well ish, xd it was good.. my dad did a lot around the yard as i knew he would; as he likes to keep busy. got a bunch of books and my mom bought us towels for the new house. i am super excited for when my sister comes on the 23rd though. xP

Sounds like you had a great week! 😍 <3 How are you enjoying the peace and quiet? XD

one time we climbed like all these stairs to get to the "good view" of the water fall that was like 500 stairs it was torture and I was really small, just cause the stairs were hard and wet not cause it was like scary tho XD

oh boy yeah you would have been haivng a really bad time

I bet that feels weird. Gonna get a lot accomplished while they are gone?

well thats good to know at least

Very much so 😂

- well, my achilles tendon is not torn. it's in one piece and i'm so very thankful. unfortunately, i do have a bunch of torn ligaments in the ankle. that's what the bump is. doc said there's nothing he can do to speed healing, they have to heal in their own time. then he put me in this medieval contraption called a "boot" it adds at least 1 inch to the length of my leg so i walk all lopsided like igor. lol! i have to wear the boot for 4 weeks and then he will re-evaluate the ankle. luckily, hubby found a lift type thingy that you put on your other shoe to add the extra inch to it leveling you out. it helps but it's still darned awkward. 😂

- i thoroughly enjoyed them. do you know of any other novels similar to those? :D

I did get it all done, yay weekend!

I'm always surprised when you make a Kat that isn't Flying 😉

thank you so much! ❤ glad you liked it!

lots, of course nothing's exactly the same (even the two books aren't exactly the same) but a variety of ones that have something in common with it for sure:

• the Dirk Gently books by Douglas Adams also have horror elements mixed with real-life deities of a sort in a mysterious British-flavored world, quite a bit sillier than the Gaiman books but otherwise pretty darn close

• T. Kingfisher has written several modern fairytale retellings and some horror novels where the overall feel of blending fantasy, horror, and everyday life, as well as the type of storytelling chops, remind me of those works of Gaiman's especially. Under the name Ursula Vernon, she, like Gaiman, also writes books that are more like Gaiman's other work (such as Stardust or Graveyard Book) too, and books geared toward younger children which Gaiman also has done.

• the Rivers of London series are basically fantasy&horror-flavored mysteries that have a deities-in-modern-London setting and some horrific elements which makes them quite similar to American Gods and even more to Anansi Boys. I don't much like these myself, but they have a great reputation among people whose opinions I usually agree with about books, so they're probably pretty good, just not to my particular taste.

• Every River Runs to Salt is about a woman whose roommate is a deity-robbing criminal and the deities come after her for repayment when her roommate's theft becomes too big for them to ignore. It's really interesting and reminded me in several ways of the two Gaiman novels, and a bit of Neverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane too.

• Gaiman's "Good Omens" writing partner Terry Pratchett wrote a lot of things that are kind of like those books but not entirely. Like Adams, Pratchett creates work that is usually lighter and more humorous than Gaiman's. Good Omens itself is a good place to start, and also Interesting Times, Small Gods, and Mort of the Discworld novels might have the most American Gods-like themes? Hard to say really which ones would seem most similar to any given person. Pyramids, perhaps, too.

• Charles de Lint's Newford series including Someplace to be Flying which is the only one I really remember well enough to say it has a resemblance to American Gods, has the same kind of blend of fantasy elements and modern day elements and horror elements. I remember liking it a lot but haven't looked at it in 20 years.

I can probably think of more but that's it for now 😆

That's what Eric and I want to do also. We've been places with him already, but it would be nice if he can remember them well too. It has been a pretty easy day. I got the toy box cleaned out finally and will be donating a boxful of the toys he doesn't use and also some other items I have found. I'm about to eat some dinner and be lazy until bedtime.

It was probably worth all that climbing to get to the top though!

No not a dog leash!! Rotfl!! A kid leash. How's your little princess? Did she sleep through the night?

Glad he's ok and I guess he'll be more careful with the sawsall next time.

I ponder relationships all of the time. My theory is if the core values are similar there will usually be one more grumpy (or uptight) person and one more patient (or laid back) person. And in my mind I believe like you about what you put out will be reflected back - however, I'm very impatient and don't do stupid well so I do tend to get grumpy easier than I would like to. I've often wondered how I turned out that way and then I remember when I was a kid and my dad would totally scream "RELAX" at us. And then I know. :-D

So are you missing them yet? :-)

I so hope it heals really fast!! <3

Yayyyy! I know you're happy! :-)

Update: Doctor is back from Africa. (for those I didn't tell he called on Wednesday to check on me and I told him about what happened whilst he was gone.) I have to say I'm still rather... sad/discouraged/upset about the visit. I received another cast -sigh- The good news is it is a walking cast. The bad news is walking is very painful so I will try to alternate the scooter and walking to avoid the pain getting too bad. The other good news is the wound has FINALLY healed on the outside so no more antibiotics. I wasn't like expecting the cast to go all together, but it was still really hard to hear I needed to have another cast -sighs- He says because there's pain, it's not healed inside and that I need the cast to avoid injury and keep it stable. It's just healing really slowly. I think he's hoping in two weeks it'll be calm enough to forgo the cast but no one is entirely sure. It's hella frustrating and I'm discouraged. It took me all day to want to update you all. Anyway that's my big news.

See above. I guess it's kinda mixed? how's it going with you?

see my update. Agreed. He's a really awesome guy. It's hurting. It's not surprising since I haven't walked on it for 3 weeks. I used the scooter since around dinner time. How's it going there?

hows it going? I completely redid a section of my island and loving the way it's looking. i have a mining town XD. See my update for foot info.

read above for my info. I totally know how hard it is to have the boot so i hope it heals a lot faster for you. I'm 3 and 1/2 months out from my surgery with this cast and slight limp. It's really not fun.

ooh congrats on the new kindle XD glad it's a lot faster and all :)

you have a lot of cool has :D

you have a lot of cool HAs too!

yes and I finished a story last night too, I'm very happy about both!!!

Oh noooo! That's a bummer about the tendons D: I'm so sorry but I laughed way too hard at the Igor thing 😂 <3 I hope this 4 weeks goes by quickly for you!

I really need to do that too! Go through Jesse's toys. I went through some a little while ago but I need to donate a lot more. He has WAY too many toys >_<

She's been sleeping normally again, with her normal wake up to eat times, thankfully! <3 How are you? How's Liz? :3

Oh no :( I'm so so sorry about the cast hugs I really hope your pain is gone soon! Does it normally take this long for this type of surgery to heal? D: Things are going ok over here! Same old same old :3

I'd like to thin the toy herd before his birthday and holidays come up. Yes it is only July, but November comes quickly lol.

Yes, it really does! I still can't believe it's July. Time is flying this year!

That's right, your kiddo's birthday is a week or so before Michael's. I'm going to have to hide the box that has the toys I'm going to donate cause Michael was going thru them earlier. I'm like noooope, they are going away.

- oh my word! you are a veritable font of book info! thank you so much for all those suggestions.i have read "good omens" already and have read everything audibles has for terry pratchet. he's one of my favorite authors. :D

- you and me both! ❤

- i commiserate with you.i can at least cheat and take the boot off when it starts to really irritate me. you can't take the horrid casts off. i'm just glad the doc is back and that you may not need the cast much longer. it's great news that it has healed! now, if it would just keep going... 😂

- you weren't the only one laughing at the "igor"-ness of it all. my hubby and our youngest got a hoot out of it.😆 ;)

LOL! Oh no! You gotta sneak them out of the house when they are asleep or something. I have a bag of donation in our spare bathroom that no one goes in. He hasn’t even noticed those toys are gone 😂 But we definitely need to donate more very soon.

LOL! Those buttheads 😂 How dare they laugh 😂 How are you feeling otherwise? Hopefully the boot helps even with its Igor ness of it all 😂

So glad you liked the suggestions.

I thought of another one! Sean Stewart, he wrote a bunch of books about magic starting to work in the modern world. I think the one I recommend most is Galveston, about the city in Texas and its post-magic existence trying to keep life from changing too much, but I also loved the other ones, The Night Watch, Perfect Circle, not sure of the rest of the titles but I think every book he wrote is in it except the "Cathy" series is something else (might also be good but I have not read those ones so I don't know).

Definitely! I'll use the garage since he doesn't go in there very often. I tried to get him down for a nap today, but no go. So probably bath and early bedtime then.

Yeah, hot and rainy summer sounds about right, haha. Have you done anything fun so far? I went to the beach for a day at the end of May (it was hot but bearable). Yummy ice cream and lots of shells! c:

Life is...well it could be better, I guess. 😅 Just gotta keep going. My kitten is driving me nuts, too, haha, so very very naughty. Hopefully your kids get better, haha. Done anything fun this summer?

Ah, yes, staying cool during the summer! Ooh, a family reunion sounds nice! I haven't seen a lot of my family in so long...but they're all farther out west. Was it a nice state park? I think the only time I've been in a cabin was when I was in Girl Scouts as a kid, haha.

It's been hot for a little while here. xP And yes, spring was surprisingly chilly for us, too, though. How have your dogs been doing? c:

Thank you! How's your summer been? c:

Oof, I hope you've been taking some time to relax! D: Or will get some time soon. ^^ I assume it's really hot there?

Good to see you as well! <3 The quiet must be a change, but somewhat nice, I assume, haha? A little break. Ooh, nice that you're getting back into reading! I have quite a few books I need to start...but haven't haha. But playing/reading some visual novels instead. c:

I'm sure I've done fun things but at the moment I'm unable to actually remember them (so sad)

Going to the beach sounds wonderful. I love ice cream! Shells are very pretty. ❤