The Monthly Herd-- October-- Where there were ALL the things!

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Oh my October.

I gardened.

I volunteered.

I couponed.

I blogged.

And blogged some more!

[Blog All About It] My Trees

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

This Month's Prompt
TREES! 

Ha! So when I was making up the prompts for the challenge I thought Fall! Trees! It would be beautiful! And then Fall was like eeeehhh I'm maybe not ready yet. Heh

But I thought I'd share my tree. We've known each other for almost 16 years. He's not the strongest of trees. But I just couldn't say...tear him out. So me and my tree we go through the years together.

So a year of my wee dogwood...

4 stars-- A Bone to Pick (Widow's Island #2) by Melinda Leigh

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Ooh yes. A Bone to Pick was a nice mystery that kept me guessing and left me even more curious about Widow's Island.

The Gist: An artist has been killed and naked paintings uncovered in his studio? Well they make for lots of potential suspects. They sure do.

[memes] Oh The Halloween Horrors! +my reading week

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

I wanted to meme. And only had one weekly post to do it. So there's a whole lotta memeage happening in this post. You might have to scroll down a bit to get the one you're looking for. 😸

Oh this week. Yeah. It was a special one. lol

G's feelings about not being properly worshiped
this week. lol

• I got a new laptop! My old one was having trouble staying charged and would suddenly die on me even when plugged in. Which made everything incredibly challenging. The new one is fine. It's a Dell Inspiron. We're getting to know each other still. lol Hopefully blogger-me will do better now that she has a reliable laptop!

1 star-- Emergency Attraction (Love Emergency #3) by Samanthe Beck

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

I've really enjoyed Beck's books and had such a good time with book one-- Emergency Engagement. And LOVED book two-- Emergency Delivery. It was one of my favorite reads this year.

Emergency Attraction and I, though? Well, yall, we did not get along. No, ma'am. We sure did not.

The Gist: It's been 10 years since things fell apart between Shane and Sinclair. He went off to join the Marines and by the time he was able to get in touch she decided she didn't want to hear from him anymore because he'd not contacted her soon enough. And so they went on to lead their separate lives. Now he's back in town for a job he's determined to set things right between them.

4 stars-- Close to the Bone (Widow's Island #1) by Kendra Elliot

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Close to the Bone was my first time with Elliot. And, oh, yall, I enjoyed it! I picked it up because I have been loving Melinda Leigh. They co-write this series and Leigh writes book 2. So a new author to try. And she was fun!

The Gist: Cate's been sent home to the island she grew up on to recuperate after being shot on the job. But during her down time...bones are found and with no one able to travel to the island she's called up to work the case. One that might be quite personal depending on who's bones they turn out to be.

4 stars-- Bluegrass State of Mind (Bluegrass #1) by Kathleen Brooks

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

The cover got me. I'm a cover ho. I won't lie. But I had a good time with it, too. 

This scene gave me a laugh. The ladies were having a rough go of things that day and decided to take it out on dessert. 

[memes] Oh Those Villains! + my week in books

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

I wanted to meme. And only had one weekly post to do it. So there's a whole lotta memeage happening in this post. You might have to scroll down a bit to get the one you're looking for. 😸

Whoa boy it got cold, yall. It was like summer...summer...WINTER! lol We're getting down into the 30s at night. Holy cow.

This was a pretty good week.

• I had the USO and food pantry. Both went well though were equally quiet.

• I loved the garden center I checked out. They were super helpful and assisted me in spending WAY too much money but look at the pretties! Totally worth it. I'm actually going back today. lol

Tasty Delights-- Sweet Potato Chickpea Stew

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

I've been in a food funk lately. Not that I've not been enjoying what I'm making but I just wasn't trying anything new, really. And I was missing that bit of creativity and adventure in the kitchen. 

A 16 hour rainy day proved just the thing I needed to get back in the kitchen and try something new. This time a Sweet Potato Chickpea Stew. 

Yall. It was SO good!

1 star-- The Rescuer by Ann Omasta

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

What the fresh fucking hell?! This is one of those reads someone should have stepped in and said no. Just...no. What a ridiculous mess. I'm actually kind of pissed it wasted my time. Yall. I'm about to have me a rant. So, yeah, there will be spoilers in this review.

The Gist: The heroine finds herself at the bank during a robbery and offers herself up as the hostage so they'll leave a little deaf girl alone. She'd been eye fucking the girl's daddy while waiting in line and just couldn't let her be taken.

4 stars-- Revenant (Lords of Deliverance #6) by Larissa Ione

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Ah man. I forgot how much I love Ione's books! It's been ages since I read from this series but I finally got myself together to read Revenant and damn. Just damn. Action packed and doesn't hold any punches. Lordy but it was good.

The Gist: Well. Blaspheme and Revenant. Their lives are...complicated. Being hunted by angels, dealing with Satan, families that'd make you wanna poke someone's eye out, damn inconvenient lusty thoughts about each other. Yeah. Life is more than a little bit messy. Even more so when they realize they're the ones who have to stop the big bad...somehow.

[memes] Pretty Libraries + my week in books

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!
I wanted to meme. And only had one weekly post to do it. So there's a whole lotta memeage happening in this post. You might have to scroll down a bit to get the one you're looking for. 😸

It was a pretty great week here! I got a TON of stuff done. And survived another hurricane. smh

• We got a ton of rain today and some impressive wind. Thankfully, unlike Flo, Matthew moved real quick and left us be. Whew!

• I got a new power washer. And then promptly had to call Danny in FL because oh my word it stated smoking! (too much oil) It did a great job and I've got the steps and sidewalks done. Next up the driveway.

4 stars-- It Had to Be You (Lucky Harbor #7) by Jill Shalvis

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

It's been a few years since I spent time in Lucky Harbor but I decided it was time to finish up this series and oh my word. So fun!

So two quotes today because they both made me laugh as Shalvis always does...

3.5 stars-- Vampire Most Wanted (Argeneau #20) by Lynsay Sands

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Oh Lynsay Sands. She does make me love vampires all over again. It's been a while since I've read in this series and Vampire Most Wanted reminded me how much I've enjoyed them.

The Gist: Marcus has a job. Check out a carnival fortune teller and see if she's possibly a rogue vampire. He just has to make sure it's the right vampire he's hunting and to do so? Well, he joins the carnival.

Tasty Delights-- Halloween Mummies

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Sometimes you need a little silly in your life. I saw this one floating around last year on Facebook and since I had hot dogs and crescent rolls from couponing (yay free things!) I decided to give them a go.

Totally cute and pretty tasty for a little holiday whimsy.

I think these would be great for kids to get them hands on and having fun in the kitchen. Super easy, yall.

[And So We Sing] Everything's Gonna Be Alright

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Taking a little break from books and herd to...sing a little. 

I heard this when things were rough with the herd and there were car troubles and I just really needed this one.

I'd not heard of David Lee Murphy and not a huge fan of Chesney on his own but together this one was working me.

[memes] Longest Reads & Urban Fantasy + my week in books

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

I wanted to meme. And only had one weekly post to do it. So there's a whole lotta memeage happening in this post. You might have to scroll down a bit to get the one you're looking for. 😸

Whew! It's been a busy week again. Lots of couponing (our store is having a big event), the USO, the food pantry, house projects, herding. Blog Ahead started and I'm making slow progress on that. But at least I'm doing posts! I haven't formatted posts since early July. So it's a good thing even if slow. lol

My shopping this week. Couponing is the best. I actually got paid 12.21 to buy all of this. lol One more day of the event (today) and I'm done! I have a couponing group if you'd like to join. I'm slowly doing things in there, too :)

4 stars-- Keep Me, Cowboy (77th Copper Mountain Rodeo #3) by Nicole Helm

Note: I accidentally deleted 6 months of the blog so this is a repost. All comments on the original posts were unfortunately lost. Sorry!

Oh goodness. Helm does know how to give you down to their bones fucked up and broken characters and make you ache for them. Keep Me, Cowboy was a short read but one full of feels as a family is forced to face how messed up they've become over the years and tries to piece their lives back together.

The Gist: 10 years earlier Cole left town and the girl he loved. He thought he was doing the right thing at the time but now that she's forcing him to come back to town and face his family (the one she wishes were her own) and her? Well, he's realizing maybe he hadn't had it right all those years ago after all.