Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/30/22

Howdy.  Here's my reading week in review...

I only picked up one new ebook this week, which is unfortunate because the DNFs mean I'm currently reading my last unread ebook.  Better get on the stick about that, eh?  No new hardcopies, even though I did stop at my go-to spot for old paperbacks.  Their stock was pathetic.  I blame winter and the fact that the summer people weren't here to make donations.  Here's hoping next time is better.

Books Read:

26) Grimstone by Brad Magnarella (4/27/22) - UF*# - 5 stars. new to me and underappreciated.  Free off the Book Barbarian newsletter.
Review: "Interesting and exciting."
Note: Unfortunately, I wasn't in a wordy mood when I wrote that review.  It's really deserved more than that, but the time has passed and with it, the excitement I felt when I finished.
Available in Audio

25) Letter from the Dead by Jack Gatland (4/24/22) - Suspense* - 5 stars.  New to me but not underappreciated.  I snagged this for free after seeing it talked about in the Crime Fiction Addicts group on FB.
Review: " Excellent! Loads of twists and turns, filled with believable and sympathetic characters, excellent writing, just enough description to give a an idea of the setting without getting bogged down. And while the threads on the main story were tied up by the end, there's just enough of a tease to make any reader anxious to buy the next book. Plus, although Declan is a battered hero, he isn't broken. Well done."
Available in Audio.

DNFs:

4/29/22 - free - crime noir.  It was trying too hard to be noir, which made it kitschy but not in a good way.

4/27/22 - free - SF.  Gah, needed editing.  And a much finer hand with the info-dumping.  And to stop trying to check all the social justice boxes.  Strike three, you're out.

4/25/22 - cozy mystery - free.  It was like the author decided there wasn't a trope they didn't like and threw them all at the book, at once, in great handfuls.  Add in a TSTL heroine and an improbable storyline, and I moved along.

Currently reading... another suspense recommended by the Crime Fiction Addicts.  Wish me luck.

What was on your reading plate last week?  

Scatterbrained

Sorry I've been absent a lot from the interwebs lately.  I have a decided lack of gumption and I think my bookstraps are broke.  

In happier news, Elon Musk did it.  He bought Twitter.  Now, I'm not an Elon Musk fan, per se, because he's been a little free with the government subsidies over the years, but if he can turn this wholesale censorship thing around, I might revise my opinion.  Let's say I'm guardedly optimistic.  I might be able to dust off the old Twitter password and give it a whirl in the coming days.  It's probably been 4-5 years since I was on there. (My FB page posts to Twitter automatically, but I haven't actually been in there.)

I peopled too much yesterday.  First there was a flurry of emails with the pay-job.  Then after dinner, I noticed the neighbor out in their yard and I needed to chat with them about the possibility of rehoming some of my scads of irises.  They'll be happy to take them.  Yay.  But yeah, all that stuff is tiring to a hermit.

I keep forgetting that the people who moved into the new house next door have actually lived here longer than I have, so I have a tendency to offer bits of 'wisdom' about the neighborhood.  (The dude actually grew up here in the house behind ours.  And this house once belonged to his grandparents.  Derp.)  And then afterwards, I feel like a stoop.  Hopefully, they take it with the good-intent it is offered and don't think I think they're idiots.  I'm just a social retard.  I'll settle for 'that weird but nice old lady next door'.

The other day, a name from my past popped into my head.  He was the neuro-psychologist assigned to my case.  I wonder if he'd appreciate an email.  I never did thank him for all the work he did.

I might splurge today and buy dirt.  It's a little late to start a container garden, but I could try.  It was a lot of work last year for very little in the way of edible fruits of my labor.  Still, it gave me something to do and the illusion of productivity.  Sometimes it's all about the illusion, baby.  I'm also playing with the idea of putting veggies in my flower garden.  About the only things that survived the move are the peonies.  And, of course, irises.  Scads, I tell you.

Well, time to toddle off.  Feel free to drop anything from your own scattered brain in the comments.

Sunday Update - Week ???

Not sure what week it was.  Hey, I'm lucky I remembered it was Sunday.  Needless to say, my gumption has flat dried up, along with my will.  I really need to pull myself up by my own bootstraps and get over it.

I got about 1400 words out on the 4th SCIU book, so that's something.  It's a scene out of order, but a writer's gotta do what a writer's gotta do. 

In reading news, I finished 3 books and DNF'd another.  

On the baking front, I made granola bars, pizza, and super-fudgy brownies (recipe below).  

As for activity, I did some weeding and yard work, but nothing much.  Weight is, of course, back up a little at 182.0  You can't eat brownies and sit on your ass all day and expect to lose weight.  Jus' sayin'.  

It's April in the Ozarks, so that means wind and rain.  As such, we brought little Elmer the elm into the sun porch.  He's getting so big (for varying definitions of big) and he now has little branches with lots of leaves, but his root base isn't very deep or sturdy, so wind is not his friend right now.  Cecil and Cedric (the twin cedars) are short enough to weather all this, so they're still on the deck.  Not sure when we'll go ahead and try putting all of them in the ground.  I worry the deer will eat them, but at some point, I have to stop being a helicopter gardener and let them go.  

Yesterday, in the shower, I got water in my ear and now I can't hear good on my right side.  Unfortunately, Hubs sits to my right, so there's a lot of 'huh?' going on this morning.  

Oops, got distracted and never posted this... Sorry...  How was your week?

 

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/23/22

Hello!  How are y'all on the fine day?  Okay, since I'm writing this Friday night, I'm only guessing that it'll be a fine day.  Just roll with it.

I did pick up a few new ebooks this week, which was good because I was getting low.  So, now I have a suspense, a cozy mystery, an urban fantasy, a science fiction, and a crime noir.  Yay.

Books Read: 

24) Witchy Reservations by Stephanie Damore (4/22/21) - Paranormal Mystery* - 5 stars. New to me, but not underappreciated.  Free of the Book Gorilla newsletter.
Review: "Fun story! I really enjoyed the premise, the mystery, and the whodunnit. Plus the characters are awesome."

23) Space Murder by NL Haverstock (4/20/22) - SF Mystery* - 5 stars.  New to me, but not underappreciated.  Free off the Book Doggy newsletter.
Review: "I inhaled this book! It's full of twists and turns, action and adventure, thoroughly likable characters, an interesting premise, and an intriguing mystery. Loved it all, especially Liz and Pox."
Available in Audio.

22) The Golden Gate by Alistair MacLean (4/19/22) - Thriller - 5 stars. Neither new to me nor underappreciated.  Picked up from a thrift store for 50c back in March 2021.
Review: "Excellent story. I do have to admit, though, that sometimes the details and explanations got a little tedious for me. I'm a plot driven reader, though, so your mileage may vary, which is why I didn't subtract any stars."
Available in Audio

DNFs:

4/21/22 - free - cozy mystery.  I made it about halfway through this one before the MC, who was supposed to have this awesome background in crime, started doing things that were too stupid to live.  And there didn't seem to be any real progressive in the clue department.  Like four surreptitious suspect interviews in a row yielded nada.  I kept thinking 'well, that was pointless' and so I gave up.

Currently reading... I finished that paranormal mystery at quarter to nine, and nine is my bedtime, so no time to start anything new.  

What was on your reading list last week?

Hackety Hack, Don't Talk Back

It's that time of year when the rising sun comes through the sun porch windows and jabs us both in the eyes.  This happens for about a month in both spring and fall, but I discovered a hack for that.  I drag the plastic shelving unit in front of the window and I've draped a black piece of cloth over the unit, so no sun can come through.  Once the sun rises to a certain point during the morning, I put the unit back in the corner where it belongs.  

Sometimes life hacks are useful.  Sometimes not.  Like the hack the previous owners of this house came up with for filling old nail holes.  They used caulk instead of spackle, thus resulting in unsightly, lumpy goo.  I hacked that by covering it with my cute, little grocery bag holder.  To fix it right, I would've had to tear up the wall to get the caulk out.  

Every day, Hubs prints scads of things that he looks at, fiddles with, and then discards.  These have become our stack of scratch paper.  Sure, he could simply print on the opposite sides, thus saving paper, but I hate doing that.  Which side is the correct side?  I invariably get the sides mixed up without making some kind of mark on the old side.  What a pain in the ass.  So, we print new stuff on new paper and use old paper for scratch.  And I take some of the old paper, cut it into strips, and make grocery list paper to hang on the fridge.  

There's a hack there, too, by the way.  I took an old refrigerator magnet from some pizza place in CO (which I obviously no longer need) and a small binder clip.  The magnet and the grocery list strips go into the binder clip and Voila! I have paper on the fridge to write grocery lists upon.  When I run out, I only need to cut more strips.  Saves me from having to buy magnetic grocery list thingies.

I save all sorts of containers.  You never know when one of them will come in handy.  I'm lucky that I have lots of cupboard space with which to store them, so our house doesn't look like an episode of Hoarders.  If I think it may someday be useful, I save it.  Oh, I don't save every single thing.  If I've already got one or two of a certain container, I let the others go into the garbage.  Last year, my coffee container collection was quite useful in creating my garden.  This year, thanks to my friend who moved, I have scads of old actual planters (that she had hoarded) to use.

Every once in a while, my hack doesn't work out.  I tried making a spool out of container lids and a aluminum foil tube for our property line string.  It would've been awesome if the glue had held.  But no.  :shrug:  Oh, well, it was worth a shot.  No harm done.

I'm always coming up with crazy stuff.  Years ago, I got the wild idea to attach beads to my fishing line, just above the hook.  You know, to attract fishies to my worm.  I went into the craft section of Wallyworld, got a bag each of red and pearl beads.  The red ones are awesome and do seem to coax fish over when the water is murky.  The pearl ones have holes that are too small to fit over a pre-lined hook, so not so convenient.  They were only like a buck a bag, so totally worth a shot.

You do what you can with what you've got.  I'm currently using a plastic paint tray as a water receptacle at the end of one of our gutter spouts.  The water coming out of that spout was making a ravine.  Now the water comes out into the pan and hits the side so it disperse some of its energy before spilling onto the ground.  It has really helped stop the erosion over there.  Plus, the smaller critters enjoy using it as a watering hole and a birdbath.  Which makes it fun to watch, especially when the cardinals get in and splash around.  Win win win.

These days, especially, hacks are a necessary thing.  Saving money, substituting for when what you really want is unavailable, making do... making life as easy as you can make it these days.

Any hacks you've come up with the make your life easier?

Monday Update - Week Something or Other

Due to yesterday being a holiday, I postponed the usual Sunday Update to today.  Hence, the Monday Update.  And frankly, I'm too meh to go look up the week #.  Considering how boring I'm about to be, I'm not sure why I'm bothering with an update, but you came here for a post, so a post I shall present.

I didn't do anything writerly last week.  Which calls to mind a scene from History of the World Part I, wherein Mel Brooks' character is applying for unemployment as a stand-up philosopher.  "Did you bullshit last week?" (If you haven't seen the movie, it's comedy gold, folks.)  

In reading news, I did finish a couple books, but for the most part, the week was wasted on DNFs.

On the baking front, I did a chocolate oil cake with super fudgy frosting.  It was totally necessary.  I also did a batch of biscuits and a batch of cake cookies.  

Of course, there wasn't much activity either.  I did some yard work one day.  I haven't weighed myself yet this month.  I don't expect any good can come of that.

My last blood-related aunt passed away this past week.  Mom's little sister.  She was 79.  Her memorial is this coming weekend, but it'll be in Michigan, so I won't be there except in spirit.  She was a good person.  In a way, she was like a hummingbird.  Always moving, always active.  I don't remember her ever being still.  May she rest in peace.  My thoughts go out to her six kids and their kids.  And, of course, to my mom who has now lost both of her younger siblings.  Getting old blows.

Yesterday was Easter.  We didn't do anything special other than a special dinner.  The store didn't have the kind of ham I wanted, so we went with steak and shrimp along with a side of cheesy-chive mashed potatoes.  It all turned out really good.

And that's about all I can think of from last week.  Meh, meh, and more meh.  

Anyhoo, on that note, I'll leave it to you to comment and tell me about your week.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter!  If you don't celebrate, Hoppy Bunny Day.  

Unimpressed Cottontail Rabbit, Colorado 3/20/2012

If you're not into holidays or bunnies, here a picture of some pretty daffodils from the same week:

Either way, have a great day.

(Due to the holiday, Sunday Update will be on Monday this week.)

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/16/22

Good morning!  Not the best of reading weeks, what with all the DNFs, but not totally a bust.

I picked up a couple new ebooks this week - a paranormal mystery and a suspense.  I still have two unread ebooks from before - a SF mystery and a cozy mystery.

Books Read:

21) The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas (4/14/22) - Literature* - 5 stars.  I'd never read this before, but it being what it is, it wasn't 'new' to me.  And I've read other Dumas works.  I picked this up from Amazon for free.
No review.  I'd only add that the version of this I read was not the one the link goes to.  The version I downloaded disappeared from Amazon - probably because half the 'book' was another copy of the book most likely thrown up there to scam the KU system out of page-read money.  Shame on them.  And it makes me glad I couldn't link to that version.   

20) A Brazen Curiosity by Lynn Messina (4/10/22) - Historical Mystery* - 5 stars.  New to me but plenty of reviews.  Free off the Reading Deals newsletter.
Review: "What a delightful story and a fun mystery. I loved the interplay between Bea and the Duke. I thoroughly enjoyed the other characters, the setting, and the plot. It was great to see how Bea grew from a mousy, little nothing into a strong character. And I totally had no clue who the murderer was. Awesome."

DNFs:

4/13/22 - Romance - free.  The premise seemed probably enough until the characters were introduced, and then nope.  I didn't see how the hero and the heroine would ever mesh enough to make a believable love story.  Even with 'opposites attract' there has to be something.  Plus, I counted several other different tropes in the first few pages.  All it needed was a secret baby thrown in to complete the set.  It's romance... Pick a theme and stick with it.  Two, maybe could work.  More than that, the writing has to be excellent to pull it off and this wasn't.  (And as you can probably guess, I was getting irritated by four DNFs in a row.)

4/13/22 - UF - free.  Present tense.  Gah.  I tried.  Really I did, because sometimes present tense can work in UF.  But I rarely like present tense and it was beginning to irritate me.  Life's too short.

4/13/22 - Romance - free.  I got the immediate sense I was going to spend the book being preached to about environmental issues.  Thus, I didn't find myself liking the main characters.  C'est la vie.

4/13/22 - Mystery - free.  Pretense tense.  Not only no, but hell, no.  To me, present tense just doesn't lend itself to the mystery genre.  

Currently reading... an old political thriller by Alistair McLean.

What was on your reading list last week?

Thursday This n That

Facebook was actually useful this morning...

- Here's a pdf booklet on the care of wildlife so veterinarians can keep them alive while waiting on transfer to a rehabber.  (Never keep wildlife yourself.  Just keep them alive and as healthy as you can, but get them to someone who knows how to care for them ASAP.)  I saved it down because I never know when I might have to use the information.  I don't even know where there's a rehabber within 3 hours of here or whether any of my local vets take wildlife.  

- And here's the link to the YouTube videos of a child piano prodigy performing.  Definitely inspiring.  

I sat down to read a book last night and ended up DNF'ing 4 in a row.  I hate when that happens.

Trying to maintain a positive attitude is not an easy thing these days.  So, if you don't see me here or at your blogs, it's because I'm in a negative place and don't want to spread it around.  Negativity is a social disease, doncha know.  And penicillin don't help.

We had a death in the family.  It wasn't totally unexpected... I mean, the first part was kinda unexpected, but after that, we had a timeframe, so the very end wasn't a surprise.  It wasn't anyone close close to me.  I mean, I loved her and I remember her fondly, but it's not a deep hurt.  More like an 'aw, damn'.  Our moms and sibs and the kids are all fine and all that.  Sympathy cards have been purchased, flowers will be sent.  It kind of put me in a frame of mind to think about certain things, though.  Like not letting things, no matter how bad they may have been or may seem, keep you from communicating with the people who matter.  Unfortunately, it's a two-way street and both parties have to be on board with staying in touch.  But, yeah, dead is too late to repair the rift.  

We got like 2.3 inches of rain over the past few days.  Sploosh.  April showers bring May flowers.  And Mayflowers bring pilgrims. LOL

Amazon keeps trying to get me to sign up for Amazon Business.  Like that would be a thing for me.  Sure, I'm a business, but I don't really need business type stuff.  I'm down to the point where my expenses are almost nil.  Some printing costs - paper, ink.  Both of which I get at Wallyworld so I don't have to worry about shipping costs or time.  

Speaking of shipping, I ordered pesticide for the start of Tick-ma-geddon 2022.  The stuff was supposed to arrive from GA on Monday.  The tracking finally updated and it's headed this way from the hub in KS, but still no delivery date.  :shrug:  Why it went from GA to KS, passing MO entirely only to come back east, I have no clue.  The logistics is a nightmare.  Seems like a waste of fuel to me.  Eh, if I ran the world, it would've dropped into St Louis and then come here.  Like shipments out of TX always go past us into Kansas City and then come back south.  One would think if those dropped into Little Rock and then continued up, it would be so much more efficient.  :shrug:

And that's all I have to say about that.  I suppose I should get to doing something productive this morning.  But first! more coffee!

What say you on this fine morning?

Spring is Here

 Here's a Spring-y picture for you.  (Taken with my cellphone while out on one of my walks.)

There's nothing quite like a redbud tree to announce Spring.  So pretty.

Sunday Update - Week 14

Hello again.  We're 14 weeks into this bad devil called 2022.  Things are exponentially worse than they were on 1/1/20 and the crap seems to be picking up speed as we roll merrily along toward the dark and fiery pits.  Yippee and weeee.  Keep your hands inside the ride at all times.  

Okay, so writing last week was pathetic.  I mean, I wrote, which is better than some weeks, but only 663 words and the result was not good.  And now I'm in a slump.  

No editing or marketing either.  

I read two books and most of a third.  I also made some small progress on The Three Musketeers.  Long book, but I'm determined.

Not much happened in the baking sphere either.  Cake cookies and then scalloped potatoes with cheese and ham.  

On the activity front, I did one walk.  And yesterday, I deep cleaned my bathroom.  Well, most of my bathroom.  I lost gumption before I did the floor, and the light bar over my bathroom counter still needs to be washed.  But man, my shower sparkles.  By the way, if you've never used Invisible Glass, it really took the gunk off my old bathroom tiles.  (I'm pretty sure what I used it for was 'off label', but hey, it worked and no harm done.)  Oh, and since I have been unable to find Soft Scrub in any variety but Bleach, which I can't use because it eats my hands, I picked up a container of my old-old standby Barkeeper's Friend.  Awesome stuff.  It just requires more elbow grease than Soft Scrub.  Needless to say, I am a bit worn out today.

Has anyone seen Spic and Span in the dry form anywhere lately?  I used to love that stuff.  But I digress...

I started out last week by doing our taxes.  That is sure to drain the life right out of you.  So maybe that's why my week was so unproductive.  Did the taxes, sent them in, and by the end of the week, the state refund was in.  Wow.  Go, Missouri.  

I've been cutting Hubs hair.  I mean, I've done my own for years, so why not?  I did that on Monday after I got back from grocery shopping.  This time looks pretty good.  (Last time, was passable, but he had like a divot on the side there until it grew out.)  Thank goodness for the clippers I bought years ago to use on Max the cat.  Anyway, there's 18 bucks we're not spending every 6 weeks.  Yay.

Elmer the elm tree has lots of leaves and is getting baby branches.  So are Cecil and Cedric the cedars.  

And that's about all there is for me.  I lead such an exciting life.  Even more so now that gas prices are too high to warrant going anywhere.  How was your week?

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/9/22

Here we are again at the Saturday Reading Wrap-up!  Woohoo!  

I managed to find 6 new-to-me ebooks to download this week - mystery, urban fantasy, two romances, a science fiction mystery, and a cozy mystery.  I still have a historical mystery left from my last download binge.

Books Read:

19) Magical, Murderous Cupcakes by Skylar Starx (4/6/22) - Paranormal Mystery*# - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Free off the Robin Reads newsletter.
Review: "Fun and interesting, little paranormal mystery, filled with twists and turns."

18) Murder in Cherry Hills by Paige Sleuth (4/5/22) - Cozy Mystery* - 4 stars.  New to me, but not underappreciated.  Free off the Book Doggy newsletter.
Review: "Light, quick, easy read perfect for escaping your day. If you're looking for something deeper or something with a lot of twists, this probably isn't for you."

DNFs:

4/7/22 - free - romance.  It was supposed to be quirky and fun.  And it tried REALLY hard to be those.  Way too hard.  Like obviously hard.  And it failed to be either.

Currently reading... I'm still working my way through Three Musketeers, but as you can tell, I'm sticking other books in between spurts of that.  Which is part of the reason why I'm only 30% through.  

I'm currently 1 book behind schedule, but that's no biggie.  What was on your reading list this week?  How are things going for you reading-wise this year?

Thursday This n That

Yesterday, I was getting ready to copy a snippet of SSS to share on someone's blog and noticed a typo.  It's okay.  I fixed it in all iterations of the book and uploaded them all.  But seriously.... After all the times I went through this manuscript... :pulls out Harakiri knife:  

Is it still called Harakiri or is it Seppuku now?  Asking for a friend.

We voted on Tuesday.  Two different 'raise your taxes to pay for things we don't need' issues.  We, of course, voted no.  And both of them, of course, passed.  One raised the sales tax.  The other raised the property tax.  yay.  With most everything outside our control getting more expensive, I can't fathom why people would actively vote for a increase in expenditures we can control.  Derp.  There was also a school board member thing.  We didn't vote for anyone because we didn't think any of them had a clue.  The incumbents lost, so that says something about people around here recognizing something is wrong, but from what we read about the two who got in, it'll be more of the same.  I hope I'm wrong.

A 93c head of lettuce is now $1.78.

In happier news, my peonies are coming up.  Unfortunately, they seem to be the only plants that survived being out of the ground for an extended period of time.  Mums... columbine... lariopes... all appear to be dead.  :shrug:

Wait, I was supposed to be doing 'happier news' there.  Umm...  Elmer the elm tree is starting to make branches, so he's not just a stick with leaves anymore.  And the baby cedars - Cecil and Cedric - are coming along nicely.  

The deer are starting to show their pregnancies.  Yay, fawns!  

I've been following a wildlife rescue in Oklahoma - Wild Heart Ranch.  (If you don't do FB, here's their website.)  They're pretty awesome.  And they're fighting the good fight.  Helping animals that can't help themselves - hurt animals, orphaned animals - and then releasing them back into the wild.  They got a baby beaver in the other day.  It's black.  =oO  Definitely not your normal beaver color.  And they have this crow they raised and then released who is amazing.  She's a free crow, but she doesn't want to leave, and she even helps out around the place.  (When she's not stealing things and leaving them on the roof. LOL)

I actually did some writing last night.  It pretty much sucks, but I have permission to do that.  It'll all work out in the end.

And before I start down the unhappier road again, I'll let you go.  What's on your this n that radar today?

Sunday Update - Week 13

The thirteenth week... I guess I never noticed before it has April Fool's Day in it.  :cue spooky music:  Ahem... Anyway...

There was writing, but not a lot of it.  1796 words.  Woohoo.  Then I hit a patch of 'why bother?' and skidded out, went in a ditch, and hit the proverbial tree.  I did spent some time working on a marketing thing, which also went in the ditch.  The only thing productive I actually accomplished this week was getting SSS into print format, uploading it, and ordering the proof copy.  That should be here like Friday.  I think.  If the mails are running the way they should and Amazon doesn't fuck something up.

I finished reading two books last week.  And then I started The Three Musketeers, which is slow going, but good.  It's a big book.  :shrug:

On the baking front, I did granola bars, cake cookies, and zucchini bread. Nothing new or exciting, but yummy.

In activity news, I was active 4 out of 7 days.  Wandering the yard, working in the woods, doing a hard target walk, and deep cleaning the fridge.  (And if you think cleaning the fridge isn't active, you've obviously found an easier way to do it than I have.)  I'm up to 13 miles walked for the year.  Weight: 177.6 - so eating less and getting more active is working.  Imagine that.

Speaking of cleaning the fridge... I actually started out yesterday with the idea of deep cleaning the whole kitchen.  In determining the plan, I realized that I couldn't do the floors until I did everything above the floors... natch... and that goes for counters, too.  Well, one of the things above the floor that desperately needed a cleaning was the fridge, so I filled the sink and dove in.  I moved everything out of the door and onto the shelves inside the fridge, then took out all the little shelvey things.  Closed the door and washed those.  Then I washed the inside of the door.  Dried the shelves and put them back.  Refilled those with all their stuffs.  Did the same with the drawers.  Then the big, heavy, glass shelves.  Moving everything around inside the fridge and then putting it back as I went.  In the end, nothing was out of the fridge for very long and the damn thing is clean.  Then I did the outside of the fridge.  Of course, by the time I got done with all that, I was pooped.  I didn't do the freezer, but it's pretty clean anyway.  Today, I'll finish the kitchen or die trying.  *

I also cleaned the coffee maker yesterday.  This new maker beeps when the coffee is done.  And when it needs cleaning, it beeps before the coffee is done, so that's how I know to clean it.  About once a month.  Which is what the specs for this thing say anyway.  

It must be Spring because I'm starting to see bunnies when I'm out walking.  Yay.

Okay, it's time again to take myself in hand.  I've been letting everything get to me and when everything is getting to me, I have a tendency to let the things I need to do slide.  Housework, yardwork, work-work, etc.  I've started cleaning, so that's something.  Now I need to get back to writerly pursuits as well.  Today.  Now.  Alright, maybe not NOW.  It's early and I'm gonna need a lot more coffee before I do anything productive.  

What did your week look like?  How's things?  

* I did our taxes instead.  Now I don't feel like doing anything.

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 4/2/22

 Sorry... woke up late and realized I hadn't set up my post for this morning...  Here goes...

I didn't get any new books this week.  I still have four unread ebooks left and a house full of hardcopies I could read.  Although, I am jones'n to pick up some old paperbacks.  It's an addiction.

Books Read:

17) Rebel Tribe by Ramy Vance / Michael Anderle (3/27/22) - SF*# - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Free off the ENT newsletter.
Review: "Enthralling story with an interesting and different premise. Plus, I loved the characters. Jaeger and Toner were the stars, of course, but Occy was an unexpected favorite. Great book and loads of fun!"

16) The Redemption Man by James Carver (3/25/22) - Suspense*# - 5 stars.  New to me and underappreciated.  Free off the ENT newsletter.
Review: "Interesting and thrilling suspense with the kind of hard-hitting hero I appreciate. It took a little supernatural bent there toward the end, which I assume is a lead-in for subsequent novels. I didn't expect it, but it was okay. All in all, an enjoyable read. Good guys win, bad guys lose. It's all good."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... The Three Musketeers.  I've never read this classic before, so I figured it was about time.  It's slow going, but it's enjoyable.

What was on your reading list this week?

April 1st... No Foolin'

I've only been up for an hour, don't expect great things from me.  

I don't do pranks.  Or practical jokes.  Which I don't think are 'practical' anyway.  And they're usually mean.  So no.

I did see something cute in the April Fools category this morning, though.  A woman saved all her Amazon boxes and then left them sitting outside her front door for when her husband got home.  I guess so he'd think she ordered all that stuff.  I hope he was good-natured enough to not go off on her for her spending.  That right there would be ground for divorce.  Hubs would look at all those boxes and ask if we won the lottery.  LOL

For my part, today is the 18th anniversary of the day I saw Hubs in person for the first time.  Monday is the 9th anniversary of the day we moved into this house.  It's a nice time of year for us.  We certainly don't need pranks to harsh that.

What about you?  Do you prank?  Are you hiding from pranks today?