A friend asked me to recommend some non-thinker books for the long weekend!
I have lots, and thought I’d share here, too! All the ones with a hear are actually the first in a series and they’re all good!
Want some non-thinker books?
Category Archives: Recommendations
My top 10 sellers of 2023
MY FINAL 2023 TOTAL BOOKS READ IS 187!
I did a monthly book bracket—which was hard because some months had more than one great book!
That said, my top 12 bracket books of the year were:
- January – Verity
- February – Spare
- March – Winners
- April – Under the Whispering Door
- May – In the Lives of Puppets
- June – The Bones Beneath My Skin
- July – Housemaid’s Secret
- August – Dark Matter
- September – Big Little Lies
- October – A Man Called Ove
- November – The Wishing Game
- December – Never Lie
And the winning bracket book of my year is Under the Whispering Door.
Other books I’d highly recommend:
•Beartown (series)
•Project Hail Mary
•Midnight Library
•The Rose Code
•The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
•Undercover Bromance (series)
•Remarkably Bright Creatures
•The Authenticity Project
•Gone Girl
•Drowning
•In an Instant
•Finley Donovan series
•Thursday Murder Club (series)
•Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice
•I Will Always Write Back
•The Wild Robot
•None of This is True
12 in 12 (2024)
If you’ve been following along this year, you know I’ve read a ton (I’m at 175 and I’d like to finish at least five more in the next 13 days—I passed my original goal of 125 in August). I still have hundreds on my list, but I enjoyed all of the recommendations I got last year—so I did it again! Here are the 12 books recommended to me by 12 friends!
THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE
THESE ARE ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE AND YOU SHOULD GET RID OF THEM IMMEDIATELY BY SENDING THEM TO ME.
Friday Fave: Mexican french fries supreme
Y’all. I love Mexican food and I love fries, so when Taco Pros opened and I saw they had Mexican fries supreme I WAS IN. And holy crap were they delicious!
The serving is plenty for lunch for two. And with the addition of steak it’s only $9! In other words it’s a perfect lunch date (which we had this week)!
And yes, they now have margaritas!! It wasn’t the best, but I had to try it at least once!
Want a full face in less that five minutes?
I got you, girl! Use the new HydraMatte lip color…all over! Lips! Eyes! Cheeks! Plus I still had time for mascara!!
I’m a fast reader.
A lot of people ask me how I can read so many books so quickly (I’ve finished 116 so far this year). I say I’m a fast reader.
So I just did a test to see.
I listened to 30 minutes of an audiobook at 1.25 speed (the fastest I can stand) and then read the same book for 30 minutes.
Audio book? 30 pages
Visual book? 60 pages
(I don’t have time for audio on a regular basis but listened on my walk this morning. I rarely listen to audio books because I have a hard time keeping my mind on task. Walking is about the only thing I can do.)
There are a bunch of websites that will test your reading speed — the one I took resulted in 387 WPM (Words per Minute). Take this quiz now to check yours!
Because I love Ted Lasso
Artwork by Karen Hallion
Friday Fave: Thimbleberry margaritas
This is something I only get one week a year — and ONLY if we pass through Calumet while Carmelita’s is open!
Thimbleberry Margaritas
The thimbleberry is a berry unique to certain areas of the US — and the upper peninsula is one of them. And they’ve gone and turned it into a delicious drink! (They also make jam but give me the margarita!)
If you’re ever in the area, please stop by and try one! We even get two pitchers to go to enjoy throughout the week since it’s an hour round trip to get them!
Friday Fave: Melatonin
Friday Fave: Senior essential!
Today I’m letting you in on a little secret: I should have bought this thing YEARS ago.
🛒 EZ Off Jar Opener for Weak Hands – Under Cabinet, Easy Grip, One Handed Jar & Bottle Opener – Removes Tight Jar Lid for Seniors with Arthritis – Essential Kitchen Gadgets for Home Assistance – White https://a.co/d/9lk0DiR
☺️ Essential, indeed! And don’t laugh at the “seniors with arthritis” bit—I think everyone needs one in their kitchen, senior or not!
You’re welcome.
Tell me…do you have one? Are you going to Amazon right now to buy one? 😂
Paint your pet!
Anna and I painted our pets (puppy Olive and Honey) at a local art studio! (Tom and I did birch trees here before!) With the pets, they start you with a pencil drawing from a photo you send— which made it a ton easier!
It was really fun, though I enjoyed it more than Anna did!
Friday Fave: Sam’s shrimp ceviche
If y’all know anything about me, you know I love Costco and Sam’s Club. I have so many favorites at each place it would be hard to narrow it down to just a few things.
But today, I’m going to tell you about my new favorite thing from Sam’s Club—🦐 Shrimp ceviche! You may scoff at getting something like this from a warehouse club, but it was really good! Plentiful shrimp, fresh veggies, decent cost—I will admit that it needed salt, and then I ended up putting a little too much in … but I still had to stop myself from eating the whole thing in one sitting. 🤤
Book 65 of 2023
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Excellent! Highly recommend!
And today I learned this about microwaves!
Friday Fave: Native shoes
Time for a new thing — Every week I’m going to (try and remember to!) share one of my favorite things!
This week, it’s one of my favorite pairs of shoes—from a brand called NATIVE!
I initially had something similar but off-brand and the color started wearing off pretty quickly (and looked awful) so I decided to spend the money on these…and I couldn’t be happier! I had to look back this morning to see when I bought them—and it was November 2019!
✔️They are kinda like Crocs (material wise) but look more like regular shoes!
✔️They go through a machine wash well.
✔️They don’t have a ton of cushion but it’s enough to make my annoying feet somewhat happy.
✔️There are a ton of different styles and colors.
✔️I got mine directly from Native but you can get them tons of places (Native or Amazon being two).
The 12 Challenge
I really got back into reading this year after about 20 years of NOT reading. (I aimed for 12 on the #goodreadschallenge2022 and am likely finishing with 80!)
I very much enjoyed reading my friend suggestions when I did The Trevor Project fundraiser this year so when I saw this challenge come across my timeline I knew I wanted to do it in the new year!
I took the first 12 books listed by 12 different people in the comments. I can’t wait to get started! #goodreadschallenge2023
These are DANGEROUS!
I innocently took a sample at Sam’s Club because I couldn’t imagine what they tasted like. I’m not a huge peppermint fan either.
And holy hell were they good. Dangerously good.
Members Mark Peppermint Almonds: https://www.samsclub.com/p/members-mark-peppermint-almonds-20-oz/P03010806
My nails are now in the holiday spirit!
I went with a pretty basic idea but my guy Issac went above and beyond with this design!
Botanical Gardens Lightscape
Admittedly I bitched a lot beforehand about Anna making us go to Lightscape (I’m turning into a major homebody as I get older!)…but it ended up to be super cool and I have apologized.
Highly, highly recommend!
Book 74 for the year.
The gray results surprised me!
I asked Facebook for their fave color. First place was natural and second was gray! Of course a bunch loved the purple like me but the gray really surprised me!
Here’s the new rule!
If I wasn’t so busy getting my house ready for our first huge Thanksgiving family dinner…my tree would already be up. You can bet it’s going up Thanksgiving weekend!
Highly recommend.
The book and a puppy in your lap.
Cleveland(ish), I am in you.
A few months ago my mom asked me if I’d go with her to a 4-day Pysanky Retreat in northern Ohio. I jumped at the chance—I think I said yes even before she finished asking! I’ve long been wanting to get back into Pysanky—and I never get to spend any alone time with my mom—so it was a no-brainer!
So this morning I was in the car and on the road by 9am (in a super quick and easy road trip look) to Middleburg Heights/Berea!
Tom always does the driving so it kinda stunk not being able to work while on the road, but I did listen to an audiobook (which eventually made me sooo tired I took to eating popcorn to stay awake)! But I made it!
After we got settled and visited for a bit it was off to find dinner. I found a local Chinese place with really great Yelp reviews (Little Hong Kong) about a mile away…where we had some of the best General Tso’s chicken I’ve ever had. Highly recommend!
Then it was back to the hotel to make 65 goodie bags for the event…
And take a Covid test to be able to attend.
2022 dual birthday pool party!
For as much as I take pictures of everything we do, I seemingly always let it slip on pool party day. At least I got one of both kids.
This one was from a friend.
And this was as we were packing up—Anna found a little grasshopper and put it on Katie.
The party was a big success again! All the kids love it! And it’s easy since we don’t have to clean the house.
Thank you to Gurnee Nails!
Proud to support a local business that supports the local schools by promoting a YES vote on the upcoming referendum!
Top Gun: Maverick
There was no way in hell I was missing this on the big screen…
My thoughts?
- Holy crap was that good! I wasn’t sure they could pull it off but they did.
- It was more emotional than I anticipated for sure.
- Tom Cruise still has it.
- I got goosebumps more than once.
- I teared up more than once.
- The actor that plays Goose’s son is damn near perfect casting.
- I’m so glad my mom didn’t see it first and tell me I didn’t need to see it because it was “just a bunch of planes flying around.”
- I definitely want to see it again.
My name is NOT mom!
Mom’s night out at Genesee Theater with some of our mom squad to see My Name is NOT mom! I was so happy to be healthy enough to make it!
We’re really up close and personal for some mom humor!
It was hilarious and definitely worth going if you get a chance!
Maggie is back home.
The turnaround time from Lap of Love was astounding. Maggie’s ashes were hand delivered to us this morning. Katie put her with the other pets (and the sign she made).
Cue tears. (And more random tears when I’m writing and posting this on 3/6.)