The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimberly @ Caffeinated Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week, and showcase books and things we have received.
Don’t forget to look at my giveaways on the right sidebar. Tricked giveaway ends tonight!
Sunday, I lollygagged a bit, both because I stayed up too late and because it’s the first day kind of back to normal. I still have plenty of projects to do though. I did some blog visiting and then there were 2 Facebook room chats. The first was for Tricked which was really good. We had a new person join the chat who had some interesting perspectives plus some regulars whose thoughts I love to hear. Then Book Club which was scfi. I was the only one who read the adult book and the others read the YA so I didn’t stay on the whole chat. I walked Lulu and we saw the swan family. I really should mow the lawn because the weather is the best for it but I don’t feel like it. After dinner, I looked at the Audible sale and it’s got lots I want.
Monday, I got organized for the window guy to measure at noon. My daughter got up for it. He didn’t show. I texted and he said he would be here at 3. Not impressed. With assistance from Jen, I was able to learn how the share to Mastodon works from WordPress blogs. I made seared scallops with fresh snow peas from the garden.
Tuesday, we walked the dogs. Kayla barked at me for a bit. The weather is nicer than I expected today so I probably should have mowed. I picked up the new cushions for the swing, then a few items at Aldi. I decided rather than going to another store for matchstick carrots I will get out the Cuisinart and make my own. I’m trying to like or comment on posts more than sharing to Twitter for now.
Wednesday, Kayla didn’t bark hardly at all at me. She does better when I come in the house. It sprinkled a little but didn’t rain. I wrote a review and handled emails. Then because it was cloudy and cool I went out and mowed the lawn even with a few sprinkles. Another new daylily variety is blooming.
Thursday, we walked, then we did a few things, before my daughter let the dogs out a second time. Another neighbor asked if we would keep their dog over the weekend sometime. I did a bunch of computer stuff. Then I also went out to weed n feed the front yard. I didn’t feel like making dinner but I did. Lulu is still licking her paws and they are turning red. We found some other booties which stay on much better.
Friday, I got up at a normal time but read in bed for awhile. I spent time writing and editing some reviews. I made a last perusal of the Audible sale to check if any were at the library or in KU or available thru Whispersync. I ended up buying 26 audiobooks for about $90.
Saturday, my daughter wanted to go to an event for a Youtube person she has followed for about 12 years Holo Taco. They used to do nail polish reviews and now have their own nail polish product. We waited in line for 3.5 hours but didn’t get to the truck. It was so noisy I couldn’t listen to audio while waiting. (: The Youtubers went by and waved so she got some pictures. We got home and made smoothies. She went to take a nap and I’m getting blog posts ready for the week. I noticed my Aster just started blooming. The hydrangea is blooming well. Also our Christmas Cactus is blooming in the house! I don’t have a menu plan so I’ll have to get to work on that tomorrow.
Things I Learned This Week:
OK if I’m asking for help, I’m also going to share the cool things I learn. You may already know them but hopefully it will help someone.
I used Survey Monkey to create my poll last week. I liked the options and layout. What I didn’t realize is the free version will only give you the first 10 results, so that is all I have. Let me know if you know of other survey / polling software that provides a bit more. I found Alchemer which allows 3 surveys with up to 100 responses so maybe I will try this one again later.
Here are the summarized results:
If you follow my blog or read it how do you do that?
10% Feedly, 20% subscribe by email, 40% through the Sunday posts, 30% other (different reader, combo of email and Sunday posts.)
How did you find my blog initially?
The answers here are the Sunday post or COYER
What social media do you use frequently?
40% Twitter, 60% Facebook, 70% Instagram, 10% Tiktok
What is your preferred way to access blog content?
This question had odd responses and not what I intended. I access nearly all blog visiting through Feedly or the Sunday post.
For those following your blog, which way do you prefer readers to interact with you?
90% Make a comment, 60% Like the post, 40% share to Twitter, 20% share to Facebook, 10% share to Mastodon
The bottom line is mostly what I knew and don’t like. Twitter is still very connected but I don’t want to use it anymore, Facebook is pretty good for the way I use it. I don’t want to use Instagram or TikTok but Instagram is popular. Mastodon hasn’t really taken off yet.
Stacking the Shelves is hosted by Reading Reality. These are the exciting ARCs I received this week (If you click on the cover, it will take you to the Goodreads entry):
My sincere thanks to Crooked Lane Books, Minotaur Books, AceRoc Books.
(If you click on the cover, it will take you to the Goodreads entry)
I purchased these two audios for $4 and $3 on sale at Chirp.
Now the really scary one. This is all the Kindle and Audible freebies I grabbed this past week. You can see why I need to do Thrifty Thursday to be sure I read a few at least one each month.
I really meant to cut back on freebies BUT they are free so I guess that won’t be happening.
I’m not including things like reviews posted or upcoming as they are always in the right sidebar. And, my challenge status is also there.
Anne
I read all types of books but my favorites are urban fantasy and romantic suspense.I like some romance and some action / adventure / mystery in everything.I like sex in my books but please, only between TWO people.Intimate conversation is equally important to the sex in a book.It lets me see the characters.The other thing I enjoy is humor.
Friend or follow me at Goodreads.
- Sunday Post – 28 April 2024 @kimbacaffeinate @readingreality - April 28, 2024
- 2024 Library Love Audiobook Challenge & #Giveaway #LibraryLoveChallenge #Giveaway @BooksofMyHeart @angels_gp #AudiobookLove - April 26, 2024
- 🎧 A Killing on the Hill by Robert Dugoni @robertdugoni #BrillianceAudio #LoveAudiobooks #KindleUnlimited🎧 - April 25, 2024
Loved joining the chat this last week! The swan family is so beautiful! I spent a lot of time out in the garden this week too! Lots of weeding, planting and fertilizing. Your hydrangea is blooming a lot sooner than mine. I think our winter just took so long to go away. I took advantage of the Audible sale but I only bought 5 audios. I’m surprised that your survey revealed that so many use Facebook. I hardly ever go on there. I’d rather use Instagram, but blogs are my preferred way to interact with the book community.
Thank you Rachel. I’m so thrilled to have you with us on the Read-along and Chat. I love my garden time, except now it’s getting hot here. It’s supposed to either rain or be hot this week. We are likely further south than you.
The swans are so beautiful. Lulu looks cute with the booties and good that they help her not to lick her paws. the daylily is so pretty. I’m hooked on both Instagram and Tiktok. Enjoy your week ahead.
Thank you Naida. I enjoy having that kind of wildlife. Some of the other, not so much. Lulu looks so bewildered by the booties but they keep her from hurting her paws. I can’t figure out why she is itching them, if she got into something. I never use Instagram or Tiktok. I’m mostly about the words not the photos, videos or graphics.
I have literally been trying to think of the title to that Nora Roberts book for like two weeks! LOL. I remember reading it years ago and really enjoying. I need to pick it up again. The One Month Boyfriend looks cute too.
Aw Lulu’s little booties are adorable.
Thanks Erin. Lulu is bewildered by the booties but they are protecting her feet. They are good for when the asphalt is too hot or snow also.
I LOVE the swan photo! I thought WP had a free poll you could use? I rarely use polls so I would never consider paying for one. I’ve used free poll plug-ins as well. Hope your week is a good one, Anne😁
Thank you Tammy. My neighbor is the keeper of this swan family. There are some of the previous offspring on another pond in our neighborhood. I enjoy having them here. I will have to look into the WordPress polls. I should have thought of that, too. I use CrowdSignal (used to be Polldaddy) for my Series on Saturday but it doesn’t do the same sort of questions I don’t think.
Mmmm, seared scallops and peas! I love scallops. I could eat them alllll the time. I follow your blog via the RSS feed. I have a self-hosted RSS reader I use now that I just switched to this week.
I love having the garden produce. I’m so sad the lettuce is bolting now. I have really come to love Feedly (RSS reader)
Loving Lulu’s red boots💜💜💜
Thanks for sharing the poll results. I know Instagram is the most popular now and I’ve tried to start a presence but I’m about book discussions not posting pretty images. I’ve taken a pause as the book blogging world seems to have shifted. I don’t like Twitter either but I won’t give Zuckerberg my info on Facebook anymore. Social media has become such a disappointment because of flawed leaders. I digress.
Have a wonderful week, Anne💜
Thank you Jonetta. Exactly about Instagram. I’m about the words! It’s gotten so disappointing. Lulu is bewildered by the boots. But they protect her itchy paws and they don’t hurt her in any way. You should see her face though.
The swans are beautiful! And the flowers are lovely, as ever. Thanks for sharing the results. Its interesting. I hate twitter (because it is just such a cesspool lately) but making IG and TikTok posts are tiresome.
yes I love the swans and having an easy perennial garden. Social media is a cesspool. I don’t know what to do exactly. So I comment on blogs more rather than retweeting because I don’t want to support Twitter. I’m about the words so Instagram and Tiktok don’t make sense to me.
Glad you could visit for your book discussions, enjoy some lovely walks and see the swans, get some really good audios on the sale. Interesting to see you survey breakdowns.
Have a good week, Anne!
Thanks Sophia. I’m not caught up yet but I’m getting there. I’ve done a bit more reading this past week or so. I got additions to series I already own at the Audible sale plus a bunch in the October Daye series which I’ve only started to collect on audio.
I think you can do a poll/questionaire on Google forms? Then it puts all the info into a spreadsheet for you. I’ve used it with students, so I know you can get a lot of answers with it because I had more than one class use the same one. I wanted to mow early in the week but we had bad air quality with the Canadian fires so had to wait till Friday. Hope you have a good week!
Thank you Lisa. I think I looked at Google forms and then forgot about them. I want to do another survey / poll because the last one I could only look at half the data. This week will be hot with a few rain showers.
That’s interesting with the poll. wow, Instagram is popular, isn’t it? I knew it was, but still…
I haven’t seen a Yasmine galenorn book in a bit.
yes, I knew Insta was popular but I’m all about the words so it’s not my thing. I’ll probably do another poll since I could only access half of this data.
Yeah I like Insta but not enough to do much with it har. I’d rather read a blog as well…
You’ve much more talent with graphics than me.
What a full week. Have you tried giving Luna Zyrtec or Benadryl for her feet? I’ve had a couple suffer from bad allergies. I hope to start binging the Munier series this fall.
She already gets an allergy shot from the vet. We are using like a hydrocortisone cream on it that they recommended now. I hope you love the Mercy & Elvis books.
I have never tried to make scallops. I do love them though. Your flowers are beautiful! I need to quite taking so many books for review so that I have time to join in on things like chats. I hope that you have a great week!
Thanks Carole. It’s so hard not to take the ones which sound interesting. But I would LOVE to have you join a Read-along including the chats. We watched 15 or more seasons of Hell’s Kitchen and scallops is one of the main appetizer dishes. I think I could cook them in my sleep.
I really enjoyed reading your survey results. I haven’t even looked at Mastadon yet and agree it likely hasn’t taken off yet. Have a great week ahead!
Thanks Jodie. I’m going to try again with a software that will let me see all the results. I didn’t realize they would only let me see 10 responses which is rather useless.
I’m sad that I missed the chat last weekend. I’m still listening to Tricked, and enjoying it more than I did Hammered. For one thing, Atticus appears to recognize and regret his poor choices in the last book.
Love the swan photo, and Lulu in her little booties, and the beautiful daylily. And that Benedict Jacka cover looks cool! I looked at the Audible sale for non-subscribers, but didn’t see anything I couldn’t live without.
I look forward to your thoughts on the next chat. I do think he is regretting those choices. I was trying to fill in a couple series that were at really low prices $2-3 per book,.
I always find swans to be so majestic. That food looks good.
Have a great week.
Thank you! I love our baby swans and I enjoy cooking.
I added Sound of Furious Sky from the freebies this week too. And, I had added Inheritance of Magic a couple weeks ago when I saw it on Reading Reality post. Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks Terrie. I really enjoyed Benedict Jacka’s previous series so I’m excited to try this one.
Awwwww baby swanssss
I love them and seeing them when we are out walking.
Hey my friend. It’s been a long month for me. I haven’t visited blogs in three weeks, which is insane. I’m glad I caught this post with the info from your poll. I’m still too busy with life to even think about making changes with the blog or the way I interact with others.
I’ve been busy – as you know I went away to see my niece graduate. But this past weekend was the Chem Free event for our local grads and I was one of the chairpeople and chaperones. I was so busy all week to finalize things. Then I was up all night for the event on Friday. It took me two days to recover. Now I’m trying to get back to my neglected blogging stuff.
Thanks Jen. I get it. I’ve spent almost a week now trying to recover from May. I haven’t been doing as many things and now it’s just getting hot.
Another busy week! And yes… the poll is interesting. I’m not remotely happy about the changes to Twitter, but I don’t feel up to making videos. Too much effort and energy expenditure!! The hydrangas are lovely – as it your Christmas cactus! And a new Benedict Jacka book! I’ll keep an eye out for an arc – I loved his last series. Have a great week, Anne:).
Thank you Sarah. I am all about the words so Insta and Tiktok don’t really appeal to me. I’m excited for a new Jacka book as I LOVED Alex Verus series. I have so many lovely blooms to enjoy. My work 3-4 years ago is really paying off there.
Do you have a link for the booties you bought Lulu, I think our dogs are about the same size and I can never seem to get the right size for my dog.
yes I got them on Amazon. I’m going to give you the link for the ones that actually stay on her feet. They are on Amazon. This is the one in the picture. We got them for rain and snow but I’m also worried about hot asphalt now. We got size S but it looks like they are out of stock right now https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H9SYX6W/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
We also got and like these but they are the ones we use in the winter for snow (we measured her foot and actually got the large for these):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09KZ29V6N/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
the key to both of these is the velcro straps which keep them on her feet.
oops the first link I gave you is the ones I got first which are rubber and we didn’t like. Here is the ones we were using this week; (medium) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08T5QRS4C/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I wish I could stay interested in Instagram. I just really hate taking photos! I have an account, but I don’t think I’ve looked at it since March.
I don’t even have an account. I’m not good at all with photos or graphics or videos. I’m all about the words and ideas.
Sounds like a fun week! And Lulu looks so cute in her little boots. I love Christine from Holo Taco but the other YouTuber she was with Safiya Nygaard is my favorite. I’m so glad your daughter got some nice pictures though too bad she didn’t make it to the truck. It sounds like an absolute madhouse. I hope you’re having a wonderful week.
Thanks Katherine. My daughter was excited because she doesn’t think the Youtubers come out much like that. I felt badly she did so much waiting but she did get to see them at least. I have experience from comic cons and events with Charlie Hunnam so I know how to get there really early if you want to be sure to meet them. But I didn’t know how big a deal it was really. Lulu may have to wear them for walking because we cross the asphalt on the way to the sidewalk and even the concrete could be hot.
Sounds like a nice week. I feel like I’ve read Sanctuary, but I can’t remember now. I love that hockey series by Sawyer Bennett. Hope you have a great week.
Thank you Role. I’m collecting some of the Nora Roberts books on audio since they don’t seem to be at the libraries at all.