Catching up on all the things

And... I'm back! I kind of disappeared for a couple of months for lame reasons I'm not going to get into, and then just kind of never blogged again. (I convinced myself it was a hiatus, so I wouldn't feel guilty about it, and then I started liking the hiatus, and... now it's the end of February!) But I'm here now (I actually found about four drafts ready to go for January that I'd forgotten to publish, too... OOPS) and catching up on stuff. Hence, my first post back being

the amazeballs Christmas gift from my The Broke and the Bookish SECRET SANTA! 

Even though over 2 months have passed, my gift was so sweet, unique, and personal, I had to share it.  Some of you might remember the teaser I posted on my Instagram a while back with my daughter wearing something random across her face. Well that was part of it. But first, the box and all of my goodies (she made the ribbons herself!!!):



After opening... in way better lighting:



Eeee! Now, I was fangirling about everything (including her sweet homemade card), and then I got to the cute little box that had this in it:



 and I was stumped. Um, what? Nose Cozy? Challenge accepted?

I went back to the breakdown I'd sent Jaime (or whoever was doing the #TBTBSecretSanta match-ups) and read what I'd sent as ideas for my secret santa, and then it made sense:



NOSE COZIES! I could hardly believe it. My girls were standing there watching me open everything, and after I re-read my old email and explained the cozy, we were all blown away by her ingenuity! It's so cute, and not only that, it WORKS! Here's the pic of my middle daughter modeling it for me:



Don't ya love it? :)

So there ya go. My first post back, and now I'm caught up (sort of) through the end of the year. (Since this Christmas post has been posted on a leap day, I figure I'm now all sort of evened out. :D)

Waiting on Wednesday {119}: Perfekt Control

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine. This week's can't-wait-to-read pre-publication book is: Perfekt Order.

Perfekt Order (Aere Saga #2)

by ST Bende

Publication date: February 9, 2016

From Goodreads:

Brynn Aksel is a valkyrie—a battle goddess tasked with protecting both the God of War and the future of Asgard. She fends off giants and dark elves with an iron fist, a glossy smile, and no less than perfekt control. She’s focused one-hundred-percent on rising through the valkyrie ranks, and not at all on her lifelong crush on Henrik Andersson—the one guy in all the realms who could be her undoing.

Henrik serves as War’s other bodyguard, and he’s too focused on protecting their shared charge to realize that Brynn’s a girl. When an unprecedented surge of darkness abducts the Goddess of Love, Brynn’s already-steely focus is singularly directed on her new assignment—accompany Henrik to recover the realms’ source of light before the cosmos descends into chaos.

While battling demons, dragons, and the not-quite-dead, it becomes clear that immortality does not equal invincibility. And when Hel herself puts a hit on Brynn, the valkyrie has to decide if staying in control is worth losing everything . . . or if it’s time to rule the realms.