Weekly Wrap-Up #177 – July 7th, 2024

Posted July 7, 2024 by Lisa Mandina in Weekly Wrap Up / 18 Comments

I’m connecting up once again with Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Sunday was a wonderfully cool day compared to the past week again. The temps were not so bad and there was a nice cool breeze. I got a lot of blogging done, some reading, and laundry. I’m trying out the Bookly app that I saw cool stuff over on J.R.’s Book Reviews. It will probably not have accurate stats for me for a bit since even with transferring my Goodreads data, some books I’d already started, it didn’t show the number of pages already read, so when I first picked them up for a bit, I put the number of pages I got to. I could go back and fix it, but I’m too lazy for that at the moment. We had our first Sunday dinner at my mom’s house since my stepdad passed away in May. It was nice, but kind of weird of course, to not have him there. We did have some letters people wrote with memories of him that we looked at too. I watched The Princess and the Frog since it was on ABC and I’d never seen it. Now that they replaced Splash Mountain with a ride themed around the movie, I figured I should watch it in case I ever go. Plus I’d always wanted to see it.

Monday morning was rainy and another cooler day. My perfect type of morning. I finished up my June Wrap-Up post, and did some other blogging. Called the insurance people and got the next steps for taking care of my shed/tree that fell. Bought tickets to take my stepmom to see the newest Despicable Me movie since her birthday is at the end of June and we love those movies. Plus with my dad’s knee surgery coming up, figured it was better to go ahead and get out to do that sooner rather than later! Went to dinner with my author friend and we just talked as well as discussing some of her upcoming releases. She likes to use me as a sounding board and I like to help out! I’m also helping her with some possible covers to use for a couple romance series she’s got coming out. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep, not sure if it’s because of sleeping late, or the number of Dr. Peppers I had with my dinner.

Tuesday you could tell it was going to be a hot day first thing in the morning. I enjoyed another day of sleeping in too. Got pictures of the tree on my shed sent into the app for my insurance. Supposedly they’ll get estimates and send me a check minus my deductible. I should probably get my own estimates to make sure they give me enough as well. I started reading an ARC from a publisher I hadn’t requested, but wasn’t sure about it, so moved on to the next e-galley on my review list for the week for now. I went and got my nails done with a gift certificate a friend had given me for the salon she goes to. I liked it, will probably go back! Afterwards I had ordered some chicken, eggs, and ground beef from a nearby farm that sold them without all the crazy chemicals and stuff. It was kind of expensive, but I’m giving it a try. Had to go pick that up and brought it home. Had crazy winds and rain in the evening, no damage to my house, but part of the fence at the back of my neighbors’ house came off.

Wednesday was a cloudy morning, but it was warm again. I had a doctor appointment at 9:45 and as usual, it was over an hour before I actually saw the doctor. I think maybe an hour and a half! I did finish the book I had over 50% left of while I was sitting there! I came home for a bit, then went to see the new Despicable Me movie with my dad and stepmom, I took her for her birthday gift since her birthday is later in July. After the movie they took me to dinner and I got to ride in my dad’s new electric Mini-Cooper. Came home afterwards and hung out with the dogs and just relaxed. The mail person never came because I had put something out in my mailbox to be picked up and it never got picked up. Which sucks since it wouldn’t be picked up on Thursday either.

Thursday was an unusual 4th for us. It rained a ton over night! Several inches! But it was perfect for sleeping in. I realized from an email from an author earlier this week that some of her books were supposed to be put in select Little Libraries and there was one nearby where I live. Unfortunately I was probably too many days late as it wasn’t there when I drove over. I did get the patriotic dozen from Duck Donuts to take to my brother’s house for our evening celebration along with making some dips to take. Normally I’d drive by myself, but my mom and I rode together, less cars parked in the neighborhood that way. My niece didn’t have her annual art show as in years past, but they did have past art work and some other crafts available for purchase. We had fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs, lots of different chips and dips, fruit and dips, neapoliton rice krispies and a s’mores snack mix. It was so nice in that it wasn’t unbearably hot for a change. The sun was going down at the right time, and the trees between us and the sun were taller and that helped this year as well. We enjoyed watching my brother set off fireworks, the kids did some sparklers too. For some reason this year though, there seemed to be more debris raining down from the big fireworks on top of us. At one point a huge bug flew into my head and when I knocked him off, he fell to the ground dead. I wonder if some of the debris got him too?

Friday morning was another cooler than normal morning for this time of year. I got to sleep in again, then got up and did a tiny bit of blogging before going with my mom for lunch and to Nebraska Furniture Mart because she wants to get either a smart watch or maybe just a Fitbit. They were getting ready to get new models in I guess, so she is going to wait and see what is coming out for sure. The Samsung’s smallest watch was bigger than she wanted. I mean we have pretty small arms, so that’s one reason I didn’t stay with my Apple watch for very long and went back to my Fitbit. Then I went to my dad and stepmom’s for a cookout with just us in the afternoon. Came home and needed to finish a book that I had to have a review posted on Saturday. The photo collage I ordered as one of the Shutterfly freebies with pictures of my stepdad and me came as well.

Saturday morning I slept in a little later because Argyle had kind of kept me up most of the night. He was acting a bit off, not pottying when we went outside and trying to eat grass. About halfway through the night he did wake me up to go outside and finally did his business. But once I got up I had breakfast, then got dressed to go fill my little gas can so I could mow. Then I got the chicken I’d ordered from the local farm and put it in the crockpot to cook it like I was doing a while ago, but hadn’t for a couple months. I also hard-boiled about half of the eggs. Tried to take a nap in the afternoon, but my dogs don’t let me do that really. If they’re sleeping and I go to sit down with them, all of a sudden they are wide awake. For some reason I wasn’t in the mood to just read all day like I had done the last few days with all my extra time. So I downloaded and started playing a game an author I follow suggested. It’s free for the Switch, and so far I like it, just have to figure out how it all works as I get started. Trying to fuel my desire to play The Sims now that I don’t have that game or a laptop to really play it on anymore.

First was the e-galley I forgot I had and so started reading on Sunday. Review should have been posted this past week. The last two were both e-galleys for blog tours on Friday and Saturday. I’d signed up last minutes for Thank You, Next to help the tour our, but was so glad I did as I read it and fell in love with it!

ARCs:

None

Audiobooks:

Used my Audible credit to get this one.

Bookish Stuff:

None

E-galleys:

None

Free E-books:

The first one was from the author’s newsletter. The rest were free on Amazon.

Physical Books:

I ordered this special edition of Obsidian to pick up at the local B&N and was excited to get this fun special edition hardcover of one of my all time favorite books!

Another favorite author of mine, Amy Daws, had a special edition of Blindsided and she opened up the order first to her influencer/review squad, so I ordered it on either Tuesday or Wednesday and it came already today! Love it with the special slipcover, embossed hardcover, it has plaid on the end of the pages, and then some fun artwork with it.

Also from being a Patreon supporter for Avery Flynn, even on the lower levels, every 4 months I think it is, we get a free book. So that came in the mail on Saturday.

Of course I continued watching My Lady Jane. Sunday night I watched The Princess and the Frog for the first time.

Wednesday I went and saw the new Despicable Me 4. I love the minions so much, they just make me giggle!

First is an ARC I got from the publisher, very excited to read! Second was an advanced copy of the audiobook that I got a bit behind on, but it comes out this week so I’ll be reviewing it. Third is the next book in a series I’ve enjoyed so far. Last is an e-galley from the publisher if I have time to fit it in!

How was your first week of July? Do you celebrate the 4th? If so, did you have a nice time? Do you do fireworks? Or maybe go see larger productions instead of worrying about the safety of people shooting them off at home. I start my last continuing education class this week to get a pay raise. This one is on Chat GPT, so it will be one that I have really not much idea at all about and should learn a ton!

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18 responses to “Weekly Wrap-Up #177 – July 7th, 2024

  1. Sounds like you had a good week overall! Not sweltering temps, good food, family time! Glad this week was nice for you! I haven’t been to a movie in ages. I meant to go see the new Ghostbusters movie, but that didn’t happen. Then I thought I’d go for Inside Out 2, but still nope. I am hoping I can convince someone to go with me to see Beetlejuice 2 in September. Sooo excited for that one! That may be the movie to bring me back to the theaters. I hope at least! Lol.

    Nice new reads! So many new to me ones! I decided to treat myself to a signed copy of the new hardcover Obsidian since I failed to get Apollycon tickets again. Might just be treating myself a lot to her signed books when I see that you can order them from her store. This might be a pricey compromise! Lol. Hope you enjoy all of your lovely new reads!

    Here’s my StS

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower 🙂

    • Lisa Mandina

      I’m limiting myself to just one book in each series, keeping the older ones if they are part of matching sets, lol.

  2. It’s so nice you had a cooler week overall. We just tried to survive the week like every other week since May. My daughter’s migraines still off and on. And of course the weekly breakdown, for another $1000 out the door for the new stove. At least this week will be quieter with less medical appts. We didn’t see any fireworks; we were mostly keeping the dogs calm but they didn’t seem too much here.

    Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

    • Lisa Mandina

      Oh no, I’d hoped her migraines were going away completely! :-(. And yuck for money out the door! I’m hoping that the insurance check will cover everything, since I just want a much smaller shed to keep my mower in, but we’ll see. I was looking at my roof and noticed something that might be getting worse and probably need to have that checked out again. With money I don’t have! Here’s to a less expensive week for us both!

  3. I worked on the fourth and hubby was at his out of the town job so nothing exciting here other then the neighbors constantly being rude shooting off fireworks tell 2 am. Fireworks are banned in my little town but we are right next to an indian reservation so people go and buy the big annoying loud ones there and then shoot them off in town. It rattles the house and since it all random when the big ones goes off i feel like i am having a heart attack they are so nerve racking. I got my banner installed and she sent over the social media icons so i working on trying to get them on my blog but it not as easy as it was to add the banner. As for tv watching i watched the movie on peacock called the bookworrm and the beast it was quite cute. I watched a few epsidoes of lady jane and then binged a few of pretty little liars i think i am getting to the final season for that. I am all caught up on when calls the heart so i just have heartland left to get updated on. Hope you have a great week.

    Jan farnworth recently posted: Sunday Post 634: Fourth of July Week
    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, adding other images can be harder sometimes on your blog! I still deal with mine and I messed up my whole format earlier this year and can’t remember the settings to get it back. Oh well. I’ve got that movie saved to try to watch now that you said it was good.

  4. I used the Bookly app for a little over a year. I liked it, but decided I like StoryGraph better. I hope you like Bookly and find it useful.

    The collage of you and your stepdad is nice. I hope it helps you remember good memories of him. First after someone passes away are always the hardest. You really feel the loss on those occasions. I hope you and your family are hanging in there. *hugs*

    Thanks for stopping by my blog!

    Jenni Elyse recently posted: Sunday News #59
    • Lisa Mandina

      I’m still using StoryGraph too. Trying Bookly for now! Will see which I like better at the end of the year.

    • Lisa Mandina

      I don’t know that I am that into all those details, but it has been fun with StoryGraph to see it and I’ve loved the graphics I’ve seen other bloggers use with Bookly, so had to give it a try!

  5. Great that you had good weather for your 4th of July gathering. Sounds like you had some good food and a nice time spent with your family! Love that copy of Obsidian. Hope all goes well with your shed claim. Have a wonderful week, Lisa!

    Rachel @Waves of Fiction recently posted: Sunday Post #257
    • Lisa Mandina

      Just put in a call to get an estimate on getting the tree removed, we will see how that goes. Still waiting to hear more from the insurance company though!

    • Lisa Mandina

      So many little things my niece always did, but now that she’s 12 and almost a teenager, she’s getting to where she doesn’t always want to do them and it will be sad when they stop completely! Glad you had a nice 4th too! It’s great to have family together. Good luck with the heat, I think we might be getting some of that back this week unfortunately.

  6. Your 4th celebration sounds awesome. We had a big friend/family cookout and just relaxed all afternoon/evening. My daughter and I went to see DM4 on Friday and really liked it. The weekend was fun, as well. We went to Boston and watched some professional lacrosse and I took my daughter college shopping at Target.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Sounds like you had a good week last week too! I’m not ready for back to school shopping, but I know it’s starting!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Sounds like it was a nice week for you. Yeah, too many freebies as I know I probably won’t get to most of them!

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