Category: Sunday Bookends

Sunday Bookends: Fighting for joy, not reading a lot, making plans for comfy and cozy watching and reading this week

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends14 Comments

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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I’m writing this post this week with a heavy heart. I’m overwhelmed mentally and emotionally with world events and personal situations. I almost didn’t write a post this week but I also know that trying to keep a routine and do something other than sit and cry about things is good for me so here I am.

I rambled about what has been going on in my world in my post yesterday if you would like to check it out.

Today we are huddled at home with cold wind and weather swirling around outside. I have taken almost no fall photos this year so I am hoping that there will be some sun tomorrow and I can take a few, even if it is only of the leaves on the ground.

Unrelated to my week or what has been occurring, but did you know I host a Clean/Christian Fiction Book Club on Facebook? If you’re interested, you can find it HERE. Soon we will be offering giveaways and author parties and chances for readers to meet new authors. I hope you will join us to discuss any clean or Christian books you are reading right now.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I didn’t read much at all this week.

I am reading Death Bee Comes Her by Nancy Coco and Walls Crumbling: A Seth Browne Novel by Alicia Gilliam.

Both are very good but I think I am enjoying Walls Crumbling a bit more. Alicia is such a good writer.

You can find her books HERE: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Alicia-Gilliam/author/B09PZ6SGTW?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true

I am also listening to Death at the Seaside by T.E. Kinsey and I feel like I will never finish it because I keep getting interrupted. I am determined to finish it this week!

Little Miss and I will finish Gone Away Lake this week.

The Boy and I will probably finish Red Badge of Courage this week.

The Husband is reading The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman.

What We watched/are Watching

I watched way too much news this past week and I will be changing that this upcoming week. I plan to watch Strangers on a Train for Erin’s and my Comfy, Cozy Cinema (see our last comfy, cozy post about that feature and how you can get involved). 

We watched The Lady Vanishes last week and it was very good. It was an early Hitchcock film but more joyful than some of his films.

I watched Forgotten Way Farms on YouTube and that was so relaxing and nice. I also watched several Newhart episodes. Having my 9-year-old daughter ask to watch Newhart never gets old either.

This upcoming week I also hope to watch as much calming, fall stuff as I can, along with reading more. I need to decompress, even as I think of all those in the world who don’t have that option.


What I’m Writing

Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage is almost done but took a bit of a back burner this week, partially because I filled my mind with too much news and partially because I didn’t know how to end it. I think I’ve found my ending but it’s not what I wanted. Sadly, it is apparently what was meant to be and a character I didn’t want to be guilty is. Sometimes characters tell me their stories and I don’t like them.

I forgot to share a couple chapters from the book for Fiction Friday but will share a couple more this Friday.

I have joined a couple of other bloggers to co-host a blog link-up on Thursday nights/Fridays called Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot. Bloggers can link their favorite blog posts on any topic from the week. You can learn more in this post: https://lisahoweler.com/2023/10/12/weekend-traffic-jam-reboot-add-your-links/

On the blog this week I shared:

What I’m Listening To

This week I listened to a lot of Matthew West and Brandon Lake.

Little Miss actually asked for Matthew West. His music is such a comfort to us when we are feeling down.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I am behind on reading blog posts but I’d love it if readers would leave their own favorites this week in the comments for me to look at.

Now it’s your turn

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.

Mention the group on Facebook and the blog share link thing..Weekend Traffic Jam

Sunday Bookends: Reading through my autumn TBR, watching old movies, and a new blog feature to share your posts

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends16 Comments

Sunday Bookends October 8

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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I have to be honest that I’m a little distracted today by what is happening in Israel and I feel like writing a blog post about what I’m reading and doing in my life is pretty unimportant. I’m only continuing because I think we all need distractions right now, no matter how small.

I follow some people who live in Israel and have read some books about the situation in Palestine so hearing the news from the area is extremely upsetting.

I’ll move on for now, though, and relay that I really didn’t do much last week at all but if you want to read about it you can check out my post here.

What I/we’ve been Reading



Last week I finished The Cat Who Blew The Whistle by Lilian Jackson Braun. I enjoyed it for the most part but the ending was strange and a little annoying to me. That happens at times with Braun’s books, but this was at least better than the later ones that were put out and probably not fully written by Braun later in her life.

I am making my way through my autumn reading list slowly, but fairly steadily.

Now I am on to reading Death Bee Comes Her by Nancy Coco and also plan to read a Nancy Drew book for fun (The Hidden Staircase). Death Bee Comes Her was not originally on my list but I picked it up at a used bookstore and it fit well with the theme since it happens in the autumn so I decided to add it in.

The Boy and I are reading Red Badge of Courage still for school.

Little Miss and I are reading Gone Away Lake for school.

 The Husband just started a Dennis Lehane book and I’m not sure if he started another one yet.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I didn’t watch a lot of movies but I hope to watch a couple this week, including The Lady Vanishes for the Comfy, Cozy Cinema with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

If you want to join us you are welcome to and we will have a link up for you to add your post to.

We did watch some Newhart and I watched an episode of Miss Scarlet and The Duke.

This week I really want to focus on escaping in some good movies, some wholesome things as well, including The Chosen and The Dick VanDyke Show – anything to calm myself inside.

What I’m Writing

I am working hard to finish Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and am almost done. I did push the release date off by a couple of weeks because I was concerned I might not have time to write it, revise it, and send it the editor, and revise it again in time for it to be released on the original date. I wanted to slow myself down a bit.

Once I’m finished with this book, I’ll be continuing to work on Cassie, which is a book that will be released in August of 2024 with the Apron Strings Book Series. It is based in the 1990s so it will be fun to research that decade, which I lived through but have forgotten a lot about. Ha! Not because I was drunk or drugged but because I was lost in my own little world in high school and college.

This week on the blog I shared the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot with two other bloggers. This is a chance for bloggers to share favorite posts from their blogs for the week. You can still share your posts now and we will be back again on Thursday at 9:30 p.m. to set up the link for everyone who wants to participate.

Also on the blog this week I shared about a movie I watched The Lightkeepers.

What I’m Listening to

I listened to a lot of Brandon Lake this week and other worship music, as well as other Christian artists I hadn’t heard of before in an Apple Music playlist. I needed it.



Now it’s your turn

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.

Sunday Bookends: Little Miss’s Birthday, fall foliage, book sales, and cozy mysteries

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends11 Comments

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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

Can you believe it is October 1?! I can’t! September just flew by!

Tomorrow is Little Miss’s 9th birthday so October always kicks off fun for us.

I shared a bit about this yesterday, but on Friday we took her out for dinner to a restaurant. Before that we visited a large library book sale and then met her friends to play at a playground near the restaurant, which was about 45 minutes from our house.

I wish I had spent a little more time at the book sale, but we had a budget for all four of us, so I didn’t want to go too crazy. I didn’t actually choose many books from the sale itself. Instead, I found six cozy mysteries in the library’s permanent used bookstore in the back of the library.

I found ten or more books from the Annie’s Mystery books – all hardcover with built-in ribbon bookmarks, but only grabbed two so The Husband could also get some books.

We got bit up pretty bad from mosquitoes near the creek at the park and I think it’s so weird that the itching didn’t kick in until last night. It was like they all activated at the same time.

The leaves are changing fast around us for autumn and there are some gorgeous reds. Some of the leaves are drying up and falling off before they can change, which is sad, but the ones that are lasting are beautiful and even more should change this upcoming week into next week.

I’m not sure what is on tap for this upcoming week other than Little Miss’s birthday and running some errands.

What I/we’ve been Reading

I’ll be finishing up A New Leash on Life by Kathleen Y’Barbo today. I’ve really been enjoying it. It is a light mystery and releases – oh, today actually! I’ve been reading it as part of a blog tour for it. This is the second book I’ve read from the series and so far I like this one better.

I’m also still reading The Cat Who Blew The Whistle by Lilian Jackson Braun. It’s such a comfort read for me.

I’ve put Anne of Ingleside to the side for now because I picked up a cozy mystery from a library book sale Friday that I read the first chapter of and am now hooked on. It’s called Death Bee Comes Her by Nancy Coco.

It will be a perfect autumn read since it takes place in October.

I think I’ll probably pick Anne back up later in October and finish it as quick as I can because I want to clear my classic book slate for Little Women in November.’

What We watched/are Watching

Last week Erin and I watched Arsenic and Old Lace for our Comfy, Cozy Cinema and then posted about it on our blogs. This week we are taking a break from our feature and having a wild card week.

Next week we are going to watch The Lady Vanishes and blog about that.

Other than those movies, I didn’t actually watch a ton last week. I did watch some Newhart and a couple episodes of Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube.

This morning we watched our sermon from Elevation Church and then an episode of The Chosen on Amazon.

What I’m Writing

I plan to finish Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage this week and will then go through it again before sending it to my husband to edit.

On the blog this week I shared:

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been enjoying Brooke Ligertwood, Matthew West, and Brandon Lake again this week.

Photos From This Week


Now it’s your turn

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.

Sunday Bookends: Fall arrives officially, fall book list, and watch Arsenic and Old Lace with Us

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends8 Comments

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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

Welcome to autumn. Yes, it’s officially autumn now and our Pennsylvania weather cooperated and is chilly outside which means we are cozy inside under blankets.

This past week we focused mainly on schoolwork instead of other activities. I also tried to focus on taking breaks for reading, but didn’t do as well at that as I would have liked to so I hope to make up for that this week.

My birthday was on Tuesday but we celebrated on Sunday so Tuesday was mainly a regular day for me. I grilled some chicken and we hung out and watched a little Anne of Green Gables.

Wednesday night was Kid’s Club at our former church and Thursday Little Miss and I rode with my dad to his physical therapy 45 minutes away. That night Little Miss had gymnastics. Friday was errand day, yesterday I hid in the house all day and today it was lunch at my parents with our former pastor, his wife and children.


What I/we’ve been Reading

This week I am reading A New Leash on Life by Kathleen Y’Barbo and The Cat Who Blew The Whistle by Lilian Jackson Braun.

The Cat Who book is a cozy mystery and I thought A New Leash on Life was as well but so far it’s a romance and a slow one at that. Hopefully it picks up because it is well written otherwise.

I put together a list of books I plan to read this autumn and shared it on my Instagram yesterday.

I always struggle a bit with a planned reading list – mainly because I am a mood reader. I might be in the mood for one book when I make my list and totally not in the mood for it during the time frame I said I’d read it in. Still, I like the idea of having a list of planned reads, even if the plan changes.

I moved some of my books I had posted about last week or the week before to a winter list but for now my “planned” autumn reading list is a mix of adult books and kid books since I will be reading a couple with my daughter or just for myself. I most likely will not get to all these books.

Reading right now:

🐈‍⬛The Cat Who Blew The Whistle by Lilian Jackson Braun

🐕New Leash on Life by Kathleen Y’Barbo

“Planned” Reading for October and November:

📚Bake Until Golden by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson

📚The Ghost and Mrs. Mewer by Krista Davis

📚Brynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other by Bethany Turner

📚The Cat Who Talked Turkey by Lilian Jackson Braun

📚The Hidden Staircase (Nancy Drew book two) by Carolyn Keene

📚When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr (part way through this but the library book smelled like mildew so I found a used copy on Thriftbooks and it’s on its way. I hope it doesn’t smell!)

📚Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright (reading this already with Little Miss)

📚The Black Stallion by Walter Farley

📚The Wind in The Willows by Kenneth Graham

Do you make planned reading lists for the different seasons? If so, did you make one this year for autumn?

Little Miss and I will hopefully finish Gone Away Lake next week or the week after. We are enjoying it and I’m already planning to buy it’s sequel, Return to Gone Away Lake.

The Boy and I are listening to Red Badge of Courage for our unit on English lit and American History.

The Husband is reading The Deserter by Nelson DeMille.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I watched The Dick VanDyke Show and Newhart. I also watched The African Queen as part of the Comfy, Cozy Cinema feature with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

This week we are watching Arsenic and Old Lace. If you are interested in watching the movie with us and blogging about it we will be posting our impressions of the movie on Thursday and will have a link on our posts where you can sign up.

Last night Little Miss and I had a girl’s night and watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. We didn’t like it as much as the original My Big Fat Greek Wedding, but it was okay.

What I’m Writing

I am furiously working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and while I’ve hit some snags, I’m still having fun writing it.

After it’s finished and edited and revisions are made, I’ll be working more on Cassie, which will come out in August of 2024 as part of a multi author book series.

What I’m Listening To

This week I enjoyed listening to Matthew West, Brooke Ligertwood, Brandon Lake, and TobyMac. I was also excited to find a Klove radio station in the town where my dad’s physical therapy is. I was able to listen to wonderful Christian music almost all the way home from his appointment and it was such a comfort because I tend to think a lot and worry about him on the way home from those appointments.


Now it’s your turn

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.

Sunday Bookends: Mystery books, a planned autumn reading list, and still writing book two in the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends15 Comments



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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.


What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese Friday. Finally. No, the book is not bad. It is very good, in fact. I just kept putting it aside so I could finish books for other authors or library books.

I’m going to try to not add any more library books to my TBR list right now . . . other than the one I just added: A Most Agreeable Murder by Julia Seales. Ahem.

I started it last night and we will see if I like it. So far I do. The last Regency cozy mystery I picked up from Libby I did NOT enjoy. Hopefully, this one will be better the whole way through this time.

I’ve also started another cozy mystery for a book tour: A New Leash on Life by Kathleen Y’Barbo. It comes out on October 1. I was going to read it slowly since I don’t have to review it until October 30th but I was hooked right away and have been enjoying it. I read another of her books in this series and I did enjoy it but I did not enjoy the ending. It sort of fell apart so I am hoping this one doesn’t. This book is different because it is somewhat like a romance with it being from two points of view – one from the woman and the other from the man – but it is also a mystery.

I am not a huge fan of those types of switches in books when it is first person but it’s not so bad in this book. After writing two or more POVs in all of my books in the Spencer Valley Chronicles, I have now decided I am not a huge fan of more than two of POVs and I really don’t like the back-and-forth POVs in romances as much anymore. I don’t know if I will ever write two POVs again or not, but I definitely don’t plan to write more than two POVs in one book.

Anyhow, back to the books I’m planning to read after the two I just mentioned.

For fall I have a stack of books I’d love to get through:

  • Trouble Shooter by Louise L’Amour
  • The Cat Who Blew The Whistle by Lilian Jackson Braun
    The Cat Who Talked Turkey by Lilian Jackson Braun
    A Case of Bad Taste by Lori Copeland
    Sydney Chambers and the Perils of the Night by Jamie Runcie
    Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

I’d also like to add a Longmire book to that list because I don’t think I’ve read any Longmire this year so far.

The Boy and I are reading Red Badge of Courage for school so I’ll have to add that to my planned reading list too.

Little Miss and I are reading Gone Away Lake for school and sometimes we are reading it at night too. We are really enjoying it and I’m so glad that Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs sent it to us!

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote a bit about what’s been going on in my post yesterday. You can catch up there but the bottom line is: fleas, sick animals recovering, fall weather, and homeschool. There. You’re caught up. *wink*

Photos from Last Week

I didn’t take a ton of photos last week but here are a few and a few from my parents’ anniversary party last week.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I watched two movies with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs for our Comfy, Cozy Cinema: Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Secret World of Arrietty.

The Husband and I watched Song of the Thin Man yesterday after he cooked me dinner for my birthday. My birthday isn’t until Tuesday but he has to attend a meeting that night. It was the last movie in the Thin Man series with William Powell and Myrna Loy.

We also watched a few episodes of Newhart this week.

 By myself I watched part of a documentary about what the Victorian royals wore.

My brother also sent these hilarious videos of real letters being read by celebrities. I was warned that some of them are crude so to be careful.

What I’m Writing

I am working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage for a November release and, in case you don’t know, Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing, the first book, is out already on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. It will leave Kindle Unlimited on October 8 as I hope to be able to offer it on additional sites for sale. This a cozy mystery series and I really am having fun writing it, even though this week I was almost in tears trying to decide who my murderer is because I didn’t like who I had originally decided it to be.

Yes, I am writing other blog posts but, no, I haven’t finished them because I keep getting distracted by life. Sigh.

What I’m Listening To

This past week we took some time to turn off the TV (where cartoons are mainly played) and listen to some music, including Frank Sinatra and Tim McGraw. I know. What a mix right?!

Now it’s your turn

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.

Sunday Bookends: 60th anniversary party, getting over a cold, and a sick Zooma the Wonder Dog

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends10 Comments

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.

What’s Been Occurring

Last weekend my entire family came down with some kind of virus and it kept me from writing my Sunday Bookends post on Sunday.

I had no interest in writing because I had the worst sinus headache for the first part of the cold and then it was like some kind of dam broke and my nose started running for a day and a half. Then the cold was gone but left behind some gunk.

The illness started with The Boy who started attending a career center the week before last.

I should have known that more illness would come now that he’s at a regular school part of the time.

In the end we were really only “sick” for two days but it felt so much longer and then the mucous and coughs lingered for another few days. All of this was going on while I was trying to plan for my parents’ anniversary party which was yesterday. I’ll write a little bit about it here and then I’ll do another blog post later this week, but I will share that it went well.

One of the highlights was when our local state representative presented them with a proclamation to honor them for being married for 60 years and to honor my dad for his service in the United States Air Force.

I also slapped together this video for them but wasn’t able to show it until afterward because I couldn’t figure out where to put the video up for everyone else to see it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXDNg0qWLZM

On Friday I made ham and bean soup and cut up fruit and veggies for the party, while trying to simply relax and not worry about our dog who seems to be suffering from colitis again.

Her symptoms started while we were all sick, of course.

She has these bouts of colitis every six months or so at this point. When it hit her in April, she was so bad she couldn’t even get herself off and on the back porch to use the bathroom and her little backside was bent over to try to deal with the pain.

This time it’s clear she’s not herself but she’s moving better than she could be.

We are hoping we can use all the natural treatment instead of taking her to the vet this time. Today I am home with her while the rest of the family goes to a family reunion.

Despite our illness, we managed to start school a little more earnestly this week than last.

We are starting easy with art, English, and music for Little Miss and history and English for the Boy.

Next week I start adding in the big one – math, which neither of them is a fan of – and science which both are sort of fans of.

The Boy will be learning about forensic science this year and Little Miss will start with ecosystems and then we will be doing some general science.

What I/we’ve been Reading

Last week I finished Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower.

I liked it but I am always a little confused by her books because the mystery is always solved in like three days and it is back-to-back crisis and also a little formulaic. I still like her writing and books and how she creates characters I get attached to, however.

I didn’t have a lot of interest in reading while I was sick so I didn’t finish All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese yet. I have plans to finish it this week but I did start a comfort read – The Cat Who Blew The Whistle (Cat Who . . . Book 17) by Lilian Jackson Braun.

I just wanted a simple cozy mystery with my favorite cozy mystery sleuth, Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese Cats Koko and Yum-Yum.

Little Miss and I are reading Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright.

The Husband is reading Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane.

The Boy is reading The Red Badge of Courage for school.

What We watched/are Watching

Last week I watched Shop Around the Corner and we watched a lot of Newhart.

I also watched an episode of the new Around the World in 80 Days mini-series with David Tennant with The Boy.

This week I am watching Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Secret World of Arrietty for the cozy, comfy cinema series that Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are doing this fall.

We will be watching movies and posting our impressions of them on Thursdays. This week only we will be posting on Tuesday and Thursday.

Today my family went to a family reunion without me, as I mentioned above, so I can stay home with Zooma the Wonder Dog and catch up on some rest that I lost last week while battling the aftermath of the cold. I may actually get to watch something on my own, which is a very rare occurrence. I think I’ll probably pick something light and relaxing along the lines of Anne of Green Gables (the 1985 one).

Update: I picked a movie called The Lightkeepers with Richard Dreyfuss and I’m liking it so far.


What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Gets Her Footing. I am also working on some blog posts for the upcoming weeks.

Now it’s your turn

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.

Sunday Bookends: Still reading the same books, homeschool starts, baking cookies, and photos of the week

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends8 Comments




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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I wrote more about what has been occurring in my post yesterday, but will share here a few things: homeschool started, we had what was probably our last swim last weekend, and cooler weather is moving in. If you want to read what I wrote yesterday, that post is HERE.

Last night we had some family time and it was really nice. The Boy wanted to make cookies for the neighbor next door because she always makes cookies for us either when the mood strikes her or around Christmas. He bought the ingredients we didn’t have and he and his sister made the cookies themselves with only a little bit of help from their mom (uh, me) while we watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding (getting ready for the third movie in this series).

Our oven has been broken for a while so we cooked them in the air fryer and they came out pretty good, actually.

The Boy and Little Miss ran them over to the neighbor, even though it was 10:30 at night, because we saw her on her porch. They are night owls like us. Unfortunately they almost gave her a heart attack when they appeared out of the darkness. Luckily she recovered and she and her husband were very appreciative of the gift.

They are experiencing a new season in their life after their daughter left for college last week. It is the first time in 31 years they haven’t had children in their house so we are trying to treat them a little as they adjust.

This morning we watched church and afterward Pixel, our older cat, was yowling on the front porch. The Husband stepped outside and she was sitting there with a dead bird that she appeared to be presenting us with as a gift. She doesn’t bring us dead animals as much as the younger cat, Scout, because she has gotten a little bit lazy as she’s gotten older. We were sad that she grabbed a young bird, but she was so proud of herself so I told her she’d done a good job while The Husband scooped up the bird to prepare it for what he calls a “Viking” burial in our burn barrel.

Photos from Last Week


What I/we’ve been Reading

Anyone who is new here should probably know up front that I am not a book blogger. I don’t read fast. I read slowly. Mainly because I read a couple books at a time, write my books, and homeschool throughout the week. I also don’t enjoy reading so many books that I don’t even remember what I read. I’m old, peeps. If I read too many books, then I just can’t remember what the book was about down the road because my brain has absorbed it into all the other things I have forgotten thanks to my old age.

With all that being said, I’m still reading All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese (enjoying it more than I thought I would), Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower, and Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery.

I plan to finish All That Really Matters and Crime and Poetry this week. Both flow along quite quickly and easily.

Later this week I plan to share some books I plan to read this fall.

The keywords in the above sentence are “plan to”. I may never get to them, but I “plan to” read them.

Little Miss and I are back to Little House books for the nighttime at her request. They are comfort reads for her and with the changes in our family schedule this week I think she just wants some comfort reads. We are reading On the Shores of Silver Lake. During the day we will be reading Gone Away Lake for School.

The Boy and I will be starting The Red Badge of Courage this week for literature and history.

What We watched/are Watching

This past week I watched two Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers’ movies. One was Flying Down to Rio and the other was Shall We Dance.

I liked Flying Down to Rio better than Shall We Dance. One major issue I had with Shall We Dance was the scene at the end with a bunch of women who were dancing while wearing masks that looked like Ginger. Talk about upping the creepy factor to ten.

Still, the dancing was amazing as always.

Flying Down to Rio was the first movie that Fred and Ginger ever made together and they were not the main characters. They were, however, supporting characters who stole the show.

The pair went on to make ten movies together. Nine of those movies were made from 1933 to 1939 and were in black and white, which always leaves our daughter and I to guess what colors Ginger’s dresses are. In 1949 they filmed a technicolor film together – The Barkleys of Broadway – and that was their last together.

I hope to watch that soon and offer a little review of it. I think I might offer a review of Flying Down to Rio later this week too because that film was a lot better than I expected.

Have you watched any of Fred and Ginger’s movies? Which ones were your favorites?



What I’m Writing

I am working on blog posts right now. I have a few ideas and things I want to share so I’ve been focusing on writing them ahead of time the last few days.

I am also, of course, working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage so I can release it in November.

This week on the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening To

There are so many new albums out this week, which The Husband let me know about. I do not pay attention to new releases very well. Tim McGraw and Brooke Ligertwood have new albums and Steven Furtick put out a new motivational message to music so I am checking all three of those out. I am also behind on listening to Elevation Worship’s new album and then Brandon Lake also has two new songs that I haven’t listened to yet. I need more hours in the day.

I’ve also enjoyed finding this new artist from his viral song, Rich Men North of Richmond:

(*language warning*)

Now it’s your turn

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.

Sunday Bookends: Family outing, last of our swimming days, a variety of books, and getting ready for school

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends13 Comments

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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I didn’t share a Saturday Afternoon Chat post yesterday because my week was fairly boring, but also because we were too busy yesterday for me to sit and write it. I like to start the post ahead of time but didn’t do it this week for some reason.

We didn’t do a ton during the week other than some cleaning at my parents, a bit of planning for  homeschool next week, writing for me, and the last week of work for The Boy who is getting ready to start a half day at a career center next week, in addition to homeschool.

Yesterday we had a wonderful family day out. We visited one of our favorite restaurants, located next to a covered bridge and a creek in a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere in our county.

After lunch there we visited the local state park which is literally up the road from the restaurant. I had no idea the state park was that close, but really I should have known since I used to visit there with my family when I was younger.

I had not visited there in years. It seemed smaller than I remember but the trails and cabins are all throughout the 780-acre park so we didn’t see all of it, of course. The park, incidentally, is called World’s End State Park. I’ve always wondered where the name of the park came from so I searched online last night and according to Wikipedia: “The name Worlds End has been used since at least 1872, but its origins are uncertain. Although it was founded as Worlds End State Forest Park by Governor Gifford Pinchot in 1932, the park was officially known as Whirls End State Forest Park from 1936 to 1943.” So, there you go.

I had hoped to take Little Miss to the swimming area there, which I went to a couple time as a kid, but it was closed because of high, rushing water, caused by heavy rains we had a couple of days ago. It was an insane storm that went on for two hours, with part of that time consisting of very heavy rain.

Not being able to visit the swimming area wasn’t a huge loss because it was not super hot yesterday. It was actually perfect fall weather – not too warm, not too cold. It was lovely and Little Miss was happy with being able to stick her feet in the edge of the creek. The rest of it was rushing water and wilder than I’ve seen a creek that close up in a long time. I am sure creeks have been that wild over the years, but I haven’t been that close to them before.

While we were by the water and put our feet in it, a young girl and her parents were making their way through the water and were making me very nervous. I was concerned the dad was going to get to close to the rapids and be swept away. Luckily, they were fairly close to the edge of the creek and being very careful not to get pulled down by the rapids. They were in swimsuits and swim shoes, so they were either camping there or had visited hoping to swim at the swimming area and were unable to.

The woman found a stick that looked like Moses’ staff in The Ten Commandments and she and I joked about parting the waters.

We were able to take Zooma the Wonder Dog with us to both places yesterday. Seating is outside for the restaurant and they welcome pets as long as they are on a leash. They even sell a “doggy meat bowl” for the dog’s that visit. Zooma, of course, received her own bowl. We were glad to be able to take her because many times we have to leave her home on our excursions.

She loved sniffing all over the parts of the state park we walked in as well but did not like when The Husband disappeared inside the visitor’s center without her.

We joke in our family about who Zooma loves more and the rest of the family says it is me, but I do notice she seems concerned when any member of the family disappears for too long. Yesterday she whimpered a couple of times when she couldn’t go where the rest of the family went or when one of them disappeared.

She was very happy when we were all together and she also passed out like a toddler who runs themselves into exhaustion when we arrived home.

Today Little Miss will have a couple of friends over for our last summer pool gathering before school begins on Monday. The pool is probably going to be way too cold to play in because the days and nights have been cooler, but we will see how it goes.

I can’t even believe summer is pretty much over. It went very fast and I feel like we didn’t do as much as we usually do as far as family outings and trips. It was a very hectic and stressful summer for many reasons and I am looking forward to a slower autumn. I laughed as I wrote the previous sentence because I said something similar in July about August and … well, it didn’t happen.

September will be a bit busy because my parents 60th wedding anniversary is September 8 and we are holding an open house/anniversary party on September 9. I was all calm about it and figured we could handle it but as we get closer, I feel a bit anxious about pulling it off. Thankfully my brother and sister-in-law are helping me since it was sort of their idea (and sort of mine too). We are renting a place down the road from my house and hopefully it all works out well.


What I/we’ve been Reading

I finished Ellie Alexander’s Meet the Baker Friday and two books I’ve been wanting to read came in from Libby this week: Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flowers and Paper Cuts by Ellery Adams. They are both cozy mysteries.

Crime and Poetry came first so I am going to start that first. This will be my third book by Amanda. I’ve heard great things about Paper Cuts and it will be my first by Ellery Adams.

I am also reading a few chapters a week of Anne of Ingleside by L.M. Montgomery. This is my first time reading it and it’s already a comfort read for me. I’ve been taking these books slow, partly because of the old language, and partly because I love to savor them. My husband purchased the series for me two Christmases ago so I’ve been making my way through them since then.

I am making a list of books I want to read this fall and I’ll probably ramble about them next week.

The Husband finished Born Standing Up by Steve Martin and now he is reading Plan B by Lee and Richard Child.

Little Miss and I are reading a cute mystery she picked up at the library sale a couple of weeks ago. I don’t have it in front of me right now and I don’t want to go find it, so I don’t know the title.

I plan to start Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright, which Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs, and her son Wyatt sent to us, with her tomorrow as part of our school lessons.

The Boy is not reading anything right now but he will start The Red Badge of Courage later this week for school.

Photos from Last Week

What We watched/are Watching

It has been a Newhart week this week. I’ve needed the escape for sure.

I started The Misfits with Marilyn Monroe and will finish it this week. It’s depressing.

The Husband and I also watched an episode of Poirot.

Little Miss watched a ton of Bluey and Duck Tales and now she’s rewatching The Lion Guard.

What I’m Writing

I am still working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage and I shared the first chapter on Friday.

I hope to share additional chapters in the following weeks.

On the blog I shared:

Now it’s your turn

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.

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Sunday Bookends: Reading mysteries, enjoying the last drops of summer, and still watching Marilyn

On By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends16 Comments


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.

This week I’m joining up with Kimba at Caffeinated Reviewer and Kathyrn at The Book Date.


What I/we’ve been Reading

Last week I finished The Word is Murder by Anthony Horowitz. I enjoyed it very much and will have a review up for it at some point this week (I hope! My plans keep getting messed up each week, so we will see).

This week I am reading Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander. It is a cozy mystery.

I also plan to read a couple chapters of Anne of Ingleside because I enjoy the little stories in the book and it’s just something lovely and light to read.

I may also start one of the books I picked up at the library book sale last week. As I mentioned in my post yesterday – I went a little crazy with picking up books. My son claims I won’t read any of them and tried to say I hadn’t read any of the ones I’d picked up at the last sale. That’s actually untrue. I read at least one or two and my daughter and I read a few together as well. This year I picked up a lot of books we can use for homeschooling so I am very sure I will read those too.

I really want to finish When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr that I picked up from the library but it has an awful smell to it because it is so old and it is giving me a headache. I have to be careful with mildew smells. They tend to overwhelm me. I got halfway through the book before it really bothered me so maybe I can push through because I am enjoying it. It is a middle grade book but it has a lot of deep themes.

The Husband is reading The Devil’s Hand by Jack Carr.

Little Miss and I finished The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island this past week and have not started a new book yet. She’s reading Saving Winslow by Sharon Creech on her own or I read some at night.

I also ordered her her own copy of Fortunately the Milk by Neil Gaiman and she breezed through most of that on two car rides this week. I thought she’d love to hold the book and look at the photos since we’ve mainly listened to it and the other copy we have is my son’s. He’s very possessive about it because that’s one of the main books his dad read to him when he was little and it’s a core memory for him. She was happier when she opened that book than when she opened a stuffed toy I picked her up this past week and if you knew Little Miss, you would know she’s obsessed with what she calls “stuffies.” I wish I had taken a photo of her holding that book and jumping up and down.

What’s Been Occurring

Things were crazy last week and I wrote about it in yesterday’s post if you want to check it out.

Writing it all out here again would be tedious, traumatizing and exhausting so I don’t think I will.

Photos from Last Week

What We watched/are Watching

I watched All About Eve and will have a post about it and Monkey Business for my Summer of Marilyn feature this week. I also plan to watch The Misfits and write about it. that will close out my Marilyn Monroe feature for this summer and then Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I will be joining together for a fall and winter feature of movies that I will update you on later.

This week I also clamored for comfort watches like All Creatures Great and Small (the new one), Anne of Green Gables from 1985 (Which Little Miss and I are making The Husband watch with us), and Newhart.

I will probably watch a lot of those same shows this week.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been working on Gladwynn Grant Takes Center Stage off and on and I hope to write more this week but, again, my plans have been all over the place. I also have several blog posts started that I hope to finish.

Last week on the blog I shared:

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I didn’t have a lot of time to read blog posts this week but here are two I enjoyed:

Hamelette’s Soliloquy: A Sunshine Blogger Award  

Mama’s Empty Nest: Tuesday’s Tour: Land of Sculptures

Now it’s your turn

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.