It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays, I ramble about what’s been going on, what the rest of the family and I have been reading and watching, and what I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.

Latey I’ve become even more diligent about calming my nervous system and one way I am doing that is by choosing when I see or hear national or international news.

Previously, if I logged into my Chrome app on my phone headlines popped up at me and I was hit full in the face with some horrible headline about some horrible thing going on in the world.

Two days ago I found a way to change the home screen so there are no news headlines slamming me in my face first thing. I didn’t know I could do that before but it has been so helpful. Now all that pops up are sites I visit the most and none of those are news sites.

If I do visit news sites, I am trying to do it briefly on my laptop and for only about two minutes.

I have also been trying to read more and watch TV less. If I watch TV it is usually All Creatures Great or Small, an old detective show, or old movies.

I listen to light, older/classic books and even childrens’ books (like Winnie the Pooh) while doing dishes or housework.

Worship music a few times a week has been a must lately but I have not always been doing that like I should.

I feel much calmer when I listen to worship music at some point during my day but the earlier the better because then the song is stuck in my head throughout the day and I can sing it when I feel stressed.

I have a couple of devotionals in my kindle I want to start but I also want to get some hard copies of devotionals so I can underline and write in the margins.

This past week was fairly calm with me visiting my parents a couple of times to visit and help clean up and with doing school with Little Miss. Our most productive school day was Thursday because we discussed the end of the Civil War and other historical subjects.

The other days of the week we focused on math, trying to figure out what book we want to read next for Literature, and Little Miss attended the four classes and two clubs she has online.

What I/We’ve Been Reading

Just Finished

This week I finished Miss Read’s Village School by Miss Read and The Secret of Chimneys by Agatha Christie.

They were both very good and made up for my first read of the year, My Beloved by Jan Karon, which I did not enjoy (unlike her previous 14 books, which I did very much enjoy).

The Secret of Chimneys was more like an international mystery than her normal mysteries, but I liked that even more.

I do have to say — a lot of rich people get murdered in her books. Ha! She was a member of the upper class in England, but I think she had a grudge to,o because she was frequently killing off the richest or the people who wanted to be the richest. That wasn’t the actual case in this latest one, so I didn’t spoil anything, but the mystery does involve rich and powerful people who want things kept a secret.

In Progress

I am now reading Miss Read’s Village Diary, which is similar to Village School. It follows Miss Read, a teacher at a small, rural school and the mix of characters around her. It is just a simple, calm book, without a deep plot. It’s perfect for what I want to read right now.

I’ve also started The Blue Castle for a re-read.

Up Soon

I hope to continue The Tiger in the Smoke by Margery Allingham because I started the first few pages to see if I liked it and got pulled right in.

After that I am going for lighter fare with a Murder, She Wrote book, but I am not sure which one yet. I have one that takes place in Hawaii and that might be a good one to help me forget  about how cold it is right now where I live.

What The Family is Reading

Little Miss and I are starting The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy.

The Husband is reading The Housemaid is Watching by Frieda McFadden.

What I/We’ve Been Watching

This past week I watched a movie called It Happened Tomorrow about a man who receives a newspaper that tells him the future, and it changes his entire life. It is a lighthearted film, and I would guess it was movie behind the idea for the show from the 1990s with a similar plot. The movie starred Dick Powell and Linda Darnell.

I also watched The Million Pound Note with Gregory Peck. It wasn’t too bad. A bit strange, but cute and fun. I originally was going to write that this was only the third Gregory Peck movie I have watched, but then I did a search to remind me the name of the one movie and saw others of his I had watched, starting with The Guns of Navarone, which my mom really likes. The second was Roman Holiday. Then it was To Kill A Mockingbird a couple of years ago and then this movie.

I watched the first episode of the sixth season of All Creatures Great and Small Friday night at the end of a very relaxing time of reading and cuddling under a warm blanket with a dog next to me and a cat on my chest.

Little Miss and I also watched the first episode ever of Little House on the Prairie, at her request.

I also watched “10 ways to live like a Grandma in 2025” On the Real Vintage Dollhouse YouTube channel.

What I’ve Been Writing

• Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot: Yummy treats, help for depression and much more (January 16)
• Winter of Cagney: Strawberry Blonde
• Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Anticipated Mysteries and Cozy Mysteries for the first half of 2026

What I/We’ve Been Listening To

I’ve been listening to Winnie the Pooh while I cook and clean. I’m enjoying it.

Recent Blog Posts I Enjoyed

|| Christian Fiction Reading Plans January Through June 2026 by Carla Bruns ||

|| Which Classic Crime Novel Should be Reprinted Next by Cross Examining Crime ||

|| My Memoir is Published by For His Purpose ||

Popular Instagram posts this week

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Some Housekeeping

Erin (Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs) 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.

Each week, I host the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with some great hosts. It goes live Thursday night but you can share any kind of blog posts (family-friendly) there until Tuesday of each week. You can check my recent posts on the sidebar to the right for the most recent link-party.

Now It’s Your Turn

What have you been doing, watching, reading, listening to, or writing? Let me know in the comments or leave a blog post link if you also write a weekly update like this.

https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=c0efdbe6b4add43dd7ef

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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. Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Reading Reality.

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Hello! Welcome to my blog. I am a blogger, homeschool mom, and I write cozy mysteries.

You can find my Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find me on Instagram and YouTube.

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