Weekly Wrap-Up #206 – January 12th, 2025

Posted January 12, 2025 by Lisa Mandina in Weekly Wrap Up / 28 Comments

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

Sunday woke up to several inches of snow and more coming down almost all day. Which meant every time the dogs wanted out, approximately every hour or so, I had to go shovel a spot and shovel the small deck and stairs to the patio below. I didn’t shovel all the way to the grass. Just let them use a part of the patio. I spent the day blogging and watching the pretty snow out the window. There was a Chiefs game in the afternoon. It didn’t mean anything for our playoff standing, so they didn’t play our first string players, and we didn’t score the entire game. I made chili for lunch and to have lots of yummy leftovers for the cold week ahead. Got a text in the afternoon from the school district saying we had a snow day on Monday, or an “inclement weather” day as they call it now. Continued rewatching Outlander in the evening. All the pictures below are from Sunday!

Monday was a beautiful morning to sleep in with no school. But I told myself I’d take the Christmas decorations down and do some cleaning if we had a snow day, so I did. I did several loads of laundry as well. I shoveled most of the driveway, enough that I could get my car out if needed. Although I gave up right at the end by the street where it was a bit piled up thanks to the street plows. But then in the afternoon got another text from the district saying because of the extreme cold we would have Tuesday off too. Finally got on the computer in the afternoon to do some blogging. While once again watching Lick on tv since my Passionflix subscription ends on Wednesday. Finished the evening on the couch with the dogs rewatching more Outlander.

Tuesday another nice day of sleeping in. I had noticed I was having issues with sleeping and when I read up on the new antidepressant my doctor had started me on back in November, I read one of the main side effects was insomnia. So I skipped my dose on Monday, and boy did I sleep so good again on Monday night! I didn’t want to go cold turkey on it though, so I cut the pills in half on Tuesday morning and took half of one. We’ll see how the sleep goes. I woke up with a text from my hair dresser about maybe doing my appointment earlier since I was off. I had forgotten to even write it down so I asked if we could just reschedule in a month or so, whenever she could fit me in. That worked for her because she only had one other appointment and she told me her dad had triple bypass heart surgery last week, and this way she had more time to go spend with him in the hospital. I was definitely all for her being able to spend time with him instead of me getting my hair done. Especially when I really need Friday’s paycheck after the long Christmas break of being home. I did have to go out and shovel the end of my driveway out though, in case I had work on Wednesday. And then at 2 pm I got the text that school was cancelled again for Wednesday because of cold temps and even with roads cleaned up, they would freeze again overnight making it unsafe for our walkers and bus riders standing out waiting for buses.

I thought I was in for the evening, but around 7 pm my mom called and she was worried about her dog because she was panting really heavy and acting very strange. So I quickly got dressed and then figured out if my car would make it out of my driveway as I shoveled it earlier (it did) and drove over to pick them up to go to the emergency vet. The vet couldn’t find anything wrong, and by the time we left, my mom’s dog Lucy seemed to not be as agitated. I’m sure it was expensive, but my mom has lost too much over the past two years and I will help her do anything she needs. She had the money to pay for that, so it wasn’t an issue for her.

Wednesday morning was so hard to get up. My dogs were being so snuggly on the really cold morning, but I still made myself get up around 8 am and get going. I put some chicken in the new crockpot I bought, and realized it was a little smaller than the one I had. Ugh. So I quickly washed out the old one and put all of the mix and chicken and cream cheese in to cook for lunch. It was a bright sunny day, snow melting I’m sure. I got all my bills and stuff listed in a spreadsheet for my former library clerk that switched to another job at school this year because she has helped people with finances, and I really need to figure out what to do to get ahead with mine. So she is going to look at them. I was embarrassed to send her a list of all my credit card debt, but like she said, if I’m not honest, she can’t help me. Found out in the afternoon that my district cancelled school for the rest of the week. Teachers will go in for work day or professional development on Friday though. Went to dinner with my mom. Found out one of my sorority sisters, she was my “mom” when I joined, passed away from breast cancer today, shortly after she went into hospice.

Thursday was my last morning to sleep in and stay home before having to go back to work for sure? There was more possible snow scheduled for the evening. My friend looked over my bills and we made a spreadsheet budget that I’m going to do my best to stick to this year! She said the consolidation/personal loan I was looking at was probably better for me to have more of a peace of mind, and I can still use it for the snowball debt payoff method after paying off the few with lower interest rates I wouldn’t consolidate. One thing I have to do for sure though is start actually paying attention to how much I spend on things like food and toiletries, entertainment, etc. Later in the afternoon we got a text saying that due to the overnight snow predicted they were just canceling anyone coming in on Friday. But also mentioned now we’d have to look at the calendar for the rest of the year to make up these days.

Friday morning was again lovely for sleeping in. The snow wasn’t that much overnight, in fact I didn’t really even bother doing any shoveling and a lot just melted away during the day with the sun. It wasn’t warm necessarily, but it wasn’t the frigid temps it had been. I went out and stopped by the credit union where my auto loan is and asked them if they could maybe do a personal loan for me instead of the SoFi one, and so they said they’d look into that, and maybe even at a home equity loan. I’d feel more comfortable I think with them I think? I don’t know. Had lunch out. Started keeping receipts for my budgeting and paid bills since it was payday. Came home and did some blogging. Then had dinner with my mom at a place she’d been wanting to go try their Prime Rib special for a while. I had their French Dip sandwich, which is one of my favorite things to get anywhere. And it was one of the best I’ve ever had!

Saturday woke up from some vivid dreams. There was a zombie apocalypse and we were having to choose a place to live inside a huge office building with floor to ceiling windows, lol. Spent most of the day reading and blogging and doing some more cleaning and getting rid of things in my house. Or at least pulling them out, then needing to either take them to Goodwill or put them up for sale for a few things. Ended up doing a Zoom call for our usual weekly coffee date with my dad’s family. I didn’t know we’d decided to do it for sure until I got the Facetime call. Spent a couple hours on the phone with that. But hey, I got a couple Top Ten Tuesday blog posts put up for the next couple months! Spent the day at home kind of waiting on mail and a UPS package. I just worry with books in not waterproof packages being left on a still kind of snowy front porch.

First was an e-galley for an author review team. Second I had both an e-galley and a finished copy. But I chose to read the e-galley and just take the finished copy into school. Third and fourth were also e-galleys. All the reviews except the fourth one should have been posted this past week. The last one will be tomorrow!

ARCs

None

Audiobooks:

Technically I already listened to this, but I got an Audible code from the author so I could post my review there as well.

Bookish Stuff:

none

E-galleys:

none

Free e-books:

All were free on Amazon

Physical books:

So, last year seemed to be my year of buying special editions, especially through Kickstarters. Must stop that this year! Anyway, this was the Consequences book by Aleatha Romig. Now I am not a dark romance reader very often. And the beginning of this one is so dark, and I can’t believe it, but I was hooked. This is a book that I always think about. So when the author did the Kickstarter, I chose to get the first book with the beautiful sprayed edges and even that picture inside the book that is obviously of Tony’s estate.

Chiefs game on Sunday. Lots of rewatching Outlander, especially since it is another week before the last new episode of this season. I’m actually kind of looking forward to the end of this season and then trying to finish at least the third book that I’m partway through. Also rewatched Lick on Passionflix until my subscription ran out on the 8th and I didn’t renew. Most of my tv shows are not new right now.

First one is an e-galley, the second and fourth are ARCs from publishers. Hoping to post all the reviews this week. I’ve also got a blitz this week, and I’m planning to do a promo post for my author friend as well. I will also be posting my review of The Song of Orphan’s Garden by Nicole over at Feed Your Fiction Addiction this week, and it includes a fun interview with her!

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 decided to add a Storygraph challenge that goes along with the COYER challenge because it will nicely track my reading for me and I might do better with it?

It was supposed to be the first week back to school with students, but with a huge snowstorm at the beginning of the week and below zero temps later, ended up with no school all week. How was your week? Did you get any of this crazy winter storm weather? What are you looking forward to this coming week? It’ll be halfway through January! I hope you’re not in the dangerous area of California with all these fires too! Stay safe!

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28 responses to “Weekly Wrap-Up #206 – January 12th, 2025

  1. So glad I have indoor cats. No shoveling required. My husband and son did shovel the driveway behind my car. Luckily when Amazon finally delivered yesterday, I saw the truck and was able to meet the driver in my garage.

    I’m glad your mom’s dog was okay!

    The books you picked up look interesting. Happy reading!

    • Lisa Mandina

      The very first dog I had on my own would go out to the laundry room where I had those pee pads on a crate tray and do all her business there. We never had to go outside in extreme cold or heat. It was nice. The Post office delivered last night, but I’m still waiting on the UPS package and the website now says they’ll let me know when they have a delivery date planned. 🙁

  2. Oh wow! An entire week of snow days! That’s nice! But yeah, now some might need to be made up later in the year which is always a bummer. We had some snow up here as well, most places shutdown entirely which I found odd. The first round was the worst because we had sleet and ice and snow in between making for a very nasty winter sandwich! Lol. Our mail refused to come for a few days and then they got Thursday off and then they came Friday and then ran behind and refused to come on Saturday, blaming us for snow blocking the mailbox, the same snow they manage to maneuver around on Friday to deliver our mail. Then UPS took ages to deliver a package of mine blaming weather everyday as to why they said it was out for delivery and then changing their minds at the end of the day. So frustrating. I hope all goes well with your loan and consolidating. That is one thing I worry about when I do find a place, trying to manage all those bills on my own income and still have enough for groceries. Hopefully I can find the right place at the right price and it won’t be so bad. Fingers crossed that this will finally be my year!

    Nice new reads! These are all new to me ones but I hope you end up enjoying them all!

    Here’s my StS

    Have a GREAT day!

    Old Follower 🙂

    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, we had a bit of ice before the snow, but then just tons of snow! I had the same deal with the post office. It was UPS that is being a pain now. Crazy! And I know the package is most likely books that I don’t want to be ruined! I’ve never been great about managing my money. I should have plenty now that I shouldn’t need credit cards. But because I use them for things I don’t need, I end up in this same position. Hoping I can get things on track now for good as I hope to retire from teaching in 3 years, and even though I’ll get another job, like at a public library or even retail, just for health insurance, want to not be struggling.

  3. Wow! Crazy that school ended up canceled for the whole week – sorry you’ll have to make some of it up later, though. I’m sure that dampens some of the joy of having time off. Glad your mom’s pup was okay and that you were able to work with a financial advisor to help you come up with a budget. I know sticking to one can be tough, but it will definitely help in the long run! Even just tracking how much you’re actually spending can really help because you pay attention to what’s going on.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted: Sunday Post & Book Pre-order Campaigns Galore: 1/12/25
    • Lisa Mandina

      I mean, it’s not technically a financial advisor, but a friend who does that kind of stuff because that is her degree and she’s got experience with it, but still. You’re right, just paying attention to what I’m spending is going to be the first big thing!

  4. Well that sounds like an awesome week, although it was spontaneous. We only got about an inch of snow and lots of freezing rain. I hope it finishes melting today. We try to watch things and rarely eat out. It’s more difficult anyway with the gluten free. I’ve been thinking this morning if I used the money I spend on gardening to go to the farmer’s market or buy other better produce I’d probably come out ahead. But there is something so satisfying about growing your own food. I hope you had some nice rest for the week ahead!

    Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post

    • Lisa Mandina

      It was so nice. It will actually be hard to start getting up with the alarm again tomorrow! I think I was ready this past Monday, but after an extra week I might have gotten out of that state of mind, lol. I think it is nice to probably do the gardening yourself as much as you can. At least you know there isn’t anything added or put on the produce you collect like you have to worry about when you get it at the grocery store. Although a farmer’s market would be a good place for that to be better I would think too. I think just actually paying attention to what I spend is going to be a real eye opener as well for me!

  5. I’m glad I don’t live in an area where it snows just because I would want to have to shovel regularly. That sounds like so much work. I feel for you, Lisa. I am glad you figured out what was causing your insomnia. My insomnia has flared up recently. It comes and goes and sometimes the fix is obvious and other times it’s not.

    I am glad Lucy is okay! That must have been quite a scare for your mom. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

    The Queen’s Spade looks like something I would like. I popped over to look at your review and am so glad to see you liked it. I hope you have a good week, Lisa!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Well, I did kind of wish I’d done some shoveling before the final amount, like my neighbors did. Would probably have been a lot easier. But usually we don’t get so much snow that by the time I do go to school I can’t just drive over it. For the most part I’ve solved my insomnia. Now I’m just thinking my mattress I got a couple years ago is not great and I need to find the receipt to see if I can still exchange it or get a new one. I wake up with my hips hurting. Yeah, with my mom being alone now, and with her losing my stepdad last year, and then a year before that when she and my stepdad were both in the hospital they’d lost their other dog. I will drop and help her with anything, and am not worried about her being overly cautious or worried about her dog.

  6. Snow days are the best 😌 Until you have to make them up at the end of the year and then it isn’t so fun 😭 But I’m glad you had an extra week off from work.

    I hope you have a good week back at work! If you go back next week. Who knows with the weather. Lol.

    • Lisa Mandina

      Oh I’m sure we’ll be back. The weather is pretty dry, and cold, but not frigid. I’m kind of ready to go back, as much as I’ll ever be for this job I guess, lol.

  7. Snow days, crockpot meals, French Dips, and dreaming about being in a zombie apocalypse sounds like a great week to me!!! Glad your mom’s doggo is ok! Wonder what his problem was! Maybe he had a high-adrenaline dream, too!

    Jinjer recently posted: Fire!!!!
    • Lisa Mandina

      She thinks it might have something to do with maybe smells from when she was cleaning the oven out? Lucy just started acting weird and didn’t want to come back in the house even when they went out. But who knows!

    • Lisa Mandina

      Part of the week was due to extreme cold. But then they also just did a really bad job at cleaning up I feel. I mean we did have like 10-14 inches of snow depending what part of town, with some ice underneath.

  8. Oh my goodness! That’s a lot of snow – no wonder you had a week of snow days. And pleased that your mother’s dog wasn’t seriously ill. I hope the coming week is a good one.

  9. Yay for a snow week! Other than having to shovel the snow, that is. Having a plan and budget helps have peace of mind. You know where you stand. It was nice of your co-worker to help with that. I don’t buy hardly any special editions. I’m trying to be frugal as well as we need to buy a new (new-to-me at least) car this year and I’d like to have enough so the payment isn’t awful. Glad to hear you’re mother’s dog is ok. She’s had enough loss to deal with! Have a wonderful week, Lisa!

    Rachel @Waves of Fiction recently posted: Sunday Post #279
    • Lisa Mandina

      Yeah, I just have to keep to the budget. I’ve got to stop buying so many special editions since I have trips I want to take this year.

  10. An entire week off sounds lovely, even if you have to make up some of it. Glad Mom’s dog is ok and that you’ve worked out a budget. We have gotten into some debt thanks to helping our adult children. With my husband retiring in 8 years, we told them they could come for a meal etc, but there would be no more financial bail outs. We’ve got to think about our own budget and goals.

    Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer recently posted: Sunday Post #662 Counting My Blessings
    • Lisa Mandina

      I’ve never been good with money. And I keep getting myself in trouble. I have got to figure things out and get it set so I can actually retire and find a job that isn’t as stressful in 3 years.

  11. Sounds like you had a productive snow week. They didn’t have school here all week either but that didn’t affect me. I work from home so no snow days for me but on the plus, I also do not have to worry about going out in it. So, am I bitter that the Chiefs didn’t play any starters and lost which knocked my Bengals out? Why yes, I am. I understand the whole save your players, you’re moving on concept but I also think it’s also not right. We get mad when players take plays off but support teams taking games off. It has nothing to do with your Chiefs though. I think I am cheering on Lions or Vikings this year, especially since the Steelers played the crap they way we suspected and got knocked out Saturday night.

    Good luck and congrats for moving ahead on the budgeting. Sounds like you have a plan and I hope it works for you. Hope you have a great week ahead!

    Barb @ Booker T's Farm recently posted: What the Heck Did I Just Read?
    • Lisa Mandina

      I can understand being bitter about the Chiefs game. I watched it and it was really kind of annoying how the announcers kept talking about how great the Broncos were playing, and I was like, what? They’re playing our second stringers, they’re not playing that great!

  12. What a way to start up the school year! I’m a bit jealous of the snow. We haven’t had a sizable storm in years. My poor kids didn’t have a snow day their last years of high school (but funny enough they have in college). It’s just bitter cold. I keep hoping for snow even though there isn’t a call for snow days anymore – and I work from home, so it won’t matter. I hope this week has been good an not feeling overwhelmed after a week off for the kids.

    • Lisa Mandina

      The week started okay for the most part, but then today was a little overwhelming, but I’m still on my just getting by attitude as much as I can!

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