Thursday, April 25, 2024

Books I've Read Lately

 Hey Y'all!!



So many books this past month or so. But first, do travel guides count? LOL. I've read my fair share of travel guides, pamphlets, leaflets, etc. From all sorts of attractions and locations. Some more informative than others.

Also I've read these books:

I picked this one up in a Goodwill in KY, I liked Busy Philipps in Dawson's Creek, and I loved Freaks & Geeks (it really should have gone further).

This Will Only Hurt A Little, Busy Philipps

I read it in a couple days, and actually really enjoyed it. Who doesn't love peeking in to someone elses life a bit, especially a celeb.

A hilarious, heartfelt, and refreshingly honest memoir and New York Times bestseller by the beloved comedic actress known for her roles on Freaks and GeeksDawson’s Creek, and Cougar Town who has become “the breakout star of Instagram stories...Imagine I Love Lucy mixed with a modern lifestyle guru” (The New Yorker).

There’s no stopping Busy Philipps. From the time she was two and “aced out in her nudes” to explore the neighborhood (as her mom famously described her toddler jailbreak), Busy has always been headstrong, defiant, and determined not to miss out on all the fun. These qualities led her to leave Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of nineteen to pursue her passion for acting in Hollywood. But much like her painful and painfully funny teenage years, chasing her dreams wasn’t always easy and sometimes hurt more than a little.

In a memoir “that often reads like a 
Real World confessional or an open diary” (Kirkus Reviews), Busy opens up about chafing against a sexist system rife with on-set bullying and body shaming, being there when friends face shattering loss, enduring devastating personal and professional betrayals from those she loved best, and struggling with postpartum anxiety and the challenges of motherhood.

But Busy also brings to the page her sly sense of humor and the unshakeable sense that disappointment shouldn’t stand in her way—even when she’s knocked down both figuratively and literally (from a knee injury at her seventh-grade dance to a violent encounter on the set of 
Freaks and Geeks). The rough patches in her life are tempered by times of hilarity and joy: leveraging a flawless impression of Cher from Clueless into her first paid acting gig, helping reinvent a genre with cult classic Freaks and Geeks, becoming fast friends with Dawson’s Creek castmate Michelle Williams, staging her own surprise wedding, conquering natural childbirth with the help of a Mad Men–themed hallucination, and of course, how her Instagram stories became “the most addictive thing on the internet right now” (Cosmopolitan).

Busy is the rare entertainer whose impressive arsenal of talents as an actress is equally matched by her storytelling ability, sense of humor, and sharp observations about life, love, and motherhood—“if you think you know Busy from her Instagram stories, you don’t know the half of it” (Jenni Konner). Her conversational writing reminds us what we love about her on screens large and small. From “candid tales of celebrity life, mom life, and general Busy-ness” (
W Magazine), This Will Only Hurt a Little “is everything we’ve been dying to hear about” (Bustle).



Next, I got out the kindle and started the Dorothy Must Die series, by Danielle Paige, so far I'm only part way through book two, but I am liking these. I wasn't sure I would since I am a fan of the original. These are good so far. 

The New York Times bestselling first book in a dark series that reimagines the Oz saga, from debut author Danielle Paige. Start at the beginning and discover your new series to binge!

My name is Amy Gumm—and I'm the other girl from Kansas. I've been recruited by the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked. I've been trained to fight. And I have a mission: Remove the Tin Woodman's heart. Steal the Scarecrow's brain. Take the Lion's courage. And—Dorothy must die.

I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't ask to be some kind of hero. But when your whole life gets swept up by a tornado—taking you with it—you have no choice but to go along, you know?

Sure, I've read the books. I've seen the movies. I know the song about the rainbow and the happy little blue birds. But I never expected Oz to look like this. To be a place where Good Witches can't be trusted, Wicked Witches may just be the good guys, and winged monkeys can be executed for acts of rebellion. There's still a road of yellow brick—but even that's crumbling.

What happened? Dorothy. They say she found a way to come back to Oz. They say she seized power and the power went to her head. And now no one is safe.




While the Dorothy books are good, the kindle was dead, so I moved on to...

An Ollie's find. All the Bridgerton prequels (written by Julia Quinn)! (For $3 each.)


I'm on book three and it's been 4 days.. I love historical romance.

These are the same family, the Bridgertons, but for me it's unknown how far removed from the Netflix family from the original series of books. (I've not read them, but I've seen the show.) They really more follow the Rokesby family than the Bridgertons however they are intertwined...


From book one:


Sometimes you find love in the most unexpected of places....

This is not one of those times.

Everyone expects Billie Bridgerton to marry one of the Rokesby brothers. The two families have been neighbors for centuries, and as a child the tomboyish Billie ran wild with Edward and Andrew. Either one would make a perfect husband...someday.

Sometimes you fall in love with exactly the person you think you should....

Or not.

There is only one Rokesby Billie absolutely cannot tolerate, and that is George. He may be the eldest and heir to the earldom, but he's arrogant and annoying, and she's absolutely certain he detests her. Which is perfectly convenient, as she can't stand the sight of him, either.

But sometimes fate has a wicked sense of humor....

Because when Billie and George are quite literally thrown together, a whole new sort of sparks begins to fly. And when these lifelong adversaries finally kiss, they just might discover that the one person they can't abide is the one person they can't live without..




That's it... now I'm going to finish book three.


Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Wednesday, April 24, 2024

A No Blog Blog

 Y'all....

I do have a lot to share Friday. In-between adventures, I've done a lot of reading. That's the positive side...

I haven't, however, crafted a bit. So there is no using the Cricut Joy blog to share (Monday). Nor have I worn makeup, at all, this month- other than sunscreen and lip balm (Wednesday). Sometimes it was tinted! 

Forgive me,

CWC

Friday, April 19, 2024

Catching Up- Daily Beauty Routine, and AMA... My Personality Type

 Hey Y'all!

I'm sorry.

Daily beauty routine hasn't changed since the previous blogs:

https://craftinwifescreations.blogspot.com/search?q=routine


Well, I didn't post anywhere during the past week for you to ask me anything... great foresight there.

Since there are no questions, I'll do this:

 https://mypersonality.net/quiz?afid=msmps&msclkid=bc13e577048c14353ebd8355ba7ec075

Waste of time...


This one...

https://mypersonality.net/free-personality-test


Still didn't give much info... but we have a personality type now.




Let's look here:

https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality



After reading through, I feel like some fit and some really didn't. What personality type are you? Do you feel it fits? Let me know in the comments below


Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Monday, April 15, 2024

No Crafty Blog Today

 Hey Y'all...

Sorry no blog today.

For updates about Design Space, and Cricut in general check out their Facebook pages as well as cricut.com


Thanks,

Craftin' Wife


Photo Share!!

 Hey Y'all!

In this blog, which I admit is behind, I'm going to share some pictures of our recent travels... These probably wont make it into any vlogs, however a few have been shared on TikTok.


Enjoy!


KY really is beautiful too...


The KFC museum really was neat, there will be a video about this in the coming weeks. Neither of us are big on KFC, except those mashed potatoes and gravy, and it wasn't a go-to for either of our families growing up. But it was on the way, and we had never stopped before, so we thought why not? I'm glad we did. It was cool, and we both had fun looking at all the old ads, and other memorabilia.




This was a quick 2 day camp at Warriors' Path to 1) take showers, and 2) go to my doctors appt.
It rained the entire 2 days, and was a bit cooler than it had been earlier in the week, but we still enjoyed some time outdoors, and then we moved on..
The camp store was hard to catch open, as they are low on staff. Eventually we figured out it was open on the half hour every hour for a few minutes. Everyone was super friendly, and because it was raining, and still the off season it wasn't very busy.

Everything was good at the doctor by the way, so clear until July's scan.



Nothing like cold pizza dinner in a Cracker Barrel parking lot.
Shout out to CB. They were the sweetest the next morning, and we were able to dump our trash, use the bathroom, get ice, and some coffee. It probably helped that there was only maybe 2 other overnighters (us, another van, and a man in a older Buick) and that we were up and out of there by 7:15am.

We've already stayed at another CB and it was one that has an RV lot. Quiet, good nights sleep, and PACKED. Everyone was packing up or gone by 7:30am though.


Rest stop signage...


We thought these only existed much farther west. There's a YouTube channel we watch and the guy really loves Whataburger, so we ditched our picnic lunch plan when we came across this.
It was good, and for how crazy busy they were it was pretty clean, and fast. Not anything I'd rave about, but for a fast food burger it was better than most, and priced about the same.


That brings us to where we are currently...
Middle TN. Lebanon to be more exact.
There won't be a video on this state park, even though we spent 3+ days, and 2 nights here.
Most of that was just relaxing, and catching up on chores. Like laundry, the state parks are far cheaper than any laundromat.
We did do quite a bit of bird and squirrel watching, and we did see a small snake, we walked a few trails, and then just chilled, and charged all our electronics.
The spots here were huge, and the park and it's history are neat, but so much of it was closed. Either for renovation, or seasonally.
Only one of three campgrounds were open, two of them being under renovation... looked like plumbing and electrical to us. So that left the remaining one pretty busy, however everyone was pretty quiet, and stuck to themselves. Not near as friendly as other places we've stayed.
The Nature Center and any other buildings and programs, as well as the cave were also closed.
However both the Park Office and Camp Store were open daily, all day.





 

We leave here in the morning, with no real plans for camping yet... but we do have a destination and fun stuff planned. Just not sleep, lol.


Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife

Wednesday, April 10, 2024

Eclipse & Campground Review

 Hey Y'all!

So, we met up with Chris' uncle the day before, and had a lovely time with he & his SO. However the traffic and parking on Sunday, convinced us all that we didn't want to mess with it for the eclipse. 

Instead we stayed at our campground and had a very chill day. We watched the eclipse with several others who were there for the eclipse, and the campground owners. While we didn't really get any pictures worth sharing, the eclipse was one of the neatest experiences of my life, and I'm glad we took the trip. It was amazing to witness!


Campground Review:

We enjoyed our 4 day stay at Oakridge Campground.


(There will be a video about our stay and the grounds soon on our Outland Adventures YouTube, but this is more of a review post, and sharing a few pictures, enjoy!)


Here's a reminder of our first impressions:


The signage issue was fixed during our stay, on day two. They put up new larger signs, and added banners at the street. They also were working on some fencing along the driveway one of the days we were there. 

The more I thought about the bathroom, and used it, the less weird it became. I felt kinda bad being one person "hogging" the entire bathroom to take a shower, but it really wasn't an issue. Since it's limited tent camping, and only 36 sites it wasn't ever too busy. The double shower makes sense for families, that way the can at least shower a few people at a time and not hold up the bathroom too long.

I was right in my wildlife prediction, and although we didn't see deer we did see:

Turtles, Geese. Cranes, Hawks, Frogs, Muskrat, and various other birds and insects. You could seriously bird/nature watch all day if that's something you're into.

Turtles.


Frog!


Nature also provided us this beautiful rainbow, and some stunning sunsets:






They were so orange, the pictures really don't capture how pretty the sunsets were.



It's definitely a quiet, chill campground. We chatted with the neighbors, and everyone was friendly, but also pretty much kept to themselves. 


Potential negatives:

These weren't a problem for us, however I could see it being an issue for others.

1) No Wifi.

2) No camp store.

3) No "activities". (They do allow catch & release fishing.)

4) No trail system.

5) Small spots, some tighter than others.

6) Gravel drive & parking spots (No Pavement.)


Reasons these weren't cons for us:

1) We have unlimited mobile hotspot, it worked great, as did cell service. We're on Verizon, others we talked to had AT&T, no issues.

2) We carry anything we may need most of the time. Town is only about a mile away and there's a IGA and a Dollar Store, as well as 2 gas stations there.

3) There's so much to see and do within 30mi of here this wasn't an issue. The day we stayed at camp we found plenty to do just walking the pond, and grounds.

4) There are no trails, but you're free to roam the entire property at your leisure from 7am-10pm.

5) & 6) Another benefit of doing this in a van! We fit just about anywhere, and we're lightweight.


Some more pictures just because:

We used both the Blackstone and the bottle top this trip, and are really glad to have both.

This day was a bit cloudy so we didn't bother with the canopy until Sunday (and Monday).




I think I've highlighted the pros to here fairly well up above, but in list form here you go:

1) Quiet/Peaceful

2) Nature/Wildlife

3) Close to attractions/parks/Ohio River

4) Hot Showers, and flush toilet

5) Full Hook Up Sites

6) Clean

7) Friendly

8) Small/ Not over crowded

9) Easy to get in/out

10) Shade! Every site has at least some shade, at some point during the day.


So, would we stay here again?

Yeah, we probably would. We know we want to return to the general area again (some of the attractions we'd like to do are seasonal, and don't open until May-Oct). There are other places to camp near here, as well as State Parks, and we like those as well, but this campground will stay on the list for that return trip.

Any questions? Feel free to ask in the comments below, or find us on social media!


Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife


Monday, April 8, 2024

Campground Arrival & Travel Talk

 Hey Y'all!

Our travel day started out with a detour. That took us roundabout for an additional 30-45min right at the start. Not a big deal since we're never in a rush, but it was a bit annoying. Once we got back on the original route, we stopped for gas and checked the (paper atlas) map, and decided to make a slight adjustment. We took 231 pretty much the entire way after the 26/28 detour. 




The weather was cloudy and grey the entire day, but the rain held off. Driving through a big section of Indiana was nice, and we enjoyed the scenery. Just an FYI if you ever take this route, there are several small towns you'll pass through, but there's also large spans of farmlands, and nothing. So plan your stops accordingly. 

We stopped for a late lunch break, and bathroom break in Loogootee. Funny name, cute town.

 


As I said there are a lot of cute little towns on this route, and we really enjoyed the drive.

I was a bit disappointed there was no signage that indicated when we switched time zones. I enjoyed that little sign when we were going west in Tennessee each time we crossed over from EST to Central.

We didn't even realize the time had changed, though we knew our destination was CST. It took quite a while for our watches and other electronics to update.



 We arrived at the campground around 3pm, and checked in. I made a post of our first impressions over on Facebook:

https://linktr.ee/outlandadventures

The nice thing about van life is set up takes no time at all!
So once we knew where our spot was, and the layout of the campground we decided to head into town and stretch our legs a bit at the park by the river, and had a great dinner at one of the local eateries downtown. (Check out Instagram for those photos!)

After dinner we headed back to the campground, and took showers. Watched a little YouTube and both fell asleep by 9:30 (but 10:30 "our" time!).

It was a fantastic travel day, and we both really have fallen in love with southern Indiana. There's so much to see and do here, it's definitely a spot we plan to return to.
For more about this trip, and others be sure to follow us on our Outland Adventures page(s).

Have a great day,
Craftin' Wife 


Wednesday, April 3, 2024

My Go To Outfits: Top 5 Pieces

 Hey Y'all!

So I didn't bother with pics, but every pair of pants I've brought this round are from either Walmart or Thrifted (my one pair of jeans).

Top 3 Pants:

These from Walmart, but mine are in baby blue-


And these 2 Avia athletic wear pants, also from Walmart:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Avia-Women-s-Flare-Pants-Sizes-XS-3XL/3876866559

A bit darker brown with a hint of pink IRL...


https://www.walmart.com/ip/Avia-Women-s-Performance-Ankle-Leggings-with-Pockets-28-Inseam-for-Regular-Sizes-XS-XXL/1375175364?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=680&adid=222222222771375175364_117755028669_12420145346&wmlspartner=wmtlabs&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=aud-2230653093054:pla-306310554666&wl5=9013429&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=1375175364&wl13=680&veh=sem_LIA&gclsrc=aw.ds&&adid=222222222371375175364_117755028669_12420145346&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=501107745824&wl4=aud-2230653093054:pla-306310554666&wl5=9013429&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=1375175364&veh=sem&gad_source=1&gclid=



For shirts, I find I wear a lot of tee shirts, from everywhere- but my favorite two are Maurice's...

https://www.maurices.com/p/clothing/tops/tees/N-10751#filter/N=10751&No=0&Ns=product.minSalePrice%7C0%7C%7Cproduct.variantIndex%7C0

I can't find either one online, but one is a smiley face, with hearts for eyes and the words NO BAD DAYS make up the smile. The other is Indiana specific and says something along the lines of wish you were here.

All those items, as well as the rest I have with me, mix and match really well.

What should I pack for Spring in the south? Suggestions? Let me know in the comments below!


Have a great day,

Craftin' Wife


Our Easter 2024

 Hey Y'all!


This past Easter we spent in Kokomo, IN with Chris' brothers family. The kids (15mo-12yrs) colored eggs, and had a small egg hunt, though the baby just followed everyone around the yard. We got really lucky with a nice, less windy day- and all spent a good amount of time outside.

The guys assisted the kids with their Easter basket Lego pieces...

For dinner we grilled hot dogs, and sausages, and also had chicken salad, potato salad, deviled eggs, and various other foods. We all ate too much, and had to take a break before pineapple upside down cake.

A few pics:







We hope you had a great day too!


~Craftin' Wife