Peeking Between the Pages

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The Loss of my Mom and Going Forward…

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There are many of you who follow me on Facebook who know that my mom passed away on March 2 of this year.  It was very unexpected and the loss has devastated me.  My mom and I fought all the time – well not all, but we loved each other just as fiercely.  She was my friend and confidant and I’m quite lost without her.   She has left a huge hole in my life and my dads and at this point I don’t feel as though I’ll ever move past this deep loss and hurt.  Anyhow I wanted to acknowledge the loss here on my blog where I’ve shared many things throughout the years.

Through other hard times in my life I turned to blogging so I’m going to try concentrating on it again.  I really want to write short reviews and I’m going to attempt that this week but I will likely share thoughts on my mom and just getting through some days as well.

Reading and listening to books hasn’t been going the best.  Im having a really hard time concentrating so not much is getting finished.  I did finish The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver for my face to face bookclub.  I listened to it and while I loved it years ago when I read it I didn’t enjoy it so much this time.  I think it was just too much of a novel for me at this point.  Now I’m listening to Lost Lake by Sarah Addison Allen for my other book club and I’m enjoying it.

So that’s all for now.  Hope everyone is doing well.  I’ll leave you all with a pic of Sammy and I hope to see you all over the next while as I make my way through this new reality of life I find myself in.

 

Sunday Ramblings

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Happy Sunday to all!  How has everyone’s weekend been?  Good I hope. Mine has been quiet. My better half is away working until Thursday so it’s been me and the mutt. It’s been a beautiful week though with nice temperatures and that always makes winter a little easier to handle.

Are you all ready for Christmas?  Trees up and presents bought?  I’ve got a couple little things to pick up and then I’m finished. I don’t go all out on the wrapping and stuff anymore. Just put it in a Christmas bag or envelope is my new motto.   I’ve got my little Christmas tree up and a few decorations so it’s so somewhat festive. I took a picture the other day – in the dark of course because that’s when trees look the best.

On the reading front I’m still reading The Huntress by Kate Quinn. For some reason I couldn’t get into reading in the beginning of the week but it’s picked up now. I’m listening to an audio called Tell Me a Secret by Samantha Hayes which is quite good and just finished Our Little Lies by Sue Watson which I really enjoyed. Last week saw the following on the blog:

Monday was a review of Her Pretty Face by Robyn Harding (Audiobook)

Tuesday was First Chapter, First Paragraph in which I featured The Huntress by Kate Quinn

Wednesday’s Book Love featured The Glovemaker by Ann Weisgarber

Thursday was a review of Just What Kind of Mother Are You? by Paula Daly (Audiobook)

Friday featured a BookTrib Holiday Thriller Giveaway. Be sure to visit my Giveaway Page and enter to win!

Saturday featured the one and only challenge I’m taking on and that is the 2019 Historical Fiction Challenge hosted by the wonderful Amy over at Passages to the Past.

Some photos of Sam bulldozing the snow.  Sorry they are a little dark but it’s been a bit gloomy here.

That pretty much wraps up my week. I’m going to be running a few errands today and then hopefully relaxing with a good book and a glass of wine in the evening. I hope you all have a great week ahead!

Sunday Ramblings with Sammy

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Happy Sunday everyone!  What have you all been up to this weekend?  Ours was snowy. Yes you’re seeing the ‘S’ word. September is early even for us to have snow. It will melt but still who wants snow in September. Cerrtainly not me. However as usual Sammy loves it.

 

 

 

 

Not it much else going on. Sam is back to home cooking again. His pancreas is giving him some trouble but he’s been doing better with the food change. I’m still struggling with my arthritis and now for added fun some issues with my liver. But life is good and could certainly be worse so I’m grateful for every day.

On the reading front – I’m listening to a lot of books. I just need to get my butt in gear and start posting summaries of them. Im currently listening to Don’t You Cry by Cass Green which is quite good.

And reading The Death of Mrs. Westaway by Ruth Ware and going to be starting High Achiever by Tiffany Jenkins for bookclub in October.

And that’s all for me this week. I’d love to hear what all of you are reading or listening to. Have a great week everyone!

 

I think…I’m back!

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Hey everyone, it’s been ages since I’ve blogged regularly it seems but I’m going to give it a go again. I’m kind of feeling the blogging bug so we’ll see what happens this time around.

Between health issues and family issues things have been kind of crazy and I just couldn’t seem to get motivated enough to blog. I do miss it though so I’m hoping that will be motivation enough for now.

I do have to decide on how I want to do reviews because I really don’t want to longer ones like I used to. Anyhow I look forward to getting back to it and I hope I eventually get my reader’s back.

…And the latest cute pic of little Sam for everyone ❤️

Sunday Drop-in

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Hi all, it’s been a long time since I posted on a Sunday but I’m testing out posting on my iPad ( hope it’ll look ok) so I thought I’d update everyone on things around here. I haven’t been posting much at all. I think I got a little burned out with blogging. I’m surprised to even be saying that since I didn’t think it would ever happen. It felt as though reading and blogging had become a chore and I don’t want that.  I decided to step away for a bit and it seems to have worked. I feel as though I might be getting the blogging bug back a bit. I doubt I’ll ever post daily as I used to but at least a couple of times a week. 

As for things here Sammy is doing ok. He’s still got his health issues and now it looks like we may have some issues with his adrenal glands. The vet will be doing some further testing and we’ll go from there. From what he’s told me it can be one of two things – either an issue we can control with meds or a tumor that we can’t so I’m praying it will be something we can control with meds. Other than that he’s his usual pain in the butt but I love him like that. 

As for me I’m doing ok. I’ve been seeing someone and I’m really happy. More on that at another time. I’ve got to have surgery on my wrists which I’m not looking forward to but it’ll have to be done. My mom just had back surgery at the end of January but I don’t see it doing her much good because she still refuses to walk around. Without being mobile the surgery won’t help. The issues with her mood and meanness haven’t changed any and I don’t think they will.  It’s sad really to have a family and not want to love them and have a relationship.  So that’s the last few months in a nutshell. 

I hope all of you have been doing well. For those of you that have become my friends in the last few years sorry I’ve not been around to see how you’re doing and I hope all of you are well. There are a few blogs I’d like to keep up with and I’ll be sorting that out in the next few days. Hopefully in the next few weeks you’ll be seeing a few more posts from me. Miss you all!

Sunday Ramblings and of course Sammy!

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one peonyHappy Sunday and Happy Father’s Day to my dad and all other dads out there!  My dad is a really special guy and I’m really lucky to have him so if you’re reading this dad I love you.

This week seems to have flown by quite quickly.  Between a migraine and the weather changes causing me problems I didn’t get a whole lot done.  I did some running around picking up groceries and lipstick but that’s about it.  I hate trying to buy makeup now.  It used to seem a lot easier but now I can’t figure out what to choose.  I think it’s because there’s too much out there and truthfully I barely wear any but with literally hundreds of lipstick colors what’s a girl to choose.

On the book front I’m listening to Every Fifteen Minutes by Lisa Scottoline and it is so good.  Up next in reading for this week is All the Single Ladies by Dorothea Benton Frank and The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango.  I’m really looking forward to Dorothea Benton Frank’s book as I really enjoy her writing and I haven’t read anything by her yet that I haven’t liked.  Have any of you read or listened to any of these?  What did you think of them if you did?  And if not what are you reading this week – anything good to add to my towering ‘to read’ list.

fifteentruthsingle
On the movie front I watched Still Alice and American Sniper over the last few weeks.  I never did read Still Alice but I enjoyed the movie and I think I’d still like to listen to the audiobook at some point.  I can’t imagine losing my memory like that and at such a young age.  Well at any age really.  It’s scary and devastating for the surrounding family as well.  American Sniper is a powerful movie and I was glued to it.  Has anyone else seen either of these two movies and if you did what did you think of them?

Sammy’s been pretty good.  His skin seems to be slowly healing but it’s a slow process and he’s itchy.  I feel bad for him and even worse when I have to stick him in the tub everyday for a rinse.  As soon as I start preparing for it he hides under the table.  He’s smart!

sammy neighborsYes Mommy I know it’s the neighbor’s driveway but I’m hot and I’m tired and I’m going to rest for a while.

SamAugeAuge is an older gentlemen in my neighborhood that has been joining Sammy and I for our walks for the past five years and is pretty much family now.  He’s such an upbeat and happy person and he never fails to bring sunshine to my mornings.  Yesterday he and Sammy were playing what I call the ‘hand game’ as you can clearly see by Sammy’s open mouth. lol.

lovely sammyHappy Sunday everyone and Happy Father’s Day Grandpa!

Our garden is still doing well but I forgot to take pictures this week so I’ll post some next week.  I did get a few of some pretty flowers though so to close this week I’ll share those…

front step flowersThese are actually over at my neighbors.  She grows this basket of flowers on her front step every summer and they are just gorgeous!

snapdragonsI love snapdragons and it’s been ages since I’ve seen any.  We used to plant them all the time and for some reason stopped.  Seeing these makes me wish we had some in our yard and I think we’ll need to remedy that for next summer. 

two peoniesPink peonies.  Just gorgeous!

So what has everyone else been up to this weekend?  Any special plans for today or just relaxing and enjoying a quiet summer day?  I hope you all have a great week ahead!