Castle in the Clouds

Back in late December of 2019, I wrote a blog post about my 2020 reading goals .  My main objective was to read some of the books I already owned at that time.  I own hundreds of unread books, so setting aside around 40-50 titles seemed the least I could do to tackle the overflowing TBR.    I picked paperbacks and a hardcover.  I picked ebooks from my Kindle Cloud.  I did a fairly good job of reading from these pre-selections, but I definitely didn't read them all.  And I definitely strayed!  I read some newly purchased titles and some library loans. For a full accounting of my reading year, you can visit my 2020 Goodread's Reading Challenge page.   One of the bigger challenges I set for myself this year was to finally read some of the trilogies or series I've been slowly collecting over the years.  This meant that I needed to not only read the one or two titles already sitting in my TBR, but that I needed to procure the other titles so that I could mark that trilogy or se

Ken used to joke that our boys would live with us forever, but I knew better. Even before there was a baby in the picture, I knew KC and Allie wanted their own place.  I also knew they were uncertain they could pull it off, so they stayed even when they would have rather had been anywhere but at our house or her parents' place.   Then came Riley and things got crowded.  They suddenly had more of everything to store.  Clothes, boxes of diapers and wipes, stuffed animals, children's books, a crib, a changing table, and toys had to be integrated into their already cramped bedrooms.  Add into the mix that they're new parents living with people who love them dearly but also haven't quite figured out to stop parenting them. I admit I'm struggling here. I'm trying to get better, but it's work. Sad, sometimes depressing work.  But that's another blog post.   Back to their situation. Over time, it made for some stressful days, nights, and even weeks. I could see