I have read 178 books. I have seen 13 movies in the theatre. I have attended several parties, roller derby, a belly dance show, a burlesque show, a concert, and much more. My dad died. I reconnected with my half sister, Chelli. My dog died. I gained 5 pounds. I met several of my favorite authors. I made a ridiculous tiara out of Barbie heads. I turned 42. I drank mead, wine and cocktails. I learned how to drink water. I applied for a job I really wanted and I didn’t get it. I started a book club. I got sick and then got better. I bought a wonderful turquoise hat. I got compliments from people about my hat, my 80s jingle charm necklace, my hair tinsel, my boots, my general sense of style. A friend told another friend that she loved how brave and creative I was with my style. I didn’t write very much, because I wasn’t hearing the stories in my mind. There was too much static. But it is starting to clear and I am hearing words again. So…here I am.
Tara Wine-Queen on Facebook reached a milestone number of followers and decided to introduce herself to her new and old followers using memes. I loved this idea so much that I have been seeking out memes to replicate for myself, lol. Here is what I came up with:
I am sure there is more, but I feel like this is a good representation of who I am.
So, I read 27 books in January. And I have read 4 already for February. I am considering starting a book club where we just get together and talk about what we are reading a couple of times a month. I love the idea of a book club but being forced to read specific books makes it feel more like homework than reading for fun, so…create a literary society where we just talk about the books we are currently reading. Any genre. Plotting commences.
I saw this tweet the other day from SketchesbyBoze on twitter that said:
Immediately I decided that this is my current situation…I am in my year of reading frivolously. 📚 I have been in school for so long that I have rarely read just for myself in the last 10 years. Now, since my masters degree is complete I am free to read just for the pure joy of reading. As on January first I have already read or listened to 10 books. I feel more like myself than I have in a very long time.
I am also in a place with my writing where I feel like some writing will help me feel inspired. So I am reading, a lot. I reset my book goal for the year to 72 books, or six a month, with the possibility to change again if my current speed keeps up. I am reading like I am running out of time, or perhaps making up for lost time.
I have loved everything I have read so far. And I have found several authors who I am eager to work through their other works. Other than A.K. Mulford and T.J. Klune whom I already acknowledged I also enjoyed The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue which was absolutely lovely and bittersweet and the first two books of the Paper Magician series by Charlie N Holmberg. I am getting lost in these wonderful worlds and highly recommend the books and authors.
On Saturday, at noon, several witches met at the gazebo in Goodale Park in Columbus, Ohio. We took a few pictures and then set forth to take a walk through the Short North.
We proceeded to promenade until we reached The Eagle where we grab brunch and cocktails.
My delicious Sandwich.
After brunch we walked up to Prologue where I picked up two books:Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor and High Times in the Low Parlinent by Kelly Robson. I also got a cute bookmark and a whole bunch of stickers.
Then my sister and I headed to Dark Market. They had amazing vendors, and Sacred Shimmy performed. Here is a video of Sacred Shimmy performing.
I bought a bunch of different things. Several crystals, a spell frog, caramel apple body scrub made by my friend Heather, peacock quills, Mothman Earrings, and a big red hair flower with an anatomical heart. I could have bought so much more.
Here is the extended cut of Halloween Countdown for 21 – 22:
Do you ever read a book and it isn’t necessarily scary but it just leaves you with a skin crawling feeling of creepy? These are not always horror books, but are the books that just keep you on edge and leave you uncomfortable even after the book is done. Here are some of the books that have done this for me:
Mexican Gothic was one of my favorite reads for 2019/2020, but it absolutely left me with some major icky creepies. This is the story of Noemi who is sent to retrieve her cousin after she receives a missive from the cousin claiming that her husband is trying to poison her. She heads to High Place to find her cousin is quite ill, the house is covered in mushrooms, and everything about this home is creepy. I cannot recommend this book higher, but be prepared for the effects to linger.
Geek Love is the story of a traveling carnival who goes to extreme lengths to create children who can fill their freak show. The book is so good, but just leaves you with this feeling of bleagh.
Palahniuk was barely scraping the surface of wild in Fight Club and that is never more obvious than in Haunted. The plot is a “writers group” gets locked into a old Theatre and becomes a social experiment. I have whole scenes from this book that I will never forget. Not for the faint of heart, but a truly creepy read.
The story of an adult man who “falls in love” with a 12 year old girl, gets rid of her mother, and makes himself the girl’s guardian so they can “be together”. Everything about this book is cringy, creepy and leaves you feeling icky.
The one that started it all. I read this book at an age that was far too young, probably 10. Certainly I was not prepared for child abuse, starvation, incest, rape, and one incredibly graphic scene after being force fed castor oil. Yeah…not horror but horrific.
This is my list of the creepiest books I have ever read. Have you read any of these? Do you agree with my assessment? Do you have books you would add?
My older sister, Krystie, was in town the end of last week and the weekend. We went to dinner at Studio 35 Friday night to get to spend some time with her. After that I came home to record WTF Did I Just Watch Podcast with Jenny and Jean-Paul and fellow guests Randy, Jon and Char discussing the 1983 Stephen King joint Silver Bullet. It was a really fun and funny discussion of a batshit bananas film.
Saturday we headed down to the Ohio Renaissance Festival once again. It was romance weekend. I barked for Wench Collecting before gate and for about 40 minutes after open. People were eager to play which is always exciting. Once inside we decided to try the new ramen place Dante’s Third Circle. I got mine Tingly Tongue spicy, and Seth got Why did you do this, lol. It was pretty dang good. We bought some boozy cakes at Let Them Drink Cake and bought a friend a pendant from my friends at The Wired Viking. At 2:15 the Wenches met for a photo.
We had some amazing conversations with our fellow ORFans and left basically at close and headed home.
On Sunday Chris, Niki and the Niblings came down to Ren Faire as well so I took a break from barking, but still got collected quite a bit. I bought a beautiful felted flower from A viking Wife. Seth and I decided that in honor of our 10 year anniversary we would take part in the mass vow renewal that happens on Romance Weekend.
Photo 1 courtesy of Stephen Kohus
The ceremony was very sweet. The officiant quoted Neil Gaiman. I cried (not that this is shocking). We found family again and ran around a bit until it was 2:15 and time for the wench picture.
I met several new wenches, and talked to some I never get to talk to. It was really nice. Niki also decided she wants to be a wench! So we are going to work on that.
More faire photos from Romance Weekend.
I knew I had a podcast to record later so we headed out so I had time to watch Dracula and get ready to record. So watch out for GGG to cover the Bela Lugosi classic soon.
Monday we had dinner with my Mom and sisters again because Krystie needed to head home to Oklahoma Tuesday. We got a family photo while we were together.
Halloween Countdown for 14, 15-17 and 18. Tomorrow starts my double countdown.
I follow several authors on TikTok one of which is Katelyn Brawn aka @atomicapplepie. She announced that there would be a book box for her book Pumpkin Pie so I jumped at the chance to support someone I follow and bought the box with the hardback book cover. I decided to record a video of the opening and then I will describe the contents.
Video of Book Box unboxing
Aside from a hardback copy of Pumpkin Pie I received: a bracelet made by the author, a tube of bath soak, a honey soap, a pumpkin spice honey lip balm, honey stix, a beautiful fairy book mark and author themed tea in Henry David Thoreau which was apple based and sounds delicious. Oh, and a recipe card for the pumpkin pie made in the book.
Overall it is a super cute box, I can’t wait to make some tea and read my new book.
I realized that I forgot to post my Halloween Countdown for yesterday so I clipped them together and here is day 9 and 10:
We spent all day the 8th at the Ohio Renaissance Festival and then came home and were in bed exhausted by 8pm. It was a beautiful fall day and Viking Weekend which led to possibly record breaking numbers at Ohio Ren. Plus we had visiting wenches from Michigan who invaded and were part of Wench Collecting this weekend. It was a busy but fun day.
I got to wear my new custom Journeyman Leather Corset. It happened because last year we walked in so my mom could pay for her custom bodice from them (it has the Breast Cancer ribbon on the back). Morgan, the man making pieces for them last season, was looking for pink leather in the boxes of leather and came out with this deep brown fringe. He said he had no idea what they would do with the fringe because they got it in a big lot of leather they bought. I raised my hand and said, “Um, If I were to buy a corset could you put it along the top?” And he thought a minute then said, “Yeah, we could do that. Do you want it on the top front and back and the bottom as well both sides.” Of course I said yes. It turned out amazing!!
The other day in celebration of our anniversary Seth and I went to the forge for dinner and to play board games. I got 3 drinks while we were there: Zombie Killer cider, Dryad’s Orchard Sangria (Witches Brew Pumpkin Spice, Captain Morgan Apple Spiced Rum, Apple Cider) and the non-alcoholic Crisp Caramel Apple (Apple Cider, Caramel Syrup and a splash of Ginger Beer).
In fall, but in general, I love drinks with Apple Cider. I love apple in general, but there is something about apple cider that I just adore! Already this October I have personally consumed about a gallon of apple cider, which is a lot. Damn.
My grandma always used to make this: a gallon of apple cider. Half a bag of cinnamon red hots.
Bring to boil in a saucepan on the stove and serve hot. To make this boozy I would add some cinnamon schnapps and half the red hots.
Another fall favorite for us is cheap butter beer. Use a bottle of beer – Killians is what is called for but this is also a great way to get through bad beer. A generous shot of butterscotch schnapps.
Pour into a glass and drink. It is delicious.
I love fancy mixed drinks, but these are some of my favorite fall simple drinks. Do you have a favorite fall drink?
Here is the Halloween Countdown drawer of the day:
Betsy Snow White Bibliophile 