Posts

Posted on

Christmas 2024

I had such a nice Christmas this year. My company was closed on the 24th and 25th, and I took the 23rd as a floating holiday, so with the weekend I had five days off. It took me a while to get my apartment decorated this year, but I finally did it and was able to enjoy my tree and other decorations for a couple of weeks leading up to the big day.

Michael was with me on Christmas Day this year, and we slept in until around 10am and then opened our stockings and gave each other presents. I decided that I wanted to have Michael be in charge of filling my stocking starting next year and when I told him that, he wanted help shopping for me this year to add to the couple of little things I had bought for myself. I thought that was very sweet.

For presents, Michael gave me two puzzles – one for Christmas and one for my birthday. He picked them from my Amazon wish list, so I definitely liked them!

In addition to his stocking stuffers, I got him a set of Pokemon books, a Lego set, and a new keyboard for his computer. I usually get him a video game, but he only had one on his list this year, and his dad got it for him. I did put gift cards for Nintendo and Steam in his stocking along with a bunch of different treats.

Peanut Butter got a small squirrel stuffed with catnip. I think he liked it!

After we opened presents, I made us French toast for breakfast and then got started on dinner, which was a turkey breast with assorted sides (different for each of us based on what we like). Later that day, I watched the Doctor Who Christmas special, so that was fun. All in all, it was a very good day!

Posted on

The Little Italian Hotel

The Little Italian Hotel by Phaedra Patrick is a charming take on what to do when faced with sudden divorce.  When Ginny Splinter’s husband tells her he wants a divorce, she impulsively invites four of her radio show listeners to join her on a trip to Italy that was originally planned as a trip for her twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.  Each of her fellow travelers is facing their own heartbreak, which we learn more about as the novel unfolds.

The group meets up in a quaint hotel called Splendido and gets to know the owner and his daughter while they enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  They take several day trips to scenic and historical spots around Italy as well as engage in various activities suggested by each of the members.  As they begin to share their stories with each other, they form friendships and offer each other support and understanding that helps them start to move forward through their grief.

I thoroughly enjoyed the descriptions of the Italian culture and countryside, and I appreciated how much Ginny grew in her understanding of her marriage and herself throughout the trip.  The ending was especially good, in my opinion, but I won’t say more than that because of spoilers!

Posted on

Amazon First Reads July – December

One of the perks of having Amazon Prime is getting a free book each month from a short list of editor’s picks.  Sometimes we get a bonus short story or even a second book for free.  It’s a great deal, and even better because I have Amazon Prime at a discounted price since my son is on Medicaid.

Here’s what I have added to my Kindle for free over the last six months:

July 2024 – We could choose two free books that month, although I ended up only picking one of them.  I chose The Bookstore Wedding by Alice Hoffman.  It is the second in a series of short stories called The Once Upon a Time Bookshop Stories, so I also purchased the first story, The Bookstore Sisters, and pre-ordered the third one, The Bookstore Keepers.

August 2024 – We got one book free plus a short story.  I chose Fatal Intrusion by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado for the book.  The short story was Natural Selection by Erin Hilderbrand.  I have read the short story and it was good but I would have liked it to be longer.

September 2024 – We got one book free plus a short story.  I chose The Anti-Heroes by Jen Lancaster for the book.  The short story was When We Were Friends by Jane Green.

October 2024 – We were able to pick two books from the list that month.  I chose When We Were Widows by Annette Chavez Macias and Grave Talk by Nick Spalding.

November 2024 – We were again able to pick two titles from the list.  I chose Nobody’s Perfect by Sally Kilpatrick and The Answer is No: A Short Story by Fredrik Bakman.

December 2024 – We were able to pick one free book from the list and, after that, we got to pick a free book out of another list.  I chose Happy After All by Maisey Yates and The Autumn of Ruth Winters by Marshall Fine.  The Amazon original short story collection Under the Mistletoe is also free this month for Amazon Prime members.  There are five stories, so I downloaded all of them.  From the descriptions, it sounds like they might be a little bit spicier.

All together, I got seven free books and nine free short stories. Not bad!

Posted on

Winter Lights

Winter Lights is a 500-piece puzzle from Galison, and the artist is Joy LaForme. This was a gift from my friend Kim. She is really good at picking out puzzles I like, and this one is no exception!

It is kind of hard to see from a photo, but the puzzle has gold foil accents on it, which are so festive. I enjoyed putting together all of the buildings and vehicles most of all. The image is a bit dark, but it wasn’t too bad to work with.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

Posted on

Close Knit

I found Close Knit by Jenny Colgan to be quirky and enjoyable.  Gertie lives on a small island in the north of Scotland, where she spends most of her time working, knitting, and daydreaming.  When she develops a crush on the owner of the small local airline, she takes a job as an air stewardess despite never having been on a plane.

My favorite part of the book was the myriad of interesting characters.  I especially enjoyed the storyline about Struhan, a local elementary school teacher and musician who was Gertie’s high school crush.  Some of them, like Morag, appeared in an earlier book, The Summer Skies.  I prefer to read books in order, but this one does stand alone if you haven’t read it.

One thing I liked about Gertie is that, even though she lacks confidence in some areas, she is willing to step out and be herself.  For example, she knits using muted colors because that’s what she loves, even though the other women in the knitting circle keep pushing her to use bolder colors.  She also makes the decision to move out of her mother’s house and become a bit more independent.

By my count, this is the twenty-fourth book I have read by Colgan, so I am definitely a fan!  I highly recommend giving her a try.

Posted on

Library Haul

I have been reading ebooks almost exclusively for a few years now, but there are some books on my TBR that I haven’t been able to locate for free electronically.  So I have started going back to the library for physical books at times.

Here is my most recent haul from the library:

  • The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shah
  • Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev
  • Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo
  • The Book Swap by Tessa Bickers
  • The Avalon Ladies Scrapbooking Society by Darien Gee

First up is Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors.  I am excited for this one because it is the first in a series that are based loosely on Jane Austen.

Posted on

Brick Fest Live 2024

Last Friday, there was a knock at my door and my son answered it to find my friend Jessyca, who I have not seen in several months. I was overjoyed to see her and we had a nice chat to catch up on each other’s lives. She also brought me a Christmas gift, which was a custom puzzle that she had made for me. There was no picture of what the image would be, so it was a surprise as I put it together.

This puzzle is from a company called puzzleYOU and is one of their Smart Sorted puzzles. When you open the box, you see 40 individual little boxes, each with 25 pieces in them. This allows you to choose what level of difficulty you want for your puzzling experience. You can do one box at a time or mix as many as you want together. The box did not show the puzzle, but did have a hint for what the image would be.

I chose to do one box at a time since I didn’t know what the image was. It was so fun to do each little section and then put them together. I had a few times where it seemed like I was missing a piece, but eventually I thought to check the little boxes and found that some of them had a piece at the bottom that hadn’t come out when I emptied the box the first time. So in the end, I was not missing any pieces.

Here are some pictures of my progress at various points:

This was such a fun puzzle to do, and the quality was excellent. The pieces were a nice size and thick enough to pick up easily, and it was fairly easy to move sections around. I especially enjoyed it because it had been made especially for me by a dear friend and was a reminder of the great time we had going to the Brick Fest Live event earlier this year.

I would highly recommend this company if you are interested in making a custom puzzle, and the Smart Sorted option is great for someone who might not have a lot of puzzling experience (but I also loved it even though I have done a lot of puzzles)!

Posted on

Love for Holiday Baking

Love for Holiday Baking is a 1000-piece heart-shaped, Christmas-themed puzzle from Callie Danielle. I got it at Target several months ago and have been holding onto it until now when it would fit the season.

My friend Suzanne came over one evening last week and this is the puzzle she chose to help with. She worked on the border, which is her favorite part, and I worked on some of the larger items pictured in the puzzle. Once I was on my own, I spent several evenings working on this puzzle.

Pros:

  • Adorable image
  • Fun heart shape
  • Unique take on a holiday puzzle by focusing on baking related items

Cons:

  • Very small, random-cut pieces
  • Thin pieces were hard for me to pick up
  • Extremely loose fit, came apart if bumped even slightly

I went on a journey with this one. Starting out, I felt hopeful that it would be pretty easy, but that quickly shifted into feeling overwhelmed. Once I got all of the larger items in the image put together, I sorted by shape and started working piece by piece. After a while, I started to make some progress on the big open spaces and felt better about the experience. As always, once it was finished, I felt a sense of accomplishment and appreciated how adorable this puzzle was.

I will admit that having done a few harder puzzles recently prompted me to go through my wish list and remove some that I thought might be on the harder side.

Posted on

The Cookbook Club

The Cookbook Club by Beth Harbison is a feel-good chick-lit novel based around food, perfect for a cozy afternoon of reading. I was immediately intrigued by a book club that is centered on cookbooks – the women in the club pick a different cookbook each month and make dishes from that cookbook to share with each other at their meeting.  That sounds like a lot of fun!

In the club, we have three women who are all at a crossroads in their lives.  Margo’s husband has just left her and asked for a divorce (and left her a run-down farmhouse to boot), Trista has been fired from her law firm and bought a bar/restaurant to run, and Aja is pregnant and in an unhealthy relationship.

The book follows each of the women as they get to know each other through sharing food together.  There are a lot of mouthwatering recipe descriptions, including a monthly wrap up of each cookbook club meeting. I do wish there was more description of the actual club meetings, however; I think that would have been a better way to carry the story.  Instead, we get a couple of meetings and then it focuses more on the individual women’s lives, although they do interact with each other outside of the meetings at times.

This book has a bit of everything in the way of chick-lit tropes – a failed marriage with a farmhouse to fix up with an old crush, a lost job fueling a new business opportunity, and a pregnancy forcing a young woman to evaluate her relationship with the father.  Because of everything going on, it does jump around a bit, but I still found it an enjoyable light read.

Posted on

Vintage Main Street

Vintage Main Street is a 1000-piece puzzle from Cobble Hill, and the artist is Diane Dempsey. This was my second Dempsey puzzle; I find her art style very appealing.

I have done a lot of puzzles with buildings this year, and this one provides a fresh take on the concept with the vintage store fronts. The classic cars and fun holiday theme are also a lot of fun.

I did end up with one missing piece, which I was very bummed about. This could very well be my fault, as I did drop a couple of pieces on the floor. I thought I found them all but might not have. I’m still hoping it will show up sometime.