March: What I Read

 

Solid Meh

Mercy by Jodi Picoult: I mean, even a bad Jodi Picoult book is better than most books. **Audio

Elphie: A Wicked Childhood by Gregory Maguire: I just... didn't like this or feel like it added anything to the story. And! I have seen Wicked on stage 4 times and read the OG book the year it came out. I AM A FAN. **2025

The Wife Upstairs by Freida McFadden: You guys know this is a weakness of mine, these terrible, terrible books. **Audio

Back After This by Linda Holmes: I really like this author, but this was not the book for me. **2025

Beautiful Ugly by Alice Feeney: I really could not get into this one. I might listen to it and like it better? **2025

Better than Meh but Worse Than Good

Close Your Eyes and Count to 10 by Lisa Unger: I liked but did not love this thriller. **2025

The Snowbirds by Christina Clancy: I liked this one sort of. **2025

Deep End by Ali Hazelwood: THIS WAS WAAAAAAAY TOO LONG. **2025 **Audio

Some Backlist Gems

Abide with Me by Elizabeth Strout: Oh this book!! I recommend. **Audio

The Senator's Wife by Liv Constantine: This was so entertaining because the bag guys were wretched people. **Audio

The Means by Amy Fusselman: HILARIOUS AND WONDERFUL. The author also writes for McSweeney's, and you can totally tell.

In the BOTY Race**

The Good Mother Myth by Nancy Reddy:  Part Madison memoir (that's the part I loved), part quasi scholarly writing on motherhood-- this is great. **2025

The Dollhouse Academy by Margarita Montimore: SO entertaining. I love this author and her wildly original books. **2025

Show Don't Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld: I am not usually super into short stories, but I can make an exception for Sittenfeld. "A for Alone" and "The Richest Babysitter in the World" were my favorites, but I liked them all. **2025

Memorial Days by Geraldine Brooks: This is just beautiful. **2025

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan: LOVED THIS ONE!! **2025 **Audio

Three Days in June by Anne Tyler: What a treat it is to read a new Anne Tyler≥ She's incomparable, and this book is perfection. **2025

BTM: 17

Book books: 11

Kindle Books: ZERO **shame shame shame

Audio books: 6

2025 books: 12

BTY 44:

Book books: 24

Kindle books: 2

Audio books: 18

2025 books: 16

**I mean, listen. I always fall victim to recency bias, so probably my BOTY picks will all be from November.

Money Monday and Staycay Day 5

 Listen. This day was just errands with a couple pf fun things thrown in. What can I say? Solo parenting for 3 days just hits differently when no one goes to school.

Minnie has enough hair for just one braid again-- she was excited.

We drove to a nearby teeny town to hit up a truly bananas shoe store (parrots just flying around!) because Dorothy and Cooper needed new tennis shoes (Minnie needed no shoes, but she got some anyway because she could not resist the pink "birGenstocks" as she calls them.

But then! We added Culvers and a super fun park to make the day seem less errand-y

We park hopped when we got home and walked Annabel to the school playground

I listened to the news on my way to the grocery store and shopped accordingly.

And! I lucked into this at the library (the tl;dr is that it;'s not very good , but I was so excited to sang it**whomp whomp**)

I tracked my spending last week to see if I could put a price tag on fun, AND I CAN.

 

All in, I spent $684, which is solidly cheap, IMO, since it counts 3 pairs of shoes! But does NOT count the 400 other dollars of random spending last week (all that wine, some finishing touches for the girls' rooms, a water filter for the fridge that will probably die before the filter runs out, etc) and of course doesn't count the groceries I bought for the week, etc.

Even buying $6.35 movie tickets, we spent over $100 to see Dog Man and gorge on junk food-- not sure if that was a good spend or not.

We also spent another $160 for food (mostly pizza and ice cream LOL) out and over $250 on stuff (stuffies, 5 below novelties, sweats, shoes).

Definitely worth it, though, because the week was almost entirely stress free.

Staycay Day 4

 We kept our underwhelming pizza (except Ian's-- that pizza is **chef's kiss**) streak alive with some truly yucky pies at a completely random indoor pool (there were two large-ish slides, one that snaked outside the building and one that was a green version of the slide at our summer pool, neither of which warranted a picture or the label water park, IMHO) in the middle of nowhere. Yes, I was absolutely too cheap to pay spring break prices in the WI dells.

THIS IS FOR ONE NIGHT

I planned to take them to the Holiday Inn by our house that has a pretty great indoor pool, but it was completely full. Well-- not completely. They were out of day passes but had one single room left. But YUCK that sounded crowded and gross to me. So we tried a new weird little place, and Minnie especially lurved it.

Turns out, I did not even need to wear a suit because I didn't have to get in the water! YAY!

This pic perfectly sums up our terrible weather. Sandals. But also a fleece. Blergh.

Stacay Day 3

 Today started out with a fancy morning-- more tea parties and a couple of costume changes.

Annabel's stick of the day was more of a wood chip.

Coop made quick work of tea party clean up. 

After lunch we went mini golfing, and you guys! I DID NOT HAVE TO GOLF, EVEN! I just sat in the sun and read my book.

(I did rally for the silly photo op, tho)

We had an aawkward amount of time to kill before Cooper's diving practice, so the kids got ice cream

Then we still had an awkward amount of time before diving practice, so we stopped by 5 Below, and the kids each picked a sibling to shop for and bought each other silly surprises.

And! WE WERE EARLY for diving and had to wait with Coop in the COMPLETELY EMPTY facility for a few minutes until his coach arrived.

The girls and I decided to shop a little and get our favorite pizza while Coop had dry land and worked on his twisters.

These pillow cracked me up, but seriously Urban Outfitters, could they have been displayed any worse??

Waiting for Dorothy

Who did not get this skirt, even though it was SO CUTE.

She came to Urban Outfitters for a $45 Owala but decided instead to get a $45... pair of plain gray sweatpants. Aw, tweenagers.

Best pizza ever.

And Coop! Had a great practice!

Staycay Day 2

We started our STAYCAY DAY 2 with a brisk dog walk that quickly turned into a park stop

We had a VERY LAZY morning. Jack had speech coaching. Dorothy and I cleaned out her closet to make room for her dance bag to be set up in there instead of in the storage room downstairs. Minnie set up an elaborate tea party. Cooper played video games (lol). I worked out and graded for my online adjunct class (different than my overload class). Then I decided to change 5/7 beds because it was a light laundry day. DO I KNOW HOW TO RELAX OR WHAT?    

Apparently this is pizza week because the kids had movie theater pizza for lunch and make your own pizza for dinner (and we had frozen pizza for lunch Monday and plan pizza on campus for dinner tonight).

MOVIE FOR LUNCH! We saw Dog Man, and all three older kids used to read those books, so they were all delighted to attend. When we got home, Dorothy read the first book to Minnie. I took a movie theater nap, which used to be my favorite thing back in the day when the kids and I always hit up $5 Tuesdays (which are now $6.35 Tuesdays). Also! GOOD AND PLENTYS! I forgot what a perfect candy that is.

(I did not mind stepping out to get the pizza when my buzzer went off-- NOT A LOT OF PLOT TO MISS)

After the movie, Jack and Cooper went golfing, and then Jack drove Coop to dive, and our carpool friends drove home, and I did not have to drive at all, and it was heaven.

Dorothy walked Annabel. Minnie returned to her tea party. I did laundry. When Jack got home, I walked Annabel just to listen to Pod Save America, but the episode gave me panic attack feels, so I switched to a Freida McFadden gem.

We made pizzas (fruit and veggies for a side, not toppings)

Dorothy and I walked Annabel together, and then the big kids and I watched my favorite movie from high school together, and now the kids think I am a bigger weirdo than they even imagined.

Staycay Day 1

 We are going NOWHERE for spring break this year, btw. NO TIME TO TRAVEL because PTO is more than spoken for with kiddie sportsball travel this summer. SUCH A GLAMOROUS LIFE. Soooooo, we are staying in town and enjoying a slower pace for the week.

Here's a look at Monday:

Annabel got a helluva stick of the day on our walk this morning. Yes that is snow because FML.

Dorothy and I headed to Home Goods in search of a rug for her room and returned TRIUMPHANT!

YES!

She was looking at pastel pink floral rugs online on Wayfair and the devil's trading post, but the reviews made us think we needed to find rugs in real life where we could touch them and see how thick they were. Ben, Minnie, Dorothy, and I went to At Home, Wal Mart and Target (**hangs head in shame**) on Sunday night and found NOTHING (but! Minnie picked out some stuff for her room and new-to-her big girl bed, and it matches NOTHING in her current room, so I can't wait to deal with that next week.). We went to Home Goods, then Marshalls, then World Market, then back to Home Goods, and I am really surprised by her eventual pick (that I like a lot). It is nice but not expensive, and if I need to replace it because she spills a can of orange soda on it or colors on it with sharpies, I will not be sad.

Next, Dorothy, Minnie, and I got pedicures (all) and manicures (just them-- I hate having my nails painted **shrug**) while Ben worked and Jack and Cooper played video games (which they did from the moment their eyes opened until Jack had to go to work and Coop had to go to diving practice).

Quick walk to the park

When Ben, my sunglasses twin, finished his day and came to trade with me

Now I am happily grading for my online overload class (doesn't get a spring break because it's only 8 weeks long) and writing this while Coop works.