June/July Reads (5)

I think I've FINALLY pulled out of my reading slump.  Yay!  Hopefully I'll have larger numbers in August/September.

*Did not like it at all

**It was just okay

***Liked it

****Really really liked it

*****Absolutely loved it

***This is the Story of a Happy Marriage (A. Patchett, Non-Fiction)

Almost a 4-star….this was more of a collection of non-fiction essays that were published by Ann Patchett over the years.  She is an amazing writer and I learned a lot about her.  Like how she used to work at Gourmet and 17 Magazine.  She has no kids by choice (and is fairly vocal about it), she passed all of the mental/physical exams to be a cop.  She has an obsession with her dogs.  Lots of gems.  But a few slow spots…I prefer her fiction books.

***P.S. I Still Love You (J. Han, Fiction)

Book 2 of a 3 book series.  Lots of cheese, but lots of sweetness too.  

***I Was Told It Would Get Easier (A. Waxman, Fiction)

Mother/daughter college tour trip.  There was a lot of back and forth which I didn’t mind, but it seemed that nothing really happened until the last few pages.  So I found myself skimming a lot.

****Pandemic (Y. Ventresca, Fiction)

This YA book was written in 2014, but honestly it could have been written about Covid.  Even the flu in this book was almost identical to Covid.  Lots of heavy themes though going on and the ending was a bit rushed, but I flew through it.

****Always and Forever (Fiction, J. Han)

The last of the Lara Jean trilogy.  Overall a very cute series.

Total Books Read: 5 (4 Fiction, 1 Non-Fiction, 0 DNF)

May Reads (5)

One star:             did not like it at all

Two stars:           eh, it was okay

Three stars:        liked it

Four stars:          really, really liked it

Five stars:            absolutely loved it

 

1-Star (0)

2-Star (1)

**A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder (Fiction, H. Jackson)

This YA book was about 150 pages too long.  I usually like YA, but this one fell short.  I was bored.

3-Star (0)

4-Star (4)

****In a Dark, Dark Wood (Fiction, R. Ware)

This was a great mystery (although dark) that didn’t require a lot of brain power.

 

****To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (Fiction, J. Han)

Another YA, although this one came through.  It’s lighthearted, dramatic, centered on family and gives you all the feels!

 

****Joy At Work (Non-Fiction, M. Kondo)

Another book from the tidying expert, Marie Kondo.  Nothing majorly earth shattering here, except it did inspire me to clean out a lot of my digital clutter.

 

****The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (Fiction, S. Collins)

4.5 stars…..this is a prequel to the Hunger Games series.  It is the story of Coriolanus Snow and the beginning of his rise to the top as President of Panem.  For me to give 4-stars to a book where the main character is so unlikable is pretty much unheard of.  But this book is so much more than story of Coriolanus Snow and his rise to the top.  It really gets into the history of the Hunger Games, when there was just one arena every year and before there was gambling and sponsors involved.  I found it all fascinating.  It is a bit long though (500+ pages) and it was a little slow in the middle.  It's also very dark, but no more than the other books are.  Definitely a great prequel!

 

5-Star (0)

 

Total Books Read: 5 (4 Fiction, 1 Non-Fiction)

 

DNF (0)

April Reads (2)

One star:             did not like it at all

Two stars:           eh, it was okay

Three stars:        liked it

Four stars:          really, really liked it

Five stars:            absolutely loved it

1-Star (0)

2-Star (0)

3-Star (1)

Don't Overthink It (Non-Fiction, A. Bogel)
This book went from a 1 star to a 5 star multiple times.  So I settled on 3.  I would have liked more realistic examples, and after finishing it I realized that I am not a big overthinker.  Not really for me.  

4-Star (1)

The Bookwanderers (Fiction, young reader)

This was about a girl who lives with her grandparents who run a bookshop.  Suddenly she finds herself meeting Anne (from Green Gables) and Alice (from Wonderland).  She is able to 'bookwander' into stories because of her intense reading.  There's a bit of mystery involved with finding her real mother and also figuring out the rules of bookwandering.  It was just the right book at the right time.

5-Star (0)

Total Books Read: 2 (1 Fiction, 1 Non-Fiction)

Life

Soooooo much going on.  But it's somewhat comforting to know I'm not alone.  This mess is happening everywhere.

Honestly, I've been a bit surprised about how rough it's hit me.  Not physically of course (I'm healthy), but mentally.

I am 100% working from home until further notice.  I'm guessing it will be at least throughout May...possibly longer.  There's just no way to tell right now.  I do think people are VERY optimistic about time-frames...I'm not one of them.

I work in healthcare.  I see/read/hear ALL THE THINGS.  All the scary stuff that isn't reported in the news.  I see the numbers before they are published.  I hear about the PPE issues and what's going on inside hospitals.  I get 30-40 emails PER DAY full of nothing but COVID information that I am expected to keep up with.  Medicare literally changes things by the minute.

I can't get away from it.  My work is not an 'escape'.  I work COVID all day and then at night the news comes on, alerts come up on my phone, etc.  I can't get away.  Which is why I am struggling.

Reading/watching the news stresses me out.  But NOT reading/watching the news stresses me out too.  

I cannot concentrate on anything outside of work.  I concentrate on work for 8+ hours a day, and then after that my brain is just done.  I only read 2 books last month because I cannot concentrate on anything.  When this first started, my initial thought was 'wow, I'll be able to get SO MUCH DONE!!'.  Well...that's just not the case.  I just can't concentrate.  And I seem to be in a permanent funk, which makes me want to do zero.  I'm hoping it gets better.

We are following all the rules.  We only go to the store once per week (if that).  We are home 24/7.  We've started starting our cars once a week just so the batteries don't die.  New Mexico is on a mandatory 'Stay at Home' order so we can only go out to go to the grocery store pretty much.  Which is fine by me...I honestly think the whole nation should be doing this.  ?  But I guess it's up to each state.

Last night my husband did the grocery store run for the week and when he came home, I immediately sprayed down the doorknobs/surfaces/groceries/counters, etc. with Lysol spray.  This is our new normal.

The cloth masks I ordered from Etsy arrived a couple of weeks ago and now we are using them when we leave the house.  I only ordered 4 (2 for my mother-in-law, one each for hubs and I) because, well, we don't leave the house much.  

But enough negativity.

Things I am thankful for:

*Zoom.  We are able to see our dear brothers and sisters twice a week on Zoom.  We can associate 30 minutes before and after the meetings (before they mute us ha ha).  We haven't missed a beat with the Zoom meetings because we need them now more than ever.

*Our home.  I'm thankful that I love our home and that we all have room to spread out.  I'm thankful for the outdoor space so that the dogs can run.

*Our neighborhood.  It's walkable, it's safe, it's friendly.  6 feet apart, of course.

*The weather.  It has been gorgeous here.  Absolutely perfect weather.

*My job.  I am thankful that I have a job that allows me to work from home.  I have moved my workspace into the guest room.  The front room just wasn't cutting it space-wise so I moved all of my stuff into the giant desk in the guest room.  It's working so much better.  It's more like an office.  I can shut the door when I'm done.  Even though my job is mentally exhausting, I'm glad to have it.

*Pure Barre.  They have not missed a beat getting everything set up with their Live Stream classes.  I am able to still take classes from home which is wonderful.  It is so good for my head.  AND my husband installed a barre for me in our gym.  It is so great!

*My health.  I am holding steady with my weight, which is 100% fine by me for the moment.  I'll start doing my regular weekly health-check ins soon. For now I'm thrilled to be maintaining.

*The extra time.  Even though I can't concentrate and am in a funk, I have still managed to get a few things done/organized.  I'll try to post pictures when I can.

*I'm thankful that I never scheduled our 10-year anniversary trip.  It's just so odd....It's so unlike me to not plan these things way ahead, but there was just something that was holding me back (we were going to go to Florida for a week).  I never pulled the trigger.  And now I am soooooo glad that we didn't make those plans.

So that's my random brain dump on this past month of life.  :)  Thanks for reading.  

PS:  STAY HOME.  I hear of people having 'quarantine' parties and it makes me so angry I can't even see straight.  I hear of nurses at hospitals with bruising on their faces from wearing masks all day and the back of their ears completely destroyed from the elastic begging and pleading with people to stay home and people aren't listening.  Just STAY HOME.  And wash your hands.  All the time.  They should be red and dry and ugly!  We keep lotion by all of our sinks (my hands are destroyed).

March Reads (2)

One star:             did not like it at all

Two stars:           eh, it was okay

Three stars:        liked it

Four stars:          really, really liked it

Five stars:            absolutely loved it

1-Star (0)

2-Star (0)

3-Star (1)

Home Fire (Fiction, K. Shamsie)

Lots of people loved this book.  It was a like not love for me.  Worth the read for sure, but it was not one of my favorites.

4-Star (1)

In Five Years (Fiction, Serle)

Woman has a vivid dream.  And then over 200+ pages, we see her story unfold and wonder which way this story is going to go.  And I can guarantee you, it won’t go EITHER way you think it’s going to.  I loved it!

5-Star (0)

 

Total Books Read: 2 (2 Fiction, 0 Non-Fiction)

03.16.20 Health Check-In

January 2020 loss:  -2.7
February 2020 loss:  -4.6

Total 2019 Weight Loss:  38.3
Total 2020 Weight Loss:    7.3

TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS:       -45.8

Welp.  I think I may be on a plateau.  The good news is that I haven't gained.  The bad news is that I haven't lost.

I've done pretty well.  There's always room for improvement of course.  I know these plateaus happen sometimes.  And I am going to KEEP GOING.  That is the most important thing.  

February Reads (9)

One star:              did not like it at all

Two stars:           eh, it was okay

Three stars:        liked it

Four stars:           really, really liked it

Five stars:            absolutely loved it

1-Star (0)

2-Star (0)

3-Star (7)

***The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril, The End (Fiction, L. Snicket – the last 4 books)

Overall, I enjoyed this series.  These are funny books and I laughed out loud multiple times.  LISTEN TO THEM ON AUDIO.  The audio is fantastic.  (I was too lazy to list them all out individually).  I listened to all 4 of these on my way home from Nebraska.

***As Time Goes By (Fiction, M. Higgins-Clark)

When Mary Higgins-Clark died, I remembered that I read a LOT of her books when I was a teenager and I remembered enjoying them!  So I might start reading some of them again.  They are somewhat light reads, but they’re not bad!  I enjoyed this one on audio.

***All that Remains (Fiction, P. Cornwell)

This one was easy to put down, but it was still good.

***All the Ever Afters (Fiction, D. Teller)

The untold story of Cinderella’s stepmother.  It was okay.  Kind of long.

4-Star (1)

****Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2) (Fiction, N. Shusterman)

Not quite as strong as the first book, but still good.   A little long and slow in the middle but the ending made up for it.

5-Star (1)

*****Golden Rules:  Wit and Wisdom of the Golden Girls

My sister gave me this book and it’s fantastic, especially if you’re a Golden Girls fan. 

Total Books Read: 9 (8 Fiction, 1 Non-Fiction)

DNF (3)

The Most Fun We Ever Had (C. Lombardo) – just ick, which is too bad because I think it had potential

The Carnivorous Carnival (L. Snicket #9) – magic, crystal balls, etc.

The Wife (M. Wolitzer) – hated all of the characters