Happy New Year 2021 And Tom Thumb Day!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2021!

I hope the first days of the new year has been good and I hope it continues to be good throughout many years.


2020 did not leave anyone unscathed. I lost two family members this year my dad and his sister. My aunt passed from complications from Covid and my dad made it through Covid but I think it weakened his body which was already weak. He passed a week and a half before Christmas…

I have so many boxes of my parents’ stuff to look through and a lot is getting put on eBay. My dad liked to collect memorabilia. So my start of 2021 kinda feels like I am going through a treasure hunt.


As for reading… well I have already finished two books that I started in 2020 but still, it is progress. I in fact have quite a few books that I have finished but I have not written reviews for yet. I still don’t want to stop doing this blog so we will see how this year goes.







Celebrate Every Day With Books

It seems like everyday has some new theme to celebrate so I thought it might be fun to see what kind of interesting books I can find (new, old, or coming soon) for an everyday holiday. In fact, most days have more than one holiday!

TODAY 

IS 

JANUARY 4TH 2021

TOM THUMB DAY

“Charles Sherwood Stratton, who would become known as General Tom Thumb, was born on today's date in 1838, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Although he was born a normal size, by the age of six months he had stopped growing, possibly because of a pituitary gland issue, such as Growth Hormone Deficiency (GHD). At the time, he was 25 inches long and weighed 15 pounds. It wasn't until age 9 that he started growing again—albeit at a slow pace—and he was just two feet, eight inches tall when he reached the age of 18. He kept growing throughout his life and eventually reached three feet, four inches in height, and a weight of 70 pounds.

Stratton was just four years old when he met circus impresario P.T. Barnum, who was a distant relative. Barnum became the boy's manager, and taught him how to sing, dance, mime, and make impersonations. Stratton became one of the "wonders" at Barnum's American Museum in New York City, where he arrived on December 8, 1842. Barnum paid Stratton's father three dollars a week to let his boy be there, and Stratton and his mother lived in an apartment in the museum.” (taken from checkiday.com)

So that you know I have not read most of these but the ones I pick seem the most interesting and would like to read. You can probably find tons more books for each holiday but I am only going to pick two books for one holiday a day. 

Let me know what you think. Do any of them seem interesting to you? Is there another book you think would be a better choice?

Title: The Remarkable Courtship Of General Tom Thumb by Nicholas Rinaldi

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction,

What It Is About?: “...this novel weaves together a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at life during the Civil War and a moving tale of one misfit's odyssey to find his place in the world. Discovered at age four by P.T. Barnum, Tom Thumb soon finds himself traveling internationally, sitting on the laps of the queens of Europe, and entertaining the masses. He meets Czar Nicholas and the King of Saxony and is invited to the Tuilleries by Louis Philippe. After marrying Lavinia Warren, Tom and his wife are hosted at the White House by President Lincoln. With the country at war, Tom and Lavinia set out on their honeymoon tour and witness firsthand the fracture between the states, the heroism of young soldiers, and the unbreakable spirit of the American people...” ( From Goodreads.com)

Available To Buy: Anywhere Books Are Sold

Available To Swap: 0 Available on PBS





Title: The Autobiography Of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin

Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction,

What It Is About?: “...She was only two-foot eight-inches tall, but her legend reaches out to us more than a century later. As a child, Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Bump was encouraged to live a life hidden away from the public. Instead, she reached out to the immortal impresario P. T. Barnum, married the tiny superstar General Tom Thumb in the wedding of the century, and transformed into the world's most unexpected celebrity…”(from Goodreads.com)

Available To Buy: Anywhere Books Are Sold

Available To Swap: 1 Available on PBS

Mumbling Monday - Who I Am And How I Started Book Blogging

Who I Am And How I Started Book Blogging

(the art of me by me from my many Christmas cards)

I think I have written posts like this before but it has been a while so I thought why not do it again. 

My name is Shannon McGee. I sometimes go as Confuzzled Shannon on line. I am an artist, reader, blogger, daughter, sister, and wife. I am all those things and probably more. Not only do I have a big imagination that I use to draw and paint but my imagination also brings trouble to my brain in the form of a mental illness called schizophrenia. Sometimes my brain likes to make things up that have not happened. So my imagination is a blessing and a curse. 

I have been an avid reader as long as I have been able to read. Spending much of my time in my local library and hours reading in my room as a child. As an adult I know I don’t read as much because I have adult chores and worries. The older I seem to get the shorter time goes. 

I still love reading as much as I can and I love to share my thoughts with others. Before I had started this book blog I had mostly sites with art I had. During the rise of Live journal I made icons for others to use and posted them on an Angelfire website. I had another site where I drew what is called dollz. My dollz site was called dragonz and dollz. These sites are gone and probably one day this blog will be lost too but for now, I enjoy posting here. It has been over 10 years that I have had this blog. I am not good at planning celebrations even if it is only to type “Hey it’s the blog’s anniversary!” or “Hey it’s my birthday!” (which is actually Tuesday!).

Anyway this just a post that’s saying I am still here, the blog is still here and what to tomorrow may hold for either… who knows. Enjoy today! Happy Monday my confuzzled people!

Finished Reading This Week

The Electric Heir by Victoria Lee (#2 FeverWake series)

I enjoyed this series although still feel like the 1st book in the series was the better. But I do love the characters Noam, and Dara. I haven’t read many stories with LGBTQ couples and the ones I have read rarely seem believable as a couple. Noam and Dara are one of the rare ones that I feel fit together well. I would have liked to see more magic and a lot less seeing the good guys get their asses handed to them. 

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binged Watched 

The Big Bang Theory - Season 12

I was late to the party with watching TBBT. For some reason, I did not like it when it was still on but now I love it. I don’t know why I did not think it was funny. Now it is like a comfy blanket. I am sad I finished. I guess now its time to start watching Sheldon, it’s spin-off. 

Sorry To Bother You on Hulu

This was one my hubby wanted to see because he heard it was really good. I was good and definitely had a message and decided to make it with a really weird story. I mean it’s really weird.

Art I Made

(done by me, Shannon McGee)

I painted this in acrylics and I call the “3 Cute Evils”. We got Gizmo, Stitch and The Child (aka baby Yoda). I need to do more painting and I don’t think I am finished with this one yet. Got to touch up some stuff.

Mumbling Mondays - Board Gaming On The Rise

Board Gaming On The Rise

There are three really cool areas that have popped up in our area. All of them have to do with board gaming. I am not really talking about Monopoly, or Shoots And Ladders. (Although they count) I mean stores and groups that play Settlers Of Catan, Magic The Gathering, Dungeon & Dragons and so many more games. 

Area 1) The Eastern Pennsylvania Gaming Society - A group of gamers at all levels. They meet in the community room in Oxford Valley Mall. They hold meetings on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. They usually game from 9 am to 9 pm. The first visit is free afterward there is a monthly fee. You can bring your own games or see what others bring and jump into a game.

Area 2) Lookin’ For Games Store and Lounge - This store has a nice space. There is a fee to play games you get to try all sorts of boards games before purchasing them. You can even hold with large groups. They also help promote many games that are on Kickstarter. 

Area 3) Nerdom Lounge - This place just opened in Philly. Similar set up as Lookin’ For Games but they also have spaces to watch movies and or go on the internet. 

Are gaming shops or groups popping up in your area?

Finished Reading this week

Between Worlds by Skip Brittingham 

I am not quite done with this book but I should be able to finish it this week. It is very interesting. To enjoy this book there is an app to download. You can view things you can’t see in the book but only on the app. 

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binge Watching

The Dead Zone: Season 5 - Amazon Prime

Another season down. I hate that most tv series have been having fewer and fewer episodes. There were only 10 episodes in the 5th season. Where the first had 20 some. I still like the show but the formula is getting tiring. 

Happy Death Day 2U

I watched the first Happy Death Day and surprisingly enjoyed it. I knew from the trailers I was going to really enjoy this as well. I did not expect the story to go multi-verse. 

Spiderman Far From Home - In Theatres

I love all the Marvel movies this one was no different. I missed out on seeing Dark Phoenix though. Tom Holland as Spiderman has been pretty good. And those two credit scenes at the end!! OMG!

Just my imagination

Since my most recent request was a pet I decided to do another animal hidden treasure box. 

I have not finished it yet and I have started another box that is going to be fan art of a very popular tv series right now. Pictures later

Mumbling Monday - Money On The Brain

Money On The Brain

It is stressful when you are having money problems. I keep trying to wrack my brain on how to get my art and painting out there and make money somehow. I have tried sending my writing places but my writing is not good enough. But hell you know that if you are reading this blog. I am no grammar genius. I write how I talk and do reread and edit my writing but I miss stuff all the time. I trying to learn to budget especially with grocery shopping. We do Hello Fresh every week for 3 days but I am thinking it is time to end that. It is a great subscription box and it has helped us eat a little better and healthier. If anyone has any links to cheap healthy all day meal planners please share. 

Finished Reading this week

The Sense Of An Ending by Julian Barnes

An interesting 160-page novel. About a man and his relationships throughout his life. There were definitely areas where I could relate to the main character and not in good ways. I read this for a book club I was in but probably will not continue. 

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binge Watching

The Dead Zone: Season 4 (Amazon Prime)

I finished the 4th season. My favorite episode from the season was episode 5: Heroes & Demons. About an autistic boy who uses the art of Lord Of The Rings to communicate.

Life In Pieces (CBS)

I am kinda sad this show has ended. It had a good 4 seasons but I wished for longer. If you have never watched it was a comedic show about 4 families intertwined. I loved the comedy and quirky characters. 

Overlord

This was hubby’s pick. It is basically a sci-fi movie taking place during WWII in France. It was kinda boring the first half of the movie and I did not get really into it until the actor who plays Fitz on Agents Of Shield turned….ill. It also had Wyatt Russell who is Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s son.

Overboard (Amazon Prime)

This is a remake of a 1980’s movie with the gender roles swapped. The original, of course, is so much better. This version was not horrible but was missing a lot of the chemistry that was in the original. There was also much more reading involved then I expected as some of the characters speak Spanish. 

Spiderman Into The Spider-Verse (Netflix)

This movie was good but it was so hyped up I wanted to be more than it was. Probably would have been best to see in the theatre.

The Spy Who Dumped Me (Amazon Prime and Hulu)

This was an okay movie. The spy parody movies are overdone to me. Some ha ha moments but a lot of bullshit moments as well.

Just my imagination

A frequent customer bought two boxes this week. The one with the owl on top (picture below) And one personalize for someone (also below) The custom one features the persons’ cat named Pretty Girl. She also collects American eagle figures and perfume bottles. That is why Pretty Girl is nuzzling the eagle inside the box. I painted colorful perfume bottles around the sides of the box.

Mumbling Mondays - Stay Young Of Heart, But Old Of Mind

Stay Young Of Heart, But Old Of Mind

This week my body has been aching but I feel like I did a lot. I got more reading done then I have in a while. I have been writing...sort of. I played D & D with a group of good friends. But I can’t help but notice my body can’t seem to do what I want it. I want to clean but my knees hurt. I need to travel to a laundromat with a heavy bag of clothes but my back hurts. So that means I watch more tv and movies because I need to escape from my body aches. It’s frustrating...so I keep pushing through and do what I can. Is there anything stopping you from doing things you need to do or want to do?

Finished Reading this week

I loved loved this book. My wish is that I had only read it when I was younger. Why? You may ask. Well because when I was younger I fell into a book much easier. These days I read and sometimes my mind travels to other thoughts. This even happens when the book is well written and entertaining. I read this because of Life’s Library group.

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binged Watch

I watched a lot this week. I will try to sum up

Always Be My Maybe (Netflix)

This was a very cute rom-com. It felt very much like a Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler movie. I laughed hard at the Keanu Reeves scenes.

Animal World (Netflix)

This was hubby’s pick. It’s foreign so there was reading involved. Surprisingly some English is spoken and mostly by actor Michael Douglas. Yeah, Michael Douglas is in this. It is about an underground game of Rock, Paper, Scissors...sort of. It was okay…

Aquaman (Borrowed From Library) 

I finally got to see Aquaman!! And you know what..it’s would have been better in the theatre. So many effects that would have been cooler on the big screen. It was good. Was it better than Wonder Woman good? Ummm….no. Wonder Woman is still the better DC movie. Next DC superhero movie I have to see Shazam.

The Dead Zone Season 3 (Amazon Prime)

Just finished up season 3. This is one of the only shows based on a Stephen King novel I think was done right. Probably why it went to 6 seasons. 

Ideal Home (HBO)

This was something I randomly caught on cable. I saw Paul Rudd and was like sure. It is funny. Not really a bad movie. But that tagline above…”These Dads SUCK.” That is terrible...funny yes but terrible. 

Oceans 8 (HBO)

I wasn’t sure whether I ever wanted to see this one...but it was entertaining. I don’t know if I buy that this heist would have ever worked. I felt like I said “bullshit” in my head a lot during it. 

My Creative Side

I haven’t done much art this week. I did get a lovely request from a customer who has ordered from me before. So I will be working on a box this week. 

Mumbling Mondays - Busy Week

Posting a little late. Here's yesterday's post. 

Busy Week

Do you ever have one of those weeks or weekends where you have plans every night? And there are 5 other things happening that night you would like to do as well? Of course the next week/weekend there is nothing to do and then you get bored out of your mind. 

Well, the busy part was this weekend. Friday we had a D&D game with my writer friends. One of them painted our characters as miniatures. It is so cool to see my character in 3D and such an unexpected gift.

Saturday my husband and I attended an art show that we had out paintings in. It was called Art All Night in Trenton, NJ and it was like going to a school art show but much more fun and so much to do, look at and listen to. 

Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day with my Father-in-Law had dinner and went to see Avengers Endgame. (1st time for him a 2nd time for us).

This week I hope to add more items into Confuzzled Designs Etsy shop and read some. What did you do this weekend? 

Finished Reading this week

The Songs Of Willow Frost by Jamie Ford

I read this one for a book club I am in. It was an interesting story. The club thinks that the name really wasn’t fitting and I agree. It should have been The Tragedy of Willow Frost or The Sorrow of Willow Frost. Not a very happy tale but interesting. 

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binged Watching

Bohemian Rhapsody

Great movie! It not only shows how good Freddie Mercury was but it also showed the awesomeness of Queen. 

Red Sparrow

This was a very intricate story, Sometimes too much so. There was a lot of little things that were easily missed because the scenes went by so fast. Keeps you guessing till the end.

My Creative Moments

As I said my husband and I entered artwork into Trenton Art All Night. At the top is me pointing at my painting “The Four Seasons” and below is my hubby, Thorins.

Mumbling Mondays - Just Keep Reading/Drawing/Writing

Mumbling Mondays - Just Keep Reading/Drawing/Writing

Yep just keep swimming … or um creating ...um yeah create. I keep reading. I keep drawing or painting. I keep writing… This last one is hard to keep doing. I have been writing book reviews here so long and just because I love reading and books. I have come across a few opportunities where companies were looking for book reviewers. I thought wow I could get paid for something I like to do. Well I have sent my resume and writing examples of my reviews and ...nothing. No reply. So I can’t help but wonder how bad is my writing. So bad no reply is necessary. That is one reason it is hard to keep writing the reviews. That and is anyone really reading. I know I get once and awhile readers and I am grateful for those of you who come. I feel a need to know what my place is..what am I meant to be or do? So I keep swimming. Say hi if you are swimming by. 

Finished Reading this week

The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 2 Fandemonium by Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie (Illustrator), Matt Wilson (Colorist), Clayton Cowles

This is #2 of this graphic novel series about Gods returned to earth every 90 years. They reveal themselves to the world as they only have 2 years to live. What there goal is unknown so far so it reminds me a little like American Gods by Neil Gaiman.

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binged Watch

Chernobyl on HBO

Godzilla:King of The Monsters in Theatres Now. 

This week I watched more things that my husband was into. Chernobyl was good and heartbreaking. So many people suffered unnecessarily. All because of money and stupid people. 

Godzilla was full of stupidity too. People doing dumb things. I noticed many shows and movies are finding villains who believe like Thanos in Avengers. They believe we must destroy half of the population of the world to bring a new and better world. 

My Creative Side

I have been working on our Xmas cards for this year. I have done a theme for the last 6 years.

Santa and Mrs. Claus 2013

(missing image)

Dickenson 2014

Star Wars 2015

Harry Potter 2016 

Marvel 2017

Peanuts 2018

??? ?????? 2019 

This year is a secret ;) It is my favorite one so far. I hope it stays that way once I finish coloring it in. 

Mumbling Mondays - Who Knows...?

What’s going on?

Well it’s been a while. I have been reading but mostly been focusing on my art. I still keep my reading list up to date on Goodreads. I have over ten 10 books to write reviews on. I haven’t forgotten about this blog. In fact, I have been racking my brain on how to improve this blog and bring more people. I jump back and forth on three ideas. 1) To keep this blog the way it is and just continue to update, 2) Do vlogging and update here differently or 3) Combine Confuzzled Book, Confuzzled Designs (my art blog) and put them both into my Confuzzled Living blog. I just do not know which way to go. I read articles, I watch videos trying to figure out what to do but as I research what to do I lose time on getting any of it done. So I am a little lost I guess. So for now I am just updating here. 

Finished Reading 

Loki’s Wolves by K.L. Armstrong & M.A. Marr

It is a juvenile fantasy very similar to the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan but following the Norse myths. It the first book in the series. I have had it as ebook for a while but just finished it. 

Other Stuff I Did This Week

Binged Watch

Lucifer season 4 on Netflix

Good Omens on Amazon Prime

Both shows were pretty great. Lucifer moving to Netflix was a nice fit and probably the best season of Lucifer ever. Good Omens stayed pretty close to the book. David Tennant and Michael Sheen were awesome together! It’s just by chance that both of these shows are Neil Gaiman related! Gaiman created the Lucifer character in the Sandman comics under Vertigo/DC Comics and Good Omens was a book first co-written by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. 

My Creative Side

I registered on of my paintings into Trenton Art All Night event. I have never done anything like this before so we will see how it goes.