The Lily Cafe Digest #8

Well, that was fast. My first blogging break of the year is here. I contemplated whether I should continue to take breaks every 6 or so weeks and decided that, yes, I should. Not only do they give me a bit of breathing space, but it gives me time to really turn my focus back to my family. Also, as an introvert, interacting with people, even if it’s over the Internet, is exhausting and I really need to recharge.

The most important thing I learned I needed to do was to just take some time to pause, to stop, to come to a standstill so I can look back and actually see everything I’ve accomplished both with this blog and as a person. It was quite a surprise, but, since I tend to just keeping going forward with hardly a glance over my shoulder, the reminder was quite timely. I was a little surprised to realize everything I had been able to accomplish. While it may seem small, they’re all huge steps to me.

Over the past 6 weeks, my son went back to school and, while I enjoy having time to focus on my daughter, she’s starting to find her own feet and doesn’t always want me around her. It was times like those that I was glad I had baking. Over the holidays, I didn’t bake much. But, once everyone was back to where they needed to be, I found my feet taking me into the kitchen with alarming frequency. I’ve been baking up a storm! Cake, biscuits, pie, muffins, bread. And have been making my own butter from heavy cream. Someone stop me.

I’m a little disappointed I haven’t read quite as much as I had hoped. I slowed down a lot over the holidays, mostly so I could savor my single anticipated read of 2019, Brewed Awakening by Cleo Coyle. Now that reviews are facing me down, and I’m back to accepting review requests, I’m starting to pick up my pace. Fingers crossed I can keep up!

My life lately has been full of being a mom, a baker, and a reader. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like much, but, once the universe told me to just stop I was able to see I’m really doing the things I love, the things that help make me me. I love being a mom. I love having my kids with me and I love raising them. I’m also incredibly fortunate to have an extremely hard working husband who makes it possible for me to not only be home for our kids, but to enjoy my passions of reading, writing, and baking. These are the things I love, so I count myself to be incredibly lucky every day.

Take a Look at My Finding Magic in Motherhood Posts

Part 12: The Relief That Came From Telling My Secret

Enjoy My Parenting Posts

Sending My Child Back to School Makes Me Sad|Some of My Favorite Moments as a Mom|Finding Contentment by Redefining Motherhood

Check Out the Books I Reviewed, the Book Blog Tours I Participated in, and Guest Posts

Reviews: The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman|Mr. Nobody by Catherine Steadman|The Omega Archives by Erik Melendez|Been There, Married That by Gigi Levangie|Master of Sorrows by Justin T. Call

Book Blog Tours: Horseshoes and Hand Grenades by S. M. Stevens|The Third to Die by Allison Brennan|The Unwilling by Kelly Braffet

Guest Posts: Elizabeth Lo, author of The Midnight Before Me|Karen Brenner, author of Appaloosa Sky|I. L. Cruz, author of The Enchanted Isles series

Catch Up On Queen of the Garden of Girls

Part 18|Part 19

Enjoy My Ratio Baking Adventures

Learn to Love Mini Cake Tins With Me|Pie Ratio Plus Custard Ratio Equal Chocolate Pie|Triple Berry Muffins|A Quick Guide to Ratio Baking Muffins

Blog Posts I’ve Enjoyed from the Blogging Community

Creatively Thinking: The struggle of claiming the title “writer” from Boondock Ramblings – for anyone who has ever experienced that struggle. I love the little story she has about a conversation with her daughter at the end. So sweet!

The Accolade from By Autumn Rain – When you feel different from everyone else, it’s easy to want to fit in, but it ignores a big part of the self. I love how honest and unapologetic this post is. Being different is fun.

Thoughts on the Disheveled Mother from Taking Up Motherhood – I’ve never felt comfortable with the idea that moms have messy hair and must wear yoga pants, so it’s nice to read of other moms who feel the same.

The Continuing Story of Inez Garza from Fairy Tale Feminista – last year I read a beautiful Latin-inspired fantasy called The Smuggler’s Path and now I’m thrilled the second book in the series is out. Oh, and do check out a lovely guest post from the author about fairy tale romance, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Oh no! Macaroni and cheese! from Stay Positive it’s Autism – kids are often very picky eaters, but children with autism are in a whole other ballpark. I love that this mother is so candid about her journey with a child with autism, and that it’s so relatable even to parents who do not have a special needs child.

New Friends….Oh, No! (An Introvert in Unknown Territories) from Evi. L. Holmes – as a fellow introvert, I completely feel this. Her experiment was quite interesting and, having never really thought too much about the introverted life, her conclusions were really interesting!

I’m glad they have each other…from Listen Y’all… – for any parent with more than one child. This was such a sweet post, and really why I have 2 kids instead of 1.

Being considerate with that friend/colleague who has suffered pregnancy loss from My mad world of Miscarriage – a wonderful post for how people can support those women who had suffered a loss.

So Rejection Sucks, Huh? 12 Lessons I’ve Learned So Far from Brimming – when you’re a writer, you put your heart and soul into every word, so rejection can sting. Though it hurts, I like that she was able to look at it differently and learn a few things we all can keep in mind.

I have a few ideas brewing in my head for how I want to go forward after my break, but I’m probably one of the most indecisive people in the world, which means I could use your help! If you’d like to help me out, please, please, please let me know what you enjoy most on this blog; anything I’ve done that I no longer do that you wouldn’t mind seeing again; and, really, what you come here for. It would really help me make a few decisions if you could let me know. Thank you so much!

Thanks for reading, and Happy Valentine’s Day!

Most Sincerely, kat

You can find a list of all the Digests plus some bloggers I adore over here