December Overview
1.
All the holidays! I hope
you had a wonderful Solstice/Hanukkah/Christmas/Kwanzaa/New Year! What gifts
did you give and get? My parents got me an Amazon gift card, so I can hopefully
make Small Press Spotlights happen. I also got slippers, headphones, and a map
of Westeros.
 |
| Cheyenne waiting for Santa. |
 |
| Little G and the tree. |
 |
| My decorations. Much festive. Very Christmas. |
2.
Close encounters of the rabies kind.
For me, December started with one of my idiot dogs cornering a coyote. In my
part of the world, dogs and coyotes routinely kill each other. Luckily, no one
got bit this time. Once we got the critters separated, I took some pictures of
the coyote through a window.
3.
I’m terrible at being normal. Adjusting
to life without school has been surprisingly stressful. I’m nearly 30, and I’ve been in school almost every year since I
was 5. I’m used to a structured university environment where I have to-do lists
and constant feedback from mentors. I still wake up most mornings thinking, What do I have to research today? The
answer is Nothing. For some reason,
that completely freaks me out. I love college, okay! I need it. I’m a hopeless book nerd.
4.
Speaking of school, my
dad gave me a not-so-subtle reminder to keep up my writing and research. These
are pins. I have tons of them on the backpack I use for traveling. Now I have
tons more.
5.
I’m flattered, but still poor.
I looked at some clothes online, and my computer somehow got the mistaken
impression that I have money. It keeps showing me ads for $500 shoes. I’m not
sure if I should delete my search history to make the ads go away, or if I
should be flattered that someone thinks I’m not a hobo.
6.
It’s mildly unsettling that plants know the date. The Christmas cactus bloomed! It’s
supposed to grow flowers around Christmas time every year. This year, most of
the flowers opened on Christmas day. I guess “Christmas cactus” is an appropriate
name for this type of plant.
7.
I was naughty last year.
Santa left a lump of Trump in my stocking. My dad gave me a coin with Trump’s
face on it for my coin collection. He says it’s payback for that Christmas I
gave him an Obama dinner plate. (Seriously, who wouldn’t want to eat dinner off Obama’s face? I thought it was a
spectacular gift.) Anyway, I tried to take a photo of the actual Trump coin,
but it’s so tiny that my camera won’t focus on it. (There are many jokes I
could make right here, but I’ll leave them up to you.)
 |
| Imagine waking up to this on Christmas morning . . . |
Books I Read
I read 8 books in December. Several of
them were chunksters. (That’s totally a word.) Reviews will be up in the next
few weeks.
Astray – Amy Christine Parker
Children of the New World: Stories
– Alexander Weinstein
Losing Faith in Faith: From Preacher to
Atheist – Dan Barker
Cold City
– Cathy McSporran
Gemina – Amie Kaufman & Jay
Kristoff
My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday
Stories – Stephanie Perkins (Editor)
The Middle Ages: Everyday Life in
Medieval Europe – Jeffrey L. Singman
Best Books Of December
1. Children
of the New World: Stories – Alexander Weinstein
2. Cold
City – Cathy McSporran
3. Gemina
– Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff
Most-Viewed December Reviews
Most-Viewed December Non-Reviews
All The Things!
All The Things! (AKA number of unread books on my TBR shelf) = 42 books.
I'm currently reading Witness by Karen Hesse.
That coyote is so cute! I love things like that and wolves and foxes! It's not just you...Amazon keep showing me recs for the most expensive items ever when I refuse to pay over £2 for a Kindle book! I get annoyed with it as well! Love the cover on the Angela Scott book as well...
ReplyDeleteI’m glad Amazon thinks other people are rich, too. It’s probably wishful thinking on Amazon’s part.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Love the pics and all of the little tid bits. This was a great wrap-up.
ReplyDeleteOh that is a great picture of the coyote!! My dog wouldn't stand a chance living there. Yay for Amazon gift cards. Best gift ever. Glad you liked Gemina and can't wait to get to it. Have a great January!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I hope you like Gemina.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Lol your dad is a jerk! And how close was that coyote to you? It looks so innocent in confused in that photo!
ReplyDeleteLOL. The coyote was about 6 feet away, but there was a window between us.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Okay, the lump of Trump thing totally made me laugh (as did the myriad of jokes you did NOT tell---I told them to myself and they were all hilarious!). :-)
ReplyDeleteNicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I know! I told them to myself, too.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
That coyote looks like it knows what it did and is trying to give you the sad eyes so you'll give it a treat and stop being mad. Glad that your dog emerged unscathed!
ReplyDeleteIt does look sad. Probably because of all the screaming and snarling.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
So on the coin, Trump has a tiny head?
ReplyDelete(When you're old enough, I'll explain it to you. :))
Yes. On the coin, Trump’s head is microscopic. :)
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Cute puppies!!! But omg close call with that coyote. It does look sufficiently remorseful. I've never heard of the "Christmas" cactus, that soo cool. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks! The coyote should look remorseful. It almost ate my dog. :)
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
That coyote looks so annoyed I can't stop laughing omg. I know it's serious and everything but his face! "Bitch, that dog was my dinner." Just omfg.
ReplyDeleteCold City has been on my to-read list for a while so it's good to see you liked it, can't wait for your review!
LOL, I hope you like Cold City.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
It looks like you had a great December! Your dogs are adorable and I kind of feel sorry for the coyote but I am not sure why. I understand how it could take some adjustment to life without school. I hope you have a great January!
ReplyDeleteCute dogs! Looks like you did a lot of reading in December. I still haven't read the Illuminae series, but I keep telling myself they're in my future.
ReplyDeleteI love that your dad gives you pins to help you keep going. I know what you mean about adjusting to adulthood. I'm in my 30s and I still feel like I'm adjusting!
Thanks! If you read Illuminae, I hope you like it. It’s good to know that I’m not alone in adjusting to adulthood.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
A LUMP OF TRUMP!! XD That is the funniest thing I've heard all day! And those puppies!! I love them all! The coyotes face is cracking me up though. He knows he's into something he shouldn't be! That cactus is pretty cool too. I've never heard of that! I hope you have a great January :D
ReplyDeleteTracy @ Cornerfolds
Thanks! The coyote probably wanted to eat my dog, so he was definitely doing something naughty.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
Totally giggling about your Trump coin (and size comments). I guess your dad's obnoxiousness in gifting you with that treasure is balanced out by the sweetness of all those book and writer pins.
ReplyDeleteMy mom had a Christmas cactus, and my mother-in-law has one. I thought it was magic when I was little, but I finally figured out they just bloom in mid-winter and someone came along and NAMED THEM that because of when they bloom. Not, you know, the other way around. Although my mom's would occasionally get confused and give us some St. Patrick's blooms.
When I heard about your dog/coyote encounter, it reminded me that I just read a book about bubonic plague, and it turns out that fleas with plague germs LIVE ON WILD ANIMALS IN THE US. I am a little freaked out by this. Rabies would be preferable, I think.
I KNOW! There are plague fleas on the prairie dogs near my house. It’s gross. Good thing there are cures for plague now. It’s really rare, but people do catch it from prairie dogs occasionally.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
okay i totally need to get on the illuminae books. i keep hearing of them everywhere. great list!
ReplyDeleteWe have coyotes and foxes around here. I have to watch my dog too--the coyote leaves him alone if I'm present, but still I never leave him alone. This is the time of year coyotes are mating. I have to read Gemina. I'm so happy you thought it was really good. I enjoyed reading your post.
ReplyDelete