Adding a bit of Element flavor

I have the cold/flu.

Feel like I'm dying.

Lost five pounds last week before succumbing to the cold/flu.

Kill me now?

What are you currently reading

Currently rereading the Jane Yellowrock series, though I don't have book one. I'm trying to actually do a thorough, enjoyable read this time, complete with breathing exercises. Jane is still endearing, the author is still Incredibly White, all the love interests are still skeezes. And not even skeezes that I can enjoy, excepting Gregoire, who is hilarious. And Big Evan is still a scum sucking bottom feeder who appears way too often. Jane needs more girlfriends, less love interests, possibly more hot guilt-free monkey sex and definitely more nights out dancing. (Possibly because I need way, way more nights out dancing myself. Sob.)

What did you recently finish reading?

The Boggart by (I think) Pamela Dean. It was a lot of fun, but I ended up skimming a chunk of it? Not because of any deficiency in the book but because I wasn't feeling that well. All the characters were fleshed out and charming, and it has a certain merciless but loving life to the mischievous mythology of household entities that I loved. Although the technology was dated, understandably, I actually kind of liked that too - it was fun. And Dean's characters are all very human, charming albeit exasperating or outright loathesome but horribly easy to picture in real life, e.g. the doctor. Flawed and full of energy. It was poignant.

What do you think you'll read next?

The Spiderwick Chronicles! Hopefully. I got a handful of them out of the library, and I remember being delighted by the exploration of the supernatural in the bit I read of the first book ages and ages (as in years) ago, so I'm hoping Holly Black's worldbuilding will work a little better here. In Tithe it started out strong, hitting half a dozen of my personal buttons (that woodland scene was virtually right out of my adolescent fanfiction) but petering out when it came to carrying a strong background presence through to the end.

(I have this problem a lot when it comes to Fae or ~other~ fiction. Okay, so they're raging assholes because...they think they're better and want to enjoy themselves full stop no other reason or much cultural influence? What are you trying to sell me, that they're a bunch of sadsack super powered Republican senators?)


It turns out my dad is leaving the state again for work after having been home a couple of months. I'm trying to put together a little farewell package for him: chocolate coffee beans from the good coffee shop, truffle salt from the Pike Place Market...(salt, of all things, can be a pain to shop for when you're out of town.) I got him a nerdy Chemistry flask a couple trips ago to console himself with. A goofy card, maybe. Baton Rouge is not really the spot for scarves as gifts, as far as I know.

There's a French Beauty and The Beast coming out starring Lea Seydoux and between this and the Emma Watson + Guillermo Del Toro production I may FAINT. I am so unbelievably wildly excited!!! Everything is so wonderful and she's as amazing as ever. I still think the Mission Impossible movie would have been a lot more interesting if it had been about the Paula Patton's quest for revenge while Lea Seydoux's Bond-esque villain swanned all over the world, hopefully swiftly progressing to Foe-Yay heavy taunting. (Although to be honest I think Sabine was a little too efficient for taunting. She was aaaaall about her own interests.)

Not that you can tell where my interests lay or anything.

So! HOW WAS EVERYONE'S THANKSGIVING??? (I keep forgetting it even happens. Somebody had to remind on the day of. 'Oh, is it soon?' 'IT'S TODAY. TODAY IS A THURSDAY. THANKSGIVING IS ALWAYS ON A THURSDAY.' For some reason I didn't know that.)

When life gives you lemons....

Juice them and use in your cleaner... makes the natural cleaner smell better. Kitchen smells of lemons until I use the floor cleaner since that contains peppermint essential oil.

I baked a bread... A nice healthy cranberry banana bread... it smells great! Breakfast will be good tomorrow.

Still upset about email with usual dosage of guilt and it's all your fault... but really not thinking about it now... breathe in... my parents aren't worth devouring comfort food... breathe out...

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Or if you live somewhere that doesn't have a day supporting binge eating on great food, happy Thursday.

A cool little silly link that amuses me, have a toddler dressed up as all 11 of the doctors...here