Happy sunny and warm (by winter standards in Nebraska) Sunday and happy first day of February, the calendar page of which gives this girl happiness! 

As you can see, I have yet to figure out why Google won't allow me to upload photos to Blogger. I've spent far too much "spare" time trying to figure out why that is and not nearly enough time (as in none) writing reviews. I'm pretty excited to report that I finished eight books in January, even though I'm certain that my doomscrolling and tv watching didn't suffer because of it. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty. I don't have another book available so I'll either have to dig for one that's available or listen to some podcasts this week. Leaning toward the latter. 

Watched: All of The Last Thing He Told Me, based on the book by Laura Dave and starring Jennifer Garner. It's been a while since I read the book and I can't remember all of the details, but it felt like it stuck pretty closely to the book. 

Read: The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman, as recommended to me by my dad. 

Made: I made pork chops, new potatoes, and roasted asparagus for the Big Guy's birthday then macaroni and cheese with bbq beef; he made a chuck roast, which I'm sorry to say he cooked to 190 degrees internal, which, if you don't already know, is far to high a temperature. Generally, he's a pretty good cook, but this was a miss. 

Enjoyed: Tuesday we went to see the movie adaptation of Maggie O'Farrell's Hamnet with friends. Beautifully shot with terrific acting but much too slow. Friday we did happy hour with friends, and by happy hour, I mean we were there for three hours - that should tell you something about how much we had to talk about! 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: I got new photo boxes last week and I've started moving photos into them. Of course, it can't just be as simple as moving the photos from the existing boxes into the new ones. I'm once again beating myself up for not having done a better job of at least dating the back of pictures. The goal is to FINALLY get everything into the correct year in the new books. 

Thinking About: What to read for Black History Month. I think it will probably be Caste by Isabel Wilkerson or The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace by Jeff Hobbs. 

Feeling: The sun is shining and the temperature is warmer so I'm feeling better. Seasonal affective disorder doesn't get me as badly as it did my dad, but it can really drag me down. 

Looking forward to: I think my calendar is empty for the week, although I can't find my physical calendar at the moment so I'm not sure. 

Question of the week: Were you impacted by the storms that swept across the eastern half of the country this past week? If so, how are you doing now? 

Life: It Goes On - January 25

 I'm hoping that this Sunday evening finds you less frustrated and in a better headspace that I'm finding myself. The cold isn't helping, the events of this weekend have me devastated, and my continuing battles with blogger have me so frustrated, I just want to ditch blogging altogether. I'd put together an entire post, but it hadn't saved beyond the first sentence. I still can't get Blogger to upload pictures (thanks Google), despite me spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to resolve the problem. I always brag that the skill that I would bring to the table in a crisis is an ability to problem solve. I'm beginning to think I've lost that skill - guess I'll be the first person tossed off the island if we're ever stranded on one! 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I'm about half way through Nita Prose's latest, The Maid's Secret. Next up is Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty, which I've been wanting to read for a long time. 

Watched: One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn. Some really terrific performances, but very dark. 

Read: Not much. I think I'm going to have to give up on the book I've been trying to read this week. It's clearly not the book for me right now. 

Made: Hmmm, what did I make? We definitely ate and I know I was the one doing the cooking, but I can't remember what I made at all. 

Enjoyed: Time with the Big Guy's sister and her family yesterday, including their 3 year old great-grandson who is, of course, adorable, as most 3 year olds are. I'd show you a pic of him and BG playing; but, of course, I can't. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: BG's bday is this week and his present is going to require some work in the basement, which gives me a good push to get down there and clear some things out and reorganize things. More of that will get done when we get to 40 Bags in 40 Days, but for now, this will be a good start. 

Thinking About: Minneapolis. 

Feeling: It's hard to put into words. 

Looking forward to: Going to see Hamnet with friends on Tuesday. 

Question of the week: Last Tuesday I missed book club thanks to a migraine. Hit me with your best tips for working your one through one. 

Wreck by Catherine Newman

Read by Helen Laser

5 hours, 26 minutes

Published October 2025 by HarperCollins

Publisher’s Summary: 

If you loved Rocky and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, wait until you join them at home two years later. (And if this is your first meeting with this crew, get ready to laugh and cry—and relate.)
Rocky, still anxious, nostalgic, and funny, is living in Western Massachusetts with her husband Nick and their daughter Willa, who's back home after college. Their son, Jamie, has taken a new job in New York, and Mort, Rocky’s widowed father, has moved in.

It all couldn’t be more ridiculously normal . . . until Rocky finds herself obsessed with a local accident that only tangentially affects them—and with a medical condition that, she hopes, won’t affect them at all.
With her signature wit and wisdom, Catherine Newman explores the hidden rules of family, the heavy weight of uncertainty, and the gnarly fact that people—no matter how much you love them—are not always exactly who you want them to be.

My Thoughts:

Apologies for no picture of the book. Blogger is not playing nice since I uploaded the most recent software update. I thought I had it figured out on Sunday, at least a work around; apparently not. 

“It’s like spending hours with the friend who sees your mess and loves you more for it.” - Alison Espach, Wedding People

Newman's Sandwich was one of my favorite books of 2024 so I was thrilled to see that she had written a follow up. While Wreck didn't quite measure up to Sandwich for me, it's still a wonderful read. Rocky is very much the same woman I so related to in that first book. This time it was all about living with anxiety - the constant worrying about everyone you care about, the constant concern about everything else happening in the world, and the constant thought that every medical symptom you have is definitely something more serious. 

Smart, quirky, sad – Newman knows what it’s like to live life with anxiety and how easy it is to lose yourself in it. This time, Rocky's anxiety is justified. 

The accident raises the question of how to separate a person you love from the work that their company (and, by extension, your loved one) does. And the weird rash that Rocky begins experiencing turns into one of the situations where medical experts remain baffled as more and more symptoms begin piling up. 

Add to that worry about Willa's crippling anxiety and Rocky's 92-year-old father's decision to move out of the guest room behind their house and back into his own home alone. I could just feel the weight of it all and how hard it would be to carry all of it. 

I highly recommend this one. But first, read Sandwich. And maybe talk your book club into reading both of them. 

Life: It Goes On - January 18

Happy Sunday! It's grey and windy outside today, but it is above freezing and looking at the weather inWisconsin  reminds me that this is pretty darn good weather for January. 

Very frustrated today with trying to work on this post. For some reason Google wasn't allowing me to access or upload photos from my computer. I think what I've found is merely a work around, but I'll take it for now because I'm so frustrated. I absolutely hate when computer issues burn up hours of a day - anything I could have found to do instead would have felt more productive. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Diane Keaton's Brother and Sister and Maggie O'Farrell's I Am, I Am, I Am - both so good. Next up, Nita Prose's The Maid's Secret. 

Watched: NFL football, college basketball (our Huskers are now 18-0, which is unprecedented in school history and very exciting!) and several more episodes of The Morning Show. 

Read: I finished Anna Quindlen's More Than Enough and I'm more than half way through Tayari Jones' Kin. 

Made: A ground turkey and rice Mexican dish, pasta with homemade beef/sausage marina sauce and I used the rest of that sauce with ricotta stuffed jumbo shells. 

Enjoyed: A brief visit with my brother, who stopped by on Tuesday to spend the night, and dinner and dessert with friends last night. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: I've finally gotten my bullet journal for 2026 ready and my last pages were to set up for Go-Simplified's decluttering plan for the year and 40 Bags in 40 Days, which starts February 18th. So I'm geared up to start this year's decluttering work. I fell behind last year, when my depression got bad, so there's more to do this year. Winter is a great time to get going since I have no interest in being outside of the house. 

Thinking About: Finalizing my dad's estate in the next couple of weeks. I'll be glad to have it done, but it will also be a hard reminder that my dad is gone. 

Feeling: Lazy, to be honest. I was feeling productive until I got stymied by this computer issue. And now I don't feel like doing much of anything. 

Looking forward to: Book club this week. 

Question of the week: How are we all doing making it through winter this year? 

Life: It Goes On - January 11

Happy Sunday! Boy did the last week get away from me, blogging wise. I had everyintention of sitting down to create posts and even have a couple of books to review already. I'd like to tell you it was because we were extremely busy. But we weren't. Just struggled trying to find the motivation to do anything and still was taking down Christmas. There was a part of me that just wanted to toss half of it into boxes to haul off to charity. It's finally back where it belongs for 11 months of the year and the house is finally back in order and I'm feeling better now that things are back to normal. 

Last Week I: 

Listened To: I finished Lara Prescott's The Secrets We Kept and Catherine Newman's Wreck and am almost done with Diane Keaton's Brother and Sister. 

Watched: Loads of sports - college and professional football, college basketball - men's and women's, and pro volleyball. We also finished season five of Only Murders In The Building (can't wait for season six to be released), started watching Chad Powers (which the Big Guy is enjoying but I could live without), and I watched the first three episodes of The Morning Show with Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon (I'm late to the party with this one but am really enjoying it so far). 

Read: Anna Quindlen's latest, More Than Enough. I have several books on Netgalley I want to get to and also have picked up three books from the library - let's hope this reading mojo I seem to have picked up again lasts. 

Made: Steak and baked potatoes, Philly steak sandwiches, steak salads, chicken nachos, lima beans and chicken. In other words, we thawed meat and then used it throughout the week. Today I'm making Rice Krispie treats because in cleaning out the pantry last week, I discovered that I have a bag of marshmallows that has become one sticky mess. Those will go into work - we are trying to de-junk food this place! 

Enjoyed: We had met a couple many years ago, through my sister, and always thought we should get together. Friday we finally did that and spent a couple of hours talking and forgetting to eat, discovering we have even more in common that we thought we did, including both knowing a couple that we were friends with years ago but drifted apart from (they spent a lot of that time living overseas). We are so hoping that we can make contact with that third couple and the six of us can get together. 

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This Week I’m:  

Planning: It's time to tackle a lot of paperwork that has been piling up. 

Thinking About: How I'd be happy if winter just went on being snow free. We had quite a lot of rain the other day and I'm just fine if that's the way all of the moisture we need comes to us over the rest of the winter. 

Feeling: I'm cleaning off my dad's phone so I can pass it on and it's really stirring up the feelings. Who would have thought looking at someone's Amazon account would bring tears. 

Looking forward to: My brother is coming to Nebraska this week for a quick trip and we'll get to see him when he spends the night here one night. 

Question of the week: I've been working on setting up my 2026 journal/calendar. I still live almost entirely on paper when it comes to those kinds of things and I love it. Are you a digital calendar/to-do list person or do you still use paper?