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At the end of September, faced with a mountain of books I had not read in almost a decade, I decided to start sorting through my books and reread any of those that I was unsure of keeping. I originally created this list of ten […]
Eight years ago when we moved into our house I pared down my book collection by about 25% and put the rest into boxes. Until a few months ago those boxes largely remained untouched as we navigated life and I stopped reading all together while […]
Our November shop update is small but mighty in Oscoey Shop. We are introducing two different cotton canvas tote bags! I am super excited about them and hoping you like them too. Both bags feature our Midnight Rainbow Flowers design and can be used for […]
Our November shop update is small but mighty in Oscoey Shop. We are introducing two different cotton canvas tote bags! I am super excited about them and hoping you like them too. Both bags feature our Midnight Rainbow Flowers design and can be used for […]
At the end of September, faced with a mountain of books I had not read in almost a decade, I decided to start sorting through my books and reread any of those that I was unsure of keeping. I originally created this list of ten […]
When I created my post about rereading books kept in storage for too many years I wasn’t sure whether I would actually have time to read the books on my list. My post “Rereading Books Before I Give Them Away Part 1” was an attempt to get started with a small pile of books from the many boxes in storage since our move eight years ago. I reluctantly started “Pearl Cove” by Elizabeth Lowell and it was hard for me to get back into reading it but once I got going I remembered how much I love this book.
“Pearl Cove” is a typical action adventure romance novel set in the Pacific surrounding a murder at a pearl farm. This is the third book in the series and I have no idea where I bought it or why I haven’t read the first two books but I will definitely look at my library to see if they have the first two. I may even purchase them from a second hand store if I like them, but I am not sure yet. I am supposed to be narrowing down my collection right?
The book is set in both Australia and Seattle focusing on the pearl trade and the murder of the creator of a rumored rare black rainbow pearl that is highly coveted. I will whole heartedly admit that I knew nothing of pearls before reading these books, or that Seattle had a pearl district. I have not yet done any research into the pearl trade in Seattle but I will tell you that this book gave me more respect for the humble pearl as a piece of jewelry. There are enough facts about pearl growing in this book to keep it interesting and the plot behind the pearls fits really well with the story. It does make me wonder more about the pearl trade in general and if more modern technologies have made pearl seeding easier. A quick google search did reveal that black rainbow pearls are a real thing and that they are beautiful. The would fit in very well with our Midnight Rainbow aesthetic over at Oscoey Shop.
As far as the plot of the book goes, it fits in with a fairly standard romance novel, but I feel like I am missing quite a bit of back story by not reading the first two books. I am going to read the first two books before I comment on any of the continuity between them but from what I understand, the main characters Archer Donovan and Hannah McGarry in this book have previously met in another book. Hannah was married to Archer’s deceased half-brother which provides some conflict in their relationship. Their relationship in this book is strained and then magically better after a misunderstanding is cleared up which I feel is pretty typical of romance novels.
Overall I liked both Archer and Hannah but I felt like their characters could have had more depth. I am not sure though if that was because I didn’t read the first two books or if it was to keep the book at a shorter length. There was some macho man behavior going on with Archer but honestly this time around it didn’t bother me nearly as much as when I was reading Ecotopia. With romance novels I come to expect that sort of writing much more than with a more serious piece like Ecotopia.
I am not sure if I would recommend these books or not. I know that is kind of a cop out but I really feel like I should read the first two before passing any judgement so this review will be pretty short. I did not realize this was a romance novel when I added it to my list. My memories were more of the action/adventure parts of the book, of which there is plenty, but be fair warned this is technically a romance novel. I would definitely recommend starting with the first book in the series, “Amber Beach“, if you want a more complete read but as it is, “Pearl Cove” does stand alone as a great read!
Stay tuned for our next book review from our list, An Inconvenient Woman by Dominick Dunne.
Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell
An Inconvenient Woman by Dominick Dunne
Our October shop update is here! We barely squeaked it in before the end of the month but I am happy to report that all items are up in Oscoey Shop. As usual, I will slowly upload items to our Etsy shop throughout the week. […]
When I was in early high school I read this book called “Ecotopia” by Ernest Callenbach. It had been recommended to me by my dad during a period of time when my family was headed towards chaos. At the time the book was eye-opening for […]
Eight years ago when we moved into our house I pared down my book collection by about 25% and put the rest into boxes. Until a few months ago those boxes largely remained untouched as we navigated life and I stopped reading all together while we raised young kids and also worked. During this time I was also given a large quantity of newer books over the many holidays. Most of these books are unread as well. Do you see where I am going? I have tons of books I don’t read and nowhere to store them.
I used to read a lot, voraciously as some say, up until we had our second child when reading adult books pretty much halted. My middle child is a huge fan of reading so I was definitely reading all day long, but it was all kids books and my spare time was spent cross stitching or sleeping. Many of the books I had stashed away got me through some rough times and I have many fond memories of reading them. My Dorothy Dunnett series are tucked away in their own box and I fully intend to read the Lymond Chronicles again next year but during our giant clean out of everything in our house this year I discovered some books that we straight up gave away and others that I wanted to read one more time before making that decision so I am making this list of books with what I remember about them to get myself started. I will say that I am in the middle of A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley so I do need to finish that first but my intention is to get through this list by the end of 2023. All of these books are a quick read and I am confident that if I read a little bit every day I will be able to achieve that goal.
Here is a list of the books with links and what I can remember about them. It will be interesting to see if what I remember is accurate and whether or not I still like these books after so many years. I will post reviews of the books as I go and link them in this list.
Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell
My first book is Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell and when I went to link it I noticed it is the third book in a series so now I want to read the first two. Maybe this project wasn’t such a great idea. Ha! This book is very much a fun summer read about a lady that goes pearl diving and there is some sort of mystery if I am remembering correctly. I really liked this one so I might have to read the other two from the library when I am done.
We’ll Meet Again by Mary Higgins Clark
This book is a mystery about a lady that runs into someone from her past and there is a murder of some sort. I mainly remember there is a plot twist revolving a door bolt and the killer tries to murder the main character as well. This book was pretty good but I also don’t particularly remember it being so good I would read it multiple times but I did keep it when I was pairing down my books so maybe.
The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter de Jonge
I honestly don’t remember what this book is about, but clearly it is about a beach house. Now that I am thinking about it this may be the one with the floor bolt in the door that involves the plot twist. I am interested to see if my memories of this book flood back in after I start reading it.
An Inconvenient Woman by Dominick Dunne
Confession time. I love this book and I am not sure why it is in the give away pile but maybe it got mixed up with the I want to read it again pile? It is set in Hollywood about an affair between a wealthy man and a poor waitress and very well written, at least as I remember. Maybe it isn’t as good as I remember any more? We shall see!
Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri
I have two books by Jhumpa Lahiri on this list and Interpreter of Maladies is the first one. I don’t remember which book is first or if they are related but I do remember that they were good books. My dad gave me these when we were still swapping books and they are very him if you know what I mean. I may pass these back to my dad if he wants to read them again.
The Namesake is the second book by Jhumpa Lahiri that I have in this list and I don’t remember what it is about either. I will also see if my dad wants this book back when I am done since he is the one that gave them to me.
And now we enter the more mass-market phase I went through were I bought bestselling books instead of just getting them from the library. My goal was to build my collection. Why I thought buying mass market paperbacks was a good idea I will never know but rest assured, I now try to get books like this from the library.
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
I fully remember what this book was about but I haven’t read it in so long I would love to read this book one more time before I give it away. I would highly recommend getting this one from the library instead of buying it. This is a very good book about a young girl coming of age as a Geisha before WWII.
The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
This book took the world by storm at some point and I bought it. I remember it being a great book but I also don’t remember exactly what it is about and I am ready to pass it on once I read it one more time. I think it is another coming of age story or something like that but I don’t remember. I just remember it is a good book. I am trying really hard not to read the synopsis of these books when I link them so I don’t get any spoilers.
When the Emperor was Divine by Juliet Otsuka
Last but not least is When the Emperor was Divine by Juliet Otsuka. I don’t really remember what this book is about but I think it might be the one where the main character is in a work camp and has a relationship with another woman there but I may be mixing that up with another book.
Well, that’s my list of books I am going to read before passing them on in 2023. I will write brief reviews of each one when I am finished and link them in this list for those that are interested. I am positive I am forgetting most of what I read in these books and it will be interesting to read them and see what I remember. Maybe I won’t want to give them away? Maybe I will do this with the rest of my collection? Time will tell!
I didn’t plan it but it looks like I have 10 books to read before the end of the year. Do you think I can finish them all? Leave a comment below.
We are excited to announce a small shop update for September of 2023 with three new stickers and a mini cross stitch pattern in the works. All of these items can be found in Oscoey Shop found here. My favorite item for the new shop […]
It’s been a while since my last garden update so I thought I would write up a quick one today even though my garden is in pretty bad shape. It looks like my last garden update was in April of 2022. Every year I think […]
I thought I would make a list of books my kids are reading during summer of 2023 as a fun way of tracking where my kids are at and to share book ideas with other book loving families. Last year I posted a couple of lists for what my kids were reading before 1st and 3rd grade and now that they are a year older their tastes have changed. I do want to make a few caveats before everyone gets their pitchforks out on what level is appropriate.
So with that I will get into the list of what they are reading. We are only a few weeks into the summer and we have already read several books. The favorite so far has been “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket. This series has been a hit with our daughter and our son likes it as well. We rewarded them for finishing the first three books with watching the movie for movie night and the kids loved it! They are listening to this series in the car but we also added it to our daughter’s Kindle since she is a voracious reader. If you have not read this series yet it is about a family of orphans that undergo mysterious events when moving from relative to relative after their parents die. There is a lot of problem solving, big words which are defined in the book and hilarity that both of my kids like.
Another series my daughter loves is “The Land of Stories” by Chris Colfer. These are not my son’s style yet but our daughter is obsessed. We were given these books by someone in our Buy Nothing group and I had never heard of them. They are the traditional fairy tales reimagined and from what I understand they are pretty good. I read part of the first book and it was well written. My copy has mysteriously disappeared from behind my bed so I suspect my daughter has borrowed it back to read again.
We found this “Mayor Good Boy” series by Dave Scheidt and Miranda Harmon at the library one day and both of my kids loved it. The series is graphic novels for grades 2-5 and it is about a dog focusing on silliness. I did not read much of these but they were a fast read for both of my kids and they read them a couple of times.
Power Rangers have been the obsession in 2023 for our youngest. We have finally moved on from Ninjago into this long running series. I had no idea that there were over 20 seasons of Power Rangers and honestly until this year I had not watched any of them but now I am an expert and these Shattered Grid graphic novels are a favorite of our son. They are a little bit more challenging to read but I love the message the rangers convey of helping each other and doing good for the universe. We bought a couple of them but we also found copies at our local library.
My daughter has been ready for more challenging books so I brought out some of the books my oldest read around this age. The City of Ember series by Jeanne DuPrau was a favorite of both the oldest and I. Now our middle daughter loves them too. These definitely took her much longer to read than other books she has been reading but she loved them. I kept this series in the car for her so she had something to read on our long car rides out and about. These are about a community that lives underground after a disaster and how they figure out why they are there and what lies on the surface. It is well written and perfect for kids that like a little bit of action and a mystery to solve.
Another book we just read this week was “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” by Jeff Kinney. The kids loved it and we watched the movie for our weekly movie night which was everything I remembered. Although I do have a copy of this one somewhere in the house which I ahem, bought several years ago and have misplaced, the kids listened to this one in the car on the way home from our trip. I am going to have to find our copy and then scout out some thrift stores for the rest of the series. Usually with popular books like these there are tons of copies floating around out there and it is better to buy them used. I would just get them at the library but I can already tell my son will read them repeatedly and I like to encourage that as much as possible.
Wow. We are only a few weeks into the summer and my kids have already read a ton of books! I can’t wait to see what they pick up at the library again next week. For now this list will have to do. If we find some other good books this summer I will do another post next month to let you know what we find. For now, happy reading!!!
Book Tracker by NothingButDownloads on Etsy
As I sit here mid-way through 2023 with my first official Covid infection I thought I would take some time to look at my progress with my 2023 goals. For 2023 I wanted to focus on self-care and take time to relax every day. I […]
Whew. Another week of meal planning under our belt. We used up a lot of things this week from our pantry, fridge and freezer. We still have so many leftovers that we won’t really need to cook for the next few days but we are having sausage burgers tonight as a break. I did not have a chance to clean out another shelf from the pantry this weekend but it is ok. I ended up going to the grocery store last Sunday to do a major stockup since we were almost out of some basics and I wanted to avoid the store for the next few weeks. Omicron is weighing heavily on our minds this month and we are limiting our exposure as much as possible. That means no seeing friends, no going to the store and we are debating sending kids to school this week. Our school has done a fabulous job at preventing the spread of Covid at the school but there is always that worry in the back of your mind that maybe this time it will spread. Most of the school was tested last week and a lot of the kids were negative. Those that were positive are staying home this week so I am hoping that will keep things contained.
Last weekend I went through the pantry and pulled some items I wanted to eat through this week. Below is a list of what we had:
I wanted to take tons of pictures and videos this week of how we were using up our items but honestly I only got pictures of most of the meals. Above is what we have left from what I wanted to eat through this week and it is kind of misleading because we did eat quite a bit but there are still small amounts left in these containers. I may put them all into smaller containers today and then show what is left next weekend but my kids immediately lose interest if I move them to smaller containers and they have been snacking out of the bags all week.
What’s left:
Overall I would say we did pretty well. We should eat through the spinach bites, lentil crackers, veggie straws, peanuts and more of the dried fruit this week. The croutons were a hard sell and I can’t eat them as well as the freeze dried strawberries and raspberries. Most of us are not fans of the Banza mac and cheese so I may just donate it since it doesn’t expire until March of this year. My Buy Nothing group supports a local senior center and the Banza may end up in the donation bag this month. We have other mac and cheese that the rest of us like so I am not worried about running out any time soon.
One of my favorite ways to use things up is to make veggie soup. I made a batch last weekend and we ate about half of it throughout the week and froze the rest. The broth I used is some I made in the fall with garden scraps. When I was blanching my greens to freeze I put all of the ribs from the kale, beets and chard into a pot with some onion and carrots and made a bunch of broth to freeze. This batch had a lot of beets in it so it was super sweet. I have been pairing it with a can of tomatoes to pare down the sweetness and this batch of soup was delicious! I will probably pull out some of the soup in the freezer for meals not this week but next week. I like to eat my freezer meals within a couple of months of freezing so we are constantly rotating and to reduce the possibility of finding it in the freezer years later.
We ate the soup for dinner and a few lunches with crackers and a little bit of sour cream. I only used one can of the corn in the soup but it was still a little bit sweet from the beets.
Using up our other can of corn for lunch. We are without a microwave and my son does not like corn so I put his peas in a ramekin to steam along with the corn and it worked really well! Don’t do this unless your ramekin is oven safe though. Plastic would not be a good choice.
Our kids were home last week so a lot of what we ate for lunch was cooked and not their usual sandwiches for lunch. We ate the Banza mac and cheese for lunch with the corn and I added some of the cooked chicken breast as well. The adults in our house usually don’t eat a lot of meat so this week was a bit much for me with all of the ham and the chicken breast. I had to cut way back on my meat consumption as the week went on. I wanted to point out that I cooked one standard chicken breast and it lasted for several meals for just me. Nobody else wanted to eat it. We don’t eat a lot of chicken breast at our house so my kids weren’t really into it and my husband is more vegetarian than me so he left it for me to eat. I will say however that it was really nice to have a little bit of protein readily available to throw on my meals when I needed it. I may cook one a week more regularly since I struggle to get my protein in.
Another meal we ate a lot of was oatmeal. I discovered I could cook a large pot and reheat the rest when I needed to on the stove in just a few minutes. This was super handy since I was missing my microwaved bowl in the mornings. I bought a 25lb bag of gluten-free oats from Bob’s Red Mill a couple of months ago and we have been working through it. I really want to make one of the oatmeal bakes we love but it takes a dozen eggs and I am not sure that the ones we bought at Costco last weekend will last the month if I use that many all at once. For reference, we go through one to two dozen a week since eggs are a huge source of protein for us. It is slightly silly of me though, because there is nothing stopping us from getting another five dozen from Costco when we are close to running out but I want to avoid the store as long as possible.
One meal that lasted for several days was the ham we baked on New Year’s Eve. We ate about half of it last week and will try to finish the rest this week. I did put the bone in the freezer to make broth at some point in time but I am not ready yet and I want to eat through some of what we have before I make more. We ate it with mashed potatoes and green beans or some other vegetable. It was delicious!
One meal we ate this week that has become a staple in our house is feta and tomato pasta. You basically put a bunch of tomatoes, garlic, some feta and olive oil in the oven and then stir it in with cooked pasta. It is super easy to make gluten-free and most of us love to eat it! The pasta lasts a couple of days in the fridge so it is perfect for lunches.
We pared our pasta with green beans and some steamed Kielbasa. Our selective eater will not eat pasta so they were given the Kielbasa, rice and seaweed so they could eat their “sushi” along with us. I always snag a little bit of seaweed when the kids eat it since it is so healthy and a great source of Iodine.
Wow. We ate a lot of pasta last week now that I am looking back. This week I will try to make more roasted vegetables and see what else I can come up with since one of our kids doesn’t like pasta. This broccoli cheese bake my husband made was delicious! We ate it for dinner last night and I already have it on the meal planner for tomorrow night. We are skipping a night with it tonight to avoid burnout. I am a huge fan of casseroles and I am loving that we are eating them more often.
I gathered some of the items we want to use up this week. Yesterday instead of going through another pantry shelf I went through under our bathroom sink and oh man did I throw a lot out. We had tons of stuff that expired two years ago and opened items we weren’t using up that were just old. I don’t think I have really gone through that cabinet in at least three years. I did find this dish soap that I bought for bubbles when my youngest was about two that is still good. I filled our soap dispenser by the sink with it and we will use it up as we go. I also discovered one of the pears we bought last week went bad so I am going to try and make fruit leather this afternoon. I make it with pears and whatever berries I have in the fridge and my kids love it. It is super easy to make too!
Items to use up this week:
We started to write out this week’s meal plan as a family at dinner last night. I will probably add more in on Tuesday when I know where we are at with leftovers. The kids don’t like to commit to lunches and breakfast until usually the night before so I usually fill those in as we go. Since the adults are all working from home we usually try to eat leftovers for lunch or something fast like soup. Muffins have been requested and if I have time today I will make some of those as well. A batch usually lasts a day or two and I know you can make a bunch and freeze them but I just don’t know if gluten-free flour will hold up in the freezer as well as regular. I am almost out of my one to one Bob’s Red Mill flour and I probably only have enough for one batch of muffins right now. I did order more and hopefully it will come in the next week or two but who knows with all of the road closures around us. We do have ingredients to make our own gluten-free flour mixture so I am not super worried about running out but I like to have the pre-mixed kind on hand since it is easy.
How are you reducing your food waste? Does meal planning work for you?
Links:
Our October shop update is here! We barely squeaked it in before the end of the month but I am happy to report that all items are up in Oscoey Shop. As usual, I will slowly upload items to our Etsy shop throughout the week. […]
In honor of my 6 year Blogiversary coming up at the end of March I thought I would share a little bit about what is going on in the Oscoey world. First, the most exciting thing, is we are opening up a retail store called […]
This site participates in affiliate links and receives a small fee for affiliate recommendations at no cost to you. As always we only recommend products we have tried ourselves. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed […]
A few weeks ago I found the Uber Frugal Month Challenge over at the Frugalwoods and I was immediately hooked. What a great way to start out 2018! I signed my husband and I up and we have spent the last week reading through the daily […]
Have you seen these cool candy toys made in Japan? They have all kids of fun food items to make! This site participates in affiliate links and receives a small fee for affiliate recommendations at no cost to you. As always we only recommend […]
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