#DriedTears

lots and lots of them

2023 Reads

Better late than never...

Top two reads of 2023:

I recommend Jerry Sittser's book A Grace Disguised for adults who have suffered loss, are currently suffering loss, or are walking with others who are experiencing significant loss.

I recommend Eva Eland's simple picture book When Sadness is at Your Door for children and grown ups over the age of three :).

Additional Favorites:

most fun read: Sense and Sensibility (via a Jane Austen book club with four friends)

most disturbing/thought-provoking: Evicted

best sports story (Olympics!): Boys in the Boat

favorite biography: The Wright Brothers

most notable spiritual read: Disappointment with God

Other reads:

(Being Mortal and The Body Keeps the Score were notable reads but didn't quite make the top favorite list)

And just for fun:

Date

 

Took this extra special 4.75 year old on a little Michigan date.

After walking for a mile to get to his favorite big orange slide, and then playing at said playground, we stopped for a little ice cream treat before heading home for dinner.

He chose Blue Moon.

I chose chocolate (of course).

cut-your-own: fresh flowers

two things, semi-related:

Running a flower farm with Libby is one of my potential plan B career opportunities :).

And placing lovely fresh flowers on the bathroom sink is a sure way to create an ambiance of luxury. 

Royal

The apartment felt almost like a palace with this incredible bouquet of peonies showing off their stunning beauty and filling the room with their sweet scent.

In my dreams I might have a peony garden overflowing with blooms like these. 

But in real life, it is my neighbor friend's neighbor who has the most impressive peony patch in the neighborhood.

Oolala.

more chocolate chip tasting

I had some important chocolate tasting to complete last weekend: 

Inspired by a recent conversation with a friend, I made a visit Aldi for a little grocery shopping. While there, I passed through the baking aisle and added three bags of chocolate chips to my cart. 

Naomi wasn't here to participate in this tasting, so I had to conduct it solo (and opted out of blind tasting).

I've decided Weis store brand semi sweet chocolate chips are superior to Giant store brand semi sweet chocolate chips (although- I haven't yet tasted them side by side),

and

Aldi dark chocolate chips (larger and flatter than traditional semi-sweet chips) and premium dark chocolate chunks (which pack a major chocolate punch) both scored in the "would buy again" category.

Sadly, Aldi semi sweet chips scored very poorly. 

I tried, and then tried again, but found the morsels to have an almost gritty texture. Affordably priced or not, I don't plan to purchase semi sweet chocolate chips from Aldi.

PS- I have an extra (almost full) bag of Aldi semi sweet chocolate chips available... free to the highest bidder.

familiar

There's something comforting about familiar places along the trail.