Lisa R. Howeler's Blog, page 93

Fiction Friday: Mercy’s Shore Chapter 1

As you can tell, I’ve decided to try blogging my next book.

I can’t guarantee I’ll have chapters every week, but we will see how it goes.

As always, this will be a work in progress, chapters will not have been proofed and at the end, I’ll create a book that will be self-published.

The last book I presented this way comes out on Amazon/Kindle on Tuesday and I have set the price at 99 cents to allow my blog readers a chance to get it cheap. If you prefer to have a free copy in exchange for a review, leave me your email address or send it to me at lisahoweler@gmail.com and I’ll send you a Bookfunnel link with a copy of the book.

I hope you enjoy the first chapter of Ben Oliver and Judi Lambert’s story. As always, comments are welcome.

Chapter 1

If mentally unhinged and obnoxious had been Ben Oliver’s type Judi Lambert’s fluttering eyelashes and head tilt might have worked to calm him

But neither of those things interested him, which was why his heart was racing and a vein had popped out on the left side of his neck.

He gestured aggressively toward the tree his BMW was now wrapped around.  “You didn’t see the stop sign?”

Judi twisted a strand of straight, blonde hair around a finger and avoided eye contact. “Yeah, I saw it, I just —”

“You just what? Thought the stop sign was a suggestion?”

She blew her gum into a bubble, popped it between her lips, and sighed. “Calm down. I’m sure your car is —”

“Totaled, Judi. My car is totaled.” He tapped the screen of his cell phone. “My car is totaled because you thought you could beat me through the intersection.”

Holding the phone to his ear, he paced in place, waiting for someone to pick up.

“Hello, Attorney Ben Oliver’s office.”

“Cindi, hey, yeah. It’s me. I’ve been in an accident.”

“Oh my gosh, Ben. Are you okay?” The concerned voice of his middle-aged secretary sent a flurry of frustration rushing through him.

“I’m fine. I just need you to call Judge Stanton’s office and tell him I’m not going to be able to make court today.”

“No, problem. Should I call anyone else for you?”

There was no one else to call, other than his parents, and he could talk to them later.

“No. Thanks. See you later this afternoon.”

He slid his thumb across the screen of the phone and turned back to what was left of the car he’d purchased last year to congratulate himself on the opening of his own law office.

No, the office wasn’t in a big city, like he had thought it would be. It was located in a town thirty minutes from where he’d grown up in rural Pennsylvania. It was a law office, though, and it was his.

When he turned from inspecting the car, the lanky blond standing across from him slid her hands in the back pockets of her jeans and pushed out her chest at the same time she pushed out her bottom lip. Behind her was the red convertible she’d been driving, completely unharmed, of course.

She tipped her head to one side. “I’m sure we can work something out, right?”

No way. Was she seriously trying to seduce him?

She winked.

Yes, she was trying to seduce him. Luckily, he knew what a train wreck she’d turned into after high school. He wasn’t about to fall for her overplayed act.

“Work what out?” The more he yelled, the more his head throbbed. “My car is destroyed because of you.” He tossed his hands in the air. “There’s nothing to be worked out!” He pointed a finger at her. “You better hope your insurance covers this.”

She held her hands up in front of her. “Dude, calm down. You’re bleeding from the head. It can’t be good for you to be screaming like this.”

Ben practically growled as he took a step toward her, wincing as pain sliced through his ankle. “I know, I’m bleeding!” He spoke through gritted teeth. “You don’t think I know I’m bleeding?! My head bounced off the windshield when I swerved to miss your car!”

He pressed his handkerchief to his forehead as blood dripped into his eye with one hand, dialing 911 on his cellphone with the other.

“Yes, I need to report an accident,” he answered when the dispatcher asked what his emergency he was.

“Location?” the dispatcher asked.

He swiveled to look for the road signs at the intersection but when he stopped moving the rest of the world didn’t.

“Sir, can you give me a location?”

Black encroached at the edges of Ben’s sight, and he bent forward, propping his hands on his knees. The phone clattered to the dirt surface of the road.

“Sir? Are you okay? Sir?”

When he came to, Judi was leaning over him with his phone against her ear.

“Yes. He’s opening his eyes now. How far out are they?” She rolled her eyes. “Okay. I’ll try but he’s very stubborn.”

Judi held the phone to the base of her throat, slightly above her cleavage, still leaning over him.

“Ben, the dispatcher says you need to stay still until the ambulance gets here. It shouldn’t be long, ‘Kay?”

Kay? Yeah – kay. Where else was he going to go? His head was pounding, pain was shooting up through his ankle, and every time he tried to open his eyes the world — and Judi — spun into a whirl of colors. He clenched his eyes closed against the pulsating agony sliding back and forth from the front to the back of his head.

The next thirty minutes was a blur, voices fading in and out, images merging together, lights bright in his eyes. He didn’t know how much time had passed when the world came into focus again and the beeping of monitors drowned out his muddled thoughts.

“There he is. I think he’s coming to.”

What was Judi doing in his bedroom? This could not be a good sign. “Hey, buddy. How you feeling?”

Wait. He wasn’t in his bedroom. Thank God. That meant Judi wasn’t either.

A deep voice boomed across his thoughts. “I know it’s family only. I’m his father.”

Ben struggled to open his eyes, blinked in bright fluorescent, and squinted. He searched the room of hospital equipment, nurses, and Judi to find his father’s face etched with concern.

“Dad?”

“You’re awake. Thank God.”

His dad’s voice was thick with emotion. He stepped past the nurse and stood at Ben’s bedside, reaching out a large hand to clasp his son’s shoulder.

Ben closed his eyes briefly, trying to remember how he’d ended up here, IV needles sticking out of his arm, nodes glued to his forehead and chest. A vision of his car wrapped around a tree filled his mind and his eyes flew open, his gaze falling on Judi again.

It all came back to him, including the anger.

“What is she still doing here? She didn’t do enough by making me wreck my car?”

His dad looked at him through disappointed dark green eyes, lowering his voice. “Ben, she’s been waiting here for you to wake up. She easily could have left. I’ll cut you some slack since you’re injured, but I hope to see a little more kindness when your head is clearer.”

In his father’s words, Ben felt the sting of the reminder that he would never be as good, or as kind, as Maxwell Oliver.

How did his dad even know he was here? He certainly hadn’t called him. Then again, maybe he had. His brain was a little fuzzy on the last — how long had he been here?

“I need to call the office. I have a client coming in at 2.”

A smile tilted his dad’s mouth up. “It’s well after two, kid. Cindy already called and rescheduled. You need to lay back and relax. I’m going to find a doctor and see what the verdict is on that head injury of yours.”

With his father gone, Ben took the time to look around the room, his gaze settling once again on Judi, her blond hair pulled back in a ponytail, dark red lipstick freshly reapplied, finely manicured nails showcasing pink nail polish as she held her phone and texted furiously. She was sitting in a chair, one leg crossed over the other, her foot bouncing.

“Go home, Judi. I’m fine.”

She didn’t look up from her phone. “I have to stay. Matt McGee wants my statement about the accident. He said he’d meet me here.”

Ben shifted up on the hospital bed, looked down at his arm with the IV, his white button-up shirt stained with blood, and his khakis with the knees dark from when he’d fallen in the mud climbing out of the car.

Maybe it was the painkiller running into his bloodstream, maybe it was the exhaustion or the head injury, but a laugh came out of him.

“And what are you going to tell Officer McGee? The truth? That you completely ignored a stop sign and drove straight through the intersection and in front of me?”

Judi looked up, pursing her lips, and studying Ben for a few minutes before speaking. “Are you going to sue me?”

“Excuse me?”

“Just let me know if you’re going to sue me. I’ve got tons of bills already, okay? I need to know if I’m going to have even more to pay if you sue me.”

He sighed and pressed the heels of his palms against his eyes. “No, Judi. I am not going to sue you. The worse I’m going to do is have my insurance company send a claim to your insurance company.”

“Okay. Well, you’re a lawyer so, I wasn’t sure what you’d do.”

Ben made a face as he lowered his hands. “Lawyers don’t sue everyone just because we know how, Judi.”

Judi shrugged a shoulder and looked back at her phone, tapping her finger across the screen. “Just checking.”

“Mr. Oliver. How are we doing?”

He heard the voice before he saw the doctor who swept into the room. He tried to follow the imposing figure with his eyes, but they wouldn’t focus so he tipped his head back against the pillow instead.

The doctor flicked a light into his eyes quickly then held up a finger. “Can you follow my finger?”

Ben tried but his eyes kept going where he didn’t want them to.

The doctor dropped his hand and glanced over his shoulder at Maxwell, who Ben noticed had stepped back into the exam room. “That’s pretty consistent with what I suspected.”

“What’s the verdict then, Jim?” Maxwell asked, arms folded across his chest, expression serious.

“Pretty clear grade three concussion. I’d like to do an MRI to confirm.”

Ben tried to focus on his father and the doctor as they conversed but moving his gaze back and forth proved to be too much to handle and he eventually closed his eyes.

He listened to the conversation, not in the least surprised his father knew the doctor by his first name. It seemed like there wasn’t anyone in this smalltown Maxwell didn’t know.

“For now, I think we should keep him overnight for observation and if all the tests come back normal, he should be good to go in a couple of days.”

Ben opened his eyes, squinting in his father’s direction. “You two are aware that I’m right here and an adult with all my facilities?”

Maxwell laughed. “Sorry about that son. Jim and I went to high school together. I was already talking to him outside about your head injury, so we were simply continuing the conversation.”

Ben tried to nod, then winced. “Okay, well, listen, I’m sure I’ll be fine. I don’t want to stay here overnight. I have a court case in the morning and —“

“There’ll be no court for you for a while, kid.” His father’s stern voice overlapped his. “In addition to that head injury, Jim’s pretty sure your ankle is broken. You’re going to need some time to heal up.”

Maxwell pushed his hands into his front pant pockets and tipped his head down, looking over his gold-rimmed glasses. “Listen, I know it’s going to be hard for you not to be on the move, but I have a feeling you won’t be cleared to drive for at least a couple of weeks so I think you should stay with me and your mom while you recover.”

“Dad, come on, that’s —“

“Probably a good idea,” the doctor said. “We’ll see what the MRI shows but even if it doesn’t show anything worse, your head is going to need some time to heal. Driving could put you and others in danger. I’m going to call a nurse and have her finish cleaning out that gash and then we’ll sew it up for you.” He turned to Maxwell and held out his hand. “Max, good to see you.” He turned his head toward Ben while still holding Maxwell’s hand. “You’ve got a good dad here, Ben. I hope you know that.”

Ben leaned his head back again, eyelids drooping. “Yeah. I do. I certainly do.”

Sleep overcame him a few minutes later and when he woke up, he was in a hospital room, alone except for a nurse pressing buttons on a blood pressure machine next to the bed.

He patted his chest, then reached toward the bedstand next to the bed. “Is my phone around here?”

The nurse nodded toward the bedside table. “Over there charging. Your dad said you’d want it when you woke up.”

“How long have I been out?”

The nurse smiled as she turned to leave the room. “Sometime since yesterday. The morphine hit you hard.”

Ben winced as he pushed the button on the side of the bed, lifting the top so he could sit up. His head and ankle were throbbing. He glanced under the blanket and saw a temporary cast on the ankle, which probably meant it was broken after all.

“Great. Just what I need.”

He reached for the phone, wondering how many calls he’d missed while he was out.

Ten all together. Two were from clients, one was from his secretary. The last one was from the Spencer Valley Police Department, which was most likely regarding his statement about the accident.

His finger hovered over the last voice mail. He didn’t recognize the number, but the phone had already transcribed the first few lines of the message and it had done a horrible job. All he could make out that made sense was parents and birthday. Whose parents and whose birthday?

He pressed play on the message, groaning softly when the familiar voice started speaking.

“My parents sent you an invitation to Amelia’s party and I just want you to know that they sent it, not me. I don’t want you there. One call a year on her birthday doesn’t make you a father, Ben. So, just . . . just ignore the invitation.”

Muffled voices followed. Angie must have forgotten to hang up the phone. Ben heard what sounded like Angie’s mother in the background, then it was Angie again. “Yes, I did call him.  . . Because I didn’t ask you to contact him. . . . I understand he’s her father, but he’s never wanted to be in her life before, why would he now?”

The voicemail ended abruptly, and he sat staring at the screen for a few seconds, his thumb hovering over the delete button.

Taking a deep breath, he moved his thumb away from the button. He was under the influence of some heavy-duty painkillers. Maybe he’d better listen to the voicemail again when was more alert.

Then again —

His thumb moved back to the delete button and he tapped it.

Listening again wouldn’t make any of what Angie had said less true. He hadn’t even seen the invitation yet, but if he did, he knew what to do with it. Toss it in the trashcan like he had with all the other invitations he’d been sent for the last four years.

Book review/recommendation: Violet’s Vow by Jenny Knipfer

Jenny Knipfer has a way of melodically weaving a story through well-written prose that takes you into the past, a world she easily strolls through in her latest historical novella Violet’s Vow.

The story of Violet takes the reader on an emotional journey as Violet navigates loss, anger, and love after the unexpected death of her husband, Roger. Violet knows how her husband died but throughout the book, she feels she must find out why her husband died. Was it truly an accident, or was there something more sinister at play? No matter the reason behind his death, his loss has left Violet insecure and unsure of her future, which she thought would involve running the flower shop she and Roger owned together, into their old age.

When Violet begins to receive love notes I was pulled into the mystery of who has feelings for her and why they aren’t telling her in person. As I continued the journey with Violet, I also began to wonder which man in her life I wanted to have written the letters, since each one seemed to have something suspect about their past. As in her other books, Jenny uses poetic language to create a story worth following to the end. There is heartbreak yet hope within the pages of each book she writes, and Violet’s Vow is no different.

You can purchase Violet’s Vow on Amazon, or read it through Kindle Unlimited starting Friday, May 6.

Five fun, quirky and unique mystery shows you should be watching

I am a fan of quirky mystery shows and lately, I’ve been finding most of those types of shows on Britbox or AcornTV, which are British channels on Amazon Video.

Today I thought I’d share with you five of my (and my husband’s) favorite fun, quirky, and unique mystery shows. I’ve mentioned most of them already during my Sunday Bookends post.

Most we watched are based in the UK but one is Canadian and the other is from New Zealand.

Shakespeare and Hathaway

I discovered this one on my own and fell in love with the characters, though I would say I liked Frank Hathaway more than Luella Shakespeare at first. She did grow on me as I continued to watch.

The premise of the show is that the two are an oddball detective team. Frank was working as a private detective when he met Luella who came to him to find out if her fiancé was cheating on her. At the conclusion of that case (you’ll have to watch it to find out what happens), Lu essentially invites herself to work with Frank as a fellow detective.

Frank is also a former police detective who has a contentious relationship with the local police because of that. As the series goes on you learn a little bit more about why he left the police force and became a detective instead.

Sebastian is Frank’s flamboyant and talented assistant. He’s also an inspiring actor. Of course, to fit the title, the show is based in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays into the Shakespeare theme quite a bit.

At the end of one season, we thought Sebastian was going to leave and I literally cried.

The show is in its fourth season on BritBox on Amazon and I’m not sure what the future holds for it, but luckily we have all the past episodes to enjoy.

Brokenwood Mysteries

This was a new one for us this year, thanks to Erin at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.

The show focuses on Detective Mike Shepherd and his assistants, Detective Kristin Simms and Detective Sam Breen. They solve mysteries in the small New Zealand town of Brokenwood. Similar to other small-town mystery shows, it’s surprising how many people are murdered in this place. It’s like the crime capital of New Zealand and it’s a town of like 600. They might run out of people to kill soon.

What I like about this show is, well, Mike for one —he’s awesome — but I also like that it has reoccurring characters who often play integral parts of each 90-minute episode. When we are watching it, we find ourselves wondering if one of the usual community members will finally get caught up and charged with murder or some other crime.

There is a lot of mystery about Mike’s past, including how he knows a woman in town who used to be in the witness protection program and if this is why he ended up in the town to help with an investigation in the first place. He has a very unique investigation style, including talking to the deceased when he arrives on a scene. No, they don’t answer back, but he feels it’s a way of reassuring them he will find out who killed them.

Mike is a huge fan of country music and thanks to the show, my husband and I have discovered a ton of New Zealand country music we never knew existed. We absolutely love the music for the show, in other words.

I also love the handyman, or whatever he is, Jared Morehu, who becomes a friend of Mike’s and is helping him grow wine grapes to eventually make wine from. Jared is of Maori descent. The Maori are indigenous Polynesian people who settled in New Zealand and are considered the first settlers of the country.

Another fun, quirky, and weird character is the coroner, Gina Kadinsky, who is Russian and has a very dark, dry sense of humor. Her character does poke a bit of fun at the Russian stereotype, but she keeps the laughter in the show, which is fairly light but does have some darker themes at times.

There are currently seven seasons of the show up on Amazon through Acorn TV. Season 8 is supposed to be up sometime this year, according to some information I found online. It will be on New Zealand TV in mid-2022.

Murdoch Mysteries

Murdoch Mysteries was something my husband discovered a year or so ago, maybe longer. We’ve been watching it off and on since then.

The show does not feature the best acting at times and the “special effects” are a bit corny, but we still can’t stop watching.

The show follows quirky Detective William Murdoch, a detective in 1890s Toronto, Canada. There are currently 15 seasons of the show, and I would recommend starting in the beginning because I feel the show has gone off the rails a bit as it has progressed. All 15 seasons are on AcornTV through Amazon.

I am sure many of you will ponder what I have the entire time I’ve watched the show, which is — Is Detective Murdoch wearing eyeliner? I believe he is indeed so there; you don’t have to wonder anymore.

The show follows Murdoch as the main character but also the female coroner Dr. Julia Ogden, Constable George Crabtree, Inspector Thomas Brackenreid, and Constable Henry Higgins (which always makes me think of the Henry Huggins books by Beverly Cleary). There is mystery, action, intrigue and romance.

Again, though, be warned, sometimes it can be a little silly. I think silly and light is fun and welcome, though, so I don’t mind a bit of silly in my shows.

This show is based on books by Maureen Jennings, and I believe they are a little darker than the show. There is also a movie available online and it is much, much darker.

The cast loves to have fun and to show that there have been many short features created as well for fans.

Death in Paradise

I believe this is one I discovered first, a few years ago now.

The show is filmed in the French Caribbean on Guadeloupe Island. For the show the island is called Saint Marie.

The first season kicks off with Detective Inspector Richard Poole coming to the island to investigate the murder of a British police officer. After he solves the case, he is ordered by his superiors at the Metropolitan Police in London to remain on staff on the tiny island. The “staff” are three other officers serving the entire, tiny island. Realistic? I don’t know, but it’s also very disconcerting so many people die on this island. If I was going to choose somewhere to vacation to, I’d definitely choose some place else based on the crime rate here.

So far, we have gone through four detective inspectors in eleven seasons. There seems to be a bit of a rotating door, in other words, but I’ve heard this is partially because they actually film in the French Caribbean and while this provides lovely views, it requires the actors to be away from their families for months at a time. This is why the first DI, actor Ben Miller, left the show after only two seasons.

Each DI has their own quirk, which becomes a joke throughout the show. The first DI was very uptight, stuck-up, and a clean freak. The second DI was accident-prone, the third is dealing with the death of his wife and brings his daughter and is a bit awkward (as all the DI’s are), and the fourth I have not seen yet, but reading up on it, it looks like he has a lot of allergies, including to mosquitoes, which are, of course, abundant on the island.

The show also features native island officers who apparently are too dumb to solve cases without the British detectives who are much more clever, smart, and quite frankly “crime-solving geniuses”.

 The show features somewhat light crimes, with a dark edge, but nothing so dark you find yourself up all night thinking about the horrors of the world. Well…usually anyhow. I will admit that some of the episodes have left me fairly disturbed, including a couple in the first season. It’s not a gruesome show for the sake of being gruesome, though, which is one reason I like it.

The Mallorca Files

This is another escape-type mystery show, different from the others because it is based in Mallorca, which is a tiny island off the coast of Spain.

It is interesting because it has very international flavor. While it is set in Mallorca, the one detective is German, the other British and the captain and other characters are Spanish.

Each episode is a new mystery and characters don’t necessarily carry over, other than the detectives.

There have only been two seasons of this show so far and you can find them on BritBox on Amazon (just an aside here, I am not getting paid by Amazon for this post. It just happens to be where we watch most of our favorite shows at this time.) Season two of the show was cut short by the You Know What and it isn’t clear yet if there will be a season three, but if there is, I’ve read that the last four episodes will be added to season three.

Bonus mentions:

The Poirot made for TV movies

There are several versions of the Agatha Christie character Hercule Poirot but our favorite is David Suchet, so we have watched several of the movies starring him as the short Belgium detective.

Most of the movies can be found streaming on  . . . you guessed it! BritBox.

Father Brown Mysteries

Like Agatha Raisin (which didn’t get mentioned in this particular post, but might in a future post), this show went off the rails a bit for me in about the sixth season, but I am going to try it again. There are nine seasons currently on Britbox.

Not only did some of my favorite characters leave the show but they had a couple of episodes that were just very unnerving and well, to sound like a prude, a bit dirty for my taste (if you’re new to this blog, yes, I am a prude about some things and not a prude about others. *wink*).

Father Brown is a Catholic Priest who gets wrapped up in a type of amateur sleuthing and pulls his housekeeper and others into the sleuthing with him. If you are familiar with the American Father Dowling Mysteries, this is similar except Father Dowling was the American version of Father Brown.

According to research, Father Dowling was also based on Father Brown which is based on books written by G.K. Chesterton in the early 1900s.

This is the second incarnation of Father Brown from British television. There was another series in the 70s.

So, there you go — some fun mystery shows to get hooked on today. What are you waiting for? Turn off the news and social media and lose yourself in the world of quirky and fun mysteries.

What books do you have to have physical copies of?

My husband and I started to buy more Kindle books a few years ago because our bookshelves were literally starting to sag under the weight of all of our books. Moving them when we left our old house to move into this new one wasn’t very fun either.

So, we have decided that it isn’t that we won’t ever buy physical books again, but that we will only buy physical copies of books that we will want to read again. If we do pick up books at library sales that we don’t really like we can always donate them to another library sale.

I am fine with reading most books on my Kindle (ebook reader for those not familiar with it, though I’d be surprised if there was someone not familiar with it), but there are a few authors I like to read while holding a physical copy of their book.

I don’t know how to explain the difference between reading on the Kindle and reading an actual hard copy of a book. It isn’t that I think the Kindle is inferior, but I don’t feel like I really own the books, even if I have “bought” them off of Amazon. The issue I have is that unless I physically download every book I have purchased off of Amazon, I don’t really own that book. It’s still on Amazon’s servers, which could go down at any point, or which they could choose to remove books from. I’ve even heard of them removing books people have purchased because Amazon deemed the book inappropriate.

That is why I purchased a physical copy of the book Irreversible Damage by Abigail Shier. People were reporting that their digital copies were being removed from their digital clouds if they purchased it through Amazon. I don’t agree with that type of censorship and wanted to read Abigail’s message without the issue of transgenderism rising in young women, so I purchased a hard copy of the book and put it on my shelf. Who knows if or when I might need it at some point.

Side note: as far as I know, Amazon stopped removing books they disagreed with when people started to notice and threw a stink. I’m not a huge fan of Amazon for this and many other reasons, but they are the largest bookseller in the U.S. so it’s hard to completely ignore them.

Moving on from the critique of Amazon, I’ll get back to the original intent of this blog post which is that there are certain books I want physical copies of, even if I read them on a digital device.

For example, I have set out to collect all 14 of the books in The Mitford Series by Jan Karon. When I originally started those books, I read physical copies so reading a physical copy of her books holds a sentimental value to me. I did read her new releases on the Kindle but then realized I also wanted physical copies, again to be sure I don’t lose them in the future. Those are books I will read more than once.

That’s really why there are some books I want physical copies of — I know I will want to read them again and I might not always have a Kindle to read them on.

I feel like the books which need to be read in a hard copy form (paperback or hardcover) feature more polished or classic writing, which dictates that it be read like we used to read books. The writing in these books is not a waste of paper, in other words.

Books like Anne of Green Gables and all of L.M. Montgomery’s books and all of the Little House on the Prairie books should be read in paperback, for example. I also have a paperback collection of The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

Another author whose books I need a physical copy of is Robin W. Pearson. I have read a couple of her books on Kindle, but afterward, I make sure I buy a physical copy to place on the shelf.

I have found I am doing the same with the Miss Julia series by Ann B. Ross and after a quick glance at the Pop Larkin Chronicles by H.E. Bates (written in 1958), I think I’ll probably purchase the paperbacks of these books as well.

Of course, the ultimate book I prefer to hold a physical copy of is the Bible. I find it easier to flip through the pages to the part I want to read than to skim through it on a device screen.

How about you? Are there certain authors or books you want to read in a hard copy form versus on an e-reader? Let me know in the comments.

Hello May

It’s hard for me to believe we are already at May for this year.

I have no idea what May will bring and don’t have any big plans, necessarily.

The only things I have on my calendar so far are the release of Beauty From Ashes on May 10 and my dad’s colonoscopy. Yes, my life truly is that boring.

Of course, I am sure we will do something for Memorial Day and my husband has the opening day for one of our favorite seasonal restaurants on his schedule to visit this upcoming weekend.

What I am hoping for in May is nicer weather since April was a dumpster fire of Pennsylvania weather. It was so cold, snowy, windy, and just overall horrid for our mental and physical well-being.

May will be our last month of school and while the children are excited about that, I actually see days without homeschool as a little sad and empty. I enjoy planning the children’s lessons and either watching them learn or learning with them.

I will most likely fill part of May planning for next school year and will continue to do that into the summer. The main part of planning is choosing the curriculum we will use. Some of the curriculum we will use will be carryovers from this previous year but much of The Boy’s curriculum will need to be new since he is going to be a — gulp! — sophomore! I can’t even wrap my mind around that right now and he’s let me know that he can’t either.

Little Miss will be a second-grader. My knees went weak, and my eyes filled up with tears as I wrote that. A second-grader?! This school year has gone by so fast I can’t even believe it.

I thought I would look back at our May from last year and see if it was any more exciting than this May looks to be.

Last year around this time I was planning a garden, and while I have briefly considered that, I haven’t taken any serious action toward it, partially because of the crummy weather.

Last May I was also sharing chapters from Harvesting Hope, which released in August (cheap plug, you can still get the book HERE *wink*.

Also last year, our kitten discovered tree climbing and we spent much of May trying to coax her down from trees, which would later result in the local fire company climbing the ladder on their ladder truck to retrieve her. That last incident was in October, not May. She still climbs trees but so far she’s figured out how to get back down them.

Last May I decided to do a “No News May”.

which is interesting because I am considering doing the same this year. Last May I cut out almost all news, checking it maybe once a week by skimming headlines for less than five minutes and then logging off the sites. I remember that month being quite relaxing and productive actually.

So, how about you? What are your plans for May? Anything exciting? Let me know in the comments.

Sunday Bookends: Little Miss hates Mountain Born with a passion, lots of new British shows to watch, and writing updates

Welcome to Sunday Bookends where I ramble about what I’ve been reading, doing, watching, writing and listening to.

What I/we’ve Been Reading

I am still reading the first book in the Joe Picket series by C.J. Box, Open Season. It’s very good and fast-paced but I was also reading a book for another writer, so I had to keep setting it aside.

The other book I am reading is Violet’s Vow, a Christian historical romance novella by Jenny Knipfer.

Little Miss and I are reading By The Shores of Silver Lake by Laura Ingalls Wilder again. This is our second time around with this book and the second time I cried when Laura’s dog, Jack, dies. Good grief even working my way toward that part makes me cry. I wish Little Miss would find a new book series to become obsessed with, but it could be worse, I suppose.

Little Miss and I also finished Ribsy by Beverly Cleary this week. Ribsy is the story of the dog of Henry Huggins, another of Cleary’s characters, who gets separated from his family and has to find his way home.

For school, she and I read Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates. As it often is with old books, there was a death at the end of the book. Little Miss seemed to know what was coming and declared that if the main sheep in the book was dead at the end, she was tossing the book out the window. Our windows have screens, and she couldn’t get it open, so I told her to throw it out the back door instead.

She did and then later her brother threw it off the roof of the garage.

After that, Little Miss placed it in the burn barrel and told me to set it on fire the next time we burn the trash. That’s how much she hated how that book ended and I can’t say I blame her. I always hate books where the pet dies at the end. Curse Old Yeller. I’ll never read the book or watch the movie.  Not even if someone offers me a million dollars. Actually, I’ll watch it only if someone offers me a million dollars to watch it.

The Boy was supposed to finish The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Friday but I am pretty sure he did not. I am encouraging him to start a book he wants to read for the last month of school to see if we do any better.

The husband is reading: The 100-year-old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson.

What’s Been Occurring

The weather — I’m sick of writing about it, but well, it’s the only “interesting thing” going on right now. We had chilly days all week, but at least we had sun.

I have to say I don’t mind the chill at times. It’s nice to sip a cup of peppermint tea with honey (lots of honey, of course) and snuggle under a blanket while reading a book and brainstorming ideas for books and blog posts.

But I would also like some temps where the kids and I can go for a walk or sit on our porch without huddling in our coats and sweaters.

Little Miss had two of her little friends over one day last week and they lasted about five minutes outside when I tried a craft with them involving food coloring in ice cubes. The idea was to either rub the ice cube on the paper or let it melt and see what happened but the wind was too chilly so they dashed back inside after about five minutes. Kids today also have the attention span of a gnat so by the time they got inside they didn’t want to do the project anymore.

My goal this month is to help Little Miss focus on an activity for longer than five minutes at a time. My main goal then is to also wean her off the devices and instead have her find activities that will stimulate her brain.

Unrelated, but it seems everyone I know is going on vacation this week. One friend is on her way to Florida, another to Virginia.

My husband doesn’t get a vacation until July, and we aren’t sure what we are doing then, but we usually don’t travel far from home, for a variety of reasons, but mainly money.

Well, money and the fact my husband and I aren’t big on traveling or staying places we aren’t familiar with.

Now, unrelated to vacations is that I have been having horrible sinus issues for two weeks — to the point I have been barely able to breathe because of his stuffed my nose because of how stuffed my nose has been. I don’t want to do anything because breathing has been too hard.

My husband suggested I take an antihistamine to help dry me out. Apparently, it dried me out too much because my nose constantly felt swollen shut inside and my mucous was very thick. Thursday night I didn’t take any Loratadine and the next day I was still congested but nowhere near as bad.  Apparently, Claritin was drying me out to the point my nose couldn’t even run and my lungs were so dry I felt tight inside.

I believe the weather change was what has been causing all my sinuses issues anyhow, so I probably didn’t even need the allergy medicine. Who knows. Maybe when the weather finally settles, I’ll be able to tell.

What We watched/are Watching

This week we watched Mystery Science Theatre 3000’s kickstarter project which my brother purchased for us for Christmas this year. They are starting a new subscription service and we are part of the lab rats while they figure it out and it’s been fun.

My husband was busy with a lot of work stuff so we didn’t watch a lot of shows together during the week. We did watch two episodes of the fourth season of Shakespeare & Hathaway, a British mystery show, which is finally up on Britbox.

While looking for clips from Shakespeare and Hathaway, I found a clip for a show called Why Didn’t They Ask Evans, which is a three-episode mini-series directed by Huge Laurie. I’m adding that to our que to watch this week.

Alone, I started a show called The Larkins. It’s very quirky and odd and I might be in love with it. It is based on a series of books and I have added those books to my list to buy.

I’m also looking forward to checking this show out while I take a much needed social media break in May (though I will be posting some on social media to promote Beauty From Ashes and helping with a reading group on Facebook I am a part of, I won’t be “surfing” on social media this month.):

It is about the real vet who still serves in the in the area where James Herriott, or Alf Wight, worked and based his All Creatures Great and Small books on.

What I’m Writing

I am writing two different stories at the moment, switching off depending on my mood, but I will most likely only share one on the blog if I decide to start sharing again on Fridays (pretty sure I will, probably this Friday).

It will probably be Mercy’s Shore that I share at this point, which is the fourth book in the Spencer Valley Chronicles series.

The other book I am working on is called The Devil’s Been Talking and it will be a stand-alone book, separate from the Spencer Valley Chronicles.

I have had a few ideas for blog posts but couldn’t seem to finish them for final posting. However, I wrote all or part of five blog posts yesterday. Shutting off the news and abstaining from social media helped that process. In other words, I do have plans to post more this week.

What I’m Listening To

I have not been listening to a ton of music and I need to remedy that because I feel better when I have good music in my ears. It helps to drown out the negative thoughts.

Now it’s your turn

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.

Looking back at April in photos and otherwise

April was torture weatherwise. Not only did it snow in late May, leaving heavy wet snow, but the rest of the month was mainly cold, wet, and gloomy.

We did have a few nice sunny days and we took advantage of them as much as possible.

We didn’t really do too much exciting in April. We picked up some local beef at a butcher. That was about the extent of our excitement.

If you want to see what blog posts I shared last month, you can access them on the archive drop down menu in the sidebar at the right.

I did share a post about why I had been writing less fiction and a few other ramblings about my writing and fiction. I also shared a post about how to find your creative spark again when it comes to writing.

I hope to share more blog posts in the month of May. For some reason, May often seems to be a productive blog month for me.

How about you? How was April for you? Productive? Wet? Cold? Warm? Stormy? Dull? Or Exciting? Let me know in the comments.

In the meantime, here are some photos from our month, including a few from today, the last day of April, when we noticed our tulips were finally blooming. We also watched a bee buzzing around looking for flowers to take pollen from and let him know he will probably have to wait another week or so.

Sunday Bookends: Winter’s last blast? Remembering family. Jane Seymour with a potty mouth?

Welcome to Sunday Bookends where I ramble about what I’ve been reading, doing, watching, writing and listening to.

What’s Been Occurring

Friday and Saturday we remembered a couple of people in our family. Friday was the tenth anniversary of the day my husband’s grandfather passed away. He was a good man and we miss him and my husband’s grandmother very much.

Yesterday was my Aunt Dianne’s birthday so Mom and I plan to make sausage balls in her memory today because she loved to make them every year for Christmas. I tried to make them for Christmas this year, but I didn’t do such a great job. I think the key might be to not make them with gluten-free Bisquick, even though that means I can’t eat them, since I can not eat the corn in the Bisquick.

I don’t actually like remembering people on the day they died. I like to remember them the way they lived and when I picture Grandpa, I picture him smiling like he was on the day of our wedding. I picture my aunt with smiles as well and I hope they are in heaven together now smiling as they wait for us to meet them someday.

I mentioned in a post last week that we had unexpected snow in the beginning of the week. Our town received about nine inches of very heavy snow which left trees broken, wires down from the weight of the trees and snow, and more than 13,000 people out of power.

Our local power company posted these photos of what they had to deal with to get to the lines they needed to fix:

I took a few photographs, but, honestly, I’m so over winter weather, I wasn’t interested in photographs of snow. I did take a few of the kids when The Boy decided to run out and build a snow Batman.

Luckily the snow melted a day or so later. Little Miss enjoyed sitting in the grass with the snow surrounding her. The grass was left from The Boy shoveling a path for the dog the first day after the storm.

Today the temperature is supposed to be almost 80 with a drop into the 40s later in the week. Yes, my sinuses are suffering.

What I’m Reading

Last week I finished Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle, a cozy Southern mystery written by Ann B. Ross.

I also finished a book by indie Christian Historical Fiction author Jenny Knipfer, which she plans to release this summer. She had asked members of her group if they would help her proof it, in addition to her editor. I will be starting an ARC of a novella by her, Violet’s Vow, this week or next as well.

I started Open Season by C.J. Box so I would have something a little different up on the reading block. The book is the first book in the Joe Picket series. This is my first crack at one of his books. We will see how it goes since it isn’t something I usually read.

Depending on my mood I may move to The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot. I am also still reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain here and there before bed.

Little Miss and I will be finishing Plum Creek this weekend and hopefully moving on to a book other than one by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The husband is reading Slow Horse by Mick Herron.

The Boy may finish Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sometime before the end of the century at this point, but I’m not holding out much hope.

What I’m/We’re Watching

We tried out Harry Wild, a new mystery show with Jane Seymour this week. Dr. Quinn has a wee bit of a potty mouth in this one, but we still enjoyed the premise and her acting. I told my parents she was in a new show we are watching. I said, “She’s looking pretty good for 71.” My dad said, “Oh, really, what’s that show on?”

My mom said I didn’t need to tell him.

I started rewatching As Time Goes By, one of my favorite British sitcom to try to get me through some of the down moments of the week.

I also spent way too much time watching the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial. Don’t ask why. I have no idea, other than it was a distraction from the rest of the craziness of the world. What I learned from all of that mess is that hurt people hurt people and Hollywood actors are some seriously messed up people. I also think Amber Heard is vindictive and nuts and Johnny Depp medicates his emotional pain way too much.

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been listening to comedians like Chonda Pierce lately and then some worship music.

What I’m Writing

 This week on the blog I shared:

Randomly Thinking: Talking to cats, losing my mind, memories of Christian music festivalandWinter refuses to let go and a nice Easter

During the week I worked on Mercy’s Shore, the next book in my series.

Now It is Your Turn

What have you been reading, watching, listening to, or doing? Let me know in the comments.

Sunday Bookends: Winter’s last blast? Remembering family, Jane Seymour with a potty mouth?

Welcome to Sunday Bookends where I ramble about what I’ve been reading, doing, watching, writing and listening to.

What’s Been Occurring

Friday and Saturday we remembered a couple of people in our family. Friday was the tenth anniversary of the day my husband’s grandfather passed away. He was a good man and we miss him and my husband’s grandmother very much.

Yesterday would have been my Aunt Dianne’s birthday so Mom and I plan to make sausage balls in her memory today because she loved to make them every year for Christmas. I tried to make them for Christmas this year, but I didn’t do such a great job. I think the key might be to not make them with gluten-free Bisquick, even though that means I can’t eat them, since I can not eat the corn in the Bisquick.

I don’t actually like remembering people on the day they died. I like to remember them the way they lived and when I picture Grandpa, I picture him smiling like he was on the day of our wedding. I picture my aunt with smiles as well and I hope they are in heaven together now smiling as they wait for us to meet them someday.

I mentioned in a post last week that we had unexpected snow in the beginning of the week. Our town received about nine inches of very heavy snow which left trees broken, wires down from the weight of the trees and snow, and more than 13,000 people out of power.

Our local power company posted these photos of what they had to deal with to get to the lines they needed to fix:

I took a few photographs, but, honestly, I’m so over winter weather, I wasn’t interested in photographs of snow. I did take a few of the kids when The Boy decided to run out and build a snow Batman.

Luckily the snow melted a day or so later. Little Miss enjoyed sitting in the grass with the snow surrounding her. The grass was left from The Boy shoveling a path for the dog the first day after the storm.

Today the temperature is supposed to be almost 80 with a drop into the 40s later in the week. Yes, my sinuses are suffering.

What I’m Reading

Last week I finished Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle, a cozy Southern mystery written by Ann B. Ross.

I also finished a book by indie Christian Historical Fiction author Jenny Knipfer, which she plans to release this summer. She had asked members of her group if they would help her proof it, in addition to her editor. I will be starting an ARC of a novella by her, Violet’s Vow, this week or next as well.

I started Open Season by C.J. Box so I would have something a little different up on the reading block. The book is the first book in the Joe Picket series. This is my first crack at one of his books. We will see how it goes since it isn’t something I usually read.

Depending on my mood I may move to The Lord God Made Them All by James Herriot. I am also still reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain here and there before bed.

Little Miss and I will be finishing Plum Creek this weekend and hopefully moving on to a book other than one by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

The husband is reading Slow Horse by Mick Herron.

The Boy may finish Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde sometime before the end of the century at this point, but I’m not holding out much hope.

What I’m/We’re Watching

We tried out Harry Wild, a new mystery show with Jane Seymour this week. Dr. Quinn has a wee bit of a potty mouth in this one, but we still enjoyed the premise and her acting. I told my parents she was in a new show we are watching. I said, “She’s looking pretty good for 71.” My dad said, “Oh, really, what’s that show on?”

My mom said I didn’t need to tell him.

I started rewatching As Time Goes By, one of my favorite British sitcom to try to get me through some of the down moments of the week.

I also spent way too much time watching the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard defamation trial. Don’t ask why. I have no idea, other than it was a distraction from the rest of the craziness of the world. What I learned from all of that mess is that hurt people hurt people and Hollywood actors are some seriously messed up people. I also think Amber Heard is vindictive and nuts and Johnny Depp medicates his emotional pain way too much.

What I’m Listening To

I’ve been listening to comedians like Chonda Pierce lately and then some worship music.

What I’m Writing

 This week on the blog I shared:

Randomly Thinking: Talking to cats, losing my mind, memories of Christian music festivalandWinter refuses to let go and a nice Easter

During the week I worked on Mercy’s Shore, the next book in my series.

Now It is Your Turn

What have you been reading, watching, listening to, or doing? Let me know in the comments.

Randomly Thinking: Talking to cats, losing my mind, memories of Christian music festival

Welcome to my Randomly Thinking post where I ramble about, well, whatever.

***

Recently my daughter was reveling in the fact that she has soft, lovely, young skin. This was after I was lamenting about my old, dry, scaly skin.

“My skin is soft, isn’t it?” she said with a thoughtful expression.

She sighed and rubbed her hands against her cheeks, then said, “Do you know what calms me? Rubbing my hands across the baby-smooth skin of my face.”

Yeah, yeah. Rub it in, kid. Also — enjoy it while you can.

***

Anyone who reads Erin’s blog at Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs probably knows she listens to true crime podcasts, but maybe you don’t know she actually listens to them while falling asleep. I was laughing about this a few weeks ago and she told me, “The people’s voices are so soothing as they say the worst things.”

It totally cracked me up, but my son said he totally understood what she meant because sometimes he listens to similar podcasts, though not quite as dark as what we adults listen to at times.

***

A recent post from The Babylon Bee referencing an old song by the Veggie Tales reminded me of the time I was at a Christian music festival and over 80,000 people (some estimates had it at 100,000) sang Where Is My Hairbrush at the top of their lungs. In case you aren’t familiar with this song, I am leaving a clip of it below.

All of those people singing this child song at the same time was surreal.

There was a guy in front of us who sang it as if he was in an opera, with an amazing voice and all the gestures to go along with it.

Up until that point, I had never even heard of Veggie Tales, let alone the song.

The video was played while we all waited for Amy Grant to come out on the stage. This was shortly after the success of her song Baby, Baby, which by the way I never liked that much.

During her concert, the power actually went out. Eventually, they were able to get the sound back, but not the lights, so she ended up singing by flashlight and candlelight for part of her performance.

***

I went to this music festival, Creation, a few times over my life and always seemed to have a story to bring back with me. One year I ended up with a bladder infection and almost passed out from the heat. I was in pain all the way back home (about three hours) and we had to find a doctor immediately to get me on antibiotics.

 Another year we took a friend and she passed out and she was taken to the first aid tent but then by ambulance because she was extremely disoriented. She was extremely dehydrated and may have had some other health issues because years later she was involved in a horrible accident and could never remember what happened. She suffered massive head injuries, but we do wonder if she might have blacked out before the accident like the day at the festival. She’s doing very well now, by the way. She’s a miracle, quite frankly.

The first year we ever went I lost my first Teddy Bear somehow. I was in the back of a pick up which my dad had stretched a tarp canopy over (it was the 80s, peeps), Dad pulled over to adjust something, and when we got to our campsite (yes, you camped at this festival), my bear was gone. There is a long story after that about meeting my aunt somewhere to conduct a type of drug deal so my grandmother didn’t find out I had lost this expensive bear, but I’ve either told that story here before or I’ll tell it again another time.

One other time I was at the festival with my brother and sister-in-law and their friend, Chris. My sister-in-law disappeared for a brief time and Chris, my brother, and I stood in one place and looked around for her. We couldn’t see her for a long time until Chris said, “I don’t know. Maybe she’s down there somewhere, getting a cold cup of iced tea, fresh brewed, with just a squeeze of lemon and the perfect amount of sugar, wearing a —”  Yeah, Chris has found her and was using a creative way to tell us. That was Chris though, funny, smart, and a jokester. He’s a blog post in himself, but not by me, by my brother who knew him best. Hint, hint, brother.

***

A couple of weeks ago I was in the kitchen when my podcast stopped playing while I was cooking dinner. I looked at the phone and it said our Wifi was out. I went to the living room to investigate. Soon my children were standing next to me as we all stared at the modem, which was dark.

We were like lost little puppies without our internet. It was very sad, actually.

There is usually at least a power button blinking on the modem. Not this time. The modem looked dead.

We pondered this predicament for a few moments and then I looked at the power strip behind the TV. It was also dark. It usually has a glowing red light.

I pointed this out to my son who turned it back on and just as I started to wonder how it had been turned off, I looked up to see Pixel, who I also call Fat Cat, watching us from the windowsill. I knew then how the power strip had been turned off. She had apparently put her foot there when she jumped up into the front window.

Our investigation seemed to entertain her and sometimes I wonder if she does this stuff on purpose.

***

A friend of Little Miss’s, who is a year older, says the most interesting things sometimes. For one, she loves to be outside, loves to have fun, and is full of a confident spirit that matches Little Miss’s, which either strengthens their friendship or creates friction between them.

I told the little girl we had a playground near us, but it wasn’t very exciting. It’s very small without many things to play on.

“I don’t care what kind of playground it is,” she told me. “It doesn’t have to have a lot of fun things. I’ll make it fun.”

I wish more of us adults had her attitude.

***

I have been forgetting things lately, mainly because I am distracted when I am doing them. Or maybe I still have Covid-brain. I don’t know. Anyhow, one day my husband placed the ibuprofen on the counter in front of me but a few minutes later I went to the medicine cabinet to retrieve it. He told me it was in my purse, where I had tossed it. I didn’t even remember doing that. Well, I vaguely did, but I was also talking at the same time and thinking about the fact I had to get our daughter to gymnastics on time. It was also PMS time (I know. Too Much Information.)

Later that night my daughter asked me to open a water bottle. Apparently, I did and handed it back to her but five minutes later I told her to get a water bottle so I could open it for her. She reminded me I already had.

Two nights later I reached for my toothbrush, brushed my teeth, and went into my daughter’s room to read to her. The Boy came in a few minutes later and asked me why his toothbrush was wet.

“Did you use my toothbrush?” he asked.

I told him I used mine but when I went in to look, he was right, his toothbrush was wet and mine was dry. By this time, I was starting to freak out a little. Was I losing my mind?

I’m still not sure and it is possible. I do have hormone and thyroid issues. For all of the incidents, though, I was pretty distracted at the same time I was completing the task.

I told my husband about the toothbrush incident and said I was talking to Pixel, who likes to jump up on the sink and drink out of it before bed, at the time.

“She must have distracted me,” I said.

I said I was asking her if she was going to take a drink or not because I needed to get to bed and while I was talking to her, I was reaching for my toothbrush. I must have simply grabbed the wrong one. This made me feel better because then I could be assured I wasn’t losing my mind. That was until my husband looked at me in confusion.

“You have conversations with the cat?” My husband asked. “I never talk to our cats.”

I shrugged. “That’s why they like me better than you.”

And it’s true — I do have conversations with our cats. Very often, in fact.

They also seem to communicate back with me, even if it is a leg rub or a nose bump or a good, long, hard stare.

Then again, I have been having brain fog issues. Maybe I just think they’re communicating with me.

***

When my son shows me a gaming-related meme, I am torn between telling him I have no idea what the meme means and just smiling and nodding. If I smile and nod at the Gen Z humor, then he laughs and moves on. If I tell him I have no idea what that is referring to, I may be trapped for 20 minutes while he explains to me what the meme means. I usually just smile and nod.

***

Earlier this week, I told my son I thought I might try my hand at meatloaf again for dinner. I’ve only tried to cook it once before — three years ago — and apparently the experience was so traumatizing to my son he couldn’t bring himself to admit to me how bad it was until now.

He said it was a hunk of meat with crushed bread inside and no flavor. It was so awful he couldn’t eat it, so he took the plate upstairs and hid it under his bed for two days until I left the house and then dumped it in the trashcan. I asked him why he didn’t just tell me, and he said it was because he didn’t want to hurt my feelings.

He honestly looked quite pained telling me this story. He had backed himself against the wall and was rubbing his face, as if the memory of the wretched meatloaf had left him scarred for life. I was waiting for him to hug himself while rocking back and forth.

“Okay, then,” I said, turning to go back down the stairs. “Tonight we’re having tacos.”

***

My son decided he would have stuffed rabbit for Easter dinner this year:

***

I forgot about this hilarious moment from the Fall but found it in some notes this week:

One of Little Miss’s friends tried to call her early one morning, but Little Miss was barely awake. She reached for the phone anyhow. I told Little Miss she needed to be awake before she could talk to her friend, so to take some time to wake up and then answer the call.  Little Miss looked at me for a second, slammed her head off her pillow, face-first, twice, looked back up and me and said, “Okay. I’m ready now. Hand me the phone.

***

Those are my random thoughts and events for the week. How about you? What random events have happened to you recently? Let me know in the comments and maybe I’ll share it in my next post.