I’m not really sure what makes this a King’s Crown, but it’s a nice enough pattern. I’m experimenting with reducing the number of rows on the ends (right and left sides in this picture) to see if I can get two dishcloths from one skein of yarn. With seven introductory knit rows at the beginning and end, I am just short at the end of the second dishcloth.
Payoff! March report
February started off as a very depressing month, money-wise. My shoulder was aflame in repetitive-motion-type hurt, so much so that I went to the doctor who referred me to the physical therapist. This was great! Except! According to my insurer, I would first have to pay my deductible of $1,250 before any physical therapy would be covered. Much sadness ensued as I realized that all of the money going toward the Payoff! goal would have to be rerouted to the shoulder project. But my shoulder hurt a lot, so I made the appointment.
Then, on top of that, I wasn’t going to be able to do my tax return until April 4, at the earliest. We were in line for a $1,300 tax credit for installing our heat pump, but the documentation I needed was not going to be sent to me until April 4, despite me having submitted my paperwork in late November. I’m someone who files her taxes in early February, so this was not good news.
Things got better by the end of the month. I pulled $1,250 over from my (now very small) emergency fund to use as a deductible and set a goal in YNAB to fully fund it to $1,250 by January 2019. That way, as I pulled money out to satisfy my deductible, the program would have me pay back a little each month until I was back to fully funded for the next year’s medical crisis.
And then the physical therapy didn’t cost as much as I thought it would. Despite being quoted as around $300 being billed to insurance for each session, when I got the bills, the insurance company would discount them by half and apply other mumbo-jumbo I don’t understand, so the physical therapy was costing me something like $75 per session, not $300. I hate how complicated insurance is, and though I read carefully the EOBs and also have a spreadsheet of my own to understand the system, I still don’t get it.
So, while I wasn’t able to make the full extra payment of $500 which is my goal, I made a bigger payment this month than I thought I would at the beginning of the month. Also, my tax form arrived sometime in late February, which meant I could start on my taxes sooner than April 4.
In February, I paid $595.12 which was my usual payment of $103.67 and an additional payment of $491.45. I was less than $9.00 from my $500 goal! $5.56 went towards interest and $589.56 to the principal.
My money for the extra payment came from $408 budgeted initially, plus $50 in cash rewards from my credit card. I also had $37.00 because I waited to re-up my gym membership until the month flipped, $10 in unused Dining Out money and $11.28 left over in my Random Fun Things To Do category. That adds up to more than $500, but I had to skim some off to pay for the amount I overspent on groceries this month. (That was another disappointing thing.)
My remaining balance at this point is just over $2,000. It is very, very, very tempting to use the last of my emergency fund to pay this off in one fell swoop, but I am going to try hard to stay the course.
We watch the Oscars
Laurie, Kelly and I assembled at Laurie’s house to watch the Academy Awards. Kelly wrote up a BINGO game, which I won.
I created a new game called the Happiest Oscar Viewer wherein you pick all the people/movies you WANT to win. This is different from picking who you think will win. As the winners are called, you highlight any of your picks that the academy agreed with, and the person with the most highlights is the Happiest Oscar Viewer.
Laurie won that contest.
Overall, it was snoozer of a ceremony. And I have pretty high tolerance for Oscar ceremonies.
Three sentence movie reviews: Zootopia
Most memorable for having the funniest preview before Star Wars: The Force Awakens; this was a fun animated film. I enjoyed the stereotypes of different kinds of animals, as well as the way stereotypes were fought against. I’m glad Ginnifer Goodwin is still getting work.
Cost: Netflix subscription
Where watched: at home, with Matt
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/zootopia.html
Three sentence movie review: Beautiful Creatures
I’ve wanted to see this ever since I saw Emma Thompson doing a southern accent in the preview, but I was reminded of it recently because Alden Ehrenreich plays young Han Solo in the upcoming movie, and I wanted to do some catching up with him.* This movie was great fun, having all sorts of movie delights: small town, southern, good/evil witches, an important birthday, first love, big weather things. Both Ehrenreich and Alice Englert** were enjoyable in this Southern Gothic frippery.
Cost: Netflix subscription
Where watched: at home
*He was delightful as Hobie Doyle in Hail, Caesar!
**Ehrenreich & Englert! Try saying that three times fast.
poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/beautiful_creatures.html
Spiraling is fun
I won a drawing and the prize was a $50 Visa gift card. I spent it on a spiralizer and my goodness, but that is a fun, superfluous kitchen item.
I’ve made pasta from scratch before, and it’s a so-so endeavor. The pasta wants to break a lot as you are rolling it out, and my memories of it are that it doesn’t taste as good as dried pasta.
But vegetables? They don’t break! If the surface being spiralized is big enough, the strands just keep getting longer. It’s very satisfying.
SKS Postcards: Natural History Museum and Book Postcard
These first two postcards came from the Natural History Museum. Though they are part of diorama-ramas, which I love, these particular figures creep me out.
Especially this one. Sara reports that she’s been busily checking things off her list, with her big deadline days being 2/28 and 3/1.
This is a book promo postcard that she has not read. (I haven’t, either.) She also talks of weather and the inevitable Minnesota snow.
Thanks, Sara, for the postcard update!
Coming home from the beach
We completed the Gearheart page of our passport (and I finished one more activity on my old passport that got me a $20 gift card) and chose our prizes. Matt went for the silicone cup, I went for the key ring/bottle opener, because I believe it’s good to have a back stock of key rings.
On the way home we stopped in Astoria to do some Job Spotting. I enjoyed the humor in this sad sign.
Here are a bunch of container ships, lined up along the horizon. It was hard to tell if they were coming or going.
Timer photo!
While Seaside was chock full of hiring signs, Astoria didn’t have very many at all. My theory is that families come to Seaside for Spring Break, so they start their hiring earlier than other costal towns.
We also did some experimenting with how best to divide the hiring signs we saw. Job Spotter quickly caught on that we were together and despite switching up a lot of variables, we ended up deciding the best method would be to trade off. Even with the many rejected duplicates, we made more than $20 in Amazon credit between the two of us. In two days!
An overnight at the beach
We spent our final Cosmic Tripster hotel stay at McMenamin’s Gearhart Hotel. But on our way there we stopped in Seaside for lunch and to maybe do some Job Spotting. (Matt has been introduced and also enjoys Job Spotting.)
This Inverted Room is a fun new tourist attraction. You pay $6.00 per person and you can take photos of you in inverted scenes. I find this concept rather brilliant, as it requires nothing more than the invention of inverted scenes, the rental of a storefront, and someone to take people’s money.
Here’s an example of one of the inverted scenes. We did not go in because it was not open. The hazards of a mid-week early-spring visit to the Beach.
The name of our room. This is a hotel with an 18-hole public golf course, so all the rooms have a golf theme.
Here is the quote that inspired our room.
Our self-portrait in front of the hotel.
A walk on the beach. (And why I love the beach in winter.)
Driftwood
The Gearheart Hotel was built long ago, and had some hard times before its revival as a McMenamins property. In the meantime, other properties were built between the hotel and the ocean. But if you squint…
…you can see we had an ocean view.
This was a very quiet McMenamins property which I think would benefit tremendously from the addition of a soaking pool. They are adding more guestrooms which will open this summer, but they will not be adding a soaking pool. Alas.
Books read in February 2018
Lotta picture books, read in a clump. Then I struggled to remember which was which for reviews. Oh, awards season. And I also read a lot of other things too, some of them rather obsessively.
Picture books: All Around Us
Middle grade: The Stars Beneath our Feet
Young adult: The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. But also: Truly Devious
Young nonfiction: Sea Otter Heroes. But also: Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix
Adult fiction: We Were Eight Years in Power
Smart smut: Brutal Game. But only if you’ve read Willing Victim. If not, then: Thank You For Riding
All Around Us
Gonzalez and Garcia
Read for Librarian Book Group
I loved the different kind of circles in this book and the illustrations were particularly excellent.
Side note that has nothing to do with this book: in Portland, Oregon the words of the title are used to promote the surround-sound environment at the St. Johns Theater. Which meant that every time I encountered the title I heard the power chord, mentally saw the balls bouncing, and then whispered “All. Around. Us.”
Effective marketing. It’s a thing.
La Princesa and the Pea
Elya & Martinze Neal
A retelling of the Princess and the Pea. The story rhymes, and some of the rhymes use Spanish words. It was easy to understand the meanings of the words from context, and there was a glossary in the back. I found the use of Spanish words completing the rhyme scheme to be delightful.
My Kite is stuck and other stories
Salina Yoon
Read for Librarian Book Group
What happens when a kite gets stuck in a tree? Some ineffective (and funny) problem solving.
Snail and Worm Again
Tina Kugler
Read for Librarian Book Group
Is is a mirror, or is it a penny?
I See a Cat
Paul Meisel
Read for Librarian Book Group
What does the dog see through the sliding glass door? Good repetition.
The Stars Beneath our Feet
David Barclay Moore
Read for Librarian Book Group
Sheesh, there’s a lot going on in this book. Should I start with Lolly’s love of LEGO? Or the fact that his brother was killed a few months earlier? Or the pressure to join a “crew”? Or his changing friendships? Or all the interesting things that happen at the after school club? All of these things flow through this novel in a masterful way that leaves me surprised to learn this is David Barclay Moore’s first novel.
Lucky Broken Girl
Ruther Behar
Read for Librarian Book Group
This is a great slice-of-life book for anyone looking for insight into the 1960’s New York City Cuban expat community, or what it’s like to spend a year in bed healing from two broken legs. There’s a lot of good detail, especially about the time as an invalid. (Maybe slightly too much detail in some places.)
Meet Cute
Various Authors
Various YA authors bring their best “meet cute” short stories in this winning collection. There were no duds.
Truly Devious
Maureen Johnson
This mystery has it all: boarding school environment, map, remote location, plucky heroine, a mystery in the past, a mystery in the present, a rhyming riddle, those magazine cutout messages, friendships made and strained, plus a brooding potential love interest. The worst part? It ends. The second worse part? It’s a cliffhanger ending and book two (of three) is not due until next year.
Truly Devious
Maureen Johnson
Sometimes, when I read a very good book and get to the end, I must then turn to the first page and begin again. Well done, Maureen Johnson. Well done.
Suite Scarlett
Maureen Johnson
Sometimes, when you read a really good book, you pick up another of the author’s books in an attempt to keep the magic going. While this is no Truly Devious, it was fun to experience the life of a daughter of New York City Hotel owners.
The Inexplicable Logic of my Life
Benjamin Alire Sanez
Read for Librarian Book Group
I found parts of this novel to be clunky. For example, there’s a point where the main character runs into his friend and the friend gives us a monologued paragraph with his entire life story–something that would not happen in real life. The plot tends to wander hither and yon, and two characters experience the same type of loss within a few months of each other, something I found to be unbelievable, especially since the main character has also experienced that same loss in his past.
None of these things on their own sank the book, but they contributed to me finding it to be a slog. Here’s hoping for a tighter narrative for the next book.
As the Crow Flies
Melanie Gillman
Read for Librarian Book Group
This book left me with a lot of questions. It was never explained to my satisfaction why such a secular person was going on such a religious pilgrimage-type hiking trip. The structure of the book set me up to be very interested in what happened when the hiking group got to the top of the mountain, but then the book ended before they got there. Is this a deliberate technique, or just poor storytelling?
Good stuff: the uncomfortable feelings of being an outsider, in this case, the only person of color among white people and a queer person among (presumably) straight people. The dichotomy of an all-women, Christian hike was interesting.
The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue
Mackenzi Lee
A rollicking eighteenth century adventure of a tour of the Continent gone wrong. This book is full of many emotional highs and lows and is great fun all around.
Frida Kahlo and her Animalitos
Brown/Parra
Read for Librarian Book Group
Picture book about what the title says. (Aside: I heard a picture book author talk recently, and he said, “This isn’t independent cinema. We know what the ending will be.”)
I liked the use of color, and the age-appropriate version of Kahlo’s biography.
Chef Roy Choi and the Street Food Remix
Martin, Lee, Man One
Read for Librarian Book Group
The story, the text, and the illustrations all came together in the story of Chef Roi Choi and his food truck.
Mama Africa! How Miriam Makeba Spread Hope with Her Song
Erskine & Palmer
Read for Librarian Book Group
South Africa. Apartheid. One woman and song.
Malala: Activist for Girl’s Education
Frier & Fronty
Read for Librarian Book Group
Picture book story of Malala. Bold color used in the illustrations.
Not so Different: What You Really Want to Ask About Having a Disability
Shane Burcaw
Read for Librarian Book Group
A nonfiction picture book about Burcaw’s life and questions children (and adults) might want to ask him. There are clear photo illustrations throughout and overall, the layout is great.
Sea Otter Heroes
Patricia Newman
Read for Librarian Book Group
This is the kind of book that makes me glad that Librarian Book Group feeds me a steady supply of nonfiction picture books. I wouldn’t be up for reading an entire nonfiction book about Sea Otters and their effects on a slough, but this was exactly the amount of cool information I wanted to take in. It’s also very informative in not very many words.
We Were Eight Years in Power
Ta-Nehisi Coates
If I had my druthers, everyone in America over the age of sixteen would read Coates’ article “A Case for Reparations” and then follow that up by reading “The Black Family in the Age of Mass Incarceration.” If you missed those particular articles in The Atlantic, happily, they are contained in this volume, along with six other essays, plus material that introduces each articles.
Aside from being an excellent “Public Intellectual” and his words being worth your time, this book has awesome end papers.
After Hours
Cara McKenna
I’m pretty tired–kind of worn down from accumulated work stuff. I’ve realized that when there is undue stress, illness or exhaustion in my life, I turn to my Smart Smut books. And so it was time for a re-read of this novel.
Brutal Game
Cara McKenna
Holy cats, there has been a sequel to Willing Victim out for more than a year and I didn’t know? What a terrible oversight. This picks up Flynn and Laurel’s story eight months after Willing Victim ends. Stuff happens to complicate things. The feelings are real. It’s a hot, worthy second book.
Willing Victim
Cara McKenna
Having read Brutal Game four days ago, I decide that it’s time to re-read this, just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything. I hadn’t. It was still good.
Brutal Game
Cara McKenna
And having finished my re-read of Willing Victim, why not see how the two books flow? Very well, it turns out.
Thank You for Riding
Cara McKenna
While some of McKenna’s opening novels of her series are prohibitively expensive, even in Kindle form, this is a mere ninety-nine cents right now. It’s a quick short story where the action takes place on the Orange Line of the T and as a former rider of Boston’s MTA, I applaud this story.