Quick Life Update

I've enjoyed the last 5 months off from work immensely. It's allowed me to rest and recuperate from a rather intense and stressful job and just get reacquainted with myself.One thing I obviously did was stay off blogger. I was pretty much off social media entirely. And it was heavenly. I was able to gain some new perspective, figure out what interests of mine were being used as a coping mechanism...

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The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie (1936)

It's hard to believe that The A.B.C. Murders is #13 in Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot series, yet there it is. It is the story of a serial killer running rampant through England killing people in the chronology of the alphabet. So Mrs. Ascher is murdered in Andover and Betty Barnard is murdered in Bexhill, and so on and so forth. Clearly a madman is behind the murders, and like most serial...

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Next steps

I interviewed for an entry level IT position today, at the same ministry where I worked previously. Both gentlemen were engaging and warm types of individuals, so that was terrific to encounter. I wasn't nervous at all and we had a solid conversation going. I'm not sure what will happen, but I am very pleased with my interview and am grateful to have had the opportunity. Let me reiterate again in...

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An overcast day in Colorado

We'd had an abundance of rain in Colorado for the last few weeks and it's turned our usually brown plants a very nice and lush green. It's not quite like Oregon, but it's still close enough that I'm enjoying the weather patterns right now. For those who don't know. I spent 6 of my childhood years on the Oregon coast, so I'm very familiar with wet and rainy weather. Folks in Colorado aren't accustomed...

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Watching Amazon's Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets

Disclaimer: The people who suffered at the hands of the Institute in Basic Life Principles are victims. Their stories are their stories and I will never demean or diminish those stories. What happened to each of them was horrific and absolutely grieves my heart. So anything said in this post is not aimed at these people who suffered.I knew next to nothing about the Duggar family. My family was never...

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When God closes a door . . .

 Ya'll may or may not have noticed that I've been missing in the month of May. Almost sounds like a song! I've had some life changes going on, things that I didn't foresee happening and have shaken me quite a bit. I'm in a calmer state right now and today is the first day of the rest of my life.My workplace had a restructure and in the shifting of positions, my job was eliminated. Or rather,...

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Children's Classic Literature Party Wrap-Up Post

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Classic Children's Literature Party! You can read all the associated posts and book reviews in the Mister Linky here!My plan is to read over the remaining book reviews and thoughts next week and comment on them, but I'm thrilled that we had a chance to read some old favorites and try some new books. I hope you enjoyed the time spent.I'll ponder formatting...

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CCLP Reads: From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (1967)

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler is a genuinely fun read. It's also set in the year it was written, so 1967, which means that little things like cameras in museums probably just didn't exist at the time. Which is just brilliant. Thanks to an anonymous comment on my Reading Ideas post,This is the last book I read for my Classic Children's Literature Party and...

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Mind Blown! My worlds just collided!

Ok, so I love Hugh Dancy. Anyone who's been around long enough and is a professed anglophile knows him as Daniel Deronda and I adored him as the prince in Ella Enchanted with Anne Hathaway. Yes, I've also seen him as Will Graham in the tv series Hannibal that, for me, just didn't work. I'd rather take the movie Red Dragon any day of the week than that series and not even Dancy could save...

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CCLP Reads: The Black Cauldron by Lloyd Alexander (1965)

To my surprise, I enjoyed The Black Cauldron more than The Book of Three. Some of my issues with the first installment weren't really a problem in the second. Eilonwy seems to be mellowing, but I suppose that only makes sense since it's been about a year between books one and two. Taran is as noble as ever. There's event a sense of Taran coming into his own, overcoming the stigma that comes along...

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CCLP Reads: The Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander (1964)

My only prior experience with Lloyd Alexander is the rather terrifying 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron. I've watched it multiple times and still don't really like it. I was hoping that I might feel different about the book series, The House of Prydain, that the movie was based on.Taran is an assistant pig-keeper for a pig named Hen Wen who can somehow tell the future, so she's called an oracular...

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CCLP Read: The Borrowers by Mary Norton (1952)

Yay, The Borrowers is my first read for the Classic Children's Literature Party that I'm hosting!If you've never read this delightful book then I highly encourage it! I just bought the boxed set of the first four novels last year and did read them last year, and I can honestly they are some of my favorites, with the first book, The Borrowers, being an absolute classic. I thoroughly enjoyed re-reading...

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Children's Literature Party Reading Ideas!

This post is written for the Classic Children's Literature Party for 2023!Ok, so if you're anything like me, then there's a good chance when you try to think of classic children's authors, you draw a bit of a blank. Actually, anything that's more than 50 years old is pretty much considered to be a classic, and that widens your reading options considerably! If you also have a list of suggestions, I...

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Welcome to the Classic Children's Literature Party for 2023!

Welcome to the Classic Children's Literature Party of 2023!If it goes well, I may host it every year.My personal experiences with children's literature when I was an actual child pretty much stayed in its own little wheelhouse of Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Trixie Belden. And I read a lot of wonderful Christian children's series that I would check out from my church library. I honestly don't recall...

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Looking Back at February 2023 Reads

I didn't accomplish all of my February Reading Goals, but I accomplished enough of them that I'm quite happy. And I enjoyed most of my reads too.Apologies if anything in my post seems a little bit off from the norm. I experienced a personal loss on Friday (which is also why I didn't get around to participating in the Danny Kaye Blogathon). I wish I had been able to participate, but I didn't feel like...

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The L. M. Montgomery Tag

This fun tag is part of Hamlette's We Love L. M. Montgomery Week. ♥1. Who introduced you to L. M. Montgomery's writing?  Tell us the story!I honestly think it was me. I grew up with the Megan Follows miniseries so when I reached my late teens I just decided to try some of her Anne books. I'm not sure when I first saw the miniseries, only that it's always been there, just like the...

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We ♥ L. M. Montgomery Week - Emily of New Moon (a review)

Emily of New Moon was read for Hamlette's We Love L. M. Montgomery Week. ♥This was my first time reading Montgomery's Emily of New Moon. It's incredible how fast I read it. It was hard to put it down when I had to do other things, like, oh work or sleep or go run errands. It's a very enchanting, melancholy sort of story, and I was completely pulled into it.Creative souls are hard to...

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Great Expectations: Time Marches On

Time is cruelty for Miss Havisham, the eccentric owner of Satis House in Charles Dickens’ fine novel Great Expectations. The progression of time drives her mad; to protect what little sanity she has left she must stop time’s progression. It’s impossible to do so. Time is powerful and in its willful determination to do as God dictates, Miss Havisham leads a fantasy life where she protects herself from...

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First Classics Club Read of 2023 - Pride and Prejudice (1813) by Jane Austen

I'm sitting at my laptop with my cup of delicious Blackcurrent Breeze tea from Twinings and my fingers freezing due to the dip in temperatures outside. I am so immensely grateful today. I'm grateful for my cup of tea. For my space heater that is working its little tail off to warm my home office space. For my cozy slippers and wool socks. And I'm grateful for Jane Austen.I first encountered Austen...

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Japanese Movie Review: We Love (2018)

Rin (Hirano Sho) and Yuu (Sakurai Hinako) have been childhood friends forever, but their relationship has always been rocky due to Rin's bullying techniques and Yuu's extreme anxiety disorder. They happen to live next door to one another in the same apartment complex, go to the same high school, and even share the same set of friends in Koyomi and Keita. Yuu lacks confidence in herself in spades and...

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Looking Back at January 2023 Reads

One goal/non-goal I have for 2023 is to set aside time to read. It's so easy to get caught up in scrolling on your phone randomly and before you know it, you've fallen down the YouTube rabbit hole for hours with nothing to show for it. Other than baking recipes you'll never make or debunking videos for things you would never try in the first place. If you get my drift.So for me, reading five books...

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Setting February 2023 Reading Goals

I don't usually set reading goals for myself since I technically fail at them. But I sense that setting them here and in my bujo rather than on Goodreads will have a positive impact. I would like to complete 5 books in February, just like I did in January (yay!).Finish reading Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, for the We ♥ L. M. Montgomery Week that starts on February 20th, hosted by Hamlette....

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Sherlock Holmes: The Shadow in the Window

As thin shadows swayed across my window blind, my fingers clutched the book to my chest. My throat muscles convulsed, and the blood trapped in my veins by the shock suddenly thundered on, rushing heat through my body.It was him… the creeping man.This was my first identifiable memory as a Sherlock Holmes fan.Of course, the creeping man wasn’t actually outside my window; it was a crazy shadow cast by...

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Announcing the Classic Children's Literature Party April 2023

Updated April 2023: Join the Classic Children's Literature Party!I cannot lay claim to the idea. A lovely blog called Simpler Pastimes hosted CCLE for quite a few years, but the last one was in April 2017 so I have decided to begin hosting my own version with a slight name change to Classic Children's Literature Party or CCLP. I have dearly missed the event for a few reasons. One being that reading...

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Japanese Drama Review: Alice in Borderland, Season One (2020)

 Stories that involve being trapped in a game are the popular it thing right now. I love trapped in a game stories, but while I "enjoyed" AinB, it's really not that original. I could get the same thing watching Tron, The Hunger Games, or The Maze Runner, and actually enjoy those more. If not for the likeable leads of Arisu and Usagi, I would have dropped it halfway through the first season....

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Kamenashi Kazuya gears up in 2023 for season two of the hit Japanese law drama, Seigi no Tenbin

Seigi no Tenbin tells the story of Takano-san, a defense attorney with a a vendetta against criminals due to personal loss in his life. Some think the character is better suited for a prosecuting attorney, but I disagree since Takano-san has to put aside his own prejudice in order to serve his ethically serve his clients. It would be so easy for a prosecuting attorney to just go full-tilt into revenge...

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The Apartment (1960): A Lesson in Power Harassment

The Apartment (1960)starring Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurrayOne of my favorite Christmas movies is actually a very depressing movie about power harassment and attempted suicide that happens to take place over Christmas. Weird, right?There will be some spoilers, so keep that in mind when reading.The Apartment was released in 1960 and stars Jack Lemmon as C.C. Baxter, Shirley MacLaine...

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Welcome to 2023!

Yes, things were sporadic last year, for a variety of personal reasons. It was not an easy year, by any means, but there is a somewhat brighter outlook right now so I'm making plans for this blog that you can count on going forwa...

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