For What It's Worth


Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Tell Me Something Tuesday: Vacation...all I ever wanted. Vacation, had to get away...


4 women of various races sit on a blue sofa thought bubbles about their head that say Tell Me Something Tuesday
Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. 

It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life  and me) 

Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.

If you would like to join TMST and receive periodic emails of upcoming topics, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. TMST is a laid back meme – join in or opt out depending on your interest in topics or schedule.

Question: Where would you like to travel?

Answer: Boring answer but right were I am. We moved to the PNW so we would be able to take long weekends and travel more frequently but, for several reasons, we haven't been able to yet. 

We haven't been on a vacation since we lived in FL almost 5 years ago. We used to combine book events like BEA & ALA as vacations and it was great. My MIL stayed at our house to watch the dogs. We don't have anyone like that here so wherever we go has to be dog friendly. 

The whole region is filled with outdoor activities that are dog friendly all along the coast and mountains so it's possible but, like I said, there have been things going on that have prohibited us from doing more than the occasional day trip. 

So here's hoping that 2024 is the year that we can start taking those trips!

Do you have any dream vacations or one you have scheduled?


Cartoons tyle graphic of head of sheltie. Underneath says Bark Back in the Comments


Friday, March 15, 2024

It's a wrap! Weekly update - life, baking, watching, reading, music

 IT'S ALMOST SPRING🎕

My plants are budding, we will have SUN for at least 5 days. I am happy! 

Not a whole lot going on here. I've felt kind of sick and the weather was awful so I've mostly only done what I had to and not much else.

Our counter was finally installed and fit this time. YAY! Just tiling the backsplash is left. 

Kevin and I had our 37th wedding anniversary this Thursday. Hoo-boy that's a long time! We were just babies when we got married at 22 years old. All the people who said it wouldn't last are now divorced so ha!

Also, I totally forgot to celebrate (due to the not doing much blogging thing) but December was my 14th year of blogging. WHOA. So much has changed over those 14 years and only a few of you are still here and blogging. I may be scarce but I'm still not ready to give it up.

So what have I been doing this week?

BAKING:

I was planning on baking a cake and trying my hand at making my own frosting for our anniversary - but, like I said, I wasn't feeling great and a giant sugar bomb was not what I was in the mood for. Maybe next week. 

I did make a sourdough focaccia. It turned out really well but I tried a new method and it didn't rise at all at first. Normally, I would have gotten defeated and thrown the dough out and never baked again lol but I had invested so much time - so I threw the whole thing (pan and all) into the fridge overnight then put it in a warm spot to rise the next day and it worked!

I had also put olives, rosemary and sundried tomatoes on top but the tomatoes burned to a crisp so I plucked those off. I send a lot of my baked goods to Kevin's work and this one got a thumbs up. 

I've also now have people suggesting recipes to me try and I LOVE THAT! I did the Pandesal rolls last week and Sam sent me a recipe for chocolate brownie sourdough and I think I'm going to give a try! It's a bit more challenging but I'm game to try.

WATCHING:

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - MAX - This was bad (IMO of course). Bad story, bad acting, really bad CGI. Neither of us liked it. It wasn't even silly, cheesy, good/bad fun. 

The Gentleman - Netflix - We're watching this now. It's a series by Guy Ritchie about an aristocrat that inherits his families estate and discovers they are running a marijuana business on the property. He tries to sell it and get the family out of the whole thing but gets caught up in mess and after escalating mess. Very violent, kind of fun. I like Theo James (the aristocrat) and Kaya Scadalario (daughter of the marijuana business) as the leads but it's also getting increasingly wacky. 

Damsel - Netflix - We both loved this one! It stars Millie Bobbie Brown as a girl sent off to marry a prince to save her family from poverty. She thinks she's marrying a pretty good guy and helping her family survive, until after their wedding ceremony where she learns she is to be a sacrifice to a dragon. Really fun movie - a nice twist on the genre and I loved the ending.

READING:

I finally finished listening to Lights Out in Lincolnwood by Geoff Rodkey.

I really wish I DNF'd this one. 

It was supposed to be dark humor & satire on the rich having to struggle and get scrappy to survive an apocalypse but it was basically a whine-fest with too much set up.




MUSIC:

Most of you are much younger than I but a-ha and their groundbreaking (& still fabulous) video for Take on Me were a big deal in my day (the 80's).

Here's the band doing an acoustic version for MTV and it's gorgeous. I love it, but I have to admit, in my brain, I kept singing it faster and mentally twirling through rooms like original lol  

a-ha Take on Me acoustic 



How was your week? What are you reading, watching, doing?

Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Tell Me Something Tuesday


4 women of various races sit on a blue sofa thought bubbles about their head that say Tell Me Something Tuesday
Tell Me Something Tuesday is a weekly discussion post where bloggers discuss a wide range of topics from books and blogging to life in general. 

It is co-hosted by (Linda from Book Girl of Mur-y-Castell, Roberta from Offbeat YA, Jen from That’s What I’m Talking About, Berl's from Because Reading is Better than Real Life  and me) 

Join in by answering this weeks question in the comments or on your own blog.

If you would like to join TMST and receive periodic emails of upcoming topics, please fill out this GOOGLE FORM. TMST is a laid back meme – join in or opt out depending on your interest in topics or schedule.


Question: What genres do you tend to avoid?


Answer: My reading has changed so drastically over the years that is tough for me to answer. 

I guess, the few genres that I still struggle with overall are:

Fantasy - I just don't care what color the sky or blades of grass are, or some new language. The world building tends to overshadow the characters & I glaze over the laborious descriptions.

Thrillers - I know this is a hot genre right now and I've tried, but it's another genre that features plot devices over character and it ends up being difficult for me to care what happens to anyone. And I almost always figure it out by the second or third chapter, so I'm left waiting for the supposedly brilliant investigator or whoever to figure things out. 

Sci-fi - another one with details that escape me and I glaze over. 

The two above genres (thrillers and sci-fi) have a somewhat procedural/bland tone to me when I'm reading and I get bored. 

Multiverse - I hate it in movies and books. There are so many possibilities that anything can happen - then unhappen - then happen again. For me, nothing means anything after a certain point because it can all be reversed. (I'm so, SO sorry Roberta lol)

I say this with the caveat that I have found books I've loved in all of the above genres. But who knows! I used to be a hardcore - 5 book a week - romance genre junkie and now I can barely get through one. I used to HATE angsty YA, now it's what I prefer (in audio). 

So, maybe next year I'll be an avid sci-fi reader lol Who knows!

What genres do you tend to stay away from?