Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - January 4, 2025: Happy New Year

Happy 2026! It's already shaping up to be a good year. I've had an odd sense of...contentment? so far, and have been practicing being in the moment. I'm doing the tasks I need to do, and moving on (especially at work). I suppose it's kind of 'let them,' though I haven't read the book. 

Our son, unfortunately has been under the weather since new years day, so please send him all your good juju for a quick and complete recovery. School starts back for him tomorrow, but I don't think he'll be up to it quite yet. He's very worried about his absences, as we got tickets to a concert in the spring that will require him missing a day (it's a Sunday night concert, out of town). The administration also said they are not allowed to attend the trip for their grade if they have too many absences. But with a doctor's note for whatever time he needs off now, we'll figure it out.

I'm kicking off with a great commitment track record and joining in Sunday Salon with Readerbuzz, and Sunday Post with the Caffeinated Reviewer. Check the math - that's 100% participation for 2026!

What I'm reading this week:

I just finished The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia last night and LOVED it! Five out of five stars from me, and hoping to get the review up later today. We'll see what I start on my kindle when I go to cozy me, almost-bed, time tonight. I'm still reading The Secret Courtesan by Kerry Chaput in print, and really enjoying that too.

Three Good Things:

1. We got our spring concert tickets for our son and me! He is SO excited!! Still need to book transportation and a hotel, but baby steps. Everything will definitely be coming from separate paychecks. Hahahaha....
2. I'm loving my new planner :) I spend new years day adding lots and lots of birthdays and the school calendar dates for the rest of this year, then added the work holidays once I was back in the office on Friday. I want to try and use the goals/habits pages more, and track my savings/paying down debt.
3. I finally got my nails done again! For nearly four weeks, they were red with a cat-eye finish (super cool!), but I went in on Friday and got them filled and fixed up with 'cherry bomb' - a red/pink glitter shade. They look great again :)

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

1. Keep working on my home office. LOL Although it's feeling like a bit of 'burnt toast' theory now. Since it wasn't done, I read a post a few days ago about an exchange student needing housing and said to myself, "That would be cool - I'll hurry up my office and see if she needs us." Then, son has this virus, and who knows if we'll get it next. We don't need another body here right now. So the office will get done, but more likely in the right time. OH - burnt toast theory is something our daughter frequently references - if you're running late because you burned the toast, what if it's the universe shifting your schedule just a bit so you miss something horrific, or end up at the right place/right time for something wonderfully awesome?
2. I've told my family we have two goals before our daughter heads back to school at the end of the week. Goal one is cutting the cats' claws. They desperately need to be trimmed, and she's the best at it.
3. Goal two is redoing our curio cabinets. I have two curio cabinets from my grandmother, and I'd like them to represent our whole family as they want to be represented. So while everyone is home, we divvy up the shelves and display what we want displayed. Right now, it's the stuff I put in there when the kids were mall. Some baton twirling medals/trophies, a shelf about hubs & my Germany travels, a shelf with old wedding stuff.... I want everyone to put away what's in there and fill it with what we want to see from our lives.

Sunday Post/Sunday Salon - December 28, 2025: The Last One of 2025

Wow. Looking back, I feel like 2025 kind of flew by. On the one hand, it feels like a succession of similar days, over and over. In reality, our daughter graduated from high school and moved away to college, my husband changed jobs and had major surgery, and our son started hanging out with a great friend group and seems more content and happier than before. I never finished a goal list or word-of-the-year or anything like that last January, so I supposed I can't much comment on it. I do remember I wanted less confrontation, more NPC energy, and just discreetly support those around me who need it. I feel like I've mellowed out and done a lot of that. Don't get me wrong - if you live in the U.S.A. and you're not regularly angry, you aren't paying attention. But I've tried to do less of taking that rage out on my own life.

While they were not listed apparently, one of my goals was definitely to blog more, and joining more regularly with Sunday Post with Caffeinated Reviewer, and Sunday Salon with Readerbuzz definitely was the best of that! Thanks so much to Kimberly and Deb for opening their hearts and (online) homes to us weekly (and more) to build such an enjoyable community. 💖

What I'm reading this week:

I successfully finished A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone and My Favorite Holidate by Lauren Blakely for the HoHoHoReadathon! I just realized while finishing up another review yesterday that I forgot to review My Favorite Holidate - I'll get that written and over to Books I Think You Should Read soon.

But for now, I'm reading two multi-timeline historical-ish books and really enjoying both. I just passed the halfway mark in The Bewitching by Silvia Moreno-Garcia on my kindle, and am enjoying The Secret Courtesan by Kerry Chaput in print. 

My Goodreads challenge says I've finished 77 books, but this didn't update? I dunno. Plenty of reading :)

Has anyone tried Fable? Advice? I tried Storygraph another time and left very soon. 

Three Good Things:

1. LEGO! We finished the Home Alone House as our family advent calendar (since the set has 24 bags), and everyone under our roof got more LEGO for Christmas. Our son got The Nightmare Before Christmas set he wanted, and is almost half way done. Our daughter got the Happy Plants and the Wall-E and Eve blockheads. Hubs got a technic construction vehicle, and technic Gravedigger. I got the botanical Orchid set, the 3-in-1 Camera, and the Up House!
2. I got an offer for a new job! I chose not to take it for several reasons, but after a couple years of applying within and outside my current company, it felt good to be acknowledged. I'll leave it at that.
3. Things feel pretty good. I've got fun plans, our daughter is home for almost two weeks more, and everyone had a very good Christmas. We've all got plans for New Years' Eve (even if our son comes with us instead of going to his own friends), and 'normal' is back on the radar. LOL I love the excitement and joy of the holidays, but I also like to just meander through my life as I've set it up, mostly.

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

1. Speaking of New Years' Eve, we're going to a friends' party and need to bring an appetizer or dessert. I need to decide and get ingredients for whatever that will look like.
2. Get the office back under control! Two steps forward, three steps back. The holiday presents are now almost all cleared out, so I've got some empty boxes/packaging that will easily clear out and look a billion times better.
3. 
   Decorate my new big present! When hubs was between jobs, he said he'd have less money to spend on presents, but more time if I had any ideas. LOL "If I had any ideas..." I have always had a thing for shelving units, of course, and saw a version of shelves framing a bed, if you will. So, thanks to my hubs' creativity and some base pieces from IKEA, this is mine. I've just started the decorating, but I'm excited for my evening 'me-time' curled up in my cozy bed, surrounded by some of my favorite things (which I can also see in the mirror over the dresser, opposite the bed), with my kindle and nightcap on the handy shelf right next to me. Hubs really delivered this time :)

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - December 7, 2025: 6 7!

Yet another short week. Or was it? I worked overtime Monday - Thursday, and had Friday off to volunteer at the middle school's career day again (for the 7th grade this time) and enjoy the last show of our son's theatre production of Bye Bye Birdie. He was Albert Peterson on Thursday night, and Harvey Johnson on Friday night. It was so much fun, and a great performance! Anyway, after greatly enjoying Friday off, I worked six hours on Saturday. The reason behind my madness is trying to get more goodies for my family for Christmas :) Last week was 40 hours of work, 8 hours of PTO, and 3 1/2 hours of overtime. This week will be as much overtime as I can squeeze in, and then another 8 hours next Saturday. I figure after our daughter comes back home for the holidays next weekend, I'll be working my straight hours more regularly.

It's another Sunday to celebrate the Sunday Salon with Readerbuzz, and the Sunday Post with Caffeinated Reviewer. And their band of loyal-ish bloggers, of course!

What I'm reading this week:

I'm still reading the same two books for now as I was last Sunday: my first holiday book for the HoHoHoReadathon, My Favorite Holidate, on my kindle, and Elyse Myers' That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You in print. Still a few hours left on the kindle book, but hoping to finish up the print one later today. Yesterday while I was supposed to be holiday shopping for others, I picked up a print copy of A Jingle Bell Mingle by Julie Murphy and Sierra Simone for my next holiday read.

Three Good Things:

1. I'm putting together a holiday LEGO set to take in to my desk at work. It's the lil gift with purchase that ran over Black Friday weekend. I need something a bit joyful to look at while I'm there so many hours.
2. I finally got my nails done while I was off work Friday. I had tried two weeks earlier, but they were way too busy right before Thanksgiving, so I ran out of time when my appointment got bumped back and couldn't wait. I had a lot of priorities that weekend! This time, I finally was able to walk in and get them filled with a free hour on my day off. The technician suggested this cool 'cat-eye' top coat that she said is popular on Tik Tok. So my nails are red, with this cool holographic look to them.
3. It's just about new paper planner time! I ordered an Erin Condren Life Planner that came in a month or two ago, and now I get to sit down and copy stuff like birthdays/anniversaries into it. My Happy Planner for 2025 wasn't laid out quite what I was used to, so I'm going to dig up my old 2024 planner for more information. 

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

1. While I successfully completed last week's errands despite the snow, today I promised our son breakfast out (may not happen since it's snowing again), and he needs new boots (not really negotiable). So today after the video chat/call with our daughter, someone needs to take our son to buy some new boots. Hopefully we can find a pair at Kohl's and use the $15 discount code the emailed earlier this week (I think it's just my Kohl's Cash).
2. There is so much work at my office. And we're still taking in more than we're sending out every day, which can't end well. I need to leave on time tomorrow to pick our son up from his cast party since their show has ended, but I'll do overtime on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. Friday I may need to make other plans during business hours and leave after 'just' eight hours, but Saturday I plan to work another eight hours, since hubs and our son are going up north see our daughter's show and bring her home for the holidays.
3. I absolutely have to finish the book review today that I started last week, and even said in last week's post I was going to finish. I mean it this time.

Holiday Wish List - Part 7

This ask has been kind of a long time coming. There was a post years ago with my beloved winter boots. I was lucky enough to get some like-new Sorel duck-style boots of eBay for like $35 (an excellent deal, even then). I've worn them for YEARS. But now a tiny hole is developing in the rubber where the toe bend is, and the laces are just about dead. Yes, I could replace the laces, but the hole!

I would love a new pair of boots to last as impressively long as these have. I'm not picky about the color combinations (my old ones are a green top with purple plaid-ish lining, I think?) but I really do like and trust the duck style with the rubber foot part. My old Sorel's are a size 8, IIRC.

Holiday Wish List - Part 6

Don't know why this one took so long to get here! Probably because I need it already and was hoping to buy it ASAP! LOL

Wayyy back when I was able to work remotely, in my home office, I had a great electric space heater. It's cold in here, and even when it's not, I run cold and would rather be cozy.

My good old space heater locked up. No more heating, no more fan. Hubs looked at it and deemed it un-repairable. It is time I got a new one!

So I'm not picky about brand/style, but I need a lil heater to warm up this one room.

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - November 30, 2025: The One Where I Try to Ignore the Weather

What a glorious weekend. I have not left my house since Wednesday evening. We had a great dinner and visiting at my brother's house after I worked on Monday. Thursday was Thanksgiving at home (the kids went to the store for a few last minute items). Friday our son had a ride and went shopping at the mall with  a friend while our daughter visited friends. Yesterday the kids both had plans; daughter drove herself, and hubs played chauffer for our son and his friend. Today? My streak will be broken. Hubs and our daughter left for her college (and they're bringing two other students too), and our son has an appointment to get his hair done for the show he performs in later this week. He's really worried, but I think it will be less cutting, and more learning how to style it for his role as Albert Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie (which is set in the 1960s).

Today, I'm joining up wayyy later than usual with Caffeinated Reviewer and Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon and Sunday Post. Both their titles have to do with the weather. Mine is about 'not' the weather. Anything but the weather. [I hate the weather.]

What I'm reading this week:

I am currently reading my first holiday book for the HoHoHoReadathon, My Favorite Holidate, on my kindle, and a friend picked up Elyse Myers' That's a Great Question, I'd Love to Tell You at a conference and passed it on to me when she was finished - yay! So I started my print copy of that a couple days ago.

Three Good Things: 

1. Obviously, a FANTASTIC week with our daughter. It was so nice to mostly, just hang out. Most of her plans were with friends, and she came back to be here with us when that was not going on. And hubs and our son also got to spend the days when I was at work with her, so the three of them had those days too. 
   
2. I presented the family advent calendar to the kids last Sunday while we watched Home Alone. When our son got up to get a snack or drink, whatever, he found the doorway blocked by the Home Alone House LEGO set! I got it months ago for exactly this purpose, because my research at that time said it was the only LEGO set with 24 bags. Of course, we started early, so now I get to just go ahead and schedule a few days to skip, so we have it together for Christmas.
3. We got the Christmas tree up and decorated, and the Santa and Snowman inflatables set up in the yard! I promised to putter through the rest of the decoration boxes and either display more stuff, or move it back to the storage room downstairs while everyone else is gone today.

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

1. Sometimes, a goal is just a decision. My family is not doing holiday cards this year, but I feel like I should announce it, so people don't worry that I sent them to everyone else. LOL Hubs was unemployed for a few weeks after a month long medical leave, and there are just a billion other things I'd rather spend my budgeted time and money on.
2. While I did a GREAT job catching on some posts and, as I call it, computering, I still have one more book review to write for Books I Think You Should Read, and I thought of a couple more posts for my holiday wish list.
3. I am determined to enjoy today - drive our son to his hair appointment, and then to the supermarket to get a few items I need, and a few things that will make this evening fun, and this week a bit more tolerable at work. I am a capable adult, and I can do the things. 
   

A Family Matter - Book Review

A Family Matter by Claire Lynch 
Publication: May 29, 2025
Pages: 240 pages
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ☆☆☆☆☆
Sweet Spark: Maggie has always been close with her father, both because they love each other, and they don't have anyone else.

This emotional story told in a few different viewpoints over two timelines, has basis in fact, as explained in the author's note at the end. Dawn was an 'unfit mother' because of her deviation. After marrying Heron, and having a daughter, she met her true love. Her deviation wasn't adultery; she loved another women. And in the 1980s, being a good mother and being a lesbian were apparently mutually exclusive.

When Dawn first tells the truth to her husband, he's not sure what he should do, but at his attorney's advice, he soon changes the locks and bans Dawn completely from their daughter's life. This concise book is had to tell more of without spoiling, but it is definitely a strong historical message about the rights of women and families at the time. The frustration is real as multiple people tell the adult daughter that they were different times, but as awful as it sounds, the damage is done, and they're right - the choices and their consequences are those of a recent, but different, time.

The book was an honest look at what happened to real families. It earned 5 out of 5 stars as a succinct telling of a young girl's life when her parents aren't quite the people they each thought they were. I'd recommend this book to those who appreciate women's stories and family dramas.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for my electronic copy of this book. Receiving the book for free did not influence my opinions or my review.