Happy New Year 2023 Style

Happy New Year indeed. I was only up at midnight last night because of fireworks going off in the street behind my house. I’ve been sick again and while I didn’t feel too terrible, I stayed home and tried to go to bed before midnight. Today is a lazy Sunday while I try to rest and get completely better. It’s raining/sleeting/snowing anyway so a nice day to be home. I’m actually sitting in my library with a blanket, hot drink, and stack of books which = rainy day perfection.

I’m not much of a goal setter and I never make new year’s resolutions but I do like feeling that a new year is a fresh start. I like the idea of Janus, the 2 faced god, looking both backwards and into the future, endings and beginnings. I also like making lists and crossing things off my lists. So here’s a (guilt-free) list of things I would like to do this year. 

• Get rid of the clutter piles; make a place for everything or donate/recycle/throw it out
• Finish the rag wreaths and tied blankets
• Take some trips and do things with my vacation days rather than stay home - I have ideas!!
• Get out of my book slump; try reading in genres I don’t normally to shake things up
• Play the piano more often
• Listen to podcasts on my drive home; there are so many I want to try
• Pay off my car loan
• Change my direct deposit so I’m saving a little more each month

 

Best Books 2022

This year’s reading feels a little underwhelming. Still, I did read some good stuff which is listed here, but overall it isn’t the best year for books. Hopefully, I can read more books next year that I really love. I’m wanting that book hangover feeling.  

I read 64 new to me books in 2022. I tried tracking my re-reading and it just didn’t happen. I re-read way too often and rarely a full book. As for stats… My top 5 genres are: Sci-fi romance, Other (which is where I put the Emma Lion books as they didn’t seem to fit my normal genres), Fantasy/Sci-Fi, Historical Romance, and Historical Fiction. A lot of books cross over genres so this is the best I could do to categorize. Mystery, both historical and contemporary (usually a genre I love), was way down this year. I read 5 non-fiction books as well. That’s not bad at all for me.

 

If you combine library and KU to count as borrowed, I borrowed 43 books and purchased 21. That’s a major switch up for me. I did purchase more than 21 books this year; just haven’t read them. And no surprise but I read 27 paper books and 37 ebooks.

 

My Favorites:

The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Volumes 1-6 -  Beth Brower. Hands down this is the best thing I read all year and I’m a huge fan. I’ve read them all twice and can’t wait for more.

 

The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy – Megan Bannen. A You’ve Got Mail type of book which just really hit the spot for me.

 

A Swift and Savage Tide – Chloe Neill. The first book made the list last year. Just a super entertaining story. Can’t wait for more.

Other Birds – Sarah Addison Allen – this one snuck in at the end. I read it in one day and it fit my mood exactly.

 

Half a Soul – Olivia Atwater – this one also snuck in at the end but it was a nice mix of fantasy/regency romance which seemed lighted hearted on the surface but also had depth.

 

So it seems like a short list, although there are series listed. I do have some notable mentions though.

 

Last Light – Claire Kent - This post-apocalyptic romance hit the spot and I read it twice this year.

 

Crow Bones – Anne Bishop - I really loved being back in the world of the Others. Fun, fun book.

 

The Hollow Places – T. Kingfisher - This was creepy and what she created is really creative. It even inspired me to read The Willows (which was interesting but not one I really can say I liked) to see where her inspiration came from.

 

Hunt the Stars and Eclipse the Moon – Jesse Mihalik - She writes SFR just the way I like it. Light on the science.

 

The Spare Man – Mary Robinette Knowal - This was inspired by The Thin Man and while I had some issues with the FMC, it has really stuck with me as a fun read.

 

 

As for web comics, I’ve really scaled back on what I’m reading. I still love a lot of them but just decided I didn’t want to spend an hour every day catching up with all the new episodes. I let a lot of them on Webtoons go back to the free, regular release (saves me money!) and dropped a few on Tapas as well. Part of the scaling back is because my all time favorite has been on hiatus for half of the year for personal reasons. Other favorites have also recently gone on hiatus. I’m totally fine with that but the excitement of new episodes is just missing right now. I’m still avidly following my other all time favorite and periodically, I do catch up on some series. I actually enjoy reading multiple episodes at a time so it feels like a more complete story. Here are some I’m still having a great time with:

 

Webtoon

The Gentle Way – I support the artist on Patreon and absolutely love this one. It gets regular re-reads.

Lore Olympus

Daytime Star

Long After the Ending

The Runway

 

Tapas

The Stormy Inn

My Boss is My Biggest Fan

Beatrice

The Tyrant’s Secret Secretary

I’m the Tyrant’s Secretary

I Confessed to the Boss

Ha ha lot’s of boss/office romance at Tapas. I have no idea what 2023 will bring. I’ve got shelves full of books and have started my annual list of books I’m planning on buying when they are released. It’s not too big yet. Hopefully, that will change. So happy new year and let’s see what 2023 brings. 

Merry Christmas

Just a nice relaxing day for me. Going to church with my mom and sister and the twins and then hanging out at mom’s house. 

My Gift

I get myself a Christmas present every year. I mean, who else will give me gifts if I don't? I don't really need more stuff though so I wasn't really sure if I even wanted a gift. I did end up with more stuff but I think it will be good. 

I had been thinking about a new chair for my home office since I'm at home about 2 days a week and I had an old hand me down chair. But then I looked at my whole set up at home. My desk is from IKEA and is quite a few years old but still in excellent condition so I couldn't really justify a new one. But it was made for a desk computer with a pull out shelf for keyboard and long hours with my laptop were putting me in an uncomfortable position. So I decided to see what I could do about it. 

I ended up with a new chair, foot rest, wireless keyboard and mouse combo, monitor, and a standing desk platform. 

The old chair:

And the new set up:

I set it all up last night after my monitor arrived and today is my first day using it. So far I really love it. I stood for an hour this morning during a meeting. I am not used to that and it's going to be weird at first but I will adjust. The keyboard can go on my pull out shelf when I'm sitting and it's much more ergonomic and feels a lot better already. The chair is comfy and I love having a monitor. It's only 21.5 in. screen, so small as monitors go, but still bigger than my laptop screen. I still need to figure out what to do about the cords to get them in some kind of order. And I've lost desk space for actual writing. It's not like I do a ton of that and so far that's the only con I've come up with. Well, it looks a little odd even when the desk is lowered. But I'm very happy with everything so far. The chair was the most expensive thing I bought and none of it is top of the line but it seems to be working just fine. In the long run this will be a lot nicer for my work from home days. 

 

Let it Snow!

Yes! We finally got a good snow storm in the valley. The mountains have been getting some but I wanted it at my house for Christmas. I'm guessing I'll still have a little bit by the 25th since it's going to be cold this week and the storms aren't over yet.  

Last night I woke up around 4 am and looked out my window. I knew it was supposed to snow and it was raining when I went to sleep. It was absolutely beautiful to see the snow coming down and there were no tracks of any kind in it yet. It was pristine. All white and pretty falling down from the sky. 

Needless to say, I'm in a great mood. I do love newly fallen snow. 

Happy Late Thanksgiving 2022

Well, my “staycation” week is almost over. I was off work and didn’t really even think about it, which is really nice. I had a low key and uneventful Thanksgiving day, which is probably something else to be grateful for. LOL I did a little shopping and am almost finished, and we even made a little candy yesterday. That day was probably the most stressful and chaotic with kids running around and making messes and that kind of stuff. But we survived that also. 

I put up my Christmas tree and decorated a little bit this week as well. And it’s finally trying to snow again. It’s just making everything wet and not sticking but I’ll take it. It put me in the mood for soup so I’m currently making leftover turkey soup that I will eat with some leftover rolls. Can’t wait! 

So happy thanksgiving and here comes Christmas right around the corner. Can’t believe it’s the holidays again already. 

November 2022

And now it's November. I'm "working" from home today. I say "working" because I'm really staring out the window watching it snow! It is a winter wonderland out there. I'm pretty sure it won't stay very long, although we have another storm forecast for the weekend. But it's here now and I'm loving it. That's really all I have to say.