July 2026 Reading Check In

 Here's what I read (and listened to) this month:

My Next Breath by Jeremy Renner: A memoir about his terrible Snocat accident three years ago. He describes in graphic detail what happened, and then how he found the strength to recover. It's quite the story and he tells it in a very unforgettable way. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Seeking Persephone by Sarah M. Eden: I listened to this on our road trip... I book I've heard about for years but never managed to fit in. It was perfect for road trip listening! A lovely regency romance that has now been turned into a TV series. Have you watched or read it?⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow: Lots and lots of buzz around this one with the new TV series and all. So I listened to it on they way home from the road trip. It was fun to see all these familiar events from Mary's POV, but it did tend to drag for me in the end. Still I gave it ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Emerald Shadow Golden Whisper by J. A. Bennett: A really fun re-imagining of Robin Hood... a Robin Hood romantasy as it's being marketing. Robin Hood and Marian with magic. So good! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Every Beat After by Sara B. Larson: The first adult book for this author. A sweet romance that is both heart warming and heart breaking. Set in a Swedish bakery about a girl who is struggling with the aftermath of getting a heart transplant. She meets the cousin of her roommate and sparks fly, in all the ways both good and bad. I loved it! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

That's what I read! How about you! This month of August is YA reading for me... YA'GUST! (More on that in another post.) I can't wait to get to a bunch of books I've been neglecting.

Here's a few pictures of what I've been up to this past month.

Three years old!

Wedding number 2 of the month!

The finale of our trip... sunset on the beach while flying kites. So perfect!

Wedding number 1 of the month, which turned out to be a sibling trip!

Lots of grandkid tending!

May and June 2026 Reading Check In

 

Oh man I got a bit behind again! Here's what I've been up to these past couple of months!

MAY

Last to Leave by Teresa Richards: This was a Netgalley ARC read for an author I've meet at a conference. So that was fun! It's about an influencer gamer girl who ends up on a reality show where she and other influencers act out and have to solve a mystery game. The "last to leave" wins! But there's all sorts of mysteries going on, and she gets all mixed up in it all. Very fun mash up of genres and etc. I enjoyed it! ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Muse of Nightmares by Laini Taylor: I finally go to this one, the sequel of Strange the Dreamer and yeah. SOOOO good. What a great series this one is. So intense and so page-turney, swoony, and all the things. I loved this reading experience.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman: This was the book club book for May. I was wary I would like it at all, but turned out I thought it was pretty funny in parts and ended up totally enjoying the story. I watched the movie just as I was finishing the book so that was fun too.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wendy's Ever After by Julie Wright: This is a local author and I was intrigued by a Peter Pan inspired story, so I requested this one from Libby. A fun YA fantasy where Wendy is 17 and is trying to find her place in society and all she can think about is Peter. She ends up back in Neverland where things aren't good and falls for... someone else...!⭐⭐⭐

A Novel Chance by E.S. Rosalynn: This another ARC read, one I got from the author through Threads. It's a small town romance, with girl new in town and is setting up a bookstore and the guy is the handyman and also 5th grade teacher. I enjoyed it for the most part, but it was more spicy than I expected and I wanted less of that and more of the swoon. ⭐⭐⭐

Life Update for May:

- I published a book! On May 12 I put Always Best Buds up on Amazon. My friends threw me an amazing launch party and everything was so excited for about a week. It was even a "hot new release" in its category for about a month. But since that crazy week, it's done nothing.. no sales. Nothing. So I guess that's out these things go. I can't figure out how to market it. I feel like I figured out everything else, but keeping the momentum going it impossible.

- I went to Storymakers, the local very popular writers conference. It was fun to connect with and make new friends. I was said both Maggie Steifvatter and Axie Oh had to cancel, but Beth Brower did come and that was amazing.

- I hosted a reading retreat at the farm in Idaho for a weekend with a handful of friends. I didn't read much, but we had fun! Now I want to do it with my writing friends too!

-We also went to Idaho for to surprise my brother for his 50th birthday. That was fun family day.

- We got back into the routine of grandkid tending after having March and April off. I was glad the book launch timed perfectly with those days off because I don't think I could have done it all otherwise.

JUNE

Yesteryear by Caro Clair Burke: I heard so much buzz about this one, so when I saw it was available to listen to on Spotify, I clicked and listened. It was crazy! Not sure what to think actually. It's about a "trad wife" (a term I hate) influencer who pretty much went crazy. And one day she wakes up in the past and has to do all the things she posed and staged for social media FOR REAL. And she's trying to figure out what's up and how to get home. It's sad and depressing and frustrating and angry-inducing. Some people say it's funny, but I didn't see anything at all funny about it. It was VERY engaging though and very though provoking. And made me feel things, which as you know, means it was a good book.⭐⭐⭐⭐

They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera: A YA fantasy-ish? magic realism? book I've been meaning to get to forever. It was a good one to read for Pride Month as the two boy characters fall in love by the end. Even though THEY BOTH DIE and it's heart wrenching. In this world, you get a call the day before you are going to die, so you can spend the day doing all the things you feel/want/need to do. So this is the story of these two boys doing just that.⭐⭐⭐⭐

The One With the Kiss Cam by Cindy Steel: My friend said I should read this one because it gave her vibes like the book I'm now writing, only she said my book does it better. So I was curious. Well. I ended up loving this one and I pretty much don't think I do it better, but I can LEARN from this book. Fun banter, lots of swoon, closed-door (clean but I guess we can't use that word....) and set right here at home! I thought it was awesome. This was also another audiobook, which is crazy.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Play It By Heart by Flick O'mara: An ARC read that I got from the author through Threads. It was closed door but not... um... clean... (that word I can't use but I don't know how else say what I want to say!) Friends to lovers romance where the friends own a wedding business together, the guy sings and the girl does photography and one day their mutual friend says... so hey,I think you are guys are into each other! And they go... Oh wow, we are! (I needed more work up to the coming together bit.) Basically, it was fine as romances go, but I was expecting it to be... I don't know... cuter, warmer... something. And less f bombs for sure.⭐⭐⭐

Write Fearless. Edit Smart. Get Published. by Lisa Mangum: This author is also an editor for a local publisher and well loved in the writer community here. I decided to listen to her narrate this one and ended up loving it. Great stories, great advice, lots and lots of things that I want/need to refer back to, so I'm hoping to get a hold of a physical copy. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Serial Killer by Brian Bruce: This was a beta read from a booktube friend who wrote this mystery with his wife. I accepted the call to read for him since he has read something for me, even though I'm not a huge mystery reader, but surprise! I ended up really getting into this and was so invested in the end and loved the conclusion. Very enjoyable read.⭐⭐⭐⭐

The House of my Mother by Shari Franke: I listened to this memoir in preparation for our book club's memoir month in July. (LISTENED... FOUR AUDIOBOOKS THIS MONTH!) It's a fascinating story, told by the daughter, of a family who had a big youtube channel and then everything went bad and crazy and the mom and her therapist were arrested for child abuse. It's a gripping story and has been in my mind constantly since I listened. I sort of need a mind cleanse I'm afraid.⭐⭐⭐⭐

Life Update for June:

-I've spent a lot of time writing.... finishing up my travel adventure romcom and now jumping into what I hope to be final revisions for the space opera. I guess I'll self publish these too? I don't  know. This whole thing is so confusing and frustrating!

- We had a big celebration for a granddaughter turning 1. I can't believe it's been a year already!

- We attended local summer celebrations at the city. Parade, fireworks, and etc. 

- Saw the Back to the Future musical and it was awesome.

-It's been hot and last week fires started and now the whole state is pretty much on fire. Today, at the time of this writing, things have cooled down and the air has cleared and it's been wonderful.

- Book club was The Odyssey, which I didn't finish, but lots of people did and we had a great discussion!

The Sunday Post: Life Goes On

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

 

LISTENING:

The kpop music world is starting strong with a sweet rock song from Monsta X that I've been listening to a lot this week:

But Fall Out Boy had a "comeback" too! (Do you call it a comeback in the nonkpop world? I don't even know anymore!)

WATCHING:

I still haven't finished my latest kdrama watch because another Korean show took over... called Single Inferno. It's a Bachelor type dating show, that is totally different than the Bachelor (at least what I've seen of it.) I was leery going in, but everyone was right, it grabs and you are invested so freaking fast! I was annoyed that no one liked my favorite boy. Whatever. I hope he ended up finding love somewhere else with some real girl, lol.  (The girls felt very fake I must say, except one of them who was so different from all the rest of them!) 

Our household has also been watching the Harry and Meghan documentary. I've found it to so very interesting and quite sad and depressing too. The crazy lives some people lead, you know what I mean?  hope to get to his book someday to read down the road soon too. 

We also watched Super Junior's documentary thanks to Jenni and her Hulu! LOL! It was a quick two hour thing that give us a glimpse of how this, my favorite kpop band, came to be and rose to fame and how they have managed to stay together for these almost 20 years now despite some really really painful and hard moments. They are seriously some of the best humans out there. 

READING:

I finished My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You I'm Sorry for book club. That was an awesome book and made for a petty good book club discussion.  I will say more about it on my monthly review post. 

I started An Ember in the Ashes, which is one of my books from my forever TBR that I'm hoping to get through some of this year. Pretty intense and harsh story so far!

WRITING:

I signed up for the annual Storymakers Conference which takes place in May. 

I'm hoping to be brave enough to query my 80's story this year!

And the finishing up of the space opera story is slow slow going. I am so bad at this!

BLOGGING:

I've posted my top ten books of 2022, my top ten dramas of 2022, my goals for 2023, I crunched some numbers from 2022, and caught up on reviews with a couple of mini review posts. I think this will be my formant from now one. Anyway, be sure to scroll through and check them all out!

YOUTUBING:

On the KPOP channel I've uploaded a bunch more year end videos, but here I'll share my favorite title tracks of the year. Great songs, yeah?

Or you can watch my narrowed down favorites in a quick 1 minute short here!

One of these groups I get to see in person in two weeks... AHHHH!!!

One the BOOK channel I did another bookstore tour:

And also introduced my "Forced Phases" idea to the world. I hope to do a separate post about this here, but in the meantime, go watch it and I'd love for you to join me!!

HEALTH WATCH:

Trying to get back into the exercise routine still. Some weeks I manage it and others are quite rough. The struggle is real, for sure. I really need to stop eating stuff again too.

MISC:

Trying to think if there's anything else interesting to report on in life.  Lots has been going on but nothing that will be too very interesting to most I would imagine. I hope all is going well for you all! I hope the reading is being fun! 

         

The Sunday Post: NOVEMBER!

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

Sorry I've been so MIA lately! So much is going on here... well, it's slowed down a bit now but wow, October was INTENSE! We literally had some sort of party or travel, or thing every night for two weeks straight. It was fun, but so very crazy. Anyway. Here's my report!

LISTENING:

I had fun making a Thanksgiving playlist on Spotify. Here's the link if you're interested:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5fCPsYTuMrWulb6JBWyh8N?si=b34c3b47fd0b4a47  

One of my favorite songs from the past month is this from a boy group now called TFN (formerly T1419) and they are a less well known, new-ish group. We got to see them at the festival we went to in October (see below) and then they come out with this new song shortly after. I love love love the choreography! And it's so fun to know them better now after seeing them all in person. They are awesome!

If you want something a little more mellow, I'm in love with this guy's debut solo album. Seriously so good.  He's the dude from a brother sister duo group called AKMU. Anyway, this is the title track:

 

 WATCHING:

Doing pretty well at keeping up with Survivor and Amazing Race. Finished Young Actor's Retreat (which I reviewed here) and trying to find a kdrama that captures my attention. Struggling in that department. I haven't really watched much else lately.

READING:

I finished Feed by Mira Grant (reviewed here) and Fingersmith by Sarah Waters... review to come soon. Both strange books. I started The Maid by Nita Prose for book club. I can tell I'm not quite in the mood for it. I may wait another week and read something more... fun... for a minute. I really need something fun right now. What should it be??

WRITING:

I pledged to write 10,000 words as a NANOWRIMO rebel! So far I've done 1000! Woot! I haven't done much this weekend though, so that's not good. But seriously, having this bite-sized goal feels so awesome... and I don't know what it is about doing a big community event like this that makes writing more fun... but there's something there that drives me.  

BLOGGING:

I uploaded two posts this week lol! And I already linked to them... my review of Feed and of Young Actors' Retreat. This week I hope to review Fingersmith, maybe do a Top Ten Tuesday, and not sure what else. 

YOUTUBING:

I've posted several videos on the new booktube channel. The most popular one so far is a tour of my bookshelves. Go check it out if you haven't yet!

 

 We are now working on a video of us organizing the books. Look for that one to come soon!

The kpop channel has my favorites of the month compilation. So check that one out for some awesome songs that you might fall in love with! There's a bunch of mellow ones on the list this time, if that's your style:

    

In mid October we went to a thing called KAMP LA 2022... it was a brand new kpop festival that we were so excited about, but it turned out to be quite the fiasco. Half of the artists that were promised to come, didn't come because of visa issues, which is the fault of the festival organizer. We think they didn't have enough money because people didn't buy tickets like they thought and so they messed up the visas on purpose since they wouldn't have money to pay them. In they end they were giving away free tickets (that I paid hundreds of dollars for) and begging people to show up. It was crazy. But still we went because we just wanted to see Super Junior and thankfully they showed up! So... after six years of being into this kpop thing, I finally got to see the group that started it all for me. It was amazing. We did a vlog about the whole experience, with clips from the shows... here:

EATING/EXERCISING: 

Struggling. Always struggling. I finished the first month of doTerra's Metapowr stuff and it was all good, but I didn't lose weight or anything miraculous like that. I plan to at least continue with the collagen drink. 

MISC:

* I've been so devastated by the tragedy that happened in Seoul last weekend. My sister was there with her friends (in Seoul) but chose to go to a concert that night instead of partying with her friends. Her friends were in the area (Itaewon) where the crush of people happened, but hunkered down in a bar until it was safe to go. It took them hours to get back to their airbnb they were all staying in.  They are very traumatized by everything. But I'm so glad that they, and my sister are okay. This is an area my daughter was in just a few months ago and one I've visited myself when we went to Seoul. It's crazy to imagine such a tragedy happening there where everyone is so happy and having fun normally. It will never be the same again.

* Some of the craziness that's happened in the family since I last wrote: a trip to LA for the crazy kpop festival (see above), a trip to Oregon to look at houses and visit my daughter (we decided not to buy a house for now,) a birthday celebration for my husband, a wedding for my nephew, book club, church parties, work parties, an author event, Halloween, cheering on runners for a half marathon... and I can't remember what else. 

Seeing the grandkids while in Oregon.

* Oh, and the hot water heater broke, so we have been with out that until just yesterday. 

* Now the holiday season is here, so things will just keep being crazy, yes? We might be hosting Thanksgiving at our house, so that should be interesting. Wish me luck!

The Sunday Post: First Post

The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted at Caffeinated Reviewer.

I've seen Jenni Elyse doing this meme for quite awhile now and we were talking about blogging last week and I said maybe I'd give this one a try. I've done my own newsy "Currently" post for several years, but it would be fun to try and connect to with others, so here we go!

LISTENING:

I've been all about this song by ONEUS this week/month. It's called Same Scent.

 

 Here's another one from them from the same album, but a totally different feel. Just them standing and singing and not be too distracting with the dancing, lol! This one is called Gravitation.

WATCHING:

Still trying to finish up a kdrama called Extraordinary Attorney Woo. Everyone else has loved this one, but man I am SLOGGING through it! In the meantime we started a reality show called Young Actors Retreat with a bunch of kdrdama stars doing games and interacting and being funny. I'm loving it. 

We watched the movie about the dude who wrote Rent... Jonathan Larson called tick tick BOOM. That was really good and fantastically acted, especially by Andrew Garfield. 

I'm wondering if Survivor should be starting up soon! Isn't it about time? We can't miss that show after watching it for 23 years! WAH!

READING:

I read the book club book (The Good Sister) and another for fun kpop love story book. I started J. Scott Savage's latest one in the Lost Wonderland Diaries series.  I acquired two fun romance books at the Rom Con I went to yesterday. More on that later. 

WRITING:

UGH! Thinking about my story ALL THE TIME, but never actually sitting down and finishing it! I need to figure out how to get back in the groove of the voice. That is SO HARD for me!

BLOGGING:

I did a lot of catching up posts the past couple weeks. Pretty much reviewed my whole summer's reading and watching consumption. I think there's a few more to go still until I'm truly "caught up."

YOUTUBING:

I'm doing a ONEUS (see above) week on the kpop channel this week.  I'm also working on my 25 favorite songs of the month video. 

And I'm pondering starting a booktube/writing/life learning channel. What do you think? Am I crazy? Am I too late to the game? Is the booktube community already too saturated? If I do this then I really need to step up my reading game and get back in the loop. But I do want to do something else on YouTube in addition to the kpopping. I can't stop thinking about which is usually an indication I need to just jump in and don't look back. But I'm scared. Sigh. 

EATING/EXCERSIING: 

I walked once and did Supernatural once this past week. At this rate, I'm going to never make any goals in this category!! I also made a lot of cookies and treats this week. Baking is one of my biggest life joys and I wish SO BAD it wasn't something that was "bad" to do... 

MISC:

* We have another kpop event in LA to go to this month. If only all the groups would stop coming! Anyway, this is a huge festival thing and we'll be seeing a ton of groups all at once including the one that starting this whole crazy thing... Super Junior! YES!!

* I spent a week with my daughter and granddaughter this past week. It was fun being a grandma for a bit again! 

* I picked a couple of things in the garden. I think it's all we'll get! Seriously one of the most depressing things in my life!

Currently: SO BEHIND!!

   

I'm so behind in blogging I don't even know where or how to catch up. Maybe I'll do a mini review post with all the books I've read these past few months? And mini review post with all the dramas I've watched?  I don't know. If feels so pointless!

It's been a busy couple of months since I was last here. We had a family reunion trip, and I've gone to LA again for more kpopping. And I've had a lot of videos to edit for youtube, which tends to take priority. So yeah. I'm still here! But feel like even though it's been busy, I don't have much to say here on the blog! THE STRUGGLE!

Listening:

Here's a Spotify link to my favorite songs from August. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/22s5YlIVQT3kcBzHNs7lz3?si=1993ffa524cf4d4a

Here's a song I especially love of late. It's a kpop group, but they are singing English. And there's no dancing in this video for those who are annoyed by that. It's just singing. I love the upbeatness of this one. We got to meet this group during KCON. They are a blast. Boogie Woogie by Cravity:

 

Watching:

I've been catching up on some American TV these past couple of months. We watched all four seasons of Stranger Things. And then WandaVision, and now Loki. All very fun. Stranger Things is intense, yeah? But now I can finally feel in the know with regard to that series. It feels good! What should we watch next?

 Reading:

I am keeping up with book club reads and that's about it. I did just finish a random book from my pile... Across the Universe, which was popular years back and has been waiting its turn all these years. That was a crazy book!

Writing:

In June I did pretty good with writing. But then it all fell apart in July and August with all the stuff going on. I'm ready to start it up again. And have wondered if I will be doing Nano in November or not, because if so, it's time to start planning! But first I really wanted to submit my 80s books somewhere, and at least finish the space book. I am SO CLOSE! 

Blogging:

Last time I did one of these posts I wrote "still here" for this section. LOL, I can't even write that this time since I basically disappeared! Anyway, I listed all my excuses above, but yeah, I'm really struggling with it right now. 

YouTubing:

I've been editing like crazy. A KCON vlog and another nonkopper series, several Shorts. Anyway. It's taking up a lot of time but not giving any pay back. So I'm struggling there too. I want so bad for it to be a real thing, but I am missing some key ingredient that I either need to figure out, or just give it up. 

Health Watch:

I am at place now where I am just eating whatever. But still trying to exercise even though that has suffered with all the events of late. 

Misc:

* Tori came back from Korea in July, and then got Covid. So we hunkered down for a week or so, but I never got it. 

* I went to kpop concerts in May and July, and KCON in August. Three trips to LA. 

* The Oregon trip happened, with all the family. 

The whole family!

* The garden is failing as expected. We might have a pepper to eat one of these days. 

* Basically if you look back on what I've just written, I'm struggling with everything. No wonder I've been avoiding coming here to report! LOL! 

Currently: It's STILL winter???

 

I know today I'm supposed to be doing a Top Ten Tuesday post, but I had no idea what list there, so instead you get a little life catch up, since I've been gone for a bit.

Listening:

One of my favorite groups had a comeback last week and I love love love their new song. It's called X-Ray. Their dancing kills me every time.

 

And for something totally different from that, here's a group called Kingdom singing a song called Promise that I totally can't get enough of.

 

Watching:

Just finished one of the best kdramas I've watched in a while. This show is a perfect example of everything I love about kdramas. It's called Business Proposal (you can find it on Netflix) and I'll do a review here soon. But yeah, used nearly ever kdrama trope there is and I giggled through the whole thing. Here's a scene everyone went crazy about. This is the second lead couple, who got such as great a storyline as the first! 

 Reading:

While on vacation I finished a couple of books. The first one in Trish's new kdrama series, Summer Rain. And Nicola Yoon book that's been on my list forever, The Sun is Also a Star. I enjoyed them both! I've also been doing some beta reading for new writing friends. I wish I could clock these on Goodreads!

Meanwhile I'm still working on Iron Flower and I've started Lemon Drop Falls. 

Writing:

I haven't been writing at all lately. Just doing the beta reading. I need to get going again.

Blogging:

Well. I'm obviously VERY behind again. I need to do a couple of book reviews and one kdrama review. 

YouTubing:

I compiled 50 of my favorite BTS songs into one fast video.

 

And I put all my favorite songs so far this year into an even faster video:

 

Health Watch:

I'm gaining all the weight I lost in 2020 back very nicely. So much fun. I'm addicted to this collagen drink, which I like to think is helping me be healthy somehow. And I am still love love LOVING going into the virtual world to exercise. 

Misc:

* we survived our trip to Mexico. Sat on the beach beds and read a lot. And also got to visit Chichen Itza. 

* got together with old collage roommates last night (and I mean OLD in both senses of the word!) and that was fun!

Actually we don't look too bad for being so old!!

And that's about the sum of life around here lately. How's life where you are?

Currently: Still Alive

 

It's been forever since I've done a weekly wrap up "currently" post. Thought I'd give it a try again. Even though life is mostly boring.

Listening: This past week I've rediscovered a couple of favorite groups that have recently received a ton of attention thanks to their two respective members being in a very buzzed about kdrama. Those groups are Dongkiz and KNK. Both very small, not well-known groups, but groups that should actually have ALL THE LOVE in the kpop world. So first off, I discovered I love this song called Fade, by KNK, which went unnoticed by me before. Here's a live stage of it:

(This group has members all over six feet tall. Can you tell?) 

And then the song from Dongkiz that I will push on everyone without restraint is called Lupin. The choreo is SO COOL!

Watching: Well, I watched the drama mentioned above starring the boys from those two groups. More on that later. I've started another drama called A Business Proposal which includes every single kdrama trope you can think of it.  IT'S SO PERFECT! We also started a new season of Survivor. Can't believe that thing is still going strong. 

Reading: I'm stuck on the second book of the Black Witch chronicles called The Iron Flower. It's good, but I'm just taking forever with it. I read the first chapter of Nine Perfect Strangers for book club next week. And I'm doing a bunch of beta reading for writer friends. 

Writing: I finished catching up on what I've written for the unnamed space opera book. (Please, someone figure out a title for me!) And now I just need to figure out how to finish up this story. I also need to add a bunch of stuff to the middle. I'm so bad at this! I have also sent out my 80's high school story to several beta readers. Anxiously waiting for that feedback, and then we'll figure out what the next step is for THAT book. 

Blogging: I'm happy that several author events have happened in the past few weeks, and more will be happening coming up. It  makes me feel like life is going back to normal more than almost anything else. I've missed it so bad.

YouTubing: I was on two live streams on my friend's channel hyping up a couple of different kpop book series. (I've blogged about them both here.) So that was fun.  I thought up a fun, fast way to introduce groups to people wanting to learn the members. I hope to make more of these types of videos. (I'll embed that one here because it would be cool if you clicked.)  I posted my favorite songs from February. And I made a snarky video about how I'm the worst kpop fan ever. 

 

Health Watch: I am loving exercising. But am discouraged that it seems to truly not make a difference in anything except that it lets me know how old I am because it makes my knees hurt. But whatever. I love it, so... sorry body. You have to do it. My diet is basically normal right now, with the few exceptions of life changes that stuck with me after the low carb thing. That doesn't really seem to matter either because the weight is coming back. Surprise surprise. I continuously argue in my head which is the worse thing... hating life because you can't eat fun things. Or being fat. I haven't come up with an answer yet....

Misc: 

* I want to find time to get going on another tshirt quilt. But my sewing machine says "are you kidding  me?" and needs a tune up and/or repair before that can happen.

* A family trip to Mexico is coming up (with my siblings and parents.) Wish me luck!

* We are one of the tens of thousands of lucky ones who ended up with a ticket to the BTS concert in April in Vegas! I will be shouting about that as the time gets closer!

* I went to a funeral for a friend who had brain damage from an accident 8 years ago. Her family finally decided to pull live support and let her go. It's been quite the reminder about how to enjoy life no matter the craziness it brings us. 

Random Life Update

A cat picture because don't we all love cat pictures?

I feel like it's been a long long time since I've done a random rambling post. But I feel like one is really needed about now since we have crossed that year mark from when all the pandemic stuff started. Here are a few thoughts:

• We keep having anniversary dates: one year since the pandemic started, one year since we've been to our last concert, one year since that crazy earthquake happened, one years since we've been on an airplane, one since we could go in public without a mask... and on and on. It's crazy we've survived this long in this new world. Who knew it would still be happening a year later. 
• But it seem like the light is at the end... I got my first vaccine dose last week, and look forward to completing that process with the second dose in a couple of weeks. Hopefully the rest of the family and follow soon with their doses. I'm still wary that it will even help... I keep reading things that say you can still give it and you can still get it... so that makes me think what's the point. But hopefully the point is that this is a step in just making this all end. Though.. there are some that say it will never end and this is our life now. Which is the most depressing thing ever.
• It's also been one year since I went to the doctor to "get healthy" which basically means I'm told all the things that are wrong with me and that if I eat this I will die, but if I eat that I will also die. And that I need to take a thousand supplements to cover all the things I can't eat. I can't even tell you how frustrated I am with it all. I'm still at 40 pounds lost, and holding steady... it seems that no matter what I do.. eat good or eat crappy... nothing moves that number now. So... I'm currently trying to figure out what to do next... food wise. Moderation in all things?
• In other news, I'm constantly trying to figure out how my hobbies can make money. I don't know why I care about this lately, but it seems like a good thing to worry about. So... I want to figure out how to make videos for the kpop channel that get watched, I want to start making other sorts of videos for a "normal" channel (lol... like books, travel, etc.), and I want to figure out how to write books that people want to read and sell them independently on Amazon. So there you go for my new years resolutions. Ha. 
• I'm also helping my son try to get a cool language vocabulary site off and running and spending a ton of time on that. If anyone knows how to get a business going, let me know! I'm sure you'll see more on that when I really start trying to get the word out, but in the meantime, if you want to drill French words or Korean words... try it out! www.trackyourvocab.com 
• Oh I was going to mention that I'm part of a video chat show that my friend is doing on her YouTube channel. Talking with people from all over the world about kpop. It's been pretty cool so far. Pretty sure anyone reading this won't want the link, so... no link. Just know that's been a biggish fun thing in my life lately! And maybe I'll get famous because of it...(insert extremely sarcastic emoji face here....) 

What's new with you all? Have we all survived the year and hopeful things will get back to the new normal soon? New normal where we can travel, go to concerts,  and you know... see people again? 

An example of the sort of breakfast I eat that makes me lose weight,
but isn't great for cholesterol levels.

It's been exciting at the library, we opened a new part of the building that we call:
The Library Hall. Now, if only we could have events in it!

An example of the wonderful lyrics found in my kpop songs. 
Most songs are so upbeat and positive, and they really help me keep going.

Pickleball has becoming a thing at this house. But it's bad if you accidently step on one.

A rare selfie on the day I got my Victon album and was thrilled.

Coronavirus Month THREE: May 19 to June 26, 2020

One day we spent learning how to screen print tshirts and we we made a bunch showing off our kpop love!

I slacked off in my posting every week about our new daily life. That's because there's been nothing much interesting to write. As I mentioned last time, life was seeming to ease back toward normal, and that has continued through the month of June. Sometimes a little too normal. And in so doing, the virus cases are spiking and are actually way worse than when we started in March. So, it's all very confusing and frustrating and who knows what's right and what will happen and how this will all play out.

I'm going to work two days a week now. (My normal was always three days.) So who knows how long that will last and if/when I'll go back to the normal routine there. But the library is opened now, with modified procedures, and everyone wears masks and things all seem to be going smoothly for now.

The husband is still working from home and so far nothing will be changing with that. The company has loved people working from home and so this might be the new normal for him. We still get up very late... and he works later in the evening... and it seems to be a great routine for all!

We have been going out and about more... to the stores, and on errands... always with the mask. One day we even went to a restaurant... eating outside on the sidewalk were no one else was around. It was weird and like a blast from a former life! But other than that, we continue to order take out when restauranting is needed.

The family circle has widened still a bit more too, and we we've gone to a few family events, and hosted one kid who stayed the night as she is moving across the country. Not sure if I'm supposed to feel guilty about that, or... like I said... what's right or wrong in all of this, but so far, everything seems to be okay.

A few weeks ago we added another big event to the year of 2020 in that the civil rights movement has had a resurgence and people all across the country ignored the social distancing/quarantine thing to gather together and protest for the Black Lives Matter movement. This was all sparked by the death of black man in Minneapolis after the police were called by a store clerk thinking he was using a forged check or something. He didn't resist anything, but the policeman still restrained him by kneeling on his neck until he couldn't breathe and died. The whole thing was caught on someone's phone. Chaos ensued all around the world. It was gut wrenching to watch. Since then, many other similar cases have been brought to light and everyone is calling for something to change, and for racism to end once and for all. I still think it will be a long time before we can reach that ideal, but hopefully this is a step in the right direction.

Anyway. And so it goes. In our immediate every day lives, nothing is new. All events are still cancelled and travel  is restricted, so there's nothing to do and no where to go. Online events continue and help us all to feel connected, which is awesome. It remains to be seen what happens next or where we go from here. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out. Mostly, the whole thing just sucks and is making us all crazy.

Coronavirus Week Eight and Nine: May 4 to May 17, 2020

The farm is a great place to escape reality

I didn't report anything for week 8 since life is basically unchanged week to week for the most part. The routine is pretty set these days!

However, this past week, week 9, I could feel a shift... a little step towards back to normal. Even though I'm pretty sure nothing will be normal again, but you know.. .there were moments that felt like the old life.

I went to work again on Monday... the new routine. Work on Mondays! And then last week I went straight from there to the store to pick up the groceries...still not going in. Later that evening I went out walking with a friend and we visited... outside with social distancing observed... a couple of people. It felt so... NORMAL!

We saw several times this past week Kid 1 who lives a few miles away. He came down a few times since we were trying to help them get their trailer functioning so they could take out for the weekend. We were unsuccessful, but in the process we saw them a lot. They were diligent mask wearers and say they are totally used them now.

On Saturday we drove up to the farm in Idaho and spent the day walking around, breathing the air, visiting the grandparents at the cemetery and etc. We did stop at a Subway during the day, and went in with our masks on which prompted the local people give us strange looks. I think they, living out in the country, feel like this virus thing is not their issue. I don't know. It was weird. We took our sandwiches back to the farm to eat them in peace. LOL.

Also, we had an online family game night on Friday so that was also fun and quite diverting. We hope to do that again soon. We have played some games before, but this time it was using zoom, so we could see faces.

Anyway. There were a few people in our lives this past week other than the three faces living at this house. While not "normal", it started to feel like a step toward it. Now whether or not you think that's a good thing or bad, is another discussion!

This week we have a hike planned, and a couple of other online events (book club again and a kpop party) and so there are things to look forward to!

I can't believe it's almost June. We've been doing this for over two months. Two months ago this very today was Earthquake Day. Wow. It's crazy. And I still can't believe this is our life now.

Coronavirus Week Seven: April 27 to May 3, 2020

We started and finished a puzzle this week. I didn't help with even one piece!

And just like that it's May. Some people are saying March was forever long, and April flew by. I think I agree. Amazing how fast these stay at home days are going.

This week I would say three big things happened:

We finally went out of the house one day to pick up groceries, grab a sandwich from Subway and then take it to the canyon park to sit on the grass and eat it. So weird when something so simple becomes and event. But yeah. The first time we were out in way over a week... and the only we we got out this week. (The husband gets out every day somehow... working on his shed project at the duplex we own... so I'm not counting him in this!)

Also, we had an visitor this week! My sister dropped off something she borrowed a long time ago and stayed and talked to us from the driveway for like an hour. That was nice!

(I forgot to mention that the farther away kid visited us last week. That was nice too! We hadn't seen them since Earthquake Day. They did the backyard visiting like the closer kid does every few days. So glad we have a nice big backyard for social distancing visits!)

The third thing is that our state went from red to orange meaning, some restrictions are going to lessen up. For me, this means the library is going to open again by appointment only, so they can restrict the amount of people in the building and encourage people to get in and out. So they are letting me go back to work... gradually. I will go tomorrow just to enter the bills and then play it from ear from there. I don't have to work with the public and hardly any staff either, so I'm not worried about anything. But still probably just go in once a week for a bit until we assess thing further. Everyone has to wear a mask, and so I ordered some basic little ones from Amazon that I hope will be more comfortable and breathable than that homemade bandanna one I wore to Costco the other week. That was so miserable! Anyway, I guess we'll see. Wearing masks feels so weird to me though. Definitely one Asian cultural thing that I really don't love! LOL! Makes me feel like a thug or something. Also, makes you realize how important peoples faces are while communicating too.

But I think this is our new normal, and as things open back up, masks are going to be required. So... deal with it I guess!

Anyway, getting back to "normal" is going to feel as strange as stopping life was before. I've gotten quite used to our strange routine and wow, hopefully I can actually get up tomorrow!

Coronavirus Week Six: April 20 to 26, 2020

A great visual for pretty much what every day is like around here.

Well. It's kinda crazy that for the first two weeks of this, so much was happening. And now. There is absolutely nothing to report.

I haven't been anywhere since the walk we took last week on Sunday. We didn't do groceries this week since we got all stocked up last week. (We did get take out a couple of times though.)  I have not left the house for a week. Not sure a walk out and about will happen today either. We do get some sunshine (if it happens) on our deck now and then. But it's actually been cold many days this week, which is frustrating.

So what have I done? Good question, yeah?

We hosted an online kpop party on Friday which was quite successful and very fun. Today we were supposed to be going to LA for a concert for one of our very most favorite bands... ATEEZ, so tonight we are hosting another watch party to pretend like we are there and seeing them live. It's not going to work, and it's going to be sad, but at least it will be a fun sort of sad.

Anyway, I wish I'd figured out how to do watch parties sooner. It worked well and we'll probably do more.

I finished a book this week. And started another. Yesterday was the readathon that I used to live for, but did I read one page yesterday? Nope, not one.

It's weird because the days fly by so fast and I feel like I truly get nothing done on any of the projects I could work on. Watch the quarantine end one day and I'll be like... wait... I WASN'T READY!

We filmed and edited more for the channel this week. We have found a sweet Filipino boy band to love now. They are getting a lot of attention and are adorable, so we have been hyping them up a bit and having fun getting interaction with their fandom.

SB19.... look them up!

And as always, the drama watching every night. One ended this week. Which means we might start another new one this week.

Toto finished schooling stuff, so she has been cleaning and organizing all the stuff in her room. That's been quite the project too. We have big bag for the thrift store. Can things be dropped off there these days? I don't even know.

I know a lot of states have extended the stay at home thing through May, but I haven't heard yet what's happening here. I have heard nothing about the library opening up again, with the possibility of me going back to work. I will be surprised if that happens and expect it to be until the end of May too. Hopefully we'll know for sure what's going on soon.

In the meantime, we stay home. We work on the computer. We figure out food. We watch dramas. We talk to online friends. We read a little. And sleep a lot. Life goes on.

Coronavirus Week Five: April 13 to 19, 2020

And so it goes.

We had some "adventures" this week.

Picked up groceries on Wednesday, and then actually went IN to Costco on Friday. Donned the homemade bandanna mask and braved the germs. Everything seemed fairly normal out there in the world. Costco was limiting the amount of people in the store, but we went at a good time and got right in. The worst part was trying to breathe and see. That mask was not fun. But I do feel all stocked up again for the time being. We'll see how long that lasts.

And then book club was on Thursday. We had 6 or 7 people Zoom in for that. It went well. Planning that next month we'll be doing the same thing. I wonder if we will in June too. Sigh.

We started a new amazing kdrama. It's on Netflix... The King: Eternal Monarch. Check it out! It's making a buzz! But anyway, that means three currently airing dramas now and one old one. They are keeping me going and we look forward to the days when new episodes drop.

We only managed to get out once for a walk, on Sunday. This needs to happen more often I think. Walks I mean. If only it would warm up just a touch. Like... only a touch.

The dieting thing is getting to me. Much depression surrounding that whole endeavor. I having been pondering the whole mental health vs. physical health thing. For me at least, my mental health is taking a hit in order to supposedly get healthy physically. And I'm still not convinced that "getting healthy" is actually happening. A lot of weight came off fast at first, but it has totally stopped now... so... what's happening with me? I have no idea. And in the meantime I am stressing about food constantly, and am almost always hungry. I wish so bad I could bake my way through this quarantine like so many others... how happy that would make me! AHH!!

This week is also sad because we had events we were really looking forward to. Sigh. So instead we are going to create some online watch parties, and I hope they turn out or else I'll just get more depressed!

So... yeah. Basically fighting sadness is a lot of what's been going on this week. How about you all?

Coronavirus Week Four: April 6 to 12, 2020

We've passed the four week mark of doing this stay at home/stay away from people thing. It's hard to believe. We did get the word that it's officially going to last at least through the end of April (the stay at home directive I mean) and I'm sure it will then be extended once things are assessed again.

Nothing exciting happened around here. I went out once this week, on Wednesday when we walked to the nearby park and back. The husband did a small grocery trip. And that was it. We have ordered another bigger grocery order, which we will pick up this week on Wednesday. So that will be our excitement of this week!

Oh, this week will be exciting too since we plan to try a Zoom meeting for book club! Also, I hope to figure out how to do a YouTube watch party and try and get some online friends to watch kpop with us. We'll see if that works or not.

So life continues much like last week. We all get on our computers for most of the day, doing our work, school and projects. The big thing for me and Toto is looking forward to watching another drama episode at night. This week we plan to start yet another newly airing one. That'll be three dramas we are trying to keep up with!

Twitter went crazy yesterday when someone said they thought concerts won't come back until fall of 2021. Seriously, this is so depressing I can't really even think about it. I guess we'll see if they are right.

The current virus numbers are:

1.8 million total cases, 557, 000 of them in the U.S.
113,00 total people have died, 22,000 died in the U.S
The numbers in some of the first hit countries are going down a little.
But the rest of us are just arriving to the peak. I can't find the Utah numbers right now, but they are growing.

Anyway. It's made us all paranoid about germs and people. That's for sure. I hate it. The idea of things going back to normal is starting to feel weirder and weirder. Like even if they say it's okay, we will none of us believe it. It's going to take awhile to get over this.

Easter was yesterday! We boiled some eggs and made deviled eggs and had ham. That's how we knew it was Easter I guess. And the big food splurge was making cookies. So it was very exciting around here!

That's it for this week's report. I think week by week the report will continue to get more and more boring!