We are preparing to go to Myrtle Beach, SC. The Husband and I would like to go see the plantations and gardens, but I think he harbors a not-so-secret desire to go play golf. Tbh, if the clubs fit in the trunk, he probably would take them. There's only one problem with vacation, though. Okay, I know that sounded very #FirstWorldProblems right there. But seriously, it's all the work ya gotta do to go have some fun.
MidJourney prompt: a honey pot. honey dipper. 1 bee flying around. high quality blogger photography. in the style of classic winnie the pooh. --ar 4:5 --v 5.2
The 20 Items On My To-Do List Before Vacation
Fill up the automatic dog and cat bowls. They each have 4 days of food before they need to rely on The Kid to feed them.
Same thing with their automatic water bowl.
Seriously consider buying one of those humongous water bowls for large dogs on Amazon for the next vacation. 4 days plus unlimited water ups their chances of survival.
Set a Google Calendar reminder to text message The Kid at day 4. And day 5. And day 6. And day 7.
Fill up the outdoor water fountain for the same reason. (The water evaporates.)
Mow the lawn.
Try to do the laundry, only to realize that The Kid washed 2 towels on full load capacity. Try not to yell at The Kid and instead tell her to do laundry while we are gone.
Towels! Reminder! Can't forget my bathing suit!
Consider options in case we cannot stop to go to the bathroom. Realize that's a hardship of women.
The washing machine is finally free, so I do everyone's laundry. Apparently I'm in charge of doing of it minus the 2 towels from earlier.*
Sh*t, I forgot the ice. Need to go back to the grocery store.
Double check that all the Ring cameras work.
Chase the cat out of the clean laundry.
Run the clean laundry through the dryer again.
Fold the laundry before the cat can sit in it again.
Say F-it, and go read a book. I'm on vacation, dammit.
* In a normal, not-vacation circumstance, The Husband does the laundry. And pretty much everything else. Also, I'm not allowed to mow the lawn as I may or may not run over something I shouldn't have.
The Promos
This week, I invite you to check out Uniform Justice by KJ Sutherland. For those of you who love military mysteries, this is a JAG legal thriller. I give this book 4.25 out of 5 stars (see below). For most people (who aren't as picky as I am), you might give this book a 5 out of 5. It's a pretty good book, and I definitely recommend reading it. It's also on the Kindle Unlimited.
From the Amazon page:
Captain Storm DeVries has been held back from a promotion to prosecute Major Skylar Diggs for joyriding twenty-eight souls to their deaths. [...] There are no witnesses, the cockpit voice recorder is missing, and Diggs isn’t talking.
Then Storm gets a mysterious phone call that takes her down a path of secrets, lies, and conspiracies. It will not only challenge the core of her beliefs, but it will also lead her into grave danger. Will she have the courage to reveal what the most powerful military in the world is so desperate to conceal?
This week, I wanted to write a book review for Uniform Justice (see above), but I couldn't get around to it. I had this big to-do list of things I needed to get done before going on vacation, you see.
So here's the short review. I really liked this book. It isn't often that I get to do a legal thriller review at the same time that I can promote the book, too, so I am happy about that. If the author pumps out more books of this caliber (even without the phrasing, below), s/he'll be right up there with Victor Methos before not too long. (Mr. Methos is an excellent author imho. Probably one of the best legal thriller writers today tbh.)
The book has good pacing, a few twists that I didn't see coming, a well-rounded protagonist, and a couple of courtroom scenes with some bad ass legal maneuvering. It doesn't "major" in politics, but there is a touch of that, if that's your fancy. (See what I did there???) Also, it's a military book. I'm a fan of the military. (A Few Good Men, anyone?) America is the land of the free because we are the home of the brave, y'all.
The reason I deducted 3/4th of a star was mainly because I think the author needs to write some better phrases ... lots of cliché adverbs, adjectives, and phrases in this book. There was one scene in particular where everyone flung arms, smirked, sighed heavily, argued, retorted, rolled eyes, and barked. Scenes such as that are distracting because what ends up happening is that the reader counts the number of times an author uses words like "smirked arrogantly" or "rolled her eyes" or whatever.
I would have deducted maybe a 1/4th of a star for that, really, but I also had a small issue with the characterization. I don't want to ruin it for you, my dear reader, and it does not affect the thriller parts. Let's just say I wasn't totally on board with Storm's motivations or the cause of the plane crash, and I thought the author could have put some more scenes to flesh those out.
However, the book in total is well written. There was a couple of scenes where the POV shifted ... this is my biggest pet peeve ... but overall the bone structure of KJ Sutherland's writing is solid. I expect only good things in future books.
