Category Archives: Favorites

Books, Favorites

Books in the Flavia DeLuce mystery series by Alan Bradley (which you should definitely read if you like good mysteries with interesting characters & fully developed environments)

  • The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie
  • The Weed That Strings The Hangman’s Bag
  • A Red Herring Without Mustard
  • I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
  • Speaking from Among the Bones
  • The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches
  • The Curious Case of the Copper Corpse
  • As Chimney Sweepers Come to Dust
  • Thrice the Brinded Cat Hath Mew’d

flavia

Events, Family, Favorites, Holidays, Inspirational, Memories

Twenty Three Ways My Kid Is Amazing (in honor of his 23rd birthday today)

  1. His sense of humor is unmatched.
  2. He’s smart and conceptual and thinks deeply.
  3. He never gets embarrassed. About anything.
  4. He taught himself to play guitar.
  5. A headbanger from the start, he now headbangs in his own heavy metal band.
  6. He’s hilarious.
  7. He is deeply compassionate and empathetic.
  8. He desires to make the world a better place.
  9. He works ridiculously hard.
  10. He desires experiences more than things.
  11. He sets goals and works to achieve them.
  12. He’s been “adulting” since the age of 19, paying his own rent and bills and way.
  13. He married his high school sweet heart and loves her with his entire being.
  14. He has a global outlook and cares about the world outside of his own.
  15. He laughs with his whole body.
  16. He carries things for me, (which is to say that he helps me any time I need it.)
  17. He programs electronics for his grandparents.
  18. He still loves old school video games.
  19. He has an inborn gift for music.
  20. He hugs his mama and tells me he loves me.
  21. He is never afraid to show affection to people he cares about.
  22. He has been through some things that would cripple lesser men, but the fires have forged him into a resilient and capable man.
  23. He is the best thing I have ever had a part in creating.

wedding jump

Books, Brands, Favorites, Words, Writing

Books About Writing That Are On My Bookshelf

  • On Writing, Stephen King
  • How Not To Write A Novel, Howard Mittelmark & Sandra Newman
  • The Forest for the Trees: An Editor’s Advice to Writers, Betsy Lerner
  • Writer’s Market
  • Revision & Self-Editing, Bell
  • The Writer’s Digest Guide to Query Letters, Burt-Thomas
  • Thanks, But This Isn’t For Us, Jessica Page Morrell
  • Characters & View Point, Orson Scott Card (Elements of Fiction Writing series)
  • Description, Monica Wood  (Elements of Fiction Writing series)

bookshelf

Favorites, Television

Shows I Have Been Watching Obsessively For Several Weeks

  • Fixer Upper
  • Flip or Flop
  • Kids Baking Championship
  • Cupcake Wars
  • Modern Family
  • Bob’s Burgers
  • Drunk History
  • The Bachelor (only on 2 weeks this season but it WILL be obsessively)
Brands, Favorites, Sycamore

Things I Love About Sycamore, Illinois

  • Six dollar movies at the State Street Theater
  • The pumpkins on the courthouse lawn at Pumpkin Fest
  • Tuesdays on the Town
  • Sweet Dreams Desserts & Bakery
  • Stone Prairie
  • Dairy Dogs ice cream with googly eyes on the cone
  • Small town festivals and fun
  • Farmer’s Market
  • The architecture, especially the library
  • The people that are so passionate about their community
  • Excellent schools
  • Privately owned shops lining down town
  • Eggsclusive Cafe
  • Great doctors offices and medical facilities
  • The Pumpkin Fest parade
  • The Sycamore ornament at Blumen Gardens (that I’m definitely lining up for this year!)
  • A caring, compassionate community
  • The Kishwaukee Family YMCA
  • All the friends I have made
The sunset reflected in my porch door
The sunset reflected in my porch door