My Week (9.19.21)

What I’ve been reading lately:

I finally diagnosed myself, I am a “theme” reader. Over the past few months I have been reading tons of mystery/murder books (like 17 of the last 25 books I have read have been that genre) and I loved it, but something flipped in my brain. Now I am on a teen fantasy kick and I am loving it.

This was the last “creepy book” that I read earlier this month. I believe it is categorized as a Gothic/Victorian/horror/mystery and it is all those things. I loved it! Bridie Devine is a female detective who specializes in finding people. With her background in autopsy, you get up close and personal with all the corpses that come her way (don’t read this book if you are squeamish) Bridie is tasked with finding a Doctor’s daughter who was presumably kidnapped by her governess. The twist comes when we realize that there is a dark mystery attached to the child and that she has a string of corpses in her past combined with possible supernatural abilities. All those things make this a fun read, especially with Halloween coming next month.

I really liked the first book in this series, but the other ones not so much. This series follows Poppy who is the “Maiden” in a Kingdom she lives in. The Maiden is kept veiled and almost revered as a goddess of sorts, but Poppy finds her role lacking. Looking for excitement, she stumbles into Hawke (a handsome warrior) while on a clandestine outing and her life quickly begins to change. There are vampires, werewolves, zombies, and a whole lot of twists in this book. **There is some language and inappropriate scenes, so watch out if that’s not for you.

I enjoyed A Court of Thorns and Roses because it had a fairy tale quality to it that made me think of Beauty and the Beast in parts. The book begins with Feyre (the heroine) killing what she thinks to be a wolf and selling its skin. What she didn’t know was that the wolf was a faerie in disguise and finds this out when his overlord tracks her down to seek revenge. In a bizarre twist, she is forced to live in Faerie land for the rest of her life as punishment and her adventure just takes off from there. Not too long after, she realizes that an evil queen has enchanted the land and quickly gets embroiled in the ongoing war and has to choose sides. Lots of romance and adventure in this one. **It gets kind of dark in the end and contains explicit scenes.

This is my favorite book that I have read lately. I gave it 5 stars. Throne of Glass follows the tale of an 18 year old assassin (apparently its a profession) named Celaena Sardothien after she is let out of prison to compete in a competition to find the King’s next official assassin. To make it even more exciting, the king is a megalomaniac who has totally wiped out all the magical creatures in the kingdom and somehow made magic disappear in the land. There is a delightful love triangle, a ton of mystery, sabotage, and too many twists and turns to count throughout the whole novel. Fun and exciting read.

Interesting things I’ve learned:

-That mortars were used as far back as the War of 1812. My son is really into military history, so when we heard this in our homeschool lesson we had to fact check it.

-Otto von Bismarck had some of the best (but ruthless) quotes. “Prussia will become the strongest of the German states not ‘by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron!'” and when criticized by fellow European countries by his war loving policies, he retorted, “Better pointed bullets than pointed speeches.” **If you speak these quotes in a really bad German accent, they are even better.

-That Prince Wilhelm’s son, Friedrich, eerily predicted Germany’s future in the late 1800s. “In this nation of thinkers and philosophers…..the world will recognize nothing but a people of conquerors and destroyers. We are deemed capable of every wickedness and the distrust felt for us grows….Bismarck has made us great and powerful, but robbed us of friends, sympathies of the world, and our conscience!”

Something that’s making me happy:

-Walking outside again. We have had glorious weather for the last two weeks and I have started to enjoy walking at the park again. I listened to my favorite podcast, “What Should I Read Next?” too so that was fun and made the miles fly by.

-Zoloft. Zoloft is making me very happy. This is the first month that I have not had a panic attack in almost three years and I am truly blessed and so very sorry I put off getting on medicine for so long. If you are struggling and have tried everything in the book (supplements, meditation, exercise, therapy, diet changes) you might need something a little stronger. No shame!

Things I was happy to accomplish:

-Started back at our homeschool co ops (we have one indoor and one outdoor co op). My kids have missed seeing their friends so that was nice to get back into the swing of things.

-Taught my first Confirmation class. It went great, but the day was little hectic due to flooding and some teachers calling out. I told the kids that I want to make them fall in love with being Catholic before they choose to get confirmed next year, so we will see how I (and the Holy Spirit) will do.

-I finally found clothes that I like. It all started with one shirt at Target, then I found four shirts at Kohls, then three more shirts at the thrift store. I had been searching for months for clothes, but hated everything I saw. I literally prayed that I could find some appropriate clothing because my wardrobe was not right for many of the roles I have taken on lately. God provided, like always.

What I am looking forward to next week:

-A cold front is sweeping through next weekend. Fall is almost here.

-Taking my kids out for Mexican food.

-The next two books in A Court of Thorns and Roses series might be ready for pick up at the library (if the person who is currently reading them turns them back in on time….) #frugalreaderproblems

Funny things that happened this week:

We stumbled upon these hilarious costumes on the internet this week and feel like they needed to get shared with you.

My kids decided that our cat Sonya would make a perfect little old lady. I give all of our animals British accents for some reason.

Awww. This was adorable. Can you just imagine how it would look running??

How they could get this costume on that guinea pig without getting bit is beyond me. Our guinea pig would have hated this.

This would be our cat Marya. That face says it all, “What were you thinking? I will kill you in your sleep!”

Have a great week!