If you are reading this then you are still around! That is something to celebrate. So many bloggers have disappeared from my feed reader. I know many are taking breaks and I have seen some on social media but there’s not a lot of posting going on. We finally have all the time in the world to read and yet some of us can’t. I am finally over that hump but it took all of March and April for me to wrap my brain around this pandemic of ours and settle down enough to read.
Right Now:
I am about to watch church online and then I am going to tackle the beast I call my loft. It’s hardly mine! The kids took it over since the day we moved in. My books are there but as you can tell from the piles there are plenty of other things there too. Stacks and piles. You can’t see the other side but there is a couch and TV and the pup’s fave spot to sleep when the sun is out.
I really need to take everything off and put it back in some organized way. Yes, that is a Christmas box you see. I have no idea where it came from.
This Week:
Tomorrow my daughter has her driving test for her license. Please think good thoughts, pray, whatever. It was very difficult to get this test scheduled due to the backlog of appointments they had from their closure earlier this year.
From the 3rd through the 8th I am on vacation. I had to take some time since I have so many vacation hours on the books but it’s also my birthday on Saturday so there’s that!
Reading:
I finished and reviewed The Vanishing Half. It was really good and lives up to all the hype. That completes my summer reading list! A first.
I am now reading What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. Moriarty has become my fave author during this pandemic. This is now the third book I’ve read and I have another one ready to go.
Also, the R.I.P Challenge is back!! Read more about it here, and check out my reading list.
Watching:
Hoarders. Are you surprised? Still fascinated with that show.
I am looking forward to some shows this fall but with all the delays from COVID I am not even sure when they are on. I set the DVR to record them so whenever they air, I should catch them.
Grateful for:
- Plants. They are really making me happy during this pandemic.
- Easy meals that don’t cost a lot to make.
- Whole cream added to my coffee. Just a dash but oh so good. This is in addition to my regular creamer. I am a creamer girl!
Book Chatter 
Gosh I am SO grateful for easy, inexpensive meals. I started making this pasta a ceci recipe this year or last year (some recent time!), and it’s been a godsend. I always feel nourished and happy when I eat it!
https://smittenkitchen.com/2017/10/quick-pasta-and-chickpeas-pasta-e-ceci/
Yes, I’ve noticed that some bloggers have taken breaks or just stopped I suppose. I can understand that. I know that doing one post a week seems about as much as I can do and I didn’t even do that this last week. It’s kind of like talking on the phone to my daughter or mother-in-law. I have very little new to tell. Ha! We’re here. We’re OK. And they say the same.
My reading is doing OK though. I’ve made my way through a bunch of books by David Baldacci and I’m planning on reading all the Rockton books by Kelley Armstrong. I’ve read the first in the past, but am rereading that one and will continue on. It’s working for me.
Best wishes for your daughter’s driving test. Know you’ll be glad to have that over with. Enjoy your vacation time, even if you don’t get to go anywhere. I’d love to come organize your book shelves. I was overhearing a couple of library staff members talking a couple of days ago about the ginormous ‘hold’ list that one of them was pulling from the shelves. She was tired and said she wished someone else would come do it. This from a small local library that is open to patrons, but you’re supposed to come and ‘grab’ your selection and not stay long (I was selecting a few books). I told the librarian later that I’d love to come volunteer to pull holds for them. Almost no one is in the library and most pick up their holds and get out or use the curbside. I thought – give me that list of over 100 holds and I’ll enjoy working it. Ha! While wearing a mask of course. Sadly, it’s not possible yet. Sigh. Have a good week.
Good to hear from you. Well, she passed the driving test! That is a really good thing because behind the wheel tests are so hard to come by since COVID. We had a 2pm appt, showed up at 1:30 and she didn’t leave the lot until 3:45pm for her test. But, it’s over now.
My shelves. I tidied up but then my daughter came in and took over the loft. This loft is never going to be mine. I need to go through those books. I am good about keeping it pretty lean but there are some that I just know I will not read now after COVID. My patience and mood are pushing me towards certain books and have me running from others. Probably about 15% of what’s in the loft can go now. It’s a project and that keeps my mind off of this crazy world so it’s a good thing.
I’ve also noticed that so many book bloggers aren’t blogging. I’ve been wondering why since a lot of us have more free time to read and blog. Maybe 2020 has just stolen their reading/blogging jones.
The only new shows I know of are Big Brother and tonight Renovation Inc. airs. I love Renovation Island so I’ve got it added to my library.
Praying you daughter does great tomorrow! Hope you enjoy your vacation!
Thank you so much. We have been practicing the testing route, or the route we think is the testing route and she is pretty comfortable now. I hope she passes!! It’s so difficult to get a test scheduled during COVID. They cut the amount of tests they do each day, shortened them and are still trying to get to the people they had to cancel on when they closed for nearly two months.
Good luck your daughter tomorrow and enjoy your time off from work — weird when you work from home I’m sure. Happy Birthday as well; hope you are able to do something special. Yes, I’ve noticed a few bloggers that I followed who haven’t posted since before COVID.
Looking forward to more of the perfect fall-ish weather we have been enjoying. Have a great week.
I stepped outside this morning to check on something and it was gloriously cool and crisp but it’s supposed to be 103 by Friday so here we go again. I can deal with 103 but anything over that is like baking in an oven. And yes, being forced to take time off is weird when you don’t have much to do.
I think the pandemic has given people time to sort drawers and clean out cupboards! Good luck with your piles of stuff. I was just looking over my pandemic reading and there was a month I only read 4 books, which for me is unusual. I don’t even think I remember those 4 well either. Good luck to your daughter tomorrow; it’s nice to have at least one right of passage during this awful time.
Good luck to your daughter! I’m sure she will pass and that is one thing you can take off your plate for the school year!
I feel like I’ve been blogging MORE but true, I don’t visit others enough… I believe What Alice Forgot has PIE. Enjoy. Glad to see dot got her driver license! and good luck with the organizing.
You have been blogging more, feels like. So many have not blogged since March and it feels weird. She is excited about her license but told me she now wants to drive up the Central Coast… ah. No.
Good luck with all that cleanup in the loft. I’ve finally filed a pile and I mean huge pile of papers that I’ve neglected. I honestly am so tired from work and everything else that I just want to nap most days. I barely read anything outside of an audiobook or poetry these days or kids books. That’s something, I suppose.
Congrats on your daughter getting her license! I saw the photo on FB. She must be excited.
I’m just now hitting a food rut…not sure what to make — sick of the same old, same old.
I got the loft in order without tearing it apart but then my daughter went in and added stuff to it. I swear, that loft is never going to be mine.
Hi Ti, I’m still around following blogs when I don’t get bogged down with stuff. How did your daughter do on her driving test? Hope she passed! The Loft looks like a cool place for books & reading. If it’s not too hot up there? You did great on your summer reading list — I’m impressed. Enjoy your time off work! Perhaps drive to the beach on a weekday!
Yes. She passed her driving test and has taken my car out a handful of times which feels strange. The loft can be hot and I did manage to clean it up a little but I didn’t purge anything. I really need to.
I always think I’m going to make the hubby watch Hoarders to try to motivate him to get rid of things. But it never seems to work that way and I’m always depressed when I finish an episode. Although I maybe need to watch it as my office is starting to look like one of the houses. I thought it would be better once Miss H moved out but I’ve never gotten it put back together since she left.
Yeah, I don’t know what it is about Hoarders but I am so fascinated by it. I always tear through something after watching an episode. I hate clutter so I am constantly tossing stuff out but the sentimental stuff gets me. I have bins of projects from elementary school. Thought it would be cool to give to each kid so they can share with their kids but it’s a lot.
Oh, I really should have a look at Hoarders. My mom was one, and it took me six months of 8am-10pm every day to get through the stuff in her house. I don’t want to leave anything like that for mine.
I love to organize and purge so every time I watch Hoarders I feel like I missed my calling and should have been a Hoarding specialist. So you mom was a hoarder? I think a lot of people are. On the show, nearly all of them have sizable property to hoard out and it was usually triggered by a traumatic event such as a death or illness. It’s fascinating and I do love to see the finished product.