Sarai Henderson's Blog, page 59
November 6, 2023
Hello, November! The end of this year has snuck up on me ...
Hello, November! The end of this year has snuck up on me again and all I can do is sit back and let it happen. It has been such a hard, but healing year for all of us at the hovel. We are learning to set boundaries for our traumas, deep dive into the way our minds work so we can better understand ourselves, and for me most of all, learn to love our bodies and the wonderful things they do for us. I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has instore for us.This weeks read is The Lotus Flower Champion by Pintip Dunn and Love Dunn. I've read books by this author before, so I'm excited to see what's instore for me in-between these covers.
Lets get to this weeks menu. Enjoy!
WEEKLY MENU
Monday
Kids - Chicken Nuggets and Salad
Tuesday
Kids - Grilled Cheese
Wednesday
Kids - Bird Dogs
Thursday
Kids - Cheese Pizza
Friday
Kids - Cheese Quesadillas
Saturday
Crispy Chicken and Creamy Noodles
Kids - Mac and Cheese and Chicken
Sunday
Leftovers Night
November 5, 2023
Sunday Confessions #223
Hello Sunday. Welcome back to my weekly confessions where I recap what's been happening on the blog.
How was everyone's Halloween? My boys did absolutely nothing except watch a scary movie and go to bed. That's ok with me. They are getting older and it saved me some money on buying costumes and candy.
Well, lets get to the recap.
Sunday Confessions #222~Weekly Menu #529 And The Book Of The Week~5 Books to Read on Halloween Night~Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab~Book Review: To Build a Dream by Greg Hickey
Weekly Menu #530 And The Book Of The Week~October 2023 Wrap Up~Book Review: The Woman in Me by Britney Spears~Recipe: Cajun Chicken Mac and Cheese~Book Review: The Unfortunate Side Effect of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall~Sunday Confessions #224
Bad Medicine by Bon Jovi
Last show we watched was Krapopolis.
This show is ridiculous, but I love it.
121/100 2023 Reading Challenge~58/196 in my Star Wars Legends challenge~70/341 Gilmore Girls challenge~85/100 in my 100 books before you die challenge
Another wonderful week. Happy reading, my friends!
November 3, 2023
Book Review: To Build a Dream by Greg Hickey
Title: To Build a Dream
By: Greg Hickey
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 246
Release Date: October 26th, 2023
Publisher: Greg Hickey
Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary from Goodreads:He could be dead, dreaming, or painfully alive. Does he really want to find out which?
Timothy Smit is sick. He’s stuck in middle management at a second-rate news aggregator when an intense coughing fit causes him to pass out at his desk. Tim wakes up in the ICU to a diagnosis of a rare and aggressive form of lung cancer and the news that he likely has no more than a few months left to live.
Confined to a hospital bed with his health deteriorating, Tim finds himself immersed in a series of vivid dreams. As he becomes increasingly captivated by this enigmatic fantasy world, he realizes his dreams just might be keeping him alive.
But can Tim discover a real life worth living before it’s too late?
To Build a Dream is a mesmerizing psychological sci-fi novel that blurs the line between dreams and reality. If you like lone heroes fighting to survive, visionary quests, and a race against time, then you’ll love Greg Hickey’s enthralling dream world.
Buy To Build a Dream and let your imagination take over today!
Greg Hickey has a wonderful way of weaving a tale that keeps the reader invested in the story. Tim Smit leads a mundane life, at an ordinary desk job, when one day he comes down with a mysterious illness. This sickness would take a turn for the worst, sending Tim down a dark hole and making his future uncertain.
There was a lot of technical lingo in the book that obviously took a lot of time to research. I was impressed by how thorough the author was. I could almost feel myself in the hospital room with Tim. It was that real
This book received a solid 4 out of 5 stars from me as it kept me involved the whole book.
Received an advance reader copy in exchange for a fair review.
November 1, 2023
Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
By: V.E. Schwab
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 448
Release Date: October 6th, 2020
Publisher: Tor Books
Rating: ★★★★★
Summary from Goodreads:France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins the extraordinary life of Addie LaRue, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.
Addie has a wild soul. The thought of living a simple life, one that her parents have laid out for her, would crush her. Instead of following the path for her, she runs away and makes bargain with the night. Little did Addie know, she would live forever, but know one would remember her.
The thought of 300 years without any lasting companionship, that blows my mind. How lonely and sad that life would be.
Favorite Quote:
“...it is sad, of course, to forget. But it is a lonely thing, to be forgotten. To remember when no one else does.”
This book receives 5 out of 5 stars from me. I finished this book in one day. Couldn't put it down. It had a wonderful pace, with excellent writing. Always love V.E. Schwab.
October 31, 2023
5 Books to Read on Halloween Night
Lately, my family and I are trying to find new traditions for the old holidays we celebrate. With the kids growing up and not wanting to participate in a lot of the more childish fun, sometimes its nice to change things up.
This year, I'm going to spend my Halloween reading a scary book, watching Coco with my youngest and celebrating our ancestors who have come before us on the day of the dead. This slow down will do us some good after the year we've had. I can't wait.
Here are 5 books I've read recently that fall into either the creepy or the paranormal that I know you will love. Enjoy!
Dead VoicesKatherine Arden
Dead voices by Katherine Arden is right in the middle of a super creepy series, but happens to be my favorite book of them all. Its easy to pick up on the established characters, if you haven't read the first book yet.
Having survived sinister scarecrows and the malevolent smiling man in Small Spaces, newly minted best friends Ollie, Coco, and Brian are ready to spend a relaxing winter break skiing together with their parents at Mount Hemlock Resort. But when a snowstorm sets in, causing the power to flicker out and the cold to creep closer and closer, the three are forced to settle for hot chocolate and board games by the fire.
Ollie, Coco, and Brian are determined to make the best of being snowed in, but odd things keep happening. Coco is convinced she has seen a ghost, and Ollie is having nightmares about frostbitten girls pleading for help. Then Mr. Voland, a mysterious ghost hunter, arrives in the midst of the storm to investigate the hauntings at Hemlock Lodge. Ollie, Coco, and Brian want to trust him, but Ollie's watch, which once saved them from the smiling man, has a new cautionary message: BEWARE.
With Mr. Voland's help, Ollie, Coco, and Brian reach out to the dead voices at Mount Hemlock. Maybe the ghosts need their help–or maybe not all ghosts can or should be trusted.
Dead Voices is a terrifying follow-up to Small Spaces with thrills and chills galore and the captive foreboding of a classic ghost story.
You Shouldn't Have Come HereJeneva Rose
This author really knows how to write a creepy compelling story that has so many twists and turns you will find your head spinning at the end.
Grace Evans, an overworked New Yorker looking for a total escape from her busy life, books an Airbnb on a ranch in the middle of Wyoming. When she arrives, she's pleasantly surprised to find that the owner is a handsome man by the name of Calvin Wells. But there are things Grace discovers that she's not too pleased about: A lack of cell phone service. A missing woman. And a feeling that something isn't right with the town.
Despite her uneasiness and misgivings from Calvin's friends and family, the two grow close and start to fall for one another. However, as her departure date nears, things between them start to change for the worse. Grace grows wary of Calvin as his infatuation for her seems to turn into obsession. Calvin fears that Grace is hiding something from him.
Told from dual points of view, You Shouldn't Have Come Here is a thrill ride and a cautionary tale of what can go wrong when you open up your house and your heart to a total stranger.
The September HouseCarissa Orlando
Scary! I really had no idea how this one was going to end and it was super creepy. Probably one of my favorite reads of the year so far.
A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.
When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.
Margaret is not most people.
Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
Black SheepRachel Harrison
When this book started off, I thought I was reading about a Christian cult... but I was wrong. This is a must need read that has the creep factor.
A cynical twentysomething must confront her unconventional family’s dark secrets in this fiery, irreverent horror novel from the author of Such Sharp Teeth and Cackle.
Nobody has a “normal” family, but Vesper Wright’s is truly...something else. Vesper left home at eighteen and never looked back—mostly because she was told that leaving the staunchly religious community she grew up in meant she couldn’t return. But then an envelope arrives on her doorstep.
Inside is an invitation to the wedding of Vesper’s beloved cousin Rosie. It’s to be hosted at the family farm. Have they made an exception to the rule? It wouldn’t be the first time Vesper’s been given special treatment. Is the invite a sweet gesture? An olive branch? A trap? Doesn’t matter. Something inside her insists she go to the wedding. Even if it means returning to the toxic environment she escaped. Even if it means reuniting with her mother, Constance, a former horror film star and forever ice queen.
When Vesper’s homecoming exhumes a terrifying secret, she’s forced to reckon with her family’s beliefs and her own crisis of faith in this deliciously sinister novel that explores the way family ties can bind us as we struggle to find our place in the world.
The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and MagicBreanne Randall
For all of you who are more into the paranormal romance vs. the scary stories, this book is for you. Witches, curses, heartbreak and a little bit of romance, all play a part in this unforgettable read.
Sadie Revelare has always believed that the curse of four heartbreaks that accompanies her magic would be worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer with only weeks to live, and her first heartbreak, Jake McNealy, returns to town after a decade, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.
With the news of their grandmother's impending death, Sadie's estranged twin brother Seth returns to town, bringing with him deeply buried family secrets that threaten to tear Sadie's world apart. Their grandmother has been the backbone of the family for generations, and with her death, Sadie isn't sure she'll have the strength to keep the family, and her magic, together.
As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle, and her grandmother growing sicker by the day, Sadie faces the last of her heartbreaks, and she has to decide: is love more important than magic?
October 30, 2023
Weekly Menu #529 And The Book Of The Week
Hello Monday! Welcome back to my weekly menu where I share all the delicious recipes we will be trying over the week.What happened to the warm weather? One minute its 75 degrees and sunny and the next its below freezing and wet. Has winter finally showed up? I would have liked a more even transition. Maybe slowly ease us into it, but nope... We get a wall of cold.
This weeks read is A Dawn of Onyx by Kate Golden. I picked this one up from Netgalley and I'm super excited to find out what its all about. Sounds like I will be emersed in dark kingdoms, magic, imprisonment and possibly romance. Sounds intriguing.
Lets get to this week menu. Enjoy!WEEKLY MENU
Monday
Kids - Flatbread Cheese Pizza
Tuesday
Kids - Chicken Nuggets and Salad
Wednesday
Kids - Grilled Cheese
Thursday
Crockpot Chicken and Gravy and mashed potatoes
Kids - Cheesy Fries
Friday
Kids - Nachos
Saturday
Kids - Chicken and Biscuits
Sunday
Family Dinner
Kids - Cheese Quesadilla
October 29, 2023
Sunday Confessions #222
Hello Sunday! Welcome back to the weekly recap of the blog.
Sunday Confessions #221~Weekly Menu #528 And The Book Of The Week~Book Review: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt~Recipe: Instant Pot Orange Chicken~Book Review: Take the Lead by Sasha DiGiulian
Weekly Menu #529 And The Book Of The Week~Favorite Scarry Books~Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addy LaRue by V.E. Schwab~Recipe: Cajun Chicken Mac and Cheese~Book Review: To Build a Dream by Greg Hickey~Sunday Confessions #223
Another recipe recap coming at you!
The Louisianan Red Beans and Rice from last night, spicy, but delicious.
Slow cooker Cheesy Ham Chowder is always a fan favorite around here. Made way too much though for my small family, lol.
Greek Meatball Bowls had a lot of components, but worth making it all. Delicious!
Sesame Chicken Schnitzel is one of my favorite meals this last week. Great for the air fryer to save on time.
For an extra treat, Roxy's Island Grill in Milwaukie, OR is to die for. First time having it and it was great. Would recommend.
Shake it Out by Florence and the Machine.
Watched Oliver Twist yesterday. It only took me three hours, but it was a wonderful story with twits and turns(no pun intended.)
116/100 2023 Reading Challenge~58/196 in my Star Wars Legends challenge~69/341 Gilmore Girls challenge~83/100 in my 100 books before you die challenge
Now that the weather has finally cooled off, I'm happy to read by the window again. Here's to another wonderful week. Happy reading, my friends!
October 27, 2023
Book Review: Take the Lead by Sasha DiGiulian
My review of Take the Lead by Sasha DiGiulian.
Title: Take the Lead
By: Sasha DiGiulian
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 278
Release Date: September 26th, 2023
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Rating: ★★★★☆
Summary from Goodreads:World champion climber Sasha DiGiulian tells her story—from coming of age under the scrutiny of social media, navigating a male-dominated sport, and tackling her most heart-stopping climbs—and shares the power of perseverance and positivity.
At age six, Sasha DiGiulian stepped into a climbing gym for the first time and was competing within a year. Decked out in all-pink gear and with her blonde hair tied into pigtails, Sasha knew from an early age what it was like to be a girl in a traditionally male-dominated sport, vowing to never sacrifice her femininity to fit in. With a fierce love for the climb and incredible natural talent, Sasha soon won her first National Sport Climbing Championship at only seventeen, and a year later took the title of World Champion.
To her fans, it looked like Sasha was on top of the world. But under the accolades, she was just another young woman learning how to handle the intense scrutiny of social media and dealing with body dysmorphia, all while quietly facing a potentially career-ending injury. In a relatable and inspiring voice, Take the Lead reflects on the highs and lows of Sasha’s illustrious life and career for the first time, bringing readers on her remarkable journey from novice climber to Columbia University graduate, adventurer, environmentalist, and entrepreneur, and one of the most recognizable faces in climbing.
For readers of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Megan Rapinoe’s One Life , Take the Lead ultimately emphasizes the power of perseverance, fearlessness and positivity in tackling some of the most daunting and fearsome climbs—on and off the wall.
The story of Sasha DiGiulian, told by her own words has a real feeling to it, raw and emotional. She laid everything out in the pages. Her struggles and joy. The good and the bad. It seemed cathartic to the author to release all the experiences that shaped her.
I gave this book a solid 4 out of 5 stars. It made me want to take up rock climbing, although I'm not sure I would be able to make my body move like that anymore. Maybe back in my ballet days... Great read. Would recommend.
October 26, 2023
Recipe: Instant Pot Orange Chicken
If you've been following my food journey, you know how much I love my instant pot/air fryer. I use it several times a week and the amount of different kinds of foods you can make with that one kitchen appliance, is insane.
This recipe is super delicious and only takes about 15 minutes. My husband absolutely loves it.
Is Orange Chicken sweat?...
I thought this same thing when I first made this recipe. I'm not a fan of mixing sweat and savory foods, but this recipe is not as sweat as you would think.
What should I have with my Orange Chicken?...
I like good old white rice, but you can try rice noodles or even mashed potatoes if you are feeling like mixing and matching a bit.
Course: Main Course
Servings: 4-6 people
Time to Make: 15 Minutes
Ingredients:
4 Chicken breasts
3/4 Cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Tbs soy sauce
3/4 Orange marmalade
2 Tsp cornstarch
Green onions
Instructions:
1. Chop chicken breasts into large bite sized chunks.
2. Add chicken, BBQ sauce and soy sauce to the instant pot.
3. Place the lid and cook for 4 minutes on high. When done, quick release the steam.
4. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce from the pot and place in a sperate bowl. Add the cornstarch and whisk until combined.
5. Add the cornstarch mixture back to the instant pot along with the orange marmalade and mix well.
6. Change the setting on the instant pot to sauté, and sauté for about 6 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
7. Turn off the instant pot and let the sauce sit for 5 minutes. It will thicken as it cools.
8. Serve over rice and top with shopped green onion.
Enjoy!
If you've been following my food journey, you know how m...
If you've been following my food journey, you know how much I love my instant pot/air fryer. I use it several times a week and the amount of different kinds of foods you can make with that one kitchen appliance, is insane.
This recipe is super delicious and only takes about 15 minutes. My husband absolutely loves it.
Is Orange Chicken sweat?...
I thought this same thing when I first made this recipe. I'm not a fan of mixing sweat and savory foods, but this recipe is not as sweat as you would think.
What should I have with my Orange Chicken?...
I like good old white rice, but you can try rice noodles or even mashed potatoes if you are feeling like mixing and matching a bit.
Course: Main Course
Servings: 4-6 people
Time to Make: 15 Minutes
Ingredients:
4 Chicken breasts
3/4 Cup of your favorite BBQ sauce
2 Tbs soy sauce
3/4 Orange marmalade
2 Tsp cornstarch
Green onions
Instructions:
1. Chop chicken breasts into large bite sized chunks.
2. Add chicken, BBQ sauce and soy sauce to the instant pot.
3. Place the lid and cook for 4 minutes on high. When done, quick release the steam.
4. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce from the pot and place in a sperate bowl. Add the cornstarch and whisk until combined.
5. Add the cornstarch mixture back to the instant pot along with the orange marmalade and mix well.
6. Change the setting on the instant pot to sauté, and sauté for about 6 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
7. Turn off the instant pot and let the sauce sit for 5 minutes. It will thicken as it cools.
8. Serve over rice and top with shopped green onion.
Enjoy!
