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.

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.

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