The updated movie list, Ask Madeleine & Sophia, and the best printer ever
An Updated Movie List
Rarely a month goes by when I am not asked for an updated Movie Night list. Once I handed off this updating task to my oldest girls, this transformed from a neglected task to one that stays up-to-date.
Here is the download of the movie night list which tracks nearly every movie my husband and children have watched on Friday evenings since 2008! When we received that cardboard box of old Disney VHS tapes, we never dreamed that what would ultimately materialize would be Movie Night, which for us is the sacred family tradition of Daddy + homemade popcorn + movie + pj’s + snuggles on the couch on Friday night.
»»»»»Download Our Family Movie Night List Here««««««
Ask Madeleine & Sophia
The folder labeled “AMB must respond to” in my email inbox grows larger by the week…month…year. I start emails and then never finish them because I want to give each note the time and attention it deserves but that I usually lack. This communications failure is an equal opportunity offender, regardless of whether the correspondent is someone I know in person or is a reader of my newsletter who lives across the country.
I feel guilty about not responding, then succumb to the fact that all my words and thoughts and emotions are normally spent by 11:00am. I then resolve to pick a day, or month, or year, to respond to folks…and then never do it.
A lightbulb went off last week when a faithful reader asked me a question in response to my last newsletter (this reader is so faithful that, though I have never met her, she graciously gifted us the funds to buy a top-of-the-line air purifier last summer when she heard how sick I was, and that mold was playing a factor). This was my revelation: what if Madeleine and Sophia (ages 17 and 15 and for whom email is still a delight and not a burden of adulthood) were to answer some of my inbox? Maybe it would get done! Thus, if anyone sends me questions, I may very well forward them along to my girls, in which case you can expect a more timely response than something akin to the Office of Circumlocution. [#DickensReference. If you have not seen or read Little Dorrit, do it this weekend!] And as a bonus to this readership, I can also include their Q&A in a future newsletter.
Q I immediately ordered the Jennifer A. Nielsen series you recommended. Do you have other book recommendations for that age group?
A
The Westing Game by: Ellen Raskin
Peter Nimble and the Fantastic Eyes by: Jonathan Auxier
The Mysterious Benedict Society by: Trenton Lee Stewart
The Wingfeather Saga by: Andrew Peterson
Ashtown Burials by: N.D. Wilson
Ella Minnow Pea by: Mark Dunn
Jane Eyre by: Charlotte Bonte
The Princess Bride edited by: William Goldman
The Purloined Boy by: C.R. Wiley
Hattie Big Sky by: Kirby Larson
The Count of Monte Cristo by: Alexandre Dumas
The War that Saved My Life by: Kimberly B. Bradley
The Scarlett Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
The Best Printer Ever
A year ago, a local homeschooler gave me the first and only printer recommendation I have ever received. Keep in mind, I am from the Extremist Camp that says when we are out of printer ink, too bad! We can’t refill it because it’s such a waste of money! So we have often gone for months without having printer ink - not to mention that the sin bordering on heresy is printing in color. Do Not Even Try It. So yes, all my children have grown up with printer ink-deprived childhoods. But at this recommendation, I took the plunge and it was the BEST PRINTER MONEY ever spent. This thing is literally worth a hundred times its value. The color printing is astonishingly good, so we now print with reckless abandon in black/white and in COLOR. But the value per printed page is where it’s at. We print hundreds of pages of sheet music each month, we all love to create signs and cards (using tons of colored ink) and all sorts of paper goods/gifts/crafts. And….we have not refilled a single ink cartridge in nearly a year. Buy it now, and forever hold your peace. You won’t regret it, and it will save you a regular trip to the office supply store.
What I’m Reading Right Now
*Plato: The Trial and Death of Socrates
*C.S. Lewis: The Weight of Glory (re-read)
A Micro-Health Update + The Problem of Navigating Platitudes
These last couple of months I’ve seen more improvements in my overall health. Stamina and energy continue to be a huge issue, however, along with some dizziness and unexplained shortness of breath. For example, last week I was out of the house on 3 different days and had one treatment on Friday, which meant I slept 10 hours for two consecutive nights and took 3 naps on both Saturday and Sunday. My personal newborn baby sleep schedule is not ideal with a house full of teenagers and a 9-year-old, a homeschooling docket, a family band, and a traveling husband - but it’s so far superior to being trapped in bed for months at a time that we just keep plowing on.
All you fellow moms know that from the moment you have your first baby in your arms, every well-meaning human being you meet says “the days are long but the years are short.” I personally have had that said to me hundreds of times these past 17 years, and I normally just respond with a blank stare. (Platitudes are not encouraging to me, but admittedly I’m a tough cookie).
What I have discovered this past year is that once you stumble into the world of chronic or unexplained long-term illness, the well-meaning platitude becomes: “it took you a long time to get this sick and so it will take a long time to get you better.” I have heard that at least 50 times in the last 11 months from various practitioners and providers. I know the intention behind it (encouragement), but it’s hard to mask my blank stare. What may be more encouraging is - I’m so sorry you’ve been through this. I can only imagine how difficult it’s been for you and your family. Then a smile and (this is key!) a change of subject. It’s really, really hard to keep talking about health and sickness for this long. I have found myself to be an anti-hypochondriac and thus have a strong aversion for documenting ailments and mysterious symptoms. But I know that people ask and want to hear details because they care, have prayed for me, or helped in some way — all of which have earned my eternal gratitude. So the vacant look in my eyes is not one of fatigue with the concern so much as it is fatigue with the sickness. Navigating the ins and outs of long-term sickness is tricky, and much grace is required from all parties…and that’s all I’ll say about that.
Until next time!
Allison