I'm writing this early (instead of a book post) because I know the hurricanes are going to take me out all weekend and possible week too. It's been a bit crazy in my house. My Auntie has called numerous times wanting to talk about the Fallwells (Fallwell Family?) and their sex/exhortation/blackmail etc issues. She's a big follower and this seems to have rocked her world in a bad way. I don't know what she wants from me as I'm more interested in if people from Trump's campaign softly blackmailed them for support...which my Auntie is not interested in. She's more on if the sin can be forgiven. I don't know, I'm not Jesus. 

Luckily I have more bath bombs to get me through the crisis. And by crisis I mean listening to my Auntie, she's a character. 

This is also the reason I'll never be a subscription box insta affiliate whatever person. I'm not a seller. I'm a gossiper. Like, sure, lets talk about bath bombs/make-up/books but only after we talk about the what the Falwell man was doing with his ding-a-ling. It's none of my business but if you're going to denounce other people you might want to wipe the shit off yourself first. Granted, this post is early, so maybe he's repented for my Auntie's worry. He's probably checked himself into a celebrity recovery clinic for some rehabilitation by now. 

Right! Bath bombs! Non-sex-adjacent bath bombs. Lavish (who is not affiliated with me or the Fallwells) has a monthly subscription that I get (about $38 per month). There are about six products (sometimes more) that always include a bath bomb and bubble bar per box. 

I'm behind on Lavish I believe (by a few months) but that's a quick fix. 

I also got news on the Macy's Beauty Box! It will resume in October (ish? September) and the first box back will be the Jo Malone box. There's a wait-list currently (see link above) in order to join. I don't know if you get on the wait-list, you'll get the Jo Malone box or not. 

Back to Lavish. This was the May monthly box. Lavish Bath Box is a monthly subscription that features indie bath products. I do the month to month (it's automatic) and it's about 38 USD. They do ship internationally (I'd read the FAQ first to get an idea on shipping prices). 

Lavish is also how I find other indie bath companies (usually on Etsy, sometimes their own site) to supplement my bubble bath hobby. 

I woke up late today. I just slept through my alarm clock. Never have I been more glad to be working at home because of the pandemic because my little slip up went by unnoticed. Silver linings I guess. 

I'm currently filing papers in my office. I guess I went through a stage where I wouldn't toss anything just in case but it's time for some of this stuff to go. I've reorganized my office trying to find a system that works and I think I did find one. It's working out so far, but it's mostly a weekly to-do list and I get to it as I get to it. It's slightly unstructured but it's so when I have a good day I can work a little longer and when I have a bad day I can take off. Then my work won't suffer. 

I read this book back in August. I picked it up at the bookstore because it was a mystery set in a new-to-me time period for mysteries. The majority of my murder-mystery books are modern ones, I'm dipping my toe into the more historical settings. This book is also set in England and America. 

I'm writing this early because I have to fill out my ballot. I'm early-ish voting but there's a place where I can drive and drop off my ballot direct to the election supervisor. Which I've never had to do...but since the GOP is sabotaging the post office...

I'm mostly trying to stay out of politics but it's not really a secret how I feel. My one friend who voted for Trump has come crawling back trying to get in the friend group and make amends. So far the only people willing to talk to her is me and one other girl...and we're very cautious. 

Whatever happens with that relationship will happen. I pretty much know who I'm voting for but I always do research into the candidates. So I'm going to podcast and research! After getting my work done early. Fun times! 

I did manage to escape Twitter without seeing Joyce Carol Oates' foot issues. Something things you should maybe only share with your doctor? I 

I've started the third Aurora Teagarden book. It's by the same author who wrote the Sookie Stackhouse/Trueblood books. I had to stop the Stackhouse books after the fairies because...well...yes. There's something off about the Teagarden books and I'm not sure I have my finger on it. Some aspect is the way black characters are described/interacted with. Part is the way the romance aspects leave me discombobulated in a bad way. 

At the moment I'm only reading one book although I have a few others started. I'm a little off with my reading but I've reached 200 books read this year so I'm not panicked about reaching my goal (230  books). I still have quite a large TBR pile, the result of inheritance and some overzealous buying/receiving but I've made quite a dent the past few years. 

I'm not reading Finding Freedom, the Harry+Meghan book. No knock on them but I'm a fervent anti-monarchist. I was annoyed as all hell that when I paid tax in the U.K. that any of it went to the monarchy. I don't care if it was only a few cents. I've also met some of the British royals in social situations and in charity/political situations. I actually liked Charles just fine...Kate was late and William was blah. 

Still don't want any of my money to have gone to them. 

Plus one of my friends is obsessed with the British monarchy and she's given me the low-down. I think Meghan and Kate are barmy to marry into that nonsense of an institution but my friend feels bad for both. She can almost sway me.  At the end of the day, I'm amazed at how divisive this incredible dull family is. Good luck to Meghan and Kate (and the rest of the group) but you owe me about $3 in taxes. 

I'm so excited! I signed up for a pen-pal exchange. It's global but I forgot to check that box so I need to email the person in charge and tell them I'll be on the list for extra letter writing in case someone drops out, and I'll be willing to post international. I've got all the supplies. Plus, I ordered cute stamps for this. I'm not sure what I'm going to write to a stranger but it's going to be fun. 

On to the unboxing! The Book Drop is a subscription service from Bethany Beach Books. They have eight different options for book choices, including genre mixes. You can change your option easily (it just takes an email). I changed from the "Tea" to "Bubbly." The bubbly option is romance and friendship genres, which I thought I needed to give some lift to my reading tone. Less "murder-ey"

I've got to get a better way of clean/dirty mask in/out system in place. I bought a bunch of masks (general to outright fun ones) but I guess the system I have now isn't great since everyone is using them (a good thing!) but there's no set way to determine if they're clean or dirty when they get thrown back into the same pile. I'll figure it out. Maybe. 

I read this one a few weeks ago. I like Sandra Brown's books because (other than just one of them) they all settle at a 3* (like) to 4ish* (really liked). So I have a regular author that I can know will be good. The cover for this one is just beautiful isn't it? I love a nice cover. 

Uh, just remember that my personal rating system is harsher than I am on Goodreads. I have this one much higher on Goodreads or if I recommend it. Does that make sense? Like if I rated this a 3.5 star, I'd rate it 4 stars on Goodreads but 3 stars on my personal system. 

This week has been so loooong. I don't know why it took forever but I guess because I've had small (but things that took a long time) chores so it felt like I was working forever and getting nothing done. 

I have read a lot of books. Well, "read." Like, if I'm not feeling a book I'll read through to the end and then count it as "read" but I discovered after reading through a Goodreads forum that other people don't do that and feel there should be a "DNF" shelf (DNF = Do Not Finish). Ah...oh well. I'm not going to change my habits now. 

Sadness, one of the cats that works for the UK government is retiring. Oh no! I love the cat workers of Whitehall and wish the U.S. had a chief mouser. A White House Cat so to speak. A First Feline. Right, back to the UK, Palmerston the Cat, chief mouser to the Foreign Office put in his "resignation" letter the other day.  

I've started tuning into Spotify's "Daily Wellness." It's a mix of songs and meditation and motivation talks. Well, today's wasn't a fabulous one but the rest have been spot on. My only complaint is that one of the talk hosts has a very rushed and not pleasant meditation/motivation voice. He'd be fine with another field but that's just me. There's a woman that's lovely and an Irish guy that has a soothing voice. Sometimes the series is a bit...saccharine? It's okay though. I have the Calm app as well so meditation does well with me. They have a news and podcasts option as well but sometimes with the news (because it accidentally turns into the top story over and over) I have to quit it. 

I downloaded "What What Crappens" podcast. It's a Real Housewives (and other Bravo shows) podcast that isn't produced by Bravo (so it's good). So far I quite like it but because I can't figure out if Spotify will let me mark multiple podcast episodes I have to fast forward through hundreds of episodes to get to the seasons I know of. This is with every podcast though. Spotify doesn't seem to think this is super important...which is a bit of a bummer. 

Other podcasts I'm thinking about adding are "Son of A Hitman," "Foundering,"The Piketon Massacre,"Phoebe Reads a Mystery," and "The Michelle Obama Podcast." Lots of murder in that group. 

The Eurovision Song Contest is coming to America. It's called The American Song Contest. I'm not against it but I'm not someone who can watch Eurovision sober. Granted, I'm sure more people will know about Eurovision (in America) because of the Will Ferrell movie. It could be a smash. 

Nordstrom's having their annual sale (it's been moved to August) and every blogger, instagrammer, YouTuber, etc. is creating a wishlist and sharing. I don't have a Nordy's near me so I have to order online when I shop (which is fine). I've always missed the sale because I'm oblivious. Anyways, yeah, it's been interesting to see everyone's choices. None of this is interesting really. I always get my Ted Baker stuff from Nordys. 

This took me awhile to put up! I received this in May (even though it shipped from the UK)! It's the Spring/May My Chronicle Book Box from my quarterly subscription. I chose the Mystery and Suspense version of this box (there are several different options). The quarterly box costs 48 GBP per quarter. I received three books (signed) with some little extra goodies. I saw one of the items on their insta for a monthly box and I was desperately hoping it would be included in the quarterly box (and it was!).  

This week has been crazy. Not for any particular reasons...just between work and getting all my chores/errands done. Plus whatever tropical storm/hurricane has been occasionally putting me down. I'm doing okay today, so I'm trying to get things done at a record pace to make up for all last week. Which means multiple loads of laundry and cleaning the kitchen. 

I also don't know what marketing asshole told brands that I needed to hear from the every day. I do not. My email is a disaster if I don't nuke it on the daily. I'm rage deleting in between writing. 

I actually gave up on this series (the Janet Evanovich one). It took the MIA giraffe that was set loose in Trenton to do me in. Granted, I still read a few beyond but that was my "jump the shark" moment. And yes, you did read that right. One of her books has a giraffe that goes missing as a sub-plot. It was just too ludicrous for me and I couldn't get into the story. 
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Rewatching Derry Girls, Psych, and The Windsors as they're all comedies and I need something that's funny and that I've seen before. No anxiety in that. I also have the Real Housewives of Potomac on. They're the best Real Housewives. The Housewives shows are my only "trashy" reality TV I watch, and I only watch Beverly Hills, NYC, NJ, and Potamac. Beverly Hills and NYC are both on right now and they're not doing much for me. I don't care if Denise had an open orgy (she did not), it's not anyone's business. It's the dumbest story line. And NYC is kinda hard to watch on it's own. I'm not sure why it's not working for me...but I'm over Ramona for a lot of (Covid) reasons. None of this is really important. I've been out of Atlanta too long and Orange County is not my jam. I'm not sure about the newest one (Salt Lake) but I don't think I can add anymore brain rot. 

Potamac is the best though.