Life’s Little Moments

I want to take a moment and say thank you to those who have emailed or commented asking about my wife. She is recovering nicely and has her two week follow up this week.

I returned to work on Thursday. I was supposed to be off Thursday and Friday, but my wife decided I was driving her crazy being home and sent me back early. While I really wasn’t ready to go back, it did allow me to put back some hours in my PTO bank.

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Saturday, my wife said she was going crazy being in the house. She asked to go to Target to walk and shop. We packed every one in the car and spent a good hour walking through the store. As we walked, my kids were literally tossing item after item into the shopping cart! We told them that they could each get one thing. Apparently, they heard one “PILE” of things.

When we got home, my wife went into our room and laid back in bed. It was a lot for her to be out and on her feet that long. I suppose that is why I was surprised when Sunday she asked to go to the Barnes and Noble. I asked if she was sure she wanted to do that. Her answer was a resounding YES.

Again, we packed up the kids and headed to the book store. The kids each got to pick a book and Sam found the one she was looking for as well as another that was recommended to her. There has been a book that I have been waiting to hit the Libby/Hoopla apps, but it hasn’t. So I decided to treat myself to it. I just hope it is as good as all the reviews I read about it.

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We had some nice weather this week, which was great for the kids. They couldn’t wait to get out on their scooters and ride them up and down the sidewalk. They are already asking for their bikes, which are all the way at the back of the garage. At some point, I need to start bringing out the spring/summer stuff so I can get them out.

It will be the annual “Seasonal Shuffle.” The Christmas stuff, which is currently in the front of the garage, along with the snow blower, will have to come out. Then the Barbecue, and other spring lawn furniture will come out. Then the riding lawnmower and lawn tools will come out. That will get me to the bikes and motorized car the kids have.

Once it is all out, I shuffle the winter stuff to the back of the garage. I’ll put the Christmas stuff up in the loft. Finally, I will bring the spring/summer lawn stuff back to the garage so that it is in the front and I can access all of it. It will stay that way until it’s time to shuffle again in the fall. Fun stuff!!

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Ella has been working on her reading. Her teacher says she is really excelling. Other kids in her class are working on sounding out words, too, but Ella is reading.

Tuesday, the teacher sent a book home for her to practice. Yesterday she got to read it to the class. She did it without help! The teacher said her classmates watched her and listened in awe.

We are so proud of her!!

The worry now is that she will be so far ahead in kindergarten that she’ll get bored. I hope that isn’t the case.

Book Recommendation – A Talent For Murder

According to my Goodreads “Year in Books,” I read 60 books last year. I was a bit overzealous when I said I wanted to read 100.

Among those 60 were The Kind Worth Killing and The Kind Worth Saving by Peter Swanson. They feature Lily Kintner and Henry Kimball. Two friends who become friends in a very odd way. No spoilers here. In June of 2024, he released A Talent For Murder. This is the third book to feature Henry and Lily.

It recently became available on the Libby or Hoopla app from my library. It is a book that you can easily read as a stand alone if you had to. Any reference as to what happened in the first two books, is brief and not rehashed. I have stopped many books in a series because the spend half the book retelling the previous book.

This book had plenty of suspense and I really enjoyed it. Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

A newlywed librarian begins to suspect the man she married might be a murderer—in this spectacularly twisty and deviously clever novel by Peter Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of The Kind Worth Killing and Eight Perfect Murders.

Martha Ratliff conceded long ago that she’d likely spend her life alone. She was fine with it, happy with her solo existence, stimulated by her job as an archival librarian, constantly surrounded by thought-provoking ideas and the books she loved. But then she met Alan, a charming and sweet-natured divorcee with a job that took him on the road for half the year. When he asked her to marry him, she said yes, even though he still felt a little bit like a stranger.

A year in and the marriage was good, except for that strange blood streak on the back of one of his shirts he’d worn to a conference in Denver. Her curiosity turning to suspicion, Martha investigates the cities Alan visited over the past year and uncovers a disturbing pattern—five unsolved cases of murdered women.

Is she married to a serial killer? Or could it merely be a coincidence? Unsure what to think, Martha contacts an old friend from graduate school for advice. Lily Kintner once helped Martha out of a jam with an abusive boyfriend and may have some insight. Intrigued, Lily offers to meet Alan to find out what kind of man he really is . . . but what Lily uncovers is more perplexing and wicked than they ever could have expected.

Swanson is one of those writers that is creative and throws many surprises at you. I am already excited to see his next offering.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Book Recommendation – Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man

One of the hardest things about using my library’s Libby App is the occasional wait. This was the case recently as I had finished one book and was waiting for another. When this happens, I usually go to the other Library App (Hoopla). It is there that I will grab something short to read until my book becomes available.

I began to search for something like a short mystery when I stumbled on a title that screamed “Film noir.” The audio book was a little over 6 hours long. That’s three trips back and forth to work, so I borrowed it. Viviana Valentine Gets Her Man is a 1950’s detective story and didn’t take a lot of thought to get through.

As I read it, in my mind I pictured an old black and white detective movie. There were the occasional slang words (like “dollface”) that added to the “noir” feel. It wasn’t something that blew me away, but it wasn’t a bad little read.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

Life as a secretary in New York just got tougher when Viviana Valentine’s boss winds up dead in this debut historical mystery, perfect for fans of Susan Elia MacNeal and Frances Brody.

New York City, 1950. Viviana Valentine is Girl Friday to the city’s top private investigator, Tommy Fortuna. The clients can be frustrating, and none more maddening than fabulously wealthy Tallmadge Blackstone, who demands Tommy tail his daughter, Tallulah, and find out why she won’t marry his business partner, a man forty years her senior. Sounds like an open-and-shut case for a P.I. known for busting up organized crime—but the next day, Viviana opens the office to find Tommy M.I.A. and a lifeless body on the floor.

The cops swoop in and Detective Jake Lawson issues a warrant for Tommy’s arrest. Desperate to clear Tommy’s name, Viviana takes on the Blackstone case herself. When she goes out for a night on the town with the heiress, she begins to learn the secrets behind Tallulah’s life and loves—and discovers that the body in the office is none other than Tallulah’s betrothed. Meanwhile, Lawson is itching to solve his murder case, and continues harassing Viviana for answers—until she’s the victim of an attack by a group of goons hooked up with a gangster named Santino Napolitano, a.k.a. Tino the Conderoga. Tino’s connected to the death of Tommy’s brother, and now he’s trying to get to Tommy through Viviana.

But Tommy’s still missing, and Tino is still out for blood. As Viviana digs into the dirty history of the Blackstone empire, she suddenly realizes the true danger at hand. Now, it’s up to her to find her missing boss and make sure she doesn’t turn up D.O.A.

I plays out just like an old movie and was enjoyable. If you are looking for a book you can get through quick, check it out.

3 out of 5 stars.