The Sunday Post [79]

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

Monday and Tuesday were PD days, Wednesday and Thursday we had students back in the building, and Friday we got a snow day! I think we got somewhere between 7-8 inches. My neighbor was kind enough to use his snow blower to clear our sidewalk and around my car. I had zero plans of leaving my house for any reason, but I really appreciated the gesture. It will help so, so much when we do need to go somewhere.

I took the kids sledding (there's a really big hill within walking distance) but we only made it about 45 minutes before heading home. It was really, really cold, and the wind was brutal. We built a fire and watched anime on the couch—goals. They were able to enjoy more time out in the snow yesterday, since it was slightly warmer and they were able to stay outside longer.

We took Kerouac and Scout with us and they had a blast hopping around in the snow. Kerouac dropped his ball at one point and it took him awhile to find it again. The snow came up to Scout's chest so she actually had to leap from place to place when we were going through undisturbed areas. It made the trek slightly easier though! I just had to follow the path these two left in their wake. It was up to my knees in a few places and my calves were burning on the walk back since it's all uphill.

We also tried something I first read about in a book! If you’ve read The Finish Line by Kate Stewart, you might remember the scene where Cecelia brings fresh snow inside for her and Tobias. She adds condensed milk to their bowls, and Tobias is skeptical—until he tries it. It’s so good he eats his entire bowl and then tries to steal hers, too. That scene stuck with me as something I wanted to try, and I finally did! The kids absolutely loved it, and I’m already craving more. Note: Best with fresh, fluffy snow.

The snowy backdrop was too good to pass up, so I snapped some photos of my current read (and even painted my nails to match!). I started Good Spirits yesterday and I’m loving it so far. My friends and I decided to do a buddy read since we all have copies. ❤️ Also, I'm obsessed with those sprayed edges!

Previous Posts on the Blog:

• Wreck Your Heart by Lori Rader-Day
• Past Due Reviews [11]
• Well Traveled by Jen DeLuca
• Built to Last by Erin Hahn
• A Language of Dragons (A Language of Dragons, #1) by S.F. Williamson
• Best Books I Read in 2025 - Top Ten Tuesday [16]
• The Sunday Post [78]

What I'm Currently Reading:

Good Spirits (Ghosted, #1) by B.K. Borison

Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez

🎧 When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

What I Plan on Reading Next:

Is This a Cry for Help? by Emily R. Austin

🎧 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli

What I'm Watching:

We’re still working our way through My Hero Academia and Spy x Family, but we’re almost done with both! We’ll need something new to watch soon. It takes us a bit longer to finish shows during the school year since we don’t do screens on weekdays, but we got a few extra episodes in with the snow day.

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 0 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 3 / 100
• Physical TBR: 0 / 25
• NetGalley: 7 / 50
• Discussion Post Challenge: 0 / 20

This first week back at work was rough. It wasn’t that my students were misbehaving or anything—it’s just hard to come back after two weeks off. Everyone was out of routine, and it takes a few days to relearn expectations. I’m also doing a few things differently this time around, and hoping that those changes will be more beneficial for my students in the long run. 

Happy reading!

The Sunday Post [78]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

It's my last day before Winter Break officially ends. I plan on enjoying it! Teachers go back Monday and Tuesday for Professional Development (PD) Days, and students will be back on Wednesday. Our schedule is pretty packed, and I'm worried I'm not going to have enough time in my room or with my team to prep and prepare. I've stopped taking work home with me since it wasn't fair to my family or myself, so hopefully I can find the time while I'm there. I wish they'd do all the PD on Monday and let us work on what we needed to on Tuesday. 

My giveaway post wasn't working (thank you for pointing it out La La!), and I think it was the code I used for the first giveaway. I'm using a different site now and it seems to be working, so if you would like to win an ARC of I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew and To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth, please check out the post and submit your entry! Unfortunately, due to shipping costs, this giveaway is US only. However, I do have some international ones coming up!

Previous Posts on the Blog:

• Spell the Month in Books [2]
• Past Due Reviews [10] + Giveaway
• State of the ARC [39] 
• 2025 End of the Year Wrap Up + New Challenges for 2026
• Top Ten Tuesday [15]
• The Storm by Rachel Hawkins (review)
• The Sunday Post [77]

What I'm Currently Reading:

Wreck Your Heart by Lori Radar-Day

🎧 When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

What I Plan on Reading Next:

 

Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez

🎧 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli

What I'm Watching:

The kids and I have been alternating between My Hero Academia and Spy x Family. We're enjoying both! 

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 0 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 2 / 100
• Physical TBR: 0 / 25
• NetGalley: 3 / 50

I should finish reading Wreck Your Heart today or tomorrow. I had a slow reading week since I was spending time with my family and trying to knock out every single thing on my To Do List before going back to work. I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and a fantastic week! Happy reading!

The Sunday Post [77]

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

We said goodbye to one of our dogs this week. 💔 Ella was a really sweet, loving dog that has been in our family for over a decade. We're not sure how old she was when we adopted her from the shelter, but she had already been through a lot. Her health started to decline this year, and we got to spend one last Christmas together before saying goodbye. She wasn't the brightest dog, but she loved being loved on and really enjoyed walks. She would make a huge fuss if she thought we were going on one without her. She was loved fiercely and she will be missed. 

On a more positive note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I've really enjoyed this time with my family, and I'm not ready for my husband to go back to work. I wish we could stay like this for another week or two. Alas, that's not how the world works. The kids and I will still be off from school, but it won't be the same without him around 24/7. 

We also started a family D&D campaign and are having so much fun with it! My son tried creating/writing his own, but we decided to let my husband be the Dungeon Master for our first campaign. My son has been playing at school, and I've heard some interesting stories about what they get up up in their games. 

Personally, I'm really looking forward to learning more about the game and how it works. I have a vague idea and understanding, but you definitely learn more by actually playing and going through the process. Creating a character for myself took a really long time (everything had to be perfect), and I even asked ChatGPT for some help creating an image for my character. 

Meet Lyrielle Morthis! She's a half-elf, half-human Bard. 

This is the AI generated image of my character in a field with my husband's character, and I based it off an actual picture of the two of us together. One of the earlier attempts had his character wearing glasses and I thought the resemblance was definitely there. Not so much with this one, but still a lot of fun. 

Previous Posts on the Blog:

• His Face Is the Sun (Throne of Khetara, #1) by Michelle Jabès Corpora, 🎧 Suehyla El-Attar *review
• Past Due Reviews [9]
• Top Ten Tuesday [14] 
• Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang, 🎧 Moira Quirk *review
• The Sunday Post [76]

What I'm Currently Reading:

Wreck Your Heart by Lori Radar-Day

🎧 When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

What I Plan on Reading Next:

 

Graceless Heart by Isabel Ibañez

🎧 Heartless Hunter (The Crimson Moth, #1) by Kristen Ciccarelli

What I'm Watching:

This week I've been catching up on Haikyu!! with my husband. ❤️

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 27 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 35 / 100
• Physical TBR: 5 / 50
• NetGalley: 19 / 50

I'm 99% sure I'm going to make my audiobook challenge this year! I can definitely hopefully squeeze three more books in before January 1st. Honestly, I'm really happy with my challenge progress overall. It's been such a hectic year and I still managed to read 35 books. 

The Sunday Post [76]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

I finally made it to Christmas break! The week before is always a little hectic with everyone ready for the holiday. We plan a lot of fun activities for the kids, so their routines and schedules are thrown off. All in all, I think everyone had a good time and ended the week on a positive note. I'll have to pop up there every few days to check on my mice though. My students named them Mist and Cloud, and they'll be wanting fresh water and more food by Monday. 

I have a huge stack of books I want to read the next two weeks. I don't think I'll make my Goodreads goal of 100 books, but I think 50 is doable before the end of the year. Most of my reads have been audiobooks, so that progress is going well. I need to be better about picking up a book instead of my phone, but it's just so easy to doom scroll after a long day. It's a habit I'm trying really hard to break. 

My kids keep asking to open a small present and seem genuinely surprised when I tell them no. They're so excited and I love it! This time of year is always special and I hope we're making memories they'll treasure forever. The weather hasn't been too cold, so we've been spending a lot of time outside during the day, and then we watch anime or play games in the evenings. It's a treat for them since we don't allow screen time during the school week. We also have a ton of board games and love sitting down after dinner and playing something together. 

I hope everyone had a restful weekend! Enjoy the holiday and Merry Christmas. ❤️

Previous Posts on the Blog:

• The Sirens by Emilia Hart, 🎧 Barrie Kreinik *review
• Your Knife, My Heart (Dark Forces, #1) by K.M. Moronova, 🎧 Isabelle Turner & Walker Williams *review
• Spell the Month in Books [1]
• Top Ten Tuesday [13] 
• Bull Moon Rising (Royal Artifactual Guild, #1) by Ruby Dixon *review
• The Sunday Post [75]

What I'm Currently Reading:

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins

🎧 Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang

What I Plan on Reading Next:

Wreck Your Heart by Lori Radar-Day

🎧 When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

What I'm Watching:

We'll finish watching My Hero Academia over the break. We're down to less than 50 episodes. I think there's an additional episode coming out in May of next year, but the show as a whole has concluded. We also watched the final episode of May I Ask for One Final Thing? and enjoyed it. The ending was okay and I'm curious what a second season will look like. I'm thinking of starting Jujutsu Kaisen next.

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 26 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 31 / 100
• Physical TBR: 4 / 50
• NetGalley: 15 / 50

I'm feeling pretty good about my Audiobook Challenge. If I can review all of the books I've read (some before this year), I could probably meet my NetGalley goal as well. My physical TBR isn't looking great, but like I said in another TSP, I got rid of soooooo many books. I honestly don't have that many physical books left on my shelves that I haven't read. How are you doing with your goals this year?

The Sunday Post [75]

 

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

My kids are on the mend and just have lingering coughs. I'm so glad they're feeling better before the break! I just have to get through this next week of school and then I can read and relax for 18 days.

My daughter found a brand new Kindle Paperwhite at a garage sale a while back and it's been amazing! I like my Kindle Fire, but I appreciate the simplicity of the Kindle Paperwhite. The lady let us have it for $5! It was an absolute steal. We also left with a fairly new Wii for $10. (My son was thrilled with the find, but my husband wasn't as enthusiastic when we ended up spending way more than that on games. 😅)

The snow has melted and we've had fairly warm weather for December. I even took my students outside on Friday for lunch (which they loved). My girls have also had a chance to try out their new bicycles. We were worried they wouldn't get much use out of them until the spring, but they've gotten a solid week of riding in after the snow we had.

Previous Posts on the Blog:

• DNF&Y [46] 
• Top Ten Tuesday [12] 
• Roll for Romance by Lenora Woods *review
• The Sunday Post [74]

What I'm Currently Reading:

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins

🎧 The Sirens by Emilia Hart

What I Plan on Reading Next:

Wreck Your Heart by Lori Radar-Day

🎧 When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

What I'm Watching:

We're still watching My Hero Academia together and the kids are catching up on Solo Leveling. I don't mind rewatching it with them because it's so, so good. We'll watch May I Ask for One Final Thing?, Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill, and My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Heroes whenever new episodes become available, but I'm not enjoying those as much.

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 26 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 30 / 100
• Physical TBR: 4 / 50
• NetGalley: 14 / 50

I've made significant progress with my Audiobook Challenge and NetGalley goal! I realized there were a lot of books I hadn't logged, and then my DNF&Y post helped with the NetGalley goal. I was able to post a lot of those reviews and get my number down. Slow and steady progress!

The Sunday Post [74]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

Hi! Hello! It's me again. I'm trying to set boundaries at work and carve out more time for myself and reading. I've missed blogging consistently, but teaching and mom-ing have taken over my life. I was getting to work early, staying late, and then trying to clean a house, cook dinner, and get the kids to their extracurriculars in the afternoons. It wasn't a sustainable schedule, so I'm trying to work within my contracted hours and not take it home with me. It wasn't fair to me or the kids. 

My son came down with a nasty bug on Thursday and he hasn't fully recovered yet. Wednesday and Thursday we had Snow Days (no school), and then Friday felt like both a Monday and a Friday (awful). One of my girls started feeling sick Friday afternoon and the other caught it yesterday. I'm hanging on and hoping for the best (because I really don't want to make Sub Plans for tomorrow), so please keep us in your prayers. 

We're looking to move back to Texas this summer and I am so excited. It will be nice being around family again for the first time in over a decade (minus the one year he was deployed and we moved back home). I'm sure they miss their grandkids, and it will be nice for my kids to have those relationships as everyone is getting older. I'm also excited about future date nights with my husband! It will be so easy to leave the kids with grandma and grandpa while we go have dinner or do something fun just the two of us. It's a win-win for everyone. 

Previous Posts on the Blog:

• Firebird (The Fire That Binds, #1) by Juliette Cross, Narrated by Blair Dade and Kale Williams *review
• State of the ARC [38] 
• This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me (Maggie the Undying, #1) by Ilona Andrews *review
• Anathema (The Eating Woods, #1) by Keri Lake, Narrated by James Cassidy and Melissa Barr *review

What I'm Currently Reading:

The Storm by Rachel Hawkins

🎧 Your Knife, My Heart (Dark Forces, #1) by K.M. Moronova

What I Plan on Reading Next:

Wreck Your Heart by Lori Radar-Day

🎧 When the Bones Sing by Ginny Myers Sain

What I'm Watching:

The kids and I are finishing up the last season of My Hero Academia. I watched and loved both Demon Slayer and Solo Leveling (the kids just started Solo Leveling, but I had to make sure it was appropriate first). We've also been watching May I Ask for One Final Thing? (the f word was used in one of the first episodes, but other than that it has been okay), and Campfire Cooking in Another World with My Absurd Skill. Campfire Cooking is ridiculous and the MC is a little frustrating. He has super strong familiars (because they like his cooking) but doesn't want to get stronger himself. He avoids dungeons and fights and lets everyone else do the work for him. 

My Status as an Assassin Obviously Exceeds the Heroes is another one we're watching, but it's a little too ridiculous for me. Confessions of love and forever are a little hard to believe after a few episodes. I'm slowly making my way through the new season of Shield Hero (so good), and have to wait until my son can watch it with me. I feel like My Status as an Assassin is a knockoff version of Shield Hero. 

Most recently I started Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (that's what the GIF is from) and the first few episodes are really sad. She doesn't realize how short human lives are because hers is so long, and she's surprised to see how much her previous party has aged over the last 50 years. I wish we could have seen some of their adventures prior to them defeating the demon king (which is the quest they're returning from at the beginning of the first episode), but I'm curious to see how the story progresses from here. I've heard really good things about it!

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 18 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 25 / 100
• Physical TBR: 4 / 50
• NetGalley: 8 / 50

It's not a lot of progress, but progress has been made! I might make the Audiobook Challenge this year, and possibly the Goodreads depending on how much I can read over Christmas break, but I don't think I'll make my Physical TBR and NetGalley goals for the year. However, I did get rid of like 700 books a few months ago! Cleaning up my shelves was a long overdue task that I finally tackled. I'm now down to two shelves and a cart. 

The Sunday Post [71]

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly at the Caffeinated Reviewer! It's an opportunity to share news, post a recap for the previous week, showcase books, and highlight what's planned for the week ahead.

News:

My son is finally feeling better! All of his tests came back negative, so the doctor said to stop giving him the antibiotics they'd prescribed as a precaution. I hate that we still don't know what it was, but we were told to let it run its course and alternate medication for his fever as needed. Whatever it was, it was awful. I hope everyone is managing to stay healthy! 

It snowed a ridiculous amount on Saturday. I had to drive to work in the middle of it and my anxiety was through the roof. It was so hard to see where I was going. 😭 Pictures were taken while I was stopped due to an accident up ahead.

The yard had finally dried up and now everything is wet again. We rotate through a lot of towels by the doors. 😣 It's a struggle to keep the floors clean with the dogs and kids going in and out. My daughter has also convinced her father to buy her treats so she can try and train the rooster (Iroh) to do tricks. We'll see how that goes, lol. She's out there with them constantly wanting to hold them and see if they've left any eggs for her to bring inside. She's our farm girl for sure.

My husband and I actually got to go on a date this year for Valentine's Day! We went to a church service, tried a coffee house, and spent over an hour at a bookstore while the kids were in school. It was lovely! At the coffee house I tried something called the Rose London Fog. It was Front Porch tea, rose syrup and milk. I thought it was really good, but my husband said it tasted like soap. 😅

I also received two new books this week for review and I'm really excited about both! Anji Kills a King by Evan Leikam and I Am Made of Death by Kelly Andrew (deaf representation and written by a deaf author). It's the first book mail I've gotten since we moved. I'm really trying to stay on top of my review books this year!

Previous Week on the Blog:

Sunday: The Sunday Post [70]

Monday: 💫

Tuesday: Top Ten Tuesday [8]

Wednesday: 💫

Thursday: The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon *review

Friday: 💫

Saturday: Attached at the Hip by Christine Riccio, 🎧 Narrated by Brittany Pressley *review

What I'm Currently Reading:

The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor

🎧 Murder at Haven's Rock (Haven's Rock, #1) by Kelley Armstrong

I'm really excited about reading both of these this week! Murder at Haven's Rock started off with a bang, and I'm curious how it's going to tie into the rest of the story. Someone said I needed to read the Rockton series to better understand this one, so I'm hoping I'm not too lost! I've already committed. 😅

What I Plan on Reading Next:

The Boy Who Cried Bear (Haven's Rock, #2) by Kelley Armstrong

Cold as Hell (Haven's Rock, #3) by Kelley Armstrong

What I'm Watching:

Challenge Updates:

• Audiobook Challenge: 4 / 30
• Goodreads Challenge: 9 / 100
• Physical TBR: 2 / 50
• NetGalley: 5 / 50

I'm setting my Physical TBR and NetGalley goals to 50! I hope I'm able to make a dent in both this year.