Vol.1, Issue 4 // A monthly recap of everything we’ve read, watched, played, and listened to
And just like that May is over! As is June! *facepalm* I worked really hard to get this out before our road trip waaaayyy back at the beginning of June, but this kept getting put on the backburner. The majority of it was written by the end of May. It’s finally here and I’m proud of myself for seeing it through.
May found me starting to settle into contentment with the changes in routine at the daycare. I finally scheduled and made all the discovery calls for the SmartVestors that I put an inquiry in for way back in November of last year. We’re slooooowly moving forward with investing and I’m proud of us.
My hope for these monthly roundups is that you find something—book, game, music, or movie-wise—that piques your interest. If you have any questions about the games or books or anything, feel free to ask!
Reading // This was a two-books finished month apparently.
- Almost the Chosen One: Season 1 by Paul Regnier // Paul is also the author of Fantasy novels Bard Tidings and Monster Therapist. His stories are like reading a D&D campaign and you’re laughing a lot along the way because they’re funny. This series is available on Substack and Season 1 is finished.
- The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England Written by Brandon Sanderson and Illustrations by Steve Argyle // We’re reading this for our second book club with out friends Ryan and Britney. Ant and I shared my special edition copy. It’s been fun to reread this story. Our friends are listening to a cool dramatized audio of it. I’m excited to see what they thought!
- Brisingr, Or The Seven Promises of Eragon Shadeslayer and Saphira Bjarskular (Inheritance Cycle, Book Three) by Christopher Paolini // Wow! I finished reading Eldest in March. My friend Amber and I were finally able to have out FaceTime call about it, and then I finished Frugal Wizard, so I was ready to jump into this. I’m hoping to finish this during the first week of June, so I’m not starting the first book of Stephen King Summer too late.
- Taking Charge of Your Fertility, 20th Anniversary Edition by Toni Weschler, MPH // I’m still trekking through this book. I made a goal this month to read 20 mins of it per day. I started out really strong, but fell off the wagon mid-month as I started a new cycle and really wanted to understand the concepts of the book. This book does wonders for my knowledge of how my body works and what exactly my body is doing during each cycle. I recommend this to everyone.
- Genesis // Finishing up the first book of the Bible as we trek through a chronological reading
- The Letter of Jude and 1st Kings // We’re wrapping up Jude on Sunday mornings for class. Ant and I may end up missing the open book “test” for the last official session of Jude. And on Wednesday nights we are reading about the prophet Elijah and how he’s impacting the northern ten tribes after a series of terrible, evil kings.
Watching // Sharing the movies and shows and anime playing in the Hobbit Hole
- Firefly (2002) // I’m finally resuming my watch of this. I love this show. It’s so funny. I’ve only got three or four episodes left.
- Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005) // Wow! The last couple episodes of Book 1 and the season opener of Book 2 were so good!
- Fushigi Yugi (1995) // Ant’s current anime. I’ve ended up watching most of this with him coincidentally since he usually watches it right as I’m my prickle is ending around 10pm haha but! I’m content to watch this one in pieces and not start over and watch it for myself.
- Raise Your Voice (2004) // A very throwback, guilty pleasure choice haha I chose this for movie night. It felt perfectly early 2000s haha Ant wasn’t super impressed by it lol but it was fun for me to rewatch it again.
- WALL-E (2008) // Well, first off, it’s wild that this movie is only four years younger than Raise Your Voice. The timeline of movies I watching in the early 2000s doesn’t feel like these would fall in the same timeframe, buuuuut time is a weird soup. Ant’s pick for movie night! It’s a great one!
- Pride & Prejudice (2005) // I stayed home from daycare on a Tuesday mid-may to recover from a cold and decided it was time to watch this. I wrote in my review of the BBC adaptation of this story that I thought this one—the 2005 version—would always be my go-to, buuuuut I think the 1995 one pulled ahead for the win by a bit! Don’t get me wrong, the 2005 adaptation, directed by Joe Wright, is beautiful. I love the houses (especially the Bennets’ home) the outfits, the cast, the setting, the filming style—all of this adds to the magic of this film, but I love how the pacing of the BBC version matches the novel.
- The Mummy (1999) // You guys! I put this movie on hold at the library like a year and a half ago! I think at the end of 2023 or mid-2024, they cancelled the hold and started it over when they received a new copy in their inventory. It was well worth the wait! I’d seen this movie growing up; my Dad enjoys this movie. But there were gaps in my memory of what happened. Ant and I were laughing and cheering and quite a few “oh nos!” from me haha it was a grand adventure movie. One of the best lines was when Evelyn Carnahan (played by Rachel Weisz) was a little tipsy and she declares to Rick O’Connell (played by Brendan Fraiser) that she may not be a gunslinger or a soldier but she is a librarian—great moment!
- Jurassic World (2015) // Wow what a ride! It’s been awhile since we’d seen this movie, but it was great fun to watch it again! Ant picked this for movie night.
Listening // Favorite tunes we’re dancing to
- I really want to include songs that I’ve discovered thanks to my Release Radar, so I figured it would be easier to make a “new discoveries” playlist:
- I mentioned Yellowcard’s “Ocean Avenue” song on a prickle mid-Month and so I listened to the album of the same all the way through, which is something I haven’t done since high school most likely.
Playing // All games will be linked back to Board Game Geek’s website, which is where I get all my information on games (besides Ant and our friend Rob, of course).
- Wordle // Solved puzzle #1,442 for a streak of 20!
- Waffle // Solved puzzle #1,227 and streak is 65, still on Gold Team!
- Gnoming Around // This was a gun Gnome-theme around the card game Golf, which we’ve played several times over the years with my mother-in-law and her boyfriend.
- Bang! The Dice Game //
- Dominion // We played with 1st Edition (base game), Alchemy, and Prosperity. I think it’s a great intro deck-building games!
- Horrified OG Monsters // We taught Lauri this game buuuuut it was the last game we played on this particular game night and we shouldn’t have played it so late at night. It’s a great game though 🙂
- Dice Forge // Love this game! It’s better with 3 or 4 players, so we brought it to our game day with Rob and Lauri. It moves so fast!
- Cat in the Box // A trick-taking game where the suites are colors. Very interesting. After the first round, it was easier to guesstimate how many tricks you might take based on the cards you were dealt—low, high, middle-of-the-road.
- Stay Cool x2 // Oh man, this game! A multitasking game that is hilarious.
Disney Dreamlight Valley // The second game Ant and I have been playing and watching (respectively) on our YouTube channel! It’s been really fun so far 🙂
And there we have it! A month’s worth of stories and games in various forms. Your turn! What did you read, play, listen to, or watch in January? Is there something else you enjoy that you do more regularly than one my latelies? Did you knit, bake, sew, or hike something this month? Feel free to share to the extent that you’re comfortable 🙂 I’d love to hear from you!
Happy Summer, my friends!
Mrs. Writer 