aome

Dear Yuletide Author:

Thank you for writing for me! Here are my requests:

( Requests under here )

If you have any questions, feel free to pass them along to the mods. And thank you again for writing for me!

Tomorrow (Sun) is our last full day in NZ. I’ve really loved almost everything we’ve seen and done here and am not ready to go home where’s I have to deal with the bureaucracy surrounding my dad’s death, go through his stuff (and hopefully not contact norovirus - my SIL and Jackson’s bf, who collected his things, both got it, even though they were masked in the facility), go back to the usual grind of errands, cooking, work, etc, get back to exercising, deal with my emotionally fragile mother, teach Two to drive (again). blah blah blah. Oh and be in the same country as the Orange menace and his a-hole puppet master,

On this trip we’ve seen, visited or done:
Sky Tower (Auckland)
Harbor dinner sail (Auckland)
Hobbiton
Waitomo glow worm caves
Geothermal pools/vents (Rotorua)
Geothermal mud soak (Rotorua)
Very simple Māori wood carving (Rotorua)
Maori cultural experience (Rotorua)
Gondola ride 1000+ feet up a mountain (Queenstown)
Steamship lake trip and working farm tour (Queenstown)
Milford Sound (fjords, not an actual sound)
Helicopter ride over and onto glaciers (Franz Josef)
Nature hike through temperate rainforest (Franz Josef)
TranzAlpine train ride across Southern Alps
Six the Musical (Auckland) for Two
Waiheke Island food and wine tour (ferry ride from Auckland)
Pasifika cultural festival (Auckland) - we planned entire trip around this festival.

While on South Island we had three long rides (multi-hour), which included multiple scenic stops and sometimes short walks along the way, so we actually got to see more than what is listed here but I don’t know the names of all those places. Except one - Hokatika Gorge.

Have also had some great food, from giant juicy burgers, comforting tonkatsu ramen, pad se ew, and other Asian food, filling salads, to-die-for desserts, and a lot of haute cuisine normally way above my pay grade. And there’s a lot more awareness of gluten and other sensitivities/allergies so it wasn’t hard to eat mostly gluten free here.

Also loved the kiwi commitment to the environment, recycling, limited plastics, etc. I’m sure they have their flaws and their assholes like everywhere else, but the vast majority of our experiences here have been amazing.

Typed on my phone so apologies for typos.

tl;dr : Disney, work, interview, knee, Christmas, mom, lube reports, New Year's Eve.

So, Will and I got back from CA in the wee hours of Wed, Dec 3. I worked (subbing) on Dec 4, and then, super-early (I'm still mad at Will for HOW early it was - a 6:00a flight) on Friday, we left for Disney World.

( Visiting the House of Mouse )

( While we were at Disney: mom goes to rehab and I have a job interview )

Two, Will and I came back on Friday, Dec 13. R&K stayed at Harvey's house and visited him at the hospital for another two days (they'd always intended to stay at his house after Disney - just not that he'd be at the hospital at the time) and came back on Sunday, Dec 15.

( The last week of school was bonkers )

( Oh, did I forget to mention my knee? )

So because of all the travel and then the solid week of work, prepping for the interview, and the stuff for my knee, and TKD, etc etc, I was way behind on getting my holiday cards out. I also had to bypass some people, in the name of getting out even SOME of my cards, so if you didn't get a card from me this year, I apologize. I also only barely finished wrapping gifts on Christmas Eve. :-P

The high school I'd interviewed for let me know the last day of school that I did NOT get the job. Alas. But at least I felt like I'd presented myself to the best of my ability. And at least I didn't have to keep waiting and wondering.

On the other hand, we got word that someone had put in a bid on my dad's house. We made a counter offer, and it SOUNDED like it was accepted and we were excited to close on the house in mid-January - but we later found out the counter offer had been rejected. (In fact, it sounds like the couple is struggling to find something they like at all.) Darn it.

MiniPlu came home the Monday before Christmas (she'd had a dentist appointment on Monday morning she had to stay for). Unfortunately, she got into a ( fender bender )

( Christmas )

We did learn the next day that my dad's former neighbor succumbed to his stomach cancer on Christmas morning. While this sucks for his family, because they were/are such devoted Christians, it seemed oddly fitting for him that he should pass on Christmas Day. I'm glad his suffering is over but he will be greatly missed - he was truly a wonderful, kind man.

The day after Christmas, Will and I flew BACK to CA to visit my mom again. ( Smooth visit )

One hilarious thing: On our flight out to CA, we had the window/middle seats on the bulkhead. On the aisle seat, next two Will, was a man in his 30s-ish, who spent a lot of the flight working on what appeared to be a marketing presentation on Google Slides. No big deal, right? But the presentation was about lube. Yes, that lube. Performance evaluations, sales projections, etc - the whole nine yards. Perfectly professional marketing report. But about lube. And I think a few dildo-type toys were on there, too. I had to take a surreptitious photo just to prove it to the family.

We came back the evening of Sunday, Dec 29th. MiniPlu's Christmas gift to me and Will was to give us a couple's massage - one that was just a seated back massage and a leg/foot massage, not the sort where you have to strip down and lie on a table (she didn't think Will was ready for that, and she was right). We got that yesterday, and it was very nice.

Celebrated NYE our usual way - we hung out at home, finished watching Red One (cute and funny - I liked it!), I did the finishing work on a pair of fingerless gloves I'd knit for a friend, and we watched the ball drop. MiniPlu was in NYC with one of her friends (not at Times Square), and Two was with his bf's family, so it was just the "adultier adults" at home last night.

And here we are: Jan 1. I still owe some book reviews and the last few months of questions-a-day, and to catch up on others' posts, and I still haven't done a winter trim of the roses, or seen my dad in over a week, but ... one thing at a time.

As usual, I'm horribly behind on both posting and reading and maybe I should make keeping current one of my New Year's Resolutions? :-P Anyway, will try to do a proper update sooner rather than later. But for now: The year-end-memes.

1. What did you do in 2024 that you’d never done before?
Took four trips (all requiring air travel) in the space of five weeks. I also got Covid for the first time. Used "you can look at the sun safely" glasses for the first time.

( The rest of the meme )


And now for the books!
2023 books
2022 books
2021 books
2020 books
2019 books
2018 books
2017 books
2016 books
2015 books
2014 books
2013 books
2012 books
2011 books
2010 books
2009 books
2008 books
2007 books
2006 books
2005 books

I still need to properly review Books 81 onward, but at least here's the list.
( 2024 books )

Ten fewer books than last year, alas. But still respectable.

I am SUPER close to finishing "Somewhere Beyond the Sea" by TJ Klune but I don't think I'll manage it before midnight.

So, I never did officially test positive for Covid. We could only assume I probably had it because I had the same symptoms Will did, and HE had tested positive. I masked at home until the family declared that i probably wasn't contagious since I hadn't tested positive. I was allowed to sub since I hadn't had any fever, as long as I came masked - which I didn't mind. In fact, it was just as well I wore a mask as about 25% of the 8th graders (whom I was mostly with for three days in a row) went down with some random illness. So, at least I didn't catch that!

At the end of September, Will and I celebrated 26 years of marriage, and 27 years together. We both took the day off and went out to lunch, then had a quiet celebration at home with a regular dinner, but my chocolate cake. Because Dame Maggie Smith had just died, we decided to watch Sister Act in tribute, especially since Two had never seen it and I thought he might like it, since it's sort of a musical.

A week later, on Oct 4th, Will and I flew out to OR to do one more round of intensive work in my dad's yard. ( House and yard stuff )

The house is officially on the market, so if anyone wants to live in rural SE Oregon, on a quiet 1/3-acre property full of fruit trees, let me know.

While we were gone, our family friend Harvey came to stay with us - he lives just north of Daytona and is oxygen dependent. My SIL was concerned his health would be at serious risk if Hurricane Milton cut his power out for more than a few hours. It was definitely a good idea to bring him up here for awhile. He just went home today.

After spending all summer trying to find a job, Two finally landed one, working for BJs (think: Costco, but not as cool) in their produce department. It's part-time, but at least it's a job. He started while we were gone.

He also ... drumroll please ... ( got his first boyfriend )

MiniPlu is doing a lot of travel for her job right now. In the past 10 days she's been to NYC, Raleigh/Durham NC, and Philadelphia. This last one was during the past couple of days, so instead of flying back to Boston with her team today, she got permission to fly home on Sunday, instead, and is spending the weekend here with us. ♥ One of our cats decided to pee on her bed after I'd changed the sheets on MiniPlu's bed, and it went through two comforters, the sheets, and the pillowtop mattress pad - which ripped in the washer, spewing fluff everywhere. :-P Welcome home, MiniPlu!

We're all working on getting our annual Covid/flu shots - Two and I were both supposed to get ours yesterday but his insurance info wouldn't go through for some reason ("It says it expired in 2020." "Well, uh - he's USED it since 2020, so I'm not sure why the system is claiming that!") so only I got the shots. We'll reschedule him once we get this straightened out. MiniPlu got hers today, and Will goes tomorrow.

And now for the latest reads:

72. The Unlikely Pair by Jax Calder (read aloud)
I absolutely adored The Unlikely Heir (wherein the British prime minister - Oliver - and the American-born, newly-crowned Prince of Wales - Calum - fall in love) so I was eager to read the next installment, featuring Oliver’s best friend and former chief of staff, Toby, and the leader of the opposition in Parliament, Harry. ( When a plane crashes in the Scandinavian woods, political enemies are forced to cooperate and trust each other. )

While I liked The Unlikely Heir better, this was still an entertaining book and I enjoyed seeing each man reveal their histories and their mindsets. I’m looking forward to The Unlikely Spare next year - the story of Callum’s half-brother, who will apparently fall in love with his new bodyguard (whom we briefly see both at the end of Unlikely Pair, as well as in the free novella that follows it: A Royal Supper - where Oliver and Harry learn to play nice for Toby’s sake).

73. Dreadful by Caitlin Rozakis (audio)
Ha ha - I found this at the bookstore after my birthday and bought it as part of a BOGO deal, then forgot I had bought it, and bought it again when it was a super-cheap Audible deal of the day two months later. Result: I listened to the audio book and will now give the paper copy to a friend. ( If an evil wizard doesn’t remember his past, does that still make him evil? )

74. Salt Magic, Skin Magic by Lee Welch (audio)
( Regency m/m romance featuring a young lord trapped by magic, not knowing magic exists, and the magician who shows up for an entirely different reason )

75. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston
In one word: Sumptuous. There’s really no other word for it. ( A food and wine tour through western Europe, reuniting childhood best friends-turned-lovers-turned-exes )

It was so markedly different from their other writing, it felt like a whole different author. Not in a bad way - just different. Like their other books, there were still plenty of laughs inserted along the way, and heartfelt emotion, but, yeah, the sumptuousness of everything gave it a totally different feel. Red, White & Royal Blue is still my favorite of McQuiston’s books, but I did enjoy this one, too.

76. Earl’s Trip by Jenny Holiday (audio)
I think this was an Audible deal of the day, so I gave it a shot. A fun combination of post-Regency England (1821: early in George IV’s reign) and modern "boys’ night". ( Another case of childhood best-friends reuniting and might be more! m/f ) If you want something light and fun, a buddy story as well as a historical romance, I do recommend this!

77. An Assassination on the Agenda by TE Kinney (Lady Hardcastle #11)
( Bringing the Edwardian/George V-ish mystery solving to London )

I have to say, while it was fun to see them do the things they’d only previously alluded to, I kind of missed the more provincial settings and familiar characters of the other books.

78. The Trouble With Heroes by Kate Messner (Middle grade, ARC)
( A struggling 7th/8th grader is 'sentenced' to climbing all 46 Adirondack High Peaks in atonement. ) I honestly would recommend this book to anyone over the age of 10, even adults. US Pub date: April 29, 2025.

79. Sorcery and Small Magics by Maiga Doocy (ARC, audio)
I was strongly reminded of Harry and Draco as this book began: two rivals at magic school, one with very light hair, one dark. They constantly rile each other up despite everyone telling them to keep apart. Sound familiar? But that’s kind of where the comparison ends. ( Tropes: bound by a curse, forced proximity, rivals to (eventual) lovers. Also, an interesting magic system and world. ) This book was just published on Oct 15 - I do recommend it! (The audio version was great, too.)

80. The Theory of Everything Else by Dan Schreiber (audio)
A collection of batshit theories about the world, through the years: alien theories, fortune-telling theories, hollow-earth theories, people who claimed that a magician’s ability to bend metal influenced her IUD and got her pregnant, whether pubic lice is an endangered species, and so much more. Some was more interesting than others, but overall it was an amusing listen.

On a totally different note: yesterday marked 35 years since the Loma Prieta earthquake - the one that broke the Bay Bridge and flattened highways. I can't believe it's been that long!

I forgot to mention in my previous post that on Sept 1, Two and I went to see the Broadway musical "Water for Elephants". Grant Gustin - who played The Flash on TV and also was one of the Warblers on Glee, had been in the lead role since its inception, but Sept 1 was his last day. ( The show )

( The train ride home, oof )

Now, on to my recent reads:
67: Assistant to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (audio)
I stumbled upon “Apprentice to the Villain” at Target a month or so ago and it sounded cute - but then I realized it was a sequel. So, off I went to request the original book from the library. Evie is the sole breadwinner in her home; her mother has been missing since Evie was about 12 (10 years ago), leaving her to raise her baby sister and take care of their ailing father. The book opens on Evie in need of a new job - we don’t find out why until later - and she comes across a super-handsome man to then turns out to be The Villain (as he is literally known by the realm). Still, a job is a job, and Evie finds she rather likes being The Villain’s personal assistant. This is a cute set-up story wherein we find out The Villain’s real name, whether or not he’s truly villainous, and more about Evie’s family. It’s frothy and fun, but also depicts recovery from trauma. There is a very VERY slow-burn romance between Evie and The Villain. Warning: cliffhanger-ish ending.

68. Paramour Promise by Chelsey Blue Spicer (read aloud)
( Long, drawn-out drama between a bi teacher and nonbinary teacher who each have a lot of baggage to deal with )

69. You Should Be So Lucky by Cat Sebastian (audio)
Companion to We Could Be So Good, featuring Mark, the queer book-critic reporter who showed up in a couple of short scenes in the first book. ( Grieving the loss of his previous lover, Mark is stunned to find himself returning to life because of, and falling for, the baseball player he's been assigned to write about. )

70: Apprentice to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer (audio)
Sequel to “Assistant to the Villain”. First, Evie must help the captured Villain. Then the Villain’s household must work together to figure out how to stop the king from his nefarious plans (which I won’t go into because those are spoilers from the first book). You learn more about Evie’s family, Becky’s family, The Villain’s family - lots of twists. I’m getting a little tired of the Slow Burn, though. It’s one of those Cassie Clare things where you want to shake people for not communicating properly. The Villain is convinced that being with Evie would ruin her life. But he doesn’t SAY that, he just acts like he doesn’t really care. So then Evie decides she doesn’t care, either. :P I hope they resolve this in the next book, whenever that is.

71. Ravenfall by Kalyn Josephson (audio) (MG/YA)
( Young teen girl from a magical household befriends the boy who shows up on her family's doorstep. He's just witnessed his parents' murder and has no idea they were part of the magical community, too. )

I'm definitely sicker today - more congested, sniffly, sinus pain, etc. But still testing negative for Covid. *bangs head* Go figure. :P

August went *poof*, seriously. Many of my fellow Americans with kids in school or who work in education are already back, whereas we don't start until next week. But it's coming!

Things that happened in August:

* Two got his wisdom teeth out. They were all impacted below the surface. He drooled blood all over his white tshirt those first couple of hours when he couldn't feel his face at all, and I had to throw the shirt out. Thankfully it was cheap. MiniPlu demanded I take many pictures of Chipmunk Cheeks and send them to her, the way any good, loving sister would, lol. It took him about a week before he was back to mostly eating semi-normally - about the same time it took MiniPlu two years ago.

* Two had his semi-annual CHOP checkup; we're looking to transition him out to adult doctors to manage his trans care within the year. He's been going to CHOP to be evaluated for, then provided, gender-affirming care since he was 10 years old - half his life!

* Two and I had eye checkups. He's fine, and my prescription didn't change. I needed lenses replaced on an old pair - the anti-glare coating had cracked in the heat of my car, oops - but otherwise all was well.

(If you hadn't noticed, Two had a lot of appointments, essentially one per week for three weeks.)

* MiniPlu spent 9 days at home with us. She had a full week of "don't have to go into the office at all" and decided she might as well work from NJ as from her apartment, so she toted down her gear and her laundry, lol, and although of course she was working during the day, it was really nice to see her on the evenings and weekend.

* I drove back up with her when she returned to MA, ( and visited a friend )

*I took Amtrak back to NJ at the end of my stay, which went smoothly except for some very prickly co-passengers. ( The first rule of Quiet Car is don't talk about Quiet Car )

* I finished my summer scrap quilt! ( Pics under here )

* One of my cousins died very suddenly. (My mother's first cousin, whatever that makes her to me. First cousin once removed?) She was only about 67, and JUST about to celebrate her 45th wedding anniversary. J had been the flower girl in my parents' wedding when she was about 8, and then I was the flower girl in J's wedding (also when I was 8), wearing the exact same dress. They had an autopsy done because she was found dead at home after her husband had been away on a quick business trip and nobody knew what had happened. Turns out she'd had a brain aneurysm. :-( She did at least get to meet her first grandchild, who was born in May, but, damn, it's awful.

* One of my dear online friends lost her husband after a 7 month battle with cancer, and less than a week after they'd declared him terminal. Fuck. Cancer.

* On a more positive note: I think I forgot to mention this in the July post, but - remember how we lost one of our cats very suddenly in June? She'd been a medium-hair fluff that we'd nicknamed "fluffypants" and my SIL missed having another fluffy kitty around (most of the others are DSH). While Will and I were in OR in mid-July, my BIL/SIL (well, really just my SIL) adopted a pair of shy medium-hair sisters, that sort of buff color that isn't quite orange and isn't really tan (although they do blend in with our tan carpet quite well, lol). They just turned a year old in August and, after a few weeks, are reliably letting us pet them. We can only pick one of them up at the moment (Shira), the other (Aliza) is too skittish still, but they're very sweet and hopefully they'll continue to settle in and become more comfortable.

( Pics under here )

Oh, one final thing: Remember the library job I didn't get? On August 13th, they relisted the job. O_o I debated reapplying, then decided a) I still had some dignity, b) given that I had never gotten a response to my previous emails, nor did I get one to the email I sent to the secretary saying, "What happened? I thought you had someone!" I figured I really didn't need to get myself embroiled in a school where shit seemed so disorganized and discourteous. Given that was only about 3 weeks ahead of the first day of school, however, I sure hope they found someone in time to get them cleared, approved, etc etc in time. But - not my circus, not my monkeys.

Continuing stonepicnicking_okapi's year of questions:

JUNE

1 JUNE: Go Barefoot Day: Do you like going barefoot?
In summer, yes.

( June 2-30 )

JULY
1 JULY: Second Half of the Year Day: How has the first half of 2024 been for you?
It was quieter at first, as I was back to part-time subbing, and then got busy again once I had the full-time leave-of-absence post.

( July 2-31 )

Anyone else have any fun memes you've seen going around?

36, All the Hidden Paths by Foz Meadows (audio)
The Sequel to "A Strange and Stubborn Endurance." ( In which Our Heroes deal with deadly court politics )

37. Prince and Bodyguard by Tavia Lark (audio)
A continuation of the "Perilous Courts" series, although now we’re looking at things from the Draskoran side - they’ve been viewed as the enemy by the Sandry princes from the first three books. But what we learn from Vana is quite different. Vana would LOVE to get away from his cold-hearted parents and his scheming younger brother. His bodyguard (the love interest, duh), helps make it happen.

38. Legend of the White Snake by Sher Lee (ARC)
( A m/m twist on a Chinese legend )

39. ACOTAR by Sarah J Maas (audio)
( Taking a shot at these famous giant tomes about human/fae interactions )

40. Spellbound by Allie Therin
( 1920s NYC paranormal romance between a young man who can see the history of anything he touches, and another man who is trying to keep evil artifacts out of the world )

41. The Long Run by James Acker (audio)
( The two track and field captains find unlikely love, and learn more about themselves and their families )

42. Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Ochoa
This is part of the Classics Remix series, where characters’ biological genders, gender identities, sexualities, and/or races are tweaked to make a change from the standard white f/m storylines most of them have. ( This one is Pride & Prejudice, but not ) So - eh, it was all right, but I liked Self-Made Boys way better.

43. The Hand and the Heart by Sarah M Cradit (read-aloud)
( Two young men who are ethnically part of a magical community but are descended from rebels struggle to be accepted when they need that community’s help to heal a relative. Oh, and they finally give in to the fact that they’re in love )

44. Not Dead Yet by Jenn Burke (audio)
( Contemporary paranormal m/m romance set in Toronto with ghosts, vampires, and magical artifacts, oh my! ) As far as the paranormal elements go in this series, there are some things that are fine, some that are a bit WTF and some that are a lot more WTF, especially as the series progresses, but the characters are just so darn likeable, and the narrator so engaging, I decided I didn’t care, and absolutely enjoyed the entire series, ridiculous or not. Also, Wes is demisexual, and I really appreciated that representation.

45, The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (MG, Audio)
( Robot learns from animals to survive in the wilderness; animals refuse to let other robots take her away ) Part of a series. Aside from the fact that the chapters are, like, three pages long - which was annoying, even for a kids’ book - it was a cute story.

46. The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson (MG, audio)
( Young black girl solves a decades-old mystery and finds a treasure ) This was an awesome book!

47. Give Up the Ghost by Jenn Burke (audio)
Not Dead Yet #2. ( In which Wes struggles with new powers, and ghosts are running rampant )

48. Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R Alban (audio)
( Mid-1800s f/f romance, complete with hilariously large hoop skirts. ) I will definitely be reading the sequel at some point, which features two of the men who are mentioned in this first book.

49. The Story of English in 100 Words by David Crystal (audio)
What it says on the tin. I’m a language nerd, so this was both interesting and entertaining for me.

50. Celestial Monsters by Aiden Thomas (ARC, audio)
( Sequel to ‘The Sunbearer Trials' and picking up immediately after that cliffhanger ending. Semi-diosas save the world )

51. The Prince of the Palisades by Julian Winters (ARC)
( Another black m/m winner from this author. Banished prince falls for local SoCal boy and also learns who he really is inside. )

52. Graveyard Shift by Jenn Burkey (audio)
Not Dead Yet #3 ( What’s with all the drug-related shifter deaths and sudden influx of new vampires? ) I could honestly read about these boys for quite some time more, despite some of the ridiculous paranormal bits, but the series came to a natural-feeling conclusion, so that’s it for now. However, the author has written another trilogy about one of the side characters, and I’ll probably end up read/listening to that at some point, too.

53. In Other Lands* by Sarah Rees Brennan (audio/repeat)
It’s been awhile since I read this, and I hadn’t ever listened to the audio version before. However, it was on sale on Audible awhile back, so I figured I’d give it a go. It took me awhile to get into the story because the narrator is the same one who had read a rather spicy m/m historical romance, so getting into him as the voice of Elliott took some doing. However, after awhile, I did get hooked into the story in its own right, and enjoyed it afresh.

54. Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All by Chanel Miller (MG)
( Two girls set out across NYC to find owners of lost socks, and learn Important Life Lessons along the way. ) I loved the story. I hated the artwork that was included.

55. One Night in Hartswood by Emma Denny (read aloud)
( 14th century m/m romance between one young man and the would-be groom his sister was supposed to marry - but neither of them know the other’s true identity. Also, there’s a lot of outdoor camping in winter, so, you know, they have to cuddle to keep warm. *g* )

56. Solito by Javiar Zamora (audio)
( A 9-year old El Salvadorean boy makes the 3k mile trek to America with only other immigrants - strangers - for company. )

Audio DNFs
DNF: The Winter King by Bernard Cornwell - violence
DNF: Football Sundae by Darryl Banner (dumb and too focused on horny)
DNF: Blurred Lines by Andi Jaxon (damaged MC who gives such mixed signals to the man he supposedly loves, it just started pissing me off)

Because the previous post was so damn long, I'm putting the question-a-day meme answers in a separate post.

MAY
1 MAY: Beltane: What are your favorite spring flowers?. Pretty much any bulb flowers, but I also love many blooming trees, too.

( Days 2-31 under here )

Slooowly, sloowly, I'm catching up. :P