Is anyone else absolutely blown away by how quickly this summer is going by?? I, for one, am always Team Autumn so I’m not completely heartbroken about it, but it’s certainly shocking that August is already nearly at an end!
As per usual, things have been pretty busy. Family medical stuff, work, big career moves, and more haven’t left me with as much free time as I’d like but I think I still managed to squeeze in some time for a lot of good stuff. 🙂
READING:
Cupcakes & Machetes and I had a couple back-to-back buddy reads, and as luck would have it, we really enjoyed BOTH books!
Mexican Gothic, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia was the first of the books we read, and we’ll be posting a buddy review for it in the near future over on our joint blog Sugar & Scream so keep an eye out to find out what we thought of this gothic horror! 😉
Funny Farm: My Unexpected Life with 600 Rescue Animals, by Laurie Zaleski. This one was C&M’s pick and I was a little reluctant, expecting it to be a total tear jerker but although it definitely had its sad points, it was SUCH a good book. C&M already posted her review for it over on her blog, so be sure to check it out. We both loved it!
As for solo reads, I’m currently reading I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jennette McCurdy. As shocking as the title is, it isn’t hard to see her motivation behind it while reading through the chapters I have so far. The author does not hold back anything as she unveils the story of her mother’s manipulative, psychologically abusive and toxic parenting, as well as the way the life of a young child actor was forced upon her when she never even wanted it.
BAKING:
I tackled a new dessert and baked a S’mores Cake for my sister-in-law’s birthday. We’re talking a graham cracker crust bottom, chocolate cake, vanilla marshmallow frosting, topped with toasted marshmallows, a chocolate drizzle, and graham cracker crumbs.
My dad’s birthday is right around the corner as well, so I just picked up the ingredients to make him the cherry cheesecake that was his birthday treat of choice this time around. 🙂
DRAWING:
With limited free time this month, I haven’t drawn anything yet in August, buuuuut I am brainstorming some ideas for a video game themed collaboration with C&M’s hubby for his streaming channel https://www.twitch.tv/heathen_rite this November. (More to come on that later!) 😉 I’m also eagerly anticipating the prompts for some of October’s art challenges like #inktober and #corpsetober to pop up (hopefully) in the near future so I can start cooking up some ideas for spooky season as well.
WRITING:
Writing has been touch and go lately. With a lot of family stuff going on and whatnot, I haven’t had much time for writing, but when I have, it’s been a lot more productive than usual. Now that I’m taking medication for my ADHD, I can definitely see a difference in my ability to focus and not get as distracted by other things during writing time and other activities. It’s been really nice. 🙂
EVENTS:
I recently got the honor of presenting at this year’s International Gentle Teaching Conference. It was such a great experience and I couldn’t have asked for a better person to co-present with. This was definitely a high point for me in my career and I’m so proud to have gotten the opportunity to present among so many wonderful speakers. Public speaking is TERRIFYING to me, but thankfully, since I’ve started actually treating my anxiety, it is now something that is much more possible.
As for events coming in the near future, after a few years off due to Covid, Theatre Bizarre finally makes it’s grand return to Detroit this October! If you don’t know what that is, imagine the most epic Halloween party ever. Multiple floors in one of Detroit’s historic buildings are transformed into one big spooky bash with live performances, sideshow acts galore, fire performers, devils and deranged clowns, and more. We immediately snagged our tickets as soon as they went on sale. Aaand, to make things even better, Mr. and Mrs. C&M are attending this year for their very first time! We’re so excited to get to go together this time around. Time to start working on costumes! 😀
In other vaudeville-themed news, I also recently got in touch with another event planner in our neck of the woods and got the inside scoop that they will be bringing back the “Carniville of Madness” (a Gatsby style upscale event with performers and oddities) which made its debut before the pandemic hit. Mr. Moth and I had a blast there but since their first year was right before Covid, we feared they may not make a return. Thankfully, those worries were put to rest and we now have another great costume event to look forward to.
Also, a couple’s resort vacation with Mr. & Mrs. C&M is right around the corner and after all the stress and chaos the past couple years have brought, we are ready for a relaxing vacation with our besties! ❤
AAAAND, we haven’t nailed down the details yet, but in October Mr. Moth and I will be celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary, so we’re hoping to swing another vacation at that point too to celebrate. ❤
VIDEO GAMES/ENTERTAINMENT:
Re-playing Mario games with Mr. Moth for fun is always a nice way to enjoy a bit of free time.
I’ve also been continuing along on completionist mode in Hungry Shark World. After you beat the game, you unlock 2 extra sharks that have really high goals and I just pick at those goals when I need to mindlessly de-stress for a bit.
I’ve had a lot of fun lately nerding out with Imperial Rebel Ork over the Predator movies. We even did a buddy review over on the Sugar & Scream blog for the latest film installment in the franchise Prey.
So, that pretty much sums up how things have been going on my end. How have you guys been? Any exciting August moments I may have missed? How’s your summer been??
IgnitedMoth 
Glad to hear how active you’ve been throughout the summer and managed to do loads of fun stuff! Theatre Bizarre looks and sounds so intriguing too. I’ll have to remember to visit it someday. I used to watch I, Carly as a kid and am so intrigued by Jennette McCurdy’s new book. I heard about what it talks about and can totally see the reasoning behind the title. Hope you have a blast as summer ends and autumn begins and happy 2 year anniversary in advance!!! 😀
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You have been doing so much stuff! It all sounds amazing. The pictures of the Detroit party instantly reminded me of Club de la Lune in the horror movie An American Werewolf in Paris. Don’t get eaten, K?
That animal book is on my TBR, too! I told C&M that that lady was interviewed on CBS Sunday Mornings and she sounded like a fricken’ treat. Like, we would all be friends with her, for sure.
And OMG, shame on me for forgetting that you and C&M bake so much typically. I haven’t seen any baking photos in recent memory, but that may be due to medical and grief issues preventing anyone from feeling like baking.
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I’ve got Mexican Gothic on my list, too! I think I may have it on hold at the library for an eBook but I’d have to check. Twitter has been talking about the Jeanette McCurdy book, which is why I know about that, and honestly I don’t blame her. A lot of people think I’d be appalled because my mom died when I was younger, but you owe your abusers nothing, and parents are a main culprit for abuse. What makes it worse is you always get the “But that’s your X!” as if you should just accept their terrible behavior due to that. What about the inverse? “That’s your child. How can you treat them like that?” The onus shouldn’t be on the victim.
ADHD medicine is a lifesaver. When I was on meds for narcolepsy, it was pretty much the stuff they’d give you for ADHD and my focus was LASER. I should see if I can go on something like Adderall.
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Right?? I’ve always hated the whole “but they’re your ” argument people make. Toxic is toxic and no one needs THAT in their life.
And I agree 100%. ADHD meds really are a game changer. Yeah, I think it would definitely be worth you asking your Dr. about trying it since it made such a difference for you with your focus. 🙂
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This autumn is going to be so exciting! I’m so happy that one of the things that HAS gone right this year is that we’ve gotten to hang out so much again. ❤
That cake looks TO DIE FOR. I need it in my mouf one day!
I will be very interested in your thoughts on that book about some girl I've never watched do anything. That sounds sarcastic but it fully is not! I've seen a lot of buzz around this book so I want to know what you think of it.
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I agree! It’s been awesome getting to hang out so much! ❤ ❤ ❤ I can definitely make one of those cakes again. I actually really want to try a strawberry shortcake version of it too. Yeah, that book definitely deserves all the buzz it was getting. 🙂 I think we talked about it already, but if not, remind me and I'll fill you in on our next call!
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I had to go back and see what I wrote because I did not remember this conversation at all. Then I saw it was from August and it all made sense. 😛
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All sounds good.
I’m team Autumn too… it has halloween/ goth xmas in it.
Cheers,
Pete.
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Haha I love Halloween and goth x-mas too. 😛 Since we got Noi our husky puppy we didn’t actually put our big black Christmas tree up because that would have just been asking for trouble, but we got a mini black one we could put higher up with purple lights and skulls and skeleton hands for the ornaments, another spooky ornament set, and black gardland with purple bats for the banister that has Christmas lights built into it, so we at least decorated a little bit (all out of puppy’s reach) lol
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