About Me

Hi all!!!

I’m  Jolie and I am a bookworm.

I have always loved to read. My earliest memory is reading Black Beauty at school (1st grade and I was an advanced reader). Books became my haven during some really tough times in my life. I am known, to family and friends, as a quiet, bookish person (who is very shy).

I started doing book reviews when I realized I could blog about it. But, at the same time, I was also a new mother (I had just had my 2nd child), and reviewing was very sporadic until late 2015. With the exception of 2020 (I couldn’t supervise my kids’ school work and blog, so a choice was made), I have been blogging steadily since 2016.

I am also the mother to three amazing children. They are:

• Miss B—She is my oldest at 18 years old. She will be attending Western Carolina in the fall, so she will be away from home for the first time. She is my most grounded child. Miss B is an out and proud lesbian who has been with her girlfriend for over a year. She loved cooking, baking, playing online games, and watching TV. We have a Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune date every night. She also is driving (got her license in February), and it gives me panic attacks every time she goes out (she’s been in one accident already)

• Mr. Z—He is my middle child, 16 years old, and an up-and-coming junior in high school. Mr. Z has high-functioning autism (we got him diagnosed in 2020). He is a silly kid, always poking fun at himself. He loves to play Dungeon and Dragons (online and in his school club) and online games. He will be taking driver’s ed (which he isn’t thrilled about).

• Miss R—She is my youngest, 10 years old, and an up-and-coming fifth grader. She is my headstrong, willful child. Her shenanigans alone have put gray in my hair…lol. But she is also one of the kindhearted, sweetest kids I have ever met. Miss R has been riding since she was 6 years old, and she absolutely loves it. She rides English and is learning hunter jumping and dressage. Because of her severe anxiety (and it’s been a fight to get it under control), she is only now starting to jump cross rails at a trot.

• Miss J—She is my bonus child. She is Miss B’s girlfriend and is currently living with us. There is a story behind why she is with us. All I have to say is that there was a need, and we stepped up. This is the most stable her life has been in a while since living here. She will be attending Western Carolina with Miss B. She is also one of the most artistic people that I have met.

I have been with my SO (BK) for almost 20 years. We are definitely two different people, but our differences mesh for the most part.

I am a little embarrassed to admit this, but I have 8 cats (one of them is Miss J’s). I didn’t set out to have that many; it just happened. Anyway, let me introduce my fur children to you all. They will be in order of when we got them. Also, all of my cats are spayed and neutered.

• Snickers-7 1/2. Snickers is the old lady of the clowder. We got her (and her now-deceased sister) from a free Craigslist ad. She suffers from arthritis and gets a monthly Solencia injection (if she doesn’t, she pees on the floor). Snickers is Miss R’s cat (she sleeps with her at night). Snickers also either hates or loves her brothers, sister, and cousin. She is also named after the candy bar (at the time, BK was working for Mars). She is a diluted tabby.

• Jesper-3. Jesper is a big boy. We got him around 4-5 weeks old, and our neighbor found him in a cinderblock (I will give more of his backstory in Loki’s bit). We took him in, thinking he wouldn’t make it through the weekend. Jesper is also deaf and we got that confirmed by our vet last year. He loves everyone equally and is such a happy boy. Jesper is named after a character in Shadow and Bone (which BK and I were watching when he was found). He is a tuxedo cat.

• Loki-3. Loki is Jesper’s more reserved brother. We trapped him under our house when we noticed that his mother wasn’t coming around anymore. He was around 6-8 weeks old at the time. Loki, Jesper, the rest of their litter, and their mom were dumped behind my neighbor’s house. He found 4 dead babies when he was looking for more kittens. We did get Mom to a rescue (she was spayed and adopted). Loki is a little smaller than Jesper, reserved, and terrified of the other cats. He spends most of his time on top of the fridge or on my lap. Loki is named after the Marvel character. He is a black tabby.

• Vinnie-2. Vinnie is our quiet but loving Bengal mix. We adopted him from our local shelter right before Skittles (Snickers’ sister) passed away (he was 6 weeks old). He is the mouser of the clowder, having already caught two mice. He also plays fetch. He is my cat. He sleeps by my feet at night and follows me everywhere. Vinnie is named after a character in The Sopranos (Miss B was watching it then). He is a brown tabby.

• Tony-2. Tony is one of the sweetest cats we have. We adopted him from our local shelter when we realized that Vinnie needed a friend his own age. Tony was in a cage, frantic (I found out later that he had just been returned from foster and was 6 weeks old), and I told BK I wanted him. The shelter had him down as a bottle baby, and he acts like it. He loves everyone but prefers BK. He also loves all the cats, including grumpy Snickers. Tony was named after the main character in The Sopranos. He is an orange and white cat.

• Kevin-1. Kevin is our big Lynx Point Siamese. He loves his family but is nervous around people he doesn’t know. He has good reason to be. Right before we trapped Kevin under our house, someone had thrown him from a car. He had a significant mouth injury (a Joker-like scar on one side of his face) and road rash from his ears to his tail. He was terrified, and I didn’t blame him (he bit through Miss B’s finger). Our vet was horrified and aged him at around 8-10 weeks old (right in that golden phase before a kitten because too feral to tame). It took a lot of work, but he is now one of our sweetest cats. Kevin is named after the Home Alone character. He is a smokey cream, with a light black mask, black legs, black tail, and a black saddle. He also has turquoise blue eyes.

• Yuki-9 to 10 months old. Yuki is the last of our cats. We got her from one of Miss B’s friends. He had been driving behind a car when they stopped and threw Yuki and her sisters on the side of the road. I wasn’t prepared for how bad shape she was in. She was emaciated (weighed 1lb at the vet appointment the next day), covered in fleas, and had worms (tape and roundworms). We also noticed that her right eye seemed injured (the pupil floated up, and it seemed like she had limited vision on that side). She is now healthy, sweet, and plays rough with Kevin and Bug. When we got her, she was white, except for her tail. I decided on Yuki (which means snow in Japanese). Over the months, she has morphed into a diluted calico with ice-blue eyes (and she still has that wonky eye with limited vision).

• Bug-7 to 8 months old. He is Miss B’s girlfriend’s cat. I don’t know his origin story. Miss J told us that she got him from a friend of her grandmother. He is the only cat that I know who enjoys water. He will not hesitate to join people in the shower…lol. He got his name because Miss J loves bugs. Also, his eyes bugged out a little. Bug is a solid orange tabby. Bug will be attending Western Carolina with the girls in the fall.

I am also a gamer. Right now, I am playing Planet Zoo, Sims 4, and Elder Scrolls Online.

I do have interests other than reading and playing online games. I love to cook/bake. I try to make 2 new recipes a week and have subscriptions to a few cooking magazines. I have a folder filled to the brim with recipes. My kids are often my guinea pigs when it comes to trying the recipes out. More often than not, they like what I make.