Sunday Bookends: Miss Marple, Little Women (yes, still!), Lark Rise To Candleford and the cold weather returns

January 28, 2024January 28, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 10 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, Deb at Readerbuzz, and Kathyrn at The Book Date.

What’s Been Occurring

I rambled about last week in yesterday’s Saturday Afternoon Chat post if you would like to catch up there. I will mention that today our weather doesn’t know what it wants to do as it is snowing and raining and switching back and forth. The weather has been warm this week so the ground isn’t as cold as it could be. It remains to see how much of the stuff will actually stick

What I/we’ve been Reading

Currently Reading:

Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott and Sisterchicks Do The Hula by Robin Jones Gunn

Little Women is relaxing and enjoyable and I will have it done this week. I’ve been reading it very, very slow and only a chapter or two a day, in case you’re wondering why I keep saying I’m STILL reading it. (Since the end of November! Ha!). This week I’m just going to read it through and finish it up so I can move to another classic – which one I don’t know yet.

The Sisterchicks book is just a light, fun read that is a very nice distraction from life. I’m reading through it quickly so I will probably have it done this week as well.

Recently Finished:

Dysfunction Junction by Robin W. Pearson

Up Next or Soon:

The Cat Who Went Into The Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun

Hell is Empty by Craig Johnson

The Bungalow Mystery (A Nancy Drew Mystery) by Carolyn Keene

Little Miss and I are reading: The Borrowers by Mary Norton and The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz

The Boy is reading: Lost Names: Stories from a Korean Boyhood by Richard Kim

The Husband is reading: Fury by Salaman Rushdie

What We watched/are Watching

Yesterday I started Agatha Christie’s Marple, the BBC show that ran from 2004 to 2013 and was based on the Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie. I have never wanted to watch anyone as Miss Marple other than Joan Hickson but after someone mentioned the show to me on Instagram, I decided to give it a try since The Husband had to work and the kids were doing other things.

There were so many actors in Season 1 Episode 3 who I recognized from other shows. The episodes, like the episodes from the Miss Marple series, were like mini-movies at 90 minutes each. Episode 3 was called What Mrs. McGillicuddy Saw but was based on the novel 4.50 from Paddington.

The one actress I was most surprised to see in his episode was Amanda Holden who I’ve only seen as a judge on Britain’s Got Talent. I always wondered what the woman actually did to land her on that show as a judge. I had no idea she was an actual actress. I thought she was a talking head on a news show in addition to being a judge.

She wasn’t too bad of an actress but I kept waiting for her to say, “That was lovely. Good job.” And push the golden buzzer.

I also recognized Michale Landes who played an American in the British sitcom Miranda. When I saw him in that show, I thought he was British doing a horrible American accent. I looked him up while watching this because he was playing an American again and it turns out he has a horrible American accent despite being an American.

He has been acting since the late 1980s and has been on several shows, often as secondary or one-off characters.

He was really the weak link in this episode.

After I watched Marple, I watched a couple episodes of Lark Rise To Candleford. I had started to watch this show years ago but only made it to season three, I’m not sure why. I think there was some cast change I didn’t like. I don’t remember a lot of it so I am rewatching it and plan to go through all four seasons.

It’s a very nice distraction from life.

This upcoming week I will be watching Miss Austen Regrets for our last movie for Jane Austen January. The link up for Jane Austen January will still be up until Saturday if you want to add a post.

What I’m Writing

This week I worked on Cassie, which comes out in August of 2024. On the blog I shared:

What I’m Listening to

A Tale of Two Cities on Audible

New audible books I hope to listen to soon:

Moonflower Murders by Anthony Horowitz, The Jane Austen Collection by Jane Austen and In This Mountain by Jan Karon.

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

E mma Film by Joy’s Book Blog

I love it when Joy writes about the real-life places you can visit in the Jane Austen movies.

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.

Saturday Afternoon Chat January 27: warmer temps (for a bit anyhow), relaxing with Miss Marple, and kids should be able to play and get messy

January 27, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 8 Comments

I really enjoy our Saturday Afternoon Chats. I feel like I am talking to my friends – even if I can’t see most of you.’

I had considered dropping this weekly feature and rolling it into my Sunday Bookends but that would make that post very long and rambling so I’ve decided to ramble here on Saturdays instead. Ha.

The fire is not burning in my woodstove this weekend as we are in a warm-up after the horrible cold we experienced last week (the week before this past week I mean) and last weekend.

Yesterday it was 60 degrees in the little village I was visiting a friend in and our kids were outside playing barefoot in her yard..

Almost eight days of arctic and bitter cold are behind us for now and we can finally go about our business without worrying about our fingers and noses being frozen and asthma attacks being triggered.

We do, however, have snow and ice coming tomorrow so winter is not done with us yet.

Still, those nice warm temps and the sunshine were very welcome yesterday as Little Miss and I drove 40 minutes South to hang out with our friends.

The family has three cats and three dogs and the youngest dog is just a couple of months old, tiny, and very cute.

The youngest cat is also pregnant.

So in between cats and dogs running in and out of the house, there were also children running in and out of the house and onto the trampoline behind their house, an activity Little Miss hasn’t been able to do for a few months now. In other words, it was a very nice and fun day.

While we were chatting my friend and I spoke about parents who like their children to remain clean and not play in the mud and dirt too much. That concept is very foreign to us. Our children love to get messy, run in the mud and climb trees or play in creeks, or even wrestle at times.

The idea that they couldn’t do those things because we don’t want their clothes to get messy is weird to us.

That’s why I buy used or cheaper clothes – because I know my kid is going to roll down a hill or play in a pile of mud – okay, well, maybe not the mud. She’s always been a bit resistant to getting herself too muddy, but she was still running barefoot through our friends’ yard yesterday and I didn’t even think twice about it.

The drive back to our house was a little stressful because we have the headlight to replace the headlight that was damaged in October when we hit a deer but haven’t had time to set up an appointment with a mechanic to have it replaced. I tried to leave our friends’ house before it got dark but that didn’t happen so I drove with my hands tightly gripping the steering wheel and trying to see the road in front of me with a busted headlight that was pointing up toward the top of the trees and the other one trying to light the road on its little own.

I already have horrid night vision so this added to the stress of night driving for me. There was a deer along the road at one point and I put the brakes on to see what she was going to do. She just stared at me with her buddies in the woods behind her so I laid on the horn and she and her friends took off, away from the road.

I was so grateful when we made it home. It felt like a much longer drive than it would have been if it had been light out. I made myself some dinner (The Boy had already eaten and Little Miss was snacking on these little cans of tuna fish salad that she likes), grabbed a blanket, curled up under it and just relaxed the rest of the night, with the plan not to leave my house again until at least Sunday.

Today I am watching Agatha Christie’s Marple, the series based on the Miss Marple books by Agatha Christie, that ran from 2004 to 2013. I will talk about that more in tomorrow’s Sunday Bookends post.

I have that blanket over my lap again and I’m sipping hot peppermint tea and munching on French fries cooked in the air fryer.

I could have cooked the fries in my oven, though, since my husband fixed it last week after a year of our oven not working. We had an idea of what was wrong with it but it would have cost $200 to have the repairman come so we kept putting off getting it fixed. We have an air fryer, a stove, and an Instapot that we can use to cook anyhow so we didn’t miss it too much. I use the stove and Instapot more than the oven anyhow. It turned out that the part for it was only $30 but neither of us are very mechanical and didn’t want to bother my dad to help us.

I don’t know if you’ve ever seen the episode of Little House on the Prairie where Pa is trying to buy a new glass window for the cabin, but in the episode the modern glass windowpane repeatedly gets broken and he has to keep going back to the store for a new one. It’s a running gag throughout the whole episode. I don’t remember all the ways he breaks it but I think one time he drops it and another time Laura is upset and climbs into the back of the wagon and steps on it. I think someone in town runs into it or hits it with a broom handle too.

In the end, Pa gives up and just puts up the old-fashioned glass paned window.

I thought that might be like what would happen with us after The Husband ordered the part, showed it to me so I could see how fragile the part (an ignitor) was, returned to the kitchen, sat it on the tabletop, and then it rolled off and broke. He had to order a replacement and start all over again. Luckily the second time was the charm and he didn’t break it. He replaced it on Monday night and was very proud of himself since he isn’t someone who often does house repairs.

Tuesday night I made some breaded chicken in the oven, made waffles in our new waffle maker, and tried chicken and waffles.

The Boy had started suggesting we try to make chicken and waffles since The Husband picked up the waffle maker in December.

My recipe didn’t come out exactly like real chicken and waffles, but everyone said it was pretty good. I’m trying to cut out gluten so I just ate the chicken with some peas (honestly because I had already had gluten earlier in the day. I’m not doing great at the no-gluten thing in other words.).

I’m looking forward to relearning recipes that I can cook in the oven.

We usually visit my parents on Sunday afternoons but we might have to skip it tomorrow since we are supposed to get a snow and ice mixture.

If we stay home, The Husband and I hope to try out the mystery show Vera and maybe some more Marple. We haven’t had a lot of time to watch things together because he has been working a lot lately.

The rest of today will be me watching more Marple, maybe some more Lark Rise to Candleford, reading and hopefully finishing Little Women (after leisurely reading it for a couple of months I now hope to finish it and move on to some other classics. I’ve been enjoying it). I will be drawing some with Little Miss too. She already has the sketch paper and markers all set up.

I want to sit down at least once a week for an hour with her from now on and just draw with her and talk about art.

She really loves art and has since she was a toddler. Her current sketching obsession is dragons. I haven’t really sketched in years so I try to draw people when we sit down to draw and then I notice that the proportions are off and crumple it up and throw it away.

It’s nice to take some time, though, even an hour or so, to step away from social media and my computer and use my brain for something other than trying to figure out how to promote my books or write them in the first place.

I think this week we will draw and listen to an audiobook or a story from Adventures in Odyssey and completely remove ourselves from the rest of the world, so to speak. What’s nice is that our art time can count toward our homeschool lessons for the week.

How was your week last week? Do anything fun or exciting or just relaxing? I’d love to know.

Weekly Traffic Jam Reboot

January 25, 2024January 25, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 4 Comments

Welcome to another Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot hosted by Marsha in the Middle, Melynda from Scratch Made Food & DYI Homemade Household, Sue from Women Living Well After 50, and me. Look for the link up to go live on Thursdays at 9:30pm EDT.

The cold weather finally went away and gave way to warmer temperatures this week.

It was so nice to be able to go outside and not feel my muscles and face aching from the cold.

Ice and snow still fell on Tuesday even as the temperatures rose.

By Wednesday it was all rain and we were supposed to get up to two inches but luckily we didn’t!

As I start this post, I am watching Emma for the post I shared this morning for Jane Austen January.

We only have one more movie left to watch for next week – Miss Austen Regrets.

Our link-up for anything about Jane Austen is still currently open on our blogs – at the top of the page under Jane Austen January.

Now for our most clicked most this week. We had a three-way tie!

The Trauma Effect by Zetta Thomelin by Is This Mutton

Mid-January Thrift by Thrifting Wonderland

and

Quiet Moments Tablescape by Thrifting Wonderland

And for my three favorite posts:

Favorite TV Shows Growing Up in the ‘80s and early ‘90s by My Slices of Life

I loved this nostalgic post about TV sitcoms and dramas from the 1980s and early 1990s. I watched a lot of the shows mentioned in the post and have good memories of those days.

My Father’s World Kindergarten: W is for Water by My Full Hands and Heart

I love reading about what other parents are doing to educate their children, either through homeschool or other means. I’ve read good things about My Father’s World too.

A Walk Down Church Street in Marietta, GA by Chez Mireille Fashion Travel Mom

I loved these photos of a walk down an area with historic homes in this part of Marietta, Georgia. The photos were pretty and the post was relaxing.

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!

Jane Austen January: Emma (1996 Theatrical version)

January 25, 2024January 24, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 13 Comments

This month Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are watching movie adaptations of Jane Austen’s books for Jane Austen January. We are also offering a link-up for anyone who wants to discuss the movies, or anything else Jane-related, on their blogs.

I feel like Erin and I batted maybe not zero but around five this week by choosing to watch Emma. Both of our choices really weren’t very good and both of us agreed we didn’t want to see the 2020 version at all. We did want to watch the 2009 BBC miniseries but it would have been about four hours long. It might have been worth it to not to have to see the fifteen minutes of the 1996 televised version that I had to suffer through, however.

The 2009 version stars Romola Garai and to me it is very well done. Mr. Knightly is a mix of charming and playful, Emma is still a brat but shows a transformation more so than in the Paltrow version, and the characters are better developed. Of course, they had time to develop characters since they had two hours more than the other movies.

(Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that I have not read the book so I can’t say if any of the movies keep in line with the book or not.)

So, as I mentioned, Erin and I both abandoned our first choice of the 1996 televised movie with Kate Beckinsal after only about 15 minutes for me (maybe less for Erin. Ha.)

My word that version was so dull – in the acting and in their outfits. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie where everyone wore brown and white against a set of more brown and white. Ew.

Now, as for our decision to shift our choice to the 1996 big screen version with Gwyneth Paltrow, I want to say up front that I am not always a fan of Americans doing British accents – especially in period pieces.

I don’t know what that is about but I guess it takes me completely out of a story knowing that the actress is really from California and not Sussex. It seems less refined somehow, which is funny since people from Sussex aren’t necessarily all refined either.

I have also been taken out of a story when a British actor is doing a Southern accent and I know there isn’t one Southern thing about him.

With that one complaint about Gwenyth not actually being British behind us, lets get to the rest of the movie.

First, the story of Emma.

Emma is about Emma Woodhouse, a young woman who is constantly meddling in the love lives of other people. She lives with her hypochondriac father and they are both often visited by their good friend Mr. Knightly.

Emma’s meddling sometimes is successful and leads to marriage, but other times, it leads to heartache, confusion, and people being hurt. It also keeps Emma from focusing on her own love life, which is beneficial to her because she doesn’t have to commit but hurtful to the men who fall for her.

Emma uses various schemes and tactics to keep some couples apart and bring other people together. She’s actually very manipulative and it takes most of the story and her being told by Mr. Knightly – a man who is a close friend of the family and almost like a brother to her – that her schemes are ruining people’s lives.

Like Pride and Prejudice, this movie had a lovely dance scene between Emma and her friend, Mr. Knightly. One of those where their attention is on each other and no one else. It was a lovely scene.

Unlike Pride and Prejudice (2005) the scenery isn’t as pretty in this movie to me. For example, at one point Emma and Mr. Knightly are shooting arrows and the pond behind them is covered in algae. The director couldn’t have set the shot up better to remove that from the background or had the body of water treated? I felt completely shallow, but I couldn’t even pay attention to the argument happening between the two because I was staring at the dirty, green water.

The movie was directed by Douglas McGrath.

He wanted Gwyneth Paltrow, according to Wikipedia, because, “she did a perfect Texas accent. I know that wouldn’t recommend her to most people. I grew up in Texas, and I have never heard an actor or actress not from Texas sound remotely like a real Texan. I knew she had theater training, so she could carry herself.”

Um..okay? I guess that’s a good reason to cast her?

Anyhow, it did not surprise me at all that Harvey Weinstein the co-chairman of Miramax at the time gave the movie the greenlight but said Gwenyth had to be in the movie The Pallbearer first.

She then had a month to herself while recovering from wisdom-tooth surgery to research for the part by studying horsemanship, dancing, singing, archery, and dialect.

If you don’t know the story behind Weinstein, you can look it up online but needless to say he was a big jerk who manipulated and physically attacked women but also controlled actors and actresses careers.

I thought it was interesting to read that the characters of Mrs. Bates and Miss Bates in the movie were played by an actual mother and daughter – Phyllida Law and Sophie Thompson.

Thompson revealed that it was a coincidence that she and her mother were cast alongside each other, as the casting director had their names on separate lists. She was actually one of the funnier and more refreshing characters to me.

I had to giggle when I saw Ewan McGregor as Frank Churchill and apparently, he cringes and giggles a bit as well for the same reason – his hair.

He told The Guardian that he chose to star in Emma because he thought it would be something different from his previous role in Trainspotting (a movie about a heroin addict).

“My decision-making was wrong,” he said in the interview. “It’s the only time I’ve done that. And I learnt from it, you know. So I’m glad of that – because it was early on and I learnt my lesson. It’s a good film, Emma, but I’m just… not very good in it. I’m not helped because I’m also wearing the world’s worst wig. It’s quite a laugh, checking that wig out.”

When I looked online for reviews of this movie, I found that most people generally liked it, including Roger Ebert who called it “a delightful film–second only to “Persuasion” among the modern Austen movies, and funnier, if not so insightful.”

Back in 1996, though, some college students called the film obnoxious. I had to laugh at the review of the review by Ebert when he wrote that the young student’s review was “posted on the Internet.” Ah, the early days of the Internet.

The college student wrote: “a parade of 15 or 20 or 8 billion supporting characters waltzes through the scenes. Each is called Mister or Miss or Mrs. Something, and each of them looks and acts exactly the same (obnoxious).”

I don’t know if I agree that the movie was that bad, or that there were really that many characters to keep track of.

I do agree that some of them were obnoxious – including Emma herself but we also have to remember that Emma was supposed to be young (21) and still learning about herself and how not to meddle in the lives of other people.

Ken Eisner, writing for Variety, said of Gwyneth that she shone “brightly as Jane Austen’s most endearing character, the disastrously self-assured matchmaker Emma Woodhouse. A fine cast, speedy pacing and playful direction make this a solid contender for the Austen sweepstakes.”

Ebert also liked Gwyneth in the role, writing, “Gwyneth Paltrow sparkles in the title role, as young Miss Woodhouse, who wants to play God in her own little patch of England. You can see her eyes working the room, speculating on whose lives she can improve. “

If you want to read about the different versions of the Emma adaptations yourself, you can see some comparisons at the following sites:

https://scottcahan.com/2020/06/27/emma-movies-which-is-the-best/

https://screenrant.com/emma-movies-adaptations-ranked-worst-best/

https://www.literarytraveler.com/articles/celebrating-the-fauxscars-why-the-2020-emma-outshines-the-1996-adaptation/

or watch this video:

or this one:

This was the last of our book adaptations. Next week we will be watching Miss Austen Regrets, which focuses on the life of Jane Austen.

Erin didn’t get a chance to write about Emma today as she isn’t feeling well, but if you want to share your thoughts on the movie(s) or book Emma, or anything else related to Jane Austen, you can add a link to our link-up HERE.

Have you seen this version of Emma? Or the 1996 television version?

Let me know in the comments.

Books I want to read for the remainder of the winter

January 24, 2024January 23, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 10 Comments

Winter can last a long time in Northern Pennsylvania, which is why choosing what I want to read for the rest of winter here means I am choosing books for the rest of January, all of February, and a good portion of March. It has even been known to snow in April and the first week of May here, but I still consider the end of March and all of April to be spring, so that will require a new list.

I always list a lot of books I plan to read, or want to read, knowing full well I will not get them all read and will probably become distracted in the middle by another read.

For example, this week I am reading Little Women and finished another book I’d been reading for a bit but I got distracted by a lighter read called Sisterchicks Do the Hula by Robin Jones Gunn. After finishing the one book, I needed something lighter. Little Women is lighter but I like to read that book before bed as my nightly routine. I’m a bit of a creature of habit sometimes. I would, however, like to finish Little Women since I’ve been reading it leisurely since the end of November, so I will probably start reading it at other times as well. Anytime I need a bit of downtime and breather from life, I think.

Anyhow, enough rambling. Here are the books on my winter to be read list (subject to change):

The Bungalow Mystery and The Mystery At Lilac Inn (Nancy Drew Mysteries) by Carolyn Keene.

These two came together in one volume from Thriftbooks. I enjoy disappearing into these light, sometimes silly mysteries as a way to escape my worries.

Can I tell you how stupid I felt this week when I read that these books were written by several authors, just like the Hardy Boys? Talk about a facepalm moment. I had heard that years ago and then completely forgot that Carolyn Keene was simply a pen name.

Well, it doesn’t really matter. These classics are still a nice escape.

The Cat Who Went Into The Closet by Lillian Jackson Braun.

Braun’s books are a comfort read for me. I’ve already started this one and will probably continue it this week or next since I did get distracted by the fun Sisterchicks book. It will be a perfect read for the darkness of February – the month that seems like it will never end even though it is shorter than other months of the year.

Blessed Is the Busybody by Emilie Richards

This is a cozy mystery I picked up. It looked like it might have some faith elements but after reading part of Chapter 1 I see that the main character is a member of a Unitarian Universalist church and . . . well, I won’t comment here but that’s probably not the type of faith book I’m looking for. I don’t think? Still, most cozy mysteries I pick up have been clean and fun so I’m sure this one will be too.

I doubt it will be preachy because most cozy mysteries I’ve read aren’t, even if they are in the Christian fiction category. I only picked up one that went off about breast cancer and the importance of getting checked for a few pages, which totally threw me off since I read books to escape and this book read like a non-fiction book. I put that one aside and haven’t read anything by that author since, just as a way to protect myself from finding non-fiction subjects shoved at me in my fiction.

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

My son and I started this classic in the fall, became very bored and disenchanted and set it aside but now I am listening to it on Audible and it is making more sense. I am going to try to finish it and then he and I will “read it” (probably listen to it) again in March or April as part of his English course. This way I’ll have more of an idea of what is happening and can explain it to him instead of us both wandering around in the dark looking for a clue.

A Taste of Fame by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson

This is a Christian fiction/cozy mystery and is part of a series of books. I’ve never read any books from these authors so I’m looking forward to seeing if the book is good or not.

Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie

I have been saying I would read this book for the last two years and I am determined to do it this year. This is a collection of stories from Agatha, I believe.

Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson

I didn’t read one Longmire Mystery book last year so I hope to remedy that this year. Johnson’s books are pretty dark but also have some humor in them. Still, the darkness is what often keeps me away from them in winter (when I deal with some seasonal depression but better than in the past) so I will probably read this one toward the end of the winter.

Do The New You by Steven Furtick

I’ve already started this book and hope to continue reading it and I know I’ll be reading it with my online Bible study group through February.

Under the Magnolias by T.I. Lowe

I heard about this book when it first came out a couple of years ago and I’m finally deciding to tackle it now. This may end up getting pushed into the spring, though.

Have you read any of these books? What did you think of them if you did?

Faithfully Thinking: In full disclosure, I do not think I can love Judas.

January 23, 2024January 23, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments

I read a quote recently about the real test of the Christian faith is not if we love Jesus but if we can love Judas.

Ouch.

That’s something I had never really thought about.

Loving Judas.

Have you ever thought about loving the man who betrayed Jesus to the Romans and whose actions led him to his death?

I mean, if he hadn’t done that then Jesus wouldn’t have been led to the cross and died there for our sins, right?

Or would God have found another way?

Sometimes I wonder why God couldn’t have found another way.

Was it God’s plan or Judas’s free will that led him to do what he did? God gave him free will but he also knows the future so he allowed Judas to condemn himself to hell – I have to be honest that this kept me awake last night because I didn’t like the idea that a man was allowed to go to hell to complete God’s plan.

This is how my brain worked as I thought about it all: Did he walk himself to his doom and direct path to hell or did God help him along?

It is a twisting and turning journey in my brain that I don’t want to take. I’ll never really know no matter how many times I think about it anyhow. Not until Jesus calls me home. Then it will be one of the first questions I ask him.

This past week I thought about who the Judas are in my life. Or who were.

The people who did things to me or those I loved that were so horrible I can’t imagine how to forgive them. I’ve actually come a long way in forgiving those who did things to me or maybe those who were rude and dismissive to family members of mine.

But those who sexually and mentally abused children I know?

To be honest and open — I can’t say that I’ve been able to forgive that person. Not even a little bit. And I don’t know how I ever will. In the Bible it says we must forgive those who sin against us, but how? How do you forgive the monsters in the world? That, to me, is only a forgiveness God can give because as humans it’s too big of a task.

As soon as I read that question a few months ago about loving Judas two people came into my mind. One I’ve slowly been able to forgive but might never fully trust again. The other? I see only red when I think of them.

I wish I could write here, right now, that I thought to myself about that one person when I read that quote, “Yes, I can love the Judas in my life because God has called me to,” but I didn’t think that. Not at all. I thought, “Oof..” like I’d been punched in the gut. I thought “Wow. What a question.”

But at no time did I think, “Yes, Lord, I can.”

Because I can’t.

Not now, and without Jesus supernaturally hallowing me out and replacing my humanness with his holiness, I don’t see how I ever can.

Jesus loved Judas therefore he can love even us when we are at our lowest and darkest.

This is something I’ve read and heard before and the next question is if he could love the real Judas, can I love the real Judas in my life?

For now, all I can say is, “I’ll keep praying about it.”

Because at this point, at least in one case, – even though the Bible says God can not forgive us if we do not forgive others – the answer is no.

As Thomas who asked to be helped with his unbelief, I am asking God to help me with seeing others as he sees them. Maybe one day I will.

Sunday Bookends: Cold temps, a winter booklist, and lots of shows to watch

January 21, 2024January 20, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 16 Comments

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

What’s Been Occurring

Yesterday in my Saturday Afternoon Chat I wrote about how cold it has been here, as it has been across much of the country. I mentioned that I had mainly been staying at home for the most part and didn’t really want to go anywhere until Sunday when I usually have lunch with my parents. I did decide to go to their house yesterday, though, on the coldest day of the year, because I wanted to help my mom get back into the house after she and my dad attended a dinner after the funeral of a friend.

Mom is getting older but also dealing with fibromyalgia and some issues with her shoulders.

She did very well despite the 13-degree temps with a wind chill of -2 or -4, not sure because I stopped looking at the weather app because it was depressing, but she was very tired when she came back. We sat her in her chair, covered her with a blanket, gave her some chamomile tea and she fell promptly fell asleep. In her defense, she’d been up quite early and the cold really takes it out of her.

Before my parents came back from the dinner they’d gone to Little Miss and I vacuumed and cleaned up some messes. My mom called when they stopped at the Dollar General and updated me on the funeral and dinner, thinking I was still at home. We kept it a surprise and I wish I had recorded the looks on their faces when I walked to the car to help Mom get in the house and they tried to figure out how I’d gotten to the house so quickly.

We hadn’t seen them in person in a couple of weeks, thanks to the weather, so it was nice to visit for the afternoon.

What I/we’ve Been Reading

Currently Reading:

Right now I am reading Dysfunction Junction by Robin W. Pearson and Little Women. Yes, still. Dysfunction Junction is a bit of a “heavier” read in some ways and Little Women is a nice and leisurely read. Plus I’ve been reading books to Little Miss during the day and at night, which takes up some of my reading time.

Recently Finished:

Up Next or Soon:

The Cat Who Went Into The Closet by Lilian Jackson Braun.

Planned reads for the rest of winter:

The Bungalow Mystery and The Mystery At Lilac Inn (Nancy Drew Mysteries) by Carolyn Keene.

Blessed Is the Busybody by Emilie Richards

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

A Taste of Fame by Linda Evans Shepherd and Eva Marie Everson

Midwinter Murder by Agatha Christie

Hell Is Empty by Craig Johnson

Do The New You by Steven Furtick

Under the Magnolias by T.I. Lowe

Little Miss and I are reading The Borrowers at night or Paddington Goes To Town.

The Husband has been reading John Connolly books.

The Boy is reading Lost Names: Tales of a Korean Boyhood by Richard Kim for history and English for homeschool and listening to The Witcher.

What We watched/are Watching

Yesterday I watched a video with Darling Desi on YouTube when she visited Powell’s City of Books, the largest bookstore in the country and I found myself living vicariously through her, imagining I’d be overstimulated in a bookstore so large but also in a type of readers heaven.

Last weekend I watched Pride and Prejudice to write about it with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs for our Jane Austen January. You can read her impression of it HERE.

I was so excited this week to see that the new season of All Creatures Great and Small is available on Amazon so I watched the first episode. The Husband also told me that the fourth season of Miss Scarlet and the Duke is available, or will be soon, but I am still in season three so that will have to wait.

I also watched a couple of episodes of Northern Exposure and then watched them again with The Boy who at first told me he didn’t want to watch anymore because he couldn’t stand the main character. I thought we were done after the first episode but after a few minutes of sitting there he said, “So are we watching another one or what?”

Both of us were bewildered by episode two of the first season and the third episode irritated me because Joel and Maggie were already flirting and, first of all, they haven’t known each other very long and, two, they are both in relationships. I’ll still keep watching because the quirky characters are interesting.

The Husband and I also watched an episode of CB Strike and an episode of The Manor Born, which I watched throughout the week because it is a comfort watch for me.

Last night we watched Treasure Planet with the kids. It came out in 2002 and I had seen it but years ago and forgotten all about it.

What I’m Writing

This week I made some definite progress on Cassie, a book that will release in August with a multi-author project.

It is not available for pre-order yet but I will keep you updated.

I have been starting a lot of blog posts but not finishing them. Hopefully, I’ll have more of them done and shared this week.

What I’m Listening to

I haven’t been listening to as much music this week but I have been listening to old Jack Benny episodes before bed.

Photos from Last Week

Blog Posts I Enjoyed This Past Week

I’ve been trying to read more posts from some of my favorite blogs recently and here are a few of my favorite posts:

Sounds of Silence by A New Lens

I enjoyed this reminder to find the time to sit in silence with our savior instead of just bringing requests to him throughout our day.

This is a nice story from Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian about a quick, simple gesture that made his day.

This was such a touching post from Alicia at For His Purpose about sitting with her ill grandmother who is currently in hospice care.

In this post, Becoming His Tapestry wrote about the cold temps, snow, and how it relates to the sacrifice of God of his son for us.

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.

Saturday Afternoon Chat: Cold weather, a warm fire, and making myself sit down and read.

January 20, 2024January 19, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 9 Comments

The fire is still burning away today in our woodstove, orange and yellow merging together in a cacophony of raging warmth to chase away the insanely bitter cold outside. All week the family has been stuck inside because of the fall in the thermometer and the additional lower temperature brought by the windchill.

The fun of playing in fallen snow by the youngest was stolen by the cold. She lasted about ten minutes outside before she announced she couldn’t feel her face, her fingers, or her toes, even with all her thick winter gear on.

Zooma the Wonder Dog was quite depressed that the ground was white with snow but she and her favorite playmate weren’t out, rolling in it, tossing it in the air, and catching snowballs.

Instead, we had to find inside activities to do. I tried to read and work on my book. Little Miss was able to talk to her friends on the phone and play online games with them. The cats slept almost all day every day, especially when the fire was roaring. The Boy played some video games, did some homework and helped bring in wood to keep the fire going.

He also walked to the neighbor’s house one day and helped clean the snow off her steps and car. He only had one day of school again this week. He attends the morning session of a vocational school and if the local school district calls for a two-hour delay then the morning session is canceled.

He has been enjoying his time off and is a bit disappointed that the weather looks better next week and he’ll have to go back. We encouraged him to take a building and construction course at the local trade school as part of his education but so far it is not his favorite thing to do. He might change his course next year or try something else, but at least he has some experience and knows more what he doesn’t want to do when he gets out of school.

I’ve been missing going to my parents but either our driveway was slippery or it was super cold outside. I mentioned in the Sunday Bookends last week that I had tried to go to my parents on Sunday afternoon but there were tree branches in the road and ice forming as the temperatures dropped as we tried to drive there so I turned around. It will still be cold this Saturday but it shouldn’t be slippery or windy so we will be heading there for lunch and maybe a movie and a game of cards.

A couple of days this week I forced myself to sit down in front of our woodstove with a book to feel the warmth and enjoy some quiet time. I don’t sit down and just read like I want to very often so I have to say to myself, “No. You’re not going to pick up the room. You’re not going to wash dishes. You’re not going to work on your book or scroll through Instagram. You’re going to sit on this floor and read this book and lose yourself in it.”

It’s like I feel like it is wrong to just be sitting and reading but really, there are times we need to do that. We need to sit and take even 15 minutes to ourselves to settle our brains and calm our souls. We can either read a book we like, read the Bible, read a verse, listen to an encouraging sermon, worship music, or journal but we need to take that time for ourselves more than most of us do.

I don’t know why we don’t take the time we should for ourselves but I say this year work to feel less guilt when you sit in some quiet for yourself. I know that’s a goal for me.

I had to laugh the one night because both of my kids kept talking to me as I tried to read, as if I wasn’t sitting there, on the floor, with a physical book opened, clearly reading.

“Oh. You’re trying to read, aren’t you?” asked my son.

“No. No. I’m just holding this book to make myself look smarter,” is what I could have said, but what I really said was, “Yes, but it is okay. I like to talk to you.”

And I do like to talk to him because soon he will be grown up and out of the house and I won’t have as many opportunities to talk to him. He and I are both night owls who open up at night. I am not as much of a night owl as I used to be because I am old and start to fade by 11. If I get a second wind, though, I’m often up until 1 a.m. reading. After 11 is the only quiet time I get to read unless I wake up early to do so instead.

The Boy might not talk to me all day but when midnight hits that’s when he wants to talk so that’s when we talk. I’m fine with it unless I’m fading and feel guilty because I am not really listening.

How was the weather where you were this week? I know most of the United States was thrown into an arctic freeze and I think most of us will be out of it next week.

Have you been trying any new teas?

This week I drank my regular tea and some hot cocoa. I have tried a new probiotic tea and that was okay. What I hope to get some more of soon is some elderberry tea.

Let me know how you’ve been in the comments and I’ll see you again tomorrow for Sunday Bookends.

Weely Traffic Jam Reboot

January 18, 2024January 18, 2024 / Lisa R. Howeler / 7 Comments

Oh my goodness, everyone! The weather is so awful and cold right now where I live and if you are in the United States, probably where you live too.

Much of the country is in an arctic freeze right now with temperatures anywhere from negative 14 degrees Fahrenheit (-25C) to 25 degrees Fahrenheit (-3C). Where I live, we are used to cold winters but not this cold!

The horribly cold temps started on Sunday and are still going on. On Tuesday about five inches of snow fell and my daughter (who I call Little Miss on here) loves playing in the snow but with temps at 18 and windchill at like 7, she gave up pretty fast.

Even our animals, who will go outside in almost any weather, only stepped out at five minutes at a time and then returned inside to warm up by our woodstove, which has been going full bore since last week when we had snow. I have barely seen my parents in two weeks, even though they live eight minutes from my house because the extreme cold makes my muscles hurt and my chest tighten up.

On Sunday we tried to head to my parents but high winds were knocking the dead Ash trees down around us, the temps were dropping and freezing water run off from the day before, so we opted to stay home.

How has the weather been where you are?

If it is nice and sunny then please enjoy but don’t brag too much! *wink* Kidding! Brag all you want. I won’t blame you a bit!

On to the most clicked post for this week:

Denim Mini Skirt: My 5th Denim Item Oh Boy by Nancy’s Fashion Style

And my three favorite posts for the week:

Grand Canyon From The South Rim by Robert T. McCall Style Imitating Art by Shelbee On The Edge

I chose this one because I couldn’t wait to see the outfits that came from the inspiration of this painting. If you would like to see the final outfits, you can go here: https://shelbeeontheedge.com/sia-gallery-of-style-grand-canyon-from-the-south-rim-by-robert-t-mccall/

Mindfulness With A Twist: Finding Stillness In the Spin by Grace Filled Moments.

I really enjoyed this reminder from Grace Filled Moments as well. I am going to be referring to this later when I need to be reminded to find those small moments to lift my sports and get through.

Where Bloggers Live: How I Stay Warm in Winter by Within A World of My Own

I loved all the winter tips provided in this blog post. Some of them I am going to try myself as we deal with this arctic cold snap.

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 from years ago even.