Past and Future Secrets

I had a chiropractic appointment this morning. This would have been a no-shopping day, but I forgot one item crucial to tonight’s supper, so I stopped at Price Chopper and naturally bought a few other things. I also hit the post office (to mail a returned Christmas card because I screwed up the address *head desk*).

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. Supper was shake ‘n bake pork chops, which you cannot have without shake ‘n bake. Who knew? o_O

I tried the Raspberry tea this morning, since I was home long enough to drink a cup. It reminds me of the Pomegranate tea. I read more in Amelia Peabody and watched some HGTV (Fixer to Fabulous and House Hunters International) and Secrets of the Zoo.

I’m separating this out because it’s so exciting: I added ~1,700 words to my smallfandomfest fic!! It was a ~really good writing day. Few and far between these days.

Temps started out at 34.5(F). It was still raining and all the schools in the county were delayed 2 hours, so it’s a good thing I had already planned to leave later. The roads weren’t too bad when I finally did head out. Temps reached 36.7, which is barely two degrees warmer than it was this morning. This is one of the reasons winter sucks.


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good on the phone. She’d just had a call from my brother and Sister A was visiting, so that was nice. She said the hospice visit was filling out a lot of paperwork and a brief overview. Thank goodness the hospice rep did all the paperwork. This woman (hospice rep) does our area and she worked with a woman we knew who recently passed away, and her daughter told Sister S that she was very good, so that’s good to know.

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Tripwire (A Jack Reacher Novel) by Lee Child and Gwen & Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher.


What I am Currently Reading: Tomb of the Golden Bird (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters.


What I Plan to Read Next: Undecided, but I have several to choose from; I have another library book out, another requested, and a couple on my own shelf, so it’ll be whatever I’m feeling after I finish this one.

---

Book 1 of 2026: Tripwire (A Jack Reacher Novel) (Lee Child)

I enjoyed this book. With the usual caveats. ( spoilers )

The mystery part of this book was really good; I'm giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

---

Book 2 of 2026: Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (Lex Croucher)

This was really good! ( spoilers )

I enjoyed this book; I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

I haven’t done this year-end meme in several years, but this year seems like a good time to bring it back.


1. Your main fandom of the year? Murder, She Wrote. Out of 21 fic, 12 of them were in this fandom (solely, or as a crossover), plus the 14 ficlets I wrote for halfamoon.


( more back here )

I have some health-related goals for 2026, which include walking more and eating better, and so I thought, what better way to start down that path than by reviving my health-related community, for_your_health?!!

If you're already a member, please come back and join me!! If you'd like to become a member, please let me know.

I hit Price Chopper and Agway while I was downtown. I picked up fixings for lasagna and lots of dog treats (that won’t last as long as they should *side-eyes Pip*).

I did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, ran a load in the dishwasher, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. I hit the library when it opened in the afternoon to pick up a book (and got two for my efforts!), then also stopped at Stewart’s. We finished up the leftover beef veggie soup (that I made with the leftover chuck roast) for supper.

I added ~1,000 words to my fic for smallfandomfest!! And I did it at McD’s! This is the first time I’ve gone back to McD’s in weeks! Possibly even months. (When was that time I was told the heat was fixed, only to show up and it was still freezing? That was the last time I was there.) The heat was not only working today, it actually got TOO hot at times, lol! But I wasn’t going to complain about that.

I tried the Apricot tea today. It wasn’t bad, but it won’t be one of my favorites. Why is tea so soothing when you don’t feel your best? Speaking of not feeling my best, I’m still in the drawn-out stuffed/runny nose stage with the fun addition of a sinus pressure headache from time to time. (I spoke to Pip’s employee who went to urgent care; he was diagnosed with a major sinus infection, so not exactly what Pip had. Weird that he got that, Pip got what he thinks is the flu, and I’ve got this half-assed maybe-a-cold thing going on. It seems like I have to have gotten what Pip had, so maybe the flu shot was good for something, in that it mitigated the symptoms?!! IDK)

I read both fanfic (and even left comments without procrastinating!!!) and from a book! I also watched more Secrets of the Zoo. AND I placed an online order with another Christmas GC, which included a pretty box to hold tea bags for myself!!

Temps started out at 12.9(F) and reached 30.7. Once it hit that high, at around 1pm, it turned right around and started going down again. At 3pm it was already 21.7. The temps drop so quickly this time of the year.


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I spoke to her. Sister A had visited her earlier (and pulled out another puzzle), which was nice. (Sister A’s visits will be curtailed when school starts up again on Monday, though.) She told me that eating was going okay, but she’s been relying on the protein shakes mostly. (Makes me wonder why she hasn’t made herself something like the instant mashed potatoes again.)

How is it 2026 already?!! Happy New Year to you all. I hope it’s a safe, healthy and joyous one for all of us.

I did not go downtown today, just spent a very lazy day at home doing minimal chores. I hand-washed dishes, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. Pip's supper was leftovers, so I didn't even have to cook!

Disappointment of the day (really, yesterday, but it carried over), was discovering that there is garlic in the dip mix I use to make the spinach dip. I never noticed before, so must be years ago it didn't bother me like it does now. It's not enough to burn my mouth like that yummy hamburger did a while back, but it is enough to make me pause when I'm going back for seconds *coff* thirds.

I tried the Green tea today. At first I was like, this is my kind of tea (very weak), but by the time I finished my first cup I thought it might be even too weak for me! o_O After the first cup (this was not a tea bag I could reuse; in fact, I left it in the cup the whole time and the tea still tasted weak to me) I went back to my favorite tea that I keep in the house, Tazo’s Zen (which is green tea, bright lemongrass & crisp peppermint).

I read more in my book and watched-watched more Secrets of the Zoo.

Temps started out at 12.2(F) and reached 19.1. It was windy again; Pip actually had to go out and blow out the trails again because they'd been blown in with snow. There was a little bit of sun, though!


Mom Update:

Mom sounded good when I talked to her. She has nothing much to report. *g* Sister A was with her when I called and my brother had called earlier, so she is receiving visitors and calls, which is nice.