Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 10/1/22

Oops.  I totally forgot to post this earlier.  Sorry about that.  Anyway, at least it's still Saturday.  And to think, this was a week when I actually have more stuff to talk about than usual.  Derp.

 I only got one new ebook this week and I've already read it - Seal Moon.  On the other hand, being late today, I get to tell you that I bought some hardcopy books today at the thrift store.  First time this year.  Yep, I'm as shocked about that as you are.  I picked up 3 fantasy novels (Hogfather, Eragon, and Eldest) and one I thought was SF but turns out to be a compilation of Robert Heinlein's letters - Grumbles from the Grave.  :shrug:  Should still be interesting from a writer standpoint.

Books Read: 

53) Seal Moon by Silver James (9/30/22) - Paranormal Romantic Suspense*- 5 stars.  Not new to me, but recently re-released because the author got her rights back.  She had to remove traces of stuff because it was formerly part of a 'Kindle Worlds' series not her own, and she added some more stuff to make it extra yummy.  Yay. Paid full price: $2.99
Review: I just wrote it and I forgot to copy before submitting, so now I have to wait for Amazon to approve it.  Derp.

52) No One's Safe by CJ Grayson (9/28/22) - Suspense*3 - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but underappreciated.  Paid full price $1.19 
Review: "Brilliant. Full of twists and turns, and I never quite knew who to like, who to hate, or who to trust. I mean, other than Max and Ori. Awesome read."

51) Rescue Moon by Silver James (9/24/22) - Paranormal Romantic Suspense* - 5 stars.  Not new to me, but recently re-released because the author got her rights back.  She had to remove traces of stuff because it was formerly part of a 'Kindle Worlds' series not her own, and she added some more stuff to make it extra yummy.  Yay.  Paid full price $2.99
Review: "This new re-release - revised and expanded - is amazing! I mean, I loved it before, but there so much more to love now. Deeper and stronger, now with more excitement and suspense and all the feels. I love Hawk. I love Dana. Heck, I even loved Lucky. If you read it before, read it again. If you haven't, that's cool because you get all the awesome on your first read. Lucky dogs."

No DNFs.

Currently reading... Not sure what I'll pick up next.  

What was on your reading plate this past week?

Thursday This n That

 Eh, hair's good enough... don't need to wash it.  So now I have time to write a post.  Yay.

My Skechers arrived.  And they seem to be doing the trick.  

The other day, I wore a white shirt to work the other day and promptly dribbled coffee down the front of myself.

Same day, I was presented with a large box full of new-old stock covered in filth that I need to try and sell.  Luckily, I had gone home and changed my shirt to a black one, because I spent the afternoon washing the gunk off those clamshell packages.  Yay.  A co-worker told me the box had been in storage since before he started working there... ten years ago.  I have one more small box of parts to wash today.  I'm dressing down for it.

I answer the phones all day every day.  One day, a gentleman called twice in the morning, and had called frequently in the intervening days.  At the end of the second call when I asked for his phone number, as I always do, I told him that as often as he called, I'd probably have his number memorized soon.  He called again that afternoon and instead of asking for his phone number, I read it to him off the readout on the phone.  He was shocked and amazed that I'd remembered it.  I let him off the hook by telling him what I had done.  We both laughed.  

Ya gotta find your happy spots where you can.

And with that thought, I'll leave you for the day.   Have a good one, wherever you are.  :hugs:

Monday Update - Week 38

 Yep, I missed the update again on Sunday.  Not that I have a lot to talk about, but I like to keep my toes in the pool, so to speak.  

I didn't do much reading, but I did finish a book.  Yay.

Not much baking either.  Yesterday, I made scalloped potatoes with breaded pork chops.  Super yummy.

Let's not talk about activity.  I'm a bag of loose meat at this point.  However, the bag is still getting smaller.  Weight: 166.8.  I was feeling gross Friday and Saturday, so not much eating occurred.  Is it any wonder that Sunday I was lighter?  :shrug:

Work is still work.  I rolled past my 90 day mark with nary a whisper from anyone about it.  :shrug:  I think I'm doing awesome, all things considered.  Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but with as many things that are chucked at me on any given day, and still maintaining my sanity, I'd say I'm awesome. 

I also did 6 spreadsheets last week.  I rock.

It's nice not to have to work my magic to keep expenses from slopping over our budget every damn month, I'll tell ya that.  If I want to buy steak, I buy steak, dammit.  I mean, we're still staying tight, because one never knows what'll happen with the economy, but now it's a choice, not a necessity.  

Speaking of expenses, I went to Wallyworld yesterday.  Most things are up again.  Suet - 8 bricks - was $6.98, now $9.98. (I didn't buy the 8 pk, they had some singles on sale that brought the price down and then I only bought 5. I still paid almost $5.)  Eggs - 18 ct - was $1.78, now $3.02,  Kraft singles - was $2.98, now $4.98.  Donuts - 6 - was $2.97, now $3.76.  Hershey's miniatures - was $9.98, now $11.98. Frozen chicken tenderloins - was $6.79, now $9.68.  Ice cream - 1.5 gal pail - was 4.88, now 6.24.  I spent over $200 on what used to cost me just over $100.  Bideinflation.  yay.

On a  happier note, I bought myself some new shoes.  Skechers - which my mom swears by and the reviews were great.  I also ordered a new bra.  They should be here today.  They're actually on a truck headed in my direction.  Let's see if they actually arrive.  UPS is coming from a different city than they usually do and if they're using GPS, they're screwed for finding me.

And that's about it.  How was your week?

  

Saturday Reading Wrap-up - 9/24/22

 Not a whole lot going on in my reading world these days, but hey, at least I still have a reading world. Right?

I picked up two new books last week - a fantasy and a paranormal romantic suspense.  I still have a suspense and a paranormal mystery left from the week before, so it's all good.  No new hardcopies.  I really need to hit the thrift stores.

Books Read:

50) The Miser's Dream by John Gaspard (9/18/22) - Mystery*3 - 5 stars.  Not new to me, being a 3rd book and all, but it could use more stars.  Paid $4.99.  
Review: "I loved the first two books in this series and book 3 didn't disappoint. I love the characters, of course, and the premise is always fun. Like the first two, the mystery here was excellent."
Available in audio format.

No DNFs.

Currently reading... that paranormal romantic suspense.  I've read it before, but it was re-released with changes and added material after the author got her rights back.  I can't wait to see all the changes.  So far, so awesome.

What was on your reading list last week?  

Thursday This n That

I woke up way too early.  Like 4:30 early.  Hubs was up before me, so at least there was coffee waiting for me.  Yay.

Last night, after dinner, I got a hankering and made cookies.  Big ass cookies with plenty of chocolate chips.  I took one while it was still hot and slid it into the bottom of a bowl.  Then I covered it with vanilla ice cream.  Then I drizzled caramel sauce and chocolate sauce over the top.  It was awesome.

By the way, I accidentally bought sugar-free chocolate syrup.  It doesn't taste bad, but it's super runny and it freezes weird on my ice cream.  :shrug:  I bought it, I'm going to eat it.

Every once in a while, one of the guys in the office brings in food his lovely girlfriend has made.  It's pretty awesome.  The smoked steak was to die for.  The beef and mushroom thing with loads of gravy was yummers.  (Not as creamy as stroganoff. Could've been bourguignon.  Dunno.  Duncare.)  Yesterday, he wandered through and offered me sushi.  Umm, nope.  It was probably most excellent sushi, but I don't do sushi.  I also don't do spicy, so the chicken enchilada dip was a big no.  Didn't even bother to try it because he said it was a little spicy, and his 'little spicy' probably would've burnt out my o-rings.

I'm down 13 pounds now.  The unfortunate aspect of this is that my clothes are starting to not fit.  I know I know, what gal doesn't like shopping for new clothes, right?  I love new clothes.  What I don't love is the expense of new clothes.  Anyway, I had to order a new bra.  The old ones still fit, but almost not.  I'm back down to a 38D.  Luckily, I had saved one of that size from the before times when I was thinner.  Playtex all the way, baby.  They're the only brand I could order online and be certain it would fit right.  In the back of the closet, I also have a 36D I bought in a weird fit of optimism back when I dropped from 194 to 180.  I'm 168 now and that one is still a long way from fitting.  

Like I said, my clothes are starting to not fit.  It's mostly a pants issue.  All my cool comfy work pants are falling down.  But I'm not quite to the next size down.  (I was an 18... who knew?  When all you wear is sweats and elastic waist bands, it's hard to tell.)  So, the 18s are sliding, but the 16s are still a bit too tight.  So, I'm alternating swimming in pants or strangling in them.  Might have to hit the thrift store this weekend and see what I can find that fits.  When you're losing weight, it doesn't make sense to pay full price for clothes.  

Wild Heart Ranch rescued a coyote.  The poor thing had the mange.  It was horrifying.  They got its skin all cleaned up and on the mend.  Then it was just pitiful.  Poor little bald thing.  Now its fur is starting to grow back and this morning I saw a picture of it where it's covered in all this lovely, golden-brown fuzz.  It still pretty shocking to see, but it's on the road to recovery and release.  Yay.

Okay, that's probably quite enough out of me.  Got anything on your this n that radar today?

Universal Conspiracy

Strange things have happened to me lately that are starting to make me think the universe is conspiring to make me look like a fool.  Like yesterday...

I was having a fairly good day at work.  I even got a nice quiet end, where I was alone and the phone weren't ringing and I could focus on some stuff.  Then I get a call that there's a delivery headed my way.  The guy gets there, I open the garage door to the delivery area, and he bringing in the pallet worth of stuff.  Easy peasy, right?  

The garage door wouldn't close.  Hit the button, the door moves a fraction of an inch, and moves the fraction back.  Tried it again.  Nothing.  Looked for causes... couldn't find any.  Tried it again.  Nada.

I call the co-worker who lives nearby.  No answer.  I call another co-worker.  He tells me to hold the button down.  I hang up and go try that.  Nope, same thing happens.  Click, move, move back.  I try the first co-worker again.  He answers and gives me a couple more things to try.  I try those.  Nope.  Try the button thing again.  Nope.  

So, there I am with the building wide open and quickly approaching the time when I am supposed to close up and go home.  Now, I wouldn't have minded staying until other people could arrive - they were 40-45 minutes out, but I was told earlier in the day, no overtime.  Okay, so I'm willing to eat a half hour if I have to, but I'd really rather not.

I call the boss.  He's not happy.  There's nothing he can do.  I just wanted him to be aware of the problem and give me the number for his associate who also lives nearby, in hopes that the big D can come and help me fix the door.  I get the number and call the dude.  He arrives.  Yay, I'm not alone in my consternation.  Dude walks around in the bay looking at things and then asks me where the button to close the door is.  I show him and then demonstrate how I held the button down like I was told.

The damn thing slides right down as pretty as you please like there was never a problem to begin with.  Felt like a fool, looked like a moron.  But that's par for the course these days.  On the upside, I had eight minutes to spare before I had to clock out.  Yay.

Anyway, that's just the latest.  A while back, I was closing the office and the alarm panel did something really weird.  Like it always gives 90 seconds to exit and that time it gave 3 minutes, plus it didn't beep or talk like it always does... beep beep beep, exit now... and it shut all the lights off, which it never does.  The next day I tell people about it, in case it's like a new thing, and no one knows what I'm talking about.  That night, when I closed, everything was back to normal like it had never happened.  Derp.

Another time, I had a customer who was totally pissed and read me the riot act, so I took down everything he said and gave it to my supervisor so she could call him back.  I warned her, so she'd be prepared, and the guy was totally not pissed when she called him.  Like only a few minutes later.  Maybe he had a Snickers.  Maybe getting it all out with me took the vinegar out of him.  

Then again, maybe it was the universe, messing with me.  ;o)

Sunday Update - Week 37

 I woke up tired today, so bear with me.  It doesn't help that last week was a blur.

Writing?  Nope.  Editing?  Nope.  Marketing?  Nope.  I did get an idea this week for a new book.  I wrote it down.  The note says "UF Golem PI".  I know I had more than that, but as the days passed, the rest disappeared from my head.

Someone in France bought the third book in the A Model Curse series.  I've never sold the other two into France, so I hope the reader doesn't get lost.  Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll buy the first two.  

I finished reading that series I was working on.  Well, finished until he comes out with more books.  Whenever that'll be.  It was a good three books.  Being done with them gives me a sad.  I did pick up some new books, though, so it's all good.

Not much going on in the baking realm.  I made granola bars yesterday and I made zucchini bread last Sunday.  Baking bookends for my week.  I probably won't bake anything today, though.  

Last Sunday, Hubs and I walked almost 2 miles.  And that was it for activity.  Weight: 169.6 - which puts me down 12 pounds since I started work almost three months ago.  

Gah, that's right. I'm approaching my 3 month anniversary.  One would think I would have this down by now, and I do for the most part, but they keep adding things to my tasks, so I'm not as settled as I want to be.  Some days I feel like I had everything to do and I did it.  Other days, I feel like I spent 8 hours running in place and, while I was busy all day, I didn't actually accomplish anything.  On the upside, I am never bored at work.  Plus, getting a regular paycheck is all kinds of awesome.  And I never have to clean house.  Hubs does all the chores while I'm at work.  

I'm still doing spreadsheets for the other company.  I have four I need to do today.  Plus, I have the spreadsheets for book sales to do.  (Yes, one sale a month still means I need to update those.)

Speaking of which, I should probably wrap this up and get to work.  Nothing else much happened, so I guess I'll leave it at that.  What went on during your week?