Oh yeah, I call myself a writer...
Well, as of the writing of this post (Tuesday morning) I have a doctor appointment today because I think I have an ear infection (never had one of those before) which started on Sunday. I mean the intermittent stabbing pain in my ear could be something else.... but chances are, I'm not going to be doing any writing between today and tomorrow. I've been thinking about writing, which is better than nothing, I guess.
Maybe next week I'll have positive writing news.
This is the book I am currently reading. It is one of two Susanna Kearsley books I own. For some reason, I thought this was historical fiction, but it's actually contemporary (well 1997...). Except for the fact that I keep confusing myself that it's really not historical fiction (see that cover Brianna, is the woman looking away? It's not historical fiction! I'm enjoying the story.
I wanted to be an archaeologist when I grew up... but my college didn't offer it as a major :( so all the details about sifting dirt and radar imaging the terrain are fascinating to me.
I am also listening to The Stand on audio but it's 48 hours long, and I'm not spending as much time in the car, so it's slow going.
That is all. What are you reading?
Things I have done this week --needing to feel accomplished...
Taken the guinea pig to the vet, and done 4/10 days of antibiotics (fun, love giving cats pills? Try giving a guinea pig liquid from a syringe) twice a day.
Dropped off a birthday present at a friend's house
Taken a kid to his yearly doctor appointment
Taken K#3 to an AP test, which was not at his school for some reason
Grocery shopped
Bought stuff for the 4th grader's school carnival
Bought stuff for the 4th grader's teacher's snack hoard
Took the oldest to driving class
Went to the grocery store while I waited during driving class (so if you are counting, I've been to the grocery store three times this week and counting.) Having someone else teach her to drive is worth every penny.
Slugs ate all my cucumber and zucchini plants, so I put out slug traps, and bought replacement plants (I grew the originals from seeds.)
Bought my mom's Mother's Day present (she's coming over today.)
Sold two books on Pango, wrapped them up, and mailed them.
Did a lot of yardwork as it finally stopped raining and went from mid 50s to almost 80 degrees overnight.
Wondered how it can be May 10th already, May just started...
TGIF!
First because the list pretty much looks exactly the same as last week.
Second because I spent my morning at the vet, with a guinea pig with an ear infection.
Here's a photo instead.
Also, if your guinea pig is a girl, but has a name that ends in 'o' everyone will assume she's a boy. I'm sure it's more annoying if you're a human, so something to think about when naming future children. If I had to correct people my entire life, as opposed to at one vet appointment, my head might figuratively explode.
My review for my first NetGalley book.
I chose to read this book because the cover looked cute, and the blurb (a grieving woman goes on a tour of Europe) sounded fun.
The book is on the shorter side at about 150 pages which I did not know when I downloaded it to read the copy from NetGalley.
Lisa (Elisabeth) is grieving the loss of both of her parents, When her dad died, her mom and Lisa had planned a trip to Europe (Italy, Germany, and France to name a few countries) but sadly Lisa's mom died before the trip could happen. Lisa, armed with her mom's travel guidebook and notes heads off on the trip on her own.
Along the way, a man comes to Lisa's rescue, and then she encounters him again and again as she travels. Romance ensues. But who is this guy and why does he keep showing up everywhere?
I enjoyed the travel aspects of the story, and would have liked more details on all the things Lisa was seeing and eating. The story didn't really dwell on anything, Lisa arrived at a location, found her accommodations, ate food, and then moved on to the next stop on the itinerary.
I found the romance in the story to be a little too easy/insta-lovey for my taste but the answer to the question about why Lisa keeps running into her romantic interest was satisfying. I didn't quite connect with the characters as much as I normally like for a romance. Because the story was so short there really wasn't room for a lot of backstory or details to connect me with the characters.
Now I want to go to Italy and France. I am glad I read this novel. Thank NetGalley :)
My 10 favorite board games. At the moment. Subject to change. In no particular order.
Love Letter-- small (a deck of cards) game where each card has a character with a "rule." You have two cards, and have to guess what cards everyone else has without revealing what you have. Quick, fun, can play repeatedly.
Wingspan--collect birds, get stuff, get more birds. More fun than it sounds.
Near and Far--My kids hate it for no apparent reason... story based adventure game.
Viticulture-- you own a vineyard and make wine. Make the most wine, and win... Mmmmm wine.
Thunder Road Vendetta-- race cars, try to knock your opponents off the board, get to the end of the race with your car still alive, win.
Isle of Cats-- kind of like Tetris but also rescuing cats.
Fluxx--another card game. Silly, can be 5 minutes long or an hour. I put this on here because it's the only game one of my kids will play with me. We own the Star Trek version.
Castles of Burgundy-- build your kingdom... We also have the app version, I prefer the actual game...
Lost Ruins of Arnak-- collect stuff to complete missions, to get more stuff, and get more stuff than anyone else. What I like is you can always do something no matter what pieces you have.
Azul--tile drafting, abstract puzzle game.
And those are my current 10 favorite board games.
Honorable mention, also not a board game...
Jack Box. My kids might reject playing board games, but 3/4 of come out of hiding in their rooms to play Jackbox. It's a computer/app/group of games (trivia, drawing or word based) that you play on your laptop/phone/i-pad together. My favorite game is Job Job, but recently The Wheel of Enormous Proportions has been the kids' favorite... There's also one called Survive the Internet that we like. And Murder whatever party... is hilarious.
What I might be reading in May:
Ocean related book: The Lifeboat by Charlotte Rogan, because I didn't get to it in April, and another book I haven't decided yet for May.
Author-of-the-month: Susanna Kearsley. Either the Shadowy Horses or the Rose Garden, both of which have very similar 3.5 ish ratings on the Storygraph...
NetGalley:
The Itinerary by Penny Pentley unless I finish it in April (it's only 150 pages.)
Beat-the-Backlist:
prominently features a desert: I admit I am not thrilled about this prompt, and having just watched both Dune movies and did not particularly enjoy either of them, so I do not want to read Dune! I think I own The Alchemist by Paul Coelho which is 1) short and 2) takes place in Egypt... maybe that book.
name that tune: One-Hit Wonder by Lisa Jewell
Series progress:
probably finish up the Space Case Trilogy by Stuart Gibbs.
I am going to keep the list short this month. I am also listening to The Stand by Stephen King on audio (48 hours) and know I'm probably going to have to renew it 2-3 times and won't finish it any time soon...
Yeah, that...
Today I have a husband going into work at 7, and four kids needing to be dropped off at specific times in four different directions between 7:15 and 7:45. Maybe, having the house to myself until 9:30 will inspire me to open Word, or I might just sit in silence and do nothing...
Stay tuned.
