Sunday Post/Sunday Salon - September 1, 2024: Buh-Bye Payday!

Welcome to SePtEmBeR?? I'm not sure if it's the fact that I've usually enjoyed school, or that I used to work in the schools, or just that I still have kids in school, but September feels more like a new year than January does, to me.

I'm joining in with the Sunday Post at Caffeinated Reviewer, and Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz today. Thank goodness Friday was an 'extra' paycheck (paid every other Friday means two months each year have THREE paychecks!). It's gone. The paycheck went to school clothes, mostly. My looming to-buy list yesterday (after working an extra six hours on Saturday) included yearbooks (one down, one to go), registration for e-sports and twirler for a day (both pending contact), Sweeney Todd tickets (using the second card after a potential fraud alert on the first), new band book (shipping...), candy for work (yes, I did get something for me), and CLOTHES/SHOES!! Still needed: pens, pencils, paper, folders...

What I'm reading this week:

My reading is mostly back to my standard of trying to clear the backlog. I'm going to be picking a couple that I'm just reviewing for here (SweetlyBSquared.com), coming up, as the woman on the blog I usually review for is getting married! I sincerely hope she doesn't spend any of her wedding or honeymoon time posting book reviews!

On my kindle, I've already zoomed through half of You Can Trust Me by Wendy Heard. Great thriller so far with alternating chapters between the two main characters with both current happenings and flashbacks to figure out who everyone really is.

Print books, I don't think I've read another word of Little Women all week, but I'm hoping to finish The Hedgerow today or tomorrow. It's enjoyable enough, but I'm really finding a lot of the characters annoying.

Three Good Things:

1. Don't get me wrong - I know how BLESSED I am to be able to buy these ridiculous things my kids want :) It was so great to be able to get them what they wanted while we shopped yesterday. And I'm also so happy to be able to enjoy spending time with my kids.  They're pretty cool.
2. Yay for a short work week! The company I work for is closed Monday for Labor Day, so I'm pretty determined not to work extra hours at straight-time pay. I'm hoping to work as close to eight hours each day this week as possible. And I've got plenty to do after that in getting ready for the high school's production of Much Ado About Nothing this weekend.
3. I got my new paper planner! I had Erin Condren planners for years, but then her behavior during COVID19 led me to decide not to support her anymore. I got Plum Paper Planners for a couple years. This year I picked up a Happy Planner for the first time, because I could buy it and just take it home from Michael's. I always enjoy setting up a new planner, and the school year is really when things start being scheduled for the next calendar year.

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

1. Finish my Lego house! After I listed it last week, I don't think I've touched it again.
2. Work on my office. I've actually got a few things in mind that I know are in there, and I'd love to find.
3. I keep saying I'm gonna clean up the kitchen - like, deep clean. Over a few years, we lined the top of the cupboards with all different bourbon bottles. I'm over it. Time to move them on to glass recycling. And while I'm up there, I should get a bucket of sudsy hot water and wash all the latent grease off the cupboards, cuz, why not?

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - August 25, 2024: Four Months til Christmas?

Happy Sunday! (note to self - post Senior Sunday pic of oldest when I get done with this post...) Today I'm joining Readerbuzz and the Caffeinated Reviewer for Sunday Salon and Sunday Post (are there peeps who would really do one and not the other??) As I filled in my title last night, the date struck me - the 25th is always [blank] months til Christmas, right? But waking up this morning, it has occurred to me that this is now a weekend of lessons.

The first was regarding my oldest - it is her senior year in high school! While she's always been mature for her age and is regularly taking on adult responsibilities, I think some people - now including me - are taking this for granted. She did a t-shirt order for the show she's directing, and she has the confidence of youth. The actual program director (who did the previous shirt orders) told her it isn't complicated, and she should go ahead and do it herself this time. So she did. But the director didn't warn her about minimums. The price of each shirt is set by how many you expect to have ordered, and if that isn't met, they charge the one running the order, the difference. Yeah. You see where this is going. Mom to the rescue, but I asked to review anything with dollar signs before she sets it up next time.

Lesson number two was of course from the other child. The one who crawls into my king-sized bed while hubby travels for work (which is most weekends). Since I usually am at work at 6am, I still wake up a bit earlier than the rest of the house on the day each work that I don't work. So I just got up and pottied, but wanted to sleep a bit more. Alas, the whole comforter was wrapped around one 12-year-old, but at least I had a sheet left? The cat got up to snuggle with me, so that was a bonus. But then he rolled back toward me, with comforter at least twice as big as him wadded up in the rolling. To get to the point, the cat panicked and scratched MY FOREHEAD trying to get away. Yes. I do love staring me day by bleeding from the head. Ugh.

But now I'm up, ready to be productive-ish.

What I'm reading this week:

This week the battle of the books is all in my rearview mirror. At the battle, there were 40 points possible, and the two teams who tied for first-place had 37 points. The team I'm on - the No Pressure Book Club - had 36. Not too shabby, eh? The four books again, in order of my ratings, were Recursion by Blake Crouch (LOVED this one! - ☆☆☆☆☆), Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller (nice book - easy read - ☆☆☆☆), Lore Olympus: Volume One by Rachel Smythe (very neat graphic novel, but graphic novels are just not my jam - ☆☆☆), and Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby (I don't think I really liked much of anything about this book - sorry! - ☆☆, cuz writing a book is hard). I did finish reading all four books, even if the last two were a few days after the battle. 

Now I'm reading a kindle copy of The Witch's Secret by Stacie Murphy which was published a couple weeks ago. I am a witch and love witch stories, good and bad. I have less than a couple hours left, and so far I'm really liking this one. It's a witch in U.S. civil war times trying to single-handedly deal with some group that is summoning demons to eliminate their opposition. How rude, am I right??

The two print books currently in my work tote bag are Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and The Hedgerow by Anne Leigh Parrish. I'm reading Little Women because the theatre troupe is doing the play in November (auditions for my daughter and her friends in just a few weeks, and I want to understand the characters and better enjoy the show). The Hedgerow is for review, and I'm a bit disappointed that I didn't realize it's a sequel. I've made it my policy to not start with something other than the first book in a series, but so far it's reading all right without the background.

Three Good Things:

1. Super fun time with the kids yesterday! After I got done working six hours (and finished a truly dreaded draft that combined EIGHT complaints), my daughter had suggested checking out our local Dragon on the Lake festival. The food trucks seemed to be waiting for the beer tent before they opened, so we had a nice lunch on the patio of one of our favorite restaurants, then visited the chalk art competition and a bunch of the craft and merchant tents. My favorites were these fantastic wings commissioned and drawn by a theatre friend (who also won her division of the chalk art competition), and visiting the booth for Black Cat Beanery, where we donated and won a half-off entry to the cafe later, and a $30 gift card!

2. I am LOVING the DNC 2024 Roll Call playlist on Spotify. I saw it recommended and couldn't find it on Spotify, but searching it on Google got me to it. So I'm sharing. It's an amazing variety full of such uplifting, energetic, and optimistic vibes.

3. The weather is finally warmer again! Last week it was getting a bit cooler and gloomy in Michigan. I really strongly dislike winter and snow, so as summer ends, I'm prone to being pretty bummed. Yesterday and today are a little bit warmer than 80 degrees, and yesterday was even sunny! I know it won't last much longer, but I'll take what I can get. 

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

Last time's goals were mostly a bust. But it does help with my focus ;)

1. Finish my Haunted Mansion Lego house. I'm starting step/section three of four.

2. Get tickets to Sweeney Todd, which is showing Sept 6 - 21 weekends in a town near me!

3. Keep on keeping on in that blasted office. I've got a few tasks I want the kids' help with first (moving some kitchen clutter around), and I promised to watch a Marvel movie (yesterday was Iron Man, not sure what he has planned for today), but then I should get some me-time and should make a bit more progress.

Slow Dance - Book Review

Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell
Publication: July 30, 2024
Pages: 400 pages
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ☆☆☆
Sweet Spark: Shiloh and Cary aren't sure if it's possible to pick up the pieces of their golden friendship from their childhood and young adult lives. And then they're not sure if they want to risk it to see if there's something more.

More than a decade has passed since Shiloh and Cary even saw each other. But when the third from their high school trio invites them to his wedding, they both show up and reconnect.

They've each followed their expected adult path, to an extent. Cary is a Navy man, and Shiloh has a career in the arts. But maybe there's enough of the people they were back when they were the closest of friends that they still recognize in each other.

Of course, if they'd actually dated in high school, as everyone had expected, it would have undoubtedly been easier. Now they've got plenty of adult problems in the mix as well. Shiloh is divorced and a single mother who lives with her mother in the house where she grew up. Cary is the most responsible member of his childhood family, and now continues to try to manage everything for his mother from a distance.

Overall, the story went pretty much as expected. High school relationships can never end up as simple as they appear in the beginning, and adult live makes everything harder. The book earned 3 out of 5 stars and was a nice cozy friends-to-lovers romance for a pretty quirky girl and they guy she never thought she'd be with forever.

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

Sunday Post/Sunday Salon - August 4, 2024; The 'Home Stretch' of Summer

Summer is zooming by! My kids are done with most of their summer camps, although the Much Ado About Nothing production my daughter is directing doesn't have their performances until the weekend after Labor Day, and I'm chaperoning the Leadership Camp for the high school thespian troupe next weekend (really just means more reading time for me!). I'm back with Readerbuzz and Caffeinated Reviewer for Sunday Salon & Sunday Post.

What I'm reading this week:

As I said, next weekend will be some serious reading time (hopefully). I'm currently building up to our community's adult Battle of the Books on August 15. The four books we'll be challenged on this year are:

Fiction: Recursion by Blake Crouch 

Nonfiction: Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby 

Graphic Novel: Lore Olympus Volume 1 by Rachel Smythe 

Youth: Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller 

I tried reading Wow, No Thank You and Lore Olympus from July 15 - August 1, and now I'm working on Miss Spitfire and Recursion. 

I did not finish either of the two I tried so far. I admittedly did not enjoy what I read of Wow, No Thank You. For personal essays, I just didn't find the author very relatable, and I felt most of the stories were negative and sort of complain-y. But with the relatability being my main point of contention, I'm sure some other readers would really enjoy her style.

Graphic novels are never really my jam, but I still make a point of trying them from time to time. I did really like the Greek mythology storyline, and probably would have enjoyed it even more if I knew the background better so I could keep the story straight more easily.

I've barely started Miss Spitfire, but like it so far. I fully expect to like Recursion best, as I've reviewed at least one other book by the author and really enjoyed it.

Three Good Things:

1. I was ready to list not being the theatre booster treasurer again - what a relief! I am excited to set up some stuff as I transition into my new vp of fundraising role. Historically we mostly do dine-to-donate things (where a store or restaurant offers us a percentage of the night's sales for the guests we send in). I've also got plans to generate more donations of some of the stuff we regularly use (you can 'make' money by generating income, or reducing expenses, right?).
2. 
   I'm excited to take next Friday off work as I head to theatre leadership camp with our student board. Mondays and Fridays are the worst at work. I'm making a conscious choice to work less overtime (only 10 hours last week), which has made me feel so much better. This week I've got an appointment with my son on Tuesday morning - so I'm working a half day - and Friday off. WIN!
3. I also realized that the Starbucks on my way to work if I take the back streets instead of the expressway opens at 4:30am! I thought I was the only fool driving to work by 5:30, so this is a huge win! I stopped on my way in on Friday and got my Melon Burst and a piece of cinnamon coffee cake to start the day off right. Debating how many days a week I can drag myself out a few minutes early for such a day-changing treat...

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

I've got to admit - this worked really well last time, and my first two goals were more or less met! I even worked on the third, but I already knew that one is slow going...

1. Continue to work on my office. I did make some progress, but there is still lots of room for improvement.
2. Clean out the fridge and pantry. This was actually one that should have been on the list last time, so I would have had more room for two extra kids and their grocery choices, but better late than never ;)  I've been grabbing things I realize are expired and pitching them a little more often (I'm looking at you, unopened 2022 salad dressing in the pantry!).
3. Lay out on my deck and get some sun. Weird goal, but I used to lay out regularly and read while listening to some relaxing flute sonatas from Spotify. It may not be this week, since I've already got a day and a half off, but next week I can certainly leave at 2:30 a day or two and spend some sun-worshipping time.

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - July 21, 2024 Work? What's that? edition

Welcome to my daughter's birthday week! It's apparently always a madhouse over here, but I'm checking in with Caffeinated Reviewer and Readerbuzz. Getting up early (9am - LMAO) gives me a bit of the 'calm before the storm.' The kids were still sleeping, so I settled in to pay bills and spend a few minutes in internet land before a birthday party later today.

What I'm reading this week:

The blog I write the most for is BooksIThinkYouShouldRead. My most recent posted reviews are for Jackie (4 out of 5 stars, giveaway through 7/22/24) and The Radcliffe Ladies' Reading Club (3 out of 5 stars, giveaway through 7/24/24).

I finally finished my review for Holliday by Matthew DiPaoli (probably posting this week, not sure if it has a giveaway...). I wish I had more time and could have read this one with the accompanying play list by the author, but it was informative and fun in my snatches of time to read a chapter or so at a time too.

I'm currently trying to dive in on our Adult Battle of the Books books - the battle is August 15 and there are four books. I've started reading Wow, No Thank You:Essays by Samantha Irby, and Lore Olympus, Vo. 1 by Rachel Smythe. Still on the list to know about before August 15 are Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller and Recursion by Blake Crouch. I'm still most excited to read Recursion. The graphic novel is so far better than I expected, and it turns out no one in our book club has really liked Wow, No Thank you. I'll keep plugging away til the end of the month, but then I'm absolutely switching to the other two books.

I'm also continuing to read two books on my kindle - Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe, and Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell. I started out with a bit from each whenever I went to bed each night, but now Not What She Seems has me sort of sucked in.
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Three Good Things:

1. Yay for a four-day-weekend! I took Friday off to run around and be available for the first night of my son's performance with Mean Girls Jr! It was such a fun show, with shows on Friday night and Saturday mid-day. While he doesn't think he'll do the camp next year (two weeks straight felt like kind of a long time), he really liked it and is glad he was in it this year. Tomorrow I've got off because my daughter and I are scheduled to visit Michigan State University (I don't think it's a likely college pick for her, but we're visiting a variety), and then we pick up our Young Americans college students for a camp this week. We've hosted the college kids from this camp for a few years and always enjoy it :)
2. My baby girl is turning 17-years-old this week! Today she's having some friends over for a painting party, but Tuesday is her actual birthday. The actual day may be a bit overshadowed by the chaos of two extra peeps in our household and the first day of camp (which she is not officially doing this year since she's directing the high school's summer Shakespeare show), but she still gets to pick dinner for the group, and hopefully we can start the day out fun with presents to open.
3. I am no longer the treasurer for the theatre boosters!! This is fantastic, as we now have any actual accountant volunteering for the job, and I was honestly pretty terrible at it. I kept the money safe, but my actual maintained records were crap. Apologies to the new treasurer. I am now the vp of fundraising, which feels like a better fit. I'll mostly organize dine to donate events and any other fundraising ideas the board comes up with, so we have plenty of money to support our high school theatre troupe and theater in the community.

Three Goals for this week/month/whatever:

Okay, so this is my own addition. But I'm feeling motivated, aight?

1. Take charity clothes (etc.) to the charity bin. There's a big ole dumpster at the middle school just across the next main road. There has been a pile of castoffs at the end of my dresser for actual months. I want to compile that stuff, and sort out my front closet (the pile in there is up to my hip) and get rid of the things we don't want but feel bad throwing away.
2. Super simple-ish and doable one for ASAP - get the kids to make a menu plan list for this week, so I can shop for the items today. My work schedule is still shite, and I'll only be there 3 1/2 days this week, so I'm pretty sure I'll be working long days on the days I work. If my kids and the extra college kids can have a plan and make dinner before I arrive at home, it will be a huge win.
3. Work on my office :) It has become a general catch-all, with piles (yes, literal piles) of things I dumped there to get them out of the way in other areas of the house. So I want to turn it back into a usable space for me. Wish me luck!

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - July 14, 2024 I'm all out of titles. edition

Welcome to mid-July! It's a madhouse over here, but I'm checking in with Caffeinated Reviewer and Readerbuzz again. After being here not so long ago, I really liked feeling a bit connected with someone outside of my debt-collection career, so here I am  again.

July brings us two weeks of Mean Girls Jr. day camp (loving it, but our littlest thespian has been sick and missed two days out of five so far - hopefully next week will be better!), a super-successful week long camp in NYC with NYFA, and last but not least, we're hosting homestays and have one attendee this year for Young Americans performing arts camp. Buckle in!

What I'm reading this week:

LOVED Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner. Finished the book a few days ago, and got my review written earlier this week (not posted at BooksIThinkYouShouldRead yet). Five stars - read it!!

I'm currently trying to dive in on our Adult Battle of the Books books - the battle is August 15 and there are four books. I've started reading Wow, No Thank You:Essays by Samantha Irby, and Lore Olympus, Vo. 1 by Rachel Smythe. Still on the list to know about before August 15 are Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller and Recursion by Blake Crouch. I'm admittedly most excited to read Recursion, and not really into the two I've started so far. Ugh

And because I got all four books in print copies so I can annotate, I'm also reading two on my kindle (because I couldn't get one to boot up right the first time, and they're different enough that, hey, let's read all the books at once!) - Not What She Seems by Yasmin Angoe, and Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell (which I actually have not read any of yet, but I want to, so it's listed and ready to roar)
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Three Good Things:

1. I applied for another job with another company, but I either asked for too much money, or I'm just too old, so they rejected me in just a few days. Oh yeah, these are the good things - at least they didn't leave me wondering! And I do love my regular schedule of starting at 6am. I don't think most people have that luxury.
2. While I'm so glad my daughter loved her NYC camp, and most likely made a few lifelong friends, I am very happy to have both of my kiddos back under my roof. Have you seen the newest Inside Out 2 movie? Anxiety...that bitch is so real.
3. Sick kiddo #2 seems to be on the mend. He has been  DEVASTATED to miss part of his camp that was only 10 days long to start, and the performances are next Friday and Saturday. Horrible cough, fever, exhaustion. Ugh. But last night I got all the meds, so now he's cough syruped, ibuprofened, vitamin Ced and Vicksed up. Fingers crossed he can go to camp all five days and two performances this week. We already ordered his Wednesday shirt (on Wednesdays we wear pink), so Ima need his immune system to pull together.

Only the Beautiful - Book Review

Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner
Publication: April 18, 2023
Pages: 400 pages
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ☆☆☆☆☆
Sweet Spark: While I enjoyed both Rosie's and Helen's stories independently, it was when they crossed near the end that I could not put this book down.

Rosie had more than her share of hard times after losing her parents and brother. While that should have been the worst thing in her young life, those who were supposed to help her somehow made it worse.

While the story starts out with Rosie’s childhood struggles and her navigation of life without adults looking out for her best interests, once that story is established the reader is brought across the ocean to Helen Calvert’s life as a nanny and teacher during World War II in Europe. Although both series of events are horrific and heartbreaking, it is their intersection that makes the book one that must be read to its conclusion as soon as possible.

The characters in the book were nearly all reasonable, likable people (well, except that yotch, Celine), and it was easy for the reader to hope for the best outcome for them all. As an amazing historical fiction story, though, the biggest impression was the lesson delivered about the atrocities happening in the U.S. while the world focused on the evil of Hitler in Europe.

The book earned 5 out of 5 stars especially for the emotional ending. Those who like historical fiction, fiction from the time period, or dramas of not having a family of one’s own.

Thank you for my electronic copy of this book from the publisher & Netgalley. Receiving the book for free did not influence my review.