herding cats & burning soup

Friday, September 25, 2020

4 stars-- Killer Keys (Cozy Corgi Mysteries #10) by Mildred Abbott

Corgis, bookstores, snowstorms, a little romance and celebrating? Ahhhh Killer Keys! I loved it!

The Gist: A family celebration at the local in goes full out drama when a blizzard hits and everyone is snowed in and then....someone starts killing staff and guests. Oh my!

My Garden 2020-- April

April...things started blooming. I love this that time of year. And time to start nibbling on veggies from the garden too. It's always just a lovely few weeks of spring.

March came in quick! One day all winter gloom and then the blooms started. Had a few surprise arrivals that I planted last year from seed and that didn't show until this year. Had completely forgotten about them! lol

And then the tulips. I didnt get nearly as many in the ground in the fall as I'd hoped but the ones that were in were gorgeous as they started blooming. And my mailbox (my favorite bed) got it summer makeover!

My Garden 2020-- January & February

Not much has happened this year. *shock* but I decided to start posting some of my gardening things. A slight catch up but wanted to include the full year not just start in August. So...here we go. January and February.

I'm in the South but we do get winter here and snow now and again so it's not the busiest of gardening seasons. But I can still manage some veggies and end up doing a lot of prep...most years. lol

January 2020

Janurary! Woo! Not too many things going in the ground but I did manage to pull a few veggies. Carrots from the fall. They were tasty. And the greens are edible too. I tend to add them to soup or make a pesto with them.

I also have a greenhouse this year so had a few of my summer/fall pots still active in there. Snagged a couple very late season green peppers, a couple radishes and greens. Did you know radishes if you let them bolt create radish pods in their greenery? Totally edible! (or you can let them create seeds to use).

Covid Shopping! And Hi! Been a While!

Hey Guys! I hope you're all doing well. I know the blog went silent for a long while. Yikes! I'm still not reading and not really cooking which...makes it hard to do a book/food blog. LOL I'm going to try and add a few things in now and again though still. Anywho. I'm surviving here. Ergs! If you're in the FB group you know I've been gaming a lot, there's a boy, and some of the random other stuff that's been going on. Figured I'd start back in with some shopping. I didn't do anything TOO crazy during the pandemic lockdown but did pick up a few items that were fun. And let me tell you on the house front. Couponing for the WIN! I haven't had to hardly buy anything since December other than produce and dairy. LOL Which made things a lot easier during this whole mess. Nice having a mini store basically in the house ready to go. Bwahaha.

Anywho. Hi!

We're EIGHT Today! Woo!

Woohoo! Happy 2020! It's a big day on the blog, too. We're EIGHT today! Holy cow!

I can't believe it's been eight years already. It's been...interesting to say the least. lol

Thank you all for being a part of it. It's been a blast.

The last few months have been pretty quiet here but hoping to come at 2020 strong and get back in the swing of things.

Hope yall have a good one!

Best Books of 2019!

I had a wonderful time reading the first half of 2019. I continued taking very few review books and focused on just reading for fun. Freebies, from the library, from my own shelves for a change. I tried out KU and picked up some random suggestions from friends. And it was fantastic! Things did go sideways mid September and I haven't really read since then but before that I read 144 total books. Which is pretty amazing since I've only read 3 since September! But I hit my Goodreads goal which is great. Anywho...

5--Print
124--Ebook

16--Audio

New to Me Authors-- 25

These were my favorites...

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas, yall!

4 stars-- Two Men Walk into a Bar (at Christmastime) by Katy Regnery

A short story and it made me cry. Dammit! lol Yall. Two Men Walk into a Bar (at Christmastime) was so cute! It's a catch up with two previous couples-- Asher/Savannah from The Vet and the Vixen and Zach/Violet from Playing for Love at Deep Haven. Impossible not to love.

The Gist: It's Christmas and two fellas meet at an airport bar after their flights home for Christmas are canceled due to snow. Their women? Well, they're not going to let a little snow get in the way of Christmas with their men. Sure not.

3 stars-- Merry Ex-Mas (Life in Icicle Falls #2) by Sheila Roberts

Ahhh! I wanted a warm fuzzy Christmas comfort read. Merry Ex-Mas was not it. It was a bit depressing, really. It was my first from Roberts and while I didn't hate it I really didn't love it either.

The Gist: A group of girlfriends who have been unlucky in love are having to deal with their ex-s. One ex coming back for their daughter's wedding (with new wife in tow), one ex wanting a second chance, and a young couple recently divorced and wondering if they've been too hasty.

3.5 stars-- Marrying Mr. English (The English Brothers 0.5) by Katy Regnery

Aw Marrying Mr. English was a sweet Christmas romance as you jump back in time to the parents from the series and watch them find their happily ever after way back in the 1980s.

The Gist: Tom is in a bind. If he doesn't find a wife in the next couple days...he'll lose his inheritance. Eleanora is a down on her luck waitress who's more than willing to join forces in exchange for a boost to her bank account. Perfect! A quickie marriage and they'll both have everything they wanted and can go their separate ways. But...things rarely go as planned.

4 stars-- Bring Me Home for Christmas (Virgin River #14) by Robyn Carr

One of my favorite places to visit is Virgin River at Christmas. It's magical!

The Gist: Becca never got over her ex, Denny. It's been years and she's with a new guy but the past still haunts her so she crashes her brother's hunting weekend with the guys to finally put things to rest with Denny (one of her brother's friends and hunting buddies).

1.5 stars-- Mistletoe in Texas (Texas Rodeo #5) by Kari Lynn Dell

What an utter disappointment. Both Mistletoe in Texas AND the author herself. Before I get into the review I want to note that after I posted my review to Goodreads last year the author went on her Facebook page complaining and sending readers over to Goodreads to try and manipulate the ratings in order to move my review lower in the ranks as well as having people flag my account. Charming behavior, really. She is no longer on my recommend list even for the books I absolutely adored by her. This is abhorrent behavior by an author and her apology was simply an attempt to cover her ass and bad behavior.

Now the review...

Mistletoe in Texas would be an awesome read...if every single scene with the heroine was eliminated.

Things...

I'm still here. And mostly okay.

Things have gone fairly quiet on the blog the last few weeks. I had posts scheduled but honestly didn't want to deal with comments and visitors. Sorry yall. Life kind of sucks sometimes and I was done for a bit. Still am more or less.