I'm A Voracious Reader : AVR Weekly News ~ 673rd 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 ~ 672nd Edition
Monday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Killer Quill by Sheda Ketzer
Monday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Lianna and the Hombit by Valinora Troy
Tuesday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Lost Distillation by D.G. Redd
Wednesday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Meet Me in the Woods by C.R. Reece
Thursday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Not Lucille by Mike Steele
Friday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: The Zombie Apocalypse by Leonard Buford
Saturday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Only a Chapter by Heather Tracey

Monday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Perfect by Lisa Kessler
Monday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Permafrost by Kate Kelly
Tuesday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Phoenix Rises, Dragon Soars by Charlotte Saulter
Wednesday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Poisoned Past by Michael Widebrook
Thursday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Red Roses by Katie Ward
Friday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Reflections Upon the Anniversary of My Descent by Kell Shaw
Saturday ~ Tour Spotlight ~ BBNYA2026 Semi-Finalist Spotlight ~ TWR Blog Tour: Rise of the Phoenix by Brendan Arnold
Sunday ~ Meme ~ AVR Weekly News ~ 674th Edition

Hello and Happy Sunday!

On the Home Front

Sunday ~ After the usual morning routine, I made French Toast Bake and Cinnamon Rolls w/apple pie filling for breakfast. I ate the soft parts of both. lol Chris came over so everything was eaten. Puttered around most of the day. Leftovers for dinner.

Monday ~ After the morning routine there's was some puttering around. I like saying puttering instead of what it really is - boring chores. I did the Walmart Thanksgiving for 10 deal that's now gone viral. I picked it up at 10. The only thing they didn't have was the gravy packets which is ok with me. And I didn't get the extra $10 off for whatever reason, but I still call it a win for $35. I then worked the rest of the day drafting and scheduling the last 18 or so spotlight posts for BBNYA. Even with a template to copy and paste they still take a bit to do since I have to drop in the pertinent book and author info, preview for mistakes (which I hope I caught them all), tag, and schedule. Nancy came to do the dogs nails around 5:30pm. I was in the middle of making another pot of mashed potatoes. lol I'm telling you, the taters with broth from the Mississippi pot roast broth is sooooooo fucking delicious! I wanted to eat a huge bowl, but limited myself so I could have ice cream for dessert. Watched Criminal Minds before bed.

Tuesday ~ Did a quick morning routine and woke Trip up to walk the dogs so I could get ready to leave for my 8:30 app't. Got the lady parts checked. A little dusty, a few cobwebs, but all good. Stopped at CVS to get my Covid and flu shots. Dropped by the pet lodge to pay Nancy for doing the dog nails (I stopped at the ATM first) and she had eggs for me. Yay! Dropped off a box at Goin' Postal to send to Irene's brother in Texas. I've had that box for months and kept forgetting to send it. Glad to mark that off my long long list. Btw, Irene's house is still listed in her name. The wheels of gov't move slow. The taxes haven't been paid for over 2 yrs now and it has a foreclosure warning on the tax bill (which I can see online). You'd think it would be up for auction by now. Anyway, I crossed the street (in my Pilot, not walking) to the jewelers because I lost the back to the special earring I had made and Trip's bracelet lost its ring holding the hook on it. So I got a new back and Jennifer fixed his bracelet. Yay! Stopped in at Food Lion next door and grabbed some milk, bananas, and a cheesecake. Just because. Everyone cleaned up the majority of the leftovers for dinner. There's only a bit of Mississippi pot roast left. Anna also had some of the chili I made. I'll need to put the rest in the freezer. Good thing I gave Jess the majority of it. Anna spent the night at Chris's. I watched Criminal Minds for awhile then went to bed.

Wednesday ~ Happy Veteran's Day! Anna and Kyle have this day off, but they asked for volunteers, so she went in with Chris and Kyle stayed home. lol Worked a bit on the blog then made Cinnamon rolls w/peach pie filling for me and the boys. I wonder if I can make that with pears. Probably. I know there's no pear pie filling, but I bet I can tweak a can of pears and make it work. I'm only considering it because Kyle likes pears. And apples. He's not a big fan of peaches. I bet pears with cinnamon rolls would be delicious. Worked a bit on the blog. All of the leftovers are now gone. Well, except for some rice, but it's probably time to toss that out. Put the last of the chili in the freezer. I really need to defrost and rearrange that. Probably next week since it's going to be chilly out. Anna came home with Chris in tow. They had Freddy's for dinner. I started and finished a tour book, scrolled Instagram for a bit then went to bed.

Thursday ~ Up at 5:30 to take Kyle to work since Anna and Chris went in early. I was going to stay up and get started on scrubbing the back deck (to get rid of those weird white spots coming up through the stain), but decided to go back to bed instead. Up after 9am. Oops. By the time I did the morning shit and worked on the computer a bit it was nearly noon and the Hurricanes were getting ready to play the Kraken in Finland. So I woke Trip up and started the kettle heating for Hurricanes tea. I really thought he would have been up by now. After he took the dogs out and I gave the cats their afternoon snack I took a shower.

Friday ~ Took Kyle to work then instead of going back to bed, I started doing boring morning stuff and various chores (like changing my bedstuff and starting laundry). Woke Trip at 10am since he said he was going to ride along when I went to my mammogram and bone density scan at 11:30 and today is shower day for him. His routine is every other day. Exceptions include getting filthy working outside, so I try to schedule outside work on shower days for him. Weather permitting. While he showered I tried scrubbing the back deck of those weird white spots coming up through the stain. I only did about 1/4 of the deck because it didn't look like the vinegar and baking soda were doing that great of a job. But later in the day, it seemed to have worked ok. Didn't get all of it, but enough that it looks a bit better. So next nice day, I'll give the rest a scrub. Left at 11:00 to head to my app'ts. Did the bone density scan first. That was easy and not at all like I told the boys it would be. I said they pick a bone, drill down, and pull out a small core sample to test. You know, like they do with soil samples. They were all WTF?!?! then Kyle said, "You're lying. No one would do that." 🤣🤣 I crack myself up sometimes. Then the torture rack of mammogram imaging. I'm so sick of having my tits squashed every year. If men had to put their ballsacks in those plates we'd have better diagnostic equipment by now. Once I was done there (they were done in the same office which was nice, no running around to each app't) we hit up DQ for a free Blizzard cake (Kyle racks up the points with his daily fix), stopped at Academy Sports for a 7 gallon water container, BJ's for a few things (including a 30" Darth Vader that Trip said he must have lol), then finished up at Food Lion for a few grocery items. Put all that stuff away, had Trip walk the dogs, I fed the cats, then puttered around for a bit until I picked up Kyle at work. He didn't want to go with Anna since she was dropping Chris off at home. All he wanted was his DQ Friday Blizzard and get home, put his jammies on, relax, and game. Although, sometimes, from the sound of it, gaming is not relaxing. lmao Anna and Chris showed up with egg drop soup for themselves. I unhooked the hoses since we might be getting freezing temps, then saddled up Backpack Blower for Leafageddon Battle III and cleared the driveway of the Leafy Menace. Ahhh! I love the smell of rotting enemy corpses especially when there is a slight bite to the air. I could do without the dust from the gravel though. We really need rain. Lots of it. Like a full week of just steady rain would be a nice start. Fed the furries and, while Trip was walking the dogs, I started a pot of chicken-n-dumplings. Anna took Chris home and ended up spending the night. Ate while watching Criminal Minds then kept watching while I depilled both sides of my blue blanket that goes on my bed. It's a King and took about 5 episodes. lol Had Trip take the dogs out then I headed to bed.

I was working at my gaming computer before doing the morning stuff

and I think Eevee would prefer I feed her.

Damn. That's a judgmental look. Ouch. lmao

Btw, she's sitting in Trip's chair.

All clear again. For now.

Saturday ~ Up at 8am. Kyle came back to the bedroom looking for Rocky. Apparently I forgot to lock him in his crate last night and he had been out in the main area then came back to the bedroom. Did the morning things and puttered around for a bit before starting the laundry room. Kyle's turn to do litterboxes. Got all that cleaned, washed a bunch of petstuff then put my clothes in the wash. Anna home a bit before noon. I went to the ATM to grab some cash then hit the yearly church BBQ. Picked up 2 packages (1 lb. of pork, pintos, slaw, BBQ sauce, buns) and 5 individual desserts and brought that home. Ate some for lunch then cleaned my bathroom, folded a load of towels, and my bedstuff. Vacuumed office, bedroom, and hall rug before working on this post. Luckily I had updated it through Thursday. I was going to mop the main area and kitchen but I'll just do that tomorrow. I'm sick of cleaning today. Went through emails and clicked on the Chirp ones for a few freebies and some sale items on my wishlist. Fed the furries, had some more BBQ for dinner, watched some Criminal Minds, read, folded and put away my clothes, and went to bed.

Today Will mop and put down a clean rug at the front door. Other than that? I may help Anna do some tidying of her room. Or read. Or maybe both. Also need to launder towels. We'll see how the day goes. Next week will be busy. The only day without an app't is Tuesday and I'll probably use that morning to get the oil changed in Kyle's car.

Mystery Tea

Monday ~ Pears and Cinnamon Black Tea ~ Black tea, rooibos, apple pieces, cinnamon chips, lucerne leaf, calendula, pear essence ~ no best by date

Delicious!

Tuesday ~ Mrs. Claus' Treat Black Tea ~ Black tea, green rooibos, cacao nibs, peppermint, cornflower, vanilla essence ~ best by 11/2023

Not bad. By the smell I thought it was going to taste more "grassy" than it did.

Wednesday ~ Queen's Blend Green Tea ~ Green tea, apple pieces, orange peels, blue cornflowers, calendula, bergamot oil, lemon & vanilla essences ~ best buy ~ 06/2024

This is pretty tasty. I really like and Trip said he liked it without the really. lol

Thursday ~ None due to Hurricanes tea.

Friday ~ None. Too busy.

New Year's Resolutions/Goals
I thought I'd keep a weekly record of these so I can see if anything is getting done. 😆
More reading, less tv ~ Probably half and half. Mostly audiobooks.
Go back to the beginning and revamp old blog posts ~ Nothing this week.
Exercise ~ No.
Tidy up outside ~ Not really.

Touching Nature: Temps have been nice and Fall-like. It tried to rain, but fell far far short. We are in one of the worse droughts since I moved here in 1998. Mandatory restrictions have been put in place for most cities as lakes are drying all the way up. I have a well, but we've been trying to conserve just in case. I bought a 7 gallon container to store water and will check back with Academy Sports for a couple more when they come back in stock. We finally dipped to near freezing Friday night, but we'll see at or below freezing for the next several nights. I unhooked the hoses and covered the hose bibs with a hand towel just in case.

Book News: I finished a couple of books and audiobooks. I need to get started on my BBNYA books this week. I have until December 16th to read 4.

Don't Touch That Dial!: Criminal Minds.

At the Flicks: Nope.

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

Randomness: I'm going with C - Gabe Kaplan Lookin' good, Mr. Kotterrrr! lmao

Carol's Nuggets of Wisdom: The Walmart deal has gone viral and they are out of stock of things. But the deal shows good until Dec 24th so keep giving it a whirl. Aldi's also has a deal going on as well as BJ's, Food Lion and probably other stores. For anyone facing food insecurity visit Feeding America for resources.

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