I recently watched two Hallmark movies, To Barcelona, With Love & To Barcelona, Forever. (I know, two Hallmark themes in a row.)

It's been a while since I have watched any Hallmark movies, even the ones that sound good to me or have actors I like in them. Because sometimes these movies bore me to death. They move so slow sometimes and there's nothing gripping about them. That said, I think I have figured out what I really need in order to watch Hallmark movies.

1) I need to be doing something else at the same time, like writing or playing games on my phone. Hallmark movies are a bit like baseball games, where they do not take 100% of your attention and trying to give them 100% of your attention just makes you go crazy. Put them on in the background and it's almost perfect!

2) These two movies were as much (if not more) about the friendship between two women as the romances, and I enjoyed that. That's why I enjoyed the Wedding Veil movies so much; the friendships between the three women was very front and center. (Is it a coincidence that Alison Sweeney was in both movie series? Possibly not.)

Does anyone else have this same issue? What have you done about it (besides swear them off forever, lol!)? Anything else you want to talk about?

I hit Price Chopper and the Bakery while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park. I even got my breakfast at the Bakery (a bacon, egg and cheese bagel sandwich) because

a) I got a late start (Pip got up at 3:30am coughing – he has some awful coughing fits in the mornings – and stayed up, so between him getting ready for work and getting the dogs in, I also was up, BUT, I went back to bed after he left because I did not want to BE up), and

b) McD’s has been so freaking cold in the mornings, not just cool, but as if you’re sitting inside an industrial freezer cold, and I’m sick of freezing my arse off, so I decided to just not go there this morning.

I did two loads of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went on several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, stopped by the library to pick up books, scooped kitty litter, and shaved.

I watched some HGTV and Hallmark. I also got to play with Baby A this afternoon!

Temps started out at 44.8(F) and reached 81.3. It started out cool, but it got quite warm out.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )

I got my flu and covid vaccines this morning. *fingers crossed* I don’t have any major reactions. I also hit Walmart and Agway while I was downtown and got in a walk around the park.

(I was awake for a couple of hours in the middle of the night being all irritated about Monday’s appointments and wondering just how disruptive mom’s radiation appointments are going to be (since they’re daily for five weeks), and I decided to get the things I already had on next week’s Walmart list today so I could at least stop being annoyed about having to miss my usual shopping day. So, that’s one thing off my mind now.)

I hand-washed dishes, went for several walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, scooped kitty litter, and showered. I also went to the bank, donated to my local public radio station, and placed a Chewy order.

I typed in ~1,300 words of fic and hand-wrote ~800 more on a different fic. I was on a fic roll today! I also watched some HGTV.

Temps started out at 51.8(F) and reached 75.9. The morning temp was a huge surprise. TWC originally called for it to be 39, then last night when I looked it said 43. I did not expect it to be over 50.


ETA: Tonight's visitors. No more spots!




Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay. ( more back here )

We had another visit from the coyotes this morning; this time around 4am. Thankfully they weren’t as close to the house (aka, as loud) and they moved through quickly. (I also think I heard them yesterday morning at some point, but Pip says he didn’t hear them, so I’m not sure whether I dreamt it.) They haven’t been around all summer, so I guess it’s our turn to host them. o_O

This was another no-shopping day, but I got in a walk around the park even though it was Very Cold. Pip called me just before I left downtown because he was in a “pickle”. I groaned, because his pickles become my pickles. There was a snafu and I needed to run to the tractor supply store to pick up some parts. It was still so cold at that time (about 8:30am) and I’d just been out in it for a walk, that I was thinking I would be too cold to get my usual ‘reward’ smoothie. However, between the sun and the heater, I had gone from cold to toasty by the time I got there, so I did get my reward smoothie after all! *g*

I visited my aunt, did a load of laundry, hand-washed dishes, went for a couple of walks with Pip and the dogs, cut up chicken for the dogs' meals, and scooped kitty litter. We had grilled hamburgers and potato salad for supper. (The potato salad was so good, if I do say so myself!)

I read a bit more in Winging It and watched some HGTV programs.

Temps started out at 35.2(F) and reached 65.5. The temp must’ve been lower in the morning because there was frost on the old t-shirts (lol) Pip used to cover the mums when I left the house this morning.


Mom Update:

Mom was doing okay today. ( more back here )

I won the bid for kingstoken at sunflower_auction!! Their offer was to create a cover or moodboard. I asked for a cover for either of my Jessica Fletcher, Agent of SHIELD stories, or for the series as a whole.

kingstoken made two different versions of a cover and I thought that they would both work great, one for the series and one for the second fic. They agreed and kindly added text to both covers and made me TWO covers.

Thanks to kingstoken for creating such wonderful covers and for going above and beyond!!


~*~

What I Just Finished Reading: Since last Wednesday I have read/finished reading: Children of the Storm (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) by Elizabeth Peters, A Death in Door County (A Monster Hunter Mystery) by Annelise Ryan, and A Bitter Feast (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) by Deborah Crombie.


What I am Currently Reading: I just finished the Duncan Kincaid book yesterday, so I haven’t started anything yet, but I have picked a book off my shelf to read: Winging It with You by Chip Pons.


What I Plan to Read Next: I currently have zero unread books out from the library (how did that happen?!!), but I expect some in soon, so probably one of those.

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Book 102 of 2025: Children of the Storm (An Amelia Peabody Mystery) (Elizabeth Peters)

This book was really good, but it was the last few lines that made me chuckle and have to go back to re-read them several times. ( spoilers )

I really enjoyed this book and am giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥

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Book 103 of 2025: A Death in Door County (A Monster Hunter Mystery) (Annelise Ryan)

I enjoyed this book. ( spoilers )

I liked this book well enough to request the second from my library; I'm giving it four hearts.

♥♥♥♥

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Book 104 of 2025: A Bitter Feast (A Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James Mystery) (Deborah Crombie)

I really enjoyed this book! ( spoilers )

This book was really good; I'm giving it five hearts.

♥♥♥♥♥