Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - November 1, 2023

 

Welcome to another week of the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you are here.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature!

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Ahna – HAMMERS N HUGS | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Emily – LeCULTIVATEUR | FB | IG | PINTEREST
4. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
5. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
6. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
7. Tara – STILETTOS AND SHIPLAP | IG | PINTEREST
8. Denise –THISISMYEVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER


TOP VIEWED

Thrifting Candleholders


VERY POPULAR

Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter



Pumpkin Pancakes


EDITOR'S CHOICE

Puff Pastry Pear Tart


LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!


Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Five on Friday - October 27, 2023

Happy Friday!  Thanks for stopping in to see my Five on Friday.  Let's get right to it ~

1.  1989 - Taylor's Version

Taylor Swift somehow had time between attending all those Chiefs football games to get her latest album together.  1989 - Taylor's Version releases today!  This is her fourth installment in her re-records.  1989 originally came out in 2014 and was a blockbuster.  The standard edition will have 21 songs, including Shake It Off and Bad Blood.  There's a special Tangerine edition that will have an extra song.  I'm sure this album will be another blockbuster!

2.  Freelance

John Cena's newest movie opened today!  Here's the thing - this movie is getting some pretty bad reviews, but it's still on my list of movies I want to see.  The previews didn't look that bad to me and I really like John Cena, so...  Here's the summary ~

Ex-special forces operative Mason Pettis (John Cena) is stuck in a dead-end desk job when he reluctantly takes on a freelance gig to provide private security for washed-up journalist Claire Wellington (Alison Brie) as she interviews the ruthless--but impeccably dressed--dictator, Juan Venegas (Juan Pablo Raba). When a military coup breaks out just as she's about to get the scoop of a lifetime, the unlikely trio must figure out how to survive the jungle AND each other in order to make it out alive!

3.  Sisters Under the Rising Sun

New book alert:  Sisters Under the Rising Sun, by Heather Morris, came out this week.  This author also wrote The Tattooist of Auschwitz and I really liked that book.  Now I have high hopes I'll love this book too!  Here's the summary ~

In the midst of World War II, an English musician, Norah Chambers, places her eight-year-old daughter Sally on a ship leaving Singapore, desperate to keep her safe from the Japanese army as they move down through the Pacific. Norah remains to care for her husband and elderly parents, knowing she may never see her child again.

Sister Nesta James, a Welsh Australian nurse, has enlisted to tend to Allied troops. But as Singapore falls to the Japanese she joins the terrified cargo of people, including the heartbroken Norah, crammed aboard the Vyner Brooke merchant ship. Only two days later, they are bombarded from the air off the coast of Indonesia, and in a matter of hours, the Vyner Brooke lies broken on the seabed.

After surviving a brutal 24 hours in the sea, Nesta and Norah reach the beaches of a remote island, only to be captured by the Japanese and held in one of their notorious POW camps. The camps are places of starvation and brutality, where disease runs rampant. Sisters in arms, Norah and Nesta fight side by side every day, helping whoever they can, and discovering in themselves and each other extraordinary reserves of courage, resourcefulness and determination.

Sisters under the Rising Sun is a story of women in war: a novel of sisterhood, bravery and friendship in the darkest of circumstances, from the multimillion-copy bestselling author of The Tattooist of Auschwitz, Cilka's Journey and Three Sisters.

4.  Turkey Earrings

I know - we're not even through with Halloween yet and I'm about to tell you something you need for Thanksgiving.  But I think these earrings are so adorable and I'm afraid if you don't get them now they will be sold out!  I can't wait to wear mine!  They are made of high-quality tiny beads, and alloy materials, lead-free, durable, and comfortable to wear.  While you're getting a pair for yourself, remember to get a pair for a hostess gift too!

5.  Where did it come from?

Have a wonderful weekend!  We have several fun things planned.  I'm walking in the 2023 Walk to End Alzheimer’s on Saturday with Eric, our son and daughter-in-law.  If you'd like to donate, please click HERE.  It would be great to finally have a cure for this life-changing disease.  Thanks for considering making a donation!

Harvest Haven: Scarecrow Window Delight

Thanks for stopping by Thinking Out Loud Thursday, where I share something I’m thinking about and invite you to link up and do the same.

 

Today I’m sharing our newest tiered tray design.  This past weekend I finally took the time to drag out our tubs of pumpkins and fall decorations.  We decided a trip to Hobby Lobby was in order to see if a new theme popped out at us.  It did!  Scarecrows caught our attention and we brought some home with us.

 

Scarecrows are designed to keep birds away from farmers' crops.  I’m not sure our scarecrows are scary enough to keep anything away, but they are adorable in our window!

I'm excited to have a new theme to work with.  We picked up several scarecrows, but I'll keep an eye out for them now and next year's window will have even more.

I have a feeling this window decor is going to stay until it's time to deck with space with Christmas decorations!  

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - October 25, 2023

 

Welcome to another week of the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you are here.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature!

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Ahna – HAMMERS N HUGS | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Emily – LeCULTIVATEUR | FB | IG | PINTEREST
4. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
5. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
6. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
7. Tara – STILETTOS AND SHIPLAP | IG | PINTEREST
8. Denise –THISISMYEVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER


TOP VIEWED

Family-Centered Gift Ideas for Grown-Ups


VERY POPULAR

Halloween Mason Jars Luminaries



Pumpkin Swirl Muffins


EDITOR'S CHOICE

How to Make Your Own Trick or Treat Bags


LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!


Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - October 18, 2023

 

Welcome to another week of the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you are here.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature!

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Ahna – HAMMERS N HUGS | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Emily – LeCULTIVATEUR | FB | IG | PINTEREST
4. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
5. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
6. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
7. Tara – STILETTOS AND SHIPLAP | IG | PINTEREST
8. Denise –THISISMYEVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER


TOP VIEWED

Dinner with Ghoulish Gourds


VERY POPULAR

12 Best Chocolate Cheesecake



Pumpkin Seed Art for Preschoolers


EDITOR'S CHOICE

Chicken Sausage Pasta Casserole


LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!


Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Five on Friday - October 13, 2023

Happy Friday the 13th!  I'm so excited it's the weekend and after work today I'm diving straight into girls' weekend in Kansas City!  Let me start all the fun with sharing my five for this week ~

1.  Lessons in Chemistry

The much-anticipated series Lessons in Chemistry started this week on Apple TV.  They dropped two episodes and will have a new episode every Friday through November 24.  Brie Larson is starring as Elizabeth Zott.  It's based on the very popular book of the same name.  Here's the summary ~

In the 1950s, Elizabeth Zott's dream of being a scientist is challenged by a society that says women belong in the domestic sphere.  She accepts a job on a TV cooking show and sets out to teach a nation of overlooked housewives way more than recipes.

2.  Reese's Skeletons

Have you seen these Reese's Skeletons on your store shelves?  They are so darn cute!  The fun skeleton design is perfect on the outside and the creamy chocolate and peanut butter make them just as perfect on the inside.  Scoop them up before they are sold out.  

3.  The Burnout

Sophie Kinsella's books are always a joy to read and she's got a new book that was released just this week.  Here's the summary ~

She can do anything . . . just not everything.

Sasha has had it. She cannot bring herself to respond to another inane, “urgent” (but obviously not at all urgent) email or participate in the corporate employee joyfulness program. She hasn’t seen her friends in months. Sex? Seems like a lot of effort. Even cooking dinner takes far too much planning. Sasha has hit a wall.

Armed with good intentions to drink kale smoothies, try yoga, and find peace, she heads to the seaside resort she loved as a child. But it’s the off season, the hotel is in a dilapidated shambles, and she has to share the beach with the only other occupant: a grumpy guy named Finn, who seems as stressed as Sasha. How can she commune with nature when he’s sitting on her favorite rock, watching her? Nor can they agree on how best to alleviate their burnout (Sasha: manifesting, wild swimming; Finn: drinking whisky, getting pizza delivered to the beach).

When curious messages, seemingly addressed to Sasha and Finn, begin to appear on the beach, the two are forced to talk—about everything. How did they get so burned out? Can either of them remember something they used to love? (Answer: surfing!) And the question they try and fail to ignore: what does the energy between them—flaring even in the face of their bone-deep exhaustion—signify?

4.  Remote Control Dinosaur Car

A few weeks ago, we had a 4-year-old birthday party to go to.  The birthday boy LOVES dinosaurs!  I found this amazing remote-controlled dinosaur car on Amazon and he loved it!  If you add a little water to the reservoir the thing even breathes out a foggy mist.  If you have a dinosaur lover in your life, this remote control car is sure to bring a smile to their face!

5.  This is me.  Is it you too?

Now let's get on with the weekend!  I have so much fun ahead this weekend.  We are starting with fondue tonight at a friend's house, then tomorrow we're going on a gangster tour, out to dinner, and then on to a speakeasy.  Be sure to pop in next week to hear all about it!

What I Read in September 2023

Hello friends!  Thanks for stopping by Thinking Out Loud Thursday.  It's been a hot minute since I wrote a blog post.  October started with a very busy schedule, so I'm a bit behind on my blogging.  Catching up today with a post about the books I read in September.

I totally blew it with the first book I read which was Maybe Now.  I love Colleen Hoover and I thought Maybe Now was the first book in a three-book series.  Well, I was wrong!  Maybe Now is the third book, not the first.  It was a good book, but I kept feeling like I had missed something.  I had - everything that was in the first two books!  It was still enjoyable, but it probably would have been a whole lot better if I'd read the series in order.  If I had read them in order, it would have gone Maybe Someday, Maybe Not, and then Maybe Now.  Here's the summary from the first book in case you want to read them in the right order ~

At twenty-two years old, Sydney is enjoying a great life: She’s in college, working a steady job, in love with her wonderful boyfriend, Hunter, and rooming with her best friend, Tori. But everything changes when she discovers that Hunter is cheating on her—and she’s forced to decide what her next move should be.

Soon, Sydney finds herself captivated by her mysterious and attractive neighbor, Ridge. She can't take her eyes off him or stop listening to the passionate way he plays his guitar every evening out on his balcony. And there’s something about Sydney that Ridge can’t ignore, either. They soon find themselves needing each other in more ways than one.

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Our library book club book this month was The Silent Patient.  This book had been on my list to read for a while so I was glad to have an excuse to move it forward.  I found this book so intriguing and it made for great discussion at book club.  Here's the summary ~

The Silent Patient is a shocking psychological thriller of a woman’s act of violence against her husband—and of the therapist obsessed with uncovering her motive.

Alicia Berenson’s life is seemingly perfect. A famous painter married to an in-demand fashion photographer, she lives in a grand house with big windows overlooking a park in one of London’s most desirable areas. One evening her husband Gabriel returns home late from a fashion shoot, and Alicia shoots him five times in the face, and then never speaks another word.

Alicia’s refusal to talk, or give any kind of explanation, turns a domestic tragedy into something far grander, a mystery that captures the public imagination and casts Alicia into notoriety. The price of her art skyrockets, and she, the silent patient, is hidden away from the tabloids and spotlight at the Grove, a secure forensic unit in North London.

Theo Faber is a criminal psychotherapist who has waited a long time for the opportunity to work with Alicia. His determination to get her to talk and unravel the mystery of why she shot her husband takes him down a twisting path into his own motivations—a search for the truth that threatens to consume him....

Things We Left Behind was the third book in the Knockemout book series.  DISCLAIMER:  These books have parts that are a bit spicy, so if that's not your thing don't read them.  All three books in the series are free if you have Kindle Unlimited.  Here's the summary of the third book.

Lucian Rollins is a lean, mean vengeance-seeking mogul. On a quest to erase his father’s mark on the family name, he spends every waking minute pulling strings and building an indestructible empire. The more money and power he amasses, the safer he is from threats.

Except when it comes to the feisty small-town librarian that keeps him up at night…

Sloane Walton is a spitfire determined to carry on her father’s quest for justice. She’ll do that just as soon as she figures out exactly what the man she hates did to—or for—her family. Bonded by an old, dark secret from the past and the dislike they now share for each other, Sloane trusts Lucian about as far as she can throw his designer-suited body.

When bickering accidentally turns to foreplay, these two find themselves not quite regretting their steamy one-night stand. Once those flames are fanned, it seems impossible to put them out again. But with Sloane ready to start a family and Lucian refusing to even consider the idea of marriage and kids, these enemies-to-lovers are stuck at an impasse.

Broken men break women. It’s what Lucian believes, what he’s witnessed, and he’s not going to take that chance with Sloane. He’d rather live a life of solitude than put her in danger. But he learns the hard way that leaving her means leaving her unprotected from other threats.

It’s the second time he’s ruthlessly cut her out of his life. There’s no way she’s going to give him a third chance. He’s just going to have to make one for himself.

I'm slowly, but surely, listening my way through The Covenant of Water.  The audio book is 31 hours long!  Maybe I'll have it finished my the time I report on the books I've read this month.

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter