Five for Friday #39: We're Falling Apart Over Here

1) Update to my husband's rhabdo situation: You guys, it's not good.  His CK levels were high after he helped me carry in groceries! They can't figure it out and it's very frustrating. I started to write about it, but I just want everyone to know that an otherwise healthy man in his 40s who cannot carry a 24-pack of fizzy water without causing literal muscle breakdown is NOT COOL. 

2) Now he has a man cold, too. He is not a good patient. I love him dearly, but if he doesn't figure out a way to deal with his congestion in a manner that is not snapping at me whenever I so much as breathe, I might have to murder him. 

3) In Birchie's most recent post, she wrote, "I'm taking a beat to think about my fitness life.  It feels like it is a constant cycle of hard work and exhaustion with no clear end game." I wrote a small novel in her comment section about how I am exhausted/tired ALL THE DAMN TIME. Like...this has been my entire adult life. I graduated from college and became exhausted. 

I wake up thinking about how I can take a nap or get to bed early. I nearly fall asleep in every yoga class. I daydream about my bed. By Friday evenings, I am literally agape at people going to the bars downtown as I'm walking the dog. Who has energy for that after working all week? 

And here I am learning that it's not like this for everybody?! 

4) On the bright side, my pap smear results came back fine so everyone I can quit worrying about having to go through torture again. (And then get charged $700. America, fuck yeah.)

5) On even brighter side, my nephew is not happy with his already good ACT score. He asked me to help him improve it! Yay! I was in test prep for twenty years and I'm very good at standardized tests (*brag* I was a National Merit Scholar and got a fellowship for grad school based on my GRE scores *not so brag* this has not meant actual success in grad school or life), and I've been waiting EIGHTEEN YEARS for one of my niblings to ask me to help. 

I ordered books, set up a Webex meeting, and we had a grand old time discussing parts of speech and comma usage on the ACT. By the end of the meeting I had him saying things like "the ACT doesn't like commas, so I bet the answer is F" and "well, you can't separate two complete ideas with a comma." I AM WINNING AT AUNTING. 

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Anyone else having a spouse who isn't a good patient? How do you prevent yourself from committing a crime? 

Anyone else chronically just want to go back to bed? 

Wild Eyes (Rose Hill #2) by Elsie Silver

I thought I read the first book in this series, but I have no record of it on my blog, so it must not have happened. But...those characters seem familiar. Whatever. 

Stephany recommended Wild Eyes by Elsie Silver and I desperately wanted a light read that I would enjoy and would distract me from 2026. Now this book has some tropes I do not generally care for. Precocious children, a famous person who hates being famous, and horses. Why don't I like horses in a romance novel? Because that usually involves ranching and don't get me started on animal cruelty and how cowboys aren't attractive and blah blah blah. Anyway, somehow Stephany's claim that she thought about the characters all day made me want to read this book despite all that. And despite this really really really really ugly cover.

Skylar Stone has run away from Los Angeles after some bad press and even worse family drama. She finds herself staying in West Belmont's bunkhouse with a sorta tame, sort wild mouse. She finds herself slowly relaxing under the tutelage of West's two precocious children, horses (natch), and West himself and his shirtless ways. What's going to happen with Skylar and West? 

Look, I also really liked this book. Skylar is annoying and West is too good to be true. But everyone else in this book is amazing! Ford and Rosalie are super! The kids! I want a novella about Oliver! The whole Sparkly Turquoise Unicorns team! Let me take them out for ice cream! 

I don't necessarily think Silver handled the I hate to be famous trope particularly well, but I will let it slide since Skylar is mostly not in the limelight throughout this book. Having West throw her phone in the lake was truly a smart plot vehicle. 

Look, I want to read more Silver. Let's do it! 5/5 stars

Line of note:

I read an old bodice-ripper I find on a shelf in West's living room within one day. When it's over, I feel happy and optimistic. Something about that guaranteed happy ending cheers me up. And I realize scrolling my phone never made me feel that way. (page 186)

Isn't this why we read romance novels? Okay, fine. This is why I read romance novels. 

Title spotting:

"Those" - he points at my face, fingers flicking from side to side - "are wild eyes." (page 150)

Hat mentions (why hats?):

Nice hat (page 124)

Sparkly Turquoise Unicorns hat(s) (page 131, 132, 369, and 378)

beneath her hat (page 132)

brim of her hat (page 134, 175)

sweet new hat (page 143)

team hat (page 174)

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What's the last book you read with a terrible cover? Why are there ugly covers in the year 2026? 

Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke

Rayleen said that Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke was one of her favorite books of last year on the podcast Books Unbound. I trust Rayleen because she is full of good recs. (The other host, Ariel, just spent an entire episode waxing poetic about how great she found The Hobbit, so while I respect her as a business person with some hustle, her reader credibility is very low with me.)

This book is told entirely through Slack messages at a New York-based public relations firm.

Gerald has been uploaded into the firm's Slack channel. His body is just sitting in his apartment, but Gerald's consciousness is in Slack. Gerald asks his co-worker Pradeep to help him figure out a way to return to his body. 

Meanwhile, the rest of the company thinks this is a bit Gerald is doing to be allowed to work from home more. Also, there's a crisis with a dog food company that has to do a recall because Pomeranians are dying. (Not Pomeranians!) Two employees are knockin' boots and destroying office furniture and another employee is hearing howling all the time. What is happening at this company?

There's a running joke about a dusty stick emoji that is exactly like the potato emoji in my office chat. My boss went to Nova Scotia on vacation and came back with fudge made with potatoes. From that moment on, whenever someone brings treats back from vacation, we all use potato emojis. It's HILARIOUS to me, but even as I'm writing this, I realize it's not funny. ANYWAY.

Will this whole Slack thing be dated someday? Probably? Will it still get to the heart of office culture and politics? I sure hope so. 

I thought this was snort funny, clever, and unique. I loved every word.  5/5 stars

Lines of note:

what is a workplace but a cult where everyone gets paid, really? (page 67)

LOLOLOL. This is the second time in a month I've read a book that suggested my workplace is a cult. 

and my only reminder that humanity isn't just this overwhelming 
cacophony of noise and drudgery but like
something worth returning to (page 216)

Sometimes we all need to spend some time focused on what is worth living for, right? 

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Do you have running jokes in your office chat? Is your job really a cult? 

What I Spent: February 2026

As a reminder, my husband pays the "big bills" like mortgage, phone, car, and electricity. I pay for groceries and the pets and that somehow evens things out.

Fitness ($20, <1%) - This was my trampoline class. #noregrets

Eating out ($27.19, 1.3%) - I had lunch with Sarah and I ate ice cream once. 

Entertainment ($51.18, 2.4%) - Hold on to your pants, people. I bought an audiobook, an ebook, and paid for my Spotify subscription this month. I bought the audiobook for my IRL book club or I would never have been able to read it and I bought a new release ebook. Who am I?

Cars ($64, 7.3%) - Gas a couple of times.

House ($84.40, 3.9%) - New sheets. We haven't used the new ones yet because we're still using our flannel sheets, but I think my husband might want to switch soon. 

Personal care ($113.47, 5.2%) - Eyeliner, shampoo, sponges. It takes money and work to look like an average Midwestern lady.

Gifts ($124, 5.7%) - A couple birthday presents and some greeting cards.

Bills ($158.83, 7.3%) - Home and car insurance.

Pets ($299.25, 13.8%) - Food, food, food. Why do they eat so much? They're not fat. I don't think.

Savings (350, 16.2%) - Better than a kick in the teeth.

Groceries ($869.33, 40.2%) - Food, food, food. Why do we eat so much?

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I rarely buy books, but I purchased two in February. Have you recently made a purchase for something you rarely buy? 

February 2026 Accountability Buddy

Sunday, February 1
30-minute leg workout (Caroline Girvan - Epic day 37) - I used two five-pound weights for this. I found the reverse plank lifts impossible unless I used both legs, so that's something to work on. I could probably go heavier, but I'm really working on form with my bad leg. 

15-minute yoga for legs, hips, and hamstrings

Monday, February 2

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 3

10-minute posture improvement video

10-minute office life stretch - I don't know if I'd recommend this since you don't hold the poses long enough to get a good stretch.

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, February 4

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime*

20-minute gentle yoga stretch in my office towards the end of a day of endless sitting

Thursday, February 5

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

30-minute shoulders & triceps (Caroline Girvan - Iron day 7)

10-minute posture improvement video

Friday, February 6

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

30-minute stretch for back and hips - Look, I gotta be honest. I found this was nearly impossible for my shoulder. I mean, it did get at my hips, but the real reason this video was uncomfortable was my shoulders. 

Saturday, February 7

60-minute hike in the woods with Dr. BB

Sunday, February 8

25-minute shoveling - it was not much, maybe a half inch to an inch - but it needed to get moved off the driveway and sidewalk because it was hiding ice underneath

30-minute low impact full body cardio workout

30-minute fluid yoga flow - This was more challenging than I would normally do. I did some modifications. 

Monday, February 9

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 10

10-minute posture improvement video

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, February 11

20-minute gentle yoga stretch in my office at lunchtime

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Thursday, February 12

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

60-minute Zumba class before dinner

Friday, February 13

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

Saturday, February 14-Sunday, February 15

Days off

Monday, February 16

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 17

45-minute body blast class at the community center after work

Wednesday, February 18

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

15-minute bedtime yoga - I wanted to get in some strength training today, but it wasn't meant to be. 

Thursday, February 19

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Friday, February 20

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

15-minute cardio - Happy Dance - this might be called "Happy Dance," but it did not make me particularly happy 

15-minute full body dumbbell workout - very effective

Saturday, February 21

30-minute total body strength with dumbbells

Sunday, February 22

I was walking Hannah this afternoon when my upper back began complaining in a big way. I don't know what I did to it, but I tried to use yoga to fix it.

30-minute yoga stretches for upper body 

Monday, February 23

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

Tuesday, February 24

30-minute yoga stretches for upper body  - This one again. My upper back and shoulders are a problem, so I did this at lunchtime in my office. 

35-minute no jumping tabata workout - perfect workout for staying in the fat burning zone

Wednesday, February 25

15-minute stretch class at lunchtime

35-minute full body HIIT and strength training - I'm so sweaty. Sheesh. 

Thursday, February 26

30-minute yoga video in the student union at lunchtime

30-minute trampoline class after work - I'd never done this before. It was fun! I was super amazed at how little my bad leg hurt. I think I will want to do this again in the future. 

Friday, February 27

Day off

Saturday, February 28

30-minute full body yoga for flexibility and strength 

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*Our local healthcare organization does free stretch classes virtually three times a week. Sign up here! It's free. It's fun. She has the sign-up through June, so you can basically register for half the year at one time. We regularly talk about candy and what's for lunch. It's a delightful break in the middle of the day. You do not have to have your camera on. 

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Total: 24/28  (85.7%) days doing thirty minutes or more

Cardio/strength: 13 days
Yoga: 16 days

Short stretch classes at lunchtime: 7 days

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When's the last time you tried a new fitness class? 

What I Read: February 2026

2/2: Raybearer (Raybearer #1) by Jordan Ifuenko (library audiobook narrated by Joniece Abbott-Pratt, 2020) - The 4.31 Goodreads rating is bizarre. The worldbuilding was okay, the character development was nil, and the main message seems to be that the best way to handle a bad emperor is with a good empress instead of no empire? I feel like I'm either misreading this or I'm going insane. 2/5 stars

2/3: Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo by Zlata Filipović (library audiobook narrated by : Dorota Puzio and Janine di Giovanni) - Apparently I got the abridged version, which explains why this was so choppy. Zlata began her diary as just a regular 11-year-old girl living in Sarajevo and going on vacation, but her entries end up reflecting life in a war torn city, demonstrating food shortages, the death of friends, and the fear of the future. I'm glad I listened, but I wish I had the unabridged version. 3/5 stars

2/4: The Secret Life of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry (library ebook, 2023) - Such an interesting premise! During Operation Pied Piper in WWII, children in major cities of the UK were evacuated to places that were less likely to be bombed. After the declaration in September 1939, over eight hundred thousand children were remarkably evacuated in just four days. In the end, over three and a half million children were relocated. Historians  estimate that up to 10 per cent of children in the UK were fully or partially raised by people other than their biological parents during this time. This book posits that a pair of sisters is sent to a rural area and then one of them goes missing. It's also not nearly as interesting as the premise. 2.5/5 stars

(I am writing this on 2/5 and honestly feel like I am 100% in a reading slump. Maybe I don't like books. Reading is something I used to do. Something better swing my way or maybe my entire February Books Read post will be these three subpar books.)

2/7: Ms. Demeanor by Elinor Lipman (library audiobook narrated by Piper Goodeve, 2022) - Jane gets arrested for having sex with a co-worker on the roof of her New York City apartment building. She ends up on suspension from her job under home confinement. She meets another person under home confinement in her building and things go from there. I liked this so much more than I thought I would based on that first chapter. There is so much character development here. 4/5 stars

2/10: Algospeak: How Social Media Is Transforming the Future of Language by Adam Aleksic (library audiobook narrated by the author, 2025) - Technology adds to and changes language and the internet and social media are no exception. Aleksic and I have differing views on whether these changes are always good, though. Also. I cannot stress this enough. He is an influencer and he reads his own book and hetalksveryfastandnever TAKES abreakexceptto SCREAM atyoueveryonceinawhile. I found his narration stressful and confusing and I hate YouTube. #oldladyout 3/5 stars

2/13: Promise Me Sunshine by Cara Bastone (library audiobook narrated by Alex Finke, 2025) - I absolutely loved this grief + romance novel all in one. Huge thumbs up. 5/5 stars

2/20: In Memoriam by Alice Winn (library ebook, 2023) - Books about war are sad, did you know? 4/5 stars

2/20: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton (library, 1920) - CBBC book club. Look, I didn't get it. I didn't love it.  2/5 stars

2/20: The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, translated from the French by Alison Anderson (audiobook I purchased narrated by Barbara Rosenblat and Cassandra Morris, 2006)  - I wished for all these characters to figure it out and start thinking about someone other than themselves when all of a sudden I cared. There was some sort of sorcery in this novel. 4/5 stars

2/21: Sing Anyway (Moonlighters #1) by Anita Kelly (library ebook, 2021) - Novella about love at a karaoke bar. I needed a palate cleanser after a series of tough books and this one provided just that. Not great literature, but sometimes you just need a love story. 3.5/5 stars

2/21: Arrow's Flight (Valdemar: The Arrows Trilogy #2) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 1987) - Our young Herald is in training, but it turns out that she does not have full control of her Gift. How is she going to get out of this?

2/23: The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren (Wren James) (library audiobook narrated by Lauren Ezzo, 2018) - Gripping tale of a young girl alone in a spaceship. Her link to Earth is cut off, but there's another spaceship approaching helmed by a young man named J. How's all this going to shake out? I was invested from the first page because could you even imagine being alone in space? Without so much as a dog or cat? There were some fan fic passages I did not care for, but they did serve an important plot point, so I can't complain too much. There were too many Britishisms for me to believe this child was raised by Americans who worked for NASA, but who knows what happens when all you're left with is YouTube videos for five years? 4/5 stars

2/24 Arrow's Fall (Valdemar: The Arrows Trilogy #3) by Mercedes Lackey (library, 1998) - Valdemar's back, baby! 5/5 stars

Total: 13 books
Average star rating: 3.4/5 stars

DNF:

Shadow Divers by Robert Kurson - Someone recommended this because I like books about shipwrecks and stuff. This one is about two scuba divers who found a wrecked WWII U-boat sixty miles off the coast of New Jersey. Unfortunately, the author's hero worship of those two scuba divers was super hard for me to listen to. I'm sure they're great guys, but I was more interested in the historical mystery at play. DNF at 2%. 

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Did you DNF anything last month? 

CBBC Week Five: The Age of Innocence Wrap-Up

Past discussions:
Week One, chapters 1-10
Week Two, chapters 11-18
Week Three, chapters 19-26
Week Four, Chapters 27-34

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My notes

Last week, J asked if people put this much work into a face-to-face book club. The answer, at least for my book club, is no. I'm lucky if people in my book club actually read the book, let alone look things up from it. They certainly don't prepare questions. BUT. It's a different vibe. I usually do prepare one or two questions just to get us talking about the book and then the conversation goes where it goes. It's different in an online space because the conversation is less likely to meander, although I like it when it does go places I don't expect when I read the chapters. 

Anyway, my process for reading a CBBC book is basically the same as any other book for me, but a bit more extreme. I read with a pen in hand and mark down all the things on a piece of paper as I read - major plot points, character names/descriptions, lines of note, things I need to look up, hats. And then when I work on my post, I use these notes. Basically, if I miss something in my post, it's because it didn't make it into my notes!

I thought you just might like that little inside peek into my process. 

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What were your overall thoughts on this book? 

Here's what I think: This is not my jam. I do not understand human nature enough to have people just not say what they think. I think Archer was  lame character to focus on. 

However, I do feel like this book sets a tone that is hard to ignore. The claustrophobic feeling of how constrained choices were was palpable. You really get a feeling for elite New York in the 1870s. I also realllllly enjoyed Wharton's descriptions of the locations. You can tell that Wharton was a designer (remember how her first book was non-fiction work on design and architecture called The Decoration of Houses (1897) that she co-authored with Ogden Codman, Jr.?). I feel like that background came shining through in The Age of Innocence.

But, I'll allow that I probably missed the point of this one. Stories of poor little rich people annoy me almost as much as stories of famous people complaining about being famous. 

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Pop culture:

Last week, Jacquie wrote a comment about a movie adaptation of the novel.

This movie was a 1993 Martin Scorsese joint that earned Ryder earned an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe for her performance, as well as an Oscar for Best Costume Design.

Other adaptations include a 1934 film directed for RKO Studios by Philip Moeller, numerous stage adaptations, and an homage in an episode of Gossip Girl.  There's also an upcoming period drama miniseries for Netflix based on the novel. The cast is led by Kristine Froseth, Ben Radcliffe, Camila Morrone, and Margo Martindale.

Diane turned me on to a book called The Innocents by Francesca Segal that is a modern retelling of the novel. I will admit that the first Goodreads review made me snort.

Did I miss any other major nods in pop culture? 

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TAoI questions to ponder:

As always, discuss as few or as many of these questions as you like. 

1) Who is the innocent in this novel?

2) What role do minor characters – for instance Julius Beaufort, Mrs. Manson Mingott, the Van der Luydens, Newland’s mother and sister Janey – play in this novel?

3) Edith Wharton’s original title for The Age of Innocence was “Old New York.” Which title do you think is more fitting? 

4) How are Ellen and May alike? How are they different? 

5) Throughout the novel, Wharton references a number of artistic works—the opera Faust, the Cesnola Antiquities at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Chippendale furniture in the Lannings’ home, to name a few. What role in the story do these references play?

6) Is it moral and honorable to protect others at the expense of one’s happiness? Is duty to one’s community more important than duty to oneself?

7) What scene from this book will stick with you? For me, it's pathetic Archer sitting on a park bench talking to himself in Paris. 

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Most iconic line:

Typically I do a poll here, but I'm just going to ask you instead. What do you think the most iconic line from the book is? 

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That's a wrap on winter 2026 CBBC! Thanks for joining and participating.