I thought I'd scour the interwebs for some cute cat Halloween costume pics...
We begin with Murderbot on assignment with a group of humans on a remote planet. She's the Secbot for the group where she runs security and attempts to keep her humans safe...but they find another group that's been murdered and they barely survive and only with Murderbot's help. The thing that no one realizes is that Murderbot has overridden its governor module, so no one can order it to do anything. And yet it finds itself caring about these humans but does not know how to really socialize or interact with them...I can relate...
The next books take us on various missions of Murderbot as it tries to hide from the company that will take it back and scrap it for junk, as well as figure out why it became Murderbot in the first place...
Excellent series and I can't wait for more. Murderbot is anxious, moody, and depressed, yet it cares and keeps going and doing what needs to be done. Should we all be so lucky to have bots like it in our lives.
It has been a really really tough month. I started a new job and three days in my mother passed away unexpectedly, and I got Covid from my son that same day. Needless to say, it has been a very tough few weeks and my posting has been non existent. It was light before with other life stuff (moving) and now it jumped off the cliff. I'm tender and sad but I love the book blogosphere and Cat Thursday makes me laugh and gets me out of my funk.
With the start of a new school year, I figured some cat school memes would be appropriate.
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!
I've been seeing some funny cat-themed comics floating around the Interwebs, so I thought I'd share a few funny ones today. Bored Panda has a whole post on them.
Check them all out! These are so true of my kitties. I'm dying.
How time flies...this summer has been a weird one. Moving really messed with our summer rhythm this year. We have been fixing things up, fixing things that have broken, figuring out how the sprinklers work, how to best mow our lawn that's on very big incline...Plus unpacking and decorating...meeting the neighbors...Our AC unit went out during the big heat wave of over 100 degrees for a few days. I love hiking during the summer and between the long spring and moving...yeah, just didn't happen as a family like we usually do.
But we did make it down to the Shakespearean Festival a few hours south of us with some friends. G performed a shortened version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" in his drama class in May so he was excited to see the full Shakespearean version at the Festival. It was so good. It's the first time any of had been and we weren't disappointed. And we did manage a hike or two while we were down there for the weekend! So one little getaway before G goes back to school...on Monday! He starts high school! 9th grade...how did that happen?!
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| Trail to Thor's Hideout |
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| Thor's throne at the end! |
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| Globe Theater where we saw A Midsummer Night's Dream |
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| Cedar Breaks National Monument in Southern Utah |
We had a really great time on the 4th of July. We did some yardwork in the morning and met some neighbors we hadn't met yet! Dan and Adam showed us the sweet spot behind our houses in the hills where we could see all the fireworks across the valley. It was a beautiful sight and we didn't have to spend a dime!
It's been way too long since I did a Cat Thursday. Whew! Since we just moved we decided to get our cats some new toys. I love watching them play in our new house!
It's been a very Spring. Our town home finally sold end of May and we closed on everything three weeks later. There was also some question of whether we'd get the home we wanted...and lots of other moving related craziness. Moving is hard and I never want to do it again! But we had amazing friends help us get all of our crap moved out and back in and I'm so grateful for them! I really don't know what we would have done. Some of them even put their strong male teenagers to the test! Some drops of blood were drawn but nothing that some ointment and a bandage couldn't fix...whew.
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| View from my bedroom |
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| View of my backyard (needs work but nature!) |
We are only a few miles away from our old place so we can easily have friends over and visit our old neighbors. But we have some amazing views of the valley and mountains. It's so quiet. And our cats love the birds in the backyard and the space. They were a bit hesitant the first week or so but they're getting into the groove of the best spots by the windows and the couches, of course.
We're also still unboxing everything and patching, retouching paint, figuring out sprinklers, where to hang our pictures, how to decorate, and where to put everything....it'll be a work in-progress for awhile. And no HOA here. And a few of the neighbors dropped by to say hi while we were moving in and they all seemed very nice and welcoming.
I even managed to go on a mini wine trip with some friends right before the big move. It was a welcome vacation!
G finished up grade 8 and middle school officially. He'll technically be in high school in the fall! What? He'll still attend 9th at his charter, so there won't be a big difference between last year and this coming year but yeah I can still call him a high schooler....
Oh, and my nephew got married as well! Whew! It was a beautiful ceremony and a beautiful venue. I'm so happy for him and his new wife.
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| Finally bought G a tie! |
Spring is finally in the air here! We took our cats to the park while our we had our open house on Saturday. I think they enjoyed parts of it but it's probably not something we want to do that long again. But it was a gorgeous day and Nala spent most of her time in her tunnel and Shadow enjoyed the tree.
Spring is officially here but is it really here? I'm not so sure...I think the groundhog meant 8 weeks more not 6. Snow flurries were seen by me outside my window this afternoon. At least it's not sticking for very long.
We've been busy with house stuff and DH's birthday. I made beef stew and Irish soda bread for St. Patrick's Day. I hosted an Oscar-viewing party and a friend's birthday party, all-in-one! Oh and more house stuff...
I have not been able to read as much as I would've liked this month. Only two so far but I'm hoping for one or two more by months' end.
A MONTH LATER....
Spring break was spent cleaning and moving and patching but we did manage to see a couple of movies together as a family and I took G bowling with a friend early in the week. Not quite how we wanted to spend it but it is what it is.
G also got visited by the Easter bunny with some cash and jelly beans...plus we did take the time to decorate a few eggs the night before and G even made the crepes all by himself! Also...Moving is hard!
Books Read:
Dawn (Night Trilogy #2) by Elie Wiesel
Thoughts: All of Wiesel's three books are about the hard truths of living after surviving the Holocaust and how it isn't really living. There are no lessons to be learned or easy answers and silver linings. Not easy reads but very powerful.
Thoughts: I loved the way she threaded grief over the death of her loving father and the finding of the love of her life all around the same time. It's truly a beautiful book and one I'll return to again.
Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver
Thoughts: Mary Oliver has a way with words. You can tell she worships Nature and she writes to us because she is a disciple and has much to tell and teach us. I'd like to read one of her books of poetry as well.
A History of Fear by Luke Dumas
Thoughts: This was a fun and quick read about a man who kills a fellow classmate because he says the Devil actually made him do it. It's clever because he's very much an unreliable narrator and so everything is very ambiguous. Is it really Satan? Or is he just a severely mentally ill person who had a psychotic break? And it takes place in Scotland so another bonus.
Don't Fear the Reaper by Stephen Graham Jones
Thoughts: This is the second book in his horror series. I loved the first one but had a harder time with the sequel. I listened to it and that may be why. The narrators jumped around a lot and I think it would have been easier to follow had I read the hard copy. I'm even unsure about the actual ending...I'll probably have to reread it before the final books comes out next year.
Day (Night Trilogy #3) by Elie Wiesel. See Dawn above.
Currently Reading:
Gallant by V.E. Schwab
The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
TV
The Last of Us: (HBO) Fascinating look at mushrooms taking us out in their zombie apocalypse! That finale, whew!
Poker Face (Peacock): Can't wait for season two. Best show for me in a long time!
Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+): I am loving this season. Best Star Trek in a very long time.
Star Trek: TNG (rewatching. Am on season 7 now.)
Star Trek: DS9 (I am watching in tandem with TNG cuz I'm nerding out.)
Perry Mason (HBO): Started season two which is really good.
Oscars: Nothing crazy this year. Pretty nice and mellow.
NCAA men's and women's basketball aka March Madness. I didn't see every game but I saw many and I was not disappointed.
This month is the NBA Playoffs.
Movies
I spent one weekend watching as many of the Oscar movies as I could. The only two I didn't see for Best Picture were Avatar: Way of the Water and All Quiet on the Western Front.
Elvis: Very weird and Bazzy but that was to be expected. I actually really enjoyed it.
Triangle of Sadness: Not my cup of tea. Meh. Rolling of eyes a lot. And that sea sickness scene was just too long.
Women Talking: I enjoyed this a lot more that I expected. I had heard it was really boring or that it felt more like a play. But I didn't feel that way at all while watching. I was intrigued the whole time and it ended up being one of my favorites of the year so far.
The Fabelmans: Interesting take on a fictionalized version of Spielberg's childhood. Seth Rogan was not my favorite in it. I felt he detracted from the story, unfortunately. Overall, it was just OK for me.
The rest of April will be pretty chaotic. Until our house sells we are on notice for a showing anytime during the day and evening...G's final weeks of school are counting down as well....Looking forward to a time when we're in our new home and we can settle down again!
