Hello, hello! How’s everyone this wonderful Wednesday? I should have written this on Monday, but ended up being lazy and watching TV with Dad. Today (Tuesday), we took Sophia to the vet to get her checked out and vaccinated. Now, it’s almost 7pm and I still need to order from Sam’s and catch up on some reading. In other words, I’ll be back next week with the regularly scheduled book review! Here’s a pretty picture by Amy Brown instead.
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are pretty good. Monday evening, we got two new additions to the family! Sophia and Bonnie! So, this is just a quick introduction post before I wander off to buy more dog essentials.
Sophia has the brown head and Bonnie has the black one. They came with their names and respond well to them, so we just trained Dad to remember them instead of changing them. He calls them Sophia Loren and Bonnie Mae.
Sophia is extremely skittish, but she seems to be settling down a bit. Her and Mardi sniff each other and share Dad’s lap and seem like they’ll eventually become friends. She also likes to bark at ghosts in the middle of the night! Bonnie is kind of a bitch so far, no pun intended. She’s pretty food aggressive. Most of the time, she ignores everything until Mardi goes toward the kitchen where the water and food are. She doesn’t seem as bad with Sophia since they grew up together I guess, but still gives her the stink eye. It’s something she’s going to need to be broken of, but so far all the tips I’ve found are for dogs on a feeding schedule. Our dogs have always had access to food at all times, so we’ll have to figure something out. Otherwise, she likes pets and exploring the yard. She’s quiet. Mardi seems scared of Bonnie so far. It’s early days, though. I think once they settle in, they’ll be good puppers. Also, neither of them like the double flap doggie door yet.
Such a camera hound! Welcome Sophia and Bonnie!
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? It’s that time of year where I try to get into some kind of holiday spirit and fail miserably. Don’t feel like sending out cards again this year. I tried Christmas music and just ended up tuning it out. I’m boring, I know. Dad and I did walk up and down the street to look at the lights our festive neighbors put up. That counts for something, right? Anyway, I have nothing to ramble about or review, so here are random festive songs. Kind of. I guess.
1. I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas by Gayla Peevey.
2. The Season’s Upon Us by Dropkick Murphys.
3. Snoopy’s Christmas by The Royal Guardsmen.
4. Won’t be Home for Christmas by Blink-182.
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this wonderful Wednesday? Things here are good. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, so happy turkey day to those who celebrate! Happy Thursday to those who don’t! I slacked off and waited until the last minute to write this, so it’s going to be a little short. Just a reminder of the stuff I’m thankful for even if I don’t say it enough.
1. Dad. First and foremost. Always. I’m thankful for everything he does, which is everything. He does literally everything. Thank you isn’t really enough, but it’s Thanksgiving, so thank you! Danke. Arigatou. Gracias. Grazie. Merci. Asante. Spasibo. All the thank yous. Also, we need more pictures of you.
2. The Minion and the besties. Yeah, you guys are all right too. Joel, Jenae, and Danielle. I’m glad you exist at the same time as me and that we somehow ended up meeting. Tell your respective parents that I’m thankful they had sex since you exist because of it!
3. Squeaky toys that make Mardi happy! The pupper gets cuddles as thanks for being our whiny little roommate who entertains us all the time.
As always, feel free to share your thoughts and comments and questions here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things here are good. Quiet. Turkey Day is going to be a small thing. Just family. Are those of you who celebrate ready? Anyway, I still don’t have much to ramble about, but I somehow ended up reading a self-help book and need to word vomit about my hatred of such things. I only did it because the friend I do a kind of book club with wanted to read it for our craft book month. This particular book was Atomic Habits by James Clear, but the following thoughts apply to the other handful of self-help books I’ve had to read over the years (mostly while I was in school).
1. Why are these books so repetitive? Like, my dude… why is your book 300 pages when it could’ve been 75? And every self-help book I’ve read, including the majority of craft books, are the same way. I can understand repeating the important stuff once or twice in different ways in case some people don’t understand the first explanation, but why are you saying the exact same thing 50 times? You don’t even try to explain it a different way. Sure, you use a different scenario, but the explanation of your process is just copy and pasted from the first scenario. I either got it the first time or I’m still confused the fiftieth time. There’s no in between. Please just edit your work.
2. Uh… duh? Every self-help book I’ve read takes something that is absolutely common sense and frames it as something genius. It’s always along the lines of “Today, I’m going to share something with you that changed my life. There’s plenty of science to back it up. For the mere cost of $15 for this ebook, you too can learn this amazing secret!” Then, the book is 300 pages of “I learned to put my socks on before my shoes” and the science is a Wikipedia article. Dude, no. Just no. The habits book… I’ve done just about everything he suggests because duh. Repeating tasks turns them into habits? You don’t say. It’s easier to keep up with habits that are simple and fun? No way. I can increase the difficulty of a habit over time by gradually increasing what I’m doing? Mind blown. Seriously though, tell me something I haven’t learned just by existing in the world.
3. Who are you? If I’ve never heard of you and you quote things like Twitter, Reddit, and Wikipedia at me, I’m definitely going to doubt your authority on any given subject. Looking at you, Clear. Same goes for craft books. If I’ve never heard of you and you start using your own books (none of which I’ve heard of) as examples of how to write, my automatic thought is that you’re just trying to sell your other books. Yes, I’m a jerk. Yes, I expect self-proclaimed authorities on whatever subject to prove themselves. No, I won’t take your word for it. Especially if you’re supposed to be using science to back up your claims. What can I say? I’m a very skeptical person.
I think that’s enough rambling and rant. Self-help books are not my things. I’ll read them if I have to or someone I love really wants to read one together, but otherwise I avoid them. I do know people who enjoy them, though. If you find them useful, more power to you.
What do you think about self-help books? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and questions and comments here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Fall is here! Kind of. Pretty sure the temperatures are supposed to go back up a bit the next few days. Anyway, if you read last week’s post, you’ll know that I was thinking about buying myself a treat. After much hesitation, I got the fancy chocolates! I ordered from Recchiuti in San Francisco because they’re on all the “best chocolates” lists I looked at, so I figured they were at least okay. Guess what! They do indeed taste like chocolates. I haven’t tried all of them yet, but I thought I would share my thoughts on the ones I’ve tasted so far.
In order to make the shipping price hurt less, I ordered the Black Box 16 (because I like to try different things) and a box of Peppermint Thins (because I love all things peppermint). The Black Box was $52 (so like $3.25 a piece) and the other was $28 for 24 (around $1.17 each). I shouldn’t focus on the money, but I’m a miser, so this was a really difficult thing to talk myself into. I’m constantly wondering if things are worth the money, not just chocolates. Everything. But let’s get to my thoughts thus far:
1. Peppermint Thins. These are about the size of a nickel (I don’t think they’re as big as a quarter but it’s been a while since I’ve seen actual change, so maybe). The inside is thick and the whole thing is reminiscent of a York Peppermint Pattie without the white coloring. I like letting them melt on my tongue. You get to taste the chocolate first and the mint gradually gets stronger until it’s almost overwhelming. I enjoy that. Would I buy them again? No, but I’m not mad I tried them this time.
2. Black Box 16. So far, these are not bad. I’ve only had 5 as of me writing this and mostly they’ve been good, but nothing impressive. I’ll let you know if I come across one, but for now, it’s like with the Peppermint Thins… I’m enjoying them and I’m not mad I tried them, but I probably won’t be getting them again.
2a. Sesame Nougat. This one was definitely nutty and I liked the wafer that was hidden inside. I didn’t look at the legend until after I ate it, so I wasn’t sure what it was, but I enjoyed trying to figure it out. Did guess sesame specifically, but I knew it was a nut or seed. It was interesting.
2b. Kona Coffee. It’s coffee and chocolate. What’s not to love? So far, it’s my favorite.
2c. Rose Caramel. This one was interesting, but the flower oils left a perfume kind of taste that lingered. I wasn’t a fan.
2d. Force Noir. I love dark chocolate, but this one was just okay.
2e. Burnt Caramel. My second favorite. It has very intense dark caramel flavors that I like.
So, yeah. I got myself a treat. They’re not bad, but I think I’ll just stick with Hershey and the like. Future treats will probably just be useless pretty things.
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? I’m trying to trick myself into buying myself a treat. I’ve been trying to talk myself into something for a while, but always make excuses not to. It’s very hard to come up with a reason to buy things that I want. If I don’t need it, why should I waste the money? It’s not like anyone is telling me not to buy shit. On the contrary. I’m constantly encouraged to treat myself. I just don’t. So, if I can talk myself into buying a treat in the near future, what should it be?
1. Fancy chocolates. I’ve been leaning towards a literal treat, but I keep putting it off because the shipping is like half the price of the chocolates. And fancy chocolates are always a let down. It tastes like chocolate. My palate is not sophisticated enough for expensive chocolate or coffee or whatever else people try to convince you is a whole different experience when you pay stupid amounts of money for it. It’s still just chocolate. But the flavor combinations sound fun and the ones I’m looking at aren’t too ridiculously priced. Except the shipping. Maybe I’ll feel better about it if I add a couple of other items and the shipping stays the same.
2. A sweater/nice top. Or just clothes in general. I bought a lovely, thick sweater last year and have only worn it once. I can only think of a couple of situations to wear it since it’s Texas, but I still love it. I could use a thinner sweater or just a nice long sleeved top. I have a nice summer top, but I have a feeling I’ll need a skirt to wear with it. I keep forgetting it exists, though. But we don’t really do anything that requires nice clothing, so I have a hard time justifying spending the money on that stuff. I can’t even talk myself into buying stuff that will go into my every day rotation.
3. Shoes! I’ve refrained from buying shoes for a long time, but they are some of my favorite frivolous things. I stopped buying them because I only wear two pairs of boots (biker boots I’ve had since I was like 16 for every-day-winter-leaving-the-house wear and a nice bronze/brown pair with short heels in the event we go somewhere dressy during the winter), my two pairs of Converse, a pair of wedge sandals, and a pair of purple flip-flops. I have dressier shoes for summer, but never wear them. I also have my fluffy slipper bootie things that I wear most of the time in the winter. I just don’t need more shoes even though I love them.
4. Jewelry. I randomly buy myself bracelets and necklaces, but then feel bad because I only wear them once or twice. I do want a new ring or two, but I don’t remember my size and I’m too socially awkward to go into a jewelry store, get my fingers sized, then leave without… you know… buying something. Rude. I guess I could just buy a sizer or print out one of the paper ones. I just haven’t. But I would definitely spend money on new rings because I wear one 99% of the time. That’s probably why I haven’t actually gotten sized. I don’t want to spend money.
There’s also art and knickknacks and things that I’ll never convince myself to buy. Also, weapons. I’ll never be able to afford the weapons I want unless I become a millionaire and can convince myself to part with a couple of thousand for no reason other than I want to. Anyway, should I buy myself a treat? What? What kind of treat would you buy yourself? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts or comments or questions here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! What’s everyone up to this wonderful Wednesday? Dad and I are going to Garland. There’s a place out there that does leatherwork on vehicles, so we’re getting some work done on the van. I’m sure I’ll share pictures whenever everything is finished. But that’s for another day. Today, I figured I’ll ramble about the few writerly/readerly things going on. It’s really nothing much, so this will probably be a short post.
Writerly things:
1. I’ve slowly been working on the new Untitled Cozy Mystery novel. When I do write, the words come easy enough, but actually making myself open the file and write is the hard part. Right now, I’m using slushing for PseudoPod as an excuse to avoid writing, but that’ll be done soon enough. I tried writing on my phone the other night. It worked a little. I’ve never done it before, so I’m trying to figure out the app as I go. It was only 224 words and they need fleshed out, but at least it was something.
2. I read through the part of the UCM novel written thus far and I actually like it. It was very much one of those “what happens next… oh shit, I have to write it” moments. I don’t get that feeling, so it was weird and creepy. It also makes it more daunting because what if I screw it up or no one else likes it? But yeah. I like it so far.
Readerly things:
1. I got a free book. I didn’t even have to ask for it. Someone from Books Forward (a marketing/publicity firm for authors) reached out to me asking if I would be interested in reviewing a book. This sometimes happens through NetGalley, but apparently she just randomly came across my blog, liked it enough to get in touch, and I guess she read enough to see that the book she’s flogging is in genres that I like. So, yay free book! It’s called Magic by Any Other Name by Alison Levy and the review will go up on November 8th. But also yay for people actually looking at my blog!
2. My desire to read for fun is currently waning. I finished Carrie and haven’t even started my next fun book. Granted, I’m reading two review books at the moment (completely different genres so I won’t get anything confused). I just don’t feel like throwing in a third book again. Oh well.
That’s about it. Nothing exciting. Any updates from you? As always, feel free to share your thoughts or questions here or on my social media pages!
Howdy, howdy! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? Things finally seem to be cooling down a bit, so yay for that. I don’t have anything writerly or readerly to ramble about, so I thought I would share some random life updates. It’s nothing exciting or profound. Just mundane life crap. Annoyances. All of the stuff that I tend to overlook as topics of conversation because no one really wants to know, right? The “nothing much” that drifts through my mind when people ask what’s up. Proceed at your own risk (of boredom).
1. Annoying thing 1: Resolved. Dad gets paid to take care of me via a Medicaid program. Medicaid decided to go with a new clock in/out system this year and we have to switch over on Oct. 1st. The new company requires training to use their system and sent a notice to the people who handle payments and stuff (basically the middleman between me as the employer and Medicaid so that I don’t touch the money) that the employer (me) has to participate in a webinar or in-person training (just no to people). The latest webinar they offer is at noon. I’m not up and in my chair by noon and I didn’t want to break my sleep schedule for them to tell me how to use a program that’s pretty self-explanatory. Anyway, I did some digging and found online training videos and asked the middleman if I could just do that. She said they didn’t exist, so I emailed her the link. Two days later she emailed back that I could use them. Why didn’t they just send her those in the first place? So, that’s on my list of things to do this week.
2. Annoying thing 2: Resolved but requires monitoring. Medicare/Medicaid got hit by hackers and some of my information was among the stuff accessed. That’s always fun, right? They gave me free fraud monitoring through Experian, because they’ve proven to be unhackable… oh, wait. Anyway, I tried signing up for everything the day I got the letter, but the Experian website kept saying they couldn’t load the page. Got signed up the next day though, which is good because their customer service people went off on a tangent that had nothing to do with the question I emailed them, then acted like that fixed everything. They did not get a good review. Ugh.
3. Our dog is a sadistic murderer. A few nights ago, she got hold of a small possum (maybe a large rat) and shook it into pieces. Of course she had to bring it in the house to play with it too. Dad found it’s liver in the kitchen despite the fact that she didn’t take it in there. Her doggy door is a little ways into the living room. She just whipped the poor thing around so much that bits flew, I guess. It was a traumatic event for everyone except Mardi. She tried to get another one (a little bigger) Monday night, but Dad was able to mostly keep her away from it. She’s a demon dog and once she fixates on something, it’s impossible to get her attention away from it.
4. Had a doctor appointment on Tuesday because I have a stubborn sinus infection. I took the antibiotic she called in a couple of weeks ago, but it came right back, so I went to see her. Got an allergy shot. Fingers crossed it works. She said to give it some time to work, then we can go get our flu shots and the new Covid vaccine.
5. I think I figured out how to fix my screenplay after all these years.
6. Carrie by Stephen King is so much worse than I remember. I guess when you’re 14 and devouring books one after the other everything seems better. It’s slow going this time.
I’m sure there’s more, but I can’t think of anything else. How’s life going for you? As always, feel free to share your thoughts or questions or whatever here or on my social media pages!
Hello, hello! How’s everyone doing this lovely Wednesday? This summer is never-ending. I like the heat, but even I’m tired of triple digits. Plus, I feel anxious for no real reason, so there’s this sense of impending doom lingering over me. That’s how I am! So, instead of rambling about anything remotely personal, I thought I’d share my book list for September. It’s not much, but I like it.
1. Murder in an Italian Village by Michael Falco. This is my September review book, so you’ll get to hear my thoughts on it on the 27th. I’ll say this, it’s extremely dense. So many words and factoids. I have thoughts already. Not sure if that’s good or bad.
2. Carrie by Stephen King. Danielle and I have started a kind of informal book club thing, so we decided to rotate through craft books, masters of their craft (originally started as just Stephen King because she hasn’t read much by him, but we thought it might get boring so we decided to include authors who are most well known in their genres, like Agatha Christie, Anne Rice, etc.), and randomness (just whatever we want to read). Last month she chose a craft book, this month I chose Carrie, next month she’ll choose a random book, then I’ll choose a craft book, and so on. I figured we should start at the beginning with King and it’s been a long time since I read this one, so yeah.
3. The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, book 4) by Rick Riordan. A new book in the series is coming out, so I decided to reread the first five. That’s all. I’ll probably start book 5, but won’t finish it until October.
4. Alicia Alonso: Prima Ballerina by Carmen T. Bernier-Grand. I do those stupid Kindle Challenges where you collect virtual bookmarks as you complete reading challenges and one of the challenges this season is to read something from their Hispanic and Latino Voices section. The challenge is over on the 30th, so I chose one of the short books to squeeze in. If they’d have revealed this particular challenge earlier, I would’ve read Mexican Gothic.
What are you planning to read this month? As always, feel free to leave your thoughts and comments and questions here or on my social media pages!
Shawna's Blog of Doom 