1. I didn't have any meetings or anything today and finished up a good amount of work without interruptions, so I came home a little early. (I do have a bunch of meetings tomorrow, but hopefully they will be productive meetings and we can sort out some of the things that need to get sorted out.)

2. We got our ballots for the special election. There is only one thing on the ballot: the proposition to redraw California districts to be almost entirely blue if Texas tries to gerrymander themselves to be all red. Not a fan of gerrymandering in general and wish it were illegal, but if it is legal, Democrats should use it to their advantage, since Republicans are determined to keep as many people from voting as possible. This measure will only go into effect if Texas does it first.

3. We ordered dinner through Grubhub tonight and there was an item missing, which was disappointing as it was one I was really looking forward to, but it was just a side, not the main meal, and the refund process for missing items is really easy. This was my first time needing to get a refund like that, but I'm glad they let you do it through their site and not have to call the restaurant directly.

4. Chloe loves her box.

Currently Reading
The Manor of Dreams
9%. A former actress dies, unexpectedly leaving her mansion to the family of her old housekeeper, much to her daughters' shock. Suspicious their mother might have been murdered, the daughters stay in the house under the pretense of sorting out her things, determined to get to the bottom of it and keep the house for themselves. But maybe the house is also haunted?

The Caretakers
17%. The MC is a true crime filmmaker who helped get a man out of prison, only for him to kill someone after his release. Meanwhile, her mother dies suddenly and she and her sister are left a derelict old mansion, where she takes refuge to get away from the press. The true crime aspect reminds me a lot of Benjamin Stevenson's Trust Me When I Lie. The old mansion part hasn't really gotten started yet at the point where I am but the cover copy promises mysterious happenings.

European Travel for the Monstrous Gentelwoman
78%.

The Death of Public School: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America
No progress.

The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
34%.

Recently Finished
Death at the Fireside Inn
This was fine, but I won't be continuing the series. There just wasn't really anything that hooked me about it.

The Summer I Wasn't Me
YA novel about a girl who gets sent to a de-gayifying camp and falls for a fellow camper. I really liked this a lot.

Exquisite Corpses vol. 1
Another new Tynion series. This one's about thirteen wealthy families who secretly control the US, and in order to determine which family is in charge, every five years they select champions and have them battle to the death in a random small town. This year, the small town chosen is, of course, the one our MCs live in. It's okay so far, but I'm not as into it as many of his other series. We'll see how it goes.

Escape From St. Hell: My Trans Teen Life Levels Up
Sequel to the autobiographic graphic novel Welcome to St. Hell. I enjoyed this just as much as the first.

Navigating with You
Cute f/f YA graphic novel about two teens, both new girls at school, who bond over a manga series they read years ago but never finished. I really liked this.

Kamonohashi Ron no Kindan Suiri vol. 19
The final volume! I felt like this series went downhill with the whole Alice plotline, so I've not been that invested. The ending was fine, though.

1. We had a very nice morning at Disneyland. All the foods we ate were big hits, and the weather and crowds were pretty decent. (Though in the afternoon we were both finding ourselves more sapped by the sun than we'd first thought.)

2. I don't post about all the legos I put together because while they are all fun, they're not all super exciting and there are just way too many, but this is one of the best ones I've ever done.

( Sherlock Holmes book nook )

3. Last night I heard a very strange sound outside, like some weird laughter almost, and looked out into the backyard, which was well lit by the porch lights from both the house and garage, since Carla was out in the garage, and there was a possum rooting around for scraps in the lawn (Carla had recently dumped out the end of a bag of corn chips out there for any critters who wanted them, plus there are always bugs and such) and making these noises. I don't think I've ever actually heard possum noises before but they are very weird lol. I love possums but they're hard to spot since they only come out at night and are very shy, so I had fun watching it snurfle up stuff from the lawn. At one point it was also making some soft snorting noises like a pig. So cute!

4. This is Ollie's favorite spot on the sofa and one of his favorite spots in the whole house.

1. I am definitely over my cold (did not have any stuffiness or sniffles today) and slept a lot better last night. Still woke up a few times, but was able to get back to sleep quickly.

2. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it, but a house at the end of our street (four doors down) has been semi-abandoned for about thirty years and fully abandoned for at least 10-15. It's a house with attached apartments, and the house has been unoccupied for about thirty, and a few people in the apartments hung on for longer due to the rent being low, even though the landlord was, according to people we knew in one of them who moved out earlier than the stragglers, completely MIA. It's been slowly falling down in that time (a few years ago I noticed some of the stairs outside were missing) and after years of squatters that eventually led to a small fire (thankfully fire department responded quickly and no major damage was done), the windows and doors were boarded up, and a few years after that a chainlink fence was put around it.

Now finally starting last month they are working to remodel it! I assumed at first it would just be completely torn down and something new put up, but after they stripped it down to the bare bones, earlier this week new lumber appeared on the site and they started replacing bad spots and reinforcing things. Apparently it had asbestos inside, as when they first started work on it, it was all hazmatted up and had warning signs around. I'm really curious to see what it will look like when it's all done.

3. This morning I noticed a puzzle piece on the floor under the desk and knew right away it was too large for the puzzle I'm currently working on. Sure enough, it's from the Country Bear Jamboree one we just finished. Which I put out in the little library a couple days ago! D: I always am so careful when putting the puzzles away, especially if it's one I'm going to give away. I'd hate to give away a puzzle with a missing piece. But thankfully when I went out to check, the puzzle had still not been taken, so I was able to add the piece back in. I will be even more careful from now on!

4. Jasper's so handsome.

1. The main downside of this cold is that I am fucking exhausted from lack of sleep. I did get more sleep last night, but still tossed and turned a lot. Today I am much less stuffed up, so hopefully it will be easier to sleep tonight. Carla was so miserable when she was sick, though, so I'm very glad I didn't get it as bad as her.

2. Gemma really loves this new box.

1. We had homemade nachos for dinner last night and they were so good.

2. I tried to go to the post office this morning, but even though it was a few minutes past when they were supposed to open, the doors were still locked and there were about ten other people outside so I just skipped it and figured I'd try again on the way home from work (this location is just down the street from work, so it's very convenient). Thankfully the second time was the charm, and there was only one person there before me.

3. I seem to have caught Carla's cold after all, but it seems much lighter than what she had. I'm just a little sniffly and stuffed up but don't otherwise feel sick, so I did go in to work today but just stayed masked the whole time I was out so as to not get anyone else sick.

4. Molly has discovered a new way to maximize fur distribution on the towels.

Currently Reading
European Travel for the Monstrous Gentelwoman
14%. Sequel to The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter. This one is very long (over 24 hours in audiobook form) so I'll be at it for a while, but I'm enjoying it a lot.

Death at the Fireside Inn
42%. First in a new-to-me historical mystery series, but it's pretty mid so I doubt I'll continue the series.

The Death of Public School: How Conservatives Won the War Over Education in America
8%. Title is self-explanatory. I only read the first chapter so far, but it's interesting. Unfortunately I had to return it to the library, but I immediately put it on hold again and there was no one else waiting for it, so I should have it back soon.

The War on Alcohol: Prohibition and the Rise of the American State
29%.

Recently Finished
The Millicent Quibb School of Etiquette for Young Ladies of Mad Science
This was fun. A little on the too wacky side for me, but enjoyable. I'll check out the sequel when it's out.

Lone Women
Highly recommended. I really liked this a lot.

Murder on the Marlow Belle
I don't know why the US release of these books is so far behind the UK release. It's in the same language! But it is, and that's annoying. This was out in January in the UK and only came out in the US this month. The next one is out soon in the UK but I assume I'll have to wait a while to get it here. :(

Made in Chicago: Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites
We watched someone on youtube talking about one of the dishes in this book and he mentioned that this is where he heard about it. The book sounded interesting, so we ordered it right away. It's only 130 pages and some of the dishes have recipes to make at home, so it's a very quick read. I should look and see if there's something like this for LA.

Kaikai Gigigigigi vol. 1
New series by Uguisu Sachiko. I like all her stuff so of course I bought it. To be honest, it seems very much like a retread of You Will Hear the Voice of the Dead, but I loved that series so I'm down for it. Protag is a very ordinary boy who keeps finding himself at the center of supernatural happenings in his town. Each chapter is basically a stand-alone horror story with a thin overarching plot linking them.

Kubikari vol. 1-4
Short four-volume horror manga that I only finished because it was so short. A group of high school kids go to an old hotel in the middle of nowhere to film something for their social media channel, only to get trapped there while people start dying. The motivations were very flimsy and the whole thing was just not very good, but since it was short I wanted to see how it ended.

Since it's been cooler and overcast, we did a late morning/midday trip, which meant the park was at its most crowded, but honestly it wasn't too bad. And the weather was very nice (though still muggy).

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1. I am still mostly waiting for people to get back to me with things, so today was another fairly slow day at work, though I did get started checking one file I was provided. Overall I do feel like we're making really good progress on this.

2. We've entered into some nice overcast weather that's really feeling a bit like fall. I just checked the forecast and it should stay in the low 70s for most of the next week.

3. Gemma enjoying the sun on another, not-overcast day.

We haven't been to the parks for about a week and a half since Carla wasn't feeling well, but since we usually go so frequently it felt like we hadn't been in ages lol.

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