The Lily Cafe Digest #22

I’m not sure what’s happened over the past few weeks, but somehow the below things posted. Just looking at some of them has me scratching my head a little because I think I went through the last few weeks in a complete haze. A complete haze in which all I saw and dreamed about were houses. If I’m counting correctly, we’re wrapping up our fourth week of house hunting, and it’s really eaten up my brain. I never want to do this again.

Needless to say, I’m not sure of what happened over the past 6 weeks. My son has been chugging along in his online school (currently working on his first research assignment of 2nd Grade) and my daughter is having a ton of fun in her in-person preschool class. Her brother is very much missing her company, though I don’t think he would admit it. It’s been a process. But she’s thrilled to be in school, so I’m hoping it bodes well for all of us when she starts Kindergarten in the fall.

Other than schooling, our lives have revolved around open house after open house every weekend followed by days of waiting on pins and needles to hear whether our offers were accepted while also spending Monday-Friday looking for new homes to take a look at over the next weekend because I’m loosing count of how many houses we’ve been beaten out for. It’s been an exhausting learning process, an absolute stressful nightmare. And it’s been incredibly hard as we’re trying to find an affordable house zoned for the good schools in our very large school district. I’ve spent most of the last month literally dreaming of houses. If only I could bring one of them into reality and make it mine…

Oh, but the most exciting thing is I started my next story a few days ago! I had mentioned it was going to be what I call the Yule story. I have the preliminary world building completed as well as planning for the first book (I’ve settled on a trilogy, but linking the first and last ones have been challenging, and turning it into a duology has been equally frustrating). But…I apparently change my mind just as quickly as when it comes to my blog. An urban fantasy popped into my head one night as I lay with my head hanging off the side of the bed. I remembered when I was a kid and wouldn’t let any part of my body dangle over the edge for fear a monster would grab it and drag me under my bed, and then this story just popped into my head. As it’ll be much shorter than the trilogy I’m arguing with, I’ve decided to jump ship for it. I also think I desperately need some of the escape it’ll bring me. Keeping with the theme that none of my serious stories have a title, I’m stuck calling this one Under Bed Worlds. Definitely needs a better title. I won’t be sharing it here, but do plan on posting some updates and maybe some snippets. After Sisters finishes posting, though, there will be another story, but more on that later.

Anyways, I now have literally nothing else to ramble on about as my life revolves around school and houses, so I’ll just let you get on with browsing through the rest of this Digest (just click the image and it should take you to the post! In theory.). Thank you for reading!

Guest Posts

The Bookshelf

Book Reviews:

Fantasy and Sci-Fi

Women’s Fiction/Romance

Mystery and Thriller

Fiction

Life Between the Pages:

Catch up on Sisters of String and Glass

Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134

Writing Files

Miscellaneous

What’s Been Going On

Blog Posts I’ve Enjoyed from the Blogging Community

I definitely read a lot of posts over the past few weeks, but only managed to remember to save 3 of them. With one child attending an online school and another having just started attending preschool and with house hunting absolutely not going as well as I’d hoped, my brain feels a little moth eaten these days. So I decided to share some of my favorite bloggers instead of specific posts for the time being. Eventually I hope to get back to sharing specific posts, but I’m going to need those moths to cough my brain back up.

Nightmare on Sale Street from KN J Tales and Snippets – Since my family’s currently house hunting, Kathy’s post absolutely tickled me. I’d have to agree that finding a house to live in is one of life’s most stressful events, and I’m only a month in. I do not relish the eventual selling of the home we’re still trying to find. Well, win.

5 Baking Recipes for When You Need Some Comfort from Books Baking and Blogging – And, boy, do I need this right now! March was such a mad rush of so many things for my family that some comfort is definitely in order, especially if it involves baking.

Never Make Fun of Someone Who Mispronounces a Word from Spine & Leaf Books – I’ve never read the quote mentioned in the post, but I absolutely loved it, and have my own story. My son has been collecting his own, and, one day, so will my daughter. Making reading mistakes is common, and just making mistakes is one of the best ways to learn, so I really, really enjoyed this post.

Some Favorite Bloggers

I have some perennial favorites I always mention, so I’m going to keep things mixed up and share one or two of them in each Digest as my goal is to highlight the blogs I love that I don’t talk much about.

Stay Positive it’s Autism – Once upon a time, I used to work with children with autism, so I hold so much awe and respect for this mom who so openly and honestly writes about raising not just her son with autism, but all three of her children. She and her family are incredible and I aspire to being just as much of an advocate for my kids as she is for hers.

Thoughts Stained With Ink – A dose of SFF book reviews, a slice of life, and a sprinkle of allyship, Nicole’s blog has it all. I love how honestly she writes, how open and feeling every word is. She doesn’t dance around things, but puts it right out there, and I find her absolute honesty to be wonderfully refreshing. She doesn’t post too often for life reasons, but, every time I see a new one, I pounce on it.

The Little Blog of Everything – Snippets of life, small stories, and heartfelt poetry, Brooke puts her soul out there into the world, sharing her love and acceptance of all with wide open arms. She and I live a world apart, but I know she can read my soul and her absolute joy and love, even in the hard times, is just so gorgeous and the balm to my pains.

Writer Girls Book Reviews – Reviewer of thrillers, contemporary novels, and romance, Kori writes about some of the genres I love and I love how she gets right to the point. She’s trying out a few new things this year, and I absolutely adore her reading diaries, which feature some of her thoughts on what she’s reading as well as how she managed to slip reading into her days. I also love her Top 5 posts as they feature genres and tropes and even mental health representation.

Most Sincerely, kat

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