Friday, July 18, 2025

Week in Review: Books and Cooks and Looks

Hello and Happy Friday in the middle of summer!  It's been hot and humid and exactly what the south coast of Massachusetts is supposed to be like, so no complaints.  This week was certainly not as action-packed as last week which is fine by me and Andy Grammar.  

The littles went to a free magic show in town, which was surprisingly good (the magician used to work at Disneyworld) and sparked in my boys an immediate need to perform magic tricks at home while asking mom for random supplies to make them happen:

In the afternoons, I come home from work and want to take a nap, but then I know I won't get to sleep well at night, so I rest on the couch and read a book until Phil gets home from work and then we make dinner together.  

The books:

Good Bad Girl by Alice Feeney

 My first Alice Feeney book, and I liked it, but going back and forth between characters who had names and nicknames and fake names hurt my little brain at times.  I thought I had figured out the twist at the end, but much like a soft serve at The Cottage, there was a delicious extra twisty twist on top.

God's Influencer: Holy Advice from Carlo Acutis by Antonia Salzano and Andrea Acutis

We are big Carlo Acutis fans in the Martin household.  First of all, my husband looks just like Carlo as a boy, so I've always felt a connection with him.  Secondly, Carlo's real attraction was that he was a "normal" boy living in modern days, playing Nintendo, wearing jeans and using technology, but always tried to make sure his actions would be glorifying to God.  As someone who is an overthinking perfectionist, I completely related to the rules and plans he would make for himself to use entertainment in moderation and not get addicted to it.  He discovered a love for Jesus, and was excited to learn about Eucharistic miracles, so much so that he started a website to spread the word.  He's an inspiration to my teens for sure, a timely reminder we are all still called to be saints, it's not just for old nuns from other countries, or war survivors from decades ago.  Each saint's story is as unique as we all are, and it's not impossible to become a saint in our lifetime.  Anyone who gets to Heaven is a saint, and we all want to get to Heaven, so we all want to be saints :)  This book is a great read, told by his parents, who will be at their son's canonization.  Legendary!  I can't wait for him to be canonized, along with Pier Giorgio Frassati in September.

  Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney

 I'm not finished with this one yet, though I am reading it much faster than Good Bad Girl because I need to find out answers!  The stage is set right away with an aging grandma inviting her family to her secluded mansion by the sea, reading aloud her will, then people dying one by one mysteriously.

Glucose Revolution by Jessie Inchauspe

I listened to this one on Audible and while it wasn't really any new information about nutrition for me, it was interesting to hear how the way we eat certain foods matters, and how we pair them with other foods.  I find myself adding a sweet to the end of my meal rather than as a snack now.  My fasting blood sugar levels have always been a little high, and since I had gestational diabetes, I am very aware/concerned with eating in a way that can prevent me from getting diabetes later in life.

A Song for Nagasaki by Paul Glynn

 I am listening to this book through the Hallow app and it's just so good!  It's about a Japanese doctor who survived the atomic bomb, his conversion from atheism to Catholicism, the many losses that happen in his life, his health issues, and his changing views and values.  I haven't done much research on the Japanese culture, but I find it so interesting to learn through this story.

The dinners lately:

BLT's (for me) and Quesadillas for everyone else

Messy but yummy

Burgers, Corn, Caprese Salad:

The simplest summerest meal

No photo but we also had General Tso Chicken with rice and broccoli (using these spice packets).

And we went on a rare weeknight date last night because we went to Confession and out to dinner.  I had the best Chicken Milanese and salad and a side of fettucine alfredo.  Still thinking about it.


Adoration during Confessions at our old parish

Phil brought home Crumbl cookies for us all to taste test.  They're okay but not worth the hype, in my humble opinion.  I'd rather have homemade chocolate chip cookies any day.

OK what else have we been doing besides reading and eating?  Oh beaching!  My sister who lives an hour away came to stay a few days at my brother's house nearby and Phil took the littles to the beach to meet up with two of my sisters and their husbands:

Can you tell we have a dermatologist in the group that makes sure everyone is in the shade?

Andrew and Maggie went with friends, who are also siblings, to see Coldplay in concert.  It was Maggie's first concert and she loved everything about it.  She wore yellow because they have a song with that title.  They had nosebleed seats as you can see from the view of the stage.  Noteworthy, they went the first night of the concerts.  On the second night, the Kiss Cam caught a billionaire CEO cheating on his wife with his employee.  Scandalous!


JP sent this photo on Monday:

Which led me to create this:

That's like, a lot of school.  Good thing he loves it!  He started a cadaver lab already and has an older woman who died from bladder cancer.  I would have such nightmares but he finds it very interesting.

Eamon has been working/golfing/hanging out with friends and cousins (isn't it nice when they fall into both categories?):

Tuff guyz

Xander is truly stepping into his role as a new scooper with confidence and we love to see it.  Xan the man, indeed:

We had a former Patriots Superbowl champ come get ice cream and start following us on Instagram this week:


We have some blue specials for the new Smurfs movie:

Declan has been at basketball camp this week, and one day ended with a hang out at his friend's house who has a beautiful pool.  Friends with pools and boats are nice friends to have ;)  Of course, they played more basketball in the pool after the basketball camp:

We have been slugging through the kids summer work at a slower-than-I-would-like pace.  I just know how fast summer flies by after July 4th and I don't want to be scrambling at the end of August when we are taking Eamon out to college and high school sports start for Maggie and Xander.  So I'll keep of pestering them out of love.

And that's a tuna wrap for the week, my favorite kind of wrap.  Enjoy the weekends with your friends and families or all by yourself if that's your style.  Peace!

2 comments:

  1. You're a better mom than I at getting some schoolwork over the summer. Mostly I make sure they read and use teachable moments ( subtraction on road trips, multiplying on shopping trips, etc). I had wanted to second semester physics with my one high schooler - he's behind on credits. But he's applying for jobs ( no luck) and I decided we needed some down time. We'll do it in the fall. And band kid has been working on his marching music for fall. If you think coaches are demanding about off season training, it's nothing next to band directors!
    You guys have so much fun in summer! I hope you continue to squeeze every last drop out!

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    1. Oh if it was up to me, there would be no school work in the summer! This is work assigned by their teachers to have finished before school starts. The high schoolers also have assignments to read books and do AP course work. We don't have too much off season training for sports, they join some summer leagues and have open gyms but I'm sure marching band is so intense. We don't even have that at our Catholic high school, but the public school I work for goes to national competitions and it's a big deal for those students competing. Good for him!

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