Heartbeat Monthly (16): April 2019

Posted by Jessi (Geo) on May 4, 2019 | 0 Comments

April haul

Bought

Bloodleaf by Crystal Smith w/ signed bookplate (Shelflove Crate)
Wicked Saints by Emily Duncan, signed exclusive edition (Shelflove)
March Feyre & Aelin chess pieces (came w/ SLC book sub)
April Darkling & Alina chess pieces (SLC)
Warrior of the Wild magnet (SLC)
April Nerdy Tees – Game of Thrones

Freebies

Rep stuff:

April “Dark Magic” Fairyloot
Love You More Studio mermaid book sleeve

If you’re intersted, my codes are JESSI10 for LYMS and NOVEL10 for FL!

From publisher/for promo:

Nocturna by Maya Motayne (Harper)
Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson (Riveted Lit)
Slay by Brittney Morris (Riveted Lit)

THANK YOU Harper and Riveted for these amazing books!

April Wrap Up

Books I read

The Sight (Warriors: Power of Three #1) by Erin Hunter – ★★★★
Dark River (Warriors: Power of Three #2) by Erin Hunter – ★★★½
Outcast (Warriors: Power of Three #3) by Erin Hunter – ★★★
The Immortal Highlander by Karen Marie Moning (re-read) – ★★★★★
The Wayfarer Redemption by Sara Douglass (re-read) – ★★★★★

Pages read: 2,896
Average rating: 4.1
Favorite book read in April: The Wayfarer Redemption
Least favorite book read in April: Outcast

Books I reviewed

None. Wow, that’s bad!!

What I’ve been up to this month

As you can tell, I’ve totally sucked at blogging….again. I was doing SO well for a while there, and keeping on top of everything. I hit a really bad depression back in January & February after receiving some devastating family news, and fell behind on pretty much everything.

As far as life goes – well, it’s not been good. After getting totally raped on my taxes (over $5k owed and I have no way to pay it), I feel like I’m never going to get anywhere to be honest. (I love how the government punishes the little guy – the only reason I owe so much is because the self employment fee is exorbitant. They take TWENTY percent.) I don’t make enough to really save back anything because I’m juggling all the house bills on my own. So I’m just getting further and further behind, and I honestly feel like I’m drowning. I don’t know how to keep my head above water anymore. This is really personal for me to be sharing, but basically no one reads this anymore anyway and I need to talk to someone about it. I feel myself slipping back into depression again despite my best efforts to stay positive.

On top of my financial situation, I’m having a few health issues. A couple are minor, but one is rather large looming over my head. I don’t feel comfortable talking about details here. The minor ones I want to get fixed (the main one being the fact that I’m 90% sure I have sleep apnea because I can never sleep well anymore and I wake up in the middle of the night feeling like I can’t breathe) I’m having trouble finding a way to solve because Caresource is complete TRASH health insurance and no one local is taking Caresource patients so I don’t know what to do or where to go. It’s just all piling up and smothering me.

I’m still maintaining my healthy lifestyle (I’m so proud of myself! It’s been a year now!). I’ve hit a pretty bad plateau – I’ve been stuck in the same place for nearly 3 months now and can’t seem to achieve results despite continuing to eat healthy and exercise. I recently heard about metabolic confusion – aka switching up your carb/calorie intake daily to confuse your metabolic rate and kick it into gear – so I’m going to be trying that for a while. I’m enjoying finding new recipes and cooking, which is something I never liked before.

Anyway, on a more positive note, I got to spend a week in Florida with my parents and niece! My niece rode down with me, so it was kind of nice to not have to travel alone. My sister footed the bill to stay in a hotel the first night so we didn’t have to drive straight through. We all got to stay in our usual condo in New Smyrna Beach (thanks, mom & dad!) and we celebrated my parents’ 32nd anniversary. (They’re honestly the only reason I still believe in true love!) I really needed the soul healing that the trip offered! I couldn’t really afford it, but I needed to spend time with my parents. They are currently kind of stuck down in Florida for medical reasons that I won’t go into, so I’m not sure when I’ll get to see them again.

Current obsessions

Movies: I recently saw Shazam and it was AMAZING! Hands down the best thing DC has done so far. Blows all the rest out of the water.

TV: Game of Thrones! Season 8 has been awesome!

Music: The Naked and Famous

Food: Low carb chocolate mug cake!! It’s made with pecans instead of flour, cocoa powder, almond milk, baking soda, vanilla, and stevia. THAT’S IT. So basically all the calories & carbs (which aren’t many) are coming from the pecans. And it is DELICIOUS. Here’s the recipe: Keto Mug Cake

Games: Slidey! They have a setting to make the logs cats (they meow when you fill a row! I love it so much haha) and I’m OBSESSED. It’s so addicting! It’s a lot like tetris and it’s basically a puzzle game and I loooove puzzles.