Well, it’s finally October! I can talk about fall and pumpkins all I want and no one can roll their eyes at me. (RIGHT? I hope no one is rolling their eyes right now!) Thanks to Coco and Deborah for hosting this coffee date. Pour some coffee (or earl grey tea) into your favorite Halloween mug and join us!
On the subject of appropriate timing of holiday festivities, I would tell you about the odd experience I had yesterday at Nordstrom Rack. I was looking for some fall hand towels for the bathroom, but all I saw was this:
Now, I love Christmas! But everyone knows you don’t start decorating for Christmas until after Thanksgiving (it’s the rule!) I don’t object to seeing it in the stores super early, but it literally took up the entire seasonal section. I will confess that I looked at the Christmas mugs- I love my mugs- but I was really looking for pumpkins. Sheesh.
Switching gears…. I just finished this book.
I’m not really sure what the point is in using a pseudonym, when everyone knows this is J.K. Rowling. I absolutely love everything she writes, and I loved this book. This is the sixth book in the series, and they really should be read in order. If you haven’t read any of them, I envy you! I would love to start on book 1 and read straight through the series again. Of course I don’t love these books as much as I love Harry Potter, but it’s the same writing that pulls me immediately into the story and the lives of the characters.
One note- the mystery takes place around an online game, and there are many pages of in-game chats that are written in a smaller font. This wasn’t a problem in the physical book, but almost everyone complained in the reviews that it was unreadable on Kindle (I say “almost” everyone, because one person said they read the entire 1272 page book on their Kindle in 24 hours- I’m impressed!) Since I only read physical books, this didn’t affect me. But apparently there are a lot of angry Kindle readers out there.
And lastly, if we were having coffee together, I would tell you I’m getting geared up once again for NaMoBloPo! It’s a 30 day blogging challenge where the goal is to post every day for the month of November. I know that sounds daunting, but I did it last year and it was really fun. There’s a great camaraderie among the participants, and I would love it if more people did it this year. If you’re interested, check out San’s post about it here.
Have you read any great books lately?
Does it annoy you to see Christmas things in October? -It doesn’t annoy me, but I don’t like it if that’s ALL I see- what happened to fall?
Anyone interested in joining NaMoBloPo this year?
35 Responses
We are having “pumpkin spice” day at work next week, with a buffet of pumpkin and pumkin spiced foods — from muffins to lattes, and I’m sure stranger things.
It is frustrating when you can’t find seasonal things because the stores already are on to the next season. Does it really work for them?
My blogging mojo is waning, but maybe a daily snippet would help with that ….
Are you considering doing NaMoBloPo??? You could totally do it!!! It might be easier than you think.
Now I’m so curious- why are the stores on this schedule? I want to know. I’m going to try to find out.
I just finished a memoir on eating disorders which I’m still mulling over – Empty by Susan Burton. I have mixed feelings about it, but I’m glad I read the book.
It does make me sad to see all the Christmas stuff out already because then it doesn’t feel as special. It starts to feel stale and it loses some of the magic when I get desensitized to Christmas items IN OCTOBER. I don’t think any of those decorations should show up on store shelves until after Halloween (right after Thanksgiving isn’t really a relevant time to decorate here in Canada, because for us the holiday is in early October, not November).
I just put in a library hold request for Cuckoo’s Calling – I haven’t read any of the books in this series and want to have a few books lined up for the coming weeks when I’ll be spending more time sitting/resting than normal! I LOVE Harry Potter (as you know), so I’m excited to read something else from JK Rowling.
I’m planning to do NaMoBloPo this year!
Yay! You’ll do great on NaMoBloPo- you already post five times a week.
I hope you like Cuckoo’s Calling- a lot of people seem to not like it and I don’t know why. To me, the writing is amazing.
Yes, if the Christmas stuff is out this early it’s easy to get tired of it. I still remember when we were little- the first Christmas commercial would come on TV the day after Thanksgiving and it was SO EXCITING!!! The good old days…
Yes I hate when they rush the seasons… how can we enjoy fall decorations when it seems like we should be decorating for Christmas.
Thanks for the reminder… I need to go to Nordstrom Rack.
Well I hope you’re in the mood for Christmas! But who knows- maybe your NR will still have fall stuff.
I get annoyed when I see fall stuff in June but by the time October rolls around, I resign myself to seeing all things holiday. Truly though the fall stuff sells out so fast. You HAVE to buy it early when you don’t feel like it. My Rack had Christmas stuff last week when I was there but not that much. I runfess I did by a Holiday 3-wick candle. I won’t burn it til at least late November though! Have fun with the daily blog posts!
Ha ha… I have been thinking of going to Hallmark (there’s one in the plaza where I work) and getting a three wick candle. Like you, i won’t burn it till late November. I’m too busy burning my pumpkin candles right now.
Yay! I’m thrilled that you’re doing NaMoBloPo again! Every year when San talks about it, I’m like “yeah no way could I do that” but maybe??? I’m thinking about it! I’d just be writing on weekdays and I think it would just be daily meals plus a few rants about assorted topics as they come up…but maybe???
My youngest stepson has been “too old” for Halloween for the past few years but for some reason he’s all about it this year! He wants to decorate and he has plans for a costume and trick or treating.
Yes! Yes! You should do it!!! In San’s most recent post about NaMoBloPo coming up, she has a link to a post she wrote last year, with suggestions on how to succeed. You can do it!
I think my daughter plans to trick or treat every year for the rest of her life. I haven’t heard about her plans for a costume this year, but she’s definitely going.
I am doing NaMoBloPo again. I have already started working on my calendar to get it all ready. It’s a challenge to try and predict what I feel like writing about in a month, though!
It does make me sad that it seems like the stores just aren’t aligned with what I personally want to see. It’s like when Target has swimsuits on display in February, which here is the deep freeze with ice and snow and the last thing I want to do is see something summery because it feels like my nose is being rubbed in how terrible our weather is. The Christmas stuff right now just reminds me that the snow and cold is just around the corner and I’d rather see scarecrows and pumpkins. But I get that stores run on a different timetable than I do, so I just soldier on. Ha!
Yes, but why are the stores on this timetable? I’m sure there’s a reason, I would just like to know what it is.
I was in a dollar store last week (needed a few birthday cards), and the Christmas display was front & center and Halloween/fall stuff was in the back! I love Christmas, but I really am not a fan of fast-forwarding through the seasons. I need to check out that book series… I loved the Harry Potter series immensely!
Yes, I want to appreciate ALL the holidays! I don’t understand why stores are doing this- are people really buying Christmas stuff already?
Gosh it’s nuts to see Christmas stuff already but also not surprising. I haven’t seen any yet which I am happy about, but I know that Target will be full of Christmas like the day after Halloween. I have a friend that starts to listen to Christmas music in October! She loves it so much. I have pushed up how soon we put our tree up to mid-November but mostly because Thanksgiving weekend tends to be busy for us and the longer I have the warm glow of the tree, the better!
I have only read the first book in the Cormorant Strike series and I felt pretty meh about it so didn’t continue on! I almost exclusively read on my kindle and I read with the smallest font size so I don’t have to turn pages as often so it sounds like I would not like reading this book on kindle! I am reading a really good non-fiction book about corruption in the USC school of medicine. The dean of the school was found in the hotel room of a young girl who od’d. She goes on to live, but there is a lot of cover-up going on between Pasadena, USC, and the LA Times. It’s pretty fascinating that someone who is the freaking dean of a medical school is doing such horrible, horrible things. Like he brings drugs to this girl when she is in rehab! What in the what. I love dishy non-fiction reads like this. It’s written so well, too, and is very propulsive!
Interesting- my sister also read the first Cormoran Strike book and didn’t really like it. I on the other hand loved this series immediately!
I don’t mind Christmas music super early if I hear it in a store or something, but I wouldn’t put it on at home until Black Friday. I will say we’ve changed up when we get the Christmas tree- now we get the tree a couple days before Thanksgiving. We set it up but don’t put any decorations on it- this gives the branches time to open properly. Then we’re all set to decorate it the day after Thanksgiving.
I remember you doing the 30 day blogging challenge last year. It sounds so daunting! But, good for you. Yes, everyone knows that you don’t start doing Christmas or Hanukkah until after Thanksgiving. it’s my favorite holiday!
Yes, I love Thanksgiving. It seems like nowadays, everyone goes into Christmas mode right after Halloween. What about Thanksgiving???
Lately I’m not even doing three times a week with blog posts, so daily ain’t gonna happen — sorry! I’m glad that you enjoy it.
Other than grocery stores I don’t do much shopping other than online! IDK my mom was into decorating but I’m just not. I do love mugs, but I collect them from where I’ve traveled to. Brings back good memories.
Yeah, I’m not sure if I’ll convince anyone else to join NaBloPoMo!
I buy plenty on amazon, but I love browsing in actual stores. I love decorating for holidays, but I wouldn’t say I’m actually good at it- I just have a lot of random things thrown around. I like it though!
I’m with you there! I was at Costco today and saw Halloween decorations right next to the Christmas ones. No! haha.
NaMoBloPo sounds like a fun challenge but given how little I’ve blogged all year, it’s highly unlikely I’d stick to it. :[
I think with your work schedule, NaMoBloPo is probably unrealistic.
At least Costco HAD Halloween decorations!!! The thing I couldn’t believe at Nordstrom Rack was that it was only Christmas- so strange.
Oh just too early for the Christmas decor! Just no!
That blogging challenge definitely sounds daunting, especially since my blogging days seem to be fewer and fewer. Good on you for giving it a go again this year!
I’m a much newer blogger than you are, so maybe that’s why these things sound fun to me, ha ha.
The stores around here all have their Christmas displays up. Ridiculous! I haven’t even put up my Halloween decorations yet!
The fact that the book you read is almost 1300 pages is enough for me to take a pass, lol. I don’t see it keeping my attention! Glad to hear you liked it.
I do have my Halloween decorations up, but I’d like to enjoy this holiday, and Thanksgiving, before moving on to Christmas!
Well, I love Christmas, and I don’t even mind seeing Christmas displays in Costco in July. It just makes me smile. It’s Thanksgiving weekend here, so I guess I can start decorating on Tuesday? I kid. I don’t even think about it until November 1!
Oh yes, I remember you like Christmas! Don’t you have the “secret” festive season? I love that.
It is too early for Christmas decorations. At least let’s wait till November. Oh my, blogging everyday for the month of November. Sounds tempting.
Really? You should try it! It would be fun.
Christmas puked all over Target too. Ridiculous.
Daily blogging, what a fun challenge.
I just read Lauren Fleshman’s book, and then two pieces of trash because poolside reading. It better cool off by you before I come down or our meetup is going to be in Wawa.
Ha ha… when are you coming down??? If it’s anytime after November 1st, there’s hope.
I just read “All Boys Aren’t Blue”, “The Priory Of The Orange Tree” and I am starting “The Midnight Library.” All were phenomenal.
A blog post every day, huh? Maybeeeee.
Keep Christmas away! It’s time for Halloween.
I agree- let’s fully enjoy Halloween. Then Thanksgiving, THEN Christmas!!!
Thanks so much for getting the word out about NaBloPoMo! I am so thrilled you’re participating again and I do hope others will join us 🙂
BTW, I totally agree… TOO EARLY for Christmas stuff (and I love Christmas!).