Friday Things. 1/9

 +I'm rebranding Friday Recommendations into Friday Things. I had Stuff and Things on Thursday for years. At some point I couldn't do both Thursday and Friday. And Friday Favorites isn't really my thing, mostly because half of those who ever write the abbreviation for favorite spell it "fav" with the short /a/ and I struggle to get past that. But also because I'm a glass half-empty kinda person and picking out favorites from the week when I'm completely worn down by Friday isn't my thing. I could do it on a Tuesday, I bet. So anyway, just Things for Fridays now. Some favorites, some not, some whatever. 

+I remain unimpressed by the Stranger Things finale, mostly because some of the fan theories were so good that the actual thing was a letdown. Either way, we enjoyed watching it through the years.

+Maverick found the empty dog food bag in the basement yesterday about 3am, got stuck, and Scott sent me this picture. Said he was banging into walls trying to get out. This is after he ate a bag of cough drops the other day. He has been on a tear lately, and seems to have a death wish.

+I made it back from Pennsylvania with these two items from my parents' house because they don't use them. This heavy metal weapon ice cream scoop is at least 40 years old. I have broken two or three ice cream scoops in the last year. We had the same one for 13ish years and it finally gave out and, apparently, they don't make them as well as they used to. I considered buying a heated one but they're like $40, so that was a no. 

And this wooden cutting board was my aunt's and is probably 50 years old. I don't have a wooden board right now so maybe this is just what I need for all that sourdough I don't see myself being successful with this winter. 

+I read that dark showers are supposed to calm. your nervous system. We put in this exhaust fan with different colored lights and connects to bluetooth to play music or whatever too. The kids love that in the bathtub but a dark shower with just this blue light on is really relaxing. 

My parents' bathroom (the one I grew up with) has a window right over the tub and the difference between showering in the dark and showering in bright natural light is really obvious once you compare! 

Scott thinks bathrooms should not have windows. 

Do your bathrooms have windows? It's probably been 50/50 on all the houses we've lived in. 

(don't mind the mess)

+I am constantly going back and forth on my feelings concerning homeschooling and I wrote this the other day on substack. I tend to put more substantive topics over there. What I realized later that I completely forgot to include: a lot of moms I've talked to think of homeschooling as an option only *if* they can find a "co-op" that meets "2-3 days a week". .....that's not homeschooling. That's hybrid schooling. That's part-time schooling. And you pay thousands of dollars for it every year. They will admit that it "still costs $3,000 a year" to "join a co-op" so why bother?

 

...because that's not homeschooling. Our co-op was $50 for the year. It's literally just an extracurricular day most weeks. It has nothing to do with their actual schooling. 

This is what I mean when I say that moms just don't *want* to homeschool. It's fine not to want to, but let's be honest about it. 

+

Speaking of substack! I wrote this too, quite awhile ago!  I stand by it. I can't imagine how exhausting it must be to never post a picture of your child. 

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Linking up with Friday Favorites!

Christmas recap 2025

We spent the weeks around Christmas traveling. Kansas City area to Missouri to Pennsylvania to New York, back to Missouri, back to Kansas. It's hard to post a ton of photos because I don't like to post other people's kids, but let's see what's on my camera roll that's worth sharing. 

Things started out okay when it came to traveling from Kansas to Pennsylvania by myself with two kids, but then I got the call somewhere in Ohio that a tree had fallen on our property in Wyoming and that set the tone for the rest of the trip. 

I felt a lot like Mike McCluskey fielding calls and receiving and delivering bad news while he drives, because I had to keep going back and forth with the management company and with Scott. 

Honestly, we would've left the tree there had it not fallen on the tenant's truck...

Then I parked my gas vehicle in a charging spot at Sheetz because there were no other spots available. I reinforced how electric car owners waste their time when they sit charging their vehicles. Wells is well-versed in this rhetoric by now. 

Scott and I went out to lunch one day. Felt very midwestern, asking for a side of ranch with my fries. 

The Michael Scott plasma screen TV situation happening in my bedroom in PA. This TV wasn't there when I was living there but it's for-real hard to see. 

We've spent the last few weeks watching all the football and all the Stranger Things. 

Honestly, it was just really cold or windy or snowy or icy for our entire trip. I think we had one calm day? Maybe. Scott was working outside on some projects the entire time and winter in PA isn't great for that. 

Santa came to Pennsylvania via nanny and pap. We don't buy big gifts for Christmas because we are legitimately sick of moving things around...I learned my lesson with the Paw Patrol tower in 2022. 

We did some other gifts for the kids when we got back to Kansas.

After Christmas, Scott and I took off for Buffalo, New York, which is another great winter destination! He bought tickets to the Bills game back in September. 

We knew it was going to rain. We knew the weather was going to be miserable. Scott said, "This will be as fun as we make it" and I said "I'm notorious for making things more fun", which he thought was really funny.

Again with the side of ranch. 

We stayed at an air b and b on Lake Ontario. Literally, half a block from the lake so when those Lakeshore Flood Warnings came rolling in, we knew they'd be closing roads down, which means we ended up leaving a day early. It would've been nice to sight-see and check out Niagara Falls and walk along the Erie Canal but..December. 

This reminded me so much of Alaska, to be honest. You don't get weather like this in the midwest. 

Then the forecast for the game:

Every few hours a new warning would pop up. 

We did have really good seats but the rain kept on coming...

The backstory: Scott has always been a Bills fan. I'm not sure where that began, but he has Bills gear from the 90s. 

In 2017-2018, we were living at the University of Wyoming when Wells was born. Josh Allen was the quarterback for the team that year and was drafted to the Bills. So there's a connection there, and it was kind of neat to go to Buffalo and actually see the place. I've been to NY several times but not to Buffalo before this. (I would maybe recommend August/September instead of December :)

Anyway, Buffalo is about 3 hours north of where my parents live, so it was an easy drive. 

The lot where we parked was dirt/gravel. By the end of the night it was a solid ice rink. Again, reminded me of Alaska, where it was common to carry kitty litter in your trunk to give traction if you found yourself stuck. 

Perfect snowflakes in Scout's fur. 

Sorry. Just so much snow and so much cold and so much wind and wet. I was reminded, a few years ago living in Pittsburgh, just how long and dark the northeast winters really can be. I think I would get some seasonal depression living back there again. 

Meanwhile, 60 degrees and sunny in Kansas City this week. 

Anyway, I would like to thank my parents for accommodating us and taking care of the dogs. We don't board them just because but Scout takes medications and Maverick is coming off a month of immuno-suppressive steroids and actually wasn't supposed to be around other dogs....so we would've really been in a tight spot if we'd had plans to board.  

We were able to spend a lot of time with all the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins and Wells did not want to come home. 

Another season of Christmas travels is finished and we're ready to lock-in for winter. 

Mid-taking down the tree on Sunday night

If we had more space in the living room, I'd leave it up for another month.

In 2012, I took it down in March.

Currently in {January}

Loving: A new year. A fresh start. I don't mind January. It's always a great time to reset slowly. While I don't have big plans for drastic sweeping changes, it's the perfect chance to make some tweaks to my schedule and routines. Who knows? Maybe This Will Be The Year where I finally start getting up early. 

Lake Ontario last week

Resolving: I posted some resolutions here. I would also like to get back to posting actual food/recipes and some real content on this blog. Sometimes I cannot stand to be on the internet looking for recipes because I'm so tired of the ads on food blogs. I spent some time looking at actual cookbooks over Christmas and maybe that's the way forward, being analog again. So while I'm waiting for the Instagram bubble to burst, here's hoping the food blog bubble with pop-ups/clutter/ads/videos also bursts!

Planning: Planning out the 3rd quarter of homeschool. Here's where I reviewed Q2 and gave some thoughts on Q3. I feel a lot more optimistic about the workload, given that we did finish in just 3 hours yesterday. 

Eating/Drinking: Really boring stuff like drip coffee, oatmeal, granola and yogurt, chicken caesar wraps...On Sunday I made beef stroganoff, Monday was Indian butter chicken, tonight is chicken gnocchi soup. I found many recipes in this cookbook while I was at my parents' house but I have no idea where my mom got it because I can't find it on Amazon. 

Over Christmas break, I had the best buffalo wings in Buffalo and then this drink was a gin/sprite/cranberry something or other. 

Reading/Watching: I hit my goal for 2025 on Goodreads and bumped it up for 2026. Why not? 

As for watching...all the football. We just got a 7-day pass to Sling so we don't miss any college games this weekend. We were used to having ESPN at my parents' house. My birthday is this weekend and there's like 8 games on the schedule so I think that's what we're doing for Wild Card weekend. 

There's a lot of good TV coming back this month, so while we finished Mayor of Kingstown (very good), we are finishing Landman (meh on season 2), and we are rewatching The Night Manager (Prime) because after 10 years (!), it's back for season 2 this weekend. The Pitt (HBO) is back this week as well for season 2. 

Linking up with Amy for Currently!

Resolutions: Memes, Ice Cream, and Social Media

kid-less at the carwash because Sutton HATES it and I forgot my hairdryer so I was running the heat full-blast trying to undampen it 

Coming off of almost 3 weeks away from routine, I noticed a couple of things I would benefit to detox from in the new year. 

Specifically: 

1. Ice cream. We always have 4-5 containers in our freezer. I need to stop. It's been my current coping mechanism for the last two years. 

2. Memes. I love memes. This unfortunately means that my screenshots are full of so much digital clutter, as is my computer desktop, and it's actually kind of embarrassing. Almost like it's a metaphor for my mind too. So I'll be looking inward and finding actual content in the new year, instead of just memes. (sigh)

3. Shopping influencers. I've also looked inward when it comes to consumption and shopping. I'm so tired of Buying Things All The Time. Once your eyes are opened to this, you start to see through all of the bloggers and content creators who making their living off of just buying things. But, actually, rarely do I just buy things to buy them. I always have a purpose in mind. However, I do not need to pre-replace or impulse (same-day) buy. I also don't like the influencers and cOnTeNt CrEaToRs (they can call themselves whatever they want) who make a living off of being frugal on the internet. Do you remember when we just .....lived? And didn't shop through Instagram? Those were the days. 

All that to say, I've unfollowed all the people on Instagram who are buying hauls and just constantly posting things no one actually needs. I'm actually REALLY hoping 2026 is the year the Instagram bubble bursts. Life was so much better without kids-as-content, try-ons every day, and "morning routines" with tripods. 

4. Facebook groups. This is mind clutter as well. I actually think Facebook is a useful tool, especially as someone who moves around every few years. However, it's the Facebook groups that have drug me through the mud in 2025. First, the homeschool groups. I never realized how not-smart most people are; and me spending all this time reading, responding, getting lost in comment sections is a waste of time. Then, the health/wellness/crunchy mom groups: the absolute worst. Throw in politics and you have probably actual napalm. The true crime groups are fine, but I unfollowed all of those just so I don't see it right away and get sucked in unintentionally. I straight up left the other groups and don't regret it at all. I realized it was time to go when someone in a group titled Kindservatives said they felt a little hoodwinked when their pastor moved into a $500k house and was living at a level so far above the congregants in the church...and other people chimed in with "actually, pastors should make MORE money than everyone else". Really? Being a leader of the religion that tells you to die to yourself means you should be richer than your neighbor? (They didn't like my response.)

5. Twitter. Same as above. There is nothing worse than a crunchy, Christian, homeschool mom with a large following on that platform. No one will make you feel worse about yourself, with malice. It's all intentional. And it's not like I even followed most of them. Twitter/X adjusted the algorithms at some point in the last few years to where I just get all the recommendations in my feed. I used to use Twitter for news and dumb stuff like following The Bachelor episodes in real time. There's nothing fun on there anymore. It's all women spewing hate about how you just don't cook enough homemade bread for your kids and don't take them into the sermon with you (instead of the church nursery) and because you didn't homebirth, that's why your kid has a sore throat and also you're not living frugally enough and are just lazy. There is no shortage of pastors' wives on Twitter who are actually addicted to the rage-bait when they should be homeschooling, as they claim they are. Tweaking the feed is not an option. More will appear if you say "store-bought bread and public school" three times in a row. 

Add-ins: I am doing a chronological Bible reading plan, I found a ton of resources for weight-lifting workouts, and I want to try new recipes this year. We're pretty burnt out on the usuals. I did not come up with a word of the year and I don't have a vision board. I had thoughts on a word of the year but I haven't done that in awhile. 

What are you resolving for 2026? Do you have a word for the year? 

December Books + Book Wrap-Up for 2025

 I finished my 2025 reading goals with a few days to spare but not enough time to cram in more books. 40 out of 40 and no overachieving this year! Still thinking on my goal for 2026. I think I might go for 50 simply because I will fill the space I'm given and if I know I have to get 40, I'll stop there or procrastinate it.

Here's what I read in December:

When I Kill You by B.A. Paris (ARC from Netgalley, releases 2/17/26)

I found the main character to be a little frustrating but it was a true mystery so it's worth picking up. 

Once and Again by Rebecca Serle (ARC from Netgalley, releases 3/10/26)

I'm not including my review for this because it contains spoilers. I found some issues with this one. Basically I really liked In Five Years. I didn't read all of Expiration Dates because I didn't like it that much. For this book, the main character bothered me. She had the mentality of a 17 year old; seemed stunted or something. There's twists and turns and I guess it might make sense but I didn't like her. I'm not sure what she exactly did with her life between breaking up with Stone (why?) at 25 and then being 37 or whatever in the story. I didn't love the ending either. Or the husband. Or the mother. The best part was honestly the origin story of the "ticket". Waaaaay too much set up at the beginning and not enough interesting stuff in the middle of the book. I love the idea of this book, but the characters were not sympathetic at all. I gave it 3 stars. 

The Names by Florence Knapp

I would bet money that *Jenna* didn't even read this book. I bet she skimmed a synopsis and it checked the right boxes so she said to put a sticker on it.

Here's where I generally will displease the masses. I read a Goodreads award winner and didn't like it. Here's my basic review:

Here's the problem: it was too much. I really liked the first 3 stories, from the timelines. It was interesting. Then, all the characters had different purposes and personalities depending on the timelines. People were dying and being abused, depending on the timeline. Seven years is also way too much of a jump. I could not keep anything straight in my mind. And the last scene... (spoiler in white: led to a lot of sympathy for an abuser, murderer, and villain that perpetrated the entire plot. It was weird.)

If you want a book that restarts in different ways and follows different paths, I highly recommend The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle. SO GOOD. It's not exactly the same format but I was reminded of it while reading reviews.

Buckeye by Patrick Ryan

Another Goodreads winner, another two stars from me.

I didn't write a review on the site but honestly it was just kind of boring. There were four main characters and then maybe three side characters. But the main characters all had issues and none of them are introduced all at once and you don't even see how they fit together, really, until the middle of the book. There's a lot of showing and not telling. No one is really likable. I wasn't rooting for anyone. It switched POVs and years very quickly with no warning. It also flashed backward and forward and I constantly had to recalibrate the narrative in my head because it didn't just move forward. Like, all of a sudden, it's 10 years ago on a ship in the ocean. It was also 150 pages too long. The psychic stuff was, I'll just say it, stupid and so was Becky. This weird plot point introduced a lot of random townspeople who had no purpose in the story and just led to more words in this 464 pager. This could've been an interesting plot if it'd been a lot less wordy and less cagey about giving information to the reader. 

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What was the best book you read in 2025? 

Yesterday I said I probably enjoyed that octopus book the most, which I would not have expected. 

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.