2025 Favorites

Book: Remarkably Bright Creatures. I was years late on this but man, it was a good book. Start your year off strong if you haven't read it yet. 

Clothing item: I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm happiest with these joggers-that-aren't-joggers from American Eagle. These wide-leg jeans are amazing too. I've really pared down my clothing purchases in 2025 and I've found I'm happiest with what I've gotten from AE and Aerie. 

Bag: I actually bought two Longchamps this year, but I also sold two (so leave me be). I got a Paper medium in March (I am in love with the color) and I got a dark green large one in September (not on the site anymore!) and it's great for winter because I can fit hats, gloves, whatever in it and it fits over a coat. 

Honorable mention: My mom got me this Beis bag for Christmas that complies with stadium guidelines and it works so much better than the ones from Amazon. The quality is great and the cross-body trap detaches. 

Product: e.l.f Holy Hydration is such a great moisturizer. Cannot recommend it enough. 

Shoes: I didn't buy these this year, but my black Ugg boots with a slight wedge from 2017 are my most-worn boots this month. I did buy these Adidas this fall and they've been my most-worn shoes since October. Black sneakers go with everything. 

Splurge: We bought these walkie-talkies over the summer and they have saved us so much time and effort. Wells takes one when he plays outside. We also use them when traveling. A must-have for outdoorsmen who are out of cell range. 

Easy meal: I would do a sheet pan dinner every day if I could but I love this chicken pasta salad. Perfect for guests too. 

Life hack: If you find any, let me know.

For real though, I think the only life hack to being an adult and a parent is to meal-plan and grocery shop accordingly. That's literally it. 

Okay, actually, this is the year I migrated back to drugstore skincare and I'm so satisfied with the results. Drugstore products have the same ingredients as the high-end lotions and potions if you know what you're looking for!

Tool: I do use my Nespresso machine a lot. Those walk-talkies ^ are very important in our household. The dogs' electronic collars are also indispensable for us. We have a couple different types, but this is the brand I use every day for our runs. Lastly, I use the Air Fryer most days for something or other, especially in the warmer months.  

TV Show: We watched a LOT of good TV this year. What comes to mind is the Dexter: New Blood seasons 1-2 we caught up on over the summer. The Mayor of Kingstown is my current favorite. I'll never tire of Mike McClusky. I had to look back to see what we've watched...The Terminal List: Dark Wolf, Reacher, 1923, Landman (season 2 is iffy)...I feel like I also watched a lot of Love is Blind but that's trash tv that just fills the time. 

Podcast: The Prosecutors remains a favorite since 2022. My usual political podcasts are hit or miss depending what's going on in the world. Right now I'm listening to Timcast IRL for the common-sense takes. But I think everyone can enjoy The Prosecutors as long as they're not doing 5 months of The West Memphis 3 because I couldn't handle that. 

Movie: The Equalizer series and John Wick. Do it. 

Idea: You can have everything but you can't have it all at once. For everything, there's a season. 

Exercise: I don't know why people pay for at-home exercise programs. There is so much free content on Youtube. I still use Pregnancy and Postpartum TV on Youtube and they are challenging, no matter your level of fitness or season of life. 

Experience: Being able to try my hand at the homeschooling lifestyle has been rewarding, even if we likely won't do it year after year forever. Being able to take advantage of the sites in the Kansas City area has been really refreshing after 4 years in a small town. 

Homeschool Wrap-Up for Q2

 I told you Quarter 2 goes fast! Here is my recap of Quarter 1, if you missed it. 

a random day in November

Math

After I cross-referenced and double-checked and aligned and re-aligned three different math curriculums plus supplemental materials for 2nd grade, I have determined that he is done with 2nd grade math. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything. It's been a few years since I taught math. He's done *mostly* 2nd grade Go Math for this 2nd quarter. We also went into multiplication so I'm incorporating some of that practice every day. 

What I've used: The Good and the Beautiful, Envisions, Go Math, and a variety of workbooks/pages I've sourced elsewhere. 

TGATB isn't rigorous but I don't *not* recommend it. It's just not for him, specifically, since he had a couple of years of math instruction already. 

Same with Envisions: I don't dislike it at all but he would probably need the 3rd grade book and I don't feel like buying it when I have other resources. I did enjoy teaching Envisions in the classroom. 

I've heard a lot about Beast Academy and I've heard great things about Mammoth Math, as well. So I have researched those a bit. 

ELA

Someone told me that you end up cobbling together ELA no matter what you use, so I've definitely cobbled it together. 

For starters, we finished The Good and the Beautiful print book for Level 2 and I ordered the Handwriting Without Tears for 2nd grade (Cursive Kick-off). We're in the middle of that right now. I love it. He does too, and he loves cursive. That book is my #1 recommendation if you want to introduce cursive!

He's still working through the Zaner-Bloser 2nd grade spelling book. I like this a lot. We've finished 11 units in half the year. Each unit is 7 days, I believe. Honestly, I don't think it matters what you use for spelling as long as you have some sort of spelling book. There are review weeks built in every 5 or 6 weeks so I like that feature of this book. 

I have The Good and The Beautiful Level 2 Language Arts book. I have a love/hate relationship with this book. While I really like it, it's a little fluffy. My favorite lessons are the ones that center on geography and art. My least favorite are the grammar lessons because they seem to be taught in a vacuum without context. And the writing lessons aren't for me: it asks the child to narrate a story while the parent types. No. Absolutely not. I printed out a quick narrative organizer and he wrote it himself, thanks. I do like how diverse the lessons are and the variety it includes. We just run out of time a lot. 

Instead of the direct instruction ELA lessons, then, I've been making him read short novels and answer questions. Now, I did this to myself but it's turned into an enormous amount of work on my part. I think it's the most beneficial to him, though. My friend asked me the other day if I use ChatGPT to do the questions and I was like NO but honestly it never occurred to me to use ChatGPT. 

My tirade on middle-grade reading: Kids don't read books in school anymore because they're not asked to read books. I've discovered that some basic questions to reinforce comprehension go a long way. Bonus points if they have to cite page numbers. We've made it too complicated, asking them what they think or to synthesize information. They need to be able to do those things but we forget to teach them basic recall (independent recall, not oral/verbal recall). I also don't like novel studies with fluff. I downloaded one and honestly consider it a waste of money. The book was great but he didn't need all the extras; he needed comprehension practice. We spend all this time teaching kids to read and then don't ask them to do anything with it independently until like 5th grade.

Anyway.

He read My Father's Dragon, Thanksgiving on Thursday, and Christmas in Camelot this quarter. I don't think Magic Treehouse is the pinnacle of children's literature but it's a great place to start for chapter books. I think we're going to do The Whipping Boy after Christmas because I remember reading it in 2nd grade. 

I am using DIBELS each month to track progress, just for "fun" on my side. No one actually has to do this..I just like DIBELS. 

I have more grammar/short story ELA plans/content for 3rd quarter...stay tuned! I actually love teaching grammar and I've been working on a more systematic way to incorporate it. 

Science/Social Studies

While, in a perfect world, I would be planning for these subjects, it's not practical for a 7 year old. In the primary grades, S/SS is incorporated into ELA most of the time. I appreciate the geography in TGATB for this reason. I was thinking of doing a geography course in the 2nd semester but we'll see. He gets a lot of this from just living life and not being in a school all day. My heavy recommendation is that, if you're going to do anything, focus on geography. Most 3rd/4th graders have no frame of reference because it's never been explicitly taught. It's a lot easier to teach a 7 year old about maps and globes than it is to teach a 9 year old about maps and globes. 

Co-op

We finished out co-op days for the semester in the middle of November. It does not start up again until mid-February. I did volunteer to teach a class, mostly so Wells is guaranteed a topic I want him to know about :) When it comes to the three of us, I would say Sutton gets the most out of the co-op. She absolutely loves it.

Sutton

At 3 years old, I haven't really asked her to do anything in the first semester. We've read a lot of books; a few new ones from a "living book" list each week. I'm really going to focus in on letters this spring but I'm considering this Math at Home book for her. I've tried the units or themes and she's not into it as much but she thrives in a group setting so...she'll have the co-op on Fridays and we'll think about what's best for next year. Her classes for co-op will be a math class and a music class. 

Extras

From what I've witnessed here, homeschool kids actually have more time for activities. While we don't jam-pack our weeks by any means, Sutton has dance class once a week and Wells was offered sports and he wasn't interested. He just wants to play outside. Instead, a friend invited him to Awana and I started taking him to that one night a week. He loves it! The teachers said oh my gosh, he's caught on so quick and I'm like yeah...he thrives in a classroom setting because I don't know what else to say. I am hoping he can catch up in the Awana book maybe over Christmas because he started the program in November instead of September. 

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This was the quarter that the schedule dissolved. I didn't even try a lot of days. As long as he accomplished what I put in front of him, I was happy. And we do homeschool 5 days a week if there's not co-op. It literally will take this kid 6 hours to do 2 hours worth of work because he will fill the time he is given, much like his parents. 

We read a lot of Thanksgiving books and Christmas books and Sutton completely dropped her nap, which has really thrown my desired schedule into a tailspin. We still spend an hour walking the dogs each day and snacks are needed, apparently, every 23 minutes. The days actually go really fast, and the progress doesn't always feel like it's happening, but I know it is. 

Questions and suggestions welcomed!

Just Memes

I actually think these are super duper gross. I noticed they had them out in Walmart for sale around Halloween time which means, at minimum, they sit packaged for 2 full months on a store shelf before you consume them. 

How I feel talking about army life. Every year is a surprise. 

I remember seeing this in the theater. 

My least favorite social media posts are the influencers posting gift guides with $100 gifts for everyone on your list and then asking "what can I help you shop for next?!", so they can post most $100+ links for items they have never bought themselves. 

Me, trying to explain my relationships to my husband.

All I feel in that June picture is humidity and bugs. So no. I'll take December. 

I cannot stop laughing at this ^^ 

I don't understand people who drink Dr. Pepper. 

Same with Taylor Swift and her never-ending tour. 

I remember I promised a really gross story about peanut oil.

Last Thanksgiving, Scott deep-fried a turkey. It was great. Definitely the preferred method if you're forcing yourself to eat turkey once or twice a year. 

He left the oil in the deep-fryer, covered it up/sealed it, and kept it in the garage, which is attached to the house. At some point, the fryer got kicked or pushed around and came unsealed and he hadn't gotten around to disposing of it. Fast forward to February-ish...someone (Scott) didn't shut the garage door leading to the house the entire way before going to work. 

I came home from work and found a huge pile of dog throw-up in our bathroom/bedroom. I was super confused because there were chicken bones in it. Mav was crated at that time, so I knew it was Scout. 

We figured out that the door to the garage had been open enough for him to sneak in while I was at work and he worked his way into a trash bag that had some wing bones in it. But it did not account for the amount of grease in the throw-up. We were seriously confused for a week and I spent every single day cleaning that carpet. I don't even remember how I eventually got it clean, but it took weeks. 

Anyway, Scout the dog had busted into the old peanut oil and drank it. That was what the evidence showed. 

So. Now I can't see peanut oil or deep-fried turkeys without thinking of this. 

We baked our turkey this year. 

 I took this picture of the peanut oil in Walmart last month to send to Scott to remind him. 

Friday Recommendations, 12/12

 1. We made this cocktail last week. Whiskey sours/amaretto sours/midori sours...always favorites of mine! This is like a holiday version and once you buy the ingredients, I've learned, you can just make it all season long. 

2. Columbia coat. I asked on Instagram last week if anyone had a coat recommendation. We're going back to the east coast for a few weeks and I always forget how cold it is there and we'll be spending some time outdoors. I wanted to find a truly warm coat because my Eddie Bauer down coat isn't as warm as it used to be...you see, my shoulders and ribs expanded with pregnancy and did not go back to where they started, so I can't layer under this coat the way I used to :/ The tricky part is I had gift cards for Bass Pro so I wanted to get something there...we've had these gift cards for awhile. I didn't want to order online because you never know what you're getting until you really try it on. I had seen some I liked through Land's End and REI but I really didn't want to play mail tag, sending back and forth. 

This is what I got at 40% off (in store) because they keep a low stock there. I got black because that was the one they had. I really like the camel color, though, too. It's very heavy and has that reflective insulation. We'll see!

3. Christmas books. I'm noticing such a difference now that I'm paying attention to children's books/picture books (let's call them "living books"). These all have narratives and lessons that stay with you and are perfect for December. 

The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree // The Legend of Old Befana // 'Twas the Evening of Christmas // The Legend of St. Nicholas

4. Oxyclean bathroom cleaner. I saw a reel of a mom using this to find hidden grime in her kids' bathroom. While I can get on board with the non-toxic trend to an extent, I was completely out of bathroom cleaner last week. I grabbed this at Walmart and I love it. I can, like, feel the chemicals working and sometimes that's just the kind of mood you're in, you know? I always have a bottle of Oxyclean spray in the laundry room for stains anyway. 

ICYMI:

Books I read in November and December

Memes and Meal Plan (for last week...I can only report on what happened, not my future intentions)

Linking up with Friday Favorites!

October and November Books

I think I gave up on the year about a month ago for all intents and purposes. Especially concerning reading. Here's my last book post from September. Honest to goodness, I feel like I could finish the year strong if some of my library holds would come in!

October and November were not stellar reading months. I DNF'd probably a dozen books. I had pictures but I don't know where they are so here's what I did finish:

The Wife Upstairs  It had some serious Verity vibes (it was written after Verity) but was very twisty in its own way. It looked like I had downloaded it on Kindle Unlimited years ago and never read it? I paid $3 for it this time since my subscription isn't active. Anyway, it was fine. Not her best but it passed the time. 

Intensity. A few months ago, I came across a reel on Instagram with a guy recommending several "older" thrillers he's read and he praised the quality of them compared to what's out there today (*cough* The Intruder). His hook was hey, I bet there's not even a wait for them at the library! Joke was on me: I waited months for this ebook. 

Anyway, I tried 3 of the books on the list and this is the only one I finished and actually enjoyed. It was a crazy story and I wrote about it in a recommendations post a few weeks ago. I will say, it's exactly like watching a movie: once you start reading it, you can't actually put it down. It's almost like it wouldn't make sense to stop halfway. 

The Intruder. Meh. Not her best. It took me a month to finish this because I didn't care? Yes, there's twists and there's a formula but I didn't find any of the characters super sympathetic? 

I was reminded that The Housemaid is coming out as a movie this month and I'm super excited about that. 

Ask Not: The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed. This is a fascinating book. I cannot recommend it enough. I like Maureen Callahan a lot and she is a TRUE investigative journalist (*cough* Candace Owens). She wrote American Predator, one of the best true crime books I've come across. And the way MC goes at the Kennedy family in this book...it's impeccably researched and all the untold stories that the modern romanticizer of that era just doesn't know. So, so good. A perfect book to read over a winter break! 

Here's where I stand:

And here's a funny reading adjacent story: I loosely follow this influencer-type person on Instagram and she's all about saving money. Same, right? So she posted "did you know you can download ebooks from your library straight to your kindle from Amazon and then you don't have to buy them?!"....

I thought it was a joke. But no. That was brand new information to her. 

Some of us have been doing that since, in my case, 2015. 

It just drives home the point of don't believe everything you see on the internet and social media is just the highlight reel. 

It would follow that everyone trying to sell you advice isn't as smart as you think they are. Next thing we know, some influencer will be telling us about "this thing called Netgalley". 

Memes and Menu Plan

Here's what my menu plan from last week looked like.  

Here is the recipe for Greek Chicken Bowls. I marinated boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the Primal Kitchen marinade and then we grilled them, instead of using a crockpot. And I made a pan of couscous, cooked in bone broth because I always need a carb/grain. I have made this recipe before and 3 of 4 will eat it happily. 

I wanted to try this sausage tortellini bake but I loathe tortellini. I cannot stand it. It's a texture thing I think. So I substituted gnocchi. It was okay. I think I would like an Italian chicken sausage better? And maybe more veggies than just the broccoli? 

And then I wanted to make this orzo soup because I've made it in the past and I have a ton of orzo for some reason right now stashed in the cupboard. But I already did sausage, so I use boneless skinless chicken thighs to make chicken orzo soup. It was really good, so I'll have to make it again and document. It's hard to take pictures of dinner this time of year. 

And then, I made a batch of my sugar cookies to practice some decorating. These are a great cookie because they are firm and don't break. The nutmeg adds a festive flavor too. I've been making them since 2010, and have never felt the need to try another recipe. 

This is how I feel about 2026, for real. 

I come from one of those families where shopping is an activity, especially this time of year. I can hear, smell, and feel this scene. 

Like, I see the tutorials. I just can't make it happen. 

I would take a 2015! 

Wells asked the other day when Stranger Things came out (yeah, he watched it with us, and I'll take comment cards with judgement later) and I was like "2016. We lived in Colorado. Dad was at war (Wells doesn't understand the word deployment so he always calls it war). I was watching ST." Man, what a different time. 

See: "Man what a different time" above.