Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - October 25, 2026: Keep on Keeping On

While I really do aim to be positive, this morning is not swell so far. I'm fighting the cold the guys had last week, but don't really have time to wallow. Then, when I got up early (but a couple hours later than usual) to feed the cats, I decided to stay up for a bit, then go back to bed for a few minutes when everyone else was closer to waking up. I fumbled my 12 oz Red Bull and dropped it on my toe. Which bruised instantly and really hurts. I added a couple Tylenol to my morning pills, and soon decided I'd rather stay up and protect my poor blackening toe from violent, heavy things like covers and my other foot. So I'm now waiting til I can take another dose of Tylenol and brave the shower, socks, and shoes. Then I'll go get the last handful of holiday presents for the celebration with my snow-bird parents next weekend. Now I'll write for a bit, and look forward to visiting the LEGO store and Barnes & Noble. :)

I did get two book reviews written this week - yay! Today's writing will start out with my regular-ish Sunday post for Sunday Salon with Readerbuzz and Sunday Post with Caffeinated Reviewer.

What I'm Reading This Week:

I'm still reading Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova in print. I've started listening to You with the Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate (oddly enough, on the day she announced that her MS was a mis-diagnoses), and last night started reading The Other Side of Starting Over by Mara Williams on my kindle.

Three Good Things:

1. I've gotten to attend activity involving three out of four of my nieces/nephew so far this month. I attended a marching band performance, a combined band/choir concert, and a swim meet. I love seeing kids doing what they really enjoy.
2. I've meal planned for today and tomorrow, and have a Hello Fresh box coming on Tuesday. Food is the worst part of my job as mom. LOL None of us really likes the same things, and I'm the most willing to skip meals. So having everyone ask me every day what's for dinner is so stressful - this week, we should be set, more or less.
3. I got my steps in for 6 out of 7 days in the last week! I thought going to the neighbor's Halloween party last night would involve more steps than it did, and I didn't feel like making them up after 10 at night. I'm satisfied :)

Three Goals for This Week/Month/Whatever:

1. Finish my desk decorating in the next couple of days. Our row at work is dressing/decorating as the game/movie of Clue. So my costume for last night and the work party on Thursday is Miss Peacock, and my cubicle needs to be 'the study.' I also am bringing in a (fake) bottle of poison as my weapon. 
2. Write a couple more book reviews. I have one more to get up here on my blog, and I'll write another for Books I Think You Should Read.
3. Find a new project for me to relax with after work (but probably not until after my son has friends over for Halloween). I like to hang out at the extra dining room table and do a jigsaw puzzle or LEGO set after work. I finished my most recent jigsaw puzzle last week, so I'm not sure what I'll get next.
   

With Friends Like These - Book Review

With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee
Publication: November 4, 2025
Pages: 240 pages
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ☆☆☆☆
Sweet Spark: Sara, Wesley, Bee, and Allie have been friends for decades. Is the 'Circus' game they've been playing each year since Harvard keeping them close, or tearing them apart?

Just before their annual meeting for the launch of the Circus - an elimination game they've played together since college - Sara see, and is lucky enough to grab a picture of someone, she would swear is Claudine. But Claudine died before leaving college, during another playing of the Circus. She definitely should not be spotted on a street corner, looking the same as she did back then. 

In the Circus, everyone is a suspect, and friends you think you know everything about suddenly seem like strangers. The Circus has a specific set of rules, to keep anyone from getting hurt, and hopefully to keep them all out of legal trouble. After so many years of the Circus, one more shouldn't hurt, should it?

The story was definitely a page turner, and a reader could easily imagine Sara's confusion and frustration as what she thought were unmistakable truths are suddenly cast in shadow. Who can she trust? The book earned 4 out of 5 stars and was a great, short, spooky story.

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

 

Sunday Post/Sunday Salon - October 18, 2026: Now for Spooky Season!

While I still claim Halloween as my favorite holiday, I've been unable to get into it as soon as possible for a long time. My son's birthday is October 1, and while he wouldn't mind at all sharing it with Halloween, I'm usually best at focusing on one at a time. This year, we also planned a surprise trip to my best friend's house - 10 hours away - for her 50th birthday surprise party. And it so worked! We pulled in to her favorite neighborhood bar/restaurant on Friday night, so when she saw us there, she thought we were the surprise! Then my daughter and I dragged her around all day Saturday to keep her away from her house - my daughter and I got our nails done, we visited bestie's favorite bookstore, saw some buffalo, almost visited a very crowded tourist town nearby (too crowded to park), had brunch, and went out for fried appetizers in early afternoon. Then when we had the a-okay, we went back to her house for the surprise party. It was a fabulous weekend!

Now we're all back where we belong (daughter's flight back to school delayed by wildfires, but she's there now), and I even did an adulting and got my shingles vaccine on Friday (so far, so good). My declared plans for this weekend were to do nothin
g, and do it well. We went out for lunch yesterday after son's supervised drive for driver's education, then ran a couple errands, and today I plan to visit blogs, putter, and hopefully do a bit of decorating for Halloween. 

After a later start than usual (and some cinnamon rolls), I'm joining Sunday Post with Caffeinated Reviewer, and Sunday Salon with Readerbuzz.  

What I'm Reading This Week:

I'm still enjoying Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova in print (published last week, and currently with a giveaway on Goodreads!). I need to finish the audiobook of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (I think 6 hours to go) between today and tomorrow. On my kindle, I'm reading With Friends Like These by Alissa Lee. I'm really determined to wrap that one up because I want to know how it gets to the ending, and how it ends.

Three Good Things:

1. 
   I finished another jigsaw puzzle - almost twice! This one gets a little extra credit, because I had it about half done, then broke it up and put it in the box so we could have birthday parties, then started over again, more or less. I didn't break apart every single piece when I put them back in the box, but it was still a bit of extra effort to start over.
2. I'm still in the running at my office's step challenge. Starting October 5, we need to get in 5,000 steps/day for 20 out of 25 days. I missed three days last weekend (10 hour road trips will do that...), but I'm still on track. They draw for winners from whoever completed, so luckily I don't have to have the most, I just need to meet the goals. I can do this!
3. The roses on my kitchen island are beautiful. My daughter brought some 'conversation starter' cards on our road trip last weekend, and one of the questions was the favorite thing you ever bought for yourself. I buy myself flowers at least once or twice a month. Nothing fancy, just whatever looks nice at our grocery store, but they make me smile to see them. Right now it's white mums (I think?) and red roses.

Three Goals for This Week/Month/Whatever:

1. It is time for me to start holiday shopping! We're doing winter holidays with my parents and my brother's family on November 1.I usually do a LEGO set and a book for everyone's birthday; I think I may get some sort of Ulta or Bath & Body Works set for the girls, and ask around for my nephew (what would you get for a 7th grade boy into saxophone and video games?). I like to try and find a fun advent calendar for my parents, since they're down south by then, and I only get somthing for my brother and his wife if I see something I can't resist.
2. On that note, it's time to get the advent calendar stuff for my family, too. I think the kids will be getting the Red Bull advent calendar, and we're all getting Arkham Asylum LEGO set, since it appears to have 24 bags. Hubs and I also enjoyed the big jigsaw puzzle one I got one year - I'll see if I notice another of those.
3. Continue focusing on the positive. I like to improve the immediate world around me. Bring candy for the Halloween bowl at work, straighten and decorate my house, do things to take care of my family, and help others find something to smile about. Of all the different jobs I've done, being a part of raising my amazing children has been my favorite, and I've absolutely advised them to do this as well. The best way to be happy, is to share happiness. Not toxic, relentless positivity, but true kindness. On a tangent, when I listened to The Secret Society of Irregular Witches, I loved the description of the difference between nice and kind. Nice is what some people want to be known for, when others are watching. Kind is truly making other's lives and comfort what they want them to be. Almost like the golden rule, but not blindly treating other as you want to be treated, but as they've said or clearly indicated that they want to be treated. Some thrive on recognition and closeness, and some shun it. Try to actually appreciate what makes someone else comfortable, content, and happy. 

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - October 4, 2026: Yay Autumn!

October, so far, is a lot. October 1st, my son turned 15! Yay!! He starts driver's education tomorrow. At work the same day, there was a very uncomfortable exchange. I won't get in trouble, but someone else seriously may. Today, we're hosting a dozen or so family members to celebrate first my son's birthday, but we haven't met since July. So we've also got an August birthday, two September birthdays, and my MIL's birthday tomorrow and hub's oldest sister the day after that. Which would be just whatever, except in July I gave a birthday gift to the other July birthday, you know, starting a trend. So I'm going out earlier today to get a book and a small LEGO set for each of the birthday peeps.

My son's main birthday gift from me is tickets to the Undertale (video game) Symphony on Thursday night. We're working on cosplay robes to wear to the event too.

And tomorrow night I start adult tap-dancing class!

For this morning, I'm joining with Deb at Readerbuzz for Sunday Salon, and Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer for Sunday Post. Check them out, and the others who join in these fun weekly links.

What I'm Reading This Week:

This week I'm finishing up the audiobook for Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Highly recommend, if there's anyone left who hasn't read it yet. Hahaha... I think I may be coming up on the halfway point in Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova, which keeps getting spookier and better! On my kindle, I'm reading The Guest in Room 120 by Sara Ackerman. I always love a good historical fiction.

Three Good Things:

1. I've started doodling a bit. I meant to order white gel pens and a black paper sketchbook, but I ended up with white gel pens and a regular sketchbook. So that book now has full color doodles, and I finally got the correct black paper sketchbook in yesterday and started using my white gel pens. I like it.
2. I only work three days this week! YAY!! I took Thursday off so I can be awake and alert at the concert with my son, which doesn't start until 8pm. Then took Friday off because I certainly will not be up for work when I'm at a concert that started at 8pm the night before...
3. I hit my steps goal for September (150,000)! I've raised my goal considerably for October (250,000), but I'm optimistic. A lot of my steps are what my mom calls 'old lady videos' - the guided workouts specifically for steps, so I can get them in with music and external motivation in my comfort and privacy of my own living room. LOL

Three Goals for This Week/Month/Whatever:

1. First off is to get five books carefully chosen, and five LEGO sets for birthday presentations this evening. Luckily it will 'require' that I go to the LEGO store so I get my full points and probably a freebie.... And then Barnes & Noble so I get my frequent shopper points to use for holiday shopping.
2. A little more house stuff before company comes late this afternoon. It's also the homecoming parade in town, so the main birthday boy and his cousins may be a little later than everyone else. I still need to move the crates of books down to storage, and I could definitely stand to bring up a few of the Halloween decorations. I'd really like to talk hubs into setting up the inflatable gargoyle in the yard, but it's probably not likely.
3. My step goal! It breaks down to a little more than 8,000/day. While last month's could have been 5,000/day, I didn't decide until mid-month, so it was a little more than 6,000/day for the second half of the month. So I don't need a huge increase, I just need to keep moving!

The Witch's Orchard - Book Review

The Witch's Orchard by Archer Sullivan

Publication: August 12, 2025

Pages: 308 pages

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars ☆☆☆☆

Sweet Spark: I love a non-traditional yet powerful, spunky female main character. Annie Gore joined the military right out of high school to get away from her Appalachia roots, but now someone has sought her out especially for that background, to try and solve a mystery of three girls going missing ten years ago.

When a man who is barely old enough to be counted as an adult asks Annie Gore to investigate the kidnapping a decade ago of his younger sister, he offers to pay her all the money he's saved up. It's not much, but she needs work if she's going to keep sleeping indoors and eating regularly. And the job comes with lodging in his family's cabin, which has a washer and dryer. While she learned valuable investigative skills in the military and has great instincts, her business history is less than stellar.

The crime that Annie has been hired to solve is more convoluted than expected, but it is indeed Annie's Appalachian background that leads her in the right direction. She asks each person who may know something to tell her their version of the legend of the Witch of Quartz Creek. The superstitious wonder if the witch took the young girls, in each case leaving her folklore calling card behind.

The story developed in an interesting way, revealing more about the character of Annie Gore, as well as those who were involved in the drama of the young girls a decade ago. The telling earned 4 out of 5 stars, and following the adventures of Annie Gore would certainly be enjoyable for those who like quirky, independent female characters, unique crime procedurals, and possibly historical Appalachia stories, as this is also the author's background.

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

Sunday Post/Sunday Salon - September 20, 2026: Another Great Weekend

I expect this title could serve for this weekend and next, and next weekend I won't be posting. This weekend I'm home alone, while the boys have won a trophy at a driving event - YAY! I had my Quiet Reading Party with some company over yesterday afternoon/evening, and we all had a good time. Today I'm chilling, blogging, visiting blogs, and maybe watching some shows/movies, while feasting on leftover chicken dip and oatmeal scotchies. Next weekend we're headed north to see our daughter/sister in Come From Away. No time off work for this trip, so we're driving up Saturday, seeing the show then staying in an AirBNB Saturday night, and driving back Sunday. A bit of a whirlwind, but not too hectic. Really looking forward to another great weekend.

For this morning's me time, I'm posting a few words about my week and plans, and linking up with the Sunday Post with Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer, and Sunday Salon with Deb at Readerbuzz.

What I'm Reading This Week:

Let's see, what am I reading? Last week I ended up starting Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova as a print book. I hadn't realized it's an ARC that doesn't publish til mid-October, and it's been a while since I actually read something before publication. I'm really liking it as a perfect spooky season book. While it's written with some of the same characters (I think?) as a previous book, it is unnoticeable and reads like a standalone for me. My book club has agreed we're all going to read Mad Mabel and discuss, but no strict timeline, so I got on the waiting list for the audio book.

On my kindle, I'm still reading A Spell for Midwinter's Heart by Morgan Lockhart. I'm really enjoying its portrayal of witchcraft and it's ethical rules. I just finished The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches and especially loved the ending. I'm starting Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino, which was recommended on audio book by someone in the blog linkies last Sunday.

Three Good Things:

1. It may seem like low-hanging fruit here, but I hustled yesterday. Got all my goal steps in puttering, shopping, and getting the house ready for my party last night. So today I really just need to empty the dishwasher. I can relax in a peaceful house that's already straightened/cleaned. While relaxation shouldn't be considered a reward for activities done, it is easier to relax without looking at things you wish were done.
2. All around wins for the boys - they took 3rd place (and got a trophy) for their class of cars, and 4th place overall!! And they get to come home to a clean house. Super happy for them!
3. The Lizzie Bordon story is out on Netflix! I'm looking forward to watching it today. A friend says she knows someone who researched and wrote a book about the tragedy (I think as YA?), and the researcher does not think she did it. Hmmm.....

Three Goals for This Week/Month/Whatever:

1. Empty the dishwasher, of course! Hahahaha
2. Take another swing at my home office. Straightening downstairs yesterday meant a few more things landed in there. And by 'landed,' I mean set gently down just far enough in the room so the door will still close. Sometimes the truth ain't pretty. Gonna have to - at the least - clear a path sooner rather than later.
3. A fun one! Continue selecting and placing items on the new corner shelf in the family room. I've got a few books from the shelf it's replacing (and the rest in two tubs to go to basement storage), a couple of trinkets or LEGO, and the plant that was there before. Still two completely empty shelves, and a couple with nothing on half. So that will be enjoyable, but really can't be rushed much either.

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - September 13, 2026: Planning, Planning, Planning

While I'm still not getting the month right on things that require dates, we're already half way through September! My son is definitely picking up my vibe lately - we have SO MUCH to look forward to! His first high school theatre production ended yesterday (well, except for strike on Monday), he and his dad are going to a hill climb event up north together next weekend, we're going to see Come From Away and visit the weekend after that, then it's his birthday! And for his birthday, he and I are going to a video game symphony performance the weekend after that. Then he's in driver's education classes for October! I'm also so happy that he is enjoying high school so far :)

I definitely meant to post a book review (hopefully in the next day or so?!), but I've got yet another back-to-back Sunday Salon and Sunday Post with Readerbuzz and Caffeinated Reviewer. Off on a tangent, I still remember the people who were on a writing site I was on leading up to  9/11/01. I don't think I had ever actually 'met' any of them in person, but the site was suddenly abuzz with checking in on all the other writers we knew there. The site disbanded later, and now the peeps from Sunday Salon & Sunday Post are my online family. Thanks to you all!

What I'm Reading This Week:

I'm between books a bit right now, I'll be starting a new print book tomorrow (I'm between Mystery Play by Elizabeth Kostova or Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth. Your vote?

On my kindle, I'm reading A Spell for Midwinter's Heart by Morgan Lockhart, and on audiobook I've got The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna.

Three Good Things:

1. My daughter had callbacks from auditions for all of her university's holiday/spring shows! So she was completely exhausted last night (it all ended with headshots for the show she's currently in at like 8:30 last night!), but cast lists should be coming out next week. I'm excited to see the lists, as I've come to know or know of several of her friends at her home-away-from-home too.
2. I've decided to host a Quiet Reading Party next week! The boys are going up north, so I'll have the house to myself. For a few hours Saturday afternoon, I'm saying folks can bring an appetizer or dessert to share - or don't (if everyone brought something, it would be way too much), any books they want to pass along, and whatever they're reading (or pick from what other people are passing along!). We can hang out, read, just enjoy some time to ourselves, more or less. I was thinking about making some red/green coasters like they use at the Brazillian steakhouse? If you want conversation, flip it to green, or if you want to be left alone, display the red side. What do you think?
3. Since I already listed lots of things my family is looking forward to, I'm delighted to use this last 'good thing' to brag. Several people commented to me yesterday about how genuinely kind my son is as a friend of their child or someone they know through school or theater. Whether it's the boy-ness or just a different personality, I don't hear as much about his social relationships as I do from my daughter. It is heartwarming to hear that he has many people who also care about and appreciate his goodness.

Three Goals for This Week/Month/Whatever:

1. I did get the corner shelf that was in my plans - and it went awry from the start. LOL The shelf as it came in had apparently had a few mirror image photos in the post, so the short side was longer than I wanted. Hubby was gracious (and smart!) enough to help me modify it, but whatever we did still wasn't enough. We went to a lot of trouble with drills and such during assembly, and the 'short' side still covers part of the window frame. But life is an adventure, and it will be fine. He's getting a couple more supports today to give the shelves a bit more strength since they didn't line up with all the intended supports due to our modifications. This evening I can start moving from the old shelf and decorating that corner - yay!
2. Today's errands include getting black thread to stitch a button on to my son's cosplay robe, and sew up the unfortunate decayed seams on our couch. I'll be getting a new couch soon, but not before my party next weekend or my son's birthday celebrations. 
3. I also got some cute trinket and serving dishes from my mom last weekend, but they need a home. They've been on our kitchen island so far, but part of planning my party will include eliminating the clutter. Not an entire other item or anything, but I think I'll start getting out Halloween decorations too :)