Will and Sonny – Days of Our Lives

I did not go downtown today, so this was really a no-shopping day!

I visited mom, did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for a couple walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I put a roast in the crock pot for supper. (Not my usual chuck roast; I decided to try something different.)

I went with the Ginger Peach tea again this morning. ( for reasons that you might not want to read )

I wrote more! ~1,200 words and I’ve managed to finish the first draft of the fic at ~5,600 words! Now to type it in. o_O I read more in Amelia Peabody and watched the first Jack Reacher movie. (I’ve seen it, or most of it in parts, before, but having read the first three books, I wanted to re-watch it to see what I thought about it in comparison. I can see Tom Cruise as a pilot, I can even see him as a spy, but I cannot see him as Jack Reacher. And not just because of his height. Jack Reacher is hugely muscled. He was shot in the chest and didn’t die because his pectoral muscle was so thick it acted like kevlar. I cannot see Tom Cruise as this character.)

Temps started out at 36.0(F) and reached 43.5. It was not supposed to get this warm, but it has so I won’t complain. We even had some sun!


Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay when I saw her. I was able to help her get last year’s bills out of the filing cabinet so she could start filing this year’s bills and I did up the few dishes in the sink. We talked more about the hospice visit and she told me that hospice would be completely covered and that the rep (I should probably start calling her the nurse?) will start visiting mom once a week just to check-up on her and take vitals, etc.

Mom often talks about a woman she knows who lived 3-years past when her family called hospice, so she’s not giving up. I know she wants to see Ireland graduate, and if she could just hang on that long I think she’d be happy.

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Tripwire (A Jack Reacher Novel) by Lee Child and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher.


What I am Currently Reading: Tomb of the Golden Bird (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters.


What I Plan to Read Next: Undecided, but I have several to choose from; I have another library book out, another requested, and a couple on my own shelf, so it’ll be whatever I’m feeling after I finish this one.

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Book 1 of 2026: Tripwire (A Jack Reacher Novel) (Lee Child)

I enjoyed this book. With the usual caveats. ( spoilers )

The mystery part of this book was really good; I'm giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

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Book 2 of 2026: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (Lex Croucher)

This was really good! ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book; I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

I haven’t done this year-end meme in several years, but this year seems like a good time to bring it back.


1. Your main fandom of the year? Murder, She Wrote. Out of 21 fic, 12 of them were in this fandom (solely, or as a crossover), plus the 14 ficlets I wrote for halfamoon.


( more back here )

I DVR’d and watched some more Hallmark Christmas movies since my last post; I enjoyed all the movies on this list. (I didn’t post this immediately because I thought I’d watch more movies. In the end, I decided not to watch them, even the ones I’d DVR’d. o_O)


1. Three Wisest Men: This is the third (and final) in the Three Wise Men trilogy. It stars three Hallmark actors I like: Andrew Walker, Paul Campbell and Tyler Hynes. And Margaret Colin (who I remember from Now and Again). Kimberley Sustad had a cameo (she and Paul Campbell were part of the writing crew on all three movies). This movie was really good – made me laugh and cry. Naturally I had some quibbles, like the product placement and how they got meta. Aside from that I enjoyed the movie and recommend it. I’m sad there won’t be more. (I read a bit of an interview with Andrew Walker and he said they don’t want people to get bored, but honestly, I would love to see how their lives continue.)


( three more back here )

I have some health-related goals for 2026, which include walking more and eating better, and so I thought, what better way to start down that path than by reviving my health-related community, for_your_health?!!

If you're already a member, please come back and join me!! If you'd like to become a member, please let me know.

I hit Price Chopper and Agway while I was downtown. I picked up fixings for lasagna and lots of dog treats (that won’t last as long as they should *side-eyes Pip*).

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I hit the library when it opened in the afternoon to pick up a book (and got two for my efforts!), then also stopped at Stewart’s. We finished up the leftover beef veggie soup (that I made with the leftover chuck roast) for supper.

I added ~1,000 words to my fic for smallfandomfest!! And I did it at McD’s! This is the first time I’ve gone back to McD’s in weeks! Possibly even months. (When was that time I was told the heat was fixed, only to show up and it was still freezing? That was the last time I was there.) The heat was not only working today, it actually got TOO hot at times, lol! But I wasn’t going to complain about that.

I tried the Apricot tea today. It wasn’t bad, but it won’t be one of my favorites. Why is tea so soothing when you don’t feel your best? Speaking of not feeling my best, I’m still in the drawn-out stuffed/runny nose stage with the fun addition of a sinus pressure headache from time to time. (I spoke to Pip’s employee who went to urgent care; he was diagnosed with a major sinus infection, so not exactly what Pip had. Weird that he got that, Pip got what he thinks is the flu, and I’ve got this half-assed maybe-a-cold thing going on. It seems like I have to have gotten what Pip had, so maybe the flu shot was good for something, in that it mitigated the symptoms?!! IDK)

I read both fanfic (and even left comments without procrastinating!!!) and from a book! I also watched more Secrets of the Zoo. AND I placed an online order with another Christmas GC, which included a pretty box to hold tea bags for myself!!

Temps started out at 12.9(F) and reached 30.7. Once it hit that high, at around 1pm, it turned right around and started going down again. At 3pm it was already 21.7. The temps drop so quickly this time of the year.


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I spoke to her. Sister A had visited her earlier (and pulled out another puzzle), which was nice. (Sister A’s visits will be curtailed when school starts up again on Monday, though.) She told me that eating was going okay, but she’s been relying on the protein shakes mostly. (Makes me wonder why she hasn’t made herself something like the instant mashed potatoes again.)

How is it 2026 already?!! Happy New Year to you all. I hope it’s a safe, healthy and joyous one for all of us.

I did not go downtown today, just spent a very lazy day at home doing minimal chores. I hand-washed dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. Pip's supper was leftovers, so I didn't even have to cook!

Disappointment of the day (really, yesterday, but it carried over), was discovering that there is garlic in the dip mix I use to make the spinach dip. I never noticed before, so must be years ago it didn't bother me like it does now. It's not enough to burn my mouth like that yummy hamburger did a while back, but it is enough to make me pause when I'm going back for seconds *coff* thirds.

I tried the Green tea today. At first I was like, this is my kind of tea (very weak), but by the time I finished my first cup I thought it might be even too weak for me! o_O After the first cup (this was not a tea bag I could reuse; in fact, I left it in the cup the whole time and the tea still tasted weak to me) I went back to my favorite tea that I keep in the house, Tazo’s Zen (which is green tea, bright lemongrass & crisp peppermint).

I read more in my book and watched-watched more Secrets of the Zoo.

Temps started out at 12.2(F) and reached 19.1. It was windy again; Pip actually had to go out and blow out the trails again because they'd been blown in with snow. There was a little bit of sun, though!


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I talked to her. She has nothing much to report. *g* Sister A was with her when I called and my brother had called earlier, so she is receiving visitors and calls, which is nice.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year's Eve! (We were in bed long before the ball dropped, as usual.)

I had a chiropractic appointment and a pedicure this morning. I don’t drink champagne, but since it was New Year’s Eve I suggested champagne bubbles for the design. She had no idea how to do that, but googled it and came up with something she could do without fancy stickers.

Since I didn’t get there yesterday, I hit Walmart, Price Chopper and the Pharmacy while I was downtown. I picked up Chinese for lunch. And that took up my entire morning!

Chores were minimal; I hand-washed dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I made shake ‘n bake chicken legs for Pip’s supper. I made spinach dip for the first time in years! I picked up a round loaf of pumpernickel for the occasion.

I had planned to read, but I remembered that one of my HGTV programs (Fixer to Fabulous) had aired Tuesday night, so I watched that. And when I went to the DVR I remembered that the final three eps of season one of The Pitt had aired Monday night, so I had to watch ~that as well. And then I watched-watched an ep of Secrets of the Zoo.

No tea today because I wasn’t home in the morning, which is my prime tea time. I did pick up a package of Lindor’s raspberry cheesecake flavored truffles, only to be like, wow, how can raspberry be so tasteless? Now, it’s possible that my taste has been affected by my cold, or whatever it is, so I’ll try them again later, but man, so disappointing.

Temps started out at 20.1(F) and reached 32.5. There was some sun, but it didn’t last long.


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I talked to her. Sister A and Ian had visited earlier, and Sister S was there when I called, so even though I’m unable to visit, she is still having visitors.

I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep, so got up and fooled around on the internet. (You might have noticed an early comment from me. *g*) The original plan was to go downtown, even though it actually felt weird to do so after three days staying home, and hit Price Chopper and Walmart. That plan changed when Pip called to tell me that the main road I’d be traveling was closed in at least three places (due to the heavy winds all night blowing snow onto the road). Easy decision to stay home. I’ll just have to do my shopping tomorrow, so *fingers crossed* I’m still feeling pretty good.

Pip called me again around 6:30am (it was early, but it felt later since I’d already been up for over 3 hours) to tell me that one of his employees was headed to urgent care with the same thing Pip had. He admitted that at one point he’d felt bad enough that he probably should have gone to urgent care, but he doesn’t like to admit to things like that in the moment. I hope I don’t start feeling like I want to head to urgent care. o_O But if this guy gets diagnosed, at least I’ll know what’s going on. Also, we’re guessing that Pip probably caught it at the garage Christmas party. Arrgh at people going out when they know they’re sick!

I have the stuffy AND runny nose today. How is it fair that you are stuffed up so you can't breathe, and also your nose is running?!! So far nothing worse. *fingers crossed*

I did three loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, emptied the dishwasher, cleaned the bathroom sink and toilet bowl, went for a couple walks with the dogs, baked chicken for the dogs’ meals, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, returned a book to the library (when I was already out, I didn’t make a special trip!), placed a Chewy order, and shaved. I put a pork roast in the crock pot and made pulled pork for supper.

Since I stayed home I was able to type in one of my fic; I added 1,800 words to my Murder, She Wrote/Hudson & Rex crossover! AND got it posted, which is a nice bonus. I went with the Earl Grey tea today because I wanted something familiar and comforting. I sat down on the bed to write and ended up taking an hour nap with Midnight on my lap. I also watched-watched more Secrets of the Zoo.

Temps started out at 16.9(F) (interesting because the high is forecasted to be 18!) and reached 24.1. The wind was seriously ridiculous! In some places the walking trail was blown clear, and in others the snow was at least six inches deep. And walking into the wind felt like it was trying to push me backwards. Also, the roads weren’t great when I went out to pick up Ti. We live off of Route 20, which is a four-lane ‘highway’ here. The snow usually covers one lane when the wind is blowing, maybe edging a bit into a second lane, but today it covered all four! And visibility wasn’t great because of the blowing snow. I wonder when the wind is going to stop?!!


Mom Update:

I talked to mom and she sounded pretty good. I sound like a broken record, but it feels weird not to see her at least a few times a week.

I did not go downtown today because of the expected (and received) ice. I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, placed a B&N order for myself using a Christmas GC, and showered.

I read fanfic and watched Secrets of the Zoo (like, actually watched, it wasn’t just background tv). I also re-watched the first two eps of Mistletoe Murders to gather some information for a fic I’m planning to write (for smallfandomfest; if you guessed that it’s a crossover with Murder, She Wrote, you’d be right *g*).

Today I tried the Ginger Peach tea. At first I didn’t like it, perhaps the ginger, or the combination, but it actually grew on me.

Temps started out at 32.4(F) and reached 46.8. We got a lot of ice, as you can see from the pics, and wind later in the day. The warm temps melted the ice off the trees before the wind hit, thankfully. But Pip discovered that we have a lot of branches down on top of the hill (aka, above the pine trees).

~*~



Mom Update:

Again, mom sounded good when I talked to her on the phone. She’s been eating and keeping it down. Sister A was there when I called. Also, Sister S showed up yesterday and she and Sister A got out one of the puzzles I gave mom for Christmas. I hope it encourages mom to do some of it. At least she still has visitors, but I feel bad I can’t be one of them right now.