Movie - Despicable Me 4

PG (1:34)

Wide release 7/3/2024

Viewed 7/29/2024 with Tristan at the Carlisle Theater

IMBd:  6.3/10

RT Critic:  56  Audience:  88

Critic's Consensus:  Fast paced and teeming with slapstick gags, Despicable Me 4 is as overstuffed as a piñata but full of enough candy to give audiences an enjoyable sugar rush.

Cag:   4/Liked it a lot 

My comments:  I wasn't looking forward to it (animated!) but Tristan said he'd like to go, and I'm taking every opportunity to spend time with this now-14-year-old!  It ended up being a very good movie that I liked a lot.

RT/ IMDb Summary:  Gru welcomes a new member to the family, Gru Jr., who's intent on tormenting his dad. However, their peaceful existence soon comes crashing down when criminal mastermind Maxime Le Mal escapes from prison and vows revenge against Gru.

67. The Children's Blizzard by Melanie Benjamin

listened on Libby

355 pgs.

2021
Adult Historical Fiction
Finished 7/27/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.95
My rating: 4.5
Setting: 1888 Dakota Territory

My comments: Entrancing historical fiction based on true events where on January 12, 1888 an unforgiving blizzard belted the Dakota territory and killed many people, mainly kids that were walking home from school on the prairie.  We follow a number of main characters for many years, finding the outcomes of all their lives.  Good , but sad story.

Goodreads synopsis:  The New York Times bestselling author of The Aviator's Wife reveals a little-known story of courage on the prairie: the freak blizzard that struck the Great Plains, threatening the lives of hundreds of immigrant homesteaders--especially their children.

The morning of January 12, 1888, was unusually mild, following a long cold spell, warm enough for the homesteaders of the Dakota territory to venture out again, and for their children to return to school without their heavy coats--leaving them unprepared when disaster struck. At just the hour when most prairie schools were letting out for the day, a terrifying, fast-moving blizzard struck without warning. Schoolteachers as young as sixteen were suddenly faced with life and death decisions: keep the children inside, to risk freezing to death when fuel ran out, or send them home, praying they wouldn't get lost in the storm?

Based on actual oral histories of survivors, the novel follows the stories of Raina and Gerda Olsen, two sisters, both schoolteachers--one who becomes a hero of the storm, and one who finds herself ostracized in the aftermath. It's also the story of Anette Pedersen, a servant girl whose miraculous survival serves as a turning point in her life and touches the heart of Gavin Woodson, a newspaperman seeking redemption. It is Woodson and others like him who wrote the embellished news stories that lured immigrants across the sea to settle a pitiless land. Boosters needed immigrants to settle territories into states, and they didn't care what lies they told them to get them there--or whose land it originally was.

At its heart, this is a story of courage, of children forced to grow up too soon, tied to the land because of their parents' choices. It is a story of love taking root in the hard prairie ground, and of families being torn asunder by a ferocious storm that is little remembered today--because so many of its victims were immigrants to this country.

66. Priscilla, Princess of the Park by Pat LaMarche

#1 Priscilla series
read on Kindle (not available on Audio)
111 pgs.

2020
Middle Grades Realistic Fiction
Finished 7/27/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.88
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Carlisle, PA

My comments: Illustrated by Bonnie Tweedy Shaw!

Goodreads synopsis:  An endearing novel about five young children, a charismatic compassionate woman, and the perils of homelessness. As the children fall madly in love with Priscilla, they begin to wonder about the story of their mentor. The children's homes are filled with everyday drama and excitement. Priscilla teaches life lessons that help them cope and find joy - as well as a sense of community.

65. The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman by Gennifer Choldenko

listened on Audible

320 pgs.

2024
Middle Grades CRF

Finished 7/20/24
Goodreads rating: 4.55
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary American city

My comments: Hank is 11 and his baby sister, Boo, is almost 3.  Their mom has an alcohol problem, a major one, and one day she doesn't come home.  After a week goes by and they're totally out of money, Hank has to figure out what to do.  Watching all the problems of a boy who works very hard to be good and kind as well as the thought-processes he goes through are the highlights of this book.  I feel like a lot happens that is rosier than would actually happen in real life - especially with the child welfare system - but it's nice to have a feel-good story with lots of positive people.

Goodreads synopsis:  When eleven-year-old Hank’s mom doesn’t come home, he takes care of his toddler sister, Boo, like he always does. But it’s been a week now. They are out of food and mom has never stayed away this long… Hank knows he needs help, so he and Boo seek out the stranger listed as their emergency contact.

But asking for help has consequences. It means social workers, and a new school, and having to answer questions about his mom that he's been trying to keep secret. And if they can't find his mom soon, Hank and Boo may end up in different foster homes--he could lose everything.

Gennifer Choldenko has written a heart-wrenching, healing, and ultimately hopeful story about how complicated family can be. About how you can love someone, even when you can’t rely on them. And about the transformative power of second chances.

64. Starling House by Alix E Harrow

listened on Libby

320 pgs.

2023
Adult Gothic mystery
Finished 7/15/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.81
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Kentucky

My comments: I didn't take notes and as I go to write this many months later, I can't remember the nitty gritty, but I do remember that this was an interesting read.

Goodreads synopsis:  A grim and gothic new tale from author Alix E. Harrow about a small town haunted by secrets that can't stay buried and the sinister house that sits at the crossroads of it all.

Eden, Kentucky, is just another dying, bad-luck town, known only for the legend of E. Starling, the reclusive nineteenth-century author and illustrator who wrote The Underland--and disappeared. Before she vanished, Starling House appeared. But everyone agrees that it’s best to let the uncanny house―and its last lonely heir, Arthur Starling―go to rot.

Opal knows better than to mess with haunted houses or brooding men, but an unexpected job offer might be a chance to get her brother out of Eden. Too quickly, though, Starling House starts to feel dangerously like something she’s never had: a home.

As sinister forces converge on Starling House, Opal and Arthur are going to have to make a dire choice to dig up the buried secrets of the past and confront their own fears, or let Eden be taken over by literal nightmares.

If Opal wants a home, she’ll have to fight for it.

63. A Flicker in the Dark by Stacy Willingham

listened on Libby

357 pgs.

2022
Genre/Level
Finished 7/14/24
Goodreads rating: 3.99
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary Louisiana

My comments: For me, I think, it's hard to enjoy a story when you don't like or understand the protagonist.  To do really brave things without consequences for the final outcome, then refuse to do simple things that would be quite easy ... well, I don't get it.  Not too many surprises although it seemed to take forever for the final eents that pull the entire story together.  It was aggravating for me to hear Chloe go on and on and on and around and around in circles.  What a twit.  

Goodreads synopsis:  

Goodreads Choice Award

Nominee for Best Mystery & Thriller (2022), Nominee for Best Debut Novel (2022)

When Chloe Davis was twelve, six teenage girls went missing in her small Louisiana town. By the end of the summer, Chloe’s father had been arrested as a serial killer and promptly put in prison. Chloe and the rest of her family were left to grapple with the truth and try to move forward while dealing with the aftermath.

Now 20 years later, Chloe is a psychologist in private practice in Baton Rouge and getting ready for her wedding. She finally has a fragile grasp on the happiness she’s worked so hard to get. Sometimes, though, she feels as out of control of her own life as the troubled teens who are her patients. And then a local teenage girl goes missing, and then another, and that terrifying summer comes crashing back. Is she paranoid, and seeing parallels that aren't really there, or for the second time in her life, is she about to unmask a killer?

In a debut novel that has already been optioned for a limited series by actress Emma Stone and sold to a dozen countries around the world, Stacy Willingham has created an unforgettable character in a spellbinding thriller that will appeal equally to fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.

Skywriting -- a poem by Laura Purdie Salas

 What a great poem for two voices!

Easiest Simple Fabric Bookmarks

Thanks Jona Giammalva!

You have three "unfinished" edges....but who cares?

All you need is two pieces of fabric 9" x 1.5"

Iron-on thin stabilizer (Pellon 72 is suggested)

10" of a thin ribbon.

eyelet, if desired, but don't need

Complete directions are on her website here.

Sugar-free Jello Whips (Made with Yogurt)

Ingredients:

1 pkg. sugar-free jello mix

1 cup unflavored yogurt  (apparently Greek yogurt makes this fluffier)

Note: some people used a flavored yogurt to go along with their jello choice.

Add 3/4 c. boiling water to a boil and add jello mix.  Stir until it's completely dissolved.

Make 1 cup ice water by measuring 1 cup of ice and filling with water until it tops the cup.

Add ice water to jello mixture and stir until all the ice is melted.

Add yogurt to jello mixture and blend on high.  Using a hand mixer works as well.

Chill for two hours.

Thanks Resolution Eats....I took this from your website.

Unbelievably Easy Tissue Holders

Thanks so much, Ronda Winstead!

Find her YouTube Video HERE

I bet they take LESS THAN five minutes to make!

Ten-Inch Square Heart Block

Love this!  Thanks Pin Cut Sew.

YouTube Video is here.

62. Clammed Up by Barbara Ross

#1 A Maine Clambake Mystery

listened on Audible

378 pgs.

2013
Adult cozy mystery
Finished 7-9-2024
Goodreads rating: 3.92
My rating: 3.75
Setting: contemporary Maine coast

My comments: I don't usually go for so-called "cozy mysteries", but I liked the cover of this one.  Maybe I just miss a good lobster dinner, but I thought I'd try just for the heck of it.  It really wasn't too bad.  I wasn't especially fond of the narrator....I think if I read it myself I would have given the protagonist a totally different demeanor.  Her voice sounded younger than 30 years old, more excitable, and even made her sound a little bit more know-it-all than I imagined her.  Pretty decent mystery with a lot of local color, set in a small community just a 10-minute or so drive from Bath.

Goodreads synopsis:  Julia Snowden returned to her hometown of Busman’s Harbor, Maine to rescue her family’s struggling clambake business—not to solve crimes. But that was before a catered wedding on picturesque Morrow Island turned into a reception for murder. When the best man’s corpse is found hanging from the grand staircase in the Snowden family mansion, Julia must put the chowder pot on the back burner and join the search for the killer. And with suspicion falling on her old crush, Chris Durand, the recipe for saving her business and salvaging her love life might be one and the same.

All Mid-Atlantic Shop Hop 2024 - Day 1

This brand new shop hop began on July 1st, but I was in Maine.  On my two-day trip home I headed down to the Philadelphia area to hit one or two (it ended up being three) shops on my way home.

1.  Byrne Sewing - New Britain (Doylestown) PA

Super nice woman, lots of Berninas, surrounded by a lovely assortment of fabric.

Would definitely go back.

I purchased the Shop Hop panel with all six states and six 1/4-yard slices of Australian/Aboriginal fabrics.  I've got to get going on that quilt, I have more than enough fabric now!

2.  Stitch Central - Glenside, PA

Loved this store.  Lots of fabrics and LOTS OF YARN!

A GREAT Sunday drive - yes, they're open on Sundays year round!

3.  Seamless Sewing Arts - Phoenixville, PA (near Valley Forge in a cute shopping center)

Smallish.  The older woman working there was a little snotty.  The younger woman, I think a newish employee, was very nice.  Wouldn't make a special trip to come here again.

61. The Paradise Problem by Christina Lauren

listened on Libby

352 pgs.

2024
Adult RomCom
Finished 7/6/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.14
My rating: 3.75
Setting: Contemporary exotic island in the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean

My comments: Somewhat typical Christina Lauren, where there's a decent story, quite a bit of sex, and everything - including quite a bit into the future - is all wrapped up tidily. There are a couple of thigs that I did not like...the protagonist's pink hair didn't work for me.  The other is the insistence of Liam to not be completely honest with Anna about what had happened 11 years previously.  It seems so stupid because de seems a pretty honest person.  Watching the indulgences of the super, ultra rich vs. the poverty of people tat don't have enough money for medical assistance just truly drove me crazy.  But it sure was an entertaining story.

Goodreads synopsis:  Christina Lauren, returns with a delicious new romance between the buttoned-up heir of a grocery chain and his free-spirited artist ex as they fake their relationship in order to receive a massive inheritance.

Anna Green thought she was marrying Liam “West” Weston for access to subsidized family housing while at UCLA. She also thought she’d signed divorce papers when the graduation caps were tossed, and they both went on their merry ways.

Three years later, Anna is a starving artist living paycheck to paycheck while West is a Stanford professor. He may be one of four heirs to the Weston Foods conglomerate, but he has little interest in working for the heartless corporation his family built from the ground up. He is interested, however, in his one-hundred-million-dollar inheritance. There’s just one catch.

Due to an antiquated clause in his grandfather’s will, Liam won’t see a penny until he’s been happily married for five years. Just when Liam thinks he’s in the home stretch, pressure mounts from his family to see this mysterious spouse, and he has no choice but to turn to the one person he’s afraid to introduce to his one-percenter parents—his unpolished, not-so-ex-wife.

But in the presence of his family, Liam’s fears quickly shift from whether the feisty, foul-mouthed, paint-splattered Anna can play the part to whether the toxic world of wealth will corrupt someone as pure of heart as his surprisingly grounded and loyal wife. Liam will have to ask himself if the price tag on his flimsy cover story is worth losing true love that sprouted from a lie.

60. Pitch Dark by Paul Doiron

#15 Mike Bowditch, Maine Game Warden

listened on Audible

304 pgs.

2024
Adult series murder mystery
Finished 7/4/2024
Goodreads rating: 4.28
My rating: 4
Setting: Contemporary Maine woods, Jackman and US/Canada border.

My comments: This book was a bit different than his previous books which had Mike Bowditch out and about doing his investigating in different parts of Maine.  In this one he and his father-in-law are out in the woods tracking a bad guy and his young daughter.  A bit of adventure, some survival skills, pondering clues, and near-catastrophes and very close calls make this an interesting adventure.

Goodreads synopsis:  Legendary bush pilot Josie Jonson can’t believe her luck when a skilled builder just happens to show up after she purchases land near Prentiss Pond. All Mark Redmond asks in return for building Josie’s dream cabin is that he be left alone to homeschool his 12-year-old daughter, Cady.

For Maine game warden investigator Mike Bowditch, the intensity of Redmond's secretiveness is troubling, especially in light of suspicious criminal activity being reported around the area―including rumors of an armed man offering large sums of money in exchange for the location of Redmond and Cady. Josie, though hesitant to violate the trust of her prized builder, eventually agrees to fly Mike and his father-in-law Charley Stevens to the secluded pond in an attempt to protect Redmond and Cady. But hours after landing, the trip takes a dark turn when they witness a horrific murder and are taken captive themselves.

Freeing himself, Mike is forced to set off through the impenetrable Maine forest towards Canada, alone and unarmed in pursuit of a mysterious fugitive. As he navigates a windblown landscape choked with deadfalls and blocked by swollen streams, he marvels at his enemy’s bush craft. The killer possesses skills surpassing his own, and Bowditch can't tell if he is the cat or the mouse in this dangerous game. Can Mike Bowditch stop his adversary in time to save the life of a young girl, or will he be forced to watch another innocent soul die?

All Mid-Atlantic Shop Hop

Day 1

1.  Byrne Sewing Connection, New Britain PA (Doylestown) 7/7

2.  Stitch Central, Glenside, PA 7/7

3.   Seamless Sewing Arts, Phoenixville, PA (near Valley Forge) 7/7

Day 2

4  Snyder's Sewing Center, York, PA 7/10

5.  Sew 'N Sweep, Westminster, MD 7/10

6.  Simply Stashing, Littlestown, PA  7/10

7.  Danner's Bernina, Hanover, PA 7/10

Day 3 - Just went downtown!

8  The Fabric Center, Carlisle, PA  7/11

Day 4

9.  In Stitches, Stouchsburg, PA  7/17

10.  Burkholder Fabrics, Denver, PA  7/17

11.  The Old Country Store, Intercourse, PA  7/17

12.  The Quilt Shop at Miller's, Soudersburg, PA  7/17

13.  Half Moon Handwerks, Camp Hill, PA  7/17

Day 5

14.  Sew N Place, Fayetteville, PA  718

15.  Stitch - N - Time, Greencastle, PA  7/18

Day 6

16.  118 Fabrics & More, Sweet Valley, PA 7/19

17.  Sue's Quilt Creations, Towanda, PA (Burlington) 7/19

Day 7

18.  Serendipity Stitch, New Bloomfield, PA 7/20

Day 8 (Day 1 of 2-day bus trip)

19.  Bear's Paw Fabrics, Towson, MD 7/22 #1 on Bus Trip Day 1

20. Domesticity, Baltimore, MD 7/22 #2 on Bus Trip (no purchases) Day 2

21.  Spring Water Designs, Columbia, MD 7/22 #3 Day 1 Bus Trip

22.  Capital Quilts, Gaithersburg, MD 7/22  #4 Day 1 Bus Trip

23.  Artistic Artifacts, Alexandria, VA  7/22  #5 Day 1 Bus Trip

Day 9 (Day 2 of 2-day bus trip)

24.  The Quilter's Studio, Fairfax, VA  7/23  #1 Day 2 Bus Trip  (Yukkers)

25.  Sew Magarbo, Ashburn, VA 7/23 #2 Day 2 Bus Trip (no purchases)

26.  Webfabrics, Purcellville, VA 7/23 #3 Day 2 Bus Trip

27.  Charlotte's Cottage, Frederick, MD  7/23 #4 Day 2 Bus Trip (no purchases)

28.  Patches Quilting & Sewing, Mt. Airy, MD  7/23 #5 Day 3 Bus Trip

Day 10

29.  Hoover's Bernina, Mifflinburg, PA  7/27

30.  Connie's Collectables & Quilt Shop, Duncansville PA  7/27