Peanut Butter Fingers

Happy month of insanity — May-cember / May-nia / May-hem — for those with school-age children entering a month of end-of-the-year activities and celebrations! Our May craziness kicked of a little early this week with multiple school events including a 4th grade economics fair (really cool), a preschool strawberry picking field trip (my last one — ah!) and a 2nd grade performance. It was all so sweet and really fun to see what our big kids have been working on come to fruition.

Tonight we’ll be heading to the soccer fields again for the final games of the season for Chase and Ryder and then on Saturday it’s another flag football game for Chase. We also have plans to get together with friends today (the boys are all off of school) and do a bonfire! I hope you all have a great weekend and hope to see ya back here again next week.

And now let’s dive right into my weekly roundup of favorites!

Things I’m Loving Friday

Amazon Strappy Sandals

(Tank: Target / Jeans: FRAME — PBFINGERS15 saves 15% / Sandals: Amazon / Bag: Amazon)

These Amazon strappy sandals deserve a shout out this morning because we’re entering the time of year when I’ll be wearing them on repeat. I love the added interest from the multiple straps — a nice alternative to a basic flip flop! — and they remind me so much of TKEES sandals but for a fraction of the price. The best part though? They’re legitimately comfortable. The small straps don’t dig and there’s just enough cushioning on the bottom to protect your foot from feeling every lump and bump you may step on.

Ultra-Fast Charger

Ryan: “Hey is that a new phone charger?”

Me: “Yes! But this one is fast-charging.”

Ryan: “How do you know that.”

Me: “Umm… Marketing?”

Ha! But really, the marketing on this phone charger got me on Amazon and ya know what? It didn’t steer me wrong! This little charger is easily the fastest charger I’ve used for my phone. The marketing gimmicks that sold me were the fast charging time but also the fact that this charger uses technology that preserves your phone’s battery life. (It may all be in my head, but I honestly started questioning whether one or two of my previous chargers were causing my phone battery to drain faster after using. Is this possible!?) It can also charge three devices at once (two built-in USB-C cables plus an extra USB-C port), so you can charge your phone, laptop, earbuds, etc. all at once if needed. I’m a fan!!

PILES! Card Game

What a fun game!!! This game went in Chase’s Christmas stocking this year and our entire family loves it. It’s incredibly fast-paced and the kind of game our entire family, adults and kids alike, get really into. It’s also fast to learn which is always a perk! You’re essentially working to complete separate piles of matching clothing using cards that rapidly switch out from the middle pile all at one time. It’s a whirlwind! Also, I realize it says it’s for ages 8+ but Rhett at 5.5 years old can play himself, though if he wants a shot a winning, he has to pair up with me or Ryan.

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

Genre: Contemporary Fiction / My rating: B+

Whoa, what a book. You know those books you read that just kind of make you feel icky the entire time you read them? That was Yesteryear for me. I didn’t like the main character at all and so much about the book was just plain uncomfortable to read… and yet I could not put it down. Which, now that I think about it, is kind of an odd parallel to draw because at the heart of this book is a polarizing “tradwife” Instagram influencer named Natalie who has millions of followers and produces content her fans (and haters) are addicted to consuming, dissecting and vehemently supporting or ripping apart. She certainly had me captivated. Phew. When Natalie wakes up in a life that isn’t hers, the book takes a turn as she’s forced to face hardships she never imagined and questions why she is where she is and how this is possibly her new reality. This book caused a lot of internal dialog in my brain and I think it would make an absolutely fantastic book club book.

From Amazon: Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.

Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.