tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77073326306399334362024-03-18T15:12:37.704-04:00The Great Umbrella HeistSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.comBlogger2585125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-53515762121543022742022-07-11T09:09:00.000-04:002022-07-11T09:09:10.134-04:00What I Read in Q2 2022 <p><span style="font-size: x-small;">(This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for supporting my blog!)</span></p><p>Looking for a book to read? Wondering if that frequently talked about book really lives up to the hype? Well, you've come to the right place. Today, I'm sharing all the books I read in April, May and June - that's 9 books in total. There's a good variety as well - a classic, a memoir, nonfiction and, of course, plenty of fiction (including a thriller which, unfortunately, was not very good.)</p><p>I've always read what I wanted to read and tend to steer clear of book challenges and the like. That's me. But over the past couple of years, I've been trying to read more "classics." Whenever I come across those book polls asking "How many of these 100 (or 200 or 300) books have you read?", I always go through it and think, "Oh, I should read that one," or "That's on my to-be-read list." So, anyway, I've been trying to incorporate more classics into my book reading. And that leads us into April.</p><p>I read only ONE book in April. It was a super long book and April was a super busy month for me. We went to Florida for vacation during the girls' spring break and because we drove, I detailed the van and packed everything up myself, which took a fair amount of time. Also, I don't know why I always think I'm going to be able to get a lot of reading done when I'm on vacation with my family because <b><i>I'm on vacation with my family</i></b>. You know, we like to hang out, talk and do stuff together. This was a Disney vacation no less, so there really was not much downtime, or time for reading. After our vacation week, I had a big photography gig, which I was behind with in planning, and I volunteered to help coordinate a fundraiser. So, yeah, there was a lot going on. </p><p>What was the one book I read in April?</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gone-Wind-Margaret-Mitchell-ebook/dp/B000XGMTWS?crid=1HMEGAD3BZHM4&keywords=gone+with+the+wind&qid=1657407685&s=digital-text&sprefix=gone+with+the+%2Cdigital-text%2C80&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=da5d4b17a1017de3406747032c400a41&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000XGMTWS&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B000XGMTWS" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></p><p>Everyone's heard of <a href="https://amzn.to/3P2Pqpu" target="_blank">Gone With the Wind</a>. You may have also seen some negative talk surrounding it as well. So let's talk about the positives of <a href="https://amzn.to/3P2Pqpu" target="_blank">Gone with the Wind</a>. Even though it's very long, it held my attention. The author was a talented storyteller, for sure. I enjoyed the Civil War historical fiction side to it and how women, through the main character, were portrayed as being able to do more than just swoon and have babies. </p><p>Unfortunately, I found the book to be racist. Some parts were shockingly racist. Now I know why the book is often listed as controversial. </p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Were-Mulvaneys-Joyce-Carol-Oates-ebook/dp/B000PC71RS?crid=2Q0QDZY5KECPL&keywords=we+were+the+mulvaneys+joyce+carol+oates&qid=1657408194&s=digital-text&sprefix=we+were+the+%2Cdigital-text%2C77&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=7fef9b5b427bc2243bfa7799aa31ed47&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B000PC71RS&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B000PC71RS" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></p><p>If you're looking for a good book to dig into, I highly recommend <a href="https://amzn.to/3RklJSf" target="_blank">We Were the Mulvaneys</a>. It's on the long side so not a book you'll fly through in a couple of days, but definitely worth your time. It's the story of a family in Upstate New York in the '70s who kind of had it all until one incident unravels everything and leaves the family broken apart. The character development was outstanding, and it's really just so well written. Check it out!</p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/American-Heiress-Kidnapping-Crimes-Hearst-ebook/dp/B018CH9ZQC?crid=2OO6HQ1TJ4ZE4&keywords=american+heiress&qid=1657408808&s=digital-text&sprefix=american+he%2Cdigital-text%2C95&sr=1-4&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=f18bb5ddc2e4d2283812d98697663090&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B018CH9ZQC&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B018CH9ZQC" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></p><p>I knew in general of Patty Hearst but not the intimate details so <a href="https://amzn.to/3yU2CHl" target="_blank">American Heiress</a> was an interesting book to read. It's nonfiction and the author obviously spent a lot of time in gathering information and researching the specifics. He does go into a lot of detail and I found the background information he provided with respect to the state of affairs at the time to be helpful. He also takes the position that Patty really did want stay with her kidnappers and wasn't actually brainwashed. She had plenty of opportunities to escape and the author points all of this out, along with her transformation back to good citizen only after she was arrested. </p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Night-Shift-Novel-Alex-Finlay-ebook/dp/B092T8D1M8?crid=U0WNRUI2QARS&keywords=the+night+shift+alex+finlay&qid=1657409221&s=digital-text&sprefix=the+night+shi%2Cdigital-text%2C83&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=7cc781383dff750870f0689754a68163&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B092T8D1M8&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B092T8D1M8" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></p><p>When I looked at the description of <a href="https://amzn.to/3uC3ldO" target="_blank">The Night Shift</a>, I was skeptical but I still opted to read it because I had seen more than one person recommend it. I, however, do <u>not</u> recommend. It's a trendy thriller, which you know I love, and it's fast paced and jumps around between characters in order to hold the reader's attention. This all sounds great, but, unfortunately, I figured out the big surprise ending quite near the beginning of the book. There were a couple of other twists, which I didn't really see coming, but I felt like the ending was too obvious and that kind of ruined the whole book. Also, the plot was kind of meh. In 1999, four teens working the late night shift at a movie rental store are brutally attacked. Only one survives. Fifteen years later, an extremely similar crime takes place and characters from the first attack are forced to relive their experiences while attempting to assist in solving both crimes. </p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Black-Cake-Novel-Charmaine-Wilkerson-ebook/dp/B093YSHS99?crid=1DEM1UVLSOUAA&keywords=black+cake&qid=1657409512&s=digital-text&sprefix=black+%2Cdigital-text%2C79&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=3dff702251fb3de56e84ac54d961d420&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B093YSHS99&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B093YSHS99" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /> </p><p>Okay, so let's move on to a book I thoroughly enjoyed reading. <a href="https://amzn.to/3OXYXxJ" target="_blank">Black Cake</a> is a generational story of a family from a Caribbean island. Adult siblings, Byron and Benny, uncover surprising family secrets after their parents pass away. The story flips back and forth between the present and the past, which adds historical fiction into the mix. For a first novel, the author really knocked it out of the park. </p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Verity-Colleen-Hoover-ebook/dp/B09H6T8LTR?crid=NF1BFAROG6YM&keywords=verity&qid=1657409805&s=digital-text&sprefix=verity%2Cdigital-text%2C77&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=3876b7e4b70e8821483efd0b2f64f027&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B09H6T8LTR&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B09H6T8LTR" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></p><p><a href="https://amzn.to/3bVZi5v" target="_blank">Verity</a> was my first Colleen Hoover read because she typically writes romance, aka chick lit, and that is a genre I tend to stay away from. I decided to read this one, however, because everyone is talking about it, and really, curiosity got the best of me. A struggling author, Lowen. is invited to ghost write the remaining novels in a series by an extremely successful author, Verity, who has been injured in an accident. While sorting through notes in Verity's home office, Lowen uncovers an unpublished memoir, with shocking confessions, written by Verity. What should Lowen do with this discovery and what really happened to Verity and her family?</p><p>I have to say that this was definitely a page turner, one I struggled to put down. I think I finished it in 2-3 days. It's rated R and I'm not sure if all of her books are like that but some of it seemed overkill. I get why it's there for the plot but, at some point, for me, it became annoying. <i>Enough already! Can we move on?</i> I also have questions. Many, many questions. Because if you really think about it, you'll find the holes. Like, wouldn't you know? Wouldn't someone know! It ended with me sitting in the mixed feelings camp.</p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Things-I-Should-Have-Said-ebook/dp/B097MKH994?crid=2KBEUTRDKWE2F&keywords=things+i+should+have+said&qid=1657410058&s=digital-text&sprefix=things+i+should+h%2Cdigital-text%2C81&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=69900a58f8938d868ab1c2bbab05fea1&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B097MKH994&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B097MKH994" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /> </p><p>Prior to reading <a href="https://amzn.to/3c2LGWi" target="_blank">this</a>, I didn't really know much about Jamie Lynn Spears besides the fact that she's Britney's younger sister. I read this memoir on a whim - it popped up and I thought it could be different/interesting. It was okay. At times, I thought she was quick to blame others for things that went wrong and she most definitely threw her parents under bus. I probably wouldn't recommend it unless you're a fan of hers or a Britney fan, as she does talk about her a sister a bit. </p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Tranquility-Emily-John-Mandel-ebook/dp/B099DRHTLX?crid=1JPWOMYUCYW1H&keywords=sea+of+tranquility+emily+st+john+mandel&qid=1657410271&s=digital-text&sprefix=sea%2Cdigital-text%2C86&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=1e6c8411b394dce2673a00d762b6c222&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B099DRHTLX&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B099DRHTLX" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /></p><p>If you enjoyed reading <a href="https://amzn.to/3AC3K3A" target="_blank">Station Eleven</a>, check out <a href="https://amzn.to/3ADD4iT" target="_blank">Sea of Tranquility</a>, the latest by Emily St. John Mandel. If you haven't read either, what are you waiting for!? Sea of Tranquility is more of a novella and hard to put down, so expect to have it read in no time. Warning: it does involve time travel. I know some people just can't wrap their brain around that concept. At the end of the book, my mind was kind of spinning because there was a lot to think about.</p><p>-----</p><p><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Middlesex-Novel-Jeffrey-Eugenides-ebook/dp/B002HHPVPS?crid=62FJZGUP38HK&keywords=middlesex+jeffrey+eugenides&qid=1657410465&s=digital-text&sprefix=middl%2Cdigital-text%2C107&sr=1-1&linkCode=li3&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=7b06508dc926d268f68426c4078d0015&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_il" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=B002HHPVPS&Format=_SL250_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="https://ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&language=en_US&l=li3&o=1&a=B002HHPVPS" style="border: none; margin: 0px;" width="1" /> </p><p>I don't even know where to begin with this <a href="https://amzn.to/3nRBgeU" target="_blank">one</a>. For starters, it's extremely well written and most deserving of the Pulitzer Prize it was awarded. It's a longer book, and one I found myself having trouble putting down. It spans three generations and flips back and forth between past and present to uncover family secrets and the genetic history that transform Callie into Cal as a teenager. As the reader, you have to buy into consenting incestuous relationships, which I had trouble believing/understanding. I recommend it if you're okay with longer books that aren't full of suspense. </p><p>-----</p><p>Hope you found a book (or two or three) to read!</p>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-78016449368534347572022-05-05T21:49:00.000-04:002022-05-05T21:49:20.770-04:00Disney: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Spring 2022 Edition) <p><b>How this trip came about . . .</b></p><p>In late January/early February 2020, I booked and planned a Disney vacation for our family for the end of June, when school was to let out for the year. Here in New England, schools usually run into the third week of June and I spent quite a bit of time following long term forecasts as snow days can easily add up and push that last day of school out even further. And then . . . well, we all know what happened in March of 2020. In May, there were rumors that Disney was planning to reopen and could potentially be open during our vacation dates, but we were not ready to travel. I had heard people were receiving credits (instead of cash) for canceling flights and some had experienced lengthy phone wait times and delays with refunds when canceling with Disney. So we gambled a bit and hoped that both Jet Blue and Disney would cancel on us. They did and our funds came back to us without issue.</p><p>I told the girls we would simply rebook for the summer of 2021 and make it BIGGER and BETTER. And then . . . we found out Anna had to have surgery to untether her spinal cord. It was a bit of a process involving different doctors at different hospitals to reach that conclusion. It started with routine testing in December of 2020 to learning of the surgery in May of 2021. This surgery was not an emergency and so we planned with her neurosurgeon for an early July surgery. The recovery process was extremely long and painful, and Anna spent the majority of the summer recovering and healing. A Disney (or any other) vacation just didn't work for us for the summer of 2021.</p><p>In the past, we weren't able to travel during February or April school vacation weeks because Rich had to attend a mandatory board (or bored, as I liked to call it) meeting on the third Tuesday of every month, which always fell on those vacation weeks. There's also the fact that airfare is ridiculously expensive at those times because of the scheduled vacation weeks. Back in the fall, the girls' dance studio sent out save the dates for spring competitions and, after checking the calendar, I realized that we had April vacation week open. Rich started a new job in early 2020 so those meetings no longer affect us, and weather-wise, it's much more ideal to travel to Florida in April than over the summer. So our long postponed Disney vacation finally came to fruition.</p><p><b>Disney Resorts</b></p><p>One of the first planning tasks I took on, after deciding that airfare at $5,000 was absurd and we would mostly likely be driving, was checking out resort availability and pricing. For all of our previous Disney vacations, we've stayed at a Disney resort. Disney wants you to stay on property because once you're in the Disney bubble, you'll likely spend less time venturing off of Disney property, which will equate to more money spent at Disney restaurants and shops. Disney offers advantages to staying on property versus offsite and while I don't want to go into the detail of that here in this post, I will say that the list of advantages has shrunk over the past couple of years.</p><p>We had built up free nights and points with Hyatt that we needed to use, so my initial thought was to stay at a nearby Hyatt for a few nights and then move over to one of the Magic Kingdom resorts. In the past, we've stayed at the Grand Floridian, the Polynesian, and the Contemporary. When we stayed at the Poly, it was undergoing refurbishments and it was refurbished again in 2021. That was my pick of the three but when I punched in our dates on Disney's website, I was told that the least expensive room option available to us was $1,000. Per night.</p><p>I. Don't. Think. So.</p><p>So began my frustrations with booking a Disney vacation with the "new" Disney. </p><p>I opened up my search to any and all Disney resorts and my options were extremely limited and extremely expensive. As a family of five, we are in a different situation than smaller families. Disney does have room options for five people, but now that the girls are older, we do try to book two rooms so we're not spending an entire morning waiting for people to get ready. I looked at rooms for five people, because we can suck it up and deal with it if we need to, and two separate rooms. The least expensive option I could come up with was around $800 per night, and, I'm sorry, but we just aren't going to spend that kind of money to stay at a Disney World resort. </p><p>This was back in November of 2021 (five months before our vacation) and at that time, Disney was not experiencing the boom it is now. It made no sense to me why room availability was so scarce. I did some research amongst Disney bloggers and discovered that, apparently and understandably, Disney isn't immune to the staffing shortages plaguing businesses across the U.S. Resort options were limited because Disney hadn't fully reopened all of their resorts or even all of the rooms at their open resorts. What left me scratching my head was the fact that it seemed like only the more expensive rooms had been made available - club level, theme park views, etc. What about Art of Animation or standard rooms? It felt like they had opened up only their more expensive options and raised the prices in an attempt to take as much as they could from guests who really wanted to stay on property. So we said, "Sorry, not sorry," and booked two rooms at the nearby Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. </p><p>I'll have to write another post (look at me planning out blog posts!) about our stay at this hotel, but I will tell you that we had no regrets staying offsite and would absolutely do it again.</p><p><b>Disney Dining</b></p><p>Everyone, regardless of where you are staying, can make advanced dining reservations (aka ADRs) at the 60 day mark. If you are staying on Disney property, you are able to book ADRs for the entirety of your trip. Those staying offsite need to book each day separately at the 60 day mark for each day. None of this really mattered because when I logged on right when dining became available, there was <i>nothing</i>. Unless you consider Mama Melrose's at 9:30 pm to be a viable option. I'd never experienced anything like this before. Typically, I can find <i>something</i> and then I usually tweak my plans as other dining becomes available.</p><p>I searched for dining every day, multiple times a day, and always came up empty-handed. And this wasn't me being picky with, "Oh, here's a 1:00 for Brown Derby, but I'd rather have a 12:30 for Prime Time." This was <i>nothing</i>. Or 9:30 pm availability for dinner. Or restaurants with perpetual open spots (Paradiso 37 anyone?) which makes me not want to eat there because why isn't anyone else eating there?</p><p>In order to avoid no-shows, Disney requires a credit card when making an ADR and they will charge you $10 per person if you do not cancel your reservation. Because of this policy, guests do cancel and I knew from prior trips that if you're looking for a specific ADR, you have a good chance of finding it days before or even during your trip. </p><p>My big dining tip is to keep searching in the days leading up to your trip. Don't give up hope! I found a 5:05 dinner reservation for Chef Mickey's on Easter five days beforehand. I also found The Hollywood Brown Derby and Crystal Palace ADRs while we were there. Staffing issues are definitely at play, as well as more crowds in the parks. I also feel the need to point out that Disney travel agents have access to the same reservation system everyone else uses. Disney travel agents are working hard for their money right now, and it's definitely not the same gig it was in the past, but they should not be telling you that they can get you any dining you want. </p><p>I don't really want to throw a dining review in here, but I kind of feel the need because the experience was off-putting and added to the lack of magic feeling. Disney restaurants are expensive so, naturally, we expect great service to go along with the cost. The first ADR for our trip was at Chef Mickey's. The waitstaff was excellent, my diet coke was refilled before it sat empty, the food was tasty and we were asked if we wanted more of items (food was served family style) in a timely manner. This was exactly how Disney dining should be. </p><p>So now let's compare that to The Hollywood Brown Derby. Disney isn't known for having extensive menu options in general, but the options at The Brown Derby, when we were there, were very limited. Because of this, Rich kept going back and forth on what to order. We were also dining at a very odd time, because that's all that was available, so our appetites were in an odd place too. It took forever for our drink orders to be taken and then it took forever for our drinks to arrive. Our waiter seemed agitated that we weren't ready to order when he came back. We were looking at the menu on our phones and he kept bringing over different paper menus and throwing them down on the table. We ended up ordering four meals to split between the five of us. When the food finally arrived at the table, two of those meals were completely wrong. For example, instead of the tomato risotto, we were handed a tomato and burrata salad. When I pointed out that two of the items were not what we had ordered, he seemed pissed at us. We hadn't even eaten yet and I was done with that place. When our correct meals were brought out, our waiter finally apologized for the mix-up. Look, I know people aren't perfect and I know there are staffing issues everywhere, but this guy clearly was not just having a bad day. To top things off, our waiter disappeared for the rest of the meal and we were never asked if we wanted a refill on our drinks. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. </p><p>We've eaten at The Hollywood Brown Derby in the past and all of us thoroughly enjoyed our meal. Now, I have no desire to eat there ever again.</p><p><b>Theme Park Reservations</b></p><p>With the "new" Disney, you now need a valid theme park admission <u>and</u> a theme park reservation in order to enter one of the Disney World theme parks. The theme park reservation system was put in place last year, but was really just a formality for guests until February of 2022. Leading up to Presidents' Day weekend, these reservations suddenly filled up and the boom has continued into the spring. Although, it does appear to have slowed down a little bit. </p><p>When I first heard that Disney had set up this reservation system, I naively thought they were limiting the number of guests in such a way that the parks would never be at high crowd levels. Disney did have a system in place to monitor crowd levels and it was well known that if you planned to visit the parks between Christmas and the new year, you could very well expect for parks to fill and admission to be cut off. I purchased our theme park tickets in February after I saw what was happening with President's Day week and made our reservations as soon as I had my confirmation number. At that time, reservations for all parks were fully open and I had no problem. As we rolled into March, all of the parks for our dates became completely full.</p><p>I don't want this to turn into a "how to book your Disney vacation" but I will say, for those who are new to Disney or haven't traveled there in years, that you need to check the theme park reservation system for availability prior to booking your vacation, and then book your reservations as soon as you have your confirmation number. The theme park reservation system is on the Walt Disney World website - anyone can check it out. Personally, I'm not a fan of this new system as it makes your vacation less flexible.</p><p>If you're visiting a park on a day when reservations are full, expect it to be freaking crowded. Like wall to wall people, lines for the bathroom, 90-120 minute stand-by line for rides, get out of my way crowded. We've been to Disney during moderate summer crowds and this was so much worse than anything we've ever experienced. And that leads me to my next point - no one can predict crowd levels right now. No one knows what it will be like in August or November. The estimated crowd calendars of the past relied on wait times and other information from previous years. Everything is so unpredictable now. We traveled during the third week of April, which is when spring break crowds are supposed to be dying down. And that's exactly what Disney bloggers were predicting back in the fall. And they were all wrong. </p><p>So let's talk about park hoppers for a minute. Hoppers used to be a fairly inexpensive (in the grand scheme of Disney pricing) add-on, especially when spread across four or five days of park tickets. Now, however, those prices have increased fairly significantly. For example, if you want to add a park hopper onto a four day ticket, that's a $90 increase. Remember above when I stated how I originally (and stupidly) thought that Disney was limiting guests to comfortable levels with this new theme park reservation system. Ha! At 2:00 in the afternoon, anyone with a park hopper can hop around to any park they would like. No reservation needed. </p><p>When Disney makes changes, it's usually for their benefit so I'm convinced that this new theme park reservation system is a way for them to anticipate expected crowd levels. </p><p><b>Genie+</b></p><p>Or perhaps it should be referred to as "Genie minus." I don't have enough personal experience with Genie+ so I can't tell you whether it's a complete rip-off or something you should definitely do. I can tell you people I know in the real world, who have used it, were not happy with their experiences and have told me they felt like it was a waste of money. </p><p>Disney is already so expensive, so to take away the free FastPass system and add a paid service, which is complicated to use and doesn't guarantee anything, is infuriating. It would cost a family of five an additional $75 per day to use Genie+. </p><p>We weren't planning to pay for Genie+ but I joined a social media group where people give their experiences, tips, etc. because I wanted to see if maybe there was a way to master the system, so to speak. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, and I admit that I haven't spent a significant amount of time on it, but a paid service should not be so difficult to use. Whenever I start to read game plans and what people did and what people think you should do, my eyes glaze over. Why is this so complicated? </p><p><b>What Disney IS doing right</b></p><p>Because Anna has spina bifida (and all that goes along with it), she was able to use the Disability Access Service (DAS) provided by Disney. Disney has revamped their disability services over the years to try to keep people from scamming the system. (This is why it's usually not easy to find detailed information about DAS online.) In the past, we've been able to use our stroller as a wheelchair so that Anna would have somewhere to sit while we waited in line. During our last trip in 2018, I made good use of FastPasses to avoid long wait times. Neither of these scenarios are options for us at this time. We were very happy and pleasantly surprised with the Disability Access Service (DAS.) The cast members were all extremely friendly and helpful, and the service was easy to use. </p><p>DAS is not a skip the line service. Instead of waiting in line, you wait somewhere else. You can also only have one DAS "reservation" open at a time. Once we figured out how to use it, we planned our time wisely and eliminated crossing back and forth across the parks. Stand-by wait times were ridiculous and there was no way Anna would have been able to spend the day waiting for rides for 90+ minutes. As it was, the walking alone was very tough for her. Being able to use the DAS was a game changer for us. </p><p><b>Parting Thoughts (many of them)</b></p><p>With the recent passing of my father and the girls' 15th birthday days prior to our departure for Florida, I was tremendously thankfully that we had followed through on this vacation. The girls will be wrapping up their freshman year of high school next month and will be graduating in three short years. Each year, they pick up more responsibilities and our availability for family vacations becomes more and more limited. We had a lot of fun while we were in Florida and memories were most definitely made. </p><p>Planning this vacation was frustrating in ways I hadn't experienced in planning prior Disney trips. There was also this underlying sense that Disney was trying to get as much money as possible from us. There's no better way to describe it other than it just felt yucky. I didn't let this impact my feelings while we were at the parks, but every time I saw a dad wearing a <i>Most Expensive Day Ever</i> shirt, I jokingly pointed it out to Rich. I also have to add that the cast members and characters in the parks were fun and friendly, and even though almost all of the lines were long, it was all very well organized. </p><p>We did have an issue with our tickets and Rich and two of the girls visited Guest Relations at Disney Springs. Rich is pretty easy-going and the most non-confrontational person I know. For him to come back and say that the two cast members at Disney Guest Relations were rude and unpleasant was a shock to me and it really added to that yucky, Disney just wants my money feeling.</p><p>I know some may read this and think I'm being a Negative Nelly. I'm not - I promise. I really just wanted to give you my real thoughts and feelings, and not just some fluffy, look at how great my vacation was post. Disney is a different place now. I'm so very grateful we had the means to go on this vacation, but it had it's moments. Having the best day ever when the parks are packed requires a certain state of mind. You need to end the day remembering the happy, fun moments and forget about the frustrating parts. And by "frustrating parts" I'm talking about the crowded walkways, long wait times and lines for the bathroom. (Please also remember, I walk fast, talk fast and have very little patience.) I will say that Disney with three teens is a <i>completely</i> different ballgame. In a good way. </p><p>Should you go to Disney in the near future? Is the magic still there? Is it worth it? Cost is subjective, so a $3,500+ trip for one family may be no big deal, but for others, it may be a once in a lifetime vacation. If you've never been to Disney and you have young children and you believe you will have the chance to go later, personally, I would wait. Like I said earlier, Disney is constantly changing right now and there's no way to predict crowd levels. Imagine paying all that money, spending 8 hours in a hot park with little kids and only being able to do a small fraction of what the park has to offer. The magic is still there, but it may be a little different if you've experienced Disney beforehand or if you're experiencing it for the first time during a heavy crowds. </p><p>As I wrote this, I checked resort availability for the summer and there are definitely many more options now than there were when we booked our vacation. Also, dining seems to be more available as well. So maybe the tides are beginning to turn. No one really knows what the crowd levels at the parks will be though and to me, that's an extremely important factor. </p><p>Surprisingly (or maybe not so surprisingly) enough, I do have more thoughts on this topic but this post (a straight up OG long form post at that) is about to turn into short book so I'll have other posts hopefully soon. Life's a tad bit busy right now. I want to give you my full thoughts on staying offsite and talk a bit about strategy in the parks, especially if you do not want to purchase Genie+. Thanks for reading and see ya soon!</p>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-19718361680037051562020-09-02T21:09:00.000-04:002020-09-02T21:09:22.617-04:00TGUH Monthly Recap - August 2020<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/50299848116/in/dateposted-public/" title="DSC_9797edit"><img alt="DSC_9797edit" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50299848116_ee94cd2560_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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At the beginning of 2020, I thought this summer would be one of travel. I began booking and planning a Florida vacation for June, right after the end of the school year. We were waiting for confirmation on a date for a family wedding in Virginia and we had hoped to combine that with a quick trip to DC. Rich and I had also been invited to a wedding in St. Lucia and, before the world fell apart, we were trying to figure out a way to attend because it looked absolutely amazing. (I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to go because - children.) I also wanted to get over to Kentucky with the girls to visit family. <br />
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None of the above happened but we realize how lucky we are to live so close to the ocean. That has given us a much needed escape this summer. The girls have asked if we can go to Disney next year, and I just don't know. I don't know when I'm going to feel comfortable getting on a plane or visiting a theme park, and, honestly, Disney the way that it is now just doesn't seem like fun. <br />
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<b><u>School Update</u></b><br />
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Last week, we finally received more detailed information regarding the start of school. Teachers will return this week as planned, but students won't be back until the middle of September. The first three and a half weeks will be all virtual learning and then we will switch to a hybrid model. Students will be at school two days a week (either Monday and Thursday, or Tuesday and Friday.) Everyone will be learning online on Wednesdays.<br />
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Unlike what we experienced in the spring, the online portion of school will be actual school. (By the way, I am in no way trashing our school system. No one ever expected schools to shut down and they had to follow orders from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The main concern was that there are kids out there who would not have the resources available at home in order to move forward with school, so teachers were supposed to keep the kids connected and engaged. For most of the spring, school wasn't really school.) Now, attendance is mandatory and students will be receiving letter grades.<br />
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While there are normally three different teams for each grade at the middle school, that all had to be reconfigured. There is a new team now for students who signed up to exclusively learn remote (they will not be returning to the building when we switch to hybrid), and an additional team due to reduction of class sizes. Letters with team assignments are going to be mailed a week before school starts, so there are still some details open right now. Supposedly, students will be in a smaller group and stay with those kids for all classes. I think two of the girls may be together because they both take French and are placed in the same math level. It would be nice if they could all be together but I know that definitely can't happen.<br />
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We're going into this with an open mind. There's nothing we can do to change the way things are so we are accepting of the changes. <br />
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<u><b>New Minivan</b></u><br />
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When the girls were born, I was driving a Volvo sedan and Rich had a Volvo station wagon. I was adamant that I was <i>never</i> going to drive a minivan and we looked into different options but at the end of the day, a minivan is what worked best for us. I balked at the price of pre-owned minivans with 30,000+ miles, and a dealership near us had a new bare bones/zero upgrades model for not much more than the loaded used ones. So that's what we got and I drove that sucker for 13 years.<br />
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We'd been talking about and planning to replace it for a couple of years now. It had reached the point where it was going to need some work put into it. A part had to be replaced over the winter and we knew more repairs were forthcoming. It was also starting to guzzle gas. Rich began looking in February and then everything shut down. We decided to stay with a minivan because it works for us right now, and I really don't care what I'm driving. I didn't even test drive the new one before we bought it. Rich basically looked online at inventory of Siennas and Odysseys and we found a good deal on a 2020 Odyssey so we went with that one. I would have driven the Sienna for longer, but I (or basically Rich) didn't want to deal with any issues, especially on a road trip.<br />
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<b><u>Ankle Update</u></b><br />
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When I registered the girls for dance classes for the upcoming year, I did not sign myself up for adult tap. Dance did not go so well for me last year. All I had to do was land a certain way, and pain would shoot through my ankle. I'd think I was having a good week and then it would act up. I had to take it easy during certain warm-ups and there was a part in the dance we were learning that I was never going to be able to do properly because that second Maxie Ford was painful every single time. <br />
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So I'm going to take a year off from dance and see what happens. My ankle is doing much better now. Back in January, I realized that not exercising for many months had actually not really helped and the muscles needed to support my ankle were now weak. I began wearing a supportive brace and very slowly walking and then running very short distances at a turtle's pace. My ankle still clicks but I'm not experiencing pain like before. The knee I dislocated many, many years ago has been bothering me now instead. Sometimes getting older is not just fun.<br />
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<b><u>Books I Read</u></b><br />
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<i>Jaws</i> by Peter Benchley - I'd given thought to reading this for many years. I've seen the movie more times than I can count and had heard that the book was slightly different with subplots. Gah. In a way, I wish I hadn't read it. This was written in the early '70s so I can see why the sexist commentary is included. People are still freaking sexist today in 2020. But I just couldn't deal with the racist remarks. It really did ruin it for me.<br />
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Benchley went above and beyond in researching sharks and that shows in the book. It's a shame that the cons outweigh the pros, in my opinion. Also, in a way, it felt like he had this great idea for a book, but it sort of fell flat. I usually think books are better than their movie adaptations, but in this case, I prefer the movie.<br />
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<i>Devolution</i> by Max Brooks - I actually do not know how this ended up in my library holds, as it doesn't seem like a book I would want to read. I figured there must have been a reason why I placed a hold on it so I read it and I do not recommend, unless you are really into Bigfoot. I give the author an A for effort but this was a slightly unrealistic account (via diary entries) of a small community who is attacked by Sasquatch after being cut off from communication after an eruption of Mount Rainier. If I was working around the clock to keep myself and others alive, I don't think I'd have time to sit down and write a 30 page journal entry. Maybe that's just me though. <br />
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<i>A Tale for the Time Being</i> by Ruth Ozeki - A journal written by a teenager in Japan who is bullied by her classmates washes up on a remote island on the other side of the Pacific. The book goes back and forth between journal entries and the life of the woman who finds the diary. I really liked this one, even though I wish it had a different ending. Check it out.<br />
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<i>The Poisonwood Bible </i>by Barbara Kingsolver - Wow! This was such an amazing book. A Baptist minister takes his wife and four daughters to Africa (the Belgian Congo to be exact) in 1959 for mission work. The story is told through his wife and daughters and I have to say that the author really gave each character her own voice. One of the things I disliked about <i>Daisy Jones & The Six</i> was how each character "sounded" exactly the same to the reader. In <i>The Poisonwood Bible</i>, it's easy to distinguish the characters' voices. This is fiction but there are historical references and I learned an incredible amount. While I highly recommend, note that this is a longer book and the author does go into quite a bit a detail. Also, it took a few pages for me to get into this book. <br />
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<b><u>Posts in July</u></b><br />
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<a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2020/08/antiquing-storms-and-nature-hikes.html" target="_blank">Antiquing, storms and nature hikes</a><br />
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<a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2020/08/tguh-monthly-recap-july-2020.html" target="_blank">July's Monthly Recap</a><br />
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<b><u>Coming up in September </u></b><br />
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Looks like we'll be back into a routine between school and dance. The school day runs from 7:30 to 2:00 so some people in our home will be up at the crack of dawn. I will not be one of them. <br />
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Here are some of my favorite sunset photos from August:<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/50299164713/in/dateposted-public/" title="DSC_9924edit"><img alt="DSC_9924edit" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/50299164713_2fe041139b_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-34222329176273075882020-08-25T21:47:00.000-04:002020-08-25T21:47:30.016-04:00Antiquing, storms and nature hikesI love antiques and could spend an entire day browsing through antique shops. Put me, my mom and my grandmother together and it's all over with. Last week, we ended up with a rainy day on the Cape with high surf warnings so we decided to drive over to Eastham to explore. <br />
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Our first stop was Buddha Bob's in Eastham. It's a small store (with an outdoor section) that sells buddhas, crystals and antiques. <br />
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There's so much that could be done with that sideboard<br />
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I was there for the antiques, which I have no room for, so it was basically window shopping.<br />
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A beautiful headboard I don't need.<br />
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There was a break in the rain so it was off to Coast Guard Beach (part of the Cape Cod National Seashore) to check out the surf. When we were last here earlier in the summer, we noticed that the bottom portion of the pathway leading to the beach had become extremely steep due to erosion. That path is now closed. We checked it out from the beach and there has been so much erosion, it was basically impossible to have a path there now.<br />
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Just a little chilly.<br />
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We saw several seals close to shore so I pretty much thought this guy was crazy.<br />
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Case in point . . .<br />
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It's funny how they pop up and check you out. <br />
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We've been making more of an effort to get outside and exercise as a family this summer. One overcast afternoon we went "hiking" on two different paths in Brewster. The changing landscapes and salt marshes made it interesting. Google <i>Brewster walking trail guide</i> for more information. There are nature walking/hiking trails all over Cape Cod.<br />
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I can't believe there's less than a week left in August! This summer seems both long and short at the same time, if that makes any sense at all.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-61590693244293013772020-08-06T22:16:00.000-04:002020-08-06T22:16:55.535-04:00TGUH Monthly Recap - July 2020To quote Adele: Hello, it's me.<br />
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I thought I'd give monthly recap blogging a try.<br />
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I know I've been MIA. Life can become complicated and when I stopped blogging (a hobby, not an income-producing endeavor) I realized how much time I was devoting to something that sometimes just wasn't fun. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to say hello and check in. I truly do appreciate it and it reminds me of the old days when blogging felt more like a community instead of a competition.<br />
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If you're on Instagram, I am fairly active over there. I'm easy to find - thegreatumbrellaheist. <br />
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So here's what July looked like for us:<br />
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<b>The New Normal</b><br />
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Some restrictions in Massachusetts were lifted and the girls were able to return to dance at the studio for their summer competition class, which ran once a week for four weeks. There are many, many changes at the studio though. Kids are pretty adaptable and they quickly adjusted to what has become the new normal.<br />
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Class size is limited, they have to wear masks (yes, you can take a breathing break if necessary), no dance bags allowed, everything needs to be labeled, hand sanitizer, hand washing, no parents congregating in the lobby, really no parents in the lobby. No complaints - we all understand the necessity of the new rules.<br />
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<b>Cape Cod</b><br />
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We've been spending quite a bit of time at our cottage on Cape Cod. Rich and I took those last cooler/rainy weekends in May and June to tackle painting projects. There's still a lot to do but we've been focusing on enjoying beach time for now. July was an extremely hot and humid month for us. I believe Boston recorded nine days with temps over 90 degrees for the month. <br />
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This bedroom is covered in wood paneling. We painted the whole room, which takes three coats of primer and two coats of paint. I also painted a bunch of furniture.<br />
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I'll have to do a before and after post some day, but these beds look soooo much better painted a modern color.<br />
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Back in April and May, everyone thought the summer season was going to be a bust. Short-term rentals were not allowed (hotels, houses, condos) and it really was concerning for those who make the majority of their income during the summer. Thankfully, that situation has completely turned around. Rentals are booked solid, hotel rooms are going for $$$ and the real estate market is booming. <br />
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Coast Guard Beach<br />
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Of course this means beaches have been more crowded than I would prefer. The heat waves have played a role in that as well. We've figured out where/when to go in order to avoid people. Towns have reduced beach parking lot capacity in order to combat the number of people on the beach but there are always ways around that. You can walk, get dropped off, take an uber. <br />
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Yummy lobster roll from Sesuit Harbor Cafe.<br />
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Because we canceled our June vacation to Florida, we spent most of the end of June at the cottage. July was mostly long weekends as life began picking up again. Rich is working about 50% at home. I've been trying to help out my parents as much as possible. My dad was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia last fall and he requires 24 hour care. My mom had aides coming in helping prior to the lockdown in March, but it just wasn't safe for them to assist so she had to stop that. I had grand plans of going over and helping her but that first week of shutdowns was a bit of a mess with sickness in our home and I didn't want to spread anything to anyone. But we're in a different place now and I can go over and assist (while wearing a mask, just in case.)<br />
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I love beach roses.<br />
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And so many pretty hydrangeas.<br />
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<b>Books I Read</b><br />
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I just finished reading book number 49 of 2020 this afternoon. Lots of reading going on in 2020. Here's a rundown of what I read in July: <br />
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<i>The One</i> by John Marrs - What if you could be matched with a perfect partner through a simple DNA test? This fiction novel follows five different people who've been matched and what happens to their lives when they decide to contact their matched mates. I thought the idea here was unique and while the book was a quick read, it was also very predictable. I'd definitely throw this one in the beach read category. <br />
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<i>Such a Fun Age</i> by Kiley Reid - I HIGHLY recommend this one. After I finished reading it, I was describing it to Rich and the girls, and they were all like, "Wow, there's a lot going on there." Which is why I cannot understand the reviewers who say they wish this could have had more to it. Perhaps those readers missed the underlying themes. I'm not going to go into the details because I could seriously write an entire post on this book but the author hits upon racism and social class from many different angles. Read it!<br />
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<i>On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous</i> by Ocean Vuong - This is fiction but it reads like a memoir. It's written by a poet, very beautiful but haunting. The book reads as a letter written from a son to his mother. The underlying themes of race, social class, masculinity and sexuality are all present and leave the reader thinking. While I really liked this one, there were some graphic sex scenes. I can understand why and how they tie into the book but reader beware. <br />
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<i>The Silent Patient</i> by Alex Michaelides - I'm a little late to the party here but I thought this was a decent beach read. If you like trendy suspense novels and you haven't read this one, check it out. <br />
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<b>Coming up in August</b><br />
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Well, hopefully we find out exactly what's going to happen with school. Those decisions need to be finalized, approved and communicated to students and parents, so we're in a holding pattern right now. We plan to spend much more time down on the Cape. There's still a lot of summer left here.<br />
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Thanks for reading!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-82815813004936312602020-04-26T20:56:00.002-04:002020-04-26T20:56:39.623-04:00{Tax Talk} Can a fashion influencer deduct the cost of clothing?Hey, everyone. I know I haven't been posting here. With or without a reason, that sometimes happens. I hope you are hanging in there with everything still ongoing. I wrote most of this prior to the world shutting down and I'm sharing now in case you're looking for something different to read.<br />
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As someone who loves tax, I just can't stay away from thinking about and reading up on different tax situations. Blogging about tax as it relates to blogging, social media and influencers (I actually despise that word but it's a generally accepted term now so I'm going with it) is always a bit tricky because it usually generates at least one hate comment or email. Of course, these responses never contain any proof or documentation in support of opposing claims. Someone just wants to tell me I'm wrong. <br />
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Yes, we are all entitled to our own opinion, so please keep in mind that this is a discussion of a tax topic, not a right or wrong guideline. (Also, none of this post should be taken as tax advice.)<br />
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A couple of months ago, I was watching the IG stories of a fashion influencer, who was answering questions from followers. When someone asked her how she determines a monthly budget for clothing, she responded that she doesn't have a budget because she "writes off" many of her clothing purchases on her tax return.<br />
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(Whenever people throw around the term "write-off" I always think of that Seinfeld episode. "You don't even know what a write-off is.")<br />
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If you search the internet for the correct tax treatment of clothing purchases by fashion bloggers/influencers, you'll find two different points of view. Unfortunately, there is nothing specific from the IRS which states exactly how these items should be treated and until the IRS issues guidance related to social media taxation or there's a tax court case that can be used as guidance, it's a little bit like the wild west out there.<br />
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Let's start by talking about clothing in general. The IRS has always made it very clear that only <u>uniforms</u> and <u>costumes</u> <i>required for work but not appropriate</i> for wear outside of work are deductible for tax purposes. If your restaurant job requires you to wear black pants and a white shirt, you would not be able to deduct these clothing items because you could wear them outside of work. The IRS doesn't care if you <i>would</i> wear them outside of work, only that you <i>could</i> wear them outside of work. For the correct definition of uniforms, think of those worn by police officers, nurses, postal employees, etc. (Note, that in recent years, tax law changes have been made with respect to unreimbursed employee expenses, such as the cost of uniforms. For purposes of this discussion, the past treatment of clothing in general is important.)<br />
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In 2011, a television news anchor challenged the IRS when they disallowed her tax deductions of clothing and other items. Anietra Hamper (google her name to read more) stated that the clothing she was required to wear on air for work was extremely conservative in nature so she would only wear those items for work and, therefore, they were deductible. Again, the IRS doesn't care if you <i>would</i> wear work clothes outside of work, only that you <i>could</i>. And, because of that, she lost in tax court. <br />
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Bloggers/influencers are slightly different in that they are purchasing clothing items so they can create affiliate links. That is their business. BUT they are also selling a lifestyle. Do any of them tell us they bought clothing items for the sole purpose of "influencing" their followers to swipe up? No. They tell us how this sundress is perfect for our vacation or how these joggers are so comfortable for running errands. These claims are always accompanied with photos of bloggers/influencers wearing said items on the beach or waiting in the car line at school.<br />
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My point is that we are being lead to believe that these are clothing items appropriate for everyday wear because these influencers are shown wearing said items in their everyday lives. So how are influencers taking the position that they can deduct the cost of clothes purchased for their . . . influencing?<br />
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The IRS allows the deduction of business expenses, which are basically defined as the cost of running a business. A business expense must be both ordinary (common and accepted in your trade or business) and necessary (helpful and appropriate for your trade or business.) This is what influencers are pointing to when they deduct the cost of clothing as a business expense. Is it a stretch?<br />
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The tax world is not always black and white. There are quite often gray areas and until the IRS states exactly how to handle these types of businesses, it's open to interpretation. Likewise, an audit of an influencer could lead to a court case which would provide guidance for future tax positions, but until that happens this is where we're at.<br />
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Keep in mind that the chances of being audited right now are extremely low, and those odds have been decreasing with each year. The IRS doesn't have the resources to increase the number of audits and, obviously, it makes more sense for them to dedicate their time to higher income taxpayers. I would imagine that most influencers would not announce that they'd been audited by the IRS, most especially if it resulted in an unfavorable outcome for the influencer. (That's not very influential.)<br />
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If you're interested in more, check out <a href="https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report-international/social-influencer-freebies-worth-billions-present-tax-temptation" target="_blank">this (short) news article</a> discussing taxing authorities in different countries and their views on taxation of influencers. <br />
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That's all from me for now. Take care!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-24033856549010661492020-03-16T13:45:00.000-04:002020-03-16T13:45:30.604-04:00TimeQuite often, in the evening hours, I sit and wonder where the day went. It didn't always used to be this way. I remember those endless afternoons spent roaming around outside with my brothers and the neighborhood kids. Weekends spent reading book after book. Watching Lifetime movie after Lifetime movie. Now there's the morning rush to shepherd the kids off to school, the after school activities, dance classes, appointments, dinner prep, kitchen cleanup. Blink and the day is gone like a bullet train to the future. <br />
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Suddenly, at the end of last week, that train hit its breaks and everything slowed down. Wednesday afternoon, our public school system canceled upcoming field trips and outings. Thursday, cancelations for sports and activities began rolling. A rumor started that our schools were going to shut down for two weeks. Online drama ensued. <i>What is your source? You shouldn't be spreading rumors. I have a reliable source. I can't work from home. Who is going to watch my kids? Everyone needs to keep their kids at home and not treat this like a vacation. Anyone up for the trampoline park? </i> Scroll, refresh. Scroll, refresh.<br />
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Friday afternoon, with the release of school, an announcement was finally made "canceling" school for two weeks. Teachers were not given any time to prepare for remote learning. We were left with instructions to keep an eye out for further updates. It's like someone hit the pause button and no one knows when life will begin moving forward again. <br />
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Text messages began pouring in last night after dinner. School closed until April 7th. What? Says who? Where is this coming from? Press conference. Governor Baker. All Massachusetts schools will remain closed until April 7th. No gatherings of more than 25 people. Restaurants are only allowed to provide take-out or delivery services.<br />
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Time is now moving at a snail's pace because I want this to be over. I want it to be May, June, July. . . the future. I don't like this unknowing.<br />
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I consider myself a realist. I assess the situation for what it is. Back in January, February, I was flummoxed with the fact that people were still traveling to China, even though the odds of being infected were low. Look up how many people live in China. Over a billion. How many people in China have contracted COVID-19? Approximately 80,000. You do the math.<br />
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What is the rate of stillbirth in the United States? 1 in 160 births.<br />
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How many babies are born in the United States with spina bifida each year? 1,645 babies.<br />
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A statistic is just a number until it happens to you.<br />
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Both of my parents are high risk. My brother with an inflammatory disease afflicting his lungs is high risk. Right now, I'd rather be safe than sorry.Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-49430102345406833952020-02-23T15:29:00.001-05:002020-02-23T15:29:21.403-05:00Everyone loves a meal plan.Here's what we have coming up for this week:<br />
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Sunday - Baked cod, roasted baby red potatoes, asparagus<br />
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Monday - Homemade chicken, broccoli, ziti<br />
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Tuesday - Taco bowls<br />
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Wednesday - Broccoli cheddar quiche with hash browns<br />
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Thursday - Homemade meatball subs. The meatballs are homemade too. Take forever to make but are so very tasty.<br />
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Friday - Pizza!<br />
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Saturday - ? maybe take-out or go outSarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-721854837863603682020-02-16T13:55:00.000-05:002020-02-16T13:55:05.546-05:00Weekly Meal PlanningWhen it comes to domestic duties, I do not enjoy meal planning or cooking, but I do so because it saves money and I feel like we definitely eat healthier. I also do not like to waste food and aim to toss out as little as possible. <br />
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During the school year, we always do our main grocery shopping over the weekend, and then pick up any forgotten items during the week. <br />
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This week is a little different because it's school vacation week with a holiday and there is no dance.<br />
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<u>Sunday</u> - My brother is visiting from out of state so all of my siblings and kids are gathering at my parents' tonight for dinner.<br />
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<u>Monday</u> - We plan to eat out.<br />
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<u>Tuesday</u> - Thin-sliced chicken cutlets (I usually bread and saute), roasted broccoli, broccoli and cheddar rice, cranberry sauce.<br />
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<u>Wednesday</u> - Ribs in the crock-pot, mashed potatoes, baked beans, peas.<br />
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<u>Thursday</u> - Ravioli with red sauce, rolls, side salad.<br />
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<u>Friday</u> - Because someone from our family is at the dance studio over a four hour period, we always do pizza on Friday nights. We like pizza and it's, by far, the easiest meal for us on this day. There is no dance this week so I think I'm going to do a Greek salad with chicken. <br />
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<u>Saturday</u> - Probably pizza.<br />
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-35980991937128918812020-02-15T19:08:00.001-05:002020-02-15T19:08:42.007-05:00{Disney} Hollywood Studios FYIsThis is for anyone planning an upcoming trip to Disney World, or for those who may be headed there in the future and like to stay on top of the changes. If you have no interest in Disney, it's okay to close out. <br />
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<u><b>Changes to FastPass Tiers and New Attraction!</b></u><br />
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* FastPass+ booked for visits on or after <u>February 19</u>, the tier structure has changed. Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run and Slinky Dog Dash will be the two Tier 1 choices (until March 4th.) All other rides and attractions will be in Tier 2. <br />
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* Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway is scheduled to open on <u>March 4th</u>. This has also been added as the third Tier 1 option for visits on or after March 4th.<br />
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* As a reminder, guests can make one FP+ selection from Tier 1 and two from Tier 2. After guests have used their FastPasses for the day, they may book another. (And another after they use that.) I always give the tip of making your FastPasses for earlier in the day so you can add more.<br />
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* So which should you choose? What's the best strategy? The general consensus is that Runaway Railway is going to be the most popular Tier 1 selection for some time. It's the newest ride and the curiosity factor will make it more attractive to guests. In addition, there is no height restriction on Runaway Railway. Both Slinky Dog Dash and Smugglers Run have a height requirement of 38 inches. Presumably, families with little ones will pick Runaway Railway as their Tier 1 FP+.<br />
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* Because Runaway Railway is new, no one knows what the boarding situation will be. Slinky Dog Dash, for example, is slow to board, which is why it has long standby lines. From what I've read, standby times for Smugglers Run have been somewhat reasonable thus far. Unfortunately, some are predicting that standby times for Smugglers Run will increase now as FP+ riders will have priority. <br />
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* Personally, I think I'd go with Runaway Railway for our Tier 1 choice. We've already experienced Slinky Dog Dash, and while we'd like to ride it again, it's generally agreed that seeing something new is more fun. We are not Star Wars fans at all, but still interested in checking out Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge. If the standby time for Smugglers Run is under an hour, we'd definitely wait in line.<br />
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<b><u>Roundup Rodeo BBQ</u></b><br />
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* Last spring, Disney announced the addition of a new table service restaurant to Toy Story Land. Roundup Rodeo BBQ is scheduled to open in 2020, which is a pretty big range of time. Construction on the building began earlier last month but no further updates have been provided by Disney. If you're planning to visit Hollywood Studios later in 2020, keep in mind that there may be a new restaurant to check out. Personally, I feel like table service restaurant choices at Hollywood Studios are weak and I can't wait for this one to open.<br />
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<b><u>Final Thoughts on Planning</u></b><br />
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* I know planning a Disney vacation can seem overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. Keep in mind that despite what some may tell you, you do not need to have every minute of your day planned out. We like to do a mix of planning and winging it. We always have our three FastPasses booked for the day and then we fill in based on wait times, which are so easy to check with the My Disney Experience app. <br />
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* Reading planning blogs and websites is helpful but I also find trip reports to be useful. You can read in detail on how to plan your vacation but planning can be quite different from reality. Seeing what others did or did not plan and how their Disney vacation went can help you in thinking about what to expect. <br />
<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-62124923199612505612020-02-12T07:49:00.000-05:002020-02-12T07:49:45.917-05:00Our New England Winter (thus far)<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49518807096/in/dateposted-public/" title="DSC_7736edit"><img alt="DSC_7736edit" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49518807096_5fba9ba7f2_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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As much as I dislike this cold weather, there's something almost magical when our world is covered in a fresh coat of snow. <br />
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The beginning of December was quite stormy for us, and we fully expected that to continue through the winter based on long term forecasts and predictions, but it has remained somewhat mild thus far, which is not completely unusual. Snow totals, temperature, everything can vary so much year to year.<br />
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I often wonder if the cold air would be more tolerable if there was light. There's a lot of darkness here during the winter months. In December, the sun sets at 4:15 in the afternoon. We awaken in the morning to complete darkness. At least now the sun sets just after 5:00, but there is still so much darkness. The sun hangs low in the sky, barely skimming over the tops of the old pines in the neighbor's yard. When the sky is clear, I like to leave the van in the driveway to use solar energy to heat it up, versus sitting up at the school with it running. Those days are few and far between right now.<br />
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It was pretty for the holiday season.<br />
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We woke up a couple of weeks ago to a dead furnace. Rich and Allie had noticed that the temperature seemed off before we all went to bed so the heat had been off all night. Thankfully, we have space heaters and an HVAC guy. Because our basement was finished after the house was constructed, there's a separate heating unit down there. It's an electric wall unit, like one you would find in a hotel room. So I spent the morning taking care of stuff down there. <br />
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If you're a new homeowner in a cold climate, I would recommend finding a reliable HVAC person before you need one. And keeping a space heater in storage. <br />
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School snow day count = 1Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-57213396019930815342020-01-18T10:24:00.001-05:002020-01-18T10:24:58.903-05:00All the books I read in 2019I read 50 books last year, which is pretty much average for me. I think I say this every year, but I have no interest in participating in book challenges or the like. I'm very satisfied with what I'm reading and currently have several hundred books on my wish list. No need to fix what isn't broken.<br />
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When I record what I've read, I also keep track of which category the book falls into. I think it's interesting to look back and see what types of books I read during the year. <a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2019/01/all-books-i-read-in-2018.html" target="_blank">Last year</a>, I was very much into the trendy thrillers. <br />
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Here's what I read this year:<br />
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<b><u>Fiction/Literature</u></b><br />
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1. Southernmost<br />
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2. The Dinner List<br />
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3. The Forgetting Time<br />
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4. The Golden State<br />
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5. 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World <br />
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6. Florida<br />
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7. The Dinner<br />
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8. Where the Crawdads Sing<br />
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9. The Outsiders<br />
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10. The Topeka School<br />
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11. The Most Fun We Ever Had<br />
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12. Daisy Jones and the Six<br />
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13. Disappearing Earth<br />
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14. Normal People<br />
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15. Fourth of July Creek<br />
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16. The Nickel Boys<br />
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17. Marilou is Everywhere <br />
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18. Fleishman Is in Trouble<br />
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<b><u>Apocalyptic/Dystopian/Sci-fi/Fantasy</u></b></div>
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19. Severance<br />
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20. Of Blood and Bone<br />
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21. The Book of M<br />
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22. The Passage<br />
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23. The Twelve<br />
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24. City of Mirrors<br />
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25. After the Flood<br />
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26. The Testaments <br />
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27. Here and Now and Then<br />
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28. Year One<br />
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29. The Emissary<br />
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30. The Institute<br />
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31. Elevation </div>
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<b><u>Nonfiction</u></b><br />
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32. Behind the Beautiful Forevers<br />
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33. Billion Dollar Whale<br />
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34. Death in Yellowstone<br />
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35. The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace<br />
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36. Detroit: An American Autopsy<br />
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37. Killers of the Flower Moon<br />
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38. American Prison<br />
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39. Bad Blood <br />
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40. Away Off Shore, Nantucket Island and It's People 1602-1890<br />
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<b><u>Suspense/Thriller</u></b><br />
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41. Something in the Water<br />
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42. The Other Woman<br />
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43. An Anonymous Girl<br />
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44. The Au Pair <br />
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45. The Last Summer of the Camperdowns <br />
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46. The Flight Attendant<br />
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<b><u>Memoir/Autobiography</u></b><br />
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47. Heartland<br />
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48. Small Fry<br />
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49. No One Tells You This<br />
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50. American Desperado<br />
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I want to point out some of my favorites for the year: <br />
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The Nickel Boys is definitely one of my top picks. An amazing book. <br />
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The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace is an incredible book. It's very well written and so thought-provoking. And it stayed with me, obviously, as I'm able to select it from a list of 50 books.<br />
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I really enjoyed The Passage trilogy by Justin Cronin. The books are long and I probably would have been able to read six books in the time it took me to finish those three, but reading isn't a contest. I actually like longer, detailed books I can really get into.<br />
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My consumption of trendy thrillers significantly decreased in 2019 as compared to 2018, but if I had to pick one out of the six I read (although that number is probably closer to five as The Last Summer of the Camperdowns was borderline) I'd say the best one was An Anonymous Girl.<br />
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Happy reading!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-71004271339399121602020-01-11T12:09:00.000-05:002020-01-11T12:09:32.904-05:00A Visit to the Cape Codder<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49368022401/in/dateposted-public/" title="DSC_7893edit"><img alt="DSC_7893edit" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49368022401_5b5061dd73_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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For those of you who are local (or, if not local, interested in Cape Cod), I want to quickly talk about our recent visit to the Cape Codder. (And share some photos.) Around here, folks still head to Cape Cod during winter months - the big draw of the Cape Codder is their indoor water park. We headed down there a couple of days after Christmas with family friends for a winter swim break.<br />
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I <a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2019/01/our-weekend-at-cape-codder-resort.html" target="_blank">wrote a long, detailed post last year</a> about our 2018 stay at the Cape Codder and I don't plan to rehash all of that here again today, so if you want more information, head over to <a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2019/01/our-weekend-at-cape-codder-resort.html" target="_blank">that post</a>. Today, I'll just give you the updates.<br />
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I do want to reiterate that the Cape Codder is a wonderful alternative to Great Wolf Lodge, especially if you have kids in elementary school (6 to 10 years old.) It's less expensive and usually less crowded than GWL. And when I say less expensive, for popular dates (weekends, vacation weeks) I'm talking by hundreds of dollars. <br />
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I was discussing the Cape Codder with friends at dance, and we all agreed that it would be a fun place for visitors to Cape Cod during summer months, especially if you are not able to rent a house, condo, etc. The great majority of rentals are on a weekly basis and turn over on Saturdays. Sometimes that doesn't work for certain vacation schedules. Even though it's not located on the water, Hyannis Harbor is a short car ride away and there are plenty of beaches nearby. And, if there happens to be rainy, chilly days, you have the benefit of a heated indoor water park for the kids.<br />
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<b><u>Room Renovations</u></b><br />
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As noted last year, if you read reviews of this hotel online, outdated rooms are a major source of complaint. If that is a concern for you, the Cape Codder has been updating their rooms. Here's what a renovated rooms looks like now.<br />
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I do not have a photo of the bathroom, which was also updated, but we adults did notice that while the tile and other items had been replaced, the old wallpaper still remained.<br />
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<b><u>Water Park on Departure Day</u></b><br />
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I had researched staying here years ago and, when comparing to Great Wolf Lodge, was turned off by the fact that the Cape Codder's website stated how guests were only permitted to use the water park until 11:00 a.m. on the day they check out. Last year, the website was changed to say that guests could use the water park until 2:00 in the afternoon on their departure day. The website has been changed back to state 11:00 a.m. but when we were there, guests were told they could use the water park until 2:00 on their departure day, not 11:00 am. I believe management is making that decision daily based on occupancy and the sale of day passes. During our visit, rooms and day passes were still available. <br />
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<b><u>Snack Bar</u></b><br />
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You are not allowed to bring outside food or drinks into the water park but (of course) there is a snack bar. Last year, we were not impressed with the menu, but they've made changes since then and we ate lunch poolside. The current menu is quite extensive and consists of salads, sandwiches (the chicken caesar wrap was a hit), pizza, nachos and the typical "kid" items such as chicken fingers, mac and cheese, etc. We all enjoyed our food - no complaints. <br />
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<b><u>Palio Pizza</u></b><br />
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We ate dinner at Palio Pizza, located along the main strip in Hyannis with all the shops. This wasn't our first time eating here and it does have good online ratings. For me personally, the cheese:sauce ratio on the pizza is slightly off with too much cheese and not enough sauce, but it's still good pizza. Next time, we'll ask them to add more sauce. (Forgot this time around.) The garlic breadsticks are perfection though. <br />
<br />Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-46592668925203180362020-01-01T10:54:00.000-05:002020-01-01T10:54:28.218-05:00{Sewing} Gifted Tote BagsI know not all of you sew, but for those who are interested, I wanted to share photos and some pattern/sewing information for the tote bags I made for teacher holiday gifts this year. At first, I had planned to make the bags related to the teacher's subject, such as some kind of science fabric for the science teacher, but the girls and I discussed this and we decided to go with the teachers' likes and individual personalities instead. <br />
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(Before I continue, I want to say that we received such heartfelt thank yous for the gifts. It was so much more than I expected and I even teared up reading an email from one of their teachers. And then one morning as I was dropping the girls off at school, their one guy teacher came over to the van to thank me for his gift (not a bag) and ask me questions about the bags. There was just a lot of holiday love flowing that week and it was such a nice offset to the buy-buy-buy and overconsumption that sometimes goes along with the season.)<br />
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Their French teacher loves France and everything French so we did go with a Parisian themed bag for her, but that was the only teaching subject related bag. This was a quilt-as-you-go style with the fabric strips sewn directly onto the fleece interfacing.<br />
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When I was laying out the fabric, deciding the order of the strips, I realized how white/light colored it all was and I feared it would get dirty quite easily so I added the blocking at the bottom, which was easy to do because I already had that black fabric on hand. It's somewhat stiff, almost like canvas. The idea to add the fabric detail to the straps came after seeing someone add ribbon/fabric to the middle of straps made from webbing. These straps are the same black fabric from the blocking.<br />
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For the llama lover . . .<br />
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Llamas are popular right now and there's a fair amount of llama fabric to choose from, but most of it has a desert theme and I didn't want a desert theme. I found this and thought it was perfect. Overall, I was really happy with how the coordinating fabrics looked when the project was finished. <br />
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This one was quilted using the masking tape method - see my notes below.<br />
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For the cat lover . . .<br />
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Those are tiny cat faces (you can see them better in the photo below) and this one was also quilted by me.<br />
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For the beach lover . . .<br />
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Tropical beach or New England beach? I was thinking of anchors and whales with reds and blues for a New England beach theme but tropical beach it was. And, yes, this does look very similar to my dance bag. This was also a quilt-as-you-go where the fabric is sewn directly onto the fleece interfacing.<br />
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This last one was the most difficult with respect to fabric selection. This is for someone who likes glitter/sparkles, cheetah/leopard print and pinks. A sassy bag! I didn't use any coordinating fabric or quilting, etc. because I felt like that fabric was enough on its own.<br />
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Pattern information and other stuff I've learned along the way:<br />
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* The bags themselves are fairly basic/standard but I did add more detail with quilting, etc. I used my own pattern (you can see a <a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2019/03/tote-bag-sewing-tutorial.html" target="_blank">tutorial I wrote here</a>.)<br />
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* For sizing, I cut the main interfacing pieces at 16 inches tall by 17.5 inches wide. I used the smoosh down method (described in the tutorial) for the boxing at the bottom corners. That measurement is 5 inches across. I cut the straps at 28 inches in the length. Finished straps are 1.5 inches wide. <br />
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* For the quilting on the llama and cat bags, I used masking tape as a guide to keep the lines straight and evenly spaced apart. This a trick I discovered online when I first started quilting. (After attaching the fabric to the interfacing, I place it on my cutting mat, which has different angle lines drawn on it. Line up a piece of masking tape along the angle line (for these, I used 45 degrees), and place it on the fabric. When you stitch the quilting, your machine foot should run next to the edge of the masking tape. When you finish stitching a row, remove the tape and place it along the line you just stitched.) Also, you can use the same piece of masking tape over and over until it doesn't stick at all. It really just needs to stick a little. I do have to add that when I need a fresh piece of tape, I de-stick it a little before using so it doesn't leave any residue on the fabric.<br />
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* On the first bag, I decided to use SF101 interfacing on the lining to give it more structure, which I haven't done in the past. After the birthing process (turning it all right side out) and topstitching (my machine doesn't have a lot of underside space), the lining looked so wrinkled. Gah! I ended up sticking an iron in the bag to smooth it out, but that had never happened to me before. Later, I was reading a sewing related blog post while I was researching flex foam and the author mentioned the very same issue with SF101. Apparently, I'm not the only one who has had fabric with that iron-on interfacing wrinkle up, especially while turning right side out. <br />
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* It sometimes feels like I spend just as much time cutting fabric as I do actually sewing the project together, which can be frustrating, but when I go to drop that lining in and it's a perfect fit, I remember that time spent cutting is definitely worth it.<br />
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Happy sewing! Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-22598902708322510862019-12-02T20:41:00.002-05:002019-12-02T20:41:57.177-05:00Fall photos and such<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49149420661/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26e"><img alt="11.26e" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149420661_1f9d62274c_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
When there were still leaves on the trees.<br />
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Term 1 has almost finished up at school, which means we are about one third of the way through the school year. I'm happy we had a short week with school and dance last week. I needed a bit of a break from that daily routine, which starts to get under my skin after awhile. (Weird personality trait.)<br />
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Back in September, we attended a small family reunion. The girls were willing to pose for some photos for me.<br />
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I laughed at how the little one with Emily gave me such a hard time with photos when she was younger, and now she jumps right in.<br />
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You know I love a good sunset photo.<br />
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I couldn't decide which one I liked the most, so you get all three.<br />
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The girls participated in their school's running club this fall. There are no organized sports at the middle school level, only clubs and almost all of them are non-athletic, which is fine. They are each taking three dance classes in addition to their competition team. That keeps us all pretty busy.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49149420836/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26n"><img alt="11.26n" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149420836_e5bcd28359_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49149629377/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26o"><img alt="11.26o" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149629377_ff6be066d2_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
The girls with their BFF, before long overdue haircuts. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49149420761/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26p"><img alt="11.26p" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149420761_518d0e7272_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
And post haircut for this one.<br />
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I don't really have a reason, perhaps life changes, but I haven't been taking as many photos. When I was younger (much younger), I so badly wanted to be able to paint and draw just like my mom and uncle. It comes so easy to them, but sadly that trait wasn't passed along to any of their children (or grandchildren, thus far.) My love of photography came later - more towards the end of high school - and when I realized I was actually good at it, it became my creative outlet. While I'll never be able to paint a beautiful sunset, at least I can photograph one.<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49149420731/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26q"><img alt="11.26q" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149420731_dfe227e9dc_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49148931853/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26r"><img alt="11.26r" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49148931853_d772247e12_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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This is the winter scene that has taken over New England. <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/49149629172/in/dateposted-public/" title="11.26s"><img alt="11.26s" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49149629172_9fab190c9d_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-17384502116730919762019-12-01T19:22:00.000-05:002019-12-01T19:22:38.146-05:00November Book ReviewMy fingers are trying to type that I read five very different books this month, but I really didn't. Well, I did read five books but they were all fiction and three have a future world spin to them, so really not all that different. There was only one in the suspense category and it was meh. Not very suspenseful, in my opinion. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062889362/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0062889362&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=78437a969e48a4765373d0de33e63681" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0062889362&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0062889362" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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I came across <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062889362/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062889362&linkId=253d25d025bc3b93af90733d16b37ec4" target="_blank">After the Flood</a> on my library's main page as the "big read" for October. I thought it sounded interesting so I checked it out (and ended up having to set my kindle to airplane mode in order to finish it.) Ocean waters rise at an alarming rate, flooding the world as we know it. The only land left belongs to the tops of mountains. Seven years earlier, Myra's husband abandoned her and fled with their daughter. Myra, who was pregnant at the time, has since given birth and lives on her own with her young daughter on a small boat, surviving by trading fish she has caught. After learning that her oldest daughter is still alive and being held captive, she will risk everything to find her.<br />
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Sometimes the library big read selections are a bit odd but I really enjoyed this one. As you know, I like books with an apocalyptic theme and I'd say this one fell into that category. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062889362/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062889362&linkId=253d25d025bc3b93af90733d16b37ec4" target="_blank">After the Flood</a> was fast paced and with so much going on, it never dragged for me. There was a lot of depth when it came to details regarding emotions. I would have loved more detail for physical descriptions of places but I can see why the author wrote it the way she did. To add more detail would have made this book much longer. I didn't dislike the ending but I was hoping for more. With the way it is now, there could actually be a sequel. <br />
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If you're looking for something different to read, give <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0062889362/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0062889362&linkId=253d25d025bc3b93af90733d16b37ec4" target="_blank">this one</a> a look.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385543786/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0385543786&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=fc7181d485e7ad8e53ad365900402530" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0385543786&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0385543786" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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I have nothing but high praise for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385543786/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385543786&linkId=417e8ba8cb3ac789e1f35431c0b881df" target="_blank">Margaret Atwood's sequel</a> to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038549081X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=038549081X&linkId=d601d584aa1ecf38830371e619805154" target="_blank">The Handmaid's Tale</a>. If you've read <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/038549081X/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=038549081X&linkId=d601d584aa1ecf38830371e619805154" target="_blank">The Handmaid's Tale</a> and want to know more, this will satisfy your curiosity. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385543786/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385543786&linkId=417e8ba8cb3ac789e1f35431c0b881df" target="_blank">The Testaments</a> is told from the perspective of three females - the highest ranking Aunt and two girls, one who grew up in Gilead and one from Canada. <br />
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If you want to read this, do yourself a favor and don't read anything about the book. Nothing. There are spoilers all over the place. I happened across a monthly book review by another blogger shortly after I had started reading <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385543786/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385543786&linkId=417e8ba8cb3ac789e1f35431c0b881df" target="_blank">The Testaments</a> and I was a bit disappointed when she gave away some plot lines I had suspected, but aren't revealed into later in the book. So I'm not going to say much more so as to not give anything away, but I thought this was an excellent book. I'm really a big Atwood fan. <br />
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I do find it interesting how there are a ton of negative reviews out there and while I am typically a tough judge of books, I really don't see why people are furiously throwing out one and two star reviews. We're all entitled to our opinion but people seem to be so angry over this book. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440000459/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0440000459&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=18d2770258b70c6ef2b9db25e9c21b5b" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0440000459&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0440000459" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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You guys know how much I enjoy reading suspense, even when the plot is a bit of a stretch, but <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0440000459/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0440000459&linkId=530c8f0db5e79955404deb8b7b57fb7e" target="_blank">The Au Pair</a> was not that good. After giving birth to twins Seraphine and Danny, Ruth Mayes jumps from a cliff behind her family's estate. The au pair leaves that very night and returns to London while dark rumors circulate through the nearby village. Twenty-five years later, after their father dies in a tragic accident, Seraphine begins to question who she really is. As she digs up the past, lives are threatened. Are her parents really her parents and who doesn't want her to know the truth?<br />
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After reading the first chapter, I couldn't figure out how this could be a full length book. I thought there was a lot of filler and while it didn't necessarily drag on, I wasn't a fan of how this was written. Some of the character interactions just seemed awkward. Also, there's the fact that I figured out almost all of the plot twists very early on in the book. There were just too many coincidences for me. If you're a fan of suspense, I unfortunately would not recommend this one. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525510877/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525510877&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=f1f80c57d496f230ef13bfeb413aecca" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0525510877&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0525510877" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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Gah! I have such mixed feelings for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525510877/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525510877&linkId=70fc9d24a595f8db5b8a900b9a97936f" target="_blank">Fleishman Is in Trouble</a>. I think the author is a brilliant writer but I didn't love everything about this book. Toby Fleishman, an early-40s doctor, awakens to discover that his newly separated wife has dropped off their children early to his apartment. She communicates that she is traveling to a yoga retreat for the weekend and needed to leave the children with him earlier than the agreed upon Friday night transfer of parental duties. She refuses to answer her phone or respond to any text messages over the weekend and then fails to pick up the children Sunday night. Why did his soon-to-be ex-wife abandon her children and what really happened to their marriage?<br />
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At first, I thought there was going to be some type of mystery aspect here. There really is not. Well, there is in the sense of what happened with these characters, but this is not a page-turner. And that's fine, it doesn't need to be a page-turner. The author hits on so many relevant topics: social status, motherhood, money, marriage, independence, working moms. I really think she did an outstanding job with that. I could relate to a lot of what was written here and I appreciated the depth of emotion, but there was a very slight drag. Mostly with the fact that days went on forever because they were filled with back stories. <br />
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I did not like the rated R writing. In a way, I wonder if it was included as a shock factor. For me, it took away from the writing. I also did not "laugh out loud." Trust me, I appreciated the comedic aspect, such as all the moms wearing tanks and tees with statements like "but first, coffee" but I wasn't laughing. I do admit to having an odd sense of humor though.<br />
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In my opinion, this had the potential for a five star review, but it just missed the mark. And I hate to say that because I really did love what she was writing about. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B4Z433Y/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B07B4Z433Y&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=1bf005ae3a63201aae19d13fc9e6a234" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B07B4Z433Y&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B07B4Z433Y" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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Kin is an IT specialist who lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter. In his previous life, he was a time traveler from the year 2142 who became stuck in current time 1996 after he was seriously injured during a mission. What happens when a rescue team arrives after 18 years have passed to return him to 2142? What about his wife and daughter? What about the forgotten family and life he left behind in the future? And what happens when he learns his daughter's life is in danger? What will he risk in order to save her?<br />
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I really, really enjoyed reading Here and Now and Then. It was fast-paced and moved along without ever dragging. Even though I did crave some more details, that would have made for a very different, much longer book so I can't fault the author for his decision to write this as such. I thought the plot was excellent and gave the reader much to ponder. You don't need to be a sci-fi fan (I'm mostly not) to like this book. Really, I'd recommend it to anyone. <br />
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To read my other book reviews, <a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/p/books.html" target="_blank">click here for all the links</a>!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. TGUH is a participant in the Amazon Services Associates Program LLC, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.</span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-51684849125511102912019-11-24T20:32:00.000-05:002019-11-24T20:32:58.613-05:00Sewing Gift GuideI know you're most likely being inundated with gift guides right now, so I promise to post only one (or maybe two.) The other day, in a sewing group I belong to, someone new to the sewing world asked for suggestions for tools or other items she would find useful. I thought it may be helpful to pull together a list of things I use on a regular basis when sewing for those who are buying gifts for newer sewists. Or perhaps you are newish to the sewing world yourself and would like to see what I use on a regular basis when sewing.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Desk Lamp</u></span></b><br />
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My sewing space is in our finished basement and, unfortunately, that area does not see a ton of sunlight. Around the holidays last year, I picked up <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071W9MMHX/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B071W9MMHX&linkId=fea55c343207868caff017377d915dd0" target="_blank">this table lamp</a> (in white) during a mega sale and it was a game changer. I have it set up on a half-wall ledge shining onto my sewing table and the light is perfect, not harsh at all. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071W9MMHX/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B071W9MMHX&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=e96573b376c0378eb71433c30f00ea4c" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B071W9MMHX&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B071W9MMHX" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;"><u>Sewing Gauge</u></span></b><br />
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I use a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YZ8N46/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B000YZ8N46&linkId=ed829a98c113b2783917b0637ae801a1" target="_blank">sewing gauge</a> for almost every single project I work on to ensure my seams, lines, everything is straight and even. It doesn't take up much storage space and it's super inexpensive.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YZ8N46/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000YZ8N46&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=cd5272931b262b18c049303a660cb3de" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B000YZ8N46&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B000YZ8N46" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Rotary Cutter and Mat</u></b></span><br />
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The easiest and fastest way to cut nice even lines is with a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00168253A/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B00168253A&linkId=8796a62bb593311d3868f9b2a1ef377d" target="_blank">rotary cutter</a> and a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006SDOFO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B0006SDOFO&linkId=f40967aac9061208c24795385ff77025" target="_blank">self-healing mat</a>. The mats can be expensive so I would suggest shopping around for prices and coupons.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006SDOFO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0006SDOFO&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=cdfec8cdb117dbef2b441b8797fd8885" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B0006SDOFO&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B0006SDOFO" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00168253A/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00168253A&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=d8e9e83aa13122847c59fd6098c37836" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B00168253A&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B00168253A" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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And don't forgot a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XNULX8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B002XNULX8&linkId=c0d2d4bb72d289d25ad45f2c167d48c4" target="_blank">quilting ruler.</a><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002XNULX8/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B002XNULX8&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=9d1326867fe3d473e01d5f89a05c7399" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B002XNULX8&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B002XNULX8" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<b><u><span style="font-size: large;">Comic Book Boards</span></u></b><br />
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So, yes, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0023X9UOO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B0023X9UOO&linkId=c9f2053c49cb6f06081e0353613130e3" target="_blank">comic book boards</a> are technically used in storing comic books, but they are very popular in the sewing community for fabric organization. I also use these to copy pattern pieces and create my own templates instead of having to pin a paper pattern onto fabric. The boards are really the perfect thickness for this - easy to cut but not flimsy like paper, so it won't bend or crinkle. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0023X9UOO/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0023X9UOO&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=7cdbafba36926fdad1231e6aca805cbd" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B0023X9UOO&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B0023X9UOO" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Bodkins </u></b></span><br />
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These have so many different uses that I can't imagine not having one. I own both the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WMFVRA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B003WMFVRA&linkId=e4f61f077f10c0dbebd45fc081c52658" target="_blank">ball point</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NAQ23BG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B01NAQ23BG&linkId=b9472bb842ba4a28c7276f5648f0cd66" target="_blank">tweezer</a> versions.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003WMFVRA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B003WMFVRA&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=c2585f9761c9117d342b7ea2fdf2763f" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B003WMFVRA&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B003WMFVRA" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01NAQ23BG/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B01NAQ23BG&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=cb6474cbaff3a3c9a12ee7299a6ead21" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=B01NAQ23BG&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B01NAQ23BG" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><u>Thread and Zippers</u></b></span><br />
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When in doubt, anyone and everyone who sews can use thread. You'd be surprised at how much we use. I always feel like I'm winding a new bobbin. If thread seems like a lame gift on its own, toss a bunch a spools in with something else to beef up a gift box.<br />
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Those of us who sew pouches, wallets, etc. will always be thankful for more zippers. (Check out the store zipit on Etsy. Much less expensive than purchasing individual zippers through craft stores.) <br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. TGUH is a participant in the Amazon Services Associates Program LLC, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.</span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-48273442236016586742019-11-20T21:47:00.000-05:002019-11-20T21:47:08.285-05:00Toy Story + Disney Christmas SewingWhile sales of Disney Halloween items were blah (and that somewhat could have been due to my timing), Christmas sales picked up after Halloween. Today I wanted to share what've I've been sewing.<br />
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To start, I found this fabric at Joann and I think it's the best Christmas fabric Disney has released. <br />
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In prior years, some of the licensed Disney prints have not been very cute. I hope the designer of this one sticks around.<br />
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The girls have outgrown twirly skirts and a couple of years ago, Allie suggested a more grown up looking skirt with a flat front waistband. I did some research and found a couple of online tutorials for a skirt with a flat panel waistband in the front. I made some adjustments and created my own pattern. I prefer to add the elastic at the very end. <br />
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So, yeah, speaking of elastic, the back is stretchy for a more comfortable fit.<br />
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I ended up making two skirts in a girls size 10.<br />
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And then a smaller size dress with the same fabric combo.<br />
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I stopped by Joann to pick up more of that Christmas print and couldn't resist grabbing a couple of yards of a red buffalo plaid fabric. Initially, I was thinking about placemats or perhaps even hoarding it, but then I saw both of the fabrics next to each other and decided it was super trendy and went for it.<br />
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This eyelet lace with the bows is probably the cutest I've come across.<br />
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Another flat front skirt, girls size 8.<br />
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I enjoy creating Toy Story inspired outfits so earlier this year, I made this dress.<br />
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And the same Jessie dress in a bigger size.<br />
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Here's a different version. (I like the above version better.)<br />
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And a cute little skirt.<br />
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This week I started working on tote bags for teacher holiday gifts. I'm infamous for coming up with grand ideas and then running out of time, so I started early. I'll be sure to share when I'm finished!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-21334003178933948882019-11-18T15:16:00.001-05:002019-11-18T15:16:33.693-05:00Parenting x 3Friday afternoon, I picked the girls up from school as usual. On the ride home, they told me about their day and everything that had happened. The difficulty level of their math tests, what they did in gym class, who was misbehaving, who said what. When I say "everything" here, I mean <i>everything</i>. We were almost home when Allie tells me that the teachers handed out a sheet regarding sign-ups for the upcoming parent-teacher conferences. <div>
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I immediately went into spaz mode. Parent-teacher conferences at the middle school are completely different from those at the elementary school. First, they only happen once a year, and second, for most of the teams, there are not enough slots for parents. This means that if your kid doesn't give you the sheet and/or you aren't signed up to receive the team emails and/or you just don't read the team emails, you could miss sign-ups and the teachers aren't all going to carve out time to meet with you at a different date. </div>
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I do find it odd how each team at the middle school has a different method for signing up, but last year, I received an email stating that the link was active for online sign-ups. It was similar to purchasing concert tickets. Thankfully, I had been checking my email and caught it early. The challenge for me is not only getting into the conference slots with all the teachers, but finding three back-to-back. Space is limited on these and they are offered on a first come, first served basis. Once they fill up, you are out of luck.</div>
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This year, the girls' team is offering parents, three options. 1. One night, teachers will be available from 6:00 to 8:00 for five minute conferences, but there are no appointments. You show up and wait in line. There will be two teachers in one room, and three in another room. You can meet with all the teachers, but the assumption is that you wait in two different lines. I'm curious if the teachers really stick to that five minutes, because I know there are some parents who consistently go over the allotted time when it comes to conferences. 2. You can schedule a ten minute conference (these will take place over the course of two afternoons) and meet with all five teachers at once. These are limited and fill up. You sign up for a specific time online. 3. If you can't make it to any of the available conference times or don't feel that you need to meet with any of the teachers, the school can send you the teachers' notes that would have been discussed at the conference.</div>
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I had spent the morning at my parents' house, helping out my dad while my mom went to an OT/PT appointment for her hand. I had stayed for lunch and left to drive directly to the school for pick-up. I knew I had checked my email that morning but I couldn't remember when. As soon as we arrived home, I jumped onto my laptop to check out the situation. The team newsletter had been emailed and it had the same information as the notice the girls brought home but there was no mention of when we could schedule conferences. I know from parents of older kids that sometimes the teams give a date and time. </div>
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I tried the website, entered the girls' names, found the return email giving me a link to book and was able to schedule all three conferences, and I was the first one to do so! Being a spaz pays off sometimes. Not only did I need three back-to-back times, but I wanted to schedule early on in the afternoon (I ended up with the first ones) so that Rich wouldn't be stuck waiting if (when) they went over for the people in front of us.</div>
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So here's the thing - do Rich and I <i>really</i> need to meet with the teachers? The middle school pushes growth and independence for the students and while parent's aren't cut out completely, it's definitely not the same as elementary school. With everything Anna has to deal with given her spina bifida (leaving the class several times a time for nurse's office) and shunt (organizational, processing issues), we should be meeting with the teachers. The kid is an honor roll student but that doesn't mean this conference won't be useful. I'd like to follow up with teachers in person regarding aspects of Anna's 504 and to also remind them that it is stressful for her to miss a portion of class.</div>
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Allie's in a math class she originally wasn't supposed to be in. There's a big, long story about scheduling and how she was one of the students on the border, blah, blah. So she was moved up in a big way and I want to discuss this with her math teacher, who is my favorite by the way. (She did get a 93 on their last math test!) </div>
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Also, there's the fact that the girls want us to meet with their teachers. They want to know that we are fully invested in their schooling, which they take seriously. They want to know what their teachers think of them and if there is anything they should be doing differently. Is it fair to only schedule a conference for one (or two kids) and tell the others, it's not necessary? Life with three = keeping it fair. </div>
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I recently read an interview with a blogger who has an elementary school aged child. She commented how she's always confounded when she hears other parents say that parenting is difficult because parenting doesn't have to be difficult. This isn't the first time I've heard this particular blogger make this statement and I can't tell if she's really clueless or means to be as condescending as she comes across. Maybe she has an easy kid, but I would have much more respect for her if she said something along the lines of "My parenting journey thus far has been fairly easy." Sister, you have one kid who doesn't have any medical issues or learning disabilities, and hasn't even hit the pre-teen years yet. Peace out.</div>
Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-52308595393698735782019-11-15T15:24:00.000-05:002019-11-15T15:24:19.055-05:00What happens when you take months off from exerciseWhen I worked in public accounting, tax seasons were fairly brutal with 80-90 hour workweeks. Plus a commute. I would take that time off from running because I was exhausted and there really wasn't time for any activities other than those that were absolutely necessary. Any and all free time I had went to sleeping. So I'm no stranger to taking off blocks of time from running, but 20 years later, my body is different and bouncing back is not quite so easy.<br />
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My longest chunk of time away from running and working out of any kind was during my pregnancies (back to back) and then life with three newborns. But still I was much younger than I am now.<br />
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At the end of August, I decided to stop running and walking in hopes that my ankle would heal up on its own. (Spoiler alert: it didn't.) My adult tap class was the only exercise I kept that involved using my ankles and I've tried to take it easy on that left leg but there's only so much I can do to baby it. </div>
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I had planned to continue biking and get back to weights, but then my dad was hospitalized and I ended up sick and then it was too cold outside (by my standards) to ride a bike so I did nothing. I don't know what it is about this time of the year, but I have very little motivation when it comes to working out. I think the weather has something to do with it. Well, it definitely doesn't help. My favorite time to exercise outside is late spring through the summer. In other words, when it's above 75 degrees. I hate feeling cold and the last thing I want to do right now is change into running clothes, because even though the heat is set at 70, it still feels cold to me.</div>
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About two weeks ago, I was all like I'm gonna do this and I ran one mile. My ankle didn't bother me. I survived. But running that one mile wasn't exactly easy. Not like it was six months ago.</div>
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I took three full days off to give my ankle time to rest up and then I attempted another mile. That didn't go so well with pain setting in shortly after a half mile. I should note that when turning the wrong way, or sometimes just doing regular, everyday stuff, I'll feel discomfort. Not all the time, but enough to remind me that there's an underlying problem.</div>
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So around this time, something happened to my "bad" knee, which is my right one (opposite of the now "bad" ankle.) I was walking down the stairs at home, felt an extremely sharp pain right under my kneecap and almost fell on the stairs. That repeated itself several times that day, so I spent almost a week hobbling up and down the stairs, fearful that I was literally falling apart. </div>
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When I could finally travel up and down stairs without issue, I hit the treadmill again, but I broke up that one mile run into quarter mile segments. I started off walking a quarter of a mile, than I ran a quarter, walked a quarter, repeat, repeat until I had walked one mile and ran one mile in total. I was pain free in my both my ankle and my knee, but I've been lazy this week and haven't tried it again.</div>
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I still weigh the same as I did over the summer. My clothes still fit the same. I've adjusted how much food I consume because with very little exercise, I'm not as hungry. What I don't like is the loss of muscle and feeling flabby. I like to feel strong. If I need to kick someone's ass (and hopefully that never happens), I want to feel like I have a fighting chance.<br />
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In tap class, we work on strengthening certain muscles and not to sound like I was in the best shape ever, but when our teacher would say, "You should feel that," I didn't really feel much. And I was putting forth a decent amount of effort, because obviously if you half ass it, you won't feel anything. Since class started up back in September, I can feel it. <br />
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Exercise is important for your overall health. Any type of exercise. I often need to remind myself of that. I don't need to be running 20+ miles a week. </div>
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I never paid much attention to my resting heart rate, perhaps because no one ever said anything about it, unlike blood pressure, which was a concern during my pregnancy with the girls. (It was always low, but they kept an eye on it because there was concern it could rise.) At my physical last spring, my resting heart rate was 61, 62. I can't remember the exact number. I looked it up when I got home because it seemed low, but it's actually really good. My mom has to monitor my dad's blood pressure and heart rate so I tested myself last week at their house and my resting heart rate was still 61, 62. My brother said, "Well, don't you run?" Yeah, no. </div>
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When I refer to my bad ankle, it's really not my ankle. There's something going on with the tendons that run along the outside of my ankle. Interestingly enough, some are of the opinion that complete rest is not fruitful as you will be resting muscles that don't need to rest and then you'll need to strengthen those in addition to whatever was healing. <br />
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All I know is I'm an old lady who doesn't know how not to be a runner. </div>
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Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-13174720849023236292019-11-08T20:39:00.003-05:002019-11-08T20:39:56.794-05:00And now it's NovemberThis has been a long week, but one with a fast pace. If that makes any sense. I haven't been able to get my act together to sit down and write here. I've also been absolutely exhausted. I managed to make dinner and clean up Tuesday night, but then I was just sitting in the kitchen with my head resting on the counter. Finally, I gave up and was nice and cozy in bed at 7:30, thinking I could read for awhile. That didn't last long. I was asleep at 8:00. <br />
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My dad come home last week (I think.) Or maybe it was the week before. The days seem to bleed together lately. He's going through an okay period right now and we know it won't last forever, but we're trying to stay positive. I've been going over to my parents' a couple mornings a week to help out or sit with my dad when my mom has her own appointments. One morning, I ran into the grocery store to pick up a couple of forgotten items and there was an elderly gentleman in front of me as I entered the produce section. I suddenly felt this sad anger over the life my dad is being denied. He'll never be able to walk into a store again. (I have such a soft spot for the elderly so my feelings were in no way directed towards a stranger. He was simply a trigger.) <br />
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Anna had another doctor's appointment at Children's Hospital in Boston on Tuesday and while I have no complaints with respect to the care she received at Mass General, if you have a child with spina bifida, Children's is the place to be. There are so many specialists there who work with these kids. It's a shame that years ago we were hooked up with a GI specialist at Children's who had zero SB experience because that was a complete turnoff and made me not want to move over there. We are now with doctors who work with a ton of SB kids and they've been great. Anna's neurosurgeon (shunt stuff) is still with MGH and we have no current plans to change that. <br />
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My one HUGE complaint is the traffic which no one can do anything about. It's like complaining about the weather. It took us an hour and 45 minutes to drive to Children's . We live 30 miles away and most of that is highway or major roads. And yes, we use Waze but there's only so much an app can do. We had to drop Allie and Emily off at school before we could leave and the school doesn't open to students until 7:00. We were there early and a teacher let them in at 6:58. Ideally, it would have been better if we had left at 6:30 but that would have required finding someone to bring A and E to school. Really, we've reached the point in Boston where you need to give yourself 2+ hours to travel 30 miles during rush "hour" which begins at 6:00 am, if not before. So, yeah, there's that.<br />
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I need to go through my fall photos and see what I've already posted. Also known as getting my act together. I hope to be back before another week goes by. . . .Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-46875186704798001612019-11-03T21:28:00.000-05:002019-11-03T21:28:09.587-05:00October Book ReviewI think I found my top pick for the year from the four books I read last month. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385537077/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385537077&linkId=96907dfcd9fe3cb2ef0be230f5eae4e8" target="_blank">The Nickel Boys</a>. Have you read this one? It's super short but absolutely incredible. The other three books I read were really, really good. Hopefully, the good book streak continues.<br />
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Okay, so let's jump right in . . .<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385537077/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0385537077&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=0b61a974ec9a68209f04f3950487501a" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0385537077&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0385537077" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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with <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385537077/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385537077&linkId=96907dfcd9fe3cb2ef0be230f5eae4e8" target="_blank">The Nickel Boys</a>. While fiction, this is based on the real story of a reform school in Florida that operated for more than 100 years. I spent the entire time reading this thinking how does this happen? Elwood Curtis is sentenced to the Nickel Academy, a juvenile reformatory, after making an innocent mistake. This is the early 1960s, Curtis is black and the amount of injustice described here is crazy. But sadly, this is what the world used to be like - and still is in many ways. The author does such an amazing job with this book. I think everyone should read it.<br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385544251/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0385544251&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=5da35dfb303fb5d53814d7e0f3068de4" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0385544251&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0385544251" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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This book was soooo close to a five star rating. There were a couple of things that annoyed me - like so many unplanned pregnancies - but otherwise, I thought this was such a fantastic book. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385544251/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0385544251&linkId=19b6e594a8a53e7518cd717566a46e94" target="_blank">The Most Fun We Ever Had</a> is about the past and current relationships of a family with four daughters. The chapters flip back and forth between time periods and characters, and the author really digs deep into character building and helping the reader understand the how and why of events. At 500+ pages in length, this isn't a quick read. It's a book you settle into. I'm throwing that out there for those who don't like longer books.<br />
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From a personal standpoint, there was something very close to my heart detailed here and I felt like the author really hit on realistic emotions. I can't stand when I read something I've been through or witnessed and it's obvious that the author just wanted to put it in the book and didn't thoroughly research it. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1982110562/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1982110562&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=e520adf39f39d17b950980e3a7a66990" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=1982110562&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=1982110562" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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This is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1982110562/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=1982110562&linkId=2514cf005a41f77299a10a6591a39b29" target="_blank">Stephen King's new release</a> and I simply could not put it down. After being kidnapped from his home in the middle of the night, Luke Ellie awakens in a replica of his bedroom at a place called The Institute. He is held captive with other children with telepathy and telekinesis abilities. They are forced to undergo invasive testing and brutally punished when they don't comply. No one has ever successfully escaped from The Institute but once Luke realizes the future that awaits him and his new friends, he knows he needs to try something. So, yes, there are some dark concepts in here but a lot to think about. You do kind of have to go with the flow near the end. I know some people are hesitant to read King because they believe it will be gruesome but not all of his books are like Cujo or Pet Semetary. <br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525535241/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0525535241&linkCode=as2&tag=thegreatumbre-20&linkId=e25c487b816adb707477792d98405147" nbsp="" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="//ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&MarketPlace=US&ASIN=0525535241&ServiceVersion=20070822&ID=AsinImage&WS=1&Format=_SL250_&tag=thegreatumbre-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=thegreatumbre-20&l=am2&o=1&a=0525535241" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br />
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0525535241/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thegreatumbre-20&camp=1789&creative=9325&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=0525535241&linkId=515c9b291d2118f7be9441398c09e181" target="_blank">Marilou is Everywhere</a> was not quite what I expected after reading the summary, but very well written and overall a great book. Teenager Cindy and her brothers live in rural Pennsylvania. Their mother leaves for months at a time and money is tight with her brothers picking up odd jobs here and there. When an older teen goes missing, Cindy moves in with the missing teen's mother and pretends to be someone else. There are a lot of underlying themes - poverty, mental illness, alcoholism - throughout the book. Things kind of stalled out for me at one point but it's not a long read so that wasn't too big of a deal. <br />
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<a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/p/books.html" target="_blank">Click here for links to all my book reviews</a>.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links. TGUH is a participant in the Amazon Services Associates Program LLC, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.</span>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-80310509556660313792019-10-30T14:40:00.004-04:002019-10-30T14:40:52.642-04:00September DinnersWell, October's just about over so this is probably a good time to catch up on September dinners. I've already shared <a href="http://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2019/09/meal-planning-meals-for-first-week-of.html" target="_blank">what I made for the first week of September</a> so this will be for the remaining three weeks of the month. I did try out some new recipes, which I'll talk about with the corresponding photos. I'm hesitant to try out new stuff because it seems like there are so many bad recipes out there now. You know what I mean? People who are all like "I'm not a cook but I pretend to be one on the internet." Or those who take a perfectly good recipe and change up a couple of measurements and/or ingredients just so they can claim the recipe as their own. Please stop.<br />
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Homemade chicken, broccoli, ziti. Takes a long time to make, but so delicious.<br />
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Pork chops, mashed potatoes and roasted brussels sprouts. I cooked the pork chops in the crock pot with diluted apple cider and I had piled some cut up apples in there as well. I should have put the apples in later but I wasn't going to be home, so they went in early and turned into an applesauce of sorts over the pork chops. Whatever, it was fine. Everybody ate it.<br />
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Eggplant parm with pasta and garlic bread. Maybe also a salad that I didn't photograph.<br />
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Chicken pot pie with mashed potatoes. In order to save time, I typically use gravy from a jar in my chicken pies. Our grocery store really doesn't have many options when it comes to gravy and I was kind of getting sick of what I'd been using so I looked up a homemade option (Pillsbury!) and it is sooooo much tastier. It takes more work, but definitely worth it.<br />
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Chili in the crock pot.<br />
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Shaved steak and cheese sandwiches with grilled peppers and sliced tomatoes.<br />
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Greek salad with falafel.<br />
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Spaghetti squash with a side salad, which was basically whatever was left over from the Greek salad the night before.<br />
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I came across this recipe on IG. It's the one pot cheesy taco orzo by Jo Cooks. Except not all kids like melted cheese in their food so in our home, we add our own cheese at the end. I was super skeptical that this would work out as I was cooking it because I had to wing it with some of the ingredients. I didn't have enough of the taco skillet sauce so I used taco sauce instead. I also used half as much ground beef but added more orzo. As it was cooking, I thought, "Well, there's always cereal for dinner if this doesn't work out." And let's talk about cereal for dinner for a moment. Growing up, we had cereal for dinner on occasion. I don't remember how often but it was often enough that I remember it. If I even mention cereal for dinner now, you would think was people to eat fried liver. <br />
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So anyway, this meal turned out really, really good. Everyone gobbled it up and declared it the best thing ever. Below is a photo of it with the cheese mixed in. I also served cheese quesadillas with it.<br />
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Because the cheesy taco orzo was such a big hit, I decided to try the hamburger helper knock-off recipe from Jo Cooks and that was also a crowd pleaser. <br />
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Stuffed shells (spinach and cheese.)<br />
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Chicken fajitas with mexi-beans. <br />
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Tomato and spinach quiche, with potatoes. I added the leftover peppers and onions from the fajitas to the potatoes.<br />
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Pulled pork sandwiches.<br />
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I'm missing some weekend meals, but the above should give a good idea as to what we've been eating. Friday night is always Pizza Night!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-60033636453467588052019-10-28T14:17:00.000-04:002019-10-28T14:17:18.342-04:00My unsolicited pro photography adviceI picked up five photo sessions this fall from friends and family. Yes, it appears that I'm going to spend years debating over whether or not to do this "professionally." I sometimes feel like anxiety holds me back. Even though I knew everyone I was photographing, I was nervous beforehand. Rich says it's probably because I knew everyone, but I think I'd be more nervous photographing someone I didn't know.<br />
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Two of the sessions were for high school seniors and because of their work schedules and sports, the only time they were available was in the middle of the day. Photographers typically schedule sessions for morning or late afternoon to avoid full sun. Rich, the girls and I were at a mini family reunion type of event at a golf course a couple of weeks before the senior shoots and because it was in the middle of the day and full sun, I had the children pose for me so I could practice my full sun skills. Number one tip with that - find shade. Of course, the day for the senior photo shoots started off partly cloudy and then got really dark. We had picked a park with a ton of shade and it was a bit too dark overall with all the cloud cover but I made it work and everyone loved the photos.<br />
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Allie's faux senior photo<br />
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When I was a senior in high school, our photos for the yearbook were taken by the photography company who took photos of all the students for the yearbook. You wore whatever you would normally wear for school photos and it was business as usual. It's so interesting how that has now changed with photographers offering lifestyle sessions for high school seniors and students submitting those photos to the yearbook. A local photographer, who picks up a fair amount of the high school senior market here, offers 10 minute sessions for $80. That $80 gets you ONE photo. Wait until the girls are seniors. I've already told all their friends' parents that I'll take photos for them.<br />
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Every photographer has an opinion on when one is ready to accept paid client photo shoots. I've relaxed a bit on this over the years, especially after reading a compelling article by a much younger, self-made photographer who pointed out that as long as you're charging your worth, there's a need for photographers at all skill levels. And this is a good point. I still believe you should know how to shoot in manual mode though. You should have mastered the concepts of ISO, aperture and shutter speed and how they all work together. You should aim for perfection straight out of the camera and not rely on editing to "fix" a whole bunch of mistakes. That being said, you should also know how to edit photos. (I'm not even going to get into contracts, legal issues or taxes.)<br />
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This is straight out of the camera - no edits.<br />
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I keep up with local photographers - pricing, popularity, offerings. Social media is huge. I'm on two local FB groups and members are constantly asking for recommendations. Being recommended goes a long way and that leads me to social media pages for photography businesses, which I spend a lot of time perusing. <br />
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Even though I don't have a professional photography business, I like to talk photography so here's my mentoring advice for those starting out:<br />
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* Keep your business social media accounts focused on business. Current and potential clients are following you for photography services. They don't want or need to know that you're excited for Taco Tuesday or that you're happy the Yankees lost. Some personal posting is okay, but I'd keep the attention on photography. For example, some photos (not from your iPhone) of your vacation are obviously personal but will highlight your photography skills.<br />
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* Please don't post bad iPhone photos while apologizing for posting bad iPhone photos.<br />
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* A personal pet peeve of mine is when there is a lack of pricing information. For example, advertising 30 minute sessions with a "text me for more information!" Where I live, one of the top factors in choosing a photographer is cost. If I can't easily see what a photographer is charging, I'm likely moving on. <br />
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* As photographers, we are constantly learning but, in my opinion, there are some skills that should be known before opening yourself up as a professional. For the love of God, please do not post things such as "thanks to youtube, I just learned how to change the ISO on my camera!"<br />
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Alright, that's all from me today. Happy Monday!Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7707332630639933436.post-46350594840651240562019-10-23T21:28:00.000-04:002019-10-23T21:28:14.131-04:00Autumn on Cape Cod<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/48950069036/in/dateposted-public/" title="10.23a"><img alt="10.23a" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48950069036_f494d96e3a_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script><br />
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Columbus Day weekend saw our last overnight stay at the cottage for the season. There's a heating unit that is good for taking out the chill in the common living areas, but doesn't reach the bathroom or bedrooms. In order to keep the pipes from freezing up and bursting, the water needs to be turned off and pipes drained. After <a href="https://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2017/05/water-drama-at-cottage.html" target="_blank">all the issues we encountered our first spring</a> when the previous caretakers had winterized the cottage, we now have a plumber take care of it for us. <br />
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Life is quieter on Cape Cod after Labor Day, but things really kick up at home. Funny how that works out. <br />
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The girls have learned a lot by spending time by the ocean. We were quite surprised to see how narrow the river had become in this section of the beach. <br />
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That sand had been dropped there presumably during one of the storms. It will be interesting to see if it remains that way or changes over the winter months.<br />
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There's always a lot to learn at Nauset Beach. On the sand, we came across chunks of old land that had been <a href="https://thegreatumbrellaheist.blogspot.com/2018/03/destruction-at-nauset-beach.html" target="_blank">uncovered during a storm during the winter of 2018</a>. We didn't see any, but I read that there were horseshoe prints visible on some sections.<br />
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Emily on "antique" earth.<br />
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I love how someone left pumpkins here.<br />
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One bedroom 100% painted. Now it just needs some decor. And the bed needs to be painted....<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thegreatumbrellaheist/48950265867/in/dateposted-public/" title="10.23v"><img alt="10.23v" height="534" src="https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48950265867_c87eb2a7f8_c.jpg" width="800" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Sarahhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09856102708963900512noreply@blogger.com0