January 2021 Books

This is book week here on the blog! (Cheers, applause, boos?!) Today I am sharing all the books I read in January and, on Wednesday, I will share all the books I read for the #24in48 readathon this past weekend. If you don't like books, come back on Friday when I'll be sharing my "10 on the 10th" for February and it will (probably) have fewer books featured :)

I've never been great at tracking my reading. For awhile I was posting every book I had read on Instagram under the hashtag natashareadsonfridays. However, once the pandemic hit, I found my reading suffered. I mean, I was still reading, but mostly I was reading quick comfort reads and not anything I was particularly proud of sharing -- think lots of Nora Roberts.

For 2021, I am going to try and post every book I read (with a mini review) here on the blog. I am hoping this will help keep me accountable, and that I will rediscover my love of reading a wide variety of books and not just turning to comfort reads. After all, we've been in this pandemic for eleven months now (ugh), and I need to adjust to our new normal.

Normally, I will share my books twice a month (mid-month and end of the month) because I usually read a lot of books and I find blog posts with twenty book reviews overwhelming. However, for January, I am just writing one post because I'd only read two books by mid-January. (I was in the middle of a few more in mid-January but hadn't yet finished them.)

First of all, my friend Allena introduced me to Lisa Kleypas last spring and I have been devouring all of her late 19th century, British romances. I'm currently working my way through The Ravenels series and I also discovered her Bow Street Runners trilogy in January and read those too. These books are fun, slightly steamy, and somewhat predictable but I'm still enjoying them :)

Also, this is totally frivolous but could I please have one of those ballgowns and an excuse to wear it somewhere please???

I don't even know how I discovered this next author (maybe a What's Up Wednesday post?) but I have really been enjoying the mysteries of Jenn McKinlay. She has a library series (which I've read a few of) and a cupcake baker series. These two are from the cupcake series and they're just fun, light, mysteries. If you read them in order, you get a better sense of the community the main characters have built around themselves.

Then I read one non-fiction book, The Paris Letters by Janice MacLeod. This is a book about a woman who sells everything she owns, quits her job to travel, and ends up falling in love and moving to Paris. She makes it sound really easy except for two things: 1) She has a marketable (moveable) skill in her art and 2) I already do most of the things she recommends to "save money." I always find those "100 ways to save money" lists annoying and hers was no different. However, reading this book did make me want to go to Paris so there is that.

So quite a few friends, whose opinions I really trust, told me to let go of my weird feeling about reading a novel about Jesus' wife and to read it anyways. And I shouldn't have waited so long because, as usual, they were right, and I LOVED The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd. I basically read it in one glorious Saturday and it was the best day I've spent in a long time. If you haven't read it, pick it up and enjoy!

The last two books I read in January (and no, none of these books are listed in the order I read them) were anti-racism books. The first one was I'm Still Here: Black Dignity in a World Made for Whiteness by Austin Channing Brown. I read this book in one night and wondered how many microaggressions I have committed against people of colour.

I'd been wanting to read Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria and Other Conversations About Race by Beverly Daniel Tatum for awhile so I was really glad when Emily chose it (or we coerced her into choosing it!) for our January book club. I found that parts of this book were very academic and detailed but I really appreciated the introduction and the first half of the book. The last half was full of statistics and I didn't think I'd enjoyed it that much but then I spent half an hour talking to Dave about a bunch of thoughts going through my head when I'd finished it. It broke my heart that this book is twenty years old and things haven't "gotten better" when it comes to racism and how people of colour are treated.

I think I normally read more than twelve books in a month but January was a bit of a slower month for me. Have you read any of these books? Do you have suggestions as to what I should read next based on any of these books? Are you skipping my blog for the rest of the week?!?!

See you back here on Wednesday when I'll document my weekend of reading. Spoiler alert: I read seven entire books, finished one I'd already started, and started a ninth book :)

I Spy Photos: Week 5

It's Week 5 of the I Spy Photo Challenge, hosted by Lysha at A Camera And A Cookbook. True confession: I took all of these pictures yesterday. I don't know why. I just did. Normally, I try to take my pictures throughout the week.

 {collection}

I love my mug collection. Yes, I use all of these mugs regularly and I choose my mug depending on my mood. I have morning mugs and afternoon mugs and pretty much a mug for any mood.

{yellow}

I was really going to try and not include tulips this week but we don't have a lot of yellow in our lives right now and these fit perfectly with this prompt. Sorry, but not really, for inflicting tulips on you yet again. 

{tiny}

I didn't know what I was going to do for "tiny" and then I saw this elephant in Rachel's room. I've added a cork and an acorn to the picture for scale. That is one tiny elephant. Supposedly we got it for Rachel in Kenya but I don't remember buying it for her. 

{photographer's choice}

If there was a way to send smell through my blog, I would totally send the smell of this freshly baked challah to you. Sadly, I can't do that so sharing a picture of it is the next best thing. Maybe :) 

{photographer's choice}

At the end of December, to entertain ourselves, we made a ton of snowmen out of Play-Doh. I had no idea how they would survive but they're doing really well. I think we'll get rid of them at the end of February because they'll have been up for two months by then. But I still smile when I see them so maybe not...

Currently: February 2021

It's time for "Currently" with Anne at in residence. You can find her blog here. This month we're talking about what we're "loving, reading, remembering, sharing, and wishlisting."

[loving]

Dave received a fuzzy blanket from his previous workplace in a care package. We all love it and race to get to it first. Every week our grocery store has a free item you get if you spend a certain amount on groceries. Well, this past week, the free item was a fuzzy blanket. After much discussion, we bought one and got a free one. Now Sam and Rachel each have their own fuzzy blankets and I get to use Dave's. And Dave uses his at night when I've gone to bed! Hahaha!!! So I'm loving this picture of the kids in their fuzzy blankets. If they're at home, they're basically wrapped up in these things all the time.

[reading]

I am so excited because I am on planning on reading ALL THE BOOKS this weekend during the 24in48 Readathon. If you've never heard of it before, it's a readathon which goes from 12:00am on Saturday to 11:59pm on Sunday and you read for 24 out of the 48 hours. I love this readathon and am so excited to spend all weekend reading. The books on my Kobo are Felix Ever After by Karen Callender, How to Be an Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi, So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou. I am trying to be really diverse in my reading and acknowledge that this readathon is happening during Black History Month. Normally, during a 24in48 readathon, I read ten to twelve books throughout the weekend.

[remembering]

 

My Instagram friend Erin (you can find her here) posted about a monthly photo wall. (You can read her blog post about it here.) She prints out one picture a month for their wall and it helps remind them of the good times. I wanted to buy some decorations for Valentine's Day and I found this cute heart string at Dollarama. And the hearts all have paperclips on the back. Coincidentally, there are twelve hearts. I remembered Erin's photo wall and Voila! Our own, super simple (not at all classy!) photo wall was born. We still need to print out pictures for November, December and this January, but this will hang in our dining room for awhile and be a reminder of family fun.

[sharing]

 

I shared the chocolate cake recipe I made all the time when I was a kid with Rachel and she now wants to make a chocolate cake every day! Plus, Sam wants to learn how to make it too!

And if you were reading around here in January, you know that I've been sharing my love of tulips all month. And I will continue to share my love for them into February. For those of you who are new, tulips are cheap at our grocery stores in January and February so I buy a lot of them to remind me that spring is eventually coming.

[wishlisting]

image from here

A local small business which I found out about thanks to Covid, posts their products on Instagram. I saw this bird puzzle and immediately wanted it. But it sold out in the fifteen minutes between when they posted it and when I went to buy it. So I asked them to add my name to the wait list for when they're able to get it back in stock. I never used to be a puzzle person but we've enjoyed them this quarantine and this one reminds me of spring.

Update: I got a call yesterday afternoon that the puzzle was available for me to pick up!!! So now I'm wishing for some time to go get it and to do it :)

Also, today our province is supposed to announce if our kids are going back to school anytime soon, so if I can add "PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE send our kids back to school immediately" to my wish list, consider it at the top.

Also, in no particular order I'd love a massage, someone to clean my home office, a trip to anywhere, spring to arrive early, and an end to Covid. That's not all too much to ask, is it?!?

One Sentence A Day: January 2021

January 2021 started with our whole province in a lock down and ended with our province in an even stricter lock down. Yay?!?

1 - Friday -- We had a fun brunch with mimosas for all, watched the movie Soul on Disney+, and I walked over 12km (7.5 miles).

2 - Saturday -- I baked buns and we went for a winter walk to the library and ran into a few people on the path.

3 - Sunday -- We cleaned up all the Christmas and Channukah things, watched a few Hallmark movies, and did some shoveling.

4 - Monday -- I got to work in the school and it was so quiet -- only four people in the whole building.

5 - Tuesday -- This was one of the busier days I've worked and I felt like I was two tasks behind all day long.

6 - Wednesday -- I watched the news for basically seven hours straight trying to take in what I was seeing and what had happened.

7 - Thursday -- We had our first take out and family game night and it was pretty fun. (More sentences: Also, the province announced that our kids would continue remote learning for two more weeks. Ugh.)

8 - Friday -- I went to bed at 7pm.

9 - Saturday -- We went on an errand-y walk and made snowmen pizza for supper.

10 - Sunday -- We enjoyed making stained glass cookies this day -- a fun project for the whole family!

11 - Monday -- I finally got our family calendar done for January and I painted my toenails.

12 - Tuesday -- They demolished the back half of the house next door to us and our province was put into a state of emergency.

13 - Wednesday -- Rachel threw her comfort bag down the stairs and it exploded, sending a mess of beads everywhere and causing her much heartbreak.

14 - Thursday -- A stricter lock down began for our province this day.

15 - Friday -- I worked from home, we had a snowy/rainy walk to the library, and we ate strawberry ice cream.

I enjoyed getting a chance to see Rachel doing some of her schoolwork!

16 - Saturday -- We went on a really fun winter hike.

17 - Sunday -- Happy Birthday Dave!!!

18 - Monday -- I did a lot of photocopying at work today and finished my book club book in the evening.

19 - Tuesday -- I woke up at 5am to get my workout in and felt so accomplished when it was done by 6:30am!

20 - Wednesday -- Everyone got out of the house today for a walk and Sam and Rachel enjoyed playing on the big snow pile in the Wal-Mart parking lot.

21 - Thursday -- Continued school closures (until at least February 10th) were announced so we made some changes to our schedule, including enforced daily outside time.

Also a man from our church brought us a fresh made apple pie this day to support us during our time of online learning.

22 - Friday -- The kids were off school but Dave and I both had to work so it was an interesting day of balancing work and kids.

23 - Saturday -- I read an entire book this day (it was really good) and we enjoyed our church's virtual winter retreat evening of playing games and visiting.

24 - Sunday -- Rachel and I completed an entire puzzle this morning.

25 - Monday -- I was waiting for Covid test results so the kids and I played in the back yard this afternoon.

26 - Tuesday -- My results eventually came back (negative - yay!) and we shoveled a lot of snow.

27 - Wednesday -- I taught Rachel how to make the chocolate cake I made when I was a kid for Chocolate Cake Day!

28 - Thursday -- The sun was shining!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

29 - Friday -- It was a bit of an up and down day and in the evening we went for a walk to the library where we made penguin snow sculptures.

30 - Saturday -- We went for quite a long walk today to get croissants for Croissant Day!

31 - Sunday -- I did groceries, a workout video, and had a "spa day afternoon few hours" with Rachel.

Be It Resolved: February 2021 Goals

Since it's February 1 (how is it February already?!?!?), it's time to recap my January goals and set some goals for February. First of all, let's recap how I did with January's goals.

1) Pick out December pictures for the yearly calendars.

Well, I started to write this blog post yesterday morning, and I realized I hadn't done this yet so I quickly picked out pictures for December. One thing Dave and I discovered is, that unlike most years, December really didn't have a lot going on.

A memorable Starbucks stop in December, 2020.

2) Cut back on caffeine and up my water intake.

I definitely upped my water intake (although I didn't do as good a job of tracking it towards the end of the month) and I've cut down to two (and some days less) cups of coffee-hot chocolate, so I feel like I'm making progress on this one. I am starting to crave water which is a good thing!

One thing which really helped this goal was my friend Emily mentioned that she drinks out of different water bottles throughout the day. Somehow this was a light bulb moment for me and I've since started taking both my water bottles to work with me. That gives me a litre and a half (six cups) of water throughout the day, plus whatever I'm drinking at home.

3) Enjoy being outside.

I feel like we did a good job of this. We tried to get outside a lot even when it was cold. And I tried to find my playful side.

4) Keep making progress on the Camino walk.

Well, at beginning of January I was here...

...and, as of last night, I was here:

I'm pretty excited that I managed to make up 25 kilometres in January. I am only a month (and a bit) away from finishing this challenge and I have already decided that I will sign up for another one when I'm done this one. And Dave is probably going to do it with me!

5) Figure out new ways to share what books I've read with people.

I was planning on writing book blog posts for January 15th and for the end of January. However, I had only read two books by January 15th so writing a blog post didn't feel worth it. I have a lot going on blog wise this week so my January book review post will be coming out next Monday, I think. I'm hoping to get better at this in February.

6) Have a weekly family game night and eat take out that night.

This was really fun and, what made it work really well, is that each person got to "host" one night. They decided what we were eating for takeout and which game we were playing. We enjoyed this so much we're going to continue it in February too!

7) Help the kids stay in touch with family and friends more through email.

Rachel wanted me to put this goal down and she wrote a few emails to some of her great-aunts, wrote a letter to my parents, and phoned her grandparents a few times. So I think she was happy with how this goal went. (I think from now on I won't put down goals which I'm not involved in!)

8) Organize the basement.

This did NOT happen. We were too busy relaxing, doing a few puzzles, and walking (either outside or doing workout videos) so the basement is still a disaster :(

9) Participate in the "I Spy" photo challenge.

I published a post every Saturday in January for this challenge. I really enjoyed doing this and will continue it for February (and probably beyond).

So now on to February's goals...

1) Pick out January pictures for the calendars.

And I'm sure none of you are surprised by this goal :)

I think this is a memorable January photo!

2) Respond to blog comments within 24 hours.

I love getting all of your comments and I feel like such a slacker when I don't respond to them. If you don't have your email connected to your blogger profile, I respond to your comment in my post. However, if I have access to your email address, I send you an email instead. Thank you for continuing to read my blog and leave comments. I love the interactions I have with all of you.

3) Get my personal email under control. Right now I have 72 unread emails and over 300 emails sitting in my inbox. It's time to respond to them or file them as necessary.

I think this goal is pretty self explanatory. Time to read (and write!) some emails.

4) Get out for a winter hike each weekend.

We are just so much happier when we've had some time outside. Except for this coming weekend (Hello Readathon!!!), my goal is for us to get out for a walk (and hopefully in nature areas or on trails or through woods) every weekend. It's so easy to just sit inside in the winter, especially.

5) Organize the basement and the playroom.

Well, we didn't get the basement done in January but we can absolutely do two rooms in February, right?!?!? Maybe I'm insane, but March Break is coming and I want the kids to enjoy the playroom that week since we won't be going anywhere!

6) Read non-library books off my physical TBR.

My stack is getting way too high again and I need to reduce it. Time to read some of these books. I think I'll try and start with books which I've borrowed from other people.

7) Do a better job of tracking my water intake.

I want to see measurable progress of this. I have a cute water tracker in my new day planner -- I just have to use it.

8) Deal with loads of laundry within 24 hours.

Everyone in our family is working on an issue they struggle with. Rachel is learning to put herself to bed, Dave is trying to go to bed earlier, Sam is trying to be more engaged in family life, and well, my struggle is laundry. Sometimes a load sits in the washer for two days. Sometimes it sits in a basket waiting to be folded for a week. Sometimes it's hanging up dry in the basement for a few days. It's not great. So my goal is to get it from the washer to hanging up within twelve hours and from dry to folded and put away within 24 hours. Let's get this laundry train moving well people.

9) Deal with some ironing and my mending pile.

I've had a button I need to sew onto one of Rachel's sweaters for ages and a few other small things like that. I also have a few Perler bead creations I need to iron for the kids. Honestly, these things will take me about half an hour so I am going to find that half hour this month and get those things off my mental "to do" list. It's dumb because I've clearly spent more than half an hour thinking about doing them. Ugh.

So those are my February goals. Do you have any laundry tips? How do you respond to blog comments? Are you offended when a blogger doesn't answer your comment?

I Spy Photos: Week 4

It's Week 4 of the I Spy Photo Challenge, hosted by Lysha at A Camera And A Cookbook. I struggled with some of the prompts this week like "Different Angle." But I like a challenge and it was fun to have to think a bit more about some of the photos I was taking.

 

{new}

We opened up a new puzzle to celebrate Puzzle Day yesterday!

{different angle}

These tulips all grew down this week, so not only are they at a different angle, but I was basically lying on the floor to take this picture!

{before & after}

I didn't know how to show this in one picture so here is my "before" and "after" of last week's puzzle. And Dave eventually found the missing piece on our living room floor.

{fruit or veggie?}

Technically, tomatoes and avocados are both fruit but I'd rather make guacamole with them than cut them up and eat them on ice cream!

{backyard}

 

I realized after I'd taken this picture that I'd gone for a "different angle" of our backyard. Also, it looks so nice after a fresh snowfall.