A temperature in the mid to high 60s is perfect for sitting under a blanket and reading a book and that is where our temps were most of this week despite it being summer. I have absolutely loved it.
It’s made me want to jump up and down, but I can’t since my knee is still healing. I have, instead, been doing some dancing in place while grabbing my grandma’s blanket and running to the couch with my Kindle.
If you didn’t read my Sunday Bookends, post, you might not know that I fell on my sidewalk last week while trying to take groceries into the house. My foot caught on the curb, I went flying, and my left knee took the full brunt of the impact. When my knee made contact, I had a horrible feeling that this was not going to be one of those falls you shake off and move on from.
So far it hasn’t been. I’ve been stiff and sore all week. My entire body reacted to that fall, and I’ve been a bit of a sore mess all week. Not a big of enough mess that I couldn’t have a fairly good week, though.
No ER visits this week despite that fall so that’s one good thing.
There were other good things about the week, though.
Little Miss attended an art class all week with the local 4-H group. Well, Tuesday through Friday.
On Monday, the kids and I drove 45 minutes north to visit with our homeschool evaluator and family friend. She learned about our school year and interviewed the kids and then wrote evaluations for both children for me to hand in to our school district to show they had a good education this past year.
On Tuesday we started the art class which was for four hours a day.
It was only a week long but there will be other 4-H events throughout the summer, including the horse and pony club which meets a couple of times a month, and a baking club which will be meeting every Monday in July. I also found out yesterday that there will be another art class like this one in August.
The building the classes were held in is an old shoe factory that built in the 1940s. It now houses a state representative office and offices for various community or county organizations.
My grandmother once worked at the shoe factory. She’s been gone since 2003 and was two weeks shy of 94 when she passed, so that gives you an idea how old the building is.
The building has, obviously, been remodeled and I love the mural that is on the walls when you first walk in.
The mural was painted by Kat Badger, who paints murals all over the world, but was thrilled, according to an interview with the local TV station (WNEP) to paint a mural in her own hometown. The mural features all the different aspects and features of Sullivan County – the waterfalls in the state park near here, the covered bridge in a tiny town near us, the people who worked in the shoe factory.
It’s truly beautiful.
The building is only about eight minutes from our house and all the other parents left their children there, but I was somehow asked to pick up the lunches each day, so I stuck around and mainly sat in the car and read books or worked on my book. In other words, it was relaxing in many ways, sans having to get lunches.
The plants outside the building in interesting “pots.”
On Friday I usually get our groceries, but I had to drive to the town we live in to take Little Miss to class, then back to where we live to pick up lunch. The problem was that when I got there, the business that was supposed to provide lunch never made it, saying their manager had denied the request to make a lunch for the local 4-H group. They did not, however, let the local 4-H group know this so at the last minute the local, family-owned supermarket was called and made subs for the group like the small town heroes they are.
After having to wait another half hour for that order then going back and waiting another hour and a half for the class to end, and then driving back home, I was glad I had decided to wait until today to pick up our grocery order since it is a 40-minute round trip to do that.
Next week, so far, looks to be a lot slower week. It is supposed to get very warm so we will probably be inside or in the sprinkler most of the time.
My dad has had a lot of health issues this year, so we haven’t been able to get the pool at his house going. Some things are going to have to be laid to the side this year, I think. There aren’t a lot of public pools near us but maybe we will find one to go to later in the summer.
There is a lake but Little Miss insists something touched her leg last time we went so she resists visits there. I still insist it was just some seaweed-like material and not some sort of lake monster but she doesn’t want to believe me.
I did enjoy looking at our wild roses this week. I was disappointed that some of our peonies didn’t bloom, but I think the frost at the end of May might have destroyed one of them. I missed their hot pink blooms but I was able to admire the dark pink blooms of the other peonies. Sadly, my knee issue didn’t let me get as many photos of the flowers as I wanted this week but I was able to get a few of the roses at least.
How was your week last week? Do anything interesting, exciting, or simply relaxing? I’d love to know.
I’m so glad you are here and taking part in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up. I know I have met some very fun bloggers that way!
This one cracked me up because her opinion of Yoko Ono’s exhibit is probably would have been mine as well. Never been a fan of Yoko.
After a crazy week last week where I had no time to read and collect posts to share as my highlights, I am glad to be able to share some posts I wanted to highlight this week. I’ve stopped calling the posts I highlight favorites because I like so many of the posts that are shared, I can’t really choose “favorites.”
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago.
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
The end of the homeschooling year could not come fast enough for me this year.
That’s not to say that I have not loved homeschool in many ways but this year has been a tough one in many ways. It was an easier year for Little Miss (my 9-year-old daughter) and me but it has been a bear for me and The Boy (my 17-year-old/junior son).
So on Monday after meeting with our evaluator we all felt a mix of emotions including relief, shell shock, and drained. It wasn’t until later that night that the euphoria of knowing we don’t have to do “formal education” for the next three months set in.
The Boy snatched up a pair of comfy sweatpants, giggled, and ran upstairs to curl up under a blanket and take a nap since it was a chillier summer day.
Little Miss – well, she was just Little Miss. She went to talk to her friends on her phone and play some games with them.
I just fell onto the couch in a slump and pondered my battle wounds.
The week before I had been in the ER (doing okay), fell, and slammed my knee so bad I thought I cracked the kneecap (I’m recovering well and not in constant pain, thank the Lord – literally), taken my mom and dad to a doctor appointment (Dad has a pinched nerve in his back and is in a lot of pain and there aren’t many options right now), dealt with some financial issues and concerns, and cried while I put together my son’s homeschool portfolio because he’s a good kid but I felt like he ignored a lot of the assignments I gave him this year because he has totally checked out of school in general.
He had a difficult time adjusting to the new schedule of getting up early to attend a local vocational school because he is a night owl like me.
He also dealt with some health issues – severe allergies, sickness, and anemia.
So, in some ways, his checking out wasn’t all mental. A lot of it was legit medical reasons, especially the anemia. It was making him so tired and apathetic.
That’s one reason I couldn’t push him as hard as I might have other school years.
Despite feeling frustrated with him/school/whatever, we did get through quite a bit this year and learned a lot about several subjects.
This year we used CTC Math again for math and he also had to do math at the technical school he attended for Building and Construction. He has one more year in Building and Construction and then he will have the certifications he needs to go right into the work force in the construction field, if that is what he ends up wanting to do. Right now he isn’t sure what he wants to do after school and that is okay. He has plenty of time to decide and even if he doesn’t go into a construction related career he will be able to use what he’s learned there for a lifetime.
Broken door in the house? He can fix it.
Lights need to be replaced or rewired. He can do it.
He actually helped my dad rewire and fix lights in his house a few months ago. He also installed lights over the sink at my parents that Dad has been saying he would install for the last 20 years. So, he’s already using what he’s learned in a practical way.
As for science for him for this past year we used an older forensic science textbook. Forensic science was something he expressed an interest in but I’m not sure he really wanted to know that much about it all.
History was literature based so we tried our best to read the books it suggested but, again, it was a rough year of adjustment so that didn’t happen as much as I wanted to.
Little Miss and I studied a wide variety of subjects from a wide variety of sources. We used The Good and The Beautiful for English and Math (in conjunction with CTC Math). We also used one of their unit studies for science. We supplemented English by reading several books together throughout the school year. Some of those books focused on historical situations and some were just for fun.
For history we used Story of Our World, which uses a narrative or storytelling style for lessons.
We also studied several artists this year, watching videos about them or reading books and then attempting to copy their styles or simply doing our own styles while listening to stories about them.
In our state we are required to at least expose our children to music during elementary school so we did that through lessons on various instruments and, of course, I always offer the kids lessons on an instrument if they want to do that. We can find someone in our area to teach them whichever instrument they might want to learn or there are options online.
Our school years are also filled with field trips (we visited a reptile zoo twice this year), library trips, some meetings with homeschool groups (oddly, I was taken off the mailing list for our local homeschooling group so I may look for a new one this upcoming year), 4-H, and Kid’s Club, which is a youth program at a nearby church.
Getting involved with 4-H will be a bit of a game changer this year as it will allow Little Miss to have even more interaction with children of all ages. I used to think that 4-H was only for farming but they offer classes or meetings on so many different sources now. We have attended one horse and pony club meeting through 4-H and there are five more throughout the summer. This week we are attending a week-long art class through them and in July there will be a beginning cooking class.
There is also a first-responder club that we can join through 4-H and in the fall they will be offering a Lego club.
From what I am understanding about the modern 4-H, various clubs are held and some of those clubs meet once a month, some once a week, or some for a limited time to meet hour requirements for various badges.
We aren’t working toward badges, but instead are focused on having more experiences and maybe making more friends and finding activities we are interested in. Okay, by “we” I really mean Little Miss.
It is a “we” in some ways since I am the one taking her to the various classes.
What’s been nice about the art club this week is that she goes in for about four hours and I sit outside and read or work on my books, blog posts, etc.
In past years I have started planning for the next school year as soon as the current school year is over, but this year I am taking some time to decompress before I prepare for next year. I already have ideas about what curriculum I want to use and in some cases, I already have the curriculum.
The Boy has most of the credits he needs to graduate so we will only be doing a couple of subjects and then he will be attending the vocational school.
As always I am looking forward to the new school year even if this school year was a little rough. I love learning with the kids and watching their knowledge grow in a variety of subjects.
This week we are supposed to list ten books that are on our book wish list. Some people are buying for each other but you don’t need to do that. I’m just leaving links for anyone who might want to add these books to their lists too.
This one was a bit hard because I have a lot of books on my wish list but some of them are by authors I haven’t tried yet so I could end up hating them. Ha! For now, though, this is my wish list.
Description: This exclusive authorized edition from the Queen of Mystery gathers together in one magnificent volume all of Agatha Christie’s short stories featuring her beloved intrepid investigator, Miss Marple. It’s an unparalleled compendium of murder, mayhem, mystery, and detection that represents some of the finest short form fiction in the crime fiction field, and is an essential omnibus for Christie fans.
Described by her friend Dolly Bantry as “the typical old maid of fiction,” Miss Marple has lived almost her entire life in the sleepy hamlet of St. Mary Mead. Yet, by observing village life she has gained an unparalleled insight into human nature—and used it to devastating effect. As her friend Sir Henry Clithering, the ex-Commissioner of Scotland Yard, has been heard to say: “She’s just the finest detective God ever made”—and many Agatha Christie fans would agree.)
Why It’s On My Wish List:
I read my first Miss Marple book, the first in the series actually, Murder At The Vicarage last year and enjoyed it. I would love to read a selection of short stories about her so I put this on my wish list.
Miss Jane Marple is such a funny, quirky character. I love how she is just taking everything in and filing it all away so she can just solve it all in the end. All the while, though, everyone else in the book thinks she’s just off her rocker.
Taking a curtain call with a live snake in her wig…
Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green…
Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head…
These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.
For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O’Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare’s plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.
Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.
Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi’s love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.)
Why It’s On My Wish List:
I don’t read a ton of non-fiction but I heard about this book shortly after I saw Judi Dench recite a Shakespeare sonet from memory on the Graham Norton Show. Her relationship with the bard is a deep one and I think if anyone could write about him and his relationship to her life and make it interesting, she could
When a man is poisoned by tea, Charleston shop owner Theodosia Browning must prove her innocence and track down the real killer…before someone else takes their last sip.
Meet Theodosia Browning, owner of Charleston’s beloved Indigo Tea Shop. Patrons love her blend of delicious tea tastings and Southern hospitality. And Theo enjoys the full-bodied flavor of a town steeped in history—and mystery.
It’s tea for two hundred or so at the annual historical homes garden party. Theodosia, as event caterer, is busy serving steaming teas and blackberry scones while guests sing her praises. But the sweet smell of success turns to suspense when an esteemed guest is found dead—his hand clutching an empty teacup. Trouble is brewing, and all eyes are on Theo….
Why It’s On My Wish List:
I can’t remember where this one was recommended, but I believe it was in a cozy mystery forum I am in on Facebook. This looks like a super cozy which is my favorite so I am really looking forward to it.
When a body turns up on the boardwalk outside Everly Swan’s iced tea shop and café, she becomes the number one suspect in a murder case. Can she bag the culprit, prove her innocence, and dish up the real killer before it’s too late?
Hitting All the sweet-tea spots, this series is:
A delightful Tea Shop and Café Culinary Mystery
The ideal cozy beach read
Perfect for fans of Laura Childs and Kate Carlisle
Life hasn’t been so sweet for Everly Swan over the past couple of years, but now she’s back in her seaside hometown of Charm, North Carolina. The proud new owner of Sun, Sand, and Tea―a café right on the beach―Everly thinks that things are finally starting to look up. Until a grouchy customer turns up dead on the boardwalk with a jar of one of her specialty teas lying right next to him! When an autopsy reports poison in his system, things don’t look good for Everly or her tea shop.
As the townspeople of Charm, formerly so welcoming and homey, turn their back on Everly, she fights to dig up clues about who could have had it in for the former town councilman. With the maddeningly handsome Detective Grady Hays discouraging her from uncovering leads and a series of anonymous attacks on Everly and her tea shop, it will take everything she’s got to keep this murder mystery from boiling over.
Why It’s on My Wish List:
I have heard so much about this modern cozy mystery series that I just knew it was time for me to give a try. I have watched YouTube videos on it and seen it recommended several places, including on Facebook, blogs, Instagram and on TikTok during my very brief visit there. I’m looking forward to delving into this one – maybe later this summer.
Description: Partly autobiographical, this is the second title in Judith Kerr’s internationally acclaimed trilogy of books following the life of Anna through war-torn Germany, to London during the Blitz and her return to Berlin to discover the past.
Why It’s On My Wish List:
I read the first book in this middle grade series – When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit – last year and was blown away by the subtle beauty of it. The story is geared toward younger children but there are definitely adult themes within the pages. I am hoping to continue …. ‘s story and find out how her family continued their lives after being forced to leave Germany.
James Herriot’s timeless, heartwarming, and perceptive stories about animals and people have charmed millions of readers around the world, and millions more have watched the popular PBS series All Creatures Great and Small, which is based on his four books. The Wonderful World of James Herriot excerpts the best of his stories to shape the larger tale of his life, his family, and his world, illustrated with evocative drawings and family photographs, including a special introduction written by his two children Rosie Page and Jim Wight.
With astute observations and boundless humor, Herriot captures the spirit of the Yorkshire Dales and of rural communities on the cusp of change, before tractors and machines had taken over and modern medicines and antibiotics transformed veterinary work. Herriot’s unforgettable portraits of farm animals and the people he served as a country veterinarian are moving, dramatic, warm, touching, and profound. This beautiful book is the perfect gift for Herriot readers of all ages.
Why It’s on My Wish List: I have loved reading through the books by James Herriott and watching the two TV series based on his life. Seeing that there is another, very pretty, book with his stories and some photos in it related to him was very exciting to me. I would love to escape into its pages.
Description: No one was more surprised than Andrew Klavan when, at the age of fifty, he found himself about to be baptized. The Great Good Thing tells the soul-searching story of a man born into an age of disbelief who had to abandon everything he thought he knew in order to find his way to the truth.
Best known for his hard-boiled, white-knuckle thrillers and for the movies made from them–among them True Crime and Don’t Say a Word–bestselling author and Edgar Award-winner Klavan was born in a suburban Jewish enclave outside New York City.
He left the faith of his childhood behind to live most of his life as an agnostic until he found himself mulling over the hard questions that so many other believers have asked:
How can I be certain in my faith?
What’s the truth, and how can I know it’s the truth?
How can you think, live, and make choices and judgments day by day if you don’t know for sure?
In The Great Good Thing, Klavan shares that his troubled childhood caused him to live inside the stories in his head and grow up to become an alienated young writer whose disconnection and rage devolved into depression and suicidal breakdown.
In those years, Klavan fought to ignore the insistent call of God, a call glimpsed in a childhood Christmas at the home of a beloved babysitter, in a transcendent moment at his daughter’s birth, and in a snippet of a baseball game broadcast that moved him from the brink of suicide. But more than anything, the call of God existed in stories–the stories Klavan loved to read and the stories he loved to write.
Join Klavan as he discovers the meaning of belief, the importance of asking tough questions, and the power of sharing your story.
Why it’s on my wishlist:
I am very fascinated with the connection between Judaism and Christianity and having heard Klavan speak about this in a short video, I would like to know the full story.
Description: Meet the Moffats. There is Sylvie, the oldest, the cleverest, and-most days at least-the responsible one; Joey, who though only twelve is the man of the house…sometimes; Janey, who has a terrific upside-down way of looking at the world; and Rufus, who may be the littlest but always gets in the biggest trouble. Even the most ordinary Moffat day is packed with extraordinary fun. Only a Moffat could get locked in a bread box all afternoon, or dance with a dog in front of the whole town, or hitch a ride on a boxcar during kindergarten recess. And only a Moffat could turn mistakes and mischief into hilarious one-of-a-kind adventure.
Why It’s on My List:
My daughter and I read The Middle Moffat a couple of months ago and really enjoyed it so now I want to go back to the beginning of the series.
Description: From L.M. Montgomery, author of Anne of Green Gables, comes another beloved classic and an unforgettable story of courage and romance.
Valancy Stirling is 29 and has never been in love. She’s spent her entire life on a quiet little street in an ugly little house and never dared to contradict her domineering mother and her unforgiving aunt. But one day she receives a shocking, life-altering letter―and decides then and there that everything needs to change. For the first time in her life, she does exactly what she wants to and says exactly what she feels.
At first her family thinks she’s gone around the bend. But soon Valancy discovers more surprises and adventure than she ever thought possible. She also finds her one true love and the real-life version of the Blue Castle that she was sure only existed in her dreams…
Why It’s on My List:
I’ve heard a lot about this book and simply wanted to try something by L.M. Montgomery other than the Anne of Green Gables books.
A bold, heartfelt tale of life at Green Gables . . . before Anne: A marvelously entertaining and moving historical novel, set in rural Prince Edward Island in the nineteenth century, that imagines the young life of spinster Marilla Cuthbert, and the choices that will open her life to the possibility of heartbreak—and unimaginable greatness.
Plucky and ambitious, Marilla Cuthbert is thirteen years old when her world is turned upside down. Her beloved mother dies in childbirth, and Marilla suddenly must bear the responsibilities of a farm wife: cooking, sewing, keeping house, and overseeing the day-to-day life of Green Gables with her brother, Matthew and father, Hugh.
In Avonlea—a small, tight-knit farming town on a remote island—life holds few options for farm girls. Her one connection to the wider world is Aunt Elizabeth “Izzy” Johnson, her mother’s sister, who managed to escape from Avonlea to the bustling city of St. Catharines. An opinionated spinster, Aunt Izzy’s talent as a seamstress has allowed her to build a thriving business and make her own way in the world.
Emboldened by her aunt, Marilla dares to venture beyond the safety of Green Gables and discovers new friends and new opportunities. Joining the Ladies Aid Society, she raises funds for an orphanage run by the Sisters of Charity in nearby Nova Scotia that secretly serves as a way station for runaway slaves from America. Her budding romance with John Blythe, the charming son of a neighbor, offers her a possibility of future happiness—Marilla is in no rush to trade one farm life for another. She soon finds herself caught up in the dangerous work of politics, and abolition—jeopardizing all she cherishes, including her bond with her dearest John Blythe. Now Marilla must face a reckoning between her dreams of making a difference in the wider world and the small-town reality of life at Green Gables.
Why It’s on My List
Continuing my love for all things Anne of Green Gables (or most things), I thought this would be a fun book to read, even though it isn’t written by L.M. Montgomery.
Would you rather go camping in a camper (your pick on the style) or stay at a five-star resort? Ummm…of course I would rather stay at a 5-star resort. I am not a camping person. I like the comfort of my own space and I don’t want my own space to include the possibility of being bitten by scary bugs, stung by bees, or eaten by a bear. I love nature and I love being in it, but not necessarily overnight
2. Would you rather watch a movie in the backyard of a good friend or go to your favorite band’s concert with your worst enemy? I would definitely rather watch a movie in the backyard of a good friend. See, as I mentioned above, I like the outside as long as I am not sleeping in it. As for going to the concert of my favorite band with my worst enemy – no thank you. I’d rather listen to my favorite band and not deal with the crowds and the urge to kill said enemy.
3. Would you rather have chub rub because you forgot your protective gear or a big blister on your heel because you’re wearing cute but new shoes? I had to look up the term “chub rub” as I had never heard it before but after looking it up and finding out it is essentially chaffing of body parts, I decided I’d rather have the blister. I could move my foot around or slide the shoes off the heel and still manage to wear them but with the chaffing, there isn’t much you can do until you can get some cream or ointment on it.
4. Would you rather meet your great-great-grandparent or your great-great-grandchild? If I can live longer and meet my great-great-grandchild then I would go with that answer but I truly would like to meet my great-great-grandfather, especially on my dad’s side because I need him to tell me who his dad was and which part of Scotland he came from so I can finally make that connection in our family tree on Ancestry.com
5. Would you rather be hot and sweaty in the humid outdoors or cold and shivering in an overly air-conditioned room? Definitely cold and shivering. I hate being hot and sweaty or hot at all. I would rather be cold and since this question doesn’t say whether we can have a blanket or not I am going to say I’d rather have a blanket in the room with the AC on full blast! Being all chilly makes me feel like it is autumn which is my favorite time of the year because it is perfect for curling up under a blanket with a good book.
6. Would you rather eat a melted candy bar or a piece of cold pizza? I don’t mind cold pizza at all and sometimes I find it tastes quite good if the sauce is good but I’d probably choose the melted candy bar as long as it was pure chocolate. I don’t care if chocolate is all melted and gooey, I’ll eat it anyhow.
7. Would you rather go for a day without access to any social media or emails or would you have to remain on social media all day long? Oh I would rather go for a day without access to social media and email for sure. I’ve mentioned on here before how much social media stresses me out. I use it to promote my books and connect with other writers and some friends and family but a day without it? Bring it on. I know my anxiety level reduces immensely when I am off social media, even if I normally post positive and fun things.
8. Would you rather dress like a person from the 1950s or the 2050s? Marsha, Marsha, Marsha. What were you smoking when you created these questions? *wink* Seriously, 1950s because I have a feeling that outfits in the 2050s are going to get super, super weird.
9. Would you rather eat ice cream covered in pizza sauce or a pizza covered in chocolate sauce? Both of these sound so gross but I am going with number two because Marsha didn’t say the pizza had to be a savory/traditional pizza. Hee. Hee. I’ll make one with chocolate chip cookie dough covered with chocolate sauce.
10. Would you rather fly like Superman or swim like Aquaman?
I would rather fly like Superman because there are all kinds of dangers underwater – sharks and Man O’ War jellyfish (or whatever they are called) and gross seaweed and oil spills. I could get hit with a plane while flying like Superman but I’ll take that chance. I was watching the first Superman movie from the 1970s with Christoper Reeve the other week with The Husband and thinking about what a huge crush I had on Christopher when I was a kid. I would have loved to have flown with him if he had really been Superman – and he kind of was one in many ways.
It’s time for our Sunday morning chat. On Sundays (yes I did post this on Saturday night this week), I ramble about what’s been going on, whatthe rest of the familyand I have been reading and watching, andwhat I’ve been writing. Some weeks I share what I am listening to.
Yesterday I shared in my Saturday blog post that I was in the ER on Monday. I am doing fine now and long story short is my heart felt like it was flipping/skipping for more than 12 hours but because I’ve had this feeling off and on for years (and been checked for it), I delayed going. As it has been in the past, I was told my heart was fine. I don’t know why the skipping feeling was happening and kept happening over and over again and the doctor who was there didn’t either but by Thursday it had stopped for the most part and by Friday it was all the way gone.
I am now thinking it was related to a muscle twitch in my chest caused by – well, who knows. A possible autoimmune condition and just the fact I am over weight (just started an exercise plan and a new way of eating so maybe I strained something)? Who knows.
If you want to read more about my weird and stressful week, you can catch up on that post.
Today, though, I will share that after all of that, I was carrying in groceries yesterday, tripped over a curb in our sidewalk, went flying, and injured my knee. Yesterday I spent half the day with it propped up and frozen veggies on it.
This is where I would like to announce that I will be encasing myself in bubble wrap for the foreseeable future but I really don’t know if that is practical or financially wise.
What I/we’ve been Reading
Currently:
The Real James Herriot by Jim Wight
and
Death At A Scottish Christmas
and
The Women of Wyntons by Donna Mumma (I forgot I had started this one! Whoops! It is for a book tour and it’s good so far.)
So I started the Jim Wight biography of his father Alf (James Herriott is his pen name), but decided it was a little bit dry. I still want to read it but I feel like I’ll need a bit to break up the slower pace, which is why I started Death At a Scottish Christmas by Lucy Connolly. It turns out it was just what I needed to have a little bit of a fun read in addition to more of a educational read.
Just Finished:
I finished The Fast Lane by Sharon Peterson, a fun romantic comedy last week. It comes out June 25. I am behind on reviews, but hope to have one up for this soon. It was a silly, sweet book with a few parts that started to drag but then picked right back up again. I would recommend it for romance fans. I don’t read a lot of romance books but when I do I like Sharon’s, ones by Bethany Turner, and others by Becky Wade.
Soon to be read:
A Line To Kill by Anthony Horowitz
An Assassination on the Agenda by T.E. Kinsey
The Deeds of the Deceitful by Ellery Adams and Tina Radcliff
LIttle Miss and I are reading Return to Gone Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright.
The Boy is reading a War Hammer book that I forgot the name of (he’s at a friend’s house and I don’t want to bug him and ask).
The Husband is reading With A Mind to Kill by Anthony Horowitz
What We watched/are Watching
I watched the last two episodes of the fourth season of All Creatures Great and Small on Thursday and Friday and had a good cry, which was a nice release after the week I had.
I also watched some episodes of The Dick VanDyke Show this week.
Last night The Husband and I watched The Rockford Files.
What I’m Writing
I am working on book three of the Gladwynn Grant Mysteries. I can’t wait to share it with you! I’m having fun!
What I’m Listening to
I am listening to Around the World in 80 Days on Audible. Yes, I’ve been listening to it a long time but I haven’t had a lot of time to sit and listen to it. I am really enjoying it and I would have given up and just read the book except I am really enjoying the narrator.
Photos from Last 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.
The fields in front of my parents’ house were sunlit and golden. Beyond them were the green of the trees and beyond them the blue hills in the distance. White, puffy clouds drifted across a brilliant blue sky.
I stood at the top of the fields and looked at it all and thought about how four days earlier I’d been on my way to the emergency room with what felt like my heart skipping and wondering if I was going home again, yet unable to accept I wouldn’t.
I’ve had my heart skip before over the years. Many times. On this day, though, the skipping wasn’t stopping and had been going on all day, almost non-stop. I can take it happening a few seconds, sure. But all day? That was weirding me out.
It started at 4:30 a.m. and kept me awake for two hours. I got some more sleep, woke up and it was still there.
Still, I hadn’t fainted. I wasn’t even dizzy. Could it really be my heart? I didn’t think so but it was the same feeling I’d had for years when my heart skipped so that must be it.
I had taken my heart rate and it was a little elevated but later it would go back down again. So I would decide again it probably wasn’t my heart but a muscle twitch or reflux or who knows what.
Around 6 at night, I took my blood pressure after we got batteries for the machine. It was way too high. I took it again. And again. Still high.
We were on our way to the emergency room.
The long and short of it is that the tests showed my heart was fine, other than racing faster than it should have been. Yes, my blood pressure was high, but not as high as my machine was saying at home (still very bad, I won’t lie).
It could not have been anxiety. I told the doctor that. I could feel my heart skipping.
The feeling in my chest was so weird – again I’ve had it before and have learned to ignore it. That day I couldn’t ignore it. It wouldn’t stop.
The doctor was kind. He didn’t tell me I was crazy. He didn’t tell me it was “just anxiety.” He told me that while he didn’t feel like I was in immediate danger at all, I should go to a cardiologist and get on some medicine for the blood pressure.
Once again it was apparently anxiety. I’m still not sure, though, since I started to notice I could almost recreate the feeling when I touched or pressed on my upper abdomen.
Now I’m wondering if I was either having stomach issues that were making my chest area feel weird or if it was a muscle twitching. I do not, however, believe it was only anxiety because for most of the day I didn’t feel very anxious, other than the feeling I was having. I tried to carry on my day like any other day and keep my mind off it. It was until we found batteries for the blood pressure machine and I checked it did I start to really get nervous.
I was diagnosed with a type of tachycardia when I was 18 so I’m used to being told to visit cardiologists and I have a couple times before – always being told my heart is okay. I’m used to my heart rate going up when I’m tired or have had too much chocolate. I also found out that being dehydrated will raise a heart rate since they poured two bags of fluids in me to try to get the heart rate to go down when my blood work showed I was slightly dehydrated. In case you are wondering — it didn’t go down until I went home.
So on Thursday, I was at my parents’ thinking about how lucky I was to be sitting there looking out at the fields with the sun pouring on it, even though the heart flipping feeling continued throughout the week.
I started connecting the feeling to when I ate, to when I was sitting hunched over and worried about situations going on with our family, and to when I was, yes, anxious. Still, it wasn’t the same feeling I get when anxious, and the muscles in that area felt tight so I added stretches to the prayers and massaged the muscle and then the real help (besides the prayers) was a CBD rub-on stick.
Sitting and looking out at the field reminded me of Tuesday morning when I’d woke up after the ER visit, looked out in my backyard and saw the wild roses blooming. I hadn’t thought they would bloom yet and there they were – almost like a message to me from God.
I’ve been waiting all year to see those roses again and God knew it.
He gave me my roses in the same way he gave me peace and energy that day I was dealing with what I thought was my heart going all haywire. I was amazingly alert and with it and had energy well into the night when we came home even.
I didn’t think I was having a heart attack. I really thought my heart had gone into an irregular heartbeat. Like Afib.
It’s hard being the person who is always told she has anxiety and then she actually does even when she was convinced she wasn’t dealing with it on a particular day.
Yes, I have legit medical issues – hypothyroidism for one – possible fibromyalgia for two. Maybe one of them went haywire and I’ll follow up with my doctor to see what her ideas are (which probably won’t be much because she is honestly so useless it’s not even funny. It’s why I am looking for a new doctor).
After all that drama on Monday, I took my parents to an orthopedic appointment for both of them on Wednesday and found out my dad has a pinched nerve in his back. That’s been causing him incredible pain and unfortunately, we found out there is not much we can do about it.
On Thursday I was at my parents to celebrate my older (much older) brother’s birthday and it was a very nice, relaxing day. The first relaxing day I’d had all week.
Yesterday was even more relaxing since I didn’t have to go anywhere. Today I had to go get groceries and drop The Boy off at his friend’s house about 40 minutes away. I might be doing that while you’re reading this.
Tomorrow I am hoping for another day to relax, but may end up taking my parents to a family reunion instead since they both need help getting around now.
So that was my week – very little time for relaxing but plenty of time for praying and trusting God to bring me through.
How was your week? I certainly hope it was better than part of mine.
In the small village of Kilbane, County Cork, Ireland, Naomi’s Bistro has always been a warm and welcoming spot to visit with neighbors, enjoy some brown bread and tea, and get the local gossip. Nowadays twenty-two-year-old Siobhán O’Sullivan runs the family bistro named for her mother, along with her five siblings, after the death of their parents in a car crash almost a year ago.
One morning, as they’re opening the bistro, they discover a man seated at a table, dressed in a suit as if for his own funeral, a pair of hot pink barber scissors protruding from his chest.
MY THOUGHTS: This was a fun introduction to what promises to be an even more fun series. So far there are 10 books in the series. This is a very authentic Irish book written with Irish tone, accents, and history. I loved the main character, Siobhan (shuh-vawn) O’Sullivan, and her five siblings. Together they are known as the O’Sullivan Six in their small town.
Siobhan is a headstrong, redhead who has had an extremely rough year. She has to find the killer because a family member is being blamed for the death of the man found at their bistro. Combine her determination with a bit of romance between her and the local garda (police) and you have the perfect combination for a mystery in my mind.
*Heads up to those who like their cozy mysteries squeaky clean: while it has many cozy mystery elements there is some swearing, including the big ones that somehow sound nicer when written/spelled in an Irish accent.
I’m looking forward to checking out the rest of the books in the series.
I’m so glad you are here and taking part in our weekly link-up of family-friendly, fun, educational, interesting, crafty, fashionable, and whatever else posts. I hope you’ll tell your followers about our post (feel free to copy and paste the graphic) and visit the blogs in the link-up. I know I have met some very fun bloggers that way!
Hello, everyone! This has been a crazy week for me with some health concerns for me and some for my parents. We are all doing well at this point but I had absolutely no time to choose any posts to highlight this week. I will be back next week with highlights, though!
For now, here are our most clicked posts for this week, and, oh my word, we had a seven-way tie!
Now it is your turn to link up your favorite posts. They can be fashion, lifestyle, DIY, food, etc. All we ask is that they be family-friendly. You can link up posts from last week or even from years ago.
Also, please take the time to visit the other blogs on the link-up and meet some new bloggers!
