📝 Plot: A devoted mother sees her perfect life slowly unravel when she begins to suspect that someone close to her is manipulating her family. As tension rises and trust breaks down, she is forced to question her own perceptions, her relationships, and what is real or fabricated in her everyday life.

#Unemèresousinfluence #drama #thriller #psychological #family #manipulation #France #suspense #motherhood

🎬 Une mère sous influence (2018)

Subtitles available:
🇵🇹 Portuguese🆕

⬇️ Download https://app.box.com/s/43o4vsrfdwp2vutg2o0341jhacjsrq1j

🎞 IMDb https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9101058/

▶️ Watch the video here 👇
NONE

#Unemèresousinfluence #drama #thriller #family #psychological #manipulation #France #motherhood #suspense

🤍 No one really talks about how birth can feel.
Beyond the physical, many moms say natural birth changed them emotionally in ways they didn’t expect, from feeling more connected to being more confident.

👀 The 7 emotional benefits might surprise you.
Tap the link to read more:https://zurl.co/T3Mlt

#BabyYumYum #BYY #NaturalBirth #BirthStory #Motherhood #PregnancyJourney #NewMom #EmpoweredBirth #ParentingSA

Windows open, sea view, ocean air, and a child to shower affection on...why can't this be me? Well...for the nonce, one can dream, of "Rocking the Baby". Painting by William Gale.

#art #traditionalart #painting #oilpainting #motherhood #beautifulwoman #beautifulgirl

15 Indoor Activities for Toddlers on Rainy Days (That Actually Work)

Discover 15 engaging indoor activities for toddlers on rainy days, from sensory bins...

https://mumblog.org/15-indoor-activities-for-toddlers-rainy-days/

#womensvoices #toddleractivities #indooractivities #parenting #motherhood

The rain is hammering against the windows, your toddler has asked to go outside fourteen times, and it’s not even 10 AM. I know this scene intimately — I’ve lived it more times than I can count. #toddleractivities #indooractivities #parenting #motherhood

https://mumblog.org/15-indoor-activities-for-toddlers-rainy-days/?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

Posted into The MumBlog Diaries 👩 @the-mumblog-diaries-Econopass

The Lily Cafe Weekly Highlights – May 1, 2026

At Home

Either my house is haunted, we have someone living in the attic and all the people who have gone up there are keeping it a secret, someone’s sleepwalking, or someone’s decided to play weird jokes. We have a couple of stools, and I found one of them upside down yesterday morning. Everyone denies it and, honestly, I can’t really see any of us getting up in the middle of the night to put a stool upside down. I had an imaginary friend for several years, a middle-aged male ghost who always wore a derby hat and tie. He was always smiling, very jolly, but he liked to do things like flicker lights and open doors (this wasn’t me, because it would happen when I was at school, too, and weird things continued well after I stopped talking to him). I’m starting to think he’s found where I live now and decided it’s time to remind me he’s still here.

Other than the currently unexplained, my wildflowers are growing like crazy still. I think some creatures are nesting in it, but the cameras haven’t caught them yet. My daughter started state testing yesterday. This is her first year, and I think I’m more nervous than she is. My son gets to do all of his testing in two days next week. The weather is finally beautiful. We got our front room set up for the kids to have their own hang out space with their friends. Though my kids are currently mostly using it to do their homework. At least they seem excited about doing their homework?

What I’ve Read

The Library of Flowers wasn’t perfect, but I really enjoyed it. I shared my review yesterday, so I’ll leave it at that. I also read Our Lady of Blades by Sebastien de Castell. I couldn’t figure out if I liked it or not, but I think I enjoyed it and all the twists. It was like some weird mash up of the revenge story in The Count of Monte Cristo and the weird sexualization in the Dark Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop. It was sometimes uncomfortable, but also sometimes riveting, and I still know absolutely nothing about dueling but that’s okay. I liked the story of the sisters.

In progress: A Sprinkle of Sweet Serendipity by Rachel Linden

I like Linden’s books, but I never love them. I finally figured out why. I think. All of her protagonists are kind of stuck in their ways and are completely closed to change for the first half. Then some magical thinking happens and suddenly what I thought was very obvious from the beginning hits like an epiphany. And yet I keep reading her books because…I like the side characters. I’m having this same feeling with this book, but I’m also really enjoying it because Emmie wants to be a chocolateir with her own shop and I love reading about her making truffles and bon bons. Also her young son is adorable and reminds me of my son at his age when he was obsessed with space and black holes (though for a very different reason than this little boy).

Kids’ Reading Corner

The 6th Grader: Other than the Percy Jackson book he has to read for school, I don’t think he’s reading. But he did some speed reading tests and discovered he’s a natural speed reader (comprehension was actually decent, too). He has the skills, but is having a hard time finding interest.

The 3rd Grader: On the other hand is this little darling. She loves books, but isn’t the most confident reader. We’re still reading the Humphrey books, and she is obsessed with him. She’s also found a book series in the school library about a girl named Emily Windsnap.

The Kitchen

No baking still. We’re getting closer to when our new range will be delivered. A couple of more weeks, I think. I’m dying to make cookies. In theory, I could make them in the air fryer, but it looks like there’s only enough space for 2-4 cookies at a time and I just do not have the patience to make 2-4 cookies at a time.

The Writing Lounge

I sent out my first three queries, and I kind of feel relieved? I don’t know, is that normal? Maybe it’s because I’ve been working on this manuscript for about 11 months, editing, rewriting, reading and rereading and getting people to read it. I’ve written my first query letters and synopses, things I absolutely refused to even think about when I was 15 and submitting the first pages of a very bad manuscript to a small publisher. But, in the past 11 months, I’ve dealt with so much more. We bought a house and fully moved in 1 year ago, my oldest graduated elementary school and started middle school in a gifted program, my daughter moved from the lower elementary grades to the upper, we’ve had so much work done on the house (some of which took FOREVER), and now we’re in the thick of state testing, the first time for my daughter. Sending a manuscript to agents doesn’t feel quite as momentous and exhausting.

Anyways, I don’t anticipate updating this section with that manuscript again. Unless I get really lucky and get some good news. For now, it’ll be a small break while I decide on my next project.

Featured Posts From the Cafe

Due to everything else happening in life, and last week being a 4 day week (the kids were off last Friday), I did not post much this past week. I shared why I can’t really tell what fantasy novels of today will be tomorrow’s classics as well as my review for The Library of Flowers by L.C. Chu.

Blog Stats and Other Interesting Things

As much fun as this section has been, I’ve decided to retire it for the time being because 1) it’s kind of a pain to do and 2) I’m currently in my “I don’t really care about stats” phase (I cycle back and forth, so this section might return one day).

Featured Blog Post

Each week I aim to share my favorite post of the week. But, as my brain is increasingly cluttered with manuscript-related things and I’m getting increasingly sidetracked by my backyard as it’s gone from dead to wildflowery to I’m worried it’s overgrowing, I’ll be taking a break from this section.

If you would be so kind, one of my best friends is an artist and recently opened her online store. If you like LGBTQ art, take a look: Sunlight & Sky.

See you next week, and thanks for reading!

New study finds that ‘good enough’ parenting seems to be making a comeback and why that’s absolutely okay

https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://www.upworthy.com/new-study-finds-that-good-enough-parenting-seems-to-be-making-a-comeback/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-study-finds-that-good-enough-parenting-seems-to-be-making-a-comeback

Hashtag C-Section Awareness Month

https://birthethics.com/2026/04/30/hashtag-c-section-awareness-month/