Weekly Recap

 

We're at the point in the year where 2025 is half over and it'll be Christmas before I know it. I also had to really look back at my calendar and ask myself what happened this week. Time is a construct, or something like that ...

Big Update

I finally broke down and bought a new computer. The one I had is a hand me down from my parents and to be honest, is older than my teenager. It was so old that it wouldn't hold any battery unless it was plugged in, and it was insanely slow. I took advantage of a 4th of July sale, and now have a new chrome book that is way fancier than anything I've ever had ... it even has a touch screen! Let's just say I've spent lots of time this week playing around with Canva, so be prepared that I may start doing some changes around here. 

Craft Time

Ok, so I have been doing a lot of diamond painting this week. I finally finished all of my dragon coasters, the dinosaur key chains and the dinosaur stickers. Next up as far as projects for working at home is the dinosaur print that came with the dino diamond painting kit. And for train projects, I have some more bookmarks to diamond paint while we pass time on the train and on vacation. 

ARC Season

I've managed to be part of quite a few ARC teams recently. ARC teams are people who get advanced copies of books before they are released in exchange for your honest review of the book once it gets released. I also somehow accidentally signed myself up to be part of the street team for a multi-author series of books being released this summer, which is how I am on the ARC team for every book. So, I've been doing a lot of reading. I'll post more about these books in their own separate posts, but here are the three that I reviewed this week. 2 were released this week, and one will be releasing on Tuesday. 

TBR Summer Reading 

One of my big focuses this week was selecting books to finish off my TBR Reads summer reading Bingo card TBR Reads is a local indie bookstore, and I've been going for blackout on their bingo card. The blackout prizes are either a $10 gift card or a space man book light, and to be honest I'm not sure which ones I would pick. 

I only have 3 squares left before I'll have blackout! So I'm planning to use that 11 hour train ride each way to hopefully knock it out while we're on vacation! I'm currently doing a breakdown of the books I've read for the challenge on Instagram, but I'll post a full list on here once I complete blackout. 

Cool Eats

Probably the coolest thing food wise for this week was a tea party dinner that I did as the watch party for a family movie night. One of the squares on the summer reading Bingo card was to read a book and then watch the movie based on the book. I chose Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, so I spent way too much time shopping at way too many stores to select the foods for our family tea party. 

Weekly Roundup

Last Read: Best Kept Vows by Maya Alden. I have been WAITING on this book to drop and it did not disappoint! A good grovel, but no cheating. Just two people who have been married for 20 years and some complacency and misplaced family loyalty. 

Currently Reading: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins. I only have 3 chapters left, so I see myself finishing his one today. Love Takes a Tumble by Suzanne Ash, this is one of the books in my ARC Season and it comes out on 7/15, so I need to get to reading it so I can start on the next two in the series before I get the next two 😃

Obsessing: This train trip our family is leaving on! I have my packing list made but a trying to figure out in my head how to pack all the snacks I want to pack, haha. I have learned that Amtrak luggage restrictions are not the same as airline luggage restrictions, so my personal item that I always bring on flights actually doesn't count as a personal item for Amtrak, it counts as a carry-on.