Happy November! Thanksgiving is Coming and I'm in Holiday Planning Mode #TheSundayPost

   

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted here @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog and showcase books and things we have received. Share news about what is coming up on your blog for the week ahead. Join in weekly, bi-weekly, or for a monthly wrap-up. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme 

How was your first week of November?  I feel pretty good about mine. I ordered our Christmas photo cards from Walgreens. I ordered a few heat-and-serve side dishes from Boston Market for our Thanksgiving Feast, it's a family Tradition. I took down the Halloween decorations, left up all the general fall decorations, and added my Thanksgiving decorations. This year I finally got a blow-up turkey for our front yard, something I've been wanting to do for years but the price wasn't right until this year! I also ordered a couple of Thanksgiving-themed Snoopy shirts. Fun for me and fun to wear when I work at the school with kiddos. Plus I canvassed twice for my congressman, and we completed and dropped off our mail-in ballots. 

I also sent my Tastefully Simple recipe newsletter  Here is a link to it if you'd like to check it out click here

What have you been up to? Do you happen to have any fun Christmas-themed reads you can recommend to me? Esp. if I can do an audiobook--

Today I'm finishing Cold Days another book in the Harry Dresden Files and I will have a review on either Monday or Tuesday. Then I'm diving into a Lucy Stone Thanksgiving-themed mystery! 

Busy, Busy, Busy and A #NetGalley review #Renovated to Death!

 I have been MIA for a while, but fear not, nothing bad has been happening and I haven't given up reading. I've read a bunch of books but I got really off track on blogging.

You see what happened was just after my last post on 5/13, I began canvassing for a local candidate for state representative. Canvassing is when you go knock on people's doors and if they answer you give information about the candidate you are canvassing for, and ask them if they will be supporting your candidate.

I did so much walking!!!! 15-20 thousand steps per day, and it was HOT and sometimes it rained.  But in the end, it was all worth it!  My candidate won his primary! It was hard work, and I was tired!  My knocking fist got sore, and one day I got a little sunburn, I think it was as hard as training for the marathon last year!  

Right after the primary was over, I traveled with the hubs to my mom's side of the family for a family reunion. It was wonderful to see family I have not seen in years!  Then we came back from that and boom! time for Youngest Child's college orientation!  Now, this weekend we are having a graduation party for Oldest Child's college graduation and Youngest Child's high school graduation!

I hope you are having a lovely July!

Here is my review of a new cozy mystery, which hopefully will be a long-lived series, Renovated To Death by Frank Anthony Polito.  When it comes to the first book in a new Cozy Mystery series it can be a little overwhelming for the reader who is meeting a whole cast of characters and looking for clues to solve a murder.  That being said I always cut the writers some slack when evaluating their first books. 

What makes Renovated to Death stand apart from most cozies is that this book is that our amateur is a gay man. In my experience, most cozies are from a straight female perspective. This book takes place in Michigan and the local gay community is integral to the story.  At first, I thought the characters were a bit on the stereotypical side, but then I realized this is a cozy with a healthy dose of humor. If you read this book, now you know going in to see the humor!

If you like home DIY and are a fan of HGTV, you'll really appreciate the home renovation talk in this book.  The main character PJ and his husband JP (ah, cute couple names!) are hosts of a home renovation show and there is lots of talk about home renovation projects and restoration. 

I found this to be a fun, fresh take on the genre and I look forward to future adventures with PJ and JP.

4 stars! 

 

How Are You Doing On Your 2020 Goals?

Did you make some goals or resolutions for this year?  It's a new decade! Exciting times and also loads of doom to focus on globally. Any who...

I am trying to keep my goals simple and specific.  One goal I have for this year is to do or try two new experiences each month.

To that end, The Man and I went to the Conservation Expo at our local high school earlier this month.  There I picked up lots of information from various groups with activities we can try this year. I'll be following up on some of the opportunities to check out wild spaces near us to visit or volunteer when the weather slides out of winter and spring begins.  :-)

For my second new experience this month, I'm really pushing myself out my comfort zone. I'm making calls for a candidate running for my congressional district.  I did postcards and now I'm going to actually speak on the phone. That's big. I don't like using my phone to speak to people, I highly prefer texting.

I should just start each phone call by saying, "Look I am actually calling you and I highly dislike making phone calls, so this shows you how much I believe in Marie Newman for District IL-03."

Our primary day is St. Patrick's Day and this is Chicagoland, so everyone needs all the reminders to go to the polls--esp. before commencing with the green beer drinking!

There you have it, my second new thing for 2020, phone calls for candidates! On the plus side, I can make the calls from home and it also helps me with my full year goal to be involved with  local government.

Anyone else out there have goals to try new things in 2020?