Living a Joyful Life

  What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Roasted pork, beets Tuesday: Leftovers Wednesday: Salad Thursday: Stuffed pepper & zucchini fritters Friday: Leftovers I'm not sure about the weekend. What I'm Reminiscing About... I've been thinking a lot lately about when my nephews and nieces were little. They have grown up so fast. (2 nephews in college, 2 nieces in college, a nephew who's a senior in HS, a niece who's a junior in HS, a nephew who's a sophomore in HS, a nephew in 7th grade, a nephew in 5th grade, and a nephew in 2nd grade). What I'm Loving... Spending time with my mom, spending time with my cats, watching baseball, visit to see my family. What I've Been Up To... I visited my family for two weeks this month. I had a good time seeing everyone but my pain is so bad that it affects so much of my everyday life.  ^Personal photo that I took a while back when I was going to visit my family.^ What I'm Dreading... Being in pain every day. W...

  Here are the books I read in July: If Something Happens To Me –Alex Finlay My Rating: 5 stars This is another mazing novel from Alex Finlay. I love that his novels are dual POV’s. I did not see the twists coming in this one.   Rage –Linda Castillo (Kate Burkholder #17) My Rating: 5 stars This is the newest novel (#17) in the Kate Burkholder series. I love this series so much and I can’t recommend it enough. The novels are very easy reads so even though there are 17 of them, you’d be able to get through this series quickly. This is an Amish mystery series following Kate Burkholder who is formerly Amish and is now the Chief of Police in the Amish town she grew up in.   Mansion Beach –Meg Mitchell Moore My Rating: 4 stars (really 4.5) This is Meg Mitchell Moore’s latest novel. I really like her writing and I enjoyed this novel so much.   Call of the Loon –K. Sinko My Rating: 4 stars (really 3.5) This is the first novel I read by this au...

  What We're Eating This Week... Monday: Salmon and salad Tuesday: Burger and fries Wednesday: Reuben & chips Thursday: Reuben & salad Friday: Late lunch (Chiptole) Saturday: Salad Sunday: Stir fry What I'm Reminiscing About... My trips to visit the lake during the summer. I've been going to this lake since I was a little girl. What I'm Loving... Spending time with my family, being at the lake. What I've Been Up To... Spending time with my mom, trip to visit my family, trip to lake with my dad. What I'm Dreading... Nothing at the moment. What I'm Working On... Filming videos for my Youtube channel and planning out my August content for my channel. What I'm Excited About... I went to visit my family. During that trip, I went to the lake with my dad for 5 days. My dad, nephew Joey, and I went to a Mets game and we saw David Wright being inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame and have his #5 retired. David Wright is my all time favorite athlete and I w...

  Here are the books I read in June 2025: A First Time for Everything –K.L. Walther My Rating: 5 stars Another amazing novel from start to finish. I absolutely adore K.L. Walther and her writing. I loved everything about this book and this is definitely one of those books I wish I could read again for the first time.   Atmosphere –Taylor Jenkins Reid My Rating: 5 stars Wow, this book was incredible. I enjoyed it so much. I have loved all of Taylor Jenkins Reid novels. A significant part of this story was the relationship between the main character and her niece and I loved that storyline (and the other storylines in the book as well) so much. As an aunt to 10 nephews and nieces, that storyline really touched me.   The It Girl –Ruth Ware My Rating: 4 stars This is the first novel I read by Ruth Ware. I really enjoyed it. I totally did not see the ending coming. I definitely want to read more of her books in the future.   Love, Theoretically...

  What We're Eating This Week... Monday: PF Changs frozen meal Tuesday: Tacos Wednesday: Stir-fry Thursday: Leftovers Friday: Corn beef & cabbage steaks Saturday: Leftovers Sunday: Dinner at my sister's house: Salad, chicken cutlets, pasta, roasted broccoli What I'm Reminiscing About... I've been thinking a-lot about memories with my step-dad. My family and I lost my step-dad to his brave cancer battle in the beginning of the month.  What I'm Loving... Spending time with family and friends, spending time with my cats, reading, watching sports. What I've Been Up To... Spending time with family, bestie day with A & A on the 4th, out with my niece on the 20th. I've been watching lots of sports (MLB, college baseball playoffs & world series, NBA playoffs, NHL playoffs). What I'm Dreading... Waking up each day knowing my step-dad is no longer with us. I miss him so much. What I'm Working On... My blog content schedule for July and August. What...

Here are the books I read in May: One Golden Summer –Carley Fortune My Rating: 5 stars Another amazing novel from Carley Fortune. Since 2022, when her debut novel came out, her books have been my favorite book of the year each year. Her writing style is just so lovely. The setting of this book is my very favorite… it takes place at a lake. I cannot rave enough about Carley Fortune and her books and I highly recommend all of them. One Death at a Time –Abbi Waxman My Rating: 3 stars (really 3.5) I really enjoy this author. This is her latest novel. This was her first mystery novel and I enjoyed it a-lot. I didn’t see a lot of the twists coming.   Worth The Risk (Watertown University Book 1) –Clara Mott My Rating: 4 stars I really enjoyed this book. I really loved the relationship between the main characters. It was so beautiful to see how supportive of each other they were. I loved the relationships that the main female character had with their friends and that ...