Bookish (and not so Bookish) Thoughts

[alas, no snow days were called]

1. I just finished Severance by Ling Ma, and I thought it wasn't quite as good as the hype. It wasn't poor by any means, and I'll discuss my thoughts more in detail on my monthly review post, but still not as good as say, Station Eleven. 

2. It snowed last week here in Southern California- seriously. We live in Corona, which is basically between LA and Palm Springs, not a place known for snow. My house sits atop a hill and I'm at about 1100 feet above sea level- and it snowed in our backyard. I don't know how you people who actually have the white stuff on the ground for more than a day live. 

3. It bothers my that so many people are saying Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper have slept together, after their Oscar's performance. It shouldn't, as I don't know either of them, but it's just so unfortunate that two actors can't showcase their talent without that sort of speculation. Clearly my skin would never be thick enough for the limelight.

4. Things are just starting to settle down in our house after a few days of unfortunate events. Saturday morning our smoke detectors started going off again, at 5:45 (I vented about this happening last week last Wednesday). I drove like a bat-out-of-hell to the grocery store, bought $40 worth of batteries and my husband and I replaced EVERY single one in the house. It didn't work (and again, they weren't chirping, they were ALL going off like there was a fire) and the alarm company tried to troubleshoot us for an hour. Finally we started yanking them off the wires and that did the trick. Later that day our water heater went out. Sunday morning our carbon monoxide detector went off at 6:30 in the morning, which was very unnerving, considering I thought maybe something with the water heater was, ya know, POISONING us. Long story short, I bought new ones and later in the day we learned that the old one is programmed to "commit suicide" at seven years. Let's just say things were tense in our house.... Monday things started getting better- the plumber gave us a good deal on the new water heater and yesterday the alarm company fixed the detector issue for free.

5. I feel like an asshole complaining about these things, but I also really had a shitty weekend. Yes, my house didn't burn down or fill with a murderous gas. I had money saved for repairs. Sawyer's bronchitis got better. But still, I was on edge for various reasons for forty-eight hours straight and I also was getting sick myself. It should be okay sometimes to feel temporarily bad for yourself, right? I don't want to be a spoiled brat, but I also want to let myself feel things.

6. Sawyer and his friend at preschool decided they wanted a playdate, which I had no clue how to organize. I ended up leaving her mom a note in the office with my number, which I felt silly doing but was reassured was normal. The mom texted me and we're taking the kids painting on Saturday. This is a little outside of my comfort zone- I am very social, but with people I know. I am fully aware that part of the deal with having an only child is giving them time to socialize, though, so off we go.

7. Besides the above outing, this is our last slow weekend for awhile. I'm thankful. I feel like things have been a little monotonous and I've had major cabin fever because of our blizzard-like conditions (kidding, kidding, but it has been cold and rainy). I just want a few weeks of everyone being healthy and happy around here.