Thanks for all of your condolences and kind words about Mayhem. It’s good to know she’ll be missed by more than just me!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, more romance, queer romance), Reactor (fantasy, YA SFF, SF, genre-benders), Book Riot (YA comics/nonfiction, YA, best out this week, horror, best out last week, queer)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• Linkity from The Pen Addict.
• “The literary impact of Beverly Cleary“.
• A bit of journaling humor.
• Ten most challenged books of 2024.
• “It’s a warning, not…“
• Help us in our hour of need, Dr Creampie…
• Another ficlet.
• Time loop ficlet.
• How to dye Easter potatoes.
• Cool embroidered art.
• How to tell if you’re living in a dictatorship…
• ARGH. Guess who went through the whole online passport renewal process (including going to FedEx/Kinko’s to get a passport photo taken) in <80 minutes Friday afternoon after dawdling for over four years until I only had three months before I would have to start over with a new passport application????
• GF sweet potato cornbread.
• Castle-esque house that’s not disappointing.
• Very nice MCM.
• Funkadelic MCM.
• Lots of mosaics and a pink dome.
• Colorful.
• Quirky.
• Cute little pueblo style house.
• Lovely little bungalow.
• Cozy with a tower.
• Unusual late MCM.
• Ultramodern “rocket” house.
• A garage condo???
• Even using a warmer grey, it just doesn’t look right with all the wood.
• Looks like a converted office building and has a few odd design choices inside.
• This house is trying to be too many styles simultaneously.
• Sadass fortress just as sad inside as out.
• Funky tower house with a very disturbing… “orifice” on the ceiling.
• It’s cool, but I have some questions about the last few interior photos – that looks so dangerous!
• Hope you don’t have to pee in the middle of the night.
• Insufficiently sturdy!
• Hmm.

Harry and Polly on my lap. I think Polly has a skeptical!

Harry on the couch (and pet warmer) whilst the fleecy blankets were being washed.

Polly vs the catnip pumpkin!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Gizmodo (SFF/horror), Book Riot (romance, YA, historical fiction, mystery/thriller/true crime, manga, nonfiction, LGBTQ+ YA, SFF)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Officially, NaNoWriMo is no more.
• If you’re wondering whether you might need a measles booster shot…
• Interesting possible (positive) side effect of the shingles vaccine.
• How “trickle-down” economics works.
• Lego’s April releases include Sleeping Beauty’s castle and the Shire.
• Cursed information. Cannot be unknown or unseen.
• Little Debbie theme park??
• A sweet post about frogs.
• An American pilgrimage.
• 40 spring recipes.
• A free cookbook for when you don’t have much/any energy to cook: The Sad Bastard Cookbook: Food You Can Make So You Don’t Die.
• Gorgeous Arts & Crafts home.
• Nicely converted church in Wales.
• Converted 14th century convent in Portugal.
• Kinda like this one.
• Nice, but not a treehouse.
• Cute, but not a treehouse.
• Much tower.
• Sort of dome home.
• I definitely didn’t expect the paneling.
• There’s just something off about this one.
• That lap pool freaks me out.
• Turns out I find slanted walls disconcerting, too.
• Mesh catwalk over the kitchen = nope.
• :eyeroll:
• The more you look at it the worse it gets.
• Yikes.
• Finland, no!
• We’ve seen worse.

Dearest Laptop – I have Some Concerns. (A hard reboot fixed the issue [overheating related]… for now at least. I need to do some laptop cleaning this weekend.)

Mayhem asleep on my lap.

Harry making biscuits.

Polly cannot believe!!!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (mystery/thriller, trans historical fiction, trans romance, YA, best out this week, m/m romantasy)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “The most popular book genre in every state“.
• “The Institute for Museum and Library services is now a propaganda machine“.
• To remember.
• A complicated reading set up.
• So very true about poetry.
• Bad news if you’re a gum chewer.
• How to remove your data from the now bankrupt 23 and Me.
• Using chickpea liquid to replace eggs in recipes.
• The unsettling paintings of Alex Colville.
• The Solar Do-Nothing Machine.
• Lovely MCM.
• Fascinating MCM.
• Ok MCM with interesting outside features.
• Cool vintage rail car attached to a house.
• Cute little house.
• Fun property in Berkeley.
• Not as purple inside as you would expect from the exterior.
• Surveying weirdness?
• I’m confused about the Legos.
• Very colorful deadly stairs.
• Flimsy, collapsing, no railing.

Old lady kitty Mayhem.

Polly mid-yawn.

I interrupted Harry’s nap…

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance),  Book Riot (“books for better living“, YA nonfiction & comics, best out this week, YA)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• A comic that tells a story.
• Two tips for easing a migraine.
• A refresher on what N*zism is exactly.
• This is a must-read if you’re in the US.
• MCM inspired contemporary.
• Fancy MCM.
• Nice castle-esque Tudor.
• It would cost much, much more here.
• If you’ve been thinking of moving to France…
• Another one where the exterior will not prepare you for the interior.
• Has a grotto.
• The wall art gives you the feeling of being at an aquarium.
• Castle-esque with gargoyles on the outside, not so much on the inside.
• The breadbox in a “rock” is a whimsical touch.
• This converted jailhouse seems a little bleak to me.
• Must really love colorful shag carpet.
• What the what.
• Ouch.
• Do not like.
• :facepalm:
• Here’s hoping you don’t have to pee in the middle of the night.
• Hmm.

Mayhem sleeping on her face, as one does.

Harry and Polly napping on my legs.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, queer romance), Book Riot (YA, best out this week, horror, nonfiction, comics/graphic novels, mystery/thriller/true crime, romance, SFF, queer), Reactor (genre benders, YA SFF, SF), Gizmodo (SFF/horror)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more!
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• Unsurprising research about book bans.
• Book bench.
• Ficlet.
• Another ficlet.
• “How to identify credible sources“.
• Absolutely true about me and my handknitted socks.
• Converted Carnegie library.
• Pretty nice MCM in the desert.
• Excellent MCM church conversion.
• I mostly like this one.
• Cute houseboat.
• The fanciest studio condo I’ve ever seen.
• Unusual floating house.
• Rustic castle.
• Possibly cool MCM but it’s so cluttered it’s hard to tell.
• Round MCM that needs a lot of carpet replaced.
• Must love pink… and faux fur walls.
• Definitely an odd property.
• Oh my. So tacky.
• This is ridiculously over-the-top in a very different way.
• Another over-the-top one.
• Has a shark tank.
• Strange.
• A terrible… bed? Can’t be unseen.
• Awkwardly placed refrigerator.
• Well then.
• Yikes.
• D’oh.
• You could lose a child in that gap.
• :sigh:
• Feels like the color might be hinting at something…
• Nope.
• WTF.
• Ridiculous.

Some recently gifted socks – they’re short because two skeins of Kroy Sock apparently isn’t enough to make tall socks with a stitch count of 68 (but was fine for 64).
More recently gifted socks. I THINK this is some variety of Meilenweit, but I’m not sure what I did with the label.

Focused Polly, with snoozing Harry in the background.

Harry grooming the shaved spot on May’s tail where her blood pressure was taken.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (YA comics and nonfiction, YA, best out this week, romance)
• Bookish knitting and crochet patterns.
• “10 life lessons from Twin Peaks season 1“.
• Very nice MCM, although the front of it is giving me Route 66 motel vibes.
• Cool late MCM if you’re ok with rocks.
• A late MCM that desperately needs some bright decor.
• Lovely historic UK farm.
• Delightful little converted lighthouse.
• Nice loft style condo.
• Bright and airy condo.
• Must love black and purple.
• It’s cute but some of their decor creeps me out.
• I am not the target market for this house.
• Funky converted industrial building.
• Quirky house that’s disappointingly bland inside.
• Surprisingly nice quonset hut.
• Skinniest condo in San Francisco?
• Some odd choices were made here.
• Weird property.
• Has the potential to be very cool after a lot of work, although I’m not sure how I feel about the well.
• Mini moat.
• How did it come to this??
• Wha…?
• Umm…
• Yikes.
• FFS.
• It’s a dresser! It’s a staircase! It’s both!
• Ouch.
• Huh.

The Lady Miss Princess Mayhem!

Pretty Polly.

Handsome Harry.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, queer romance), Book Riot (best out this week, YA, historical romance, horror)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “How to stand up for your local library by getting involved“.
• A zine you can download with ideas for countering fascism.
• “Microsoft study finds relying on AI kills your critical thinking skills“.
• “The best AI-free, encrypted alternatives to Google Docs“.
• Some ideas for substituting for eggs, plus recipes for meals without chicken.
• 50+ recipes that start with a can of chickpeas.
• 40 soup recipes.
• GF chocolate bundt cake.
• xkcd about incoming asteroids. (Hover cursor/long-press for caption.)
• Live and work in a bookshop.
• MCM with repositionable walls in the main living area.
• Cozy Italian mountain home.
• Nice converted carriage house that just needs a touch of color.
• Cool oast house.
• Well, you don’t see houses like this every day.
• Must love tiled cabinets.
• Must love pastels.
• Very tacky.
• So. Much. Stuff.
• Hard to tell what’s going on with this one, but whatever it is, it’s not good.
• Hot mess.
• Anything castle-esque is gone from the interior.
• WTF.
• Good grief.
• Sharp, thin, no railing.
• Quite the tall steps.
• The height of the bottom step is the least of my concerns.
• Yikes.
• And they’re in a single line, so you have to climb them in a very unnatural way.

Polly using the scratcher.

Harry, looking dapper in his bow tie.

Polly and Harry making it very hard to get up and exercise.

Mayhem, deeply asleep.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best out this week, queer, nonfiction, YA, comics/graphic novels, mysteries/thrillers, romance), Reactor (scifi, fantasy), Gizmodo (SFF/horror)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• “Dystopian books have taken over the bestseller lists… That can’t be a good sign“.
• The six stages of having too many books.
• 25 recipes for desserts that don’t use eggs.
• Very cute!
• If you’re in the market for a castle…
• It’s a little too fancy for me, but it is an exceptionally well done church conversion.
• Nice not-a-treehouse.
• Very brown late MCM.
• Wallpaper choices were made. Poor ones.
• Ceiling medallions for everyone!
• Way too much marble inside.
• Extremely disappointed in this allegedly castle-themed house.
• Just the repainting alone is going to be very expensive.
• But where does that living room stove pipe come out???
• WTF – they “opened it up” by partially removing walls – leaving behind the framing/studs.
• Something’s gone awry.
• Kitchen fail.
• No. That fireplace has a body count.
• D’oh.
• Watch that first step.
• Huh.
• :sigh:

Mayhem did not agree to be photographed.

Is Harry sleepy or crabby? Hmm.

Intense Polly is intense!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best out this week, YA)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Ficlet.
• Bookshop.org is now offering ebooks.
• “Books written without AI can now receive ‘human authored’ certification“.
• The largest tuberculosis outbreak (ever) in the US is happening right now.
• Flashback review of the movie “Run Lola Run”.
• I kind of love this one.
• Townhouse in a converted church – this unit includes the tower!
• I really like the stained glass.
• Orb-like dome home.
• Just here to gawk at Funky bath #1.
• Must love rocks.
• So complicated on the outside, yet so bland on the inside.
• Has a real heaven and hell vibe.
• Very beach.
• I find the floors stressful.
• Wow. Spectacular lack of effort taken to clean before the listing photos were taken.
• :blink blink:
• Deadly home office.

The Lady Miss Princess Mayhem has advanced kidney disease, but is doing well so far!

Polly sees a bird!

Harry – yawning or yelling?!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best out this week, YA)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Ficlet.
• Write a letter to your future self.
• SO TRUE.
• “A culture of gratitude is how we survive“.
• Another condo in that converted church.
• Gorgeous conversion.
• Cool warehouse conversion.
• I had no idea this was what a Craftsman style house was supposed to look like – I’ve only seen them after a lot of painting.
• This is a lot more fun inside than the first exterior photo would lead you to believe.
• Pretty nice late MCM, although I have questions about how closing off the pool works from a security perspective.
• Pretty cool double shotgun house.
• I especially like the purple tennis court.
• Futuristic mall vibe?
• Comes with a tunnel to the neighbor’s house.
• This degenerates into wtfery pretty quickly. I have questions about the curtained windows in the living room and the “view”.
• Railings would be nice.
• :squinting:
• Agreed.
• Why.

The Lady Miss Princess Mayhem deliberately not making eye contact.

Intense Polly!

Harry blep.