All Booked Up by Melody Carlson ~ Book Review

It's been 18 months since Riva's beloved husband Paul passed away from cancer.  She thought she was dealing with the grief but she's still rambling about their beautiful Victorian home with no motivation to either go out or to keep the place up. And with all Paul's medical bills still being paid off she is looking at having to sell the home.  But Riva loves this home.  Not only was it where she and Paul have lived practically their whole married lives but it is where she grew up and it's been in her family for three generations. While her daughter is pushing her to sell the home, Riva is reluctant to leave the memories and her and Paul's precious collection of loved books.  As she considers her options, an opportunity to rent some of her empty rooms comes across her path and before she knows it her home now houses a mix of eclectic "women of a certain age".  When one of the women's older brother starts coming around can this mix of women find grace for each other and make space for each to grow and thrive.

This was an easy summer read.  Loved the bookish theme that was hinted at throughout and wish it would have explored a little deeper into that.  While I liked the main character and the free spirited Windy, I did find a couple of the characters really unlikeable through most of the story and I did feel all the characters were much too gossipy creating drama reminiscent of teenagers rather than grown women.  In the end there was character growth that redeemed it but I also found the ending wrapped up a little too quickly so the growth seemed sudden.  Maybe it might be a spring board for future books?

Rated it 7.5/10

Friday's Fave Five #898

Hi everyone!  Welcome back to Friday's Fave Five! Looking for our blessings throughout the last week and pausing to be thankful for them.  Some blessings are quiet and some are bold and obvious but we are grateful for each one God sends our way.  Please join in by sharing your favorite five from the last week.

~ surprise pop ins ~ once in awhile my Paramedic son does a transfer from the big city to our hospital and when he does, if he has time after the transfer, he'll pop in and say a quick hello.  We only live a few blocks from the hospital and he never stays more than a few minutes but this makes my whole day.  That he knows this makes me happy and he takes the time is such a blessing.  (Personally I think he also derives great amusement and satisfaction in scaring his mother half to death by either whooping the ambulance siren in the driveway, using the door lock entry code knowing I'll wonder who's trying to get in the door or by sticking his face in my front window until I notice but we'll just go with the story that he loves his Mom. 😂 I don't think he'll ever lose some of the " prankster boy" in him).  I get to meet his co-workers, which I also love, get a hug and a quick catch up and he's on his way.  

~ slower back to work week ~ I'm very thankful that after my week off work spent in pain and discomfort that I had a much slower re-entry week into work.  Other than Tuesday, which was a full house of 6 kids, I've only had four children here the other days.  It's been beautiful outside so we've spent lots of time outdoors which means I haven't had to go up and down the basement steps myriad times a day.  The kids have been sweet and helpful.  All in all a good week back to work.  

~ leftovers ~  yes, leftovers a couple of times this week were a blessing when I was just so tired at the end of the day that cooking was the last thing I wanted to do.  It was so nice just to reheat a healthy meal rather than starting from scratch or getting takeout.  

~ short neighborhood walks ~ I've been able to take Tux out for a little walk most days this week.  It's only around the block right now but I'm grateful for the progress from where I was 2 weeks ago.  

~dishwasher ~ super thankful for the blessing of a dishwasher in my home.  It's the hardest working appliance in the house.  I would be tied to the sink constantly if I didn't have one.  Never want to take it for granted.

What were blessings in your life this week?

“It is only with gratitude that life becomes rich!”  

–Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Friday's Fave Five #897

Hi everyone.  Welcome back to Friday's Fave Five.  Thanks for your faithfulness in joining me on the journey to make looking for my blessings my every day habit  and praising God for each and every one that He sends along the way to help uplift me and let me know He is there.  Not gonna lie, this has been a rough week but there have still been blessings that have come.  I'm thankful I have this weekly habit of the FFF and you, my encouraging friends, to help me to keep looking for those glimpses of God even in harder weeks.  Please join in with me yet again in sharing your five favorite blessings of the week.

~ prayers of family and friends ~ after I posted of my knee injury last week it took a turn for the worst and I had a rough week of pain in my knee.  Pain like I've never had.  I had to take Friday off work because I could not even walk.  I am so thankful that I had people in my life that I could take the prayer request to and know that they would praying for me.  I don't know what I would do without them all.

~ time off ~ by some small miracle, this happened to be one of my holiday closure weeks.  I didn't have to work so I could rest that knee lots.  I make my holiday closure list way back in February so the fact that I happened to have a week off when I was so hurting and so needed it was amazing.  Coincidence?  I think not, I call it God-incidence.  Did God plan for me to get hurt?  Not a chance.  But He knows all and knew I would need the recovery time.  

~ appointment with the Acute Knee Injury Clinic ~  another God-incidence blessing was that my appointment with the Acute Knee Injury Clinic was this week.  I was referred here back at the end of February when I ripped my cartilage.  I was seen by a doctor and sport therapist and now at least I have answers and a plan.  There is a certain anxiety reducing relief to know what exactly the injury is  and how to move forward.

~ beautiful bouquet and treats ~ one of my littles who I've had since he was 18 months is graduating my program and moving on to grade 1.  He and his mom popped by with gifts and a card that made me cry.  I'm going to miss him but he is so ready to go to school.  And I still have his little brother so I'll still get to see him once in a while.

~ helpful and caring hubby ~ though he has been swamped with work this week, Hubby has been so helpful in so many ways.  He has brought takeout home every night at his insistence so that I don't have to cook, he's run to the store I don't know how many times, he cleaned up the kitchen every night on his own and he's stayed so quiet when he gets up so that I can sleep in in the morning knowing I was probably up in the night trying to reposition my knee into a better spot.  

Whether a good or bad week there is always something to be thankful for.  Did you find 5 blessings to share?  If you have and you've made a FFF post please feel free to link to your post.  Happy 4th of July to my U.S. blogging friends.

I love this quote.  Life isn't always perfect but there is always something to be grateful for.  It's so important where we choose to put our focus.  

Friday's Fave Five #896

Hi everyone!  Welcome to Friday and Friday's Fave Five.  We are stopping to take a pause in our busy day to day and remember to look for, find and be grateful to God for all the blessings, big and small that He has brought into our lives.  This week has been draining for me with a major flare up of knee pain and issues so I am thankful I have this reminder to take some time to remember and enjoy and be thankful for the good things.  I find that if I don't take time for this I can feel like I'm drowning in the negative things that have tried to hijack my week.  There is so much to be thankful for if we only take the time to find the blessings even in the harder weeks or days.  Please join us  in developing a habit of seeing blessings and making being thankful and grateful to God our go to way of life.  If this is your first time, guidelines for the Friday's Fave Five are here.  

So a little housekeeping before we start our FFF.  Over the last weeks I have not been able to respond as I usually do to some of your comments directly through email by hitting the reply button when your comment comes into my email.  It pings back as undeliverable because the address is -no reply-.  This is happening for people that I have replyed to for years and have never had a problem with before.  This is what I get when I ask google:

 Did any of your blogs get re-set to "no-reply?"  I really miss conversing back and forth with those of you whom I used to email back & forth with even if occasionally.  For a couple of you I have your email address and so when I get the no reply, I can put in your address but for most of you I don't.

Okay on to looking for our blessings from the last week and choosing five to share.

~ celebrating Hubby ~ On Father's Day, two of the kids made it home to be with him on Father's Day and for this I am very thankful.  Just them making that effort is such a blessing.  We went for a bike ride, and enjoyed a lunch of their Dad's choosing.  We missed the oldest but she is 6 1/2 hours away so it's hard to just come for a weekend but Hubby enjoyed a phone call from her.

~ no broken bones ~ so I had my first ever bone density test a few months ago and it came back that I have a very low chance of breaking any bones in the next 5 years.  Yay!  But trust me to put it to the test on our bike ride by falling off my bike for the first time since I've been a kid.  I misjudged the curb and took a tumble onto concrete.  So thankful nothing broke and I rode away with only a couple small bruises.  The thing most hurt was my pride because of course it happened at a very busy corner with four lanes of cars all stopped and waiting for the pedestrian light which we missed because of my topple.  

~ helpful little ones ~ this week my knee flared up and Wednesday found me barely able to walk and in lots of pain.  The little dayhome kids were so helpful because they knew I was hurting.  So thankful for their sweet hearts in being caring.  

~ a house with spare bedrooms ~ very thankful we have a spare room with a double bed in it so I could stretch out the way I had to in order to relieve pressure on my knee so I could sleep.  

~ advil and pain meds ~ I avoid them as much as I can but this week I am thankful for access to  advil, pain meds and creams.  Don't know what I would have done without them.  

What were your favorite blessings this week?  If you have done a Friday's Fave Five post please link up below so we can visit with you.  A reminder to please link your actual FFF post and not your homepage so that your FFF is easy to find.  Have a great weekend!

Every Hour Until Then by Gabrielle Meyer ~ Book Review

When Kathryn is invited to be a guest curator to help create an exhibit on Jack the Ripper she is thrilled to have been asked to be part of the project.  As she jumps into the research, she is horrified to realize that her sister in her other life in 1888 is one of Jack the Ripper's victims.  Now she has a dilemma on her hands.  One of the rules of being a time crosser is that she cannot do anything that will change history or else she will forfeight that path, but how can she possibly let her own sister remain in danger and be the final victim of this horrilbe killer? 

In Victorian London, Kathryn's sister has been banished from her status loving parents home and Kathryn is not allowed any contact with her.  Knowing what she does from her other life, how can she push the limits of her time crossing life to be able to spare her sister?  And now with her childhood friend involved, her decisions now affect yet another life. 

This was an edge of your seat addition to the author's Timeless series.  They just keep getting better.  This was suspenseful and kept me guessing to the end.  While the main character was at times frustrating and headstrong, her motives were born of  a desperation to somehow save her sister from a horrible and untimely death that would be recorded for all of history.  Yet her recklessness in doing things her own way can prove to be the undoing of it all.  But this is what made her very human to the reader.  Though dealing with horrible events in history, the author managed to  not be overly graphic while maintaining the horror and fear that came with the murders of the women.  There is a thread of faith running through all these book in the series but is not heavy handed.  I appreciated being challenged within the story of thinking of  who really is in control and in whom is my trust and how decisions reverberate through time.  The author's research of the historical periods is once again fantastic.   High recommend though I would definitely read the books in order.  

Rating:  10/10

Friday's Fave Five# 895

updated with my own post!

Hi everyone!  Just popping in very quickly to put up Mr. Linky for ths week.  I don't know if I'll be able to get on to do a FFF this week.  We are having internet issues and it comes and goes with no warning of cutting me off and for the most part it is off.  So until it's fixed, I am off the computer.  And doing a whole post on my phone just does not work for me and carpal tunnel.  To say nothing of the fact my data is being sucked up like crazy from having to do things on my phone.  It's the same reason I haven't commented yet on all of your last week's posts.  Please go ahead and link up and hopefully this will be fixed if not today, then before next week!

 Whew, finally got that all fixed up.  Apparently, some signal was sent to our box but only half of it worked.  That was crazy.  And frustrating.  But finally back to normal. It is scart how dependent we are on the stupid internet nowadays just for everyday life.   So onto finding my favorite blessings of the week.

~ 43rd Anniversary ~ last week marked our 43rd anniversary.   Those crazy kids pictured below had no idea what life would throw their way.  We were pretty nieve and idealistic.  We chose each other then and we choose each other now.  It hasn't always been easy but we've passed through some things meant to tear us apart and we've come out stronger.  Life isn't always a smooth path but it is blessed and more blessed together.

~ anniversary bouquet ~ this beautiful bouquet was delivered to me on our anniversary from my Hubby.  It's made even more special because he worked with a local florist to create something he thought I would love.  The vase is a "purse" (he knows my love of a cute purse), and all carnations (he knows they are one of my faves) and the grass is actually made to go into the shape of a heart.  It was totally unexpected and I LOVE it!

~ sunshine ~  we've had some lovely sun this week along with some showers but not the constant gray and rain and the previous week.  Hopefully with the heat the annuals in pots and ground can start taking off now.

~ technicians who know their stuff ~ once we finally got a real live in person technician here he had the problem detected and fixed within an hour.  So frustrating having to jump through the hoops of how they do things nowadays trying to resolve issues over the phone with someone who probably lives  an ocean, or at least a country or two away, before they send an actual living, breathing human but it got done.  Thankful there are people who know their stuff because electronics drives me crazy.

~ ladies group year wrap up ~ Wednesday was my ladies bible study's final study before summer break and it was a good.  I appreciate the leader of the group and the way she challenges us and I love how open the ladies are in sharing and not afraid to discuss something through they might now understand or disagree with.  That's what makes the study so good and beneficial for me, we don't just get "talked" to by one person.  We can get in there with our thoughts and questions making it easier to apply the lesson to life.  Now we'll do a few fun things together in the summer before restarting study in the fall.

Thanks for your patience through the whole internet fiasco.  I hope to get to read all your post this week!

Friday's Fave Five #894

Welcome to Friday's Fave Five.  It's our moment in the week to purposefully look past all the distractions that causes us to get caught up in things like overwhelm, hurry, fear, worry, negativity, hopelessness and even just everyday routine.  We are taking the pause in our normal everyday lives to intentionally look beyond all that and zero in on all the blessings that God brings our way.  Things we would probably miss if we didn't pause to take note.  Being thankful softens our hearts and actually allows us to see even more clearly blessings in our lives.  Please join us as we press that pause button in our busyness to stop, notice and thank God for those good things.

~ peonies have bloomed ~ my Mom's peony bush that I took from her house before we sold it finally has really bloomed out.  It's been a few years since I moved the bush over and it has only ever given a handful of blooms at the most.  But this year it was covered in buds and the last couple of days those buds have been opening.  They are beautiful and make me think of my Mom and her love of her flower garden everytime I look at it.  

~ puddle jumping ~ with all the rain we've had, my neighbor and I took our dayhome kids out puddle jumping yesterday.  I texted parents to make sure rain boots and splash pants were sent and off we went in search of puddles.  And we found some awesome ones.  Great fun was had by all and it got us out of the house for a bit enjoying the fresh air.

~ blue skies ~ Sunday afternoon saw some glorious blue skies with white puffy clouds so we had to take advantage of that even though some pretty gusty winds came along with it.  We went down to the river bottom where it can be a touch more sheltered and enjoyed a quick walk burning off some energy with Tux.  It was pretty green down there from all the rain we had the week before and the color contrasts were beautiful.

~ communicaton from all the kids this week ~ I was blessed to have all the grown kids communicate in some way this week.  I always love when I hear from them.  Sometimes it's just a picture or a silly quote or meme but it's nice to know they think to send it to me.

~ good night's sleep ~ with some night's this week with broken sleep or not good sleep I was thankful for the nights where I did fall asleep fairly quickly and slept through to morning.  There have been some things this week that have happened to friends that weighed heavy on my mind and heart for them this week coupled with some kind of ache in my leg that disturbed my usual good rest.  I'm thankful for those nights I was graced with a good sleep.

What have been your favorite blessings this week?