Good morning! How is everyone doing today? Are you adapting to the challenges and changes that seem to be occurring on a daily basis? How is working from home working for you? Are you enjoying all of the family time? Or are you having a hard time adjusting? Whatever you are feeling is totally normal. Just remember, if you are feeling overwhelmed to take a break and step away, go for a walk, reach out to a friend and take a breath, or go sit in the car and cry. These are challenging and frustrating times so it is ok to feel great one day and like staying in bed all day the next.
I found some great things to share with you this week. I hope you enjoy them.
Food
Easy Roasted Herb Chicken Breast from The Iron You.
Asian Lettuce Wraps from Simply Whisked.
Honey Garlic Butter Shrimp from Half Baked Harvest
Chocolate Cake from Celebrate Creativity. I will be making this Sunday!
Interesting Articles
Check Out the AMAZING Landscape Paintings!
Renaissance Women Who Ruled From Behind the Scenes
Why America is Loosing the Toilet Race
Quarantine Art Activity Made with Sugary Sweets
Working from Home? How Not to Eat The Whole Kitchen.
50 Things to Do to Make the World A Better Place While Sheltering in Place
International Treasure Dolly Parton Will Read Us Bedtime Stories During the Quarantine
This is What Depression Does to Your Body
What Literature Can Teach Us About Epidemics
Newspaper Deliveryman Brings Groceries to His Elderly Customers.
30 Days 30 Opportunities!!! A great list.
Scientists Say that By 2050 the World’s Oceans Could Recover From Overfishing, Pollution and More.
If you only read one article, please read this one: How to Go Grocery Shopping During the Coronavirus.
Books
The Bad Seed(read for free on Kindle Unlimited)
An Amazon Best Children’s Book of the Month from the New York Times bestselling author of the Goodnight Already! series
This is a book about a bad seed. A baaaaaaaaaad seed. How bad? Do you reallywant to know?
He has a bad temper, bad manners, and a bad attitude. He’s been bad since he can remember! This seed cuts in line every time, stares at everybody and never listens. But what happens when one mischievous little seed changes his mind about himself, and decides that he wants to be—happy?
With Jory John’s charming and endearing text and bold expressive illustrations by Pete Oswald, here is The Bad Seed: a funny yet touching tale that reminds us of the remarkably transformative power of will, acceptance, and just being you. Perfect for readers young and old, The Bad Seed proves that positive change is possible for each and every one of us.
The Everything Kids’ Easy Science Experiments Book(Free With Kindle Unlimited)
Why is the sky blue? What makes a balloon float? Why can’t I see in the dark?
You can discover the answers to these questions and more with The Everything Kids’ Easy Science Experiments Book. Using easy-to-find household materials like soda bottles and flashlights, you can build bubbles, create plastic–even make raisins dance! All of the experiments are kid-tested and educational–but more importantly, they’re tons of fun! These quick and easy experiments help you to:
- Explore your five senses.
- Discover density and sound.
- Delve into seasons, life cycles, and weather.
- Investigate electricity and light.
- Study the solar system and landforms.
- Examine matter and acids/bases.
This is the perfect book for a rainy Saturday, a lazy vacation day, or even after school. You’ll have so much fun conducting the experiments, you’ll forget that you’re actually learning about science!
On Winston Churchill’s first day as prime minister, Adolf Hitler invaded Holland and Belgium. Poland and Czechoslovakia had already fallen, and the Dunkirk evacuation was just two weeks away. For the next twelve months, Hitler would wage a relentless bombing campaign, killing 45,000 Britons. It was up to Churchill to hold his country together and persuade President Franklin Roosevelt that Britain was a worthy ally—and willing to fight to the end.
In The Splendid and the Vile, Erik Larson shows, in cinematic detail, how Churchill taught the British people “the art of being fearless.” It is a story of political brinkmanship, but it’s also an intimate domestic drama, set against the backdrop of Churchill’s prime-ministerial country home, Chequers; his wartime retreat, Ditchley, where he and his entourage go when the moon is brightest and the bombing threat is highest; and of course 10 Downing Street in London. Drawing on diaries, original archival documents, and once-secret intelligence reports—some released only recently—Larson provides a new lens on London’s darkest year through the day-to-day experience of Churchill and his family: his wife, Clementine; their youngest daughter, Mary, who chafes against her parents’ wartime protectiveness; their son, Randolph, and his beautiful, unhappy wife, Pamela; Pamela’s illicit lover, a dashing American emissary; and the advisers in Churchill’s “Secret Circle,” to whom he turns in the hardest moments.
Live all you can; it’s a mistake not to.”
This is the maxim of celebrated author Henry James and one which his typist Frieda Wroth tries to live up to. Admiring of the great author, she nevertheless feels marginalized and undervalued in her role. But when the dashing Morton Fullerton comes to visit, Frieda finds herself at the center of an intrigue every bit as engrossing as the novels she types, bringing her into conflict with the flamboyant Edith Wharton, and compromising her loyalty to James.
The Typewriter’s Tale by Michiel Heyns is a thought-provoking novel on love, art and life fully lived.
With a little bit of help, the methods of truly relaxing your mind and body, of letting go of stresses and strains, can be learned, practiced, and perfected. Bursting with tips, centering statements, and soothing activities, How to Be Calm will help you to feel more at ease in the world and better equipped to deal with the things that really matter.
Make Your Desserts Even Sweeter-With Salt! Expert baker and blogger Heather Baird of Sprinklebakes shows novices and experts alike how to source, select and bake-and-sprinkle delicious treats. If you’ve ever dipped pretzels in melted chocolate or sprinkled salt over a juicy melon slice, then you’ve discovered the magic alchemy in mixing saltiness with sweetness. The recipes in Sea Salt Sweet take it up a notch, combining these two great tastes in ways you’ve never imagined. Award-winning blogger and master baker Heather Baird teaches you how to use fine artisan salts – from Maldon Sea Salt and Red Hawaiian Salt, to Himalayan Black and French Grey Salt – to make mouthwatering desserts for any occasion. From sure-to-please classics like Chocolate Chunk Kettle Chip Cookies and Lemon Pie with Soda Cracker Crust, to more exotic choices like Black Sesame Cupcakes with Matcha Buttercream or Smoke & Stout Chocolate Torte, Sea Salt Sweet offers delectable “must-try” treats for the salty-sweet lover.
Finds
and this gorgeous Outdoor Pillow, it is pricy but maybe they will have a sale.
I am not shopping right now but I do love to look and I thought you might like to see some beautiful things to use this summer. All of the above from Williams Sonoma, some of the items are on sale and others are new this season.
That is it for this week. I hope that you found something you like. Please share your recipe, books, articles, finds and whatever else you feel like sharing.
Remember to be good to yourself and take care of yourself physically and mentally. If you need help reach out to family and friends. And remember this, we are all in this together and we will get through it.
Be safe, stay home, wash your hands and have a good weekend.
Love this weekly post…as always. Thank you for bringing a smile to my face this morning.
I adore that pillow, but it's kind of pricey. I now have a lot of reading to do this weekend. Thanks!
Brenda
Such great links. Thanks for the reminder about Thai peanut sauce; switching up sauces like that can make yet another stir-fry seem completely different.
The literature link is interesting. Camus's The Plague is obvious. I haven't read Geraldine Brooks's latest, which is shameful because I know her and she's lovely. I'd add Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider, one of the few novels about the 1918 plague.
SO MANY GOOD THINGS TO READ!
I LOVE THE BOOK ABOUT THE BAD SEED!
DID I miss your phone call?
I hope you got my THANK YOU NOTE in THE MAIL…………..XX