Let’s Talk: Read with Me for a Week

Hello, gorgeous humans! I hope that you’re all having a lovely Sunday! This past week I’ve had a work from home week — and truly thank God for that because I have been so exhausted and stressed, I’ve needed a week where I’ve just been able to stay in my house as much as I want and work from my bed for most of the day. 

With me working from home, I thought it would be fun to do a read with me for a week post where I kinda just tell you all about my week and what I read each day! Whenever I have a work from home week or a week off or whatever, I always have a lot of things that I want to get done, and that was no different this week, but one of my main priorities was getting more reading done.

So, get comfy and cozy, and let’s talk about what this past week was like for me!

I won’t lie, I was absolutely exhausted from the week before, so I slept in until like 1:00 pm. You know what, though? I deserve it! Especially since my sleep schedule has been horrendous as of late, sleep and restful sleep at that has been pretty much non-existent, so it felt nice to wake up without an alarm clock and sleep for as long as my body needed to be rested. I had some things planned for the day, but aside from the reading I had planned to do I did nothing on my to do list.

My entire day was spent in bed reading and watching tv, really. I watched the first episode of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries with some friends on Discord, watched more reruns of The Great British Baking Show (I kinda always have this on as a background show), I watched When in Rome while I ate dinner, and also hung out with some friends via Discord while one of our friends streamed them playing Beyond Blue. 

I told myself that this month I wouldn’t order out at all because I tend to default to that when I’m feeling lazy, but I need to do grocery shopping and wasn’t doing that today and really wasn’t feeling physically up to being in the kitchen today, so I did end up ordering Mongolian barbecue and a boba, and you know what, it was delicious and definitely worth it!

As for reading, I got a lot of reading done today! I read The Fall Risk by Abby Jimenez, which is her newest Amazon Original Stories release that comes out in March but was part of the February First Reads so I got it. I finished Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine and the Foundations of a Movement by Angela Y. Davis, and read 82 pages of Water Moon!

Today was a lazy day at home and exactly how I needed to start my weekend!

Well, unsurprisingly, my horrible sleep schedule continued and I just couldn’t sleep on Saturday night, so well into the early morning hours of Sunday I was awake. I figured, if I was going to be awake that I might as well be productive instead of just laying there wishing I could fall asleep, so I did what I usually do when I can’t sleep. Turn on some BookTube and work on blog projects.

Throughout the night I actually got an idea for multiple new blog posts! One of them is a post series that I needed to do quite a bit of research for (and had a lot of fun doing it) and another you’ve already already read, which was my Book Recs for Pisces post. I’m really looking forward to getting to the post series that I thought of — there will be 5 installments and I believe the first will be coming out next month.

Once the day actually started, I went out with my mom and sister. We went to a used bookstore that we’d never been to before and it was so cute! It was really cozy and they had a pretty good selection and the prices were incredible. I’m talking about great condition Book of the Month hardbacks for $4. I ended up seeing a really lovely hardback pretty much perfect condition of Little Women for $2 and while I didn’t need an 8th copy of Little Women, I left that bookstore with a new edition of Little Women, none of you are shocked. On the upside, due to the size of this one it actually would be an easier hardback copy to read than my other hardbacks!

After the bookstore we went to the grocery store; I majorly needed to do some grocery shopping and got my usual staples and a few new things. They also had these really beautiful blue hydrangeas and since I’m home this week I figured I might as well get them since I’ll be able to actually enjoy them. Once we got home I ate some lunch, watched some BookTube and then ended up falling asleep since I only got about 3.5 hours of sleep.

When I woke up I immediately got some dinner and then after I ate I went back to my reading of Water Moon and read nonstop. I read 169 pages and just did not want to put it down, and I just read until I went to bed!

I had other household things I had planned on doing today but…alas, I did not do them. Oh well! It was a good, relaxing day regardless and that’s what’s important. Nothing I had on my to-do list was pressing, so I’ll just do it throughout the rest of the week.

Today was a holiday in the states, but I was still working. However, since it was a holiday I didn’t have 343784723 emails to reply to and I was able to get to a bunch of tasks that I haven’t had time to do with my current schedule. It felt so nice to work without doing mental gymnastics to figure out how I was going to get everything done before I had to head off to the office or rehearsal. It was just so nice to have a relaxing work day!

It was also a very productive day at home. I did some major cleaning that I haven’t had the time to do and it felt amazing. I hate having a messy room — I can work with some organized chaos, but actual mess? No, I can’t do it. So, with it being a slow work day in between to do lists and projects I put my headphones on, Read 15 chapters of The Reformatory by Tananarive Due on audio while dusting, vacuuming and reorganizing. I was also able to take some photos for Bookstagram which was definitely needed since I usually only have time to take photos on the weekend. 

While I ate dinner — rice pilaf, salmon and broccoli made by my mom, it was delicious — I watched a documentary. Then I decided to start my first Woobles kit! I want to start more crafty hobbies this year and one of them is crocheting. It was quite a learning curve and I messed up a lot and got frustrated with myself, but as I continued (and restarted the first part at least 4 times) I started to understand it better and got less frustrated. It also helped to turn on the deluxe edition of Short n’ Sweet while doing it, I won’t lie! I didn’t do much of it, but I’m happy that I started it and am looking forward to continuing it. 

I started The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker which I’m reading for an upcoming blog post and got 40 pages in, and I finished Water Moon.

Tuesday felt busy. I did some work in the morning and then ran some errands to Target and Trader Joe’s for some groceries that I forgot to get on Sunday. Once I got home I went back to work and had an interview for a teacher for the summer. I’ve been feeling pretty low energy this week, I think it’s my body trying to catch up with itself from all the craziness of the last month and a half, but I was able to get some low-key work tasks done, especially ones that tend to get pushed to the back burner during the busier work weeks. During my lunch break I read a few more chapters of The Dreamers and then went back to work.

I got some book mail which is always exciting. My copies of Swift and Saddled and Lost and Lassoed by Lyla Sage finally arrived, as well as a copy of The Swans of Harlem by Karen Valby from the publishers that I’m really looking forward to reading! 

After I finished working I just hung out for a bit before making dinner. It was a pizza night and I ended up making 3 pizzas because I wanted to try something new. I always make a pepperoni and mushroom pizza for my dad (and the rest of us but this one is my dad’s favorite), then I typically make a veggie one that my mom and I primarily eat. I still made the veggie one, but I wanted to try to make a dupe of the Spicy Chipotle Chicken pizza that I love from California Pizza Kitchen. It was my first time making it, and I made a jalapeno lime cream sauce to go with it, and overall I think it turned out well! I would make it again with a few minor adjustments, but it was good and it was nice to try a new pizza at home.

While I was making and eating dinner I finished listening to the audiobook of The Reformatory — and cried at the end. After that I started reading Swift and Saddled. I’d been waiting to continue the series since the beginning of the month when I read Done and Dusted and it took a while for them to arrive, but since they arrived today I knew I had to start Swift and Saddled. I read until I got ready for bed and I read 228 pages!

Boy, I’m feeling like this week is flying by so quickly and I’m not loving that because it’s definitely been nice to be home and have some flexibility! Today was okay — it looked pretty gloomy outside when I woke up and I really just wanted to stay in bed, but I couldn’t stay in bed the whole day! Work was once again chill (honestly school breaks are so great), but I made some good strides in prep for the summer and that felt great!

The new blanket that I ordered arrived today and it is so soft, I immediately opened it and just held it for a little bit because it’s so comfortable. Since that arrived I switched up some of my bedding and it’s amazing how switching out a blanket can make a space feel different and new! I also got some binder dividers and new sheet protectors in the mail today which meant that I could finally set up my physical recipe binder. I keep track of what recipes I want to make online in multiple ways, Pinterest and my spreadsheet, but I don’t like using my phone or laptop when I’m cooking/baking because I don’t want to get them dirty, so I’ve gotten in the habit of printing out my recipes. Plus, that way in case the recipes ever get taken off the internet, I’ll have them still.

Speaking of recipes, I tried a new one for dinner tonight. I made this spicy chicken creamy pasta with sun-dried tomatoes and oh my gosh, it was absolutely delicious. This dish will definitely be in heavy rotation moving forward, in fact, my mom wants it biweekly 🤣who knows if I’ll make it that often, but I know I’ll be making it again sometime soon!

I got a lot of reading done today! I finished Swift and Saddled pretty much right after the clock turned to midnight. I started the audiobook of The Lovers by Rebeka Faubion and read 17 chapters. I also read the entirety of Lost and Lassoed, so I would say it was a very good reading day.

Happy Thursday! Well, I woke up extremely tired today…is that because I stayed up pretty late playing Beyond Blue on my Switch? Yes, it probably is, but regardless, I was very tired pretty much all day, so I was just moving a little slowly throughout the day, but I still got a lot done!

Aside from work, I did a huge book unhaul! I’m starting to run out of space on my shelves, so I’ve been doing unhauls fairly periodically over the last year or so, but I needed to do another one. This time, I went through all of my shelves and unless I really really liked/loved a book and knew that I’d reread it, it was going. Of course, most of my unread books were the exception and I held onto those, but I did get rid of a few unread books. I ended up unhauling 16 books and reorganizing my shelves a little bit. It felt really good to do that and set aside the books that I’m going to try to sell to Half Priced Books or put in Free Little Libraries. Right now it looks like I’ve got some more room on my shelves but that doesn’t include my tbr shelf on the cart near my bed…

Since I wasn’t feeling too energized, I made soup, which is my go-to comfort meal and watched the new episode of School Spirits while I ate. I’m loving this season of School Spirits but I’m so bummed that the season is only 8 episodes. I took it pretty easy for the rest of the night, just relaxing and reading.

As for reading, I finished The Lovers, read 3 chapters of my arc of I Am Made of Death and read 7 chapters of Victorian Psycho.

One word to describe myself today: sleepy. I won’t lie, I think burnout really started to hit around Wednesday night, so the last few days of this week have definitely been more chill for me and aside from the work that I need to do I haven’t done much. That’s pretty much what was going on today. I did my work and then just kind of relaxed.

I did make some time to take more Bookstagram photos, including the book photos for this post. My new shirts from one of my favorite theatre focused small businesses, PlacesPleaseCo arrived today and I can’t wait to wear my new shirts. Plus, the flowers that I bought myself on Sunday have bloomed beautifully and bring me so much joy whenever I look at them. 

I ended up falling asleep while reading after work, and when I woke up I made dinner. Since I was still pretty tired and just wanted to eat, I went with a go-to meal for every girl; chicken nuggets and fries. I decided to make them garlic parmesan fries to change it up a little bit and they were delicious! I watched another documentary while eating dinner and then kept reading.

Today I was kinda reading a whole bunch of things today because I wasn’t totally sure what I was in the mood for. I finished the audiobook of Victorian Psycho, read 1 more chapter of I Am Made of Death, started and read 34 pages of A Daughter of Fair Verona by Christina Dodd, and started and read 31 pages of The Swans of Harlem by Karen Valby.

And there you go! There’s a little look into a week of my life during a work from home week! I didn’t leave the house too much, which was pretty much how I wanted it. I was really happy to be able to be home and catch up on cleaning, let my body rest as needed and try some new recipes while getting quite a bit of reading done!

To recap, throughout the week I read a total of 12 books, 8 of which I finished within the week and 3 of them I’m still in the process of reading. I’m really happy with how much I read this week and I really enjoyed the majority of my reads!

How was the last week for you? I’d love to know what you were up to and what books you read! Let me know in the comments.

Until next time 💜