
I’m connecting up once again with Kimberly at Caffeinated Reviewer. Still loving playing around with Canva! I could do a whole new doxie with their AI feature, but I just can’t seem to give up the cute one that my sister-in-law drew for me. Just finding ways to fit it in with all the fun graphics available on the site.

Slept in on another foggy morning for Sunday. Even if the dogs seemed to wake me up constantly all night. I put together the new ramp I got since I’d noticed Dora having issues with the stair thing I had by the couch in my office/front room. But couldn’t seem to get them to figure out to go up and down, even with the treat attempts! It was actually the first day I think I’d had to just stay home all day. I tried making some marshmallow treats I got a recipe for from an author, just marshmallows, peanut butter, unsalted butter, and butterscotch chips. But I think I did one part of the steps wrong, so while it tasted good, it didn’t set up that nicely. I had the Harry Potter marathon on during the day. No Chiefs football till next Sunday. I did a bunch of blogging!
Monday morning I got up and went with my mom to help her take the Christmas decorations down from her shop/booth at the Painted Tree. We had a quick lunch, then I came home and sat and blogged and read. It was a quiet day around the house. Did a little laundry, ended the evening by rewatching more episodes of Outlander. The dogs enjoyed snuggling under the blankets or on top. Here is my sleepy old man Argyle.

Tuesday morning I got up early. I wanted to go with my mom to her usual weekly breakfast at a local Waffle House that she and my stepdad used to always go to. I’ve gone before but my mom would wait a little later. I got up at 7 am to go. My mom talks with all the people who work there, and even to some of the other regular customers. When she dropped me off back at home though, I went back to bed for an hour or so, lol. Got up and did some blogging. Had lunch, finally made some cookies I’d bought the stuff for last week. In the evening we went to my brother’s house to have dinner. It wasn’t the usual fun “restaurant” set up my niece and nephew had done in the past, but it was still a nice dinner. I had to go back to find pictures of the years we did that to remember, and if you want to see those pictures they are here: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021, and I wasn’t doing regular weekly updates before then, even though we’ve been doing these since my niece was like 5 years old I think? My sister-in-law still made a nice table, and we had steak and potato casserole along with a yummy dessert. I got home around 8:30 and just sat on the couch for a bit, before going to read in bed until around 11 pm. Watched the ball drop in NYC and then went to bed. Although I was woken up around midnight with fireworks from people in the neighborhoods around me.


Wednesday I got to sleep in till 8:30 am. Got up and had some breakfast. Put some chicken in the crockpot with another mix that was a ranch flavor I think, and all it needed extra was a block of cream cheese. Then I went and finished up my December/year end wrap-up post and did some commenting on other blogs. I actually got my Nintendo Switch out and played some Animal Crossing, a little of my Story of Seasons: Pioneers of Olive Town, and a demo of a new game coming called Fae Farm I think? I really kind of wish there was a game just like Farmville for my Switch. I thought about buying the Sims for my Switch, but since it says it is “cozy” and more like Animal Crossing, I decided it wasn’t worth it. My mom and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.
Thursday morning I also got to sleep in. My last morning of break since Friday we have a teacher work day. I ran around and got some errands done. Not as much blogging as I’d hoped. There is a big winter storm coming in this weekend, and so the weather forecasters have begun predicting how much we will get and when exactly it will hit. As of Thursday the reports made it sound like it will be done Sunday night. And I’m figuring that means they’ll be able to get it all cleaned up in time for me to go ahead and go into work on Monday morning. But we’ll see. My mom decided we should go do dinner again because of the upcoming weather. So we went and had Mexican food at our new favorite place that is close by.

Friday morning was sooooooo hard to get up! They did have a nice breakfast for us at school though: fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, donuts, and coffee for those who drink it. The meeting was supposed to start at 7:15 am, but we didn’t actually get started till 7:45. Still it was done by shortly after 8 am though. I spent the day taking down my holiday display and putting up a winter “blues” one where all the books were blue. I also put away all the books I hadn’t had time to get to before break. Did a bunch of laminating. Went to have lunch at a fast food restaurant that is close to my work, but not close to home, Taco John’s, since I figured with the winter storm weather coming this weekend I’ll be eating at home a lot. Everyone at school discussed how much we are hoping the winter storm means no school at least on Monday! My mom made sloppy joes for dinner and then I watched a movie with her. When I got home from her house I was putting my trash out for the next morning and my neighbor’s husband was pulling into their driveway. He told me to let them know if I needed any help with all the snow we’re supposed to get this weekend, which was nice!
Saturday morning I slept in till 8 am. But early in the morning I had woken up to Dora acting like she was going to throw up and then she rolled over and it was like she was having a little seizure maybe? It’s happened at least once before that I can remember. But then I was worried the rest of the morning so at 8 am I just got out of bed. There have been times I’ve come home and she is really slow to get out of the cage, or I’ve woken up at night and she’s on top of the blankets instead of underneath with me and Argyle. So I’m wondering if she has had these when I’m not home. It scares me. She turns 14 this month. She otherwise seems pretty healthy. I ran out to Target to get a few things so I could just hunker down for the weekend if all the bad weather actually comes. Late in the day, early evening, there started to be just a tiny bit of sleet/freezing rain. It made it a little slippery, lots of traffic issues on the news. I made sure to put out some ice melt on the area where I have a few stairs to take the dogs outside. Then I just watched a movie in the evening.
Books Finished



The first and third are e-galleys, one review yesterday and the other this coming Tuesday. Second was a little book I slipped in for my BTB TBR challenge last minute. The review was in the L-L-L Reviews this past week.
New Additions to My Library
ARCs:

Technically this is a finished copy, yes. But I got it early from the publisher to review, so I’m counting it as an ARC.
Audiobooks:


Got the first one from the library on Libby to listen to for the Read-Along over on Books of My Heart. But I ended up DNFing it on Thursday. I might try reading the book. The second one popped up to be available on Libby the day after I DNfed the other, so I downloaded it to listen to, and was sucked in because I love that author. It is also a possibly Gateway nominee.
Bookish Stuff:
none
E-galleys:
none
Free e-books:








All of these were freebies on Amazon. Lots of holiday reads for next year! The last one was for the First Reads for Prime members, not that I’ve ever gotten to any of those, but it was advertised by the author in their newsletter so I decided to get it.
Physical Books:

I ordered this one basically right after Christmas and it just came today. I probably should have just gone and picked it up at Target instead of ordering, but oh well.
What I’m Watching
Watched the 2nd to last episode of this season of Outlander on Friday. Looks like the last episode doesn’t come out for two weeks though. And oh my gosh, the episode this week is totally leaving us hanging as much or more than when Lord John was taken by the rebels! Of course I also continued all my rewatching of the show when I had extra time. Kept rewatching Lick on Passionflix too so that I could try to help convince them to make the second book into a movie. Really getting into the music from the movie too! And I am totally starting to see the actor playing Mal as Mal, and thinking he will do a great job if they make his movie!
Saturday night I couldn’t decide on anything, as I was scrolling through Prime looking for something free, I found this movie with the actress who played Anya on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I watched it, and actually liked it. Kind of saw the little twist at the end coming, but it was still good. Then I looked and saw it came out in 2010? How did I miss this one?
What’s Coming Up Next Week





Back to school with the kids tomorrow. Ugh. But I guess at least the school year is officially halfway over? I should have a review posting every day this week if I’ve gotten all the books above read in time. The first two were already read, but I am waiting on maybe an interview from the author on the first one before I post it. The fourth one I probably finished up before bed last night. Plus one day is a blitz post.
Final Thoughts
My new monthly giveaway I am making it a big one with 6 winners, to get rid of a TON of the books on my pile. You can enter HERE.
I’m also once again joining into Chapter Break’s Bingo for January. Here is the board for this month!

It was a less busy week than with my sister here, so that was nice, but with having to go back on Friday it really didn’t feel like a full week. Also lots of anticipation on possibly a major winter storm causing us to have no school on Monday, so that was nice?
Did you do anything to celebrate New Year’s Eve? How is the new year starting for you?
Doesn’t sound like too bad of a week. Right now it’s starting to snow a bit and there may have been some sleet as I thought I heard some while I laid in bed after my cold meds wore off. Apparently they can’t keep me out beyond 8 hours. So much for trying to get extra sleep! Lol. I hope Dora is doing better today, poor thing! Fingers crossed that you can get a snow day tomorrow. I’m wondering if my sister and niece will get one with their schools as they start tomorrow too. Since they don’t have a bus system I think its likely that they will! Luckily I work remote so I don’t have to worry about driving either!
Nice new reads! I still need to read Iron Flame myself! I held off when it came out the same year as Fourth Wing as I figured the cliffhanger would be disastrous and it was from what I heard! Lol. With Onyx Storm coming out this month I want to read it, but I’m in event mode reading and since I didn’t get the ticket to Yarros’ event, there’s no point in reading her book just yet when I have others to read for February. Although I am greatly behind because of this cold. I haven’t read all year and it’s killing me! Especially since I lost that whole day of reading on New Year’s and my book is 500+ pages, I could’ve gotten a good chunk knocked out. I still feel like napping even now. Hate being sick. Lol.
Hope you’re doing well and have a great week ahead!
Here’s my StS
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
Oh no! I’m sorry you got sick this past week. What a bummer, and like you I have found as I get older I can’t get as much reading done when I’m sick. Now I just want to rest. We will see about a snow day tomorrow. This morning the news said snow was going until midnight. My brother just texted and said the weather channel was now backing off on the snow total. All I know is it is coming down really heavy right now. Dora seems better, other than not enjoying this snow! I have to shovel a spot for them outside to go, and it keeps filling back up every hour.
A nice family week, although a bit busy. I love seeing your dogs. I have no idea how to train them my daughter does Lulu’s training. I reinforce it by having her do the same things though. I read On the Edge in paperback from the library the first time. This time I did audio. Happy New Year.
Yeah, seeing family was nice. But kept me busier than I would like to be for time off at times. I am horrible at training. As anyone can tell when they meet my dogs, lol.
Ugh you had to go back on Friday! I would have hated that. Hopefully you have Monday off. We are just getting the snow here now. They are calling for about 10-12″, so I am hoping to extend my winter break!!! Have a good week!
I mean, at least there were no students, but it wasn’t my favorite to do! They originally said like 6-12 inches. We’ll see how much it ends up being in the end! I hope we both get to extend our break!
I am afraid we,are gonna get thanked with snow! Just hoping not much ice hits so we keep power. They are saying maybe 8-11 inches. It has been awhile since we had major snow so I figure we are due. Hope Dora is doing better and Argyle has the right idea.
We didn’t get too much ice here, so that was nice. Now we’re just getting a lot of snow! They were saying anywhere from 6-12 inches, we’ll see how much we end up with! Dora is feeling better I think. Just not a fan of the snow!
I love Canva. I typically use it for Instagram and just to make my pictures layout nicer on the blog. WordPress gallery is too messy for me. Your dog is too cute! I got some of those free ebooks. I don’t mention them because I don’t count them as part of my TBR. If I decide to read one, great. If not, that’s okay too.
Happy reading!
I use Canva for stuff at school, and a lot for the blog, but not the layout. You are right about the gallery on WordPress being a mess! Yeah, I may never get to most of the freebies. But it’s fun to share them because sometimes I find ones on other blogs that I go get too.
I’m sorry that Dora has been out of sorts. My parent’s dog used to have these types of seizures when he got excited – like when they got home. I hope you have a good week back to work (if no snow day).
Dora seems okay other than that once in a while thing. I just hope she’s okay. Can’t afford to go to the vet just to have them tell me there’s nothing to do or come up with huge expensive treatments. As long as she seems okay the rest of the time, I’ll wait till it is annual appointment time. And just got a text that school is cancelled for tomorrow, yay!
Those marshmallow treats sound good–even if they may not have set well. I always tell my husband when he makes something that doesn’t look “perfect” that it’s the taste that counts! Sleepy Argyle looks so cute! I am glad to see you liked Betting on You! I will have to look for it at my library. I hope you have a good week. Good luck tomorrow heading back to school. My daughter goes back Tuesday, but my husband and I will be back to work tomorrow too. Take care, Lisa.
Listening to Betting on You and really enjoying it! We got a snow day today, and then just got the text about one tomorrow too!
Good luck with the winter storm! It seems there’s a lot of bad ones hitting all over the country. That was super nice of your neighbor to offer help! Hope you end up liking On the Edge. I listened to it years ago and loved it. I need to do a re-listen for our read-along.
Snow day today, and another snow day tomorrow! Yay! They offered to help, but I got out and shoveled most of my driveway today. I always feel weird asking for help. I couldn’t get into the audio of On the Edge. I might try getting a physical or e-copy from the library to read after I get some other review books done. We’ll see.
Argyle looks so sweet, and I hope Dora is ok. I guess by now the storm has hit and you might have the day off? I’m wondering if we are going to get any snow this year, but I guess it’s still early in the winter. Stay warm and safe!
Dora seems to be doing okay now. Yep, snow day today! And just about an hour ago got the text from the district that tomorrow we have off too, probably because of how cold it is going to be. It is still early, kind of early we’re not ready to use all our snow days either! But I never complain about them, because it is like the only bonus we get as a teacher.
So…. did you have a snow day today? I live in northern New England and we’ve not had substantial snow for 2 years now. And this week it’s cold – high’s in the teens, with “real feel” in the single digits. If it’s going to be cold, I want snow!
I love your NYE traditional dinners. So much fun. We do a potluck with the neighbors. It’s nice because I can walk home and put on my PJs before midnight, go back and watch the ball drop, then come home and to bed!
Sorry you didn’t enjoy On the Edge. I listened to the series several years ago and will do a relisten for the read along.
Happy New Year!!
Yep, snow day today, and about an hour ago they announced another “inclement weather” day because of how cold it is going to be tomorrow. This is one of the biggest storms we’ve had in a while. In fact they said it was the 3rd largest amount of snow at our airport in all recorded history. So yeah, we got a lot! It was not fun to try to shovel my driveway, and I gave up when I got to the street where the snow plows kind of built it up a bit. My mom and I were both okay if my brother hadn’t wanted to have us over for NYE, we would stay in our respective homes in our pjs for sure! I might give reading On the Edge a try if I get some time.
Good luck for your first week back. My youngest started again this week, but they only have about a week of classes before they start writing diploma exams for the first semester. Hope you have a wonderful week.
So far no school this week with the snowstorm and cold weather. I’ve enjoyed my extra days at home!
Poor Dora. We slept in during winter break too. I hope you got Monday off…lol
I got Monday, then Tuesday, then Wednesday, then the rest of the week off! lol. A whole extra week of winter break, of course now who knows what days they will have to add back in, after the end or take away other days off?