Is anyone else really struggling to hold onto what day / month / phase of the moon we’re in? Apparently it’s August now and life continues to look the same and wildly different in turns. We’re still grilling dinner more nights than not, staying up late reading books, playing a TON of video games, watching all of Netflix and occasionally braving the grocery store or Target but then gasping our way back to the car laden with groceries and anxiety.
And with August comes the looming reality that school really is starting soon and we’re going to have to commit to whatever that means. I actually ordered our home school curriculum (from these cool people if you are looking for one still) for my 6th grader and next week I officially enroll my teenager into high school which is starting virtually but then come November we have no earthly idea what’s going to happen. This McSweenys post pretty much sums up the landscape though.
So I’m trying to get myself organized for the fall when things like what day it is will matter again. And then getting super impatient that I have to wait a whole month before actually doing any of that. And trying to keep busy by doing things like:
staining outdoor furniture because I’m a handy and capable lady with lots of time on her hands
Experimenting with hair curlers on my eleven year old because why not?
Trying to drink less coffee and more tea because did I mention anxiety and stuff?
Painting bamboo because someone did it on Instagram and I was like ooooooh and then had to try myself – who needs art lessons when you can just steal people’s ideas online and figure out how to do it yourself at home?
My current TBR stack, including the book I’m currently reading before bed, The Unlikelies by Carrie Firestone
Here are the books I’ve read since the last time I did a recap. A few from late June, but mostly July.
Tweet Cute by Emma Lord | Sort of a modern YA You’ve Got Mail. There are multiple layers to this adorable love story that eventually all come together beautifully. This one kept me up late reading several nights in a row. 😍😍😍😍😍
10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston | I blew through this one. The premise is fun and wacky. The characters are easy to root for and the love story is everything. Loved it. 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon | This was a fun premise. I’m a sucker for a good retelling and this loose take on Beauty and the Beast was a lot of fun. Menon has created a great cast of characters and I spent several nights staying up too late to finish it. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars was that I found the characters to be almost too much sometimes, if that makes any sense. 😻😻😻😻
Witchy by Ariel Slamet Reis | Very intrigued by this story. Hoping there will be a second book. I thought the artwork was amazing but I frequently felt like I had been thrown into the middle of a longer story. 💖💖💖💖
Crime and Poetry by Amanda Flower | I really got into this one. A cozy mystery set in a magical bookshop? You had me at hello. I really liked the overall writing style and definitely plan to continue the series. 💞💞💞💞💞
Babysitter’s at Shadow Lake by Ann M. Martin | I reread this with my eleven year old and really enjoyed experiencing it a second time. A lot of stuff I’d honestly forgotten. I love super specials because you get to see the same experience through multiple eyes, including some of the younger kids this time. 💕💕💕💕💕
Honestly, just a lot of good reading. No duds to speak of. I also read a couple of Babymouse chapter books at the request of my eleven year old, which were adorable but they took me about twenty minutes to read each. She loves the series though so if you are looking for more graphic novel recommendations for your young girls, this looks like a great series.
I’m still reading The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman and honestly can’t figure out why I’m not loving it. As a huge Practical Magic fan, I had really high hopes. I don’t know if it’s the writing style, the pace, or if I just have an aversion to required reading. My book club is discussing it this weekend in theory but tbh I think quarantine is getting the best of our little club. I’m going to have to think about what I want to do about that.
And like I said at the top of this post, I’m also reading The Unlikelies by Carrie Firestone. I’m about halfway through this one and my initial impression was just that it was a LOT heavier than I was expecting, but so far not too heavy. Interested to see how it all ends, waiting impatiently to see if my ‘ships pan out.
Can you guys believe this month is almost over? 2020 continues to be a strange beast. Time is moving fast and slow. Months and weeks kind of blur together when our days are so similar. I’m not complaining, really.
As much as I look forward to the future when words like pandemic, quarantine, and “new normal” are not part of our daily routine – I’ve kind of enjoyed the easy pace of this summer. Being forced to slow down has its upsides and having everyone home is kind of nice.
The last month has involved a lot of grilling outdoors, roasting marshmallows, reading good books, blowing bubbles, playing in the sprinkler, and more.
My eleven year old and I watched the new Babysitter’s Club series on Netflix and loved it. We have been reading old super specials together at bedtime and of course my daughter loves the graphic novels. I think they did a good job modernizing the series but it still feels true to the original. It has that BSC magic that reminds me of my own childhood.
Speaking of my eleven year old, she celebrated said eleventh birthday this month. We’re continuing our new tradition of getting a swanky cake from my new favorite bakery for birthdays. Smaller celebrations mean I get to go all out for the cake and hopefully help support this small business that I love.
My teenager rearranged his room to make room for a desk – this is going to help a lot this fall because we’re all going to be home but doing slightly different things. My husband will be working from home in the office at least initially. My son’s high school is doing virtual learning until at least November. And…
My eleven year old is going to be homeschooled by yours truly for at least a year. That is not a sentence I pictured myself saying in the past but it became the obvious answer for several reasons. She and I are cautiously excited for this big change. I’m glad that I can do this for her and give her a consistent and stable school year while the country finds their footing.
Meanwhile my teenager is equally excited to start highschool and I’m grateful that the school is offering virtual learning to start.
So I’ve been spending a lot of the month researching curriculums and homeschooling laws, organizing the house to get both kids ready for the fall, and freaking out every few days about this new, big change in our lives. Because freaking out about things is like my part-time job.
That pretty much sums up our month. I’ll post again soon with the books I’ve been reading this month because it really warrants its own post.
What have you been up to this month?
I’m linking this post up with the Writer’s Workshop hosted by Mama Kat – love her!
It would appear that 2020 is in no hurry to take it easy on us. Like everyone else, life has been a series of one step forward and two steps back, making the urge to wallow and whinge strong. But we know better.
We’ve learned to look for the things bringing us joy in the little moments. It’s the only way to battle the blahs and look at these months behind us with the ability to remember more than face masks, social media meltdowns and heartbreaking news stories.
So today let’s choose to look for the joy so that we can fight more battles tomorrow with renewed spirits.
Like these new jars I bought to store flour and sugar on the counter.
And the cookbook that I’ve been baking my way through while we’re stuck at home.
Or those small moments when life looks almost normal. Like taking the kids out for ice cream (we wore masks to order). Bonus points, we had the place to ourselves, so I let them eat inside in the air conditioning.
Playing outside – we’ve had plenty of time for frisbees and sidewalk chalk this summer.
Or when I baked chocolate chip cookies for my husband for Father’s Day and everyone agreed they were some of the best chocolate chip cookies ever.
When I look back on this time someday, these are the things I hope to remember. Not how Facebook was driving me crazy or how much I hate group texts or how much I miss that sense of normalcy that we’ve always taken for granted. I want to remember the beautiful moments that we found when we were forced to slow down and focus on home.
doodling along with some favorite illustrators on youtube
How has summer been treating your reading life? I’ve found that quarantine life equals lazy mornings which results in staying up late reading most nights. So my nightstand reads are getting a fair amount of attention. Those are the lighter, fluffier reads that I trust not to make sleeping difficult.
My book club picks have been hit or miss. Most of them have had heavier subjects that my poor little quarantine brain hasn’t been able to deal with. But our May pick managed to hold my attention and I finished it in the nick of time.
I’ve also been reading some books with the kids. My daughter and I are reading Babysitter’s Club super specials together for a mother daughter book club. And my teenager has put a couple of good books in my hands after devouring them.
Here are the books I’ve finished in the last month or so.
REALLY LIKED Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer | Finished 5/23 | I read this at the recommendation of my 14 year old and my husband who both loved it. I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this – a fantastic blend of fantasy, action and sci fi starring an villainous but brilliant twelve year old. This is a fast paced read and a lot of fun. Looking forward to book two!
LOVED Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng | Finished 5/30 | This book was a slow burn for me (pun intended) but the more I read, the more it grabbed me. The second half went by fast. I think the author did a great job peeling away the details at the right time. Very well done.
LOVED Aloha, Babysitters by Ann M. Martin | Finished 6/2 | Read this with my daughter for a little mother daughter book club. I don’t remember reading it before actually so it was fun not knowing what was going to happen. I don’t remember Abby and liked getting to know her character. This super special had a lot of action and adventure and I loved the descriptions of Hawaii. 🥰🥰🥰
REALLY LIKEDUprooted by Naomi Novik | Finished 6/7 | Howls Moving Castle meets Moana meets The Witcher. This reads like a dark, adult fairy tale and sweeps you away.
Right now I’m reading TheRules of Magic by Alice Hoffman and The Babysitter’s at Shadow Lake by Ann M. Martin.
Summer vacation started a couple of weeks ago but for the most part nothing has changed. Despite some restrictions being lifted in town, we’re still mostly staying at home and trying to keep busy and avoid the news. Oh wait, that last part is just me.
That said, with school work out of the way and my husband back at work, we’ve had more time for Momma Camp type activities. I’m trying to keep the three of us busy during the day so we don’t melt into the couch forever.
We’ve been watching drawing tutorials on YouTube by Mo Willems and Jarrett J. Krosoczka. And a few others as well but these two are probably our favorites.
MM has been doing karate lessons online since March and just started attending in person again, with lots of restrictions and regulations in place. My Animal Crossing addiction continues but I’m trying to play less during the day. I still managed to become a bellionaire in the Stalk Market though.
My reading life has been pretty solid this Spring. With no forced early wake ups, I’ve been staying up late reading most nights and occasionally sitting outside and reading in our backyard. My book club just finished Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng and this month we’re reading The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman. These are some of the other books I’ve been adding to my TBR pile recently.
I might have bought the Babysitter’s Club board game to play with my girlie.I taught the kids how to make bird feeders with pinecones, peanut butter and bird seed and then we hung them outside.
Then on the way inside I slipped and sprained my ankle so that is a bittersweet mom memory for me. I was feeling all the nostalgia remembering making these bird feeders with my grandmother and got some gorgeous pictures hanging them up. Then a moment later, woosh! I’m doing ok but still in a bit of pain several days later.
Luckily I have pretty self sufficient and sweet children who manage to keep themselves busy and help me out as needed. What was that about playing less Animal Crossing again?
People keep talking about the new normal we’re going to have to adjust to when things start to open back up. I have mixed feelings about this phrase because I have mixed feelings about what life in quarantine has been like. The things I will miss and the things I won’t miss if and when life starts to resemble before.
Before quarantine I would stop into a favorite coffee shop for a latte and a treat. Sometimes I’d meet friends. Sometimes I would simply be taking a moment for myself between errands.
Most of these coffee shops will let me pick up these goodies to go, but I haven’t taken advantage of this because it seems like it was never about the latte, it was about the place and the people.
These days my morning starts with making a big pot of coffee to share with my husband who is working from home (though it sounds like he’ll be going back to the office soon). In between meetings we meet in the kitchen and pour another cup and chat about our day so far and discuss dinner. Usually he makes us bacon and eggs for lunch. I’ll be honest, this new ritual is something I’ll miss when he goes back to work.
Right before the spring break that never really ended I chaperoned a field trip to the planetarium with my fifth grader. It’s a favorite field trip of mine and I’m glad it wasn’t one of the many that was cancelled.
I miss volunteering in the kid’s classes, serving lunch to their smiling faces, going on field trips and catching up with school moms. We chat on Facebook but it’s not the same.
That said, I don’t miss the early morning rush or the driving from activity to activity at all. I secretly love having the kids at home all day. Don’t get me wrong, my introvert frequently burns out from the chatter, but I don’t hate midday cuddles and late bedtimes.
Before quarantine I bought a travel watercolor set so that I could paint on the go. That entire sentence seems foreign to me now.
I also carried around a book to read in the car during school pick up because nighttime reading was often sacrificed because of exhaustion. These days I have all the time I need for hobbies. I’m reading three books at a time. I play video games every day, y’all. We watch family movies multiple times a week.
I don’t miss being tired from running errands and saying yes to too many things. I don’t miss the busy. I love a lot of things about this forced slow down. And yet…
I do miss going to Target to look at absolutely nothing. I miss shopping without a mask. I miss a trip to the grocery store not leaving me emotionally exhausted for at least an hour. I miss seeing friends and kissing babies and smiling at cashiers and not cringing about 6 feet of separation.
I know it feels petty to complain about little things like wanting to grab coffee at Starbucks or visit a friend. But we all know it’s not about that really. It’s about being able to breathe and stretch and exist in the world – to smile and laugh and hug each other. That’s all I want.
I saw this tag at A Book. A Thought. and loved it so much that I tagged myself in immediately. What is your reading life like while you are stuck at home? Keep scrolling for a peek at mine.
Rules
Thank the person who nominated you – thanks self! And thanks to Sofii for sharing.
Nominate 5+ bloggers you’d like to know more about, to do this tag
🏡 | What are you currently reading? | 🏡
I’m reading a few things right now which seemsto be the new normal. Sometimes I can’t read multiple books at once but lately I’ve been reading one book upstairs before bed, my book club pick during the day and a Babysitter’s Club book with my daughter for a little mother daughter book club.
My book club is discussing Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng this month. So far so good. It seems to be wildly popular especially since becoming a show on Hulu. I’ve been reading Aloha, Babysitters with my daughter. How good does a tropical vacation sound right now? And at night I’m reading Artemis Fowl at the recommendation of my fourteen year old.
🏡 | What’s your favourite ‘can’t-leave-the-house’ activity? | 🏡
I won’t lie. I’ve been playing Animal Crossing like it’s my part time job. I just hit 5 stars this morning, so… I’m kind of a big deal.
I’ve also been going for walks, baking, painting and complaining that I’m bored and drinking a lot of coffee. How about you?
🏡 | A book you’ve been meaning to read for forever | 🏡
These are a couple of new releases and soon to be released titles that I’m anxious to read. I pre-ordered the Hunger Games sequel because 3/4ths of the household will be wanting to read this one. The other two are on my library request list for now.
🏡 | An intimidating book on your TBR| 🏡
Maybe now is the time to read a big scary classic novel? Contemplating Great Expectations by Charles Dickens.
🏡 | Top 3 priority books on your TBR | 🏡
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith, Turtles All the Way Down by John Green and Followers by Megan Angelo are on my nightstand and Kindle waiting for their turn. Which one should I read first?
🏡 | Recommend a short book| 🏡
I really loved this middle reader graphic novel set at the Ren Faire. Another great Ren faire centered book that’s a little more adult (ahem) is Well Met by Jen Deluca.
🏡 | Recommend a long book| 🏡
One of my all time favorites. This one will take you a little longer but is well worth the extra time.
🏡 | Something you’d love to do while stuck at home| 🏡
My daughter and I are planning to rewatch all the Disney Princess movies in the order they were released. This might be the summer of Disney Plus around here.
🏡 | What do you plan on reading next?| 🏡
I’m not sure yet – what do you recommend?
Tagging
Since I tagged myself, I’m going to encourage you to tag yourself as well! Happy reading!
