it's like a train wreck, only fluffier

So tired. Managed to get eleven orders out today; I'm gonna count it as crafting for this week because my fingers are too damned sore to touch anything else (I normally like to get orders out quickly, but I tend to ramp up for pre-Xmas orders just for the delay on the post). Like, I'm literally typing and scrolling with middle fingers because my index fingers hurt.  Anyways:



I'd have gotten a couple more done, but Steve sent the wrong colour in my leather order.

We finished watching The New Adventures of Monkey last night, and really enjoyed it.  But it kind of made me think about how I binge watch most everything these days - even if it is released weekly, I wait until it's done.  There's no fannish speculation or dwelling on individual episodes for me there.  Something I'm going to have to think about.  Like, I watched all three seasons of Unforgotten a few weeks back and haven't even mentioned it yet. 

One of the things I've waited for and then binged is the Bag Man podcast, by Rachel Maddow.  Really interesting if you're following politics at the moment (due to parallels), or are curious about the other shit that was going on during Watergate. Can recommend.

Anyway, gonna go slog through this book I'm trying to read some more.  It's heavy going.  (Fear, by Bob Woodward.  Would only recommend if you like his other books, or haven't read all this stuff already in easier to consume books).

 I planned to get a load of work done today, but then my leather order didn't turn up and I'm just like "...?"  So, there's that.  It's probably as well, to be honest, as I've been spacey af.  I ended up spending a few hours zoning (put on nature sounds, close my eyes, don't sleep but just... drift) because I couldn't manage much else.

I finished the Midnight Eye series.  I picked them up because of the author's Carnacki pastiche, and they're fairly solid Urban Noir.  Not OMG AMAZING, but I enjoyed them.  I started on The Magpie Murders yesterday, I think?  Or the day before, I'm all blurry at the edges.  I enjoyed the first part, but it's gotten a bit weird now so IDK where we're going with this.  I swear if it doesn't tell you who the killer is then I'm gonna be mad.

I've completed one bingo fill and started working on another, but both match multiple squares, so I'm just going to work out the deets laters.  Haven't done much on DS Thewlis novel this week, but I have research to do for that one, so it's natural for it to slow a bit while I wait for the books to arrive.

 I only had one notebook to make yesterday (shop soooo slooooow at the mo), so I got everything pressing, and then instead of doing some of the shop-admin, or practising my leather-stitching, I procrastinated by making a book sleeve.  Keep in mind that all my sewing tools are buried under kitchen stuff (still waiting for workmen yay) so it was a bad time, but my brain wants what it wants.
( Project Pictures cut for the sake of your flist (I'm still going to call it a flist) )

Random booktuber: Pet-peeve: you don't have to give spoilers in your summaries!  For example, I can summarise Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters series with two things: Harry Potter plus Buffy.

Me: *death wheeze*

Reader, I nearly choked to death on my own sore throat. #neverforget #jfctheyhavenoidea #almostliterallydedfromlol

 I am trying to get better at this blogging business, lol.

Have worked through some of my 'to-do's - got fertiliser down in garden, emptied out videos and moved fluff into that cupboard, and cleared out under the cherry.

The insurance continues to be a problem.  The worktop seems to have dropped a bit, and as a result the tap leaks, so the worktop is now warped from damp.  Yay.  The leak happened in November, it's now February.  We still have an only semi-usable kitchen that's decaying in front of our eyes.  Congratu-well done, AXA.

In other news I've been looking at book subscription services, and I really like the idea, but I don't think they'd work for me because what if I don't like the book that's sent?  Any money spent on books I don't want to read is less money to spend on books I want to read?  There was one that really caught my eye which sends books from different countries, plus a hot drink and a snack from that country.  I really like the idea of that one, but the trouble is I like a very limited amount of coffees and allergies and my dislike of hot spices torpedoes the hot drink and food side of it.  But!  It did give me an idea: I've sent off for a colour-in world map (I like the scratch off ones better but they're 3 times the price and I'll probably slip and take out another country and then be annoyed with myself).  I'm going to try to read a book from as many countries as I can, and then get a tea subscription to cover the 'surprise box' and 'yummies' side of the subscription.  Jobsaguddun.

I have ordered one Book and a Brew box, but they have the option to order back-issues that they still have stock of, so I know it's a copy of NOS4R2 by Joe Hill, I just don't know what the brew will be.

As far as the tea subscription goes, I was planning to wait until I had the tea situation under control (as per yearly goals), but failed at that utterly in the wee hours of this morning and signed up for one.  I had real difficulty choosing between all the options, so I've decided to do three months of each and pick whichever I liked best after I've worked through them.  tea-enthusiasts won as my first option due entirely to having a 50% off coupon for their first month.

I've done a tea subscription thing before, years ago, when there was literally only one of them in the UK, and it was a total bust: they kept putting insufficient postage on the parcels, so crippled old me had to walk a couple of miles to pick it up, and also you only got one tea, so if you didn't like it you were stuffed for the month.  Most of the newer subscriptions I've taken note of do 2-6 teas, so at least your odds of the entire box being a bust are a bit lower.

Also looked at some vintage book subscriptions, Bookishly and Prudence and the Crow, but again the problem with not knowing the book - not to mention the tea portions with both seem somewhat wanting.  With Prudence and the Crow you can at least narrow down a genre, and with Bookishly the stationery is hella pretty, but eh, idk.  I think the tea subscription and book challenge is a better option.

If anyone wants to join in you're welcome.