Sunday Snippets #12

You guys, I have been really, really tired these past weeks. Exhausted. An empty lemon. Mammu the cat had a quite sudden surgery about 10 days back and although the surgery itself went well, there were slight complications afterwards.

 

Right after the surgery.

 

We have been treating her ear since August (I kid you not - several AB rounds, medicine in the ear morning and evening, it's been draining for her and for us). So apparently the problems with the ear issued from some kind of tumour, which was best be taken out. The surgery went well, but afterwards Mammu developed inflammation inside the ear and she didn't eat properly or show any kind of interest towards life in general. Basically, she was just blobbing under the bed. It is awful to see your otherwise lively pet in such a vegetable state. We had to take her to the vet some days after the surgery because she ate only from my hand and was already starting to dehydrate. Oh, and apparently she also had high fever. And she didn't want to use litter box. MUCH problems! 

 

After the vet visit, not much changed, and I was sad Mammu didn't want to eat (food is the biggest joy in her life, otherwise). So after a few more days of feeding her from the hand in every four hours or so, we went back to the vet and picked up a kind of an appetite stimulant, a little (albeit quite expensive) pill.

 

After the surgery, quite depressed.
 

 

Guys, this was like a miracle medication. Less than an hour after I gave her 1/4 of the pill, she came yelling for food and has been back to her normal appetite and behaviour since. She is also on new AB round now because of the inflammation and the fever, but man, am I glad to see my cat alive.

 

All the problems were also deepened by the fact that Mammu got depression from the Elizabethan Collar (or the bonnet, as I named it). She is by nature a cat with super high anxiety level (long history, I got her 9 years ago from a shelter and she was mentally very damaged, took me a few good years to teach her to even feel comfortable around people), so when you put something around her neck it's like "ZOMG MONSTER TRYING TO KILL PANIIIIC! RUUUN!" *bumps against things* --> fear level increases --> dead circle of panic.

 

Feeling slightly better, playing cat house with Robert.

 

Luckily, she didn't show any interest towards her wound and stiches, so for the past four or so days I've let her be without the collar when someone is at home. Even at night, because I figured the depression is worse than that quite low risk of something happening to the wound.

 

So this weekend I have been sleeping like 10 hours a night and am starting to feel like a human again.

 

In more bookish news, I decided to rearrange my bookshelves, quite impromptu, yesterday. I actually managed to create some space, dividing books in a different manner. There is one reason I don't like rearranging my shelves and it's the fact that I have quite many books in Estonian, and since I don't want to mix languages, I can't really create any system based on genre or alphabet. So I just have Estonian shelves, and then all the rest in English.

 

Now I did make a separate TBR shelf (or 1.5 shelves to be precise) out of the books I own and haven't read yet, and that might have been a mistake because while they were all scattered throughout different shelves, I didn't really realise that I have so many of them.

 

 

The bottom shelf is all the books I haven't read. It's a lot, and it's not all.. Upper shelf is the fantasy shelf and I have kindly crossed out the books I have read, so that still leaves quite some to read from there as well.

 

Left is my most immediate TBR (the autumn one) and then there is bunch of classics and others on the right...

 

 

I also made a "shelf of shame", basically the books I haven't been much impressed with and would happily give away, either to a used bookshop or through blog or however.

 

 

And I have done some reading and finished some books, the last one was Dracula (lovely story!) and before that Sharp Objects (Gillian Flynn), which I didn't like at all (review to come but let's just say that it was even worse than Gone Girl for me personally). Now I am reading Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (these books are ridiculously captivating...).

 

Sorry for the longest post ever, but I've skipped Sunday Snippets for weeks now and there was a lot to talk about.

 

Happy Sunday everyone!

 

Sunday Snippets #11

Hellooo lovely people of the Internetz. I am here to talk about the week that has passed (almost, anyway). The weather has really caught up and it's proper cold and crispy now - I've worn mittens, yes I have.

 

It has been a nice and peaceful week, the usuals (work, Finnish class) plus getting outside quite a bit. I think the main focus this week was on food. I had been falling off my Paleo-train for a while now and became really frustrated not eating properly anymore, not to mention feeling constantly fatigued and out of energy because I had turned back to fast and crappy carbs (which, for me personally, just don't work). Sooo I decided to grab the reins and get back proper on the Paleo-train and that I have done, and maaan, the difference it makes what you put in your mouth! So much energy.

 

I made a really nice recipe discovery as well, I had been looking for a really good cauliflower soup recipe and tried some, but hadn't really felt that neither of recipes I tried would make it to my "to make at least once a month" list, until I tried this recipe - Paleo cauliflower soup with crispy bacon. I love Irena's site in general and have tried quite a few of her recipes. But this soup. Just so good. There's something about soups in autumn time and I could eat them like every other evening, probably.

 

I've read a lot of books this month in general (it must be my highest quantity month yet), but I don't want to start counting until the monthly recap. Last weekend I finished "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" by Milan Kundera, which was re-read and is now strongly competing against Atkinson's "Life After Life" in the category of "The Best Book of the Year So Far", after which I picked up "Ship of Magic" by Robin Hobb, and since it is a HUGE book (900 pages), I've only made it to half so far. That plus the fact that I've been a bit out of concentration to read in general this week. But it's so good! I would recommend Robin Hobb to anyone who maybe haven't read that much fantasy but wants to try, her books are so immersive, have simple enough language and number of main-ish characters usually does not form a small army (like it often happens with high fantasy).

 

Haven't watched much anything, except we did watch the first Harry Potter movie last weekend. Surprise surprise, the boyfriend is really enjoying the books :)

Sunday Snippets #10

Ugh, what a week. Long story short - I read a lot, Finnish classes started again, we took a hike to wonderfully beautiful forest and I got engaged.

 

 

The Finnish classes are three hours on Monday evenings. The level of this particular course might be a bit too high, but hey, better too high than too low. I took classes last year and really need to start pushing myself more.

 

 

I finished two more books this week, Gardens of the Moon and The Universe Versus Alex Woods. Wonderful reads! I have the feeling that I've been picking really good reads lately. This means I've already finished five books this month, which is a HUGE PILE considering my average is six books a month.

 

Yesterday we went to a nature park near Helsinki (20 minutes by train, 25 by bus, 2 km on foot), it's got different length hiking tracks - we took the 4 km one. But it's not like walking on flat asphalt, it's full of tree roots and rocks and hills, so it took us quite a while to cover the distance. But it was so pretty there and the smell of autumn and and...! I'll add some photos.

 

 

Also, the boyfriend gave me a very pretty ring and now we are engaged. It was a very sweet moment and took place in a very pretty place.

 

 

So that's it for this week, I hope my reading kick continues for the week to come. I'm saving the majority of RIP books for October, so for now I'm just taking quite randomly books from my shelf.

 

Have a nice week, everyone!

 

Sunday Snippets #9

Okay, this time's Sunday Snippets will be mega short because 1) nothing remarkable happened for the whole week (I was kinda sick-ish) and 2) I am SO HOOKED to the book I am reading right now that I just want to, you know, read.

 

However, it's worth noting that this being only 8th date of the month, I have already managed to finish off three books - The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern), The Well of Lost Plots (Jasper Fforde) and Villette (Charlotte Brontë). Villette is one of those books I had started in June and then stopped reading, so I'm slowly starting to sort these out too. I've also read more than 1/3 of the Sherlock Holmes stories I planned for the RIP event and am about 3/4 through Gardens of the Moon, which is ironic and when I write about this book, it will feature a funny story, and some things to learn from (let's just say this is about 5th time I attempt to start this book - last time I made it to 300-ish pages). Anyway, right now I'm hooked, and it's going mighty fast for a 700-page brick (that being said, the series has like 10 books and the next one is about a 1000 pages so fun times ahead).

 

In other news, Mammu the cat is feeling a lot better (she still gets medicine three times a day) and my Finnish classes start again as of tomorrow.

 

Buut now I really need to get back to my book. Have a nice week, everyone!

Sunday Snippets #8 (on Monday)

From my childhood home.

I've been slacking with my Sunday posts mainly because I am lazy and don't get anything done. The fact that I am on vacation has little to do with it; in fact, if anything, I should get more posts up because of all the time I don't have to slave off working :p

 

Today started the last week of my summer holiday, I will be back to work next Tuesday (how I love it is not Monday this time - it's so nice to have that extra day in the beginning of a week). It has been a nice holiday, full of mainly just lazing around but also going to places and doing stuff.

 

Right in the beginning of the holiday the boyfriend and I visited a music festival here in Helsinki for a day, and it was an awesome day. I haven't been to many festivals mainly because those around here tend to take place in the middle of nowhere and I hate tents with passion, but this one was in the middle of the city, so yay.

 

It started raining on Monday and it rained straight through the first four days of the summer holidays, so that meant a lot of staying in and playing a computer game and reading.

 

Also, our Mammucat fell ill right before the start of the holidays, which meant we had to start treatment combined of pills twice a day, washing her hears once a day and putting some ear medicine into ears twice a day, so that pretty much meant that longer trips will not happen. She feels better now and we will go for a check-up to the vet tomorrow afternoon.

 

A solitary Mammu :)

 

A week ago we did visit my parents in Estonia, for about three days. Many of my relatives visited during the same weekend and it was nice to catch up with all my cousins. We returned with a big suitcase full of food, mainly from my mother's garden and greenhouse. Plus a big batch of chanterelles we picked from the forest - I love mushroom picking! And my dad is a pro and knows all the best mushroom places. In fact, one year I gifted him a huge bright yellow ceramic chanterelle for birthday. He loves mushroom picking.

 

This last Friday we took a small train trip to another town here in Finland, we started this tradition last year and both trips were very nice. We saw an awesome medieval church, an awesome museum are that consisted of a small wooden town of different buildings from past - like houses of leather makers, tobacco makers, bakery, string instrument maker, smith, etc. etc. In some houses people dressed in appropriate clothes were still working on the crafts and this place was awesome. We spent so long there that we didn't make it on time to the main tourist attraction of the town, an old castle. So we just admired that from outside. We also had a quite extravagant 3-course lunch in one of Finland's oldest restaurants, and had in total 4 hours in trains - and I am obsessed with trains. One year I told my boyfriend I want nothing else for birthday gift than a train ride. I got a pile of gifts, plus a train ride, so nothing to complain about. Anyway, back to food, after eating we spent an hour in a totally empty park; the boyfriend took a nap on one bench and I read on the other. Pretty much a perfect day based on my standards.

 

Glove maker's apartments.

On the town streets, there were plenty of visitors and this was the only
shot I got with only people with time-appropriate clothes on.

String instrument maker. I played violin for 9 years myself,
so this room I loved specifically.

In the front of reading, it has been slow but steady. I finished Mansfield Park for Austen in August event - so proud I actually managed to finish a book during the event! At parents, I organised all my childhood books and brought back some 10 or so that I want to read. These are such comfort reads, I've read three of them already. I am thinking I should do a post about my childhood reads, because being from non-English language environment (not to mention a post-Soviet country), my reading material as a child was very different from most I have read in other blogs. I made a post of the huge pile of books I got almost for free on Thursday, and I started A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving, which I am reading now. It has been an odd experience in the way that being almost half-way through (and it's 600+ page one), I have absolutely no idea whether I like it or not. I realise it basically depends on the later parts of the book what I will think about it in the end. So it's exciting!

 

Robert's idea of a comfortable sleeping position?

Sunday Snippets #7

I missed Sunday Snippets last weekend, mainly because I was just. so. tired after arriving from the amazing concert some vague time at night, with feet aching from standing and jumping around for hours.

But, it's a new week and I'm baack!

Weather has been nice, summery but not overly hot. For some reason, I have had this unexplainable craving for snow and Christmas lately; it's actually quite common that I get it in July, but this time it has been going on for a good week or so and I'm getting slightly concerned.

Bout of Books is approaching again and I see the sign-up posts popping up in my reader quite regularly, but I haven't decided yet. I will be on vacation during the Bout of Books, but I have no idea yet whether I will be at home or not, so it might happen that I won't have much online time. And also, pushing myself to reading a lot right now can be either a very good thing or a total disaster.

 

I won this from a giveaway. Very suitable comic strip to booklovers and overall nerdy people.
Tom Gauld on Tumblr.

 

I've been struggling majorly to pick a book to read. I have a few unfinished books from June, from the time my grandmother died - okay, I get it, they are at the moment associated to a very sad feeling so I'll wait a bit before I pick them up again. I tried The Prague Cemetery, but didn't get into it at all and it went back on the shelf. Finally, some Jasper Fforde books arrived in the mail, and I managed to finish Lost in a Good Book last night. Sooo good. Now I'm on the fence whether to continue with Thursday Next or to try Robin Hobb - I also started Ship of Magic and it was going really well, maybe I need this kind of escapade that fantasy literature can offer right now...

 

Mammu with a pair of my new shoes :)

 

 

Been watching:

 

Modern Family, Season 3 - watching with boyfriend, continually hilarious.

 

I finished Season 3 of Downton Abbey a few days ago and I am happy to be caught up with this one, though this season there were sooo many cases where I rolled my eyes, but oh well. It's a guilty pleasure, so eye-rolling is part of the business :)

 

Then, boyfriend and I went a bit more into House of Cards, Season 1 - a very well done series with some ridiculously good acting (Kevin Spacey, Robin Wright). I have a good feeling about this one.

 

Aand, I am weekly hooked to my guilty pleasure number 1 - Project Runway, Season 12. I can't comprehend the warm feelings towards this series myself because aside from that, I take interest in exactly zero other reality shows/contests/whatever, but I've seen and enjoyed every single season and episode of Project Runway, so yes. It's somewhat of a conundrum.

And here's a sight you one doesn't see every day, or to be more precise, almost never.
 

Sunday Snippets #6

It looks like Sunday Snippets is all I post these days, and maybe I am in a blogging slump as well, but I am happy I started these Sunday posts - at least it keeps me on track and not forget about the blog all together. 

Nothing particularly interesting happened this week, but it was a nice week, nevertheless. Work is easier in summer (less news means less work for me), weather has been nice (meaning not too hot). On Thursday we went to see Man of Steel, the boys liked it but I found myself falling asleep for the second half of the film... Let it be mentioned that there are plenty of superhero and/or comic-based movies that I like very much, so this one just wasn't for me. 

A dress and three pairs of shoes arrived in mail. It was indeed a nice week. 

I finished a book too! Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin - a fast book on controversial and intriguing topic (hermaphrodites/intersex people). I still have Middlesex winking from the TBRS (to be read soon) shelf here at home as I am writing this.

Been watching:

Modern Family, Season 2 - still very funny.  

House of Cards, Season 1 - started this with the boyfriend. There is so much speaking for this series, but it's a bit hard to form opinions yet as we have only seen 2 episodes. 

Downton Abbey, Season 3 - something terrible just happened in the episode I watched today. I hope the overall moods in the series will improve somewhat. 

I also finished Jane Eyre miniseries (BBC, 2006), which I started a while back. I liked it a great deal, when it comes to staying true to the novel. Honestly, I tried watching the 2011 version with Michael Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska, but gave up half way. To me, that adaption was just butchering the whole novel and there was nothing captivating about it. 

Waiting for:

Finishing the winner of this year's Women's Prize, May We Be Forgiven by A. M. Homes. It was good I approached this book without any expectations and no knowledge of any hype (if there was any), since it has been a really interesting and rather pleasant surprise.

Muse stadium concert here in Helsinki next Saturday. Oh, yes.  

 

Mammucat has adopted new box, suitable for both - sleeping and chilling out.

Sunday Snippets #5

This past week has been peaceful and I am getting back my reading mojo, slowly but surely. 

Nothing much has happened aside from trying to get back to normal living (and sleeping) rhythm after the funeral last weekend (I had to wake up 4am-ish for two nights in a row and that is not cool, yo). There has been work and quite nice weathers - not too hot, but definitely summery. 

I finished a book - Death at La Fenice by Donna Leon, it's a murder investigation story. It wasn't very special and I don't know yet if I am fascinated with the detective person at all, but since I'm too lazy to pick up another detective series I'll probably continue with this one if I feel like that kind of a book again.

I started Golden Boy by Abigail Tarttelin after that (which I won from Christina at A Reader of Fictions - thanks a bunch! and here is her review). Even though I am still reading several other books, I felt like I needed a new, and a fast one. And this one is good because I'm reading like a 100 pages a day of it, which is really quite voluminous, considering. 

Robert as a giant bumble-bee. Or a furry space creature. We used ice-cream caps to change his identity.

Been watching:  

Modern Family, Season 1 - I rewatched this with the boyfriend, who hasn't seen this series. I don't find many things on screen particularly funny, but this one is hilarious, and lack of annoying background laughter doesn't hurt either.

Downton Abbey, Season 3 - I think of this as a guilty pleasure :) 

Sunday Snippets #4

Just a very quick note today, and a few words of explanation for why I have been so quiet lately. 

My grandmother passed away this week and just this morning we returned from her funeral in Estonia. I haven't really felt like doing much reading or anything related, I had to put all my books on halt and pick up a detective novel (by Donna Leon) because it seemed like the best kind of distraction.

I will be back once I feel better. Have a nice new week everyone!

Sunday Snippets #3

I didn't write the weekend post last week because I was just. so. tired. Physically and mentally, as I had been away from home for 7 days and at home only one day in between.

 

Selection of roofs from Prague Old Town.

For four days we were in Prague for a city vacation. It was pretty much all I expected it to be - gorgeous architecture, cheap prices, excellent beer, lots of meat and sausages, hordes of tourists, but also things I did not expect, like constant 33 degrees (C) of heat with no merciful breezes. Overall I am very happy with the trip and also glad to report that I survived my first ever two plane rides. I put up a very selected collection of photos here.
 

After Prague came the Midsummer's weekend, which was spent traditionally at the summer cottage by the lake. It's an idyllic place in the middle of nowhere, just a lot of forest, the lake, house, sauna, fishes to catch, boat rides to take, food to barbeque, books to read, all the relaxing stuff.

 

Mammu with her new friend.

After that I've just been trying to get back to the work rhythm and pace. There will be three more weeks of holidays in August for both of us, which is definitely something to look forward to.

Robert with his new friend.

I've been reading but not really finishing a lot of books... In Prague I read City of Dark Magic, which is the only book I've managed to finish this month. I'm almost done with The 5th Wave (will finish it today) and I have a bit left of my Classics Spin book Villette, but this will be left to the beginning of July. Somehow my mind has just been too scattered to read in big amounts, or even to write about it. But more about bookish affairs in the end-of-the-month post!

Sunday Snippets #2

Robert giving an approval certificate to the suitcase.

We are flying to Prague on Sunday morning and will return late at night on Wednesday. After that there will be a few days to recover and we'll head off to the family summer cabin to celebrate the Midsummer's holiday.

 

Next week will be such a busy week. But also awesome, no doubt.

 

I found a new fav tea - strawberry ginger green tea.

So this week has just gone by and book-wise I haven't gotten anything done. It's 15th and I haven't finished a single book this month. One thing, I have been in a slump, but not in the bad, inevitable slump - rather my focus has just shifted a lot because there has been a lot to do. And if I have a lot to do, my concentration level is really low, but I know it happens and it's nothing tragic; once life settles down again it'll get better.

 

I am half-way through Villette and half-way through Outlander, both I am enjoying very much and I regret I cannot given them the full attention they deserve. I started with The 5th Wave, in hopes of getting some light, low-brain-activity-required read in the mix, and it meets that criteron pretty well (I haven't yet learned to appreciate a lot of things about modern young adult literature, but I do appreciate that they are such fast reads :p). I will probably have more reading time during the Midsummer weekend, so I am hoping to finish off some books.

 

To Prague I am taking two other books (that will then make 5 books I read simultaneously but hey let's pretend it's normal) - City of Dark Magic and The Unbearable Lightness of Being, just because they are Prague and stuff. It does sound a bit crazy, 5 books, but it's a crazy month.

 

There is still a lot to do, like pack and prepare cats and eat and stuff, so I will head off now, wishing happy and sunny reading week to everyone.

Sunday Snippets #1

I've been toying with the idea of a weekly Sunday post for a while now. Mainly because so many other bloggers, who I read regularly, do it, and those posts are always very interesting glances into their lives. Lives somewhat outside the books, that is :) 

Often I feel like writing a blog post, but not necessarily a book review. It actually takes me quite a bit of composing myself to write a book review - no idea, why. So, sometimes it would be nice to simply chat and not feel the literary pressure. 

So, since I like talking (obviously), I will start my own Sunday Snippets, featuring (likely) what I did that week, maybe some culinary experiments, probably also photos of the kitties, or anything else I might find worth noting down. I'll try to be coherent, and fiddle with these Sunday posts to find the kind of format that suits the best for me, but will apologise in advance over possible ramblings, because I do get digressed very easily.

Pancake experiement from this weekend - I used only eggs and banana. Served with fresh strawberries, raspberries and honey. I dare say, these are better than "regular" pancakes :)

This was a good week overall. A few weeks ago I started eating Paleo, after long time of self-contemplation and being stressed for eating very unhealthily at times. To put it short, I've dropped all grain, dairy and processed foods from my menu and basically only eat meat (fish, seafood, etc), veggies, fruits, eggs. And other tidbits, like coconut milk, but counting all would take too much post space :) I've been making three meals a day (at least) from scratch since I began, and I feel awesome. I've eaten more vegetbles in a few weeks than I ate in months' time before that, I don't feel any hunger thanks to my sugar levels being in balance and not jumping up and down like before, and I feel overall awesome for giving my body healthy foods.

Robert enjoying the sunny Sunday on the couch.

Book wise, I am in a bit of a difficult place right now. I have been reading both, my Classics Club Spin book "Villette" and Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" this week, but I didn't finish any books. I am mentally in a bit of a tough place (long story, but basically it has to do with AD withdrawal effects), so it's hard to concentrate at times, but I do enjoy both the books and  I'm doing my best and reading a little bit every day, even if not in huge amounts. 

Watched this week: 

"Iron Man 3" in the movie theatre.

"Food Matters" at home (a doc about how food matters and how it is a cause - and a cure - for many illnesses).