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This week in…: Volume 21

June 19, 2015 by Jana 23 Comments

This week in reading…if we’re friends on Goodreads, disregard what it says as “currently reading” because I cannot keep my currently reading books straight. I started Some Luck and while I’m enjoying it, others are popping up. Like Hidden Bodies, Caroline Kepnes’s follow-up to You (thank you, NetGalley). You all know how much I loved that book and it’s nothing short of a small miracle that I don’t have to wait until September to read the new one. I also started The Husband’s Secret and other books like The Long Home are back in waiting which means that current reads are being mixed and matched like Punky Brewster’s socks.

This week in shit I don’t care about…The Stanley Cup. The NBA finals. The release of the new 50 Shades book (this one actually has me asking why? Why another book? Do we really need his perspective? No. No we don’t. E.L. James, we need to have a long chat). Firefly. Well, I care a little about Firefly only in that it affects traffic near my house. GO AWAY, concert revelers. Find another route.

This week in TV…Anyone else excited for True Detective? I know the casting was controversial but I love me some Vince Vaughn and I’m looking forward to seeing what he does in this kind of role.

This week in podcasts you should listen to…If you’re not already listening to Criminal, do that. Also, Book Riot has another podcast, All the Books!, and it’s a weekly one devoted to new book releases. Crime and books. My two favorite subjects.

This week in things that are awesome…the kid in Washington who started an Instagram account that praised and complimented his classmates. This story about Laverne Cox and her reaction a 7 year old trans girl. The volunteers organizing all the books in a Philly high school’s basement.

This week in Internet reads…This article and accompanying video on how much sleep you actually need and the cumulative effect of sleep debt. If you’re into the Myers-Briggs personality tests, you might like this post on classic novels for each personality type (I’m an INFJ and the recommended book is Ulysses by James Joyce, which is extra funny and coincidental because it’s one of the books in my and Alyssa’s upcoming reading challenge). This post is originally from February but it’s important because it gives you all the reasons why you should stop using your smartphone in bed (this is a good accompaniment to the article about hours of sleep). And, finally, for all my fellow 80s kids, here’s a list of things we could do in school that kids today most definitely cannot.

This week in funnies…

Have a great weekend! Happy Father’s Day to those celebrating! See you back on Monday with a recap of my favorite books of the year (so far).

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Love, Hate, Tag

June 15, 2015 by Jana 38 Comments

The lovely Nadine has tagged me for Love, Hate, Tag, which is a game that’s pretty self-explanatory. List 10 things I love, 10 thing I hate, and then tag 10 others to do it. I’m doing the post in reverse and tagging anyone who wants to do it (or needs a post idea) because I hate picking people for stuff. Perhaps this is why I was never a successful team captain in elementary school.

In any event, let’s check out some of what I love and hate. If you’ve been around awhile, some of these should not surprise you at all.

Love

Books–I had to put this first. Books are my favorite. Everything is possible inside a book. And if you read books, you’re never at a loss for something to do or something to talk about. I could go on for paragraphs and paragraphs about how much I love books. But I’ll spare you. FOR NOW.
Music–one of my favorite quotes is “music is what feelings sound like”. It’s true. I feel about music the way some people feel about paintings or photography. Music, like books, is there for me when I need it and I can always, always match music to my moods.
Dogs–most dogs, anyway. Some dogs are assholes. But the fluffy, unconditional love, not to mention hours of free entertainment, from dogs is incomparable. Plus, they make great nap buddies.
The beach–the smells, the sounds, the sand, the relaxation…everything about the beach improves my mood (except at peak time in the summer when it’s filled with tourists) and my ideal day is a day at the beach with a good book and a great playlist.
Gritty and dark TV shows–I don’t know why. I’m drawn to them. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good comedy but given the choice, I’m picking one with blood and violence and dark humor and suspense and a bounty of the word “fuck”.
Nail polish–the colors, the variety, the way it makes me feel better about my appearance even on a day I feel or look like crap.
To-do lists–I have a messy mind and the messier it gets, the more my depression and anxiety kick in which makes my mind messier and the depression worse and it’s a vicious cycle. To-do lists help calm me down, help me focus, and keep my life in order. They’re my favorite tool next to my planner.
Iced tea–it’s my favorite drink of all time. Unsweetened, please.
Naps–I don’t understand people who don’t take naps. How can you not enjoy sleeping in the middle of the day with a comfy blanket wrapped around you? A midday nap is perfect for a rainy Sunday, a too-hot Saturday or a random Wednesday. As a perk, it’s free. I like free.
Travelling–experiencing new places and food and sight seeing and relaxing are all some of my favorite ways to use my time and money, and if I had more money, I’d spend it on travel.

Honorable mention–my crockpot, pickles, polka dots, and baseball

Hate

Mistreatment of animals–no reason to explain why. It’s essentially the most despicable behavior possible.
The Westboro Baptist Church–fuck them. Seriously. Fuck. Them.
Bad drivers–I have zero patience for inconsiderate drivers, road bullies, people who don’t understand traffic rules and signs, and exercise zero consideration for other drivers.
Toasted marshmallow jelly beans–Disgusting. An abomination to the jelly bean world. See also: buttered popcorn jelly beans.
Anything orange flavored–I’ll spare you the details but let’s just say that a childhood incident means I am forever scarred from being able to consume anything orange flavored. No juice, candy, the fruit and its cousins…all of it.
Humblebragging–please, just brag. I’d rather deal with your conceit than deal with you pretending you’re not full of yourself. Or you fishing for compliments.
Bugs–they bite, they crawl, they fly at you, and they’re just awful. I’m sure somewhere, they serve a purpose but really, they’re awful and can go away.
The people who play their car music so loud it shakes your car and deafens your ears–there’s a special place in hell for them. Probably next to the Westboro Baptist Church.
Ignorance–specifically, using that ignorance and then spouting off opinions and misinformation as if they’re actually grounded in fact and using them to further a hateful agenda. With the vast amount of information available, there’s no excuse for ignorance and not taking the time to learn or gather information is inexcusable. See also: hypocrisy
When people say my name wrong, I correct them, and then they keep saying it wrong–thanks for listening, jackass. Much appreciated. Also, it’s not a hard name. And it’s spelled J-A-N-A. It’s pronounced with a short “a”. Does not rhyme with Dana. So why would you call me Jenna? Is there an “e” in there? No? Maybe you need to relearn your phonetics. A revisiting of the alphabet would help, too.

Honorable mention: rap music, hangers facing different directions, finding that one spot on your leg you thought you shaved but didn’t

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This week in…Birthday edition!

June 5, 2015 by Jana 36 Comments

It’s my birthday, bitches!!! Today I turn 38 which is all kinds of crazy because on a good day I feel 12, maybe 13 except I have a child and a mortgage and spend a ridiculous amount of time feeding other people/animals or worrying about what to feed them so I guess that actually makes me a grown up. I’m excited for today and all the freebies I will be accumulating and the fact that we’re going to The Everett Theater (featured prominently in Dead Poets Society, specifically the theater where Neil performed in A Midsummer Night’s Dream) to see The Goonies! Birthday win!

And now let’s do a quick recap of the rest of birthday week:

This week in reading…Finished Wonder, working through Alex Woods, finished a book written by my friend Nick (I’ll be sharing more about this in a few weeks), and started Big Little Lies. Picked up Jon Krakauer’s Missoula: Rape and Justice in a College Town. Show Us Your Books is this Tuesday, June 9 and Alyssa and I will be announcing a yearlong reading challenge this summer so brace yourselves for that. I love how much of my week is devoted to books or thinking about books.

This week in TV…Maybe you know this, maybe you don’t, but I believe that Wentworth Miller is one of the best looking men on the planet. He’s been on TV recently in The Flash and there’s some other superhero show starting next year that he’ll be on, too but the big news is that FOX IS CONSIDERING BRINGING BACK PRISON BREAK!!! #sorrynotsorry for the shouting but I just about lost my shit when I read that. It’ll be an “event series” like they did with 24 but I don’t care. Give me all the Prison Break and give me all the Wentworth Miller. Thank you, Fox, for this gift.

This week in cooking…My husband’s favorite meal that I make is stuffed shells. I don’t make them often because they are a huge pain in the ass. But this time I got smart. This time I made 2 pans of them, one to eat this week for dinner and lunches and one to freeze for the next time he wants them. I wish I had a recipe to share but I don’t because I make them differently every single time. I also used homemade marinara sauce for this batch and holy shit, did it taste even better.

This week in things that are awesome…I know people are split on their opinions of The Big Bang Theory as a show but if you don’t think the fact that the show’s creator established a scholarship fund at UCLA for low income science students with the stars of the show contributing money towards the initial $4M endowment is awesome, you need to rethink your definition of awesome.

This week in internet interestings…My husband, in addition to his full-time job, is a part-time adjunct instructor at a university so this article in The Atlantic (shared on FB by a friend who is a full-time professor) about how poorly adjuncts are paid and the effect on their performance and ability to serve students hit home. Jennifer Weiner knocked it out of the park again with her post for The New York Times on the pressure to look good. Then there was this post from Buzzfeed about how someone impersonated the reporter to trick a sexual assault victim into giving up her real name but the most interesting takeaway for me was learning about some guy named Chuck Johnson. I was blissfully unaware of him until that post, and he is the reason the internet can be a dangerous place (confession: I fell into the “I must learn all about him” rabbit hole at one point). The contempt I have for him is on par with the contempt I feel towards the Duggar parents after watching their “interview” on Wednesday night.

This week in birthday funnies…

Have a great weekend, y’all! See you back on Monday with a post topic TBD.

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This week in…: Volume 19

May 29, 2015 by Jana 14 Comments

Weekly recap. Let’s get to it for this very slow, boring, uneventful week.

This week in reading…In the middle of Wonder and The Leisure Seeker. Alex Woods, Some Luck, and Big Little Lies are next. Also, this is your friendly reminder for the next Show Us Your Books linkup which happens on June 9.

This week in cooking…I made the easiest dinner the other night, one pot pasta with vegetables. Here’s what you do: Mix 2 cups of sauce (I make my own but you can use jarred as well) with two cups of water. Bring to a boil. Add roughly 8 oz of pasta (or, if you’re like me, just dump in a bunch of noodles until you think it’s enough) and a bag of frozen vegetables. Cook until the pasta is done. Add cheese if you want.

This week in TV watching…Thanks to Kathy, I plan to check out Bosch because you can never have too many gritty cop shows in your life. I also decided that I’m finally going to watch How To Get Away with Murder because I meant to watch it when it aired (and by watch, I mean DVR) and never did. Summer TV sucks so I figure it’s a good time to catch up.

This week in gardening…The husband one again created a huge garden in the backyard. Some plants are doing well (corn, pumpkins), and others (peppers, cucumbers), not so much. He did bring volunteers (I call them tributes) home from my in-laws’ and they seem to be surviving thus far. Our garden is officially the hunger games.

This week in what the fuck…So where I live has two main residents groups. One is public, anyone can join and the other is a private/secret/whatever group. I was a member of both. I’m not very active on Facebook at all so I didn’t visit or post in the secret group with any sort of regularity. I was removed from the group as a result. I know they do that, cull people who they think are lurkers or spies from the public residents group (I know) but seriously, what the fuck?

This week in WHY???…Another installment of The Human Centipede is on its way. I can’t even. If you aren’t familiar with The Human Centipede, please look it up. It is the most disturbing, fucked up thing in the history of everything and I don’t want to describe it or even link to it.

This week in things that are awesome…Did you guys read that Jon Stewart bought a farm in NJ to use as an animal sanctuary for homeless animals? Could he be any more fantastic?

This week in internet reads…Loved this post from The Accidental Missionary (not a blog I read regularly but someone I follow posted a link to this post) about how moms need to stop being overachievers. This post on Social Media Week calls those of us born in the late 70s/early 80s The Oregon Trail Generation since we never really feel like Gen X or Millennials, and how we’re different and why we don’t identify fully with either group. Then there was this list of 14 Things Every Fat Girl Needs to Hear (although I feel like we can take out the word “fat” because every girl needs to hear these). And finally, this interview with Amy Schumer, Kate McKinnon, Ellie Kemper, Lena Dunham, Gina Rodriguez, and Tracee Ellis Ross in The Hollywood Reporter. Ladies are fucking funny, yo.

This week in funnies…

That’s it for this week. Have a great weekend, y’all! See you back on Monday!

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This week in…:Volume 17

May 15, 2015 by Jana 14 Comments

This week in adulting…I left my full-time job just about 3 years ago. I finally, just this week, got around to calling the pension office to find out my options regarding my contributions. Still no will but one step at a time, amirite?

This week in cooking…I made whole wheat peanut butter bread. YOU GUYS. It is unbelievably delicious and next time, you can bet I’ll be adding handful or more of chocolate chips. It was crazy easy, too. Peanut butter, flour, baking powder, some sugar, and milk. All things I always have on hand. My daughter had hers with some honey on it. You can also add jam, jelly, Nutella, anything else you feel might work. This is the recipe I used if you want to make it for yourself.

This week in reading…In addition to True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, I started Saving Francesca plus Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Biography by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Some Luck by Jane Smiley were procured. I have a hell of a reading month ahead of me, especially when you add in all the books I already have). I also think my reading is contagious because the even the husband has two books on his nightstand.

This week in TV…THE FIRST TRAILER FOR THE NEW MUPPETS SHOW WAS RELEASED!!! Yes, I’m screaming, and I’m only slightly sorry about it. For those who are new or who might not know, I am a Muppets fanatic (seriously. Last year, for our 10th wedding anniversary, the husband got me a vintage Muppets lunchbox and it was better than jewelry) so the announcement that ABC was considering an new Muppets show made me giddy. Then they said it was definite and I finally have a show to look forward to this fall (it’ll air Tuesdays at 8PM).

This week in things I don’t give a shit about…American Idol being canceled. I think it’s way overdue, tbh. Anything related to The Bachelor/Bachelorette. There’s something else, too, but I care so little about it I can’t even remember what it was.

This week in things that are awesome…Even though I’m a Mets fan, I can still appreciate when another team does something amazing. It’s why I fell in love with Hank the Ballpark Dog last year and this week, I learned that the San Diego Padres, every year, renew the minor league contract of a brain injured player so he can qualify for health insurance. We hear so much about the crappy actions of athletes and teams, we should pass it on when they do something like this.

This week in internet reads…Did you guys read Alyssa’s post on why blogging is stupid? No? Go read it now then come back. It’s okay. I’ll wait. Now that you’re back, you need to check out both parts to the NYT investigative piece, The Price of Nice Nails (the second half examines the health and medical issues faced by manicurists). It’s extremely eye opening and I read a follow up piece that Governor Cuomo has ordered emergency measures to combat the poor wages and conditions in nail salons in NY. As someone just like this, Elite Daily’s piece, 10 Things People Tough on the Outside but Soft on the Inside Wish You Knew resonated with me. Oh, and in case you missed it, check out my guest post for Erin that’s all about the supreme badassery of Dolly Parton.

This week in funnies…
Have a great weekend everyone! I think I’m going to a local orchard’s strawberry festival on Saturday and then visiting with our old neighbors (we finally get to meet their baby!) on Sunday. It’s a whole lot of plans for a homebody like me but it should be fun. Looking forward to seeing you guys back here on Monday with a topic TBD.

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This week in…: Volume 21

Love, Hate, Tag

This week in…Birthday edition!

This week in…: Volume 19

This week in…:Volume 17

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