In the Storm

what I've been reading lately | April 2021

It has been an interesting reading month. Books with rave reviews fell just a tad flat for me and when I might have - once, given 5 Star reviews myself, I up and scaled back my ratings. I will most probably take heat for some of the lower ratings, but, here's the deal: Not every book is for everyone. And, certainly, we read in seasons; one book might appeal to us in this season, and out of season, maybe, not so much. A book we abandoned several years ago, might be agreeable now. April was a month of seasons for me.

Being the end of April and the end of a third of the year into my 2021 Reading Goals, I wanted to complete a reading wellness check. 

Goal #1: Read 100 Books in 2021. As I have already completed 40 books this year in 4 months, I am comfortable with where I stand toward meeting this goal, and could easily see myself surpassing this goal. That I made no restrictions on what I might read - or re-read - has been freeing and has allowed me to enjoy what I have been reading, lately, all the more.

Goal #2: Read 8 books aloud with Jeff. We are currently reading our second book of the year - and it is a long one! Because we still have several lo-oong chapters still to go, I'm not sure we'll be able to read another 6 books by the end of the year, however, the quality of books have been immeasurable.

Goal #3. Read 12 books for my book club. On track, of course, to read - and meet - for book club, 12 books. Thus far, this year, we have read and discussed thoroughly and enjoyably: Transcendent Kingdom, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Anxious People, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. We also have our next three months of books scheduled: The Midnight Library, The Rose Code, and The Fountains of Silence.

and,

Goal #4. Read 12 classics towards my Classics Club goal. I have been able to squeeze in at least one classic each month, thus far! Even more exciting, though, is when, once, classics were not on my reading radar, I am, now, seeking them out ever since I joined the classics club.

The following are what I've been reading in April:

 

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April Giving.

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Together Equals Happiness.

This is a traditional 12 x 12 scrapbooking page using non-traditional scrapbooking supplies and I have created it digitally. Traditional scrapbooking is not old-fashioned, or out of fashion. However, in the community of scrapbookers that I follow and the Facebook group I am a part of, there are fewer and fewer traditional scrapbooking pages being created, or at least, being shared to the community. And, sometimes I miss the old way of scrapbooking. I don't mean using physical paper and products, but creating a page digitally, like in this case - a 12 x 12, which became the traditional way to create a scrapbooking layout post-Project Life, or 6 x 8 size, as the most popular current-sized pages. 

I used one of Ali Edwards' Story kits, the TOGETHER story kit which is made up of journal cards, chipboard, stamps, and embellishments. I used the journal cards as my 'paper' to create the circles, added some chipboard and embellishments and added a stamped title. Because I created this digitally I was able to size all of the product, especially the cards, to fit my needs.

I used the design tool - a visual triangle to tie the page together. It is one of the few design tools I can wrap my head around and pull off fairly decently. The visual triangle is met in two different ways: the three black and white photos, or the three clusters of circles. It makes the page a stand-out and gives the page a cohesive appearance.

Of course, the subjects of the page, us + our grandsons, is pretty sweet, too!

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100 Lovely Things.

We had a really good life with Joyful, our cat of 17 years who passed away almost 10 years ago. We put off getting a cat because Joyful was just so special to our family we didn't think we could handle, emotionally, another cat who wasn't Joyful. 

How wrong we were!

Intellectually, I am positive we knew. But, we just didn't want to go down that road. And, then that day in July when I asked Jarrod what he wanted for his birthday and he said, simply, "A family cat." All of our bundled up concerns, laid aside thoughts of loving a cat again, came rushing to the surface. Then, we stopped by Petsmart. Just to see.

In 9 months, Athena has made us better people. And, we have found, just like it is so easy to love more than one child, we can love more than one cat, too. Athena hasn't replaced Joyful in our hearts. We've made huge space for her to settle in. Of course, it doesn't hurt that she snuggles in and sleeps on my lap all night...

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