When we believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal - TLC Book Tour

Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing (July 16, 2019)

From the author of The Art of Inheriting Secrets comes an emotional new tale of two sisters, an ocean of lies, and a search for the truth.

Her sister has been dead for fifteen years when she sees her on the TV news…

Josie Bianci was killed years ago on a train during a terrorist attack. Gone forever. It’s what her sister, Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, has always believed. Yet all it takes is a few heart-wrenching seconds to upend Kit’s world. Live coverage of a club fire in Auckland has captured the image of a woman stumbling through the smoke and debris. Her resemblance to Josie is unbelievable. And unmistakable. With it comes a flood of emotions—grief, loss, and anger—that Kit finally has a chance to put to rest: by finding the sister who’s been living a lie.

After arriving in New Zealand, Kit begins her journey with the memories of the past: of days spent on the beach with Josie. Of a lost teenage boy who’d become part of their family. And of a trauma that has haunted Kit and Josie their entire lives.

Now, if two sisters are to reunite, it can only be by unearthing long-buried secrets and facing a devastating truth that has kept them apart far too long. To regain their relationship, they may have to lose everything.

Purchase Links

Amazon | Books-A-Million | Barnes & Noble

 

About Barbara O’Neal

Barbara O’Neal is the author of twelve novels of women’s fiction, including The Art of Inheriting Secrets, How to Bake a Perfect Life, and The All You Can Dream Buffet. Her award-winning books have been published in more than a dozen countries, including France, England, Poland, Australia, Turkey, Italy, Germany, and Brazil. She lives in the beautiful city of Colorado Springs with her beloved, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent.

Connect with Barbara

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

 

My Thoughts:

Oh my goodness, ohhhhh my goodness!!!!

What a fantastic book!

Imagine losing your sister to a terrorist attack in France....15 years ago.  You grieved, you miss her, and you wish things were different.

Kit is an ER doctor and is used to trauma, pressure and dealing with emotions.  After a pretty trying day, she heads to the break room for a bit of a rest.

Right then, on the TV, a news story breaks about a fire in Auckland, New Zealand.  As her eyes shift to the broadcast, she is frozen in place when she notices a familiar figure behind the reporter.  It can't be!

Her sister, Josie, stumbles around through the smoke and debris. 

Kit is frozen in place, her eyes tell her one thing, but her heart knows that her beloved sister died 15 years prior, so how can she be right there?  She tries to push it away and justify it by saying that the woman just resembles her sister, but the truth is that there is no denying the face, the walk, the scar on her forehead.

From that moment on, the story kicks off.  Kit is determined to find out who that woman is, why she looks so much like her dead sister, and if she IS Josie, then why has she been gone all these years, no contact, no reaching out.

There is only one thing Kit can do, and that is to drop everything and rush off to Auckland to unravel this mystery.

The story is told from two points of view, we get to see Kit, her emotions and her adventures as she rushes across the world from California to New Zealand.  On the other side, we have Mari (Josie) who has rebuilt a life for herself, married an athlete, has two children and has no need to contact anyone or even go back to her old life.

What will happen when these two worlds collide?

You have GOT to read this book.  Barbara O'Neal tells a fantastic tale.

I will say that at first I was so furious with Josie for what she had done to her family, especially her sister.  I found her very unlikable but as the story unfolded and the different perspectives and insights came into play, I started to understand where she was coming from.

Fantastic read, definite 5 stars.

A blessed day in my life!

“Watching and learning from Mama and the other women in my family gave me a deep love for home and hearth and taking care of people. I knew from a young age that there was eternal value in those things.”

― Sophie Hudson, A Little Salty to Cut the Sweet: Southern Stories of Faith, Family, and Fifteen Pounds of Bacon

Hi everyone, come on in and sit a little.  Do you want some coffee, some tea, maybe freshly made iced tea or lemonade?

Sometimes I sit and think about the friendships I've made through my blog, and the wonderful ladies that have become online friends, have seen me at my best and my worst, and have stuck around no matter what I've thrown their way.

I so wish we all lived in the same area so that we could get together for a cuppa, a chat and some exchanging of tips, love, support and good ol' laughs.

I would definitely bake you a delicious cake to enjoy too.

But in the absence of actual sitting around a table and chatting, this online world will have to do.

I often think about the women that are reading my blog, and I wonder what they're doing, what is happening around them, how their homemaking days are going and even what kind of yumminess they're cooking or baking in their homes.

It's a funny thing this world of the homemaker, isn't it?  But I'm so blessed to be doing what I love the most in life.

I spent yesterday in a full on state of homemaking and organizing.  When I was young I would be fascinated with movies where someone would snap their fingers and the whole house would be clean, or set right.

That must be cool to do, can you imagine?  Snap and BAM it's all just how we wanted it.

Then I realized that I am in fact doing the same thing with my own house, well, minus the snapping of the fingers, but everything that I touch, I make right, make my own, give it my personal touch and after all, that is what my family appreciates at the end of the day.  It doesn't matter that it took hours instead of seconds, the result is the same, except for the fact that you actually get pleasure of looking around and knowing that everything was done with love and effort on your part.

Yesterday I got a ton of berries drying.  My hubby had lovingly gone out the day before and sat under our huge soapberry tree, gathering and filling this empty pretzel jar.  I didn't ask him to, matter of fact I didn't even know he was doing it.  I had already showered and put on my nightie, went looking for him and there he was.

It's moments like these that I thank God even more, for the wonderful man He has placed in my life. 

A lot of my homemaking tasks are things that I do pretty much every single day, like making some sort of Koolaid or juice, as well as some Sweet Tea in the summer months.

Did you know that if you add baking soda to your sweet tea it makes it taste even better?  It completely removes the bitterness and leaves you with a sweet, smooth tea that will have you begging for more.

If you want to know how I make it, let me know and I'll share the recipe with you.

Here I am starting yet another load of laundry, using my soapberry mixture.  No I didn't forget about the post, that is coming tomorrow.  I just wanted to use the soap a couple of times to see how well it worked, before sharing with you.

She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness. - Proverbs 31:27

Lunch is usually leftovers or whatever I really get a hankering for, and yesterday I was craving scrambled eggs with tomato.  I'm such a weird gal, I couldn't stand tomato for the longest time, and then the last 6 or so years, I've started loving it and could it every day.

I have spent many hours nursing the distressed plants, back to health.  Thankfully they are all reacting well and growing.  My succulents are loving my bedroom windows.  I tried them on the porch at first but they did not enjoy the high temperatures, so even though they were in the shade, they quickly started wilting and I knew it was time to move them.

The brown leaves are growing out and green is abounding.  I absolutely adore succulents ♥♥♥

God has continued to show me that what I think I want or need in my life, is sometimes completely different from the plans He has for me.

My car that has been sitting at the dealership for almost 2 months, is now being towed back to my house, not repaired and in exactly the same state it was in.  General Motors decided not to honor the warranty and therefore I'm stuck with a lemon that is not running.

When this first happened I told you all that I had prayed and asked God to do with as He will, and if it is a blessing for us that the car gets fixed, then thank you, but if it's not, then I will accept it and move on.

I thought fixing the car is what was best for us as a family, but again, I've been put in my place and reminded that although that may have been MY choice, it is not His.  So I accept it, will continue paying off the car, which will be done next August, and just leave it in God's hands.

He knows what He is doing.

Well friends, I have just a few hours before I have to drive back out again, so I'm going to get my laundry hung up outside, fix myself a quick lunch and then I am hoping to watch Ophelia before I have to leave. Oh and probably do one more row on the blanket.

Happy Homemaker Monday - 08/05/2019

Good morning, welcome back to my little corner of blogland.

I have been MIA, kind of here but kind of not.  It's been a bit of a weird week for me, busy, not busy, knowing I need to take pictures and blog but not feeling it, and so on.  I find there are days that I need to disconnect and just be.

How was your weekend?

Mine was good albeit busy, as always.  We got a lot of the plants and shrubs in the ground, cleaned, and organized and so on.  We've been keeping quite busy on the weekends, but as much as I love doing that I also find that they are speeding by and I'm blinking and waking up on Monday morning.  I told Curt that we need a weekend to just relax and not do anything, otherwise the days turn into weeks, the weeks into weekends and months, without a day of relaxing or taking it easy.

Have a pretty busy week ahead, again.  Lots of driving back and forth, homemaking and my birthday on Saturday.  I'll be turning 45, my goodness.

Anyway, enough chit chatting, let's get right into our Happy Homemaker Monday.

Have a blessed week ahead :) 

The weather:::
Still pretty hot, triple digits and humid as heck.  We did get a brief rain shower yesterday, and I mean BRIEF, 10 minutes and completely gone.  It made me miss a good storm, but I guess for now we have to make do with what we have.  

Monday - Mostly Sunny, 95
Tuesday - Partly cloudy, 100
Wednesday - Mostly Sunny, 104
Thursday - Partly cloudy, 102
Friday - Partly cloudy, 102


On the breakfast plate this morning:::
Still making my way through a cup of coffee.  I made it an hour and a half ago so it's gone cold and really who likes cold coffee unless it's meant to be an iced coffee?  Blech!!
I'll have a fresh cup of coffee when I have breakfast, in about an hour or two, and I'll also have a sweet roll with ham and cheese.      


Right now I am:::
Sitting in bed with the laptop on my lap, writing up this post, and enjoying the quiet of the morning.  I am watching vlogs on the TV as I work, so that is on in the background.  I also just remembered that I need to start watching the new season of Poldark.  Don't ask, it literally just popped into my head LOL    


On my bedside table:::
My phone, cup of water, cup of coffee, hair tie and tv remotes. 


On my reading pile:::
When we believed in Mermaids by Barbara O'Neal. Review is coming up on Thursday.


Movies or Shows I watched this weekend:::
Like I said above, we've been very busy on the weekends so haven't had much time for anything else.  Yesterday afternoon though, we took a few hours break to sit and watch Toy Story 4 with the kids.  I loved it but hated the ending.  If you've seen it, you will know what I'm talking about.

Aside from some vlogs here and there, I haven't watched anything else this weekend, I plan on catching up on everything today and the rest of the week.    


On my TV this week:::
These are the shows I would like to catch up on, it doesn't mean that I'll be watching them all or even have time to, but I like to keep a list so that when I'm deciding what to watch, I have a few to pick from.


TV:
General Hospital
Homemaking vlogs
Star Trek The Next Generation
Poldark
The Dead Files
Beecham House
High Seas
Jamestown - Season 2
Babylon Berlin
A.D. Kingdom and Empire
Anne with an E - Season 2
Charite
The Doctor Blake Mysteries
Kurt Seyit and Sura


Documentaries:
Restoration Home:  Coulton Mill
Missing Couple:  Where is Audrey Moran and Jonathan Reynoso
The Case of Colette Aram


On the menu for this week:::
Some meals got shifted forward from last week.  If you saw my Meal Plan Friday, you'll notice that some meals are showing up on different days.  Pretty much anything that was planned for this weekend, ended up not being made.  

Monday
Orange Chicken with Basmati Rice

Tuesday
Chipotle Burrito Bowls

Wednesday
Asian Rice and Beef

Thursday
Tuna Rissoles with Tomato Rice and Salad

Friday
Easy Roast Chicken with Potatoes


On my to do list:::
Housework - Laundry, dusting, vacuuming and carpet cleaning. 

Yard - Water all plants, sweep patio and move last plants off table.  We are slowly getting there with all the plants. 


What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating:::
I've been enjoying my crochet again, and I can't tell you just how much I've loved getting back into the crochet world.  I am just a few rows from finishing off part 2 of the Sacred Space CAL. 


Looking forward to:::
Catching up with some of my favorite tv shows.  I've missed sitting down to a good show, crochet hook in hand and just relaxing.       


Looking around the house:::
It needs some attention, but I'll get it all back on track today.  I may do a DITL post and have you follow along.   


From the camera:::
My beautiful Sacred Space blanket.  I did NOT plan this color combo at all and was worried it wouldn't work, but I'm loving how it's turning out :) 

What I'm wearing today:::
Not sure yet, either a summer dress or some shorts and a tank.                


Thinking about:::
This weekend's mass shootings.  I wish people would quit pointing fingers and turning everything political.  We need to learn to place blame and guilt where it belongs, and that is on the hands of the two individuals who took it upon themselves to commit these atrocities. 

My heart breaks for the victims and the families, and it breaks for all of us living in this beautiful country, who now feel fearful of being out in public.  As someone who was born in a different country, I can tell you that it took me almost 5 years to stop being scared and to feel truly safe and comfortable going out.  When I moved to the USA my mind was in a constant state of panic, I moved from a country where violence was an every day thing and I could NOT wait to get out of there and start living a normal life.

Unfortunately when these mass shootings happen, I immediately go back to those feelings.  I was at Walmart with my husband yesterday and the whole time we were in there, I was in a constant state of anxiety and fear.  I look at everyone walking in through the doors, I plan my escape, or try to find a spot where I think I could maybe hide.  It's horrifying, and I hate to even feel like I'm regressing back into the state of mind I was in when I first moved here.

This needs to end.  The mass shootings have GOT to stop.  But please, I beg you, stop using these as a reason to point fingers at this party or that party, the President, or the Democrats or the Republicans.  Take it from someone who has lived in countries with horrifying violence, it does no one any good to point fingers.  In my opinion, we have a serious problem where the younger generations seems to not be able to deal with normal life issues.  we've all been bullied, we've all gone through heartache, and losses and difficult moments and I never in my life even thought about going out and hurting innocent people.  It just boggles my mind. 

You may not agree with my thoughts or opinions, and that is fine, I just ask that you be respectful if you choose to add to this conversation or comment down below. 


Bible verse, Devotional, prayers::: 
My prayers go to the victims and families of the shootings this past weekend. 

Meal Plan Friday #8

Hi everyone, welcome back to another Meal Plan Friday.  I can't believe I've already been posting these for 8 weeks, goodness.

I do love sharing the meal plan as I find that it keeps me on track and there have been many mornings, where I'm trying to remember what to take out of the freezer, and I just take a quick look at the post and know exactly what meat to take out.

I have 2 new recipes this week, the Sheet Pan Nachos tonight and the Asian Beef Stir Fry next week.  The rest of the recipes are a few Portuguese as well as two family favorites.  All links have been provided for you, where available.

As for desserts, this week I was supposed to make the Peach Cake, but last minute decided to actually make some Lemon Curd Bars.  They are delicious.  I'll be sharing the recipe for those later today, over on the food blog.

This coming week, I'll be making some brownies.  Nothing out of this world, but just some good ol' brownies, and who doesn't love a brownie either with a cup of milk or with some cream or a scoop of ice cream?



Sheet Pan Steak Nachos Supreme

 
 Orange Chicken

 
Chipotle Burrito Bowls

 
Asian Rice and Beef Stir Fry

 
Rissois de Atum, Arroz de Tomate (Tuna Rissoles with Tomato Rice)

 
Easy Roast Chicken with Potatoes, Salad

 
Chourico Carbonara

Best Brownies

Welcome August 2019!!!

I can hardly believe it, August my birthday month, halfway through this year.  I usually say that time flies but this is ridiculous, before we know it, it will be Christmas, and that I am really not ready for.

Anyway, good morning and welcome back to my blog.

I apologize for the lack of posts this week, it's been a bit of a slow one for me and I've taken full advantage of the downtime, to get things done around here and to pick up my crochet hooks again.

I've even taken naps, me, Miss never naps.  Guess my body was needing this rest and when the body speaks we must listen.

One of the things I did was take care of all the orchids.  Look, I've told you before that I have no clue when it comes to plants and that usually I would kill them because of overwatering, not watering enough, giving them too much light, not giving them enough and so on.

However, I have since grown to love anything to do with plants and I've spent many hours researching the different species and what they need, and how best to take care of them.

I have purchased Orchids in the past and they always died on me, and I couldn't figure out why.  Problem is that I thought I would get them from the store, bring them home and that's it.  I didn't realize that there is a process once you bring them home and if you don't do this, you will no doubt have wasted money because they will die on you.

The very first thing you need to do is remove them from the plastic little pot they come home in.  They are jam packed into that little pot and will not survive that way.

Once you've removed them from the plastic, you need to carefully loosen the roots and remove the moss that comes with them.

Now I've read and watched different videos on repotting orchids.  I stuck with just placing them back in the pots and will be carefully monitoring and watering them, but I'm also curious about the full water culture and might give one or two a try to see how they do.

Again, I'm just learning and this is more than I've ever done, so if you have any tips please leave them down below.

For the moment, they all seem to be doing much better and are greener, brighter, some are sprouting new blossoms and leaves, so I'm quite happy with that.

While out watering the garden a few days ago, I spotted two cantaloupe that are quite big already.  Folks, I can't tell you enough how thrilled I am especially since I grew these from seeds.  I have NEVER been that successful, but I guess it was a combination of research, indirectly finding the perfect spot for the garden and much love, dedication and watering.

While these two huge cantaloupe are growing, you can already see tiny ones coming in as well.  If you look to the right of the pic above, you can just make out a new cantaloupe forming.

Can't wait to try those :)

The rest of the plants we got from Lowe's, are doing well.  There are very few brown leaves or died out branches around and everything is looking nice and green.  We have hung a ton out front on the porch as well as on the back patio.

The rest of the plants are still on my patio table, as I get them situated, watered and nursed back to health.  There are a lot of new bright flowers popping up so I guess we're on the right track.

Here shortly I will go and water them.  I do this every morning and every evening when it's not as hot, and they seem to like that.

While I'm out there, I'm going to separate all the plants by categories.

Ground cover
Bushes
Indoors 
Outdoors

This weekend hubby and I are going to take the outside ones, place them where we want them to go and then get them into the ground.  We have a lot of time left here in Texas so I'm not worried about frost or cold weather, that is not going to happen until end of November at the very least.

I saved two big Sweet Almond Bushes from Lowe's.  They were pretty grim looking and the workers there actually thought they were completely dead, but they are coming back to life, tons of new shoots and new green leaves.  So happy!!!

Also saved a Gardenia which is my absolutely favorite flower and that one is also coming back with new shoots.  I have a Hydrangea bush which doesn't seem to be doing well, I don't think we're going to be able to save it, but I will keep working on it as I love Hydrangeas and would be super happy with a big Hydrangea bush out front.

As I go along, I'll be sharing with you.  Not just because I love sharing my life but it will also be kind of a gardening journal to see how far we've come.

The past few days have also seen me picking up my crochet hook again and getting right into a new project.  I had wanted to get some new yarn for this, but couldn't really find anything I wanted, nothing was catching my eye, so I ended up going with what I already had on hand.

It's always so strange to me when I begin a new project, because I never know what it is going to end up looking like.  I think I know what color is going where and then as I start, I change it all up and go with my gut feeling.

These colors above were not a combo I would have ever put together.  You know me, I'm more into the pastels but I decided to just go with it and I have to say, this may be one of my favorite color combos I've put together for a crochet blanket.

It's just gorgeous.

The pattern is the Sacred Space by Helen Shrimpton.  She is one of my favorite crochet creators, I've made her Mandala Madness and a few others, so when I saw that she had released a new CAL (crochet along), I had to jump right in.  It is the perfect project for getting me motivated into crochet again.

Part 1 is done, that's what you see her, and tomorrow Part 2 will be released.  You can find all the details on Helen's website Crystals and Crochet.

I need to go and water the plants now, so I'll go ahead and let you all go.  Again I'm sorry for not posting much this past week, but sometimes you have to prioritize and I definitely needed to put some things in order.

Jasmine has a crazy schedule coming up, starting today, so you'll probably see me around here more.  I tend to blog more when I'm actually running around from place to place, because when I'm home full time I concentrate on other projects and often forget to even grab the camera.

Bad blogger, I am!!!

I'll be back tomorrow with another Meal Plan Friday.  Until then, take care and have a wonderful Thursday :)