5 Favorites for December 2024: Useful, Refreshing, Cozy, Organized, and Healthy

“5 Favorites” is a recurring feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I post 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience. Visit the 5 Favorites archive for more recommendations.

👛👝 Big Skinny

Super-thin wallets and purses

I love this company; I have a number of their products (wallet, business card holder). They REALLY are thin and durable! And lots of them come in fun colors or patterns. There’s a style for everyone, including wallets that double as phone holders for those of you into that. I have an Executive Checkbook Bi-Fold Wallet but for a long time I considered the Slimvelope, and my friend got the Taxicat Bi-Fold Wallet. I got my husband a Slim Tri-fold in leather, and it really is a lot slimmer than the previous hamburger he used to carry around in his pocket.

🥤🍒 7-Up – Shirley Temple flavored

Limited time soda flavor

I’m a big Shirley Temple (the drink) fan so when this came out I had to try it. I WAS VERY PLEASED. It’s supposed to be limited edition, so stock up now while you can!

Sadly, I cannot recommend the “Zero” version: the artificial aftertaste was too strong for me. But I want to give SPECIAL PROPS to the lady behind me at the grocery store who broke open her 12-pack of Zero so I could try a single can!

🧣 Funky Junque Women’s Infinity Scarf

Hubby got me a few of these for Christmas. Very chunky and cozy. I love an infinity scarf, it’s a very easy way to stay warm and add a pop of color to a basic outfit.

Printable Half-Sheet Habit Tracker

by PhenixPrintable on Etsy

Every week I try to get a few specific tasks done daily, both for fun and for productivity. But the list was growing really big, and I was having trouble finding room to track ’em in my planner. So I thought I’d try an insertable half-sheet tracker. I’ve been pretty happy with the “Week Of” one seen in this set, but this set has a variety, including one chart that could track an entire year’s worth of habits!
This is a digital download, so you pay for it once, and print off however many you need. Very reasonably priced, I think!

I reduce the size to 84% and then use my Happy Planner punch to add it to my discbound planner.

I also bought this other set, by Puffin Planners on Etsy, but I haven’t tried it yet.

🌮 Chicken Nacho Casserole

Recipe

New Year’s is coming, which means everyone’s (usually) trying to eat a little healthier. I’ve been making this recipe for a couple months now, and it’s been a big blessing! Even though it’s a healthier recipe, it combines the legit tastiness of nachos with the convenience of a casserole.
Now, we’re not on a big strict diet thing, so we use salt-in beans (I like Bush’s black beans in the blue can). I also sub our fave red salsa in for the fire roasted tomatoes.

This ends my 5 Favorites for 2024. Do you like this series? Gimme a comment and let me know!

See you next year!

5 Favorites for July 2024: Music, Memories, Mods, and Mews

“5 Favorites” is a recurring feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I’ll be posting 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

📻 🧚‍♀️ BOOK OF HOURS: Original Soundtrack

(Free listen on YouTube. Like it? Purchase your own copy via Steam.)

Do you need to disappear to a magical world that sounds like nature still has fairies hiding in the shadows of the green leaves? Then try out this soundtrack to a game I bounced really hard off of 🙃. Very elegant, New Age-y sound. If you like the soundtrack to any of the MYST games or if you enjoy listening to the Mediaeval Baebes, you’re gonna ADORE this.

🖼️ Memories of Ed Benedict

(Article.)

In preparation for creating new covers for the FASHION FRENCHIES series, I’m studying the artwork of Ed Benedict, who designed the titles to BEWITCHED and like, every classic Hanna-Barbera character outside of SCOOBY DOO!. While researching, I stumbled upon this article by the creator of JOHNNY BRAVO, Van Partible, reflecting on his time with the artist.

🎮 Slay the Spire: DOWNFALL

(Mod. Downloads and installs through the Steam workshop. Requires Slay the Spire game to play.)

If you already own SLAY THE SPIRE (and maybe like me have almost 500 hours logged 🫠), you owe it to yourself to try this expansion. I recently beat the Heart with all the official characters, and have been slowly working my way through Ascensions as the Silent…but this expansion has made me fall in love with this game all over again, with new fresh characters and mechanics.
Bonus link: you might also like the PACKMASTER mod, which integrates nicely with DOWNFALL.

▶️ Overly Dramatic Kitten

(YouTube vid, 5 seconds long)

I can’t stop watching this, so now you must know about it.

▶️ HONK

(YouTube vid, less than 5 seconds)

I giggle every time.

I post the Proclamation o’ Progress next month, so check back soon! 🙂

5 Favorites for June 2024: Practical Pens, a Purrworthy Plaything, and music to help you PUT FOOT TO TASK!

“5 Favorites” is a new feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I’ll be posting 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

✍️ Papermate InkJoy Ballpoint 700RT Retractable Ballpoint Pens

Everyday pen+

If you want an upgrade to your usual stick pen, consider this smoothie!

A few months back, I tried out a new pen–not for writing novels, but a cheap one for writing my Morning Pages.
I liked this new stick pen: I felt the ink wrote smoother than the Bics I previously used. BUT! the triangular barrel was an uncomfortable match with my hand’s grip–a dealbreaker for me (if a triangular grip won’t bother you, I strongly recommend this pen).

I browsed around and discovered they were using the same ballpoint ink in this multi-colored pen. I loved its chonky round barrel but I drained the black ink in, like, a WEEK. (I’m trying it out now for color coding things in my checkbook.)

Finally, I discovered this pen, the 700RT. Its white barrel is round (though not as chonky as the multi-colored pen, which I would have liked) and the ink is smooth and dark, same as those stick pens, but with a much comfier barrel. Bonus! No lid to lose!

🐾 The Original Cat Dancer Toy

A-meow-zing cat toy

I bought this and the “Pro-Model” Cat Dancer, which comes with a handle.
At 17 years of age (that’s like, 80-something in cat years), I thought Pixel J. Cat was totally OVER all toys…Then I brought the Cat Dancer into our house. He attacks it like he’s a kitten again, not just batting at it for close paw play, but bounding around me to attack! (Of course, I knew our soon-to-be-three-year-old cat Barnaby Jones would love it.)

The extra length on this model keeps the toy within the cats’ reach even when I’m standing upright. Or I can get down on the floor and play with them. Very versatile! It’s an extra-terrific toy for those with joint or mobility issues, because very little movement is needed to generate erratic, mesmerizing motions for the kitties.

My husband had an old screwdriver handle lying around and used epoxy to attach it to one end, which is what I’d recommend, because right now it doesn’t have much of a handle for the human. (I also bought the model with the handle, the “Pro” version, but the shorter length means it’s not half as versatile as the Original.) Highly recommended if you have a kitty!

◻️ Underground Blossom

Game. Steam, app stores

Somehow I missed that Rusty Lake put out a new game?? I really enjoyed UNDERGROUND BLOSSOM, it’s a gently spooky (and sometimes surreal-bizarro-funny) point-and-click puzzle game, one in a series I’ve enjoyed for years. Do I grok the lore? No. Do I have a great time when I click the right code and a fish drops out the end of a busker’s trumpet? YES.

I imagine it’s probably best played on your tablet but since my app store kept acting up, I got it on Steam and had just as much fun playing it on PC.

▶️ Pogo Sticks (Animusic)

YouTube music video

Rad music with ’90s-PBS-trippy visuals. Easy for me to picture it playing after WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CARMEN SANDIEGO?

📻👟 ONE. ANGRY. REPTILE. (The Anger Foot Medley)

Music (please note: thumbnail is very chaotic and contains stylized gore).

Can’t bring yourself to get a chore done? Assuming it’s not a cerebral chore (like balancing your bank account or writing thank you notes), throw on this tune and put FOOT. TO. TASK!! (Powered by the game Anger Foot.)

5 Favorites for January 2024

5 Favorites is a new feature here at Pixelvania Publishing. On the last Friday of every month, I’ll be posting 5 FAVORITE THINGS I’ve recently (or not-so-recently) enjoyed, in case you’re looking for something neat to experience.

The Proclamations of Progress will still be posted Februaries and Septembers. 🙂

With that, here’s my latest 5 Favorites!

📻 MANHATTAN SKYLINE by A-Ha

First, I saw this meme about Aphex Twin (which is another artist I like)

Which is originally from THIS meme

Which is referencing this song and it’s a TRUE BANGER!!!! I didn’t know A-HA went this hard!

🎮 TUNIC (Game: Switch, Steam, and other systems)

I ADORE this game. To give you an idea of how much I adore it, I had it for exactly two weeks in 2023 and it became my Game of the Year. GOTY. Yes.

Don’t be fooled by the isometric perspective: It’s the spiritual successor to HOLLOW KNIGHT, rewarding you for nosing around every nook and cranny, rocking your face off with an amazing chill soundtrack, exploring a world full of light and darkness…It’s absolutely terrific. I went in blind and was glad I did, so I don’t want to say much more–except I love that the game rewards you for using items…with more items! Otherwise I would just hoard bombs until the end sceen.

📖 Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst

A really magical book full of great characters, based around racing dangerous monsters, but about way more than that.  It’s the kind of book I’d love to write some day, and I’m super glad I got to read it!!! I give this MY VERY HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION, if you’re an epic fantasy fan.

▶️ ONE HIT WONDERLAND: “Macarena” by Los del Rio

A twenty-five minute documentary about the Macarena. You’re welcome.

🍿 Jerry and Marge Go Large (Movie, Paramount+)

A heartwarming, feel-good movie starring Bryan Cranston, based on a true story of a retired couple who found a loophole in the lottery and helped out their town. Don’t know if you need to know much more than that!

The Pixelvania Proclamation o’ Progress, August 2020

The Pixelvania Proclamation o’ Progress is a semiannual post detailing what’s going on around here, and what might show up in the future. It also includes reviews of shows, books, games, products, etc. you may also like. It’s only posted twice a year so as not to clog up your valuable, beautiful brain space.

Cute kitty photo at the end.

Recap

Here’s what’s been published since the last post:

Cover for HELLO, WIZARD. Eerie glowing text pops off a wrinkled piece of paper against a stone background. Cover for THE CAPRAMANCER NEXT DOOR: A laughing woman wields a glowing shepherd's crook while a goat leaps through a portal overhead Cover for MIDWINTER MAGIC: A stylized glowing reindeer leaps against the blue Northern LightsCover for THE GIRLFRIEND WHO WASN'T FROM DELAWARE - A giant hand made of blue static reaches down to pluck an apartment out of a building like a Jenga block

It was fun working on Midwinter Magic and Girlfriend back-to-back, because those stories are POLAR OPPOSITES in terms of tone, one being a mythic fairy tale and the other a gruff guy’s modern horror nightmare.

I also added most my books to Book Cave’s content ratings site, in case you’re trying to decide if a book’s content (violence, swears, etc.) is appropriate for yourself or a youngster.

Currently in Production

I was already an author working from home when the pandemic struck. Routine is priceless in a work-from-home life, and I was fortunate that I’d been building one since the past year. So on the one hand, my day-to-day life didn’t change much. Writing and writing-related projects got done.

On the other hand, I’ve definitely been absorbing the extra stress around me…and the malaise weighing down the air was something I’ve also had to do battle with (as I’m sure you did/are doing!). So…sometimes not a lot of writing got done. But some did happen!

Steel City, Veiled Kingdom (SCVK) – Print Books

Still in production! They’ve been revised twice now (basically spellchecks) and are set for another round of look-overs. They’re gonna be beautiful.

The Purrfect Christmas – Illustrated Paperback

Just getting spun up on this project; right now I’m planning the illustrations. Doing a chapter book with spot illustrations isn’t something I’ve done before, but I think the resulting product will be a really fun Christmas book for families to read together.

Chrystine’s Sleep Solution

This midlength horror story is still making the rounds at the magazines. Let’s hope it finds a nice home out there!

Nosferatu Novel (previously The Horror of Hriana)

A Worlds of Everlush novel/novel sequence. This SCVK spinoff is currently on hiatus for reasons you’ll see below. I’m thinking it’ll get split into three books with awesome titles, which I’m very excited about…If that’s the case, The Horror of Hriana will probably be dropped as a series title, so that it’s a little more obvious the stories are about a vampire. Lately I’ve been itching to get back to this one.

Post-SCVK novel (working title: The Bad Host)

A Worlds of Everlush story (already at short novel length), a low-key sequel to Steel City, Veiled Kingdom. Just felt like it was time to start it.

Writing it, I feel like this:

Cat using a cat-sized computer with the caption "I have no idea what I'm doing."

Another short horror story with a cat

Currently titleless. Wrote it as a quick break from The Bad Host; need to type it and start sending it to magazines.

Future Plans (AKA Plotting and Scheming)

Love Potion Commotion! (Magic Fashion Frenchies #1) – paperback formatting AND cover refresh

This will complete my backlist titles that need to be in paperback. But I wanna do it right, so I’m not gonna start it until Purrfect is in paperback. I also have to rethink the cover so it not only fits this novel, but the second book in the series, AKA…

Salute a Pooch! (Magic Fashion Frenchies #2)

I’ve got a few chapters written, but it’s been on hiatus for some time now. I think getting Love Potion Commotion! off my plate will revitalize this one.

Crazy Rich Dragons stories

Still wanna write these!

The Gardeners of Palomar

This was actually the first novel I started writing after finishing SCVK back in 2016. I dropped it because someone said I really ought to do a sequel to SCVK (that impulse turned into Nosferatu Novel)…Anyway, I’m starting to miss it, it was a real weird one, hee!

Finish Ancient Unfinished Shorts

…including a post-apocalyptic banjo fantasy, a cybernetic take on Sleeping Beauty, and I can’t even remember what else.

A thriller novel starring Ternerr from SCVK (previously The [Something Something] Conspiracy )

This will be a Worlds of Everlush novel, spun off from SCVK. Wanna clear the deck summore (and finish my course on writing thrillers) before I take a crack at this nut!

Start a Pixelvania merch shop

Thinking it’d be fun to put some of my book covers on shirts. And maybe some cat jokes! Could be fun!

Recommended Reads, Watches, Plays, and Products

Book cover: The Twisted OnesThe Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher

Kingfisher (AKA writer-artist-comic superstar Ursula Vernon) writes in a lot of different genres, but this book is her first horror novel—folk horror, if you force me to get specific. A woman discovers a dark secret cleaning out her deceased hoarder grandmother’s house out in the sticks. You’ll love the main character’s down-to-earth voice and there’s some deliciously creepy stuff in the middle (the HILL man, the HILL!!). I was considerably less enamored of the ending, but the first parts are so strong, I still want people to read it.

3.5/5 Pixel Snackies

TV Series Image: Samurai CatSamurai Cat

This is a live-action TV show from Japan about a samurai learning life lessons from an adorable white kitty that he was originally supposed to assassinate. 5/5 Pixel Snackies.

Oh, you need more info before you watch? Well, it’s formatted weird on Amazon (with big gaps of dead air in the first season, as though the commercials had been cut out, but the time for those commercials left in), they’re missing the movies that go in-between each season, and none of the show’s translators can seem to agree if the kitty is a girl or a boy (my vote is girl).

Despite these goofs, Samurai Cat is ENTIRELY worth watching, 110%. It’s heartwarming, it’s hilarious, it’s family-friendly, and it proves there’s nothing unmanly about being a cat guy. (If you’ve ever searched for cat-themed gifts for a man, you understand my pain.)

I saw it on Amazon Prime Video. If you’re having trouble finding out extra info about it online, search for Neko Zamurai. 5/5 Pixel Snackies.

Video Cover image: Duke Bluebeard's CastleDuke Bluebeard’s Castle (1988)

One of the YouTube comments for this reads: “…if Hitchcock had written an opera.” So naturally I had to click. I LOVED IT. It’s suspenseful, only an hour long, and, if you’re so inclined, very fun to yell comments at (“She discovered his model train room!”). And this Bluebeard smolders.

Béla Bartók’s music is mostly eerie…but in some parts it shimmers like the best parts of Strauss’ Der Rosenkavalier. Wonderful. I saw it here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9Aq2WWds8k

When you realize it is awesome you can buy it here: https://www.amazon.com/Bartok-Bluebeards-Castle-Robert-Lloyd/dp/B002NY7YVY/

5/5 Pixel Snackies.

Game Image: Toki Tori 2+Toki Tori 2+ (PC and other consoles)

This little-known gem deserves to be right up there with legendary environmental puzzle games Braid and Portal. You start the game with two moves: a stomp and a whistle. With these two moves, you can reach anywhere on the map, as soon as the game starts! The catch: to do this, you have to first know how those two moves interact with the other little critters in your environment…

No tutorials. It’s Inductive Reasoning: the game. I discovered it from this GMTK video. Definitely worth the buy—I spent 32 hours total runnin’ my little chicken around, and it was grade-A jumbo puzzle platforming at its best. Check out the little explanation of the map first, that’s helpful.

5/5 Pixel Snackies.

Game Image: A Short HikeA Short Hike (PC)

A friend gifted me this. It is SO relaxing, so charming, and so much fun to move around in. I wish I could climb and glide like this in real life. Alack!! I can only do it in this game—but I’m grateful I can.

This game will take your blues away.

5/5 Relaxing Pixel Snackies

Product Image: T-Gel ShampooNeutrogena T/Gel Shampoo

Come winter, my scalp always goes flaky—dry air + indoor heating = the itchies. Last year, I told my hairstylist and she recommended this shampoo. “You don’t use it every time. In fact, it’ll probably live under your sink,” she told me.

Now, because this is life, there’s an upside and a downside to nearly everything. The upside of this shampoo is that IT WORKS. I used it once every 2-3 weeks during the cold months and my flakes disappeared. Wonderful.

The downside of this shampoo is that it leaves your head smelling like the smoker’s lounge of a museum basement from the 1970s.

Is it pure, unfiltered tobacco gel I’m rubbing into my scalp these days? I’m not sure. Is smelling like an ashtray worth a flakeless ‘do? I think it is.

4/5 Pixel Snackies.

Our mascot, Pixel J. Cat

Our mascot, Pixel J. Cat, lounging in a camping chair

We moved “our” camping chairs to our patio earlier in the year.

Now they’re not our camping chairs anymore.