Sheltie Gazette: No Boredom for You
Sep 26, 2025 1:06 am
Happy autumn, —
I have a bunch of fun bookish treats and news for you, but I've just gotten back from the emergency vet and am both late and tired. Don't worry, everyone is now fine (with the exception of our pocketbook, which is weeping), but I guess I'll have to make room in the newsletter for the Naughty Dog Story.
- Are you back in school?
- Hot off the presses
- Even hotter
- Bookish treats
- The dangers of boredom. Very very dangerous.
Back to schoo—or not
I try to think of fun stories for you, but I'm also raising five kids. That means that by the end of September, my brain is something like a bowl of week-old instant oatmeal.
However, those of you who are kind and friendly enough to write back to me often have mentioned your own teaching days, kids, and grandkids, so I thought you might like to hear a little bit about mine. Please, reply to this email and tell me about your own kids and your teaching jobs!
My oldest graduated in June, so she is having her first not-in-regular-school year. Then I have two more still in high school, a senior and a sophomore. Both of those two have done homeschool with me all the way through, so although they're pretty independent, this is always an intense time of year for us. Also, we have *so much college* prep!!!
And my younger two are in first and third grade— and do I have a story for you! 😳 This year, in mid-August, their Montessori school started....having confusion. With the benefit of hindsight, I can tell you that the director stopped paying the teachers, stopped answering questions, broke the lease and vanished with all the classroom materials and even everything outdoors that was not seated in concrete (she took the picnic tables, folks), and disappeared with everyone's prepaid tuition. Then a group of intrepid parents managed to form a new non-profit, get a new lease on the same building, find donations and materials, and re-hire whichever teachers had not already run screaming into the sunset.
But that's the benefit of hindsight. In August, it was basically waking up every day not knowing what cuckoo bananas thing was unfolding today, and who was lying about what. Instead of taking my kids to orchards and playing board games, I was in full panic researching schooling options that could become extant within mere days.
So, my younger two are currently going to a new school, and then we're driving them to their old school for aftercare. We're all having a lot of feelings about the school switch, and as I'm sure many of you know, little kids with lots of feelings means there is a lot of yelling and crying. Any moment now, it's going to get better. I'm sure.
Hot off the presses — paperbacks!!!
I'm super excited to announce that now "The Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales" are coming to physical bookshelves!
This seems like it should be simple, but I've struggled to find what is good for you versus what is good for the Amazon algorithm. Because printing costs are high, I hate to charge you $36+ for three novellas. So I made them into an entirely new volume so I can afford to price it at less than half that....and added a bonus short story, too.
This the Amazon link, because it's brand new right now this hot second. If you prefer another retailer, check if it's live in that store by now (or email me to ask if it will become available at your favorite!).
It is so new that the GoodReads link also hasn't shown up yet, although it might be by the time you read this. However, this is the exact same content that's in the ebooks of The Horned Women, The White Deer of Kildare, and The Knight of the Terrible Valley and Aiden of Florida.(Plus "The Two Rings" short story.) So if you have read those books and are willing to drop a review on the Amazon link, it would help so much!
Even hotter... squires and knights*
The second part of Rian's story is on its way! I've heard about a new idea for a book launch, and I can't wait to try it—because it's story-based. I love stories. So be on the lookout....I'm doing something different next week for The Knight and His Magical Armlet. It will just be for launch week, and then back to our regular puppy-filled content.
"The Squire and His Magical Library is a sweet and creative coming of age story set in an Ireland of myth and magic."
*I wrote this meaning "hot off the press".... but The Knight & His Magical Armlet definitely has romance vibes, so I'm letting the double entendre stand.
Bookish treats
First of all..... please join me on Instagram for Witchtober! Follow me for daily posts, links, and book reviews coming up. These have fun twists, cozy mystery, paranormal, and all kinds of fun books.
Feed your fiction addiction with Kobo+!
Kobo+ is like a giant library, with one monthly fee for access to tons and tons of excellent books, especially by indie authors. I know many of you are budget-conscious readers, and we have to be when we love to devour books! I use Kobo+ as a reader, and it's cheaper than either KU or buying extra library cards for Libby. (If your library, like mine, has limited books and long waits!) I've been having fun and here's a bunch more to browse...
Then..... here's three promos filled with F R E E books on BookFunnel. Sorry, I try not to bunch them up like this, but my month was thrown off with the school disasters and exciting book announcement! The following all end on the 30th, so be sure to click and see if there's any books you want to grab.
I've shared a similar promo before, but this month has tons of new books! Lots of romantasy and urban retellings, but there's also an Arthurian and Snow White story I'm definitely going to check out.
Lots of urban, sci-fi, and dystopian..... also a junkyard dog, a totally unexpected book with a cookie on the front, and some short stories.
This Multi-Genre Giveaway has some lofty goals about gathering together huge numbers of readers, writers, and conversations about books. I joined out of curiosity, and.... it is indeed eclectic. Really eclectic. I have just spent several minutes browsing these books to tell you about them and.... whoa. You'll just have to check them out, because there is no summarizing. I'm getting the sonata one, though.
Whew! So that's about it....
Oh wait! You needed the emergency vet story, didn't you?
Shelties are not really scarfy dogs. I have never had them eat a shoe or electrical cords or a cake. However, they are bored dogs....or they aren't good at being bored, or (as in this case) they are dangerous when bored.
Apparently, certain people did not finish putting away our bulk food order, and then it got knocked over. If the food has been in the kitchen, it would have been normal, visible, and boring. But since it was in the entryway, Malin got to discover it—then dismember the bag—then move it around—all of which is highly rewarding. By the time we heard them, my husband found an entire pound of chocolate chips missing.
This is when people always say "well, it depends on the kind of chocolate" and "the chocolate you like to eat probably isn't that bad," but we are a multi-allergy house and ALL the chocolate we have is VERY dark chocolate.
Chocolate is bad for dogs. However, on a pound-for-pound ratio, this ends up being something like you or I eating eight and a half pounds of chocolate in ten minutes. I think anyone would need to go to the hospital if they somehow managed to get that much chocolate into their body. So this was not just a "need to throw up" situation, it was a "need to throw up, detox, and have heart monitors all night" situation. Luckily, Malin did not need his heart restarted. However, he is feeling pretty cuddly and sheepish today, so he might be kind of miserable.
As for the other dogs... Adare followed him downstairs and got some chocolate too. My teen daughter was cooking things in a frying pan, and Inish was delighted to have her all to himself, because you never know when someone will dump everything in their frying pan out onto the floor for their favorite dog. Or, you know, one bite. That would be worth half an hour of undying love and frying-pan watching, which is what Inish exerted. That was a much much much better choice, so Inish didn't have to go to the hospital at all.
Meanwhile, Malin assures me that he is able to perk up at any time. So if anyone else has any other terrible—but non-boring!—ideas, be sure to count him in.
All three dogs at Lake Pend O'Reille
Adare and Inish are contemplating a nice nap after a morning of hiking.
Malin (in the middle) is clearly saying WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? LET'S DO IT!!!
