Can You Guess How Much Snow We've Had This Winter? (so far) & #TheSignofDeath #NetGalley

 As you may know, I live in the Chicagoland Area, the heart of the Midwest, USA.  We get snow every winter.  In November and December and into January we were really lucking out in the snow department; as in, we had very little snow.  It's not that I am a passionate hater of snow, it's just that snow makes running more difficult, because not enough sidewalks are cleared for people who need sidewalks. 

If I were to run to be the Queen of Illinois, I would run on a platform that would involve municipalities paying people to shovel the snow so that all sidewalks were cleared within 24 hours of any snow event of over two inches.  I would also love to have heated streets, but mostly I dream of a world where sidewalks are not buried under mountains of snow each winter.  This is on my mind because over the last few weeks it has snowed almost every day and now we have over two feet of snow on the ground!  Bah! 

(https://www.weather.gov/lot/202021_winterevents) 

Over three feet of snow has fallen at Midway Airport!  It was too cold for any of it to melt, but now the forecast is looking up and it hit 45F!   The snow is melting! Maybe we will have a nice St. Patrick's Day this year? 

Cozy Mystery Book Review Time! The Sign of Death by Callie Hutton 

The Sign of Death is a historical cozy mystery and is the second book in the Victoria Book Club Mystery.  There is enough context in this book that you won't feel lost at all if you jump into this book. The story is told from two points of view, Lady Amy who writes mysteries under a pen name, and Lord William her good friend and--maybe more!  This book takes place in Bath, England in 1891. This is the first cozy I have read taking place in this time period, but I have read romance taking place during the late 1800s.  

I received an ARC of this book from Net Galley and so the exact wording of the book can change between the ARC and the published book so this might be slightly different but I have to share a sentence. I knew I would enjoy this book from the first sentence:

"William, Viscount Wethington starred in horror at the missive in his hand, the blood draining from his head. He read it a second and then a third time, but the words never changed. My dearest son, After much consideration, I have decided to retire from our townhouse in London and take up residence with you in Bath...affectionately, Mother."

My kind of humor right from the start!  Lord William's mom is moving in and she wants him to get married. But he has bigger problems because in the next chapter we find out that Willam's man of business was found drowned in the river, and later we find out he was quite unscrupulous!  

Recently, I attended a webinar for mystery writing and the author who was presenting talked about how important it is for amateur sleuths to be actively searching for clues instead of writers having clues just conveniently plop into their laps.  Callie Hutton does a great job having active sleuths.  Lady Amy and Lord William are like Sherlock Holmes and Watson, they are on the case!

This book a fun historical mystery Lady Amy and Lord William make a great duo and I am looking forward to their future adventures! 

4.5 stars!  

May is Here! Let's Stay Home!

I mean really, I don't see any of my constitutional rights being taken from me. I can go places if I need or want to, now I can't eat in at a restaurant, but that isn't in the constitution so I'm cool with it.  Also, I'm a big fan of people getting to live as long as possible.

I'm running every day, I made a few neck gaiters/buffs out of a pair of fleece-lined tights. Running with a face covering is difficult so what I do is I keep it down unless I am getting close to other people. Since I run around my neighborhood it is easy to avoid getting w/in 10 feet of other people. It also helps me to vary my runs because if I see someone headed my way I turn around or turn a corner to avoid them. Mind tricks help distract esp when I am doing my weekly long run. With the rest of the tights, I made ties for my garden stakes this summer. To celebrate each run, I take a daily post-run picture. Above is one of those pictures. I post my daily pics on Instagram.

Just a few weeks until it's officially garden planting time!  I've got my scrap garden growing and in a couple more weeks I'll be transplanted the lettuce, scallions, and celery!

I am celebrating this new month with Day Pajamas. I highly recommend the Day Pajama lifestyle.

The PJs are short sleeves and 3/4 length. Perfect for May.

Enjoy your Day!
xoxo

Let's have a refresher on the Rules of the Road Shall We? And also a recipe for pie.

Summertime means that I run on the mean streets of the Chicagoland area almost everyday.  In the course of that running, I am annoyed and occasionally in fear for my life.  Why? Disrespectful Drivers!  In the words of Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy "I'm walking (or in my case running) here!"


All because some drivers insist on turning in front or behind me when I'm in the crosswalk with the right of way!  You, driver, are not supposed to be turning right or left while I'm in the roadway.

Me trying to live. You, driver, not paying attention or looking both ways before making a right turn.  Look both ways ! Lucky for me, I didn't get hit by a car recently; because I assume if I don't make eye contact with the driver turning right, then it's not safe for me to cross.

Also while I am ranting into the wind here, if you have a dog, put it on a leash.  Dogs like to chase me. I run slow and that makes me very catchable.

And now a recipe for pie...

Pie actually seems fairly complicated to make in my opinion, so I googled easiest pie to make and this post was at the top of the list. If you are game, here are some super easy pies you can make!

Easy Pie Recipes

you can also find easy pie recipes at foodnetwork.com

On the writing front: Not much to report, still working on Chapter 14 and I'm not sure yet how this date should end.  A promise of a future date or nah.  I need to write more and see what happens. Next week I'm participating in an online challenge to write 1000 words a day for the remainder of June, so that *hopefully* gets me writing more! 

How many activities can I squeeze this Summer? Chicago offers and embarrasment of riches.

Summer is here! Kids are out, the sun is high, and the humidity is rising. June is my favorite month. We get lots of sun, I'm on a summer schedule, and the days are still getting longer.  June is like the Friday of summer. Everyone, for the most part, is in a good mood knowing we still have Saturday (July) and Sunday (August) ahead of us.

I aim to enjoy this summer to the fullest; and that is easy to do with the multitude of  outdoor concerts, festivals, and community events  taking place in Chicago. To kick things off, me and the family, are going to go to the Printers Row Lit Fest and Blues Fest this weekend. I'm looking forward to picking up some new books, meeting authors, and then enjoy fabulous music against the gorgeous background of Chicago's skyline.

Writing wise, here's what I'm up to this week.  First of all, I skipped writing for a couple days but I am definitely increasing how often I am writing and it helps to keep that momentum going. I continue to struggle with when is the best time for me to write, and I am still very easily distracted.  I think that as I continue to build up my writing stamina this will get better? I hope.  My philosophy is writing is like running, don't think about it just do it. I mean, Nike said it best, right?

Have a great Monday!
xoxo