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Sunday Matters

It’s getting harder with each passing day to not be angry about what is going on in our country. Can’t we all be decent to one another? Every. Single. Day. There is something. I am exhausted. Are you? When it gets to be too much, I take a break from it but then I wake up and it begins all over again. I think I’ve hit my limit.

How are you coping? I’d like to say with confidence that we will all get through this and come out on the other side better for it. I have my doubts, though.

Right Now:

My Sundays have been pretty much the same since we shut down. It tends to be an errand day but I think I need to rethink that. Now that youth group meets in the evening if I take the day to do errands I feel as if the day has gotten away from me.

This Week:

On Monday my daughter is going to school to take her ID photo. They are shooting for an October return. The date has already changed once. It would be nice for her, as a senior, to have a little bit of a senior year to remember in a traditional sense but I can’t see them going back that soon.

She was supposed to have a choir concert this week. Not happening of course although they are doing something virtually that might be totally unrelated. I hear a lot of singing.

College applications are still in process. Filming equipment is all over my house. Looks like a set for Big Brother.

Reading:

I finished Kindred for a discussion. I also finished Heart-Shaped Box for R.I.P.

I am so close to finishing The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. I am reading it for R.I.P. and it’s so, so good. I’m reading it along with Don’t Look For Me. I couldn’t decide which to read first so I decided to read them both.

Watching:

Ratched. Yep, that would be Nurse Ratched to you. It’s not getting good reviews at all. Visually, it’s stunning. I will reserve judgment until I am further in.

Grateful for:

Bev Cooks Chicken and Mushrooms — Photo Credit: Bev Cooks Blog

The Braised Chicken with Mushrooms and Shallots meal above. It was easy and delicious and decadent. I served it over mashed potatoes. I added some white wine to the cooking broth. I needed a change of pace because I am so over cooking.
My daughter received another college acceptance (academically) but still has to submit the pre-screen for her audition.
New planners!! I ordered a new Passion Planner for 2021. Here’s to a better year!

All the political nastiness in the world has forced me to re-evaluate my friend groups on social media. It’s depressing. To remain sane, it has to be done though so I am taking some of the weekend to deal with that.

I hope you all have a good week. Cook something extra special, buy a new fall candle, go Marie Kondo on a closet to start the season anew. I will do the same.

Heart-Shaped Box
By Joe Hill
William Morrow Paperbacks, 9780061944895, 2009, 400pp.

The Short of It:

This is a classic ghost story with all the horror elements you’d expect from Hill, without it being too graphic.

The Rest of It:

Judas Coyne is a fifty-something ex-rocker who has a taste for the macabre. He collects things that most people wouldn’t, which is how he comes to possess a suit that comes with a ghost. As Jude (short for Judas) learns, this ghost is not just any ghost and he means business.

This is the story of Jude and his girlfriend Marybeth, also known as Georgia. When this suit arrives in a heart-shaped box, Jude is intrigued. He has no idea what to expect but he doesn’t have to wait long to find out. The suit is accompanied by a ghost named Craddock and what begins as mild curiosity turns into a fight for their lives as Craddock takes them down the “night road” and continues to display glimpses of their future to them. A future where Jude murders the ones he loves.

This was a fantastic read and it’s been on my to-read shelve for YEARS. Not sure why I waited so long to get to it but I wish I had gotten to it sooner. Joe Hill. He’s Stephen King’s kid in case you don’t know but he definitely has his own sense of style when it comes to storytelling and from the very first page I was riveted and had to know the outcome of these two characters.

If I had to find any fault with it at all, I would say that as soon as the ghost makes his appearance, the one thing that made me curious about the book in the first place went out the window. All the macabre stuff that he collected over the years was never mentioned again. Someone with a penchant for that sort of thing would perhaps use it to his advantage? I was expecting it to become part of the story but that never happened.

I really enjoyed the character of Marybeth (Georgia). She was sweet but with a hard edge. I could not help but root for her. Hill did a good job of writing her as strong, but also vulnerable. She brought just the right mix of danger plus loyalty to the story.

Now for the fear factor. A reader on Facebook advised me to read it during the day, that it could get pretty intense. It was intense at times but like a “race to the finish” intense. All of the horror elements were appropriately creepy but I didn’t feel that Hill tossed anything in there for shock value alone. I really enjoyed it.

I read this for the R.I.P Challenge.

Source: Purchased
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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