#3080 three things: TBR prep, wrap, and pull

 

A little while ago I wrote that I'd bought several new books when Lizzie and Mom were visiting, and I think I talked about wrapping the books in the To Be Read (TBR) pile. I finally did it! Here's how it went:

the books

1. Prep. I have ten books in my physical TBR pile. I bought six of them when Mom and Lizzie were here. The other four I've had for awhile and just haven't gotten around to reading them. Rest assured - there are many more books in my house that I haven't read. I just pulled out the old four to read first. You can also see my supplies for wrapping.

that's a wrap!

2. All wrapped up. While I was watching Game 4 of the World Series, I wrapped each book, then gave each of them a number. I only know for certain what book number five is - the Leigh Bardugo book - because it's bigger than all the others. The rest of them, I have no idea which is which. I brought all the books upstairs to my sanctuary and carefully placed them on a shelf. Then I wrote the numbers one through ten on little bits of paper, and I included two extra bits that say "Go to the library" just for fun. 

choice number one

3. The pull and reveal. I closed my eyes and plunged my hand into the container holding the numbers and pulled out number 8. Let's see what it is!

here it is!

I will be reading Shanghai Girls by Lisa See. I have read several books by this author, and I like them. I enjoy these historical fiction stories about Chinese women. I have had this book for a looooooooong time. I bought it at Borders to give you an idea of how long it has been on my bookshelf. So many books, so little time. 

You might be asking yourself, "Sandy, why did you go to all the trouble of wrapping, etc?" I'll tell you why: I have a case of analysis paralysis when it comes to my books. What am I in the mood for? Should I read the one I've had the longest, or the most recent purchase? By wrapping each book and giving it a number, I commit to reading the book whose number I pulled, and that's just how it is. Plus it's fun and it's not hurting anyone, and it makes me feel excited and full of anticipation. So there you have it.

Happy reading!

xo

#3079 my October art gallery

 

It's been awhile since we had art time, so I'd like to show you what I've been doing in October. It's been a pretty busy art month because I have been participating in an Instagram challenge called #cozycreatechallenge. It was devised by an artist I've been following, @trishaiford. A lot of people on IG post videos of them doing the art, but that's not for me. I don't mind posting the pics, because I know only seven of you will pay attention, and I can handle that level of scrutiny. 

First, here are four pieces I did from prompts given to me by Jill the Artist (Jill Badonsky.) Her prompts are fun, and her group, Underground Highway to Creative Results, is full of nice people. 

Feel the Vibration

Autumn Art Quilt

Single Line Haunted House

Mystical Mushrooms

This next one was my wee calendar practice page. I ended up doing the cat with the jack o' lantern on his head.

October wee calendar practice

October wee calendar

These are the #cozycreatechallenge pieces. I do several on a page because I think it's fun that way. You can probably click on a photo if you want to see the page enlarged.

clock, muffin, books, candle, pies, and a comfy chair

blanket, hobby, scarf, woven basket, footwear, acorn, and lamp

mugs, sweaters, leaves, spices, and a vintage key with a giant keyhole

postage stamp, heirloom, apple, teapot, harvest, and socks

There are some I like better than others, of course. Some just make me laugh and think I need to find a new hobby. It's like playing golf though: you hit a lot of shots (if you are like me) and if you hit one or two good ones, it makes you feel like you know what you're doing and you want to keep hitting. So I'm going to keep drawing and painting and hoping for those one or two good ones. Any time with a pen or brush in my hand is fun, so I'm thankful for that. 

Have a great week!

xo

#3078 three things: July, August, and September

 

Since I was writing about The Trip for so long, I didn't talk about what I did this summer. Here are the highlights.

1. July. The month was a scorcher. That's what I remember the most about it: that I was hot all the time. There was also a lot of live music in my life; I volunteered at six concerts at Red Butte Garden, and attended one show* as a patron. Just for funsies, here is a list of the artists I saw:

• Wynton Marsalis
• Wood Brothers/JJ Grey and Mofro
• KALEO
• Gin Blossoms/Blues Traveller
• Maren Morris
• Alabama Shakes*
• Melissa Etheridge/Wynonna Judd

The other big thing in July was a trip to La Mirada to start a road trip to Dixon. It was time to bury the ashes of my aunt and uncle, so Lizzie and I drove to Dixon and met up with our cousins Rick and David. We had a nice, small memorial service with family and a few friends, and it felt like good closure, and that Mary and Dewey are where they need to rest in peace.

MT hiked the West Coast Trail on Vancouver Island, Canada. He was gone a couple of weeks. 

2. August. This month was stormy. I volunteered at three concerts and saw one as a patron*.

• Fitz and the Tantrums*
• Andy Grammer
• Interpol
• Ray LaMontagne

I went on another road trip in August. MT and I drove to Mammoth Lakes, CA to meet up with Lizzie, then we went to the start of the John Muir Trail so MT could hike. Lizzie and I drove back to La Mirada where I stayed for a week with Mama and Lizzie. 

When I was home, I watched a lot of TV. T and I watched some Game of Thrones, Ted Lasso, and all of Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston, 5 Star Weekend, and Widows Bay. Since it was hot or rainy, it was nice to veg out on the couch and watch TV with my son and the dogs.

3. September. I only had one concert to work this month, Brandon Flowers. Other than that, I spent a lot of time finishing up my travel journal for The Trip. I drank a lot of coffee, apparently: I noted 11 times when I went out for coffee this month. I took Harley to a new vet who seems to have the diagnosis right. Marty got back safe and sound from his JMT hike. Mama and Lizzie came to visit at the end of the month and we kept ourselves entertained with sight-seeing around SLC and in Park City. 

In addition to the concerts, I also had my regular volunteer shifts as a docent on Sunday mornings and bloom recording every week, plus I had a shift at the Intermountain Hoop Dance Competition. It was a busy summer.

xo

#3077 not a redhead anymore?

selfie in August 2026

When I was at the dermatologist's office earlier in the week, I was chatting with Kelsey, the medical assistant, about all my spots. I said, "Well, I am a pale redhead who didn't always take care of her skin." Kelsey said, "Yeah, you've got all that pale hair." In my head, I was like, what? 

When the doctor was examining me, she asked if I had any red in my hair. I was like, "Yes, I am a redhead! Or I used to be, anyway. Now I've got my old lady hairs that are sort of strawberry blond." The doctor responded in some way that I don't even remember because I was sort of obsessing about the fact that this stranger that I just met didn't know I had red hair. 

Then I thought about people at work who didn't know I'd been a redhead. When those people saw photos of me from earlier days, they would say, "Holy crap, Sandy! Your hair was red!" People who knew me for a long time would laugh, and so did I, but I was secretly sad, too. 

There were times, about 20 years ago, that I paid Lanna (my hair stylist) to put light streaks in my hair, and even longer ago, like 40 years ago, I would put Sun-In on my hair to lighten it up in the summer. Now Mother Nature is saying, "Oh, you wanted light hair back in the day? You got it, sis."

It's weird to notice yourself get older, and see the changes to your body. 

And yeah, I could have Lanna make my hair red again, but I won't. I have accepted that I am now strawberry blond. 

 

#3076 three things: skin canc*r, live music, and snow

It's been a week. Let's get into it.

1. Skin canc*r. I have been a pale-skinned redhead for most of my life. Currently, I am a pale-skinned strawberry blond as the red fades. I have always enjoyed getting a tan, and haven't always taken care of my skin in the proper manner. (I mean, I am Gen X and we did love to slather baby oil on ourselves to bake in the sun.) In the past few months, I have noticed a few (seven) spots that I felt should be looked at by a dermatologist. I have already had a basal cell carcinoma removed from my body, so I am familiar with what It looks like. I called to get an appointment with a new dermatologist on Monday, and she had a cancellation so I was able to see her Tuesday morning. She checked my seven spots, and decided three of them needed a biopsy. She also did a full body scan and found two other spots to biopsy. On my left arm had two spots, the top of my head was another, and there was a spot on each of my legs, just above the ankles. She also froze a couple of spots on my face, one on my right arm, and four on my right hand. When the lidocaine wore off, I was hurting, especially the top of my head. All the five spots bled a lot, too. 

The results came back really quickly, within 24 hours of the exam. Two of the spots, one on my left arm and one on my left leg, are basal cell carcinomas. Those areas will be treated with a topical cream that I will apply for a maximum of six weeks or until the "expected outcome of oozy, red, crusty skin is achieved." Sounds attractive, doesn't it? The other three spots will be frozen and monitored during my appointments. 

Bummer, but I'm glad to know and get treated.

2. Live music. MT and I went to see Gary Clark Jr. last night at the Eccles Theater downtown. We bought the tickets back in June while we were on The Trip. I'd forgotten that we got really good seats. We were in the fourth row in the orchestra pit. I could have thrown a stuffed animal and hit Gary in the chest, we were so close. I think this is the fifth time we have seen him in concert, and he is just so, so good. I love his voice, and his guitar playing is incredible. He's got a great look, too. Last night he was wearing a dark pink three piece suit, a white button down shirt, and a rakishly-tilted fedora. He has a cool look and vibe, to me. We enjoyed the hell out of the show. 

3. Snow. We've had rain here in SLC for the past three days. Today was nice, though. The skies cleared up enough that I could plainly see snow on the Wasatch Mountains to the east and high up on the Oquirrh Mountains to the west. I think by the end of the day, the snow on the Oquirrhs had melted, but there's a lot of snow on the Wasatch. MT likes to go hiking up there, but the trails he likes are now snow-covered. The snow line is quite high; there isn't any snow in the foothills or the valley. I don't think we'll be getting any valley snow in the next ten days. Rain is fine, but I'm not quite ready for snow in my yard. Still, the first snow of the season, even in the mountains, is worth noting.

BONUS THING: hawks and squirrels. This morning when I was walking the dogs in the neighborhood, we spotted a squirrel in the pecan tree that is two streets up from my house. Mac loves to see the squirrels. She turns into stone and cannot be moved. Harley could mostly care less about the squirrels. 

So the squirrel is hiding a pecan in the ground at the base of the tree when a bird swoops down on it. The squirrel jumped onto the tree and quickly climbed up the trunk. The bird settled on the roof of a car in the driveway next to the tree. I hadn't seen that happen before, so we walked a little closer until we were standing in the middle of the road at the end of the driveway of the pecan tree property. It was close enough to see that the bird on the car was a hawk of some kind, maybe a Cooper's hawk? The squirrel shimmied right up the tree into the leafiest branches and the hawk just sat there on the car. Suddenly, another hawk flew over and the two of them left together. I'm pretty sure that squirrel wet himself, but he was safe, at least for now. 

I have seen hawks a couple of times in the neighborhood, but never that close and not trying to catch a squirrel. Nature, man. It's awesome.

#3075 I may be living my best life

Today has been kind of weird. For one thing, the dogs let me sleep until 08:15, which is at least an hour past their feeding time. Two of them act like they are being starved to death and are pretty particular about getting fed in a timely manner. I swear their tummies have a meal-time alarm.

The weather was gray, cold, and rainy this morning, so we didn't do our usual dog playtime because going outside wasn't appealing to any of the creatures, except Stella, who will chase a frisbee in a monsoon, a blizzard. or a heatwave. MT was wandering around waiting for his self-determined departure time of 11:30 to drive to Pocatello. T woke up earlier than usual, and I was puttering around, unsure of what to do with myself . 

MT left for Pocatello for a couple of days. T planned to watch two movies at the theaters today, so I had some quiet time coming my way. In my personal journal, I made a list of all the things I could/would do. Did I do any of those things? I mean, yes, kind of, but it's been so haphazard that it just feels like this day was a bit of a waste. I mean, it is 10:30 at night and I'm just writing here now? I truly had all day to write here. Instead, I played games on my phone. I read. I did some drawing, including the little doodle at the top of this post. I took a wee snoozle (that's a little nap in Sandy-speak). I took T to the movie and picked him up, then took him - just now - to the second movie, and I'll pick him up around midnight. 

As I was thinking about all of this unproductive time, I decided I was really lucky. It really is okay that I got to fritter this day away. I might not feel that great about it, but there's no harm done. I didn't have anything on my agenda today that had to be done. I don't have to stress about going to bed late tonight because there are no appointments or things that I have to do like go to work.

I really love being retired. 

Just because there is nothing on my agenda for tomorrow doesn't mean I mess around unstructured every day. During the week, I do set a loose schedule for myself to stay pleasantly occupied. There are five things I want to do every day: art, write, learn, move, and read. I also have a cleaning schedule. For example, on Monday I clean the bathroom, and on Tuesday I clean the floors. I usually spend an hour or so on my cleaning, and I do a different thing every day, so the house looks presentable and I don't have to do that work on the weekend. I also have what I call project hour every day, though sometimes it is longer than an hour. That's when I do my bookkeeping or go to the grocery store or run errands. I usually wake up between 07:00 to 07:30 when the dogs start getting hungry and I give myself until about 09:30 before I start with my schedule for the day. I try to be done with the Daily 5 and other chores by around 5:30pm so I can make dinner before T goes to work. In the evening I like to watch TV or play games on my phone, whatever, that's my mess-around time. 

Anyway...it is a pleasant little life I have, and I like it a lot. I feel really fortunate to be able to be financially independent. MT and I worked hard and took some risks (i.e. rental properties) so that we could retire early. We tell each other pretty much every day how much we like being retired. On Friday, I was pulling weeds in the flower beds and MT was working on the deck. We were outside for a couple of hours, then came in to have home-cooked food for lunch and to read. At one point we just looked at each other and grinned. We are satisfied.

There are a couple of things I am looking forward to doing next week. On Wednesday, MT and I are going to see Gary Clark Jr. He's such a great musician. We try to see him whenever he comes to town. I think this might be my fifth or sixth time to see him. I've seen him at Red Butte three or four times, then at a different venue downtown once. This week he will be at the Eccles Theater. Woooo! 

On Friday, I will be at Red Butte volunteering at Garden After Dark. This year's theme is Adventures in Neverland. Yesterday I attended an orientation meeting with other volunteers to get the story overview from the event team manager, then I walked around to see the decorations. The event team always does such an amazing job with Garden After Dark (GAD), and really all the programs they do during the year. GAD is always spectacular, though. I think the whole mania we have with Halloween and decorating amps up this program. I am volunteering just two of the nights of the event because it gets cold up there this time of year, and all the peopling wears me out. LOL

I hope you had a great weekend, and that you have some fun things coming your way to look forward to, also.

xo

#3074 three things: Harley, my book haul, and Midway

my October wee calendar

Hello hello! I feel like I have been neglecting the seven of you, so I am eager to get back to a regular posting schedule on Thursday and Sunday. We'll see how it goes. I kinda want to write a recap of July, August, and September, but tonight I already have three things I want to tell you about, so let's go!

Harley before the enzymes

1. Harley. My sweet lab has been having medical issues. In January of 2025, she weighted around 82 lbs, and in September 2026, she weighed 52 lbs and was losing her hair. I took her to the vet we've taken all our dogs to since we moved to this house about 24 years ago, but the practice has changed hands and I don't think we have been getting the quality of care we used to get there. When I couldn't get a satisfactory explanation, I decided to see a different vet. I'm so glad I did! The new vet, Dr. B, has many, many years of experience and he practically diagnosed Harley just by looking at her, then confirmed his diagnosis with blood tests. Harley's pancreas is not working properly; it isn't absorbing all the nutrients in her food. He recommended giving her pancreatic digestive enzymes and told me about a website where I could purchase the product that he has been recommending for 30 years. Harley has been taking the enzymes since 28 September, and I'm happy to tell you that she is doing very well. The hair has already grown back on her feet and the tops of her ears. Soft little hairs are growing on her ribcage, and other areas where the skin was peeking through are filling in, too. Above all, she is so perky and a little feisty, more like the dog we adopted five years ago. She is running after the other dogs in the yard, she is wrestling with Mac again, and there is a mischievous sparkle in her eye that has been missing for awhile. I'll take her back to see Dr. B at the end of November to see if she has gained any weight. I think she has gained some because her ribs and spine are not as evident. I am glad I got a second opinion, and probably a new vet for the other two doggos, too.

book haul

 2. Book haul! Mom and Lizzie came to visit at the end of September and we visited many independent bookshops. I bought five books from the six shops we visited (I didn't buy anything at Sam Weller, but I bought two from Folklore.) I'm usually way too cheap to buy books, but I got caught up in the spirit of supporting local businesses. Plus, three of the shops we visited are woman-owned, so that was a bonus!  A quick run down of what and where:

• Paper Ghosts by Sarah Addison Allen from Dolly's Bookstore in Park City
• And Now, Back to You by B.K. Borison from Lovebound Library in SLC
• Ramon and Julieta by Alana Quintana Albertson AND Dead Beat by Leigh Bardugo from Folklore Bookshop in Midway
• This Book Made Me Think of You by Libby Page from The King's English Bookshop in SLC

There are a couple of other books in the pile that I bought before Mom and Lizzie came: The Witches of Cambridge by Alice Hoffman and The Pirate Queen by Ariel Lawhon. Not pictured is Our Strange Duet by Erin A. Craig because I was reading it. I got all of those at The King's English, too.

Also, the menfolk and I went to Barnes and Noble on Sunday, and I got a book there, too: The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff. 

I always have trouble deciding what to read next, so my plan is to wrap each book in my TBR pile in pretty paper, like a little gift, give each of them a number after they are wrapped, then have someone pick a number for me when I'm ready to read the next book. I'll be wrapping soon, and I'll show you when it's done. I know it's silly, but it's fun, too. I did choose to start reading The Witches of Cambridge because spooky season.

3 Midway, Utah! Oh my everloving hell, how is it I haven't been to Midway in all the years I have lived in Utah? I have passed by it a time or two, but I haven't gone into the town before. I have been depriving myself of the cutest Hallmark movie town. I'm in love with it. Every little shop we went in was great, especially The Dainty Pear and the aforementioned Folklore. These two shops are dreamy. If you are a woman who is into the fantasy of having a little shop, like a bookstore or a fancy gift shop with a French cafe attached, these two places will enthrall you. 

Oh yeah, and it's beautiful up there in Midway, too. The town is tucked back in the foothills near Soldier Hollow. The day we were there, the fall foliage was near or at peak and the mountains were bursting with red, yellow, and orange leaves. The temperature was in the mid-70s, and it was fantastic. I am already looking forward to going back there. The Dainty Pear is having a Christmas market in mid-November and I am planning to go! 

I sort of think the day-trip to Midway was the best thing Mom, Lizzie, and I did while they were here, even though every day was pretty great. Sounds like I already have my Sunday post topic!

xo