“What is one thing you would change about yourself?”
I would change my introverted nature. I tend to be dismissive of people in an inadvertent way because I’m trying not to bother them. They don’t see it that way but that is my true goal – not be a bother.
“Are you more of a night or morning person?”
I wish I was more of a night person as it is more natural to me. Life just doesn’t let me do that though. I honestly usually wish that I just didn’t need sleep, like in the prompt from last week.
“What are your feelings about eating meat?”
I used to be aiming for a plant-based diet where I was not eating any animal products. Now, I am focused on Whole Foods, but incorporating animal products while increasing the proportion of vegetables and fruits in the dishes. The main reason is because my husband does not want to be on an entirely plant-based diet and when I was making separate dishes for each, it was a lot more expensive for us. I am currently working towards making meals where it’s more plant-based in that any meat that is used is there for flavor, as it is in older, cultural dishes that come from when meat was more scarce for less affluent populations. I feel like this style of eating is more healthy since it’s incorporating more veggies and fruits and less processed foods. Processed foods is another reason why I moved away from an entirely plant-based diet – there are so many processed foods that are designed to replace meat that do not really digest as a meat would in our systems. I honestly would rather eat a little meat than eating more processed foods.
“What technology would you be better off without, why?”
As much as I hate that it’s true, I would be so much better off without my smartphone. My attention span has suffered. My social interactions have suffered. My relationship with my son has a barrier because I inadvertently zone out into my phone instead of properly regulating my emotions. Even with this awareness, I am not able to fix it because I still have the phone in my possession. Ideally, I need to get a basic phone OR I need to turn my phone into just a phone, text, camera, and maps device and use my computer for all my entertainment purposes. I have deleted and re-downloaded all my social media apps repeatedly because everyone else has these apps. I admit that it was FOMO.
“Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?”
Not really. I just look forward to Stovetop stuffing and pumpkin pie every year.
“If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?”
Ideally, I would like to study and read books. Some days, I would probably doom-scroll too much but I usually come back to studying out of curiosity.
“Name your top three pet peeves.”
First is a work one; it’s when someone asks me a question, I give my answer, and they go with the first thing that they were thinking all along. Personally, if you were going to go with your gut anyway, don’t ask me, I’m not going to simply validate your thought unless I agree with it completely.
Next is a personal one; it’s when someone places objects in a place where they do not go or they use an object of mine and they don’t put it back exactly where they got it from.
I’m sure I have a third one but I cannot narrow it down right at this moment. It’s probably related to people correcting my language or presenting me with a misinformed reason for why they do or think something.
This book is a piece of fiction and it is the middle book in a series about a specific family of witches in the New England area.
I was first introduced to the characters by the movie by the same name which stars Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman released in 1998. I first saw this movie in 2018 and I found it to be a cozy story about sisters. I expected something similar from the book but the book is very different from its movie adaptation.
The book has numerous differences from the age of Sally’s daughters to Gillian’s storyline. Being that there are such vast differences in the stories, I found that I liked specific things about each of them separately. I enjoy the overall atmosphere of the movie but I enjoy Gillian’s story much better in the book. Below, I am going to get more spoilery. (Granted, all stories have been out for many years at this point, but you have been warned.)
In the book, Sally’s daughters are teenagers instead of the cute little girls in the movie. Sally also does not live with the aunts as an adult. The aunts are in Massachusettes and Sally lives in a small town in New York. Gillian does run off and meet a man in Arizona but he’s not from Eastern Europe, he is an American drug dealer named Jimmy Hawkins. In the story, Gillian blames herself for his death because she was giving him witchy herbs to calm him down from hurting her, but it turns out that he got rid of himself with his own bad supply. The whole scene with Sally and Gillian being kidnapped by Jimmy did not happen. Gillian shows up at Sally’s house freaked out because she didn’t know what happened to him and they bury him in the yard. The whole spell trying to bring him back also did not happen.
The book has a more serious tone than the movie. The book also does not have overt spell craft done by Sally or Gillian. The aunts show up at the end and brew a potion but otherwise, Sally is not a practician of the craft as she is in the movie. In the book, she is a teacher, versus the movie version, who is a potion maker and sells her hair care products and soaps.
Overall, I do prefer the atmosphere of the movie but I wish that more of Gillian’s happy story from the book was added to the movie. I also prefer the personality of Sally in the movie than her dry book personality.
“Who are your current most favorite people?”
This goes without saying – my husband and my son.
“What are your favorite animals?”
I have had cats my whole adult life and I enjoy cat videos so they are my favorite. I just love that they have an attitude and they don’t care about what anyone thinks. They just do what they want! And they get to sleep all day.
