February Update...

 I had goals and I didn't meet them...So here I am again with a week already gone for March! Better late than never. February was a good month. I finished off a few books. My son had his 15th birthday!

It's still cold but we are getting more sunny days and the time change is this weekend which means more sunny hours in the evening which will be a big boost to my productivity levels...at least in theory.

I finally made it up to the mountains with friends for an early morning snowshoe hike! It was beautiful that day.

G turned 15! I can't believe it. He wanted to go bowling with his best friend and have a sleepover and we also went to the local conveyor belt sushi place. We went last year as well for his birthday, but this year they updated their menu and the sushi was fresher with more variety. We loved it! 

This was our first family puzzle finish of the year! So much fun. The fur was the hardest to figure out. But we put our heads together and finally got it done. Whew!

Grateful For:

A great month in February. I did get a bit of the winter blues but overall the weather cooperated and I had a lot of fun at work celebrating Valentine's Day with the kids there. Celebrating G's 15th was really exciting. And we had a last minute Super Bowl party when we invited our friends over and they helped us eat all the food I had cooked!

Books:

I finished 6 books in February!

Dead Lions by Mick Herron. It's the second book in the Slow Horses series. Excellent and I'm looking forward to reading through the rest soon.

Making It So by Patrick Stewart. I listened to this one on audio and it was just what I needed! I love me some Patrick. I grew up on Star Trek: TNG and it was fantastic to hear about his childhood and how he grew up very poor, how he got into acting, and all the bumps and succusses along the way. He gives a lot of tidbits about each show or movie he worked on or plays, etc.

Snow by Ronald Malfi. I read this one for my 2024 I Read Horror Year-Round Challenge hosted by Michelle at Castle Macabre for the Winter Them or Cover category. It's a new twist on the zombie genre and it was a perfect wintry read in January and February. He is one of my go-to horror authors.

Evolution: A Visual Record by Robert Clark. This is one I've had for awhile and have been meaning to read. I had some free time over President's Day weekend and sat down and read through and looked at the whole book. I highly recommend it! Gorgeous pictures and simple explanations. It's a great introduction.

The Girl Who Drew Butterflies by Joyce Sidman. This is a biography for middle schoolers on the life of Marie Merian, who helped figure out how butterflies and moths formed into adults. She painstakingly kept butterflies and moths and drew each stage of life and how they emerged from their cocoons. She also figured out what leaves and plants they needed in order to do so. She also discovered and recorded many insects and other plant life in South America. It's a beautiful book with many of her original drawings and painting as well as some of her translated diary pages. She contributed so much to science and yet most have never heard of her!

Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson. Henderson gives an account of his childhood and how that affected him but he also does research and goes into what truly helps kids succeed and how to put that into policy or try to. It was a really eye-opening read.

Movies

Last week was the Academy Awards and I didn't do too well on getting through a lot of the movies before the broadcast. I saw Oppenheimer, Barbie, The Society of the Snow, Maestro, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. I've caught up on others this past week. Poor Things was a wild ride! I really enjoyed Past Lives and The Holdovers. There were a lot of solid picks this year! And it was one of the better Oscars over the past few years.

For DH's birthday last week we went to Dune: Part Two, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. I also finally caught up on seeing Marcel the Shell with Shoes On! Very cute and touching. It was unexpected. It has definitely been a good month for movies.

February my favorites were Bottoms, which I thought was hilarious! Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One was highly entertaining, and You Hurt My Feelings, which was a really quiet take on a couple's marriage and the ups and downs that are inherent.

TV

Constellation on Apple TV+ has been weird but interesting.

Looking Forward To:

Today is St. Patrick's Day and I'm making beef stew and soda bread and breaking out some Guinness beer. We'll be playing some games after dinner.

Easter and Spring break are coming up in a couple of weeks. We have a mini stay-cation planned and we're going to see Clue on the stage as well. And we're hoping to get a few things started for our backyard renovation!

It's also March Madness and I'm looking forward to watch both men's and women's NCAA basketball the rest of the month. 

Joining up this week with Deb from Reader's Buzz.