I’m enjoying the book I’m currently reading: The Serpent & The Wings of Night, by Carissa Broadbent. I will admit, it was the cover attracted my attention:

What’s weird is snakes give me the creeps. But I love the colors and design, so that’s what caught my attention. And it’s about vampires, which I can usually take or leave. But I’m enjoying the book so far so the cover did it’s job.

In general though, my top ways of choosing books to read or listen to are:

1. Authors I love are my top choices.
2. “Word of mouth” by people I know.
3. Social media posts about books the poster loved. One of the my favorite things I love coming across is posts like “My top five books.” Posts like that will have been pulling up all the books on my vendor of choice to read more about them.
4. I guess then I’d probably list covers and blurbs.
5. When I’m unsure, I will read reviews. I know a lot of people claim they don’t, but I skim then looking for consistent things that either I know I’ll really enjoy, or tip me off that this book isn’t for me.

How do you select books?

Not much happened this last weekend. We didn’t go to Turbo’s game, and made a new plan to go to his game on the 27th and then lunch with my daughter-in-law and Turbo (and CPA Boy if he can — tax season can cut into his weekends). Naturally it ended up not raining during his game. But if we had gone, it would have rained

Otherwise, Wizard’s dealing with stuff with his brother’s house (we’ll be so glad when he’s finally done handling with the estate), and I was working with my  middle daughter-in-law’s mom to find a location for the baby shower. We don’t have a house located central enough, so we need a venue that fits our budget. We made some progress and will hopefully get a venue nailed down this week or the weekend. I really like her mom so I think we’re going to enjoy this.

Sunday I spent two hours trying on clothes in Kohls, and came home with a dress, a shirt and sunglasses. Then I ordered two pairs of sandals to see how they fit. I’m trying. The styles of clothes just doing suit me. I need my basic summer clothes before we go to Hawaii Mid-May. I ruin, wear out or hate most of my shirts lately. Wizard is nagging me to buy clothes that I want.

This week is shaping up to be full of appointments and more waiting. I’m having the throat procedure on May 3rd (assuming nothing changes as we are still gathering tests and results), so I’m doing the bloodwork Monday and need to go buy a volunteer shirt at the animal shelter. Tues is my eye doc appointment. Wed is errands. Thursday is my Dog Walking Class, and Friday is something I can remember But things are getting done so that’s always a win.

I also began reading THE SERPERANT AND THE WINGS OF THE NIGHT by Carissa Broadbent and am enjoying it. It’s a vampire paranormal.

How was your weekend?

TGIF! It was a fast week for me. Okay, let’s get into sharing five random things about our week;

1. The temperature was in the 80s and hot yesterday, yet it’s supposed to rain on Saturday. The wacky weather is creating lots of allergy and sinus issues.
2. I bought some pitted dates, filled them with peanut butter and covered them in dark chocolate. They are in my fridge plotting ways to make me fat. They are also way too easy to make, and that’s just dangerous
3. I’m trying to volunteer for my local animal shelter, but I’m having to work around some scheduling issues on my part. Of course, I’d like to do the most popular thing of walking the shelter dogs, and that has a prerequisite class “Dog Walking Level 1.” That class is always full. But I had a stroke of luck yesterday, and a spot opened up for next Thursday. I signed up! I want get qualified and commit to future dates to walk dogs now, so once it’s hot, I don’t decide to wait until summer is over. Dog walking is between 8am and 10am, so it’s shouldn’t be too intolerable. In the meantime, I may put in some hours doing anything else they need — washing bowls, folding blankets, cleaning tools in the clinic, however I can help for a couple hours here and there. I’m a big supporter of our animal shelter and I really hope volunteering works out, but we’ll see if it works out.
4. I had coffee with Biker Witch yesterday in Barnes and Noble. We were mostly catching up, and I love that. But we also book shopped, which is always fun. I bought one book that was really random — I think it’s a Young Adult, but I’m hoping it’ll catch my interest enough to keep me reading. My sister bought two books because she must outdo me in all things, LOL!
5. Tomorrow we hope to go see Turbo play baseball if it doesn’t rain. The weather app is insisting it will rain, so we’ll see. If we can’t go this time, we’ll go on the 27th. Otherwise, I need to do some cleaning and maybe do some clothes shopping.

That’s my five and now I’d really love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

When I first saw the term “Yoga Butt” I thought, “Wow someone must have worked really hard to get a yoga butt! Good for them.”

Sadly, I was wrong. It’s basically a version of a pulled or strained muscle deep in the butt-hip area. I’m pretty sure I have it. It’s soooo annoying and takes way too long to heal.

Even more annoying is that this hip has been warning me for a couple weeks by twinging more and more each day. I just kept ignoring it until Monday morning when I tried a new yoga practice and felt the muscle go hot and angry (but not the burn of a tear, or at least not a significant one). So not only is Yoga Butt not good or impressive, it’s my fault that I got it. I had this injury several years ago, and thought I was doing all the right things to prevent reinjuring it. Obviously, I was a tad overconfident (as well as being an idiot for not slowing down when the twinges started!).

Oh well, it will heal. And the good news is this week is calm, so I don’t have to rush around which will also help. Although, I probably shouldn’t have been shoveling dirt today

How’s your Wednesday going?

What a fun weekend!

Saturday we had the kids out for Wizard’s birthday. We had a really nice time! Wizard really was touched, and I think he felt as special as he is to us. It was a big birthday for Wizard. I did a simple cake design due to time constraints and a very soft icing (but good!). Here’s the slightly lopsided cake pic:

And here’s the dessert and appetizer table: Below Wizard’s cake are the gluten and dairy free cinnamon roll Mini Bundt Cakes.

My daughter-in-law (Oldest’s wife AKA Special K) ordered and brought the food, which was tri tip, chicken, rolls and tons of sides. I forgot to take a pic of that, but it was amazing to not have to do all that!

Sunday was my first day to really decompress, feel more rested and get my head together. It was amazing. Much of my improved mental state is because I saw my primary doctor on Friday and without my even asking, he talked through all the issues during my pre-op appointment. He already has an “in the unlikely event we need it plan” outlined. I truly didn’t know how much I was worrying. Knowing the plan is there if we need it has freed up mental space in my head to go live my life in the present and quit worrying about the tests and what to do next stuff. I don’t know if that makes sense, but it works for me. So Sunday, I worked out, Maggie and I took two long walks, I filled out an application to volunteer at the local animal shelter, worked on plans for a party (more on that below), and just had a day without pressure and worry. Plus the weather was gorgeous!

And now for my fun news: The party I was working on? A Baby Shower!!! We are going to be grandparents for a second time! Our middle son and his wife are expecting a baby at the end of August. We’ve known for six weeks or so. This is such beautiful, joyous news. Turbo will have a baby cousin So daughter-in-law’s mom and I are working together on the shower. She (I think) has input from the aunts on her side, and I have my other two daughters-in-law. I love it when everyone just wants to help and make it special. A new child in the family is truly something to celebrate.

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

TGIF!! I can’t believe it’s Friday again. Let’s jump right into sharing five random things about our week.

1. Yesterday was Wizard’s birthday. We went to dinner to celebrate, which we really enjoyed. Saturday, the kids are coming over for a second celebration. I’m looking forward to that! I love that they are bringing food too, so all I had to do was easy appetizers, cake and drinks.
2. I went to my little cake store this week. I was only there 20 minutes, but it was fun. I haven’t done many cakes lately, due to health, house projects and inflation. The cost of baking ingredients plus supplies has me pausing lately. I certainly don’t make cakes we don’t need. But it was nice to get out to the cake decorating store, and get some suggestions from then on the filling for Wizard’s cake. This one will be simple cake, not super decorated.
3. Oh, Monday we got our passport pictures to renew our passports and Wizard broke the camera, LOLOL!! So first they staff did my pictures, and they uploaded and printed fine. Then they took Wizards, and they would NOT upload to the computer — the pictures would just vanish. It took about 20 minutes and 4 different employees to finally get a set of pictures that would upload to the computer. I was cracking up so hard. The employees were all laughing too. I, being the loving and supportive wife, accused him of being a vampire. Why he puts up with me is anyone’s guess. And then, we headed over to the At Home store and bought a six-and-a-half-foot artificial tree (I think it’s a dracaena tree?) for a corner in our great room. I was surprised that Wizard didn’t even blink at the cost — after I publicly accused him of being a vampire Both of us really like that fake bamboo tree that we probably won’t kill…hopefully.
4. Today I’m going to the doctor’s for a pre-op clearance. It sounds like a big deal, but it’s just for a throat biopsy to see if we can determine what weirdness is brewing in there. The MRI ruled out most serious things, which is great. Here’s the funny thing. Wizard was in the doctor’s office with me, and I asked how the doc wanted to do the biopsy. He asked how strong my gag reflex is — and I look over at Wizard who was suddenly pale and leaning toward the door. He thought the doctor was going to do it right there and was panicking. He wanted out of that room. Wizard is squeamish, LOL. In his defense, he’s been very supportive and making sure I keep following up on this for 8 long months. Anyhow I told the doctor my gag reflex is a 10 out of 10, so we’re doing it under anesthesia. That’s why I need need a pre-op clearance from my regular doctor. So not a big deal. But trying to coordinate all this plus an ultrasound (another thing that is likely nothing to worry about), getting approvals and scheduling has been time consuming!
5. I’m sure hoping I can start to catch my breath next week.

So that’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Maggie and I went for an afternoon walk behind our house. Here she is in front of the creek:

Every time I show Wizard pictures of Maggie, he comments on how gray she is with that tiny note of sadness. My response is: Who cares how gray she is? What matters is that she’s happy and active  (she did two walks for a total of 3.3 miles yesterday!).

And here’s a better pic of the creek.

It’ll dry up very quickly, but that’s all water running down from the hills. It flows down behind my house, through more forest land to Youngest’s house. There the creek gets feisty and likes to likes to wash out a convenient back road that we all like to use as a shortcut to Youngest’s house. Naturally I get blamed for this, because I’m his mom and obviously should prevent that from happening, LOLOL.

So that’s my Wednesday Happy, what’s yours?