BIRTHDAY THOUGHTS

(On water main breaks, on birthdays, on BOOKS and on Valentine's Day LOVE)

<3 YOUR DOSE OF HOPE <3

Hello there beautiful friends. Today is my birthday—and I am doing what I want to do. Read, and write and if I wasn’t still struggling with a bit of a bad cold, and the cough wasn’t so epically gross and annoying, I would work out on my bike too, because right now, I really miss her.

So… this last week has been yet another nightmare outside of our home with the water main break and messed up pipes, but this time it’s not in front of my home, it’s in front of the neighbor who lives across the way’s home. His yard is all torn up and he is a big-time gardener. I offered him my garden at the front of my home if he wanted to do it this year, because I am not very good at planting and, I feel so sad for him and he is such a nice man! He has always been so welcoming to the neighborhood to me and the woman who owned the property I live in before me literally picked me to buy the home from her and he spoke to her and learned about me too, which I think is so sweet and adorable. I call him the “Dad” of the neighborhood. Father Arbour Court if you will.

This actually SCARED me!

These water problems have been endless and there have been ways this can be resolved but it never gets done and I am starting to wonder the REAL reason why when everyone in the neighborhood really would be much happier paying a little extra HOA fees and dues (sorry DAD!) if it means we have access to clean and steady water. This has been a nightmare for the community not only because the water is OFF constantly, but also because the dig up makes the whole neighborhood look UGLY and I’m sorry but we really live here for numerous reasons and the beauty and the nature of the community (although all the trees died and were taken down- Arbour what?) and the ambience and the quiet (it’s not so quiet anymore with the kiddos living here with their kiddos, but I was told some people ARE ACTUALLY moving soon! BYE!—if only the smelly ass people would go away that would make things great, and I think they will, just gimme a guesstimate when please, ha!) – the beauty and the ambience and all that jazz, those are major parts of our community and we love it, and all of us are kind of like a big family anymore, and it’s been wonderful. But… this water garbage, it can be resolved, but the HOA people and the board of the HOA and all that won’t resolve it, when it can be done so easy. There’s so much new technology and we could just not even have this stupid tot lot that was put in and raises insurance prices on everyone and then this car charging station was going to be put in (it never was but was promised) and who needs that, I think we have ONE Tesla in the neighborhood and as one person put it, that’s a choice you make to drive that and there’s places, but we who don’t even use it, are paying for it. And then the pool—they don’t need to remodel that shizzle every year, I swear, I would still use it, and I am barely going anymore to it, as the summers are too hot to even go to the pool (I know, weird, right?) but yeah… there’s a lot. And I will be attending the board meeting in March. I went to my first one last year, but this year, I think like 10 more new people will be attending and I am trying to get my neighbor and her sister who also lives here with us all—in what was, and still is our beautiful community—I hope maybe they will run for the board, because they are PISSED THE EFF OFF and so am I, but not even as much as everyone else is lately. I usually get mad, but my empathic side tries to see it from the HOA side of things and I do empathize and think there’s got to be a lot of stress involved in this, but come on, then… FINALLY FIX THE FUCKING PROBLEM… PLEASE. For the love of everything HOLY.

/End Rant. (maybe)…HA.

DAD and I =)

Last night I saw my dad and had a wonderful meal at the William Penn Inn which is one of my favorites. Heading out to dinner maybe Outback Steakhouse (chicken for me—I don’t eat steak or red meat in general) … either early evening or this afternoon late to celebrate ME and Valentine’s Day. <3 My favorite little holiday, it’s so cute and red and pinks and purrrples galore are everywhere.

Not much else has been going on. We saw Send Help, the movie with Rachel McAdams and that was EXCELLENT. And we haven’t been doing much because it’s been so damn cold outside. It’s hibernating weather. Plus, Brian was sick with a bad cold and then I got it, when I thought I was sick last week and had given it to him then. But who even knows. The cough is what is lingering, but as usual, inhalers help. I always recommend to people who can’t get rid of a bad cough at the end of a cold… INHALER. Get yourself either a Primatene Mist or a prescription rescue inhaler. Especially if you don’t already have asthma. They are lifesavers and after covid-19 and those few years of hellish covid coughs and grossness, I think everyone could use them!

We have the Bucks County Symphony orchestra on Sunday afternoon which I have been looking forward to—I love getting lost in classical orchestra music (chamber music if you will) and I also love getting lost in a pianist and those 88 keys. Gotta love it.

BOOKS

Beautiful Ugly- Alice Feeney- Current read. I have been wanting to read this, but have not wanted to pay the full price, and her latest just came out. Well, I saw it on Kindle Unlimited, so I added it to my library and started it last night. I am only about 10% in though as again, my concentration is just not there because of all the stuff going on outside, plus I had a lot of Rescue stuff to do because I am helping with Medical…

( www.hart2heartanimalrescue.com) but so far, I’m interested and her book and her TV series I watched just a few weeks ago on Netflix, they both were topnotch.

The Overnight Guest- Heather Gudenkauf I started this on a whim (on Kindle through BookBub for $1.99—love those!) and it was excellent. Great story, and it was so dark. So very dark. It was about a missing girl (I seem to find these books!) and her mother and just what was happening to them and a family’s murder and kind of a whodunit, but it was such a good story. It took me a few days to get through it, but I blame the water issues and having to spend the night in a hotel and away at Brian’s dads for a night as well on the fact I couldn’t really concentrate much AT ALL. (My anxiety was just beyond this past week, and I am glad the project is halfway done, I wish the workers would show up and complete the escapade though. Ridiculous…) … I got another by this author and look forward to reading her stories again. FIVE STARS.

I got to read this one in paperback!

The Spare Room- Andrea Bartz Andy Bartz is another author I discovered from Reese’s book club and I LOVE her books! The stories always have such a modern feel and read like a Bret Easton Ellis book—only they make much more sense! HA! I used to read everything by Ellis. Andy is phenomenal. This centers around a throuple… a 3-way couple… it was cool. The sex in it wasn’t outrageous and annoying like some modern romance books can be. This was a fun ride, and I really enjoyed the little bit of a twist at the end of the story. Pick it up. (Also—I let her know on Instagram how much I enjoy reading her books and she is so humble and answered me herself. Love it. I do need to ask her for a writing tip, because there’s some stuff, I try to do in my own fiction writing that she did so seamlessly and well done I was like HUH? I need to be able to do that! Writer stuff, haha, yes I geek out on it all, you love it!) As usual, FIVE STARS.

I Am Watching You- Teresa Driscoll – I was in-between books and I saw a girl at the dermatologist had this book in paperback next to her on her desk and she said it was “good so far” and she was five chapters in. I knew I had it on my TBR somewhere on my Kindle, so I decided to read it. I was done it in 12 hours. This book was so good. Lisa Jewell would be proud. This story was along the lines of those stories, but in a class all its own. I won’t ruin the plot line, but it had moments where I had no idea what was going to happen, and of course I did not and I did not see the ending coming and usually, I am pretty good at guessing. But I didn’t. I will read this author again, and soon! FIVE STARS.

The Next Mrs. Parrish- Liv Constantine – This book kept me interested because the story was so comically crazy but so unbelievable it could be believable because SHIT happens and it was just such a great follow-up to the first Mrs. Parrish book—I am at this point hoping for a third book! Maybe it will happen, you never know. Much like The Housemaid series (Frieda McFadden) this story was twisty turny and at moments had me gasping out loud and saying WTF? HA. If you love that kind of book, pick it up! 4.5 STARS.

The Escape Room- Megan Goldin- This was the last of Goldin’s books I had to read (that I know of), and it kept me so engrossed! I could not put this one down, and I couldn’t put down any of her others either, so there’s that. This centers around a group of finance executives and their evils and what happens to them because of it. Great story. Great writing. Great book. Pick it up—if you can find it! FIVE STARS.

That’s a wrap for the last few weeks. Hope ya’ll are doing fantastic and have a great week or so ahead and a wonderful Valentine’s Day! Person in your life or no person—it’s always good to celebrate LOVE and the HOLIDAY OF LOVE. Don’t be bitter and yes, I know St. Valentine was evil or what not and cupid is a mean cherub and yadda yadda yadda… I don’t care. Love yourself. Love your neighbor. Love your pet. Love, HURTS (IYKYK- GO BIRDS!). Hell, love the day, I don’t care. Celebrate LOVE. Lordy do we freakin need it in this shitshow of a country right now. And dude, wow, did I LOVE the Superbowl Halftime Show this past weekend. Lady Gaga arriving with Benito (Bad Bunny) was just freakin great. I loved every second of it. I love AMERICA which isn’t just the United States. =) Love it.

As always, thanks for reading. I will be releasing new FICTION via Substack in March. I start my next WRITE ON clinic/class with my writing group soon. Can’t wait. Love that too.

-xoxo-

LWB*

AURORA on the blanket my dear friend made Brian for me for Christmas!