Hello readers! Back to writing as our typically sunny Southern CA experiences their first Tropical Storm since…awhile. I read somewhere that it’s been 80 years since a storm of this magnitude was headed our way? Not sure how accurate that is because I’m grabbing this info from a friend in my bookclub text chat.

So here we are on rainy day schedule, this couldn’t have come at a better time because unfortunately on Friday evening our oldest hurt herself during an acro class at her dance studio. There was a partner trick she was trying for the first time and rather than land on both feet in a squat position, her right foot bent back when she landed.

Thankfully on Saturday morning after spending a few hours at the urgent care, the doctor confirmed that there was no fracture (Thank you God!) and that it was a sprained ankle, She’s on crutches now and put on zero activity at dance or school for a week. I’m just so grateful it wasn’t worse! This is her first injury from dance and hopefully the last.

The rainfall hasn’t been as bad as we anticipated from all the hype that was going on in the news and all the messages alerting us about the approaching storm. What I love about these rainy days is it forces you to just enjoy some quiet time at home. Our youngest has been reading a book and was so excited she finished it today, then she decided to put on her rainjacket and boots and have some fun stepping on the puddles, while her older sister is working on some creative project, and my husband reads the new book he got.

Which reminds me of my own book I need to read, or more like listen to. To be honest, I don’t like audible books. First, because I love the feel of a physical book in my hands, and second, because when I read from a book I create what each character sounds like. The audible steals these two things away from me. But because I had a free credit I decided to get the audible for free. The downside is that when I started to listen to it, I immediately found the voice very similar to the last audible I had listened to so now that character is clashing with this new character. I will say the upside of having an audible book is being able to listen to it while I’m cooking or doing laundry or some other mindless chore. Which allows me to get throught it sooner.

I joined this bookclub 2 years ago when my new friend (back then) invited me to join. What I like about this experience is the new people I’ve met since and the books I’ve read, some of which honestly I never would have thought of reading. The very first month I joined, the book of the month was Carly Simon’s Memoir. All I knew about Carly Simon was that she was a singer and her song You’re So Vain because I remembered it from the movie How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days. To be honest I was not excited to read her book but then from the first chapter I learned so much and by the time I was done I was glad I had read it. It was interesting things about her life and mostly I really enjoyed the creative process and story behind her songs. I think because I love stories that part got me the most. Since then I laugh at some of the genres I’ve had to read, especially the steamy romance novels – which is not a genre I favor at all. I love historical period books.

One of my favorite authors is Kristin Hannah. Her books tear at my heart because she doesn’t give you the typical happy ending but she pulls you fully into the time it’s set and builds some incredible characters. I really want to read her book Firefly Lane, which the popular Netflix series was based on. Had I known at the time when I started watching the series that it was based on a book, I would have read the book first. But by then I was in the second to last season of the series and I didn’t want to spoil the show since it would be ending soon. The first book I ever read by Kristin Hannah was The Great Alone, which had me crying at the end. Since then I’ve also read her books The Nightingale and The Four Winds. All great reads and powerful stories.

One of my favorite books, I do tend to favor anything that takes place during WWII, is All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. I even had my husband read it and he loved it. I highly recommend this one.

Alright that’s all for today.

Stay tuned for more in the life of this mom.