Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 11, 2022 14:49:35 GMT
This is for roughly the past month, not week, but...
I've read three more Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy Sayers, bringing my total to maybe eight? So these are mysteries written in the 1920s and 30s, the same era when Agatha Christie was starting out, but they're very different from her style. I'd recommend the four titles that include the character Harriet Vane, they're by far the most interesting. The rest are kind of meh.
Speaking of Agatha Christie, someone on a recent reading thread here recommended The Christie Affair by Nina de Gramont, which is a fictional re-telling of the ten days in 1926 when Agatha disappeared after discovering her husband's affair with their secretary. Fascinatingly, the author decided to tell most of the story from the point of view of the secretary, the "other woman." What she came up with was really terrific and poignant. Thanks to whoever recommended it, I enjoyed it so much!
Also thanks to the Pea who recommended Five Wives by Joan Thomas here a week or two ago. This is also a fictionalized re-telling of an actual event, the deaths of five men attempting to reach an isolated tribe in Ecuador for missionary purposes in 1956. The story is told from the point of view of several of their wives and one of their sisters. It reminded me a lot of The Poisonwood Bible, looking at the unthinking arrogance of white Christians attempting to utterly obliterate native culture in the name of God.
This story was of special interest to me because my grandma was very into missionary stories, and she owned the quite well-known (in Christian circles) memoir by Elisabeth Elliot, widow of Jim Elliot, called Through Gates of Splendour. I remember reading it as a child. It's interesting to me to see how most of society looks at that story with different eyes now. The novel was excellent, and I'm going to recommend it to my mom and a few other people I know.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 11, 2022 4:41:34 GMT
I've felt much of this. Thanks for sharing it.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 10, 2022 17:07:17 GMT
This is great, and so utterly British. (In the very best way, lol.) I've always liked Stephen Fry so much, it's good to hear that he is worth liking and respecting!
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 10, 2022 17:03:45 GMT
I like the idea, but I can't drag my butt out of bed that early.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Apr 10, 2022 16:56:12 GMT
I'm so sorry. A peaceful passing is truly a gift. All my sympathy to you, your mom, and the rest of your family.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Mar 15, 2022 3:12:39 GMT
I'm reading my way through some Dorothy L. Sayers mysteries: Strong Poison, Have His Carcase, and Gaudy Night.These are the ones where her detective Lord Peter Wimsey meets and woos his future wife Harriet Vane. The books were all written and take place in the 1920s and 30s. I'm kind of amazed I've never read these before, because I like Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh mysteries from that same era. These are longer and far more complex. I'm really enjoying them; it's like taking a vacation back in time.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Mar 8, 2022 5:01:09 GMT
I finally finished The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. I had an incredibly hard time getting through this book. It took me forever. I really should have abandoned it, but I hate to not finish a book. 2/5 stars for me. Very disappointing. A disclaimer--I was going through some personally stressful things in my life which may have skewed me more negative than usual. Maybe I just read it at the wrong time. I read The Mother-in-Law by Sally Hepworth and thoroughly enjoyed it. 4/5 stars I read The Magpie Murders several years ago and also really struggled to get through it. It was an homage to classic British mysteries and just what I would normally love, but not so much. I hope your stress is improving.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Mar 7, 2022 19:49:09 GMT
I got a few read this week.
The London House by Katherine Reay. This is the March selection for my online book club. It's one of the thousands of novels that tells a story from the past paralleled with a story from the present: in this case, a young woman is trying to uncover the mystery about her great-aunt's activities during WW II. Was she a traitor or a spy? The stakes are high because the young woman's family has generational trauma over the grief and lies that were told about the aunt. I really wanted to like it but didn't--most of the characters were pretty flat and there were factual errors that the author or at least an editor should have caught. Also a LOT of skipping back and forth through time that had the potential to really confuse a reader.
Dovetail by Karen McQuestion. I think I liked this one more than it deserved, lol. It also takes place in two different timelines, in this case 1916 and 1983. A young man in 1983 has been having repetitive dreams that disturb him enough that he's been admitted to a mental hospital. An old woman claiming to be his grandmother checks him out of the hospital and takes him to her old childhood home in small-town Wisconsin. Turns out she really is his grandmother, turns out his dreams are connected to a tragedy that happened in his family, and turns out there is a young woman in town, fleeing some difficulties of her own, who is willing to help him figure out the mystery. The author keeps a brisk pace throughout the book, and there's a thread of humor and lightheartedness through most of it, even though the 1916 story is tragic. And the author was great at creating both the characters and the world they moved through. It's not great literature, but it was a fun read. It reminded me a bit of Barbara Michaels who wrote a ton of paranormal romance type books in the 70s and 80s.
Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell. I think I picked this book up last year after reading Erik Larson's The Splendid and the Vile about the Battle of Britain in 1940, because Clementine featured somewhat in that book and I was curious about her. I started it three or four months ago but only got a couple chapters into it. I finished the whole thing this past weekend. I'm fascinated by stories about famous marriages. This one reminded me of one I read a few years ago about Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson, where you have a gifted but deeply-flawed and neurotic leader and an extremely intelligent woman who advises and nurtures him completely unseen by the world.
The section about the years of WW II were especially interesting, as the author contrasts the Churchills' relationship at the point in time with another very famous and fraught marriage, that of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Clementine really gave her all to Winston for the almost 60 years they were married, but at a cost to her own mental and physical health. I really found a lot to think about in the book.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 26, 2022 23:40:53 GMT
I started using their polish last fall. I really like their medium to dark colors, they cover nicely. I just buy their polish and their top coat.
I joined an Olive and June Facebook group, and the consensus in the group is that their nail polish remover is hard on nails. I already had some Sally Hansen polish remover so I just have kept using that and it works well.
The group also recommends OPI Nail Envy as a base coat and a nail strengthener and I do find it helpful. It helps keep my nails from staining.
So I usually do a coat of OPI Nail Envy, two coats of Olive and June polish, and then a coat of Olive and June top coat. I use their chisel brush dipped in a bit of nail polish remover to tidy up the edges. It usually stays nice-about ut five days, and I can always give the chips a little touch-up and get a few more days out of it.
It's all hard on my nails, however--they've always been very strong but they do flake sometimes now. So I try to give my nails a week or two of rest between manicures.
I don't usually attempt pedicures because I'm old, inflexible and short-sighted. For spring and summer, I usually go to a salon for pedicures and keep them plain when it's not sandal weather.
The FB group I'm in is called Olive and June Obsessed, if you're interested. I've found them really helpful.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 23, 2022 4:43:45 GMT
In general I dislike using the word “triggered” but honestly that’s the only way to describe what I feel when I hear that voice and the shit coming out of his mouth. Ditto. I try to pretend he just vanished in January 2021, but when I read the odd tidbit of his insanity, it's like re-living the horror of his presidency all over again. There's not enough meds to get me through it if he gets re-elected in 2024.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 21, 2022 3:09:49 GMT
I'm sorry! I hope they can find some real answers and get you feeling better.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 19, 2022 16:43:02 GMT
When was the book written? I mean 20 years ago or more, Donald and Ivana would have been joking names, like calling pets Jack and Jackie or Kim and Kanye.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Self love
Feb 17, 2022 22:49:44 GMT
via mobile
Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 22:49:44 GMT
When I went through cancer treatment in 2020, they told me to rest but also told me to try tobe as active as I felt able. 😄 How does one manage that?? Lol. Do you have anyone who can help you with some of those tasks that feel like a lot but also make you feel better about your surroundings? I went through chemo at the first height of covid, so we were isolating and perhaps you are, too, but if you feel safe, I'm sure a friend would love to come help. Wishing you strength and healing. I know, right? How does one manage that? I was also told that I needed to catch my first cold. How exactly does one go about catching a cold that isn't Covid? No, not really. The offers of help have disappeared. Actually they were always 'I would if I could but I can't' offers. The actual help never really happened because like you, we couldn't have people in the house because of the Covid restrictions all through it. I just did what I could. The house got dusty and messy, the iron hasn't been used for months but the bathroom/kitchen were kept clean and we ate OK. I'm gradually getting on top of it. I finished the chemo 5 months ago and clinically my immune system should be fine - technically I'm 'better' and that's what people expect. I had 3 months off, then started working from home in August and went back into the office in November. In reality I feel more fatigued now than I did when I was going through the chemo. I'm still having targeted biologicals and immunotherapy injections every 3 weeks until July, and they make everything hurt. My liver function is still iffy and my iron levels are low. I'm sleeping half the morning then creeping around like an old woman, and grunting, groaning and dropping things. I feel 80. How long did it take you to feel normal again? Thank you to you and also to @mikklyn with extra Well, "normal" is pretty subjective! I had radiation after chemo, so that prolonged the tiredness. And my father died six months after I finished chemo, so there was all of THAT. 2020 was ridiculously awful. My recovery was complicated emotionally which probably didn't help with the physical recovery, either. Cancer treatment is a body trauma, it just is, and I think one doesn't usually bounce right back. I would say I started getting trickles of energy back about four months after chemo ended. After 10-12 months, I felt almost 100%. I took afternoon naps for months after everything was over. (And during everything!) I started to think I'd be napping forever, but I got to a point where I didn't need the extra rest any more. But my after-treatment isn't as complex as yours sounds. I have a shot every four weeks to stop hormone production and a daily pill. I take iron, calcium and vitamin D. If your iron levels are low, surely that would make you more tired. It sounds like you're doing as well as you can. I still have random days where I'm exhausted, but they're getting fewer and fewer, thankfully. I'm sorry you don't have more help...I think when you're out of the "crisis" phase, people kind of forget about you. That happened to me, too. Wish I could zap over and give you a hand.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 16:22:20 GMT
I like Land's End supima cotton sheets, 400 thread count. They're substantial but soft, stay nice a long time.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 16:09:16 GMT
Yeah, what voltagain said. And others. I’m thinking you may not like the actual living in a lower-cost area. I agree. I live in Ohio, and while there are actually a lot of Democrats here, the state is overall red. But I will add that at least where I live, it is not hard to find like-minded people. I do think that someone used to shopping at Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods might feel out of kilter for awhile. That said, we do have plenty of shopping. But it would definitely be a trade off. One thing that I like about where I live is that we are between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, each about an hour away. And there are plenty of farms not far away, which sell excellent produce. You must be in the area where I grew up. I don't think I could move back at this point, but it's nice to visit. I love all the farm stands, I was so spoiled with good food growing up there.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 15:55:36 GMT
I live in Newport News, VA, and I feel like we have some of the benefits of urban living without the high COL of Northern VA. We live in a smaller colonial-style house, 35 years old, in a small, safe neighborhood, and the houses across the street both sold last year for about $250,000. There are plenty of more expensive places in the area, but even those are "cheap" compared to other parts of the country. I like it here; we have mild winters and beautiful autumns and springs. Summer sucks, though (the afore-mentioned humidity!) Lots of sunshine. A diverse population. And until we elected a Trumpist governor last fall, the state has been turning more and more blue since we moved here in 2003. I very much hope Youngkin is an anomaly.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 15:47:10 GMT
You know what? You're right. My oncologists/doctors keep telling me to rest if I need to rest, but when I'm exhausted physically and surrounded by mess, it also exhausts me mentally. So even though cleaning up makes me hurt physically during and afterwards, my mind feels cleaner and more alert. On my To Do list today is to make a slow cooker beef stew and a batch of bread, and to put away the dry laundry, and change and wash the bedding. My oncologist is calling this afternoon. I'm not sure I'll get it all done. When I went through cancer treatment in 2020, they told me to rest but also told me to try tobe as active as I felt able. 😄 How does one manage that?? Lol. Do you have anyone who can help you with some of those tasks that feel like a lot but also make you feel better about your surroundings? I went through chemo at the first height of covid, so we were isolating and perhaps you are, too, but if you feel safe, I'm sure a friend would love to come help. Wishing you strength and healing.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 15:37:18 GMT
As my DH was becoming more and more frail, I realized I was not taking care of myself. I started making sure I ate better. Another issue I have had was feeling I needed to do everything for everyone. I have worked on that a lot over the last year. I read a great book, The Joy of Being Selfish. I never read self-help books, but this one is amazing. It's very conversational and an easy read. Right now I have a lot to do around my house and in dealing with paperwork associated with death. I am forcing myself to stop midafternoon and do something relaxing. I picked up some actual books (instead of ebooks) at B&N, so I am curling up and reading. So much paperwork. My mom was swamped when Dad died. I hope you have a lovely reading afternoon. I've been trying to be more intentional about putting reading time into my schedule the past few weeks and it's been great. Glad you're going to take some time for a break!
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 15:33:13 GMT
mom I hope the meds AND the purse both do you a world of good. I think both are good examples of self-love.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 17, 2022 15:30:08 GMT
They're probably the same people who hate public school for children, too. 😄😄😄 Sounds like you're doing the right thing for your dog and for you.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 14, 2022 15:16:41 GMT
I finished Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain and America by Jonathan Gould. I was wanting to read a more recent book about the Beatles (it's been decades since I've read one) and this one was excellent. The author talks a lot about the history and pop culture of the 50s and 60s and places the Beatles in that context. So it's not about gory personal gossip, but more about the history and the music. I enjoyed it.
And I finished All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle, which is the February selection for an online book club. I probably wouldn't have chosen it to read. It's about an elderly Jamaican-British man who decides to start trying to make friends so his adult daughter who lives overseas won't worry about him. It's supposed to be a touching story, but I just found it sad, probably partly because I worry about being old and alone, too. However, I did learn about the Windrush Scandal, which was shocking and something I had not heard about before. (Google it!)
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 14, 2022 14:47:55 GMT
I am so very sorry. I know it's been a long journey for you both. Take care of yourself now, my friend.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 14, 2022 14:44:16 GMT
I am so, so sorry. What a horrible shock.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 13, 2022 17:25:03 GMT
I doubt anyone's interested in this topic any more but I'm stuck in the car waiting for my husband soooo...
At my main grocery store, you just wheel the cart up and the cashier takes items out to scan (As opposed to a conveyer belt.) I LOVE this. If a person was extremely organized they could probably arrange items in the cart to be grouped together as they're taken out, but I don't always manage that exactly.
During the pandemic, my grocery store started requesting that if you were using your own bags, that you would do your own bagging, too, I guess so cashiers didn't have to touch a lot of germy bags. So I started bagging my own and turned out I kind of preferred it that way. Now the cashiers are able and willing to bag into reusable, but I still tell them I'll do it myself.
The only thing is it can be a bit stressful if I didn't get a lot of stuff and then by the time I get done paying, I have to hurry to bag so don't slow down the cashier since I know their speed is tracked.
But doing it myself I can make my bags a comfortable weight to carry and group items just how I want. I like it.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 12, 2022 1:26:45 GMT
I will validate you peabay and I in turn feel quite validated by this thread! I am comfortable staying with my mother in the house I grew up in, but not really anywhere else. I'm an introvert, too, I need my quiet alone time at the end of the day, and I've become almost unable to sleep in other people's beds or on the dreaded air mattresses. I can barely sleep in my own bed, it's a chronic pain + menopause insomnia thing, I guess. Hotel beds are usually quite comfy, so I can deal with those. I can't begin to count the utterly sleepless nights I've had in other people's homes. Which doesn't make for fun days. My husband prefers to stay in people's homes, and it's absolutely a cheapness thing with him. I've put my foot down for the very few trips we've taken in the past couple years and insisted on hotels. He always picks cheap hotels but it's still better than random uncomfortable sleeping situations.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 7, 2022 19:35:44 GMT
And I read Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux. mimima recommended this and it was totally my thing, having been a Little Woman love since age eight. The author talks about changing attitudes toward the story and characters...I enjoyed it. I'm so glad that you enjoyed, my friend! I admit, this is not one that I will donate, though many of the ones that I have around here - including my current ready - will go out the door! This week, I read: Book of Two Ways by Jodi Picoult - for an IRL Book Club. I found that this was a compendium of all of the things that Picoult has researched - Egyptology, hieroglyphics, quantam physics, and death doulas. Because of this information dump, the story was far less important and not one that I particularly enjoyed. Prince Caspian by CS Lewis - Except for LWW, I only read these in adulthood. Therefore, this one is not one that I knew intimately, and I am listening to a podcast going through Narnia (For Narnia and For Aslan) which just started this one. I grabbed it to re-read so the plot would be familiar. It's a lovely one - though as a kid I always bogged in it. Glass Houses by Louise Penney - I love Three Pines and the characters who populate it. I do not like the Gamache Surete storyline. So, half was great and half was a slog. Bread and Water, Water and Oil: An Orthodox Christian Experience of God by Melitios Webber. Another toothbrush read - this one is a good theological introduction, especially on the sacraments. Oh, I got the Little Woman book for my Kindle, so it's sticking around! Have you read Eden's Outcasts, about LMA's relationship with her father Bronson? It's really excellent. He put his wife and daughters through a lot.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 7, 2022 18:42:15 GMT
I'm trying to veeerrry slowly read down a stack of random books that is currently teetering between my bookshelves. As I read them, I want to then put them in a bag todonaye. So I read Mrs. Queen Takes the Train by William Kuhn. This was a cute weird little story of Queen Elizabeth (about aged 80ish in this story) stepping off the Buckingham Palace grounds to go visit her old yacht the Britannia, and the Household staff who are scrambling to find her, keep her safe, and keep her out of the news. The story is not told in a linear fashion, which would probably frustrate a lot of readers, but I came to find it charming. I also read The Harrowing by Alexandra Sokoroff. A quickie ghost story, sort of the Breakfast Club meets the Shining? Kids stuck in their old dorm over Thansgiving weekend unleash an evil presence by playing qith an old outta board. It was fairly meh. And I read Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy: The Story of Little Women and Why It Still Matters by Anne Boyd Rioux. mimima recommended this and it was totally my thing, having been a Little Woman love since age eight. The author talks about changing attitudes toward the story and characters...I enjoyed it.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 4, 2022 16:42:27 GMT
I actually have their white whole wheat flour on hand at the moment! My grocery store usually has it, along with their white and whole wheat flours. I'll bet if you look on the KA Flour site, they'll have an article about how to sub white flour for the white whole wheat flour. You could also call their hotline. I love King Arthur. Does anyone else get so excited to get the seasonal catalog in the mail like I do? What do you think of the recipes in it this month? That Pizza Babka looks amazing, I think I'm going to make it for SuperBowl (go Rams !) then on the flip side are these amazing Caramel Banana Walnut muffins. Those look divine as well, but it calls for 1 cup of White Whole Wheat Flour which I don't have and I don't feel like buying a whole new flour for just one recipe. They are always doing that, to make you buy more product lol. I don't blame them but I'm wondering how much that would really even make a difference in the recipe if I just used AP flour for the whole recipe. Here are the two recipes if anyone is interested. Pizza BabkaCaramel Banana Walnut Muffins
The whole catalog is so gorgeous, I always want to bake all the things!
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 4, 2022 16:35:01 GMT
Oh, this is awful. They are destroying our world one little bit at a time.
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Mystie
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,299
Jun 25, 2014 19:53:37 GMT
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Post by Mystie on Feb 3, 2022 22:10:07 GMT
I do have wax paper and I use it when I'm baking cookies, especially when I'm doing lots of them. I let them sit on the pan for a bit when they come out of the oven, then put them on sheets of wax paper to finish cooling.
When I make Chex Mix I spread it to cool on wax paper.
When I freeze slices of bread I wrap/cushion them with wax paper before sliding into the freezer bag.
Sometimes whsn I bake I pile my dry ingredients on a folded and opened sheet of wax paper. Then you can pick up the whole thing and slowly pour it into wet ingredients in the mixer.
Those are the main things I can think of. It comes in handy often enough that it's worth it to me to have a roll around.
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