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Author: jehdld

Stuff I’ve Been Reading And Watching

Blog365 Books and TV Shows 4 Comments

Did I mention I seemed to have lost my blogging mojo? I do have some mojito mint, haven’t lost that. Yet. We are under a freeze advisory for tonight (I can’t remember the last time it felt this cold this late in April).

Anyway, I did promise a post a few days back about what I’ve been reading and watching so here it is.

Reading

I really need to be doing more of this! If you want to follow along with what I’m reading, I do have a Goodreads profile. Usually don’t write too many book reviews unless I absolutely love or hate a book. And I tend to be generous with my star ratings.

Lately, I’ve been on a Chris Pavone kick. Honestly, I’m not sure why. His books aren’t all that great but they do entertain me. Something about them is just complicated enough I can’t breeze through them. That said I sometimes skip big chunks of them as well. Not a great endorsement and yet here I am currently reading his book titled The Travelers.

Just finished one called Finders Keepers by Stephen King, well-written as always. This is the second in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy. So far these books are more real world type scary than monster under the bed type scary.

When I need a light escape type reading, I turn to Donna Ashcroft, Daisy James, or Alison Sherlock. And Alison Sherlock’s new series start Heading Home To Lavender Cottage did not disappoint me. I’m ready to move to the Cranbridge/Cranfield area.

TV, Too Much

Been watching too much tv lately. I go through spells. Hardly watch it and then, THEN. So much viewing. Too much viewing. Doesn’t help that we have too many streaming services! So, that’s how I’m dividing things.

Sort Of Regular TV

Regular TV: Masked Singer always, Next Level Chef, most of the time, and Just Call Me Kat, The Voice, FBI, and Animal Control, when I happen to catch them

Peacock App: My husband and I have been watching Top Chef, season 20 and Last Chance Kitchen. I’m enjoying this season as it’s chefs from around the world. He also watched  Cocaine Bear on there. I caught the very end. (We also watch Saturday Night Live on this sometime on Sundays as we can rarely stay awake long enough on Saturday nights)

Streaming Services I Watch Rarely

AMC+: Decided I was ready to face the zombies again. Over the past 2 days, I binge-watched Walking Dead, The World Beyond. (Direct quote from our house: I can call my show stupid, but you can’t call my show stupid while I’m watching it!). Also watched a short one called Fear The Walking Dead: Dead in the Water. I think it would’ve made a better prequel series than the actual Fear The Walking Dead. (Still need to catch up on that one)

Discovery+: (Have you heard they are merging this with HBO max? And renaming it MAX? Bad marketing name but I’m excited to have one less streaming service to worry with). Each Monday, I watch The Spring Baking Championship on this one. And last night I started watching one called Ciao House.

Regular Streaming Services

Netflix: We recently watched both Night Agent and The Recruit. Good fairly short bingeable tv shows. Husband liked Night Agent better but I preferred The Recruit. 

HBOmax: My one episode a week of the David Tennant series of Dr. Who, I’m up to Martha Jones as his companion. And I’m excited that my favorite dark comedy has finally returned for its season 4, Barry. It’s so good but definitely not for kids!

Apple TV plus: Ted Lasso, of course! And then, I’ve watched the Tetris movie, so good. Highly recommend for any gamers but even as a non-gamer I really enjoyed it. The Big Door Prize is different, a bit more drama than comedy or rather perhaps it needs its own absurd category. Also, watching Shrinking a bit, struggling to get into it. And finally, I started watching The Last Thing He Told Me. Read the book a while back and loved it. So far, the show is true to the book so very good. And I’m waiting for the release of Lessons in Chemistry, another show from a book I read and absolutely loved.

Today, since it’s a bit too cold to do outdoor things, I’m probably going to watch the Ghosted movie on there although I think it looks a bit dumb.

Oh how I need the weather to turn warm and sunny again!

Have you read/watched anything interesting lately?

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No Mojo

Blog365 2 Comments

Seem to have lost my blogging mojo a bit. And missed another day in the Blog365 challenge. So, here’s yet another place holder on a missed day. Hoping I get it back this week!

Orange Tulip Obsession

Blog365 Just Photos 6 Comments

Almost forgot to post tonight!

Not too much to share so I’ll just let you enjoy some photos from my orange tulip obsession.

Look, do you see the mini tulips that sprang up? Little unexpected baby orange tulips!

A look inside a regular opened tulip.

And then, I noticed this double tulip (sure there’s a more official name but I have no idea what it is).

It’s supposed to storm overnight with a wind advisory. I sure hope my orange tulips are still there in the morning.

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Mostly An Outdoor Day

Blog365 2 Comments

Today I had mostly an outdoor day. And it shows in the house. So, I’m just sharing outside pictures in this post!

Went to Menards early this morning. Best time to go before it gets busy. Really, if I don’t get there by about 10a.m., I save it for another day. Needed birdseed and a few flowers. Tried to control myself. Was excited to pick up some violas on clearance for $1 though! Fill a giant flower pot of mine for just $5. Sounds good.

Outdoor Time

At home, I spent time hard raking the garden. No idea if that’s the proper technical term or not. However, it’s a lot more flat now. It was so hilly and uneven after we rototilled it a couple weeks back. Ready for planting now.

Planted my new Bleeding Heart plant (I buy one a year for filling up a garden space in our backyard). And my two additional sweet William, wild blue phlox plants. Love the smell of it. Realized that really I should be planting it closer to the deck. Ah, an idea for a new garden space!

Moved round to the front to fill in the large flower pot plus ponder a few herbs I bought yesterday. Is it me or has the price of garden herb starts increased? Still waiting on my favorite garden store for most of those. Added lemon verbena and mojito mint to the back deck rail. And just set a rosemary and lavender in my big front porch pot. Plus added another lemon verbena to my herb wall in front of the porch. Just starting that project.

Driving Lesson Time

After lunch, I took J for another driving lesson. He did pretty good. Just had to remind him once that we weren’t in the UK and maybe to drive on the right side of the road, ha! Then, we tackled a few busier roads complete with waiting for a train. While he did good, I’m not saying I didn’t come home and take some deep sniffs of the lavender and rosemary.

Dinner Time and Then, Bunco

Now, it’s taco time and then, I’m off to Bunco for the night. Just wanted to get a quick post in for the day.

What are you up to on this lovely Tuesday?

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Happy Homemaker Monday

Blog365 HappyHomemakerMonday 12 Comments

Ever have those weeks where you have lots to do but just don’t do any of it? That was me last week. Sometimes you just need to give yourself a break.

Now it’s a new week with an old and new to do list. Time to get it planned by joining in the weekly link up hosted by Sandra over at Diary Of A Stay At Home Mom.

The Weather 

We had some 80 degree days last week, then April Fools! It was suddenly cold again over the weekend. Really, just back to normal but 50’s feel cold after the 80’s. And it did drop down enough overnight that I had to bring in my hibiscus. We did get a bit of much needed rain, so that was nice. Right now it’s currently 48 and sunny. Supposed to warm back up the next two days, then drop again with a chance of rain Thursday and Friday.

As I Look Outside My Window

I’m in the basement so the ground level window has a privacy film. However, the sun is strongly streaming through it.

Right Now

I just returned from the grocery store, put away the groceries, ate breakfast, and am working on this post.

Thinking And Pondering

Ever read something and just have a light bulb moment?

I get a weekend favorites email from Courtney over at Be More With Less. In one of the links this week was this article about the rule of five for eliminating kitchen clutter. As someone who gets easily overwhelmed with too many choices, this article just spoke to me. And I applied it to my grocery shopping this morning. Really helped me in not overbuying, I’ve been working really hard to get out of that pandemic shopping mindset. My magic number was 3 this week. Three fruit choices, three veggie choices, three snack choices (for the kids and maybe me), etc.

On My Bedside Table

Lamp, two chargers. My husband was charging some type of work light on it yesterday. Need to get rid of the extra charger.

Listening To

Cat is down here sleeping and I can hear her snoring!

On My Reading Pile

Just finished one called The Accident by Chris Pavone. It didn’t do much for me, way too many points of view in the story telling. And I’ve just started Finders Keepers by Stephen King, the second one in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy.

On My TV Today

If I do find a few minutes for tv today, I’ll either watch my one episode of Dr. Who for the week, The Spring Baking Championship, or the first episode of Barry, season 4.

On The Lunch Plate

Undecided but 3 choices: leftover spaghetti (might make into a meatball sub), leftover ribs (probably not), or ham/cheese sandwich.

On The Dinner Plate

Not my favorite but I have potatoes I need to use up: chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes

On My Menu This Week

Pretty standard fare for us this time.

MONDAY: chicken and noodles, mashed potatoes *J has a lesson at 6:30*

TUESDAY: tacos *I have bunco at 7*

WEDNESDAY: Roast in the crock pot *I work 12-4*

THURSDAY: Teriyaki shrimp and rice (don’t get excited, I’m pouring a jar of teriyaki sauce over some frozen shrimp) *I work 8:15-4:45*

FRIDAY: Leftovers, OUT, or frozen pizza *I work 8:15-4:45*

On My To Do List

Everything from last week.

  1. Pay bills
  2. Grocery store *DONE*
  3. Laundry is mostly done
  4. Bit of housecleaning
  5. Figure out J’s graduation stuff
  6. Take J to practice driving
  7. Work
  8. Call my brother
  9. Add some more flowers/plant some seeds in the garden
  10. All the things I’m forgetting

Plans This Week

Bunco on Tuesday night, yardwork, some clutter clear out, take some old electronics to a local recycle event on Saturday, and maybe make some clear out the pantry cookie dough and throw it in the freezer

What I’m Creating

Need to get started on my new diamond painting, still thinking about the garden flowers for on the front porch and the area beside it.

Simple Pleasure

Having fresh air come in the open the windows.

 

Looking Around The House

See item #4 on the to do list.

From The Camera

I’ve been a bit obsessed with the orange tulips.

On My Prayer List

My sister-in-law (still need to call brother and see how things went), the homeless, friends, other family, strangers, that everything is set for J to graduate, our country, the world, peace and kindness to prevail.

Quote For The Week

Stay close to people who feel like sunlight. (Xan Oku)

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Day 107/365

 

New Week

Blog365 Just Photos 5 Comments

Almost missed posting today. Only going to share a couple of photos as it’s already 9p.m. and close to bedtime.

It’s a new week with new possibilities!

I’ll be back tomorrow for a proper posting on Happy Homemaker Monday.

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Day 106/365

 

Hawk Versus Rabbit

Blog365 2 Comments

Earlier today, I was outside taking a few photos between the rain showers.

When I saw a hawk fly into the neighbor’s tree across the street. I was using my zoom lens trying to see what kind of hawk I noticed as it looked small.

And suddenly, this happened:

Down he swooped, aiming for a rabbit. Who thankfully, avoided it. This is right after the hawk attempted to have him for dinner.

I know hawks need to eat. However, I really didn’t want to watch him have rabbit stew today.

By the way, I’m fairly certain despite the grainy photos that is was a young Cooper’s Hawk.

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day 105/365

 

Today I Learned

Blog365 3 Comments

Today was a work day. Sometimes we teach the kids things. And sometimes the kids (and/or their parents) teach us things.

It was share day today for the letter sound of “v.” Saw lots of vegetables (real and fake) and oh so many velociraptor toy dinosaurs. However, the coolest item of the day was by far the “venomous” scorpion.

They found it in their basement. And not the first one, they said! Yikes. This one was rather small, thank goodness. Here’s a photo of what I’m guessing is an adult one from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

So today I learned we have scorpions in Missouri. I had no idea. Only one kind, a striped bark scorpion. It’s the first time I’ve ever seen one. You can read more about these “lovely” creatures here if you’re interested.

Hopefully, I don’t find any at my house.  Do you have scorpions in your area?

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Day 104/365

 

 

 

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