Weekly Wrap-Up #51 – January 23rd, 2022

Posted January 23, 2022 by Lisa Mandina in Weekly Wrap Up / 30 Comments

Once again I’ll be linking this up with the Sunday Post (hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer) and with Stacking the Shelves (hosted by Reading Reality).

First off, notice my new header? I love this great new look for my blog from Michelle at Lima Bean Designs. I kept seeing blogs I loved the headers and images on, and noticed that her name was on them, so I reached out and we worked together until she ended up making exactly what I was hoping for! I even have a new button on the sidebar if you want that for any reason. I’m so in love with this image!

Started the week with a nice three day weekend, and then Tuesday was just a work day for teachers since we were at the beginning of a new semester, and the district said teachers could work from home. However I was looking forward to being able to actually do library stuff without interruptions, so I went ahead and went into school on Tuesday. And boy was Tuesday basically hell. The final grades for online students came in through emails throughout the day. I don’t even know if they all arrived, because they hadn’t by the time I had left. Not to mention then I had to start enrolling new students. I also found out through email when I got to school Tuesday that one of the administrators had told two students on Friday that they could have extra time. Well, no one told me, so I couldn’t stop the classes from closing. Not to mention that these students had been enrolled since August, so I’m not sure why two extra days were needed? Especially since I don’t believe either were anywhere close to passing. Ugh.

Wednesday, more of the craziness. However even though I was really tired, I went ahead and met up with a friend at a local Italian restaurant called Lidia’s. It is also Restaurant Week here in Kansas City, and this is the first time I’ve done it, but I went ahead and went with the Restaurant Week menu. The pasta course I forgot to take a picture of, and I was a little unsure of it, but it was so good, I kind of want more! Here are some pictures of my yummy dinner!

Thursday again was busy, hellish. We did get in a new shipment of books, so now I am just working on getting them all into the computer and stamped and ready to put out. I also got a Valentine’s Day display set up. It’s a little early, but I like to put it up for a full month. I’ll take it down right after Valentine’s Day probably.

I also found out Thursday that my step-father’s aunt passed away. She was 97 years old and had a long and wonderful life. My step-dad married my mom when I was like 3 years old, so I’ve always called him dad, even with my real dad being around all the time as well. My step-dad’s family was wonderful, always treated me like one of the family. We called her Aunt Elda, and her house in the small town of Brazilton, Kansas was a true farmhouse. Huge barns and fields where her children worked the land and still do as far as I know, even though she had to move to a retirement home a few years ago. She had big holiday meals there, like Easter or Thanksgiving, and she had everyone sign the tablecloths, and then she would go back and stitch everyone’s signature into them with thread. It was always so neat to see the tablecloths the next year and have memories of any funny little designs or sayings people might have added that related back to past years. She will be missed by so many!

Friday I took a half day. The morning flew by so quickly and I didn’t get half of what I wanted done of course before I had to leave. I had an interview for a library job at another school district, one a little closer to my home. While I don’t think the interview went bad, I just know that I’ve interviewed with this district before, and I just don’t know if I’ll ever be what they want, or better than all the other candidates.

Saturday I just relaxed mostly. Watched the Harry Potter marathon I found on tv, and that was about it.

Books finished

The first one was a short story for a review tour this past week. The second one ended up having it’s pub date pushed back a little, but it worked out okay for me to still fit it in. The third one was also for a blog tour review this past week. The last one is for a book review this coming week.

New Books

Physical books:

Well, I made up for not having any last week. But most of these were ARCs sent to me.

The first one I saw at the Dollar Tree, and it sounds maybe like it could be fun. Have you read it? The second one is one of my favorite reads from last year, I gave in and bought a copy to put on my bookshelf since I’d read an e-galley of it.

So I did get another couple books on Saturday, one from the Dollar Tree, which books there are now $1.25, not just a dollar. Which yeah, still cheap, but what I liked about Dollar Tree is that everything really was $1, or occasionally less. The other book I got at a Five Below store on Saturday. I keep seeing people talk about their love language, and it is one of the tests in the book, so I thought I’d buy it for some fun.

So I’d had an author and a PR company reach out to me about the second book in the series above, but since I hadn’t read the first one, I knew I wouldn’t have time to sign on to get both read. Well, the author was really interested in me reading them I guess, so I negotiated a time I might be able to fit them in and she sent me copies. The second one comes out in March, but I won’t be able to fit them in until April, but look forward to those reviews in the beginning of April.

A surprise box of ARCs arrived this week. The first two I’m excited for! The third one is one that I will look through and consider if it is appropriate for my school library, although I don’t read a lot of nonfiction, so I probably won’t read it cover to cover. I am glad to be notified about it from Sourcebooks though, because it helps me when I’m ordering new books for my school!

Another ARC I got this past week, from Simon & Schuster. Can’t wait to read this one in March!

And on Saturday I got one more ARC from Simon & Schuster. Not a great picture, kind of dark, but I thought it was fitting for that book. Now I need to plan out how to take a better picture for an Instagram post.

Audiobooks:

Well, I ended up not liking from pretty much the beginning another audiobook I’d purchased on Audible, I’ll be doing a DNF review on it soon. But anyway, they let you exchange for a different one. So I went with the third in a series I’ve been loving. The second one sounds like an interesting sci-fi story from one of my newer favorite authors, Erin Mallon. The third one is for another blog tour at the end of February. They don’t have the audiobook cover image that I can share yet, because it has the narrators names on it and that is not going to be revealed just yet!

E-galleys:

The first three are for blog tours at the end of this or beginning of next month. The last one is the third in a series that I missed out on the second blog tour, but I signed up for this one because I loved the first one so much. And yeah, it’s a little bit past Christmas and I normally don’t read holiday books other times of the year, but again, I loved the first one so had to sign up for this.

Free E-books:

I might have gone a little bit overboard again this week. Several are again from signing up for authors’ newsletters. And the middle row contains extras from a recent favorite of mine, Highland Games by Evie Alexander, along with a set from an author that I enjoy her YA books. The bottom row are books I got Friday and Saturday. The last one is by an author I found on TikTok. And when I left a link to my self published novella, she actually went and bought a physical copy of it and showed it off on TikTok! I’m looking forward to her hopefully reading and giving me a review, good or bad! So I went to buy a book of hers off Amazon, and found this one was for free. I downloaded it, but also had to purchase a paperback copy as well which should be arriving soon!

What I’m Watching

Working on learning my new YouTube TV. Continuing my Stranger Things rewatch. Monday I went and saw the new Scream movie. I really liked the first two movies a lot. Named the first dog I got as an adult after the main character, Sidney, although I spelled it Sydney.

Friday night I went to do some more rewatching of either Stranger Things or Outlander, but saw this pop up on Netflix and decided to give it a try. It was definitely interesting! In the information it says it is a building with a demonic cult, but the face I saw in the static in one of the videos looked like an alien to me. So can’t wait to see if this stays good or gets better!

Giveaways to Check Out

How was your week? Did you get any good books? Are you binging any tv series you’d recommend? What are you looking forward to this upcoming week?

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30 responses to “Weekly Wrap-Up #51 – January 23rd, 2022

  1. I just noticed that you probably have red hair like I do. Neat fact, redheads take twice as much pain relief to knock us out. Yay! right! its something in the genes.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Well, let’s just say my red hair is not real, but it’s the color I choose when I go to the hair stylist. lol I always wanted to be a redhead and I feel like my complexion works well with the color.

  2. The first thing I noticed was that banner. It’s fantastic! Sorry for your loss, but you’re right, what a long life your aunt lived. I hope you hear back from the other district. I know things have been a bit much in your new position, but at least you can add some stuff to your resume, right?

    Sam@WLABB recently posted: Sloth Goes Places – Arkansas
  3. I love the new look and recently told my husband would probably reach out and find someone to help me with my design, so I will see the cost, etc, and see if Limabean Designs will work for me. You got a ton of ARC’s at one time. Good luck getting them all read. I hope you enjoy them.

    Cindy Davis recently posted: Song of Silence
    • Lisa Mandina

      The price for what she did was so good! I paid extra above what she asked for because I was so pleased at how easy she was to work with and how much work she did. I highly recommend her! I’ve got all those ARCs on my blogging calendar, so should hopefully get to them all! Thanks for stopping by!

  4. I love the new header and button, Lisa! Michelle does great work, doesn’t she? It sounds like Tuesday was a bit of a nightmare. I am glad you were able to enjoy dinner with your friend, although I was sad to hear about your Aunt Elda’s passing. I am sorry for your loss. I love what she did with the tablecloths! What memories! Your new books look really good, Lisa. I hope you have a great week–hopefully it will be an easier one, even if still busy, at work. Happy reading!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yes, Michelle does great work! I am so in love with my new header and button. So far this week is really busy still, but a little better. Thanks for visiting!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yes, I love my new design. Restaurant week is something I need to participate in more in the future. It was neat to try the menu of things I might not have tried otherwise. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I rewatch them every time there is a marathon on SyFy or any channel. lol. I do need to reread them though. Thanks for visiting!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I think your blog was one that helped me decide to reach out to her because I loved your graphics so much! Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Thanks! I love it! I am going to try again to comment on your post. I tried to earlier, but my comment seemed to just disappear. Thanks for stopping by!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, I’m very excited for Gone Dark. Will be interested to see if we both enjoy it! Thanks for visiting!

  5. Nice new banner! I keep thinking I need to find someone to help me redesign my blog since I’ve zero tech skills. But then I just never get around to it.

    Nice new reads too! All new to me ones but I hope you enjoy them all!

    • Lisa Mandina

      I highly recommend LimaBean Designs. She did such great work, and asked me questions all along the process and changed things that I asked for. And the price can’t be beat! Totally worth it! Thanks for visiting!

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