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 20 years old. She works full-time for BK’s company and just moved into an apartment with her girlfriend of 3 years. She loved cooking, baking, playing online games, and watching TV.

• Mr. Z—He is my middle child, 18 years old, and will be attending Appalachian State in the fall. Mr. Z has high-functioning autism (we had him diagnosed in 2020). He is a silly kid, always poking fun at himself. He loves to play Dungeons and Dragons (online and in his school club) and online games.

• Miss R—She is my youngest, 12 years old, and in 6th grade. She is my headstrong, willful child. Her shenanigans alone have put gray in my hair…lol. But she is also one of the kindest, 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. She also has severe anxiety.

• Miss J—She is my bonus child. She is Miss B’s girlfriend. 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. 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 7 cats. 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 the order we got them. Also, all of my cats are spayed and neutered.

• Snickers-9 1/2. Snickers is the old lady of the clowder. We got her (and her now-deceased sister) from a free Craigslist ad. Snickers is Miss R’s cat (she sleeps with her at night). She is also named after the candy bar (at the time, BK was working for Mars). She is a diluted tabby.

• Vinnie-4. 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-4. 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-3. Kevin is our big Lynx Point Siamese. He loves his family but is nervous around people he doesn’t know (he hides under the bed). 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 (he hurt his jaw) and road rash from his ears to his tail. Our vet was horrified and estimated him to be around 8-10 weeks old. It took a lot of work, but he is now one of our sweetest cats. 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-3. Yuki is Mr. Z’s and my baby. 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 appeared injured (the pupil appeared elevated, and she seemed to have limited vision on that side). She is now healthy and sweet, and she plays rough with Kevin and Marcy. 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.

• Biscuit—1. Biscuit came to us last March, very pregnant and very skittish. It took some time, but she eventually decided we were ok and gave birth on our back porch to a single kitten, Marcy. She decided that she wanted to be inside with Marcy and waited at my front door for us to let her in. She is very sweet, and we think she was someone’s pet before they a) dumped her or b) she ran away. Biscuit is very small for a cat (vet agrees). We did get her spayed when Marcy was 8 weeks old, but she went into heat before that, and I’ll say this: I will never have an unaltered female in the house again. It was rough. Biscuit is a regular tabby cat.
• Marcy—1. As stated above, Marcy is Biscuit’s kitten. Marcy was supposed to go with Miss B and Miss J when they moved, but they couldn’t take her. She is very much bonded with Biscuit (even though her mother doesn’t share that sentiment… lol). She is your typical teenage cat, getting into shenanigans with her BFFs (Biscuit, Yuki, and Kevin). She does have a cool genetic condition called scorpion tail. Her tail will lie flat down on her back when she is excited (instead of going into an S shape). Marcy is a grey tabby.

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.