Feed (Newflesh #1) by Mira Grant

I once read a Mira Grant book called Into the Drowning Deep and I talked about it incessantly for weeks and weeks. It was so great and even now I sort of want to read it again. So when I was in Seattle and the friend I was staying with, Jason, had Feed by Mira Grant on his table, I got very excited and immediately ordered it from my library. He was excited to talk about it, but I have to admit I didn't want any spoilers, so I didn't ask any questions.

YOU GUYS!! Do you want to know what this book is about? If you don't want to know, stop reading now.

It's about bloggers in the zombie apocalypse!! Bloggers! Zombies!

Can you even think of a book that would appeal to me more?

Okay, well, this book was amazing. Yes, it's almost 600 pages long, but it reads like it's 200. Mira Grant writes in such a compelling way and I did the staying up way too late to read just one more chapter thing. 

We have a brother and sister pair who were born after the Rising. They have only known a life with zombies. They blog and are chosen to follow an up and coming presidential nominee. What's going to happen on the campaign trail?  I think you know that it's going to be hijinks. Another excellent thing to recommend this book is that Grant does not veer off into romantic storylines. There's no sex, no thinking about sex, and remarkably little mention of romantic relationships. That is PERFECT in a zombie book, as far as I'm concerned. 

I think everybody knows where this is going. 5/5 stars

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Lines of note:

Fear justifies everything. Fear makes it okay to have surrendered freedom after freedom, until our every move is tracked and recorded in a dozen databases the average man will never have access to. Fear creates, defines, and shapes our world, and without it, most of us would have no idea what to do with ourselves. (page 428)

This book was written in 2010 and you can sort of feel the backlash to the PATRIOT Act in it, can't you? 

Someday, we'd be cardboard boxes at the back of somebody's closet, and there wasn't a thing we could do about it. (page 493)

Ugh. Maybe this just hit me because of my mom's recent death, but it was like a kick to the solar plexus. 

Hat mentions:

None

Five for Friday, Edition #27

1) Once again, a huge shoutout to all of you for the continued outpouring of cards, packages, texts, emails, and everything else.  Your support really has meant everything to me. I vow that I shall pay all of your kindness forward.

2) I am probably not going to do a recap of my trip to California because, to be honest, it wasn't a great time for me. I was so worried about my mom and then my mom died WHILE I WAS AT THE WEDDING RECEPTION, and then we were there, but I was wishing I wasn't, and it wasn't great. There were highlights (the happy couple! the ocean! meeting J!), but I wasn't at my finest (a very public apology to J for not getting me at my best - in another time, I absolutely would have wanted to go to the beach to watch the kite surfers and search for seashells and done more than just a couple exhibits of the museum). 

If I'm being honest with myself, I do not know that I'll want to think much about this trip in the future. But here's a picture of me being me at the beach so you'll know I really was there.

3) Let's talk about my leg. Have you ever seen the x-ray? Let me find it and show it again. I had recent ones taken, but I don't know how to get a copy of those.

This injury took place in 2011 and over the years, as with the frog in the boiling water, I have started to have more and more problems with it.

I talked with an orthopedic surgeon who suggested two basic things: 1) remove all the hardware that is currently there, which would be a surgery more invasive than the original surgery, and then put in NEW MODERN hardware or 2) fuse the ankle so that it didn't it move. As you can imagine, neither of these options were appealing to me, so I set up some physical therapy appointments.

They haven't been magical, but they have been helpful. I no longer get out of bed and nearly fall over because the pain in my leg is too great. I am no longer taking Tylenol multiple times throughout the day. Can I run? Still no. Can I jump? I mean, sure, if I don't mind chewing Tylenol the next day. But as long as I don't do crazy impact things, I can do all the things. Let's call it a win.

4) I'm taking a page from Elisabeth's blog here and giving you some things that have made me happy recently. 

a. I had a giant, all day long presentation (in front of 100 faculty members of my college) on Wednesday and it's done. It went mostly well, but they were working on the HVAC system in the student union, so it was boiling in our room and I was sweaty upon sweaty AND SO WAS EVERYBODY ELSE. But it's done! And I never have to do it again.

Yesterday a lot of people came to my office to say that the training was super useful and helpful and that our team did a great job. I also had a few emails. I'm coming up on two years in my current job and I'm finally starting to feel like the faculty realize that I'm helpful AND I'm starting to feel knowledgeable. Our team is great, too. I was going to post of picture my boss took of me at the event, but there are too many other recognizable faces in it, so just imagine me looking like a boss lady (drenched in sweat) holding a microphone and having a hundred people staring at me. 

b. On Wednesday after that presentation I went to a yoga class at the community center and it was a mat class! No standing poses! Perfect since I'd been on my feet all day!

c. My SIL called me. That's it. That's the happy thing. She's really one of my favorite people in the world.

d. Birthday presents from my husband including some new earrings and a new yoga bag! A bit ago, I asked people for advice on a yoga bag that would carry my mat, blanket, two blocks, and a strap. Basically, people told me it was impossible and I gave up on my search. When I was at a class recently, someone had a PERFECT BAG and I asked them about the bag and then I asked for one for my birthday. (NOTE: That's an Amazon link. The company that makes the bag is a small business and when you go to their home page and try to buy directly from them, they send you to Amazon. I have accepted this as reality. Please don't throw eggs at my blog.) I have a blue bag. It is everything I have ever dreamed of in a yoga bag. (Okay, fine. Yes, I would prefer if it had a fun print or color, but you get what you get and you like it.)

You can wear it as a backpack or just have one strap slung across your back messenger bag style. 

It has a blanket, a mat, two blogs, and a strap, and you'll notice there's still room at the top. When I take it to campus to do yoga, I add my leggings to the bag. PERFECTION.

e) Zelda the Cat recently went on strike and refused to eat her food. I researched and researched and we started her on a new food and she loves it and I refuse to think about how expensive it is. But now both Hannah and Zelda are eating WITHOUT ANY ISSUES and this has been so rare that I'm loving every meal time. 

5) I'm just going to leave a photo collage of the last several days here with no explanation, in the style of Allison.

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When's the last time you were at a beach? Do you have a recent purchase that makes you happy?

What I Spent: July 2025

 As a reminder, my husband pays the "big bills" like mortgage, phone, and electricity. I pay for groceries and the pets and that somehow evens things out.

July was a weird month. I spent part of it in Michigan, part of it in Seattle, and part of it in California. So what I'm saying is that I traveled more than usual. Honestly, I traveled more than I did all of last year in one month. As a consequence, my eating out budget is insane, but it's coupled with an incredibly small grocery budget. 

However, there was more travel (the end of the California trip and another trip to Michigan) in August, so the "travel" expenses will continue next month. 

Here's how it broke down. 

Entertainment ($12.65) - This is my Spotify subscription.

Gifts ($158.10) - Postcards and the like while traveling, the bag and snacks for the friend who was leaving, and gifts for our cat sitter. 

Cars ($196.20) - Gas and things, including some oil when I was in Michigan and the check oil light came on.

Savings ($200) - Lol.

Clothes ($200.58) - This is the cost of the permanent bracelet I got while I was in Seattle. I wasn't actually sure what category to put it in (travel? entertainment? - there was a hot debate about this when we were in Seattle), but it landed here.

Personal care ($251.71) - Hair cut, pedicure, random TSA approved items all add up.

Bills ($259.48) - Water/sewer and insurance.

Groceries ($271.52) - This is honestly half of what it usually is because I just wasn't home to go to the store. 

Pets ($364.76) - Food for both of them, litter for the cat, heartworm treatment for the dog (a six-month supply), and we also had to get a topical medication for Hannah for flea and tick because she couldn't wear her Seresto collar while boarding when we were out of town.

Eating out ($473.19) - This is crazy. It also includes $80 cash that was miscellaneous cash while I was in Seattle. We ate out in Seattle a lot and we ate well. I have no regrets. This, combined with my grocery spending, is more than I'd usually spend on food in a month, but YOLO.

Travel ($490) - One overnight in a hotel, transportation costs while in Seattle, and money I gave our host in Seattle for letting us stay with him. 

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If you stayed with a friend when you vacation somewhere, would you pay them? 

About My Mom

The things you should know about my mom is that she loved Dusty the Lhasa apso and Red the Pomeranian more she loved her daughters, watched television shows on aliens and Bigfoot on constant repeat, hated men, loved doing craft projects that ended up looking like a fifth grader had completed them, and had a stash of trashy romance novels under her bed the day she died.

 

In her defense, Red was an amazing dog. I loved him more than most people, too.

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One day I was having an allergic reaction to a medication and I had to leave high school early because the hives were freaking out everyone. My mom, sister, and I piled into the car and went to the doctor. They gave me antibiotics, told me not to take sulfa drugs ever again, and the three of us got ice cream and went shopping where we all bought new clothes and shoes, and we drove fast through the two-lane country roads lined with corn and wheat fields, windows down, screaming out the lyrics to "Pour Some Sugar on Me." 

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She used to say that you should always eat your dessert first because there might be a fire before dinner was finished and wouldn't it be a shame if you didn't get to eat dessert. 

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She worked for the post office for over thirty years. She sorted mail, learned to drive a forklift, and could tell you every zip code for every small town in Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana. It was fun to test her on road trips. Climax! 49034! Corydon! 47112!

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At my wedding, she insisted on wear a pink top that clashed with the red that was our wedding color. Oh, well. She carried around an ugly old black purse and in every wedding photo, she's holding on to that damn purse. It makes me laugh now. At my sister's wedding, I took my mom's purse and cell phone from her and held them hostage in my car. Everyone she knew was at the wedding, so no one would call her. And damned if I was going to let her have an ugly purse in every one of my sister's wedding photos. 

The strap!

NO ONE ELSE HAS A PURSE ON THE DANCE FLOOR.

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When she was a tween, her nightgown caught fire on a gas range when she was heating up water for tea. She had third-degree burns up and down the left side of her body. They grafted skin from her thighs for her upper arm and torso. She was heavily scarred and she was out of school for more than two years. 

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She had nine brothers and sisters. She was number nine. There are only four remaining siblings now. 

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She used to text me indecipherable words. The number of times I texted "I do not understand what you mean" is probably hundreds. The very last text she sent to me was "Rocket is he play with him steals his bones. And lets him have the big cat." The fuck, mom? (Translation: Rocket plays with Sy and steals his bones. He lets Sy sleep in the big cage. - Rocket and Sy are my sister's dogs.) 

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One time she signed a birthday card to me Love, Fran instead of Love, Mom and then she didn't call me on my birthday and I cried. After I got married, she never called me on my birthday. She said it was my husband's job. I don't know. It made me sad. 

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She worked nights and my father worked during the day. So he was the primary caretaker. Did she notice the bruises? The empty fridge? The fear in our eyes? 

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One time we went for a walk in a county park. I though the loop was .75 miles, but at about mile two, my mom was getting tired. I saw a road across a field and made my mom troop through the field to get to the road, found a church, and parked her at a bench by the church. I looked a map on my phone, realized our car was about three-quarters of a mile away via sidewalks and ran to the car and drove back to get her. She referred to it as "our little hiking adventure."

Not from the hiking adventure, but when we went to a mall and she suggested I buy bright pink lipstick, which I did, but then threw it away because I am not a bright pink lipstick lady. She asked me why I wasn't wearing it the next time she saw me.

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I remember Jenny writing once (on her blog? in a comment here?) that when her mom died, she had young children and she just kept doing the things that it takes when you have young children and then one day she woke up and her life was normal again. Like, different normal, of course. But she had to keep on waking up and tying the shoelaces and packing the lunches and whatever it is that you do with kids. And every morning I'm getting up and walking the dog and then I get home and I don't remember it. My day-to-day life has not changed much since I lived hundreds of miles away, but somehow the world seems different. And I feel different, but I can't put my finger on what exactly. But I'll keep waking up and living my life and someday it will be normal again.

Obviously our relationship was complicated, but I never doubted that she loved me and my sister with all her heart and she always did what she thought was best for us. I miss her random incomprehensible emails. I miss the jokes about how terrible men were and how I would have to defend them (ME!). My birthday just passed and I missed the card in the mailbox. But that's part of the process, right?

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Thank you to everybody who has checked in with me in the last few weeks. The texts, the cards, the flowers, the books, the random board game someone sent with no name on it - it has all been very much appreciated. If I didn't send you a note thanking you, I have to admit that you probably won't get one because I have done a lousy job of keeping track. Just know that I did appreciate it and I have felt very much surrounded by love and support. 

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I'm going to attempt to do my regular bloggy thing, but posts may be sporadic. But at some point, it will become normal again. 

July 2025 Books

7/2: Kate & Frida: A Novel of Friendship, Food, and Books by Kim Fay (library, 2025) - Cozy book. I mean, one of the characters is in the middle of a war zone for some of the book and I'm still calling it a cozy book. 4.5/5 stars

7/6: Bonded in Death (In Death #60) by JD Robb (library ebook, 2025) - Why am I still reading these books? This was sort of boring and I'm over Robb trying to mine the pasts of Roarke and Summerset. The 4.62/5 stars on Goodreads is wildly out of pocket. When will I stop reading these less than mediocre books? 2/5 stars

7/12: Heartwood by Amity Gaige (library, 2025) - Character driven mystery about a hiker lost in the woods. Unputdownable. 4.5/5 stars

7/17: All Fours by Miranda July (library, 2024) - National Book Award Finalist or not, this was not a book for the likes of me. 2.5/5 stars

7/17: The Return of Ellie Black by Emiko Jean (library ebook, 2024) - Delightful book I started and finished on a plane. I doubt I'll remember this book in six months, but I enjoyed my time with it.  4/5 stars

7/19: The Chosen (Reuven Malther #1) by Chaim Potok (library ebook, 1966) - Coming of age book about two Jewish boys in Williamsburg in the 1940s, complete with lots of daddy issues. I'm sure that this book has its lovers, but nothing happened in this book outside of a very long youth baseball scene. If you are into character-driven novels, this might be for you, but it was not for me. (I will say that the Nazi stuff, treatment of Jewish people, religious differences, etc. does hit a particular chord in 2025.) 3/5 stars

7/22: An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser (library ebook, 1925) - Weird book. Is it a coming of age story? A story about toxic masculinity? True crime? Who knows? 3/5 stars

7/27: The Compound by Aisling Rawle (library, 2025) - Reality show book in a dystopian future. It's catnip for me, people. 4/5 stars

7/29: Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (library, 2001) - The writing was great. The way Brooks weaves historical details in is amazing. But I did not want to read this book about a plague. 3/5 stars

Total: 9 books 
Average star rating: 3.39/5 stars

DNF:

A Visit from the Goon Squad (Goon Squad #1) by Jennifer Egan - The first scene was all about a woman getting drunk, shoplifting, and making poor choices. I don't need that in my life. This reminds me why I stopped reading it when it was first published. 

Infomocracy (The Centenal Cycle #1) by Malka Ann Older - I do not care for spy books AND I don't think I'm smart enough for this book. 

The Good House by Ann Leary - According to Libby, I listened to 69% of the audiobook! I have absolutely no memories of this at all. I'm pretty sure it was during one of my interminable and endless drives to and from Michigan. Maybe someday I'll come back to it. 

Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg - I really hate being preached at. DNF at 7% and have no regrets. 

July 2025 Accountability Buddy

Tuesday, July 1
30-minute fully body strength training

10-minute full body stretch

Wednesday, July 2

45-minute yoga at the community center after work

Thursday, July 3

30-minute yoga for posture (focused on back pain)

60-minute Zumba class after work

Friday, July 4

Day off

Saturday, July 5

45-minute "run" - Look, I'm in Michigan and this seemed like the easiest thing to do, but it turns out that it was too hot for me, so I ended up walking for a lot of this. 

Sunday, July 6

25-minute evening flow yoga

5-minute yoga for sleep

Monday, July 7

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

Tuesday, July 8

30-minute total body dumbbell workout

10-minute post-workout stretch

Wednesday, July 9

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

45-minute yoga at the community center after work

Thursday, July 10

30-minute yoga at the student union at lunchtime

Friday, July 11

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute full body dumbbell strength training - I really liked this one. Sixty seconds on thirty seconds off, no repeats. 

15-minute full body stretch

Saturday, July 12

45-minute yoga for tight hips - This was definitely a "your mind wants to give up before your body" type of practice

Sunday, July 13

30-minute full body strength and conditioning

25-minute yin fascia release yoga - This lady was too into "your body's power source" and the "next level of present." That's not my jam, but it might be yours. 

Monday, July 14

30-minute yoga at the student union at lunchtime

30-minute Werq (dance) class after work

Tuesday, July 15

30-minute arms and abs 

20-minute somatic yin yoga - Look, this lady talked about the heart meridian and liver meridian, so you know what you're getting. Her voice is amazing, though, and it's a nice, quick mat practice. 

Wednesday, July 16

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute yin yoga for neck and shoulders 

Thursday, July 17

30-minute lower body workout

15-minute full body stretch

Friday, July 18

20-min yoga video

10-min leg stretch 

Saturday, July 19 - Tuesday, July 22

Off because I was out of town

Wednesday, July 23

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute upper body dumbbell workout

Thursday, July 24

30-minute lower body and abs

Friday, July 25

35-minute fast and fun walking workout (so sweaty!)

10-minute full body stretch

Saturday, July 26

45-minute lazy yin yoga - I'm beat. I just needed a day where I didn't push much. 

Sunday, July 27

50-minute hot, sweaty yardwork - Functional fitness for the win, I guess?

Monday, July 28

30-minute Werq (dance) class after work - Last Werq class because the instructor has a new job and won't be teaching it anymore. :(

Tuesday, July 29 and Wednesday, July 30

Days off

Thursday, July 31

30-minute morning yoga

Totals: 23/31 (74.2%) days 

13 days yoga

12 days strength/cardio

5 short 15-minute stretch classes at lunchtime

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*Our local healthcare organization does free stretch classes virtually three times a week. Sign up here! It's free. It's fun. We regularly talk about candy and what's for lunch. It's a delightful break in the middle of the day. You do not have to have your camera on. 

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I didn't quite get to my 80% goal because of days traveling and whatnot, but I feel pretty good about these numbers based on everything going on in my life.

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What's the last really good workout you did? 

The Compound by Aisling Rawle

I heard about The Compound by Aisling Rawle on Sarah's Bookshelves. It was described as Lord of the Flies meets Love Island and while that's not exactly accurate, it's not entirely inaccurate, either. 

In a near-future (maybe current day?) Lily wakes up in a remote desert compound where she is on a reality show with nineteen other young people. She's 20something, beautiful, driftless, and she's counting on this show to help make her future easier. The world is hard - jobs are boring, there's constant war, and there's a hint that these young people don't think they'll be alive in twenty years. 

The first part of this book was tough because twenty people is a lot. By the time you get to half that number, it's a lot easier to follow who is who. As the show goes on, we see Lily do more and more things for rewards and prizes that she wouldn't have considered doing early on in the show. Will Lily make it to the end with her own true self intact?

I think this book is mostly a critique of social media and late-stage capitalism (buy more stuff! stuff will make you happy!), but when I finished the last page, I still was wondering what the take home theme was supposed to be. There are plenty of interesting social critiques - how women (and men) of color are treated on television, how even when gender roles aren't assigned, people do what's "expected" of them, sexual attraction versus love, and the whole idea of television production on "reality" television and how it influences behavior outside of a set - but I just left the book feeling jangly and uncertain. 

Maybe that's the point. 4/5 stars

Line of note:

The boys were delighted with themselves, and spent a long time finishing it, and a longer time congratulating themselves on it. (page 136)

Ahem. 

Hat mentions (why hats?): 

Some people put their shoes on the lower shelf, and others put sunscreen and hats and aloe vera on the shelves. (page 80)

After two further challenges (name fifteen capital cities - a tin of white paint; reveal who we voted for in the last election - baseball hats for everyone) we were exhausted and starving. (page 90)

They were plainly dressed in shorts and T-shirts, sunglasses and hats. (page 134)

"A month ago, I could have told you the minute and the hour and the date at the drop of a hat." (page 264)

a swimming hat (page 287) - WTF does that even mean? Like one of those stretchy cap things?