Weekly Progress on 101 Things - March 28-ish edition

OK, another week with not much progress. Here's a wrap-up arranged by category.

Travel - Oregon [nothing]
Travel - Washington [nothing]
Travel - Rest of the World [nothing]

Crafts:

• Worked on a Scrapscription album (Just Be You).  Will have it finished by next week. Here's a progress picture.

Entertainment and Culture:

• Read a 50 state book (Vermont).  Review below.

Household:

• Made the Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole.  Had to make some changes (used mozzarella instead of Swiss and didn't have Dijon (could have sworn I did!) so just used regular yellow mustard.
• Spent some time every day purging work email, and also did a purge of personal. So, I'm counting this one good for Quarter 1, 2015.
• Cleaned the pantry in February and have kept it organized. Worked on the freezers as well, so I'm considering this one done for Quarter 1, 2015.

Personal:

• Read 3 more books
• The Silent Girls by Eric Rickstad.  A dark, psychological thriller set in rural Vermont.  Excellent sense of place (apparently cell phone coverage there is extremely sporadic) and good character development. Former police detective turned private eye Frank Rath is asked to help the police department with a string of disappearances. He brings his own demons to the investigation - his sister and brother-in-law were murdered 18 years ago and he adopted their 6 month old daughter. The murderer is coming up for parole.  If you like dark, noir-like mysteries, I recommend this. I won't reveal the ending, but there had better be a sequel!
• Bind the Soul (Steel & Stone Book 2) by Annette Marie.  Borrowed this through Kindle Unlimited. Entertaining urban fantasy. Main character is a young woman who is training to be a Consul - a mediator between human and daemons. This time, Piper has to go to Hades to try to rescue one of her daemon companions. Needless to say, this isn't easy and she undergoes considerable hardships. I've already downloaded Book 3.
• Witching on a Star by Amanda M. Lee.  Book 4 of the Winchester Witches series. Quick fun read about a family of witches in rural Michigan. Interesting characters and a good read when you don't want to think too hard. 
• Wore fitbit every day this week and made my 10,000 step goal on five out of seven. Had health issues on the two days I didn't make 10,000, so I'm happy with this. I totaled almost 66,000 steps for the week, which was 26.5 miles!

Miscellaneous [nothing]

Weekly Progress on 101 Things - March 21 Edition

OK, so not much progress this week. Boo! Here's a wrap-up arranged by category.

Travel - Oregon [nothing]
Travel - Washington [nothing]
Travel - Rest of the World [nothing]
Crafts [no progress]

Entertainment and Culture:

• Picked up our Mariners tickets for the two games for this year:  
• April 25 - Kuma Bear Hat night
• August 8 - Jamie Moyer Hall of Fame Induction

Household:

• Made the Baked Blueberry and Banana Oatmeal. It was different than I expected but tasty. It's made different than other baked oatmeals I've tried - basically you put the fruit in the bottom of the pan, mix up the dry ingredients and pour those over the top of the fruit, mix up the wet ingredients and pour those over the dry, then put more fruit on top. It all came together nicely and disappeared quickly from the pan. So, I would consider it a success.

Personal:

• Read 2 more books
• Chase the Dark (Steel & Stone Book 1) by Annette Marie.  Borrowed this through Kindle Unlimited. Entertaining urban fantasy. Main character is a young woman who is training to be a Consul - a mediator between human and daemons. Though most of the book, she is accompanied by two daemons - an incubus and a draconian (dragon) - who are helping her in her fight to find her family and clear her name. I don't like giving away much plot in my reviews. Let's just say there is a magic stone that has been stolen and everyone is trying to find it to use for their own purposes. I just downloaded Book 2, so I recommend this if you like fairly dark fantasy.
• Younger by Suzanne Munshower. Received this for free as one of my two free Kindle books for March. Thriller with medical/philosophical themes. The question is: if a product existed that would safely take 30 years off your appearance, would you use it? Would it change how you saw yourself and how would you feel in the way it changed others treated you? Anna gets some answers to those questions as she eludes the people who want to kill her and get the formula for themselves. A quick read - entertaining enough to spend a couple of days on.
• Wore fitbit 5 days this week and made my 10,000 step goal on three of those days!

Miscellaneous [nothing, except did add one more goal]

Weekly Progress on 101 Things - March 7 Edition

Today's report on 101 Things Progress.

• Read two books.  Neither counted towards the 50 state goal, since one was set in California and I've already used that, and the other was in an alternate Earth, so I don't think that counts.  However, they were both excellent (although entirely different).
• Multiple Wounds by Alan Russell.  Stand-alone psychological thriller about a murder, a woman with multiple personalities (most straight out of Greek mythology), a police detective with a haunted past and a psychiatrist with demons of her own. Interesting, complex and a good mystery to boot. This is my second Russell book, and I am going to search out more.
• Vision in Silver: A Novel of the Others by Anne Bishop.  Man, do I love this series!  So much so that I pre-ordered this, the third installment, on August 6, 2014 when I first saw it was available. So much so that after I finished this, I started reading the first one again. It's a hard series to describe, especially without giving away too much of the plot, and I would definitely recommend beginning with the first (Written in Red) but if you like urban fantasy, shape-shifters who are NOT romanticized and a compelling portrayal of an alternate Earth, this is a must for you. 
• Made the recipe plan, and followed through with some, but there were a couple of days when cooking was just not on the agenda.  A full report will follow tomorrow, but for the 101 Things, we'll talk about the Monte Cristo Strata.  Everyone liked it - quite cheesy, even though I didn't use all that was called for.  Forgot to buy the fresh sage, so used a sprinkle of poultry seasoning instead. Had Fontina cheese that I'd got for a recipe I ended up not making, so used that instead of the Gruyere.  But I DID use Black Forest Ham, which I don't usually buy and I think it was better than regular deli ham.  I might stop showing food pictures, since I clearly have no idea how to photograph food, but here goes:

• Technically this isn't done yet, but we're going today to pick up tickets for an upcoming Mariners home game.  My son got me a ticket voucher for Christmas, and today is the first day I can exchange it for the actual game. Might also get some for the game on August 8, which is the day Jamie Moyer gets inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame. Saw Lou Piniella's introduction last year (as well as Edgar Martinez a few years ago). 

Next week will see some of my "Travel Oregon" items done, since we're leaving Thursday morning for a trip to the coast.  We're staying in Yachats, the town where we'd love to retire some day. See you next Saturday!

Weekly Progress on 101 Things - Feb 28 Edition

So, here's what happened this week in the world of 101 Things:

• I finished one book.  It was a book that I received through the Early Reviewers program at LibraryThing.  If you are a reader (or collector of books like me), I can’t recommend LibraryThing enough.  It’s more than just a way to keep an inventory of your books – it’s great for recommendations, conversations and general book information. I’m owlie13 over there – check out my library!
• Whiskers of the Lion by P.L. Gaus.  Set in Ohio, this book is part of the Amish-Country Mysteries series.  That sentence contains my main problem with this book.  Often when you jump into a series, you feel a little left out of the loop.  For this entire book, I felt like I was watching part two of a “to be continued” TV show or the second film of a trilogy.  I was expected to care about people I knew nothing about because all their backstory was in the previous episode.  The story itself was interesting, the setting was definitely interesting – I learned quite a bit about Amish culture – but I just had a hard time with feeling like I had missed the first 10 chapters of the story. So, definitely a mixed review.
• Created my meal plan for the week (see prior post) and made most of the recipes. The one I’m counting as my new recipe for the week was Parmesan Crusted Chicken from Once Upon a Chef.  Delicious!  The chicken was moist, the breading stayed on the chicken, and by pounding the breasts thin and cutting them into smaller pieces, I was able to feed 4 people with 2 (large) breasts.  The fact they were thin also made them cook quite quickly. Another winner that will be added to our regular rotation of dinners.

• Spent about 2 hours putting more of my Pinterest recipes into Plan to Eat and filling out the missing columns of my spreadsheet.  (201 out of 688 still to add to PTE).

That's it for this week. Come back next Saturday (or Sunday) for another exciting installment!

Weekly Progress on 101 Things - 21 Feb 15

So, here's what happened this week in the world of 101 Things:

• I read two books, both through Kindle Unlimited.  I'm not very good at book reviews, but I'm going to give it a try.
• Witching You Were Here by Amanda M. Lee.  This is the third in a series about a family of witches in a very small Michigan town.  Lots of humor but it's not really a comedy.  A fairly quick read.  The setting is very important - it's winter and a major snowstorm plays a role.  If you don't like sarcasm, this is not the book for you.
• Burning Man by Alan Russell.  Police procedural set in Los Angeles.  The protagonists are a detective and his dog.  In addition to the humans and canine, the weather - the Santa Ana Winds in particular - is also an important character.  I liked this one, and will pick up the second in the series.  The dialogue can be a little much (no one is that quick-witted) but a good story and interesting character development.
• Created my meal plan for the week and stuck to it for the most part.  Did order out one night because we were both not interested in cooking. The new recipe was Triple Berry Baked Oatmeal from 5 Dollar Dinners.  It was heavenly.  My picture is not great - go to the website for a much better one.  I used frozen berries since fresh are either not available now or way too expensive and it worked great.  I had a piece for my lunch the next day - it's just as good at room temperature as it is hot.  Definitely putting this into the rotation.

• This one isn't complete in that I haven't gone yet, but I did buy tickets to go see Eddie Izzard in June.  Went to his concert the last time he was in Seattle, and he puts on a great show. Absolutely hysterical. He's at the Paramount, which is a lovely restored theater. I can't wait!

That's it for this week. Come back next Saturday for another exciting installment!