Hi friends,
Today is Sunday, time to look back in the rearview mirror and talk about my week in and out of the blog. As usual I am linking up to the Sunday Post hosted for years by Kimberly @caffeinatedreviewer .
As I didn’t post last Sunday (too busy having fun) I’ll cram two weeks in one today and I will give you my September wrap-up
In my private life
What a week!
On Tuesday one of my kids phoned early in the morning to let me know that he had to get back home, sent home along others by the faculty management, as one of the roommates was teste COVID positive! And literally sleeping in the same room!
As from this Monday on Belgium does not test with symptoms anymore, we had to isolate my kid in his bedroom, not knowing if he had been infected. Until Thursday morning when my kid had been sick the whole night with mild fever, headache, intestinal problems…
He went to get tested and now…we wait!
Needless to say that he is confined to his room 98% of the time and when he comes to our common living space, we open all windows, he wears a mask, gloves too and I wash his dishes in hot water, mask on!
Each time our kid goes to the bathroom, I excuse myself, leave the Skype metting and go sanitize!
It’s very tedious, stressful and bothersome!
Belgium is now bright red, the epidemy nearly out of control and we are in a near lockdown again. My fitness club closed today. And I don’t know if the pool will remain open or not.
No bars, no restaurants. In some parts of the country, no theater, nothing.
Universities are back to remote learning as well.
Masks mandatory everywhere in towns and when you are less than 1,5 meter away from other people.
Sigh.
If only people had more discipline and restraint, had avoided going on holiday and coming back with the virus. ..
I rage against young people gathering but truth be told, it must be particularly difficult for the teenagers and young adults. They so need to be in groups, to belong.
And I made my colleagues laugh when I told them how horrible it must be for single people used to meet others on Tinder or to have maybe one night stands just to have sex!
Laugh all that you want, this IS human misery and loneliness at play.
I want to end this on a bright note: yesterday, I posted just ONE reel (short video) of my dog fooling around on Instagram and this morning I have an offer to be a rep for a company with close to 1 Mio followers and specialized in pet wear. So far, they seem legit but I’ll look closer to make sure it’s not a scam.
ONE video and bam! 😆
Must be my uber cute dog magic right?
On the blog (click on the graphic to read the post)
First I know I have comments to reply to! Work is just kicking my behind and as I am rushing every hour to sanitize the bathroom if my son went in it, I am just a wee bit overwhelmed! When I have some free tim, I’d rather visit and comment your posts!
Anyway, this week I have published two reviews (I have three more to write).
Lord of London Town by Tillie Cole was a much awaited but just did not work for me. 3 stars and a review hard to write as I love that author!
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik was brilliant! My first read by that author but I loved her style and her complicated/not easy to like heroine! 5 stars.
On Top 5 Tuesday I talked about my favorite books with witches and wizards
On Top 10 Tuesday I listed (some) books I read because of YOU!
In the blogosphere and literary world
Epic Reads has a fun quiz to find our booknerd DNA! Take the QUIZ HERE.
Lindsey writes about book shaming and why it’s never okay
And Charvi turned random tweets into book blub! This is brilliant and honestly, I think I will write a post about it too, citing Charvi of course!
I Turn Random Tweets Into Book Blurbs
That’s my week in a nutshell! Do tell me how was your week! And how do you feel? Really?
Thanks for reading!
Sophie
I am so sorry to see that your son may have COVID, my brother just got it and they are probably around the same age. Good for you to keeping things as safe as you can at home. I bet its such a challenge to be so confined in a small space.
And good luck telling young people they can’t be social LOL But at the end of the day, human being do need HUMAN connection. Its why we are seeing a huge increase of suicides, drug and alcohol abuse, and domestic abuse. We aren’t meant to be so isolated from each other.
Stay safe and thriving as best you are able.
That sounds insanely stressful! I hope your son’s result comes back negative and if it’s not all your efforts mean the rest of you are safe! (And, of course, I hope your son makes a full recovery regardless of whether it is covid.) What a time we live in!
Our numbers are climbing and elements of the UK are pretty much locked down but my area is in the lowest “alert tier” and is pretty much business as usual but with caveats on how many people can meet (and where) etc. It’s only a matter of time though. 🙁 We’re taking every precaution and limiting contact with others but we’re still living our life and going out while we can… Just not as often as we usually would and only with our own household.
Some people just don’t seem to give a crap though and those are the ones causing the problems then shouting loudest about the safety measures being tightened! *screams into a pillow*
I loved your dog video! It was adorable. I hope the ambassador role is legit… It means more doggy videos! 😉
Oh, what a miserable situation! You trying to look after your son AND keep the rest of the family safe, without knowing one way or the other. I hope the test comes back negative! And, like you, my heart goes out to the youngsters – they need to get out and mix with peers to discover who they like and how they interact with the world. And this whole business is completely messing with their natural instincts. I hope the coming week brings good news and that your son soon recovers, Sophie!
I’m so sorry to hear about your son, Sophie. I really hope he’s feeling better soon.
Oh no! Sorry to hear your child is ill. The virus is making a surge here as well. Its distressing for sure. Hopefully no one else gets sick!
Sorry to hear about your son! That must be stressful for the whole family. I hope his results come back negatvie.
Keeping my fingers crossed your son tests negative, but his symptoms don’t sound good. Stay safe and healthy!
That is terrifying news, Sophie! I hope it won’t spread beyond your kid and that you’ll be safe from it especially. I’ve been hearing about Belgium’s case a lot nowadays, especially because my girlfriend’s sister lives there too, and it really does sound awful. I hope you’ll get through this without a scratch! And that’s very cool for that pet sponsoring thing. Be careful for scammers, indeed! 😉
I’m so sorry to hear this Sophie, what a nightmare! I can only imagine you’re not feeling very safe yourself now. Although Brussels is in lockdown (with telework mandatory) I still have to come to the office twice a week and there’s plenty of people here. We do wear masks when we walk around but still, I’m not feeling very safe myself when you don’t know where the rest has been. Amazing news though that your furry baby came to the attention of a major pet company, how cool!
My best wishes to you and your son – I hope he gets better soonest!
And yes, it’s easy to get angry at people who show no care or restraint, but it’s also true that months and months of this would wear a saint… Still, we all need to be on the same page if we want to get out of this as quickly as humanly possible…
Oh man! I hope that your son feels better soon! My daughter is planning to come home from uni in December and the thought of her getting Covid and coming home with it terrifies me. I can’t even imagine! I hope that things settle down a bit where you are and you get some time for yourself as well! *hugs*
See I find the elderly in the UK in the worst. I work in a school and so often have to step out into the road on my way home because they’re walking down the middle of the pavement and won’t move up. It’s the teenagers and young people who actually move out of the way!
Best wishes to your son! And whatever it ends up being, I hope he has a speedy recovery.
And I hear ya, but with covid exploding around the world again, I’m beginning to wonder if outbreak was an inevitability. Even certain states/counties here that remained mostly shutdown and high compliance in masks have seen a rise in cases, meaning maybe it was all for naught – and that is so depressing to think about, after all the sacrifices and jobs lost, we have not stopped anything. Health experts did warn us as weather trends cooler again, the virus will have better conditions to spread 🙁
I’m sorry to hear about your son! I hope his test is negative, but either way my thoughts and prayers will be with you guys! It’s so hard waiting too, not knowing, I remember waiting for my result to come back I was on pins and needles! And sorry to hear that Belgium is getting hit so hard as well. It seems to be going ass up everywhere now.
This too. “They so need to be in groups, to belong.” Very true. As mad as I get at young ones spreading this thing, I have two daughters and I know it’s hard on them. Anyway, best wishes this week!
In the U.S. too Covid is out of control. I never expected to be here looking back 6 months ago Take care and hopefully everyone will be healthy!
I’m so sorry for you going through these Covid problems. I hope your son is alright. We just stay home as cases are increasing here also.
Anne – Books of My Heart This is my Sunday Post
Sophie, I’m so sorry you and your family are going through this.. and not knowing the results yet. I know I would be a mess. I can imagine how overwhelming and scary it is. Sending love and all the positive thoughts to you and your family!! XO
I’m so sorry about your son! It sounds so complicated to always have to stay on high alert even in your own house. I hope he feels better soon and that’s just a regular season illness.
And totally agree with you on the fact that people could have just stayed home a bit more so that now the whole world wouldn’t be back into being a huge red zone.
Yay about the pet clothes rep!
Oh no, let’s hope his test is negative. I’ll be crossing my fingers for you. I wish COVID would just go away, its too much now, just too much.
Fingers crossed for a negative covid result for you all!
Poor kid. I hope he feels better soon and doesn’t infect anybody. Cases are going up here too. It’s very stressful.
This is heartbreaking. My love for you and your family.❤
Sorry covid has reached your family. I hope your son is ok. Cases are up EVERYWHERE. My state had indoor/outdoor mask mandates just about the whole time and capacity limits too. I know they are tracing most cases to family clusters in my area. ((HUGS))
So sorry, to hear your soon is sick!
I hope you’ll all get through this soon 🙂
Oh, Sophie, that’s heartbreaking and yes, oh so stressful for all of you. And I would be doing the same, making sure that you keep everyone safe is the important thing. Zoom meetings can wait five minutes, this is your family! Oh, I so, so hope everything comes back negative, but if not, that he only had a very mild case and is going to be okay. My thoughts to you and your family, Sophie. Hugs! ❤️
Covid is just so scary. I hope your family will be good.
I’m so sorry that your son is feeling sick, and I know that with all the Covid that’s happening in the world it must be scary, so I send you a lot of love and energy for you, your son and your whole family. I hope everything goes well ❤️❤️❤️
I’m sorry to hear about your son, hope he’ll feel better soon and test negative. I can only imagine how difficult it must be living with someone who is possible Corona-positive and trying to quarantine inside the same house and sanitizing everything all the time. Good luck and I’ll keep my fingers crossed for the test results.
Also, thanks for the shout-out!
Oh Sophie. I’m so sorry your son is ill. People around here act like it’s over, but it’s not. I know someone who works in a hospital and she says it’s really bad. Sounds like you are doing everything you can to avoid exposure. I hope your son is okay. Stay safe:)
It’s beyond difficult to try and quarantine in a house with others. I was doing that last week (sleeping in the guest room, etc) but having NO contact is practically impossible. (Thankfully my test was negative.) Sorry to hear that cases are skyrocketing again. It’s happening here, too. I know no one wants to isolate, but if everyone would just do the right thing and follow the rules… *sigh* Too much to expect that will happen.
I’m so sorry to see your son is sick, I hope he’ll be all right soon – and leave you some more time, not sanitizing everything around ! It’s not getting better here in France. Hugs and stay safe 🙂 (PS : your sunday post logos are absolutely gorgeous, love the colours)