Sunday Bookend: Our pain-in-the-butt cat uses up another life and enjoying a variety of books

On June 1, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends32 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.

Our cat Scout was missing yesterday so I was not in a very perky the entire day.

We hadn’t seen her since Friday morning. We do let our cats outside but they usually come back several times throughout the day, and in the case of our oldest cat at least, don’t go very far.

I hadn’t been able to mentally function much since Friday night when it was pouring rain and she still hadn’t come back. I was sure she’d been hit or kidnapped. She could have been locked in one of the neighbor’s sheds too. They were all mowing their lawns before the rain came. I held out hope that she’d be home Saturday morning when one of them opened a shed or barn door.

Saturday morning came and still no sign of her.

I spent all day Saturday crying, but I knew it wasn’t just over the cat – it was over all the stuff that’s been going on with my parents and my health all combined. It was mainly the cat because I pictured her dead over the banks, I suppose, but the built-up tension from trying to figure out some weird symptoms I’ve been having and the challenge to get into a doctor and the challenge to fake it to everyone around me has been overwhelming me lately.

I just kept shoving it all inside and trying to pretend everything was fine and it just came to a head yesterday because I thought the cat was dead.

Saturday night I headed to bed around 11:30, resolved to the fact our cat — the biggest pain in the butt cat I’ve ever had in my life — was gone. I don’t know why I even did it, but I walked to our blanket closet in the hallway, as if giving it one last look, even though I was sure my husband and son had already thought to do so over the last couple of days, and I opened it.

There was a soft trill, and then a cat jumped out at me.

I was in total shock. I just started yelling, “Oh my gosh! She’s alive!”

The kids came running while the cat, probably startled as much as I was, took off for the food downstairs.

During the day I had been thinking about how much I would miss her. I would miss her touching her nose to mine when she came into my room at 5 or 6 a.m. for cuddles (I don’t actually enjoy being woke up that early, but I would now miss it, I had decided). I would miss her touching her nose to mine when she jumped up on the counter and waited for me to give her a snack of turkey deli meat when she came in from exploring outside at the end of the day.

Touching her nose to mine is something Scout has done since she was a tiny kitten, and she’d sleep on my chest.

After she grabbed some food and water, she ran back up the stairs, overwhelmed by everyone screaming over her and the dog excitedly sniffing and chasing her (I’m sure our older cat Pixel was simply glaring at her as she’d probably hoped she’d died somewhere so she could have all the attention again). I went up to finish getting ready for bed and she was standing on the window sill at the top of the stairs. She trilled at me and then she stretched her neck out toward me. When we were face-to-face she touched her nose to mine and I cried again and did something I almost never do to a cat — I kissed her forehead.

Then I wiped the fur away. Yuck. That’s why I don’t do that.

This cat definitely has nine lives. She’s the same cat that climbed and then fell out of a tree when we first got her. She lay on her side at the bottom of the tree panting and we thought she’d broken her spine and was dying. Thirty-seconds later she jumped up and took off running..

A few months later she climbed a larger tree in front of our house and was trapped there a day and a night and finally the town’s lovely fire department came and rescued her in dramatic fashion with their ladder truck. Just like in the movies.

In addition to having nine lives, the cat is also notorious for embarrassing me. That time it was the fire company rescuing her and yesterday our son went up and down the street asking all the neighbors to watch for her. Now we have to tell all of them she was in our linen closet the entire time and that we are sort of morons for not checking it and she’s sort of a moron for going into in the first place.

Last night I finished The Wishing Well by Mildred Wirt. It is a Penny Parker Mystery. I actually enjoyed it more than some of the Nancy Drew Mysteries because Mildred’s wit and humor comes through so clearly and Harriet Adams took a lot of that out when she wrote the Nancy Drew books that Mildred had written.

I might have to agree with Mildren when she once said that Penny was more Nancy Drew than Nancy was.

She is a lot more mouthy and pushy, but in a well-meaning way, than Nancy was even.

I am still reading Mansfield Park by Jane Austen, one chapter a day, but I didn’t read it much this week because I lost my paperback of it and then found it late last night. I did download an ebook copy to my Kindle too in case this happens again (which it will. I’m always laying my books down somewhere and losing them).

I am also continuing All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriott and will most likely finish that this week.

I plan to start The Inimitable Jeeves by P.G. Woodhouse this week and soon I will start Summer of Yes by Courtney Walsh (a fun summer romance) and ‘Tis Herself by Maureen O’Hara.

This week I watched a couple of older movies with two of the original Dames.

I watched The Assassination Bureau with a young Diana Riggs. That was — um, interesting. Quite goofy with a lot of sexual tension between her and Oliver Reed.

Then I watched The Honey Pot with a young Maggie Smith and Rex Harrison. This was another interesting one with an odd plot. A rich man pretends to be dying and invites his three former mistresses to his home to see which one of them is worthy of his inheritance.

Maggie portrays a nurse of one of the mistresses.

Rex is in his usual, witty form in this one.

I wasn’t sure what to expect of the film when I started it and when it got serious, Maggie really stepped up her acting game. That was enjoyable.

I also watched Ludwig, a mystery with David Mitchell, on Britbox. I really enjoyed the first episode.

Of course, I watched Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube and will watch it again because I was interrupted during it. He was restoring a Farmall tractor. Who knew one day I’d be fascinated with watching a man restore an old farm tractor…

I’ve decided that I am going to have a Summer of Angela and watch Angela Lansbury movies. I’m going to sort of do it on my own but if anyone wants to join me, they/you are welcome.

Last week on the blog I shared

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.

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

Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries.

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

You can also find her on Instagram and YouTube.

Hodge Podge: Favorite rooms and what I miss about childhood

On May 28, 2025May 28, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn hodge podge20 Comments

I am joining this week’s Hodge Podge with From This Side of the Pond.

Here are the questions we were asked to answer this week:

What’s your favorite room in your house and why?

I guess I would say the living room is my favorite room in the house. It had tons of windows and well-lit and it’s where everyone in the family hangs out together. It has easy access to the kitchen and the bathroom, the TV, and the front and back porches. The woodwork and the well painted white ceiling also add to the atmosphere of the room. If only I was a better housekeeper and kept it cleaner. Ha. That’s something I definitely want to work on.

What’s something that will instantly annoy you?

How much time do you have? Kidding. One thing that will instantly annoy me is when I sit down, ready to read or write a blog post, after being in the kitchen washing dishes and cooking for two hours and my daughter will ask me if I can cut her up an apple.

I’m so glad to have her and I’m even glad to be available to wait on her but sometimes she gets wrapped up in what she’s doing and doesn’t recognize that any time in those two hours I was already up on my feet doing things is when she could have asked for the snack she wanted.

She’s also 10 now and can start getting these snacks on her own. I like to cut the apple up for her because I don’t want her to accidentally cut herself.

May 28th is National Hamburger Day…will you celebrate? How do you like yours? If you’re not cooking at home is there a favorite place you like to go for a burger? Did you ever work in a fast food restaurant?

That’s a lot of questions! I didn’t know it was National Hamburger Day, and I wish I had because I used the hamburger we had to make meatballs yesterday.

I am a huge hamburger fan, as long as it is made well. I don’t like any pink in mine, but I also don’t want it burned.

There is a restaurant near me that makes the best hamburgers but we don’t go there often. There was another restaurant near us that used to make amazing burgers but that changed in recent years so I haven’t tried again.

I have never worked at a fast food restaurant or any restaurant.

What are three scents you like?

Three scents I like are chocolate chip cookies while they are baking, a citrus essential oil I have, and coffee brewing (but I don’t actually drink it).

What do you miss most about being a kid?

So much. Most of all I miss that someone else was in charge and was protecting me. Now I am in charge and have to protect myself and my children. It honestly stresses me out.

I miss how carefree childhood was too. Riding scooters down the streets of the little town my friends lived in, exploring the creek, swinging on swings until we almost threw up and not caring that we almost threw up.

Having friends is something else I miss about childhood. I don’t have friends now and I did then. They were best friends too. We did a ton together and had sleepovers. Those same friends no longer speak to me. I guess life got too busy and I got too much to deal with because of my chronic illness stuff and anxiety and who knows what else. I tried to keep in contact with them but after awhile it became disappointing to be the only one trying.

Insert your own random thought here.

I just wrote a blog post about Murder She Wrote, and I spent several days researching it. Just for my blog where I only get about 100 views a day. I’m starting to wonder about my sanity. I’m sure there are better things I could do with my time but I keep doing things that help me avoid focusing on all the stressful things in my life. I suppose it is a little normal but also . . . I think I might have issues.

How would you answer any of these questions?

Lisa R. Howeler is a blogger, homeschool mom, and writes cozy mysteries.

You can find her Gladwynn Grant Mystery series HERE.

Sunday Bookends: My son is a graduate and temps are still cool

On May 25, 2025May 25, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings12 Comments

The most exciting thing that happened last week is that our son graduated from a local career center (high school level). We are proud of him and are excited for him to receive his other high school diploma in a couple of weeks when we meet with our state-certified homeschool evaluator. She will sign off on his diploma through the Pennsylvania Department of Education and he will be a high school graduate!

He’s taking a few weeks off to decide on his next step and his dad and I are fine with that.

He and Little Miss both have a few things to write for me this upcoming week and then we will be done with school for this year. Little Miss and I can start counting anything we do, such as field trips, books read, etc. after July 1 toward our school year next year so this year I am not waiting for a start date in August for our school year. We’re just starting whenever in July and taking days off whenever we want. I’m looking forward to it, but I am having a hard time adjusting to not planning for The Boy’s lessons next year.

It has been very cold in our neck of the woods for the entire month of May. I enjoy snuggling up under my blanket, so I don’t hate it when I am in the house, but it has not been super fun going out in it. Wind, rain, more wind, more rain. Bleh. But it looks like June will be when things warm up and I’ll probably be a medical mess in July and August with the heat like I usually am.

Today we visited a small bookstore about 20 minutes from us. I didn’t even know it existed before a couple of weeks ago. They held a book sale on their porch. I’ll chat about it more in a future post or next week.

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are still holding Drop-In Crafternoons once or twice a month.

We will be holding another one Saturday, June 24 at 1 p.m. I’m tentatively looking at one for June 14, hosted by me, but I haven’t finalized that yet with anyone. Keep an eye on this space for that announcement if it does happen.

The crafternoons are events where we gather on Zoom and craft at our respective homes and chat while we work on various projects. There is one woman who creates with beads, another who colors, I sometimes draw or color, and Erin has been embroidering lately. We are calling them drop-in crafternoons because you can drop in and out during the time we are on. No need to stay the whole time if you can’t. Come late if you want or leave early. We are usually on about two hours, three if we all get chatty and don’t have something else to run off to.

If you want to join in, email Erin at crackcrumblife@gmail.com and she will add you to the mailing list.

I finished Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on A Deadman by Jesse Q. Sutanto last week and enjoyed it but not as much as the first book. This one seemed a bit more rushed and contrived and pretty obvious when it came to finding out who the perpetrator was. It was also darker in subject matter than the first. Vera’s sense of humor and sweetness made up for all of that, though, and it was, overall, a good escape. Don’t avoid it because of anything I said, because you may have a totally different opinion of it.

I DNF’d one book when the author said the woman enjoyed the male main character’s “male spicy scent”. I will have to go sniff my husband, but I’ve never noticed he smelled spicy and if he did I might tell him he spilled pepper on himself and suggest a shower.

Thea romance was also overtaking the mystery, which was also falling apart. Life is too short to read books we don’t enjoy I say.

I am still reading All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot but not enjoying it as much as I did his other books. The stories are good but I keep wondering what’s actually true and what isn’t now that I know how actually semi-autobiographical the books are. I still very much am enjoying the stories, but I’ll be making my way slowly through the book.

I started Mansfield Park by Jane Austen which I had actually started on Audible last year. It is interesting so far. I know Austen fans think everyone should start with the big ones like Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility, but I know those stories pretty well from watching the movies and don’t know the story of Mansfield Park.

I’m also reading The Wishing Well by Mildred Wirt, which is a book from the 1930s by the original writer of the Nancy Drew books.

Last week I watched Murder, She Wrote, Ludwig, Everybody Loves Raymond (good grief..the laugh tracks!), The Dick VanDyke Show, and Just A Few Acres Farms (on YouTube). I also watched The Intouchables again with my son and his friend and they ended up loving it. I didn’t think they would.

I made a bit more progress on book four of the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series. I don’t know why but this one is really a struggle for me. I am really in my head too much on this one. I am comparing my books to other books and overthinking pretty much everything — from the story idea to the structure to the actual writing.

Last week on the blog I didn’t share a ton.

This post was spot on: In Challenging Times I Turn to Cozy Reads: https://pagesunbound.wordpress.com/2025/05/20/in-challenging-times-i-turn-to-cozy-reads/

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: Dancing in the rain and Vera Wong (not Wang)

On May 18, 2025May 25, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends25 Comments

I never got sick after everyone else in the family did the week before last, but this past week I did get some major sinus issues that have left me with blocked nose, a cough, and a full ear that clicks when I talk.

I never had a fever and didn’t feel so great on Friday, but I was better by later in the day when Little Miss and I had an impromptu dance party on the back porch during a rainstorm. Okay, we didn’t so much dance as jump up and down in puddles on the porch and splash each other with the water in the puddles. We also dumped water on each other from the water bottles we’d had at supper, and I convinced The Husband to pretend we were in a Hallmark movie and kiss me in the rain.

It wasn’t as romantic as I hoped since he kept laughing and looking at me like I was crazy, but at least we tried.

Little Miss thought she was funny by filling her water bottle with very cold water and mine with very warm water, so she was doused with warm water, and I was doused with freezing cold water. It backfired the second time she tried it because I poured the warm water over me instead.

Yesterday Little Miss and I headed 30 minutes away for a grocery pick up. We were about two miles outside of town when a little spider decided to do a little crawl in front of me at the top of the windshield and I did my best to stay calm as I pulled the car over to the side of the road. I really thought in this type of situation — with a small spider trotting across the windshield, right in front of my face, that I would drive the car into a field or body of water and I had that opportunity since we were right next to a pond.

Instead, I tried to squish the spider with a chocolate wrapper but then he dropped in front of me and all bets were off. I swatted at his web with a wrapped slim jim (don’t wask), yelled, and then jumped out of the car and swatted some more.

I really wanted to burn the car and call The Husband to pick us up, but I needed to be an adult (something I have to whisper to myself several times a day, “I’m an adult, I can do this.”) so I took a deep breath and continued on, feeling like there was a spider in my shirt the rest of the way.

I’m really praying it is not a dangerous spider because I have to get in the car again today and I don’t want to be friends with a spider. At least we don’t live in Australia where the spiders are bigger than a human head. I really would have driven the car into the pond if I had seen one of those.

Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are still holding Drop-In Crafternoons once or twice a month.

We will be holding another one this Saturday, May 24 at 1 p.m.

If you want to join in, email Erin at crackcrumblife@gmail.com and she will add you to the mailing list.

I was so excited that the new library I’ve been borrowing books from actually responded to a request I had for a book and uploaded Vera Wong’s Guide to Snooping on A Deadman by Jesse Q. Sutanto to Libby this past week. It’s the sequel to Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice For Murderers.

The previous library we went to never responded to requests to add books and told me they had no control over it and didn’t know who to ask to add books. I didn’t worry too much about it but was totally shocked when this library added this book. It could have been a coincidence, of course, but either way it was great timing.

I didn’t have as much time to read as I wanted to this past week, but I’ll have the book finished this week. It’s hilarious and engaging. For those who read cleaner books, this one does have bad language, but not as bad so far as the previous book. There is no sex or violence in the books, though.

I am also continuing All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot as a leisurely read though. I read a chapter or two here or there.

Little Miss and I are still reading Magical Melons or Caddie Woodlawn’s Family by Carol Ryrie Brink. We didn’t read it a lot last week since we were at my parents a few days helping there but we will be reading it this week and next as we finish out our school year.

The Husband is reading The Accidental Further Adventures of the Hundred-Year-Old Man by Jonas Jonasson to avoid reading a book I suggested he read (Vera Wong’s first book).

I have no idea what The Boy is reading because he is a teenager and hasn’t shared with me lately what he is reading. He is simply trying to get to graduation this week.

Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis, The Clue in the Diary by Carolyn Keene, The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham, and The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window and Disappeared by Jonas Johassen.

The entire family watched Paddington in Peru last night together and I have to be honest that I was so thrown off by them replacing Sally Hawkins as Mrs. Brown that I couldn’t get into the movie. *joking around alert after this point: If you can’t get the actors back, don’t make the movie! That’s what I say. My husband said he didn’t even notice the actress was different and I guess movie goers didn’t care either because it has a very high rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

I’m a creature of habit. I don’t like changes. Even in my movies, if they are a series.

And Sally Hawkins reason for not coming back was definitely a nice way of saying she feels she’s way too talented for a movie that probably should have gone straight to video.

In all seriousness, the movie was a good children’s movie but nowhere near Paddington 2, which was very well done.

This movie had a different director as well so that might be one reason it wasn’t as good.

It was okay, but just not as good as the first two, in my humble opinion. The special effects were very good in this installment. So there was that at least.

I also watched Miss Austen last week and am looking forward to the third installment tonight.

I watched Just A Few Acres Farm on YouTube this morning like I do every Sunday after church.

Last week on the blog I shared (not much):

I did make progress on the fourth book in the Gladwynn series, however. I hope to be able to release it in the fall, but we will see how that goes.

Also, Cassie, the book I wrote as part of a set of novellas by several different authors, is on sale this week for 99 cents and you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1VW9TVK

Some videos from the YouTube channel this week:

I hope to start sharing longform videos on the channel soon, but I haven’t yet decided how I want to do that so I’ll keep you posted.

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: My 10-year-old’s opinion of the 1982 Annie, some dirt road traveling, and drop in crafternoons continue

On April 27, 2025April 27, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends12 Comments

The kids helped some friends of the family clean up their yard last week and while they helped, I took a tour on the dirt roads around the property. It was fun to look at the cows grazing on the hillsides, even though they aren’t fully green yet (the hills, not the cows), watch two young does walk in front of me slowly, admire the amazing sky and clouds that day.

I rambled a little bit more about last week in my post yesterday, if you would like to read it.

On Friday, we drove to pick up groceries. In other words, we didn’t do very much last week.

Yesterday, Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I held our monthly Drop In Crafternoon with a couple of other bloggers. We will be holding another one tentatively on May 10 at 1 p.m. and definitely on May 24 at 1 p.m.

Our conversations are usually about light things, including books, but somehow I got us on racism, or maybe Liz did, but usually the conversations aren’t super heavy. You will probably meet our cats, children, husbands, and dogs during the drop in so be warned.

If you want to just drop in and say hello If you would like to join us shoot Erin an email at crackercrumblife@gmail.com and she’ll add you to our mailing list.

Uh…nothing

I keep saying I am going to finish The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien the next week, but I am sure I will actually finish it this week.

I have enjoyed it but, oh my, is it long and wordy. I like the wordy at times too, don’t get me wrong, but I just felt like I might never make it to the end. I am only about three chapters away from the end and I do know that it will end on a cliffhanger since each “book” in the series is actually two books of one huge saga of six books altogether so in many ways I still won’t be done. But I will at least be done with this installment.

I am not sure when I will read Return of the King but probably not until fall or winter.

I’ll need a little break from fantasy books for a while I think. I need a few good mysteries and a romance up next, I think.

I didn’t read any of the James Herriot book (All Things Wise and Wonderful) this past week, except for last night, but I will be diving into it again this week.

I also started Grave Pursuits (Pennsylvania Parks Book 1) by Elle E. Kay as something quick to read and I am enjoying it so far. Elle is a writer who lives about 90 minutes from me, and she writes about state parks and towns near me. I am looking forward to one she wrote that takes place in the town I live in. I’m curious to see what she writes about our tiny town. I’ll be digging into that one next.

I’m also reading The Hardy Boys The Twisted Claw.

Little Miss and I are reading Magical Melons (also called Caddie Woodlawn’s Family) by Carol Ryrie Brink, a collection of short stories about Caddie Woodlawn.

Two Parts Sugar, One Part Murder by Valerie Burns

Peg and Rose Solve a Murder by Laurien Berenson

I watched a Hardy Boys from the 1977 show last week and will be writing about it later. I also watched a few episodes of Murder She Wrote from the last season and missed Cabot Cove. She was living in New York City in these episodes.

Little Miss decided she wanted to watch the 1982 version of Annie last night (not sure what inspired this, but maybe a meme she saw making fun of it or something). I told The Husband we were watching it while he was at a work event, and he asked if it was because it was Carol Burnett’s birthday. I said I didn’t know it was her birthday, but it was perfect timing.

When we started it, I realized I must have seen the movie as a kid more than I remembered, because I had it practically memorized. I also realized how old I am because a movie about an orphan hits different now that I am older and think about all those children out there who just want a place to call home.

Another realization was how manipulative that little Annie was. Daddy Warbucks is going to send her back to the orphanage? She adopts a sad look and says, “It’s okay. I’ve already had enough fun just in the short time I’ve been here.” Daddy Warbucks isn’t going to go to the movies with them? “Oh. It’s okay. I don’t need to go to a movie. I’ll just practice my backhand. That girl at the orphanage who said she’d been to a movie once is a liar anyhow.”

Of course, I know that’s not really how they were trying to play her. I’m just having a little fun. In all honesty, I was surprised how nostalgic I was watching the movie.

I couldn’t wait to show Little Miss classic songs like “It’s A Hard Knock Life For Us” and “Little Girls.”

Here were some of her quotes during the movie:

“Why are they dancing? She told them to clean. Hey! You’re supposed to be cleaning! Not practicing your flips!”

“Oh. The little orphan’s got hands!”

“No! Don’t fall for that man! He looks like Professor Quirrell but squared up!”

“No! You can’t marry him! It’s like marrying Jeff Bezos! He pretty much is Jeff Bezos!”

That and when Grace comes out in her yellow dress “oh that dress is beautiful! Slay, girl!”

Watching it and all the great songs (Easy Street with Carol, Tim Curry, and Bernadette Peters for one) was a ton of fun and Little Miss didn’t even make too much fun of it so that was a win!

At the end I asked her what she thought.

“It was kind of a strange movie. We went from, ‘oh these children are sort of being abused, but I guess we’re okay with that.’ To ‘Oh my gosh that guy is chasing her and she’s hanging off this bridge and going to die’ to ‘oh, she has a family now. That’s – uh – cool”

I am making some progress on book four in the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series. You can find the other three here.

I don’t have a release date yet but I’m having fun pulling ideas together for the story.

Last week on the blog I shared:

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: A drive in the country and adding a blog roll to my blog

On April 26, 2025April 26, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Saturday Afternoon Tea12 Comments

Good afternoon!

Welcome to the blog for a Saturday Afternoon Chat, where I look back at my week that was.

Most of the time my weeks are not very exciting so don’t expect too much.

Would you care for a beverage while we chat?

I have a variety of tea – peppermint, chamomile, raspberry, and an orange turmeric (has a bit of a bite to it). I also have some milk, grape juice, and just plain water. But no ice cubes. Yes, I need to get ice cub trays because our ice maker doesn’t work.

This past week was fairly routine for us. We did homeschool lessons for most of the week, and then on Thursday I took the kids to the house of a family friend, and they cleaned up sticks and leaves from their yard and The Boy built a garden fence for the woman.

While they worked, I took a scenic tour on the dirt roads around their house. I’ve lived in this area my entire life, but don’t remember being on these roads. The roads had very Irish names like McKeany and Murphy, so I recorded a couple of videos saying the name of the roads in one of the worst Irish accents you’ve ever heard and sent them to Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs. She and Wyatt had a good laugh over my horrible accent, and that’s what I was going for, so it worked.

I enjoyed looking at the cows and saw a couple of deer. I tried to film them but I apparently didn’t hit the record button on my phone correctly. Sigh. I did get a quick video but it wasn’t terribly exciting. The sky was amazing that day.

I’d like to say I enjoyed looking at the rolling green hills, but they aren’t very green just yet. The trees are just starting to bloom, and the grass is just starting to grow here. Today we have rain, so I have a feeling that by next week the hillsides will be much brighter and healthier in appearance.

Yesterday, Little Miss and I drove the 30 minutes one way to get our groceries from the Aldi pickup. We went back to my parents for a bit and then came home to unload while The Boy stayed to help my dad with fixing up a couple of lawn mowers to get ready for mowing season.

Today Little Miss and I will spend much of our day alone together while it rains outside. The Husband has assignments to attend and cover for the newspaper and The Boy is going to a friends for the rest of the weekend.

I am going to get on Zoom for our drop-in Crafternoon. You can find more information about it on Erin’s page here until I get my own information page up on it, but the bottom line is it is a chance for people to connect via Zoom and do crafts while we chat. They can be any crafts — knitting, sketching, coloring, watercolors, painting, scrapbooking, needlework. Whatever you craft, you are welcome. Unless it is sketching naked people. Maybe don’t do that on our Zoom. Har. Har. You don’t even have to craft. You can just come on and chat.

We have a tentative one scheduled for May 10 and a definite one scheduled for May 24. All you need to do is send an email to Erin at crackercrumblife@gmail.com or me at lisahoweler@gmail.com, and we will make sure you get on our list to email you the Zoom link.

On other blog matters, I discovered this week how to add a blog roll to my sidebar since WordPress removed the ability to do that a couple of years ago. You can still add a blog roll, but only if the blog is on WordPress. I follow blogs that are on a variety of host sites so I wanted the option to add them as well. After a quick search online, I found directions on how to do that:

Create a Navigation (Link) Menu for Your Blogroll:

Navigate to Appearance > Menus: in your WordPress dashboard.
Create a New Menu: Click “Create a new menu” and name it something like “Blogroll”.
Add Menu Items: Use the “Custom Links” section to add links to other websites.
- Enter the URL of the website and a descriptive label for the link.
- Click “Add to Menu” to include the link.
Save the Menu: Click “Save Menu” to save your changes.

It was pretty simple, and it is sad it took me this long after they took away the official blog roll feature for me to figure it out. Now I just have to add more of my favorite blogs.

I don’t understand why WordPress is always changing things. I feel like if it isn’t broke there is not need to fix it while they seem to think, “it’s not broke but we can improve it” and then it’s like they wander off in the middle of improving it to improve something else and the thing they said they were going to improve just sits there now broken.

So, to me, WordPress is like a person who says he’s — I mean they — are going to fix something in a house but he — I mean they — wanders off in the middle of one project to start another project and eventually there are like ten projects in the house and around the property that are in various degrees of progress/finish status.

Maybe one day WordPress will actually finish a project and stop messing around with it.

So how was your week?

Do anything interesting or exciting?

Let me know in the comments or leave a link to your weekly round-up post. Tomorrow I will be sharing what I’ve been reading and watching, etc. in my Sunday Bookends post.

Sunday Bookends: He is Risen! And I feel like the books I am reading are very long.

On April 20, 2025April 20, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings, Sunday Bookends, Sunday Salon9 Comments

First things first – He has risen! He has risen indeed! Happy Easter!

Remember when I was all like, “I need some warmer weather. It’s too cold!”

Well, I thought we’d go into the warmer weather gradually, not one day it’s 35 and I’m wearing a winter coat to a day later it’s almost 80 and humid.

That’s Pennsylvania for you.

I didn’t enjoy the humid weather yesterday, but I did enjoy nicer weather the day before when it allowed me to sit on the front porch and read some while Little Miss drew on the sidewalk with chalk.

I am going to miss my evenings watching Murder She Wrote with a blanket over my lap.

Oh wow. Did I just write that?

I am officially old, aren’t I? Talking about watching Murder She Wrote with my blanket and a cup of tea. *wink*

Oh well. It’s where I am in life and I am okay with that. I’ll just have to watch Murder She Wrote with a glass of lemonade or cold ice water instead.

Today we will have Easter dinner with my parents and maybe watch a movie together.

This doesn’t really go with the rest of this section, but I hit 103 subscribers on my little YouTube Channel yesterday. Whoot!

Guys, gals, blog readers! I feel like I may never finish the two long books I’ve been reading! I know I will and have moved my focus to just one of the books to make it even more likely I actually finish of them this week.

I have been reading both The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien and All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot, switching off between the two depending on my mood, and they are taking forever! They seem so long. I read them on my kindle at night and I swear that I will be reading for an hour, look down at the percentage and realize I’ve barely made a dent in the book!

I finally realized they are both 400-page books, which isn’t really a lot, but can drag a book out when you’re only reading a chapter here and there. Even though they are long books, I am really enjoying them. I am especially enjoying The Two Towers even if it is a bit wordy.

I love the characters and all their different quirks, even if I have gotten a bit lost since we met up with King Theoden and his peeps. Now I am getting too many characters thrown at me, but that’s how fantasy books are so I am just taking it all in stride.

I hope to dig into a book of short stories by Louis L’Amour this week that my husband picked up at the library for me but I have also started a Hardy Boys book and am enjoying that. That, of course, won’t take me long to read since it is only about 200 pages long.

Little Miss and I finished The Littlest Voyageur by Margi Preus this week and really enjoyed it. It was about a squirrel who travels with river voyagers in Canada and learns the hard way that a fur trade is going on. It dealt with the subject of the fur trade in a very cute way and didn’t become as preachy as I thought it was going to. There was a lot of history woven into the book, which on the surface seemed to simply focus on a squirrel and his dream to become a river explorer.

The Boy is reading Warhammer books. I don’t remember which one he is on now.

Last week it was old mystery shows. The Rockford Files with a guest appearance by Tom Selleck early in the week. That episode was hilarious. Then it was Murder She Wrote, including a two parter where Jessica was in Ireland. Those two were very good. I’ve watched some real duds but this was in season 12 so they must have had better writers by then.

Yesterday I watched a 1934 movie called She Had to Choose. It was interesting and had me shouting at the screen a couple of times because I was so stressed at some of the decisions being made. As is with most movies from that era, it was about 60 minutes long.

I also rewatched Paris Blues for the Springtime in Paris feature that Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs and I are doing until the beginning of May.

You can learn more about it here and if you want to jump in you can link up your impressions of the movies at any time at the link on the page. /

I’m working on the fourth book in the Gladwynn Grant Mystery series. I actually wrote an entire paragraph this week. Ha! I hope to write even more this upcoming week.

If you want to read the other three books in the series you can find them here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Lisa-Howeler/author/B07Y3W52FD?ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true&ccs_id=654deb79-0e34-4d05-94d1-a81a4bd0ca0d

Last week on the blog I shared:

While I wash dishes I listen to a book and right now that book is The Two Towers.

Also, this:

and this:

Photos From Last Week

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: What is that family doing?

On April 13, 2025April 13, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn Sunday Bookends28 Comments

This past week was a fairly relaxed one until yesterday.

Little Miss needed some cheering up, so I suggested that after I picked up a friend of The Boy’s we head up to the town where we used to live to watch The Minecraft movie.

The kids were excited but since I wasn’t really interested in watching the movie, so instead I headed to an Italian Deli and Bakery near the theater after I dropped them off and picked up some cookies and cannoli, headed back to the park across from the theater and sat in my car reading books and eating fudge filled cookies.

Well, I ate one cookie actually and then I ate some string cheese and drank a natural ginger ale. It was nice and relaxing, as the rain fell around me.

One weird thing and funny thing that happened while I was sitting in the car: a car pulled up next to me and parked and then three people got out – they looked to be about the age of a mom, a dad, and maybe a 12-year-old boy. The park has a sidewalk that goes all the way around, and this family started walking on the sidewalk and then walked all the way on the other side of it toward the hospital, which is across the street from the park. They disappeared from my sight, so I went back to my book. About ten minutes later they passed in front of my car again, and I noticed all of them were looking at their phones. The mom said something to the boy, and he laughed, but they kept their eyes on their phones.

Then they started another loop around the park. I thought maybe they were playing something like Pokemon Go (is that still a thing), but they were just walking in a circle, staring at their phones.

They did this four more times, then crossed the street near the gas station, came back again, walked to their car, got in and left.

It was kind of, well, creepy … and funny. I have no idea what was going on, but it felt like some kind of Twilight Zone episode. Part of me wanted to ask them what was going on, but in this day and age, I think it is just better not to know.

For some reason, the movie didn’t start for almost 45 minutes after it was supposed to start so we got home a lot later than I wanted to. Remember when I told you last week that to get anywhere with places like theaters we have to drive 45 minutes north, south, east or west? To get to the theater, we had to drive 45 minutes north and then 45 minutes back home.

I was pretty tired by the end of the day and ready for my blanket and tea.

I didn’t actually have tea when I got home, and the evening wasn’t as relaxed as I wanted but maybe I can find some relaxation tonight instead.

This past week I finished Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke and The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis.

I am still reading The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien and enjoying it.

I am also reading All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot.

Next week I am going to be looking for another mystery but I might step out of my comfort zone and try a Christian regency romance by Joanna Davidson Politano. We will see how that goes.

I forgot to ask The Husband what he is reading before I wrote this. He’s taking a brief nap after a busy morning so I’ll update this later or share next week.

Little Miss and I are going to be finishing up The Littlest Voyageur this week for school and she is finishing up the third Harry Potter book.

I had to step away from Great Canal Journeys. It was becoming too heartbreaking to watch with Pru’s mental and physical health declining.

Pru is the wife of the canal riding team and it’s starting to really wear on me to watch her forget what she’s doing some days. I have elderly parents and them developing dementia is a huge worry for me.

Last week I watched How to Steal A Million as part of the Springtime in Paris feature I am doing with Erin from Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

You can still jump in to watch the movies on the list and write about them. We have a link up where you can link to your posts until May 10^th. The link and our list of movies and where you can find them can be found at the link at the top of my page.

This week we are watching Paris Blue with Paul Newman (swoon), Joanne Woodward, Sidney Poitier, and Diahann Carroll.

Last week on the blog I shared:

When I am doing dishes during the week, I listen to The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien, and the rest of the week, I read it.

Photos from the week

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.

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

Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot! Come link up with us!

On April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 By Lisa R. HowelerIn everyday musings5 Comments

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot where we offer a place for bloggers to link up and get a fresh set of eyes on their posts. We also feature one blog a week, letting our readers know about the blog, and providing a link so readers can learn more about it.

Look for the post to go live about 9:30 PM EST on Thursdays.

Your hosts for the link up:

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household – The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Sue from Women Living Well After 50 started blogging in 2015 and writes about living an active and healthy lifestyle, fashion, book reviews and her podcast and enjoying life as a woman over 50. She invites you to join her living life in full bloom.

We would love to have additional Co-Hosts to share in the creativity and fun! If you think this would be a good fit for you and you like having fun (come on, who doesn’t!) while still being creative, drop one of us an email and someone will get back with you!

WTJR will be highlighting a different blogger each week this year! We invite you to stop by their blog, take a look around and say hello!

This week we are spotlighting: This Blonde’s Shopping Bag

Here is what Kellyanne says about her blog:

This Blonde’s Shopping Bag is a personal style blog by Kellyann Rohr. I believe every woman, regardless of age, should have the tools and opportunity to feel their best through fashion. A closet full of great basics with some fun pieces mixed in helps you avoid that dreaded feeling of having nothing to wear! It doesn’t have to break the bank either and that’s why I’ll show you how to get the most bang for your buck. Quite simply my mission is to encourage and support women to stay fashionable, fresh, and relevant!

This Blonde’s Shopping Bag was started in 2016 as a result of my love for shopping and creating outfits. I’ve always loved fashion and finding budget friendly pieces to create looks I love. So many of my friends and co-workers complimented me on my outfits and asked advice but also shared how they could “never pull off” some of my looks or that they “couldn’t afford” to dress the way they really wanted. The blog is my answer to those problems.

Since it’s inception the blog has grown and so has my reach. It’s been a dream come true to connect with a community of like minded women and partner with brands. I’ve especially enjoyed working with Chico’s, Vionics, and Jambu as well as smaller, women owned businesses.

Here are some of my highlights for the week

(Some “grand” photos in this one!)

(A cozy coffee catch up!)

(loved learning about planners here)

(awesome cow print dress!)

Thank you so much for joining us for our link-up! Please remember that this is a link-up where you can share posts from the previous week or posts from weeks, months, or even years ago. All we ask is that they be family friendly!

	Paula @ Grace~Filled… on A Good Book and A Cup of Tea A…
	bigskybuckeye on Saturday Afternoon Chat: A bri…
	Joanne on A Good Book and A Cup of Tea A…