The year is getting old and the weather is turning cold. I hope I can move into my new house before the trailer water hoses freeze again! Last winter was brutal.
Word of the Month
Refresh
Bible Verse of the Month
Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” – (Act 3:19)
This month’s reading diary is at the bottom of this page, after the book list.
My Goodreads page: https://www.goodreads.com/lindajm
★ – I’m reading it.
✓ – I finished reading it. Yay!
⇗ – Still reading at the end of the month.
⇓ – I did not like it or finish it.
∅ – Stalled – I started but didn’t finish.
What I’m Reading Now
✓ Nonfiction: Here, There, Elsewhere: Stories from the Road, by William Least Heat-Moon
I’m listening to the audiobook version this month as I travel long distances. So far my favorite part was about how he makes walking sticks.
★ Christian Devotional: Earth Psalms: Reflections on How God Speaks through Nature, by Francine Rivers
I found this on the Cloud Library but it is also free to Audible members.
Planning to Read
☆ Nonfiction: The Johnstown Flood, by David McCullough
I will be reading this as a buddy-read with a friend I know from Booktube… starting November 19.
Impulse Reads
TBA, when the time comes.
My November 2023 Reading Diary
November 1 – A new month, yay! Today my new home was insulated with R-21 insulation on all the exterior walls. That should help keep me warm. I’m expecting it to be completely completed within a month. If it is done before Thanksgiving I might lose my inhibitions and dance in the street. Ha-ha. It would be so unexpected, but welcome. I’d love to live in a house again rather than in a 30′ travel trailer where I’ve been for three years. God knows. He knows it all. Today I found a few audiobooks to listen to on the Cloud Library. I’m still listening to the Least Heat-Moon book as well. One chapter at a time.
November 2 – Today was a day of errands. I fed the cats, moved the van out of the yard, went to town and picked up a package at the post office. It was from Christianbook.com and contained a ministry booklet for starting a Moms In Prayer group, a book from the same ministry, and a brown Bible bag for my NLT Bible that I take to church because the pastor there uses that version. Normally at home I gravitate toward the NKJV Bible for study and memorization.
More errands: shopping at the store, got cash from the bank, paid the sewer bill, bagged my household trash and took it to the transfer station aka: dump, ordered a mini Independence pizza at the local pizza place, and thank God for that! Also went to the gift shop and got a mocha and talked to Connie for a bit. So who says there’s nothing to do in a small town. The only thing I didn’t get done was to fill two more 5 gallon propane canisters. That can wait until tomorrow. It is raining this week and it isn’t much fun to stand in the rain waiting for propane canisters to be filled, and besides, it looked like the store was full of customers, so not a good time for that propane run.
It is so cold here now! One of the cats abandoned on my property in August is a female kitten about 6 months old. I just had her spayed last weekend. She wants to be my companion cat but has just been given the “Most Annoying Cat Ever” title because she persists on walking right in front of me everywhere I go. Either I’m going to trip over her or kick her or step on her, but usually I have to gently lift her out of the way with my foot.. or gently nudge her aside. I don’t want to accidentally kick a cat who just had major surgery! I hope she survives our relationship.
Today I picked her up to tell her to stop. She didn’t like being picked up and when I let go of her she went right back to walking in front of me. It wasn’t because she was hungry. I already fed the cats three times today. There are now six cats eating from my food bowls. Dorie has four and Sue has eight! There are too many homeless cats in this meadow. That’s why I’m particularly happy that I got three of the females spayed last weekend in Yreka.
November 12 – Can’t believe I’ve had so little to say this month, so far. I went to Yreka a few days ago because I was stressing over a medical insurance application. Good grief~ I thought, If I’m having this much trouble with an application at age 71 what will it be like when I’m 80? – Should I be lucky enough to make it that far. My mother and her mother both passed away at 85+11/12 – less than a month before their 86th birthdays… so I’m thinking, maybe my time will be similar. But my grandmother’s mother passed away in her early 90’s and she’s the one who was smoking cigarettes. Hmmm… so you never can tell.
Well, I got off to a morbid start for this update. Sorry.
Because I’ve been driving back and forth to Yreka so frequently lately I listened to the perfect travel audiobook: Here, There, and Elsewhere by William Least Heat-Moon. I like how he finds things that interest him in a location, then studies them, and writes about them. The book went into great detail on a variety of topics. Five stars of course, from me. I love his writing.
House news: The drywall is up now. It looks more like a house inside. This coming week the drywall contractor will tape and texture the walls and ceiling. Soon the custom cabinets and countertops will be installed in the kitchen, bathrooms and laundry room. Then what? The house is supposed to be ready before December and I’m really hoping for that. Last winter in this trailer was treacherous because the water and sewer hoses froze. I bought a heated water hose and the sewer hoses had to be replaced several times – at a great expense, I might add. I’m running over 50 feet of sewer hoses here. It is really ridiculous. I want to live in a house with a washer and dryer and refrigerator/freezer, etc. It has been a difficult three years since the forest fire destroyed my mobile home.
November 19 – I had a lovely morning at church. Afterward we had a church meeting and luncheon. Very nice. These days my reading is mainly an audiobook version of The Blue Sword. I’m doing a lot of crochet and binge-watching Married at First Sight season 13. Entertainment and psychology combined.
House news: This last week the house was painted on the outside. The color reminds me of the place where my father worked when I was a child… O.C. Jones & Sons, an asphalt paving and freeway construction company in Berkeley, California. My father was their accountant for about fifty years.
Today after church I decided to do some Sunday driving… a great activity for those days when you feel like spending money on gasoline and seeing the area at the same time. Of course around here the options are limited, regarding where to drive. I like to drive north and look at houses that are being built to replace those lost in our 2020 forest fire. It is great to see all the construction activity. The men who built my house are also working on two others along this route.
November 27 – I finally finished another book this month – The Blue Sword by Robin McKinney. Fantasy. Good enough story but I just don’t appreciate fantasy. Here’s the review.
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