If You Dream It, You Can Do It!

The last day of the summer library reading challenge is here!  I wanted to read more books during this challenge than I read during the winter challenge and I achieved that goal. Winter reading: 6 books. Summer reading: 12 books.  Maybe this time I'll win a gift card! 

A Dark and Stormy Murder by Julia Buckley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm so glad I decided to read this book. This is such a well done Cozy Mystery. I love the setting of Blue Lake, the old home that has secrets, and Lena the would-be writer, getting the job of a lifetime!

Julia Buckley does such a nice job of building suspense in this novel -will Camilla be OK, is Lena safe? Is Sam West a good guy? Bob's horrible son made me literally LOL. Such a clever little thing.

I very much enjoyed that the story takes place w/o there having to be murder on top of murder in the small town--which can seem far fetched. I was almost certain a couple of characters had killed Martin, but I was wrong! How fun to be wrong.

5 stars by far! I can't wait to read the next adventure!

If you have been looking for a mystery that takes place in a Hallmark world, this book is for you. It's an excellent introduction into the world of cozy mysteries.  It is also a very good book to read if you are like me and are working on writing your own mystery book.  I would love to craft a book like this one!




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Reading My Way Through July - I'm on a Mission

Moonshine & Magic by Bella Falls
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I listened to this book via audible. The reader is the same reader who does all the Sookie Stackhouse books. I had some trouble remembering I wasn't listening to a Charlaine Harris novel, it wasn't just the voice but also many of the characteristics that Charli the MC has in this book. Lots of similarities in her personality, backstory, and place in the magical world.

I started this book and it did not grab me so I set it back down for a few months and then finally picked it back up.

If you like magic mysteries, you may very well enjoy this series. For me, it didn't hold my interest and I was easily distracted.

Will I continue this series? Not likely.


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What in Tarnation?

I spy with my little eyes a snowflake on my weather app, not once but twice in the next 10 days!  Not cool.

I'm not too worried.  A- plenty of other things to worry about and B- Chicagoland forecasts changed every hour on the hour so who knows!

Today was blustery and I was kind of slow, but I was able to run 4.5 miles and for that I am happy.

I took a picture at a local nursery here-

And then yesterday I took a photo from our front yard.

Weeds you say?  Ah pshaw, I say they are flowers I don't have to maintain.  Plus according to The Guardian: 

"Gardeners should avoid mowing over dandelions on their lawn if they want to help bees, according to the new president of the British Ecological Society.

Dandelions – which will start flowering in the UK this month – provide a valuable food source for early pollinators coming out of hibernation, including solitary bees, honey bees and hoverflies."

-The rest of the article is here!

I would like to add more flowers to our backyard this spring/summer, it, however, remains to be seen if that will be a practical pursuit, given the need to #stayhome unless you are doing essential shopping. Browsing around the garden center while the Hubs is wandering around Menards for hours isn't likely to happen this year.  I'll survive!

Speaking of surviving, I may or may not have a birthday this year. I had big plans to pester my children and the Hubs into throwing me a milestone epic bday party. A well-deserved half-century party.  Now that COVID-19 is here, I may well postpone my birthday until 2021. If the Olympics can postpone until next year so can my big party. 

Can I Speak to The Manager?

This is not the 2020 I ordered. I would like to return it and get a new virus-free version.

How are you doing?  I'm hanging in there. I'm at home this week and frankly, I'd really rather be at work, how about you?  While I currently have all the time in the day to read books, write and listen to podcasts, I'm having trouble focusing to do any of that.

I don't know if I am feeling more general anxiety because I spent the last nine months or so undergoing cancer treatments and now I'm feeling some PTSD or if I would have this same level of anxiety either way. I feel like my stress is higher than it would be if not for my cancer season.  Just a few weeks ago I was enjoying a comfort that had come from making peace with my 'new post-cancer normal'  and now here we are.

 Now suddenly we are living in a time for everyone everywhere to struggle with uncertainty everywhere. Will we have jobs? Will the kids go back to school?  and most importantly, Will I get sick? Will they get sick? How sick? And this one for me personally, is it possible when we were all sick in February that we already had COVID-19?  Will we ever know? How long does this go on?

A bunch of questions and no solid answers. This is why I've been busying myself with cleaning out cabinets and drawers as well as cooking. These are things I can control.  I am actually running out of nooks and crannies to clean. I'm on the brink of ordering paint to paint our bedroom. I should not do this. I'm not good at painting and it makes me cranky.   Today I am pledging to myself to stay away from any press conferences on my TV and to use my time to escape into an urban fantasy book.  If you can, I suggest doing the same.  If you are working please wash your hands as much as you can!

Yesterday, I wanted to use up leftover noodles and it was definitely time for comfort food so I tried to recreate a breakfast my Oma would make.   1. Cut up some thick-cut bacon and fry it in a pan. 2. Take out the bacon and fry a chopped onion in the pan for a couple minutes. 3. Add in leftover baked potatoes that you have cut up.  4. Stir for a couple minutes adding salt, pepper, and some thyme to taste. 5. Take your leftover noodles and toss those with breadcrumbs you have from stale bread. 6. put the noodles in the pan along with the bacon and cook it all together for about 4 minutes.  Then serve.

I used turkey bacon and added in some chopped yellow bell pepper I had leftover from the day before.  I made an egg over easy to top my noodle dish. I used a little oil in my skillet because I didn't have delicious bacon grease.

My Oma's was obviously better than my re-creation. But I will say this dish is a hearty breakfast and a good way to use leftovers!

Stay Healthy. Stay at home!

I tried it

I saw this meme on a friends FB page:

I laughed and scrolled on, and then last night... 

The kids love Martinelli's sparkling apple cider. It's a bottle cap top. If you have to refrigerate it, you are on your own because it has no cork.  If you are like my hubs and drink the cheap staple wine sold at Walgreens known as Looking Glass Wine,  well those corks do not fit either.

Guess what does fit in the Martinelli's bottle?  You guessed right? Something that is always in our fridge!

Note. Right after I took this picture P. came in the kitchen and ate half of the cork. LOL

Happy First Weekend in 2020!  Cheers!  keep that fridge stocked with bubbly AND carrots! 

Just Me Talking About My First Friday in 2020

How did you spend your first Friday in this new decade? I had a groovy time this afternoon hanging out in the Radiation Department of my hospital.  Today was the dry run for my upcoming radiation treatments.  I am happy to report both my doctor and the nurses said I am very good at holding my breath.  I credit all the running I do.  Is this a skill I can add to my resume? 

Why holding my breath? It is supposed to help move my heart and lung away from the beam of radiation. This technique is called Deep Inspiration Breath Hold.  Very zen sounding. I'm all for whatever I can do to keep my heart healthy-- especially since I had chemo and that can impact the heart.  Like the cancer isn't bad enough!  Insult to injury and all that.

It would be great if I could zone out and listen to a book on the audible app while I am laying there with the machine moving around me, but I have to listen to them tell me when to breath, hold my breath, and most importantly when I can stop holding my breath.  So no listening to a book.

Today I spent one of my credits on a thriller that takes place in Australia.  The bad guy is killed right off the bat, so now the question is what all went down prior to his death.

I've been a member of Audible off and on for years and now is a really good time to be a member. They have a special where if you listen to 3 books between now and March 3rd, you get a $20 Amazon Credit. Then I can use my $20 Amazon Credit to buy some paperback books. You can join Audible anytime this month and get in on the deal. If you are already a member you don't have to do anything, it's all tracked through the website.

New Decade, Who Dis?

Well as you can imagine, I didn't participate in the look where I was in 2009 and look where I am now in 2019 retrospectives that were on Facebook and the like.  In 2009 I had more hair and boobs. Now an inch of hair and the boobs. Welp. It beats letting my boobs kill me.

Anywho... New Decade and I'm still here. In my head, I picture myself at 32. I think far too often as if I am not yet a grown-up and that middle age and retirement are thirty years away.  Turns out, that this year I will be half a century old.  I've already lived longer than many people and I'm much closer to retirement age than my high school years.  Wild how time goes by slowly and far too fast at the same time.  How can I be almost fifty and have two kids that are over 18?  It happened so fast and so slowly at the same time. 

For today, the sun is shining, I'm still here and I think I will go for a run.  Later I'll have another bowl of my soup from yesterday and read a book that I got for free for being a member of the Between the Chapters Book Club run by Kensington Books on Facebook. 

My Goodreads book goal for 2020 is 50 books. Get it?  50 years 50 books?  I love numbers tying into my life and my goals. 

Happy New Year. 2020 is going to be amazing (that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)