Book Rec for Fantasy Book Lovers

Or maybe that should be "Book Rec for Book Lovers Who Love Fantasy"?

I recently read the last book in a fantasy series of five, and it was actually my favorite of them (though of course I enjoyed them all or I would have stopped reading before this point). I'm going to write more about book five than the others, though if you decide to try them, I highly recommend starting at the beginning.

The series is called Golden Pride, by Caitlin Ricci (AZ link), and it's about a world like our own, but with shifters, specifically lions (hence the pride part)*. Book one starts when Toby, a mild-mannered librarian, stumbles into a bar that turns out to be the hangout of a pack of lions led by Knox, and things happen from there. 
*If you think this is a ridiculous concept, well, yes, sure, but it is FAR from the most ridiculous I have read. Just ask me about that one!

Each of the books covers one member of the pride, dual POV, and the last book is about Silas, a quiet booklover, and Devin. Dev also loves books, especially fantasy books, and the title-dropping the two of them do starts at once. Book recommending is practically a long language as they get to know each other, and even when they were talking about books I haven't read, I was all in.

In this scene, Toby talks books with Devin.

This author GETS IT. She is one of us. After that exchange, Silas and Devin are alone.

The banter, the book love, it was all so pleasant to read. Assuming you like MM with a fantasy element, this is a good one to pick up. Start here:

Would You Listen to This?

For some reason, this YouTube video had a link to share, but not an embed the way they usually do. But if I can convince you to click over, it's a couple of guys doing an absolutely amazing feat of memory, reciting the names of countries around the world, to music. 

My mind is blown; even though I do find things easier to remember if set to music (thank you, Schoolhouse Rock, for my knowing the preamble to the Constitution), I simply can't imagine doing that. Could you?

Comparing the Two

I took another look at the photo of Newman I posted the other day, belly up:

And thought, what does that remind me of?

Hi, Maggie! This was taken on her first full day here, after I brought her home. Same loveseat, same blanket, similar pose. Two beloved cats.

...Wait, What? I Have to BUY Soap?

I would have bet that I had blogged about this before, and yet if I did, I can't find it, so here goes. It's not a profound story or anything, but it is a story. Or a journey. Something like that.

Way back in 2016, I was washing my hands in a restaurant bathroom and thought, Hmm, this soap actually smells good. Unexpected, right? I looked at the dispenser, and it had a Safeguard logo on it. Safeguard is the bar soap my mother bought when I was a kid, so the smell of it apparently imprinted in me as a "this is what clean smells like" scent. IIRC (ten years later), I had been buying Safeguard liquid soap at some point, but they stopped making it.

So when I got home that day, I did some internet searching to see if it was available again. The answer was a qualified yes: it was on Amazon, but in quantities that were more suited for commercial use than your average home. That's silly, I'm not buying a year's supply of it, I told myself.

Except I kept thinking about it. Finally I told myself, "Why not? No, you don't need two gallons of hand soap. But can you afford the thirty-five bucks right now? Then why not, if it will make you happy?" Little pleasures, right? 

BTW, I just noticed that the container has an expiration date. Apparently I've been using expired soap, is that a thing? Because it has seemed to clean my hands as well as ever, these last nine+ years.

So here I am, in April of 2026, aka ten freaking years later, having just poured the last of it into my dispenser, and thinking, just go ahead and buy it again*. Do I need a ten-year supply of it? No. But it still makes me happy. And honestly, even at an increased cost of $47.20 (plus tax) as of today, with how long I now know it will last, that's quite a deal.
*It seems Safeguard now has a bunch of other, fancier hand soap options, in pretty bottles, but I'm going to stick with the classic. It smells like clean.

What ifs...

I wrote about this exchange in a book I read the day before I had surgery in March:

I've noticed something similar in a few other books recently, like here:

And here:

I think the universe is sending me a sign, don't you?

Kitty Belly!

 

Pavlov's Cat

In my lifetime, I have had cats of varying levels of intelligence, from the "oh sweetie, good thing you're cute" level up to the "oh, that's a little scary, how did you figure that out?" level. I would put Newman somewhere in the middle. 

One thing he has definitely put together is that if he hears the ice maker, that means I am in the kitchen, conveniently near where the food is kept. Which means that nine times out of ten, I get ice to put in my water bottle, turn around, and see something like this:

If you think you can see food in the bowl behind him, you're right, at least by my standards. By his, if you can see the bottom of the bowl, even if there's food all around the outside, it needs topping off.

Goldilocks and the Handbags, Again

It's only as far back as November that I wrote about finding what I hoped was going to be the right handbag for me, the incredibly picky person. It proved not to be, but I am already feeling better about the new one* I found a few weeks ago.
*Edited to add a link to the bag I bought, which appears to be available online, at least as of today

First off, why was the November bag not good in the end? Well, I wrote about the excess space at the top not being a problem, and in fact I was good about not overloading that space, but it meant that to get anything out of the bag, I was reaching down-down-down, and since everything shifted around, as things tend to do, I was always fishing for what I was looking for and having trouble finding it. Also, the top/strap parts stood up so well that it could be a fight to get past them and reach in.

I decided that what I needed was a bag of a similar size at the base, but only about half as tall, and after a great deal of searching, I found one.

In this photo, you can see the one thing that I don't like about the bag: the straps don't want to go down but also don't quite stay up. So far, this is not deal-breaker levels of annoying me, given how well the bag works otherwise.

Inside, I have the same things lined up in the same order, so that I can see what's where but also tell by the feel, and there isn't enough room in the bag that they can shift around. There is actually a divider in the bag, but I have it pushed over to the side so that I can put things in the whole space.

At one end is the bag I use as a wallet, that I may grab for a quick trip into a store when I don't need all the everything else that I carry. It has a long strap*, holds my car key and wallet things (like ID and credit cards and cash), and has room for my phone. Also a lip balm since I can't be without that.
*It turns out that I can stand wearing it crossbody, since it's small and light, while with the main purse, I really dislike a crossbody bag.

Next to the wallet is the bag with headache pills and other toiletries; then the bag with a shawl in it, for wearing in the air conditioning; then the bag with the sock knitting project. At the far end is an insulated cup holder (because I am a princess, and having condensation dripping off a glass bugs me enough that I carry this with me). Each of these things fits in without having to squeeze, but doesn't have room to move.

 So far, and I know it's early days, it really is hitting all the "just right" button on my list of extreme pickiness. Can't promise it will stay that way, but so far, so good!

Chipping Away at the STUFF

Back in November, I wrote about my plans to clear out the office closet before this year's (American) Thanksgiving, and making calendar reminders to work on it monthly. I've done some work, but haven't done a ton so far; this weekend, I decided to take another stab at it. 

Again, my plan isn't to get rid of everything, but to assess everything, since just looking at what's in there, I can tell there are things that can go. I moved here coming up on eight years ago (!), and there are things I moved down here with and haven't looked at since.

My first stop was the shelf above the hanging space. This morning, it looked like this:

Yes: a mess of stuff. You may notice there are no hangers below, other than the hanging sweater holders: I moved all the hanging clothing into my mother's (enormous, walk-in) closet to assess those there before moving anything back in, once the space is ready. I've worked on that here and there, but that part of the project isn't quite done. 

Almost all of the clothing that was on that shelf, and a number of purses/bags, are going to the thrift store:

Here's what the shelf looked like after that:

I'm keeping some Bruins sweatshirts, even though I don't wear them often; also keeping the hat, and a few purses/bags. I decided not to tackle the photos/albums, nor the bag of journals and date books. Not today! Can't do it all in one day, as my back and my hands like to remind me (ow).

Then I took another look at that space, and at something in the closet below it that could go up, and now it looks like this:

Cat carriers belong up there!

I'm not going to lie, I have miles to go on this project. But this was a good day's work. My hands are glad that I stopped when I did, but I can feel good about this, and do more another day.

A Quick One for Now

It's been a long time since I shared the funny movie ratings from the Boston Globe, but I have been screen-shotting them and will do so again. For now, though, here's one I just can't wait to share, and not for the explanation at the end, but for the stars.

ZERO stars! And even more, the explanation behind the rating:

I don't go to the movies often, and I would never have gone to see this anyway, but wow, that is a scathing review.

Would you also avoid it, or would you perversely be more likely to go, just to see if it could possibly be that bad?

A Hockey Annoyance

I don't write about hockey all that much here, but I remain a strong Bruins fan, despite no longer living within the team's broadcast area, and subscribe to whatever means necessary to watch all the games. We get the level of cable TV that includes NHL Network, and our cable also includes ABC, ESPN, and TNT, all of which sometimes get games; then we also subscribe to ESPN+ for all games that are not nationally televised. We are covered. 

Or, as it turns out, almost.

The league, in its infinite wisdom, considers the part of Florida where I live to be home turf for the Panthers, even though it's a two-hour drive away. Thus, the games are blacked out from watching through the ESPN+ app. We have to get the games the way Panthers fans do.

And how is that? Well, via local TV stations, except that instead of getting that channel through cable, the closest one broadcasts games via something I don't fully understand, but that requires an antenna to get. Or, I could subscribe to the Panthers streaming service, which this late in the season is marked down to only $24.99. 

For one game? I don't think so, thanks. I would pay a dollar, or let's say as much as $5 to watch this one game, but I do not want it $25 worth.

So, tonight Mom and I will watch a game from last night. It seems the last-place team in the league, Vancouver, beat the top team in the league, Colorado, by a score of 8-6. Sounds like an entertaining game!

Still Knitting, BTW

After I finished the rainbow socks, remember them?

I would up another lovely rainbow:

And from this single stitch:

Socks will again grow.

Then, after finishing the Nixe shawl, remember that?

I grabbed this beauty:

To start another shawl.

Recently, I've been wearing the Valente shawl I made a few years ago, and it really does stay in place so well, unlike some shawls I've made. I decided another one was a good idea.

Betrayed

This. This is the face of ultimate betrayal.

His claws really needed trimming--in my opinion, which he did not share--and he is not a willing participant in that process. No blood was drawn, but I am not his favorite person right now. Which is too bad, because shortly before this started, I think I was.

His mistake was in grabbing at my arm without sheathing the pointies. 

This Ridiculous Cat

Fresh from the couch tonight, it’s a sequence of stretching interrupted by a yawn.

Right Place, Right Time

On Sunday evening, I was sitting on the couch, scrolling through Facebook, when I came across a listing in the local free-things giveaway group where someone was offering an Ikea 4x4 cube, and looking for someone who could pick it up that night.

As you may have noticed in my photos over the years, I have a bunch of these; they're great for yarn storage. For a free one, I could absolutely go out that night! And considering she was about 10 minutes away, it didn't even take that long.

It fits nicely right there, holding my purse and knitting project, and the bins that are soon to be filled with yarn.

Very satisfying!

And it's in perfect condition. She said they were using it as a dresser until they got one. I have no idea why they wouldn't use it for something else, but hey, why would I care? Mine now!

Cat: Broken in the Best Possible Way

Newman regularly sleeps next to me on the couch, and as you've seen here before, he can sleep in some odd positions. But one thing he does a lot is stretch out and then hold the pose, waiting for me to notice him (and sometimes falls back asleep in that position). 

I call this pose "contents may have settled during shipping" or "how do you know that you aren't the one who's upside down?" Behold, over the last month.

Such a flexible little goober.