Let's Chat 2026! > Likes and Comments
Hope 2026 treats you kind with a multitude of blessings!Any special New Year traditions in your family? I'm cooking our generational traditional greens, peas & pork ribs. Never start off a new year without it. lol
Hubby and I cooked the collard greens & black-eyed peas last night! We never start the year without them either. We're having turkey wings with them today.
Same here, Jonetta! I still remember mama telling us kids that we’d have bad luck all year if we didn’t eat greens & peas on New Year’s Day. I hated them back then but fortunately I’ve learned to love them. lol And being a born & raised Southerner, we add some form of pork.
Hubby and I enjoyed a Spinach Quiche while watching to Rose Parade. Right now, we have a break in the rain, and the sun is shining.
For those that either didn't see my Christmas picture, or know what I've been doing (which I will admit I haven't been saying much.) I finally completed Book 1 of a rewrite of Batman that asks the question of "What if one parent lived and the other parent died?" And that parent became a single mom Batwoman. I'll be posting the full story if any of you are interested or curious.It will be a four or five book series that I will be writing sporadically, so I'll update as things move forward.
ElectricOutcast wrote: "For those that either didn't see my Christmas picture, or know what I've been doing (which I will admit I haven't been saying much.) I finally completed Book 1 of a rewrite of Batman that asks the ..."That’s ambitious and intriguing! Kudos to you.
Hello everyone. I pray you all had a wonderful holiday season. I was MIA most of December, traveling and with limited internet access. Now I have to spend the day updating my December reading and reviews. I had plenty of food over the holidays. We had greens & peas on New Year’s Day too.
Happy 2026 to everyone.
When I try to post my reading challenges, I get an error: "1 error is preventing you from posting." This is the only explanation. Any suggestions. It looks like I can't post any "new topics." Did something change?
Sharon, it's an issue for most of us. I can post 1 thread and it gives me that error message on the next one. If I wait a couple of hours, I can post one more. I can post a few comments before receiving the message. I got in contact with Support & their reply was that it was "high volume" etc. I have no idea why they've limited posting but I don't think it's just a matter of high volume.
Jonetta wrote: "ElectricOutcast wrote: "For those that either didn't see my Christmas picture, or know what I've been doing (which I will admit I haven't been saying much.) I finally completed Book 1 of a rewrite ..."Not exactly perfect, but I was finally able to prompt a picture of Martha and her children wearing their costumes. https://www.deviantart.com/electricou...
Happy New Year to all. have been a funk but digging myself out so will participate going forward.
Happy New Year! I missed the start of this thread.I had never even heard of collards or black-eyed peas growing up in coastal British Columbia, but it's fun to learn various culinary traditions. The first time I ate biscuits and gravy it was made with whole wheat, so not traditional, but I loved it. However, when I tried it in a restaurant once--NOT in south--made with white flour I didn't care for the texture. I'm not sure if it was the white flour or because the restaurant didn't know how to make it properly.
I've spent a little time reviewing the series that i completed this year. I completed 14 and abandoned 2. I am considering changing my approach to reading them. In the past I have been just picking what sounded fun for the month. It doesn't get many series read and I've got a lot on my list. I'm wondering if maybe I should change to a binge read approach where I just read books from a specific series till I've read them all.What does everyone else do?
If I want to read a series, I read one a month, with other books in between. I can't read them one after another and they seem to get more and more alike. That's just me though :)
One a month sounds good. I just forget making that commitment and get distracted by other books.
I keep a list of each month's reads, including books I own, books I borrow from the library, NetGalley reads and the dates they're due. So writing a series book on each month's list is automatic for me :)
That is great, Brenda! I think my problem is that I have dozens of series on my list, and I seem to add more than I read just so I don;t loose track of them. So many books, so little time!
I know what you mean - I've heard that phrase many times. I'll have to live to about 150 years of age to read all the books I own, but at least I'm having fun trying ;)
I have often thought that I can only hope to finish the In Death Series before I die.
Haha I understand. I have the last one to read before the next comes out in February. You should choose that series to read one a month until you've finished.
I create a monthly TBR from my Opportunities and Commitment Spreadsheets. I am trying to read at least 3 books from a series in each month. In 2025, I completed 6 series and got current on 43 series. However, I have about 130 other series that I've only partially read and I'm probably missing some. It's also tough to work them in because of the number of NetGalley ARCs I read, but I've made a dent in my list and hope to expand on that in 2026.
I've found that reading series at "one a month" works great for me. It keeps the books a bit "fresher" and I suffer less burnout on a series. I usually have a series going with at least 3 of my groups so that's 3 of my monthly reads and then I have some series of my own choosing & again, I proceed with one a month. Like Pam, I read & review so many arcs that it limits my choices and time for other books. Actually, one of my goals for this year is to read less arcs. I tend to get overwhelmed with them and frustrated that I have little left over reading time.
Anita wrote: "I've spent a little time reviewing the series that i completed this year. I completed 14 and abandoned 2. I am considering changing my approach to reading them. In the past I have been just picking..."I think you know I have my own personal group. I maintain a topic with a comment for every month where I list the titles I plan to read as they come up for release or are part of a group read. If I want to dedicate some time to a series (with intention), I’ll add it to a month. It’s what I use to create my monthly plans.
Maybe this would be a good feature we could set up in the 2-3-4 group. Each person could manage their own objectives.
Susan wrote: "Happy New Year to all. have been a funk but digging myself out so will participate going forward."I hope you emerge from that soon. I know the feeling.
Anita wrote: "I have often thought that I can only hope to finish the In Death Series before I die."Now THAT’s a series I’d commit to reading one a month.
Jonetta wrote: "Anita wrote: "I've spent a little time reviewing the series that i completed this year. I completed 14 and abandoned 2. I am considering changing my approach to reading them. In the past I have bee..."I'd be interested in pursuing that feature!
PamG wrote: "I create a monthly TBR from my Opportunities and Commitment Spreadsheets. I am trying to read at least 3 books from a series in each month. In 2025, I completed 6 series and got current on 43 serie..."To get serious about knocking off the series books, reading 2 or 3 of them a month is the way to go. Faster pace than 1 a month, but not a binge, less likely to get bored by them.
I also read 1 a month. I've been trying to finish series that i started in 2011. It took a bit of work going through my goodreads read books, but i managed to group series into years. My problem seems to be that i pick series with lots of books, so i read 4-5 series a month.I use the lists section on Amazon to keep track of monthly reading, also what i buy or borrow and anything else that looks good.
Happy New Year to all!@Sandra - I've found that one book a month system really works well for progressing with series slowly but surely!
I want to mention here that if I disappear for several days it's because of loss of power & internet. We have a massive winter storm heading our way with an excessive amount of sleet & ice and bitterly cold temps forecast for my area. Warnings indicate a high likelihood of going days without power, etc., because of downed power lines. I'm personally as prepared as I can be other than anticipating going without power.
Sandra wrote: "I want to mention here that if I disappear for several days it's because of loss of power & internet. We have a massive winter storm heading our way with an excessive amount of sleet & ice and bitt..."Stay warm and safe, Sandra!
Sandra wrote: "I want to mention here that if I disappear for several days it's because of loss of power & internet. We have a massive winter storm heading our way with an excessive amount of sleet & ice and bitt..."Good luck Sandra, stay safe. We have the opposite over here with temperatures set to hit 50c, in different areas of the country. (40 here!) Be good to combine the two...
I hope all goes well for you, Sandra! That same storm will be heading our way, but our winds won't be bad and it's going to be cold enough that we won't have sleet or ice (it's already cold and the roads are dry.
Brenda wrote: "Sandra wrote: "I want to mention here that if I disappear for several days it's because of loss of power & internet. We have a massive winter storm heading our way with an excessive amount of sleet..."Americans--this is 122 F!
I'm familiar with C from being Canadian and F from living in the States.
Way too hot! And too cold where you guys are!
Brenda wrote: "Way too hot! And too cold where you guys are!"I wonder how my nephew and his partner are taking this as recent arrivals to NSW. Our corner of British Columbia (where I was born, raised and went to university minus a few sabbaticals with my dad & family) is very temperate.
A bit of a shock to the system I'd say!
Brenda wrote: "A bit of a shock to the system I'd say!"Yes, but at least they're young and have travelled. Still, it's shocking. My dad was in that kind of heat when he volunteered as a doctor in Somalia back in the 1990s (not Doctors Without Borders, but a different outfit) but I'm thankful I've never had to.
It's a different kind of heat too, with humidity along with it. Which to me, is worse! I hate the heat!
I feel for you all in the cold, snow and ice. We have a Celebration of Life for my son-in-law's mother today. 70 degrees in SoCal, great weather and a wonderful time with friends and family.
Thanks, Lauren, Brenda & Karin! I still have power this morning with the ground & roads covered in sleet/icy mix. Bitterly cold with wind chill. It's changing to freezing rain today for the duration which is when we expect the power outages from falling power lines. Hope everyone else in the path of this monster storm stays safe & warm.
Brenda wrote: "It's a different kind of heat too, with humidity along with it. Which to me, is worse! I hate the heat!"Brenda, the high humidity is what makes our summers so unbearable. I can stand the hot temps, but not the oppressive humidity.
We live in a piedmont where the air gets trapped, both summer and winter, keeping it humid when it’s hot and frigid in the winter. So, today we get ice.
Brenda wrote: "It's a different kind of heat too, with humidity along with it. Which to me, is worse! I hate the heat!"Humidity makes heat and cold worse. I hope your air conditioning is able to help. Around her once the temperature goes above 90F/32.22 C ours can't keep it to where we set it--it could never handle 50 C! Apparently it's called the cooling limit.
Jonetta wrote: "We live in a piedmont where the air gets trapped, both summer and winter, keeping it humid when it’s hot and frigid in the winter. So, today we get ice."I hope you do okay with the ice. Our snow is dry and light for a change, which is much easier to deal with right now.
We got about an inch of snow, now sealed with ice.
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