• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “You’re not imagining it: Google search results are getting worse…” Might I suggest DuckDuckGo? I switched a month or so ago and I must say it’s a relief to not have to wade through all the ads and sponsored crap.
• Also, apparently Google News “is infested with AI garbage”.
• The “Visit Oregon” site has Oregon Trail on it!
• You’ll be able to buy a portable cassette player again soon, if you’ve been needing one in your life.
• “MCM” but built in 1991 – I love how colorful it is.
• A modernish Irish castle with a grotto swimming pool.
• It has a wishing well and a castlesque interior.
• All of the eclectic furnishings are included.
• It’s very dramatic, but that’s just too much glass.
• Another dramatic house, but with an unfortunate excess of taxidermy.
• Converted mill that looks challenging to heat.
• If you’ve always wanted your own bunker…
• “Brutalist lite“.
• What the heck is going on with stairs above her head in the background?!
• That pole is not placed well for gripping.
• Stairs on which tiptoeing seems to be required.
• Huh.

And the last pair of socks I gifted over the holiday season. These aren’t perfectly matchy matchy because of a knot in the skein. Grrrr. But really only the heel flaps differ.

Mayhem enjoying the new fancy sherpa “mink” blanket (from a vendor) (and of course the pet warmer is under the blanket).

Winking Polly!

Harry apparently doesn’t trust me, based on that look.

• New releases: Reactor (formerly Tor.com) (horror/genre-benders, YA SFF, scifi, fantasy), Book Riot (audiobooks, best out this week, romance, manga), Smart Bitches (romance, queer romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• Download the Nov/Dec 2023 free short fiction bundle from Reactor.
• Get a 38-book Terry Pratchett bundle for $18 (US only, sorry). Must have a Kobo account to redeem.
• Very cool Good Omens music box.
• Some perfect words.
• “…how will I ever manage“.
• This is exactly what working in a bookstore is like.
• A dark ficlet.
• “13 New Year’s resolutions for saving democracy“.
• “Asexuality is finally breaking free from medical stigma“.
• “Kohler’s newest bidet finally brings Alexa and Google to your butt“.
• The Door Saga.
• Caramel s’mores bars.
• All the built-in bookcases!
• I adore the book stairs.
• This is pretty nice.
• Cool MCM, although those cliffside locations make me nervous.
• Converted grist mill compound.
• The glass turret and its lift are quite unique.
• Fancy place on NYC’s West Side with a fireplace mosaic that hasn’t aged well.
• Log cabin mansion in Nova Scotia.
• Completely over the top ridiculous.
• Is it just me or does this place have major bar vibes?
• Must love their wallpaper choices…
• Never has plywood been so lovingly finished.
• That’s too many bottles – put some back.
• Another strange one in Utah.
• Yikes.
• FAIL.
• I guess at least there’s a warning at the top? Although when you crouch close enough to read it, you’ll probably fall down the stairs.

More socks that I gifted in 2023. These were Meilenweit Intenso.

So cute, Polly!

Mayhem deeply asleep on the couch (yes, there’s absolutely a pet warmer under that fleecy blanket!).

Harry and Polly on my lap.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Tor.com (YA SFF/horror), Book Riot (horror,  YA, nonfiction, best out this week, SFF), Gizmodo (SFF/horror)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches!
• “What happens when young people actually read ‘disturbing’ books“.
• “Books hitting the public domain in 2024“. Some other things entering the public domain this year, including clarification that it’s Steamboat Willie, not Mickey Mouse.
• “Hurkle-durkle“.
• Ficlet about aliens coming to earth and being unprepared for the wildlife.
• “Vaccination dramatically lowers long covid risk“.
• Humorous mistakes made in the pursuit of science.
• I laughed.
• EWWWW.
• Cookies and cream bundt cake.
• You really have to see the “Stretch Ceiling” product they used in this place.
• I like this.
• Cool Bauhaus style home.
• If you’ve been looking for the perfect Tuscany villa…
• Fancy New Orleans mansion.
• The Murphy beds were a surprise.
• This 1989 home in North Salt Lake, Utah, is a shape we’ve never seen before. It’s kind of weird.
• Has a treehouse, in Greenwich Village.
• Swoopy “hobbit” house needs someone to finish it.
• An odd tiny house.
• Slightly bland church conversion.
• Fixer upper built from petrified wood.
• Pretty sure no one should rent from this person.
• Are things this dire for California rentals?
• No.
• I would be dead.
• At least there are railings.
• That’s just sad.

One of the pairs of socks I knit for Xmas – I think it’s a Lang colorway. Excuse the white balance issue – always an issue here in the winter.

Harry and Polly looking deeply suspicious of my intentions.

Polly likes to jump on my back/shoulder when I’m trying to take art journal pictures.

We got a new nip toy for Xmas and Mayhem immediately took it for a trial run.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance)
• Very cute comic about a traveling fox.
• “Barack Obama’s favorite books of 2023”.
• Some information about and a link to “Hamlet, But Hamlet’s a Chicken”.
• Fantasy book recommendations based on books you loved as a child.
• Mickey and Minnie Mouse become public domain on January 1.
• New things to learn in 2024.
• “See a rover’s day on Mars in 10 seconds”.
• The new Minnesota state flag has been selected.
• Optical illusion cat glamour shot.
• Cute little MCM A-frame.
• I like it.
• Nice condo in Washington, DC.
• Decent Tudor, although I wish they would have mopped after the workers were done.
• Zsa Zsa Gabor’s former home.
• Another church conversion – chandeliers for everyone!
• Overpriced converted windmill.
• The most expensive listing in the US, apparently.
• Do the plants convey? You’d definitely need a plant service to deal with all of that.
• Fancy.
• Unusual MCM that needs a lot of work.
• Minnesota B&B for sale. That one room painted lime really clashes with the excess of pastels.
• Shake shingles for everyone!
• MCM with a brutalist color scheme.
• I have Questions about the tub.
• I guess that’s as good a theory as any.
• You might break an ankle just looking at the second photo.
• Are those little rugs on the steps attached? It doesn’t look like it.
• The bed rails should DEFINITELY by taller.
• Umm.

Cute Mayhem and her kittenish face!

Blurry Harry is tired of my shenanigans.

Polly laying on the window ledge with her feet braced against the window. Silly girl!

New releases: Book Riot (best out this week), Smart Bitches (romance)

Linkity from Smart Bitches.

Good Omens has been renewed for its third and final season!

Watch Patrick Stewart in A Christmas Carol.

Some interesting LotR meta.

There’s an X-Files reboot in the works, without the original cast or director.

Thirty “best-worst” ways to play Doom on its 30th anniversary.

Comparison of 20 different bind-off methods.

Very colorful!

Perhaps you need an eerie retreat center in your life?

I like the “sunrooms for everyone!” vibe.

An interesting church conversion.

And an interesting Southwest MCM.

Very groovy, rather tired MCM.

This has an extremely odd master bedroom.

Disconnect between the interior and the exterior – and the flex space has two photos. It’s not two separate rooms as the blogger thought originally.

A dome home with issues.

Why did they keep all four kitchens?

Stairs that are not just dangerous and ridiculous but also wine storage.

Shelves or stairs?

More dangerous pub stairs.

Pretty Polly.

And handsome Harry.

• New releases: Book Riot (best out this week), Smart Bitches (romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “I love Neil Gaiman’s tumblr because…“
• Some info about long covid.
• Cursed fact about whales: they apparently shed their entire skin at once.
• …I have questions.
• Nice carriage house conversion.
• A modern round house.
• Castle esque.
• Castle house with chutes into a pit of foam blocks.
• Very unique home with some deadly steps and stairs.
• Very cute, but there’s a tragic amount of counter space in the kitchen.
• Post office converted into a meditation retreat center/home.
• Previously a jail, now an inn with a beauty salon and owner apartment.
• An interesting one in the Hamptons.
• Looking at the last photo – was this one end of a row house??
• Potentially cool MCM but it needs so much work.
• Terribly dated house, but it comes with an amusement park.
• Staggeringly expensive and I hate the lips in the dining room.
• Needs some… erm, all the work.
• What the heck is that “balcony” on the stairs?
• Some scary balcony stairs.
• WTF.
• This looks like an agility test I would fail at oh-dark-hundred.

The tiniest blep from Polly.

Harry’s not as crabby as he frequently appears to be.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, queer romance), Tor.com (genre benders, scifi, fantasy, YA SFF) Book Riot (best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• Linkity from BookWyrm Knits.
• On mass market paperbacks.
• Agatha Christie changed mysteries forever.
• What if “Earth is the space Amazon Rainforest”?
• Looking a little bit deeper into Cinderella.
• “Some useful new tech terms” (humor).
• “Typical airliner seating chart”. Hover/long-press for caption.
• This is what 2.2 mb looked like in 1966.
• The comments about this game are extremely funny.
• I like this cowl. Here’s the Ravelry link to the pattern.
• Hot chocolate cupcakes.
• Cool MCM trailer.
• Cute, although a bit too much white. Those high bookcases – eep.
• Well done church conversion in Minnesota.
• Live in Glacier National Park.
• Nice converted bakery.
• An odd little castle house.
• A strange one, with terrible photos.
• I find the interior of this one disconcerting – maybe it’s all the mauve.
• Crazy.
• This not really a castle is a weird mix of too white and tired. And what’s up with the toilet that’s not against a wall?
• Castle house that probably has mold.
• Conversation pits look weird with their custom furniture removed.
• The outside doesn’t scream “grotto”, does it?
• The pool must be seen to be believed.
• I find the kitchen to be quite terrible.
• It’s really weird, the staircase encroaching on the kitchen like that.
• Yikes.
• D’oh.
• Hmm.
• A real leg breaker.
• This bathroom has way too many stairs.
• Looks like some contortions may be required near the bottom.

Harry and Polly checking out the new (larger) pet warmer. I think they like it. 😉

Mayhem on the old (smaller) pet warmer.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, last week), Book Riot (best out this week, best out last week, graphic novels/comics, nonfiction, YA, mysteries/thrillers, horror, SFF, romance)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches. And more!
• “[T]he more I think about it, the more sure I am that Tolkien actually deconstructs most of the clichéd fantasy tropes he supposedly originates.”
• The trick to socializing feral humans?
• The USDA recently updated the plant hardiness map for the US. Reactions to that.
• If your body image needs a boost, take a look at My Body Gallery – you can see people of your age, weight, clothing size, etc, and realize that, since they look great, you probably do, too.
• “Girlhood is a spectrum“.
• Engraved plastic waste that looks like scrimshaw.
• “Kazoo of the Valkyries“.
• LOLOLOLOLOL.
• Cheryl sent some information about basement or “hope houses” (remember the house that was just an attic/roof on the ground?). Search for “basement house” here. Thanks, Cheryl!
• Cool MCM.
• Danger! There’s a craft shop on the first floor!
• If you’ve ever wanted to live on a train…
• An unusual MCM.
• Two bedrooms, zero bathrooms.
• Huh.
• If you were doing all that to a house, why wouldn’t you remove those patio doors so there’s no chance of a terrible fall?
• Starts boring but then…
• The decorating choices are… interesting.
• I was not prepared for the kitchen cabinets.
• My favorite part is the giraffe. 😛
• WTH bathroom.
• That’s a very odd shower/tub.
• Ick ick ick.
• NO.
• Umm.
• Just no – I picture stuff falling from above (dirt from shoes, spilled coffee, etc).
• Nope.
• Oh dear.
• You’ll need to maintain your flexibility to live there and shimmy on to those stairs.
• From Denmark.

Some completed socks for me! These are both Lang Super Soxx – the rainbow ones are the “Parrot” colorway and the others are the “Lion” colorway, using the Vanilla Latte stitch pattern. Thanks to BookWyrm Knits for the inspiration!

All three cats working together to reapply the fur I had just washed away.

Harry and Polly napping on my lap and legs.

No linkity next week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US!

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance), Book Riot (best out this week)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “A chair for readers“.
• Ficlet.
• And another!
• Tracy Chapman made country music history with “Fast Car”.
• Check out some of the flags in the new Minnesota state flag competition…
• Cheetos bath bombs?!
• 34 gluten free baking recipes.
• Cute!
• I kinda like it.
• An unusual MCM.
• Has a very fancy movie theater.
• This is cool, as long as those mirrors aren’t starting fires.
• Just a bit odd.
• Seems wrong that the barn is nicer than the house.
• Reminds me of the Connie Willis quote (“The reason Victorian society was so restricted and repressed was that it was impossible to move without knocking something over.”).
• Could be used as a mall – it has the right vibe.
• That’s too many patios – put some back.
• The stairs are fine, but wtf is going on with the lights??
• YIKES.
• Dangerous luxury.
• There should be railings.
• Please no more optical illusion steps.
• They sell slide kits for stairs??
• It is indeed an amazingly cursed chair.

Harry thlurrrrp.

Polly’s “helping” me take photos…

Mayhem asleep on my lap.

• New releases: Smart Bitches (romance, queer romance), Tor.com (YA SFF, fantasy, scifi, SFF crossover), Book Riot (best out this week, nonfiction, manga, winter holiday romances)
• Linkity from Smart Bitches.
• “Dealing with wyrm infestations“.
• Explore ancient Rome in 3D.
• Apparently a book from 1910 make calculus much more approachable.
• Turkey dinner flavored ice cream??
• I had no idea there were hobbyhorse shows like this.
• A practical demonstration of the gravity of various objects in our solar system.
• 34 gluten-free baking recipes.
• No-bake pumpkin delight.
• MCM that comes with a reel-to-reel tape deck and a bar shaped like a boat.
• Very colorful!
• Little pink houses for you and me…
• “Attractive home balanced above a rocky .29 acre lot.”
• The difference between the first and second floors breaks my brain.
• A strange one in Utah.
• Another strange one.
• Home, furnishings, art, gold records…
• A very griege MCM.
• I have a much better appreciation for the importance of landings after seeing this.
• I can’t tell, but there must be some sort of actual clear steps in that frame?!

Skeptical Harry is skeptical.

Polly tummy!