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What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Children of the Storm (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters, A Death in Door County (A Monster Hunter Mystery) by Annelise Ryan, and A Bitter Feast (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie.


What I am Currently Reading: I just finished the Duncan Kincaid book yesterday, so I haven’t started anything yet, but I have picked a book off my shelf to read: Winging It with You by Chip Pons.


What I Plan to Read Next: I currently have zero unread books out from the library (how did that happen?!!), but I expect some in soon, so probably one of those.

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Book 102 of 2025: Children of the Storm (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) (Elizabeth Peters)

This book was really good, but it was the last few lines that made me chuckle and have to go back to re-read them several times. ( spoilers )

I really enjoyed this book and am giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

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Book 103 of 2025: A Death in Door County (A Monster Hunter Mystery) (Annelise Ryan)

I enjoyed this book. ( spoilers )

I liked this book well enough to request the second from my library; I'm giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

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Book 104 of 2025: A Bitter Feast (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)

I really enjoyed this book! ( spoilers )

This book was really good; I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

I saw this meme on Tumblr and it fits my current mood very well. I'm glad that the decision by Shaftesbury to not only fire John Reardon (Charlie Hudson), but lie about it is coming home to roost.



Created by alicepao13 on Tumblr.


I guess they had not heard that those who fuck around eventually find out. They're learning it now.


(With both John and Diesel gone, I'm bidding this show a not-so-fond farewell. As someone mentioned on Tumblr, the show ended with ep 7.02 and that's a hill I will die on. I will remain in the Hudson & Rex (aka, Charlie Hudson & Rex) fandom, however. If that sounds a bit dramatic and OTT, well, I'm feeling a bit dramatic about it all, so . . .)

I’m feeling curmudgeonly currently, so not many of these movies sound good to me. Even the descriptions of the movies I plan to watch with actors I like don’t wow me. Here are the movies I plan to check out (they’re listed in the order they’ll air):


“Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper!” with Kimberley Sustad and Robert Buckley (iZombie).
Premieres: Saturday, October 25
Summary: After a rough year, a weatherman returns to his hometown for Christmas, but things start to look up for him once he crosses paths with a former mentor and a former crush.
Reason for watching: Kimberley Sustad


( 8 more back here )


This is where I got the list of movies from: Hallmark's 2025 Countdown to Christmas Schedule Is Finally Here (thepioneerwoman.com)

I hit Price Chopper quickly (of course I left some things off my list for yesterday) and the Bakery while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I hit Stewart’s on the way home.

I did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded!), hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went on a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and shaved. I paid several bills online, wrote out checks to pay school taxes, AND finally scheduled my flu and Covid-19 shots for this coming Friday.

I grilled chicken legs for Pip’s supper.

I heard back from the dermatologist on the bump that appears on my face. He thinks it’s a cyst that gets inflamed occasionally. He gave me a prescription ointment to use when it appears again and told me to let him know a) how it worked and b) if it changes in appearance. He also suggested that we could remove it, but as long as it doesn’t change/grow/etc, it’s not bothering me (other than not knowing what it was), so I’ll just leave it alone.

I finished A Death in Door County and watched some HGTV programs.

Temps started out at 53.4(F) (ten degrees colder than yesterday) and reached 77. When I left mom’s at 3pm it was full sun and HOT, and when I got home the sun was behind a cloud and there was a breeze, making it feel much cooler. Weird how the weather can change in a 7 min drive.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing pretty good today. ( more back here )

I'm so disappointed by this casting news! ( spoiler )

I had a chiropractic appointment and a pedicure this morning. I hit the Pharmacy while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park between rain showers (though I carried my umbrella just in case).

I did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded), hand-washed dishes, went for a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs (in the rain), baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter.

I finished the Orange Chicken for lunch today. Not as good as when it was fresh, but still pretty good. We had sausage (just Pip) and eggs for supper.

I read more in Amelia Peabody.

Temps started out at 63.5(F) and reached 66.6 (that I saw). It was very foggy this morning – I drove slow all the way to downtown – and still foggy the nearer I got to home after downtown errands. It didn’t rain continuously all day, but it was a dreary day nonetheless.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing well. ( more back here )

I had a massage this morning. (I scheduled it on Saturday, after confirming that Sister S was taking mom to her dr. appt today. It’s been a while, and I wanted to do some shopping in Albany, so I took advantage of circumstances.) It was just okay. It was a new-to-me massage therapist and I did not love her technique. Instead of the long, slow strokes I’m used to, she used very fast ones. It felt like she was racing and I couldn’t relax.

I told her when she was doing my back that I often got knots around my shoulder blades. She said she was feeling for things like that as she did the massage. My unspoken thought was, how could you possibly feel anything moving that fast?!! (I did get a free ‘enhancement’ (aromatherapy lotion) for my birthday, even though it was last month, so that was nice.)

I hit five stores while I was in the area and only managed to get something from two of them. I wanted to get Christmas-present calendars from the calendar store, but the calendar store no longer stocks All The Calendars, just games and toys. *deep disappointment* I will have to wait until the first week of October when the kiosk goes up, or just order them online. I was looking forward to having that task finished. (I ended up ordering them online, so the task ~is finished.)

ETA: I forgot to mention that I got lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. I had a gift certificate and hadn't been there in a while. I got their Orange Chicken, which was really good. And some cheesecake to go, naturally. *g*

I folded last night’s load of laundry and got another load washed, dried and folded, hand-washed dishes, went for a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered.

I read some fanfic and more in Amelia Peabody.

Temps started out at 65.7(F) (we expected it to be 60, but the even warmer temp was a surprise) and reached 70.0. It did rain, but very intermittently.


Mom Update:

I didn’t see mom, but talked to her on the phone. She sounded okay. She’s going to try the radiation. It will be 5 days/week for 5 weeks, which is going to be a frelling pain in the ass, tbh. They told her it might make her nauseated, which didn’t make her happy. I hope she understands that she can opt out at any time.

I hit Walmart and Agway while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I also picked up Chinese for lunch.

I did three loads of laundry (the third got left in the dryer), hand-washed dishes, went for a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.

I had a video call with a dermatologist about a bump that keeps forming on my cheek. It used to stay for about 6 weeks, then leave for a couple of months, then come back . . . (My PCP said it had to do with poor drainage, but it's just weird that it suddenly started happening and the timing is so strange, so I finally decided I wanted a second opinion.)

Now that I've scheduled an appointment, of course it only stays for a week or so. Naturally it wasn't showing when I had the video call, but I had thought to take some photos of it, so sent them to the doctor. He's going to get back to me. May have already, but I haven't seen a notification for the my chart thingie.

I read some fanfic and started the next Amelia Peabody.

Temps started out at 47.8(F) (still cold, but 10 degrees warmer than yesterday!) and reached 80.1!! I wore capris and a t-shirt this morning because I knew it was going to get hot later on. After having the forecast show zero rain, we suddenly have five days of rain coming up, starting tomorrow. We need it, but I still hate having to do my errands and running around in the rain.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing pretty good today. ( more back here )

I hit Stewart’s on the way home from mom’s, did two loads of laundry (both washed, dried AND folded (or hung up, as the case may be)), hand-washed dishes and ran a load in the dishwasher, went on a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs, baked chicken for the dogs' meals and also cut up chicken for the dog’s meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered.

I finished Key Lime Sky, read some fanfic, and watched an HGTV program.

Temps started out at 37.8(F) (though it must’ve been colder than that because Pip saw some frost on his first walk of the morning) and reached 75.0. I wore leggings and a long-sleeved t-shirt given how cold it was in the morning, and I roasted on our walks in the afternoon.


Mom Update:

Mom was a little more tired today. ( more back here )

Today was a LOW-shopping day. *g* I hit the Pharmacy while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I filled my gas tank and dropped a book off at the library on the way to mom’s.

I did a load of laundry (washed, dried AND folded), hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, paid some bills online, and showered. *whispers* I picked up more bbq chicken quarters for supper. Sunnycrest was having a Harvest Fest, and bbq chicken and pulled pork was part of that. The dinners were disappointing, but a night of not having to cook supper is still a win for me!

I read more fanfic and watched some HGTV programs.

Temps started out at 60.6(F) and reached 72.1. I had no idea it was going to be so warm in the morning! We were actually warm sleeping overnight because we’d planned for another 45 degree night.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing well today, which was a surprise after yesterday’s exhausting afternoon. ( more back here )