I was thinking I need to read Heated Rivalry before watching, but maybe I will just dive in and catch up on the books later

It's so good as an adaptation that I'm glad I read the books first, but I don't think you NEED to have read the books. (It's not, like, a complicated universe with a lot of backstory. but as a Book Enjoyer I do have a pretty good idea what the secret title of episode 3 is going to be.)

I feel like the book is always better so watching first and then reading (and then maybe rewatching!) makes for maximum enjoyment.

Hm, I have become interested in assessing adaptations as adaptations, but meara makes a persuasive case. It will probably depend on how much video media I am wanting to consume, I suppose, sometimes it is not much at all (but I definitely should not be making my Read This Now pile any bigger...)

Voila! It is December the 3rd.

It is almost the end of 2025 which is an entirely confabulated, made-up, science fictional year to start with.

Things I have fixed in the last week: my furnace, my curved windows (which are now closed), my espresso machine.

So I'm not only do I have a functional executive, I'm maximizing the cozy.

My hot toddy and hot chocolate game have been strong this Fall.

Here's my favorite random fact about Agatha Christie: She's one of the first white people to surf upright when she was doing a world tour with her husband in 1922. She stayed in Hawaii for three extra months to learn how to surf which she described as one of the greatest pleasures of her life.

Today's project: Get several packages in the mail.

That is actually a fun fact! I'm pretty lacking in both executive function and coziness today/lately, but I can admire yours.

I have 12 hours of sort of off the books comp time to use before the end of March 2026 (I don't know why they did it this way, it is super weird, but there's like a spreadsheet of how much time we get off and it doesn't go through the usual PTO approval process for whatever reason) and I'm like, what the hell am I supposed to do a with a random half day off but I better take it soon or I will forget so I'm thinking I might go to a matinee of Wake Up Dead Man on Friday and see if I can drag my mom with me (we saw Knives Out together so I think it would not be too hard)

Dove lured me in with their Gingerbread body wash and scrub and so forth last year, and then upsold me to the Sugar Plum stuff, both of which I quite like and am still using (because it takes me forever to get through things like lotion and scrubs between misplaced frugality and absent-mindedness) so when I saw an ad for this year's holiday treats I looked into it. No gingerbread this year, but the peppermint bark and chai latte sound nice so I ordered some to pick up from Walmart. Funnily enough, when you search for Dove Holiday Treats you also find chocolates, so getting some of those, too.

Look at me with something like holiday spirit!

Nilly I'm so sorry for your loss.

Thanksgiving was good. My brother was only slightly a jerk to Mom. E is so tall. I think be is close to 6'4". Didn't take as many pictures as I wanted. But had a good time

Except right before I triggered my stomach issues and I thought I was doing ok but Thanksgiving was full of gluten and cheese and so I'm not doing great.

At this point I think I have IBS. I think I may have had really mild IBS but it got worse. I'm supposed to schedule check up with the GI but honestly I don't want to. I will but it seems like a waste of time. I'm going to cut out dairy and cut back on gluten and give that a week or so and then cut out gluten. I'm not trying Low FODMaP elimination unless I have to because that made me all obsessive.

My brother said he wants me to come out and visit them in VA and he will pay for a ticket. Just me not M. I felt weird about that but M was ok with it. I need to get a real id before I do that.

And with my new WhatNot habit I have acquired a lot of comics and vintage paperback books. And even a text book from 1887 about history. I took some to Thanksgiving and Dad got really into the paperbacks and I showed him Whatnot but I don't know if he'll be able to figure it out.

For those that don't know it's an App where people auction stuff. All kinds. Vintage things, pallets of overstock, old video games, storage units. I was buying cheap costume jewelry but I realized the colors look really different on my phone than in person so I cut back on that. I bought a few things that looked ugly in reality but were a $1 each so not a waste of money.

And I got a surprise credit from my doctor's office for $127 no idea why but I'll take it.

Tuesday I'm getting my hair cut again..not with Mom's stylist but at the Paul Mitchell school. M's SIL is there working .as an instructor I think. And his niece is the receptionist, when I called she set me up with whoever does her hair. Which always looks amazing.

And M has a new grand niece. She's adorable! He has a grand nephew that is due around Valentine's Day but the mom is already dilated so we are hoping the baby doesn't come too soon.

M is so excited . He loves being around kids and being an uncle.

And I think I mentioned my coworker who found out she was surprise! Pregnant....she had a miscarriage but she wasn't that far along and had only known less than 2 weeks she was pregnant. She's doing ok and she is going to talk to her Dr because she wants to start trying to get pregnant. When it's ok for her.

Panel interview with a prospective new hire who would be, I think, a manager in my department but not one I would report to (which is a pretty weird structure for a 3 person department, but has been working pretty well). I looked at his Linked In beforehand and "Tim Tebow" shows up under "Interests/Top Voices", whatever that means. I'm trying not to hold that against him

Holy fucking shit my team has been reorged and it's the one I prayed for; we are in SUCH a better org chart. I'm no longer a manager! Instead I get to focus on systemic things like our tools stack, solving our lack of publishing processes, the actual behind-the-scenes site management, and so on. I'm actually relieved by this, because trying to do those things AND manage nine people was leading me to a nervous breakdown.

I've never wanted a reorg before, but MY GOD I'm grateful for this one.

Congrats, Atropa! I hope it goes well!