Day 62 (plus three book reviews)

Today is day 62 of quarantine/since I was ordered to work from home.

That's just over two months for those of you that math is not your strong suit.

Some thoughts:

• 62 days is a LONG time to stay at home with only short trips to the grocery store and the pharmacy. I mean, a LONG time.
• I will be working from home for at least another 48 days. Over ONE HUNDRED days.
• Even though I'm an introvert, I miss being around co-workers.
• We/I have done some really fun Zoom/Google Hangout happy hours and I have gotten to "see" people I wouldn't see even if there was no pandemic!
• I have pretty much stopped watching TV. (Odd since my last posts were about binge-watching shows.) Call the Midwife makes me cry during every episode and I'm not in a place where I can handle that right now. (If you do need a good cry, I can certainly recommend some episodes.) John and I started watching Killing Eve on Hulu which was great at first and then you know what? I got tired of seeing multiple people getting killed in each episode. (Go figure.) I need a comedy that will make me LAUGH. 
• We have been getting creative in the kitchen with drinks and food- I'm hoping to share some of those soon.
• The weather is SLOWLY getting nicer here in New England, although John informed me that overnight recently we broke a 100 year record for coldest temperature on that day. 
• I have been slacking on the physical activity side of things. We walked today but hadn't the past few days. 

So, all this to say that I'm surviving. Some days are better than others (as has been the case since the beginning of this pandemic.).  I hope you're surviving, too. As difficult as it is to sometimes see out of the rabbit hole, we will emerge...slowly.

And here are some book reviews, because what else is there to do besides read? (We are out of puzzles!)

Book #18 of 2020: A Bend In the Stars by Rachel Barenbaum

Summary: WWI-era novel and epic love story of a brilliant young doctor who races against Einstein to solve one of the universe's great mysteries

Rating: B-. I started this before the pandemic, read 50 pages and thought I would NOT pick it up again. Once the library closed and I knew I'd have the book for an extended period of time, I decided to give it another try. Once I pushed past the first 50 pages it got a lot better! The timeframe/setting was fascinating and it was well-written historical fiction.

Book #19 of 2020: Grown Ups by Marian Keyes

Summary: They're a glamorous family, the Caseys. Johnny Casey, his two brothers Ed and Liam, their beautiful, talented wives and all their kids spend a lot of time together--birthday parties, anniversary celebrations, weekends away. And they're a happy family. Johnny's wife, Jessie--who has the most money--insists on it. Under the surface, though, conditions are murkier. While some people clash, other people like each other far too much...

Rating: B+. Marian Keyes is easily my favorite author ever. While this book was good, it wasn't her best by any stretch. I did LOL once (which is my gauge for how funny her books are) but I usually LOL repeatedly. However, as always, I will wait faithfully for her next book.

Book #20 of 2020: Death Comes In Through the Kitchen by Teresa Dovalpage

Summary: Set in Havana during the Black Spring of 2003, a charming but poison-laced culinary mystery reveals the darker side of the modern Revolution.

Rating: F. I found this book at work way back when. I can now see why it was abandoned. It was awful. The characters were completely unrelateable/unbelievable. I thought maybe the recipes would be the saving grace but they were not. At all. If you see this book, run fast the other way.