Merry, Happy Holidays-ukkah!

 December has been super busy but good busy. DH and I celebrated our 19th anniversary a week or so ago. We spent a night in Salt Lake City and ate Spanish tapas, drank Spanish wine, crashed an ugly sweater work party at our hotel's bar, and even met Buddy the Elf and Santa. Good times were had!

We celebrated the Winter Solstice up at the Red Butte Gardens on Saturday.

Wednesday was more Winter Solstice shenanigans to welcome back the Sun! I cooked up some stew, traditional wassail, G helped me make up solstice cookies, and we decorated paper lanterns and had them lit all night long on the longest night of the year. I love that feeling...waking up and knowing today's light is just a little bit longer than yesterday's! Welcome back, Sun!

Books

I'm in the middle of two or three right now but I did manage to finish off I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. That's a wild ride. I hope she writes another memoir in ten years and I hope it's full of more hope and healing. 

I'm almost done with Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer. My niece just read it and she wanted me to read it as well so we could talk about it.

The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum is an interesting read on the evolution of Christmas and its traditions in America. He uses a lot of primary sources from the time so we get a sense of time and place and people. I don't think I'll finish this one until after the New Year but finishing it I am. 

I also randomly picked up The Maid by Nita Prose. I'm almost halfway through. Quirky but also painful to see how she's taken advantage of. 

TV

DH and I finally finished of the second season of The Witcher! I just started the second season of Slow Horses on Apple TV. Such an excellent show with Gary Oldman.

Movies

We watched A Christmas Story and A Christmas Story: Christmas. We just saw Spirited on Apple with Will Farrell and Ryan Reynolds. Really cute. Elf was the other night. DH and I watched The Holiday again. One of our favorites every holiday season. I think we'll watch It's a Wonderful Life tonight or tomorrow. G has not seen this one yet. I'm hoping he'll appreciate it even if it's a little old school for him. And I've caught quite a few on Hallmark so far. I'm actually pretty impressed with some of them this year. Three Wise Men and a Baby was really good.

I'm also hoping to get in A Muppet Christmas Carol and A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott sometime this weekend! And a couple of holiday horrors too like Black Christmas, Krampus, or that new one Violent Night!

Baking-- I'm hoping to get a Christmas Swiss roll made, peanut butter cookies, more sugar cookies and frosting. Drinks--I've got buttered rum and coquito on the list.

May your Christmas be a safe and merry one!

Joining up with Deb from Readerbuzz and her Sunday Salon.

Cat Thursday-- Holiday Kitties

 Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by Michelle at True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats!

My cats have really cute lately. So here's a couple photos for your viewing pleasure.

Cat Thursday

 

 

 Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by Michelle at True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats!  

Holiday cat antics are the best or the worst...

2022 Yuletide Spirit Reading Challenge!

 Michelle over at Seasons of Reading is hosting her yearly holiday reading challenge: 2022 Yuletide Spirit. I don't usually signup for holiday challenges but I have at least two if not three I plan to get in this month so here I go...

Reading level challenges:

1. Candy Cane: Read 1 book.

2. Mistletoe: Read 2-4 books.

3. Christmas Tree: Read 5 or more books (the fanatic level!)

I planning on the Mistletoe level with at least 3 books. But hopefully more will be read!

1. The Battle for Christmas by Stephen Nissenbaum
2. Hark the Herald Angels Scream edited by Christopher Golden
3. The Afterlife by Holly Chase
4. I may try to reread A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. While technically not Christmas it still has that holiday spirit throughout the whole book. I've been meaning to reread it for years now...

Additional Levels

Fa la la la la Films: Watch holiday movies!!!! Yasss! So many new ones to see this December and old ones to revisit! Spirited on Apple TV and A Christmas Story: Christmas.

Visions of sugar plums: Read books with the wains and share what we read. My son is older now but every Xmas Eve we read a few children's Christmas books around the tree and eat pizza and cookies and cocoa.

November...Being Grateful

Ever since I got back from vacation for Fall Break back in October, I have been plagued with one illness or another. My son gave something to me and I felt terrible the last day of vacation on our drive home and that turned into a major sinus infection...I thought I was starting to get through it and decided to finally get our flu shots...maybe it's coincidence...but within a few days I got all the flu-like symptoms and have been lying in bed for the last week. It's amazing what a few weeks of ill health will do to a person. I haven't been really all that ill since before the pandemic. It's made me really appreciate the health I had before I got sick and what I can look forward to once I start feeling better.

It really sets me back for holiday plans and excursions and goals I'd been working on...all need to be replanned, gotten rid of, or moved to a much later date. It's exhausting.

That's life, though, plans and life just can change in an instant. Without times like these it is harder to appreciate the good health that we have or the good times that are here. 

Finally, feeling better. Probably the best I've felt since October 15th! I am truly grateful for antibiotics, humidifiers, cough drops, mindless holiday baking shows, and a family that kept going...

Made it out before my flu hit with my dear friend Steph to celebrate her birthday right before Thanksgiving.

Books read in November...I'm surprised I made it through these, tbh.

The Problem With Everything: My Journey Through the New Culture Wars by Meghan Daum

An interesting look at some of the ways the culture wars have affected people in journalism. It wandered a bit but it was a worthwhile read.

The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike #1) by Robert Galbraith

I've been wanting to read these for awhile and decided this was as good a time as any. Not my most favorite start to the series by any means but I'll read the next one just to see how the characters evolve and interact with one another.

The Last Wish (The Witcher #.5) by Andrzej Sapkowski

These are a conglomeration of stories about the Witcher Geralt. I've been watching the Netflix series and decided it was time to read the source material! I liked this a lot better than I thought I would. So much of the stories are reimagined Grimm's fairytales...Beauty and the Beast...Rumpelstiltskin. It kind of makes me wonder of Sapkowski wrote the series as a bit of satire or parody on the fantasy and fairytale genre. A bit tongue and cheek, as they say.

The short stories give us some insight into Geralt's world of misfits and magic. We also learn a bit more about Yennefer and how her and Geralt meet and how they become so intertwined. And yes we see a lot of Dandelion, Geralt's infamous bard. It's just good fun. I don't know how else to describe it. 

TV

All the holiday baking shows, of course! The Great British Baking Show was fantastic and something I look forward to every year and their holiday special they do with actors is a riot.

1899 on Netflix was also really fantastic. Be prepared to have more questions by the end than answers but it's quite a mystery and I can't wait till season 2.

White Lotus' second season on HBO has been very engrossing. Loving this season's take. And let's not forget the wrap-up season of The Vow on season two on the wellness cult Nexium and the prosecution and conviction of its leader Keith Raniere. So good and disturbing.

Magpie Murders on PBS was a great adaptation from Anthony Horowitz' novel. Fun, fun, fun.

Movies

I'm not going to lie...I watched a lot of movies this last month...I didn't have much energy for the other important things at night...so yeah.

But my favorites were Bodies, Bodies, Bodies; Smile; Fall; and for the holidays the winner was The Noel Diary on Netflix. I actually kind of teared up a bit...

And over the Thanksgiving weekend we watched all of the Harry Potter movies as a family! It's almost a family tradition. Loved it.

I am looking forward to watching all the holiday movies of old with my family and then the weird sequels and or the new adaptation of that timeless classic...A Christmas Story followed by its sequel on HBO and the new Spirited, A Christmas Carol adaptation, with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell on Apple TV. 

We're going to show G "It's a Wonderful Life" for the first time. I've been saying that almost every year but there are a lot of good ones and it seems this one never popped up. But it's a goal!

The Holiday with Kate Winslet, Jude Law, and Cameron Diaz are DH's and I's favorite as well this time of year. Can't forget Elf either. G will also watch a few holiday horror movies with me like Krampus.

I'm also looking forward to our 19th wedding anniversary! Wowser. Nothing fancy, but we're heading up to downtown Salt Lake for a night, eat some dinner, and spend a nice time together. Hopefully catch some holiday lights up there as well.

Happy holidays!

Joining up with Deb from Readerbuzz and her Sunday Salon.

Cat Thursday-Thanksgiving Kitties

 

 Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by Michelle at True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats!  

Day after Thanksgiving kitties. Couldn't resist sharing their cuteness. Shadow also had some tooth surgery earlier this week but she's doing great now. Hard to see the kitty babies hurting. So very grateful they are both doing well this week!

Cat Thursday--Happy Thanksgiving

 

 Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by Michelle at True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! 

Happy Thanksgiving! It's that time of year where we force ourselves find ourselves grateful for all of the things despite it possible being another dumpster fire year, yet again...I can see the silver linings in all things, for sure. So I will state that I am grateful that I have been healthy before I got this horrible stream of cold and flu and sinus stuff for the last month and that I have hopes of being able to once again feel normal, hopefully soonish. I am grateful for friends and family and the opportunity to spend a bit of this weekend with some of them. And lets not forget about my kitties. I am forever grateful they keep my cuddled and warm.

May we all be grateful for the kitties in our lives!

October Updates

 Another month gone! Wow. It looks like I can only manage to get one of these updates out a month. October was busy and fun. We went on vacation for G's fall break up to Angels Camp in California and met up with our friends. We enjoyed relaxing and seeing a few of the natural sites in the area. Big Tree State Park and Mercer Cave. I even hugged a Giant Sequoia. Yep, I'm a tree hugger.

There were so many deer just hanging around. It was so fun watching them.

The cave was so interesting. I enjoy seeing these kinds of places wherever I can.

Waiting around before we could go on the cave tour.

One of the Giant Sequoias I hugged that day.

G got really sick the first night on vacation, unfortunately. But he was a big trooper and journeyed on even though he was pretty miserable for the first couple of days. I didn't start getting sick until we were driving home...My son gave me his goo, which turned into a sinus infection that I'm still recovering from. That made the last part of October really hard.

We still managed to get our pumpkins carved, chili and cornbread made for Halloween, and G went off trick-or-treating. We even got out our little portable firepit and lit that up in the early evening and enjoyed some mulled cider and treats with our friends. The weather was perfect on Halloween! 

G as the Evil Sorcerer and his Steampunk friend

Not the best pic but I really liked my scary pumpkin face.

G decided on a kitty and DH went with an alien face. All looked really cool this year!

Book Total for October was 7 books!

• 
  
  Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nasseth
• The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling
• Aru Shah and the Tree of Wishes(Aru Shah #3) by Roshani Chokshi
• The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix
• The Virgin Gift by Lauren Blakely (Kindle freebie that I read in half a day...sometimes you just need a little romance!)
• Empty Smiles (Small Spaces #4) by Katherine Arden
• The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle

I do want to get some reviews up soon! I really liked The Devil in Silver.

Most of my TV viewing in October were holiday baking shows, The Great British Baking Show on Netflix, 101 Scary Movie Moments on Shudder, and The Midnight Club on Netflix.

I caught some pretty good scary movies over the month. Final Destination I finally saw it for the first time! I don't know why I never saw it but it was surprisingly effective...and we have a final boy! Deadstream is a horror-comedy on Shudder that was really well done. It was filmed in locally in Utah. It's an interesting take on the found-footage genre.

I'm still finishing up a couple of horror/mystery books I started in October. Ghost Story by Peter Straub and The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith.

I started Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times by Katherine May, Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It by Richard V. Reeves, and Lost & Found by Kathryn Schulz.

We've got no plans to travel for Thanksgiving. We usually head up to my sister's place. I'll do a small meal for my little family either Friday or Saturday. I've got a few projects to get done for Christmas gifts as well this month! It adds up quickly.

And Vote! DH and I voted early. I'll be watching the results Tuesday night....

Book Reviews: Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth, The Death of Jane Lawrence...

 October has been busy in my house. Vacation, illness, and just regular life...So my Halloween posts have been too sparse. So here are some mini reviews of the horror-type books I've completed this month.

Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth

I would call this more of the psychology of how we get scared and how horror movies capitalize on those fears. Really fascinating look at how these movies get under our skins. If you are a horror movie fan or even just a lover of human psychology this is the book for you. She also gives us a great list of horror films to add to our ever-growing list. I definitely have a few new ones to watch!

The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling

A lot of things going on with this one. One too many, I think. It's kind of a weird alt-history in England where Jane feels she needs to get married in order to have a decent life after her foster parents are ready to move on to other things. So she picks Dr. Lawrence and eventually he agrees to their arrangement, but with stipulations. She can't ever stay at his family manor and she must allow him to do so while she stays at the surgery. But a terrible storm forces her to turn back to the family manor at night and all is not well. 

Ghosts or are they ghosts roam the manor at night. She sees Dr. Lawrence's deceased wife in the windows...

She soon discovers that she has a talent for magic through her love of math and numbers. This is a nod to H.P. Lovecraft's use of magic and geometry. And her husband has been trapped in the basement and she must find a way to get him out and save both their lives. 

It gets really messy the last 1/3 of the book. It was hard to follow and I'm still not sure what happened exactly by the end! Cool concept in a lot of ways. But I think there were just too many working parts to really let the story flow. Which is a big disappointment for me since I really loved Starling's "Luminous Dead."

The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

I always enjoy Hendrix's books because they are funny and horrific at the same time. While this one wasn't my favorite it was still a fun read even when the story dragged on for a bit too long.

Patricia Campbell moves into a nice neighborhood with her two children and joins their book club. It's a sordid book club where they read true crime novels and discuss all the horrid things people do to each other. But when Patricia is attacked by elderly neighbor and Mary and Mary's nephew James moves into to help sort it all out, things start to get even weirder. 

A lot of things are going on from rats attacking Patricia's mother-in-law and her nurse Mrs. Greene to all the children that die and go missing in Mrs. Greene's poorer neighborhood. Hendrix tries to connect systemic racism, sexism, and class into his horror book. Sometimes it works, sometimes not so well. But kudos for trying! Like I said his books are always a hoot. How does the book club and Mrs. Greene find a way to get their revenge and protect their families? No spoilers but yeah it's freakin' fantastic. Best part of the whole book! 

Which brings me to another reason why I love Grady Hendrix even when specific books aren't necessarily my fave. He has great endings! He believes in his characters and I know what I'm going to get each and every time. We're going to get great endings for our heroines. Amen.

Cat Thursday

 

Welcome to the weekly meme (hosted by Michelle at True Book Addict) that celebrates the wonders and sometime hilarity of cats! Join us by posting a favorite lolcat pic you may have come across, famous cat art or even share with us pics of your own beloved cat(s). It's all for the love of cats! 

This week I wanted to share a couple of pics of sweet Nala. One of shipping boxes has really struck her fancy! She is always jumping in and out of this thing. And since it's fall, the weather has cooled quite a bit during the night so the morning is pretty chilly. Nala loves to sit on shoulders and get warmed up. I took this earlier in the week with G.

October and the Spooky Season

 I say this every month...but what happened to September?

Lots of spooky fun plans this month. We just did our annual Fall hike (check). The soup season is in high-gear. Fall break is next week and we are actually heading out-of-state to meet up with our friends who moved out-of-state a few years ago. Outdoors, friends we haven't seen for awhile, and relaxation! The Haunted Forest is our annual "haunted" house we go to as a family...we'll be heading there soon too.

G has picked out his costume. This is the first year where he plans to trick-or-treat on his own! DH and I are planning on getting out the firepit and enjoying the evening with some yummy cocktails and spooky snacks with some neighbors. Hopefully the weather holds up!

Also, I'm so grateful my friend and her family are safe after Hurricane Ian hit. They were further inland but they were directly north of where it landed. They lost power and just got it back yesterday. Their fences are ruined and some plants did not make it. But other than that they fared well. All the neighbors came together and offered each other what they had. Just so grateful they're OK.

I've been full-tilt on reading and watching all the horror. I just have not been great at getting up my reviews...

Where's G? This one makes me chuckle...

I just love the fall colors so I'm sharing a few from our hike!

It's been hard to find the time as much as I'd like for my spooky reviews. My mom has been in and out of the hospital this last month, once with Covid and the second time with a severe bladder infection. So yeah, life gets crazy. 

So...onto the good stuff!

Books...I finished 7 books in September! Granted, I didn't start all seven in September but I'll take it.

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher. Lots of body horror in this one. I loved the creep factor and yet how funny it was. She does a good combo of both.

How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Question by Michael Schur. I read...well, listened to this one, with my friend for our philosophy club. And I highly recommend listening to it. Schur is the creator of The Good Place and he gets the whole cast to help him read it. It's a hoot. And he really dove into moral and ethical philosophy for the show and he gives us a rundown in his book. One of the most funny and concise lay-person philosophy book I've ever read. While, I didn't necessarily draw every conclusion he did, he sure got me thinking. Which is the actual point of philosophy and thinking about ethics and values is the actual point of moral philosophy. So go listen and be entertained and edified!

A Gathering of Shadows (Shades of Magic #2) by V.E. Schwab. I am really enjoying this fantasy series. I'm taking a break this month but I will finish off the final book in November! Very excited to see how she wraps it all up.

Last of the Sandwalkers by Jay Hosler. This is a middle-grade graphic novel that follows a group of beetles (who are scientists) who are on an expedition to find out what the world's like outside their tiny city. It's funny, heart-warming, and full of science. This guy loves his beetles. There's even an endnotes section for all your extra beetle and/or bug facts. Love these little gems.

Gallows Hill by Darcey Coates. This book felt like a movie in book form. There was non-stop creepy action. I had to keep reading in order to get away from super creep factor. I am now a fan! Coates is a prolific author and I can see why! She knows how to keep the terror amped up. This book has curses, ghosts, and zombies, plus a haunted house. What's not to love?

Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden. This is a young adult graphic novel with lots of heavy stuff to deal with. I love what she tries to do here...she blends the fantastical with grief and trauma. I had a hard time following some of it. And it's definitely not for everyone but very interesting.

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill. I really enjoyed the premise of this murder mystery. An author is sending her preliminary chapters to an online acquaintance. We only see his emails to her and then the next chapter of the author's story. So there are two layers here, the fictional author and her fictional story...well, I guess three if you count Gentill as the original author of all! It's one of those meta-mysteries that Anthony Horowitz has made so famous recently. It did feel a bit rushed towards the end. But overall, it's a very quick and fun mystery.

Not bad for my first month of horror!

With Interview with the Vampire TV series coming out, I decided to finally read the original book. It's pretty interesting so far. And I am loving the updates to the plot the TV series has done! 

I am currently reading: The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle, Ghost Story by Peter Straub, Nightmare Fuel: The Science of Horror Films by Nina Nesseth. And I am listening to The Death of Jane Lawrence by Caitlin Starling.

TV...DH and I are watching Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power on Amazon Prime. We both are really enjoying it. It's funny and beautiful. 

We also binge-watched One of Us Is Lying on Peacock a couple of weeks ago when we were recovering from our Covid booster jabs...silly but addicting. He said he would NOT be watching season two with me when it drops later this month...ha ha!

I finally finished Shining Girls on Apple TV+. That was a difficult one to get through. It's very dark with really no light until the actual final episode and not much is revealed but why or how with the fantastical elements. So while a quality series, I don't think I'd actually recommend it.

I've started Yellowjackets (Showtime), Dexter: New Blood (Showtime), and Interview with the Vampire (AMC+).

And of course all my cooking shows for Halloween are back on...Halloween Wars, The Great British Baking Show (Netflix), etc.

I'm also looking forward to The Midnight Club which drops later this month on Netflix. It's by Mike Flanagan who did The Haunting of Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass, and Hush. He also did Oculus...which scared me silly when I first watched it. Love everything he does.

Movies...The Northman: Watched with DH. I really liked this one. A lot more than I thought I would. Great storytelling, acting, action. Very impressive.

Hell House LLC II: The Abaddon Hotel and Hell House III: Lake of Fire. The original Hell House went kind of viral and that was one creepy movie! I had a few nightmares from that one. Two was terrible and the third one wrapped it all up in nice paper bow. But it had some good scares. Watched the whole series with G. He really liked them!

The Boy Behind the Door (Shudder). This was a fun surprise. Two tween boys are kidnapped. And it's up to one to rescue his friend and outsmart the kidnappers. Very intense but it ends well!

Nope. I was really looking forward to watching this after loving Jordan Peele's first two horror movies. But meh. I wasn't overly impressed. It was pretty. The cinematography is amazing. But the story was all over the place, messy. And only one cheap jump scare...

Lou (Netflix). This was a fun one! Allison Janney kicks booty and the story has layers. Pretty tight pacing. It was dark, though. Kind of hard to see what was going on half the time. Why can she kick booty? Who's the prey and who's the hunter?

Sissy (Shudder). Yes, to this movie. Bloody and twisted. Great new horror. An influencer runs into her old friend at the drug store and is invited to her bachelorette party weekend...is she an old friend cuz she was also her tormenter? 

Yes, most of my movies are of the horror variety! Tis the season!

I hope to see Barbarian and Smile this month!