The Latest Letters from Wonderland

Hello again, my lovely darlings!

It hasn’t been all too long since my last update on this reading challenge. And all books for this challenge have been, finally, chosen!

As I previously mentioned, the first ten months or so of this year were ass-kicking levels of depression. But I am slowly coming back and am back on my reading nonsense! So, tell me what you’re reading and if I should add it to my TBR for 2027?

Here’s a quick breakdown of the 13 Moons Reading Challenge for you, if you missed the previous posts about it:

     The Who started the 13 Moons Reading Challenge is:

User Read N Buried on Tumblr. As far as I can tell, they have been spearheading the 13 Moons Reading Challenge since 2024. Lucky year number three that I’m jumping in here!

The What of the 13 Moons Reading Challenge is:

     An online reading challenge that my darling friend Chele found and shared with me. There are a total of 104 prompts divided between categories that are separated by the names of the 13 Moons of the year.

The When of the 13 Moons Reading Challenge:

The when of this challenge is now! The year of somebody’s lord, Anno Mundi 5786, aka 2026 AD. I’m doing my best to rock through at least forty one books this year, one for each year I’ve been around! I thought it was clever.

The Where of how I plant to track the 13 Moons Reading Challenge:

     Postmark Wonderland already automatically cross-posts to Tumblr. So, between the blog here, my Tumblr account, and perhaps Instagram, I hope to be regularly updating for the 13 Moons Reading Challenge as of April. 

     The current plan, since it is a Moon-centered challenge, is to update on Moon’s Day. No, I am absolutely NOT sorry for the terrible wordplay. Not even in the slightest!

The Why of the 13 Moon Reading Challenge:

Is “because why not” enough of a reason for y’all? Because it is for me…

     The How of the 13 Moon Reading Challenge:

The level of participation I have chosen to do is the Penumbral Lunar Eclipse. This translates to one book from each of the thirteen prompt lists divided by moon. However, I am aiming for fulfilling at least two prompts with each book for each monthly category. I could bend the rules a little bit, making multiple books meet the prompts for several months… but I have chosen not to do that (this year).

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Wolf Moon: 3rd January

Book chosen: Other Birds by Sara Addison Allen, one of my favorite writers

• Read a book in your Favorite place
  • 👉🏻My favorite place is the library
• 👉🏻Do Not read this book while sitting on the floor (This part was actually difficult!)
  • Reading it in my purple velvet reading chair!

Snow Moon: 1st February

Book chosen: The Mirror, book 2 of The Lost Bride Trilogy by Nora Roberts

• 👉🏻Book with a Mirror on the cover
• 👉🏻Read a book while sitting next to someone

Worm Moon: 3rd March

Book chosen: What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson, which was turned into a beautiful, heartbreaking movie starring Robin Williams.

Total lunar eclipse for this moon!

• 👉🏻Book which has a Movie adaptation
• 👉🏻Read a book on a blanket
• 👉🏻Start a book after 5:00 PM/17:00

Pink Moon: 1st April

Book chosen: Every Heart a Doorway, book 1 of the Wayward Children series by Seanan McGuire

This was chosen from a pile of library books and comes highly recommended by Owl!

• 👉🏻A Friend recommendation 
• 👉🏻Choose a book Blindfolded

Flower Moon: 1st May

Book chosen: Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (waiting on the library to have an ebook copy available!)

• 👉🏻Book featuring a Castle
• 👉🏻Book with more than 5 colors on the cover

Blue Moon: 31st May

Book chosen: Inheritance, book 1 of the Lost Bride Trilogy by Nora Roberts

• 👉🏻Book in your Reading Challenge TBR
• 👉🏻Book featuring Inheritance
• Book you think will surprise you

Strawberry Moon: 29th June

Book chosen: Alice’s Adventures Underground by Lewis Carroll

Micro full moon, one day after my birthday!

• 👉🏻Book which has a Series adaptation
• 👉🏻Read this book at a Desk

Buck Moon: 29th July

Book chosen: The Seven Rings, book 3 of the Lost Bride Trilogy by Nora Roberts

• 👉🏻Book with a Ghost character
• 👉🏻Start a book right after eating Lunch
• 👉🏻Book you wish turned into a Movie

Sturgeon Moon: 27th August

Book chosen: Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel

There is a partial lunar eclipse this day!

• 👉🏻 Book in which a character Dies
• An AI recommendation Hell no.

Harvest (or Full Corn) Moon: 26th September

Book chosen: The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury

• 👉🏻A Horror book
• 👉🏻Read the First book you see on the Shelf

Hunter’s Moon: 25th October

Book chosen: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson (I am listening to the audiobook through my local library)

• 👉🏻Start a book after Midnight
• 👉🏻 Listen to a Free Audiobook

Beaver Moon: 24th November

Book chosen: Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen

• 👉🏻 Book Similar to your favorite book

Cold Moon: 23rd December

Book chosen: The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey

A supermoon!

• 👉🏻 Book with a Fantasy creature

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A Few Notes About This Idea

There is one thing that I should bother to point out about this whole challenge: since time is made up in the points, don’t matter, I don’t necessarily have to fulfill each month prompt in that month. I have absolutely bopped around on the calendar. I make no promises as to linear progress. Considering that I’ve barely read anything for the last ten months, I might need to bump some of these to 2027, just because of timing and trying to find work.

Since the world is sliced into thirty-seven possible time zones, you will notice that I have not put any times for the Full Moons. With the time differences, the International Date Line, and my own human fallibility, all information presented here is as accurate as I am currently able to offer it.

All links are ones I have found myself, and gain no profit from sharing. I am attempting to stay away from Amazon links because I don’t wish to give them any more money than absolutely necessary. So, when possible, I went with Thriftbooks or the author’s site.

Happy reading and take your meds, folks!

15,101 Days Alive

13 Ebooks Checked Out from the Library

7 Physical Books Checked Out from the Public Library

2 Audiobooks Currently Checked Out

1 Video Game Played Today

I restarted Animal Crossing: New Horizons today. I literally couldn’t remember the last time I actually played on my switch lite that I’ve had two or three years now. Depression sucks.

I want to get back into my hobbies. I don’t mean like trying to pick up new things. I am not going to take up tatting or spinning yarn, at least not yet. I would love a drop spindle , and eventually to work up to a spinning wheel.

What I mean is that I want to get back into my current hobbies even with depression scrambling my thoughts and having a death grip on my give a damns. I want to get back to my life. Crocheting for the joy of it, reading for the love of it, writing for the sake of it, gaming for the relaxation of it, and drawing for the creativity of it.

My crocheting right now is only for Uncle Mark’s Two Tone Throw, that I feel I have to finish before I can start anything else. I have one repeat and plus maybe five rows to go before I can start the border. I think it’ll take me another two weeks or so to finish. Being unemployed, I am not sure how I am going to get the throw to him once it is done.

Reading, I’ve snagged a few books from the library. And I’ve paged through a few books, but I’ve been struggling to read on a regular basis. I am behind on my reading goals for the year, only 17 of 22 books I want to read. I am still hoping to hit thirty books by the end of the year. Right now, I have The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson playing on audiobook. Other than that, I have a few other ebooks checked out I want to read. Hopefully, November will be kinder to me and my mind.

While National Novel Writing Month, the formerly abbreviated NaNoWriMo thing I’ve been doing for years, is now defunct. But Novel November is still a thing I can do! I can aim to tape out a thousand words a day to have 30,000 more words. Then, by the end of the month, I will have a large chunk of Midnight Calls written!

Gaming… a lot of the joy has been sucked out of it for me by others. So I am reclaiming my joy from the gaping maw of depression and others’ expectations of me. Even if it is five minutes a day, I want to try and do some more gaming in the coming weeks.

Drawing I have to be careful about, because I can hyperfocus a little too hard and lose a day or three into a piece of paper. Yay for being a hyper graphic bipolar weirdo.

Anyway, all I can do is my best. I will try to be kind to myself, try to reengage in things that have been collecting metaphorical dust in my mind and literal dust on the bookshelf.

I’m off to crochet more on this damned throw.

Take your meds, folks.

15,100 Days Alive

137 Days Without Spock

5 Hours of Trying to Sleep Before Actually Getting to Sleep

3 Nightmares

Halloween is upon us. Joyous Samhain to those who celebrate. Happiest of witches’ New Year.

I am not doing great today.

My sleep was disturbed at best. Nightmares and memories and terrible things all in an amalgamation of horror and sadness. I ended up having a lie in until almost eleven a.m. today because my sleep was so poor last night.

I am going to crash on the couch tonight.  This evening was a lot.  Fun, but a lot.

Happy Samhain,  Blessed New Year, and Happy Halloween!

Take your meds,  folks.

If you had to sum up your life philosophy in one sentence, what would it be?

My life philosophy is something akin to “do no harm but take no shit”.

I believe in the power of compassion and patience, but also the power of a well-reasoned argument and a good left hook.

Share a few recent shots from your camera roll, no context needed.

15,098 Days Alive

44 Pages of Every Heart a Doorway Read This Evening

7 Finished Jars of Apple Pie Filling

4 Weeks Or So Until AO3 Is Back Up

1 Bottle of Deep Auburn Hair Dye

Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors. I just started reading Every Heart a Doorway and it is delightfully strange with plenty of queer characters.

The main character, Nancy, reminds me of someone. Not quite myself, no. But the story so far brings about a fierce feeling of… for lack of an English word: hiraeth. It is a Welsh word for the longing for a place that never existed. Hiraeth is a feeling I know we’ll. When the brain gremlins get loud, when sunlight is too bright and my skin doesn’t fit right, I feel it.

It’s a good night for a book like that. My brain is loud and I feel untethered in my body. Yay for disassociating? I mean, not really. Only half serious about it, but I feel like my voice is far away and so is everything else. I am not suicidal. I’m just… borderline numb. So I am reading and crocheting and trying to write and forcing myself to eat and hydrate… not just bed rot and cry. I asked Owl to squish me back into my body yesterday. It helped for a bit. Might ask her again tomorrow if I wake still feeling so untethered still.

Untethered. Like one Mister Oscar Diggs, the Omaha man who flew away in a hot air balloon in L. Frank Baum’s story. Ah, to Oz I would never want to go. Take me to Wonderland, through the looking glass. I would fare much better amongst the nonsense and tea.

I am making less sense than usual. I am going to bed in self defense.

Oh, and I painted the roses red. Er, colored my hair red. “Deep auburn”, but it’s red.

Take your meds, folks.

15,097 Days Alive

7 Quarts of Apple Pie Filling Canned

1 Crockpot Full of 5 Quarts of Chopped Apples to Make Apple Butter

1/2 A Bushel of Apples Blanched for Canning

Oh my goodness was the kitchen hot this evening! Owl and I canned about eight quarts of the apple slices into pie filling this evening. And another five to six went into the crock pot on low to stew down into apple butter. So good!

I’ve not canned anything before outside of something in Home Economics class back in 1999. And I don’t even remember what it was. But Owl has shown me how to make soap from oils and lye, how to can, and how to cook bacon on the stovetop without getting burned! That last one was just tonight. I think gas stovetops just cook better than electric ones. Maybe it’s just what I remember from when I was little and we still lived up North? Dunno. But I like gas stoves and ovens.

I am missing Mr. Spock today, pretty badly. I went back and watched some of the videos I have of him on social media. My sweet boy is still near and dear to my heart. I still can’t believe he’s gone. Even now, having moved in with Owl, I keep expecting to wake up and find him curled up next to me.

I might use the painting J did of Spock, a little study of him in gouache, to set up an ofrenda or something like it for him. I could add Daddy on there, too.

Yesterday was actually Día de los Muertos de la Mascota. The Day of the Dead for Pets; maybe that’s why I felt like he was with me? I had bad dreams last night and I could have sworn I felt him jump up on the bed and settle on my hip. And now I’m crying. Gods, I miss him. He was my baby man.

For those of you who still have your fur babies, please hold them close for me, give them extra lovings because I can’t.

I am going to go crochet until I stop crying.

Take your meds, folks.

15,096 Days Alive

7 Minute Interview

1/2 Bushel of Apples Peeled and Chopped

I haven’t much to say tonight. I am exhausted and in pain. The interview I attended was straight up weird and I was in and out in under ten minutes. Tomorrow will be better.

Take your meds, folks.

15,095 Days Alive

3 Rounds of Pain Meds Taken Today

2 Bowls of Pasta Salad Eaten

1/2 Way Through Uncle Mark’s Two Tone Throw

I finally hit the official half way point on the Two Tone Throw I am making for Uncle Mark. It may end up being smaller than initially planned, just because of yarn and a few other factors.

Right now, the plan for the Two Tone Throw is seven blocks long by eight wide. It may end up a square seven by seven with a decent border on it. It’s a throw blanket after all, not making sized bed spread or anything like that.

I need to take measurements and figure out the finished dimensions before I add a border to make sure I have enough yarn for the whole project. I’d hate to get nearly done and have to frog most of a repeat due to running out of yarn.

Another project I have on my hook is a shawl for Owl! It’s in the colorway “Mad Scientist” by Hobbii yarn. It’s such a great colorway. The cake goes from bright, lime potion green to a mid green, then dark blue before ending in a red-toned purple. Just… *chef’s kiss* a beautiful thing. I also got two skeins of “Spooky Nightmare”, also by Hobbii yarn with intent to make myself something.

The weather cha ge, and my body being dumb, knocked me through a loop today. I could barely sleep last night because my stupid lower back and my hips were screaming in pain. My back was spamming, which has happened before a few times. But both hips acting a fool at the same time? I flopped around overall over in bed last night more times than a Costco rotisserie chicken does. Ugh.

I have taken my muscle relaxer because I need to be bright eyed and not moving like a half frozen turtle tomorrow for my interview. I am very disappointed that the law firm never got back to me, but maybe this position will get me somewhere. I just really need a job. Not having anything coming in is really damaging my calm.

I am going to get a few more stitches in on Owl’s shawl before I try to pass out.

Take your meds, folks.

Do you set personal goals for yourself?

I do set personal goals for myself; I am very much a listmaker, and enjoy writing out plans even if they end up goi g sideways.

15,093 Days Alive

3 Pumpkins Purchased for Carving and/or Cooking

1/2 Bushel of Apples Brought Home

Today was AMAZING. Do you know the last time I was able to go pumpkin picking at a farm or orchard? Fucking Bill Clinton was still president the last time I picked my own pumpkin.

I picked out a traditional orange boy, but Owl and I also got a candy squash, a pair of tiny gourds, and two other pumpkins for cooking! I hope we can dry out the seeds from the three large ones and get our own pumpkin patch going in the side yard next year.

I was so happy, I nearly cried. It was so much fun, and I didn’t feel pressured to perform enjoyment or push myself too far outside of my comfort zone (ie the corn maze) and do something that could trigger a panic attack. So that was a relief.

The last time I was made to partake in a corn maze, I had a massive asthma attack and got my ass beat black and blue for “ruining the fun”. Not a thing that would repeat these days,as both parental units that abused me are dead. May their memories be blessings to those that loved them. I am not one of them.

Anyway, the orchard/pumpkin patch was amazing and I am genuinely looking forward to processing the half bushel of apples with Owl tomorrow. We plan to make at least one pie, jarred apple pie filling, and apple butter.

For some reason, though, I am having a hard time settling down. I ended up needing a nap after the orchard. I was just wrung out. And then I got overstimulated by Pippy the puppy. She’s nearly six months old now and getting bigger by the day. Still, she’s a land shark, with puppy teething habits and a propensity to launch herself at my head. My skin felt too tight and I was leg-bouncing trying to self soothe.

So I popped off to take a shower and am now watching The Nightmare Before Christmas for the… sixth or seventh time this month. It is a soothing movie for me; not just because it is a musical and familiar but because spooky season is in full swing! J’s birthday is next week, too! Same as the holiday.

Anyway, Sally is having her vision of Jack’s Christmas going up in flames. I am going to go sit in my purple chair, finish the movie, and head to bed.

Take your meds, folks.

15,092 Days Alive

1 Interview Tuesday Morning

I have had a bad day. Post-manic episode depression is no joke. Literally discussing someone else’s unexpected loss of their beloved kitty cat made me nearly break down crying.

I’m not doing okay. I know that it is likely that I will just be able to ride this out and level out in a few days to weeks. I tried to get some writing done in the wake of the hypergraphic session, but I was barely able to squeak out about 150 words. I hate how useless I feel after manic episodes.

It has been a while since I had a multi-day manic swing. I hate it. I feel great and then can barely function. And, of course, this is all happening while I am uninsured so I cant exactly be seen for psych issues when I have no health insurance and there are months-long waiting lists unless I am actively attempting to shuffle myself off the mortal coil. Which I’m not.

And! Icing on the yucky cake: my gallbladder is hurting again, I have heartburn from the red sauce that was dinner, I’m cramping like a motherfucker, and all I really want is some cinnamon candy. Like hot tamales or cinnamon bears or some red hots. My brain wants candy dopamine like…now.

Anyway, I am going to bed in self defense because I am annoying myself being awake.

Take your meds, folks.

What’s the most underrated movie you’ve ever watched?

The most underrated movie I’ve ever watched was Demolition Man.