A Surprisingly Productive Sunday

 

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I blogged not that long ago about Sunday Scaries and how I mourn the end of the weekend. This generally means I am NOT productive at all on Sundays. I tend to sleep late, do laundry, watch sports, and read (which in turn means napping.)

Not today!

I had a really busy day yesterday with several stops on my shopping trip, so I figured it'd be another lazy Sunday. While I did sleep in late, I've been productive since I got up!

I have the laundry train going, which is not unusual, but I've also cleaned almost all of the files off the hard drive of my old work computer (which has been haunting me for weeks.) I can finally bring the old laptop back to the office and stop being harangued by Help Desk! 😜

I worked on our living room, which has been the dumping ground for the yard sale that never happened due to COVID. (Yes, we've had piles in our living room for a year or so.) I've got things to donate and things which I'd like to try to get some money for at a yard sale or online.

I worked on the built-ins. I think I've said this before, but I have this issue where I want everything to be perfect so that essentially holds me back from decorating because, well, I'm waiting for the perfect picture frame or the perfect fake succulent. I am trying to push past that. I have three openings filled to my satisfaction (for the most part...LOL).

I also started organizing the unfinished portion of our basement. I need some serious "get up & go" to do that. I look at the towering piles of Rubbermaid buckets and think of all the paper that needs to be gone through, shredded, organized, etc... and I want to run. Hopefully we're not the only ones with some serious "stuff" in the basement.

Grace & I started Buffalo Chicken Crockpot Dip for our dinner tonight (we are doing appetizers). We use a simple recipe- cream cheese, hot sauce, ranch dressing. Heat on low for two hours. Put shredded rotisserie chicken in and heat on low for another hour. Voila.

AND I'm writing a blog post. I would definitely call this a surprisingly productive Sunday.

What are you up to on this Sunday?

BOOK REVIEWS 2021

Book #17: The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag by Alan Bradley

Summary: Second in the Flavia de Luce mystery series, a travelling puppet show arrives in the sleepy village of Bishop's Lacey - and a shocking murder takes place. For eleven-year-old Flavia de Luce, the crime will test her precocious powers of deduction to the limit - particularly when she discovers that the murder echoes a tragedy which occurred many years before...

Rating: A+. I LOVE this series. I thought maybe the first book in the series might be a fluke success, but nope- this is great. Flavia is endearing, funny, smart- you name it!

Book #18: Census by Jesse Ball

Summary: A father and son who are census takers journey across a nameless country from the town of A to the town of Z in the wake of the father's fatal diagnosis. Knowing that his time is menacingly short, the father takes his son, who has a disability and requires close and constant adult guidance, on this trip of indefinite length. Their feelings for each other are challenged and bolstered as they move in and out of a variety of homes, meeting a variety of different people. Census is about the ways in which people react to the son's condition, to the son as a person in the world. It is about discrimination and acceptance, kindness and art, education and love. 

Rating: B. I was interested in this book because the author based this fictional account on his personal life. He had a brother with Down syndrome who passed away at a young age, but he had all of these feelings about that relationship that he wanted to share and this was his venue. The census taking part was a bit weird, however (actually marking people's bodies as part of it), so while I liked it, I didn't love it.

Book #19: The Betel Nut Tree Mystery by Ovidia Yu

Summary: The second novel in Ovidia Yu's delightfully charming crime series set in 1930s Singapore, featuring amateur sleuth Su Lin. Singapore is agog with the news of King Edward VIII's abdication to marry American heiress Wallis Simpson. Chen Su Lin, now Chief Inspector Le Froy's secretarial assistant in Singapore's newly formed detective unit, still dreams of becoming a journalist and hopes to cover the story when the Hon Victor Glossop announces he is marrying an American widow of his own, Mrs Nicole Covington, in the Colony. But things go horribly wrong when Victor Glossop is found dead, his body covered in bizarre symbols and soaked in betel nut juice.

Rating: A-. Similar to the Flavia de Luce series mentioned above, this is a mystery series with a young female main character and I love it. Su Lin is sharp and Yu's writing style makes me want to read all I can about her life in Singapore. The Betel Nut juice is an odd-ish thing (maybe just to Americans.)

Book #20: Frontier Follies by Ree Drummond

Summary: This is an essay collection covering Ree's life from marriage to motherhood to stardom as The Pioneer Woman.

Rating: B. I've enjoyed Ree's previous memoirs but this I found to be somewhat bland. I did enjoy the story she shared when tourists got lost on the ranch and ended up at Ree's house instead of the lodge where filming takes place. She was alone in the house taking a bath. And the tourists walked into the house. 😂

Book #21: Murder in Old Bombay by Nev March

Summary: In 1892, Bombay is the center of British India. Nearby, Captain Jim Agnihotri lies in Poona military hospital recovering from a skirmish on the wild northern frontier, with little to do but re-read the tales of his idol, Sherlock Holmes, and browse the daily papers. The case that catches Captain Jim's attention is being called the crime of the century: Two women fell from the busy university’s clock tower in broad daylight. Moved by Adi, the widower of one of the victims — his certainty that his wife and sister did not commit suicide — Captain Jim approaches the Parsee family and is hired to investigate what happened that terrible afternoon. But in a land of divided loyalties, asking questions is dangerous. Captain Jim's investigation disturbs the shadows that seem to follow the Framji family and triggers an ominous chain of events. And when lively Lady Diana Framji joins the hunt for her sisters’ attackers, Captain Jim’s heart isn’t safe, either.

Rating: C+. I REALLY wanted to like this book more. I love this time period/geographic location, so had very high hopes for it. It was too long. Too much minutiae. Blah.

Saturday Snippets

Those of you who know me, know I hate getting up early. PERIOD. (And I REALLY hate it on a weekend.)

But getting up early today was for a good cause- I got my first COVID vaccine! A friend of mine tipped me off to a local clinic that had several appointment openings and I was able to snag one. (Thanks Annie!)

The process was fairly seamless. I got the appointment online and registered online. Funny/weird-related story: in my haste to make sure I'd get one of the open appointments, I was somewhat typing haphazardly in the information form. There was a "Preferred Name" field and somehow (autofill?) Richard ended up there. Which is weird...because it's my Dad's name. (I had visions of getting to the clinic and them calling "Richard" and me thinking- is that me? Is that the guy next to me?) Thankfully, the preferred name never came into play.

I arrived at the clinic and got in the line which was outside, but moved fairly quickly. Once inside, I was asked if I pre-registered and sent to a check-in station. The woman checked me in and scheduled me for my second vaccine. 

Next, it was "have a seat and roll up your sleeve." I was asked a series of questions about allergies and then "take a deep breath." I'd say it was only a smidge more painful than a flu shot. It was a pediatric clinic so I had the honor of getting a My Little Pony bandaid. 😉

I was then directed to another station where my vaccine card was filled out and I was told to sit in chair #10. They set a timer for 15 minutes and when that was up, came to make sure I was feeling OK (I was), handed me my card, and I was on my way.

Since I was in an area that I don't normally go to, I decided to do some errands. While driving, I felt a few tiny stings/sharp pains in my shoulder and I felt a bit woozy, but part of me thinks there's some psychosomatics at play there.

I needed to return something at Eddie Bauer but since it wasn't open and since Whole Foods is in the same plaza and didn't look ridiculously crowded, I decided to pop in there. I haven't been in Whole Foods in maybe three-ish years? And now I remember why. I walked throughout the store with a carriage in the hopes of finding some fun foods that I can't get at my local grocery store. I did find some, but I'd forgotten how ridiculously expensive it is. Needless to say, I walked out empty handed.

I did my return at Eddie Bauer (the lone employee came out of the back without a mask on, but we'll just gloss over that) and then hit Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's is much more my speed price-wise. I got some great frozen items (swordfish!) and some treats for John. 

Came home, had lunch, and then went "regular" grocery shopping. I took Grace (my stepdaughter with me.) It was the first time in over a year that she'd been in a grocery store. Needless to say, she was thrilled. Trips to the grocery store don't do the same for me, but whatever... She did really well and kept her mask on the whole time. I asked her if it felt weird and she said yes. (She has Down syndrome, so it's tough to know what she's thinking.)

After unloading the groceries, I decided to do this:

Here I sit blogging, enjoying the view and the sun. It's an absolutely gorgeous day in New England and it feels like we are FINALLY out of winter (and yes, it is April....)

Before I go, two plugs for your viewing pleasure. 

Last night we started watching This Is a Robbery on Netflix about the 1990 robbery of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The Gardner is perhaps my favorite spot in Boston and I remember when the heist happened. We're only two episodes in, but so far we like it! 

We won't be watching it tonight, though, because it's the Frozen Four Championship game! I had North Dakota in my bracket to win it all, but they were booted out early on. We are rooting for UMASS for many reasons. It's a local school and they overcame adversity (COVID protocol) to win the semifinal game against Minnesota Duluth. They lost their top scorer, first string goalie, and third string goalie. (The equipment manager ended up being the emergency backup!)  They ended up winning in overtime, which was a thriller. Also, my uncle has done color commentary for UMASS hockey on the radio for over 20 years. Winning this would be a big thrill for him after all of these years. GO MINUTEMEN!

BOOK REVIEWS 2021

Book #13: The Portion Teller by Lisa R. Young

Summary: In The Portion Teller, you’ll develop portion-size awareness and learn how to lose weight without weighing food or counting calories. Using simple visuals such as a deck of cards, a yo-yo, a baseball, and even your own hand, you’ll find out what a serving size is supposed to look like and how many servings you can eat per day from each food group. The visuals are easy to use: If your piece of salmon at dinner is about the size of three decks of cards, you’ve eaten all your meat and fish servings for the day.

Rating: D. This was all repeat information for me (which I should have known going in). I've done Weight Watchers and that also teaches you portion size, so nothing new. She preaches about the visual aide of a portion size, i.e., eat something the size of a deck of cards. My mind doesn't work like that, so it wasn't overly helpful to me. There was a timeline of fast food/restaurant changes that was some semi-interesting.

Book #14: Anxious People by Fredrik Backman

Summary: Viewing an apartment normally doesn’t turn into a life-or-death situation, but this particular open house becomes just that when a failed bank robber bursts in and takes everyone in the apartment hostage. As the pressure mounts, the eight strangers begin slowly opening up to one another and reveal long-hidden truths.

Rating: B-. I didn't like this as much as I liked Beartown and A Man Called Ove. I felt like this book specifically was similar to Amy Sherman Palladino's writing (Gilmore Girls, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), but in a slightly annoying way. Punchy. No breather. By the end of the book I was kind of over that style of dialogue (which is odd since I love both of the shows I mentioned.) 

Book #15: The Wonder Boy of Whistle Stop by Fannie Flagg

Summary: Does this really need a summary? Welcome to Whistle Stop in the current day (with flashbacks, of course.)

Rating: A. I loved this. I love Flagg's writing style and sense of humor. It was a light book in an often heavy world. (Don't take as long next time to write another book Fannie Flagg!)

Book #16: Becoming by Michelle Obama

Summary: Becoming is the memoir of former First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, published in 2018.

Rating: A-. As a friend said to me- I felt like I should've liked this more. I was not at all interested in the pre-Barack story of her life (not sure why?), but once she met Barack, I was interested. She clearly did not want to be involved in politics, at all (and I felt like this book was her way of saying, "I did it, but I hated it.) The time when she and her family were living in the White House was of the most interest to me, as I've always been intrigued by it (and never been inside!)