Last week I had a bad cold: runny nose, bad cough, sneezing, shortness of breath, fatigue. This week I’ve just had fatigue–typing this in bed–so I googled for causes of fatigue, and found this: Continue reading →

My stray three-pawed cat fell asleep beside me the other night. On her back. Rolled right over like a doofus, belly up, completely secure next to me. I laughed, but it made me so happy to know that she feels so safe.

I was desperate to buy cheap shoes the other day, and ended up at Marshall’s buying stretch ankle boots for twenty bucks. They make me look like a Disney character, huge feet on skinny legs, and they have glittery swirls on them and I am so not a glittery-swirls kind of woman, but I love the damn things and they make me happy whenever I put them on.

My house is an absolute nightmare–too much stuff, single-pane windows, tiny rooms, a crumbling foundation, and an antique septic system–but every time I walk inside, I love it more: a funky cottage built by amateurs in the 1940s with a lot of love that still shows. It’s just a happy place.

Things don’t need to be perfect–like having four paws–to make for happiness.

How were you imperfectly happy this week?

I have a bunch of books on procrastination that I keep putting off reading (true, not a joke). I have a bunch books of getting rid of clutter that are cluttering up the place (also true, not a joke). I think my library is mocking me.

What did you read this week?

I’ve been crocheting like a madwoman, finishing WiPs while thinking about how to finally finish the WiP That Will Not Die (much like its hero) and listening again to the Music Video Most Likely To Keep Me Warm in 2022 (and beyond):

What did you work on that kept you warm (or not) this week?

My mailbox fell over because my mail carrier keeps abusing it by shoving packages in it, so now I have to put up a new one and our low is around three degrees tonight, so when the new one comes tomorrow, I’m going to be freezing out there with my sledge hammer, warmed only by my rage.

Actually, it’s freezing everywhere here, it’s cold inside, too, (old cottage) in spite of electric blankets and extra heaters. I wrote Krissie to bitch about the cold and found out that their high up in Vermont is six below. She said, “They build us tough up here.” I wrote back “Down here, they build us smart enough not to move someplace where six below is the high.”

Happiness is not being where six below is the high.

What made you warm with joy this week?

This week I read cookbooks and subtitles (a rewatch of all five seasons of The Art of Crime) but was shamefully low on fiction.

What did you read this week?

I’m still crocheting like a madwoman, but it’s harder now that it’s colder than hell in NJ. Also still cleaning the house and throwing stuff out like mad, and working on Nita. So, the basics.

What did you work on this week?

I was crocheting Friday night and decided to rewatch some Art of Crime episodes. I clicked on MHz and OH MY GOD THE NEW SEASON IS UP! So I binged the four episodes (short seasons) thinking that Florence is becoming damn near predatory (play fair, Florence) and Antoine must be thick as two planks if he doesn’t see the toxic relationship his fiance has with her mentor or his own buried attraction to Florence. Plus there were the murders. And all that gorgeous art.). Anyway it made me start thinking about series, which I have never done before, and why they’re so happy-making when they’re good (Hello, Murderbot, Person of Interest, Nero Wolfe, Leverage, the Carsington Family, and so many more) and still pleasing even when they’re not as good as we’d hoped. I need to give this a lot more thought, but the bottom line for me was that two new stories in this series made me very happy Friday night. (Also that crocheting while reading subtitles is not recommended.)

What made you happy this week?

It’s still weird typing “2022.” Feels like science fiction.

Which I am reading (Murderbot again) because romance is failing me. No, that’s not right, romance is an excellent genre. Some romance authors are failing me. I could go on at length at what makes a good romance (as could all of you), but the bottom line is that you have to know how to write, how to use words not only to best advantage but correctly, for cripe’s sake, and then use them to write character in action, not pages of back story. I’ve been reading Bookbub excerpts on Amazon all week, and the number of times I’ve hit “delete” instead of one-click is high. I could go on, but you want to know what I’ve read that’s been good. Hmmm. Articles about Betty White. And . . . yeah, that’s it this week.

Of course that could be because of me. Sometimes I get hypercritical. No, really, I do.

What did you read this week?

I’m getting things done the Melinda May way, very slowly but definite progress.
How did you work this week?