Friday, December 01, 2017

Winter To-Do List 2017/2018

I'm lowering my goals for book-reading because I know I'll have a lot of Five Poisoned Apples entries to read and judge soon, and I'm lowering my goals for movie-watching because I know I'll spend December re-watching favorite Christmas movies.

That being said, I have a LOT of stuff I want to accomplish by the end of February!


~ Be done with the first draft of Dancing and Doughnuts, my "Twelve Dancing Princesses" retelling, and into revisions

~ Start a mailing list so people can easily get updates about what I'm writing and publishing

~ Read 3 books from my TBR shelves

~ Read 2 books from the library

~ Watch 3 movies from my TBW shelves

~ Make owl Christmas ornaments with my kids, who are obsessed with owls right now.  These and these look cute and do-able, so I want to try at least one of them!


~ Go see Murder on the Orient Express quick before it leaves theaters

~ Go see Star Wars: The Last Jedi

~ Go see The Man Who Invented Christmas

~ Go see The Greatest Showman 

~ Go see Black Panther

~ Finish the skirts and cape I'm supposed to be sewing for my kids

~ Repair/update the "mouse house"

~ Make "polar bear" marshmallows for our hot chocolate


~ Make lavender hot chocolate -- I had some at a little cafe last week, and it was amazing!  What was even more amazing was that my kids liked it too!

~ Order photo prints

~ Host an "I Love Superheroes Week" blog party in February (like the Jane Austen party I did last year, only about superheroes instead!  Details will come starting in January.)

Do you have any things you're hoping or planning to do this winter?  Like what?

22 comments:

  1. Lol, "Dancing and Doughtnuts" is such a fun title! And those polar bear marshmallows are so cute!

    I really want to see Murder on the Orient Express and The Man Who Invented Christmas, too! And, obviously, Star Wars VIII--already have a date for that one:)

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    1. Thanks, Elanor! I like it too :-) It's a very fun story too. Matches the title.

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  2. That's so cool that you're a Five Poisoned Apples judge! :)

    And huzzah for Dancing & Doughnuts! I absolutely LOVED Cloaked, and I can't wait to read another one of your stories! ^_^

    I so want to see The Man Who Invented Christmas, too! Dan Stevens + writing? YES.

    LAVENDER HOT CHOCOLATE?! *rushes to find a recipe because that sounds AMAZING*

    Best wishes on accomplishing your to-do list, Rachel! I'll be rooting for you! :)

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    1. Liv, I know! I've read a couple FPA stories already. Such fun! But a heavy responsibility.

      Thanks for the encouragement! I've got a short story in the works too, so keep an eye out for news about that...

      Yeah, Lavender hot chocolate. Is a thing. And is delicious. Hope you get a chance to try it!

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  3. Oh, Murder on the Orient Express was AMAZINGGG!!!! (Well, I had never seen/read the story before, so perhaps a lot of its credit goes to Agatha Christy herself, but I loved the movie so much. :D Especially since there were so many good actors/tresses!)

    YESSS MUST WATCH STAR WARS!!!! (What are your thoughts leading into it? :))

    Apparently the Man Who Invented Christmas is really good! It certainly does intrigue me since I love Dickens, writing, and Dan Stevens, haha. ;D I may have to wait until it comes out on DVD though, because my pocket money will be all spent after Star Wars comes out. :P

    My main goal for my summer (I LOVE SUMMER) is to edit my story like crazy - in my dreams, I'd love to finish it, but haha yeahhhh... somehow I don't think that'll happen. Still, worth a shot. :P

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    1. Gabby, everyone I know who has seen Orient Express has really liked it. I miiiiiiiiight manage to go see it tomorrow, we'll see.

      I will probably have to wait for DVD for Man Who Invented too because it's not showing near me right now. Phoeey.

      Hope you can get your story edited come summer! If you put your mind to it, I bet you can get it done! Or at least mosty ;-)

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  4. I just saw Murder on the Orient Express!! It was so good!! The cinematography was so amazing, the actors did a fabulous job, the MUSIC (Patrick Doyle!!), overall it was excellent! In a few places it was a little different from the book, but there were good changes!!

    I SSSOOOO want to go see The Man Who Invented Christmas. I mean, Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens!? It looks amazing!! The thing is, going to the movies is rare because I have a big family and everyone wants to go. Usually I only see 1 to 2 movies a year. I have already seen 2 movies (BatB, MOE) and we know we are going to see STAR WARS: The Last Jedi, so probably I will have to wait for it to come out on DVD.

    Good luck on your list!! (Superheros? That sounds awesome!!)

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    1. MC, I'm so excited to hear you liked Orient Express! I am hoping I will get to see it... maybe even as early as tomorrow.

      Looks like Man Who Invented... is not showing in my theater, so I will probably have to wait for DVD for it too.

      (YES! Superheroes! A week dedicated to them! Gonna be groovy.)

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  5. Oh--a mailing list would be a great idea! I want to hear more about your projects :)

    I (of course) really want to see The Last Jedi, too . . . Also Black Panther, The Man Who Invented Christmas, and The Greatest Showman. Especially The Greatest Showman because it looks COLORFUL and gorgeous *grins* I also want to see Lady Bird, but not in-theater; I'll wait till that one comes out on DVD.

    I also want to read Harry Potter over winter break. And write some more on my Holocaust novel.

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    1. Thanks, Jessica! I just need to finish getting it set up. Keep an eye out for a post about it soon.

      I keep forgetting about The Greatest Showman! Bad, bad me. I should add that to my list here. Cuz I mean... Hugh Jackman is my 3rd-fave actor and all <3

      Ooooh! Harry Potter :-) Good times. Have fun with your novel!

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    2. I THOUGHT you would be excited about Hugh Jackman! ;-) I'm not . . . hugely interested in him, as an actor--but he looks absolutely perfect for this role. And the colors. And all the pretty music. And Zendaya. And Zac Efron. Basically, IT'S GONNA BE GOOD.

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    3. Jessica, Hugh Jackman is basically my spirit animal. Just so you know.

      Today I got a box from Amazon that was entirely covered with an ad for Greatest Showman and my son asked if I liked it so much, I wanted to be buried with it one day. He's an odd boy. I'm an odd mom, so I said, "Of course! I will add that to my will."

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  6. Those polar bear marshmallows are very cute! Last Jedi... I broke down and bought an advanced ticket for it, as the theater I saw Thor in was pretty small, so wanted to make sure I could really get in. I also want to see Murder on the Orient Express, but not sure I'm going to have a chance. We'll see! And looking forward to Black Panther next year! Really looking forward to your superhero week!

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    1. DKoren, I know, aren't they?

      If I could buy an advance ticket for a parking space at my theater, I would so do that. I mean, dude -- I almost don't even try to see Star Wars movies until after Christmas. Sigh.

      I miiiiiiiiight try to see Orient Express tomorrow. We'll see how the day goes. Doubt it's going to be around much longer.

      I need to stop buying prizes for the superhero week giveaway. I have like ten.

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  7. I was somewhat underwhelmed by Murder on the Orient Express; but then Suchet is my Poirot, has been for thirty years! I really want to see the Dickens film, but I'd have to drive 100 miles to see it. Literally. Apparently it's an extremely 'limited' release and only playing in three theaters in my state. *sulks forever* But yeah, I'm totally going to see Star Wars...

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    1. Charity, I'm not a huge Christie fan, and haven't really watched many adaptations of her stuff, though I've read Orient Express a couple times and liked it better than most of her other things I've read. So I'm kind of going into this adaptation fairly "clean," actually.

      Yeah, Man Who Invented... isn't showing real near me either. I mean, I could drive like 45 mins to see it, but don't care about it quite that much?

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    2. It isn't showing in my town either, but I'm only 15-20 miles from two separate theaters that have it. And as to Hamlette's comment about 45 minutes being too long a drive, I enjoy driving just for the hell of it, so a 45 minute drive is nothing. It takes about that long to get to north Austin and I go up that way at least a couple times a month.

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    3. Quiggy, lucky you! I don't mind driving myself, but 45 minutes one-way means an extra hour and a half I'll be gone from home, besides the movie's showtime, and that's hard on my kids. Only for very special things will I do that.

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  8. I don't have a TV. (I watch movies on my computer or my portable DVD player, in case you are wondering.) So I hadn't even heard of the Man who Invented Christmas until now. After having seen a trailer for it, (and a bad review of it, by some twit for the Guardian, in England), I have to go see it. I have a special place in my heart for the classic Dickens tale (and have now as of yesterday) written two separate blog entries on versions of the story One was for "Scrooged" written last year (and containing some rather lengthy detailed background into the various attempts to bring the story to film), and one was for the Henry Winkler 1979 TV movie "An American Christmas Carol". Neither of those are true adaptations in the literal sense, but since I will be doing another one ever year, they are coming...

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    1. Quiggy, I have a TV set, but it doesn't get channels. I just use it to watch DVDs and VHS tapes and stuff on Amazon with my Roku. I learned about The Man Who Invented Christmas from Goodreads, where it's been pretty heavily advertised, and from advertisements on imdb.com. I quite like A Christmas Carol too, so I rather want to see this. Have you seen the Patrick Stewart version? It's my favorite. (I feel like I've said that to you before...)

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  9. A lady who used to work at my place moved earlier this year, and she had a stack of DVDs that she left in the lunch room free for the taking. I snagged the Stewart version of Christmas Carol, but I haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

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    1. Quiggy, what a nice co-worker! I hope you like the Stewart version :-)

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