Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - July 21, 2023 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. Well 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.

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - 4 July 2024

 Every time I dip my toe back into sharing something on this blog again, I go look at all the old memes (yes, 'meme' used to be the word for all these bloggy link-up things, more or less, instead of just a picture with a funny one-liner. but i digress...). Thursday used to have Thursday Thunks, Thirsty Thursday & Hungry Hearts, Thursday Thirteen and Throwback Thursday (okay, there was on link on those last two - apparently I just used them as excuses to post. i do love a good numbered list...).

Anyway, all I see sort of standing from my old list is Thinking Out Loud Thursday with Penny's Passion. While today she is offering a list and summaries of the books she read in June, my work hours are way up, which brings my reading hours way down. I do have three book reviews to finish and forward to the blog that publishes most of them (hi, BooksIThinkYouShouldRead!), but I figured I could do a bit of chattering here to warm up.

As far as the books I finished in June - here they are!

A Song of Silence by Steve N. Lee - While I usually avoid WWII stories (IMHO, the most played out and overdone genre/trope), this one was more about event concurrent to the war, and not a civilian/soldier romance. It was the second of three books in a series, and I probably wouldn't have agreed to reading it if I'd realized it had this second strike. With that said, it was a good book and the story of the man running an orphanage and trying to see all of his young charges through the war, rationing, and all the other atrocities was compelling. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Next up was The Nature of Disappearing by Kimi Cunningham Grant - I absolutely loved the main character, Emlyn in this one. She was a caring individual who ended up just caring for herself and being amazing at her wilderness guide job after being completely shafted by the people she thought were her tribe in college. As the story progressed, I was more mystified about who was good, who was bad, and how much it actually mattered. I also gave this one 4 out of 5 stars (that seems to be a pretty solid rating from me - guess I'm getting better at just picking books I'll like right away). 

The final review already posted was for Walk the Dark by Paul Cody - I was enchanted by the voice of the narrator right away in this one. Oliver was raised by an unpredictable mother who was a sex worker and addict, and he never knew any other life. He was mildly aware that his life wasn't like others, but never expressed much about it. The story is told in alternating chapters between his fascinating childhood, and his current life, where he's just heard he'll soon be paroled from prison. For a horrific story, it is told in a beautiful language and manner. It also got 4 out of 5 stars from me (sorry - the giveaway ended at the beginning of the week).

The last book I finished in June does not have a review published (okay, or written) yet, but it was Jackie by Dawn Tripp. This is a great novel about Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Onassis and talks about her life with JFK, her life with Aristotle Onassis, and her life that she chose to live alone after both men were gone. The writing in this one was also so delightfully engaging. I had to remind myself that it was researched stories of a real person. Her ups and downs and wisdom were so realistic and well-conveyed through the incidents in her life that were shared. I'm sure it's no surprise, but this one also got 4 out of 5 stars from me.

Spoiler alert - I just finished a book this morning that literally had me in tears and earned 5 stars! I'm also hoping to stay on task at my computer this afternoon (still need to finish some accounting tasks for an audit next week, and those three book reviews to send in), and finish (or get close to the end) of the print book I'm reading. That will give me a little more than a month to read the four books in the Adult Battle of the Books I'm competing in with my book club on August 15, 2024.

Other than books, most of my 'thinking out loud' is a staggering, anxiety-ridden place. I'm working limited hours next week while I drive my youngest to and from a theatre day camp for the next two weeks, and taking my oldest to the airport in a few days to spend a week at an acting camp in NYC. My mama heart is already hitting elevated stress levels!

Hard to believe the summer is nearing its midpoint. Luckily our schools don't go back til after Labor Day, but the next three weeks have the kids in three camps, house-guests for a week of one camp, and the West coast muckity mucks hanging out at my work office. Calgon, take me away!

Sunday Salon/Sunday Post - June 30, 2024 Is this all there is, to being 52? edition

Hello, hello! If you saw my last (but not recent) Sunday Salon/Sunday Post, I was working another election after a long sabbatical. And one was enough. I don't agree politically with a lot of my community, so elections are depressing AF. I'll keep working too many hours at the job where I actually do enjoy what I do.

I'm checking in with Caffeinated Reviewer and Readerbuzz again. I'm not gonna lie and try to say I'll be a regular (already have things planned for next Sunday instead of quiet time at my computer), but I'm here for today.

But I did turn 52 in June! While age is just a number, and as GenX I still see myself as 30 (I've read that's common-ish?), I'm tired of being the oldest one in many of my 'crowds.' Also, I'm tired after 8pm, but I blame that in part on my early morning hours. I'm just tired. But it isn't lack of sleep, it's life's ability to suck my soul dry. What would Dory do? Just keep swimming, I guess.

What I'm reading this week:

I just started Only the Beautiful by Susan Meissner a few days ago, and I'm really enjoying it. It's 1930-something, with an unwed mother who can see shapes and colors aligned with sound. Not sure quite where it's going yet, but Susan Meissner has certainly never disappointed me before.

My print book right now is Holliday by Matthew Di Paoli. I adore a great historical fiction, and this fits the bill. Even more fun, the author offers a musical suggestion list for a song to go with each chapter, and his musical tastes are varied and intriguing! I wish I had time to sit away from it all and follow along to pair the book and music, but I've only been able to read a few chapters with their tune selection so far.

Three Good Things:

1. We got to pick our son up from his first sleep-away band camp yesterday, and he had a great time! The camp was at a 'real' camp, and the band was just an extra, so when they weren't working on their music three hours each day, they also got to zip-line, go fishing, play volleyball, have evening performances, do a talent show, and so much more. He can't wait to go again next year.
2. Hubs is LOVING his new job! All racecar, all the time. Next weekend (after the 4th) is the big premier of most of what he works with, so fingers crossed he keeps loving it.
3. Just one more? Our daughter is THRILLED to head to NYC soon for a film acting camp, and I'm excited they announced another adult battle of the books! (Sorry, I couldn't leave either one out this morning).

Happy Birthday Month to Me!

Hi all! I know it's mostly book reviews or echoing silence around here lately, but I keep telling myself I can do better. And then I go get a few hours of sleep and head back to work. LOL

Anyway, here's life lately:

I'm still working as a regulatory complaint specialist and team lead in a severely overworked team. We just had another team member call in until they ran out of PTO...and then still not come back. I'll assume she quit. Hahahaha... I work M - F from 6am until I have to be somewhere else, which hasn't been much more than 8 hours/day with all of the kids end of school year stuff. Definitely ramping up my overtime now that they're home or at least don't need as many rides. I've considered slamming the overtime for a few months to pay stuff down/off and walk away to something with some sanity in the fall. We'll see.

Lots of graduation parties in the next few weeks, and excited to head to a Pride festival next weekend with my lesbian thespian and her girlfriend :) The lil dude always wants to do fun stuff, but we often don't agree on what that might be. Last weekend (two weekends ago, maybe?) we walked around ComicCon and caught a pre-release screener of the Garfield movie. Yay!

Hubs is loving his new job - racecar, all day, every day. He's gone a lot of weekends this summer, but the kids and I are certainly capable of entertaining ourselves.

Any items I need to include on a summer bucket list? I see Detroit promoting an Edgar Allen Poe speakeasy?!?! I've also been telling the kids we should check out the local college's ropes course forever - maybe this will be the year?

The Age of Magical Overthinking - Book Review

The Age of Magical Overthinking by Amanda Montell
Publication: April 9, 2024
Pages: 272 pages
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars ☆☆☆
Sweet Spark: 93% of drivers think they are above-average! LOL

This book was fun and interesting, as long as we don't try to take ourselves too seriously. The author examined different types of cognitive biases. From the halo effect (thinking someone we like is likable even in ways we don't know about), to sunken cost fallacy (staying with someone or involved in something because we already have 'so much' invested), to confirmation bias (the more we hear or read something, the more likely we are to believe it's true), our thought patterns can begin to feel like they're shaping the world, instead of the other way around. 

The author had a great memoir-style of writing to make each example feel relatable. Do we really get to manifest a good result because we built up good karma by letting a car into traffic on our way to the office? I know I'm guilty of expecting more random good results when I feel like I'm being an exceptionally good person. Now I know I'm not alone in that idea.

Overall, the book was amusing, but it's hard to quantify what I really learned about cognitive bias and its effect on the world, or even my life. The book earned 3 out of 5 stars from me, and I'd be interested in checking out some of the author's previous works.

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