National Geographic's Backyard Guide to the Night Sky - TLC Book Tour

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: National Geographic; 2 edition (March 19, 2019)

Explore the star-studded cosmos with this fully updated, user-friendly skywatcher’s guide, filled with charts, graphics, photographs, and expert tips for viewing — and understanding — the wonders of space.

Stargazing’s too much fun to leave to astronomers. In these inviting pages, “Night Sky Guy” Andrew Fazekas takes an expert but easygoing approach that will delight would-be astronomers of all levels. Essential information, organized logically, brings the solar system, stars, and planets to life in your own backyard. Start with the easiest constellations and then “star-hop” across the night sky to find others nearby. Learn about the dark side of the moon, how to pick Mars out of a planetary lineup, and which kinds of stars twinkle in your favorite constellations. Hands-on tips and techniques for observing with the naked eye, binoculars, or a telescope help make the most out of sightings and astronomical phenomena such as eclipses and meteor showers. Photographs and graphics present key facts in an easy-to-understand format, explaining heavenly phenomena such as black holes, solar flares, and supernovas. Revised to make skywatching even easier for the whole family, this indispensable guide shines light on the night sky–truly one of the greatest shows on Earth!

Purchase Links

National Geographic | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

My Thoughts:

 If you've followed my blog for a while, you know that my husband and I are avid stargazers.  We both have telescopes, we have delved into astrophotography and are just super excited about the night sky, stars, planets and nebula and all of that goodness.

When I was given the opportunity to review this book, I jumped right in because I knew that it would be a family favorite and would for certain have a place in our bookshelf.

I didn't get a chance to look through the book the first few days because it was quickly claimed by my husband who absolutely loves science and physics and astronomy and such.  He actually started his Bachelors in Physics.

Anyway, if you are an avid stargazer, or even if you are not but are wanting to get into it, this book is a must for your family.

It is a great educational tool, beautifully illustrated, and jam packed with information on anything you could see up in the night sky.

With summer just around the corner, and the inevitable hours we will spend outside, it is such a great resource to have on hand.

The book itself is the perfect size to throw in a bag, or even keep in the car if you are going on a road trip or somewhere to stare up at the sky.

As a homeschooling family, it is also a great tool for my 10th Grader, and since he will be taking Astronomy next year, I think it may become his best friend for anything sky related.

{ It's that time of the year.....where grass goes flying through the air }

Well friends, the big guns have come out to play, and that means we are now in the time of year where grass grows at crazy speed and we spend a lot of time outdoors.

It's never real until that first mowing, isn't it?

My hubby had the day off on Friday and that was the perfect time to get started on the mowing.  He got the big mower prepped and ready, and off he went.  I have to say that first smell of fresh cut grass, is everything.

We also talked about our garden, what we want to plant and where we are going to build the raised beds etc.  I'm so excited about that, I don't want too much but there are some veggies and herbs that I just have to have this spring and summer.

I'll share the progress with you as we get on.

The  house has been coming alive as Spring sets upon us.  It's so strange but just like us humans feel cold and dreary in the winter, the house seems to take on that same tone for me.  It's almost like it's wanting to be closed up, left alone to deal with the winter blues, and then as days get longer, and temperatures rise, the house gets lighter and brighter.

My days have been filled with homemaking, and lately lots of crochet.  I've been crocheting quite a bit behind the scenes, just making some things that I'm hoping to be able to make available for you all to buy.  It's just a way to bring in a little extra money for our home, to help pay off our debt faster.  I've thought about this for many years, but there is a very fine line for me, between enjoying crochet and it becoming a chore/job, and I have never wanted to cross that line for fear that it will ruin the love I have for the craft.

I do think that what I've been crocheting to possibly sell, is quick and easy for me to work through and it's therefore taking the pressure off myself in feeling that I HAVE to do it, and it not being enjoyable.

There's also the fact that I have to consider just how much time I can devote to this because as of lately, my days are quite busy and not exactly the same from one day to the next.  It's all very up in the air lately, so I take whatever downtime I can to crochet a little.

Anyway, I feel like I'm babbling and you're probably wondering what in the world I'm talking about.  Apologies for that, I'll tell you more about it this week :)

I've also been trying to take more pictures of our meals, especially the ones not up on the food blog yet, so that I can share them with you.  That's something else that I find frustrating at the moment, because I have the best of intentions on sharing what I'm cooking for the family, but can never seem to find a moment to sit down and add them to the blog.

You may think that blogging is easy and quick, and for the most part it can be, but it does take time to type out the recipes, take and edit the photos, upload them to Flickr, and then embed them in the post and all that stuff.  Believe it or not, it does take quite a bit of time but I am trying very hard to carve out time in my schedule for the recipes.

In the meantime, all I can do is keep pushing on and trying right?

So, update on my ear.  It is finally starting to feel better, it's still got a bit of the fullness feeling and the ringing is still ongoing although not as bad as it was before.  The Sudogest didn't work, the Medrol Steroid Pack didn't work, so my doctor has told me to wait until Monday morning and see how I'm feeling.

If it's not feeling any better or gotten worse, then I need to go back in for a reevaluation.

The problem is that the fluid in the ear needs to drain, and the quickest way to do that would have been to take Mucinex or any other Guaifenesin type product......I'm unfortunately allergic to Guaifenesin, so I can't take Mucinex, or Robitussin or any product containing it.  Which leaves me with nothing to take to drain this ear faster.

What I've resorted to is home remedies and mostly Draining Massages which you can find online.

Let me tell you, those massages WORK.  This may be TMI (too much info), but for the past 2 days that I've been doing them, along with steam inhalations and using a humidifier, I've had so much drainage running down the back of my throat, it's insane.

Taking the meds would have fixed this quicker, but since I can't, I know that it is going to take a while to get all of this fluid drained from the ear, so I'll just keep doing what I'm doing.  I'll see how I'm feeling tomorrow morning, but I may just go in even if just to see how much fluid is left in the ear and if it's gotten better.

Right, I think I've talked so much on this post, but you know, I'm a talker and I had a lot to say and share.  I'm going to end it right here though, it is Sunday and I plan on doing absolutely nothing today, no one has to work, we don't have to go anywhere at all, so it's basically the usual daily homemaking tasks, I plan on baking a cake later this afternoon, and more crochet.

Have a blessed Sunday friends and I'll see you back in the morning for our Happy Homemaker Monday :)

{ California Girls by Susan Mallery - TLC Book Tour }

• Hardcover: 432 pages
• Publisher: MIRA; Original edition (February 26, 2019)

The California sunshine’s not quite so bright for three sisters who get dumped in the same week…
Finola, a popular LA morning show host, is famously upbeat until she’s blindsided on live TV by news that her husband is sleeping with a young pop sensation who has set their affair to music. While avoiding the tabloids and pretending she’s just fine, she’s crumbling inside, desperate for him to come to his senses and for life to go back to normal.

Zennie’s breakup is no big loss. Although the world insists she pair up, she’d rather be surfing. So agreeing to be the surrogate for her best friend is a no-brainer—after all, she has an available womb and no other attachments to worry about. Except…when everyone else, including her big sister, thinks she’s making a huge mistake, being pregnant is a lot lonelier—and more complicated—than she imagined.

Never the tallest, thinnest or prettiest sister, Ali is used to being overlooked, but when her fiancé sends his disapproving brother to call off the wedding, it’s a new low. And yet Daniel continues to turn up “for support,” making Ali wonder if maybe—for once—someone sees her in a way no one ever has.

But side by side by side, these sisters will start over and rebuild their lives with all the affection, charm and laugh-out-loud humor that is classic Susan Mallery.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

 

About Susan Mallery

#1 NYT bestselling author Susan Mallery writes heartwarming, humorous novels about the relationships that define our lives-family, friendship, romance. She’s known for putting nuanced characters in emotional situations that surprise readers to laughter. Beloved by millions, her books have been translated into 28 languages.Susan lives in Washington with her husband, two cats, and a small poodle with delusions of grandeur. Visit her at SusanMallery.com.

Connect with Susan

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

My Thoughts:

California girls tells the story of three sisters, all at different stages in life and all facing life changes and situations that pull them closer together.

In the background, their overbearing, helicopter and at many times smothering mother.  She is a bit of prickly, weird character, downright intrusive and demanding and not someone I much cared for in the book.  Matter of fact, anytime her name popped up I got so irritated and couldn't wait for her to fly off the page again LOL

The sisters on the other hand are perfectly imperfect, and just glorious to read and watch.  There's something about a story that takes a character and grows them right in front of your eyes, and Susan Mallery is perfect at doing just that.

But the story isn't all about struggles and strife and getting through hard moments in life, it has it's fair share of romance and laugh out loud moments.

Loved this book and highly recommend it.

{ What I'm currently watching on TV }

It's been a while since I've sat down and shared my current favorites.  Back in January of 2017, I did a post titled Top Shows to Binge Watch on Netflix, and told you about the favorites at that moment.  You can go over and read all about it, if you missed it.

It's been 2 years and since then I've watched numerous shows and found some new favorites to add to my list, but I haven't really sat down and told you what I was enjoying.  I know a lot of you like when I share what is on my TV, and I too like seeing what others are watching, so let's see what I've been up to.

The very first one I have to tell you about is quite new, only 2 episodes in but I'm absolutely LOVING every second.

Jesus:  His Life - History Channel

“Jesus: His Life” explores the story of Jesus Christ through a unique lens: the people in his life who were closest to him. Each of the eight chapters is told from the perspective of different biblical figures, all of whom played a pivotal role in Jesus’ life including Joseph, John the Baptist, Mary Mother of Jesus, Caiaphas, Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, Mary Magdalene and Peter.

It is told in documentary style with numerous biblical scholars, historians, faith leaders and theologians, intermingled with recreations of the story being told.  The series is by Joel Osteen and focuses on Jesus' life from birth to death and all in between.  It is fantastic!

The Act - Hulu

Here we see the story of Dee Dee and Gypsy Blanchard, portrayed on screen, in all it's horrible deplorable glory.  If you don't know about Gypsy Blanchard, you are in for a roller coaster of emotions that will culminate in you sitting there, mouth wide open, in shock, wondering just what on earth some parents are thinking.

It is based on a true story turned murder case, about a mother and daughter duo who on the outside seem to lead a simple and yet sad life.  Gypsy is said to suffer from all sorts of diseases and ailments that have left her bald, unable to walk and in need of a feeding tube.  The mother is supposed to be a devoted loving mom, doing everything in her power to take care of her sick daughter.

What we don't know is that beneath all this is a sick twisted story of a woman suffering from Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy who has basically sentenced her daughter to a life of torture.

It is a hard story to follow, it left me sick to my stomach at times, and the end leaves you in a state of confusion.  I don't condone violence in any way, shape or form, but there are cases where I can understand how a frail mind can break and commit the horrible act of murder.  Anyway, just take a look for yourself.

The Act is going to be a character based seasonal anthology series that will tell stranger than fiction true crime stories. 

Frankie Drake Mysteries - PBS

Set in 1920s Toronto, the series follows the adventures of Frankie Drake (Lauren Lee Smith) and her partner Trudy Clarke (Chantel Riley) at Drake Private Detectives, the city’s only all-female detective agency, as they find themselves fighting crime in the age of flyboys, gangsters, rum-runners, and speakeasies.

 Well you know how I feel about period dramas and series, so this one was on my watch list mainly for that fact, but I do quite enjoy a good mystery series and this one is so enjoyable to watch.  I started it not too long ago so don't have much to say on it, other than if you're looking for a period murder mystery detective kinda of show, this is one to maybe take a look at.

Agatha Christie's Ordeal by Innocence

Here's another great crime, drama, mystery series and of course when it has the wonderful name of Agatha Christie attached to it, you know it's going to be good.

The story follows the Argyll family and particularly Jack Argyll who has been accused of murdering their matriarch.  One day a man shows up on their doorstep claiming he knows for sure that Jack is innocent.  The whole family is turned upside down while they try to figure out who the real killer is and if it is still living among them.

Requiem - BBC One

In 1994, a toddler disappeared from a small Welsh village, never to be seen again.  23 years later, in London, the mother of rising cello star Matilda Gray commits suicide, without apparent reason.  Among her possessions, Matilda discovers tantalizing evidence, linking her mother to the Welsh girl's disappearance all those years ago.

I've only watched the first episode so can't say much, but the story is really interesting and I'm quite looking forward to what is going to come out of it.

The Real War of Thrones

In the turbulent formative centuries of early Europe, power-hungry family dynasties fought for domination of the continent.

I have this one ready to go, haven't started it merely because I'm trying to finish off the others above before adding something else to my schedule.  But, it looks so good and it's right up there with my favorite type of genre.

 

This Farming Life

Documentary series following the struggles and triumphs of five very different farming families in some of Scotland's most beautiful and remote landscapes.

Farming, Scotland, yep, that got me right away.  I've enjoyed watching this series, it gives me an insight perspective into what farming is really life for some families.  I find things like this interesting and I am always learning something new, so definitely one to watch if you also are into this kind of topic.

The Cult of The Family

A three-part investigation that chronicles the rise and fall of Asutralia's most notorious cult, The Family and it's strange but charismatic female leader, Anne Hamilton-Byrne.

I'm also waiting to start this one, but I am pretty sure I'll watch it this weekend because I'm fascinated with the whole family cult topic.  It looks really good, and you all know I like crime shows or documentaries about real life occurrences. 

And that is it, just a few of the shows that I have on my watch list, and am either currently watching or waiting to start as soon as I'm done.

I hope you've enjoyed my little list, and that maybe it gave you some ideas or pointed you in the direction of something new to watch.  We have so many series/movies available and it's often hard to pick just one to go with, so I hope by giving you a few choices, I've helped narrow it down for you a bit.

{ I'm back on it....the homemaker groove that is }

Remember when I told you that after we moved from Idaho, I seemed to have kind of lost myself and even though I love being a homemaker, I wasn't exactly acting like one.

I did the bare minimum to get by, but the love for the homemaking craft itself seemed to have dwindled.

I would be lying if I told you that I didn't struggle to find it again, matter of fact, and to be quite frank with you all, it took almost 3 years.  But, I found it, I found the homemaking groove again and I'm so incredibly content at the moment.

Everything about my life is love.  It is filled with family and moments of laughter.  That's not to say that there aren't tough moments, health issues, or times when things aren't exactly going to plan, but overall, I feel such immense contentment with my life and where I am in this journey.

That love overflows from inside the home to the outside as well.  When I was in Arizona I had grown so many veggies, had tons of plants that were thriving and growing beautifully.  I haven't been able to do that in a long time, firstly because we were moving and had just left the military and everything was up in the air.

Then we moved from Idaho and again it was all just so chaotic, I wasn't really feeling myself, feeling a good homemaker and so things fell to the wayside.

As I get back into the groove, one thing I'm itching to do, is get back into gardening and growing.  I have all these plans and thoughts and ideas about what I want to do in our yards this summer, and hubby is on board so I'm super excited about that.

On Sunday when we dropped Jasmine off at work, we stopped at Walmart for some meds, and then Curt and I had a little mooch around.  I went straight to the garden center, not because I had something specific in mind that I wanted, but I love looking around during this time of year.

The garden area is filled with colorful flowers, huge potted plants, trees and shrubs, vases and patio furniture, and everything you could possibly want or need to set up a beautiful outside area.

We walked around a bit and settled on some plants to bring home, they were the cheap $1.98 ones and I just couldn't resist.  I knew I had to bring them home.

Yesterday morning I got them all repotted and situated and then pulled out some faux leather fabric I had and started a project I had wanted to make for a while.

Fabric planters.   The possibilities are endless and the fact that you can make your own means that you can use fabrics that will complement your home.

I had some faux leather fabric that I had bought back in Arizona and had been keeping for just the right project, whatever that might be.  I knew that I wanted to use it for these plants.

I wasn't quite sure how to make them, or how I would do it and so these first two that I made were pretty much me winging in and using the easiest method possible.  I measured the height, the width and the circumference of the pot, added about half and inch more, and then grabbed my hot glue gun and went to work.

These are not perfect, not by far, but I love how they turned out and as I make more, I now know what works what doesn't, and how to make them neater.  I still am very pleased with the result and think the flowers look gorgeous in the fabric planter.

If you're wondering, the fabric planters are not filled with dirt.  I merely placed the flower pot into the fabric planter.  When it's time to water, I take it out and wait until it is done draining, before placing back in it's fabric planter.

I've been busy fluttering around the house.  The minute Spring comes about, I am no longer wanting to stay in bed or under covers, in a corner of the house.  I want to be up as soon as the sun is rising, opening windows, homemaking, cooking and baking and crafting.

I've made delicious food for my family's meals, I've crocheted spring and summery placemats, I take immense pleasure in washing clothes and hanging them to dry, planting and creating and so on.

As the weather warms up, my mind goes to homemade treats, especially those that we know the family will be gravitating towards, like ice cream.

Soooooo, yesterday, well, last night actually, after dinner, I quickly threw together some homemade raspberry ice cream.  You won't believe how easy it is to make and it only takes 3 ingredients.  Yes, that's right, 3 ingredients.

I'll share the recipe tomorrow, but let me tell you it's delicious, the hubby and kids love it and I'll be making more this summer, using all sorts of flavors.

I have been sharing a bit more on Instagram, it's just easier sometimes to do stories and show you my day in the moment, so if you're interested you can hop on over there and see what I'm up to.

But yes, I'm back in my homemaker groove and I'm hoping to continue sharing my days with you all, tips and tricks, recipes, snapshots of what I'm doing and my home and all sorts of things.

I'm so glad that you've all stuck around and have walked with me through this craziness I call life.  I know I haven't been the greatest at commenting back and I apologize for that, I want to try and be better at that so please bear with me.

Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed a sneak peek at my newest plants, crafts and yummy goodies.

I'll be back tomorrow with more :)