What I've Been Reading : 2021 Edition

Surprisingly, I got a lot of books read this year. Cora and I started reading for about an hour most school nights so she could stay up a bit later. I have also been listening to more audiobooks on my daily walks or outdoor chore time. Here is what I read this year in chronological order:

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo - Lucy and Gabe meet on 9/11 and follows along as their relationship grows (both as they're together and apart). I did not like a lot of the choices the main character makes, but this was a good quick read. 

Concrete Rose (The Hate U Give, #0) by Angie Thomas - This is the prequel for The Hate U Give This book follows Starr's dad Maverick as a teenager, his relationship with Starr's mom, finding out he is going to be a father, getting a job, and more. I really enjoyed the expanded background of these characters. 

A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum - In an arranged marriage, a woman moves to America where her new husband and his Palestinian immigrant family lives (all together). The book bounces around betweem her first seven years of marriage, her daughter's 18th year, and her mother-in-law's perspective... all while they deal with their role as women and cultural pressure especially concerning marriage. Parts of this were difficult to read (TW: Rape and abuse) but also there is a lot of pressure to submit to their husbands, can't make their own choises and pressured into traditional roles of cleaning/cooking/childcare. I did enjoy the different perspective of the women and the development of their characters. This was one I could not put down.

The Kommandant's Girl by Pam Jenoff - Set in Poland during WWII. The book follows Emma as her husband leaves to join the resistance and she moves to the Jewish ghetto with her parents before being smuggled out. She assumes a new identity and goes undercover. Lots of suspense!

The Diplomat's Wife (The Kommandant's Girl #2) by Pam Jenoff - Picks up where the last book leaves off but follows Marta, a friend of Emma. Marta is rescued from a Nazi prison camp, falls in love, starts a new life in England but years later needs to return to meet with her old resistance contacts. I couldn't put this one down. 

* The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander - Discusses mass incarceration, war on drugs, etc. Highly recommend!! 

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane - Covers the span of 40 years. How two families lives collided (not always in the best way) and the recovery from an incident that changed all their lives. Contains mental illness, broken families, young love, redemption, forgiveness, etc.. I had no idea how this book was going to turn out, but I liked it.

* The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley and Malcolm X - I learned a lot about Malcolm X's life. This was narrated by Laurence Fishburne who is really a great choice to listen to for hours.

* A Promised Land by Barack Obama - Interesting to hear some behind the scenes of his presidency. There was way more politics than I expected, but overall good. I enjoyed that he narrated it. 

The Orphan's Tale by Pam Jenoff - Noa, a dutch teenager, saves a baby and runs off to join the circus where she meets Astrid. The book follows along both of their stories. 

* Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington - Traces Booker T Washington's journey from slave to educator

House Rules by Jodi Picoult - Mystery surroundinf a murder + boy with asbergers obsessed with crime scenes. This bounces around between different characters point of view. Overall suspensful. 

* Frederick Douglass: The Story of an American Slave by Frederick Douglass - autobiography of Frederick Douglass.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling - Read/listened to this one with Cora. I love the illustrated version since it is easier for her to follow along. We listened to the last half of the book on a road trip and she is quickly becoming a Harry Potter audiobook fan (aren't we all?)

A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline - bounced back and forth between a woman's older years and upbringing. Christina was increasingly incapacitated by her illness and spent her whole life on her family farm. Eventually becoming a muse to an artist. 

The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris - Lale, who was imprisoned at Auschwitz, falls in love with a girl he was tattooing at the concentration camp. I've heard this was amazing so I was was a little skeptical reading, but it really did live up to the hype. Immediately when I finished I rented the ebook for the second one.

Cilka's Journey (The Tattooist of Auschwitz #2) by Heather Morris -Follows Cilka's journey after Auschwitz. Couldn't put it down. 

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett - Follows twin sisters as they leave home and eventually separate. One returns to their hometown while the other decides to 'pass over' and live as a white woman. I wasn't sure where this was going to to, but it was a great read.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green - Two terminally ill teenagers fall in love.  The book was fine, but I feel like it was really hyped up. 

Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford - Ford's father was in jail for nearly 30 years. This tells the story of a family that must shoulder the weight that such an absence creates. 

* 1984 by George Orwell - a dystopian world heavy on censorship. Honestly this took me a long time to get through. The first part was good but it felt like it dragged on. 

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate - Follows the lives of the five Foss siblings who grew up living on a shantyboat (1939) but eventually were taken from their family. The book bounces between 1939ish and present day. Based on the true scandal of Geortia Tann, a woman whose adoption center kidnapped and sold poor children to wealthy families. This book was so good and probably one of my favorites of the year. 

* Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery - Anne, an orphan, is adopted by siblings Matthew and Marilla. Anne is chatty and full of imagination. I have always loved the film series when I was younger and now Anne with an E, so I enjoyed reading the book.

*Books ready with my ears AKA Audiobooks.

See previous years here: 2019 and 2020

Kitchen Mural

The blank wall in our kitchen has been asking for a mural for a while now. I was a bit hesitant because the kitchen is our most used room and I wanted to make sure I would love whatever design I decided to paint. Once I finished painting the living room and the back entryway, I was ready to jump in and paint the kitchen. My original thought process was to do something sunset-like because of the birds on the wall. I mulled about a half circle, full circle with a gradient, striped circle, etc. 

I saw a picture of Abbey's office on Instagram (@abbeymadethis) and it was the perfect inspiration.  She has since painted over it, but it was a red/pinkish circle with some lines overlapping it. I decided I wanted the lines on the opposite side of the circle and to make them a bit shorter.

I just decided to wing it one night. I drew a big circle (with a little string) then eyeballed where I wanted the lines (I did check the lines with a level). Personally I was trying to keep this low budget so I used what paint I had on hand.  For the pink, I had some leftover from an old patio table I painted in 2012. I mixed a little bit of white in to tone it down. For the stripes, I mixed a tiny bit of pink, yellow that was left in our house (I believe it was used for the garage) and a couple of drops of black acrylic paint.

This was such a quick/easy DIY that made a huge impact. Our kitchen is not the most appealing room, but this mural really brightened it up over the last year. I spent a lot of time working from the kitchen table and the pop of color made staring at these cracked kitchen walls so much more enjoyable. We've had the mural for about a year 

Introducing our Puppy Cato!

We've been discussing getting a second pup for years, but Clovey has seemed extra lonely lately so we finally made the plunge. We knew we needed a particular type of dog to be Clove's companion because Clove is a little picky in her old age. After a bit of searching, Ben found the perfect dog. We did a meet and greet and it took about 30 minutes for the dogs to even sniff each other.  It took a couple days for them to warm up to each other, but we are getting there.

His shelter name was Courage the Cowardly Dog and we could definitely see where they got that name but we also wanted to change it. We named Clove after the Hunger Games district 2 girl tribute so we've always joked about naming a second animal Cato (the boy district 2 tribute). Cato felt like the perfect name for the dog formerly known as Courage. He started answering it pretty quickly so we knew it was the perfect choice.

Cato is really such a sweet puppy. He loves to follow me around and nuzzle into my armpit whenever he gets a chance. He is warming up to Clove, but mostly just lets her be the boss about everything. We are so excited to see how his personality comes out as he gets more comfortable in our home.

Introducing Our Chicks!

We've been debating chickens for a couple years now but Ben wasn't super into the idea. He ran into one of our friends last winter and she told him all about her chickens and how easy they were... and basically talked him into it. I made an order with a local hatchery after lots of debating on what type of chickens to get. We settled on 6 chickens (the minimum order). I chose the ones we got by their availability, breeds that were good egg producers, breeds that I thought were beautiful, and ones that had good personalities.  So here are a million pictures of our adorable chicks:

I will share more with their names, breeds, and personalities at a later date!

What I've Been Reading : 2020 Edition

My reading started off strong in 2020 with a handful of books... until the virus happened. I found myself with less time alone and not very motivated to read while I was battling some health issues. Eventually I got back into the swing of things and was able to read about 16 books for the year. Here's what I read in 2020 in reverse chronological order:

Dutch House by Ann Patchett - This book follows a boy and his sister through pretty much their whole life and follows how their attachment to the Dutch House (and its other occupants) shapes their life.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Illustrated by JK Rowling - I'm slowly making my way through these illustrated books with Cora. The girls love looking at the pictures and it is fun to read along with them. Usually I can fly through these books, but it is surprising how long it takes to read out loud.

Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein - This book gives the history of how laws shaped segregation in America. This took a bit to read, but it is well worth it. So informative and I would 100% recommend.

* Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis - Quick listen. I know she is really popular, but it was not my favorite book. It was interesting to hear about a bit of her background, but overall the book was just okay.

Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption - Bryan Stevenson - Death row lawyer works to get an innocent man acquitted. there is one main story line with smaller cases sprinkled in. All true. There is also a movie.

* The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes  by Suzanne Collins - (The Hunger Games #0) This was a prequel to the Hunger Games and follows along as Snow gets involved with the games. It is interesting to hear about how the games evolved and make connections to characters from the other books.

* Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens - Everyone in a Kya's life abandons her, so she figures out how to make her own way in the marshes. Loved this book and I can see why it is so popular. This is one I will probably reread at some point.

* Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids by Laura Markham - good parenting tips. I have a couple good takeaways from it, but would probably much rather read with my eyes than via audiobook.

Anatomy of a Scandal by Sarah Vaughan - A man in the government is accused of rape. The book follows along the trial and parallel backstory of one of the characters.

His Dark Materials Series - Philip Pullman. : I read The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, The Amber Spyglass and companion book Once Upon a Time in the North. Adventure, suspense, female lead, magic... what more can I ask for in a book.

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - Such a great book! I can't believe I haven't already read this. It

Leopard at the Door by Jennifer McVeigh - Young Woman returns to her childhood home and the nostalgia of that, but also triggers some bad memories.

The Ambassador's Daughter by Pam Jenoff - Prequel to The Kommandant's Girl. Margot, a german diplomat's daughter, travels to Paris for a peace conference and strikes up some unlikely friendships/alliances. Quick read and hard to put down.

*books read with my ears AKA audiobooks. 

See my 2019 reads here.

Fall 2020

This year, Summer and Fall kind of blended together thanks to our delayed back to school. We bounced between at home school and remote for most of the Fall, so we were able to enjoy a lot more time at the pool throughout the month of September.... then we switched to enjoying lots of bike riding. We are fairly close to our downtown, so we like to ride down there for treats at the pastry shop or the occasional small event. Our town has cancelled all of the Fall festivals and other events we looked forward to every Fall, but we have been able to attend smaller events like a celebration of Black poetry day. We have also enjoyed the bike trail and all of the beautiful Fall foliage along the trail

We celebrated Ida's birthday with some outdoor family gatherings and a couple drive-by wishes from friends. She was a little sad she missed out on celebrating her birthday at school, but she had a great day.

Since I'm working from home and Cora is remote half the week, we have been enjoying the Fall weather as much as possible. Sometimes, we do schoolwork outside, other times we just take lots of breaks to enjoy our backyard.

Holiday-wise, we did some of our yearly traditions, but skipped actual Trick-or-treating.  We decorated 'spooky houses' at my parents, stopped by the pumpkin patch near our house, participated in 'BOOing' our neighbors, wore costumes throughout the month, and watched all Halloween themed movies.

Like most things about this year, things were different. We changed some things around and really enjoyed our Fall days more than we were ever able to in previous years.

Back to School

Like everything this year, back-to-school season was a lot different.  Cora's first day of school was delayed a week or two. They eased into the school year by splitting the class in two. They had an orientation day one week, then half a week of in school and half a week of virtual school the following week.  This was a great way to give us all a taste of how virtual school would work in case we have to do that in the coming months (spoiler alert: we do).  The school gave everyone the opportunity to choose in-person or virtual and we are lucky to have had half the class choose to be virtual!!! There are only 10 kids in Cora's in-person class! After the first couple days seeing how awesome the school and children were doing with the new rules, we were all feeling much better about choosing the in person option. 

Cora has moved into hybrid where she is at school half the week and at home half the week. It has been interesting to watch her learning style and how she interacts with the class. She is a go-getter and wakes up early to get a head start on her afternoon lessons so she can have the afternoon to relax.

Ida's school delayed the beginning of the year by a month, then had orientation days and partial days for everyone to ease into the new restrictions. Ida has been asking to go back to school multiple times a week since March, so she was happy to get back into the classroom. On her first day of school, she ran off into the classroom barely glancing back and saying "bye". Every single day I picked her up, she gave me one of the wild twinkly smiles and tells me "I had the best day today!" 

We will likely be moving back and forth between in person and at home schooling this year and I'm interested to see where the year takes us and how much my girlies learn.

QuaranSummer 2020

We are in full on Fall mode, but I still want to document and remember things from this summer... so as I always say better late than never!

This was such a weird summer, but also one of my favorite summers of my adult life. Working from home full time has changed things so much for our family life. Work is no longer a huge stressor for me since I don't have to deal with commuting, meal prep, missing my kids, getting distracted by coworkers, or being inside all day long. 

We spent a lot of time outside playing soccer, running around, going on walks, and just soaking up the sun. My goal for the summer was to get Cora riding her bike. We ended up bike riding nearly every day and it quickly became Cora's favorite thing to do. Luckily, we are a couple doors down from our town's bike trail entrance so we spent a lot of time on that trail. where we enter, there is a flat section to the right and a large hill to the left. We spent the first couple weeks exclusively riding on the flat part of the trail until Cora worked up her skills and courage to try the large hill.  She did awesome on the hill and a couple days into riding down the hill she really started to love it.  One day we were riding and there was a young girl at the top of the hill working up the courage to ride down.  Cora gave her a little encouragement and we went on our way.  Later in the trail we ran into the girl and her family. Her dad said that Cora gave the little girl the courage to ride down the hill. Cora was so excited to inspire the little girl to ride down the hill and I could see Cora become that much more confident in riding her bike.

Towards the end of the summer, we got a pool pass and hit the pool every other day. The first day, Cora took her test to get the yellow band and passed. When she walked out the door with her new yellow band, she threw up both her hands and shouted "I DID IT!"  We found that we loved the earlier pool time which was mostly old people and us. Cora tested for her green band at the end of the summer and it was so sweet watching all our old people cheer her on and congratulate her. 

We got to spend lots of time as a family this summer. Over the last year, Ben started taking one day off a week and we had an intentional family day. We'd go swimming, hiking, play outside, cook big family meals, watch movies, etc. Overall, we really just enjoyed spending time together all summer long.

Sunflower Staycation Outing

We had a small staycation at the beginning of August. We did a lot of our regular weekend things like trips to the pool, gardening, projects, cooking, and being lazy. I wanted to try and get out and go on one little adventure with the girls to somewhere we normally don't go. A couple of my friends posted pictures at Cottell Park, so we thought we'd check it out. 

I woke the girls up and tried to get there early (about 9:30) to beat the crowds, but there were still quite a few people there. We took couple pictures, explored the fields, and avoided people at all costs. All of the sunflowers were beautiful and kind of makes me want to plant our own little sunflower 'field' in a chunk of our yard.