Sunday Update - Week 47

 At least I think it's Week 47.  :shrug:  Anyway...

How did the week shake out?  Hmm...

Well, we started out last week with a walk in the woods.  First time since the Spring, so yay.  Nothing major to report down in there.  All the paths are leaf covered.  Not much new deadfall.  

I read some last weekend and finished two books.  I finished another one yesterday.

I didn't bake anything, which was weird because, for the first time, we had Thanksgiving with no dessert.  :sadface:  Well, I did have ice cream, but I always have ice cream.  Hubs roasted a most excellent turkey, though.  

In addition to our walk in the woods, I got active on Friday when we cleaned and decorated the office.  Total exer-cleaning day there.  I haven't weighed myself since Thanksgiving, but at last check... Weight: 158.8.  I haven't been in the 150s since like 2006.  

Speaking of weight loss, my new sweat pants arrived.  They fit.  But it's weird wearing sweats that fit now, so they seem too tight.  What I really need is a pair with a large waist and XL legs.  Ma legs need room to breathe, doncha know.  And before you remind me about the drawstring, there comes a point when no matter how much you pull on the drawstring, your pants still fall down.

Okay, so cleaning and decorating, I got to work at 7:30, slapped some Christmas music on, and got right to it sweeping.  I started on the right, and swept every room but one.  (And that's because the other gal was doing her own office.)  Then I dusted damn near everything.  I took breaks to answer the phones (they weren't ringing that much) and to do a few actual office things that needed doing.  After lunch, we decorated.  Then I went back to work on that big box of filing.  Then the mail arrived, so I dealt with that.  And then I got back to filing - which I finished with a few minutes to spare before clock-out time. Yay.  The office is so merry and bright.  And tidy!  (I still want to wash the windows, but cleaning time is over.)

I spent yesterday reading and relaxing.  And recovering from my exer-cleaning. Who-waa, I found muscles I'd forgotten I had.  We're also working our way through all those turkey leftovers.  Yay.  Today will be more of them same.

How was your week?  Did you have a nice Thanksgiving?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 11/26/22

 Hello again.  Not a bad reading week overall.  But I'm back to two books behind schedule.  :shrug:

No new books of any kind.  I really need to spend some time this weekend looking for new ebooks, but I still have scads of unread hardcopies, so it's all good.

Books Read:

65) Enter the Witch by Andris Bear (11/20/22) - Paranormal Mystery* - 4 stars. New to me but not underappreciated. Picked up free after a recommendation from a book page I follow on FB.
Review: "Good writing, likable characters, awesome plot and interesting world. The problem? Too darn short. And the teaser at the end. I mean, I know they exist to sell the next book, but ARGH!"

64) Under the Assassin's Moon by Silver James (11/20/22) - Paranormal Romantic Suspense* - 5 stars.  Not new to me but underappreciated.  These books are awesome and more people should be reading them. Bought at full price - $2.99.
Review: "I read this book when it was under the Kindle World thing, and I have to say this new version is even better. I loved Brody and Zeta before. Ms. James has delved even deeper and made their story richer, so I love them even more now. Great book!"

No DNFs.

Currently reading... Hogfather by Terry Pratchett.  It's strange, but fun.

What was on your reading wrap-up for this week?  Find anything good?

Thursday This n That - Thanksgiving Edition

Despite what you and the folks at WKRP might think, turkeys can fly.  Wild turkeys can anyway.  I think the big, white, domestic turkeys have been bred to have such large breasts that they can't fly anymore, hence the carnage at the Pinedale supermarket.  

If you don't know what I'm talking about, I am sad for you.  Go forth and find the episode online* and watch it.

This is a wild turkey:

This is not:

Both pictures taken the same day (11/27/14) and both are hens.  The top turkey went on to live her life.  The bottom turkey went into our bellies.  And there was much rejoicing.

Hubs really does make the best turkeys.  Today, he will be using his magic on a 14.5 pound Honeysuckle White.  It's been thawing in the fridge since Saturday and is ready to go.  Mmm, turkey.  

I was telling the folks at work the story of the one Thanksgiving where we had a whole rafter of turkeys in the yard while our own turkey was in the oven.  They were all like 'I'm not sure I'd be able to eat a turkey with all those turkeys watching'.  We had no problem with it.  And neither did the turkeys. LOL

Speaking of turkeys, here's another picture.  It looks like that big ol' turkey is about to attack that poor, defenseless squirrel.

Don't be fooled.  This was taken a second after the squirrel had attacked the turkey and that tom is trying to get away while the squirrel acts all innocent.  Shortly after, the turkey left to find easier food to eat.  

Anyway, I hope you all have a glorious Thanksgiving Day, with loads of food and the people you love.  :HUGS:  And that neither the turkeys nor the squirrels give you any trouble today.  ;o)

* I found it for you.  (Actually, someone on FB posted it.)  It's not the whole episode, just the good part.  You're welcome.

Sunday Update - Late, Too. Oops.

In my defense, I was working on fighting off the crud yesterday.  Since I seem to have won, it's was worth it.  I didn't actually have it yet, I could just feel it coming on.  The best offense is a good defense and all that, doncha know.  

Now, let's see... what did I do last week?  I worked.  That's a given.  I read some.  Naturally.  The rest is a blur.

As for the weekend, I read a lot.  Finished two books.  Yay.  You'll read more about that on Saturday.

I also went into the woods.  Yay.  We were looking around at what may have occurred in there since the last time it was cold.  The good news is that not much looks different.  Not that many newly dead trees.  Not much more new deadfall.  We were also looking for the back neighbor's property pin.  We know where it's supposed to be - 30ft south of where our old pin is.  It wasn't there.  Perhaps it wasn't surveyed when she bought that extra stretch.  :shrug:  

That's about it for activity for the week.  I have now lost 23.4 pounds since the beginning of the year (22.6 since I started work).  Hubs says he can really see it, especially in my face.  I attribute this to stress and eating a whole lot less than I used to.  This has happened before.  The job I had in Florida, where I got down to 110 from like 150.  And, of course, after my accident when I went from like 160 to 120 and then had a devil of a time putting weight back on.  

Of course, I'm getting to where none of my pants fit.  

Speaking of pants, I ordered two pair of new sweat pants.  I only have one pair that doesn't slide off anymore.  Drawstrings and elastic can only do so much.  =o\  Thankfully, I bought plenty of work pants in smaller sizes so I'm okay there, but I need to hit the thrift stores again before these start wanting to drop around my ankles.

And that's about it for me.  Pretty boring week here.  How was yours?

Saturday Reading Wrap--up - 11/19/22

Hello again.  Sorry I'm late, but I was finishing a book.

Last Saturday, I stopped by the thrift store and picked up a bunch of books - three cozy mysteries, two suspenses, and a romantic suspense.  Oh, and I also snagged a paranormal romantic suspense yesterday in ebook, so yay. 

Books Read:

63) The Time of the Hunter's Moon by Victoria Holt (11/19/22) - Romantic Suspense - 4 stars.  I loved another book by Victoria Holt, so not new to me and not underappreciated.
No Review.  

DNFs:

11/14/22 - SF - 50c.  It was by a well-known SF author, but it was just weird.  And it jumped all over the place, so by like 100 pages in, I still couldn't figure out what the plot was supposed to be or even who the main characters were.  Meh.  Back to the thrift store for you, bub.

11/13/22 - mystery - 10c.  Yawn.

Currently reading... I just now finished that last book, so I haven't started anything yet.  I'll start that paranormal romantic suspense this afternoon.  =o)

What was on your reading list last week?

Thursday This n That - Late Again

Yep, totally forgot yesterday was Thursday.  That's okay, though, because yesterday morning, I was busy making this...

German chocolate cake.  My first.  My last.  I don't actually like German chocolate cake. But it's not for me anyway, so it's all good.  Next up will be a triple chocolate cake with strawberry frosting.  Cuz that's what mama needs.  LOL

I don't know.  It looks kinda short to me.  9" round pans instead of 8" round.  :shrug;  Eh, it eats the same.  Hey, it was my first layer cake in like 25 years.  Cut me some slack. LOL

I'm still not quite sure how I'm going to transport it.  :shrug:  As long as it doesn't slide around in the car and I don't drop it in the parking lot, it's all good.

Anyhooway... 

It snowed last night.  I haven't looked yet, but Hubs told me, so it must be true.  Blerg.

I'm reading Time of the Hunter's Moon by Victoria Holt.  One of my favorite books from my youth is by Victoria Holt - The King of the Castle - so I snagged this when I saw it at the thrift store.  Do I love it? Not so much.  I mean, it's okay, but it's not thrilling me the way the other book did.  Maybe I'm just older and less likely to be thrilled.  

On my way to work on the other morning, I saw a doe in the road not too far from the house, so I slowed down to a crawl.  She moved and then another doe walked out of the woods into the road.  Still crawled.  She moved off.  Seconds later, a buck popped out of the woods, so I stopped.  He stood on the side of the road staring at me. Finally I started to crawl forward again and he startled like my slowly moving car had spooked him and he raced across the road in front of me.  THIS this is why when you see one deer cross the road, you never assume it's alone.  If I had I would've hit that buck.  

He was magnificent, by the way.

Okay, I think I'll call it.  I've gotta get cleaned up and ready for work now.  Plus, I've run out of things to say and I still have a couple blogs to visit.  Later days, dudes.

Sunday Update - Week 45

 Well, hello again.  Let's see if we can rebuild this past week, eh?

No writerly things.  To my amazement, I sold a book.  Woo.  Which meant I needed to update my book sales spreadsheets.  (They were still on September, even though I sold a book in October, too.)  I did that yesterday.

I didn't finish reading anything.  I DNF'd two books before yesterday's post.  I'm DNF'ing the book I started after the post.  It's just weird and I'm tired of trying to make it make sense.  I'm sure it probably does at some point, but meh.

In baking news, I made an apple cranberry crisp last Sunday, then nada.  I do have plans to make a layer cake this week.  I bought pans for it and everything.  I haven't made a layer cake since Owl was a baby.  Wish me luck.

On the activity front, we walked last Sunday and then we went fishing.  Friday, I cleaned the bathrooms at work.  Took me like 20 minutes.  No weight loss this week.  I mean, I got down to 164.4, but then yesterday, I was 166.4, so up and down.  :shrug:

No one made me clean the bathrooms, btw.  I have a low tolerance for scudge in bathrooms. Rather than whine about it, I clean it.  2 bathrooms - each with a toilet and a sink.  I did the floors and the mirrors, too.  Are they perfect?  Nope.  That would take longer and I didn't have longer.  Are they presentable?  Yep.  I also take the garbage out on Fridays because the thought of garbage sitting over the weekend makes me gag.  They're my quirks and I own them.

As for fishing, we didn't catch anything but it was nice to just be at the lake drowning worms with my favorite person.

We got snow Friday night.  It was just a dusting.  Barely enough to make the grass white and leave some on the car.  I can handle that.  No more, though, please.

I went to the thrift store yesterday.  I was looking for an overcoat, but since they didn't have one of those, I picked up 6 books.  4 paperbacks and 2 hardcovers - $2.  Yay.

Work is work.  Like my weight, it's up and down.  The creeping crud is making its way through the staff.  I spent the last two hours of Friday by myself in the office because all the other office staff went home sick.  (I am fine, by the way.)  It was awesome.  I threw a rave.  Hundreds of people showed... :shudder: I can't even joke about that.  I enjoyed the quiet and got some stuff done.  I finally organized the surplus inventory room so it doesn't look like a tornado went through there.  All my filing is done.  Score.

I might zip down to the Wallyworld this morning and see if I can find a turkey that doesn't cost a wing and a drumstick.  (See what I did there? ROFL)  Seriously, though, I've heard turkeys are hard to find and that they're REALLY expensive this year.  Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Okay, that's probably enough out of me.  Nothing much else is going on.  How are things in your world?