April 26, 2025

Five Things to Tell You Vol. 21

Four book recommendations, a favorite shirt, recent adventures, and more!

Well, hello there! Whew, last weekend was a WHIRLWIND, and that kicks off about 6 weeks straight of weekends packed full of soccer, family events, graduation party and ceremony, and other fun family plans. I’m dedicated to still getting a newsletter in your inbox twice a week as usual, though ~ let’s see how I do!

Also, I just want to say THANK YOU to my dedicated readers who have stuck with me through my platform migration and the hiccups along the way. An especially big thanks those of you who have taken the time to let me know about glitches and issues that I have now been able to resolve ~ such as commenting glitches and not having renewal reminders turned on. I so appreciate you letting me know - never be afraid to do so!

Now, please settle in with your favorite snack and let’s dive in …

Would you like even more chatty musings on midlife, even more book recommendations, and exclusive downloads and book collections delivered right to your inbox each week? These are all benefits of a paid subscription to this newsletter ~ please do consider becoming a supporter on a monthly ($5/month) or annual ($40/year) basis! Or consider supporting my work on a one-time basis instead.

I know I headlined with a single nonfiction book last week too, but this is yet another nonfiction read that really can’t be paired with my other books this week! What it CAN be paired with, though, are my other recent reads about homelessness that I shared a few weeks ago.

There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America by Brian Goldstone is as deeply reported as the last two books I told you about in this category, but this title takes us to Atlanta rather than California. While I was deeply invested and engaged the entire time I was reading, this book does require a patient and dedicated reader given its focus on five families and their accompanying wide range of family members and life circumstances. It can be a bit hard to keep everything straight, but is well worth the effort.

I find it hard to believe that I can become more enraged with our nation’s failure to house its citizens with each book I read, but my capacity for fury seems to be limitless ~ especially at the despicable companies and humans who ruthlessly profit off of others’ misery and misfortune.

Want a taste before diving all the way in on this book? The New York Times review has an audio excerpt! (gift link)

And now for some lighter, less rage-inducing reads! I listened to two of these, and gobbled up the third in print.

Read Swept Away by Beth O’Leary if you want a very original forced proximity, lost-at-sea, emotional romance. The audio was wonderful!

Read Three Days in June by Anne Tyler if you need a short delightful slice-of-life story about later middle age, parenting, and marriage in Tyler’s signature style.

Read We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes if you can’t get enough stories about middle aged moms just trying to muddle through life and parenting. Loved this on audio!

I realized as I was packing for last weekend that the last three times I packed for something, I included this shirt. I don’t know if this particular one is all that different from any other, but realizing how much wear this one gets definitely reminded me that I need an oversized soft chambray shirt in my wardrobe at all times.

I also have this short sleeve one that I love too. It looks like only petite is now available in the wash I have, but this one looks amazing as well!

Now a recap of last weekend’s adventures!

I started off on Thursday afternoon driving 2.5 hours to my niece’s new house that she and her boyfriend just bought … and decided to renovate immediately after they closed on it. I met my sister there, and we laughed a lot while existing and sleeping in the construction zone. We even got to go on a driving tour of the neighborhood and a late evening trip to the closest Piggly Wiggly ~ always my favorite thing about visiting friends and family!

Seriously, if I come to visit you, I DO want to go to the grocery store with you and see the weird house down the street and know all about the neighborhood drama.

After that excitement, my sister and I left pretty early on Friday morning to drive the 3ish hours to my other niece’s apartment in Chicago. She lives in a neighborhood right next to the medical district in a beautifully restored three-flat. She honored our wishes of wanting a walking tour of the whole neighborhood and to see ALL of the hospitals, UIC, and all of the minutiae of her daily existence. We then spent the rest of the day exploring Chinatown and walked the lakefront from the museum campus to the end of Navy Pier and back through the surrounding city blocks and parks.

That night I got to sleep on my niece’s roommate’s bedroom floor with the roommate’s two ADORABLE cats! Maybe I’m a cat person too???

On Saturday we woke up and drove north again, this time with my niece along for the ride! We made a detour to visit where she works at a community health clinic in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. I just loved getting to see what her commute looks like, and hear all the little stuff about the community and such. We headed to Milwaukee to do a quick self-guided tour of the med school she is most likely going to attend, and then on to my Oma’s 90th birthday party about 30 minutes away.

The party itself was such a delight and it was so nice seeing some of my aunts and uncles, my cousins and their kids, and just generally celebrating Oma. She seemed in very good spirits, despite her declining memory, and really shone when my uncle’s barbershop quartet performed for us. Music is such a powerful gift!

All in all, it was a PACKED 52 hours and I am so very happy I got to see everyone. Family visits fuel me like really nothing else can.

Speaking of family time, when I got home last Saturday night, I raced to get Easter baskets ready for the 7th grader, senior, and his girlfriend. I hold on so tightly to these last remnants of kid stuff, and the teens certainly don’t seem sad about still getting small presents and candy ~ win win! They also cooperated with my egg hunt, because again, more candy. Ha!

We then checked off my April theater visit on Sunday afternoon with the Minecraft movie. My friends … I am here to report that I giggled through the entire thing. The teens loved it, my husband hated it, and I know just enough about Minecraft to really appreciate it. And of course, JACK BLACK. I went into it thinking I would just humor the kids by agreeing to this movie, and maybe even get a nap in, but nope! If you know Minecraft at all and have kids begging to see this, definitely go for it.

That’s all for this week ~ thanks for reading! Please feel free to reply to this email or use the link below to leave a comment to chime in about any of these things, or to share one of your own things ♡

Thanks for stopping by!