Apologies – I’m behind on responding to comments (again!). I will get there!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (YA, best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Minnesota now has an official state fossil.
• You go, Harvard!
• Oh goody.
• Black cat wallpaper.
• Art that can’t be unseen.
• Very colorful, except where it isn’t.
• Dramatically decorated interior.
• Converted gas station.
• The house is boring but the labyrinth is awesome.
• Has a secret speakeasy.
• I hope there’s a better way to get to the tower suite than that ladder.
• Confusing late MCM.
• Late MCM looks interesting from the outside, but it was gutted inside.
• You can barely tell this is an MCM inside except for the rec room. Not sure what’s going on with the ceilings.
• This is a weird one, starting with the “hand”rails on the stairs.
• Stupidly shaped shower.
• Shelves are not stairs.
• These look really annoying.
• Nope.

Polly and Harry napping together, ignoring the perfectly good kitty bed on the left.

Polly washing her face.

Harry “winking”.

Have a happy Memorial Day weekend to those in the US and a happy regular weekend elsewhere! 🙂

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (YA nonfiction/comics, YA, best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “[US] Treasury Department places final order for new pennies“.
• Germany is kind of intense about eggs.
• I was not expecting how this gender reveal party turned out.
• Cute round stone cottage..
• I love all the built-ins.
• Converted windmill.
• A house shaped like a boat and one shaped like a lighthouse.
• Little adobe house.
• Quirky little place.
• Large fully furnished house in New Orleans.
• Pretty nice MCM.
• Time capsule MCM with a large collection of National Geographics.
• Weird MCM that has a minigolf course and a small amusement park.
• Modern brutalist with an extraordinarily purple home theater.
• The castle-esque exterior and the dragon statue are great but it goes downhill from there.
• Interesting partial conversion that needs a lot of work.
• Haunted Victorian with before and after photos. Unclear if the “mermaid skeleton” is included.
• Yikes.
• Oof.
• Dubious.
• No one who puts in stairs like these must need to pee in the middle of the night.

Focused Polly is focused.

Is he making eye contact or not? Hmm.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (YA, best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “Massive victory in lawsuit filed against…administration’s dismantling of IMLS“.
• On the Discworld City Watch books and copaganda.
• “Orange you glad we finally figured out why some cats are ginger“.
• “WWII vet destroys Tesla with a tank“.
• The Onion on autism. Boom!
• Strawberry lemon bars.
• Coffee pot shaped building, no longer in existence.
• I like this one.
• A most unusual condo that needs some work.
• Fun, but the photoshopped to white/grey examples made me cranky.
• Funky place that has two cool businesses on the ground floor.
• Castle-esque dome home.
• Nice earthship, as long as they take all those statues with them.
• Artistic condo with the illusion of a pool and a bedroom in a trailer.
• Suitable for hosting jousting tournaments.
• Strange mash up of chalet and castle.
• Has its own creek inside.
• Weirdly shaped in Seattle.
• Not very macabre at all.
• A very depressing B&B.
• You could live in a sad old water utility shed.
• Yowza.
• Consequences.
• Who thought this was a good idea??
• Nope.

The Attitude!

This is the photo that confirmed for me which tooth Harry had extracted, lol.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, queer romance), Book Riot (YA, historical fiction, queer, best out this month, comics/graphic novels, nonfiction, horror, mysteries/thrillers), Reactor (fantasy, genre benders, YA SFF, sci fi)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• Tiny revolutions.
• A reminder.
• You go, Salt Lake City!
• Knit a pencil scarf.
• I am Dubious of their claims about the numerous health benefits of donuts.
• Pop Tarts ice cream sandwiches?
• I like this one.
• A fine MCM.
• Nice contemporary with a tower and a courtyard. Something about the windows gives it an MCM feel.
• Converted potato shed.
• Converted caboose that’s all about unrealized potential.
• NOT a fan of the gigantic horned bovine heads overhanging the dining room table.
• Definitely worse after the photoshopping.
• Refrigerator mystery.
• What the what.
• Steps for giants with bonus rounded edges.
• Nope.
• Oh, that could really hurt.
• It’s the midpoint that’s going to get you on the way down.
• Scary glass stairs.

Polly and Harry looking out the window. Of course, when I went to grab my phone, they were both standing up…

Harry!

Polly!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Gizmodo (SFF/horror), Book Riot (romance, SFF, YA, best out this week, books by trans and non-binary authors)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Good quote from Sir Terry.
• “15 essential books to read for the resistance“.
• Ficlet.
• If you have a gmail account…
• Knit some goose socks.
• “Soda is a shockingly good egg replacement for boxed cakes“.
• 15 rhubarb recipes.
• Who is drinking the water??
• Cute bank conversion.
• Has some exceptional tile.
• Fascinating home with terrifying access to the rooftop deck.
• Comes with an ice rink and a little Zamboni.
• Maybe the lower part was used as classroom space?
• Has a yellow brick road inside.
• Must like boulders.
• I’m just way too clumsy for all of these aesthetics over functionality stairs!
• Ouch.
• D’oh.
• Sigh.

Some belated birthday socks for my SIL. Colors could be better – the purple looking stripes are actually more deep red. That weird white heel? Looks like a yarn misprint! This was only part of it – I cut out a bunch, but I did want to preserve the weirdness for posterity.

Harry hanging out on the edge of Cord World. Split loom tubing on the cords, protecting both cords and cord chewers…

Polly “hiding”.

Polly looking exceptionally cute.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (YA, best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “American Library Association sues” 47.
• Some LotR trivia.
• Ficlet.
• Cute little Art Deco-esque house.
• Lovely little bungalow.
• Nice condo in a converted church.
• Pretty cute pueblo style house.
• Dramatic pops of color.
• One from the Twin Cities – it has a speakeasy in the basement.
• Very colorful. The purple kitchen cabinets are fun, but I think I’d get tired of them quickly.
• Has potential but it isn’t finished.
• “You rarely find an upgraded cave.“
• Fancy. It’s also a wedding venue and has an outbuilding dedicated to a large model train setup.
• Confusing.
• Some of the interior color choices are… interesting.
• The interior sure doesn’t go with the exterior.
• 8 bd, 25ba (not a typo), and a lagoon.
• Has an odd little indoor pond. And I wonder why they moved the toilet in the half bath?
• Pay cash and the owner will throw in a bulldozer.
• All that plus they look slippery.
• Helpful or not?
• Oof.
• Hell no.

Polly using the scratching post, like a good girl.

Harry, keeping an eye on goings on around the neighborhood.

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…