Betsy Snow White Bibliophile

Tag: Blogtober

  • October 25- 27: October Bucket List, TBR and Book Bingo Check In!

    October 25- 27: October Bucket List, TBR and Book Bingo Check In!

    It has been a couple of days so, let’s check in on my October Bucket List, TBR and Book Bingo. I have already blogged about some of these events, but here we go:

    • Witch Walk 2022
    • Dark Market 2022
    • Carve a Pumpkin
    • Go to a Halloween Party
    • Celebrate our 10th anniversary
    • Attend Ren Faire at least once a weekend – It is the final weekend and once I hit October I have gone at least once a weekend.
    • Tales from the Crypt at Green Lawn Abbey – This is tomorrow night.
    • Finish and upgrade Mothman Costume for Faire – Got the final pieces on the way. Debuts on Sunday.
    • Read 4 books – I have read The Last Graduate, Pumpkin Pie, When Life Gives You Vampires and The Kiss Curse
    • Create a great basket for my spooky basket buddy
    • Have a fire and make smores
    • Send out Halloween Cards – Probably Hand delivering at this point. Shrug.
    • Complete the Lionarts Tarot Challenge for October

    So where am I at bookish Bingo:

    I got a Bingo thanks to The Kiss Curse! It put me over with people wearing disguises or costumes! This was genuinely fun.

    And the master video of Halloween Countdown for the 25th thru the 27th:

  • October 19 and 20 – Creepy Reads

    October 19 and 20 – Creepy Reads

    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?

    Here is the video for Halloween Countdown day 19:

    And from the 20th:

  • October 18 – Sisters, Podcasts, Sweethearts, and Faire Days

    October 18 – Sisters, Podcasts, Sweethearts, and Faire Days

    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.

  • October 13 – A Wonderful Gift and Book Bingo

    October 13 – A Wonderful Gift and Book Bingo

    My sister made me an amazing gift and gave it to me this past weekend. She used one of the horseshoes removed from her horse, Arlo. 

    As to where I stand on bookish bingo…no bingo yet, but I am hopeful.

    And the Halloween Countdown for the 13th:

  • October 12 – My October Bucket List Review

    • Witch Walk 2022
    • Dark Market 2022
    • Carve a Pumpkin
    • Go to a Halloween Party
    • Celebrate our 10th anniversary
    • Attend Ren Faire at least once a weekend
    • Tales from the Crypt at Green Lawn Abbey
    • Finish and upgrade Mothman Costume for Faire
    • Read 4 books
    • Create a great basket for my spooky basket buddy
    • Have a fire and make smores
    • Send out Halloween Cards
    • Complete the Lionarts Tarot Challenge for October

    I have added a couple of items and I am working on some of these but one is down.

    Halloween countdown for the 12th:

  • October 10 – I got a Book Box in the Mail!

    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:

    Days 9 and 10 of Halloween Countdown.
  • October 9 – Fall Adventure on the way to a Bridal Shower

    October 9 – Fall Adventure on the way to a Bridal Shower

    My Mom, sister Traci, aunt Gayle, and I were on our way to North Canton for my cousin’s daughter’s bridal shower and we were running a bit early. Then we saw a sign for Groovy Plants Ranch. And suddenly we were headed off the exit and heading that way.

    They had some of the most beautiful displays of pumpkins and gourds. I was excited to find that they were reasonably priced as well. I grabbed a large white cindrella pumpkin and another almost pink smaller one. I also picked up some cute little ceramic mushrooms and a bumper sticker for on my van.

    Behold the beautiful fall bounty!!

  • October 8 – Viking Weekend at the Ohio Renaissance Festival

    October 8 – Viking Weekend at the Ohio Renaissance Festival

    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!!

    And the Halloween Countdown for October 8:

  • October 6 – 10 years of White

    October 6 – 10 years of White

    Ten years ago today Seth and I got married in a ceremony that was so personal to us that we wrote the whole thing, lol.

    Our wedding was largely DIY for Seth, myself and many members of my friends and family. My mom made Seth’s vest and my jacket. Seth made chainmaille flowers, and our chainmaille handfasting cord. I made button flowers and assembled my bouquet, the bouquet for my sister and the boutonniere’s for the guys and lots of little things. My sister in law Niki made our cupcakes. Our friend Cliff made our “wedding topper” diorama and the steps that led to the stage. So many people helped us along the way.

    Our wedding was uniquely ours. There was a bit of us in every aspect of the wedding. Our wedding was even featured in offbeat bride which you can see here: https://offbeatwed.com/columbus-steampunk-wedding/.

    Here is to 10 years of marriage and 15 years as a couple.

    And…The Halloween Countdown drawer of the day: