Doggy Daycare Starter Pack

I’ve mentioned how I’ve been working at a doggy daycare. The place I work at is a bit understaffed. We have enough people to do our jobs but if someone needs to leave the play area, the front of house person has to cover for us.

In the pen we’ve got collars, slip leads, poop bags, paper towels, and hand sanitizer along with the mop buckets, water bowls, and trash cans. We don’t have toys or treats to prevent resource guarding or potential aggression.

These are the basics but I need a bit more to get through my day.

I have a little pouch of items I keep with me to minimize my need to leave the pen.

• Tissues: For when my nose gets runny or cleaning the occasional bulldog face fold.
• Eye drops: I have major dry eyes so I always keep some drops handy
• Ear plugs: Our daycare is in a warehouse so when you get ~80 dogs playing and having feelings, it can get LOUD. These have made my job so much easier.
• Lip balm: I bite my lips. This helps stop that.
• Sleeve holders: We’re discouraged from ‘customizing’ our uniform tees so I use these to roll up my sleeves on warm days.
• Energy gummies: If it’s been a rough day, I’ll have one of these toward the end of my day. Whether these actually work or it’s a placebo effect, I still like them for $3 a pack.
• Gum: Another way to perk me up. Since a big chunk of taste is smell, I move the gum under my tongue for the gross necessities of my job.
• Protein bar: We are allowed food but I’ll still only eat a small bit of this at a time if I need it. My little bag is plastic lined so it helps trap the smell.

I always have a water bottle and am trying to wean myself off cherry Pepsi. Some dogs look at me like “Share?” when I open my soda. I also have my phone so I can use the timer and take photos. When things are slow, I have some fun with their ears.

TBR Jar: The Ultimate Flowchart

This month’s jar read was brought to you by The Ultimate Flowchart. I opted for edge of your seat fiction but had read 2 out of 3 and didn’t want to read the third. So I went with a close substitute courtesy of a giveaway from Paper Obscura. To quote my local library, “[The Woman in the Window is] THE big fiction hold this month.”

It’s a thriller about a shut-in in NYC who sees something happen at her neighbor’s home but nobody believes her. Based on her condition, should she even believe herself? I loved how it sounded but was disappointed in practice.

It was written in a literary style which I hate in a thriller. I can appreciate a more literary or lyrical style but not when you’re trying to build suspense. It also took 200 pages before the book really kicked off. I didn’t need that many pages to understand our narrator is an unreliable mess. The classic film noir references were also very heavy handed. I went through a Hitchcock phase. I get it. Thank you.

Instead of being a thrill ride, I was often bored or frustrated. I wanted to yell at Anna to take a shower and the author to hurry the hell up already. It felt like such a slog to me that I completely missed the title coming to life in more than one way.

I will give major props on several unexpected twists but almost all of them happened in the final 100 pages. It’s interesting but a slow simmering literary thriller is not my jam. 3/5

Casual Challenge Update

We’re 2 months into the year so it seems like a good time to do an update.

Book Riot

• One-Sitting Book – The Cute Girl Network
• Female protagonist over 60 – What Happened
• Hates cover – Fire & Fury

A cute contemporary graphic novel and Hillary Clinton’s memoir, both 4 star reads. The first was sweet and puts an interesting spin on dating with a skater and a slacker. Clinton’s memoir is very important and will continue to be.

Popsugar

• Mental health – Turtles All the Way Down
• Borrowed/gift – The Woman in the Window
• Sport – The Cute Girl Network
• GoodReads Choice award winner – What Happened
• Ugly cover – Fire & Fury

I won TWITW from an Instagram giveaway from Paper Obscura. I’m leaving the unboxing vids pinned to my Insta until March so check it out if you’re interested what they offer in a bookish box. As for the book, I did a full review but it was OK.

I was not a fan of F&F because it had rushed editing and was a poorly quality of writing. It’s important now but will not be remembered well in 10 years. This cover is terrible and I’ve seen better on social media done as pet projects.

GoodReads 52 Books

• Features A, T, & Y in the title – Turtles All the Way Down
• Text only cover – What Happened
• Murder – The Murders of Molly Southbourne
• 2018 release – The Woman in the Window
• Deadly sin – Canto Bight

Some arbitrary goals I get a kick out of, like the ATY. It was an accurate representation of mental illness and a very compelling story.

Canto Bight has more than a few of the deadly sins but greed and envy feature very heavily. It was a fun expansion on the universe.

Reading Glasses

• Mentioned on the pod – The Murders of Molly Southbourne
• Graphic novel – The Cute Girl Network

TMOMS piqued my interest but I didn’t commit until Brea raved about it.

Modern Mrs. Darcy

• Memoir – What Happened
• Read in a day – The Cute Girl Network

I finished TCGN in a couple of hours and donated it to a little free library. I enjoyed it and I hope the next person does too.

In other news, I’m scrapping the Bookish challenge. I’ve got enough here to keep track of.

D Is for Double

Every time Molly Southbourne bleeds or vomits, a double of herself appears. Time and experience have taught her that most of them will try to kill her if she doesn’t kill them first.

I saw this at my library and my interest was piqued but I didn’t commit until it got a solid review on Reading Glasses. It’s a novella (117 pages) so I can’t go into much detail. It gives you enough answers that your satisfied but not enough information that you can easily stop thinking about it.

This story was fascinating and exciting so I’m looking forward to finding more of Tade Thompson’s writing. 4/5

F Is for Fire and Fury

I got my hands on this book a couple of week’s ago. I didn’t finish it sooner because it wasn’t an easy read for me.

The writing is mediocre and has choppy editing. It moves from one vignette of ridiculousness to the next. There’s even formatting to indicate this was a deliberate choice. The lack of flow plus Wolff’s underwhelming writing style made this a slog. A lot of the content also felt like old news due to highlight reels coming out when the book did and the steady flow of leaks in the news.

Wolff also has a shady reputation. Allegedly, some of his off the record moments were put into this book and some things are of questionable truth. One reason this blew up the way it did was Trump trying to shut it down. Had he ignored it, the world would be less curious. The efforts to stop this book from existing made the world give a scummy journalist more credit for veracity than he deserved.

This is a very flash in the pan type of book. It’s important *right now* but will not be important when the next administration rolls around. It will not be remembered as history marches on. This is a 2 Star book getting a 3 Star review because it’s relevant to critical current events.

Productivity

I feel like I must accomplish a ridiculous amount of things in order to be productive. I woke up with a massive sinus headache today so I went back to sleep hoping to get rid of the pain. It worked but it took until almost 1 PM. I then began a mad scramble to check off my to do list which included:

-Cleaned the toilet

-Packaged and mailed books I sold

-Dropped off packing peanuts at UPS

-Got the mail

-Showered

-Made breakfast & lunch

-Dropped off books at a little free library

-Donated books to my library

-Returned a library book & picked up a hold

-Packaged and mail 2 Poshmark orders

-Photographed and listed 12 items on Poshmark

-De-furred my work clothes

-Did 2 loads of laundry

-Listened to 4 podcast episodes

Before bed I will probably:

-Repack my bag

-Take 1 Bookstagram photo

-Watch the Olympics

-Make dinner

-Put away all the Poshmark items I listed

Why do I still feel like I didn’t accomplish enough today? Why do I do this to myself? I got a ton of stuff done considering how my day started. This is a know problem among women where we don’t give ourselves enough credit. No more!

Despite feeling like crap, I took care of myself and conquered most of my to do list. It was a productive day. Go me!

Music Monday: Bad Friends

Need a song for a romantic breakup? They’re available by the truckload. Friend breakups? They’re a little harder to come by. Taylor Swift did give that niche a bit more awareness with Bad Blood so let’s hope some other artists follow suit soon. I did a major clear out of toxic and unrewarding friendships last year. These songs helped keep me sane.

Spot Me.

The Last of Me by Bree Sharp
Game Shows Touch Our Lives by The Mountain Goats
Friend of Mine by Lily Allen
What Friends? by Bettie Serveert
Fake Friends by Sigrid
Bad Blood by Taylor Swift
We Used to Be Friends by The Dandy Warhols
Look What You Made Me Do by Taylor Swift
Ignorance by Paramore
Throne by Bring Me the Horizon
True Friends by Bring Me the Horizon
To the Wolves by Anberlin
Somebody that I Used to Know by Jonathan Young

Last year, I ended several friendships that were unhealthy and/or didn’t serve me well. To some of them, I wish the best, and the rest I invite some of them to dance barefoot on Legos.

Media Monday if You Don’t Love Love

Relationships and love are complicated and messy. Today I bring you:

My Spotify playlist about how love can suck

Where Should We Begin?
Esther Perel’s podcast about relationships and all their complexity.

Dear Sugar
Formerly an advice column, now (and for several years) a podcast featuring the past two writers, Cheryl Strayed (yes, that one) and Steve Almond.

Twofer Challenge: N Is for Network

The Cute Girl Network by Greg Means to be exact. The women of Brookport have formed The Cute Girl Network to warn each other of bad guys in the last cal dating pool. Jane really likes Jack but should she? I wouldn’t say the concept is realistic but it doesn’t disturb my willing suspension of disbelief.

This story is a sweet contemporary about dating and a little about skateboarding. As well wacky as this concept sounds, it’s completely believable to me because there are some folks need their drama fix. One of Jane’s friends is a little too into Jane hearing all the negative things about her potential beau. I kind of wanted to smack her. Again, I’ve seen people do far worse in the name of protecting a friend.

One of the biggest ‘lessons’ this book has is that some folks aren’t bad people just for being wrong for you. You have to make up your own mind and figure it out for yourself. It’s part of what makes dating suck and rock. Overall, a light, fun ride. 4/5

February TBR

There are two things of note determining this month’s TBR which is why it’s getting its own post.

Read-a-thin

The Read-a-thin is back! That is one of my big goals for the year so of course I’ve got a few. I’m more focused on reading my shelves than checking off the challenges so my list is

• Fire & Fury by Michael Wolff (started, not finished)
• Everything the Remains by Joshua Fields Milburne (started, not finished)
• Glitter Kiss by Adrianne Ambrose & Monica Gallagher
• I Promise Not to Suffer by Gail Storey
• Under a Kansas Sky by Maureen Cummins
• Trapped Tales (Columbia Writers anthology)
• Courage Is Contagious edited by Nick Haramis

Library Holds

When it rains, it pours. I had a lot of holds come in so I’m hoping to binge and get most of them done.

• The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson
• The River at Night by Erica Ferencik
• Winter People by Hennifer McMahon
• The Woman in the Window by A. J. Finn
• Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

Again, I probably won’t get to all of these but I’m going to try.

TBR Jar

I gave it a good shake and drew the Ultimate Flowchart. I weighed a few options via the Flowchart. ‘Modern dystopian fiction’ which was The Hungers Games & The Giver. I’ve read both so I went back along that same track to ‘edge of your seat.’ I read and loved ‘Totalitarian Theocracy’ as well as ‘international thriller’ and I intentionally spoiled the ‘psychological thriller’ back when it became a film.

However, I think I can stick with this track since I’ve got The Woman in the Window waiting for me at the library. It fits the spirit of what the flow chart intended and kills two birds with one stone.

That is my crazy, impossible TBR for February. Wish my luck and happy reading.