Actually, there isn’t much news.

After learning about it from a friend, I made a sort of Sloppy Joe biscuit cake with biscuits in the bottom of a bundt pan, then sloppy joes (I used Quorn instead of meat, and it was good), and another layer of biscuits on top. Then cook for about 40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I used store-bought biscuits, because the whole point of the experiment was to find something that was insanely easy to make from things I could have on hand in the fridge. It was interesting and I liked it, but there was too much bread vs. Sloppy Joes. Still, Pea ate four bites of it, largely because…

She wanted to eat cake. For some reason I had wanted a chocolate cake, so I made a chocolate cake and then I had to have frosting, so I made cream cheese frosting.

I have received my first holiday card from our holiday card exchange! (I have not sent mine yet.)

I’ve been adding scenes to the Speculative Fiction book (about 5K new words so far). It’s unusual for me to add scenes (usually I’m combining or deleting them). I think it’s necessary for clarity, though. But it’s keeping me from the new book, because I won’t let myself work on the new book until I’ve finished adding the scenes to the Spec Fic book.

And I am really excited about the new project.

At the beginning of the week, my jaw decided to pop out of joint and not go back. Between a head-neck massage, ulcer-inducing amounts of ibuprofen (which I’m not supposed to take), lots of stretching, and flexeril, it’s finally popping back in. It’s not staying in, but this is better than nothing.

I am still reading the biography of Queen Anne. I’ll think I’ve made tremendous progress, then when I look at the page count, I see I’ve read all of 15 pages. It’s very interesting, just dense. And despite what Goodreads shows, it’s 546 pages, and I have 200 left to go. This sucks, because I have a stack of books I am dying to move on to. M bought me a book on scurvy. I have an ARC of The Gods of Heavenly Punishment. Also, The Courtiers, Jack Tar, and The Letters of Junius. There’s a biography of Dryden, another of Aphra Behn. Yet another about a physician in Elizabethan/Jacobean England — when I skimmed through it the other day, I learned it contains salacious details about an ancestress I didn’t know had led a scandalous life. Quelle horreur! And that doesn’t even touch the four books on their way from the History Book Club, which had a four books for four bucks promotion — no shipping costs, no obligation to buy anything else. (I was waiting for that deal to join again — their shipping costs are insane, plus they’re slow. I’m spoiled by Amazon Prime.)

I need to get serious about turning Sunday into reading day.

I’ve become very fond of looking at the used books listed on Amazon’s site (“More Buying Choices”). Often new books will be listed, masquerading as used. One book Amazon offered for $15; I paid less than $2 from a different seller. Most of them are not Prime, so shipping can take a while, but given the rate I’m going on that Queen Anne bio, it’s fine.

And it’s not just a cost thing. There are so many books that aren’t ever sold over here, and through Amazon partners, I can order books from the UK.

I’ve been wanting to make Sundays more of a day of rest (e.g., reading), and if I ever want to get through my TBR pile, I’ll need to carve out some time.

I loved answering the “Dear AAL” questions! Please do send more, and I’ll answer them on Monday.