Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 12/24/22: Merry Christmas

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists…

Hi everyone, I hope this post finds you well! I fell off the blogging grid for about a month. Funny enough I logged in twice the past few weeks to work on this post hoping to publish it, but then kept saving it as a draft until this morning, hence all the updates and pics I’ve shoved into this post lol.

Between work and the holidays and just life in general it’s been a hectic month. We drove out 2 Saturdays ago into Pennsylvania to visit my FIL which is about a 4-hour drive roundtrip, so it turns into a full day thing. Then my dental issues kept plaguing me and I needed a bridge done this time, which the dentist finished up last week, thank goodness that’s over. My dentist told me I narrowly avoided needed a minor gum surgery so I’m grateful it didn’t turn into that. AND Otis and I both celebrated birthdays this month as well. 🙂 We’re both fiery Sagittarius’s.

Today for Christmas Eve we’ve got some freezing temps here it’s 5 degrees and very windy. I took off work yesterday and I baked my yearly 5 dozen sugar cookies and made eggnog. This is the sugar cookie recipe I use and they’re always a hit. I pack some up for gift giving then the rest get gobbled up here at home.




This is the eggnog I make using this recipe. It’s very coconutty and there’s no egg, it’s mainly rum and coconut.


Onto my weekly updates….

recently on the blog:
Nothing! Because hiatus. But I will be sharing my thoughts on The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth soon.

in my mailbox:

Vampires and Villains by Elizabeth Pantley arrived for a January review. I read the first book in this series so I’m looking forward to this one.


Santa Cruise by Fern Michaels just in time for holiday reading.


watching:

I’ve been watching this season of Sister Wives, which has been pretty crazy and am watching the tell-all also. I’ve been watching this show since the beginning. Do you watch this one? Kody’s pretty much ended up with just one wife now, his favorite one so hmpfh.

Also of note, I watched 1899 on Netflix and it was really good. It’s interesting because the characters are speaking to each other in different languages which makes the whole thing even more mysterious and impressive.


And I watched these Christmas movies over the past few weeks. These were all new to me.

* Mistletoe in Montana– This was really cute and set on a gorgeous ranch. A single dad comes to spend Christmas with his kids at the ranch and starts to fall for the owner.

* A Christmas Wish: This was nice, set in a small town with a friends turned lovers theme. The two main characters are the same actors from Christmas on the Bayou, I think they work well together.

* Lonestar Christmas– This one made me cringe. Insta-love, single clingy mom cringe alert. If this was real life I think her love interest would have blocked her number.

* Snowed Inn Christmas– This one was so cute, it’s a new favorite that I would definitely re-watch. Two journalists and semi-rivals at work are traveling from NYC and end up stranded at the coziest historic Inn ever in Santa Claus, Indiana and start to fall in love while trying to figure out a way to save the Inn. There’s humor, romance and a cozy setting. Yes please!

* A Christmas in Tennessee– This was cute and it stars the same leading guy from Snowed Inn Christmas.

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crochet:
I’ve been non-stop Christmas crocheting. This is a Christmas tree skirt for my parents. I used this pattern.
In progress…




I made 2 set of Christmas trees as gifts. This is one set here. I used cones from the craft store and little bell garlands that jingle and just winged it I didn’t follow a pattern.




I also made a Grinch using this pattern. He reminds me of a Squishmallow. This one I kept for us. I actually made this on my birthday weekend. I gave myself the gift of crocheting all day, binge-watching Christmas movies and hubby took care of breakfast, lunch and dinner.






That wraps up my updates for now, happy holidays! Otis says Merry Christmas! What are your holiday plans? What are you reading/watching? Let me know in the comments. I’ll be cooking Christmas Eve dinner today but I’m slowly but surely catching up on my blog hopping. I’ve missed reading everyone’s posts. Thanks for stopping by. 🙂

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Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download. The photos here are my own and not be to be removed from this post.

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 11/20/22: Happy Thanksgiving

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists…

Hi all, I hope this post finds you well. It’s finally gotten pretty cold out, we’ve had the temps in the 40’s and we had a dusting of snow. I’m working fully remote through next month so I’m happy not to have to go out in the cold early mornings. I cannot believe November is flying by so fast and Thanksgiving is this week. I took the day after off so I’m looking forward to a long cozy upcoming weekend. The past several years we stay home and I cook the meal and my daughter helps me. I bought all my Thanksgiving ingredients with my last grocery trip. My job is nice enough to gift each employee a turkey so I picked mine up this week and I have it defrosting in the fridge as of this morning. Every year I bake candied yams with marshmallows on top but this year I’m going to use this recipe which calls for pecans. Are you ready yet? How do you spend Thanksgiving? Do you have a favorite recipe?

onto my updates….

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recently on the blog:


I shared my thoughts on In Her Highlander’s Bed by Lynsay Sands.

coming soon:


I’m reading The Soulmate by Sally Hepworth and it’s so good!

in my mailbox:


Say Goodbye for Now by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I have yet to read a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde that I didn’t enjoy. Her books are just special that way.

watching:

I watched Barbarian. I can’t remember which book blogger recommended it but thank you because it was pretty good. Alot of jump scares and I like the casting. The ending was very unexpected.



Also I’ve watched a few new to me Christmas movies in November. I think I’ll be highlighting Christmas movies with my updates posts throughout the season because why not. 🙂 Have you watched any of these? I’m a sucker for holiday films this time of year. I re-watch my favs every year.

* The Christmas Train – This was very good, great cast too. A train setting and a little bit of a mystery with a second chance love.
* A Christmas Movie Christmas – Another cute one, two sisters wind up in a Christmas movie and this one had some cute funny moments. I would re-watch it one day.
* Christmas on the Bayou– This one was worth the watch and I liked the setting, but it’s not one I’d re-watch. I think they could have added a stronger male lead in this, the guy was kind of dorky.
* The Christmas Lodge– This one was a re-watch and it’s kind of corny but a cute one about a woman who goes back to visit a lodge she spent time at with her family as a child and helps to restore it.
*Christmas at the Ranch– This was a let-down which is too bad since the premise sounded good and this was my first time seeing a F/F Christmas romance movie. The central characters actions and the dialogue were just ridiculous, and the plot became odd and awkward unfortunately.


That wraps up my updates for now. I hope you have a nice week and a Happy Thanksgiving! Here’s Otis on a walk last week, enjoying the fresh air. He’s wearing one of the sweaters I’ve crocheted for him, I’ve been meaning to make him a new one for this year.




Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download. The photos here are my own and not be to be removed from this post.

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 12/27/2021: Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Updates

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists….

Hello all. It’s Monday evening after work now instead of Sunday so my updates are a little late this week. I meant to log in yesterday and get this post ready but was just relaxing. I hope you had a Merry Christmas if you celebrate it and hope you are all doing well. We had a nice quiet Christmas at home. Otherwise, it’s been a busy month. My daughter had all 4 wisdom teeth removed a few weeks ago which she is still healing from believe it or not due to a complication on one side with a dry socket. 😦 I’ve crocheted a lot, I’ve been reading and I’m behind on reviews so I have a few reviews I need to share.

I’m back to working fully remote rather than hybrid since mid-December and my job extended working fully remote through the end of January due to the surge in Covid cases. I cannot believe we’re pushing two years of this pandemic. Several of our friends have tested positive lately so it’s pretty scary. Thankfully, all of them have only had mild head cold like symptoms. I had my booster shot last week which went well aside from the arm pain and body aches, it wasn’t as strong as the full vaccine shots I had in the Spring.

Also, Happy Healthy New Year 🙂 Any plans for the New Year? I should have a yearly wrap up post next week. I didn’t read as much as I would have liked to in 2021 but it’s fun looking back on the reading/blogging year.

Onto my updates….

recently on the blog:

I shared my thoughts on Later by Stephen King which was fantastic.


I shared my thoughts on Your Words Your World by Louise Bélanger which was a nice poetry collection.

in my mailbox:
My daughter and I have been sitting down by the Christmas tree these past several weeks and reading in the evenings after work. These are our latest books below. We decided we would both read them so we can discuss. So far we’ve read 1984 which I’ll be reviewing soon and Later by Stephen King (not shown here). She’s ahead of me and read Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom already and she loved it.



Others in our book stack are I Am Legend by Matheson (which I read already so I don’t think I will re-read this one), We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, The Giver by Lois Lowry and The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Have you read any of these?

crochet:
I made these two hooded shawls and this ear warmer head/wrap this month. Both were on commission and they went under someone’s Christmas tree this year which is nice.











That wraps up my updates for now. Happy Holidays from Otis! We’ll be blog hopping tomorrow. Stay well!


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Disclaimer: Nothing in this post is available for download. Some of these links are affiliate links. If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission. The photos in this post are my own and not to be removed from here.

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 12/29/2019: Happy New Year and Bookish Best of 2019

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog…
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists….

Happy Sunday and Happy New Year. Can you believe 2020 will soon be here? I like the sound of it though, twenty-twenty. I hope everyone had a nice Christmas if they celebrate it. Christmas here was nice, I spent two relaxing days at home. I made the peanut butter blossoms I had been wanting to bake. I also baked chocolate chip. If you try the peanut butter blossom recipe, it says bake at 375 degrees for around 8-10 minutes…that’s a big no-no. They bake at 325 for 14 minutes then I let them sit on the baking tray for another 4 minutes before putting them on the cooling rack.

Book-wise, I’ve been bad with reading and reviewing in December, I just did not have enough time. My last read of 2019 was A Crafter Quilts a Crime: A Handcrafted Mystery so I am going to try and sneak that review in by tomorrow to wrap start fresh for the new year.

Onto more updates….

Sunday Post/Mailbox Monday 12/22/19: Merry Christmas

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog…
Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists….

Happy Sunday and Happy Holidays. I cannot believe Christmas is just around the corner already. It’s been a whirlwind of a month between work and holiday stuff so it will definitely be nice when things slow down a little after Christmas. How are you all doing during this time of year? As nice as the holidays are it can also be a stressful time. I find the crowds and the extra traffic just add to stress levels.

And the weather has been very cold, with icy and snowy days here, a few mornings my car was covered in a sheet of ice. It will be nice to have a few days off this upcoming week and spend them at home warm in my pajamas. I finished the last of my Christmas shopping last weekend so I’m hoping to relax now and get back to my cookie baking. I found this recipe for peanut butter blossoms that I want to try out.

Even though it has been busy around here, there’s always time for frozen margaritas and Mexican food which we had last night with family. So nice 🙂

onto my book updates…