The Sunday Post is hosted by the wonderful Kimba, the Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news, recap the past week, take a look ahead, and showcase our new treasures – I mean books!
My Week
The concert was great, and the house didn’t burn down.
Let me explain. Last Sunday’s concert went really well. I was very proud of my singers, both the children and the teens; they sang well, watched the director (me) and sounded beautiful together. The adult chorus also sang well; I’m in that one, rather than directing it. I ended the evening feeling incredibly proud and happy.
Fast forward to Tuesday night. I was blogging while I waited for the frozen casserole to cook, when suddenly the smoke alarm went off. I rushed into the kitchen to discover the oven was way too hot, there was an acrid burning smell, and the oven display said “Locked”. . . which it does on the self-cleaning cycle. I am certain I didn’t start the self-clean cycle (which takes hitting more than one button anyway) so apparently something went haywire in the controls and it heated up all on its own. I turned it off, called Mr. Bookwyrm at work, and ran down to throw the breaker. Then I raced around the house, opening windows and turning on fans to try to clear out the smoke and the smell. The oven stayed locked; it was hot enough to burn your hand on the ceramic cooktop (which should not get that hot.) Once Mr. Bookwyrm got home and the stove cooled off enough, we took it outside and continued airing the house. The consensus was that it would cost a lot to replace the controls, and that the oven insulation was probably burnt now anyways, so. . .
We spent Wednesday looking for and buying a new stove, but it couldn’t be delivered until Friday, so . . . no Thanksgiving dinner. Or at least, not a home-cooked one. Luckily, I hadn’t yet picked up my turkey, though I’d already bought everything else. So we changed our plans, went out on Thursday afternoon to see The Martian (great!) then got take-out from Cracker Barrel (meh.) Friday the new stove was delivered. Saturday I went shopping and discovered turkeys on sale. . . so today, I’m cooking a First Advent dinner instead of a Thanksgiving dinner. Same food, different date.
And we’re very, very thankful that the new smoke detector worked, that it detected the smoke before the fire was able to get out of the oven cavity, and that no one was hurt.
Last Week on the Blog
- Mon. 11/23: COYER Goals – challenge sign-up
- Mon 11/23: Willow Brook Road (Sherryl Woods) – review
- Tues. 11/24: Seven Characters I’d Invite for Thanksgiving Dinner – Top Ten Tuesday
- Wed. 11/25: In the Dragon’s Eye: Lord Dashwood Missed Out – W.O.W.
- Thurs. 11/26: Happy Thanksgiving!
- Sat. 11/28: News & Notes – 11/28/15
- Sun. 11/29: Sunday Post – 11/29/15
Upcoming on the Blog
- Mon. 11/30: Classic Children’s Books
- Tues. 12/01: A Cold Creek Christmas Story – review
- Wed. 12/02: In the Dragon’s Eye: Secret Sisters – W.O.W.
- Thurs. 12/03: By Winter’s Light (Laurens) – review
- Fri. 12/04: The Last Chance Christmas Ball – review
- Sat. 12/05: News & Notes – 12/05/15
- Sun. 12/06: Sunday Post – 12/06/15
What I’m Reading/Watching
I think I’m well and truly over the reading slump of early November. I finished Cathy Maxwell’s The Match of the Century, then read The Martian (Andy Weir), Stars of Fortune (Nora Roberts), and Crucible, an anthology of stories set in and around Mercedes Lackey’s Valdemar. I also squeezed in a few older Christmas romances by RaeAnne Thayne, and started A Desperate Fortune (Susanna Kearsley.) Dreamer’s Pool (Juliet Marillier) is still on hold while I get through some more ARCs, but I definitely want to get back to it.
I got a bit further listening to The Night Circus, which is really gorgeous. And we saw The Martian and watched both tribble episodes from Star Trek and ST:DS9.
New Additions to the Hoard
Cover links take you to Goodreads.
For Review Consideration
Purchased or Free for Kindle
Greg
Yikes, what an ordeal. Glad it had a happy ending and no fire. Sorry you missed Thanksgiving dinner but sounds like you’re making up for it nicely. 🙂
Glad to hear The MArtian is good. I love The Trouble with Tribbles, And Fangirl was good.
Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #119
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’ll look forward to reading Fangirl in 2016, then!
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews
OMG! I’m so glad your smoke alarm worked, Lark! That’s scary right there. My stove has a self-cleaning thing too, and even when I purposely put that on, the house absolutely stinks! Changing things around so you can still have turkey this weekend is a great idea, and it sounds like you still had a good Thanksgiving, even if the food wasn’t amazing.
Your new books look awesome, and I hope you’ll enjoy them all.
Have a fantastic week ahead and happy reading.
Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews recently posted…The Sunday Post #60 – Book Signing
Lark_Bookwyrm
I hated using the self-cleaning function, but I sure didn’t expect the stove to do it by itself! The new one doesn’t do that high-heat self-cleaning. Instead, it has a shallow well at the bottom and a steam-cleaning cycle. You put water in the well, turn on the steam-clean, and it runs about 20 minutes. The steam softens the grease and baked on food so you can wipe it off or gently scrub it off. Of course, I haven’t tried it yet, but that’s the theory!
Deborah
Oh wow… an eventful week. Glad the concert went well and that your house didn’t burn down. But also glad you enjoyed The Martian (I did also) and you got discounted turkey in the sales!!!
Deborah recently posted…Weekly check-in
Lark_Bookwyrm
For a potential disaster, the whole thing worked out rather well. 🙂
Stormi
Oh wow, what an eventfully holiday week you had. Glad you got it taken care of before it could have did more damage! Doesn’t matter when you have your turkey as long as your safe and unharmed. 🙂
Enjoy your new books,
Stormi
Stormi recently posted…The Week In Review #64
Lark_Bookwyrm
Believe me, we were counting our blessings! 🙂
Laurel-Rain Snow
Nothing frightens me more than fire…so glad yours was under control quickly due to your speedy actions.
My first Thanksgiving in a new townhouse, years ago, had an oven disaster, too, but instead of a fire, the oven only partially heated up, and hours later, the turkey wasn’t done! Of course, we couldn’t eat it….low heat for hours, not good.
We hadn’t yet used the oven after moving in…it might have been good to try it out first! LOL
I read my first RaeAnne Thayne book this week and I’m eager to read more of her work…(Snow Angel Cove). Here are MY WEEKLY UPDATES
Laurel-Rain Snow recently posted…AUTHOR’S HOME PAGE
Lark_Bookwyrm
That happened to my sister once, too — her oven turned itself off. I think they ate pretty late that year!
Michelle@Because Reading
When I read that on Facebook I thought OMG that is so scary but reading it again it just sets me in a panic. I am so glad that smoke alarm worked and I am VERY glad you are all ok.
I hope you enjoy your turkey but your Thanksgiving sounds like it was a nice day.
Enjoy all your new books! Have a great week, Lark! Happy Reading! ox
Michelle@Because Reading recently posted…Decorations, Turkey and Design~ WIR & TSP
Lark_Bookwyrm
It really was scary. I’m glad Mr. Bookwyrm insisted on a new stove — he said even if we tried to fix the old one, I would never trust it, and he was right. (But neither of us thought it was actually fixable; we figure from the smell that some of the internal insulation burned.) The new oven/range is great, though because I’ve been away so long (I’m writing this on Jan. 3 — sorry to be so late!), I only got to test it out for about 9 days.
Lola
Wow what an eventfull week and I am glad your new smoke detector worked. What a scare that must’ve been to have to oven malfunction like that and get so hot. I am glad it all ended well. Enjoy your thanksgiving dinner tonight!
We’re halfway season 2 from Star Trek DS9 and we’re enjoying it so far :). I really enjoyed Shadow Study when I read it earlier this year. I hope you’ll enjoy it as well. Have a great week!
Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #154
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m so thankful that the oven episode ended without major damage to anything but the range! I’m glad you’re enjoying ST:DS9. And thanks for the thumbs-up on Shadow Study!
joann downie
I like Stephanie Laurens,you have some nice looking romances there!!
joann downie recently posted…I LOVE LIBRARIES READING CHALLENGE 2016
Lark_Bookwyrm
I’m a sucker for a good historical romance, and I’ve been reading more contemporaries as well. 🙂
Emma
What a nightmare…yet it does sound like there was a silver lining and maybe a new tradition? Hope this week is less eventful.
Emma recently posted…This Week, Next Week: 29th November, 2015
Lark_Bookwyrm
Well, I hope we haven’t set a tradition of destroying stoves! 😉 No, I know what you meant. I’m not sure I’m ready to give up cooking Thanksgiving dinner, but it was fun to go to the movies.
Steph, The Old Mother Hen
It is too bad that you weren’t able to cook Thanksgiving dinner, but I am so glad that your smoke detector alerted you of the problem and that everyone is safe.
I love seeing all of the Christmas books popping up and look especially forward to your Christmas novel reviews.
Steph, The Old Mother Hen recently posted…In the Moment – Week of November 22, 2015
Lark_Bookwyrm
If there’s one lesson I took from the whole thing, it’s “Keep your smoke detector batteries fresh” — and make sure your smoke detector works. We have two detectors, one which came with the house, sits right near the bedrooms at the end of the hall, and appears no longer to work, and one which I made Mr. Bookwyrm put up closer to the kitchen so we’d have enough warning to get out if there ever were a fire. Sure enough, the new one went off but the old one didn’t. Thank goodness for that new one! I’ll be changing out the batteries religiously from now on, and testing it periodically. I shudder to think what could have happened if it hadn’t gone off!
Bea @Bea's Book Nook
Yowza, I’m so glad your smoke detector worked and that the only thing damaged was the oven. Not surprised that Cracker Barrel was only meh; I hope your Advent dinner went well.
Safe cooking and happy reading!
Bea @Bea’s Book Nook recently posted…Sunday Book Share #169
Lark_Bookwyrm
Me, too! Our Advent dinner went fine, though Mr. Bookwyrm had to work that day. The oven performed flawlessly, though I haven’t tested the convection setting yet; I just cooked the turkey in a roasting bag on the normal “bake” setting.
Literary Feline
I am so glad the concert went well and the house didn’t burn down. What a scare that was with your oven! I hope the new one works out much better. I am sorry though Thanksgiving wasn’t what you planned. At least you got a good movie out of it (I really liked The Martian too!). We had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving this year and spent it at Disneyland and Disney’s California Adventure. We had reservations at one of the restaurants on site. Everything was delicious–and my daughter enjoyed meeting several of the Disney princesses who circulated the room while everyone was dining. It’s one of those once in a lifetime type events. For those prices, I don’t imagine we will ever be able to do that again! But it was fun.
I am glad your reading slump is over. I was hoping to get more reading done this weekend than I did (hardly any at all!), but other things kept getting in the way. I did get my Christmas cards done and the house is decorated, at least.
Literary Feline recently posted…Bookish Thoughts: A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding by Jackie Copleton
Lark_Bookwyrm
What a lovely, long comment — I’m so sorry it took me so long to reply! I’ll go backwards:
1. Christmas cards. It’s now after New Years and I still haven’t sent any. I should work on that this week.
2. Your Thanksgiving at Disney sounds wonderful, and what fun for your daughter!
3. I’m very relieved the house didn’t burn down. And so far, I’m pretty happy with my new stove/oven, even if I haven’t had much opportunity to use it. (I left to visit family about a week and a half after Thanksgiving, and I haven’t gotten home yet.)
Charlie @ Girl of 1000 Wonders
You had about as exciting a Thanksgiving as I did! (Except in mine there were no fires, just snakes…) I am glad you got a *new* stove and made the best of the situation – and cheap turkeys! I cannot say I would have been as calm as you if my oven was out of control. My house would burn down before my landlord even answered my call or messages! Happy reading!
Lark_Bookwyrm
Snakes?! I’m not sure I want to know! I’m glad you’re OK.