I've managed to read some new authors and I've tried some new cozy books (that I didn't like). I'm at 139 books read so far, so only 101 books away from my goal of 240. I'm shooting for more than 240 now. I usually read a lot during hurricane season. I mean, when you have no power...what else is there to do? I'm currently continuing Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series. It's enjoyable and I even learn things (historically). What else have I read recently...

• The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell - pretty good! I don't know if he plans on continuing this as a series, but I think it would be neat. Historical, paranormal, Sherlock Holmesian-type detective
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown - my therapist suggested Brown's work. I like parts of it quite well. Other parts don't speak to me. As far as "self help" books go, hers are better than most. 
• A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag - Love Hoag's works. This one is set in my favorite state but is a very rough read. 
• Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich - Enjoyed it! There were no random giraffes. I didn't want to slap the shit out of Stephanie (too much). 

I have made a huge dent in my bookmarks. I don't know what I was doing with myself when I saved all these random things to read but I'm going through them now. Mostly because I'm stuck on what I want my office décor to look like. I had started with yellow and bright/happy, but that's as far as I've gotten. Anyways...

7 James Street is an interactive longform article (I love these). This is a true crime one about a murder in the UK. It's about the murder of Lynette White, a welsh woman, who was found in Cardiff after being stabbed. People reported seeing a white man, bloodied on the steps of the house where Lynette had been found, but police arrested 5 black men instead. These five men became known as the "Cardiff 5." Eventually the five men were freed and in 2000, the police reopened the Lynette White murder case and found usable DNA from under the baseboards and on some cellophane. The article also touches on corruption and manipulation of witnesses, the economy of the docklands in Cardiff, and miscarriages of justice. 

The Fifth Force of Physics is Hanging by a Thread by Nautilus writer Philip Ball. It was written in 2017, so that's how behind I am. I'll be absolutely honest, physics is not my love. I struggle with it. The article talks about how the four forces already known (gravity, electromagnetism, strong and weak nuclear focus. A fifth force would be either an entire new force or just a modification of general relativity (thus only four forces, with one needing tweaking). I understand enough of this to understand that I don't understand any of it well enough. 

Happy Friday! What a week. I've been catching up on laundry and the news. What is this world coming to...

All the hub-bub where I live is on some minor political scandal (it's really the dumbest thing) so I'm just going to ignore it all. Let me know if it's at a Matt Gaetz level of wrong. He's an odd dude isn't he? I feel like he's probably odd. 

The book below is an illustrated poem by Yeats. It's from The Song of Wandering Aengus...and the illustrations are divine. I picked it up in Dublin, Ireland when I went there a few years ago. It was a whim of a purchase but I really love it. 

I made a double batch of shells (there was a bridge tournament going on outside on the porch). I've learned not to mess with people playing bridge...they're fearsome! I love manicotti and stuffed pasta shells...it's what I order most of the time at Italian restaurants. It's so simple to make but I tend to not make it at home to prevent my fat ass from pigging out. Like, what's a serving size? One shell? Two? I'll eat a disgusting amount without blinking. 

I found a recipe from Epicurious (Vegetarian Skillet Stuffed Shells) and it was a pretty big hit. I have one skillet, so since I was doubling the recipe for the group out back (fully vaccinated and retired...I'm not playing around with Covid. No vaccine, no play) I put the pasta and shells into a baking dish and tented some aluminum foil on top before putting it in the oven. It turned out okay that way. 

I think if I make it again, I'll use a different recipe. One that has more cheese (manicotti and/or ricotta). This was a nice, simple recipe. Worked for a crowd (cheaper that way) but it wasn't as good as I'd like. 

I'm almost caught up on Janet Evanovich. I'm still not loving the later part of her series, but something seems to be happening (well for Stephanie and her grandmother...she's still in a love triangle). I'm in line at the library for the last book so we'll see how that goes. I've basically kept all the books around three stars in my head. They're not great, not comforting, but not the worst. I just feel she's phoning it in...

I also picked up 10 Things I Hate About Pinky. I didn't read the back, I thought it might be a type of telling of 10 Things I Hate About You/Shakespeare. I'm not actually sure it is, but I've only read two chapters into it. It's Young Adult (YA) and a pretend-dating to real romance type fiction book. I think it has the potential to be really cute. 

It's Friday!! yay!!

I had the busiest week. I got my second Covid shot and in two more weeks, I'll be fully vaccinated! I also had a bunch of work that I managed to get caught up on! Success!!

I gave Smitten Kitchen's Perfect Margarita a whirl for the household of retired folks staying with me. They said it was amazing. I'm not a tequila person so I tend to avoid margaritas (unless it's a mango margarita slushy, but that's another story). The seasoning seems to be the huge winner to this drink's success. It's called Tajin chili powder (I even put a tiny amount into some of the margaritas for those with spicy taste buds (like, a dash). She always has great recipes. 

I think my next drink (other than Mint Juleps that I drink before and after the Derby) will be the classic Mary Pickford. 

I discovered that Samin Nosrat teamed up with Hrishikesh Hirway to produce a Covid-era cooking podcast called Home Cooking. Hrishi has another podcast about music but he's friends with Samin and they take cooking questions (Well, he does lots of podcasts). Samin is a world-renowned, James Beard winning, chef (author, writer, media personality, etc.) who wrote a book titled Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat. There's also a show on Netflix with the same title that follows Samin as she explores the four things that create good food. I adore her. 

Some of these questions asked on the show are hilarious. My favorite was the guy who wanted to cook a white cake for his pregnant wife...but he pretty much had zero of the ingredients so he just started listing stuff in his pantry. It sent Samin into giggles. Other questions are from children, adults of all ages, and from all over the globe. Hrishi's father even makes appearances!

I like cooking but I mostly listen because Samin and Hrishi are comforting. They're funny (Hrishi with all the great puns and dad jokes!) and Samin has the BEST laugh. It's like listening to friends. It was supposed to be a four part mini-series, but they've come back and added more episodes. So that's been a comforting listen. 

I redesigned the website. Well, I changed themes/templates. I was going to learn how to do all the stuff and build from scratch but I was down so much from migraines that I did the normal thing instead. 

I quite like this one, it's more compact but brighter. I was going to make everything dark because that's my normal mode but I do like the color scheme. Anyways. 

I've downloaded quite a few new podcasts. I've given two a whirl. I'm still on Spotify and they've changed things up again. I can't get rid of the episodes (it's on "all episodes" instead of "un-played") which is quite annoying. 

​The one I finished was older and already famous. It's called Cold; the first season is about a missing woman named Susan Powell. It's a really horrible and sad murder case. In short, Susan marries a man named Josh Powell and their marriage falls apart. It's a truly unhappy marriage and while the podcast covers how Josh abuses Susan (especially financially) it also covers the insanely creepy actions of her father-in-law. Susan begins the process of divorce and then one day disappears.  She's never been found, and is assumed to have been murdered (by Josh). Josh had a legal fight for the two boys that he and Susan had (her parents requested full custody), and while on visitation he locked the social worker lady out of his house and killed his children and himself. The father-in-law was unknown to me until I watched a Dateline episode (and it's covered in the podcast). He has delusions that Susan was in love with him (she was not) and he was very creepy towards her, eventually telling her that he loved her. There are a lot of video tapes from Josh and his father, and a few from Susan. The podcast spares no detail and is disturbing. As they've never found Susan, her family and friends are channeling their resources into domestic abuse causes, which is a lovely thing for them to do. 

​The second podcast is more unusual for me. It's called Wind of Change. So it begins with the introduction of a German band called the Scorpions (I know them from "Rock You Like A Hurricane") and their song "Winds of Change." That song was really popular in many European countries at a certain time (like when the Soviet Union collapsed and when the Berlin Wall came down). Patrick Radden Keefe, a writer for the New Yorker, is the host and investigative reporter for the podcast. He hears from a friend (who is connected to people who may or may not be CIA operatives) that the famed song was written by the CIA, as part of a psy-ops mission. Keefe explores several subtopics as he tries to find out if there is any truth to this rumor, so I learned quite a lot (including where the phrase "We can neither confirm nor deny" originated from).  Keefe talks to people from the USA to Russia, from CIA operatives to the band itself. It's honestly fun but I'm a cynical person so I don't think the CIA wrote it. Did the CIA pay songwriters in Europe/America/Asia as a soft power play? They could have! My guess is they throw money at a lot of things. 

I haven't done one of these wrap-ups in awhile. I'm going to keep this short though. Mostly because I've had to move around my schedule. I've picked up working on Sundays and for Tuesdays I'm working on some medical issues. That sounds dramatic! I'm trying some green light therapy and mid-week break to see if that works with my stupid brain. Gotta try something! 

One of the things I'm working on is my use of personal words. I abuse "um..." and "you know." I hear it and I hate it so much. The worst thing was when I was living in Scotland (they say "erm" instead of "um" and I found myself codeswitching. Like, girl--you've got to quit! Not change it up! Anyways, this is an older article because I'm clearing out older stuff. Trying to digitally de-hoard myself. It's from Entrepreneur and about how to get rid of filler words. I'm trying to slow it down and pause gracefully. It's not going so hot. 

Both of these are for goal setting-both saved at different times. I think the best information for me personally were 52/7 or Interval training (similar if not the same as the Pomodoro Technique). I have an hour glass that I use. It's bright pink so it's hard to miss. I do an 60 minutes on and then ten minutes off. That gives me time to stretch and walk around. I've also stopped multi-tasking for the most part (podcasts are the only thing I "multi-task" and sometimes I have to listen to the same episode again because I tune it out. 

I've finally found a Christmas list I can bop too (it's a mix of new and old). Will I be listening to it on repeat all month? Yup!

The playlist! It's from Amazon Unlimited Music. I accidentally signed up (don't ask, I pressed a button). As much as I think Bezos is a dickhead sometimes, I've loved my music. So this playlist is great, it's called 100 Greatest Christmas Songs or something to that effect. I'll try to embed it below, we'll see if it works. This playlist is my delight and childlike find. 

Except for one song. 

Don't get me wrong. The song itself is nice but it was new to me and was...unexpected. I literarily stopped what I was doing and sent snippets to my friends. Surely it couldn't be real!!! It is though and I might have the maturity of a twelve year old boy. 

Oh lord, this week has about killed me. The weather patterns are doing me in I think. Or the holidays. My body doesn't like family holidays. Not that I'm doing anything because of Covid-19. People can do what they want but I'm trying not to get sick thank you very much. 

I joined a pen-pal group but I've run into a bit of a block with writing back. My office is a mess and my stamps are buried under a pile of work. So I'm trying to get myself in order. I might work over the weekend. No holiday break for me!

My therapist wanted me to check out Brene Brown, so I've downloaded that but I haven't started. I'm currently catching up on the High Low podcast, which is a gab-sesh between Pandora Sykes and Dolly Alderton. My English friend loves them so she suggested it and I thought I'd give it a go. High/Low is about the high and low brow stories they talk about. It's going fairly well (I'm at the beginning...so like 2017) but it makes me think of my friend so I have lovely thoughts on it. They tend to keep an episode around an hour in length which is a good length of time. 

I'm honestly so excited about Halloween. It's my favorite holiday! I don't think our neighborhood will be participating in Trick-or-Treat (which I understand but I'm sad about) and I'm not even sure I'm going to decorate but I love that Hocus Pocus comes on TV all the time. It's the BEST Halloween movie ever. 

​

Amok! Amok! Amok!

I'm going through all these articles I've saved. To "read later" that is. Except if I don't carve out some time to read them, it will never happen! So I've been trying to read through some. 

I read this one from the New Yorker this week. It's about the death of a Sherlock Holmes expert. There were questions by some of his friends, family, and acquittances about whether or not he had been murdered (in a strange locked room mystery) or if he had committed suicide. It was around the time that the last of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's children passed away (and with her, several of her father's papers ended up at Christie's for sale). The article is titled "Mysterious Circumstances: The Strange Death of a Sherlock Holmes Fanatic." I was unaware that Arthur Conan Doyle had children or have followed them at all. Sometimes canonical authors seem to exist as the only object in a void. I had the same feeling when I learned about Charles Dickins (who at age 45, left his wife and took up with an 18 year old actress. He had three hundred children with his wife, or ten. One of those numbers. Dickens' mistress was a year older than his daughter. Dude was nasty. The Invisible Woman is about their relationship. I'm judgy). 

Everyone in the White House is getting Covid. I don't know the word for "exasperated by people getting the result they were asking for by being idiots" but that's how I feel about it all. It's not schadenfreude because I don't have pleasure in their ineptitude. 

​200,000+ people are dead in America, Donald.  What a fucker. 

I'm still reading the annotated Emma, which I took a break from for awhile. I'm hoping to finish it this year. I just finished The Killer Of Little Shepherds, which is a true crime history story. It's about a serial killer in France and the newer techniques (forensics, psychological, and legal) that captured him. The way that the French doctors and police solved the case are really familiar as they're the blueprint for modern forensics. I thought it was a really interesting book. 

I was a bit bad and went shopping (online) and got some new items. I don't need them obviously since I'm going nowhere this year because of Covid-19 but whatever. 

I also listlessly read three books. I'm so slow this week for some reason! Plus, I only half watched some of the TV shows I had taped. I didn't really try any new recipes other than a bland lemon pasta bake. What is with all these bland recipes? I can make it better obviously but what's the point of keeping the original if it's so boring. Do we  not believe in spices and flavor? Lord help me. 

Since Spotify doesn't allow me to mark a podcast episode as "listened" if I heard it on another medium, I've been fast forwarding/skipping ahead on most of them. With casefile though, since the episodes are long and it's been awhile on a few of them, I decided to re-listen to some. I haven't worked my way up to EAR/ONS as of yet (the GSK/DeAngelo) as they were creepy. I know other people are getting into podcasts, and I got an email from Amazon or Google. I'm not sure if I'll stay with Spotify or not. I'm okay at the moment. 

I'm strangely slow with music/podcast innovations. I might have been the last person on Apple's previous platform (ITunes) before they shut it down. I keep trying to listen to the regular radio in the car but the station owners have decided to start playing Fox "news" segments and -I still can't get over this- Bill O'Reilly's segments. So...I'll be bouncing from that. 

I mean, I just want to listen to music. I don't need a DJ or their "forward from Grandma segments" and I don't want a biased "news" break. Just play the freaking music! They've been driving me insane. The other day I counted TEN ads and then the Fox "news" break.

I sent an email asking if this was permanent because if it is, I'll find something new but if it's going to stop I'll stay. I hate changing music stuff but I have Spotify, Amazon Prime and Google Music. I can switch over if necessary. 

And don't come for me over Fox. Everything Rupert Murdoch touches turns into tabloid trash. I'm not interested in losing brain cells from this crap. I'll lose them a better way thank you very much. 

I'm missing about one third of my hurricane supplies. I'm not too worried about myself in general for any storms. I have migraine food, migraine medicine and books to read. I do miss the ice packs when the power goes out for longer than a day. 

I'm going to have to refill my supplies regardless. 

I've tried out some complete flops in the recipe department. I don't think my taste is so outrageous but all the dishes turned out really bland. It's a bit of a disappointment. One was so bad I ended up ordering a last minute pizza. The good news is that I'm going through all these cookbooks and random cuttings and getting rid of the bad ones. This last attempt was a quiche that was...dull. Everyone else liked it but I thought it needed so much more. 

The new Masterpiece Mystery! I love Masterpiece but most especially their mystery subsection. The newest one is Van der Valk. It's set in Amsterdam and is a police procedural. It's based on books by Nicolas Freeling. I haven't read the books by Freeling and I haven't finished the first episode but the series seems like it's going to be a win. 

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. 

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.