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 .
In my private life first
First news: we are on lockdown or very close to it!
This Friday, the government announced that the schools will be closed, universities won’t teach live classes but only webinars and students are invited to go home. All shops will be closed on the weekends save for grocery shops and chemists. Restaurants and pubs are closed.
Workers are invited to do as much homeworking as possible and if they have to go to their workplace, are invited to take public transportation outside of the rush hour.
Things are escalating in Belgium with more people infected and deaths. But that was expected as no country lives on an isolated island anymore!
Next week, I’ll be homeworking the whole week and we’ll see how it plays the week after. Governmental measures are till April 3rd so far.
No fitness club open either so I am going on long walks and having online yoga classes.
My daughter decided that she wanted to stay at her dormitory but that was on the condition that she stayed the whole duration as in three weeks or more. No need to spread the virus on public transportation if she’s infected. She’ll have to find a solution to wash her clothes…
She told me she prefered staying there as when she comes home, she has difficulties to study. Home equals relaxing for her.
There were several students and professors at her university diagnosed with the covid so it’s highly likely that she has encountered it.
At home, my son and husband have been sick these past days with headaches, sore throats, pains in the neck, shoulders and back but no fever. Is it a seasonal illness of the covid? No idea!
I in turn had a semi clogged nose for one day and a sore throat for three hours but nothing more, as it’s usual with me.
For those interested, we aren’t out of toilet paper 😀
But people were crazy in shops on Friday while there is no need as there is plenty in store.
Little info about my friend and her book: she sent the last version to her publishing house thanks to the help of her mom and me. Also thanks indirectly to Jacquie’s help as she has published several posts about writing techniques and it was just what my friend needed at that time! So thank you Jacquie!
On a lighter note, I became quite expert at making funko pop inspired by bookish characters! This weekend I have made Manon Blackbeak from Throne of Glass!
I followed a tutorial on youtube by the same girl who explained how to make Rhysand.
What I love in her tutorials is that she is making me work with other things than only clay!
For Rhysand I worked with plastic sheets to make the wings and for Manon, I used a fabric and some fabric “glue” to make her cape. That’s really interesting and challenging!
Now one of my next project will be a non bookish related creation for an Instagram friend: a fairy!
I have so many ideas right now!!!
What do you think of this Manon?
Oh and I am planning on writing a tutorial myself to help others.
On the blog this week (click on the graphic to read the post)
The downside of making craft and working from home is that I read less! This week I have reviewed two books and hope to review two more next week (as one of them is quite long).
The next week you’ll see that I got my reading mojo back with the first five stars since January and for a mystery/ghost/horror story ! I know my friend Laura must be thrilled to see me finally dabbling into one of her favorite genres. Probably Teri as well LOL.
Now onto this week’s reviews: The Seven Husbands of Evelyne Hugo was an audiobook and 4,5 stars. Once again I’ve been in awe of Taylor Jenkins Reid’s penmanship. She makes it so real!
Honor Lost by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre was a very good conclusion to a series that honestly needs more praise! 4,5 stars
I decided that, even if we already were in the beginning of the second week of March, I wanted to publish a TBR so here you are.
And the Top 5 Tuesday went on about authors having names beginning by F to J. Like last week, I paired some authors to have team battles and this week, I tried to guess what kind of story each team would be likely to write! Do you think I guessed right?
On the blogosphere and in the literary world
Quiz! Click on the graphic below and get started with Epic Reads quiz asking:
Build an Outfit and We’ll Tell You Which YA Character You’re Most Like
I got … Lara Jean from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Marie @drizzleandhurricanes talks about what annoys her in books yet she still love it.
The Orang Utang Librarian gives fun alternative to read if you love history.
https://theorangutanlibrarian.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/some-fun-alternative-history-i-actually-like/
Em talks about what she experienced while in a book slump. Unexpected perks if you want.
Renee explains the reasons why she reads dark romance.
http://addictedtoromance.org/2020/03/09/tea-and-biscuits-book-discussions-why-i-read-dark-romance/
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That’s it for this week! How was your week? How is the covid situation wher you live? How do you feel with it? Are people goign crazy? And most important: how many toilet rolls do you still have! 😉
Thanks for reading.
Sophie
I hope you and your family are safe from this craziness, Sophie! I’m keeping y’all in my prayers! XOXO
Guess we can only believe that it is better to prevent than to heal with this virus madness. Hope you’re staying safe as well, Sophie. Oh and something tells me that your daughter’s decision to stay at the dorm niggles you hahahah That you don’t like the fact that she doesn’t really see your place as a place of relaxation!
I feel like I’m living a crazy episode form an apocalypse show. It’s crazy times. We have all kinds of closings here and they’ve now found some cases in our county. I’m just going day to day, working until they close us down or not.
I hope that you will stay safe and sane amidst this craziness Laura!
Haha, I’m not out of toilet paper either! After a lot of searching, I was able to find some. We have the virus in my county, but not in my town. People are shopping like they’ll be stuck inside their homes for years. It’s a bit ridiculous. I hope you have a great week!
Thank you AJ! I hope you’ll be safe too.
Alright, I got Xavier from Loveboat, Taipei by Abigail Hing Wen… I’ve never read that, so I have no idea how accurate it is.
Our schools are all shut down. They’ll possible stay closed through the rest of the school year. All restaurants, fitness gyms, bars, and clubs are closed. They are requesting that if you’re able to work from home, they want you to. I’m at work, however. Not all of my job can be done from home, sadly. Lex also goes to a preparatory high school that supplies her with a school laptop. That means she’ll still have school too. It’ll just go to online schooling.
Wendy this looks exactly like what we have here too now! I don’t know what will happen to my daughter’s classes…
Can they do online classes?
Yes luckily but not for everything as she has dissection classes! She is studying to become a vet!
Ohh!! bummer!
I know Wendy! How is it in your State?
Scary. There are other states much worse, like New York. Still, I hate thinking that our Governor is going to wait too long to shut us down.
In these troubled times, things like the Big Toilet Paper Scare manage to infuse some involuntary humor in the overall situation. And we need some amused smiles, indeed….
Stay safe! 🙂
Thank you Maddalena! You too please stay safe!
Your Manon is fab!
We are an island and if our prime minister had a brain he would shut down o/s flights, instead 14 day isolation is mandatory for new arrivals but with no real way to enforce it most are ignoring it. *sigh* For the moment schools are still open but I don’t think they will be for much longer.
Wishing you a great reading week and good health
Thank you Shelley!! I hope the situation will remain under control in Australia
Take care and stay healthy, Sophie!
Thank you Teri! You too!
Hope you’re staying safe in these crazy times! Honestly, sometimes I feel like I have more to fear from the people around here than the virus itself, I’ve never seen such hysteria and panic. I mean, the situation is serious, but you’d think the world was ending the way folks are hoarding stuff like pasta and toilet paper. They did close the schools here, but I already work from home which unfortunately means I will get nothing done with the kids distracting me for the next two weeks!
Ha yes! The kids being home that will make it extra difficult for you to work Mogsy! I hope you’ll find something. Stay safe anyway!
Hope you guys are “regular” sick and not Covid-19 sick. Of course, at this point you may never know. At least I hope you don’t get any terrible symptoms.
Love your Funko!!!
Thank you Nicole!!
I hope it works well for you to work from home. It’s a bit crazy here but I wish they would shut down more. We are staying home. I think it will get much worse before it gets better. It’s great your crafting is going well; your work is amazing! I hope you can alternate and get in some reading as you have some awesome ones in your TBR. I loved Crush the King and the Sun Down Motel. I want to read the Maas book but I think I’m going with audio.
Have a safe and healthy week!
I wanted to try the audio for Maas too Anne but they are not available outside of US or UK!!!
I hope that you can continue to work from home and stay safe through all of this. It really is crazy out there.
Well as we are officially on lockdown since today, homeworking it is!
Oh you were the one to make the funko pop ?! I saw them, but didn’t thought you made them !! That’s so cool, how talented xx
Hopefully you and your family will remain safe ❤️ definately a good idea to close everything to prevent people from going all around and spreading (because let’s be honest.. many just don’t care and do it anyway!)
Over here, we had only 3 confirmed cases; they decided to close the schools, but that’s it. My café will very much remain open, although if it was up to me I would’ve very much enjoy staying home with the dachshunds and my games/books for 2 weeks! ahaha but nope- I highly doubt my boss would close.
Kristina things have escalated fast here and we are now officially on lockdown! I hope that you’ll stay safe and healthy. And yes I do the funkos. It’s a great things to pass the time and express my artistic side 😉
I’m sure it’s a great way to pass time in this lockdown!
Thank you! We aren’t quite there.. but man, our café is drive thru only and it’s SO dead. We can basically close any day now .. as soon as we don’t do enough to cover labor costs.
Kristina I hope this won’t last for months because it’s so bad for the economy!
Hope you have a peaceful, healthy week. I love the look of the Honors books as I am a fan of both Rachel Caine and Anne Aguirre – and haven’t heard of this series! Your recommendation has me adding this to my TBR list…
I really hope you’ll love this series! It’s unique.
Thank you! Himself has treated me to the first book in the series…
It’s crazy here too! Schools, Colleges, malls, and movie theaters are shut down until April. Stay safe, Sophie! BTW Love your Manon’s Funko! Can’t wait to read your tutorial post!
Thank you Raven and stay safe!!
First, I love Manon! You have quite the talent for this Sophie! I hope you and your family are feeling better. Here in Alabama there are only 12 confirmed cases of coronavirus, but the panic shopping has already set in. No toilet paper, alcohol, hand sanitizer, etc. to be seen. It’s crazy.
Thank you Kim! I think the panic will settle down when people will realize that we still have all the necessities!
That’s what I’m hoping.
I would give my right arm for Manon!!!! Look at it, my fave character ever in funko form!!!
Its business as usual here in the UK at the moment. Like literally the government are dealing with coronavirus ass backwards…..and I’m worried. My son is immunocompromised and still has to go to school or I’ll be fined. It’s crazy my friend xx
Thank you Caro! I really hope that your son will be all right and will have all the medicine and help he needs. Sending you much love.
Thank you
Manon is fantastic! I am jealous of all people, who work from home. I really need to make this year the one, where I get a new job. Here we have a pandemic during allergy season. It’s a challenge to prove to people it’s just allergies too. i am surprised they let your daughter stay in the dorms. They kicked all the kids out here. They have been cancelling college graduations too. That is very sad, if you ask me. Keep your distance, and stay healthy!
Sam I hope they’ll find a solution for you to work from home and stay safe!
We just found out today, that we are “essential”. There are three teams in the tier I belong to, and two of them will be working from home starting tomorrow. I am not part of those teams, and will be in the office. I just feel like we deserve some sort of compensation for having to come to the campus, while the majority of the groups are working from home.
Stay safe! I’ve had allergies this past week, and it just feels like the worst time for Spring to have sprung.
I know! We also have allergic at home Jen and it’s awful!
Stay safe and good luck to your daughter as well as husband and son- hope everyone is feeling better/ stays well! It’s a scary time for sure. I have a feeling lockdown measures may be coming here too very soon, beyond what we’re already having. I was in the store yesterday too and it was surreal.
Your Funkos are looking awesome. I never would have thought of trying to make those!
I loved One Of Us Is Next and need to get the sun Down Motel.
Greg stay safe too and home a lot! And thanks for the funkos comment!
What is the world coming to ?
Exactly Priyasha!
Schools are shut down in Ohio for at least 3 weeks (the governor thinks it might be longer) and people are getting in actual physical fights in stores. I will be teaching from home for 3 weeks and I am glad for it. As an introvert, I have been social distancing my entire life. Its my time to shine!
I love your comment about the time to shine Samantha!
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before the UK implements all these measures too… It’s all a bit worrying! I’m lucky I can do a lot of work from home but I feel for those in industries where they cant.
I feel you on the “regular” seasonal infections vrs Covid-19… I’m regularly battling a fever as I catch every bug going. It’s going to go so well when the next one hits as our current advice is to stay home for a week if you develop a new cough or fever. *sigh*
Evelyn Hugo is on my TBR! I got the book as a giveaway prize from Sam last year but still haven’t read it but I’m finally ready to do so! 🙂
I hope you’ll be all right Nicci! I know that Boris Johnson intends to do … nothing and let you all build your immunity! I hope this different strategy will work for you all.
Yay, wishing your friend the best! Hopefully, it was just a flu you had, but it’s probably best you stay home. The Covid19 numbers are rising by the second. Here, in Canada, we are short on healthcare workers and are asking retired doctors and nurses to help in the effort- it’s scary 🙁
Stay safe too Jacquie! I heard indeed that they are calling back retired health profesionnals.
I hope you all stay safe. I’m getting a bit worried here. Our toilet paper order from last Monday got cancelled and the stores closest are sold out. I sent my husband out to drive an hour away to see if he can find any and to stock up on a few other things. It’s kind of scary out there.
I really hope things will turn out fine!
I agree.
We’re on a partial lockdown here, in Québec. Restaurants and pubs still open, most shops open but in reduced hours and limiting entry numbers. Schools and universities however are closed, which is causing daycare problems. Other than that, I pretty much stay at home anyway.
Meanwhile, stay safe, Sophie.
You too Alexandra!
It’s crazy times we are living in right now, for sure. Restaurants have not been shut down in my city but I imagine that would be the next step. The grocery store shelves have been ransacked. At every store. No water, toilet tissue, paper towels, cleaning products, bread, milk, meats… it’s madness. Thank goodness for the escape of reading!
Exactly Tanya! Reading is the perfect escape!
I don’t know what I’ll do if schools shut down as I can’t do my job from home. I’m a teaching assistant so deal mainly with SEN and behaviour… We’ve also all come down with colds. Every time I blow my nose or cough people back away from me but the virus is a dry cough not a chesty one like mine and sinus issues are not a symptom of the virus.
Katie I hope that the schools will stay open but if it gets like here, I doubt it. And yes, people back away from people showing signs of illness. That’s crazy!