April’s Cozy Booktrovert Life

Overview

This month ended up being a little rougher than anticipated. Such is life, am I right? It started off strong, but soon enough trouble reared its head. The first few weeks, I dealt with some personal issues that threw me for a bit of a loop, interfered with my sleep, and took some time away from my planned activities to deal with. I also picked up a mild eye infection that probably came from my rabbit Ahsoka. She has scar tissue from an injury she suffered after being attacked by a raccoon before we adopted her. It leads to a chronic runny eye that we have to keep clean and give her eye drops for. But despite our best efforts, from time to time, she gets infections in that eye from the bacteria that builds up on her fur because of the running. Because I am her primary eye treatment giver, if she has an eye infection, I usually manage to catch it, too.

It wasn’t all bad though. I was able to spend a weekend watching WrestleMania with hubby, got a little reading in, and did some gaming. Last year I went to WrestleMania in California. It was my first trip out of Canada, and absolutely amazing. It’s hard to believe that was a year ago. While we were there we also went to Disney, Universal, and Knott’s Berry Farm. Watching WrestleMania in person was such a cool experience, but watching it from the comfort of my own home was fun too. 

In April, I also started a change to my housekeeping regimen. Instead of doing a big all-over clean once a week, usually on Sunday, I started doing a little bit each day of the week. The hope is that this will free up more time on my weekends to invest in my Cozy Booktrovert Life!

Reading

You can find my monthly reading wrap-up video here. But as a quick summary, I only read two books this month. Not anywhere near what I was hoping, but better than nothing at all!

Writing

I didn’t’ make any headway in my revisions, but I did add a short story to this blog. It’s one I wrote a few years ago, but I pulled it out, did a little revising, and posted it for your enjoyment. You can read it here!

Crafting

Yet another area I failed at this month. I didn’t pull out any of my current projects. But, I did achieve my goal of spending some time this month tidying up my hobby room. I made a video about it that you can watch here.

The biggest change was moving the books I have as stock for the Little Free Library to another location, which freed up some space. I replaced a broken craft cart with a new one that I am now using as actual craft storage instead of Little Library book storage.  The top tier holds a storage cube with my current knitting project in it, the second tier holds my diamond art supplies, and the bottom tier holds my paper crafting supplies.

Gaming

I was much more successful in this area of my Cozy Booktrovert Life this month than the other areas. I spent a good amount of time playing Minecraft with hubby. If you watched my Vlog video here, you probably saw the quick overview of my living room…the room that belongs primarily to my bunnies. But you may have also noticed it is also a gaming hub for my hubby and me. We store all our console games in the living room, along with my retro ColecoVision and Atari games.  We have three TV’s in this room. A PS4 and the ColecoVision are hooked up to one. The main TV is hooked up to a PS5, a Wii, a Wii U, a PC, and a small emulator loaded with retro games. The 3rd TV is hooked up to a blue-ray player. Hubby and I play a lot of games together in this room. Usually, he plays on the PS5 on one TV, I play on the PS4 on another TV, and we have the 3rd TV hooked up to a blue-ray player and we usually throw on a movie or show using that to  play in the background while we game together.

I also started Sky: Children of the Light on PC. I haven’t gotten very far yet, but so far, I really enjoy it. It’s a cozy puzzle adventure game, with an easygoing pace and gorgeous graphics. I found using keyboard and mouse to navigate a little sensitive, so I invested in a budget controller to make playing a little more comfortable. I went with the 8bitDo C Ultimate Wired in the green. As a 3rd party controller, it had a much more attractive price rage at $29 CAD, as opposed to an Xbox controller at anywhere between $59 CAD to $79 CAD. And, Steam recognizes it as an Xbox controller, so it works great! I tried it out in my Vlog here.

While tidying up my hobby room, I have been working on my desk set up too to make PC gaming and writing more comfortable.  It has a nice back light behind my PC now, and my cute plushies are arranged in a way I like better. I bought a monitor riser to help create a little extra storage room on my desk top and a few fun lights to create a fun atmosphere. The desk setup is a work in progress, but I’m happy with it so far!

Watching

Like many others, I binged the Fallout series on Amazon Prime and loved it. I can’t wait for the second season! I also watched Ricky Stinicky and Argyle, both of which have John Cena in them. Ricky Stinicky was hilarious, and I recommend checking it out. Argyle was a fun, over the top, zany spy movie. I was a fan, but a lot of people I know who watched it were not, probably because of the more over the top scenes.

Goals for May

Once again I’m putting crafting as a primary goal for next month. I really, really want to finish my current knitting project (reading wrap/lap blanket) so I can move on to a new project.

I’m also putting writing up there as top of the list again.

Wish me luck!

March’s Cozy Booktrovert Life in Review

This has been a rough month. I came down with a nasty cold/flu thing that knocked me out of commission for about a week and left me with a lingering cough and chest congestion for the following two weeks. My hubby came down with a nasty stomach bug that I have thankfully managed not to catch from him.

The saddest thing of all, my 12 year old bunny, Jack, passed away on March 12th. She was an elder bunny, and she was struggling with some issues, so it was expected. But even so, it hit us really hard. We had her remains cremated. We plan to sprinkle her ashes in our backyard garden. The little package we got with her ashes also included some nice little things to remember her by: a paw print and a little jar with some of her fur in it. She leaves behind two bunny sisters, Loki and Ahsoka. Ahsoka is taking it the hardest. She was very closely bonded with Jack. Loki a little less so, she lives separated from the others by a gate that goes across my living room dividing it in half because she doesn’t get along with Ahsoka.

Reading

I read 7 books this month, which was better than I realized considering being sick this month. You can find my March Wrap Up and Quarterly Review video here.

One of the books I finished this month was Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. I started this book in February, and because it’s a bit of a chonker, I didn’t finish it until early March. But length aside. It was a fantastic book and one of my favorite reads this month. You can find a review of it here.

I also showed off my collection of Labyrinth books on Tik Tok recently. Jim Henson’s Labyrinth is one of my all-time favorite movies. The book collection started with obtaining the movie to book adaptation novel. I thoroughly enjoyed the little bits of extra story insight found in that book.  Then I learned about the manga and the graphic novel series, and I love the different takes on the story found in both of those series.

Gaming

While I was sick, I spent some time sprucing up my Nintendo DS Lite with a cute skin decal, a hard, clear plastic case, and a little bunny charm. I played a lot on my DS this month, too, a little Harvest Moon, but mostly Plants vs. Zombies, in which I finished the adventure mode. I also bought two new to me game for my DS…Petz Bunnyz and Petz Bunnyz Bunch! Because having actual bunnies isn’t enough, I also need to care for virtual ones too, lol. Check out my Insta for a picture of my DS glow up and the Bunnyz game!

Speaking of Bunnies…I just started playing a new mobile game called Bunny Haven. The premise is that you are a bunny rescue and you adopt different little buns. Then people come and you try to match a visitor with a bunny to spend a little time with.

I also played a little Minecraft this month with hubby. That is one of our favorite games to play together. We have a pretty good system. He does the mining while I establish a farm and keeps us supplied with food and materials. I really like my little house in our current game. I took full advantage of the Cherry Trees and made everything pink, and planted cherry trees in the surrounding area so that petals are constantly falling all around my little homestead.

Crafting

This month, I wasn’t feeling well enough to dive deep into my crafts like I had hoped. But I did make a little more progress on knitting my reading wrap, so that’s something.

Watching

Some of my favorite shows and movies this month have been The Last of Us and Jurassic World Dominion. The Last of Us is based on a video game, a game I haven’t played. But I love the premise of invasive fungus creating a zombie-like apocalypse. Jurassic World Dominion was just good fun. It wasn’t an amazing movie, but in bringing back characters from the OG movie, it was all kinds of nostalgia. I’m pretty sure I’m in love with Ian Malcom. It’s fun to see how that series has evolved over time. I was a huge dinosaur nut when I was a kid, and I desperately wanted to be a paleontologist until I realized how much math I would need in post-secondary education. (I loathe math)

I also watched Aquaman 2, but wasn’t a huge fan. The plot had potential, but it ended up being told in what felt like a disjointed way. It just didn’t hold my interest. Normally, I love a good redemption arc, but I just didn’t feel it with Arthur and his brother.

Writing

I did no writing at all this month. That seriously needs to change. I’m three months into the year and haven’t made very much progress at all. Sigh.

Final thoughts

I really, really need to give my hobby room a solid reset. It’s gotten somewhat disorganized over the winter. I might make a vlog for my BookTube channel about that. My focus for April is my writing and my crafting. I am so behind where I want to be in those areas. I’m hoping that once I get my hobby room cleaned up, I will be more inclined to spend time in there to focus on these things.

I also desperately need to do a purge of the books I have stock piled for my Little Free Library. I am running out of room. I want to go through those and sort of separate them into groups. Books to keep for refilling the Little Library, books to donate because I know they won’t move quickly in my Library, and books I want to set out for free when my town holds its spring town-wide garage sale in May.

February 2024

Thoughts

Goodbye February! It was a decent month. My 12 year old rabbit Jack-Face is in decline with her health. She’s an Elder Bun at the higher end of a house rabbit’s average lifespan, so it’s sad but not a surprise. We have her on meds and pain killers, but we don’t think we have a lot of time left with her. But that’s the worst thing that happened, so all in all, it’s not a bad month.

As for my Cozy Booktrovert Life endeavors…read on!

Reading

You can find my reading wrap up here. I didn’t get in as much reading as I wanted, but the books I did read were all winners. I’m about three quarters of the way through Empire of the Vampire, and it’s quite the book. I’ll share a review video in March once I’ve finished it.

Gaming

This month, I decided to pick up my Nintendo DS Lite and play some Harvest Moon. It’s the first Harvest Moon game I’ve tried. So far it’s a lot like Stardew Valley. There is farming, festivals, and season changes, and I believe at some point I’m supposed to marry one of the characters. There is also a fun story surrounding a Harvest Goddess and a Witch Princess, and how I’m supposed to find and rescue Sprites that have been trapped in another world by a spell gone wrong.

I’m also big into a few mobile games on my Android phone. Namely Café Café and Kinder World. Café Café is a cute little game where you serve birds (aka Birbs with a “B”, aka VIB’s) offerings from your café. As you go you earn diamonds and tickets that allow you to use a little dispenser, kind of like the ones we can get candy or little toys out of for coins, to get outfits and even collect new bird characters. I love unlocking the new characters. Kinder World is a wellness check game where you care for virtual plant’s. When you water them, you can enrich them by practicing gratitude, naming your emotions, and doing some deep breathing exercises. It’s full of adorable little animal characters and has soothing cozy artwork.

I’ve also purchased two new games from Steam this month. One of them I’ve heard a lot about and comes highly recommended, is called Unpacking. The idea is you need to unpack boxes of belongings and find where they belong as you organize rooms. The other is called My Dream Setup and is similar. You create your perfect room by selecting furniture, gaming stuff, shelves, etc.

Crafting

I have a few projects on the go that I want to finish before I start any new ones. One of them a knitting project, I’m making a “Reading Wrap.” Aka a knitted lap blanket/shawl that I fully intend to use while reading. I am also working on a Diamond Dot picture. I started it a few months ago. It’s a vaguely Harry Potter ish image with a book, an owl, glasses, and a wand. I made some good progress on those this month and hope to finish them in early March so I can start a few more projects.

Writing

I’ll be honest. I’m a slacker in this particular area right now. I am in the thick of revisions, and it’s a bit of a slog. I’m having trouble being motivated. But fear not! I haven’t given up!

2024 Hopes and Dreams!

Goals

We have now officially survived the first month of the New Year! Hurray to us! I’m happy to say that I’ve managed to keep up with a few of the goals I set. If you follow my YouTube you’ve probably already watched my 2024 Goals video. But if you don’t, my sort of overarching theme for this year is cultivating a Cozy Booktrovert Life. I’ll talk more about that in a bit. Some specific areas of focus for me are:

Reading:

• Mood read. Read books I want and DNF books I’m not enjoying
• Read a total of 50 books
• Rainbow reading challenge. I have rainbow colored stickers for my planner, and I want to read books that have covers that match them.

Writing:

• Finish editing and revising my debut novel
• Self-Publish by end of the year!

Other:

• Make time for all my cozy hobbies (writing, reading, gaming, crafting, etc.)
• Keep driving! Get comfortable with driving to more places than just work and home. Like the nearest bookstore and craft store!

I’ve made some progress on these goals, and I’m proud of it! I’ve read 6 books in January, and I’m working on two more. I’ve read a book with a white cover for the Rainbow Reading Challenge (Into the Woods by Tana French). Check out my January Wrap Up video for details! I’ve kept up with driving, even though I had my first ever fender bender after the first (second really) major snowfall of the winter. I was tempted to take a break from driving after that, but I talked myself out of it and have persevered! I’ve also made a new plan to work towards for my novel revisions, and I’ve been making sure to spend time doing some of my hobbies (focusing on knitting and gaming).

Another sort of unofficial goal that I’ve set for this year is to be more regular with my blog posts. Last year, life got the better of me, and I found I just didn’t have enough time to keep up with the posts I wanted to make consistently. So, this year, I decided I’m going to alter my blog format a little. What does that mean exactly? I’m glad you asked!

Blog Refresh!

When I started this blog in 2019, it was mainly to do book reviews and connect with other bookish people. But I’ve since expanded my Bookshelf Bunny alter ego to include other platforms. Mainly Instagram/Facebook, and YouTube, with a minor presence on TikTok, Twitch, X, and Vocal. (You can find all the things in my LinkTree.) Through these platforms I’ve met some amazing book friends, made connections with talented authors, been provided with ARC’s and book copies in exchange for reviews, and had all sorts of awesome book recommendations. It’s been awesome, and I enjoy the creativity involved in video and photo posts. These other platforms are where I have been able to best realize what I was looking for most in the bookish community, and so that’s where most of my energy has gone.

But I’ve often thought it would be nice to have a way to sort of draw all my content across all those platforms together a little bit. Then I thought, why not use my blog to do that? Make it a sort of central hub for all my content.

One Ring to Rule them All!

My primary focus will always be on books because that is my favorite cozy hobby. But I also want to expand my blog into exploring my other cozy hobbies, too. Mainly because I’ve come to realize that many of the bookish friends I’ve made over the last few years also tend to share some of those other things. It all coincides nicely with my theme for 2024 of Cozy Booktrovert Life, so I figured why not? This could be a good way to help me focus on that theme and share some of that joy with like-minded people.

Theme for 2024

Which brings me to…What exactly do I mean by Cozy Booktrovert Life? Let’s break it down.

To me, “cozy” brings to mind moments of calm. Being comfortable and content. Being purposeful about doing things that put me in “the zone.” That place where we lose time because we are so engrossed in what we are doing. Maybe that means getting wrapped up in a fluffy blanket reading a good book and sipping on a warm drink. Or, maybe it means sitting down in my home office surrounded by my favorite things and playing Sims 4. Most of the things I love to do in my spare time are considered cozy hobbies.

“Booktrovert” is a fun word. A mashup of book and introvert. I saw it on a t-shirt once and fell in love with the concept. It also happens to accurately describe me. “Book” is obvious, reading and stories are my first love. As for “Introvert,” I am unapologetically that. It’s not that I don’t like people. But being around people for a while leaves me tired, drained, grumpy, and extra anxious. When I look back at my childhood, my intrinsic introversion is so obvious it’s funny. For example, when my dad took my brother and I to a park to play I would insist on finding a different one to play at if there were too many kids. I liked to find a quiet place to be by myself at recess as a kid, I remember hiding in the janitors’ closet and playing with toys I brought from home or reading. When I was older my introversion was a little harder to spot, but it was still there. I became very good at masking it, because as I grew up it was clear that being quiet was somewhat frowned upon. I remember being frustrated that phone calls were so daunting and that it was so hard for me to be as “bold” as my peers. But I still spent lots of weekends to myself, or read my book in the library at lunch. It wasn’t until my young adulthood that I actually understood what introversion and extroversion really was, and since then, I have fully embraced it as a core part of who I am.

Like most of us, I have a lot of demands on my time. When I don’t take those moments to myself, my anxiety spirals, my mental health suffers, and I’m not at my best. I keep that up for long enough, I full on burn out. I learned years ago to say “no,” to set boundaries and not to fill my calendar so that I can better care for my mental and emotional health. I’ve become pretty good at giving myself pockets of time to recharge. I guard my evenings and my weekends pretty jealously. But often, in that time I’ve carved out, I just become a lump on the couch doom scrolling. I want to use that time better. I want to be purposeful with it. I want to seek out “the zone” as much as possible. That is what I mean by cultivating a Cozy Booktrovert Life. It’s putting down my phone and opening my book instead, but it’s also getting crafty and creative by knitting or sewing, playing cozy videogames to unwind, and writing stories of my own. It’s doing all those little things I love instead of being sad that I don’t have time to do them. I do. I just need to utilize it!

In Conclusion

So, moving forward, you can expect some fun things from this blog. At the end of every month I’ll share not only what I’ve read, but also highlights from my various social platforms you might want to check out, and an update on how things are going with cultivating my Cozy Booktrovert Life. I’ll share what I’ve been playing, what I’m crafting, and what I’m writing, too! I’m excited to share this journey with you!