Bring On Lemons

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Wordy Wednesday #3 - 2025 5 Stars for "By Any Other Name" by Jodi Picoult (Book Review by Crystal J. Casavant)

About the Book: Synopsis In 1581, Emilia Bassano—like most young women of her day—is allowed no voice of her own. But as the Lord Chamberlain’s mistress, she has access to all theater in England, and finds a way to bring her work to the stage secretly. And yet, creating some of the world’s greatest dramatic masterpieces comes at great cost: by paying a man for the use of his name, she will write her own out of history. In the present, playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. Although the challenges are different four hundred years later, the playing field is still not level for women in theater. Would Melina—like Emilia—be willing to forfeit her credit as author, just for a chance to see her work performed? Told in intertwining narratives, this sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire asks what price each woman is willing to pay to see their work live on—even if it means th...

Temptation Tuesday #2 - The Bakery Bar, Kewaunee WI

I was looking for a muse and I found it at The Bakery Bar in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. This delightful establishment is run by a energetic and enthusiastic young couple, Sam and Kayla. Just a hop skip and a jump (20 ish miles if that's how you calculate things) from Two Rivers or Green Bay, The Bakery Bar is nestled in downtown Kewaunee at 408 Milwaukee Street. As I walked in, I was greeted with a cheerful hello and the delicious smell of fresh bakery and delicious coffee. They serve breakfast and lunch all day (I've always loved soup for breakfast and biscuits and gravy for lunch - so The Bakery Bar caters to my unusual pallet with no judgment. They also serve a full bar which means if you're in the mood for a bloody mary (which I've never been in my entire life) or a glass of wine you can get it with your cinnamon rolls or your amazing reuben sandwich. The wines come from local shops (Von Stiehl and Cold Country) and the bloody mary's are a meal in themselves and th...

Motivation Monday #2 - 2025 One Thing at a Time Please

January first me was ready. I had plans. I was going to drink more water, exercise regularly, blog daily, read a book a week all year, never be late for work, never miss an event or opportunity to support the children, say no more, have more fun, worry less, laugh more, floss daily, lose ten pounds a week and reach my health goal by mid-summer, prioritize my family first by putting them ahead of my mother and other older folks needing my care. Well...here I sit on this, the 13th day of January and I'm a complete failure. I'm likely dehydrated, my Y locker actually texted me asking if I was dead since it's been a few days, my blog is getting daily updates but hasn't been revamped as I'd planned, I've agreed to host things cook things and care for things I don't get joy from, it's been a week since I laughed, I didn't floss all weekend, I gained 3 pounds (damn peanut butter balls) and I still wonder daily why my mother expects so much from me and yet h...

Soliloquy Sunday #2 - 2025 Asking Why

It was a day. It certainly was a day. Not necessarily a bad day or a good day or even a mediocre day. However, it was a day and it's over. Kids are in bed, backpacks are ready for tomorrow, and I'm pretty sure my brain is like my computer and there's 898765 browser tabs open. I started a lot of things today and I think I finished approximately one of those. That also may be a stretch. I'm fairly sure things went south before I got out of bed. My youngest daughters were arguing about who was in the way of whom. At that time of day, my parenting is different. I begin each day patient and full of grace. We talked it out and got to church with a few moments to spare (thank goodness the older kids can drive because I needed valet today - thanks Andre!) So - I was late, big deal, right? Well...it's sort of a big deal but I felt I pulled it off somewhat gracefully with the help of my tribe. Things seemed to be turning around...until...I played the communion songs in the wr...

Serenity Saturday #2 - 2025 - There's Something About the Water

Before I begin - a funny story about 20 year old me (I won't tell you exactly how many years ago that was). I was living on Crescent Lake in Rhinelander Wisconsin with my husband. I've had two of those now, and I assure you they aren't broken - it's me...I'm not cut out to be a wife but that's an entirely different story I'm trying to heal through. We literally lived on the water and we had walked down our stairs and were sitting enjoying a bonfire listening to the waves lap the shore and I said "don't you miss living on the lake?" to which my husband replied "are you drinking?" and I sprung into my explanation. Lake Michigan is a great lake as well as being one of the Great Lakes. It's so incredibly different than an inland lake. When you grow up on something so large and magnificent, the gentle laps of Crescent Lake seem like child's play. Lake Michigan is different each and every day. It's different throughout the da...

Fit Friday #2 - 2025 Let's Talk About Being Contagious!

Well folks, it's going around. Everywhere I go and so many people I talk to are getting sick. I did a little research and I suggest you do your own as I'm only known as Dr. Mom to those without the power to give me the title in any official capacity. Here's what I've learned: Days contagious with the FLU = 5-7 Days contagious with COVID = 5-10 Days with RSV = 3-8 Days with STREP 24-48 (with antibiotics) and 2-3 weeks (without antibiotics) I know it's hard to stay home when there's work, school, family obligations, etc... but the truth is, each day we encounter someone who has an immune system that isn't strong enough to fight off these illnesses. I'm not telling you to vaccinate or not vaccinate, to see the Dr or not see the Dr - I'm simply asking you to take some precautions to help those around you. May your paths be abundantly filled with lemons, sugar, sunshine, and none of the nasty crud going around! xoxox Crystal Today's article is by ...