March’s Cheep Trills

Chirped by Cass & Tina

Well, March did not disappoint – coming in like a lion and heading out like a lamb. The month was filled with crazy roller-coaster weather changes, from snowstorms to 70 degree sunny days. We had a number of activities keeping us on our toes, like the boys coming home for spring break, a new craft venture underway, some major blog reconstruction (hopefully mostly behind the scenes?), a trip to England and a new puppy!  Whew… Never a dull moment!

Puppy Cuteness

Let’s get the cuteness of the month posted first. Please welcome to the family our new Australian shepherd, 8 weeks old. Besides the potty training, crate training, sharp baby Continue reading

Flocking Together

Chirped by Tina

Like it or not, an empty nest tends to leave us with extra time on our hands. No more school sports, plays, or club competitions to coach, costume, or cheer on, no PTA committees to join or school board meetings to attend. All the chauffeuring and homework help are things of the past. Mealtime has a tendency to get abbreviated without a full complement of nestlings to cook for and interrogate about their day… You may still be wondering how to use that new-found downtime? Continue reading

October’s Cheep Trills

Chirped by Cass and Tina

October flew by, with not a peep from us since our last list of chirpable highlights. Stuff happens, and we’re pretty sure no one has been holding their breath waiting for us to post something. If you were, you can breathe again! And if you’re following us, hope you enjoyed having a few less messages in your inbox… (-; Now on to the good stuff we’ve been up to!

Favorite Book of the Month

Vengeance-of-Mothers-1Our winning selection for October was The Vengeance of Mothers, by Jim Fergus. If you were a fan of One Thousand White Women, you’ll enjoy this continuation of the story about the fate of the women who volunteered for the government’s “Brides for Indians” program to escape from less desirable conditions (mental institutions, prison, etc.) back home. Continue reading

September’s Cheep Trills

Chirped by Tina and Cass

It’s that time of the month again! And we’re ready with another list of ten things that we’re happy about from the last thirty days or so. It’s a good exercise, when you’re stressed (or even when you’re not), to take time to be grateful for the good stuff!

Just as a side note: We don’t get any kickbacks from any of the links we provide in our blog, and we try to spread the love between various booksellers or retailers while still giving you an easy way to check out stuff we’re posting about. That is not to say we would mind having “affiliates” at some point if we were big fans – but we’re not there yet. We’ll let you know if we ever are! We just don’t want anyone to think our motivations are anything but pure when we chirp about a book, local restaurant, craft source or whatever! Cheers to the good stuff!  – Tina & Cass

Books-of-the-Month-2

Favorite Books of the Month (Tina)

For September, our two book recommendations are Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng (author of Everything I Never Told You) and The Wife Between Us, by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen. Little Fires is about a nice, quiet, planned community where everyone is expected Continue reading

Book Club in a Basket, Revisited…

Chirped by Tina and Cass

Book-Club-in-Basket-PIN-v2I know what you’re thinking – they haven’t even been blogging for a year and they’re already recycling their posts?? Fair point. But most worthwhile causes need support more than once a year, and this one’s raising money for pediatric brain cancer research through the Christopher Court Foundation. We know the founders, whose own son was taken by a brain tumor, and who make sure every penny goes directly to the research. Our book club’s previous basket (featuring My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry) amassed a lot of raffle tickets at the last fundraising event. (How many? We don’t know, and we would like that data! If it was less than 150 dollar’s worth, maybe we should have just donated the money instead!) Besides, as book club members ourselves, who get a lot of enjoyment out of that camaraderie and mental stimulation, how could we not want to share the tools of the trade with others not as blessed as we are whenever we have the chance? So here it is: our second Book Club in a Basket, this time for Tracy Chevalier’s At the Edge of the Orchard!

Continue reading