Kathiey's World Lifestyle Vlog. Books, Family Food, and Fun-June 2020 continued...

Welcome to my world.

June 2020 Continued

Books

What I just finished...

I can't say I really finished it, it was a DNF for me.  It is a fine middle-grade book and there is nothing wrong with it I just could not get into it and I found myself skimming like crazy.  It is interesting in that there are different worlds, interesting characters, and animals that can talk.  Yes, a true fantasy.  For me and my level of interest in the book, it was not worth the effort to finish it.  Life is too short.  This is a book series and the books do seem to stand alone but they are connected by place and people.  I remember feeling the same disinterest in the first book and I am not really sure why I bought the second one.

What I am reading now

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes.  This one I am enjoying.  I am around 100 pages in and I already have a love for some of the characters.  This book takes place in the hills of Kentucky in the 1930s.  The storyline follows a few young women working with the Packhorse Librarians of Kentucky.  This program was developed by Eleanor Roosevelt to bring the gift of reading to the people in the hills of Kentucky during the Depression.  These brave women rode mules or horses into the rough mountain terrain and had to deal with the dangers of the land itself as well as some of the not so nice people they met along the way.

Food

I have been enjoying my Home Chef meals.  If I did not order this service there are many times I would just make a sandwich for every meal and my Dr. said "no more of that".

This week I made

Honey Ginger Salmon with roasted sweet potatoes and bok choy.
The Salmon was delicious and the sweet potatoes were very good too.  I like bok choy and mushrooms but I did not like this version so I replaced them with peas.  What was wrong with it you ask.  I don't know but the mushrooms were really bitter.  Other than that it was a great meal!

Today I am making New England Style Fish Cakes and tomorrow Chicken and Chipotle Crema.

Wine

I have a lovely wine rack.  The problem with the wine rack is that it is empty.  I usually buy my wine at the grocery store and when I do I usually pick up one bottle.  My go-to place for wine has been World Market because if you buy 4 or more bottles you can get a discount so I was able to get some really good deals.  

My new goal is to fill my wine rack.  I joined a wine club called Winc and I just received my new box.  I will be doing a video on that soon for my Youtube Channel.  I am going to open the box today and plan to open one of the bottles to go with my dinner.  World Market has been closed due to COVID but I just looked online and they are open.  

My wine rack holds 24 bottles and now it is totally empty.  The goal for next week will be to have it half full.  In order to do that I will put three winc bottles in plus what I get at World Market and maybe I will visit a wine store.

Hopefully, next week you will see a mostly full and much neater wine rack.

Upcoming Unboxings

I have done a few unboxings in the last couple of days.  I unboxed StitchFix which is one of my favorite style boxes.  I unboxed a Trendsend today and I did not like anything in the box so I won't be getting them again.   One box that I love is Margot Elena which is a seasonal box with lots of lotions and other smell-good items.  I also unbagged some items I bought from Amazon.  All of the unboxings except Trendsend will show up on YouTube in the next week or so.

Outings

I am one that loves outings.  I love to travel.  I love the mountains and exploring new places.  Sadly many of the places I want to visit are closed or have so many restrictions that it seems more of a hassle than a joy to visit.

I have a new camera so maybe I will find a trail tomorrow and try it out.  

Fun

I am still working on puzzles for fun.  I just did a post on stress relief and puzzles.  I never knew that the act of putting together puzzles can help you relax.  I have put together 3 puzzles in the last couple of weeks and I have 3 more to work on.  I guess you could say I am enjoying a puzzle marathon.

TV

I am watching Worse Cooks in America which is a silly yet fun show.  I am still watching those poor souls on My 600 Pound Life.  I can only take it in small doses, it is a very difficult reality for some folks.

Movies

I watched a rather silly movie called Crawl.  It was a film that came out in 2019.  This story takes place during a major hurricane.  The hurricane is not the only problem, there are alligators and they are all about killing people.
You will love this movie if you like to watch huge preditors chasing a father and daughter down in the middle of a hurricane. I have not seen Shrarknado but this movie brought it to mind only with alligators.
The closing song was "See You Later Alligator" which was fitting.

Brodie and Roxy

Brodie is my dog and he is 12 years old.  Roxy is my daughters dog and she is just a bit older then Brodie.  Both Brodie and Roxy are rescues that we adopted from a shelter in Chapel Hill.  Erica is out of town this weekend so Roxy is my house guest.  

Brodie is in the front and Roxy is resting behind him.

You would think that looking at this photo that Brodie is in charge.  That is not the case.  In the initial stages of their relationship, Brodie was in charge but over the years the pecking order has shifted.  Brodie now knows his place in the relationship and does his best not to make Roxy angry.  Roxy is scary when she is angry.

Thanks for joining me for a review of my week.

I hope you had a great week.

Take Care and God Bless!

KathieyV