Year 2, week 36: The Bookshop of Yesterdays

This week's book:
The Bookshop of Yesterdays
by Amy Meyerson

This week's book is next month's book group book. It tells the story of a woman in her late twenties who inherits a used Bookshop from an estranged uncle. When she was a child she had a tight relationship with her uncle. He would take her on adventures and would send up scavenger hunts for them to do together. After a falling out between her mother and her uncle, our main character doesn't see her uncle again. When her uncle passes away she goes home to the funeral and sets out on the scavenger hunt her uncle has set up.

The book was interesting enough, but I had a hard time fully falling into the story. When reading fiction I need one character I can relate to or even like. With the book being kind of a mystery, there are a lot of secrets and half truths. I hate liars and not being completely honest, so I struggled with the plot. I also thought the main character was really kind of a twerp to everyone around her.

I don't know if I would recommend the book or not, due to my struggles with the characters. I have no doubt that we will have an amazing discussion at our book group. 

Year 2, week 35: The Three Musketeers

This week's book:
The Three Musketeers
By Alexandre Dumas

This week I have finally finished listening to The Three Musketeers on audiobook. I checked out the audiobook from the library, and for the first time ever, I had to get it renewed because the three weeks wasn't long enough to finish listening to this book in my car. I had the hardest time staying focused on listening to the book, and that sort of broke my heart because I have always loved the story of the musketeers. The 1993 film adaptation, which starts Chris O'Donnell, Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Tim Curry and Oliver Platt was and always will be my favorite version. Of course, the film adaptation from the 1970’s with Michael York and Geraldine Chaplin is great as well, but the early nineties one is the one for me. When I was younger, a good friend of mine took me to the ballet version of the three musketeers, and as a dancer of fifteen years, I loved it!

Long story short, I still love the story but I might have bitten off more than I could chew with this one. I would definitely recommend reading the book, just remember that it will take some time and energy to get through it.

Year 2, week 34: baby quilt

Baby quilt
By me

Some weeks you get everything done and you are a total kick butt chick. Some weeks you lay on the couch and eat cheese out of a container while binge watching some rubbish on Netflix. And some weeks you work on a billion and two things and get none of those tasks done and that's okay. Last week all I was trying to get done was any of the two billion things I have started lately and somehow because I was doing a lot on many things I got nothing done. If only I could have just focused on one of those tasks I would have accomplished something.

Last week brought our twenty week appointment for our little human. It was going to be the only ultrasound we were going to get even with my past pregnancy disappointments. I didn't fully understand why I was so nervous or why I was so darn queasy until after the appointment when my sweet hubby and I took advantage of not having either of the kids and went out to lunch. When I was pregnant with my first two kids, my doctor's office was in a different building than it is now. The last two ultrasounds before this one had been done in the same room, by the same woman (she has done all five of my ultrasounds actually) and there hadn't been anything there. The last two times I had stared up at the big screen TV on the wall there was no baby, no hope. I didn't know I was suffering a little PTSD about what has happened. This ultrasound was different though. The baby has a brain and a heartbeat. There is no cleft palate and the little one has hands and feet and all that jazz. The only scary thing about the whole experience was when it took two ultrasound techs to figure out what was going on with the baby's umbilical cord. Turns out the cord is connected to the placenta at the top and the placenta is beside the uterus. Due to these facts the baby runs the risk of not getting enough food. Luckily the baby is booming and is in the 80th percentage. We will have to monitor the baby for the rest of the pregnancy with scans. So my wish for more ultrasounds throughout the pregnancy came true.

The crafty thing I finally got done was a baby quilt I started a while back. It's a Mario themed quilt and wasn't turning out how I wanted, so it had to go into craft timeout until I was ready to face it again. There is also the fact that i didn't really want to deal with anything baby related for a while. Regardless I got it done and one less thing I want to get done is done.

Year 2, week 33: By Invitation Only

This week's book:
By Invitation Only
By Dorothea Benton Frank

This is a book group book this week.

I feel like all the symptoms of this pregnancy are really early. I already feel like I am the size of a whale, my back and hips are killing me and I have heartburn no matter what I eat or drink. But the baby is still in my tummy and growing so I am not going to complain. I am just trying get things done before the little snicklefritz comes in late August. I have been trying to start/finish quilting projects and such before the holidays. The same goes for the books I am required to read for the book group I lead at church.

This week's book is the book for this month's meeting. It was a nice change of pace from all the hard hitting topics that our group seems to pick every month. The book was By Invitation Only by Dorothea Benton Frank, and the plot is literally the plot of every romantic comedy that revolves around a wedding between two people with different backgrounds. The bride comes from a wealthy family from Chicago and the groom is the only child of peach farmers from the south. The book alternates between the mother of the bride and the mother of the groom, and sometimes the bride has a random chapter here and there. The book is pretty paint by number plot wise. The mother of the bride wants some grand circus of a wedding and the groom's mother can't afford all the trimmings. One thing for sure, it reminded me that I will be the mother of the bride and groom maybe someday, and I know I will always want my children to decide what kind of wedding they will want. It also made me want to drink sweet tea the whole time as well.

If you go for sappy romantic comedies that seem to be “everything turns out peachy” then this is the book for you. I thought it was fine and definitely fine for the kids to listen with me when I listened to parts of it on cd.

Year 2, week 32: Memories

Memories
By the Longs

This past week was our big first grader's spring break. We actually didn't go anywhere, but that doesn't mean we weren't totally busy. We all four were a bit under the weather and sort of had to take each day, by day. The family was able to cross off a lot of “to do” items that we had been putting off or not had time to do.

My husband and son put together a little wooden semi kit he received for Christmas last year. That doesn't sound that challenging, but the kit did not come with instructions, nor did the photos on the box match what the semi was going to look like when it was done.  Our little girl got to help paint the semi when it was all put together.

I was finally able to finish a Grinch themed quilt I had started before Christmas, yes I realize that it's April already. We also picked out the fabric for the curtain in our son's bedroom, due to the fact that his blinds self-destructed a while ago (photos in the future if I can figure out how to make curtains).

But perhaps the most exciting item we crossed of the to do list is that our little lady finally had a big girl bed in her own room. We tried having our kids share a room with each other, but they had just too much fun and were keeping each other up until way too late at night. So that was what I was excited to get done on spring break, but I'm assuming the littles were much more happy about a few play dates, video games, the Indianapolis Children's Museum, a book sale at the library, playing with cousins and going to see Captain Marvel, but who ever knows with those kids. I know for sure the three visits to the dentist probably wouldn't even crack the top 100 of what happened last week.

This week will definitely be a boy or a certain quilt or such.