My decorating-challenged self found this cute pumpkin for our front porch in the At Home store.
Kristen shares Five Truths to Ease the Changing Season of Friendships.
Tracy lists Six Mistakes to Avoid When You Start Organizing.
Alisa Childers wrote a thought-provoking review in Girl, Wash Your Face? What Rachel Hollis Gets Right and Wrong.
I really like shrimp and grits, so I tried Rachael Ray’s Creamed Corn with Sausage and Shrimp for supper on Thursday night. Y’all. It was SO good!!
I read two non-fiction and two fiction books this month.
The Tech-Wise Family by Andy Crouch was a great book dealing with setting boundaries around technology in our homes. He shared many practical tips that have worked for his family. I think this book is helpful for all families, and especially those who are just introducing technology to their children. Having a strategy beforehand is key to not allowing devices to take over your family.
One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp is a book I’ve read several times before. It’s a wonderful re-read when I feel I’ve lost the sense of gratefulness that I want to characterize my life.
The first fiction book I read was A Time to Stand by Robert Whitlow. I’ve enjoyed some of his other books, but this one was seemed a little slow. He didn’t develop the legal side of the story as much, which is what I typically like about his books
The Illusionist’s Apprentice by Kristy Cambron is about a young woman who was an apprentice of Harry Houdini. This was not my favorite book by this author (that honor goes to The Lost Castle), but it was still an enjoyable read. I’ve now read all of her books, and am awaiting the release of Castle on the Rise (second in the Lost Castle series) in February.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!!
Re: Easing the Changing Season of Friendships – oh my, yes! This is often difficult for me to reconcile, too. I know that not everyone is meant for all time, some just for a season, but I *do* often feel those losses deeply.
“Six Mistakes To Avoid When You Start Organizing” – YEEESSSSSSS!!! We keep thinking one day we’ll finally buy (instead of continuing to rent) here, since we know we want to stay forever. Before that day, I want to purge & simplify our entire household…but I get stuck on the exact questions she said not to! This was so helpful, without intimidating me!!!
Re: “Girl, Wash Your Face” – thank you for sharing this! I have had so many people tell me I need to read that. I still may, but with a more closely-discerning eye.
There was one friendship I had years ago that I still miss. Our children are very close in age, and we did so many things together when our children were little. Circumstances in both of our lives changed, and we drifted apart. Even if we had a friendship now, I know it would look different than it did back then, but I kind of miss what could have been.
I’d heard so many positive things about “Girl, Wash Your Face” that I actually started reading it, but didn’t finish. Not even necessarily for the reasons that review mentioned, but I guess I just didn’t care for the tone of the book. Here’s another review I just read that shares some of the positives as well as the negatives – https://www.themodestmomblog.com/what-i-really-think-about-the-girl-wash-your-face-book/
I read something a couple of years ago about friendships and the different kinds that we have: some are forever (or seem that way) and some are temporary, and some are shallow (I don’t mean that in a bad way; it’s just that these people are more acquaintances than friends that you share deep things with). That really helped me discern some of my relationships and figure out that I felt differently than some of my friends, and that’s okay. Your article similarly helps to understand the evolution of some friendships and why it’s just part of life.
I liked the article on organizing, too. Lots of good information there.
The Lost Castle sounds very interesting! I need to see if my library has a copy.
The recipe sounds delicious, but did you cream your own corn? I have to admit that I would rather use a can or frozen. And what about the beer? I hate to buy a can just for this recipe; I bet I can find a substitute on the internet.
I like how you categorized friendships here! I have one friendship that kind of died off just because we were out of touch for awhile, but it’s recently “rekindled,” if you will, and now we make it a priority to get together once a month to catch up. Again, it’s a season of life thing. I have a little more time and attention to devote to friendships now than I might have in the past, and it’s the same with her.
I did follow the recipe and cream half of the corn in my food processor. I actually used frozen corn instead of fresh, though, and I like the texture it had from actually creaming it myself. I didn’t think it was as sweet as canned creamed corn, and that was a good thing for me. And no, I didn’t use beer; I actually substituted the same amount of chicken broth, and the flavor was great! Next time I’d probably use only 2/3 of a cup of broth instead of a whole cup, but it turned out great!
I will try your changes when I make this recipe! Thanks!