Everyday Sisters

The Eye of the World

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan (Book 1 of the Wheel of Time)
A series intro and a book summary are below the review.

Looking for epic fantasy. Look no further. This first book definitely sets up an interesting world and a quest that will try the characters. There are mythic beasts, lost knowledge to find, magic (of a kind), and of course the big bad that has to be defeated.

There is no shortage of characters, but not too many to be confusing, which is a fine line to walk. You also get multiple viewpoints throughout the book, instead of a singular main character. This definitely improves the chance that you will like at least one of them enough to finish the book. The one thing I’ll say about the characters themselves is that they’re pretty basic, not too complicated at the beginning. Not that it’s a bad thing, it gives them space to grow and develop over the series. It just means you see what you get with most of them. And I do mean most. There are three that are layered already and you get to only see glimpses of them so far.

As for the story, I found it engaging and happily worked my way through the 657 pages. I also enjoyed it enough to check out the new tv series based on it when I was done. (see below for more on that*) I look forward to seeing where the story goes in both.

Just so you know what you’re getting into if you like it, it’s the first of 14 books. 11 by Robert Jordan and 3 by Brandon Sanderson using the partial manuscript and extensive notes left when Jordan passed away. Jordan had intended book 12 to be the final book, but Sanderson thought there was too much and broke it into three books. I will be reading the rest. I may not review every single one here. We’ll see if I review as I go or just do a full series finish instead.

*I always walk into visual adaptations of books without any expectations. I try not to count the differences or the similarities or judge the casting. Because the probability of deviation is likely, I try really hard to experience it for itself. I will tell you here though that this is not a faithful adaptation. They cover book one and I’m going to assume parts of future books in the first season. Either that or they made some stuff up whole cloth to make the show work for them. Showrunners have been known to do that. I guess I’ll find out as I read my way through the rest of the series. Either way, it is enjoyable as well, if you like that sort of thing.

Series Intro:

At the dawn of time a deity known as the Creator forged the universe and the Wheel of Time, which spins the Pattern of the Ages using the lives of men and women as its threads. The Wheel has seven spokes, each representing an age, and it is rotated by the One Power, which flows from the True Source. The One Power is divided into male and female halves, saidin and saidar, which work in opposition and in unison to drive the Wheel. Humans who can use its power are known as channelers; the principal organization of such channelers in the books is called the Aes Sedai or ‘Servants of All’ in the Old Tongue.

The Creator imprisoned its antithesis, “Shai’tan,” the Dark One, at the moment of creation, sealing him away from the Wheel. However, in a time called the Age of Legends, an Aes Sedai experiment inadvertently breached the Dark One’s prison, allowing his influence to seep back into the world. He rallied the powerful, the corrupt, and the ambitious to his cause and these servants began an effort to free the Dark One fully from his prison, so he might remake time and reality in his own image. In response to this threat, the Wheel spun out the Dragon, a channeler of immense power, to be a champion for the Light. In the Age of Legends the Dragon was a man named Lews Therin Telamon, who eventually rose to command the Aes Sedai and their allies in the struggle against the Dark One’s forces. After a grueling ten-year war, Lews Therin led his forces to victory in a daring assault on the volcano of Shayol Ghul (the site of the earthly link to the Dark One’s prison), and was able to seal off the Dark One’s prison. However, at the moment of victory the Dark One was able to taint saidin, driving male channelers of the One Power insane. Lews Therin killed his friends and family and then himself. The other male channelers devastated the world with the One Power, unleashing earthquakes and tidal waves that reshaped the world. Eventually, the last male channeler was killed or cut off from the One Power, leaving the human race all but destroyed and only women able to wield the One Power safely. The Aes Sedai reconstituted and guided humanity out of this dark time. Mankind now lived under the shadow of a prophecy that the Dark One would break free from his prison and the Dragon would be Reborn to fight him once more, and although he is humanity’s only hope to succeed against the Dark One, he would devastate the world a second time in the process.

Book summary (per Goodreads):

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time.

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and go, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again. In the Third Age, an Age of Prophecy, the World and Time themselves hang in the balance. What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

When The Two Rivers is attacked by Trollocs-a savage tribe of half-men, half-beasts- five villagers flee that night into a world they barely imagined, with new dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

The Solor Cycle

What is a Solar Cycle?

Per NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the solar cycle is the period of changes that the Sun’s magnetic field goes through. It is measured in variations in the number of observed sunspots on the solar surface. Over approximately 11 years, solar activity fluctuates in large swings like a pendulum, from minimum to maximum and back again. One cycle ends and the next begins at solar minimum.

Scientists believe that this cycle system is tied to the poles of the sun. Basically, the sun has a north pole and south pole and a magnetic field generated by them, just like the Earth. And also, just like Earth, the poles switch places. No really. Earth’s poles just don’t change very often, like every 200,000 – 300,000 years. When the poles switch places, the cycle starts over again.

We are currently in Solar Cycle 25. It started in December 2019 and will last till roughly December 2030 with a predicted maximum in July 2025. An international group of experts co-sponsored by NASA and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) come together to look at previous cycles and averages and make a prediction of what the upcoming solar cycle will bring. Not quite like weather forecasting, but similar.

Solar Cycle 24 was a below-average activity cycle. Per the Farmer’s Almanac, it was the lowest activity cycle in 100 years. The prediction from the expert panel is that Cycle 25 will continue in the same vein. However, we are 2 years in and it’s not shaping up as predicted. It’s been more active. Check out the chart from NOAA below.

Per NOAA, they also have an interactive chart

What does all this mean for us?

So why should your average, everyday person, i.e. not a scientist studying this, care about the solar cycle? Well, we are affected by more than the sunlight we get which makes our planet livable. The sun’s electromagnetic activity affects the Earth too.

Giant eruptions on the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME), increase and decrease during different parts of the solar cycle. These eruptions send powerful bursts of energy and material into space. That energy can interfere with our satellites, electrical systems, radio signals, and anything involving energy on our planet.

And what have we here on Everyday Sisters said about energy? Everything is energy. That is why you should care about this. This solar activity affects the whole grid of energy that we live in.

That means when the next CME happens and flings a large quantity of energy at Earth, not just your cell phone and satellite TV gets affected. So does your personal energy field and the grid you send your energy out on with every thought and heartbeat.

Now you are wondering what do you do with this knowledge? I mean it’s the sun, so it’s not like you can stop it from throwing things at us. And there isn’t something for your energy like sunscreen, that you can toss on before you walk out the door to minimize exposure.

The main thing you can do is your energy work. Keep things clean and smooth for as much of the time as possible, so there aren’t any little waves to turn into big ones. Additionally, watch the patterns and try to give yourself and others the opportunity to engage when the energy is calm and to focus on self-care when things are more turbulent.

Lastly, is grace. Always give yourself and others as much grace as possible. You never know if they have small waves, big waves, or a smooth, glassy surface. And if the solar energy is amplifying their personal energy or roiling it, they need all the grace they can get.

The Hades Trials

The Hades Trials by Eliza Raine and Rose Wilson
A book summary is below the review.

Oh.MY.gods….PUN Intended

I have been a big fan of Persephone & Hades for a while and saw this; I added it to my Amazon list for funzies. My wonderful MIL bought it for me for Christmas and it took me a hot minute to sit down and devour it. And I do mean DEVOUR…I read this in less than a week.

This is three books set into one gigantic book! Which, if I’m being honest, made reading it so much better. I didn’t have to read the first and then wait with baited breath for the second and third books to come out. If you are an avid reader like we are you can appreciate that in a book series. Super bonus spectacular brownie points for this book in that regard.

Yes, there is sex in this book… there are also hot gods & goddesses and a plethora of other wonderful mythical creatures that made me laugh…like the gnome with the very large knob. On the character development, I give it 5 stars.

If you are looking for a no-brainer fantasy fiction book with a lot of flair for the fabulous then THIS is your book. It’s written beautifully and I enjoyed it immensely. The characters are colorful, the sex (when it actually got down to it) was hot, and overall it was set in such a great world that I didn’t want to leave. Usually, it takes me a while to read fiction and even longer for fantasy fiction so that is telling you something.

My only qualm is that there are at least a dozen editing mistakes that if someone would have given a 1/2 a damn to actually read the book(s) they would have found all of them. I kept taking pictures of the horribly edited parts, texting them to Lauren with the disclaimer that I found yet another 1/2 damn! For me, that kind of needlessness kept stopping me in my tracks. I’m telling you right now that in a past life I was probably an editor of some sort because it’s the small things like that which drive me bonkers!

If you are looking for that great vacation book or some hot smut with a dash of panache then this is definitely your book; Greek gods & goddesses aside. She paints this world she created doing a phenomenal job along the way. I highly recommend it.

If you are a stickler when it comes to editing, and misspelled words take you over the edge, or the sprinkling of wrong tenses makes you looney then I’d pass on this until someone goes over it with a fine-tooth comb. Just a friendly observation.

All in all, I’d read it again. I’m also tempted to see if she has any more books written out there. Just because one series of books had an editor that could have done a better job, the world she paints is enough reason to have me reaching out for more. I’d give it 4 stars.

Book summary (per Goodreads):

I’ve been kidnapped by Zeus. Plucked from the streets of Manhattan and frightened half to death by a freaking Olympian god.
And now I’m trapped in the Underworld, being forced to compete in a series of deadly trials for the position of Queen of the Underworld. Which would mean marrying Hades, the utterly terrifying Lord of the Dead. Who the hell wants a husband at all, let alone one made of smoke and riddled with death?

I have to get back home, to New York and my brother. But I can’t leave without completing the trials and they’ve been designed for a godly Queen, not Persephone – barista and botanical garden enthusiast.
I’m surrounded by lethal, all-powerful maniacs. Sexy-as-hell maniacs, sure, but as dangerous as they come. And I’m going to have to prove to all of them that there’s a goddess of hell inside me. It’s the only way I’ll survive the Hades Trials. But then what? And why, why, why am I so desperate to see under Hades smoky exterior and find out what he’s hiding from me?

If I win the trials, I have to marry the devil himself. But losing might mean losing my life.

This is the complete Hades Trials, including The Power of Hades, the Passion of Hades and The Promise of Hades. It is intended for adults and is packed with magic, mythology and slow-burn soulmate romance! *Contains swearing and mature themes.*

No God, No Monsters

No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull (Book 1 of the Convergence Saga)
A book summary is below the review.

Wow.

Really, I finished this book and there was so much to feel and think, I was stuck in wow for a bit.

I’ll get this out of the way right up front, yes, monsters are a stand-in for the “others” in our world. BUT Turnbull puts them to good use in addition to that representation.

You may also have noted the info in the parentheses after the title. Yes, this is the beginning of a series. It doesn’t cliff-hanger but it definitely leaves a whole lot undefined and unexplained. So if you can’t stand not knowing, you might want to wait for any other books to come out first. I can tell you I will stand in line to get the next one.

Also, if you decide to read this book, expect to have to stop to process. There are sentences that stopped me in my tracks, and there were also concepts, theories, and the whole picture he built to chew through. It’s not long, at 397 pages, but those pages pack a wallop.

Not since I read my first Laini Taylor book, about a decade ago, have I been so impressed by the creativity in creating a world and how an author slowly reveals the bits and pieces to show you the whole puzzle. And even her books didn’t force me to stop and process as much as this one. Unlike Taylor, who lets you think you understand and then pulls the rug, expect not to know what the heck is going on. Expect not to know if you can trust the narrator. Expect that from the very beginning you will have a mountain of questions, most of which will still exist at the end.

That all being said. This book is a brilliant look at the world as we know it through perspectives that vary and characters the likes of which don’t get a voice in popular fiction very often. Additionally, Turnbull takes a number of academic areas and lets them out to play with each other throughout, so be prepared to pause to google what the heck he’s talking about. From quantum physics to honey bee behavior and the history and functioning of secret societies to social organization theory. He packs a veritable smorgasbord of knowledge into this intricately woven and slowly revealed story.

If after all this, you still want to sit and read this book, do so slowly. Savor it bit by bit. Take the time to research topics and really understand what he is saying. I promise it’ll be worth it when you finally reach the end.

Book summary (per Goodreads):

One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it.

As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend’s trail of bread crumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organization with secrets of its own. Meanwhile, more people start disappearing, suicides and hate crimes increase, and protests erupt globally, both for and against the monsters.

At the center is a mystery no one thinks to ask: Why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark?

The world will soon find out.

Reading Like a Writer

Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them By Francine Prose
A book summary is below the review.

I want to read more non-fiction. Out of the nearly 100 books I read last year, one was non-fiction*. With a stat like that, I realize it will take effort to move the needle.

Luckily reading the devotional showed me the way I read non-fiction best. In small bites, early in the morning. Literally, the first thing I do when I get out of bed is read a page from whatever daily reader I am on and then a few pages of whatever non-fiction book I have chosen.

After reading On Writing by Stephen King**, I decided I wanted to get another perspective on writing and since I am a voracious reader***, this book seemed perfect.

While King and Prose both think Strunk and White is a great resource and adverbs should be avoided if possible, that is where the overlap of their approaches ends.

Prose starts with the smallest possible element – a word – and slowly expands out to sentences, paragraphs, dialog, details, and other areas, using examples from many great writers. If you are not a classic literature reader, you might have a hard time connecting with her examples. However, they also might show you why classics are classics and open the door to a whole new world to explore.

All of her advice is spot-on. I was especially reminded to slow down when reading. Just like in life, we miss so much when we don’t take the time to absorb all the details.

As is usual with these books, there is a list of books to read at the back of the book. King’s was all over the place and I loved that. Prose’s is definitely classic lit heavy which is unsurprising, given her own catalog of work and her obvious preference in her examples.

* Well, if you don’t count the devotional I finished this year which took 365 days to read.
** my non-fiction book from 2021
*** as if the 100 books in a year didn’t give that one away

Book summary (per Goodreads):

In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and the tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. Written with passion, humor, and wisdom, Reading Like a Writer will inspire readers to return to literature with a fresh eye and an eager heart – to take pleasure in the long and magnificent sentences of Philip Roth and the breathtaking paragraphs of Isaac Babel; she is deeply moved by the brilliant characterization in George Eliot’s Middlemarch. She looks to John Le Carré for a lesson in how to advance plot through dialogue and to Flannery O’Connor for the cunning use of the telling detail. And, most important, Prose cautions readers to slow down and pay attention to words, the raw material out of which all literature is crafted.

Reusable Swiffer Pad

Here’s the first post that might make you ask – is this art? Really?

I unabashedly believe that art can be functional and that anything you create could fall under the description of art. If you disagree, hit me up in the comments. Now on to the decidedly unsexy how to make a crochet reusable Swiffer pad.

I am one of those people, you know the kind, that try to find ways to make my own reusable stuff to be nicer to the planet that houses us. Add to the fact that for some reason, neither adult in my house can get the actual Swiffer pads to stay attached to the blasted thing, and a solution was necessary. It was either figure it out or get rid of the Swiffer and find something else.

I won’t hide the fact that is not the first one I made. That one was knit and I followed someone else’s pattern. It grew when wet and fell off. Wah, wah, wah. I was not deterred. Well, I was for nearly a year. Yes, for a year I washed the floor on my hands and knees rather than figure this out. In the end, I finally decided to spend the time making a new pattern, instead of mop again without it.

I went back to the idea behind the pattern that didn’t work. It is just a rectangle that you stitch together to fit on the head. I also decided to crochet instead of knit. I find that crochet doesn’t grow as much when wet.

For this project, I used cotton yarn and H (US) crochet hook. I also used double half crochets. In reality, you can use whatever yarn, size hook, and stitch you want. I think single crochet would give you a tighter weave, maybe making a more scrubby pad.

To make this pad you need to start by measuring your Swiffer head. For clarity, the long side is the width and the short side is the length because that’s the direction you crochet in. Mine is 10 inches wide by 4.5 inches long. I used an online calculator to figure out how many stitches I needed to get a finished piece slightly wider than 10 inches and then through testing, adjusted from there. The calculator had me using 41 and it ended up at 36. (Not including a chain for turning.)

For the length of the rectangle, you crochet until you hit double the length of the head. 4.5 x 2 = 9 inches (See math is useful.) And anyone who has ever knit or crocheted to a length instead of a number of rows knows it takes sooooo much longer than you expect it to.

Once you have your rectangle, you lay it on a flat surface and fold the top and the bottom into where they touch in the middle. Sew up the sides and you have a reusable Swiffer pad.

Sidenote: When I have a project that you stitch together like this, I like to leave long tails when I make my starting chain and when I finish the last row and use those to stitch up the side. Makes for less weaving in.

Happy cleaning! I know I’ll be happier in mine.

Sphinxes Found

Archaeologists Unearth Colossal Pair of Sphinxes in Egypt During Restoration of Landmark Temple by Tessa Solomon

Have you seen the new discovery in Egypt? Granted there have been a lot of archeological finds in the desert next to the Nile, but check out the newest find. My inner child is SO happy!

Fragments of a colossal pair of limestone sphinxes were unearthed at the ancient Egyptian temple of Amenhotep III in western Luxor. A German-Egyptian team of researchers, led by archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, discovered the artifacts half-submerged in water during their restoration of the funerary temple of the pharaoh and the Colossi of Memnon, two monumental statues in his likeness.

The sphinxes measure around 26 feet long and likely depict the ancient ruler outfitted wearing a mongoose-shaped headdress, a royal beard, and a broad necklace. A restoration of the limestone revealed “the beloved of Amun-Re” across the sphinx’s chest, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism & Antiquities.

Also discovered at the site were three nearly intact statues of the goddess Sekhmet, the lion-like defender of the Sun god Ra, and the remains of a great pillared hall. Still legible on its sandstone walls are a series of images depicting the royal jubilee, or heb-sed, an ancient Egyptian festival which recognized—and renewed—the king’s right to rule.

Honestly, since I was a kid I have loved Egypt and everything it contained. The fact that so many new discoveries have been unearthed has made my heart SO happy!

Egypt is a bucket list item for me. I also realize that the more tourists come to visit the quicker some of the sites deteriorate. I get it, but a mama can dream, right? Yeah for archeology though, what a dream find for sure!

Pies and Prejudice

Pies and Prejudice by Ellery Adams
A book summary is below the review.

I’m not going to sugarcoat this – I add A LOT of books to my TBR and I can guarantee I won’t read the majority of them. There just isn’t enough time in the world, even if I did nothing but read for the rest of my life. BUT when I’m hunting for the next read, I do love to scroll through it and rediscover something I added to see if it’s a hidden gem.

This book got added to my TBR in 2012. I can tell you that when I plucked it from my TBR, the cover pulled me in. I mean how can you not want to read about pie!!! Well, that and the fact that it was available at the library at that moment. Not always an easy feat.

I tell you all this because it means I did not remember the summary and I walked into it expecting pies, at minimum copious references to Jane Austen*, if not a fun modernization, and all the gooey goodness of a cozy mystery.

I was completely blind-sided by the magical realism. Now after pausing shortly after dipping my toes in, I went back to the description. I was very much palm-to-forehead. Additionally, the “Charmed” in the series name should have been a tip-off. It did not deter me. Oh no! I love me some magical realism too, so it was full steam ahead.

I wanted to love this book. It’s got pie, for goodness sake, and recipes at the back that I’m itching for someone to bake me. (Baking is the thing I struggle with the most in the food area, so someone baking for me, especially pie with a flaky crust, is always appreciated.)

What I have to say is that this book left me wanting. I think Ellery Adams was trying to work with too many ingredients and they clashed instead of complimented. In the end, we got a mystery that felt undercooked, a vein of magic that felt contrived, and an ending that made me go, “oh, that’s the end?”

Sadly, this is my first book by Adams. It might also be my last. I mean I did start this off with a mention as to how sizable my TBR is. I don’t know if I’ll take that leap with her again.

*There was one. Wah, wah, wah! And a passing mirroring of the Bennet sisters in the LeFaye sisters + Reba.

Magical Realism is the inclusion, as fact, of fantastic, mythical, or mystical elements into seemingly realistic fiction. It started in Latin American writings and has found its way across the world.

Book summary (per Goodreads):

When the going gets tough, Ella Mae LaFaye bakes pies. So when she catches her husband cheating in New York, she heads back home to Havenwood, Georgia, where she can drown her sorrows in fresh fruit filling and flakey crust. But her pies aren’t just delicious. They’re having magical effects on the people who eat them—and the public is hungry for more.

Discovering her hidden talent for enchantment, Ella Mae makes her own wish come true by opening the Charmed Pie Shoppe. But with her old nemesis Loralyn Gaynor making trouble, and her old crush Hugh Dylan making nice, she has more than pie on her plate. and when Loralyn’s fiancé is found dead—killed with Ella Mae’s rolling pin—it’ll take all her sweet magic to clear her name.

Moon Phase Journal

So I started a moon journal way back in November to try and figure out when and where in the month I struggle the most. I am super interested in patterns in general. So over the last three months I’ve gone back through the phases of the moon and figured it out that I struggle the most during the week of Waning Gibbous which is all about reflections and reflecting. Then once I recognized where I struggled Lauren and I came up with a solution to help me with that struggle; which is art therapy.

I am all about helping myself heal any way I can, but how could I help myself heal when I was struggling to see if there was a pattern in the randomness. Doing a moon journal helped me pinpoint the phase when I was struggling the most.

What my pages look like. The moon drawn out, the year, date, phase. I leave space to fill in what I learned or struggled with that day, then the %. On the outside it specifies what the phase means. Underneath, how to move within that phase, and at the bottom are take aways from that day. Please feel free, if you choose to take on this practice, to set up your own journal in which ever way resonates with you.

This is what it looks like after I’ve tracked it, but before I let it sit for the day. Then before I go to bed I fill out the pieces that need tending. That way I can go back and see how a pattern emerges over time without having to rely solely on memory. Lets face it…with what I take on & juggle in a day it isn’t prudent to rely on memory alone.

For me, it’s become such a handy tool to keep around that I’m excited to implement. The healing strategy that Lauren helped me come up in order to cope with my less than stellar moments turned out to be pure gold, and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Sea Dragon Fossil

Check out this great story on the BBC about finding a fossil of an Ichthyosaur.

“I rang up the county council and I said I think I’ve found a dinosaur,” explained Joe Davis, who works at Rutland Water Nature Reserve.

I think we’ve all daydreamed, even if it was only as kids, about finding something cool in our backyard or nearby park. Joe Davis got lucky and found it at work.

Imagine going about your daily activities and then running into something amazing like this. 10 meters (32.8084 feet) of fossil!!!