Story for the Week
Okay, it wasn’t really Christmas until the end of January, but the decorations finally came down last weekend. Not by choice. I planned to undecorate…and then I planned to undecorate again. But you know what they say about best laid plans. 🤷🏼♀️
We decorate for Christmas sometime after Thanksgiving. I don’t have a set time. It really just depends on what we’re doing and what weekend we have free. But Christmas always stays up until Epiphany, so I plan to put everything away the weekend after January 6.
Going into that weekend, I told Corinne we would be taking down the tree and decorations. Corinne works overnights on the weekends, so it would have been spread across Saturday and Sunday evenings. But Saturday morning, Corinne woke me up at 5 a.m. when she came home early not feeling well. I made an online appointment for her at immediate care for noon, but they called at 8:30, and by 9, we were on our way to spend the day in the ER. We made it home in time to watch the Bears beat the Packers in the first round of the NFL post-season, but needless to say, we did not undecorate that weekend.
The following weekend, I looked forward to three days off work, which would leave me time to undecorate and still plenty of time to relax and watch more football. Friday morning, I felt a cold coming on, so I started over-the-counter cold meds, which usually does the trick. I have a pretty good immune system, but when I do get sick, I’m pretty much flat out. By Friday evening, I knew it was going to be bad.
I have a television in my bedroom, but I haven’t used it in years. I reconnected everything, moved my laptop into my bedroom, made sure I had tissues and cold medicine and water and went to bed early. Saturday morning…let’s just say my immune system definitely failed me that weekend. I slept a lot, usually with an ice pack on my forehead just to help me fall asleep. My brother-in-law brought me soup and tea when I was awake, and I took not one but two Covid/flu tests (both were negative) because I felt like it couldn’t be just a cold.
By Sunday evening, I felt well enough to venture out of my bedroom to the living room to watch the Bears lose to the Rams. Monday morning, I actually woke up able to breathe through my nose, could finally smell the Vicks Plug-In that had been in my room all weekend, and had the energy to drag myself to the shower. And I spent most of the day upright. We did not, however, take down any Christmas decorations.
And that’s okay.
On any given weekend, we may have dishes in the sink, laundry in the baskets to be folded, mail on the counter to be sorted or tossed. I have a perpetual calendar on the wall that I never switched over from December to January. By the time I thought about it, I just decided to set up for February.
Our home will never be picture perfect, with counters and tables cleared of clutter. When I was younger and single and lived alone, the only clutter you would find in my apartment was on my desk. As I got older and got married and then had a child, I realized I didn’t want to spend my spare moments making sure everything was put exactly where it was supposed to go. I decided that spending time with my family or doing things I truly enjoyed were more important than my apartment or my house being pristine.
At the end of the day, we live in our home. We spend time together doing things we enjoy. We make sure the dishes get done and the laundry gets folded, the floors get cleaned and the shelves get dusted eventually. But sometimes those things take longer than other times…because I don’t care that my house isn’t perfect. And I don’t care if other people think it should be perfect. They don’t live here.
One of the characters in the book below has a conversation about tidying up the house after the kids. “Truth was, despite her tiredness, she couldn’t care less about her home being pristine, understanding it was just that, a home.”
So Christmas stayed up a little bit longer this year. And there’s a basket of laundry currently waiting to be folded, and there are probably dishes waiting in the sink. Just the way I like it.
Book Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
5 Stars for Life as Planned by Amanda Prowse
428 pages
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Publication Date: January 6, 2026
Purchased on Amazon.
Publisher’s Description
For identical twins Remy and Ashleigh, everything changes with one childhood decision. A simple act of love that unwittingly alters the paths they will both walk—an act of love that will echo through decades…
As the years unfold, their lives take dramatically different courses. Ashleigh soars through a glittering London career with the perfect house and family, but beneath her success lies a gnawing truth: her whole life is built on a lie. Meanwhile, Remy stays close to home, finding joy in simple pleasures, yet forever feeling the weight of being ‘the other twin’—the one who didn’t shine.
Both sisters long for the uncomplicated closeness they once shared, but can they find their way back to each other? And after a lifetime shaped by that single childhood choice, is it too late to become the people they were meant to be?
This emotionally compelling story asks challenging questions about paths not taken, and about making peace with the life you have, rather than the one you might have expected.
************
Main Characters:
- Ashleigh and Remy – identical twins, 10 years old in 1972, preparing to take an exam to earn a scholarship to the elite St. Jude’s Academy
- Tony – Ashleigh and Remy’s best friend
- Ruthie and Dennis – Ashleigh and Remy’s parents, Dennis works in concrete, Ruthie expects both girls to find enough success to own a home with more spare bedrooms than Mrs. Jenkins who owns the house on the corner
- Multiple other characters who come into Ashleigh and Remy’s lives
I loved this book. I loved the characters, the story, the structure, the writing, the emotion. Considered the queen of family drama, Amanda Prowse always makes my must-read list. Life as Planned is the perfect example of why.
This story centers around Ashleigh and Remy Brett, whose parents always remind them what a miracle they are as identical twins. At age 10, they excel in school and are on the verge of earning scholarships to attend the prestigious St. Jude’s Academy. All they have to do is take the entrance exam, and there’s no doubt both will earn one of the three scholarships available. Ruthie and Dennis expect this opportunity to be their launching pad to success.
A spontaneous decision by one of the twins, and a vow to keep the decision a secret, sets them on wildly different paths. As the years pass, the decision impacts their relationship with their parents and each other in ways neither of them could have imagined.
The unique structure of this story, spanning 70 years, is that it focuses on moments in time. While the chapters form a continuous timeline, each one covers a specific milestone. The book starts with age 10 and moves to 13, 20, 21, 33, 50, 60, 66, and 80. The twins live their separate lives, but each age brings them back together in some formative way.
One of the elements I really love is that each chapter starts with the full names of the twins, so we learn about changes in their relationship status by the chapter titles. The first few chapters are Ashleigh and Remy Brett, but the surnames change as the girls make their way through life. Obviously, we learn the backstory of the name changes, but I actually found myself becoming invested in the name changes. When one of the twins met someone and her name was different at the start of the next chapter, I literally sighed out loud, “Awww, she married him.”
And then there are the passages that just make you smile. I can hear these conversations in my head. Prowse excels at creating realistic dialog and descriptions of conversations and situations that anyone can envision taking place.
“You’re not funny.”
“I think I’m a little bit funny,” He shoveled more cereal into his mouth. “And if you really want to know, the look was because you shout it out every morning: I can’t be late! As if by shouting it you’re going to make it happen.”
“I think they call it manifesting.”
“Is that right?” he asked quizzically.
“Yep, apparently you put what you need or desire out into the universe and it comes to you.”
“Why has no one told me about this before? You mean there’s me grafting my biscuits off since I left school and all I had to do was shout out what I wanted and it would be delivered, by some kind of cosmic postman?”
“Yes, that’s exactly how it works.”
“Why are you wearing one boot?” He stared at her left foot in its pink-and-green striped sock.
“I can’t find the other one.”
“Have you tried manifesting it?”
“Lamborghini!” he suddenly yelled.
“What the—?”
“A villa in Ibiza!” This time, louder, and she worried that Mr. and Mrs. Smith next door might bang on the wall. Again. “A fridge that doesn’t make that humming noise, and a hot tub in the back garden with a beer fridge by the side of it!” he screeched.
“What on earth are you doing?” She stared at the man, who was clearly having some kind of an episode.
“I’m manifesting.” He chuckled. The idiot. “Go get ’em, tiger!” he called.
“Dinner’s ready!” Midge hollered from the hallway. “Last one at the table is a loser!”
*****
“Loser!” Midge pointed at her.
“Yes.” She winked, took a seat, and popped a hot chip in her mouth. “But I’m a loser who knows where the secret chocolate is hidden.”
True to Prowse’s form, this story is fraught with emotion, family tension, happiness, and tragedy…all enveloped in love. This is such a moving and heartwarming story. You won’t want to miss it.
If you enjoyed this post, please comment below. Subscribe for regular updates, and share it with your friends. If you’re interested in starting a conversation, send an email to booksundertheblanket@gmail.com.
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a small commission at no cost to you when you make a purchase using the links on my site.
