9 Things Making My Life Better So Far This Quarter (April-June 2024)

If I were choosing based entirely on the impact on my life, this list would be full of diapers and bottles and so forth, but I’m sticking with my plan of not including baby-centric things. Still, you can tell that baby life has been getting easier to manage, because I’ve included a lot of book- and hobby-related stuff. Here are the nine things that have been making my life better so far these past few months.

The Haunter of the Dark (The Lovecraft Investigation series) by BBC Radio 4 (podcast)

OMG, my favourite BBC fiction podcast put out another season! Still not very far through it (see: the whole having-a-baby thing), but I’m loving all the things I loved about the first three runs. After listening to the second episode, I actually had to put down the earbuds and process the creepiness before continuing. The acting is still excellent, and so is the much-needed “Lovecraft, but without the xenophobia etc.” update.

Camoland magnetic hat clip

I bought one of these to make it easier to travel with my big straw sunhat and then discovered it’s useful for so many other purposes. Like, for example, securing a makeshift sun cover to the baby’s stroller.

Watering globes

I resisted getting these for a long time because, honestly, they seemed like cheap plastic junk that probably wasn’t going to work anyway. Boy, was I happy to be wrong. They do seem to keep my balcony plants well watered, even when I’m away or busy for a week, and the plants themselves are growing bigger and healthier than they ever have before.

… OK, I guess what I’m saying is that a cheap plastic junk watering globe has a greener thumb than I do. *sigh* It’s true.

New Kobo

For my first Mother’s Day as a parent, Husband and Baby surprised me with a new and better e-reader. I’d been dithering over replacing my entry-level Kobo Nia with a brand-new top-of-the-compact-line Kobo Clara BW, and so they took matters into their own hands. Is the functionality essentially the same? Yeah, which is why I was dithering. But the overall experiences is so much smoother: no more several-second delay when I try to turn the page; no more needing to restart/sync several times to load books; and no more lag on touchscreen presses. Given that I use my e-reader almost every day, the little improvements go a very long way.

KN Knivman Sweden cheese plane

After plenty of Google research, I finally identified the brand of cheese plane my mom owns, which has lasted for literal decades and is still the sharpest, most user-friendly cheese plane I’ve ever encountered. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be in production any more. Fortunately, it’s available on Etsy, eBay, and similar sites, so I snapped up one for me and one for my sister. It slices like a dream! If you dream about slicing cheese very smoothly!

Tayogo’s newest swim mp3 player

I had the previous version of this waterproof mp3 player, but it was kinda flimsy and stopped charging after a few months. So of course I did the whole “Oh, I don’t need it… I should save money… I should just suck it up and swim in silence…” dance until finally I tried to live up to the item on my last quarter’s list and just bought it. This update fixes the pain points on the old model: a computer voice tells you what you’ve selected when you cycle through the mode, and the player is a single sealed piece with a magnetic port for charging and linking to a computer. That’s important because I’m pretty sure my last one broke via the shenanigans required to open the unit to expose its USB-A charger.

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson (mystery novel, 2022)

This author’s voice seems to be hit-or-miss for Goodreads reviewers, but for me, it was a palpable hit. This murder-mystery riff on golden-age cozies (and Agatha Christie in particular) is full of twists and turns and just enough danger to make things interesting. That said… um, I don’t know how to phrase anything specific without mega spoilers, so let’s just go with the bland “If you know a ton of golden-age mysteries, you might clue in on whodunnit early,” though the implementation is clever enough that you’ll still wonder how he/she/they dunnit until the final pages.

Corona Sunbrew (0.0% alcohol)

Nothing like a Corona and lime in the summer… unless, like me, you aren’t a fan of alcohol and its effects.* Now I can kick back with a brew that tastes pretty much like regular Corona. There’s some marketing nonsense about it being fortified with vitamin D, but that’s not why you’d choose this.

LAYTON’S MYSTERY JOURNEY™: Katrielle and the Millionaires’ Conspiracy – Deluxe Edition by LEVEL5 (video game, 2019)

I loved the original Professor Layton trilogy (and the second? trilogy that followed). This game gives me more of the same: I help oddball but charming cartoon characters investigate silly mysteries by solving puzzles and pixel-hunting for more puzzles/hint coins on every screen. There’s a lot of text-based dialogue, some groaner puns, and the occasional set of frustrating puzzle instructions, but I love it anyway. I’m sure there are some deep references to the plots of the previous games, but I’ve forgotten all that and still have fun.

Runners-up: In any other quarter, one or more of these books would have made it to my top nine. (In fact, I’m kind of embarrassed that I have to be honest about getting more joy from non-alcoholic beer than the excellent writing and storytelling here.) Anyway, I was and am spoiled for great reads, and now you can be too!

The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz (graphic novel, 2023)

The Red Palace by June Hur (YA historical mystery, 2022)

The Chaos Machine by Max Fisher (non-fiction, 2022)

Translation State by Ann Leckie (adult SF, 2023)

Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs (adult SFF, 2023)

Rayleigh Mann in the Company of Monsters by Ciannon Smart (MG fantasy, 2023)

Also, right before the end of the month, Husband and I enjoyed the gorgeously animated Netflix series Pokémon Concierge. Short, sweet, and disgustingly cute.

* On myself. You do you! I get dehydrated and headache-y from hardly any booze, is what I’m saying, and I don’t personally enjoy being tipsy or drunk.