5 on a Friday - Oven Update, Wacky Weather, WhatsApp & Phones, and a Reading Update

I am currently posting from Friday twin naptime. I have a list of things to do and the house is chaos and also... it's time to write a blog post.  All the other stuff can be done later (probably).  So here's some random Friday updates for you all

Oven Update:

Start with the most exciting - we got our oven cleaned!  I loved all the replies about my cleaning adventures.  I am so curious why my oven gets so so gross, or whether everyone's oven is gross and other people just aren't bothered by gross ovens.   I've never been bothered by anyone else's oven so maybe I need to lower my oven cleanliness standards.

Either way, a clean oven is nice.  Here is before:

And After:

It turns out the glass window can be see through. Who knew??!

May Weather

I almost wrote March weather because yesterday it HAILED!  It's been so cold recently that we've started turning our heat on again, overnight temperatures around 40f/5c and the house is 60f/16c.  It really feels like February and I am not cool with it. (I mean, I'm literally cold with it)

The kids were very intrigued by the hail though:

Whatsapp

Well after 4 years of not using WhatsApp I decided to sign up again.  No major reason why...  I think primarily I felt like it would be easier to batch my texting if I could use the web to send texts.  I basically feel Whatsapp is a new iteration of email threads, which is why I think everyone hates email and then just uses email adjacent things and kind of hates those too.

I probably should write a bigger reflection post on what 4 years of no whatsapp has taught me, but like my travel blog posts and recipe posts this may never happen.  The main thing I realized is that I like seeing people and hanging out with people and the rest of the stuff that happens on phones is just... stuff.  I didn't lose anything social by not being on it, and I'm hoping I won't lose anything social by actually being on it either.

If you want to read lots of thoughts on my complicated relationship with WhatsApp, I've got a lot of posts here

Phone Stuff

I still feel like my use of phone is too interrupting.  As in, I don't spend a lot of time on the phone, but I use it frequently during the day as a distraction device.  I've been at about 2 hours a day for a while now.  I know sometimes that's google maps or taking videos or facetime... but I also pick up my phone 70 times a day. That's 4 times an hour, every 15 minutes of my waking life.  Not ideal.  It will be interesting to see if the addition of whatsapp increases or decreases this or has no impact at all.

Reading Life

I just realized that the Modern Mrs Darcy Summer reading guide is out soon! And then I checked and it's out today! I am excited to flip through it and start crafting my summer reading life.  I have slowed down a bit on my reading recently, however I've really enjoyed some recent reads.

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

I felt this had mixed reviews but I LOVED it.  I loved the characters. I loved the smarts. I feel like this was written specifically for me, and also Rachel who comments on this blog, and also anyone who went to Reed College.  I mean, it's a book about smart people thinking that being smart is the best, while also generally being unhappy about their entire lives, and especially the bits related directly to being smart.  It's a book about social awkwardness.  In my opinion, it's a book about neurodiversity.  I loved it and I also feel all the criticism I read about it is valid and I can see why many people would not love it.

How To Read A Book by Monica Wood

This was a Lisa recommendation and I loved it.  Very different than what I normally read, but I super enjoyed reading perspectives of multiple characters in lives very different than mine.  

Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

This is for book club and I am really enjoying it.  It would probably be even better on Audio.  Plus the main character is a blogger! So that's extra fun.

Have you had any great reads recently?  Is it annoyingly cold where you are? Is being overly interested in our phone use still a thing or is that something of the bygone 2024 era?