TTT: 10 Non-Book Hobbies or Interests

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

This week we’re stepping away from books to life in general. Wondering what I do when I’m not reading? Here’s a few answers. These are in no particular order.

10 Books or Hobbies Besides Reading

Quilting

I haven’t set up my sewing machine in my new house, but I have really enjoyed it in the past and I’m looking forward to getting started again. This is an example of a quilt I really want to make – monsters!

Hot Tub

This is not mine, but kinda similar. I’ve only had it a week, but it’s already the most awesome thing that happened this year. Next year we’ll work on getting the yard prettier too.

Cats

I love my babies! This one is my Cookie.

Writing

I have had a lot of fun writing, but I really need to get back to my story.

Yum

Thai Food

This is from my favorite Thai restaurant Thai Drift. Tom Yum Soup, Gyoza, and Pumpkin Curry. So dang good.

They’re cute~

Games with the Family

My son an DIL. I think we’re playing Citadel here, not sure. But I love having them over. We need to do this again. With masks on!

Utah Outdoors

I love this state! I can’t wait to get my cast off and get out more! We’re hoping to do some travelling next year.

Computer Games

This one is Rimworld, which I have been pretty obsessed with for a while. But I’m even more into No Man’s Sky! Love it!

Cookies

Homemade, Oreos, my kid’s chocolate chip cookies, I don’t care. I just want a small glass of milk and like 6-8 warm cookies.

My sweetie

My baby! He’s the best!

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That’s it for this week. What are your hobbies and interests besides reading? Let me know!

Top 10 Tuesday Turns 10!

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

Today That Artsy Reader Girl is celebrating 10 years of Top 10 Tuesday! I can’t believe sticking to a blog that long. She opened it up for a free week, but suggested maybe doing a topic from a previous list. After some thought, I’m doing just that.

10 More Favorite Books from my Childhood

1. Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard Atwater. As a kid, it was totally reasonable to me that he would turn his basement into an ice rink. But then, I was crazy about animals.

2. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett. I loved the land of Chewandswallow and so did my kids.

3. Miss Jasper’s Garden by N M Bodecker. “After getting caught in Miss Jaster’s spring planting, the hedgehog discovers he has become a four-legged, walking flower garden.”

Photo by monicore on Pexels.com

If that doesn’t sound adorable, you’re just not human. I *loved* this book.

4. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I loved the Cheshire Cat best, of course. 😸

5. The Resident Witch by Marian T. Place. I loved the Little witch and the way she finally found friends.

6. Yobgorgle by Daniel Pinkwater. The cover completely gives the twist away, but I loved the crazy characters in this.

7. The Tiny Tawny Kitten by Barbara Shook Hazen. Look, it has a kitten and it has flowers. For 4 year old me, that was all it took.

8. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. In fact, I think I read all her books about the March family. They haven’t stayed favorites, but I loved them at one time.

9. Richard Scarry’s Best Storybook Ever. I loved Huckle and Sally Cat and Lowly Worm so much!

10. The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Toad forever!

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Happy Birthday to Top 10 and Happy Reading to all of you!

Photo by Jill Wellington on Pexels.com

 

 

Saturday Series – The Two Monarchies

Happy Saturday! Saturday Series is a weekly (or maybe not so weekly) meme where we get to share those book series that we love and adore. The ones where you get so attached to all the characters that they have your whole heart. You may have been in from book one, anxiously waiting for every single sequel. Or maybe you joined the crowd anywhere along the way and then had to catch up. It might be a series that’s not even finished yet, and you’re just counting the days for the writer to catch up. In any case, this is the place to gush all you want! Feel free to share this and the banner with any one.

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I love fairy tale retellings, so W R Gingell’s series The Two Monarchies was bound to be a hit with me. This series starts of with a truly unique twist on Sleeping Beauty. This time, it wasn’t the princess who pricked her finger on the spinning wheel. It was her maid. And it wasn’t a prince who woke her with true love’s kiss. It was a wizard who woke her well, because she was there.

Polyhymnia is deep in enchanted sleep. High in a tower, behind an impenetrable barrier of magical thorns, she sleeps, dreams, and falls ever deeper into her curse.
Woken by a kiss, Poly finds herself in an alien world where three hundred years have passed and everyone she has ever known is dead. Luck, the enchanter who woke her, seems to think she is the princess. Understandable, since he found her asleep on the princess’ bed, in the royal suite, and dressed in the princess’ clothes.
Who cursed Poly? Why is someone trying to kill her and Luck? Why can’t she stop falling asleep?
And why does her hair keep growing?

Sometimes breaking the curse is just the beginning of the journey.

I admit that the first time I tried to read this one I was sick, and the opening had me so confused I set it aside for later. It begins in the middle of the action. Who are these people? Where are they going? But the second time I picked it up, I fell right into the story. Poly is a great main character. Thrown into the future when everyone she cares about is long dead, she doesn’t waste time feeling sorry for herself. She just jumps right into the action. Luck is super frustrating. He obviously knows or suspects so much more than he’s telling.

The next book is Blackfoot, a twist on the Puss in Boots tale. I think I liked this one even more. Annabel is just a kid, and she’s trapped living with a witch. She has two friends, Peter, a kid like her who has way more magic than he needs, and Blackfoot, her cat. Together they have to fight a sorcerer and save Annabel from being sacrificed.

There are 5 books in the series so far, 4 main titles and one side story. I’ve read the first 3. I love her books. I also love her versatility. She goes from a fairy tale inspired adventure with romance to a magic story involving 2 kids. No romance at all. But she’s building something!

These books are available on Kindle, but not through Kindle Unlimited. But they run about $5 so that’s not bad at all. If you’re into fairy tales or light fantasy with humor and romance, I’d give them a try.

Wordless Wednesday

Naughty kittens!

These guys! Cookie (the tabby) has decided that books are toys. Which was really cute until I found TEETH MARKS! I mean, she’s cute and all, but we’re going to have problems if she eats my books!

(The book is Trace of Deceit by Karen Odden.)

Our foster fails!

Our new members of the family, Cookie the tabby and Pixie the black cat. They are about 5 months old and super sweet girls! I love them to pieces!

More kitten!

Kitten time!

Why sleep in the kitten bed when you can sleep in laundry?

Guess what we got?? A kitten!

We had this spare room with my son & his wife moved out. Recently the shelter where we got Sam has been in desperate need of new kitten foster homes. Well, I couldn’t take it anymore! Who can resist kittens!

We named her Pixie! She’s about 6-8 weeks old and a little skinny. We’re hoping to fatten her up a little before she goes to her forever home. She really loves to play and she purrs so loud!

Best picture so far:

Meet Sam!

We got a new kitty 🐱! I have been so sad, missing Tina and Spooky so much. Rosie is a great cat, and I love her, but she’s not very cuddly. She’s happy to be petted sometimes, and more than happy to have a bobble of what you’re eating, but she’s no snuggler.

It is kind of soon, but we were ready for a new cat friend. I drove myself crazy for a couple of weeks, trying to find the perfect new cat🐱 for our family. I wanted one that would get along with the humans, one that was fairly young and healthy, and one with short hair. But I kept finding a cat I loved, only to call and find that someone else had gotten it first. I was seriously making myself sick over the whole thing.

Finally on Saturday, a local rescue group was doing an adoption event at a local pet store. Jack went with me to help me find the right cat. It took a little while, but as soon as I held this big guy, I knew I wanted to bring him home.

We named him Samwise, but we’re calling him Sam. He’s 5 years old and super mellow. As soon as we opened his crate he started rubbing up against everyone, wanting to be petted. He’s sleeping on my bed right now and he’s made friends with everyone – except Rosie! We’ll just take it slow and give them time to get used to each other. Anyway, I’m really happy with him. He’s just what we needed!

Poor Tina

I’m taking our senior kitty 🐱 to the vet today. Some of you may remember that we lost our make cat last year to cancer. I’m afraid that Tina is nearing the end as well. She has impaired kidney function and now thyroid trouble as well. It’s hard to give her the medicine as regularly as we should and she keeps losing weight. I put off the appointment until after Christmas, but she can’t wait any longer. I’m really dreading this. Prayers and kind thoughts would be much appreciated.