I'm A Voracious Reader : AVR Weekly News ~ 627th Edition

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by
Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer.
~ Recap the past week ~
~ Show what's upcoming ~
~ Share news ~
~ Display book hauls ~

Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 626th Edition
Saturday ~ Meme ~ 2024 BBNYA Book Tour Round Up

Monday ~ Meme ~ 2025 The Write Reads Book Tour Round Up
Tuesday ~ Meme ~ 2025 Book Round Up
Wednesday ~ Meme ~ 2025 Year End Wrap Up
Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 628th Edition

Hello and Happy Sunday!

On the Home Front

Sunday ~ Anna and I went to Michael's, BJ's, BJ's gas, the pet store, the laundromat to dry 2 loads, and Food Lion. While at the laundromat Anna walked over to Salvation Coffee to get us some drinks (hot chocolate for me and some froufou coffee drink for her lol) and a snacky snack. After we got back home I put away the groceries and we sorted the laundry. Fed the furries and Kyle grilled us burgers for dinner. After dinner Anna and I went back out to B&N because I forgot I needed a calendar. I hate starting the New Year without one and I wanted one before all the good ones were gone. Anna found the perfect one! I had to bring it home.

Monday ~ Electricians here by 8:30. They put a new cord on the dryer, installed a new outlet, fixed an outlet in Trip's room, and tested the wiring and breakers. They believe the plug wasn't all the way seated in the outlet which caused arcing. Arcing causes heat and since I literally was doing laundry the entire day Thursday, it must have finally got hot enough to start burning. So, all is well now and I'm back in the laundry business. I got all of Kyle's and Anna's presents wrapped. The wasband stopped by to pick up the chili I had made in exchange for pressure washing the front porch and a box of some stuff I found in the bedroom when I was moving things around. He brought cards to everyone, so those are under the tree. Trip took the cans up the drive for pick up tomorrow then I used the Kubota to move some gravel to the top of the drive and some around the back under the deck stairs. We'll do the rest when I figure out how I'm going to stack firewood under the deck on a slope. I'll have to Google ideas. We had leftover burgers and some potato knishes I bought at BJ's. We were not impressed with them, so I won't be buying those again.

Tuesday ~ Wrapped all of Trip's presents. Just need to sort out the stocking stuff now. Still doing a ton of laundry. We fed the outdoor critters. I felt bad because the feeders have been empty for a few days. When I walked the dogs first thing I brought down one of the recycling cans, so Trip cut all of the boxes piled up on the front porch (from all the furniture we have been assembling) into small pieces and I took all the styrofoam and busted them down into little pieces to be bagged into a construction-sized bag. Styrofoam is evil and should be recyclable, imho. Anyway, the front porch is looking better. There's still a bunch of recycling to do, but it only gets picked up every 2 weeks, so we'll wait on the rest until after we see how much Christmas recycling fills up the 2nd can. The garbage we can send up on Monday for Tuesday pick up though since the styrofoam bag took up nearly the whole can. lol I made a sausage quiche for dinner and it was delicious. Everyone gave it a thumbs up. I'd make ham, but Anna isn't a fan. I'd make bacon, but Trip doesn't eat bacon. So, that pretty much leaves sausage. Anna said we should try diced spam. The boys don't like spam, but maybe I can trick them into thinking it's ham. lol In any case, sausage quiche is now in the dinner rotation.

Wednesday ~ So, it's Christmas Eve already. Anna's friend Shelby needed to run errands and Anna went along for moral support. The boys gamed. I showered then worked on this post for a bit getting it updated. Then I went to work in the kitchen. First up was a Dutch Apple pie. Then some cookies. I didn't make these from scratch. Anna got back home as I was putting the ham in the oven. Times like this I wish I had 2 ovens. While the ham was in I helped her make her bed since we had washed all of her bedstuff. We need to strip her bunkbed because cats have tracked litter and snack crumbs up there. But we'll do that another day. Then I got to work making homemade scalloped potatoes and homemade mac-n-cheese. While those were in the oven I warmed up canned green beans and made Stouffer's stuffing. When the dishes were nearly done in the oven I slid the ham back in to heat it up a bit more. Once everything was out, I tossed the rolls in for a few minutes. Everyone liked everything. I thought the scalloped potatoes turned out a bit mushy, probably because they were cut so thin with my Geedel. The mac-n-cheese was delicious, imho. I hope I remember how I made it. I deviated a bit from the online recipe. Eek. The ham was a Smithfields and they are no HoneyBaked. Oh, well. While we ate we watched Home Alone. Well, Kyle didn't. He never watches Christmas movies with us anymore. After Home Alone we watched Polar Express, but cleaned up the kitchen first. We did not watch near enough Christmas movies this year. We'll do better next year. After putting out presents and filling stockings, I went to bed.

Thursday ~ Merry Christmas! Up at 8am. Despite Trip checking last night as to what time everyone wanted up, I'm actually the first person out. lol While in the kitchen, Kyle came wandering out. After feeding the cats I woke Trip up so he could walk the dogs for me while I put together French Toast Bake for breakfast. This is something that can be made ahead of time and refrigerated, but I didn't have room in the fridge for the dish. lol I normally don't do domestic stuff on Christmas, but this dish is easy to do. While it bakes we open presents. We had to move the loveseat out of the way so the kids would be able to sit in their usual spots. Another reason to put the tree elsewhere next year. Everything is new so we'll figure it out. We were in the middle of opening presents when George, my eldest spawn, called. While talking to him the French Toast Bake finished. After a bit we hung up and got back to ripping and tearing. lol Once Anna, Trip, and Kyle finished opening gifts from me and each other, we ate breakfast. It wasn't hot anymore, but it was still warm. And delicious. After that I opened my presents from them, we opened our presents from my oldest brother, George, and the cards that the wasband dropped off. Finally, we did stockings. Christmas is an all morning thing for us. lol Anna "helped" the dogs open the Furry Christmas Tin. It's a really big tin that I put their toys & treats in so the cats don't chew through stuff overnight. So she showed the dogs their new stuff and let them smell it all before giving them a toy and some treats. We then gave the cats their new toys and some treats. Afterwards, the boys started gaming, Anna decided she needed a nap, and I did up the dishes that don't go in the dishwasher, made our last caffeinated advent tea (saving decaf for later), and puttered around on the internet. While eating leftovers and having the last advent tea we watched Die Hard. Whew! It's just not Christmas unless we see Hans Gruber fall off Nakatomi Plaza. 😂 Did not watch A Christmas Story this year. 😭 Next year we'll do better.

Friday ~ Anna and Kyle had to work. Did a few things in the morning then Trip and I headed out around 10am to pick up the grandkiddos for a sleepover. Stopped at Aldi's to see if they had those cool "Lego" retro sets like my SIL got her family in the Aldi Finds aisle, but we struck out. Hit Harbor Freight for a small 4 1/2" battery operated circular saw then went to Office Depot to pick up a monitor for my gaming computer. Also got a headset. I'm nearly in business. All 3 of these stores are in the same little plaza so it was an easy shopping trip. lol Headed over to pick up the grands then went home. Made everyone scrambled eggs then did some household chores. They had to wait until Anna and Kyle got home from work to open presents. We fed and walked the dogs then did presents followed by popcorn chicken and potato crowns. Around 7:00-ish or so we loaded up and went to Walmart so they could spend their gift cards from the wasband. I picked up some wrapping paper and lights on sale. Saw Timothy, Summer, Lori, and Noah also spending their gift cards. lol We set next Saturday for them to come open presents since Timothy said it's his one Saturday off for the month. I wanted to take the tree down on Thursday 1/1, but I guess I can wait until Saturday after they've been here. Got home and advised the grandkiddos it was now quiet time as Kyle was already sleeping and Anna was heading to bed since they had to get up at 4am to work 5-11:30.

Saturday ~ Up late, around 9:00 since the dogs went out late. As I was walking them, Anna and Kyle showed up. They were released at 9:00 because there was nothing to do. Well, no shit. They'd had nothing to do for days. In any case, they grabbed some food at Bojangles (without us!) and were home by 10am. And told they didn't have to work tomorrow. Yay! Anna wrapped some presents for April (she's really late getting this shit done this year - still has Jess, Ellie, Noah, and Lori's stuff to wrap!) then she went to nap. The kids played with their toys and watched a lot of Bluey (for the love of books, make it stop) then when it had warmed up they went outside to play frisbee with Trip. I worked on household chores, some tasks I had set, and scrubbed a rug with the carpet shampooer on the back deck (since it's like 70º 🙄), and around noon everyone decided they wanted scrambled eggs. lol Around 3:00 I went to McD's to get them their traditional going home meal and they ate it here. After eating and picking up, they packed up all their stuff (which we had to help round up) and around 4:15 Anna took them home (instead of to their mawmaw's) and took April's presents to her. I finished up my cleaning and worked on this post. Other than scrambled eggs this morning, I've been snacking on junk food all day. I need to finish up this post (it's currently 8:20pm) so I can have some Christmas Eve leftovers.

Today I'd like to get my gaming computer and accessories set up. Before I mess with that I'll probably help Anna put away her clean clothes. And we might strip her bunkbed and wash that stuff since the cats sleep up there and they've been tracking litter. Other than that, I need to work on some posts for this week. I had all year to keep up with my year end wrap ups and just...didn't. I'm going to try to do better in 2026.

December Special

Tea Advent from Plum Deluxe ~

This is my first time trying the Plum Deluxe Advent boxes even though I've been buying tea from them for years now. I bought two, one caffeinated for me and Trip and one decaffeinated so Anna could be included. Kyle prefers hot chocolate. Trip and I have ours about midday and when Anna gets home after work or after dinner we have the decaf.

Grading will be:

1 Loved!

2 It's ok

3 No!

Day 21 ~ Caffeinated ~ Puerh Chai ~ 2

Decaffeinated ~ Decaf Creamed Mint ~ 2

Day 22 ~ Caffeinated ~ Creme Brulee Earl Grey ~ 2

Decaffeinated ~ Banana Bread ~ 3

Day 23 ~ Caffeinated ~ Cranberry Lemonade ~ 2

Decaffeinated ~ Cranberry Lemonade ~ 1 (slightly different ingredients from the caffeinated version)

Day 24 ~ Caffeinated ~ Reading Nook Black ~ 2

Decaffeinated ~ Slowly Unwind ~ 2

Day 25 ~ Caffeinated ~ Orange Rolls Black ~ 2

Decaffeinated ~ Spiced Date Walnut Cake ~ 3

While we're a bit sad about not having anymore days to open on the advent calendars, I'm happy that I don't have to keep washing my little tea pot. I mean, I wash it when Trip and I have Mystery Tea, but twice a day for 25 days is a lot of washing. It's also a lot of tea since we're still having our sports teas when our teams play. Which right now is just the Hurricanes and the Tarheels, sometimes at the same time. Eeek! No wonder I have to get up 100x to pee at night. lol

Touching Nature: After having cold weather, the temp has risen. We hit 70 a few days, but we're supposed to drop again next week. Honestly, I want it to get cold enough for long enough to kill off some of these damn bugs.

Book News: After the BBNYA winner announcements I was able to add the 4 books I read for judging. All great books! The books I read placed: 1st, 2nd, 8th, and 14th (out of 17 this year). A favorite book of mine placed 3rd, too! I couldn't judge it because I'd already read it. Happy for the author!

Don't Touch That Dial!: Some Bones. Some YouTube subscriptions. And we watched Home Alone, Polar Express, and Die Hard.

At the Flicks: Nope.

Cyberspace Playground: Wordle, Word Lots, Crossword Jam, Solitaire, the Finch app - if anyone wants to be friends just let me know.

Randomness:

Carol's Nuggets of Wisdom: Plan reasonable goals so you don't set yourself up for failure. For instance: I have a ton of boxes and misc. stuff to go through from all the upheaval of this year. So, I'm going to tackle one box a week. I think I can manage that. If I do finish and dive into a 2nd one during the week then I'll just be ahead of the game. If not, no biggie.

That's it for me. AVR News Update signing off. May all your books enthrall you.