November 20th's Sunday/Monday Post

Welcome to my weekly Sunday/Monday post.  As usual, I will be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading

It was a fairly quiet week.  I got a lot done at work.  Not quite everything I had hoped, but enough that I'm not planning to work this weekend.

I didn't go paddle boarding today.  Shocking, right?  The reason is, it was way too windy.  We are finally getting the fall Santa Ana winds.  That makes it way too windy to enjoy paddle boarding.  Honestly, it was kind of nice to not set an alarm and enjoy a bit of a lazy morning around the condo.

Not completely lazy however, since I planned to get out and about.  I tried to run a couple of errands in the morning with mixed results.  I couldn't find what I wanted at Target, but did get what I needed at Lowes.  Then I drove down to a book signing.  Ellen Byron (aka Maria DiRico), Jennifer J. Chow, and Jesse Q. Sutanto were doing an event together.  It was lots of fun, and I'm glad I went.

I did get some progress in my Christmas decorating done this week.  My trees are up, my lights are on them.  Ornaments from 2022 are on as well.  I hope to get more ornaments on the trees before I leave for Thanksgiving, but we will see if that happens or not.  Meanwhile, I have the stuff I put out in my bedroom out.  One of my to do items for tomorrow is to put my outside lights up.  I decided to wait until after the winds blew through, not that it would really make any difference.

And yes, I do start "early."  I'm out of town for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If I am going to have time to enjoy my decorations, I need to start now.  Especially with how crazy work can be and everything else I have to do for Christmas, like present buying and wrapping.

I do mean trees plural.  As I talked about last week, thanks to my Hallmark ornament collection, I have more than enough ornaments for multiple trees, more than I put up.  I only put up two since that's all the room I have in my condo, and both are in corners, so I don't even get full 360 degrees on them.  They are on both sides of my sliding glass door.  It's a bit or work, but I love the result.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Disney Pin Review: The Enchanted Tiki Room - Mickey Mouse the Main Attraction

Monday - Movie Review: Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves

Tuesday - Book Review: Cry Wolf by Annette Dashofy

Wednesday - Ornament Review: Stocking Stuffers #2

Thursday - Book Review: The Counterfeit Wife by Mally Becker

Friday - Friday Post featuring Blind Side

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Music Review: Always Only Jesus by MercyMe
Monday - Book Review: Blind Side by Penny Warner
Tuesday - Movie Review: Disenchanted
Wednesday - Book Review: Knot My Sister's Keeper by Mary Marks
Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving!
Friday - Novella Review: Yule Log Murder by Leslie Meier
Friday - Novella Review: Death by Yule Log by Lee Hollis
Friday - Novella Review: Logged On by Barbara Ross
Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

Strap yourself in.  I've got another long list of books to talk about.

I've gotten three ARCs from Kensington.  They come out in three different months, so it's funny I have all three ARCs to talk about this week.  Up first is Rum and Choke, the fourth Chloe Jackson mystery from Sherry Harris.  Then comes Irish Coffee Murder, the newest anthology with stories by Leslie Meier, Lee Hollis, and Barbara Ross.  If you look back at what I'm planning to publish this week, you'll see the individual versions of their stories from a previous anthology.  Honestly, I read these because of Barbara Ross.  Finally comes Four Parties and a Funeral by Maria DiRico (aka Ellen Bryon).  Sherry, Barbara, and Maria/Ellen are three of my favorite writers, so I can't wait to dig into their new stories.

Since I have a long drive up to visit my family for Thanksgiving, it was time for another audio book.  Thanks to my library, I downloaded "W" is for Wasted by Sue Grafton.  It's kind of hard to believe I'm almost finished with this series.  When I started, it seemed so daunting.  Granted, it's been several years, but I'm going to miss Kinsey when I finish.

I downloaded another ARC this week.  Where the Guilty Hide is the first in a new series from Annette Dashofy.  I always like getting in at the ground floor of a series, mainly because that means I don't have to catch up.  I seem to either start a series when it is new or when I am several books behind.

Finally comes the only book I bought.  Christmas Past by Brian Earl was the subject of a podcast I listen to a couple of weeks back.  A book about Christmas traditions?  Sign me up.  I'm looking forward to diving into it next month.

No, I didn't buy any books at the event I went to today.  I already have books by the authors, so I was there to support them and chat afterwards.

What I'm Reading:

I've always already started "W" is for Wasted.  It's a seventeen hour audiobook!  That's way more than I would get listened to just driving too and from my family.  Sadly, I won't be far enough into it to finish it up while driving Wednesday, which is what I usually try to do.  I like to listen to Christmas music on the drive home at Thanksgiving.  Oh well, I hopefully will finish up part way home after Thanksgiving.

On the reading front, I'm working on A Streetcar Named Murder by T. G. Herren.  I'm not too far into it (hopefully, I'll get some reading time in after I post this), and I'm enjoying it, although I feel like we are getting a bit too much backstory.  I'm ready for the next step in the story, but I think I'm to the point where that is going to happen.

I think that about does it for me.  For those in the USA, I hope you have a fantastic Thanksgiving!  For everyone else, have a wonderful week!