Sundays with Sam is a combination of Sunday Post hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Stacking the Shelves hosted by Tynga's Reviews.
My Week in Review
Happy Sunday all! It was a rough week here. I lost a family member to COVID this week. I understand that the vaccine cannot be required, but maybe healthcare professionals, who don't want to be vaccinated, shouldn't be working in the cancer ward - I'm just saying. Stepping down from the soapbox now.
I hadn't been back in Brooklyn since the last funeral I attended and forgot how chaotic it was there. I was pleased that I didn't have to be the one driving. It's an actual obstacle course with all the double parked cars. The funeral was at Green-Wood Cemetery, which is a historical landmark and absolutely stunning. I had never been there before and could not get over how grand it was. The surrounding area is not pretty at all, so it felt like going into a different world when we crossed those gates.
I was finally able to schedule an appointment for my vaccination. I am getting my first dose May 11 at a Rite Aid. You would have thought it would be easier to get it at the super-center, but nope, got one sooner at the Rite Aid. My company gives us 4 hours paid time off for each dose, but I will probably use 4 hours of sick time. Anything with doctors or needles is super traumatic for me, and my appointment is at an awkward time (10:18 am). I am worried I won't be well after it, so may as well burn the day. I did hold out for a place with Moderna, since right now, it's only two shots with no talk of more.
Let's Discuss!
On the Blog:
STACKING THE SHELVES
Before you judge me, understand that Amazon did that spend money get credit thing. I fall for it almost every time. That's why it looks like so many books.
Bought
Emily Henry's new book was so good! It's friends-to-more, which is a favorite romance trope of mine, and it was just fantastic! I also really enjoyed the new Sally Thorne book. It was a very sweet story, heartwarming too.
Books
Hey blogger blog friends - are you doing anything about this Feedburner situation? Just curious. I am looking at self-hosted WP again. I am paranoid that I won't be able to do anything if I migrate. I have the kid on it though. I am keeping her really busy, because I have her trying to figure out how to pair this bluetooth speaker with this transmitter thing I bought for the TV. It didn't go well for me, but the kids are born knowing these things.
Let's Discuss!
- Nick and friends did this post about angst in romance
- Jen put together this resource about free email services for blog subscriptions
- Nicole talks about reading and her mental health
On the Blog:
- Monday: #AmReading YA - Everyone Dies Famous in a Small Town, Take Three Girls
- Tuesday: TTT - Colorful Covers
- Wednesday: CWW - Love & Other Natural Disasters, Roomies
- Thursday: Isn't It Romantic? - The Kindred Spirits Supper Club
STACKING THE SHELVES
Before you judge me, understand that Amazon did that spend money get credit thing. I fall for it almost every time. That's why it looks like so many books.
Bought
- The Rules for Disappearing by Ashley Elston
- Kiss My Putt by Tara Sivec
- Zoe Rosenthal is Not Lawful Good by Nancy Werlin
- Bombshells by Sarina Bowen
- Blindsided by Victoria Denault
- Boss in the Bedsheets by Kate Canterbary
- Battle Royal by Lucy Parker
- Speak for Yourself by Lana Wood Johnson
- Remember Me by Estelle Laure
- Never Saw You Coming by Erin Hahn
- If This Gets Out by Sophie Gonzales and Cale Dietrich
What I Read Last Week
Books
- Second First Impressions by Sally Thorne -★★★★ 1/2
- People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry - ★★★★★
- Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry by Joya Goffney - ★★★★
- Cool for Summer by Dahlia Adler - ★★★★
- Roomies by Christina Lauren -★★★★
- Harley in the Sky by Akemi Dawn Bowman -★★★★
- Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers - ★★★ 1/2
What I Am Currently Reading
- Please Don't Hug Me by Kay Kerr
- 40-Love by Olivia Dade (audiobook)
What I Plan to Read
- Not Our Summer by Casie Bazay
- Talk Hockey to Me by Kelly Jamieson
- Lucy Clark Will Not Apologize by Margo Rabb
- Mister Hockey by Lia Riley
How was your week?
Let us know in the comments!
Let us know in the comments!
Oh I'm so sorry to hear that Sam! You have my deepest sympathy and condolences.
ReplyDeleteThose Instagram's are adorable. That first one is cute. :)
Zoe Rosenthal Is Not Lawful Good has me curious mainly for that title. Hmm...
I bought Zoe Rosenthal because of the title. The reviews were good too.
DeleteI'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your family member, Sam. That's terrible. :( And I totally get your feelings about it... it's hard to understand health care workers who choose not to get vaccinated, when they see the devastation first-hand.
ReplyDeleteHooray for getting your first dose scheduled. I hope it goes super-smoothly.
Did you see Jen's post with all the Feedburner options? I bookmarked it to refer back to. I actually don't have that many email subs - most are through Bloglovin - but I'll still need to do something about it soon.
Hope you're enjoying 40-Love. I'm surprised the audio is 10 hrs long when the book is only 312 pages. Seems weird. But I'm definitely enjoying it. :)
I actually shared Jen's post today. I am probably going to move to self-hosted WP. I hope it's as easy as all the articles make it sound. I don't trust page counts on indie books. I was reading something the other day, and it was supposed to be 330 pages. It took me longer than it should have given my normal page rate.
DeleteSo sorry for your loss, Sam! I definitely agree that HCW working with at risk patients should be vaccinated. The politics of Covid and vaccines stress me out daily. Good luck with your first dose! I am sure it will go well. :)
ReplyDeleteIt was hard to hear that a nurse gave COVID to 4 patients on my aunt's floor. I am sure I will probably pass out or something. I am terrible with needles, but we all need to get vaccinated.
DeleteI am so sorry for your loss. It seems wrong that she contracted COVID from someone who was supposed to be there to help her. I see that you bought Bowen's new book and Denault's book from the True North world. I think that you will love them both. I am glad that you were able to get an appointment for your shot.
ReplyDeleteSo you decided to make the move? How exciting!
I think the hardest part about her death is how she caught COVID and how much she suffered. The problem with COVID is that you can have it without any symptoms, and that's what happened here. Every vaccine we have now, many of which have eradicated certain diseases, were experimental at one time. This is our time to step up and get vaccinated.
DeleteI am sure I will love Bowen and Denault's books. Both are authors I always enjoy.
I am a bit worried about migrating, but I am going to do it when the kid visits, so at least I will have some help.
Oh Sam. That's awful. I can't understand why HCP wouldn't want to get vaccinated, and how they can get away with it. Then again, here in Italy a rule was issued about hospital workers who refuse the vaccine being moved over to different tasks or suspended until the end of the year, but I think nothing came of it, because it's too big a can of worms.
ReplyDeleteAs for your vaccine, I hope it will all go smoothly and the professionals in charge will be able to make you feel at ease.
How did I miss Jen's post?!? thank you for the heads-up!
"Before you judge me, understand that Amazon did that spend money get credit thing. I fall for it almost every time. That's why it looks like so many books."
😁
I get that some people are a little unsure about the vaccination because it's so new, but I feel it's the right thing to do. It just seemed irresponsible to have someone unvaccinated working with people, who were specifically there to have their immune systems knocked out to prepare for their treatments.
DeleteI am sure my vaccination will be dramatic. All events with doctors always are for me, but sometimes you have to suck it up for the greater good.
Very sorry for your loss Sam. Best of luck with the vaccine.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kimberly.
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about your family member. That is horrible.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Moderna vaccine, I didn't feel anything that first day other than a sore arm. The second and third days I was tired along with the sore arm after the first dose. That was it. Nothing big for anyone I know with the first dose. The second was different and everyone had different experiences. I had a sore arm with joint pain. A couple of my friends had fevers and fatigue. It was all over for all of us after a day. Hopefully yours is the same.
My dad had nothing but the sore arm, so I am hoping for the best.
DeleteI'm so sorry for your loss, Sam. I hope everything goes well with your vaccine appointment!
ReplyDeleteThanks. I am sure I will be dramatic, but at least I will get vaccinated
DeleteI'm sorry to hear about your loss! Happy to hear you got the vaccine.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what I'm going to do about Feedburner. I'll check out Jen's post.
I haven't been vaccinated yet, but at least I finally got an appointment.
DeleteSo sorry for your loss! I know taking care of my father-in-law that it's such a scary time to have cancer - as if the cancer doesn't suck enough. So glad you loved Henry's new book! I can't wait to read it!!
ReplyDeleteNo doubt, cancer sucks. Henry's book was phenomenal! I hope you get a chance to read it. It was beautiful!
DeleteI'm so sorry you lost someone to COVID. I can't believe there are healthcare workers in a high risk setting that aren't vaccinated! That seems irresponsible! I got the Moderna vaccine and I'm glad you will get it soon! Thankfully, I didn't have many side effects (and I have issues with shots/vaccines) so I hope you won't either.
ReplyDeleteThe nurse was asymptomatic, so she didn't do it on purpose, but it won't change what happened. I am not too keen on doctor things, but this covid situation really calls for all of us protecting ourselves and others.
DeleteSo sorry for your loss. I am scheduled for my first vaccine appointment this week - hopefully one more step to getting back to normal! I've read Blindsided and loved it - really looking forward to that whole series!
ReplyDeleteGood to hear you have your appointment coming up. I hope it goes well for you. Everyone in my family had no issues, so I am hopeful. I am excited to read Blindsided. I love Denault's books and combine that with the True North world! I can't imagine it being anything but fantastic for me
DeleteI have to say I don't understand why people in healtchare wouldn't get the vaccine, and I don't see why it can't see why it can't be required for certain workers. We require vaccines for lots of things. That whole situation is just devastating, and I'm so sorry your family member went through it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what to do about the Feedburner situation. I already have a Wordpress hosted site, so I guess people can use that for emails, but I have a few hundred subscribers via Feedburner who have been getting emails that way for years.
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
I understand that some people have reservations, because the vaccine is so new, and it cannot be required because it is experimental. I am waiting to see the lawsuits for the colleges that are trying to make it a requirement. The Feedburner thing in only for blogger. They are discontinuing support the email part of it.
DeleteI'm so sorry for your loss, Sam. I agree wholeheartedly with your soapbox comment. That seems like the worst possible place to put someone who refuses to get vaccinated. I hope your vaccine appointment goes smoothly and with minimal side effects. I'm looking through your ratings for the books you read this week and getting very excited as I have Emily Henry's book and Cool for Summer coming up on my TBR as soon as I finish the last May 4th ARC I have.
ReplyDeleteEmily Henry's book was simply perfect. I hope it's a hit for you. Cool for Summer was cute, and I like that there are more questioning stories out there.
DeleteI'm so sorry for your loss! I find it very hard to believe that here in the Netherlands loads of cancer treatments and operations get canceled because of COVID. Those sick people are just as important as people with COVID, right?! I wish you all the piece and time to grieve...
ReplyDeleteLast week a boy in my classroom had to be standby with his family members because of is grandfather being in a critical state because of COVID. I felt so bad for him... Hopefully they did not get bad news yet, but I won't know, since it's Spring Break here.
Again: Wishing you all the time and strength.
About Feedburner: I migrated to MailerLite last week and I'm quite happy about that website! You should definitely take a look there. The new form is already up on my websute :)
I hope you get good news from your student, and thank you for sharing how you handled the feedburner issue.
DeleteSorry about your family member. *Hugs.* Good luck with your vaccine. Neither of mine were bad. The day after I got them, I had a dead arm and some all-over body aches. My job doesn’t give us sick days or vacation days, so I was back at work the morning after my shots. The side effects weren’t bad enough to stop me from working 8-hour shifts.
ReplyDeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I like hearing these positive vaccination stories. Keep them coming! Very encouraging!
DeleteOh wow, I am so sorry about your family member. I really feel like people who work in hospitals and the like should be vaccinated, or as you said, away from the most vulnerable like cancer patients. That's just awful.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're getting your first vaccine soon though, and I hope all goes well!
I am so jealous you have If This Gets Out. It's one I really want to read!
Lauren
www.shootingstarsmag.net
I understand some people are not 100% comfortable with the vaccine because it's so new, but they shouldn't work with people with no immune systems. I think If This Gets Out is going to be great and am excited to read it.
DeleteI'm so sorry for your loss Sam. This whole thing has been really disheartening regarding how we care for others. I just read a similar story about almost 50% of nursing home workers not getting the shot and causing an outbreak.
ReplyDeleteIt ended up being easier for me to go to a mass vaccination site. My county didn't even get any vaccines for over 3 weeks but it's picking up now so if it was now I would make an appointment locally. Thankfully I'm done!
I love that capybara lol
I understand there is some fear about the vaccine, but then stay away from those who are most vulnerable. I struggled with getting an appointment at the super site. The Rite Aid is actually closer. I wanted to space my out a little, because I just took two days for the wake/funeral. Glad you were able to get vaccinated though.
DeleteI'm so sorry for your loss. I agree about the vaccine and that I don't understand why people in health care don't want to get it. I also don't understand why doctors smoke cigarettes knowing how bad they are, but that's a whole other topic. You got some great books. I've got that Tara Sivec book, Kiss My Putt sitting at home and I need to read it! I love her stuff. Hopefully you have a better week. Thanks for visiting my Sunday post earlier!
ReplyDeleteI read the second book in the Sivec series, and it was hilarious, so I have high expectations. Thanks! Hope your week is good too
Delete