Poetry

This month has been particularly windy where I'm at. I was discussing these windy days and all the things with my sister (the one from all the monthly reading posts) and she low-key bullied me into writing a poem. Figured I'd share it here as well. Though full disclosure- I'm not a poet. 

I'm not a poet. 

The wind calls... softly... deeply... quickly... 

A touch.... a breath. Not seen.... felt. 

I'm not a poet. 

The wind snuffs out the candle, it's coming... coming... coming. Whats coming?

The wind longs... It calls. Do you listen? Can you hear? 

I'm not a poet. 

The sky darkens. The wind blows. 

Hair across your face. Cloth flat against your skin. Forward, forward. Onward it whispers. 

I'm not a poet. 

A shiver. A shudder. A leaf carried away

Wind... breath in, breath out. It is  

There is no wind in space. But found in all of us. 

You dont have to be a "poet" to write poetry. 

March Reading Adventures

Greetings friends! Another month another bunch of books to recap. Let's not waste any time- buckle up, hang on and let's go! *I decided write this with the great British bake off on in the background, was I super distracted the entire time? absolutely haha. Needless to say mistakes were made so try to ignore any errors you find*

Book 1: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Titans Curse. Throwing it out there the majority of females I have met began noticing the males of the world much earlier than 14/15 (think like... as early as 7 haha). Also a story where a sister abandons her brother for "family" really rubs me the wrong way and yet when reading it as a child it certainly wasnt something I focused on. Perhaps I was more interested in the idea of being an immortal gorgeous female warrior haha. My how age changes you ;) 

Book 2: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth. Teenage angst is the theme of this book. Steps for proper teenage angst are as follows: 1. Don't communicate. 2. Take everything personally. 3. Always overreact to everything. Love how every teenage book series has a book that is a practice in teenage angst. On a side note (love when the actual plot is a side note) the tale of the Labyrinth and Daedalus wonderfully told with just enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. It also mentioned the myth of Icarus who was the son of Daedalus. Shout to Anna Miriam Brown for writing the most gorgeous song about this myth. You're welcome. 

Book 3: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Last Olympian. Ahh the finale of this saga- is it an adventure? Yes. Are there unexpected twists and turns? Yeah. Is it the best written finale to a boon serieis? No, but that's a hard feat to reach. Does is annoyingly set up another series instead of committing to the ending? Yup. But there you go. Overall I think it ends the series well and thankfully if you choose not to continue the story in the sequel series it stands alone without issue. 

Book 4: Everything is Turberculosis. I wrote a rather decent review on goodreads after completing this book. So I'll just link that here and ask you to go check that out (: 

Book 5: Togo and Leonhard. Maybe your familiar with the 1995 Disney movie Balto or maybe you got lucky and watched the 2019 Disney movie Togo (which Disney removed from Disney+ randomly and since then the movie has quite literally ceased to exist). This book tells the story of Leonard Seppala, renowned sled dog musher, sled dog breeder and trainer, and his most prized lead dog Togo. Most famously they participated in the  1925 serum run to bring the diptheria antitoxin from Nenana to Nome. The book tells the story of Togo little known and semi controversial hero of the serum run. It was a wonderfully simple read with the writing being appropriate for early readers as well. 

Book 6: The Hobbit. To be specific I read an illustrated version of this book and I do think that the illustrations throughout the book helped move the story along at a nice pace. And there is truly something to say to reading as an adult vs a youth haha. I remember the story being much more boring but when I am wrong I will admit it. I was wrong! This book is a delight. There is something cozy about the adventure and there is something about the characters that just feel right. 

Book 7: My Lucky Life in and out of Show Business. Dick Van Dyke is an icon he is the grandpa to us all and I love him. The day he leaves this earth will be a dark day indeed. 100% listen to the audio book because listening to Dick Van Dyke heals the ailments of the soul. However, if you are looking at a hard-hitting story about the horrors of Hollywood or a deeply emotional piece about trials and tribulations (many of our own creations), you won't find that in this book. Dick Van-Dyke tells his life they way he lived it with a lot of lighthearted humor and joy. Does this methodology limit the emotional effect of his struggles (his affair or his struggle with alcoholism for example) maybe, but in some ways, I felt it simply showed us that the man we grew up watching in movies and on television was the real him.

Book 8: Project Hail Mary. If you were to ask me what my favorite book is 9/10 I will say this book. Andy Weir has stolen my heart with his solo character, sci-fi stories. And the magic of this book is beyond words! Ryland Grace is an unexpected science teacher turned astronaut turned hero. Despite the novel being set up as the tale of a single human trying to save earth they balance the narrative with flashbacks that explain the science and introduce us to a host of delightful characters from Russian bomb *whoops* engine making Dimitri to embezzler Bob to optimistic Canadian Steve Hatch you will find one to adore if space spiders aren't really your vibe. Speaking of the solo suicide mission turns into a bro-mance of the century when we meet Rocky space faring engineer set to steal every scene and all our hearts. I won't spoil anything else but I will say READ THIS BOOK! Actually listen to it becuase there's some auditory elements that translate much better off the page. (I do plan to write a blog post discussing the recent film adaptation of this book, for now I will simply say it was good and 100% worth the watch). 

Not quite as many books this month as last but still a fair few. As usual my brilliant and talented sister has written her own March recap and I would highly reccomend checking that out here

February 2026 reading reflections

During the month of February I read an astonishing number of books, especially considering there are only 28 days. TEN *gasp* books to be exact, which again is a lot. So let's recap (forgive my lack of memory I am getting over being sick... and there are so many books on this list and I'm already tired... my goodness... but I will do my level best). Here we go! 

Book 1: Chronicles of Narnia: the Silver Chair. The main children character in this book left much to be desired. All they did was bicker and complain about their adventure. Puddleglum was the only redeeming character in this entire book. And his rather pessimistic outlook on the world was much how I felt reading this book haha. 

Book 2: Chronicles of Narnia: The Horse and His Boy. Not much to report the horses talk, the children bicker, Aslan behaves in ways that make sense only in hindsight. Truly a typical Narnia book. I do think this one is one of the betters in the series and I enjoyed seeing Edmund and Susan if only briefly. Plus I love a good twins separated a birth plot line. 

Book 3: Chronicles of Narnia: the Magicians Nephew. I actually mostly enjoyed this one. Though I had to laught about how he felt the need to explain ALL the things (like the lamp post for example- I mean why give us a reason its a magical world of course there's a magical lamp post we didn't ask). Genuinly it felt like he was trying to weave everything just right so the final book would actually land and not tumble down hill cartoon styles (imagine giant snowball). I am curious what Netflix is gonna do with the story in their upcoming adaptation though. 

Book 4: Chronicles of Narnia: the Last Battle. Ick. My least favorite by far. Despite bringing back characters that I genuinely like (Edmund, Reepicheep, DLF) they had no baring on the story at all. I also felt annoyed by his writing Susan out of the story and I know there has been much said on the topic but my opinion? (hot take brace yourself) He was just being lazy he'd written 8 kings and queens and 7 is a much more religiously significant number so he had to toss one and Susan was the easiest to write off as she was supposed to be off in America and such. Genuinely from her perspective the whole story would be a nightmare. Your entire family is killed in a violent train accident and you are left behind to carry that grief alone? Yikes man, lighten up! This is a kids book. Wouldn't read again but at least I can say I've read it. 

Book 5 : Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. The first of 3 books I read (listened to actually) that inspired movies. Space is cool. This book is cool. The movie about this book is wayyy cool! I loved how indepth this book was about all the individuals and teams that came together to use their brain power to solve the problems and bring the Astronauts home. I found the story engaging and I was on the edge of my seat for entire chapters as we grappled with one crisis after another. Truth be told we probably never would've known Jim Lovel if his space craft hadn't crapped out and we wouldn't still be talking about him if the incredible men and women who worked at NASA and its affiliates didn't do their job well in handling the crisis as they came. I'm so excited that NASA is looking at the Moon again and I am waiting with baited breath to hear the story of another Astronaut that has made the astonishing trip there and back again! (Lets cross our fingers that the April launch date is successful!!)

Book 6: The Rocket Boys. An excellent and relatively short read. It was well written and the pacing was good. Some elements felt odd to include (like his attempt at a "love-life") and others were crushingly sad (like his fathers disinterest and open lack of pride in him, his mother chewing him out for being selfish during the mine accident and his depression after the loss of his friend and mentor being written off as being "bad" and needing to focus on what really matters.). Frankly I'll be completely honest I think the movie October Sky did a good enough job telling the story that you could very well leave it at that and be more that satisfied. 

Book 7: The Burnout. This was a recommendation from my therapist actually (no not as a self help book just as a amusing read). Let me say I was humbled by the fact that I have not read smut until this moment. 🫣 yikes! Haha it was still incredibly tame I know but still. I wrote a pretty decent Goodreads review for this one, which I'll link here. And leave it at that. 

Book 8: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightening Thief. I convinced my sister that we should complete our YA trifecta by reading pjo this month *spoiler we didn't finish the series as we had planned*. This is a solid book! It was a fun read and rather quick. I have fond memories of reading this one following being gifted it as a birthday present. I do think Greek God's are a bit more in style nowadays what with Epic the Musical (which if you haven't listened to it shame on you, your family and your cows go do that righ now!) out and about in the world so it was fun to have that in the back of my mind while reading. 

Book 9: Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Sea of Monsters. A rush read trying to finish before March 1st. I thought it was funny how much world building is thrown into the beginning (things that probably couldve been in the 1st one- like the names of other campers and such). But the ongoing character development is enjoyable and the story moves at a quick pace. Genuinely I got sick right as I was finishing this book so some thoughts and reflections are a bit blurry. 

Book 10: The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The final book of the month! This book tells the inspiring story of tje Washington rowing crew and their efforts to win Gold at the 1936 Olympics. It paints a powerful (and often painful) picture of the depression, and the hurt that it caused so many families. As well as discussing Germany, the Nazis and how even the Olympic Games became part of their propaganda efforts. Throughout the book you learn about the individuals who rowed the boat and the lives that led them there, you learn some elements of the sport of rowing (which in and of itself was fascinating), and you see play out clearly all these boys had to overcome to accomplish their dreams. I listened to the final chapters of this book while on my sick bed which was fitting and gave the courage and perseverance of Don Hume the stoke for the Husky Clipper during that final race a whole new level of meaning! In the immortal words of Lary from Veggie Tales: "I laughed, I cried, it moved me, Bob." This excellent book was made into a pretty good movie but ultimately the movie barely scratched the surface of the story (for good reason the book is nearly 18 hours of audio content and the movie is under 3). Watch the movie to dip your toes in and then make the right choice and listen to the audio book. You won't regret it!! 

Enjoy my sister's substack if you want her perspective on our joint reads and to sneak a peak at what other books she got through this month. 

January 2026 reading review

Another big'ol goal I had for 2026 is to read a significant (yet undisclosed tho arbitrarily 26 via my goodreads) amount of books. I will attempt to include any audio books I successfully finish (full disclosure I do have a nasty tendency of not actually completing those... oops). 

In Jauary  I read a total of 4 books; let's have a little review and discuss, shall we?

Book the 1st: The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold. A sequel to a book I read (last year or maybe the year before) by an author that I read faithfully as a teenager. Now I will not lie this book is in no uncertain terms smut gasp! *or smut as far as I am willing to read, and therefore not actually smut*. Like my tolerance for spicy food my tolerance to spice in books is next to nothing haha. Was it a quick read? Yes! Did it check all the delicious tropes that we love in a good popcorn rom-com? Yes! Was it as good as the first? I don't think so (truth be told I don't remember). However, this sequel is really happening more before/during and sorta kinda after the events of the first so not remembering much of that book didn't really help. Either way if you like tropes, enjoy a spy story and want some smut I'd definitely recommend this one. 

Since my sister is currently solo styling through life we have been actively reading books in tandem. We decided at the end last year that we'd begin 2026 by reading the entire chronicles of Narnia series. Much debate ensued about the order in which to read them. The debate being whether to read them in release date order or narrative chronological order. I pushed for the release date order becuase I felt it would give a more true experience (I won the debate incase you are wondering.)

Book the 2nd: Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Technically the second in the series but the one that most people are familiar with (and for good reason). It holds up as a wonderful stand alone story... and I don't have much else to say about it. The characters behave the way you expect them to and the story is pretty much the same as what you've seen in the movie. The main difference being the book fleshes out Edmond's behaviors and the reasons behind them and the movie builds up the "epic" battles. 

Book the 3rd: Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. If you think the walking found in the Hobbit is annoying you are gonna just luve this book. Haha. Mostly the characters are confused and walk around... a lot, sometimes they even walk around confused. Then there's a single sorta fight and ta-da book over, the end. Favorite part? The absolute drama of Reepicheep loosing his tail and the reaction of all his little mouse buddies. The movie does a good job telling the story (legit tears everytime the Minature character holds open the gate to allow the Narnia's to escape- obvi not in the book) and giving us something to watch other than children walking. 

Book the 4th: Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Eustace sucks, but also the argument could be made that he was definitely kidnapped so maybe he's allowed to suck. This story is enjoyable for a few reason: first Reepicheep reappears and continues to be the most extra. Second the tiny island mini quests where we discover new creates and have new teeny tiny adventures (with invisible mini mushroom people and even a dragon showing up). Is there a third reason? Maybe but aside from those mini quests they really spend the remainder of the time on a boat (not walking though so that's a plus I guess). 

Now, my reviews probably have encouraged no one to read any of these books. That wasn't the goal tho (except for the first one- go forth and read that smut, ladies, gents and anyone else interested in such things.) However, for a more accurate review that might actually lead to reading the books mentioned I'd 100% reccomending my sister's Substack about her January reads.  

Perfecting the Croissant

Happy 2026! A goal for this year is that I bake for myself (i.e. not to fill an order) every month. I decided to add a little spice to this goal by coming up with some recipes that I want to *perfect* the first being Croissants! Fun fact several years ago now I used to work in a french bakery/coffee shop and made Croissants every single day! Truthfully when I left that job I think my Croissants were practically perfect but it's been years haha so we'll see. 

Attempt #1 

Alright so I figure there are 4 areas that mater when perfecting Croissants. Recipe, lamination, proving and baking. 

Recipe: Thankfully I still have a tried and true recipe to work with. I know it's a good recipe!! I also have a pretty good hand on kneading and what the dough should be like. 

Next time gonna use the same recipe. No notes. 

Lamination: around the same time I was working in the bakery my brother got me a French baking Bible (no joke you should see how large this book is haha). It goes through the techniques of Lamination as well as giving some tips so we went with that. The biggest change was after the initail prove you roll the dough to the size needed to fully encase the butter and then you pop that dough into the freezer (I know unexpected but logically makes sense.) Then the folding for lamination happens as you'd expect. With a final fridge rest before rolling for cutting. 

Cutting went well and and rolling was honestly a dream. *See photo 1*

Next time I plan to do things pretty much the same. Maybe make the rolls a little wider for rolling. 

Proving:

Okay intial proving went well, dough doubled and rolled well. I think that one was a 10/10. The 2nd prove not so much. Per the baking Bible I was told to prove with warm water in the oven for 2 hours. I proved... not that long and definitely at to high a heat. 

Next time I will heat my oven for proving while rolling THEN turn it off prior to putting in the dough. I will still use the water at the base to maintain moisture. And I'll probably egg wash prior as per instructions. 

Baking: 

Once fully rolled and improperly proved I had 2 pans on rolls. I (in my rush) baked them together at 350°f it took over 20 minutes and they still didn't have even coloring. The butter leakage was... a lot haha but thats alright lol

Next time I will bake both pans separately. I will start at a higher temperature maybe 375-400°f for the initial few minutes before lowering for the remainder. 

Final thoughts: 

Per the photos attached *photo 2 & 3* I  think overall the recipe and lamination were practically perfect. I'll work on the proving and baking and next time we'll knock this right out of the park! 

Christmas Movie ranking

Per my sister's request, this post will be my official ranking of this year's Christmas Movies. Every year, I watch a fair amount (one might say more than my fair share) of Christmas movies. I definitely have some yearly favorites and a few that have followed me from childhood. Today, sorta jokingly, I went through the movies I've watched so far and ranked them for my sister- she begged me to make this ranking an ongoing thing and to post it to my blog. So here I am, no one can say I don't listen to my big sister. 

However, I am going to simply post this and update it each time I watch a new movie (lol remember when I said I'd update it as I went along haha so funny, past me likes her little jokes) so by the end of the season we will have a grand list of all the movies I've watched (and boy is it a lot haha). 

Christmas Prince 

Rewatchability 5/10

Couple 6/10

Music n/a

Storyline 4/10

Princess Switch 

Rewatchability 5/10

Couple 5/10

Music n/a

Storyline 3/10

Christmas Drop 

Rewatchability 7/10

Couple 6/10

Music n/a

Storyline 6/10

Something from Tiffany's 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 8/10

Music n/a

Storyline 8/10

12 Dates of Christmas

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 7/10

Music n/a

Storyline 7/10

Merry Gentlemen 

Rewatchability 7/10

Couple 5/10

Music n/a

Storyline 4/10

Last Christmas 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 8/10

Music n/a

Storyline 9/10

Barbie Nutcracker

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 5/10

Music 8/10

Storyline 

Ghosting the Spirit of Christmas  

Rewatchability 2/10

Couple 3/10

Music n/a

Storyline 2/10

Santa Claus is Coming to Town 

Rewatchability 9/10

Couple 6/10

Music 7/10

Storyline 8/10

Happiest season

Rewatchability 7/10

Couple 4/10 *Kristen's character definitely should've gotten with Riley, she deserved WAYYY better

Music n/a

Storyline 7/10

Barbie Christmas Carol 

Rewatchability 4/10

Couple n/a

Music 4/10 

Storyline 6/10

Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too 

Rewatchability 5/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 7/10

Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas 

Rewatchability 6/10

Couple 3/10 *only given the 3 because we all know how it actually ends 

Music 8/10

Storyline 6/10

A sudden case of Christmas 

Bonus points for Danny Devito +100,000 

Rewatchability 7/10

Couple 3/10

Music n/a

Storyline 6/10

Jim Carry The Grinch 

Bonus points for the quoteability of this movie +15

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 1/10 *sorry Martha but Grinch can do better 

Music 10/10

Storyline 10/10 

Nightmare Before Christmas 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 3/10 *sorry Jack and Sally stans- their entire relationship arc makes zero sense

Music 10/10

Storyline 8/10

Single on the 25th 

Rewatchability 5/10

Couple 6/10

Music n/a

Storyline 5/10

The Holiday 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 8/10 *Obvi the supirior couple includes Jack Black, I don't make the rules. 

Music 10/10

Storyline 8/10

A year without a Santa Claus 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple n/a

Music 9/10

Storyline 9/10

Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 10/10 *not to be that person but I'm pretty sure the love Mickey and Minnie share is better than pretty much everyone else on this list. 

Music 7/10

Storyline 9/10

Polar Express

Rewatchability 7/10

Couple n/a

Music 5/10 (you forgot this movie was secretly kinda a musical, didn't cha) 

Storyline 8/10

Santa ClausE 

Bonus point for Bernard simply existing +10

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 9/10

White Christmas 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 5/10

Music 10/10

Storyline 7/10

Charlie Brown Christmas 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 5/10

It's a wonderful life 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 9/10

Music n/a

Storyline 9/10

Klaus 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 10/10

Music 10/10

Storyline 10/10

This is Christmas 

Bonus points for the casual inclusivity of this film +10

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 8/10

Music n/a

Storyline 10/10

Love the Coopers 

Rewatchability 2/10

Couple 6/10

Music n/a

Storyline 4/10

Jim Carrey A Christmas Carol 

Rewatchability 9/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 10/10

Mickey's Christmas Carol 

Rewatchability 4/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 7/10

Elf 

Rewatchability 8/10

Couple 4/10 *low-key kinda creepy... but also Zoey Deschanel, so she makes it work 

Music 3/10

Storyline 9/10

Single all the Way 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 10/10

Music n/a

Storyline 9/10

The spirit of Christmas 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 6/10

Music n/a

Storyline 6/10

A merry little Ex-Mas

Rewatchability 5/10 

Couple 5/10

Music n/a

Storyline 5/10

Gremlins

Negative Point for all the goopyness of this film -100

Rewatchability 4/10

Couple 2/10

Music n/a

Storyline 3/10

 Home Alone 

Rewatchability 7/10 

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 7/10

I heard the Bells

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 6/10

Music n/a

Storyline 10/10

Strawberry Shortcake Berry Merry Christmas

Rewatchability 2/10

Couple n/a

Music 2/10

Storyline 4/10

Magic School Bus Holiday Special 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple n/a

Music 10/10

Storyline 10/10

Noelle 

Rewatchability 8/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 8/10

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

Rewatchability 5/10

Couple n/a

Music n/a

Storyline 6/10

Midnight at the Magnolia 

Rewatchability 10/10

Couple 8/10

Music 8/10

Storyline 9/10

And with that my friends I think I can offially say I am done watching Christmas movies for this year! 

 

A hard day...

Today was hard and sad and I'm both tired and sad at the moment. So that's fun. 

Y'know what sucks? Being 28 and for unknown reasons being emotioanlly affected by your parents failed and un-loving marriage. Like what the helly? I don't live with my parents anymore why the f*ck do I feel so hurt and sad by all this bs?

Honestly I know it hurts at any age I just wish it didn't hurt as much and I wish my situation in all this was different.... 

Idk man it just sucks and Im sad.