I wrote a post last year about cozy mysteries. I wanted to briefly revisit the subject and share another cozy mystery author that I have discovered. This weekend past my husband took me to a bookstore and I purchased a book called "Mrs. Jeffries & The Yuletide Weddings" written by Emily Brightwell. This book is the 26th in a series (though the first that I have read) and is the most recently published.
Although I picked up the story of these characters in their 26th installment, Ms. Brightwell writes in such a way that I have easily been able to follow the story line because she gives a bit of history without taking away from the current novel. Her stories are set in the Victorian era revolving around a housekeeper for an Inspector and the crimes they solve with help from the other servants in the home.
I love any book set in a small village setting and during the Victorian era makes it all the better. I just wanted to share the new author and cozy series that I discovered ~~ happy reading!
I'm sitting here taking a break for a few minutes. I've spent most of my morning either doing prep work for the holiday meals or cleaning up dishes from doing the prep work. I have quite a bit done and my refrigerator seems to be bursting at it's seems. I love to really do our holiday meals on a large scale ~ that way we have lots of yummy leftovers that can be re-heated or morphed into other meals in the days after. I'm so lucky that my family does not mind eating leftovers! They actually like it. So I definitely take advantage of that during this time of year.
I will also fit some Christmas decorating into my schedule today. Today, for the first time this season, I put on some Christmas music to listen to while cooking and baking. My son is doing his homeschool work at the kitchen table and is enjoying it as well. I like to do little things like that to create a festive holiday feel in our home for my children. They really do enjoy it and it means so much for them to be able to have memories like that. My husband enjoys it as well. He was raised in a home where things like this were not done or celebrated and so it is very important to him that our children do not miss out on these experiences.
Well, I should get off of this computer now. I have a cheesecake to go make! Blessings to you as you attend to the quiet pleasures of your home. ~~**~~
I love this time of year. I love going to the market seeing that most of the women all have similar items in their carts. I love thinking of all the other wives and women who have their kitchens stocked for their Thanksgiving dinner. I actually have two meals planned for this week. One will be smaller and more private just for my husband, myself, and our children. The other one will be more traditional and will be done on a larger scale and will be shared with friends. I am looking forward to both.
I will begin my preparations tomorrow. I plan on chopping onions and celery and boiling a chicken and some eggs ~ all for my dressing. I have an herb bundle to of rosemary, thyme, and sage that will boil with the chicken. I am also going to do prep work on the Nappa Valley Cabbage salad ~ one of my husband's favorites. I will also put the Cornish hens in a marinade for our family meal which will be early in the week. From there, I will just play everything by ear.
Of course, there will still be the regular laundry and household chores to keep up with as well. I will get a good start on the Monday morning. I always try to make sure that things are in tip top shape on Fridays because over the course of the weekend, things invariably get messy. So if the house is not up to standard on Friday, heaven help it by Monday morning. So if it starts out in very good condition at the start of the weekend it makes helping it recover from the weekend all the better on Monday mornings.
I hope everyone out there is full of excitement over your own plans for this week. May you all be blessed as you attend to the quiet pleasures of your home. ~~
I wrote a post last year about cozy mysteries. I wanted to briefly revisit the subject and share another cozy mystery author that I have discovered. This weekend past my husband took me to a bookstore and I purchased a book called "Mrs. Jeffries & The Yuletide Weddings" written by Emily Brightwell. This book is the 26th in a series (though the first that I have read) and is the most recently published.
