Currently

Reading ... in the Bible I'm hanging out in the Psalms again this week. 

In other books, I am in the middle of three books. The Mistletoe Countess by Pepper Basham. I started it one evening, and was really enjoying it. Bedtime rolled around, I set it aside looking forward to finishing it "tomorrow". I haven't picked it up since. I still have two weeks until it's due back at the library, so I still have some time.

The second book is Grandma Ruth Doesn't Go to Funerals by Sharon Mondragón  I was really enjoying it, but after I set it down I haven't picked it back up. I shall return to it though at some point.

And finally the third book, Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. I made it a little over a third of the way through and was thoroughly enjoying it. I was telling the girls about it and giving it a full recommendation which I usually don't do until after I have finished a book. I picked it up again last night, read a single chapter before putting it down, and started searching for reels about a series I read last year. A series whose characters have been living rent free in my head ever since and I was really "missing" them. 

The reels I found had me in tears and missing them even more, so I went ahead and requested the books from the library again. I'm hoping they will be ready for pickup tomorrow, but we shall see. 

If not, I shall try finishing the three books I have started though I fear a book slump is upon me.

Watching ... most recently ... the aforementioned reels.

Listening ... to a pair of robins singing merrily in the tree in front of our house. After what felt like a long cold winter this is the sweetest sound I've heard in some time! It's the first I've heard them this spring and the amount of joy it made me feel on this 24º morning ... ahhh. Just lovely!

Baking ... I made a batch of our favorite chocolate chip cookies on Wednesday. I sent some home with friends, and we have been enjoying the rest. There is still a handful left, but I'm sure those will disappear today.

I want to make more later today since plans are to have cousins pop in later, and I like having something available as a snack-y treat when ever that happens.

Cooking ... tonight. Tacos and a salad. It has been a week, today is packed to the brim again, which I knew it would be when I created the menu for the week. So going simple tonight feels grand!

Playing ... this week there were significantly less rounds of  MtG played than usual, but still some. We  played multiple games of Top Trumps (Wonders of the World edition) and Steven also pulled out Stratego once again to play with one of his friends.

Wishing ... I wouldn't feel so helpless. I opened my phone yesterday to the message of another young man losing his battle of addiction. He was only 23. I curled up on the corner of the couch and had myself an ugly cry and then picked myself up to go on with my day, a feeling of utter helplessness trailing along with me. 

I wish I knew what I could do to make a difference in the life of those struggling with addictions. I wish there was a way I could give a glimmer of comfort to those who are bearing the pain of seeing someone they love struggle with addiction. 

I wish there was something beyond this feeling of be utterly helpless.

Cleaning ... this week there was no time for extras. So the daily dozen it was. At least that was taken care of.

Currently

Reading ... in the Bible, Isaiah again. 

In other books I read The Lady's Mine by Francine Rivers. I'm not sure how to properly gather my thoughts about this book. After reading Redeeming Love several weeks ago I knew I want to read more books by this author, and happily settled in to read. It was okay, but did not live up to my probably too high expectations.

Kathryn was banished from Boston by her stepfather and sent out west to a little mining town to claim an inheritance from her uncle who passed away in some unsolved circumstance. She is opinionated, a bit headstrong, and has a whole lot of determination. She starts using her uncle's printing press to publish a small controversial newspaper that sparks change, and its fair share of danger. Overall it was a decent book and I had a good time.

Next up I read a cozy little murder mystery. Banana Cream Pie Murder by Joanne Fluke. I went in with zero expectations but ended up really enjoying it. When compared to The Lady's Mine it was certainly not as good, so I don't quite understand why I enjoyed it more. Maybe because of the level of expectations I had when approaching them. All the food certainly didn't hurt. Each chapter had them baking or cooking something delicious and the recipe was then tucked in before the the next chapter. I really want to try some of them.

I'm participating in the 1776 Challenge this year, and February's prompt had me searching quite unsuccessfully for a funny book. I finally put a plea out on Facebook for help. My friends came through and I have quite the stack of books to pick up from the library tomorrow. I was able to get one on audio already. Never Sniff a Gift Fish by Patrick McManus. Steven and I listened and laughed to it together. Such a fun little book!

Watching ... yesterday Sharon was off work and we decided to have a fun afternoon. We popped an old musical into the DVD player and sang along to the songs, and laughed at all the over the top scenes. 

Listening ... to all the usual around the house sounds, plus the waterfall roaring quite a bit louder than usual with the all the extra water from the melting snow.

Baking ... Sharon felt like baking yesterday and made both sweet and savory sour dough pop tarts. Chocolate chip cookies and raisin cookies.

Everything turned out delightfully tasty.

Cooking ... I made both chili and chicken and dumplings for supper tonight. The married children are here so I'm making the two favorite "soups" 

Playing ... in addition to lots of MtG we also played Uno No Mercy,  Pass the Pandas, and some word games.

Wishing ... that we got a little more sun down here in our hollow. Steven and I had errands to run earlier this week. It was a lovely day. Coming home as we were driving down our road I was commenting on how there is hardly any snow left. And then we rounded the last curve before our house and I could hardly believe how much snow we still had in our yard.

Picture one ... hardly any snow across the road from our house.

Picture two ... our yard.

There was about five seconds of time between both pictures. 

The steep hill behind our house keeps direct sunlight off our yard for the majority of the afternoon, And what a difference that makes! 

Cleaning ...  again not much extra, but I did get our roll top desk cleaned and organized.

Disliking ... how cold I am most days. I have a hard time turning up the heat since we switched from coal to heating oil. Unless I have my hands in hot dish water, or I'm wearing my favorite blanket as a shawl I'm cold.

Loving ... how the days are getting longer and warmer.

Currently

Reading ...  in the Bible, Psalms.

In other books. I finally finished War and Peace, which is cause for celebration! It only took me a month, but I managed to get it done. There were actually some good and thought provoking things in this book, but it was much too long. It would have greatly benefitted from being edited and having approximately 1,000 of its 1,392 pages removed. At the end I rated it three stars. Surprisingly it is not the worst book I have ever read.

I also read Dear Mrs. Bird by AJ Pearce. It's a World War II novel set in London. We follow a young lady as she works in a cramped little office as a helper/secretary for Mrs. Bird, a grumpy, zero nonsense advice columnist. 

I don't want to spoil anything in case you want to read it, but this book surpassed my expectations. It skillfully wove humor, love, heartache, and more in less than 300 pages. I enjoyed every minute of my time reading it. I have since discovered it is the first book in a four book series. Even though this could easily have been a stand alone book, I have requested the other three books as well, and am looking forward to diving into them once I have the chance.

And then I read My Friends by Fredrik Backman, and oh my! This is one that will stick with me for a long time. Such a beautiful story of found family, of love, loss, and enduring friendship.

Watching ... not exactly watching I suppose, but my digital photo frame is here beside me and I glance over at it every time the picture changes.

Listening ... to an audio book about rival Vietnamese restaurants. The synopsis had sounded interesting, but so far it has been seriously boring. Hopefully it will pick up soon, otherwise I may have to abandon it for something better.

Wearing ... a somewhat ill fitting teal top. It's too big, I don't know why I still have it. I'm thinking after running it through the laundry I'm going to put it in our box of things to donate.

Baking ... earlier this week I decided I want to make my Mom's favorite dessert. The recipe calls it a date pudding. It's more of a trifle of sorts. I baked the date cake, and intended to cube it and layer it with a sauce and whipped cream. Somehow before I got that far we all sampled the cake and came to the agreement we really like it as is, so I never finished the recipe.

Next up, Steven has been plagued these past few weeks by the knowledge that he is supposed to participate in a Valentines exchange. He finally asked if he could please bake some Valentines cookies so that there is zero chance of there being any possibility someone might keep a Valentine from him and have it resurface in the future.

I agreed.

This is what he ended up taking to the exchange.

Cooking ... last evening I made roasted broccoli, Steven made risotto. And we had some leftover meat. For dessert we had some of Steven's extra cookies. Tonight I'm making lamb burgers, sweet potatoes, and a salad.

Playing ...  I say this every week, but here I go again. MtG. As long as it remains Steven's favorite it will continue being a game we play every week. We also played Skyjo, Dragonwood, and Uno.

Wishing ... there were more hours in a day. They always slip by much too fast for me.

Crafting ... tying in with the Valentine's Day theme, Steven was supposed to decorate a box themed after one of his interests to take to the exchange.

I must say I wasn't surprised to see it decorated in an MtG theme.

Cleaning ... I once again didn't get a lot of extras done, but we did finally rid the basement of all the accumulated cardboard boxes. That felt like a win in the cleaning department to me.

Disliking ... bad drivers. Today coming home from our homeschool co-op we came up behind someone driving between 25 to 30 miles an hour. He was weaving from one side of the road to the other. I tried to stay far enough behind so that if he does hit someone head on around one of the curves that I won't get involved as well.

Loving ... that the weekend is upon us!

Currently

Reading ... in the Bible, Timothy and my favorite Psalms.

In other books I'm still slogging through War and Peace. It is rapidly becoming the bane of my existence. But I'm stubborn and am determined to get the entire thing read. I'm on page 920 so only  a little over 470 more to go.

I'm also halfway through These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas. It's a cozy little read that has this way of being somewhat confusing because of the different points of view on top of different timelines. Essentially I'm trying to keep track of six different story lines. The title seems very appropriate for the story and also for the story telling. It's about a master weaver, an apprentice weaver, and a wood carver.. Set in Asheville NC, most specifically at Biltmore. Overall I am enjoying it though I don't think it will be one I have the urge to put on my want to own list.

Watching ... Sometimes after reading a book I really enjoyed I hop on YouTube and search for live reaction/read with me videos of that book. I enjoy seeing others react to the impactful or emotional parts and hearing their thoughts about the book. This week I watched a handful of those kinds of videos for Redeeming Love.

Listening ... to some soft instrumental music.

Baking ... Oatmeal Butterscotch Chip Cookies. 

I like planning a weekly menu, and one night this week I had planned to make a lentil stew. Only, when I went to get the lentils the container was filled with miniature butterscotch chips instead. We are not a butterscotch loving family and I have zero recollection of buying the chips. But they were there, lentils were not. I pivoted and made a simple supper that did not involve lentils, and then decided to use the chips to make cookies.

Cooking ... tonight we're having a mish-mash of left overs. LV will be having leftover meatballs, succotash, and potatoes. Steven will be having a leftover bean burrito.

Feeling ... as if another round of sickness is niggling at me. Time to see if several doses of vinegar water will combat it effectively.

Disliking ...  the news we received that LV's nephew and family lost their home in a fire. Thankfully they were able to jump out the window to safety, but they basically lost everything. 

Another nephew set up a GoFundMe for them here. 

Loving ... good friends, good books, and good food.

Playing ... no surprise I'm sure when I say a daily game of MtG was played. We also played Dutch Blitz and Fruit Punch. 

Our week was a busy one so we didn't get as many games played as we had hoped to and we also didn't  get into any of our longer or more complex games.

Cleaning ... I washed some curtains and cleaned and organized a few drawers. I didn't make as much of a dent in my cleaning list as I had hoped, but I'm okay with what I got done.