I was given this CD Walkman to try out and review and I’m really liking it. The sound is excellent. What I found super cool was that the walkman stores the songs somehow so the CD doesn’t continue spinning like the ones back in the day. It doesn’t store the music permanently. It seems to store just the CD I’m listening to. I haven’t tried the radio but I’ve heard it wasn’t that great. I’m not worried though. I mainly just listen to my CDs. While everyone probably got rid of all their CDs and went digital, I kept most all of mine. They’re in storage though, so I need to get them out. The two in the photo are what I kept out. I have no idea what I did with the Sarah McLauchlan insert/booklit but I’m pretty sure it’s somewhere around the house. It was nostalgic listening to her music and Adele’s first album as well.
Here’s my top three songs for the month:
“Possessions” – Sarah McLauchlan
“Someone Like You” – Adele
“Dirty Laundry” – Don Henly
Currently, on repeat is “Beyond the Moon” by A.M.R. feat. Ai Takekawa while I’m writing.
The Creme line from Chic Sparrow is their thickest leather. It’s a soft and pliable, supple full-grain leather with a decent amount of structure so it’s not floppy. It feels so nice and sturdy in your hands. It also smells wonderful. I’m not advertising for them. I simply love this leather, and a few others, and so much so that I think I might have an addiction, and it’s not a good one either because they are expensive. I started out with one leather cover back in 2017, a Mr. Darcy Lemon Drop B6, and from then on, it’s been one notebook cover after another. I’m at the point where I have no use for them. I’m simply collecting them now. I guess if it makes me happy, it can’t be a bad thing, right?
We got snow today. It’s beautiful but slippery. This is a view from the study, where I spend the majority of my time writing, recording, and crafting.
Here’s a video of my unboxing of the Austen Woodhouse Personal and Creme Huckleberry B6. They are both leather traveler’s notebook covers by Chic Sparrow.
I just love the feel of these leathers. They smell awesome too. Photos coming soon.
It’s been awhile since I posted a book review. I’ve been reading and reviewing on Amazon, just not on my blog and Goodreads. Those reviews were only requested on Amazon. I am extremely backed up so I won’t be able to take anymore request at this time.
This book I just finished, “Terror on the Deseret Trail,” was a shocking read, but it was written so well that I couldn’t resist sharing the review. Let me know what you think if you get the chance to read it. Be warned though. It’s over-the-top gruesome, gory, and just foul.
Title: Terror on the Deseret Trail Author: Jack Hazen Genre: Historical Fiction, Adventure Thriller Year Published: March 13, 2021
Wasn’t sure exactly what to expect but what a wild ride! This story is about a bunch of people. The main ones being Reuben Taz and a paleontologist named Hannah Monroe, and her group. At first, you’d think this was your average wild west story, but the further you get into it, the more you realize it’s one really crazy grown-up story with a bunch of strange and unique characters. Everyone has somewhere to go, and out in the west there’s a lot of land and a lot of bad things going on. It’s wise to travel in a group or at least with someone who knows how to shoot a gun or use a knife.
Reuben Taz is the most interesting character in the story. He has an agenda, and it’s to find and kill his father’s killer. However, he’s not anything you’d think him to be. He enjoys eating a good set of dainty toes. Aside from traveling with a whore named Rhonda for some time, a Mark Twain joins them and then a couple of other men later on. The group with the paleontologist consists of assistants, a handicap named Tiny Tim, an Arapaho princess named Sweet Water, and a few others. There were dinosaur bones out there in Utah and Paleontologist Hanna wanted to find them first. Helen James, a Pinkerton detective and a trans, later joins Hannah’s group. The detective was on a case about a kidnapped Mormon daughter and was set to find her. With all the chaos in the Utah and Nevada lands in the late 1800’s it was a very scary time to be traveling, but somehow these people were brave enough to do it.
I loved everything about this story. It was dirty, gruesome, disgusting, there was satire, dark humor, etc., and I enjoyed it all. I wanted so bad to give it five stars but there were so many missing open/closed speech quotes that I struggled somewhat as to when someone was speaking and done speaking. There were also a few misspells but not enough to distract from the story (definitely should get it edited though, it’s such an extraordinary story that I’d love to see it turn into a movie!). Definitely give this book a read if you enjoy settings in the wild west and deep dark themes and conflicts.
Who should read this book: If you’re into super crazy books with no limits, go for this one. Once in a blue moon, I simply just dig this stuff. This kind of book is meant to be taken lightly because it pokes fun at humanity.
I’ve never been a fan of the color green for notebook covers, but lately it’s been a color I’m drawn too. My first purchase of a green cover was the Glas Folio B6 from the Express line. I thought I was good with that one, but then the Gastaldi from the Artist line captured my heart. There is something about this green that’s just so magnetic. The color is between a fern and forest green. I’d say maybe a sap green. There’s a bit of yellow and brown to it.
This Gastaldi is a Cascade Folio in the A5 size.
Here’s Gastaldi compared to Glas. Glas is a muted lime green.
Currently, I have a Stalogy A5 notebook in the Gastaldi and a Stalogy B6 in the Glas. Both of these notebook covers were purchased from Chic Sparrow. The Stalogy notebooks were purchased from Amazon.
I ordered quite a few notebooks from Chic Sparrow late December and earlier this month. I’m a little backed up on unboxings but I’m getting there. This unboxing is of the Black Beauty Creme in the B6 size and the Dark Brown Scout in the narrow size. The Creme leather is their thickest leather. It is full-grain (the best leather out there) and soft to the touch. Some Cremes are pebbly, but none of mine are. I have five Cremes and all are very smooth except for the Chocolate, which is slightly pebbly, but still soft to the touch. The Scout is what Chic Sparrow called Maverick previously. I have a Golden Maverick in the Classic style and in the standard size. Classic just means stitching is optional. I went with optional with the Golden Maverick back then because I didn’t want the pockets. Now, I love the pockets! The Scout has pockets made from the Creme leather. I also have a similar style of leather to the Maverick and Scout but by Foxy Fix. The one by Foxy Fix is called Le Voyageur. It’s a dark brown (lighter than the Scout) color in the wide size. Maverick, Scout, and Le Voyageur are all from Asian Buffalo hide. Leather thickness is very similar to Creme.
If you haven’t seen my video, I did an unboxing of this leather. It’s an Austen Emma B6 Heritage by Chic Sparrow. I ordered this leather notebook cover during the December 2021 sale. This leather patina’s pretty quickly. I’ve had it for about a month and it’s already darker than when I received it. It will continue to patina so I’ll revisit later this year to see how it’s changed.
I’m using this one to hold my affirmations. I go through these phases where I question doing art, but I keep returning to art because it relaxes and keeps me creative. It helps me stay focus on my goals (writing/publishing) and my family. It’s strange that way how art has that much control. Here’s my first page of my affirmations. I’m going to pull a card once a month to do a layout and some journaling.
This was one of the most difficult paintings I did with gouache. I nearly gave up. I think it turned out fine, but multiple times I almost tore it up. It could just mean I need more practice with gouache. You might ask why I keep using gouache and not watercolor if it’s such a pain. I wonder the same, but I think I’m drawn to gouache because it’s very smooth when laying it down, it dries matte, and it’s more opaque than watercolor so I spend less time layering paint. There are probably other reasons too but these are the main ones.
Hope everyone had a great start to the new year. We got snow and that felt great! We’ll see how the year goes, but I’m hoping for a lot less sadness. I don’t say much about that side of life because it’s just depressing, but I’d really love a year free of heartbreak and pain.
Let’s move on. In December, I listened to a lot of Christmas songs, but there were moments when I wanted to just feel epic and fuel my imagination with stories of far away worlds and speculative conflicts that are not anything we are familiar with in our world right now. My husband thinks I spend too much time in my “fiction world,” but I can’t help it. I love imagination. He didn’t say it in a mean way. He said it to reaffirm that he gets me.
Anyway, here were the songs on my playlist in December 2021.
From My Corner of the Universe 