MickyFine Uses the Little Grey Cells. Part 2

I'm Micky, 39 years old, librarian, and generally bookish nerd. I usually have a good mix of reads going on every year with strong doses of romance, sff, historicals, and a dash of non-fiction. This year there will be a hefty dose of mysteries as I'm planning to make it through all the Poirot novels I've yet to read (33 books).

I do my best to be chatty on my own thread (these days I pop in weekly-ish) and in addition to my reading, I'll also discuss highlights of my craft projects (check out my NeedleArts thread if you like more details), board games, what we're watching, and general life goings on, often featuring my husband, Mr. Fine, and our cat, Ash. Posters and lurkers alike are welcome.

January
1. The Big Four - Agatha Christie
2. One Dance with a Duke - Tessa Dare
3. The Mystery of the Blue Train - Agatha Christie
4. Plain Jane and the Mermaid - Vera Brosgol
5. Peril at End House - Agatha Christie
6. Threads of Empire: A History of the World in Twelve Carpets - Dorothy Armstrong
7. Caliban's War - James S. A. Corey
8. All Systems Red - Martha Wells (re-read)
9. Artificial Condition - Martha Wells (re-read)
10. Princess in Pink - Meg Cabot
Favourite(s):


February
11. Twice Tempted by a Rogue - Tessa Dare
12. Lord Edgware Dies - Agatha Christie
13. Rogue Protocol - Martha Wells (re-read)
14. A Thorn in Every Heart - Kate King
15. Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie
16. Princess in Training - Meg Cabot
17. Three Act Tragedy - Agatha Christie
18. The Geographer's Map to Romance - India Holton
19. My Lucky Life In and Out of Show Business - Dick Van Dyke
20. Exit Strategy - Martha Wells (re-read)
21. The Winter's Tale - William Shakespeare (re-read)
22. Abaddon's Gate - James S.A. Corey
23. Three Nights with a Scoundrel - Tessa Dare
Favourite(s):


March
24. Death in the Clouds - Agatha Christie
25. Fugitive Telemetry - Martha Wells (re-read)
26. The Mark of Athena - Rick Riordan
27. The ABC Murders - Agatha Christie
28. Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put - Annie B. Jones
29. Murder in Mesopotamia - Agatha Christie
30. Blood Rites - Jim Butcher
31. Network Effect - Martha Wells (re-read)
32. A Five-Letter Word for Love - Amy James
33. Molly of the Mall - Heidi L.M. Jacobs (re-read)
Favourite(s):

April
34. Cibola Burn - James S.A. Corey
35. Cards on the Table - Agatha Christie
36. Flirting with Disaster - Naina Kumar
37. Murder in the Mews - Agatha Christie
38. System Collapse - Martha Wells (re-read)
39. Dumb Witness - Agatha Christie
40. Cabin Pressure: The Complete Series 1 - John Finnemore (re-read)
41. The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion - Beth Brower
Favourite(s):

May
42. Nemesis Games - James S.A. Corey
43. Platform Decay - Martha Wells
44. Death on the Nile - Agatha Christie
45. The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy - Brigitte Knightley
46. The Bullet that Missed - Richard Osman
47. Appointment with Death - Agatha Christie
48. Little Dorrit - Charles Dickens (re-read)
49. Among the Mad - Jacqueline Winspear
50. Time's Convert - Deborah Harkness
51. Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother - Peggy O'Donnell Heffington
52. Hercule Poirot's Christmas - Agatha Christie
53. Time Lord Fairy Tales - Justin Richards
Favourite(s):


June
54. At Bertram's Hotel - Agatha Christie (re-read)
55. Babylon's Ashes - James S.A. Corey
56. A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping - Sangu Mandanna
57. Sad Cypress - Agatha Christie
58. My Brother Is an Avocado - Tracy Darnton & Yasmeen Ismail
59. Cherry Baby - Rainbow Rowell
60. One, Two, Buckle My Shoe - Agatha Christie
61. A Rome of One's Own - Emma Southon
62. Spider-Gwen: Gwen-Verse - Tim Seeley
63. Evil Under the Sun - Agatha Christie

Favourite(s):

July
Favourite(s):

August
Favourite(s):

September
Favourite(s):

October
Favourite(s):

November
Favourite(s):

December
Favourite(s):

My rating system (updated for the first time)

** = Had far more flaws than virtues
*** = A read I don't regret but could use some improvement
***1/2= A read I liked but there were small things that kept it from being a full four stars
**** = A good, solid read
****1/2 = I really, really liked this book but not quite enough to add to my personal collection
***** = Loved this read (typically for favourite books I re-read or new books that will be joining my personal collection for future re-reading)

Poirot Novels to Read
The Big Four
The Mystery of the Blue Train
Peril at End House
Lord Edgware Dies
Murder on the Orient Express
Three Act Tragedy
Death in the Clouds
The ABC Murders
Murder in Mesopotamia
Cards on the Table
Murder in the Mews
Dumb Witness
Death on the Nile
Appointment with Death
Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Sad Cypress
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Evil Under the Sun
Five Little Pigs
The Hollow
The Labours of Hercules
Taken at the Flood
Mrs McGinty's Dead
After the Funeral
Hickory Dickory Dock
Dead Man's Folly
Cat Among the Pigeons
The Clocks
Third Girl
Hallowe'en Party
Elephants Can Remember
Poirot's Early Cases
Curtain

I'm planning to read these in roughly publication order (depending on when holds come in) at the rate of 2-3/month. I've already placed holds on all the titles between the two libraries I have access to and suspended them so that I should get them in regular monthly batches. Expect my reviews of these to include notes on how annoying I find Hastings in each novel (he really is the most irritating sidekick).

This thread is officially open for business. To kick things off, since I'm thinking about the imminent changes to my commute, tell me what your commute is like. How much time do you spend on it? Do you drive, take transit, or maybe bike/walk? What do you do during your commute? And if you don't commute to work, feel free to tell me about your route to your local library.

I'm about to transition from my current commute of a five-minute drive to the nearest transit station followed by a 25-40 minute bus ride. During the bus ride I mostly read a paper book and listen to music to drown out chatty uni students. However, as of mid-April I'll be transitioning to a 30-55 minute drive (according to Google Maps) on a major freeway that's currently undergoing massive construction. I anticipate a lot of stop and go traffic in my near future and also way more audiobook listening time.

Happy new thread, Micky!

Happy new thread, Micky!

>8 MickyFine: I have a 20-ish minute drive to work, which is just a little too short for me to do audiobooks, but it's perfect for listening to music. So that's when I spend the majority of the time listening to the albums that I've been working through on the Rolling Stones list.

Happy new thread! My commute is a 15-minute drive (maybe 12, if the traffic cooperates). I do listen to audiobooks on the drive most days.

I used to have an hour long daily commute into London for a while but enjoyed it as I could read. When it changed to a ten minute bus ride, with no reading, it just seemed a wasted ten minutes. When I then changed to a short drive into work it was in the company of my children, who went to the school I worked at, it changed to arguments about what music we would listen to!

I always thought it would be fun to commute by public transit where I could read, but I had a 40-min commute by car. I listened to the occasional audiobook but mostly podcasts. The 4-6 podcasts in my rotation (which were often about books surprise surprise) tended to have weekly episodes, so I could usually listen to all of them in the course of a 5-day work week. If I ran out of podcasts or just wasn't in the mood I'd tune into to NPR for either Morning Edition or All Things Considered.

My commute is 15 steps from my bedroom to my office :)

My last "real" commute was when I lived in Texas and that was 15-20 minutes by car. I usually listened to audiobooks.

Way back in the day, when I worked in DC, I had a hellish commute - 10 minute walk to bus stop, ~20 minute bus ride to Metro station, ~30 minute Metro ride, and then a 5 minute walk. And then there was the waiting around for the bus and Metro... I used to buy books based on how long they were because I was getting so much reading in, lol. My last year there, I bought a car and drove to work, which didn't save me much time but it was nice to have some "me" time. I didn't do audio books then, so I listened to music.

>9 quondame: Thanks, Susan!

>10 bell7: Sounds like a great commute to me, Mary. Given your current rate of listening, when do you forecast you'll complete the Rolling Stones list?

>11 foggidawn: Impressed you squeeze in audiobook listening on your shorter commute, Foggi. I find I prefer to have at least 20-30 minutes of listening guaranteed before I queue one up to listen to while I drive.

>12 CDVicarage: Hmm, I'm not sure which of your three commutes I'd pick if I had to choose. The reading time on the trip to and from London does sound luxurious but spending so much time in transit must have been wearing after a while.

>13 lauralkeet: I will definitely be missing my public transit commute, Laura. The ability to not only read but also to not have to pay any attention to traffic is so great. Sounds like you had a great listening rotation for your driving commute though. I used to listen to podcasts more when walking but then realized I could get more reading done with my ears in that same time so my podcasts largely languish. Although, Mr. Fine and I have a day trip coming up and we're considering listening to a couple podcasts as our driving time won't be long enough to get through a whole book.

>14 katiekrug: Snort. On my work from home days, my commute is probably about the same as yours, lol. That DC commute does sound like a serious trek!

It was extra annoying because it was only about 10 miles door to door... I think when I started driving it, it took even longer because of the awful traffic in DC. But it felt like such a luxury to be in my own space. I'm sure that feeling wouldn't have lasted if I had stayed, but the burnout and loneliness drove me to leave and start fresh.

>15 MickyFine: Well, I'm not quite halfway through and I started early 2024 so 2028 at this rate? I could get more with the kiddo in the car, but I'm currently listening to music he's not interested in. (We did both listen to some of the Michael Jackson album though)

I'm fortunate, the commute is in that just right far enough away to prepare for the transition but not so long that I get weary.

Happy new thread, Micky! Sorry to hear your commute is changing for the worse. These days I just commute to my basement office. When I used to work in an office pre-pandemic, I had a 45 minute bus ride and I usually got some pretty good reading done on the way down to work because my stop was the second one on the route so I always got a primo seat. On the way back I was much more likely to have to stand for part of the way so I would sometimes listen to an audiobook instead.

Happy new thread, Micky!

Happy new thread, Micky!

Since I'm now retired, I no longer have a commute, but when I was working it was about 40-45 minutes at rush hour, and closer to 1/2 hour if I could leave at a different time. It was worse at the equinox, because I had the sun in my eyes: in the morning at springtime, in the afternoon in the fall. I do *not* miss the commute at all. I am sorry you are going to have to switch to such a rough commute. I can relate to the construction issues. In my years of commuting, I had to deal with multiple years of construction work, on various different sections of my commute. That always added more time to it. I sincerely hope your commute won't have the construction work for too much longer.

Happy new thread, Micky!

>8 MickyFine: My commute is a 15 minute walk (entirely through parking lots, ugh) during which I listen to podcasts, and then a 45 minute ride on a private shuttle provided by my employer. I try to read a paper book on the shuttle, and sometimes I can get quite a lot of reading in, but it really depends on the driver. Some listen to music or silence but at least one listens to very loud talk radio and I can't read through that, even with white noise on my headphones.

My commute to the library is much more pleasant - a 12 minute walk through a park. There are lots of flowering trees and a dog park and a soccer field and I only have to cross one street the whole way. I usually listen to an audiobook on that walk.

Happy new thread, Micky!

I’ve been very fortunate in having a ten-minute and then a five-minute commute for the last 21 years of my working life. Prior to that, commutes varied between 20 and 30 minutes.

Happy new thread, Micky!

I drive not quite 15 minutes to work and have a couple of different routes I take depending on if I need to drop any kids off at my sister-in-law’s house. My road is maintained by two different townships, and when there is ice or snow, the one section of the road is notoriously slippery and bad (there's always a lot of blowing and drifting as well), so I take that into account depending on the weather. When I’m driving home after work, I usually take the “back” way because it’s a more pleasant drive. I don’t listen to audiobooks because the commute is too short, and if I have the boys with me, we are busy talking or playing games like Simon Says, etc.

Happy new thread, Micky.

Because I live slap bang in the centre of Kuala Lumpur my commute of about 5km to my office is not a particularly harrowing one but the traffic can be a bit on the heavy side if my timing is wrong because the traffic lights are timed to favour the weight of traffic coming into the centre and not those heading away from it.

Saturday mornings is lovely as it is a seven minute stroll.

Going home can be a nightmare in afternoon rain.

>16 katiekrug: Oof. That does sound rough. Glad your current commute is MUCH better.

>17 bell7: Yes, that mental transition time is great.

>18 curioussquared: Eww to standing on the bus. I'm lucky that our transit system uses double deck buses and having to stand is a pretty rare event for me.

>19 drneutron: Nice to see you, Jim!

>20 atozgrl: Thanks for the commiseration, Irene. One bright side is that the community where I live is east of the city so I'm always driving the opposite direction of the sun. As for the construction project on the freeway I'll be using, construction is supposed to be complete by the end of 2027, which probably means sometime in 2028, lol.

Sorry to hear about your longer commute. I am car dependant as public transit does not exist in the countryside.

It is interesting though that in Europe in the middle of no where a bus arrives every hour. Mostly appreciated by seniors but rarely more than two people on it at a time. I wonder how that system profits…..

Happy new thread!

>21 norabelle414: Ugh, talk radio would be hard to tune out. I have the same problem tuning things out if only a couple people are talking on the bus. It's much easier if a bunch of people are chatting. It's why I nearly always listen to music on my ear buds while reading on the bus. On the other hand, I'm super jealous of your walk to the library. Sounds really lovely.

>22 Matke: Short commutes are so nice! One day maybe I'll have one.

>23 aktakukac: It's nice that you can have a bit of variety in your commute, Rachel, and have a scenic option.

>24 PaulCranswick: Sounds like a pretty decent commute, Paul.

>26 figsfromthistle: Thanks for the commiseration, Anita. Hopefully you at least get some scenic views during your commute.

>25 MickyFine: Ha! I'm sure you are right. These things always take longer than they say they will.

I've been retired for a while now but when I commuted to work it was a drive of about 20 - 25 minutes and I took the back roads so I didn't have to deal with the highway. Now my ways to the library (I'm a member of 3 different library systems) are my main commutes when I'm not going to some hospital or other. The closest library is a 20 minute walk so easy to take. The one in the next city over I usually drive close to and then do other errands as well as visit the library. The Vancouver Public Library takes a couple of Skytrains to get to and is not fun if I hit rush hour like I did today.

>28 atozgrl: Most definitely. Especially in an area like mine where the weather favorable for construction is around for only so long.

>29 Familyhistorian: Do you go to the downtown branch of VPL, Meg, when you take the Skytrain or one of their other locations?

Life update.

Last weekend we had church on Saturday as usual and then a chill afternoon and evening at home. I spent a lot of the afternoon catching up on LT but also did a bit of crafting and Mr. Fine and I played Mario Party in the evening. Also my Dad stopped by for a visit, which was lovely. On Sunday, we powered through chores before my friend, A, came over for breakfast. Our viewing this month was Phantom of the Opera (2004), which was so much fun to both watch and mock. I was surprised that while she had spent some of her youth (like many a tween and teen in the 90s) obsessed with the soundtrack, she'd never seen the stage show nor film so seeing it filled in a lot of plot points in ways she hadn't expected. After she headed out, I did some laundry and went shoe shopping. I wanted a pair of slip-on sneakers for the office as there's always a chance when I work a Sunday at the warehouse that I may have to help out the Pages. As a result I was looking for something more comfortable and functional than the wedge heels and the loafers that I already keep stashed under my desk. I was successful in finding those but while poking through the various shoes I also found the most adorable pair of Skechers that just had to come home with me (photo in next post). After that bit of shopping, I then came home and did weekly bill sorting. Dinner was takeout from a Philly cheese steak place with Mr. Fine and a couple of his friends that were over for their monthly game night. Sandwiches were meh and we probably won't order from there again.

Work was a short week but somehow still felt a bit long. Ordering happened as always but also various prep tasks for the move. My desk is 99% packed at this point and it's a little bit of a bummer, sterile space right now. I started on the professional development project I created for myself this year (our annual goals document always includes some aspect of PD and there's quite a bit of flexibility in what that looks like). I'll be working my way through The Kind Librarian, which I'm already finding really interesting. I heard the author speak at an online course I took last year about kind data and was really interested to explore her book.

We kicked off our four-day Easter weekend with a mini road trip to Red Deer to have lunch with some of the extended family on Good Friday. A few of my relatives on my dad's side live in Calgary so Red Deer makes an easy midway point for gatherings. There were 17 of us all together and it was lovely to see everyone. My grandfather in particular was pleased to have us all together. We went to Montana's and I had a delicious beef brisket with mashed potatoes, green beans and red pepper, and cornbread. I also spent a lot of time playing tic tac toe and hangman with three of the niblings who decided to sit near Mr. Fine and I. The paper tablecloths and crayons at Montana's are really the greatest for keeping kiddos entertained while waiting for food.

In crafting I made excellent progress on both the blanket and the cross-stitch piece this week. For the blanket I'm probably slightly more than midway through it now (although with an ever growing square, it's hard to tell the precise midpoint).

In viewing, we have moved on to season 3 of Dawson's Creek, which has many of my favourite episodes as I'm a big fan of Pacey and Joey. We also finished up Mr. Fine's rewatch of the Daniel Craig Bond films and watched No Time to Die after we got home from Red Deer yesterday.

I've completed three books since my last update and I'll get reviews for those plus my March summary up shortly.

The promised shoe photo. Seriously, they're so cute.

Book 33

My last completed book for March was a re-read of Molly of the Mall - although it was my first time experiencing it on audio. Dayna Cornwall does an excellent job bringing Molly to life and it was just as much a joy to revisit in this format as it is in print.

Original review (for the print edition) below:

March
Books read : 10 (7 physical, 3 audio)
Abandoned: 0
Re-reads: 3
Poirots completed: 9/33
Favourite new to me read(s): Ordinary Time was such a beautiful read that really stuck with me.

Book 34

Book 35

Would I recommend this one? Yes, this one is a particularly good whodunnit, I think.

How annoying was Hastings? No Hastings!

Lines I particularly liked: From a character who is a mystery novelist: "What really matters is plenty of bodies! If the thing's getting a little dull, some more blood cheers it up."

>32 MickyFine: Those are super cute!

>33 MickyFine: That sounds super enjoyable but unfortunately isn't available in my library system. I'll ponder adding it to the TBR list regardless...

>37 bell7: Maybe a candidate for ILL?

Cute shoes, and very seasonably appropriate (at least here, where the cherry blossoms are blooming :) ).

>39 katiekrug: They are very spring-y. We're probably another month away from trees starting to bloom here, but I checked yesterday and my tulips have some visible shoots coming up. 😊

>32 MickyFine: Cute shoes!

>36 MickyFine: I'm far enough away from my teenage reading of the Poirot books that I can't remember if I read that one at all. (I think I read all of them, but...) Maybe in a few years I'll be able to do a series reread and really not remember whodunit for most of the books! Hooray?

>41 foggidawn: There are so many Poirots and a few that have variant titles depending on if it's the US or UK edition, so it's no easy feat to definitively say you've read them all. I think this one would be fun to revisit whether you remember the whodunnit or not. 😊

>32 MickyFine: Very cute! The idea of white sneakers makes me panic, though 😂

The shoes are super cute! Sounds like you had a lovely Easter weekend.

>32 MickyFine: Cute. The photo enlarged when I clicked on it! I haven't seen that before on LT!

>43 norabelle414: Lol. I'll definitely be choosy about the days I wear them outdoors (rather than around the office).

>44 curioussquared: It was great! Hope you had a good one too, Natalie!

>45 quondame: I used the image attach button on the post, so likely tied in with that, Susan. :)

Hi Micky!
Them's some cute shoes you found. I'm a sucker for tasteful florals 🌸
My commute to work takes about an hour. I have to take the bus - the stop is only a two-minute walk away - but I have to take two buses. There isn't one going directly from my stop to where I have to go, so I take the bus to another stop, then the one to my job site. I'm not a fan, personally.

And if I may be a curious LIS student, what does Professional Development usually look like in the public librarianship sector?

>47 Ravenwoodwitch: I'm quite pleased with the shoes too.

Ugh, switching buses is never fun. You have my sympathies.

PD can look like a lot of different things. I will start with the caveat that I work in a large urban system that is pretty well-funded (currently) so that generally means I have more options. PD I've done over my career so far includes: attending conferences, online courses from Library Journal/LinkedIn Learning/Gale courses, internal courses, leaders in residence sessions at my library, and job shadows. This is my first time working through a book over the course of a year and when discussing PD options in previous years I've had a manager talk about working through a podcast over a year as an option as well.

New-week orisons, Micky, and wonderful April reads! *smooch*

Wow! Those are quite the shoes!

>49 richardderus: Smooches right back.

>50 The_Hibernator: They are definitely the prettiest sneakers I've ever owned.

It was a rough day yesterday and honestly today is shaping up to be hard too. We had the saddest vet visit with Smee yesterday and I miss his furry little face so much.

Oh, Micky, I'm so sorry!

>53 MickyFine: so sorry, Micky 😔

>53 MickyFine: Safe journey home, Smee.

{{{Micky}}}

>53 MickyFine: Oh how heartbreaking. Farewell Smee, condolences Micky.

I am so sorry, Micky :( He was such a handsome boy.

>53 MickyFine: Oh so sorry to hear that!

Oh no Micky, I am so very sorry.

>53 MickyFine: I'm so sorry, Micky.

>53 MickyFine: That's very sad news.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Good night, sweet Smee.

Thank you all for your condolences. He really was the best boy.

I am so sorry to hear of your sad news, Micky. I know how hard it is. My sister lost 4 cats, all pretty old, over the last year+. It was hard on her. Sending my condolences and ((((hugs)))).

So sorry this has happened.

>53 MickyFine: I'm so sorry for your loss, Micky. I remember when you first got Smee! He was a good kitty.

Thank you all again for the condolences. ❤️

Three weeks worth of life updates seems like a lot to try and squeeze into a single post and, as you all know, some of my time has been spent being sad. So I'm going to just provide some of the major bits of news and not try to do a week by week recap.

On the work front, my department has officially moved into the warehouse. The expected move in date didn't happen and I spent a whole week working from home as there were some construction hiccups that meant occupancy was delayed. Staff who were working in the space during that time had to wear PPE, so those of us with WFH approval worked at home, some staff took time off, and others were redeployed to other branches. This past week was the first time all of us worked in the new office space. It has its quirks but it's not a terrible space to be in. However, the new layout means I'm closer to some chatty folks and it's going to take some time to adjust to that (joys of open floor office plans). Happily, the delay meant I didn't have to try my new commute during some spring snow so that was a win. The two round trip drives I've done so far have been decent and while I'm never going to love the commute, I should be able to live with it fine.

The fancy materials management software that was the impetus for the move has launched successfully. Everyone is still working through the bugs of the transition and the pages at the warehouse are dealing with a mountain of material. Basically we've transitioned from each branch sorting holds for the 21 branches in our system in their work rooms to branches sending any holds that aren't for their location to the central sorter at the warehouse instead. Add to that (warning: library jargon ahead) the collection balancing function of the software that moves our floating collections around based on shelf fullness and use, and there's a lot of material coming our way. The big sortation unit in the warehouse is very impressive and I have a shadow shift to learn how to operate it next week, which I'm looking forward to.

As for life outside of work, there's been no major news. I had singing duties at church a few weeks ago but we stayed home last week as I wasn't ready to face the common "How was your week?" questions from church members and have to talk about Smee. So far we've told very few people, mostly family, a few close friends, and a couple coworkers. At my work, I've only told my work bestie who then sent flowers, which was so sweet. We've had a few game nights and hang outs with friends (that were already scheduled) since we've said goodbye to Smee, and they've been a real solace. Ash seems to be doing OK thus far. He and Smee always lived in a state of largely peaceful coexistence but were never pals. Ash has definitely been more chatty though and while he's always been very independent and tends to snuggle only on his terms, he has been checking in on us more often when we're hanging around home.

In crafting, both the blanket and cross-stitch piece continue to tick along. I'm pleased with the progress on both and I'm optimistic I might finish the blanket by the end of May.

In TV viewing, we've been leaning into comfort viewing. We've been watching Dawson's Creek, The Rookie, and Abbott Elementary more than any other shows in our rotation for the last little bit.

Reading has been a bit slow recently as I haven't always had the attention span for it. My numbers are likely to be lower this month, partially due to that and partially due to tackling chunksters in print and audio. My long audiobook had a hold on it so I had to return it with 8 hours still to go. I'll be listening to other things while I wait for it to come back to me. I do owe a few reviews but I'm not sure I'll get those up this weekend as we've got a lot going on the next couple days.

>69 MickyFine: A good result re: the move, with teething issues that sound from here to be pretty much in line with ordinary results. I hope the new system accomplishes whatever goal made it sound like a good choice.

*smooch*

>69 MickyFine: Oooh, learning how to use the sortation machine, how exciting!!

I'm glad Ash is keeping you company ❤️

Dear Micky, I am so very sorry to hear about your beautiful Smee. What a good kitty and what a terrible loss. That makes me so sad.

Going back to your last thread, Katie got me also with A Five-Letter Word for Love (I had thought maybe it was you but my notes say Katie). I think I came close to listening to it before we went to PEI last year but I still have it to look forward to.

Commute: I have nearly always had a long commute, and I am kicking my younger self for not "discovering" audiobooks until I was almost 40. My commute now is about 25 minutes, and I always have an audiobook going. Fortunately my commute is a lovely one - up through the foothills into the mountains and against traffic both ways. My first year as a school librarian I worked north of the city and while my schools were closer to my home miles-wise, it took more than twice as long to make the drive. No public transit options up to school, and the US midwest and western states are well known for poor public transportation infrastructure.

>70 richardderus: We're still dealing with a lot of transition pains but I remain optimistic it will eventually get to doing the work we want it to.

>71 norabelle414: It was very fun as someone who doesn't have to spend her whole day working with it or hauling heavy bins full of material regularly. It is super fun watching material travel around it though.

>72 AMQS: Thank you for the condolences, Anne. He was a very good kitty.

Ooh your drive to work does sound lovely. Mine is far less scenic and I had my first commute home stuck in bad traffic, so I had almost 90 minutes of audiobook time on that drive. :/

I'm going to catch up on all the reviews I owe for April and then do the weekly life update, so stay tuned.

Book 36

Book 37

Would I recommend this one? If you like mystery short stories, these are pretty well done.

How annoying was Hastings? If memory serves, no Hastings in any of these.

Lines I particularly liked: "One does not blow one's brains out because one has a headstrong daughter!"

Book 38

The last of the Murderbot re-reads. I've re-read this one the least (obviously) and enjoyed being surprised by plot details I had forgotten.

Original review below:

Book 39

Would I recommend this one? I did quite like this one and Bob, the dog, is sweet.

How annoying was Hastings? About average for Hastings although he has some cute interactions with the dog

Lines I particularly liked: No standouts this outing.

Book 40



Cabin Pressure: The Complete Series 1 - John Finnemore (re-read)

Life was rough this month and when an in-progress audiobook had to be returned before I finished it and I had a few days before a hold on another was due to arrive, I returned to a comfort listen. These always make me laugh no matter how many times I've listened to them.

Book 41

If like me, you were sad your local library doesn't have these audiobooks after seeing much warbling about LT, they are available on Spotify if you're subscriber (in Canada at least).

April
Books read : 8 (6 physical, 2 audio)
Abandoned: 0
Re-reads: 2
Poirots completed: 12/33
Favourite new to me read(s): Lots of solid reads this month but amongst those that weren't re-reads, nothing that stands out so much to be called a favourite.

Now that the review backlog has been cleared, let's life update.

Last weekend we were in Calgary with our friends M&A (plus their kiddo) to attend Fan Expo, which ran Thurs-Sun. Personal highlights for me was picking up some cool fan art and seeing a panel with Colin O'Donoghue and Sean McGuire (Hook and Robin from Once Upon a time, who are exactly as charming and funny as you'd expect). We ate tons of great food, generally nerded out, and had a grand time during our four-day mini break.

Mr. Fine had a couple days off work as recovery time but I was back at work on Monday. I was WFH my first day back, which made it easier to slide back into work mode. My Tuesday had five meetings, which is particularly gross for me (I tend to average 2-3 meetings per week, usually spread out over the same number of days). I had training in the warehouse and got to spend some time using the sortation unit, which was fun. I also had my coaching trio meeting (the first one all three of us could attend) and I think I'll get on well with the librarians I've been matched with, which is a relief. I drafted the project plan for the project I don't like and have shared it with some colleagues for feedback before it gets sent to the director next week. Then we'll see if it matches what the director wants *nervous face*. As I mentioned to Anne upthread, I also had my first gross drive home this week. My first couple drives home with rush hour and construction traffic were an average of 50 minutes (not great but not terrible for crossing most of the city). On Wednesday it took closer to 90 minutes as there was both an accident not far from my work site and the lights were out at one intersection at roughly the midpoint through town, which backed things up badly. Hopefully I don't have too many drives like that as it made me decidedly cranky.

There hasn't been much on the social calendar this week. The weather has finally been nice enough that Mr. Fine and I have returned to doing walks in the evening after supper. During the winter, particularly when sidewalks were pretty icy, we'd been making do with walks on the walking pad. As much as this indoor girl hates to say it, getting outside for walks has been really nice. Friday after work I had my fifteenth blood donation. :)

I did a ton of cross-stitch during my downtime in Calgary and mostly did crochet in the evenings when we got back. I'm just about to start the penultimate section of the blanket and remain optimistic that I'll finish it this month.

I went to my local library this week and picked up a stack of books but before I start any of them, I'll be reading the new Murderbot. My pre-order arrived almost a week early and as I finished my print chunkster today, I'll be diving into Murderbot next.

Book 42

>82 MickyFine: Murderbot's the SecUnit for the job sure and certain! If it can't cheer you up from All the commuting craziness and the tech teething troubles, you'll have to be cheerful and Canadian instead. Murderbot is so much easier a solution. I'll hope it works as planned.

*smooch*

>84 richardderus: Murderbot was definitely the right read at the right time, so of course, I blazed through it in two days.

>85 MickyFine: I can't imagine another way to enjoy Murderbot than pound it down like a literary tequila shot.

Hi Micky! I'm trying to catch up with LT friends! I'm glad to hear you had a great time at Fan Expo, but I must say I'm aghast at this "walking outside" business you speak of.

>87 Ape: Stephen! Lovely to see you!

The being outside thing is weird but it grows on you.

Checking in on you for the first time in a while, Micky. I hope all is well there!

>83 MickyFine: I am adding that one to the BlackHole. Thank you for the review and recommendation!

>89 alcottacre: Nice to see you, Stasia. Thanks for popping in.

I'll be interested to see how you get on with The Expanse series. Make sure you start with Leviathan Wakes as the series definitely needs to be read in order.

Let's do a life update.

Last Saturday Mr. Fine met a friend for breakfast and then came back to our house for some video gaming. Meanwhile, I opted to do church online and then caught up on LT reviews. When Mr. Fine's friend left, we went for a walk, had dinner, and then played a game of Flamecraft duals.

Sunday was my first Sunday shift, which was happily uneventful. Everyone scheduled showed up, which was a relief as my biggest concern was having to remember how to mark someone sick in the scheduling software and go through the process of requesting replacement staff on my first weekend. I got some of my own work done but also spent a bit of time helping out in the warehouse monitoring bins (for the curious, this means tidying material that gets shunted into each bin by the sortation unit and replacing full bins with empty ones) and pulling items for holds. The day flew by and then I met Mr. Fine and some friends for dinner.

As a result of working Sunday, I spent the rest of my work week confused about what day it was. As always, I did plenty of ordering. The deadline for submitting the project plan for the project I don't like was pushed back and I am not disappointed. I co-chaired the quarterly meeting for all librarians at my work and it went pretty well, I think. We also had a staff meeting for my department to debrief about our move, which involved a fair amount of venting from staff. I gave my work bestie (who was off-site at a conference) a play-by-play via chat of the meeting so that kept me busy enough to keep the part of my brain that hates all conflict distracted.

Friday was my day off in lieu for working Sunday. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about working two five-day weeks with only one day off in between (there's a whole collective agreement thing around days off being together and a waiver if you want to do it differently) but I think it will work for me. And boy did I fill my Friday off. I droppped off Mr. Fine at the bus, got gas, then dropped my car off at Canadian Tire for a seasonal tire change and an oil change (and then tacked on changing my wiper blades since they offered). I waited at the store during the appointment so I finished a paper book and did some crochet while listening to an audiobook. Once my car was done, I had an appointment to get my bangs trimmed then stopped by the Italian Centre nearby to pick up dinner for myself as Mr. Fine was out with friends on Friday night. After dropping off food at home, I then went to the bookstore to pick up the next Expanse book and then to the other Canadian Tire to pick up painting supplies. Then I stopped by Home Depot for paint chips - where they didn't have the chip for the colour we'd liked online so I came home with a baker's dozen of options since I don't want to paint our bedroom without seeing what the colour will actually look like in the space. After all that running around, I came home for lunch. I did some bill stuff in the afternoon and scrolled on my phone. Once Mr. Fine let me know he was done work, I did a quick trip to Michael's for embroidery floss and then picked him up. I did a bit of reading when I got home then had my dinner and watched Merrily We Roll Along, which I'd borrowed from the library.

Crafting update will be informed by some bigger news that I'm now allowed to share. H and K are expecting a baby in late October. I didn't have becoming a grandparent before I was 40 on my bingo card for the year, but here we are, lol. So I've put my cross-stitch project on hold (again) and have started working on a cross-stitch stocking for the baby. I'm also continuing to work on the wedding blanket for one of the nieces on Mr. Fine's side and it's coming along nicely. One day I'll get to work on projects for myself again. :P

I see I missed doing a viewing update in my life update last week. We've paused watching the newest season of Outlander for now as I wasn't in the headspace for it. Instead, after seeing the panel with cast members at con, we've started a rewatch of Once Upon a Time. The only other news in viewing this week is that we wrapped up the latest season of The Rookie *grumbles about cliffhangers*.

I owe two reviews for books completed this week and might get those up later today, we'll see.

Sounds like a busy week!

I didn't have becoming a grandparent before I was 40 on my bingo card for the year, but here we are, lol.

That wouldn't have been on my bingo card either, lol. Congrats, future grandma!

>91 MickyFine: Greetings, Granny, happy you got through the first Sunday work-shift unscathed.

Merrily We Roll Along! I admit I had a nasty turn when I read that, thinking "...but it hasn't been twenty years yet!!" They filmed the show and I didn't know that. Thank All those useless gods.

I really enjoyed your life update, Micky. The new work schedule sounds like it might actually work well for you. It's nice to have a day off when most other people are working. After we retired, it took a long time to realize we can go to busy places any day we like. We've managed to change our habits and avoid the weekends most of the time.

Congratulations on the first grandchild! That's exciting news that demands some dedicated crafting. I'm looking forward to seeing that stocking.

I'm all caught up! Go me!

Life sounds busy and full for you, but not onerously so, which is how I personally like things, so hope the same for you :)

Congrats on the upcoming bundle of joy (I guess? I mean, that's nice if they're happy but yeah, the grandmother before 40 thing kind of throws me off, LOL)!

Just caught up on all your news, Micky. I’m very sorry for your loss of Smee. I hope that Ash will continue to provide some comfort. When we lost Baby Girl, Big Cat was only too eager to fill in the gaps. She is my constant companion now (as in, velcro’d to my side).

The work situation doesn’t sound too bad, but it’s a lot, isn’t it? The longest commutes I had were about 30 minutes—crosstown traffic. In my last two assignments my commutes were less than ten minutes.

I hope your week will be pleasant and peaceful.

ETA: Congratulations on the coming baby!

>91 MickyFine: Congrats, Micky!

So, Nonnie Micky, did your vendors let you know that David & Charles is bringing out The Ultimate Cross Stitch Christmas Collection: Over 500 Festive Motifs and Designs by Claire Crompton on 4 August? Perfect timing to start a baby's first Yuletide project, no?

>92 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie!

>93 richardderus: Can't quite tell if you like or abhor such things, but if you do like them the filmed version of Merrily We Roll Along is really well done and Jonathan Groff remains very nice to look at.

>94 lauralkeet: Aw, thanks, Laura. I'm glad the life update made for decent reading. I will definitely post progress photos of the grandchild crafting on my Needlearts thread and finished objects in both places. :)

>95 katiekrug: Nice to see you, Katie! It's largely been on the nice side of busy with a few bumps into too much for my tastes but such is life sometimes. And yes, while Mr. Fine might have advocated for waiting a bit, H and K are very pleased about the baby. Me being such a young grandparent is a function of my age gap with Mr. Fine (he's 8 years older) and both he being young when he and his partner had H followed by H being pretty young for having a baby (she's 23).

>96 Matke: Lovely to see you making the rounds! Ash hasn't become a velcro cat but he is more willing to accept snuggles (and occasionally even seeks us out for them) and is definitely far more vocal now that he's a solo cat. And thanks for the week well wishes. :)

>97 norabelle414: Thanks, Nora!

>98 richardderus: I don't think that one has crossed my ordering desk yet but I'll definitely add it to a cart when I'm at work.

It's time for another life update.

Last weekend we ended up spending a fair amount of time with my parents. On Saturday we carpooled with my parents to go to church in a 'burb on the other side of the city. My dad wasn't on call at his work and he had no duties at our usual church, so he opted to go somewhere different and invited us to come along. It was nice to see some familiar faces (I used to attend church there regularly) and we got to see my brother as well. After my parents dropped us off at home again, Mr. Fine and I went for a walk as the weather was gorgeous. Then we played a game of Duel for Middle Earth (a very fun two-player game for LOTR fans) before dinner and then had a chill evening of crafting for me and gaming for Mr. Fine.

On Sunday, Mr. Fine and I powered through all our cleaning chores and then my parents came over for Mother's Day brunch for which Mr. Fine made a delicious frittata. After brunch, I took my mom to see the local professional theatre's production of Cyrano de Bergerac as her mother's day gift. The translator/adapter for the production had maintained the rhyming dialogue in her translation, which ended up being really delightful. The cast were skilled, the costumes and sets were gorgeous, and we had a great time. Afterwards we picked up some fancy ice cream and had a short visit with my grandmother. She was sundowning a bit so the visit had a few contentious moments but she enjoyed the ice cream and largely was happy for us to stop in.

Work this week was steadily full of tasks. Beyond the usual ordering, I hammered out some more details for the project I don't like, chaired the meeting for librarians in my department, and also had some scheduled time in the warehouse. This week I was on bins for an hour, which is definitely my least favourite of the warehouse tasks. It's a lot of hauling heavy bins around and constantly trouble shooting which bins are full or have had material land in them in a way that makes the sorter think it's full (e.g. picture book standing up on its side in a mostly empty bin). The most fun thing at work this week was going out with a bunch of my colleagues for a farewell lunch with one of our former coworkers. She recently gave her notice to the library as her husband got a job in Nova Scotia and they're moving. Both she and her spouse are originally from PEI so they're excited to be much closer to home and while I'm delighted for her, I'm also a little sad to not get to see her as much. Late Friday afternoon my manager sent out a meeting invite for next Tuesday that is about scheduling for our department leadership team (which includes librarians). My guess is that they've decided they need us to work evenings in addition to weekends but I'm on vacation so I won't get to attend the meeting. However, I've told my work bestie to send me all the details and given her my ranking of which weeknights I'd prefer for her to share with my manager, in case my guess is right. So stay tuned next week to see how that turns out.

Date night this week was in the city as I had a meeting at one of the branches on Thursday that went until 5 (I usually finish work at 4). Rather than fighting rush hour traffic on the nearby freeway, Mr. Fine took the train from downtown and met me for dinner at a restaurant close to the branch, which was lovely. We also went on an excursion after work on Friday to pick up a few groceries for the weekend and to pick up paint for our bedroom (my project for my week off next week).

In crafting, I just finished the penultimate section of the wedding blanket this morning so I continue to be optimistic I'll have it finished this month. The stocking for the grandbaby is honestly looking like a lot of random blobs at this moment as I stitched my way from centre up to the top left. Currently working on the stripe that will be below the name.

In viewing, we transitioned from season 3 to season 4 of Dawson's Creek and Mr. Fine got to witness the Dawson crying face (of the legendary meme) for himself. We're also now on season 5 of Abbott Elementary and a little sad that we're going to run out of unwatched episodes in the next few weeks.

I had a few more books completed this week and intend to have all my outstanding reviews up shortly.

Book 43

Book 44

Would I recommend this one? It's one of Christie's best known books for a reason. Give it a whirl.

How annoying was Hastings? No Hastings!

Lines I particularly liked: Nothing I made note of.

Book 45

Book 46

Book 47

Would I recommend this one? Only if you're a completist.

How annoying was Hastings? No Hastings!

Lines I particularly liked: No standouts this go around.

Hi, Micky. I see things are going well over here for you and the family. I’m so glad! We just welcomed a new baby to our family group—she’s my, oh dear, my great great niece. Beautiful little girl. The kids have one of each now, so they’re thinking that is probably enough.

On the Christie front: it’s hard not to love Death on the Nile. And I love the rather campy movie adaptation with Peter Ustinov, accompanied by a great cast.

I think I liked Appointment with Death more than you did. I first read it when I was about thirteen, and I was going through an especially bad patch with my mother. Looking back at it now, of course my mother was not in the same league of nasty as the victim here; but I can see why I identified with the feelings of the family being controlled by a manipulative matriarch. That said, I love the exotic atmosphere and the dynamics among the characters.

I’m really enjoying reading about your Christie journey. Thanks for posting these reviews.

>105 MickyFine: Honestly, this is one of the "that old baggage just needed killin'" reads that I find so crazy-making. So what if someone finally got fed up enough with her wasting oxygen that some street urchin could use more effectively and to the greater good, and saw her off to her...reward? Big whoop! Let's just have the funeral, heave a sigh of relief, and eat some cold cuts as the bargain-basement wake. MYOB, Poirot.

The TV version was fun but not much like the book. Funnily enough I, um, "sourced" it a week or so ago so it's fresh in my memory.

To answer the question you asked many moons ago in >30 MickyFine: I take the Skytrain to the downtown Vancouver Library. There's usually lots going on downtown to take in as well.

Your life updates contain so many changes. Sorry about Smee. It looks like the work move went fairly smoothly considering. Congrats on future gran status.

I realize I'm a few years older than you, but I have found that I know people my age who have babies and others who are grandmothers, and I still find it deeply disconcerting that I'm old enough to do *any* of this. Congrats to H and all the rest of you!

And all the YAY for the new Murderbot! Glad to see you enjoyed it so much.

>106 Matke: Congrats on the new baby in your family. Always exciting. And I'm glad you're enjoying my comments on all the Poirots.

>107 richardderus: Funnily enough, I haven't watched a single David Suchet Poirot. Maybe in a few years I'll give them a try as I think I'll likely want a break from the detective after spending so much time with him this year.

>108 Familyhistorian: Nice to see you, Meg! I haven't made it to the downtown branch of VPL yet but all the photos are gorgeous. Plus any time it crops up in one of the many shows that film in Vancouver, I always recognize it. 😆

>109 bell7: Yeah it's a weird season of life for sure. And also always yay for Murderbot!

>110 MickyFine: The only Suchet episode I'd say you should absolutely avoid is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. Many aren't excellent adaptations but are good TV. That one's just...not good.

>111 richardderus: I would think it would be difficult to adapt the gimmick of that particular book to television.

>112 foggidawn: Goodness knows they tried. I wasn't buyin' it.

>111 richardderus: >112 foggidawn: Yeah, I can imagine that one wouldn't translate well to screen. It is a great one to experience in print the first time though. And one of the few resolutions where I still remember the whodunnit years later (for obvious reasons).

>114 MickyFine: I read it for the first time >50yrs ago and can very clearly remember walking out of my room into the living room where my mother and sister were sitting, and saying "that was amazing." We had a good chat about it. We All three read only two other books at the same time: The Romance of Atlantis and Green Darkness. All very good talks, very interesting, and very rare as we mostly fought when All together.

Is Smith f*cking NUTS?

>116 richardderus: *deep sigh* Which of her many acts of idiocy managed to hit the news on your side of the border?

>117 MickyFine: The secession idiocy caught my eye first, but on looking into it, she seems to be a Canadian translation of "Greg Abbott the MAGAt."

>118 richardderus: Ah yes. The announcement yesterday that she wants to hold a referendum on whether to have a referendum on Alberta separation is going to be an excellent use of my tax dollars. 🙄 It isn't appeasing her base who want the separation referendum but had their petition shut down by a judge because they didn't do the appropriate consultation with First Nations (the province largely being Treaty land makes this very legally complicated). And it's irritating to the majority of the population who don't want to separate at all.

Basically reading provincial news is a lot of "what fresh hell is this?" As a public librarian, I'm waiting to see what their newly passed amendments to the Library Act will mean for our services. Linking to the Coalition of Alberta Public Libraries advocacy page for anyone who is curious about that one.

Let's see if I can draft a whole life update before Mr. Fine finishes making dinner.

Last weekend was the Victoria Day long weekend and Mr. Fine and I had a pretty lovely one. On Saturday we went to church in the morning and then in the afternoon while he was at the gym I caught up on LT. Once he returned home, we went for a walk even though it was on the chilly side (for mid-May). The late afternoon and evening included some gaming, crafting, and reading time. Sunday was the usual chores and I also started the prep work for my week off project: painting our bedroom. There was also more prep on Monday as Mr. Fine helped me move furniture out and shifted the bed into the centre of the room so I could negotiate around it. In addition to that adulting we also did some more board gaming and some TV viewing.

Tuesday was the big painting day as I did the primary coat for the whole bedroom. It took me about 8 hours to get it done and I was pretty wiped by the end of the day, but I am really pleased with how the colour looks in the space. It's a darker blue that really makes our white doors and trim pop against it. Tuesday was also when I got the update from my work bestie that my guess was correct and the meeting on scheduling that took place in my absence was to inform us that librarians and managers in our department will be working an evening shift rotation starting in late June. I'm not particularly psyched about this news but the tiny silver lining is that there's enough of us that I only have to work an evening biweekly and not weekly.

Wednesday I did touch ups on the bedroom walls, had a massage, did more touch ups, and then after a bit of down time picked up Mr. Fine to go grocery shopping. He was off work early that day and I forgot that our school district now has early dismissal every Wednesday (when I was growing up it was only once a month) so Costco was bananas with both seniors and parents with kiddos of all ages.

Thursday was filled with the wrap up of painting and some errands. I removed all the tape from trim and moved things I could handle by myself back into our bedroom as the paint smell had dissipated enough for us to stop sleeping in the guest room. Then I went to Canadian Tire to get a replacement outlet plate as one of the plates I removed in prep broke. I also stopped at the library for holds and did a second Costco visit for gas and to pick up petunias for planters. Those immediately went into planters when I got home. This years selections are pink and purple for out front and red for the planter on our deck. They appear to be settling in fine so far. Thursday evening I went out for dinner with my mom at an event organized by our church's women's group. It was at a restaurant that is completely designed from its decor to the food to be posted on social media. Very pretty but my food was only so-so (although I did enjoy the novelty of my chicken strips being glittery due to being sprinkled in edible gold). The company was lovely though and it was fun to get some quality time with my mom.

Friday Mr. Fine played hooky and we had an excellent day. We moved the last of the furniture back to our bedroom (although all our photos and art won't be going back for a few more weeks until the paint has fully cured). That done, we went to IKEA with the intention of getting picture frames for the prints we picked up at Fan Expo in April. It being IKEA we also came out with new cushions for our kitchen chairs, some mats to put under litterboxes, and a shoehorn in addition to the frames, lol. Afterwards we had lunch at the Italian Centre and it was warm enough to sit on the patio which was lovely. In the afternoon Mr. Fine mowed the lawn and then we hung out in my library - reading for me and video gaming for him. In the evening we went over to the neighbours' place for game night where we played Parks and Excalibur and admired their new kitchen reno, which looks so gorgeous.

In crafting, I haven't touched the stocking at all this week and the blanket only got a bit of attention. However, I am on track to finish the blanket by the end of the month as I anticipated.

In viewing the only major update is that we've decided to pause on Star Trek Sundays for now. While I have a lot of fondness for Voyager from watching it in my tweens, it's not particularly what we're in the mood for especially after finding DS9 a bit of slog. We may go back to Voyager in the fall or do some other Star Trek series then but for now we're going to do movies on Sunday nights for the summer instead. Last weekend's movie viewing included Ocean's Twelve and Runaway Bride.

With all the painting, I did a ton of audiobook listening but did not get much paper book time during my week off. So I have three reviews to post here, probably after dinner (because yes, reader, I wrote this final sentence as Mr. Fine was telling me food was ready). :)

Book 48

Book 49

Book 50

>120 MickyFine: Your timing is without peccability. I finished reading your update exactly as the coffee-steeping timer went off so I'm now sipping the Water of Life. Quite the miracle-worker, you! I think you should replace Smith until a sane candidate for a permanent replacement can be found.

Happy Sunday.

>124 richardderus: Enjoy that coffee and a (hopefully) lazy Sunday!

Those designed-for-social-media places are always sub-par, in my experience. But the time with your mom sounds lovely :)

>126 katiekrug: I will say the mocktails (neither of us drink) were both pretty and tasty.

Hey Micky
I'm so sorry about your kitty. There's little pain worse than the loss of a beloved pet after so many long years of love. I don't blame you at all for not wanting to chat with folks about what happened; When Prissy died, talking about it felt like reliving the awful day all over again.

My condolences all around, and I'm glad to see you still keeping busy, and that the warehouse move has so far been smooth.

>128 Ravenwoodwitch: Thanks, Angela. I appreciate the kind words.

Sounds like your week off was successful! Painting can be so satisfying :)

>130 curioussquared: Thanks, Natalie. I definitely got through everything on my to do list. But I swear, next year when I take staycations, there's going to be way less projects to do. :P

Weekly life update.

Last Saturday we went to church where it was a bit toasty as we finally had some warm weather. After the service, I dropped off Mr. Fine at the gym and spent my solo time catching up on LT. When he got home, we went for a walk and spotted the first few ducklings of the season. When we returned, we played a game of Artistry before dinner and after supper he did some gaming while I did some crafting. Sunday was the usual chores. H was supposed to come for her monthly visit but had a bout of morning sickness so Mr. Fine told her to stay home and rescheduled. So we had a little more chill time around the house, which was a lovely way to end my staycation.

My work week was full but not overwhelmingly so. My inbox was surprisingly low-key for a week off (about 160 emails) and while it took me most of the week to catch up on customer suggestions, they were only about 170ish when I started diving in properly. During one of my in-office days, I had an hour on the sortation unit, which is my favourite of the warehouse tasks. It's really satisfying to send items rolling along the conveyor belts of the machine, although I did do a cart of new videogames and that was A Lot of holds slips to stick on, lol. I managed to forget my work laptop at the office on Wednesday, which I discovered five minutes before I was supposed to start working from home on Thursday. Luckily I had enough tasks that didn't require access to our ILS so I was able to muddle through with just web access to all my work stuff on my personal laptop for my WFH days. As annoying as OneDrive and Sharepoint can be, they did save my butt this week.

I am VERY close to wrapping up the wedding blanket for the niece getting married this fall. I've got slightly less than two rounds to complete and I'm hoping to power through them this weekend so that I can wrap up that project his month. Haven't touched the stocking while I've been trying to finish the blanket.

In viewing, Mr. Fine has added a rewatch of Bones to our viewing rotation. I was VERY into it for probably the first 5 or 6 seasons when it originally aired and then stopped keeping up with it when I moved into my first apartment and didn't have cable. We'll see if we make it through the whole show. I had forgot how much solid banter there is in the first episode.

In reading, I managed a few completions this week and am planning to try and complete my current print chunkster before the month ends as my library stack is a little unwieldy as I place a bunch of holds during my vacation, feeling optimistic about how many books I would get through. Oops. Reviews shortly.

Book 51

Without Children also added some new facts to my mental files:

First (using spoiler tags for those who are squeamish about discussions of sex and contraception), in Revolutionary-era America, some women would use half a lemon inserted prior to sex as a contraceptive. I have so many questions about both the logistics and effectiveness of this, lol.

Second, while many a modern think piece laments the modern issue of dropping birth rates, birth rates were actually lowest during the Great Depression.

Book 52

Would I recommend this one? If you like a locked room mystery, this one is pretty well done.

How annoying was Hastings? I am delighted to report once again that there was no Hastings.

Lines I particularly liked: The dedication on this one delighted me.
"My dear James,
You have always been one of the most faithful and kindly of my readers, and I was therefore seriously perturbed when I received from you a word of criticism.
You complained that my murders were getting too refined - anaemic, in fact! You yearned for a 'good violent murder with lots of blood.' A murder where there was no doubt about its being murder!
So this is your special story - written for you. I hope it may please.
Your affectionate sister-in-law,
Agatha"

Book 53

>134 MickyFine: Just another reason why I'm glad I didn't live in Revolutionary-era America ... good grief. I have similar questions!

I enjoy your life updates, by the way!

>137 lauralkeet: Snort. Right?! Downside to listening to the book on audio is that I couldn't track down the source for this factoid to learn more. Might have to grab a print copy from the library at some point just to find out.

And I'm glad the life updates make good reading. 😊

Hi Micky! Hopelessly behind, but I skimmed your news. Glad the new commute won't be awful and hope you can adjust to your chatty neighbors. So sorry to hear that Smee has moved on. What a cutie. And congrats on your soon-to-be new grandma status! Kinda jealous cuz that hasn't happened for me yet. ; ) Happy reading.

>139 Berly: Thanks for stopping by, Kim! Lovely to see you making the rounds.

>133 MickyFine: Definitely adding Without Children to my list, thanks!

>141 norabelle414: I hope you enjoy it, Nora!

May
Books read : 12 (7 physical, 5 audio)
Abandoned: 0
Re-reads: 1
Poirots completed: 15/33
Favourite new to me read(s): Platform Decay gets the nod because there has yet to be a Murderbot book I don't love. I'm also going say I had a grand time with The Irresistible Urge to Fall for Your Enemy, which just really hit the spot.

A slightly delayed life update.

Weekend before last was just the right mix of busy and relaxing. We went to church on Saturday where I was the leader for the singing portion of service. In the afternoon, I caught up on LT while Mr. Fine was at the gym. We then had a chill late afternoon and evening with gaming, reading, and crafting. On Sunday, we did the usual chores first thing and then Mr. Fine had his monthly hang out with H mid-morning followed by his monthly gaming hang out with friends in the evening. Sunday was also the beginning of our local deluge. Over the course of a few days we got a month's worth of rain (followed by the rest of the week being mostly grey and drizzly) so everything is pretty wet, suddenly very green, and my hair is Very Curly.

Work last week saw me getting through a bunch of projects. I sent out surveys for a peer mentoring program I'm running for the second year for library folk who do my type of work, I made progress on the project I don't like (and am now in limbo waiting for other people), and did a bunch of ordering. I also had an hour in warehouse and got to give my new apron a spin - I purchased one that has exactly the kinds of pockets I need for all the things I need to have handy when helping out back there - and it worked so great.

On Wednesday for date night, Mr. Fine and I had dinner at the mall food court and then went to see The Mandalorian and Grogu. We both had a good time and if you like the TV series, you'll probably enjoy the film. Between the two of us, Mr. Fine and I have a few summer blockbusters we want to see so there's likely to be more movie date nights over the next couple months.

In crafting news, I finished the blanket for the niece who's getting married this fall. It just needs to be washed and then it'll be set to go (I'll share a photo in a separate post). For now, I've decided to focus on just the cross-stitch stocking for the grandbaby, although I may crochet a few baby hats in the next little bit and I have my eye on a cute baby sweater pattern too. Bright side is teeny things with worsted yarn should work up quickly. Once those are done, though, I'm back to doing projects for me. :)

In viewing, all the same shows are still in rotation. On evenings I've had to myself in the last little bit I've rewatched Pretty Woman (for all its flaws, I'm still fond of it) and finally watched People We Meet on Vacation. The latter is pretty solid as adaptations go, although there were some major plot changes that worked fine for me but I can see being disconcerting to hardcore fans of the book (it's my least favourite Emily Henry novel so I wasn't as fussed).

I've completed a few books thus far in June and I might get up reviews for those today.

As promised, the photo of the completed wedding blanket for one of our nieces.

>144 MickyFine: Sounds like life is going well, Micky! It must be nice to have date nights. What other movies do you want to watch?

>144 MickyFine: I love your warehouse apron :) I enjoyed the PWMOV adaptation, too. It probably helps that I only read it once several years ago 😂 I just saw that The Love Hypothesis movie is dropping this September and I'm looking forward to that one!

>146 The_Hibernator: We're planning to see the new Spider-Man, Supergirl, and The Odyssey.

>147 curioussquared: It's a great apron. When I'm in the warehouse I need pockets for two phones (mine and a work phone), a pencil pocket, plus I wanted to protect my clothes as processing a volume of library books involves some dirt/dust (unless it's shiny new stuff). The apron did everything I wanted of it. ❤️

I hadn't even heard there was a Love Hypothesis movie coming! Thanks for that delightful news.

Let's life update.

Last Saturday we had a quiet and slow start to day as we had the gender reveal for H&K's baby. They held it at K's parents' farm which is an hour away from us - a pretty boring drive of mostly very straight highway. K wanted to "blow stuff up" for the gender reveal (having to internalize the eye rolling was hard, friends). So after an hour of mingling with the 20ish or so people at the event, we then assembled to watch K shoot at a box full of chalk and tannerite. Queue us spending 10 minutes watching K miss (yeah, I know). He did eventually hit it before running out of ammunition. 😆 So long story short, they're having a girl. After we got home from the event, we mostly just chilled because, as Mr. Fine reminded me when I asked why I was so tired when I hadn't done much physical stuff, I am an introvert who had done some intense peopling.

Sunday, my friend A came over for our monthly hang out. This month's viewing was the first Lara Croft movie (with Angelina Jolie). Daniel Craig is in it and so very young and although I'd forgotten how terrible his American accent is in the film, he's very nice to look at. After A headed out, I did a bunch of chores and worked out before picking up Mr. Fine from his game tournament.

Work this week felt long and boring. I'm never lacking for things to do but I didn't have a ton of variety in tasks, so my brain was not into it. One fun thing though was my coaching trio meeting. We went to a Yemeni coffee house, which was really beautiful and I had delicious baklava. The conversations at these meetings are great but I particularly like them because we get out of the office.

Thursday evening we went to M&A's for take out dinner and for me to drop off Mr. Fine. He and M then departed early Friday with their group of friends for a bachelor party. The six of them are staying at a rental house in the mountains and there's much nerdy fun planned (video game tournaments and a one-shot of their D&D adjacent board game). I'd be more excited about my solo time if I weren't working three of the four days he's away. 😝

In crafting news, it's all cross-stitch all the time right now. It's looking less blobbish but there's really only one easily identifiable shape at this point.

In viewing news, we've started Spider-Noir as our Sunday show. We watched the first couple episodes (in black and white, which is the only right choice, lol) and are really enjoying it so far. Last night, after powering through a bunch chores after work, I rewatched La La Land while having dinner. I continue to love it in all its homage to classical musicals-ness.

In reading, I wrapped up a few more books and I'm going to try to get all the reviews I owe done today.

Book 54

Book 55

Book 56

Book 57

Would I recommend this one? It's solid as mysteries go but not so fantastic I'd shove it into your hands.

How annoying was Hastings? It's been so long since Hastings cropped up and I am not at all upset about it.

Lines I particularly liked: No standouts this time.

Book 58

Book 59

Sounds like life is going pretty well for you, Mickey! I enjoy your Christie reviews, as they help me determine which I want to prioritize...

>156 katiekrug: Oh excellent. I'm glad they're useful!

>149 MickyFine: Oh, my at the gender reveal. Cackling at watching K miss for 10 minutes...

A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping and Cherry Baby are both on my read soon list! Glad you enjoyed both of them.

Hi Micky, congratulations on the happy, happy news!

>158 curioussquared: Yeah, it was a very good thing no one was looking at my face during that 10 minutes, lol. I think you'll have a good time with both novels, in different ways.

>159 AMQS: Thanks, Anne!

Just a quick note that the writing style of Seven Reasons to Murder Your Dinner Guests rubbed me the wrong way so much, I abandoned it after two pages. YMMV.

>161 MickyFine: Oooof, I hate when that happens! Better early retreat than recreating Napoleon's Moscow experience in literary form, bur disappointing nonetheless.

*smooch*

>162 richardderus: Exactly. *smooches*

Weekly life update time.

Last weekend, as mentioned previously, Mr. Fine was away. On Saturday, since it was my one-day weekend, I opted for an online sermon rather than going to my local church where they were having a (long) children's program during the service. I did some reading and crafting in the morning in addition to watching the sermon, and then tried the solo mode of my new board game, Endearment, in the afternoon. For all the Janeites who pass through here and like a board game, this one is worth a look. Very glad I backed it on Kickstarter. I had an early dinner and then went to the zoo for our staff appreciation. While there, I mostly hung out with A, her sister-in-law C, and some kiddos (her kiddo and a couple who belong to another colleague). My biggest highlight was FINALLY seeing the otters (the last few times I've been, the otters habitat was having work done so there weren't visible to the public). These were North American river otters so they're longer and less fluffy than sea otters but still so cute! Got to watch a couple of them be fed and it was The Best. I left the event relatively early as I wanted some decompression time before my bed routine. On Sunday, I worked and got to practice my scheduling skills as one of the pages for the morning called in sick. I ended up spending about three hours helping out in the warehouse, which honestly was pretty fun and helped break up my day a bit. After work I picked up a pizza for dinner because with Mr. Fine away and having had to work a Sunday, I was definitely not in the mood to cook.

The rest of my work week was pretty decent. My days were still feeling a bit same-y as projects are mostly in limbo or waiting on others. I'm eagerly awaiting our vendor's fall bestseller list so I can really dive into that ordering - our main contact says it should drop early next week *fingers crossed*. I at least had a few meetings and a webinar to mix things up a little.

Mr. Fine returned home Monday evening and had a grand time on the bachelor trip. Everyone seemed to have fun and there's talk of making the trip an annual thing going forward. I was very glad to have him back home as I tend to sleep a little better when he's there to snuggle up to. :) On Wednesday, I decided to pop by one of the local farmer's markets to get fruit as Costco (where I usually get my fruit) hasn't had a ton of Canadian produce lately. As is typical for this time of year, there was a BC fruit stand where I got raspberries, strawberries, and Rainier cherries and Mr. Fine found a coffee roaster and came home with a few bags (after picking up coffee from Kicking Horse on the bachelor trip as well, lol).

I had Friday off as my day-in-lieu for working Sunday and, since I'm taking my EDO on Monday, it was the start of a four-day weekend for me. Mr. Fine was on early shift this week though so I was still up bright and early. I made myself Eggo waffles for breakfast with some of the farmer's market raspberries and it was so good. Did a workout and a few errands including picking up cards and gift cards for my parents (they both have birthdays in June and this year my dad's birthday is on Father's Day). I also straightened out my loyalty card at Indigo as I'd upgraded to the paid level back in April but didn't get my discount on a recent purchase. After Mr. Fine got back to the 'burbs after work, I picked him up and we checked out a new game store that opened recently in our area. I wanted card sleeves for my new board game (yes, I'm that nerdy about this one) and Mr. Fine wanted to poke around. Then we killed a bit of time before meeting H and K for dinner at a steak house for an early Father's Day celebration for Mr. Fine.

In crafting, I continue to make good progress on the cross-stitch stocking for the grandbaby. I might have the top third of the pattern complete by the end of this month (excluding name, which I'll wait to add until after baby arrives).

In viewing, I've given up on Vampire Diaries as my solo show as I just wasn't in the mood for it. I made it about 5 or 6 episodes into season 4 before abandoning this time, if you were keeping score. I've been watching random episodes of Gilmore Girls as comfort viewing since abandoning the vampires but didn't really want to commit to a full rewatch right now (I just did one last year). Yesterday I tried the first episode of One Tree Hill and might give that whirl for a while. Although, as a long time West Wing fan, it is really weird to see Mandy (Moira Kelly) playing Chad Michael Murray's mom.

I've completed four books in the past week and will get reviews up for those shortly.

Book 60

Would I recommend this one? Yes, it's a fun twist on a run-of-the-mill experience with plenty of twists and turns during the investigation.

How annoying was Hastings? Hastings free!

Lines I particularly liked: "He was a man who was accustomed to have a good opinion of himself. He was Hercule Poirot, superior in most ways to other men. But in this moment he was unable to feel superior in any way whatever. His morale was down to zero. He was just that ordinary, craven figure, a man afraid of the dentist's chair."

Book 61

Book 62

Book 63

Would I recommend this one? Yes, it's a great summer beach read if you like some murder mixed in with your sand and surf.

How annoying was Hastings? Hastings gets mentioned briefly but doesn't actually make any appearances, thankfully.

Lines I particularly liked: No strong standouts this time.