Pets | Book Chatter

Sunday Matters, a latte on a wooden tray against greenery.

Hello friends! How are you? I am doing pretty well. I am officially on vacation now. Nothing huge planned, a short visit with both kids from 12/23-12/26, and a goal for me, to clear out the garage.

If The Girl comes home after graduation for a bit, we are going to need that garage for storage and right now, it’s pretty full of her stuff AND The Boy’s stuff. They are adults now so let’s call them Emma and Evan. 🙂

Right Now:

I am hosting for the online service and then student ministry. My favorite time of the morning. Gosh, I love those students.

This Week:

I’m all partied out. My book club party, two work parties and a christmas light tour are all behind me. This week will be spent lounging, reading and preparing for Evan and Emma’s visit. Did I tell you that Evan is bringing Root Beer, his cat! The last time I saw her was right out of Kansas and she was itty bitty. Looks like she loves Seattle.

Root Beer the cat wearing her sunnies.

Reading:

I’m trying to read all the books before the end of the year. I just finished 1984 for the read-along. Part 1’s discussion is posted. Part 2 and 3 will post before the end of the month followed by my formal review of the book. It was a re-read but man, there is so much to say.

Also reading:

Burn by Peter Heller (love Heller but this one is a little harder to bite into. Kind of episodic at the moment).
The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams (picked this one up off of Hoopla when I was too lazy to go downstairs to get my Kindle. It’s delightful!)
All the Water in the World by Eiren Caffall (releases Jan 7th, dystopian, post-apocalyptic goodness).

This might be it before the end of the year as I want to have them reviewed too.

First book of the year?

I have no idea! I’d like it to be a memorable one. Infinite Jest has been on my shelf forever. It’s 1100 pages long. Maybe it will be my first book of the year. It’s a beast.

Watching:

My husband rediscovered his Adam 12 DVD collection so we’ve been watching that, back to back. It’s so nostalgic. The LA streets of that time were so uncluttered and some of those businesses still exist today.

I’m about to breakout my Bob Newhart Christmas collection. Now that’s a really fun time.

Grateful for:

Vacation time. I worked retail when I was younger and never had holidays off. I am so lucky and blessed to be able to enjoy that time off now.
Martha Stewart’s Giant Ginger Cookies that make a handful of people very happy. I make them every year and they are the PERFECT holiday cookie and massive!
I started to write a book a long time ago, right before COVID and lost the file. I knew it was in the Cloud somewhere but not in Google, not in Box, not anywhere which made no sense. But I was testing something for work this week and found it in OneDrive! It’s all rubbish now that I’ve put some distance between it and myself but it has me thinking about writing again.

What’s going on in your world? Any exciting plans? Books that you are looking forward to?

Sunday Matters

Ahoy! I just finished reading I Cheerfully Refuse and it warrants a sea worth greeting.

Hey, it’s no secret but everyone is jumping ship from X/Twitter and leaving for Blue Sky. I am currently in both places and Threads as TiBookChatter. If you are on Blue Sky, please find me!

Right Now:

Today will be a fun morning. Coffee is being enjoyed and then I am hosting for the online church service and then, in student ministry we are having the Turkey Bowl! Flag football. No tackling. Will I participate? I could, but I am still being careful of my skull after brain surgery. It’s also a hoot to cheer from the sidelines.

This Week:

It’s already here! It’s Thanksgiving week here in the US. My daughter is flying to Seattle to be with my son. They have a friends-giving planned. I will cook a pared down meal of classics. The Hub and I, including the Otter Pup (who is hanging on by a thread) will enjoy it and then take food over for my in-laws. They are not doing well. Not comfortable enough to join us at our home so we will go there, feed them and maybe enjoy a slice of pie with them. That’s it. They can’t socialize for long these days.

Aging sucks. Aging pets and aging parents. My own have been gone for awhile but this is rough.

Reading:

Oh my gosh. I am a reading machine! I probably just jinxed myself by saying that. I have been reading four books at a time and I am loving it.

I just finished and reviewed:

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger
Orbital by Samantha Harvey

I am in the final pages of Pete and Alice in Maine by Caitlin Shetterly. I love a good novel set in Maine.

I am about 25% in to Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi. I am late to the party on this one but it’s so charming. I’ve had a copy for ages but needed to quickly find another book to keep up my pace and there it was.

Watching:

Did you watch the fight? I am glad that Paul didn’t hurt Tyson because he easily could have. In the end, he showed respect. I liked that.

Finished Season 2 of Tulsa King. Highly recommend. I was never a huge Stallone fan but he is just so good in it. Kind of humorous and brutal too.

Cobra Kai is back. I just watched the first episode. Yawn. It’s kind of corny and focused on the romance between two of the characters.

I have all my Hallmark Christmas stuff lined up but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. I am off all this week so hello, Hallmark! I’m coming for ya.

Making:

The only days I cook now are typically Mondays. I work remotely that day and it’s easy to simmer something on the stove while working.

Of course, I will be cooking for Thanksgiving. I like to introduce new things but this year, there is a lot on recall, like carrots! I make this really good brown sugar carrot thing but with the recall, I will sub sweet potatoes.

Grateful for:

Every minute that we have with this pup. She is trying so hard to stick around. My adult kids are coming for three days on 12/23. Hopefully they will see her. My son is bringing his cat Root Beer and she loved Chloe when she came as a kitten. We shall see!

Also, the other night the pup shot up out of bed, hopped off and took off down the hall. Hello!! She is not be able to walk much less hop off a bed. I was so half asleep and worried but she seemed pretty proud. See how she rallies? Fourteen and still a pistol.

To everyone who celebrates, Happy Thanksgiving week! Love you, all.

Happy Thanksgiving. An autumn scene with pumpkins and a candle. Bordered by leaves.

Chatting with friends about books and life…