Sweet Shit Round Up
February 2021
DISCLAIMER: THIS POST CONTAINS AFFILIATE LINKS. IF YOU PURCHASE A PRODUCT THROUGH MY LINK I WILL RECEIVE A SMALL COMMISSION AT NO EXTRA COST TO YOU! READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE.
One of the worst months of the year is finally coming to an end and I’m beside myself with excitement. No offense to all of my lovely friends, family, and followers who were born in February but we all know this month typically sucks. It’s cold. It’s snowy. It’s gray. And this year we have the added bonus of it being the final month to round out our first year of the COVID pandemic. You’re really killin it February! But, you know me, I still managed to pull together a list of sweet shit that made February a little more bearable.
Books
Home Before Dark by Riley Sager
- Ya’ll know I love me some Riley Sager. I included his novel Lock Every Door on last June’s round up while anticipating the release of this bad boy right here. Home Before Dark is a two for one deal. In the present day we’re following Maggie Holt, home renovator and daughter of recently deceased author Ewan Holt, who is constantly battling the image her father created of her in his bestselling nonfiction book “House of Horrors” about their time spent in the allegedly haunted Baneberry Hall when Maggie was five. Each present day chapter is sandwiched between chapters of Ewan’s book chronicling the bizarre and scary happenings of Baneberry Hall. Maggie, however, is pretty sure it’s all bullshit. But, after discovering her dad still owned Baneberry Hall 25 years after their stay, Maggie feels compelled to return to the house that shaped her life to discover the answers her parents have spent years refusing to give her. I always love Sager’s female protagonists. They’re usually strong, vulnerable, and smart and Maggie is no exception. You’ll think you have it figured it out but the surprise ending will turn you upside down…and then it’ll happen again! I can’t recommend Sager’s books enough.
One of Us is Next by Karen M. McManus
- The follow up to her 2017 novel, One of Us is Lying, Karen M. McManus returns to Bayview High, the gossipy epicenter of youthful scandals and grudges. The kids from the first novel have since graduated so this time we’re following Maeve, younger sister of Bronwyn, the brain from the first novel, and her group of friends as they face a new foe ready and willing to expose their darkest secrets to the world. An unknown villain has started a game of truth or dare with the whole school and after their question goes ignored by the first unwilling participant, it becomes clear….always choose the dare. But taking the dare leads to death for one of the participants and it’s up to the others to figure out who is behind the violence and why. I think this was a pretty good follow up to the first novel though I feel like I didn’t quite care about this group of kids as much as the first. The ending starts off pretty expected but makes a quick turn into “oh shit” territory in the last three pages. I would recommend reading both novels in the series if you’re up for a little YA mystery.
The Year of Less by Cait Flanders
- Somehow, I managed to get through three books this month…don’t get used to it. Self-help books aren’t typically my kind of reading but this month I got drawn to Cait Flanders, The Year of Less. It follows Flanders as she decides to impose a shopping ban on herself for a year. Birthday to birthday. She writes out a list of things she can continue to spend on, like travel and an occasional dinner out with friends (lol remember dinners out with friends) and creates an emergency list of things she can replace should they break but otherwise no more spending. The book itself is fine. Flanders shares all the unexpected hardships that came up during her year of less that didn’t necessarily deal with her ban and snitches on herself when she had moments of weakness sticking to her plan which is appreciated…cause we all mess up now and then. But the thing I took away from this was the first act of her year of less: the purging of all unnecessary items in her home. She takes the time to be truly honest with herself and admit she’ll never read some of those books or wear that dress she thought looked professional. And dammit…I want to do that! So I started with a fast and loose first pass of my bookshelf, getting rid of books I hated or know in my heart of hearts I’m never gonna pick up, and ya’ll…it felt great. It doesn’t really look like I did much but I wiped out at least 50 books already and can’t wait to do another pass. So while I felt just okay about the book overall, it inspired me to start being honest with myself about the things I’ve kept cluttering my space and that seems reason enough to make this round up.
TV & Movies
- When someone would bring up Westworld in the past I’ve always been very firmly in the camp of…not my thing. I thought it was about aliens in the wild west and didn’t really want much to do with it. But this month, Jonathan was interested in a rewatch and threw the first episode on and ya know what? It hooked me. My initial assumption that Westworld was about aliens in the wild west wasn’t THAT far off…just replace aliens with robots. I LOVE the Westworld setting…it reminds me so much of Red Dead Redemption 2. You might know that I pride myself on figuring out twists in thrillers before the end and Jonathan took that as a challenge to get me more interested in watching so now I’m on the hunt to guess what’s going on before we finish season 1. While typically I’m all about spoilers…none on this one please! I’m trying to win fair.
How The Other Kids Live
- If you’ve been feeling down with the winter/pandemic blues and are in desperate need for a soul cleanser, allow me to recommend the 2019 British miniseries, How the Other Kids Live. This show is fucking precious and there’s only three episodes so it won’t take you more than a few hours to finish….but you’ll wish there were at least a couple more to watch. Each episode follows three kids from the same neighborhood who otherwise would never have interacted and has them participate in three playdates at each others homes. It allows the kids, all around 8-9 years old, the chance to meet and learn about different religions, socioeconomic circumstances, family dynamics, and personalities. I’ll include the first episode below but you can find them all on Youtube.
- Last August I included Unpregnant the book in my round up for the month and told ya’ll a movie was coming to HBO Max in September. Well I finally got to watch it this week and I loved it! Haley Lu Richardson looks like a young Christina Applegate as overachiever Veronica Clarke and Barbie Ferreira had the perfect attitude to play Veronica’s ex best friend, Bailey Butler. Both actresses really killed it at bringing these characters to life in a way that felt realistic and still stayed true to the original book. My favorite part of the whole movie has to be the way they handle and walk through what happens in clinic when a woman chooses to have an abortion. It was handled in a way that was informative and also treated abortions and the women who choose to have them with respect and doesn’t showcase it as some big, scary, bad thing. Honestly, it might be must see viewing for all teens.
- Ya girl loves a miniseries and in the 90s early 00s Stephen King was, well, the king of a tv miniseries. I’ve wanted to rewatch Storm of the Century for literal years and finally when we were scheduled to get a big snowstorm last week it seemed like the most appropriate time to whip this sucker out! Storm of the Century is an original, made for tv, King work that takes place on Little Tall island, also the location of his book Dolores Claiborne, just before the titular (snow)storm of the century is about to hit the island. However, the snow isn’t the only threat to the small town as menacing stranger, Andre Linoge makes his presence known by immediately murdering an elderly woman in her home and waiting for the law to pick him up. Since this is King, obviously Linoge has some kind of supernatural and magic about him but, also like most of King’s stories, by the end of the whole thing you’ll have to decide if Linoge is actually the villain of the story or if the community is to blame for their own downfall. This movie is cheesy and it’s a lot of fun. The accents and the way all the characters insist on using everyone’s first and last names to speak directly to that character is both silly and kinda charming. Thank God for Youtube cause you can find the whole thing on there!
- Maybe the theme of this month is actually “Jodi’s behind the times” cause just about everything on this list has progressed well past its original hubbub but here I am…experiencing it for the first time. Midsommar is very obviously no different. First off, Florence Pugh has one of the best frown faces of all time which couldn’t work better for her in this movie. She’s also excellent at acting out grief in such a raw way, big fan of her style over here. Overall, I really liked Midsommar but fully believe it could have been about 45 minutes shorter. We get it, culty village, sacrifices, flowers…let’s wrap it up! You can decide if the runtime is too long or just right by checking Midsommar out on Prime.
Video Games
- If you like cute games that will make you want to throw your controller through a wall, Cuphead is perfect for you. Where most games have a few bosses scattered over 8+ hours of play, Cuphead is only boss fights, and sure, some of them are a little easier than others, but I can almost guarantee you you’ll reach some kind of frustration at every level. Don’t get me wrong, this game is still pretty cool. I love the music and the 30s aesthetic so so much, and definitely think the difficulty you have besting each boss leads to a greater feeling of accomplishment and pride when you can finally beat the challenge. Have you played Cuphead? Which boss did you have the most trouble with? Let me know in the comments!
Music
Monsters - All Time Low ft Demi Lovato and blackbear
- Pop/Emo punk was at its peak during my high school years and I stay getting nostalgic for it. So when I heard All Time Low’s song Monsters on the radio the other day, I got amped. AND it has my girl Demi (Lovato) on it? They’re really hitting my ears in all the right places with this song. I know Monsters was released early last year but I’ve been out of the music game for a hot minute so cut me some slack and if you’ve got that special place in your heart for mid to late 00’s pop/emo punk, go listen to it for yourself.
Products
- I got Jonathan a dehydrator for Christmas so this month has been devoted to dehydrating the fuck out of everything. Mushrooms? Reminded me of Chuck E. Cheese mushrooms. Apple slices? Loved them. Blueberries? Took too damn long. Personally I can’t wait to move into the Craisins, fruit leather, and jerky part of dehydrating but we’re still learning. This Hamilton Beach dehydrator has been pretty nice, it has five trays to evenly space out all your fruits/veggies/meats and includes a mesh tray for drying herbs and a solid tray for fruit leather. If you have any suggestions for what to dry next let me know in the comments!
Miscellaneous
In Full Color
- Listen, I love bragging on my friends. They’re all so beautiful and talented and I miss the fuck out of seeing them with any regularity. But this month, I’m specifically sharing the work from my friend Leanne, an artist and middle school art teacher who asked us all to submit photos to her for an unknown art series she wanted to put together. That art series turned into In Full Color: A Series of Friendship. She took each of our photos and smeared paint on our faces in the colors she sees us as and has been posting them one at a time on her Instagram with incredibly sweet captions on how she sees us. To see the full series and to check out the rest of her work, go to LeanneGlace.com or follow her on the gram at @leanneglace!
Sixty Degree Day
- It was 60 degrees on Wednesday. It was the best day of the whole damn month! Didn’t need to wear a jacket, the sun was out for like half the day, and, maybe most importantly, I got to add new colors to my temperature blanket…keep an eye out for the blanket update on my insta next week! I. Can’t. Wait. For Spring.
How’s February been for you? Gray? Can’t wait for it to end? What sweet shit did you get into to make the month feel a little shorter? Share it all in the comments below!