Yes, I'm still alive...

I know, I know, it's been a while since I've posted, life just seems to get in the way, we can all relate, right? The last time I was here I played around with my page, made some updates, and found what I liked but then had to stop for a while.  What you see is what you get right now, but I'll eventually get back to finishing it up.  I've since finished book 5 of the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout and now I'm impatiently waiting for the next book, I need to know what happens next in one of my favorite fantasy true love/soulmates series!  I'll update my book reviews when I have a bit more time.  It's almost time for me to clock into work lol.  

I've also started watching a new anime series that my son recommended to me.  I'm a huge Vikings fan, accurate historical and not-so-accurate stories created around it, particularly around Thor and Odin, Ragnarok, etc. So he told me to watch the series Vinland Saga on Netflix.  So here I am this morning when I should be getting things ready for our 5-day cruise on Saturday, watching it, and checking out the awesome Audible audiobook sale for Cyber Monday/week.  Should you wish to check out the series, here is some info on it:

Plot Summary from IMDB

Thorfinn pursues a journey with his father's killer in order to take revenge and end his life in a duel as an honorable warrior and pay his father an homage. A young man named Thorfinn finds himself in a quest for revenge against his father's killer. Firstly indulged in the apparent greatness of war and honor, Thorfinn quickly changes as he endures having to survive alone and then alongside the man he vows to kill, developing conflicting emotions towards the causality of his past and present life. Thorfinn vows to kill the man who took his father's life. But the life of a hate-filled Viking comes at a heavy cost; will Thorfinn succeed and finally kill Askeladd, or could his rage be his undoing? Only Odin himself knows the answers, and Valhalla awaits those waiting to die in battle. —Johnny-the-Film-Sentinel-2187

Well, that's it for now, time for me to log into work and get some real work done so I can earn a paycheck. 😊

Have a great day!

Kerensa

Another Audiobook Bites the Dust....

I finished book 4 of the Blood and Ash series, The War of Two Queens this morning!  I'm onto book 5... but first I must go get ready for work.  Until next time, here is my review:

The War of Two Queens audiobook review

Have a great day!

Kerensa

I did it!  I finished another book, well in Audible Audiobook format anyway lol.  I love holding paper/hardback books, I love the smell, the feel, and the weight of them, but I often have little time to curl up with a good book, especially with my almost 2-year-old grandson living here with us, as he demands ALL of Nana's attention. 😂 So the only way I get to "read" is when I am driving, or in my office/quilt room doing other things I need to do, like paying bills/balancing the checkbook etc. So I finished book 3 in the Blood and Ash series by Jennifer L. Armentrout. I loved the first 2 books so I've purchased the rest in the series, including pre-purchasing book 6, which is supposed to be a companion guide for the series, which I normally don't bother with.  I've posted my reviews of book 3 on Goodreads and Audible if anyone is interested and included the links below:

Blood and Ash series, by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Book 1:

From Blood and Ash, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Review on Goodreads

From Blood and Ash, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Amazon

Book 2:

Kingdom of Flesh and Fire, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Review on Goodreads

Kingdom of Flesh, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Amazon

Book 3:

The Crown of Guilded Bones, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Review on Goodreads
The Crown of Guilded Bones, by Jennifer L. Armentrout - Amazon

Until next time, 

Kerensa

What I've been up to lately

Hello once again, my wonderful bloggers, who have had so much patience with this ADHD, OCD, post-menopausal, crotchety old lady, who keeps putting off things she should be doing for herself, such as sewing and reading, to take care of everyone else, adding their worries on top of her own.  🙅 But life does go on.  I'm currently trying to catch up on my "Currently Reading" list, knocking them out as quickly as I can, while still taking the time to enjoy the stories.  I've finished another one and will post the link to my review below before I sign off for the night.

I haven't sewed anything yet, other than a small coster for my desk (I'll take a picture and share it later) but I have printed out the patterns for the first couple of blocks for my Dear Jane quilt. The first block is A-1 Pinwheel Gone Awry. I'm using my own copy of Electric Quilt's Dear Jane and Susan Gatewoods' Dear Jane site, where she graciously shares her own progress.

I really, really, really want to start working on my Aves BOW (Block of the Week) quilt, I am paying for it after all. But I haven't purchased the fabrics yet and I don't want to pull from my stash because most of my stash is fat quarters and half-yards.  I certainly don't have enough of each fabric to pull for the requirements.  So I am purchasing the fabric a little at a time, fabric is VERY expensive don'cha know, and when I have the required amounts of each, I will begin.  Until then, I am saving all of the instructions and blocks in my OneNote Aves file as well as backup copies on my external hard drive. Did I ever share an image of what it can look like if done in the colors that first caught my attention? If not, well here it is, and if so, well, sorry, you get to see it again. :)

Oh my gosh, isn't it gorgeous? 

I've linked the picture to the site where you can register for the next round that may be offered. One day, soon I hope, I will finally get to start working on it.

Let's see, what else?  Oh yeah, I went fishing with the hubby.  He caught a fish, and I caught a photo of a turtle sunbathing on the dock:

We installed a couple of Roku outdoor cameras and found a new friend...  Such a cute hummingbird who visits the camera every day.

Last night we drove down to the beach for a presentation and before we came home we stopped and tried out some rolled ice cream.  Not too bad.

And finally, I bought myself a most adorable gnome, my "Dunkie Junkie".  It fits my personality so well.  Love my Dunkin' cold brew. 

Now that the basic updates are all done, I'll let this be the end of my entries for today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day/night (as applicable lol).  Thanks for stopping by.  Come back soon now, ya' hear?

Book review time...you can choose which site you would like to read my review on. 

My Review on Goodreads of The Quiet Room, by Terry Miles
My Review on Amazon of The Quiet Room, by Terry Miles

Side Note: Minnow Beats Whale Podcasts - You should check out the podcasts created by Terry Miles and Nic Silver.  I guarantee you'll get addicted!

Kerensa

Just a really quick post today before I have to unplug from my personal life and plug into my work life. I know I've been slacking. I haven't been doing too much lately, to be honest.  Quite disappointed with myself about it.  I just can't seem to get motivated to do much of anything.  I haven't been learning to code, I haven't been listening to my audiobooks since I finished the last one, and I haven't been reading for pleasure.  I know I have three books I need to finish and submit reviews on, and I'm so very, very late doing that. I just have to find my inspiration to kick me in the kiester and get me going again.  I know my depression has been overwhelming to me for almost 3 years now and I really don't want to go back on the medication again, but it's starting to look like I may have to.  I need a life again, well more life than sitting on m fat kiester watching TV.

Speaking of TV, I found out that my very guilty pleasure show "The Only Way is Essex" is on Amazon Prime, ALL 17 seasons!  I did not know there were that many seasons.  I got hooked on it years ago, back in 2010 when it came out on regular TV but I never got past season 1 because life got in the way. So every morning, when I wake up early (3:30-4:30 AM) I come into the office and plug into my show.  The episodes are short, around 25-30 minutes long, and I've made it up to Season 2 Episode 1 this morning.  I watch it on the computer while I organize my OneNote with all my quilt patterns, writing and book reviews, etc.

Other than that, I plan on sewing for an hour or two this evening after work, as I plan every day, but never do.  I really need to push myself to do it.  Well, time for me to plug into work and get ready to clock in.  

Stay cool my friends,

Kerensa

Just an Update (skip if you want)

I thought I had lost my original blog because every time I tried to access it, the page would pop up for a second, disappear, and go to some weird link, so I started creating a new blog.  Then, when I was messing around with "Adsense" all of a sudden my old blog popped up!  Talk about releasing a considerable sigh 😎. I then combined the two, deleted the new one I had started on, and updated the look and feel.  I hope it looks better. 

Hubby went fishing with daddy today so I've got the day to do whatever I want without too much interruption. I'm currently listening to "The Map of Bones", book 2 in the Fire Sermon trilogy by Fancesca Haig, cleaning up the quilting emails that I've hung onto for years, saving them into OneNote, while waiting on my grandson to wake up so I can sew some today and then hopefully finish watching From on Amazon Prime with my daughter, I'm just dying to find out what the heck is going on.  We recently finished season 2 of Yellowjackets, which we absolutely loved!

My weight has gone up since being placed on insulin.  I can no longer take any of the newer medications like Victoza, Trulicity, and Monjauro because they have caused pancreatitis, which is not a fun thing.  So I'm now up to my highest weight and struggling to lose it, especially since my spinal surgery.  I'm in constant pain, but it is a struggle to do anything that remotely involves walking or exercising because of the pain, which means, even if I were to starve myself, I couldn't lose weight because I'm not able to burn the calories necessary based on my daily intake to stay alive.  What a vicious cycle right?  So I continue to struggle and focus on the best life I can live with pain.

So as far as my quilting goes, I've been in a pretty bad depression ever since momma passed, and it's been 9 years now! It's been so hard for me to get in here and sew, mainly because I'm using momma's Babyloc machine and we did a lot of this together.  But it's also been difficult because my daughter and grandson Xaiden, who will be 2 in December, moved in, and he is all about PawPaw and Nana.  Even if my door is closed, he will come up to it and knock and holler out Nana, Nana!  Love my boy but makes it hard to get, and stay, motivated. I have purchased Kathryn Kerr's Aves quilt project and am also working on her 365 Challenge quilt that I never finished, not the new one called Star of Wonder that came out in 2022, although I would love to work on that one too, it's closed now. And I am also working on the Jane A. Stickle Dear Jane quilt but using paper-piecing techniques thanks to Susan Gatewood and Electric Quilt. But I am also working on my WIPs that have been shoved into the closet for 9 years now waiting on me to bring them into the light of day.  I have to make my quilting a priority again because it makes me happy, and I want to be happy.

That's about it for now.  I decided since I spent a couple of days after work updating my blog, that I should at least post something, and I have managed to do that.  Since I started this post my daughter and grandson have woken up from their nap and are waiting on me.  Have a fantastic rest of your day! 

Until next time....

Kerensa

Happy Mother's Day 2023

 

⚘ Happy Mother's Day ⚘

To all the tough, hard-working, 

patient, loving, and all-around 
amazing moms out there!

What better way to start back up with my blog than by wishing all the mother's out there a Happy Mother's Day!  I lost my mom in 2014 to Adenocarcinoma of the lungs that metastasized into her bones, stage 4 when we found out. She was diagnosed on 9/10/14 and passed on 11/3/14; she was 62 years young.  And while I miss her so very, very much every single day, I have to remember she's no longer in pain and would want me to move forward.  So a shoutout to my momma. I love and miss you!

 

  

A little bit about me...

Hobbies

I have a few hobbies that I'll be sharing here and I invite you to peruse and comment on, and if nothing else, I hope to inspire at least one person.  Forewarning though, I work full-time, help to take care of my 1 1/2-year-old grandson, and boy is he a handful, and to top it all off, I have ADHD, so it's hard for me to stick with things sometimes.  I jump around like a bunny, from place to place, or interest to interest, and it's only the ones that I truly enjoy that I continue with. 

Book Reviews

I love to read and have since I was young, and thanks to the digital age I can now share my personal feedback on them with more than just family and friends.  I'll share links to books I've read, want to read, and how I felt about them.  Yesterday I spent the entire day, from around 7:30 AM until 10:30 PM working in my office/sewing room organizing and writing book reviews.  I noticed I was missing some reviews so I had to compare Goodreads, Amazon, NetGalley, and Book Sirens, which is why it took me all day long. Now I know which books I have already reviewed and which I need to review. I just finished reading/listening to Bentley Little's The Influence, which I really do not recommend even though I'm a huge fan of his work, and I recently finished both House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas.  I'm in the process of working on my reviews for them.  I told myself I would NOT start another book/audiobook until I wrote my reviews. 

Quilting

My second favorite hobby is quilting.  I taught myself to quilt along with free tutorials I found online back in 2004.  Then I joined a Yahoo quilt group (don't laugh it was a while back when Yahoo groups were popular) called Beginners & Beyond and that group of wonderful ladies, and gents, taught me so much! I made my first king-size quilt in 2008 and never looked back.  Sadly, after my mom passed away I lost the desire to do anything more than work and watch TV (another one of my passions/hobbies).  It's now been almost 9 years since she passed and I'm finally ready to get back to it.  So if you are interested, follow my blog and see my progress. I am currently working on multiple WIPs (Work In Progress) aside from finishing up projects I've had sitting in storage for years. I just started my Dear Jane quilt and Aves quilt.  These will most likely take me years to make unless I get to retire soon lol, but I will share my progress along the way.

TV Shows, Movies, Streaming Series

My most guilty pleasure is watching TV.  I can watch it for hours on end and thanks to streaming services I can spend an entire day binge-watching shows I've missed on live tv and original shows from the service.  I currently subscribe to AppleTV, Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Peacock TV, and Paramount TV.  Yes I know, that is way too many, but it's okay.  I'll talk about current shows and movies that I'm watching/binging etc.  I work from home so I do miss physically going to work (eh, not so much) and chatting with others about the previous night's episode.  At this moment I am binging Brave New World on Peacock TV S1 E5: Firefall and enjoying it very much, gives me a lot to think about, all those "what-if" situations.

Lifelong Learning

Finally, I believe in lifelong learning, as my student loans can confirm, but the cost of higher education has become excessive so I look for ways to learn for free.  There is a plethora of free learning on the internet.  Just about anything you may want to learn is out there just waiting for you.  I found that with The Odin Project., which teaches you about web development step-by-step.

That's about enough for today's post.  Very simple and to the point. Off to sew some before the hubby returns from fishing.  Until next time...  A messy house is the sign of a happy quilter.

Kerensa