Ember Costumes and Crafts

 Well it has been about a year since I blogged here regularly. I have to admit that I had some difficult time mentally and emotionally from about August through February, but I have slowly been feeling more like myself over the past several months. Over the fall and winter I did not sew anything, or read much of anything, or listen to any audiobooks, or play any games, so I really had nothing to blog about. I kept busy with the kids and the house, but my only outlet at all was writing.  By Christmas, when I was writing a family update letter for my friends and relatives I described all the cool things that everyone had been up to that year...but I couldn't think of a single nice thing to say about myself. It was hard to articulate, but I didn't feel  like me. I cleaned my house and fed my kids and did what was required, but I had no desire to do anything beyond that. I refused to leave my house (except for food) and I spent all of my free time at home on my laptop writing. Fort

 Reading The Lady Astronaut Series The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal I read this one and I kept hoping it would get better as it went along and...it never did. It wasn't a bad book, but the main character got on my nerves all. the. time. I think it was a case of her first person narration saying one thing and then the character actually doing another. Or maybe it was how perfect and woke everyone was even though the story featured a lot of people of color in the 1950's and 60's. (Except for the One Racist Character and the One Sexist Character of course). It just felt flimsy and I wanted MORE tension and conflict over those topics, including in the main character's head. And also her narration about her perfect, sexy, wonderful, supportive husband got old fast. There was no conflict there.  Or maybe I just didn't like it because alternate history stories are Not My Jam and I need to stop reading them. Again, the idea was super interesting (An asteroid fa

 Reading Wintersteel (Cradle #8) by Will Wight I know I just read and  reviewed this, but I wanted to read it again before the newest book came out...and I liked it just as much the second time! This is such a fun series!  I really wish this series would get more mainstream attention, and I'm surprised that it went under my own radar for so long. I heard that Daniel Greene (a booktuber) did a review recently, I'll have to check that out and maybe his hype will help people get interested in this series.  Bloodline (Cradle #9) by Will Wight The newest Cradle book just came out, and it was great! It was super gratifying to go back to where the main character started and see how much he has changed and how much his old village sucks haha. We get some good backstory and the lens is starting to zoom out even more on the characters and their place in the world... and the universe.  It was really fun reading this as soon as it came out and getting to talk about it with John. I'm so

Moving with 4 kids is a trial to say the least! I've gotten a lot of the house unpacked (or at least usable) but my sewing room/office is sadly neglected. I've had a few evenings here or there to work on it, but it is slow going and low priority. I am dying to get back to sewing, and not just because I am behind on baby quilts. There have been 2 new babies born among my cousins in the past two months!  I don't want my desk against the wall. Also I hate the color of the walls. Also I hate the tiny window that looks out at the driveway. I miss my beautiful view of the giant oak tree at the old house. -_- My helpers are the worst. I'm not kidding!  Also we have too many books. And too much stuff.  I have to get with Gunnar and we have to make some real choices!  

We MOVED! A few weeks ago we closed on a house a few blocks from where we are currently renting, and yesterday, we moved!  We are so grateful and blessed, and so thankful for the people in our lives who made this possible.  So instead of sewing, this month I have been working on moving!    John epoxied the floor, my dad hung some cabinets and added lights and switches, and we all painted the garage!  (Even Rosemary helped paint!) We got new furniture to set up (bunk beds for boys)  Made some repairs  And of course...so much packing!!! and now...so much unpacking!!! This is how me and Rosemary feel about unpacking:  Exhausted!!

 Whoohoo! Look at me getting this up at the end of the month instead of several months late!  Reading  Morning Star (Red Rising Book #3) by Pierce Brown This was everything I could have wanted for the ending of this trilogy. Honestly, this series is one of the best things I have read in years. It continued to surprise me and I absolutely couldn't put it down. I thought about it all the time when I wasn't reading it, and I texted John my reactions repeatedly throughout my reading of the entire series. The world-building, the technology, the plot, the characters both good and bad, the themes...it was all incredible. If you like sci-fi even a little bit, you should read this series NEXT. The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin This was a puzzling book, kind of slow and not what I was expecting. It reminds me of some of the Ender books, and the characters are not very sympathetic--in fact, it kinda seems like they're all bad guys.. It was interesting, but I didn't particularly