I’m linking up again with Leigh Kramer’s monthly round up dubbed What I’m Into which is a somewhat open ended free for all opportunity to write about the books, movies, tv shows, recipes, life stuff, links, etc. worth sharing. Pick the stuff that matters to you, ignore the rest. Read what other people are into. Have fun. Eat cake. The cake is mandatory. Unless you don’t like cake. Weirdo.

Here’s what I’ve been into this month:

Books I’m Into:

This month I read:

The Summer Before (Babysitters Club #0) by Ann M. Martin

It’s been a long time since I’ve read a Baby Sitters Club book so this was definitely a walk down memory lane! I thought the prequel concept was a great idea, it was cool to read about the girls before the BSC became a reality and before some of them had even met! I’ve tried reading BSC books as an adult before and had a hard time getting into them but this one sucked me right in and the writing seemed a little more polished than some of her earlier books. This could all be my imagination though.

All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

This book has been getting a lot of hype and just this once I feel like the hype is deserved. Very well written with beautiful details that rarely felt excessive. I enjoyed the rotating narrators and was quickly captivated by the story. It took me a long time to read but it was worth the time. My book club had a lively discussion about it and everyone seemed to agree that they enjoyed reading it – not bad for a gigantic book written about World War II.

Right now I’m reading Nightmares by Jason Segel which seemed like a fitting choice to read as Halloween draws closer. It’s a middle-grade book about a boy named Charlie who has to learn to overcome his fears to save his town. I listened to Jason Segel talk about this book on a couple of talk shows – about how he wrote it because as a kid he had a lot of nightmares growing up and was afraid of everything – and he wanted to tap into that and make something that might help kids going through the same thing. It’s a funny book and well written with adorable illustrations. If it’s not too intense, I’m planning to pass it along to my nine year old when I’m done.

TV Shows I’m Into:

Of course we’re still watching all the usual suspects like Big Bang Theory, Castle, The Middle, Brooklyn 99, Modern Family, Doctor Who (anyone else still absolutely geeking out over this season of Doctor Who btw?). I am anxious to see the next episode of Project Runway but also feeling like the season went by WAY too fast and knowing that America’s Next Top Model is on its last season is bittersweet. It’s the end of an era guys. We’re still watching Last Man on Earth which has really come into its own. Season 1 took awhile to warm up to me but I’m enjoying this season a lot.

Some new shows (or new to me) that I am loving are Crazy Ex Girlfriend which my husband has declared over the top but I cannot get enough of the song and dance numbers, the hysterical characters and plot developments and just the everything. I think it’s perfection walking.

I also just started watching Jane the Virgin when I heard that Season 1 was on Netflix Instant and oh my god guys, why did nobody tell me? It’s SOOOOOOOOO good. I’m marathon it as hard as I can (which isn’t very hard right now since the kids have a long weekend from school). I’ve got season 2 recording on my DVR for when I catch up but I missed the first two episodes so I’ll need to find a way to track those down.

Speaking of my DVR, it’s kind of overwhelmed right now with shows that we need to catch up on, mainly the 1 hour dramas that I’m having a hard time wanting to dive into right now. I’ve been in a comedy only zone for awhile now which seems to be typical when my life is a little too hectic. Maybe life will level out so that I can watch grown up shows, too.

Movies We’re Watching:

We finally broke down and watched The Hangover and I’ll admit, it was better than I thought it would be. I don’t know if it was amazing or life changing or deserving of soooooooo much praise but it was good and we’ll probably watch the 2nd one, too.

We watched the first Mockingjay movie and Insurgent and liked the first and kind of loathed the second. Mockingjay is tough for me to watch because I’ve read the books and I know what is coming and I’m not pleased but Jennifer Lawrence is so extraordinary that I can’t help but love it anyway. The Divergent series does not have this going for it. The casting is so meh in my opinion that it feels like Twilight all over again – we found ourselves heckling the whole movie and I think I need to just give up the ghost on this story and not make myself sit through the last one which will be both terrible and depressing and not as good as the book and not worth it.

There are so many movies in theater that I want to see right now so I’m just biding my time and waiting for some of them to find their way to DVD because finances are definitely not going to make that many trips to the movies happen. But I really want to see the new Peanuts movie, Pan looks amazing, Hotel Transylvania 2 actually looks like it will be really good (I liked the first one a lot). Everyone is talking about The Martian (though I want to read the book first). I really want to see Spy and The Intern and Our Brand is Crisis and I even kind of want to see Jem and The Holograms against my better judgement.

Life Stuff Worth Mentioning:

This month my husband and I made the super weird decision to switch sides of the bed after almost ten years of marriage. I went into Hulk Mode and rearranged all the furniture and we’ve been slowly adjusting ever since. I’m still getting used to where to put my arms at night but I swear it’s worth it to not sleep next to the drafty window and also the room has never been cleaner (read: my room is not clean, it’s just cleaner).

BB lost her first loose tooth and she’s pretty sure it’s headline news and has been showing EVERYONE from her teachers past and present to the nurse who administered her flu shot. She’d like you to know that just like her brother, she reached in and yanked that tooth out herself (after weeks upon weeks of moaning and complaining obvy).

We flew to Massachusetts Columbus Day weekend for a wedding and I took lots of pictures of inanimate objects and declared war on pantyhose. We were in town for pretty much one day but somehow managed to see an enormous amount of relatives thanks to the savvy planning of some of my favorite people. My uncle snapped the picture above of Dan pretending to be super serious with BB and everyone finding this hysterical.

We’ve found board game utopia in Forbidden Island which has opened up a new world of gaming with the kids. It took a long time to find a game that the whole family can enjoy together but this one has been fun for the whole family. It’s our first foray into cooperative gaming but likely not our last. Next up to try with the kids is Pandemic.

We had Parent Teacher Conferences yesterday and between that and their first report cards we are kind of overflowing with parent pride right now. I’m trying really hard not to humble brag into oblivion because both kids are excelling in all the academic areas and are apparently a joy to have in the classroom as well. Now we just need to work on getting BB to bring home all her homework on time which sounds like second verse same as the first because these are the same things MM had to work on last year (that he has made leaps and bounds improvement on since so I’m hopeful that BB will be able to do the same).

Links I’ve Loved:

Popular quotes you are probably misquoting was kind of life changing guys.

McSweeney’s 25 words your kindergarten must know before first grade is kind of everything. The last word? Imperative.

Sleepyti.me will tell you when to go to sleep. But in a way more open ended way than your mother will.

Speaking of your mother, tell them your mom tried made every mom on the internet explode with feels this week.

The GAP by Ira Glass is a must watch video for struggling creative types.

Scary Mommy nails why Generation X is the glue of universe.

Picmonkey is here to rescue our Halloween photography with some timely tips.

Jessica at Life as Mom shared how she made laundry easy and I bought a new laundry basket.

I’m kind of in love with all the businesses like REI who are taking a stand against Black Friday nonsense.

What have you been into this month?