It’s Monday & It Snowed in Southern California

In case you missed it, it snowed in California this weekend and, more specifically, it snowed in Southern California. I got several texts asking me if it was snowing where I lived, and my answer to each was no. Because I did not see the snow. I saw the hail, I saw the rain, but I did not see the snow. If it did snow where I lived, it was before I woke up.

My mother called me and asked if I was sure I lived in Southern California because all of her weather sources were telling her snow, but I was not. So, yes, my mother thought I was LYING to her because I wasn’t filming snow from my patio door. (This is mostly a joke.)

Group text was lit, tho.

a picture of a group text exchange

Text from the photo says:

[picture of snowy landscape with a link title “Desert snow: Rare snowfall accumulates in Palm Springs during SoCal storm

Person 1: This is wild.

Me: Welp. It’s the end times

Me: Nice knowing you all

Me: We’ll see which of us gets left behind shortly, I guess

Also, I know it’s feeling real fifth season-y, but it has snowed in Los Angeles before.

So maybe the end is only a little near.

I also read some books since my last post:

Continue reading “It’s Monday & It Snowed in Southern California”

It’s Monday and I have given up

To wit, this exchange I had with a friend on Friday:

Me: I’m trying to get it together over here

Her: I’ve given up hope of ever getting it together

Me: I need to do this. I was almost to the gym before I realized I left my headphones at home which meant I had to do my workout in silence like some kind of animal–a dolphin perhaps? Or a gym rat
Then when I changed out of my swimsuit I discovered I left my bra at home.

text from image

Also, to continue last week’s trend, I got to two places early this past week only to wind up late because of parking. Again. So, yes, I have given up on ever getting ahead this month. You win these first three weeks, January. I’m just keeping my head above water and making a wave when I can here for the rest of the month now.

Still, I managed to finish two books this week:

Continue reading “It’s Monday and I have given up”

It’s Monday and I read 50 books last year

Therefore, I have decided to set my Goodreads goal for next year at 52 books. We’ll see how it goes. Also, watch this space for the traditional end of year book survey.

I hope everyone’s new year is off to a stellar start. Mine is not so much because I had an opportunity to swim with the manatees but skipped it because of ~lady problems~ and later had regrets and then I found out that I didn’t get accepted into the Everglades fellowship I wanted, which is a total bummer. Also, I think my daughter is mad at me.

That said, I had a great New Year’s Eve and Day as we took it totally easy. My daughter was able to spend the time with us because she didn’t have to work and because my friend’s mom is here, we partook of some Brazilian NYE traditions like making wishes on grapes, wearing white, and some other stuff I can’t remember right now. We also went and got cookies from Insomnia Cookies (new FL fave? Maybe). And then yesterday we watched My Cousin Vinny, which is always a good time.

So I guess technically my year is off to a good start, but today was a mixed bag.

Onto the weekly wrap-up.

Continue reading “It’s Monday and I read 50 books last year”

It’s Monday and I was very into spoofs this week

Spoof! Spoof! Spoof! Say it enough times and it doesn’t even feel like a word anymore.

Hello. Tomorrow, I go back into the classroom for the first time since the pandemic started. I’m thinking of putting this up on the board to welcome the students.

THE GOOD PLACE — “Everything Is Fine” Episode 101– Pictured: Kristen Bell as Eleanor — (Photo by: Justin Lubin/NBC)

Too on the nose?

Continue reading “It’s Monday and I was very into spoofs this week”

#AMonthofFaves 2021: Popular Books Worth the Hype

Today’s prompt is pretty self-evident, so let’s get into it.

Continue reading “#AMonthofFaves 2021: Popular Books Worth the Hype”

G is for Giant Days #AtoZChallenge #PandemicAlphabet

If you’re looking for a lighthearted series to take you through the pandemic, may I suggest Giant Days by John Allison?

It’s a comic book series that has also been conveniently packaged into fourteen multi-issue volumes plus two bonus collections. (There are also three novelizations, but I haven’t read them so will not be discussing them.) I don’t know about you, but sometimes words words words on a page are too much so I like to turn to graphic novels because the pictures give me something else to look at and I still get to read. It’s win-win, especially when the illustrations are engaging, fun, and include sight gags. You know, like the ones in Giant Days (illustrated by Lissa Treiman and Max Sarin).

Continue reading “G is for Giant Days #AtoZChallenge #PandemicAlphabet”

B is for The Baby-Sitters Club #AtoZChallenge #PandemicAlphabet

Just like with yesterday’s post about Anne of Green Gables, you may be wondering if when I say The Baby-Sitters Club is a perfect comfort for these here pandemic times, do I mean the Netflix show that came out last year, the classic book series, or even the graphic novels that were first published in 2006?

And the answer, once again, would be yes. Of course I mean all of those things.

Continue reading “B is for The Baby-Sitters Club #AtoZChallenge #PandemicAlphabet”

It’s Monday and I am on an adult book tear #IMWAYR

My last four books have been for grown ups and I have read only two YA books so far this year (out of ten total books). Who have I become? I don’t even recognize myself anymore.

There’s not much to report around these here parts. I’ve been working and watching TV and that’s about it. I did finish Judas and the Black Messiah this weekend. Oh, and Schitt’s Creek finally but other than that…I got nothing. Okay, that isn’t entirely true, but I am trying this new thing where I don’t cram everything into one blog post a week.

Anyway, here are the two books I read since my last update:

Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

I think what I’m trying to describe is loneliness.

Continue reading “It’s Monday and I am on an adult book tear #IMWAYR”

Five Random Things, Two Random Books

I didn’t post last week because I didn’t finish any books and then about halfway through the week I was like, “Okay, but that has literally never stopped you before???” And I seriously don’t know what I was thinking but it was so ridiculous that I had to tell you all.

I mean, it’s certainly not like other stuff didn’t happen. So here’s a list because honestly my brain is kind of mush.

1. I finally got DDR–yes, Dance Dance Revolution–for my Xbox, so have been playing it almost every day. The thing about DDR is that the songs are the most important and the Xbox has the worst options for songs, I swear. They only have one DDR game with a good tracklist. All of the other ones have weird Japanese songs with NO BEAT. My daughter was watching me play, and I kept missing the arrows and she asked me “Does the pad not work?” and I was like, “No, these dumb songs have no beat.” The proof is that I did just fine on both “Dancing Machine” and “Conga.” So anyway, I need a PlayStation to get a version of the game with a better tracklist.

I did, of course, buy the version with the good tracklist and have been crushing those songs, thank you very much. But only on basic because that’s just who I am.

2. My daughter went back to campus for spring semester. She’s doing well.

Continue reading “Five Random Things, Two Random Books”

Pools, Bees, Good Talk, and The Forty-Year-Old Version

I have taken advantage of the current heat wave to get in the pool the past two days. It has been glorious to do my regular workout before being restricted to not having a workout.

Yeah, I’m working on that.

Anyway, the pool was great! I also learned a lot. For one, I learned that the wireless headphones I got do not like when I get in the pool. They kept crapping out during my workout on Saturday, which is beyond frustrating because I use the music to keep time for my workout. Without the music, I wouldn’t know when to start or stop various parts of my workout and–more importantly–I would get bored and cut my workout short. So, the headphones not working is actually a super not great thing and not just because music is fun. The good news is that my headphones worked better on Sunday, and I honestly do not know what changed. I changed the placement of my phone, but I had done that on Saturday with no luck so, sigh. The headphones are a fickle beast. I’ll have to investigate better headphones for when the weather actually breaks because I cannot live this way.

Continue reading “Pools, Bees, Good Talk, and The Forty-Year-Old Version”