Weekly Goals Update: Week 42

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Week 42 was characteristics of an ideal retreat which honestly does not apply to my idea of disaster preparedness.  Personally I like where I live.  An ideal/perfect place does not exist.  I am going with the "make do" philosophy on this one.


2.  Makeover the Garden
I managed to water the garden and then we got some rain.  I do need to see if any of my seeds sprouted or if I need to replant. 


3.  Organize Recipes
Ummm....No.


4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks
I really, really, really want to stay out of the grocery store this week.  I do need to make two cakes and a dozen cupcakes this week.  I expect I will need to pick up a couple of ingredients to make that happen though.


5.  Focus on Saving
The only spending this week was business related - patterns and supplies.  We are again focusing on the "make do" philosophy first for projects, meals, etc.  I am happy to stay home and out of the stores!


6.  Etsy Store
I added a couple of items to my store.  I finished up some warm and soft dragon tears fingerless gloves in children and adult sizes.

 

Toward the end of the week I added some pumpkin coffee cozies.  I rotate between the three colors since it is hard to choose a favorite.



Weekend Book Reviews - The Cat Edition

A Catered Cat Wedding by Isis Crawford is the fourteenth book in the Mystery with Recipes series.  Bernie and Libby are sisters hired to cater the wedding of two Russian blue cats owned by Susie, the town's crazy cat lady.  It soon becomes clear that the wedding is meant to rile her enemies who are all guests at the wedding.  After someone plays a mean prank following the service, Susie is found dead.  The suspect list is long.   Due to some unfortunate events, Bernie and Libby have one week to find the murderer or face charges themselves.  This was a fun cozy mystery, and I enjoyed the cat theme.  I am anxious to go back to the beginning to read this series and get to know the characters more. 

The third book in the Cat Groomer Mystery series by Eileen Watkins is Feral Attraction.  Cassie owns a cat grooming and boarding shop.  Her friend Dawn enlists her help in protecting a feral cat colony at Dawn's mother's condo community.  When one of the vocal supporters of the colony dies, Dawn suspects foul play.  Cassie goes from protecting cats to investigating a murder.  The author includes some good information on feral cat control in addition to a strong mystery. 

Bells, Spells, and Murders by Carol J Perry is the seventh book in the Witch City Mystery series.  Lee is the new field reporter for WICH-TV in Salem.  One of her first assignments is interviewing a local man who oversees a charity.  It turns into a breaking news story when she finds the man dead in his office.  In spite of the fact that I figured out a large portion of the mystery early on, I enjoyed this book.  The characters are interesting, and Aunt Ibby is my favorite.  I also enjoy the cats features in the book.  The Salem setting is a favorite of mine as well.  The book does include tarot cards which might be off putting to some readers.  It is not a focal point of the story however.

Laura Levine's latest book in the Jaine Austen Mystery series is Death of a Neighborhood Scrooge.  Jaine and her friend Lance are house sitting in a no pets allowed mansion over the Christmas holidays.  When her cat Prozac gets thrown out of the pet hotel, Prozac ends up moving in the neighboring mansion.  The owner, Scotty, is a former child star who makes Scrooge look like a spendthrift.  When he is murdered with a discount Yule log, the suspect list includes neighbors, the current wife, an ex-wife, the renter, and the maid.  Jaine is determined to solve the mystery and rescue Prozac whether she likes it or not.  This series falls on the lighter side of the cozy mystery genre.  It is enjoyable nevertheless.  My favorite part of this series is always the e-mails from Jaine's parents which did not disappoint!

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Weekly Goals Update: Week 41

1.  Disaster Preparedness
Last week was spent literally doing this.  We moved the extra large rain barrel to the front of the house so we could catch water coming off the porch.  I collected water in jugs inside for us to drink.  The water outside plus buckets of water in the house were for flushing.  I stored jugs of water in the rabbit house for the outside animals.  Items that could blow away were put away.  W also put up extra coverings over some of the outside animals.  We were blessed that the storm shifted slightly moving away from us.  Otherwise things could have been much worse.  Most people here are focused on clean up and doing what we can to help those more affected than we were.


2.  Makeover the Garden
Since I did not know what the hurricane would do, I chose not to do any planting this past week.  Between falling limbs and the possibility of heavy rain, seeds and seedlings could have been washed away. 


3.  Organize Recipes
No-again.  I will do this before the year ends though.


4.  Have 13 No Spend Grocery Weeks - Done
With the storm and real possibility of power outages, I opted not to buy any groceries last week.  I am going to continue to work on this to see if I can get more before the end of the year.


5.  Focus on Saving
We had planned to buy pavers to finish up the back yard area.  In the end we opted to wait.  I am going to work on Swagbucks to earn some gift cards.  I plan to combine those with coupons to hopefully have very little out of pocket on this project.


6.  Etsy Store
I focused on storm prep rather than the Etsy store last week.  I did get some crocheting done.  My plans are to add some items this afternoon.  I have various projects to finish up this week as well.

Weekend Book Reviews

Simply Bento by Yuko and Norika is a nice combination of Japanese and American recipes. A few of the ingredients will be a bit difficult to find, but most recipes feature easy to find items.  One of my favorite recipes is the Spicy Chicken Wrap Bento.  Each recipe features a "plan ahead" section letting you know what steps can be done in advance.  The Fresh Fruits Jelly is another easy recipe that can be altered depending on what is in season.  Overall this is a nice cookbook with something for everyone.

The third book in the Bread Shop Mystery series by Winnie Archer is The Walking Bread.  Ivy is the official photographer for her town's art car show.  When she finds the body of her brother's rival artist, her brother becomes the main suspect.  Ivy must investigate to find the true killer and clear her brother's name.  The characters in this series are strong, and the mystery kept me guessing until the end.  This is a strong addition to the series.

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews. All opinions are my own

Weekend Book Reviews

The Dogfather by Sparkle Abbey is the tenth book in the Pampered Pets Mystery series.  I had not read any of the previous books in the series, but I had no trouble following the characters and storyline.  Melinda owns Bow Wow Boutique and has her hands full with her spunky employee and ex-boyfriend.  With local businesses being vandalized, everyone is on edge.  That becomes more true after the owner of a designer handbag shop is found dead.  Melinda is determined to find the murderer before things get completely out of hand.  This was a fast paced book and a quick read.

Joanne Fluke's latest book in the Hannah Swensen Mystery series, Christmas Cake Murder, is actually a prequel to the entire series.  It is meant to explain how Hannah got started with her bakery.  The dialogue in this book felt forced and very unnatural.  The mystery was almost non-existent, and too much time is spent on very mundane things.  This particular book would have worked much better as a short story rather than a full book.  I did find a couple of interesting recipes but not much else.

Silver Anniversary Murder by Leslie Meier is the twenty-fifth book in the Lucy Stone Mystery series.  The book started off well with Lucy working on an article for a couple's 25th anniversary celebration in Tinker's Cove, Maine.  This gets shoved to the side for a murder mystery in New York City.  Lucy runs off on her own to investigate leading to a great deal of rambling and filler.  The solution to the mystery is rushed together at the very end.  I was disappointed that the first story line was cast aside for another less believable story.  I expect that every person has political views, but I read for enjoyment and was not thrilled to see them mentioned over and over in the book.  It does not matter if I agree with the views or not.  Politics should not invade every single aspect of life.  I hope the series returns to its roots for future books. 

disclosure:  I received these e-books through NetGalley but was not otherwise compensated for these reviews.  All opinions are my own!

Frugal Friday: After Michael

Hurricane aftermath first... Michael came by my area as a category one hurricane.  We had gusty winds and a bit of rain but no real damage.  A few neighbors did suffer some damage, but overall my area is in good shape.  Our power went out as expected.  It was back on in about 17 hours compared to 18 hours after Irma last year.  We will be cleaning up piles of limbs/branches, but I am thankful to be safe.


Frugal doings for this week -

1. We did not need to buy many supplies to weather the storm.  We had containers on hand to store water as opposed to buying water.  We had plenty of rechargeable batteries.  We had non-perishable foods to eat.  Not opening the refrigerators or freezers allowed them to stay cold while the power was out.
2. W dropped me off at an appointment and went to the grocery store to buy pumpkins.  After he picked me up, I realized he was overcharged.  We went back to the store where I argued for a refund.  That included pointing out that even though the sale ad ended on a particular date the prices were still good on that same date. 
3. The rabbits ate extra produce from my parents' garden. 
4. I used a gift card earned through MyPoints to cut the price on some Command strips for putting up pictures in the bedroom and craft room. 
5. W found a prop for us to use for our trunk or treat decorations later this month.  I will share more about that later.  It is frugal since it is something we already had on hand.  I am making most of the other decorations. 

Waiting

The latest forecast has a tropical storm warning for my area with the brunt of the storm arriving overnight.  We had a good dinner and will eat a homemade freezer meal for supper so there are very few dishes.  The wind is picking up just a bit so we will be heading out to feed the outside animals soon.  It is just dreary now but definitely cooler temperature wise. 


I have spent the morning working on a crochet parrot.  I cannot finish until after the safety eyes arrive from Amazon - supposedly Friday, but it could be Monday. 

This is my first amigurumi piece, but I think it is coming along nicely.  Next up two pirate hats...


Toby saw me get the camera out, and I asked if he wanted his picture taken.  He immediately sat and posed.   What a ham!