with Deb at Readerbuzz, and Book Date: It’s Monday! What are you reading hosted by Kathyrn at The Book Date.