This Little Life

The year's going great so far

2012-01-17T14:06:00.000-08:00

Now, I do know that I've changed this blog's photo for a new ABSOLUTELY MASSIVE one. But it's a good picture! I don't know how to resize it for the blog. Some people have nice long, narrow photos that fit absolutely perfectly. They know something about photo-trickery that I don't. I've not the patience to try and find out, so you're stuck with a massive photo. Hey, it's it good one though :D

So, as I said, the year's going great so far. I'm not watching any TV at all really, unless I happen to accidentally go downstairs for something and notice that Kev's watching 'Have I Got News For You' and get sucked into the telly. But mostly I am sitting in my 'office' and reading and doing a little bit of writing. I am just enjoying the productive vibe that's going on. I have lots to do, and not enough time to do it all. That's okay though, I'm just doing which bits I can. I've got very lovely business cards now, which I need to distribute properly. So far I have only sent some to Preston Uni via my friend Sara, and I have posted some on the Whale Tail noticeboard - this is clearly not going to make me rich. I must do more. I had intended to go to the Guardian office and give them one of my cards, but I've chickened out so far - this is exactly the wrong thing to do. See, what I've done there, is I've imagined that I'll make a tit of myself, and I've made the Guardian office a scary place to go. Now, it's very unlikely that I will actually make a tit of myself, because all I have to do is ask if they have any vacancies for a proofreader. They will either say no, or they will say maybe. It's very unlikely that they'll just say yes, and give me a job. But all I want to do is give them my card and let them see that I'm enterprising. Then I have to go to the university and distribute some cards there - that's also easy, but I've allowed it to grow into a task of Herculean proportions simply by putting it off. All I have to do there is go into the library and ask if I can put my card on the noticeboard. It's not difficult. I've no need to fear rejection, because I already know what that feels like.

My pretty little business cards. Apologies if you think they're a bit trite (I said 'trite'), but they're very me,
and I'm not about to pretend to be someone I'm not :)

I'll try to do these things on Friday morning - that is my only window, and I must use it wisely.

I have been writing, as I said. Writing my mammoth Faerie novel - that is, my novel-of-mammoth-proportions that is entitled 'Faerie', not a novel about mammoth Faeries, or Faerie mammoths. It was very nice to get back into it, and to move the story along a good bit. I'm getting right into the action now, and it's starting to become exciting again. And writing that stuff also inspired some ideas for hubs. Hubs are great, and I've missed writing them - I did see them as a bit of a procrastination exercise, but actually, they're not, because they keep me writing and keep that creative bit of my brain in shape. I've neglected the hubs, and probably as a consequence, I've neglected all of my writing for the past few months. It's refreshing to be writing just anything again. I hope I don't have another break like that for a very long time. Writing makes me feel like I'm on holiday.

So, I have much to say, and lots of places and platforms to say it on and in and at. Wednesday morning feels like just exactly the right morning to make some headway - if I don't get ill again.

Honestly (just a little moan) - has anyone else been ill for the past month? This year's coldy-fluey thing is a horrible one, that just doesn't seem to want to eff off. That's all I'm saying about that - people have worse things than colds!

Lx.

Addendum 1: I'm so brainless. I've already written about some of the things I've just mentioned here. How is it that I can completely forget that I've written in this blog since New Year? What is bloody wrong with me? I think I need to go back to Barbados for a week.

Addendum 2: I have just been looking at my statistics for this blog, and it hardly gets read at all! Lots of posts have been read less than once. Less. Than. Once. Hmph! But I did notice that posts that were tagged with a famous person, or a topical issue, got a lot more views than other ordinary posts. So I've tagged this post with a handful of famous people to see what effect that has. Just a little game, you understand. No doubt the people who drop by to see what I'm writing about Rhod Gilbert will pop right off again once they realise they've been had. (I love Rhod Gilbert though - he's a very sexy man.)

Headache

2012-01-13T04:17:00.000-08:00

It's hard work looking for jobs online, there's so much rubbish. I have actually got an actual headache, and my eyes hurt, and I think I will have to take something evil to get rid of these little afflictions.

At the beginning of the week I thought I was going to find some jobs by the end of the week. Now I think I might never find any. All I need is one person to give me a good break, and then I'll be able to get more jobs. I've applied for lots, but I'm competing with people who say they have decades of experience - of course, they could be lying; I'm not going to lie.

I've still got to take my business cards to the University and the college though, and to the Guardian office. But, you never know, the lady that received my CV at the beginning of the week might suddenly come through with a job that I could do. I might really impress her and she might send me work regularly. Or the test that I mucked up a couple of weeks ago might not have bothered the person who was doing the hiring, and he might hire me anyway. (If I hadn't mucked up that test I would probably be up to my neck in jobs by now! What a golden opportunity to throw away! Maybe I should write to that bloke and tell him that I've got my final mark back - he might be impressed and give me a chance.)

:(

I just got phoned by a man claiming to be from Facebook. He wanted me to give him £99 to pay for a month's advertising! I hung up on him when it became clear that he wasn't going to shut up - god, I'd hate his job.

So, plodding on, plodding on. Looking for jobs, looking for jobs. Hope I can find some, hope I can find some. It's hard to find jobs when you don't know where you're supposed to be looking though. Maybe I'll just go and work in the Spar.

Or maybe I'll stop moaning, and get on and finish my bestselling novel. Aha! That's a good plan.

Oh, that oDesk job did not turn out to be the start of anything amazing. The jobs on there are all rubbish, and the pay is stupid. I'm not going to waste my time on it. That is not the place to find good proofreading jobs.

oDesk - could this be the start of a bit of cash coming my way, or is it a waste of time?

2012-01-04T13:46:00.000-08:00

oDesk. I've started using this huge virtual office type of network. People advertise jobs that contractors can do online, or just on their computer; contractors bid for the jobs, and someone gets hired. Pay ranges from virtually nothing, to quite a decent hourly rate, depending on experience and skills. I'm a beginner, so the first job I've been hired for pays pretty much nothing. I'm writing articles - 150-170 words is all - on a topic that this woman sends me. I'm a BMR writer this week! I write articles for her, and her ratings are boosted! Whatever that means. I don't really want to be doing it, but I discovered that it's actually quite good writing practice - she tells me to write, say ten articles on the same topic, and I have to come up with new ways of writing about the same thing over and over again. It's sort of boring, but it's sort of interesting at the same time. The way I seem to be doing this is by hearing different voices, different characters talking about the topic from their point of view; so I'm a lady of 60, new to the internet, finding out that it's not as scary as it seems; I'm a man of 24 who thought he'd decided to do one thing with his life, but has found that he's taken a completely different path; and so on. It's very bizarre, because I'm essentially writing about absolutely nothing, and yet I have to include very specific keywords. The keywords have to be in the right sort of place in the text, and the subject of the article has to be loosely related to the keyword. I don't really understand what it's all about at all, but I can make a miniscule amount of money from it, so it's worth a go. I suppose I will continue to work with this lady until I find another job on oDesk that pays properly, and that is more interesting. That could be tomorrow, or it could be next week, I don't really know. Actually, I don't think I'm allowed to just tell this lady that I've found another job and abandon her - I think I have to do a certain amount of work for her (I think she mentioned a hundred of these little pieces) before I can move on. That's absolutely fine - it's boring, but at least it's getting my brain to work. It's actually a lot easier than I thought it would be when I looked at the topics and had an initial panic! Always pay to have a go, you see.

I could see how this sort of work could become completely soul destroying if a person did it for too long though. I wouldn't want to do this for the rest of the year - I'd go mad. Although, having said that, I suppose if you intersperse it with your own writing it might be more bearable.

So what I did was, I spent an hour on my Faerie book this morning. I moved the plot along just a nudge and introduced another character, and felt quite good about myself. Actually, I just generally feel quite good about myself today, because I have successfully ignored the stinking cold I've got :) It has not prevented me from doing anything - although I think I'm a bit feverish this evening, and might be struck down tomorrow! But it's just a cold - I know people who have worse things than a cold today :(

So, all in all, a good start to the year. I may have seriously messed up my chance of getting a lovely little proofreading job, because I'm an idiot and should not have done the test piece when I was tired. But at least I'm being productive, and at least I haven't curled up in a corner and cried and said something like 'oh nooooooo, I'm so stupid, how could I be so stupid?' and 'I'll never be a proofreader now!' Because I still will be a proofreader; I just won't have my first job with the very nice and patient Liam Bennett.

Well, and that's all for now. I'm going to get Lord of the Rings, and I'm going to start reading it, because I need to find out how to write battles - I'll be coming up to a small skirmish in my book soon, and I need some ideas on how to put down the right words for that.

Eragon, by Christopher Paolini, as you can see.
Another book with really good battles in it - battles with dragons: stupendous!

New stuff, as per tradition

2012-01-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

I suppose it might seem that there are New Year things going on around here, but I do new things all the time, at any time of year, so it's just coincidence. But, right, there are some new things that I'll just quickly share with you.

I've finished my proofreading course, and I'm looking for jobs *smiley face*! Fancy me, looking for jobs. It's very exciting. I hope I find some - because it might eventually become less exciting if I don't. To this end I have applied for work with an academic proofreading company, and am waiting to find out if I passed their test. It was a bit tricky, because it was using Word track changes facility, which I haven't used before. But once I got into it - i.e. once I'd made roughly ... two corrections - it was easy to use. I hope I get one of those jobs - the company is looking for a few proofreaders for the coming year - because it seems to be a lovely way of working. Editing on the efile is very nice; I'm surprised a little, as I thought I would have an aversion to it, having just done my course on hard copies. But it was great, and I think I could be very good at it.

I've also registered with oDesk, which seems to be a virtual huge office. There are all kinds of online jobs to apply for there and it seems a very professional place. I don't know how easy it will be to find jobs without experience, but there are a lot to rake through. Most of them require more specialist knowledge and experience than I have, but there are plenty of writing jobs to have a look at and apply for. There are skills tests to take to demonstrate what kind of knowledge you have before you've managed to get any jobs. Anyway, I'll see what comes of that. I've applied for one job already, but so have quite a few other people!

Something else is new, but I've temporarily forgotten what it is. Gah! My brain just doesn't work properly at the moment, it's very frustrating. I can't remember what I had for my tea. But long-forgotten childhood memories are not coming back to me yet, so that's a good sign.

So I might be working soon. And then all kinds of things might change and be new. Don't know what, but I think it'll be an exciting year for me *another smiley face*.

I'm doing well to feel positive today, because I have a head full of snot, and there's often a feeling that if we don't start off the very first bit of a new year in a positive and productive way that the rest of the year might be a disaster. Well, I say that, but I never feel that way! I'm always excited in January, always looking forward to the spring, and finding out what I'm going to be up to in the next year. But seriously, I think this will be a good year - it'll have some bad stuff in it, as all years do, but let's not despair, eh? Let's look at the good stuff a bit more gratefully, eh? There's a lot more of it about than many people realise.

A picture ... a picture should be inserted here. But what of? I've nothing new - I seem to have forgotten that I own a camera this year. Ooh, ooh, perhaps with my earnings - if I earn enough - I might buy a new camera, a DSLR!

But a picture. I'll just find one ...

This is my oDesk profile picture; perhaps a tad too informal, but at least it's presentable, and at least my writing is professional.

Right then, I'll be off to bed. Got to make sure the kids have uniform ready for Wednesday - I've put away not a single piece of clean laundry over Christmas! Shock, horror, what a terrible, lazy woman!

And there we have it ...

2011-12-16T02:59:00.000-08:00

... things achieved, Christmas shopping all done, house tidy, ready to be decorated with the kiddy-winks over the next few days (white paper snowflakes, anyone?), proofreading assignment finished and sent, getting back into reading properly (Dickens at the moment, a bit of festive grotesqueness with The Old Curiosity Shop). And relax. I don't know what I felt so blue about last week - I do annoy myself sometimes.

There's a massive pile of clean washing on the couch opposite me (we have two couches), and it's not bothering me in the slightest. I know I'll get around to dealing with it eventually, hopefully before Christmas Day. I am calmness, I am chilledness. Probably because I gave myself an actual slap across the face the other day, and told myself to stop being so moody and useless.

That is all I have to say really. I have my mojo, and I will use it tomorrow to help me to do a small cycle, of perhaps 40 or 50 miles. Funny how I now consider this to be a short distance. Hmm.

If I don't see you before, have a lovely Christmas. I personally cannot wait for it to be all over, and for January the 1st to be here (one of my favourite days of the year) - I'm getting very bored of it, and would like to do something different at this time of year.

X.

Time - could I have a little more please?

2011-12-05T02:32:00.001-08:00

An abundance of time is what I actually have. But I squander it, all the time. One would think that I might be a little more careful of the ways in which I spend my time, since I am acutely aware of how quickly it can run out. But, as I've said before, I am inherently lazy (if I use that word, 'inherently', it allows me to take no responsibility for my laziness, do you see?) and find it difficult to resist a sit on the couch, a nice brew, and a biscuit.

I've have achieved pretty much ... nothing this week. I have started to do the pre-Christmas clean-up, but the house is a bombsight. Actually, it's a bin. Actually, a giant skip. But I can see light somewhere, and it'll be alright. This is the first year I have not allowed the state of the house to stress me out - and it's telling, because I've passed the stress on to Kev who cannot believe how stupidly messy every room is! Ha ha! :D And I just can't get up the energy to care; 'it'll get done', I keep saying. I suppose one day soon I might have a burst of energy and finish it all off.

I'm not writing anything, not even the new cycling blog. I'm writing neither hubs, nor Goodreads book reviews. I'm not even writing in a diary. Nothing. I'm watching telly and crocheting. No novel-writing is going on at all. I have an assignment to get finished for my proofreading course, my very last assignment, and I'm just not doing it.

I'm shopping online, and I'm eating, and I'm sitting about. Oh, and learning Russian. I suppose that's something - but it's not something useful, it's just something I like doing.

BUCK YER IDEAS UP, LINDA!

Yeah, yeah, I will. Just let me finish this brew and this biscuit.

One thing I really would like to do, once I've got that assignment out of the way, and written some cycling articles, and some hubs, and some chapters of my novel, is to catch up on reading the work of my favourite hubber, Twilight Lawns. He's my friend, and he always reads my hubs, even when no one else does. He deserves the same special treatment back. That's one of the very important things that I have to do. It's on the List.

I think I'm not enjoying winter this year - I think it's sapping my energy, which it's never done before. I don't like it. I'm looking forward to spring. But spring's not coming for ages, so I'd better find a way to be friends with winter. I will. Maybe when my house is tidy. Maybe when the kids have finished school for Christmas and we can spend time making decorations and Christmas bakes. That'll be lovely. We can have carols on, and cover the place with tinsel and snowflakes. I think we'll have a very tiny tree this year, as I am not in the mood for a big one.

What's up with me, I wonder? My inner core of blissful happiness is still intact, but I've got a crusty, snappy shell that's doing my head in. I think it should bugger off.

Hell, yeah!

2011-11-28T06:36:00.001-08:00

Me and my brother Noomski have decided to write a blog together. Actually, it was all my idea, because I'm clever like that. And Tezmondi is new to the world of blogging, though he's been thinking of having a pop for ages.

http://cyclingtitans.blogspot.com

That's it, right there. You wanna check it out, because it's going to be quite exciting, and quite funny, and just generally quite interesting. We're going to try, once we've written a couple more entries, to get it featured on a newspaper website, or something like that. We're quite eager to get our little project noticed and followed, because we'd like to be local celebrities. Yeah.

You don't have to read it if you don't want to, but I do think it's going to be good. We're going to write articles together, write sort of journal entries about our training, useful info and bits of advice (tongue in cheek, absolutely no doubt) to do with chafing and fibre, tyres and Lycra. We might interview people (probably just each other, actually), pop on photos of our adventures, do cartoons of things we didn't manage to photograph. I'm hoping it'll be like a sort of magazine style of blog. Jam-packed full of information and stories and interesting things, written by two people who are not professional cyclists and who do not take themselves at all seriously. You might as well just read it, because if you don't, everyone else will be talking about it, and you'll start to feel left out.

Enjoy :)

CYCLING!

2011-11-14T03:11:00.001-08:00

Quick post, if I can manage it; got to type up my book synopsis to send to my mum for approval :)

Just wanted to record the fact that I cycled 55 miles with my brother on Saturday. It was an important milestone to reach. I've been so bummed out about cycling (what am I, suddenly American? When do I ever say 'bummed out'?!) lately, because, let's face it, it's pretty hard work. It's difficult to get up the motivation to go out and do two hours of solid exercise after tea (especially when you're inherently lazy, as I am). So I'm very, very proud of myself for breaking the 50 marker. Not only breaking it, but doing 5 miles extra as well :) Terry asked if I could've done five more and made it to 60; instinctively, I said 'no way'. But when I thought about it, and forced the panic to die down, I supposed that I could've managed five more. What's five miles when you've already done 50? Not much, less than half an hour.

So, cycling is going quite well. I'm realising that I still have plenty of my week left even if I cycle three times. And three times is what I need to do to make those bigger rides possible - I found this week that tackling that 50 miler was made easier (not easy) because I'd already done seventy miles over the week. I suppose I might say that I can feel myself getting fitter! Never thought this would happen, did not think that I had it in me to get fit at all. But now I'm eager to do more, to do bigger distances, and to push myself as much as I possibly can. I'm determined to do the big challenge now, the coast-to-coast-to-coast in just two days. I will have to be fit enough to do 170 miles followed by 170 miles! I can do it. I now know that I can. I'm not sure why, but breaking the back of the 50 miler also broke down a psychological barrier, I think. I'm sure I'll hit walls again, but it's good to know that I can get over them now. I hit a small wall at the weekend, and started off the ride in a bad mood and expecting to have a bad ride. I got over it. Now I know that I can, hopefully I always will be able to.

And my goodness, it feels amazing: to look down at the bike computer (which Terry has just given me as an early Christmas present - I don't like getting early Christmas presents, but I like this one) and see that I'm doing 23mph on the flat, and keeping up 16/17/18mph going uphill, and over 30mph downhill. It's brilliant! Very, very exhilerating. And then there's the added bonus of being outside in such glorious surroundings - we really do live in a very beautiful place. Soon I'll be cycling to the Lake District, and that will just be a joy. This weekend I suppose I did cycle to the edge of the Lakes - Kendal, is kind of the gateway to the Lakes. I'd like to get to Windermere next, and have my lunch overlooking the lake at Bowness. This is living!

And you know what else is living? Writing my book. So I'd best crack on :)

Have a nice day, whatever you're doing. I'm spending the rest of my day being smug at my awesomeness! ;P

Sandside, which we cycled through last week, on a beautiful frosty morning.
It was stunning. I needed a panoramic lens; didn't have one.

This is when I'm the happiest :)

2011-11-11T03:46:00.001-08:00

Every now and again this happens. It's brilliant. And each time I think 'I'm keeping hold of this, this is forever this time'. It's my motivation. I'm rather tired at the moment, on account of it being term-time and busy and backwards-and-forwardsy, cycling as much as I can, and taking on new crafty projects. And it always seems that the more things I add to my day the more motivated I feel. It's an odd thing.

This is what I am doing (you know I like bulleted lists, and I have now learned that, generally, they do not have closing punctuation!):

Writing some new chapters for Faerie, which are coming along very nicely, and which I am pleased with
Writing some outlines and snippets for The Death of Tom Rawlinson, which has come to a little impasse, and which I am trying to work through
Reading, and enjoying the freedom of having more than one book on the go at once! Reading 'A Shabby Genteel Story' by Thackeray, rereading Twilight, and trying to finish The Gormenghast Trilogy, which has become a bit boring on account of its being published posthumously despite never having been finished by the author (I'm being kind there - it's actually boring because the story's moved away from the castle, and it was the castle and its inhabitants that I loved - without them the story is very flat)
Cycling - this week I have done 60 miles already, with another 20 planned for this evening, and 50 tomorrow; I will have done 130 miles by the end of the week, which is a little ridiculous, but bloody brilliant: very, very proud of myself (haven't done it yet though)
Crocheting, beading, cross-stitching and knitting: four projects on the go: crocheting a blanket for my bed, and to go over my legs to make me look like an old lady when I'm sitting in front of the telly of an evening, working on ... the scarf that I am also knitting for myself, with wool that I could not resist; cross-stitching a simply gorgeous new Christmas and wintry kit, all Victorian and stunning (quite a big and complicated one); beading new jewellery things, which I will probably never really wear, but which I make anyway because I love making beady things
Diarying and blogging: I have now set up my desk with my printers ready to go and my computer in an easy-to-use position, and all my reference books and inspirational books to hand; my cutey little Polaroid printers are brilliant for getting pictures off the computer and into a diary right quick - digital camera we love, do we not? But wasn't it good when we had actual photographs to look at and thumb through? I miss that. Printing photos is a bit of a pain in the bum, but it's the way it is now, and I'd like to get on with it

This is the Polaroid Pogo, with Z(ero)Ink. Love it. I have a black one and a red one. Why do I need two? Well, I don't really, but my excuse is that if I'm doing a lot of printing, it's good to use two because they do heat up A LOT.

I think there are some other things that I'm doing as well, but I can't remember what they are. And there's playing with the kids as well, and homework and all those fun things. (Actually, homework is good fun at the moment, because Thomas and James are both very motivated just now - James has discovered that he's good at drawing and he now loves it, though he hated it a few weeks ago. Thomas has been spurred on to practise drawing as much as possible so that James can't catch up to him and be better! Thomas is enjoying life in Mr Hendra's class VERY much, and is learning maths properly for the first time. Both boys are getting very good at writing and reading, and I just could not be prouder mummy right now. They're amazing. I'm so excited about their futures. Mind you, at the same time I'm desperately trying to encourage them to play with as many of their toys as possible and as often as possible because, bloody hell, already Thomas is saying that he doesn't really want to play as much as he used to and that if he doesn't get any toys for Christmas he's not really bothered! Nooooo! Not yet, I'm not ready for them to start getting serious and mature yet!

So that's a little update of me. I'm enjoying life this week, whilst at the same time, wallowing in a little self-loathing for being rather a lazy sod. I've written here this list of things that I'm doing in my spare time, but I don't actually achieve very much, and do duck out of actually getting down to some hard graft with the writing in particular, in favour of ... writing a blog entry! I'm such a slacker, really I am.

Now I'm off to collect Matthew from playschool. What shall I do with him this afternoon? I did promise that we'd bake some bread (in the bread-maker - didn't I say I was lazy?), so maybe we'll go and get ingredients for that. Banana and walnut bread anyone?

Oops

2011-10-25T15:21:00.001-07:00

So, it's probably about time I blogged again.

So right, let me summarise the last two months, since we were on holiday, in easy to read bullet points:

did some proofreading assignments
did a little bit of rubbish writing
did some good cycling - some longish distances, and one very difficult climb
spent a lot of nice time with the boys, including doing some really good homework
experienced single-mumming and rather liked it
spent a lot of time procrastinating, yet again

So nothing out of the ordinary, all the usual stuff, with the added extra of cycling. I actually haven't done as much cycling as I should have done, on account of two bad colds and a bad back. Can't cycle with either of those. Bit of a bummer, as I'm getting a little behind with my training. I'm supposed to have done a 50-miler by the end of October, which is in six days. Fortunately, I have a beautiful new trainer for use in the home - phew! I plan to stick the kids in bed early on Saturday night and cycle my way through two or three films and get my 50 miles done that way. I stick my bike on this thing that lifts up my back wheel, pop my front wheel on a stationary stand, whack a DVD in my laptop and off I go, cycling in my kitchen, with snacks and drinks on hand :) I don't have to stop, can cycle on and on. It's brilliant. But I have only used it once so far. Really I need to get using it, to keep my fitness up when babysitters are scarce and the weather is rubbish. It's all very well braving the gales and the torrents, but if they just serve to get us wet and cold without becoming any fitter, then I think we may as well cycle indoors! There's a goal in sight - albeit eight or nine months away - and I haven't got time to enjoy the scenery, I just have to get mega fit.

This is interesting, as I'm the fattest I've ever been in my life, and had never imagined that there might come a time in my fat life when I might actually feel like getting fit - never mind mega fit. But I'm quite enjoying it, and am already fitter than I was when I did my first cycle. I can now sustain a speed of 18mph for quite some time on the flat. I am now only ten or twenty seconds behind Terry on the bigger hills, rather than thirty or forty as I was at the beginning of my training. It's like Rocky! Getting stronger...

Ah, thought I might be tempted to go on about cycling. Didn't really want to as I suspect that it might be quite boring to read about. But it's going to be a big part of my life next year. I just hope I've still got time for writing as well - I do love cycling, but I hate that it needs to take up so much time. It's not just the cycle itself, it's the fact that you have to warm down when you get home, have a shower and then eat because you're starving afterwards. Then you get really sleepy and don't feel like doing anything for the rest of the day or the evening. I'm very often tired the day afterwards as well. Maybe I'm doing something wrong though, because I thought exercise was supposed to energise one, no? Perhaps that happens when you get much fitter. Perhaps that will happen when I get rid of my jelly belly.

I am also now working on a different novel. I was switching between two projects, alternately hating and loving each one. My mum asked me to look at the one I started in January again, the one that I did for the NaNoWriMo January project. I did look at it, and I loved it. I'd put it aside thinking that I'd never look at it again, it had gone very bad and I thought it had no potential at all. But when I reread the first 20-30,000 words I saw that it was good :) There's a lot to work with, lots of possible threads to follow, lots of really good characters, already quite well drawn and easy to visualise. I've decided to work on that for a while. It's not like anything I've ever written - but mind you, everything I try is new because I've not been writing for all that long. But anyway, this new project is going to be good fun, as the story's just ridiculous. It's quite funny, quite farcical, a bit like a Carry On story, a bit like a St. Trinian's, a bit like Terry Pratchett, and a bit like Thackeray (I'm now reading some Thackeray, because I bought quite a lot of his work when we were in Alnwick - see my hub on the subject of Secondhand Book Shops) which author I love more than any, ever; he is my definite favourite. I am now a collector, of a particular set of Thackeray's works - very beautiful they are, and possibly a little bit rare (I don't really know whether they are, but I've just done a little search about for them and could only find a couple on ebay that were in dreadful condition - mine are in beautiful condition, especially considering that they're nearly a hundred years old :) )

Well, I think that'll do. I've no pictures to share with you, because I haven't used my camera since we were in Alnwick. I must start taking photos again. There are lots of things that I must start doing again, lazy so-and-so that I am.

Night.

P.S. Forgot - we have two new cats, Bellatrix Lestrange and Narcissa Malfoy; surprising how many people don't know where those names come from. My girls :) They're gorgeous. I have no photos of them, because my phone camera is rubbish and the cats won't keep still enough, and Bellatrix is completely black which seems to make her invisible on photos.

Alnwick, Bamburgh, Beal, Ulgham and Warkworth

2011-08-23T03:52:00.000-07:00

Places in the North-East that we have visited over the past week and a bit. We've been having a really marvellous time, but today the energy has run out a little. There are only so many days out one can have before one burns out. So today we are still sitting in the house at lunch time. No castles today, no beaches, no gift shops. Actually, that's not true, because we're going out for a walk around the town on Alnwick this afternoon. The town is two streets away from the house we're staying in, 'the lady's house'. I wish I did actually live here. It's beautiful. Beautiful aesthetically, but also beautiful because beautiful people live here and beautiful people holiday here, and the whole place just feels good, feels nice, feels pleasant. It's idyllic really, and now that I think about it I cannot remember how it happened that I decided to book a holiday here last year. I remember trawling through websites of cottages, but cannot remember why I looked at this part of the world. Perhaps it was on a recommendation. Anyway, I'm glad that I did. I will live here one day. I don't know if it will be soon, or if it will be in a couple of decades' time, if it will be with my family or if it will be alone, but I will live here one day.

I have pretty much no photos to share at this time, because all of them are on Kev's computer because his Apple has a card slot and mine does not, and I didn't bring my lead. I have only this one, from Bamburgh beach, which I managed to pinch from Facebook, where Kev left it. This is me in the pit that Thomas asked me to dig - this is only a half-dug pit, we managed to make it quite a lot deeper, and reached the water table and turned the pit into a pool. But the boys soon filled it in again, because they are destructive (I love my boys, but I do not like their destructive sides).

Oh, now that I see this picture again I can see that the water is just visible at the bottom. This is as deep as it got. Funny how this angle of this photo makes the pit seem much shallower than it actually was. From another angle you can see that the pit is almost as deep as I am tall. When the boys were in it the top came above their heads. Matthew made himself some steps to get out :)

We're expecting some rain, so our planned trip to Bamburgh beach tomorrow may be cancelled. I would have liked to have had one more beach day, since the beaches here are so much nicer than the 'beaches' at Morecambe, but if we can't, we can't, and we'll have to do something else. No matter. We'll be back :)

Ahhhhhh, sigh of deep contentment. I just wish we could stay for an extra week.

More photos next week, when I get home to my lead.

Not my usual Monday morning

2011-08-01T07:50:00.000-07:00

Usually, on a Monday morning I'm full of beans, and looking forward to a good week, and bursting with ideas and creativity. Not today. Today I am boring. Today I have no energy, and I'm annoying myself. What I should have done is got up early, piled us all in the car, and taken us off to the Lakes for a good walk. But I didn't. I just didn't do anything. We watched the final Harry Potter DVD in preparation for watching the proper last film at the cinema this week, and then the boys tumbled out into the garden and played in the rain. They're still there now, though the rain has stopped, much to their disappointment.

I have done nothing. Well, I have done boring stuff, such as the washing up, making lunch, and folding some clean washing. Now I have itchy hands. I'm not allergic to washing up liquid, no, I just need to do some writing. It's been a good month since I wrote anything worth showing to anyone, and I do start to feel a bit down when I haven't produced anything good for as long as that.

The solution is clear, as it always is: I must make the most of my evenings. When I produce good writing of an evening, my days are always better, and I always have more patience with the kiddy-winks, and I always feel more motivated to play with them. I must start tonight. I must get something written. I will do it.

Though I'm a little worried that I haven't got time in my life for writing, and cycling as well.

SLAP!!!!

That was me, giving myself a slap. I know better than to say things like that. How ridiculous - of course I've got time for cycling and writing.

In fact, I could do some writing now, since the boys are happily playing in the garden, and actually do not want me to play with them - who could blame them, when my face alternately looks like this:

zoned out,

clinically depressed,

pathetically mourning the loss of a dear pet rat,

discovering the pair of dirty socks stuffed down the side of the couch,

noticing that someone has folded the towels incorrectly.

I'm only looking like this very occasionally:

a little bit demented, on discovering the chocolate hidden at the back of the cupboard

(it's past its use-by-date, but we're not fussy when it comes to chocolate).

Aren't you, reader, in luck today? You've been given the rare treat of seeing me sans hair products! What a blinkin' state I look! An uncanny resemblance to Cliff Richard c. 1963.

More sketching

2011-07-27T14:33:00.000-07:00

About half way through with my sketch now. Didn't get chance to work on it today, though was itching to pick it up and have a scribble.

I am actually itching to do something creative for a longer period of time than ten minutes without being interrupted. But this is the way it is in the holidays when you have three young children (or any number of children - I'm sure it's the same with one as it is with three). It wouldn't be fair of me to expect to have lots of time to myself, so I resign myself to the fact that I won't get much done for six weeks. No problem really. I do get twitchy hands though - I'm dying to sit with a coffee and do a bit of writing for a couple of hours. Too tired in the evenings though.

Instead, the holidays are a time to do other things that we might not really get chance to do at any other time. Cloud watching is a good thing that we've discovered this week. The clouds were amazing yesterday (we didn't see them today as we were ridiculously lazy and stayed in all day!), and the boys were fantastic at spotting different shapes and animals and fantastical things in them. James was particularly imaginative, and he saw things that I would never have thought of, such as bird skeletons and wolf eyes! I took a couple of pictures of the clouds.

Maybe if the weather is nice tomorrow we'll get to lie in the garden and look at clouds properly. Oh, it's a very hard life, he he! :D

Sketching.

2011-07-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

We've had a lovely day today. The boys have been great - heavily influenced by the lovely, and well-behaved kids that they played with on our camping weekend I think. It was so nice not to be breaking up the fights and bickering, which is what I've been doing a lot lately. I think that nice weather that allows them to stay out in the garden all day really helps. Oliver was in in the afternoon, so I didn't see much of them for a couple of hours in the afternoon, so chatted with my dad for a while and then decided to find something to sketch. It's not easy to find time to write in the holidays, I don't like to sit in front of the computer for a long time when the boys are all home with me. But I'm finding that I need to find some kind of creative outlet so as not to start getting grumpy. I can't write much over the next few weeks, but I can sketch. I can do this because the boys like to spend a lot of time drawing and writing: Thomas is still producing work at a rate of knots, and the work is becoming more detailed and more mature; Matthew usually joins him once he's finished whichever bit of mischief he's been working on; James doesn't draw as much, but when he does he creates masterpieces with no effort whatsoever. I'm thrilled to bits that they can all draw so well - they may not use art to make a living (although they may, I don't know, of course), but it's nice that they each have a good eye, and the ability to see the world in colour and form.

Anyway, this is how far I got with my sketch today. It's a small section from a photograph of King's Circus in Bath. I'll show you it again when it's finished. I'm quite pleased with it. It's not perfect, but it's amazing how easy architecture is to draw. I'm really enjoying it. I've been wanting to sketch for a long time, but I just can't do people at all, I'm terrible. So I'm pleased that I've found something that's within my capabilities! I'd like to try to complete a sketchbook of drawings of buildings - but you should know me by now: I never stick to one thing, and rarely finish anything! Though saying that, I do feel as though I'm settling down now, finding a bit of a niche, and being comfortable exactly where I am, and doing exactly what I'm doing. That's nice :)

King's Circus, Bath.

Just keep going...

2011-07-11T08:56:00.000-07:00

It's not a lot, but it's something, and it leads to more things, and before you know it that's everything on the list, and a new list of more things can be made, and you can start all over again with a brand new thing. Easy really, you know?

I was sitting about this morning, having palpitations about all my little writing jobs that I wanted to get through, and I spent ten minutes staring at a page that contained the beginning few paragraphs of a hub that I could not really be bothered to spend time on right then (ironically, it was a hub about positivity, the ability to move on, and the will to keep motivated!). Sometimes the task that you've set yourself just isn't going to work if you're not into it at that precise moment, and there's very little you can do about that. And then you have to just have a look at all your notebooks, and do a mental check of all your tasks, and decide which one takes your fancy. So I started on a letter; actually I started on finishing a letter that I began a few weeks ago. And that's all it takes really: starting something, anything, breaks the stalemate and allows you to begin again (strictly speaking, I don't think that a stalemate can be broken, but it's just a little metaphor to illustrate my point). A letter, or a diary can just remind you how to write if you'd forgotten. I forget all the time, or my words just can't be bothered to come out. So if I started scribbling down any old thing it's like a warm-up for my brain. The writing muscles get a little stretch, and they're ready to go. I still didn't work on the hub that I wanted to finish, but I did write a blog entry for my other blog, 'From Austen to Woolf', so it turned out to be quite a good morning. I don't think I wrote a particularly good review of Inkheart, but at least I wrote it.

This leaves me with an evening to go through some proofreading notes, and to possibly get on with a little bit of my novel. I'm well on with preparing the story, and have a good solid synopsis now, so I can really just sit down and write it. I'm happier with it now than I've ever been, and I'm quite itching to get the first draft done. I think it's going to be good. Whether it will be sellable, I have no idea, but I don't really care. I just want it to be good enough for me to be pleased with it. I doubt a publisher will touch it because it's probably not original enough. But I have to write it anyway. And in any case, I've lots of ideas for other stories, both fantasy and literary, so I'll not be dismayed if I finish my masterpiece and no-one wants it. My kids will enjoy it :)

I tell you what though, this no-telly thing in the evenings is brilliant. I'm not missing watching the telly at all. We watch a very little bit each week, maybe one or two hours, but that's it. I don't have any programmes that I regularly watch, I just stick the telly on if I'm in the mood for just doing nothing, and see what's on. Usually I'll resort to Dave and watch a bit of comedy because there's sod all else on. Or there might be a documentary that grabs me. But you can keep all of the CSI whatever-they-ares. I'm sure they're great and all, but I can't be bothered!

Just killing a bit of time now, while I wait for it to be 5o'clock. Err, think I'll go and finish that letter then. Ta-ta.

Here is a blog that I love: Kristin Cashore, This is My Secret.

Lx.

Cor, I'm ace today!

2011-06-14T15:30:00.000-07:00

That might have just been my most productive day, ever! It was good, and now I am quite tired, but good tired.

Let me just quickly brag about all the things I've achieved today:

Getting up early enough to let the boys cycle to school (them cycling means me walking and pushing Matthew in the pram of course, as Matthew can't do the distance quickly enough - we think it's about a mile from our house to the school gate).
Walking all the way back home, without getting sweaty!
Cleaning our hellishly messy living room, which took four hours (the mess was a year's worth of Thomas's doodlings and writings - there were great piles of papers lying around - he's creative and that's wonderful, but I think it's about time I taught him to tidy up after himself). Very hard work, I am great.
Cooking a healthy and nutritious hardly-any-fat-at-all toasted sandwich for me and Matthew, which we ate with salad, whilst sitting outside in the healthy fresh air.
Having much fun talking and talking with Matthew, as he pottered about and helped with the tidying or played with some freshly found lost toys that I had just rooted out of a mountainous pile of stuff.
Walking back to school to collect the big boys. The sun had come out now, and it was too hot for walking to school in jeans - had I known the sun would come out, I would have put my shorts on.
Sitting down to do homework with Thomas (only bad thing today: lost patience with poor Thomas, because he's stubborn about maths homework; must remember that losing patience does not help Thomas to learn maths, and also that Thomas gets half of his stubbornness from me!) and did manage to teach him one or two useful things. Thomas left the table smiling :)
Cooking very healthy and nutritious meal of tuna steaks, with very special olive oil and dill/chervil/parsley dressing with prawns, and jacket potatoes with sour cream, and crunchy mange tout. Now that was very special. Kev missed it because he had to go out with work people - poor Kev.
Dancing with the boys, when some very funky sixties jazz tune came on the radio. We danced like loonies, which is one of our favourite things to do. We always like to leave the blinds open in the living room when we dance, just to make sure that the neighbours can see us and know that we are loonies.
Putting the boys to bed, and although starting to get rather tired, still persevering and doing the washing up! How's about that for motivation?! I usually leave it until the morning when I'm this tired :)
Being a very clever girl, and doing my second, very difficult, proofreading assignment from start to finish. (I have just finished it now, and although it's very difficult to say, I think I have done quite well. I'm sure I haven't spotted every mistake, and there will probably be things that I've marked up incorrectly, but I can't expect to get full marks. But I do have a feeling that I've done quite well. I seemed to spot a bit of everything that I've been asked to learn so far, and I believe that I have made sure that I have not made the same mistakes as in the first assignment. But I've got a couple or three weeks to wait until I find out my marks.)
Oh, and another little achievement - writing a blog entry about my day :)

Here is a low quality picture of the high quality tuna that I cooked for tea this evening (which the boys loved, and devoured!):

Mmmm :)

Back to a nice routine.

2011-06-06T05:13:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually all that keen on sending the kiddie-winkles back to school after the holidays because I miss them. But this time, I was very happy to have the house to myself again. We didn't have a bad half-term, but I did shout more than usual: my babes were tired all week, and all they wanted to do was to stay at home and play with their toys, and in the garden. I indulged them, because I had no money to take them anywhere anyway! Well, we could have gone to the beach for free, but the weather, as you all know of course, was not great for the beach for most of the week. I offered to take them to the park, but they were just content to stay at home. I did drag them out to Holly Farm one afternoon, and we did have a lovely time, as we always do. And there were a couple of parties. So all three of our outings involved soft play areas. Not my usual preferred school holiday activity, but there we are. To be honest, I was quite bored, and boring, throughout the week. One Easter holiday, a couple of years ago, I wrote out a list of activities and we ticked them off as we'd done them, and that worked perfectly - we had the best school holiday, like, ever! But since then I've not bothered with the list, and I should've done. I will do the list in the Summer holiday (I'd better start saving up now though, as not much on the list was completely free).

I think I also found this half-term to be quite boring because the boys were sometimes at their friend Oliver's house. He lives in the house behind us, and we've removed a fence panel so that they can come and go as they please. Usually they're at Oliver's in nice weather, because Oliver has a trampoline! And even when they're at our house, they're up in the bedroom, and I'm left out! I want to play! I've been discarded, for a younger friend. Hmph! Wish we'd never removed that fence panel! I'm jealous of a child!

That's enough exclamation marks!

I've come up with a plan though: I've bought some inspiration - yes, you can buy inspiration now; actually you can buy just about anything if you have a computer and a paypal account - I have bought a pack of Usborne 'Games to Play on Holiday' cards. And I'm going to lure my children back into our garden with promises of fun and hilarity. Who needs a trampoline?? Not we.

These activity cards are brill. Lots of the games only need you and your body, and the rest only require household items that most of us have in the junk drawer. We're not waiting until the holidays come around again though, no, no, no; we're going to try out some games at the weekend. It'll probably rain, but that's alright - we can do some puddle jumping instead. Or, we have a fairly big space in our dining room, we can play some games inside.

Now, I am going to have a lie down, because I think I am coming down with a chest infection! Hopefully, if I'm nice to it, it will go away very quickly (can't see my mum when any of us have germs - she ends up in hospital when we give her bugs, poor mummy).

I'll just sort of tail off at the end of this post then... dum de dum... bye then...

Sunshine. That's nice. Now go away.

2011-06-03T08:54:00.000-07:00

I'm not good with hot weather (yeah, yeah, I know, this isn't even really hot - but much hotter than 20ºc (68ºf) and I start to melt, become very grumpy and headachey, and am generally pathetic). I hate being outside in unshady sun. Thank goodness we don't get very much up here. That makes me happy, the thought that the scorchiness never lasts :) I'm supposed to be outside and playing with my kids, but I just end up lying in the shade somewhere and asking to be allowed back in the house.

This is what I think of when it's above 20ºc:

That is all I have the energy for today.

I am supposed to get on with the next unit of my proofreading course this evening. I will do that, as long as it's not still scorching hot. My brain is sweating.

Incidentally, in my car is said that it's 27ºc, which is considerably more than 20ºc, so I'm not being soooooo totally pathetic.

Plodding along, as usual :)

2011-05-27T03:12:00.000-07:00

Well hello there! I'm busy. Just popped on to say that really. Always got something to do, always got something to write, got many books to read, many magazines to pore over, quite a bit of studying to do, and some decisions to make. All good, all fun, all invigorating, and all exciting (for me anyway, quite boring for everybody else).

Still not doing very well at getting all the things done that I need to do though - but at least I have got out of the habit of sticking the telly on and switching to 'Dave' and watching repeats of comedy panel shows! That was silly. My life might have been full of humour, but it wasn't moving anywhere. You can't stay in Daveland for ever; after a few weeks you've seen all of the repeats and then you're watching the re-repeats, and that's just stupid.

Mmm.

Here is what I'm listening to this morning:

'Sanctus' by Karl Jenkins. Make what you will of that :)

Things we wish we had more time to do...

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

My mum pointed me in the direction of this website today: http://www.lauralaine.net, the website of the artist, Laura Laine. She draws girls with beautiful hair. Some of her pieces are used to advertise perfumes and designer bags and so on. But I'm not much interested in that, I just thought that the hair was amazing.

Source: http://www.lauralaine.net/

And it reminded me that I have been wanting to sketch more. I'm one of these people who has lots of plans, lots of things in the pipeline, lots of projects on the go. Some of them might be on the go for years without me ever actually devoting any time to them. My mum is very good at getting lots of things done, and is always starting a new book for one thing or another. Sometimes I think she fills them! I can actually do lots of things a little bit: I can draw, I can paint, I can play several instruments, I can sing, I can act, I can write, I can cook, I can dance, I can sew, I can knit, I can crochet. I can do all of these things a little bit. But sometimes I think that that is not the way I want to be; I want to be very good at a couple of those things. Trouble is that I'm fickle, you see. I practise one instrument for a few weeks, and then I get bored, and then another instrument looks far more appealing, so I switch. Drawing is one that I want to be able to do without putting in the required effort. Drawing, for me, takes such a long time, and I am not patient enough to put in the hours. Same with painting, of course.

Hmm, I don't know if there is much I can do about this. I think I am Elizabeth Bennett, and will probably never be properly accomplished: 'I am not a great reader, and take pleasure in many things'. I think this is alright, I think it's allowed.

Actually, writing is the only thing I've ever stuck at for such a long period of time. Ah, but that does not really signify much, since I have not finished anything!

Maybe one day I will be patient and disciplined enough to finish something. Until that time I will just have to be satisfied with my flighty self.

Oh, once I did finish a whole big cross-stitch. And I finished a baby cardigan too. Don't think I've ever finished anything else though. Very often I don't even finish my thoughts, or sentenc....

Proofreading

2011-05-08T14:10:00.000-07:00

Oh bloody hell! This arrived today (yes, delivered on a Sunday - weird):

This is what I've just paid £395 for! Yikes! It's a folder, with some sheets of paper in it, and it came with the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation 'for free'. Now, it doesn't look much for the money, (and actually this is not the whole thing - there are some more sheets of paper to come!) but I'm hoping that this little unassuming bit of thing is going to be the gateway to the good life for me. Oh yes. Well, that may be overstating its potential (and mine) a little. We'll see. But I am going to learn to be a proofreader. Hopefully this little course with The Publishing Training Centre at Book House will lead to some more courses, and some paid proofreading, and some mentoring (for me, not by me) and then an accreditation if I'm good enough. Knowing me though, I'll be bored after a bit and decide that I do want to be an astronaut after all.

Book House is a well-respected provider of this kind of training. I wrote an email to Penguin Books a couple of weeks ago, and asked for some advice on the best proofreading training, and they recommended Book House. In fact, they said that they only use proofreaders from Book House. I then felt proud of myself for being able to sort the wheat from the chaff in a Google search, because I had picked out Book House as the best course provider myself, before the Penguin lady had even got back in touch with me. Aren't I clever?! Well. Lots of people, professional and not, advised me against using Chapterhouse - I was wary of this company as soon as I saw its website. It offered the cheapest course - but that rang alarm bells for me. Cheapest so often means lowest quality. And this was confirmed for me when someone my mum knows advised me that Chapterhouse passes almost everyone who takes the course, even if they're not very good, which is why publishing houses don't tend to use freelancers who have a Chapterhouse certificate.

So that'll all be quite exciting and interesting. I've got work to do again! Weird feeling. But I'm looking forward to it. I shall start my reading tomorrow.

But when will I write? Oh. Well, I'll just have to see how this week goes. I'll read some of this material and see how quickly I think I'm going to take it in. If there is no room for writing for a few weeks then so be it; I'll just have to tough it out.

Oh, does anyone want a copy of the Oxford A-Z of Grammar and Punctuation? I bought myself a copy of this very same book a few months ago, when I enrolled on the MA in English with the OU (which I might have to defer for a year, but we'll see), so I now have two! It must be a sign that this is what I'm supposed to do next! Though it can't be, because I don't believe in signs. Must just be a coincidence then.

Far too many exclamation marks in my post today! I'm supposed to be learning to be a proper writer, and a proper writer should never need to use an exclamation mark!

Well, there should have been lots of other things for me to write about today, such as the Scout Festival, and risotto, and the beach, and the rain and thunder storm (storm, ha!), and something else that I've forgotten. But I've got to go to bed and get some sleep now. Busy few weeks ahead.

Night all.

Yawn.

2011-05-01T13:16:00.000-07:00

Sorry. Lethargy has descended. No idea why. Hoping to shake it off tomorrow. Night. Off to bed to read. See you on the other side... of the lethargy.

The Yawning Man, from Tom Thumb

And while I'm on YouTube, you can have this from the same film :) G'night.

Lx.

Lazy days

2011-04-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

We have done nothing very much so far in this long-awaited Easter holiday. But a good few days of relaxation, playing at home, and being allowed to indulge in TV and DVDs was just what the boys needed to recharge their batteries. We have had some very tetchy, and easily irritated little boys in this house over the past few weeks - strange that when their behaviour is at its worst, my patience grows. Hmm. Must be because it's easier to spot when they're tired, and know that they're not being naughty on purpose. Most of the time they are very, very good, and they don't like to think that they've let me down, bless them (they never do let me down, but it doesn't hurt to pretend to be a little disappointed now and then, just to keep them on their toes ;) ).

So we've only been to Dalton Zoo (South Lakes Wild Animal Park) which was quite a bargain because kids are free for the whole of April. Further bargainous because I told the boys before we left home that I had no spare money, so they did not ask for any souvenirs from the gift shop (I'll remember that one from now on!)

This is what we saw at Dalton:

One day we'd all like to adopt some of these protected animals. We always feel very sad when we visit this conservation park, because they do tell you the very grave truth about the seriousness of the threat of extinction to so many species. It's also not very nice to see these majestic animals caged. But we still go, because it's one of our favourite places - we know this park does as much as it can to protect animals in the wild. Personally, I feel very humbled when I'm there.

We have had a little fresh air, but not much. This is what fresh air looked like today, on the Barton Road fields near my mum:

Although Thomas seems to have a sour face here, this is not actually the case - he is just squinting against the sun :) He actually loves spending time on the field.

Thomas is doing some investigating here - he found a ladybird.

Matthew's looking for ladybirds too.

James would love to have a dog of his own - he will be allowed to have one, when he leaves home.

Super wholesome and refreshing afternoon, out walking me mam's dog :) The boys don't love much more than getting out for a run around in a field, with a ball and a dog to chase after it. I love watching them run up and down, showing us their skills, their aikido rolls and their acrobatics. They're fabulous little boys. Exploring copses, climbing little trees, getting squelchy in the mud, paddling in the beck, drying their feet by running on the grass. What I wouldn't give to actually be one of my boys, because they are having the time of their lives doing nothing much - they're not having a bad childhood at all :)

I'm having a short break tomorrow, being one of my Days Off. I'll be doing some serious writing jobs, and getting stuck into a couple of projects that I'm hoping to get somewhere with. After that it will be the second week of the holidays, and I am looking forward to some good weather, to some picnics perhaps, and some more fresh air, hopefully a little further afield (stocking up on travel sickness tablets!).

Life is good :)

Silverdale

2011-04-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Now, I don't know about you, but I think that the views we saw today were pretty special. This is Morecambe Bay, which might get a bit of a bad press sometimes, but seen from this angle hasn't got much wrong with it (if you don't look too far round to the left - err, south - and see the power station!)

To be honest, I don't think I really need to say anything - I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves. We had a good day today.

The boys are exhausted - excellent :) The kind of exhaustion that only a brilliant day full of exercise and good playing can bring. A birthday party in the morning, followed by a walk at Silverdale, followed by a surprise play with a little friend who lives in the house directly behind ours (Kev lifted out a fence panel and they were all able to go back and forth between the gardens - they're so excited and want to do this every day). I hope that we can go out to play every day in these next two weeks - if I were the praying kind, I would pray for dry and warm days every day; but since I'm not the praying kind I will just be hopeful instead :) Kev will be back at work, but since when has that ever stopped me from taking the kids out to nice - free - places?? One of our days out will be a walk along the cycle track to Sainsburys to buy strawberries to eat at the Castle :) Simplicity itself, but one of our favourite things to do on warm days.

I'm a little stunned that some beautiful weather has arrived - but I shouldn't really be surprised, since the Easter Holidays usually are kind to us. (Although I hear that it might actually rain tomorrow).

Limericks

2011-04-08T14:06:00.000-07:00

I have become a limericist this evening :) One of my fellow hubbers told me that he believed I would be able to write poetry, and I told him that I wouldn't, that my poetry is awful. He basically told me to have more faith in myself, so I said I'd give it a go. I decided that I would start with limericks because I thought they would suit my sense of humour, and I also like the rhythm. I don't think limericks have to be humorous, but this is where I'm going with them just now. It might be nice to do some more sentimental ones, or some scary ones, or some sad ones, or some cute ones later on, or whatever.

Would you like to see one? Now, don't get too excited, because it's not hilarious! This was my first one. I've only done one more, but I can see already that I'm going to like them very much.

Here it is:

Miss Wordsmith she wanted to rhyme,
She saw people rhyme all the time,
She stuttered and tripped,
Some pancakes she flipped,
Then she gave up and rested, sublime!

:D

There then ensued a little spat, between the Professor, who had challenged me to take up the poetry bait, and another well respected hubber called Sligobay. I decided to respond to their disagreement over the praising of my first bit of poetry with another limerick, thus:

The Professor and Sligo at odds,
Thought Linda, 'they are silly sods,
To fight and inflame,
When my poetry's so lame'.
But really they're all writing Gods!

Only I made a terrible mistake and used the word 'enflame', which of course is not a real word! I will have to apologise and repost it with the correct word, 'inflame'.

So that's what I'm trying my hand at just now. It's fun. It's not going to get me famous though! Hmmm.

I think I would also like to try haiku, but I'll have to read some of those first to see what they're about.

I don't think I'll ever be

though, eh? Not with these rhymes!

Bullying

2011-04-01T13:26:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure why so many things in this world have to be fought for, but there you are, that's how it is and we have to get on with it.

Today the bullying situation at Thomas's school seems to have come to a head, and I am now left with no choice but to follow the school's complaints procedure. The bullying has been relentless this school year, and although Thomas is being brave and dealing with it very well, we feel it's high time the school pulled its finger out and started taking this issue seriously. They've been aware of this particular bully's behaviour for three years - now am I being over-sensitive, or is three year's too long for a bullying problem to persist?!
The bully does not only target Thomas, he targets several other children as well. I have been talking to other parents and we are all of the same mind: the bullying must stop now.

The kind of bullying that we are dealing with is mostly psychological, the intimidation kind of bullying, the threatening behaviour and language, the bully trying to encourage others to do his bullying for him. It's the secretive kind of bullying, the kind that's particularly difficult for the victim to prove. I have looked at the school's policy on bullying, and to be perfectly honest, it's rather pathetic. This particular school favours a softly, softly approach to the bully, and prefers not to use a blame and punishment approach. Well, this approach clearly is not working AT ALL, since my son is still being bullied. I have a right to expect the bullying to be stopped immediately, and for the school to ensure that it is prevented from now on.

So, I have made an appointment to meet with the Head Teacher, and Kev will be with me, and at least two other parents. I asked for the appointment in writing so that I could put down a list of points that we want to discuss. I copied the letter to the Chair of Governors, and I have to copy it to the Local Education Authority as well. So now it will be a case of seeing what progress we can make at each stage. I have various options, and steps to investigate a little further - the extremest of which would be looking into moving my boys to a different school: I do not want to do this, but if in a few weeks I am banging my head against this same brick wall, it might have to be considered and threatened. There are two other Excellent schools in the area, and my children could be thriving at either of those, instead of just getting by at this one.

Sorry, I don't usually write blog posts like this, but I just needed to get this information out of my head so that I can relax for the rest of the evening and weekend.
I'm sure there will be updates as we go along!

A picture of the contents of my head right now?

Oh dear. I'm thick.

2011-03-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well, that has all just completely baffled me.

I have just spent half and hour looking into freelance writing online. I am so ignorant, and so very naive, and I know nothing. SEO? I don't know what this is. Well, I mean I looked it up on Wikipedia, and it stands for Search Engine Optimization, but it all looked very complicated and I didn't know where to start properly finding out how to learn about SEO. I mean, I'm sure that if some people can learn how to promote themselves as freelance writers that I could also learn the same skills. But I wonder whether it's all beyond me really, whether I'm nowhere near as clever as I thought I was, and that I do not have the right kind of brain - is a business brain needed? Because if it is then I'm not sure I have the right kind of brain. I know I can write some nice things sometimes, but a little literary talent doesn't seem to be enough - apparently you need to be eSavvy now too.

I could do with someone to sit down and tell me where to start, because it's all rather overwhelming. And now I am aware that I am whining. But it's difficult to find determination when the thing I want to be determined about is as tough to get hold of as smoke.

More thinking and searching I suppose. Perhaps I need to find some energy first and then research this when my head is clearer.

I'm floundering at the moment, hopping about from project to project, unable to find proper direction and focus. It's very annoying. I'm annoying myself. I wish I could get a grip and get on with things. What I could do with is a mentor really.

Hmmm...

2011-03-23T04:25:00.000-07:00

What a difference a little sunshineyness makes. I think we're all feeling the love today, are we not? Smiley faces in the playground, smiley faces on the street, neighbours standing outside their gates chatting, people cleaning their cars and singing along to the radio. The first day of Spring might not have been today, but certainly this feels like the real beginning. Ohhhhhh, I have never looked forward to warm weather so much as this year. It's been a Winter of illness, and not just for my mum (though, of course, she has had the worst). It's been a Winter of the most colds, snotty noses, ear infections, bronchitises, tonsilitises and laryngitises that I have known. Not that I'm complaining, because poorliness is always the best excuse to have cuddly times on the sofa and plenty of DVDs. But I am ready to brush away some cobwebs this Spring.

I've got my novel-writing head on now; I'm going to do it; this is it (as I say every Spring!) I've found my principle characters, and I know what they look like so they can't give me the slip this time. I've found my plot, and I've found my baddie, and I've found my baddie's motivation, and I've found a few sub plots that might be worth exploring, I've also firmly decided on the rules for magic in my world. All that remains is to write the bloody thing. Five chapters down, roughly twenty-five to go!

Oh good grief! How to spoil a person's productive mood! I said that my neighbours were singing along to the radio whilst cleaning their cars? Well, my next-door-but-one neighbour has just turned Blondie up full blast, and I am mightily vexed!!! I cannot abide Blondie, so I am going to have to shut my window until it's over.

Huh?

2011-03-21T03:39:00.000-07:00

What's that all about then? Are you lot suckers for a bit of negativity then, or what? I post a negative blog entry, and like magic I get the highest number of views in 24 hours that I've ever had. Well, if only I'd known, that all it would take was a bit of a moan, I'd have had a bit of a moan ages ago. My, oh my. I'm stunned.

:D

Well, you'll be sad to know that I am not negative today. I am back to my usual happy and annoyingly cheery self. My lime green Docs are doing their job, and tomorrow I may wear them with my skinny jeans tucked in! I'm just missing the black leather bomber jacket, and the green hair (though I'm hopefully getting the green hair in a few weeks).

Spring today, and my Docs match the buds that are exploding out everywhere :)

Happy Spring :D

Breakdown?

2011-03-20T04:13:00.000-07:00

Something seems to have gone wrong in my brain. I came home from my day off yesterday, and as soon as I stepped through the front door I actually felt the foul mood enter my soul. I snapped at Kev as soon as I saw him, and the poor guy hadn't done anything wrong. I went to bed in a foul mood, and it was still there when I got up. I have spent the morning so far screaming at the kids, and they haven't done anything wrong. Instead of making the most of the day with them I have launched myself into some deep cleaning, pulling sofas out and hoovering under them and behind them and inside them! I have blamed the kids for my bad mood, and I have told them that I am sick of them making so much mess for me to clean up every day. They are looking bewildered.

So I thought I'd come and write it all down, see if I could exorcise it.

Oh my goodness! I am actually feeling a little bit better because my children have just come up to see where I am, and each one of them hugged me and told me that they love me!!! Why would they do that, when I'm so evil? They need to be kept away from me for their own sanity and safety, because I'm unstable today. But still they love me. That's special, that is.

I'm not used to feeling so bad. I wonder what I can do to eradicate the feeling completely. My kids have made the anger disappear, but now I am still feeling guilt and a bit of sadness. I will go and find something fun to do with Thomas, James and Matthew and maybe that will work. I know that I don't need to poison myself with guilt, because I'm just having a bad day and I haven't done it on purpose. I am now going to forgive myself and try to move on.

Ommmmmmmmmm. There, forgiven.

I think I am feeling a build up of lots of little niggly things, and my pot of crappiness has filled up to the top and overflowed a bit. I think I have some issues and problems to deal with - obviously the best thing to do is deal with them, rather than sweep them under the carpet. I will make a list this evening, and will probably feel refreshed after that.

Is this my first negative post, ever? Well, it had to happen at some point. Let's hope it's the last for a long time. I don't like feeling negative, it doesn't suit me, and it definitely does not suit my lime green Docs.

Zennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn...

Merry Christmas everyone!

2011-03-18T05:04:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to getting my last Christmas present this morning. Kev gave me a cute little home-made voucher for a pair of Doc Marten's for Christmas, and I only just cashed it in.

My docs are this colour.

Actually, they're not. This photo doesn't get the colour across properly. They're much more luminous! Not to everyone's taste by any means, but that's good. I wouldn't want everyone wearing the same shoes as me, because then I wouldn't be so special :D

It was between these and a pair of shiny pink ones. The shiny pink ones were on offer, but I knew I would love the green more in the long run. Maybe I'll save up and get the pink ones too! Of course, they probably won't be on offer any more, once I've managed to save up.

This still doesn't show you the real colour. How strange. Well, you'll just have to come and see them for yourself. I'm sure you'll hate them, but that's alright.

It's going to be marvellous to not get wet feet when it rains now :) I've been walking around in holey shoes for months, and my toes have been freezing all Winter!

Day Off tomorrow :D :D :D :D :D I am not to be disturbed. I am doing some major editing on my manuscript, and hope to have made some good progress with it by the end of the day. If you see me in Starbucks you must keep the niceties to a minimum and then bugger off :D

Have a good weekend all.

Wonders of the Universe

2011-03-06T14:34:00.000-08:00

I have just finished watching Wonders of the Universe, presented by the inimitable Professor Brian Cox. As per usual, as per my viewing of Wonders of the Solar System, my mind has been blown, and I have done some good crying at the beauty and amazingness of everything. Staggering stuff, and humbling indeed. The bit that made me blub in the end was when he showed us the photo taken from Voyager 1, in 1990, of our planet from billions of kilometres out in space. Ohhhhh, we are so tiny, and so alone. The first photo here shows Earth, circled. That's us, in 1990, shot through by a sunbeam. Can you see yourself? I think I can see our house, and I can tell its ours because our car's parked on the drive.

These others are just stunning pictures taken by Hubble. Enjoy :)

Nothing like some sense from Prof Brian to give life some perspective and meaning. I always feel uplifted by the things he says.

New hobby

2011-03-04T02:15:00.000-08:00

The gatehouse.

Do you like my latest project? I've found a new hobby. I have found that I could quite happily allow myself to be addicted to cardboard cut-out models. I made two very small ones earlier in the year, and just found it to be so relaxing and unwinding. I get my tools ready, my good pair of big, sharp kitchen scissors, my cutting board, my craft knife and my fast drying PVA glue, and my fingers are practically itching to start. I tell you, all of a sudden I understand why some people find so much pleasure in an air-fix kit. It's such a simple joy: to create something, but without the responsibility of the planning and designing - the thing being created has already been tried and tested, and definitely will fit together perfectly, it cannot go wrong. This is what I find so calming about it. There is no stress involved, because there is no danger of pieces being missing, new bits needing to be made, sections not fitting together. I think it cardboard cut-out models could be used as therapy for anyone who needs to learn how to relax and enjoy doing something for no good reason other than the fact that it makes them happy.

The piece that I am working on now is a big medieval castle. It has cut-out figures, and the boys will be able to play with it when it's finished. I'll be happy for them to play with it, because I know they will take care of it - actually they will be in awe of it, and it will be their favourite toy for a while :) (We're a very old-fashioned little family in lots of ways - do you know, we even eat our evening meal at the table, with the TV off, and we all talk to each other about our day?! Amazing eh?)

This bit here is the inside of the gatehouse, all dark and mysterious. I think it looks pretty good. I just hope that all of this very pretty insides can be seen once the castle is all finished. It would be a shame for them to be hidden.

Eh? Eh? I know, it's gorgeous isn't it? I know. Just wait until you see the whole castle finished, you're going to be amazed, truly. That tiny portcullis that you can see there, actually lifts up, to reveal the doors that actually open.

Here are my tools, minus my cutting board, which I forgot to put in the shot - I'll put it in next time. I'm supposed to also use a ruler, for any cutting or scoring that I do with the craft knife. But I don't like to use a ruler, as I find that the knife seems to be repelled by it and I end up going off the line anyway - I find that I make a neater line if I just do the job freehand. The ruler also gets in the way, and I can't really see what I'm doing properly.

Can you see the dreadful accident that occurred, evidence of which is in this photo above? Well, in the piece of wall, with an arch in it, that's just to the left of the craft knife? I cut right through that wall by accident - I was cutting out a piece on the next page, and thought that it was strange that this particular piece of card seemed to be so much thicker than the others. It was then, with horror, that I realised I had cut right through a wall :( What an idiot. I hadn't even done my first bit of gluing at that point. But No matter, I'll bravely continue. I'm going to fix the broken wall back together with tape on the underside - it won't be seen, fortunately, because it's a hidden underside. Phew! It could have been a lot worse.

More photos when I've done the next bit. I bet you just can't wait!

2011-02-27T03:56:00.000-08:00

I have a first draft almost complete. Mm-hmm, yes I do. I don't quite know how it managed to get so finished, because I really haven't spent all that much time on it. But there we are. Of course, it needs a lot more work to make it presentable. The beginning and the end are quite good, but the whole of the middle (probably about 40,000 words) is rubbish. But at least it's all there, and there's plenty to work on. So I've just had a very brief search for literary agents, and I found two that seem suitable straight away. They both prefer to accept submissions by email, which suits me. I'll try one of them first and see if I get anywhere. I suppose it depends on what they're looking for at the time, as much as anything else. (Obviously it also depends on whether or not my book is any good - it might well be awful, but how would I know, since I'm too close to it?!)

That's pretty much all I have to say about that. I'm actually quite excited (I know it's difficult to tell from my tone), but I still have a lot of work to do, so I'm not getting carried away. But I think it was a good thing to take a look at the agents' websites, because it's given me a sort of internal timetable. I'd like to have something ready to submit in a month or two.

In other writing, I have been very lazy. I have published a few hubs (see right) and they've been moderately well received. I don't know whether or not it is really worth my while writing hubs, whether I will actually gain anything from them, but I love to do them. And I suppose I am producing a body of work that an agent can take a look at if they want to.

Ooh, a visitor has arrived. Ta ta.

Half term is lovely

2011-02-23T03:22:00.000-08:00

The Museum of Museums at Trafford Park was very, very good. Thomas nearly exploded when he saw Tutankhamun's death mask (replica, pictured above). His class have been learning about Ancient Egypt, so this was a real treat for them to be able to see what the treasures from the pharaoh's tomb actually looked like. I was pretty blown away myself, even though I've been to Egypt and have seen the Valley of the Kings and the Queens, and the Temple of Karnak. There was no treasure to be seen in Luxor, since all of the grave goods are now kept in Cairo. It was wonderful, even though the exhibits in Manchester were replicas, to see the detail of the engravings on every surface of gold. The hieroglyphs are so clear, so neat, just exquisite. What I wouldn't give for that time machine just now, to go back and watch these pieces being made. The death mask was incredible, the coffins that it was hidden inside, the shrines that the coffins were hidden inside - the whole set up was like a truly massive Russian doll!

They were nested, like so:

1-4 were the shrines, I believe, and 5 was a stone box, and b-d were the coffins. Go and have a look on Google Images and Wikipedia if you want to get a better idea of the wonders that we saw. Sadly, I am a pillock, and forgot to take my camera. I was more excited about the prospect of getting to spend a whole day with Thomas with no little brothers around taking up all my attention :) Completely forgot, until we got there, that we would be seeing some highly photographable objects. My friend Sara did take some photos, and her daughter Abi was very good at telling me where each god and goddess was represented, so it may be that I will have more photos to show later in the week.

The rest of the week will provide nothing so exciting to report. The boys are now poorly, with random feverishness, and we are having a few lazy days. Playmobil is the plaything of choice today. Tomorrow it may be Lego. We did visit the Lego shop at the Trafford Centre, but apart from little Lego figure keyrings, we did manage to resist buying anything. It was all so deliciously tempting - I think I was more excited than Thomas! I REALLY wanted to buy some Harry Potter and Star Wars Lego. But the boys were spoilt enough over Christmas, and we have no money left. The boys are getting used to this being said: 'you can't have everything you want' :)

Sorry it's all a bit boring at our house at the moment. Well, we're not bored, but we're not doing anything that's interesting to talk about. We might bake a cake this afternoon. Maybe not. Who cares. We might just watch films ALL day.

I'm not complaining or anything, perfectly and blissfully happy and excited about the future, as always; but I wouldn't mind a bit of sunshine and warmth now. Come on Spring, I'm ready.

Happy New Year!!!

2011-02-14T02:38:00.000-08:00

Hello there, my lovely friends. How I've missed you!

My computer is back, but it is not repaired to my satisfaction. Or rather, it is repaired, but it has sustained additional damage in the form of many scratches to the lid - the engineer who carried out the repair must have caused this damage. I am making a complaint about this, but I do not think that I will get any more than a letter of apology (if I'm lucky). I think the insurance company are going to dig their heels in and refuse to sort this out properly. Therefore, I am going to name and shame. Our insurance is with Direct Line, who use Direct Validation Services as a middle man, who in turn use OLogic for computer repairs. If you don't want your laptop to come back covered in scratches - scratches which were not there when you sent it away - then steer clear of these three companies. :) Should I also name the actual engineer?

But how are you all? How was your January, and half of February? Tired, are you? Yes, everyone I've seen or spoken to in the last few weeks has been yawning, and looked decidedly bleary eyed. The sun came out this morning, but it disappear again, and I think it will be a while before we see it properly. January usually doesn't bother me, and I usually enjoy it as a fresh start and a month full of potential. But this year it was a bit crap, frankly.

But that is not like me, so let me find some good things that happened in January.

I recovered from the stomach flu that I had had over Christmas. Yes, that was a good thing.
James had his birthday, and a super party at The Zone, where we all got to play and have millions of fun.
Some buds were seen on some plants in the garden - is that a bit early?
The birds came back to our garden, because we remembered to feed them again!
We played with Lego quite a lot.
We enjoyed watching MANY, MANY films because the weather's been quite rubbish, and honestly, we just felt like being lazy for a while.
Oh, I almost forgot, I wrote 50,000 words in the NaNoWriMo spirit and styleee! (If you want to read about that process you can look at my Hub, at http://hubpages.com/profile/Lady+Wordsmith)
I did not spend very much money because I have to save up as much as possible this year.
I have to save up as much as possible this year, because I enrolled on the MA in English with the Open University :D :D :D (Starts in October, plenty of time to get the reading done.)

So, one or two things in January that were quite good. Actually, looking back, all in all, it was a pretty successful month, and I don't know what I've been moping about! Shame on me. February has proved, so far, to be a bit flatter, because I've had too long a creative rest after that 50,000 words. Probably, I should not have had a rest at all, and I should have gone on to write another 50,000 words. That was my intention, but one night off turned into two nights off turned into a week off. Shocking really. I really am so lazy, given a just-open-a-tiny-sliver-sash-window-of-opportunity.

Off to do some work then. Still got two child-free hours of my morning left, better fill it with something good and productive.

Nice to be back - hope not to see you too much though! I've enjoyed being computerless, it's been liberating :)

I'm going to be rich!

2010-12-19T03:14:00.000-08:00

Here it is, confirmation of my first day's earnings from my AdSense account:

I'm so pleased! Riches are coming to me, of that I am absolutely certain. Within the next week, I could, potentially, have earned... seven pence! By this time next year, I may well, if my luck holds, have earned £3.65. Now that will be something to celebrate, and provided that inflation hasn't gone too crazy, I might be able to buy myself a drink with those earnings.

Playmobil is ace

2010-12-17T03:40:00.000-08:00

Come on, I mean, how cute is Playmobil these days? Seriously cute. I was playing with Matthew yesterday, emptying all of the big stuff out of the Playmobil box, and looking for the teeny things in the bottom that we needed for our little campsite. We had the camper van, and the chairs and tables, but we needed all the food, and the plates and cutlery. Nothing has been lost from our Playmobil sets, which is somewhat of a miracle when you consider just how tiny the pieces are! And so well made, no little sprues* on the plastic, all beautifully finished. We have the teeniest little mobile phone, that is only just bigger than a Playmobil person's hand. Never been lost. Amazing.

These first two photos are of the ice-cream parlour, which Kev's parents bought the boys last Christmas. It's Gorgeous! Look at those little bowls of ice-cream, and that dinky little scoop! Now, I usually don't like to use exclamation marks in my writing (proper writers shouldn't need them, you know!), but descriptions of Playmobil do require them. So apologies for my over-zealous use of them.

And here we have the inside of the camper van. These little compartments are cunningly concealed underneath the beds! Ohhh, so cute! Tiny little cups and plates, tiny little forks and knives. I can barely stand it, I just want to cry at the cuteness! Now, I don't know about you, but so called girls toys have nothing on this stuff - so called boys toys are way cooler. (I hate all that rubbish about boys and girls toys, and so wish that shops wouldn't play to that insecurity that lots of parents have about their children becoming gay if they don't play with gender-appropriate toys! Matthew would love to have a doll's house, and the two reasons he can't have one are because we can't afford it, and we haven't the space in the house. If it were within my power and means to get him one, then he would have one, because he would get so much enjoyment from it - when we go into the Early Learning Centre he can always be found playing with the doll's house. Does this mean he's gay? Tt, who cares?!)

That's my hand, right there.

So, we plonked it all back in the Playmobil box at the end of the day, and this afternoon we'll have to dig it all out again! But half the fun of Playmobil is in the hours spent setting it all up, isn't it, just for ten minutes of actual playing? :)

*sprue 1 |sproō|
nouna channel through which metal or plastic is poured into a mold.• a piece of metal or plastic that has solidified in a sprue, esp.one joining a number of small molded plastic items.

Bad Girl!

2010-12-15T03:26:00.000-08:00

My HubPages addiction is becoming a bit of a problem this week. I really must stay away from it, and only check it once a day at the most! A watched pot never boils, is what 'they' say, is it not? If someone's going to leave a comment on one of my hubs, that comment will still be there by the time evening comes, so there's no need for me to be checking several times a day. Ridiculous woman!

I am maaaaaaaad at myself for wasting my morning on HubPages, without even composing a hub. Idiot!

That's all I have to say for now.

2010-12-08T02:17:00.000-08:00

Here is our tree :) It's just a Christmas tree, same as anyone else's I suppose. But I'm always quite proud of my tree, because it's always so sparkly and lovely :) The picture doesn't quite do it justice, because we have bad lighting for photos in the living room. But I think we have about 400 fairy lights on our tree, and when the big living room light is off at night, and the tree is just standing on its own in the corner, all twinkly, it looks splendid.

I'm not sure if our tree is going to last though. We were supposed to get it straight into water, but we didn't. Now I'm not sure if it's taking any water in, or whether it's going to suddenly wilt because the cut that the Christmas-tree-selling-man made sealed up before we got the tree into it's little bath. But hopefully it will be alright. Mind you, our house can be pretty chilly, so maybe it doesn't really want a drink of anything cold. Perhaps I should give it a cup of tea every morning.

Currently I am enjoying the arty photographing of three different sizes of shot (I don't even know how to talk about photography, so I hope you get the gist of what I'm saying - sorry). So we have the big picture, of the whole of the Christmas tree above. Then, below, we have a close up of part of it. And then below that, we have an extreme close up (possibly using the macro setting, if necessary). I don't know what you call this, but I'm enjoying it. You might have noticed that I did it with the teabags the other day? Only my camera on my phone wasn't really able to get a good close up of the tealeaves because of the mesh being in the way.

That sparkle has come out rather nicely, don't you think? :) Sparkle can be tricky to photograph, especially in too much light. But too little light can be a problem too. What do I know though? Absolutely nothing. I just point and click.

I do have a nice camera, which I use a lot. But mostly I use it when we're going somewhere, on holiday, or for a walk somewhere. For my blog I use my phone's camera, which is sufficient to meet my blogging needs usually. It is a humble 3.2 megapixel affair, which I have very little control over. It really is just a case of pointing and clicking. But it's a goody :) This is the most bestest phone I have had yet, and I think I will keep it for quite a long time, until it dies. I have no real need for an iPhone, but I will probably choose something like that when my current phone dies. My current phone is a simple Nokia, that is only a phone, a texting implement, and a camera. It does nothing else fancy, but it is sturdy and small and comfortable to use, and doesn't have any faults.

This is my phone. Lovely :)

Anyway, that'll do for today, I should think. Actually supposed to be writing a book today! But as usual, got distracted by the sparkly and shiny internet!

Tidy work area :)

2010-12-04T03:00:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my writing space :) This is where I like to write, and where I am able to concentrate best ... when it looks like this! Until yesterday it did not look like this. I should have taken a before picture, but I forgot. But rest assured that it was a completely horrendous mess of random bits of paper and receipts and carrier bags and leaflets and dead batteries and crisp packets and dried up pens and teaspoons and tiny broken toys and many books piled high. Bit by bit I am dejunking my house, and it is lovely. Greater peace of mind accompanies each newly tidied area, and now I am thinking that whoever said that we should forget about housework when we have children was completely mistaken! Tidy house equals nice and happy mummy! Tidy house equals a stronger inclination to play with the kiddoes! Tidy house seems to equal more hours in a day!

As you can see, I still have clutter on the shelves, but it's all necessary. I have quite a few treasures that I can't possibly throw away, because they make me happy, and precious people have given them to me. I have a small collection of perfectly round stones (a collection of two!) that James collects for me - wasn't that a clever way of ensuring that we don't bring half of the beach with us when we've been combing it? 'Only perfectly round stones please, nothing else will do boys.' ;) I also have a signed photo from Christopher Paolini which must be on display at all times, for inspiration.

Christopher Paolini (born November 17, 1983 in Southern California) is an American novelist. He is best known as the author of theInheritance Cycle, which consists of the books Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr, and a currently untitled fourth book. He lives in Paradise Valley, Montana, where he wrote his first book.

But a tidy work area is essential to me for writing. Since tidying this tiny desk my book has miraculously come together in my head - coincidence? I think not! Onward....

Christmas shopping - bought mesell these!

2010-12-02T13:49:00.000-08:00

Yes, I went Christmas shopping on Tuesday, to one of my favourite garden centres. It's a trip I make around this time every year. It has a divinely beautiful gift shop, which pretty much sells the same things every year - this is good, because I always know that if I can't afford those few extra pressies one year, I can put them to the top of the list for the year after. At this particular garden centre I buy those presents for other people that I would actually like to keep for myself (I can't tell you what those are, because it would spoil the surprises for my loved ones!)

This season the garden centre is stocking a new brand of teabag! Wow! Astounding news. I've been intrigued by this new material that is used for the bag, which I have also seen in my cup at Starbucks - it's apparently some kind of biodegradable material, but I don't know what it's called. They shimmer, and reflect light in undulating and billowy way, and they feel almost satiny. They are actually not called teabags, they are called 'tea temples' - how lovely is that??

Just look how pretty these Earl Grey tea temples are:

Shame that the tea tastes like crap!

Ooh, this looks good though...

2010-11-29T04:50:00.000-08:00

Just been checking out some stuff on various MAs in Creative Writing and/or English. I'm still submitting an application for the MA at Lancaster University. I have some work that I can show them, as they require a folder of writing (with potential for publication! Err, maybe not!). I'm fairly confident that what I show them will be up to scratch - I think I know what they're looking for. And having worked in the English Department at that particularly marvellous university, processing MA applications, I can remember what I thought of the standard of some of the writing, because I read a lot of it ;) I remember thinking that I could probably write as well as most of the applicants (why, oh why, did I not extend that idea a little bit and start writing then?) I'll put that application together as soon as I can - I now have my Creative Writing tutor to ask for a reference. And I have my tutor from Aberystwyth to write me an academic one. So that's fine. Good job I did this little CW course, else I'd have no-one to write a reference on my writing!

But I've just been looking at the Open University website, and they do an MA in English. It's not creative writing, obviously, but it would still be incredibly useful to me. And it's more affordable. It would be a tremendous amount of work, but what enjoyable work it would be :) There are an awful lot of books to read in the first year, but I'm up to that. I can apply myself a lot better these days. The fees are not available yet, and I can't find out what last year's were. But you can pay in installments with the OU, which you can't do with an ordinary uni. It's not just about the money. If it were I wouldn't even bother applying to Lancaster, because it's so expensive. But I'm thinking of the OU as a back up really, incase Lancaster don't think I'm good enough. It's entirely possible (I know, I know - which crazy institution wouldn't want to offer ME a place??! Sheesh!), because Lancaster's standards are so very high. Both start in October anyway, so I'll know whether or not I have a place at Lancaster in plenty of time to register for the OU. You don't have to wait to be offered a place at the OU, you just register :)

The little Creative Writing course finishes tomorrow evening, last one. It's been fun. I might do it again after Christmas. It has a different tutor in January. But lots of people do the course several times. It probably should be a continuous longer course, and be called a Certificate or something. But the Adult College split it up into these silly little courses for some daft financial reason. The people on the course are lovely, and I'd like to see them some more. I'm hopefully going to see some of them for an hour this evening - a few are trying to get a writers' group going, and are meeting fortnightly in a pub on a Monday evening. I can't stay for the whole session, because I have to pick Thomas up from aikido. But I will drop him off, nip over to the pub for fifty minutes or so, and then collect him when I'm done. I might not be able to participate quite as fully as I would like, but it's better than nothing. Being around other writers is even more inspiring and wonderful than I expected. It's just lovely to listen to other people talking about their work, even if it's not something I would read. Writers all have such a lot in common with the ways they work, and the problems they have to work through. It's nice to be less alone in the whole thing for a change. I think they've set up this little group because there isn't anything else like it in Lancaster. Maybe there is, I don't know. But that's the impression I got from the group. I'll have to print something off to share tonight. I might not share it this week, or perhaps I'll just give it to someone to take away. But I've not been to this group before, so I might just have a coffee and listen to how it works. I'd quite like to read something that someone else has written.

Well, I'll be off now. Didn't get my morning off this morning, as Matthew was poorly. Of course, he could have gone to nursery and been just fine. But he seemed very off at brekkie, having been up since 5am with a touch of croup. But I'll still have time after Thomas's aikido to plough through some of my faerie notes. Better to do an hour or work than none at all, right?!

aikido |ˌīkēˈdō; īˈkēdō|nouna Japanese form of self-defense and martial art that uses locks, holds, throws, and the opponent's own movements.ORIGIN 1950s: from Japanese aikidō, literally ‘way of adaptingthe spirit,’ from ai ‘together, unify’ + ki ‘spirit’ + dō ‘way.’

My grandad (on the left, quite obviously!) in his aikido gear :) My grandad Stephen is the Chief Instructor at Lancaster Aikikwai. Thomas loves aikido, and I think he will stay with the club for a very long time.

It's working so far

2010-11-28T15:04:00.000-08:00

I ain't got long to write this evening, because my eyelids are drooping and I'm about to fall into oblivion...

But the timetable is working so far. I did some work on sorting out piles of notes on Friday, and on Saturday evening. I'll be carrying on tomorrow morning when the littlies are out. It'll probably be quite a frustrating process, and I'll be fed up with it by the middle of this week, because I'll feel like I'm not really getting anywhere. But there are certain processes that have to be gone through before the scribbling can start properly. I can't just sit down and write with this story, because it's too darned big! I've got to keep some control over it, and I have to keep notes on my ideas so that I can keep them tethered and not risk having them fly away.

Might be back on with some actual writing by the end of the week, but I'll just see how I go. I'm not really bothered how quickly I get the book written, as long as I keep going with it, don't skive, and produce something that I can work with later.

On other things: the new Harry Potter film is very, very good indeed. I've seen it twice this weekend, and I wouldn't even mind seeing it a couple more times! Won't get to though, just haven't got the spare evenings at the moment. Think I'm going to be missing a few important dates over the next couple of weeks: I know there are lots of things coming up, but I've forgotten to write everything down, so they might get missed! Oh dear. Well, as long as I remember to do some Christmas shopping over the next three weeks, then that'll be something.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... oops!

Night.

®†¥¨^øπ“‘«æ…¬˚∆˙©ƒ∂ßå`Ω≈ç√∫~µ≤≥÷¡€#¢∞§¶•ªº–≠ Hmm, none of those seem right - I'm trying to find a symbol that looks like closed eyes, so I can do a sleeping smilie! Never mind.

Discipline

2010-11-25T03:44:00.000-08:00

DISCIPLINE

That will be the key for next year. 2011, the Year of Discipline. I think 2010 was supposed to be the Year of Achievement. Hmm. Didn't really anything more than any other year. Kind of forgot about the achievements after about March. In fact, I've only just remembered this minute. Perhaps there's still time to achieve something great? Oh, I did write almost a complete draft of a book - that's a very big achievement.

discipline |ˈdisəplin|noun1 the practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behavior, using punishment to correct disobedience : a lack of proper parental and school discipline.

But the Year of Discipline ties in with the themes of the Year of Achievement, the principle's the same, and is to do with getting things done. Discipline for the kids, but discipline for me too. Discipline with myself will mean that I'll achieve more, and then I'll have more time for fun, instead of wasting time moping about feeling guilty for not achieving anything. I'm telling the world now, that I have 18 free hours a week in which to write - anyone could write a book with that many hours free, could they not? Of course they could. I've made myself a timetable, and I'm going to make myself stick to it. (Full of good intentions, as always - I've said things like this many, many times.)

achievement |əˈ ch ēvmənt|noun1 a thing done successfully, typically by effort, courage, or skill : to reach this stage is a great achievement.2 the process or fact of achieving something : the achievement of professional recognition | sense of achievement.

So in 2011, I will mostly thinking about dragons and faeries. Going with the project that's the most fun, because it's most likely to hold my interest.

The plan is, to work every evening on the book, then to allow myself Saturday and Sunday evenings to catch up on other things, like letters and hubs and photo albums and things. All it takes is for me to get into the habit of working every day - if I can do that I should be well away.

Blogs and hubs and Facebook places are the problem, because they're such a distraction and suck you in so sneakily. That's where the discipline comes in.

Sorry, repetitive blog today, witter, witter, witter.

Just out of interest, I wonder what you guys think of when you imagine faeries? Tell me, it might help me think of more characters!

Got my thoughts together now :)

2010-11-23T14:53:00.000-08:00

My head is calm and easy, and my breathing is back to normal. I have stopped my thoughts from zooming around like bees in a hive, and I have committed myself to a decision. I know which writing project I am going to be working on for the next year, and I am happy about it. I am going to make a pretty little timetable (this is not procrastinating, honest it isn't, it'll only take five minutes!), and try to stick to it as much as possible. This creative writing course that I've been doing has taught me that writing loads of different things and trying out different styles and stories is very useful, but also very counter-productive. This is because it encourages your mind to go off in loads of different directions, and you lose your mind a little bit. Before I started working on my first drafts I did plenty of experimenting and idea-generating, and I'm not at that place any more. I am now at a place where I need to focus and concentrate on my world building, my characters and my story. I'm going to think faerie from now on. Getting it done!

But what I will do, to stop myself from becoming completely bored, is allow myself a little look at the other project once a fortnight, just for one evening. I can write some if I fancy, or I can just do some thinking about it. That way it won't start to stagnate. And also it will give me a break from thinking magical thoughts.

I am reading a very good faerie book at the moment: Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars. It's making me think a lot about how to make elements of my story more original, to think outside the usual parameters of magical theory (whatever am I talking about?!) and to just let my story go wherever it wants to, instead of trying to make it fit my original plan. There's no danger of me copying Brennan's style at all, because our stories are so different (they share elements, as almost all stories in similar genres do, of course). But very useful to read something that challenges me to think about my own work in a different way.

Next I think I will read Fablehaven, by Brandon Mull. It was recommended to me personally, by Christopher Paolini who wrote Eragon! Yes, personally. In a personal letter. Christopher Paolini, who wrote Eragon, also wrote a letter to me (I must have mentioned it in a post before, quite a while ago - or maybe it was before I started blogging), and signed a lovely photo of himself for me too :) Photo's got my name on it, and everything. Oh yes. Links with famous authors here, oh yes. Anyway, I told him about my story ideas, and he recommended that I read Mr Mull's work for some inspiration. I haven't managed to get chance to read it yet, but I have placed it firmly at the top of the pile. Hope it's worth the wait.

Books are good, books are ace, we love books, all up in this place...

Gathering my thoughts

2010-11-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

So, I've had a few days off writing. Haven't written a thing. Can't even remember how to now. Better get back to it, before I even forget how to spell simple words.

I've just been reading the hubs of some of the people I follow, and I must say that some of them can really make a person feel inadequate! I do feel very stupid and ignorant sometimes. I'm reading hubs that are very atheist-bashing, and I want to have my say and defend my position on God and the Universe, but I find it so very difficult to form my opinions into a cohesive argument. I just don't enough scientific stuff. My belief rests in science, and the reason for this is because it has always presented me with much more believable evidence than the Bible has. But putting this in such a way that properly shows what I think is very difficult. Now, I have no illusion that a hub on atheism could ever be left alone and not picked to bits and cause a huge debate. It would attract lots of comments, and ever sentence that wasn't quite finished exquisitely would be ripped apart. Every point that wasn't backed up with irrefutable evidence would be hammered down into dust. Well, that's fine - you have to expect that when you attempt to discuss religion, whichever side you come down on. It's a bit sad that people feel the need to attack the beliefs of others, but there we are - I've done it myself, but I suppose only in defence of my own position when it's been attacked first. But what I don't want to happen is for readers to think that I'm completely stupid and that what I've written is so basic and flawed and naive that it's not worth commenting on. So, for this reason I am not rushing into writing a hub on my beliefs - I am going to take my time over it, and maybe post something next year... or maybe the year after.

In other news, I am just finishing up my little creative writing course. I have two weeks left, and a little homework to do for that. I always leave it until the last minute - but the good thing about homework for a writing course is that it's absolutely fine to leave it until the last minute, or to even not do it at all! You can say that you couldn't find your creativity this particular week, you can say that you had a severe mental block. Marvellous. Of course, I haven't done that - I've done my work. I'm thinking that doing the MA would be very useful. I'm going to apply for that as soon as I can get my personal statement together - this is going to be quite tricky, because I don't really know what to say about my creative writing. It's just something I've been doing as a hobby. Oh, I suppose there's the answer, right there: I've been doing it as a hobby, and now I'm ready to start taking it more seriously, taking myself and my writing more seriously. Hmm. Yes, I think there's something there. I'll work on that later.

Right now, I have to pop off and write five hundred words on a ghost story for tomorrow's class. I'm not sure what I'll write, but something will come to me, I'm sure.

Better go and do that then. Ta-ra.

Day 30! WooHoo!

2010-11-17T15:20:00.000-08:00

YAY!!!!! I did it :D :D :D :D :D

I have written my final hub of the thirty day challenge :) Alright, I haven't posted it, but I have written it and it is just ready to be typed up. I was going to sit up for another hour and get it posted, but I actually have to post the 29th as well, and it's already half past eleven. So I hope all of my followers will forgive me, but you will actually have to wait an extra day to see the two final posts. But rest assured that they are definitely written and I am not lying to you. Oh, here you are, I'll take a picture of them and their titles. Hang on...

Alright? I don't lie about things like this, you see? (I do lie about some things, but I'm not going to tell you what!)

So I have finished my challenge, and I think that I will miss it. I will probably write another hub tomorrow, because I will miss it if I don't! I should really have an evening off and just watch a film, but I think I might have made myself addicted to hubs. That's not really anything to be ashamed of though, eh? There are worse things to be addicted to.

I'm feeling sort of proud for finishing the challenge - and also for managing to post a blog every single day too :) That was the easy bit though. I'm not feeling completely proud though, as I don't think the hubs are particularly good. I think one or two of them are very nice, but on the whole I think they're too rushed and I'd like to address some of the issues in them again and write better hubs from scratch. If I do that then I think I will have to delete the ones I've expanded on, so that I'm not repeating myself. HubPages has strict rules about repetitive hubbing and things like that. It's a super site - I'm very glad that I found it.

But I'm off to bed now, because I'm very tired. I would like to go to sleep, and perhaps sleep for a week. Writing five hubs in one day is not really good for a person, and I have a bit of a headache!

Night all.

Day 29.

2010-11-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

Ooh, one more day of the challenge to go. I ain't going to do it, you know. I've managed keeping up with the blog every day, no problem. But there was just that one point a couple of weeks ago when I got behind with the hubs, and I haven't managed to catch up since then. I'm still short by four and a half hubs. I don't think I'm going to manage to write four and a half hubs in one day. I can't really bring myself to write substandard ones just to get them done - I don't see the point of that. But I will give it my best shot - you never know. I've got the morning off tomorrow, so I could possibly write two then. And maybe, just maybe, I could do another two in the evening. I wonder if it really matter whether or not I post them on the very last day, or whether I could get away with posting them on Day 31, as long as I really did write them on Day 30. What do you think?

Anyway, Congratulations to William and Kate!

Don't worry, you lovely little couple you, I won't be a stalker. I just love a nice Royal occasion :)

My, but she's a pretty one, eh? Lovely :) Wish I had her hair.

That is all for today. I have been at college this evening, and I am tired. I had to do some writing that was quite tricky, about something that I would ever have chosen to write about. I'm feeling taxed. Night.

Day 28.

2010-11-15T23:54:00.000-08:00

Not much doing today, Monday. All a little tired from some sleepless nights to do with wet beds - the children's, not mine! Perhaps not what you want to hear, but hey, it happens. I am spending my mornings at the launderette, waiting for duvets to be washed. Hey ho.

This is how tired Matthew was today:

He almost fell asleep in his salmon, but I moved the plate just in time.

He actually woke up when I tried to put his pyjamas on, and he did finish his tea. He's the only child of mine to wake up cheery from this kind of sleep. Strange. But good!

Day 27.

2010-11-14T14:43:00.000-08:00

This is what we did today.

Lots of running, climbing, throwing of branches and sticks into the river, make-believing about the Dark Masters spies from Terabithia, fighting of baddies, throwing of bombs made of magicified seed pods, and general sunny day craziness-inducing fun antics. What a fantastic and fantastical afternoon :) I got slashed on the hand by a baddy when I was trying to climb a tree to get away from it - I was slashed by a poison-tipped dagger, and I have only twenty-four hours to live, unless I can find the antidote.

Having kids is ace! We always have an excuse to play ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge_to_Terabithia_(novel)

Day 26.

2010-11-13T12:00:00.000-08:00

:) Four days to go after this.

Thomas has really caught the reading bug now. He has moved the cuddly toys from the shelf beside his bed (near the ceiling, he's on the top bunk) and replaced them with some books that he plans to read. He has started Black Beauty and he is actually reading the words at bed time. This is the first time he's done this. He reads to me most days, but I've not managed to convince him to read to himself until now. He's always pretended to read the words, but has just looked at the pictures. But last night he read four pages, and kept calling me in to tell me what was happening. It was all rather exciting. I asked him if he enjoyed reading in bed, and he said that he loved it and was going to read forever now.

This morning he took Black Beauty to football, and while James was playing Thomas did a little more reading, sitting on a ball, resting again a wall, with a blanket over his legs. He didn't read much in the end, because he got distracted by Matthew I think, but he has kept the book with him all day. Very sweet :)

Day 25.

2010-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

What a lovely day I've had. You'll not be surprised to know that I've spent most of the day writing hubs. I've finished two today, and have started another one. I will catch up over the last five days I think. So Wednesday will be the last day of the challenge. Right, good to know that. I've got until Wednesday to write my last hubs. Then I'll probably want to just write another one on Thursday. I've become a bit addicted I think. It's quite strange, because last week I was moaning about what a pain the challenge was. Now I'm rather fond of it, and I feel like it's been really wonderful.

Erm... I've really got nothing else to say, because I've only hubbed. Matthew is still a bit poorly today, so he spent the afternoon sprawled on the couch emitting pathetic little whimpers, which was nice. Nope, nothing else to say. No photos. Sorry. If it wasn't for the challenge involving the blog as well, I wouldn't even be bothering to write on here today.

Night then.

Day 24.

2010-11-11T13:10:00.000-08:00

Wowee! I'm doing rather well on Hubpages actually. Doing the 30 day challenge has boosted my profile quite a bit. I've got 30 followers, and they're leaving comments every day. Some of my followers are very talented writers - I've read their hubs, and they're fantastic, really put me to shame :S I feel a bit daft when I look at some of my silly hubs, and then I look at some of their information-packed ones. Oo-er, I think I should probably put more effort in. I think that's what I'll challenge myself to after next week - to write two or three excellent hubs a week, rather than lots of sketchy ones. When I first joined Hubpages I noticed a comment on someone else's hub that talked about how it's okay to go back and edit hubs at a later date. I thought that that sounded very silly, because why would you post a hub if you thought it wasn't good enough. But I can see what that person meant now - you learn a lot the more you hub, and the more hubs you read, and you start to see big flaws in your own writing. I don't think I will go back and edit any that I've already written, but I might rewrite them and delete the old ones.

It's been one of those slow days today, because Matthew isn't very well. He just seems to be have one of those random 'viruses', and is generally a bit poorly. But this signifies the first of the winter illnesses. Last year it was the same - we got the first lurgy about now, and didn't really get free of germs until the spring. It's the same for everyone, I know. I'm not complaining about it at all. I think you just kind of have to embrace the cold, make it your friend, and enjoy a rest when you can. It's difficult when the kids wake in the night with fevers, and sickness, and pain in their ears, and sore throats, and coughs, and all those things. Tempers fray, of course, as they do when we're tired. But winter colds have a huge plus, and that is that they give you an excuse to snuggle up on the couch with tea and toast (if you can manage it - have your toast with honey, as honey is healing, and is particularly good for coughs), and you can watch as many DVDs as you like without feeling guilty. DVDs are my very great friends, and I do love them, dearly.

I have no photos today. I should have had a good one of James and Matthew with mohawks in the bath, but I couldn't find my camera :( They did look cool, with their hair spiked up with shampoo. James had a head full of hair gel today - he put it on himself right before we had to go to school, so I didn't have time to wash it off. He looked like he'd dipped his head in a chip pan, poor chap. It must have been quite itchy, bless him, because when he came home this afternoon, he took himself off up to the bathroom and I found him five minutes later with a nice lather atop his head. The lather was made from handsoap. He'd washed his hair, with a little cold water also, every so neatly :) There wasn't a drip of water on his clothes, and he'd been very careful not to get any soap on his face or down his neck. Bless. I don't know how he imagined he was going to rinse the soap off!

That's all for today. I'm off to hub some more. Got two hubs to post today, and I've still got plenty of time left this evening to write another. Catching up a little. I think I'm going to do it!

Day 23.

2010-11-10T14:29:00.000-08:00

Blah! I'm not catching up very well with the hubs. Only 7 days, left, and I think I've got 12 hubs to write. It's a tall order, but I think I can do it. I do think so. We'll see. Wish me luck. I've got lots of hubs titles waiting to be expanded on - it's just finding the time to get on and write them.

I didn't get to finish the two I've been working on today. My mummy came to visit, and stayed for most of the evening. It was very nice indeed, because mostly we talked about writing (my mummy is a poet, a very good one), and about the costumes we're going to make for the Jane Austen Festival next year. Loveliness. But now I am too tired to do anything except go to bed and read half a page of my book (Lords and Ladies, Terry Pratchett).

I've got lots to choose from for my next read. I don't know what to go for. I don't have the next Terry Pratchett novel, so I'll have to wait until I can get that. Shall I go for Stephen Fry's Moab is my Washpot, or Brandon Mull's Fablehaven, or Cornelia Funk's Inkheart. Oh no! I'd forgotten - I've got to read Northanger Abbey because my mum is about to read it, and we thought we should probably read all of the Austen novels that we haven't read before we go to the festival. Decided. Lovely. I will enjoy a bit of Austen, and then I might read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which I said I would read months ago but forgot about! Good.

Night then.

Day 22.

2010-11-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

I ate most of the raspberry cheesecake myself yesterday *grins sheepishly*. It was very especially delicious indeed on its second day. That cheesecake will never make it to a third day. I am going to get ingredients for another tomorrow - I need to have one more little taste of it, you see. Wha-at?? It's very healthy really, all fresh ingredients (apart from the biscuits and the butter, and the mascarpone from a pot, and the icing sugar, and the lemon juice out of a bottle because we didn't have any fresh).

This is Thomas, very proudly holding up his finished reading book. It's the first one he's finished from school. It took him rather a long time (mostly my fault for forgetting to get it done - he actually could have finished it about three weeks ago!) He's very excited about choosing a new book tomorrow. This weekend I think I would like to take the kids into town and get them library memberships. I can't believe we haven't done that before now. Terrible. They love books, and they're always saying that they're bored of the ones we have. Anyway - well done Thomas! I'm very proud of you, and your reading is coming on a treat :) I'll be buying you your very own copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in no time!

Happy Christmas :) I went to Barton Grange garden centre today, my first bit of Christmas 'shopping'. I couldn't really afford anything in there, but I did find the snow globe that I've been looking for for a few years. I don't really know why I've been wanting one, but none of the globes I've seen over the past few years have been right. It was usually the snow that fell too quickly, and it was also that the little model was a daft looking snowman with a cheesy coal grin. This one is lovely. My picture doesn't do it justice - it's actually much nicer than this. It'll probably be broken within minutes of me putting it out in December, but the child that breaks it will have their pocket money nicked, and I will buy a new one (globe that is, not child).

Off to bed now. Night.

Day 21.

2010-11-08T15:21:00.000-08:00

Oh noooooooooooooo! I haven't left enough time to blog! I've spent all of my evening hubbing, written two good hubs (not quite ready to publish yet), and done nothing else. I can't wait for the hub challenge to finish, because it's stopping me from doing anything else. I want to be getting on with my MA application, and my CW course, and my two bloody novels for chrissakes!

(Someone on Hubpages mentioned their own 30 day challenge, and then said that they went on to do 100 hubs in less than 50 days! I was tempted for about half a minute, and then I decided that I shouldn't do that to my novels - I've neglected them for far too long, and I really would like to get them finished so that I can start to try selling them.)

So, I'm not blogging properly tonight, because it's already waaaaaaaaaaay past my bedtime. Night friends.

Day 20.

2010-11-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

We were supposed to go out for a walk today. But we just didn't, lol. We didn't have an unproductive day though. Kev and I found a burst of energy from somewhere, and we cleaned the kitchen a bit! Yes. Astounding. Then Kev's mum and dad popped in for a little visit and stayed for a few hours. It was very nice to have their company :) We spent most of the visit eating and drinking much tea. Kev made lovely omelettes for us all, and then we ate chocolate. And then we did some 'baking'. Kev baked a carrot and walnut cake (which is just waiting for its frosting - I'll show you a picture tomorrow), and me and Thomas made a raspberry cheesecake (with the help of Nana Jackie).

Cheesecake couldn't really be any easier; it consists of these ingredients: some crushed up biscuits (we used digestives and gingers mixed together in melted butter), some raspberries, some mascarpone, some lemon juice and some icing sugar. This is all. Don't ask me about quantities, because I don't know. We just guessed and tasted and added more until it all looked right. If you crush the raspberries with a fork before you add the cheese it's better: if you whizz them in the blender they end up as liquid and the whole thing is too runny. Once it's assembled we put more crushed biscuits on top, and some half raspberries. It doesn't take anything like a shop bought cheesecake, it just tastes completely homemade, and very fresh. Lovely indeed.

Here it is:

Next week I'm going to try to find time to make banoffee 'pie'. It's not really a pie, because it doesn't have a pastry base, it just has more crushed biscuits. It's fabulous though. And very easy.

I don't do tricky food, I only do simple hearty stuff. I suppose I'm a bit like Nigella in that respect. Although, I tend to do more real cooking - none of that Marmite on spaghetti in our house! (Sorry Nigella :) - you're fabulous, and I love you, honest.)

I tell you what - I'm looking forward to the Jane Austen Festival in Bath next year, if it's anything like Pride and Prejudice, which I'm watching right now. Because the food looks incredible. I want to pop into the telly and eat everything. I can't really work out why I'm so hungry all the time at the moment - it's perhaps still a reaction to all the fresh fruit and vegetables I ate in Barbados, I may still be malnourished.

I'm going now, to investigate the noises that keep coming from the stairs! I think we have a ghost, or an intruder. Err, might see you later. Unless I'm frightened out of my wits when a towel falls off the banister and lands on my head!

Day 19.

2010-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

Sparklers, after the fireworks at Lancaster Castle. We watched the fireworks from Williamson's Park. They looked lovely. But the sound was awful - the music was very quiet, and what we could hear was talked over by the annoying voice of the Radio Lancashire DJ. If they sort that out for next year then it will be very good. Still not as good as watching from the castle though. Maybe we'll try the cycle track by the river next year. That should be a good place to watch from, and we can just walk down to it.

Thomas and James climbing a tree, after the sparklers. I wanted to climb the tree too, of course, but Matthew was exhausted and was clinging to my knees. Next time.

Day 18.

2010-11-05T16:47:00.000-07:00

I have just done a little cheating, and I have posted four hubs in half an hour! I cheated because I used some old writing exercises, little short stories that I wrote for a bit of practise a couple of years ago. It's only a little bit cheating though, because at least they're original and I did actually write them myself. And it'll be interesting to see whether or not they get any comments. I don't really know whether people on Hubpages tend to comment on creative writing. Anyway, it's allowed me to catch up a bit, so I may well make my 30 hubs in 30 days. I'm just three behind now, so if I write two a day for a few days I should catch up in time.

Today, I have no photos. I would have posted some from our sparklering this evening, but it would have been dangerous if I'd been concentrating on taking pictures. Someone would definitely have ended up in A&E if I had not been giving them my full attention. I think I was very brave for letting my three very small sons use sparklers. But I let them have them for a good reason: I was always terrified of sparklers, because the safety videos that they used to show at school (still do actually, Thomas and James told me all about them today) put the frighteners on me good and proper (as did the ones about Strangers!) I've never felt comfortable holding a sparkler. Actually, it's more so other people holding them around me that's frightening. When I'm holding one I know I'm in control of it. If someone else is holding it then they could very easily get distracted or just be a bit silly and stick it right in my eye (and it would be like that shot that you see of a soldier getting a flaming arrow right in the eye in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - have you seen it?) I'm not so afraid of being burned - it's the stabbiness of the rod, the pokingness of it, the fact that it could really do some damage even when not lit. Anyway, I let the boys have sparklers and they were very good indeed, very safe and very sensible and calm. They knew that they had to wrap up, put on gloves and stand at a safe distance from each other. Matthew, of course, did not hold his own sparkler - Kev held it, and Matthew put his gloved hand over the top of Kev's. No problem. But no photos.

The other thing that we did this evening was have a movie night. And we watched Robin Hood, the one that's got Russell Crowe in it and Cate Blanchett (who is a very beautiful woman, yes indeed, and I do quite fancy her). It's a good film is that one. A very good film. I didn't think there was very much wrong with Russell Crowe's accent - who knows what kind of mixture of dialects it might have been in the twelfth century, and especially if he'd been off crusading in foreign parts for ten years. Yep, I can make those allowances I think :) Thomas and James loved it, and James asked if he can sometimes watch it in the morning before school :) And they kept saying to each other, during the film, 'are you enjoying this film?' 'Yeah, it's good, isn't it?' Cuties.

Right, much productivity achieved this evening. Time to go to sleep. Nothing will be achieved tomorrow because we're off to the park to watch the Big Fireworks. Have fun everybody, and stay safe :)

Day 17.

2010-11-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

I see. Post more regularly, get more visitors. That's interesting. I would have thought that posting more regularly would guarantee less visitors, because you lot would be starting to get bored of the sound of my voice. Hmm. I really have no idea why you keep reading my ramblings - especially those of you who don't know me. Appreciate it though ;D thanks very much!

Can I just tell you about the thing that has got me very excited today? It's this:

Yes, it's our waste food caddy :D We got it yesterday, and I'm very happy about it. I've been waiting for it to arrive, because I've been wanting to get on with recycling our kitchen scraps. We do already recycle lots of them, the bits that can go in the wormery, but our poor worms sometimes can't keep up - especially in the summer when they also have to get through all the grass cuttings. But in the caddy we can put absolutely everything, like the left over little bits from our meals, and meat and dairy and citrus fruits which can't be put into the wormery at all. Even though we've only used the caddy for one and a half days, I can already see what a difference it's going to make. Our actually bin, with stuff that can't be recycled, is nowhere near full, and it is very light. Our wheelie bin is going to be redundant at this rate, which is fantastic news :) We can nearly recycle all of our waste now. Very good.

Ooh, I should have written this first perhaps, before the news about the waste food caddy. It's Kev's birthday today! He's 35, and poor fella was at work :( I guess he's had a very dull birthday then. And it was all a crazy rush at tea time because Thomas has to go out for 6pm for Beavers. So Kev only got half an hour with the boys. We gave him some presents in a horrible rush, but he did lots of smiling and laughing and he seemed to be happy, so it was still quite nice. He opened his 'main' present when Thomas got back. We bought him some binoculars, which is what he's been asking for for a couple of years. I guess we'll be out in the countryside somewhere this weekend, so that he can try out his new eyewear :) The binoculars are for looking at wildlife in the great outdoors, not for peeping at the neighbours, which is what we looked like we were doing earlier this evening when we were testing them (testing the binoculars that is, not the neighbours). I think I will be the only one without binoculars now. Might have to get some for myself.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Kevvie :)

Now, Thomas wants to know if he can have a dog, since he's going to get world peace for you.

Day 16.

2010-11-03T06:41:00.000-07:00

Aha, over half way, you'll be glad to know. Me blogging every single day is not very entertaining for you is it? No. But I said I'd do it, so I have to.

Me old mate Emily, what I went to university with quite a few years ago, has just posted on her blog (The Tangled Yarn) about a competition involving the writing of 50,000 words in the month of November. Naughty Emily, to post such a post, when I already am up to my eyeballs in self-inflicted deadlines. Now, I love a deadline as much as the next person, as I've said before. But an extra... what was it Emily, 1667 words a day? ... is just a deadline too many for me, I think. Unless I stayed up all night, every night possibly. I would very happily do that, if my body didn't need sleep, but unfortunately it does. Damn the cursed frailties of the human body - there's definitely a design fault there. Wonder if we could fix it somehow. The brain doesn't turn off when it's asleep anyway, so it's a strange thing that we do need to sleep, to lose consciousness for a while.

Sorry, I've drifted off topic again. What was I saying? Oh yes, that competition. Well, I would dearly love to have a go at it, but I think I will have to try to remember to do it next year. I can't enter everything now, can I? No.

Like I said in my previous post, I'm easily distracted when I write, and I said that I wanted to learn to focus on one piece at a time. I should start that today. Yes. I did quite well this morning, with my three hours. I only worked on one piece - a nice hub that I think has turned out better than I planned it to. I hoped that I would be able to write two or three hubs in that time, but this one has turned out to be quite a long one. I haven't typed it up yet, but I'm a bit nervous about any comments it might get, as it's a serious piece (my first one on Hubpages I think). It's a review of three books that I read recently, with a little comparing and contrasting. It probably reads like a Year 7 English essay, but I've not practised book reviews for years. I'd like to do more, and the only way to improve is to practise, so hopefully we'll see some development in my writing if I do more of these. Book reviews are a little scary to write, because you never know if you've misunderstood the premise of the book completely, or if you're going to say anything that will reveal how stupid and narrowly-read you are. But I guess everyone's entitled to an opinion on a book, if they've taken the time to read it. I am profoundly aware that I'm not the best of readers, that I do often miss the obvious, and that I usually have very different opinions from everyone else. I quite often detest characters I'm supposed to like, and love the ones I'm expected to hate. I usually don't see the denouement coming, even when the signs are blatant to everyone else. But hey, the hub is just a writing exercise, and I'm getting used to baring my soul on the internet and allowing everyone to see inside my head. As long as I don't offend anyone I'm not bothered if people think I'm naive and a bit stupid :) We all knew that already anyway.

Here's a Barbados photo for you:

And maybe one or two more:

There are many more. Maybe I'll show you a few next time, if I remember. Just be thankful that I'm not subjecting you to a full slide show of the whole lot.

Rambling over. Bye for now.

Day 15.

2010-11-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

Ooh, I may not manage to get the 30 hubs done in the 30 days. I'm quite far behind now, must have about six hubs that need writing. And now I also have a small Creative Writing homework to do - I have to start the writing of a ghost story. It's only a five-week course, but if I enjoy it I might do it again in the new year. A few of the people on the course seem to have been there before. I enjoyed it, by the way :) It was lovely. Did a little bit of writing, to do with memories, and generating ideas for stories. It was very nice to hear the work of other people - I do love that, hearing different writing styles, and listening to how different people interpret the same instructions. It's always good for making me consider other ways of doing things.

Tomorrow is my first childfree morning since Barbados - yes, I know, I'm not complaining, I'm just saying, that's all. But this will be the first time I've had to write for quite a while. I just couldn't write a thing in Barbados, because I was too busy chatting to people and doing nice relaxing things and drinking free cocktails. Three hours to myself. I will try to start my ghost story for next week. And then I will try to get a couple of hubs done - theoretically they should be writable in half an hour, but they never are because I day dream a lot. In my little 'this is me' introduction at CW tonight I said that I'm easily distracted, and that I start of writing one thing and then have an idea and end up writing that instead. That's what I do, and I do it the most on these free mornings. Terrible.

Well, it's late. I'd better get some sleep if I'm going to be creative tomorrow. Night y'awl.

Day 14.

2010-11-01T15:45:00.000-07:00

Hmm. Erm. What shall I say today? Oh yes. I accidentally let the boys have an extra day off school, as I thought they were supposed to be going back tomorrow. Oops. Shame about that, as I was aiming for 100% attendance for them this year. Shucks. Maybe they can make up that missing day by going in on a Saturday. (I tell you what though, I don't like the tone of the text message that school sends out to the parent of a child who hasn't turned up for school, it's rather abrupt and accusatory - it always sounds like they're assuming you've allowed your child to skive. If my child was serious ill, and I had been busy looking after them, I certainly would not appreciate that snotty text from the school office!)

Anyway, never mind. We spent the afternoon at Torrisholme play park. It was a beautiful day today, very fresh and bright. The boys ran and ran and ran, and ran and ran. They needed it, after a week of being lazy and eating rubbish. But they've had a lovely half term - I know because I asked them :) They all said that it's been an ace week, and they would like to spend some more time doing nothing much soon. They've pretty much just watched the telly for nine days. Disgraceful I know. But I doubt it will have done any permanent damage. I think they'll recover.

Run up to Christmas starts tomorrow! Woo hoo! ;p

Oh, and I'm at college tomorrow evening :)

And back on track with me writing an' all.

Good times.

Day 13.

2010-10-31T16:03:00.000-07:00

Happy Hallowe'en :)

(I like this one - very spooky: camera on Auto, but no flash)

Day 12.

2010-10-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ooh, getting further and further behind with my hubs. But at least I have plans for topics for each day now, so writing them should be fine once I get on with it. Couldn't manage it tonight, too tired. Starting tomorrow with proper effort.

Me and Thomas had a lovely morning. James did in the end. Football on Saturday mornings at the moment, of course. (Kev didn't come to watch this morning as he has a bad back, and standing about in the cold probably wouldn't have been the best thing for it.) Well, James was exhausted from having a bit of a late night last night - movie night, Back to the Future III - so he wasn't feeling very well. He missed his football this morning, because on the way down to the college where they play he got himself into a right state, and had just decided that it would be the end of the world if he played today. Fine. I wasn't going to force him because he would have disrupted everything for the other kids, and then he would've run off and tried to escape and get back home :) So. He doesn't have these tantrummy things very often, so it's obvious he's very tired when he does. But it meant that the three of us got to have a nice natter in the college cafe while Thomas powered up with sugary and fatty snacks (crisps and a Chomp), ready for his footy. Thomas had a super session today - he saved lots of shots when he was in goal, and he also made his first successful tackle! Astounding! Amazing! Ace! :) He was very pleased with himself today. I was very pleased with him too. I'm not really bothered whether or not he's good at football, but when he does well he enjoys it more and that's always a good thing :)

Wee Jamsie, practising penalties :)

Thomas having a go at taking penalties too.

Matthew seizing the opportunity to make a run for it.

I've no photos of Thomas at aikido, but he's enjoying that very much. He's always practising his rolls and I find that just fascinating, watching him throwing himself into a shoulder roll and finishing standing up. Cor! Wish I could do that!

That was all we did today really. It's been a lovely lazing about sort of holiday, and I asked the boys if they've enjoyed it and they really have. We had such a busy summer that they didn't really have chance to rest before they were right into school and busyness. So I thought it would be a good idea to watch millions of DVDs and just play in the house this week. Good move. Why not. Lovely.

Back to work next week. Stuff to do. Time to get on with it all. Motivation *deep breath in, deep breath out*

Day 11.

2010-10-29T14:57:00.000-07:00

Look what we made today :) Marshmallows (Matthew says Smashmallows), on sticks, covered in chocolate and sprinkles and things. The ones on the bottom shelf are teeny smashmallows, covered in much more chocolate and sprinkles and things. They're very delicious, but not moreish, because they make you feel just nice. If you had more than one you wouldn't feel so nice.

That is basically all that we have achieved today. Oh, I did fold a big pile of washing. That is all. We have watched more films and sprawled on the couch some more. This half term has been the holiday of sprawling. It's been very nice. The boys love this kind of time at home, and I certainly do.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to find some energy because it's time to get ready for Christmas! I don't want to live in this pigsty any longer - I want to donate most of the contents of our house to charity. Ooh, for the house to be almost empty... divine.

That is all I have to say today. My eyelids are drooping and I have to give in and go to bed, even though I'm behind again on the hubs - tomorrow I will be five hubs behind, oh dear.

Night all.

Day 10.

2010-10-29T00:51:00.000-07:00

And that was my last drink for a long time, hopefully. I am feeling rough this morning. Not very, very rough, but rough enough to spoil the day. I do not enjoy feeling like this at all, it's stupid. And I don't even need to drink, because I know that I can have a perfectly good time without booze.

I have no more to say about this. Enough to say that I'm drawing a line under it, and starting from scratch tomorrow - teetotal again, yay!

Day 9.

2010-10-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

Cor, I posted three hubs today :D I'm about to go and check on them, to see if they've been read by anyone. I'm catching up a little. I'm just one hub short now, and I'll write that in a minute. It's very much fun, and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. It would probably be very nice to be able to get paid a nice wage to just ramble on about whatever I fancy - but that'll never 'appen!

Today has gone very, very quickly. We didn't achieve a great deal really, apart from me posting those hubs. Me and Thomas and James went into town and enjoyed a bit of coffee/hot chocolate/blueberry juice/Belgian waffle/marshmallow twizzles/cheesy chip fest. That was nice, to eat rubbish for the day. We felt full to the brim with stodge, so enjoyed some nice vegetables and salmon for tea :) This is all a bit boring for a reader eh? Reading about what my family and I have eaten today? What the hell am I on about? Who cares?! Actually, I can't really help it, I'm watching 'Masterchef' on the telly :oS

I've nothing else to say. Oh yes, I have. Did anyone see 'Catherine''s comment on my blog the other day, about Postgrad tuition fees? She reckoned that the fees won't really go up for the MA that I'm wanting to take, so I'm going to look into that a bit more. She has given me tremendous hope. The only thing I was wondering about, to do with the MA, is if I end up also applying to do the BSc Midwifery, will they think I'm a little crackers and flaky and indecisive if they read on my application that I've just done an MA in something completely not related to their subject? It's a problem, when you have two ambitions that you want to pursue - the question is, will I be able to achieve both, or will one of them have to die a death before I've even started? Hmm. We'll see. I'll just see how things pan out.

Waffley, waffley, waffley, waffle. Blogging when one has nothing much to say is a bit silly!

Lx.

Day 8.

2010-10-27T05:26:00.001-07:00

Busy all day, watching films and being in pyjamas. No time for blogging or hubbing. Exhausted after all the lounging and eating of rubbish.

Lx.

Day 7. Monday mornings, lush.

2010-10-25T03:12:00.000-07:00

I don't mean that I am a lush. Obviously, I'm not. But I do mean that Monday mornings are luscious. Delicious, ambitious, splenditious.

lush 2 |ləʃ| |lʌʃ| informalnouna heavy drinker, esp. a habitual one.
luscious |ˈlə sh əs|adjective(of food or wine) having a pleasingly rich, sweet taste : a luscious and fragrant dessert wine.• richly verdant or opulent.

I haven't always liked Monday mornings. But I think that I misunderstood them, poor Mondays. I suppose it's easy for me to like Monday mornings, because of the nature of my 'job'. Being an almost full-time stay-at-home parent is not the same as going out to work. I can understand the Sunday evening feeling that a lot of people have, when they've had a beautiful weekend and face the thought of having to go back to work the next morning. I'm tremendously lucky that I'm alone on Monday mornings, and I have only my own things to do. I pack the kids off to nursery and school, and I have three hours to write. Who could fail to love Monday mornings if they were me?

But it's the half term holiday now and I still have that zingy Monday morning feeling. I'm looking forward to spending some time with my kiddies - I've missed James and Thomas while they've been at school. Particularly James because it's been his first half term. I'm used to missing Thomas, so that's easier. Though actually, I'm surprised at how quickly I've got used to James being at school - the days pass so quickly that it only feels like he's away for a couple of hours.

Tt. I have just dampened my mood a little though. A thought about the MA in Creative Writing popped into my just now, and I'm sad because if the tuition fees take a steep rise I will not be able to do it. I'm very angry, that the gap between rich and poor in education is being widened again. It's starting to become like it was in centuries gone by. Should have bloody well done the MA when I first thought about it two years ago, shouldn't I?! I may be kicking myself over that. Well I'm going to apply anyway, and think about funding if I'm lucky enough to receive an offer. No point in ruining my Monday morning buzz over things that are beyond my control.

I'd better go. The kids are grinding Play Doh into the carpet! I only popped on because they were playing so nicely, and I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to get my Day 7 blog entry out of the way. I didn't want to have to spend time on it this evening, because I've got three hubs to write if I'm to catch up on that side! Aaaaaagh! I've got ideas for one and a half, so I have to find one and a half more ideas in the next few hours.

Anyway, lovely Monday morning...

I took this last Monday morning :)

Day 6.

2010-10-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

I fell behind with the blogs and hubs, because I didn't get any time to write yesterday. It's okay to have more than one hub to write in a day, because it makes sense - two different hubs, two different topics. But it's kind of strange writing two blog entries in one day, because a blog is like a diary - you wouldn't write one diary entry, sign off, and then start the next one straight away! But because we had some photos from today, I've got away with it :)

Ooh, it's been a very busy and fulfilling weekend. We've done so much. We didn't do one of the things we planned, but there's not much you can do about a hangover once the damage has been done. Urgh. Yesterday James and Thomas had footie, which we always really enjoy. Matthew's a right pain because he's discovered that running off towards the road can be a lot of fun, little sod! So we do spend quite a lot of time catching him and bringing him back to the pitch. Next week I'm strapping him into the pram :) James and Thomas have a ball at football training though - it's very fascinating to watch them joining in and having a go. Thomas is pretty wary of the ball during the little matches that they play, and he runs for it, but then doesn't know what to do with it when he gets near it, so he backs off and lets someone else take it. Bless him. He was very grown up yesterday, and told my mum that he knows that James is better at football than him - bless him. He wasn't at all embarrassed by it though - he just enjoys the running and around, and he's aware that his talents lie elsewhere: his drawing and his stories and projects, and also his aikido. Very mature :) James is braver with the ball - the four-year-olds are funny, as they just run after the ball in a pack. James was really improving yesterday though, he was getting to grips with the idea of finding space and making himself available for passes and throws. The pack is starting to spread out ever so slightly now. Little cuties!

In the afternoon, we worked on our space project. It was very successful indeed. We have half filled our sheet of A1, and have planned the rest for next weekend. The work is almost all Thomas's, as James and Matthew were ridiculously tired from staying up until 10pm the night before. They just wanted to watch the telly. I got them to each draw a planet (James did Jupiter, and Uranus actually, and Matthew did Pluto) and then I let them go because they were disrupting the whole class! (I'd be a useless primary school teacher, really I would - no patience when children are exhibiting behaviour that puts my crafting materials at risk!) Thomas was tireless, and I'd no sooner mentioned an idea than he was scribbling away and getting it done. Little star. He enjoyed himself enormously, and can't wait for next week to finish off learning about space. He's full of ideas for the next project, and I think he's rather keen to learn about the Wild West! Hmm - tricky, because I'll really want to teach him the truth about these things as far as I can, but I'm not very clued up on these things. I'll have to do my own research first I think. See, we're all learning, not just the boys - it's marvellous. Next week Thomas will be doing some writing for the space project, and maybe will do some work on the computer - maybe typing out some labels and titles, and writing up some space facts. And we'll print some amazing pictures too. And I've an idea for recreating an artistic interpretation of a nebula! Oh yes. I bet you're impressed. I am.

Here's what it looks like so far:

Today we meant to go to the Kids' Club at the cinema, because Kev didn't get to see Toy Story 3 with us, lol. But we slept in very late, because we had rather large hangovers - oops. Serves us right for staying out so late and understandably annoying our babysitter (very sorry Stinky Pete - I won't ask you to babysit for a long time :oS ) Thomas was a very grown up little person today, and got breakfast for himself and his little brothers - they had cereal with milk on. He even cleaned up Matthew's milk spillage! I was enjoying my lazy morning, dosing a bit, listening to the boys being lovely to each other, and heard Thomas very nicely and patiently asking the littlies to turn the TV off and come to the table for their breakfast. What a little superhero :) He's been absolutely wonderful this weekend, and Kev and I have just been catching each other's eye and beaming with tremendous pride.

We had a lovely lunch at the Mill at Conder Green. And then we went for a walk along the canal - we were lucky enough to be there when a boat was going through the locks, and the boys all helped to open and close the gates - they were understandably thrilled to bits! We treated them to some strawberries and bananas with dipping chocolate back at the Mill after that - they'd worked very hard! We hadn't worked very hard, but we needed the sugar for our hangovers so we had some cake as well.

Lovely, lovely weekend. And there's a whole seven days of loveliness to come - I love the school holidays :)

Day 5, late!

2010-10-24T14:16:00.000-07:00

Lancaster Canal, by the Mill Inn at Conder Green. What a stunner of a day! We got to see the locks in action today, as well as a plane doing crazy twirly stunts and dives which made us think that it was about to crash. Also saw some grey swans, and some mating cows, some parachutists and a hot air balloon. Jam packed day.

Day 4. Recharging the batteries

2010-10-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's good to recharge your batteries, eh?

I'm not talking figuratively. I actually mean that it's good to recharge your batteries, otherwise you might be in a pickle when you need to use your camera and you can't because your batteries have run dead. So don't forget to recharge.

Do you like my batteries? I thought I'd take a picture of them for you, because they're a very pretty set. Green's my favourite colour you see, so I feel very lucky to have green batteries.

Now I'm treating you to a photo of me. I'm pondering possible hub topics whilst waiting for my batteries to charge. Obviously, I have two sets of batteries, because I wouldn't have been able to take this photo if the batteries in the camera were on charge. Don't be silly.

Anyway, it's fun, this hubbing-blogging challenge. It's only day four of the challenge and already I look like this most of the time. It's very difficult to think of hub topics when you know you have to come up with a new one every day, and you have got very much time to considering whether or not it's going to work. I'm spending a lot of time disregarding many ideas very quickly, mainly because I can't think of a funny angle on them. I didn't intend for all of my hubs to have humour in them, but they just turn out that way.

I am thinking that my life is being overtaken by hubbage, but it's a very good thing because it's forcing me to practise writing. It's forcing me to tackle topics that I might otherwise avoid. I wrote about crying last night because I was short on time and another topic didn't present itself. It was kind of good that I couldn't think of anything else, because the hub turned out quite well, and I found more things to talk about than I expected. I haven't decided on today's topic yet. 83.7% of the words and pictures that pop into my head are dull, and disregarded almost before they've even registered. 15.2% of topics fill me with instant dread - they are way too hard for my small brain to process properly. 1.1% are just right - that's an awful lot of thinking in a day. But I'm getting used to it.

What I need to stop doing is staying up until after midnight with the hubs, because I'm having trouble staying awake during the day. Idiot! Stands to reason I'll write better hubs, and I'll write them much quicker, if I get a decent night's sleep.

Oh. I just had a good idea for generating more ideas. But I won't be able to implement it until I have more followers because it'll require some reader participation. I could use Twitter for it, or Facebook, and ask my friends and followers to suggest topics for me. I could start to treat my hubpage like a magazine/newspaper column and ramble away about all kinds of random stuff. And, I might even learn some stuff, eh?

Oh, that reminds me. This is very exciting, more exciting than anything else in my life right now. I've bought the boys a very small globe this morning. They've really latched on to my idea of doing projects at home. We're going to learn about the world, its countries, its seas, its people, its histories, its place in the Universe. We're going to draw pictures of the interesting things that we learn. And we're going to do a good bit of writing and practising with numbers. And we're going to glue things on, like grains of rice, pieces of pasta. I think we will do our projects on big A1 sized pieces of paper. Thomas and James will be able to take them to school to show to their classes. It's time we started taking our teaching responsibilities much more seriously I think - we've been slacking again, and letting our boys down. Two glowing reports at Parents' Evening for Thomas and James, but my report on my own start to the academic year says 'must try a wee bit harder.'

This is our globe :) Soon there will be pictures of our 'About the World' posters :D This is going to be A LOT of fun! Saturday afternoons will never be the same again!

Oh, and there's my hub topic for today! How to revolutionise Saturday afternoons - particularly rainy ones. Off to write it now.

Day 3. Proud parents :)

2010-10-21T15:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a lovely, short day. Funny how some days can drag on for ages and ages and you just want to go to bed from the moment you get up. Then you have ace days, like today, when nothing is really different from the long days, except perhaps that you got up on the right side of the bed, and you just don't get quite long enough to enjoy what it is that you're doing.

This morning involved some Mary Poppins on the telly, whilst me and Matthers played with the Castle Duplo, and made some fabulous turrets and towers, and decorated them with pink and orange Duplo flowers. You can't really go wrong with a bit of Duplo. We don't have a bit of Duplo; we have masses of Duplo. My dad had a mental Christmas a couple of years ago, for which he bought the boys several binbags' worth of toys. Fantastic! But very naughty at the same time: spoilt children.

It was Parents' Evening tonight, which we always enjoy because we have geniuses for children. Well, perhaps, who knows. But they do well, and try hard, and we're always proud of them, even if they don't quite achieve what they said they would on the First of September :) No worries here. Progress has been made by both little stars, and they've begun 2010/11 with confidence and energy. Can't ask for more than that.

Very tiny blog today, because I have to go and hub. And it's already almost midnight, and my eyelids are being held open with clothes pegs.

Night lovelies :)

Day 2. Blog rants

2010-10-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

Two things to rant about today. I don't often rant (in public - at home is another matter), but as I have to blog every day just now, I'm choosing to rant.

Two questions:

1). Where has this general lack of commitment in small businesses come from?

What I'm talking about is shops not opening until 10pm. Disgusting lack of commitment. When my mum had her shop, she was NEVER late opening. And when I worked for her I was NEVER late in opening - I would have felt as though I had let her down if I'd opened at 9.05am. Sometimes, if she had arrived at the shop very early to do some stock checking or something, she'd open up anyway, even if it was only half eight. She worked 9-5, six days a week, even when she was ill. She was sit behind that counter with raging fevers and streaming nose, and welcome her customers just the same. Customers would never be aware of any of my mum's stresses or bad moods, because she was never anything but friendly and helpful.

So when I traipse across town, specifically to buy something (I'm not talking about just popping in for a browse and a warm), and I'm greeted by a locked door, a sign saying 'closed', and another sign saying 'opening times: Monday to Friday - 10am-5pm, Saturday - 10.30am-4.30pm' I am not amused. Short opening hours create a bad impression. They tell me that the proprietor is lazy, and that they have decided to take advantage of their self-employed status by allowing themselves an extra hour in bed. I'm more committed to their business than they are because I have shown up at ten past nine. They're probably making their leisurely way into work, smiling at how wonderful life is now that they don't have to do a full day's work, blissfully unaware that they are losing a customer. It's not that I'm holding a grudge, I just haven't got time enough to waste in waiting around for them. If I've gone there to buy something that I need, then I'll go and find somewhere else to buy it from. If I've gone there to buy something that I want, then I might remember that I don't need it and I might not bother to buy it at all. They've lost me.

And it would stand to reason, to me, that I am not the only customer that businesses lose this way. Town is usually already busy by 9am. I am not saying that this lack of commitment is why so many small businesses fail at the moment - absolutely not; we all know the big reasons for that. But it wouldn't hurt these businesses to make a few more sales by treating their early bird customers with a little more respect.

The 10am-opening-time-problem has happened to me this morning. That's why it's on my mind. But lately it seems to happen every time I come into town. I'm always in early because I come straight from taking Thomas and James to school.

2). Why do coffee shops have their air conditioning on when it's 3˚c outside?

I am sitting in Starbucks, cuddling my Grande-Earl-Grey-with-one-teabag-and-room-for-milk, wrapped in my coat and scarf, wishing I had a pair of fingerless gloves. This is ridiculous. I am going to have to get my tea to go, and teck mesell outside for a warm (sorry Americans - can you tell what I'm saying when I talk in a little Lancashire?!).

Is the AC on in here to make us want to buy more coffee to keep warm? Because it doesn't work - it just makes us want to leave. Sort it out Starbucks.

I am now going to go to the library to prepare the hub for Day 2. I have no idea what to hub about, I'll just see what happens when I start writing.

Day 1

2010-10-19T15:52:00.000-07:00

Quick blog, just so's I can say that this is Day 1!

I've challenged myself (and also my friend Sazzle) to blog for thirty days. I was going to say 100 days, but since I'll be hubbing every day too, I thought I'd probably be really sick of thinking and typing, and would be in need of a day or two off in a month's time. This can be the trial, and if I like the routine of blogging and hubbing every day, then perhaps I'll challenge myself to the hundred days. And perhaps you'll be really sick of me scrabbling around, trying to find interesting things to talk about, and not succeeding.

I have hubbed today (it really does sound quite wrong, doesn't it?!). I hubbed about my bad parenting. I don't know what I'll hub about tomorrow, but I think I'm going to have to carry a list with me, for noting down hub ideas - I'll probably think of lots each day, and if I don't write them down, of course, they'll instantly disappear as soon as I sit down to hub. If you haven't looked at my hubs, and have no intention of doing so, this will mean absolutely nothing to you. Hubs are like mini-articles (actually some are very lengthy, but none of mine are yet), and you're supposed to try to be informative and interesting and original in them. Lots of people use the Hubpages, and lots of people leave comments on your hubs. It's all very encouraging. I've never really seen a negative comment on there - you get to moderate your own comments, so I guess hubbers must delete those that they don't like. The way to say that you don't like hubs is to 'vote them down'. I'm getting some views every day, and a few comments. But I'm hoping that by hubbing daily I will start to get lots of views and better ratings. Mind you, I have to come up with some interesting reads to keep my readers! I don't know if I'll be able to do that. We'll see. It's worth a bash, eh? :)

So I'd better get to bed now, before Professor Brian Cox's fabulous 'Wonders of the Solar System' draws me in again, even though I've seen it before. Night. Happy hubbing and blogging everyone. Do feel free to join in the challenge! And let us know if you are, so we can read and encourage :)

Get over it!

2010-10-18T03:03:00.000-07:00

It's amazing, how a little time heals little hurts. I'm not being flippant, I know it's not so great for big hurts, and takes a lot longer. But little hurts are what I'm talking about, such as the little bit of grief you feel after you've experienced something wonderful. I'm talking about our trip to Barbados of course. When we got back everyone was a little down (a couple of us more than the rest, because they had some horrible news, which is not mine to tell - love to you both, thinking of you), as is only right and natural. I was too. But I don't get down about things like I used to. Grief used to strike me after I'd been in a show when I was in my teens and early twenties. My first show was Oklahoma!, when I was seventeen, and I was so tremendously sad for weeks after it was over, it had been such an intense experience for me. I'd had a big part in the production, and had been to months of rehearsals, and had sung two solos and had danced and had learned lines! It was fantastic, and then it was gone. So it is a kind of grief. But I'm much wiser these days, in my thirties (oh, I'm so old - NOT!). No-one close to me has actually died, so I'd just better bloody well get over it and move on to the next good thing. That's what I do now. I don't spend too much time dwelling on what I'm not doing (i.e., not being in Barbados and being lazy), and concentrate instead on what I could be doing soon (i.e., anything I like, my destiny is my own to control). What right have I to mope about, bemoaning the fact that I can't waste my life away on a beach in a tropical paradise, when there are people in the world who can't even afford the price of a cup of tea? There's always someone worse off than me, and I try to remember that when I feel sorry for myself. It works a treat, and I cheer up almost immediately.

So this morning I have enrolled myself on the teeny creative writing course that I mentioned last time, the evening course in November (when I say teeny creative writing course, I mean that the course only lasts a few weeks, not that we have to scribble in tiny writing in tiny notebooks - although that would be possible, I do have all sizes and shapes of stationery, because I have a stationery addiction, a bit like Stephen Fry's addiction for Apple hardware, only less expensive). Well, almost enrolled. The lady I spoke to couldn't find the course fee on her system, so she'll phone me back with that when she finds it. But my name is on the list at least :) Ooh. I'm excited. I do love a course. It's a couple of years since I did one, and it's been a nice break, but I've missed those deadlines.

Another development is that my tutor from Aberystwyth did say that he would be happy to do a reference for me for the MA, but mentioned needing to look up my academic record. When he said that I realised that he might not be the best person to provide a reference for me, because my academic record at Aberystwyth was not what you would call 'good'. Hmm. Perhaps I will provide three references. Mind you, it will show that I've matured. Because I will ask my human physiology tutor for a reference also, and that should be a glowing one - although he might be confused as to my change of direction, since he probably thought I would be doing the BSc in Midwifery by now. Oh. I foresee some problems with my references. The trouble is, no-one in an academic field has read my writing, or assessed it in any way. I shall ponder this a little more. Or perhaps I will ring the tutor of the MA and ask his advice. He must surely be understanding with people who have been out of education and work for a long time. Mm, I will phone him in a minute. That will be a good and productive thing to do.

The other thing I'm doing today is getting my First Chapter competition entries ready to send off. I do have plenty of time, since the competition doesn't close until summer 2011. But since both chapters are pretty much ready (not so the synopses, but I'll whip those up in a jiffy), I may as well get them in early, and save myself the hassle of leaving it until the last minute (as I usually do). Time to pull my finger out (where does that expression come from?), and get my writing read.

Have you noticed the absence of exclamation marks in this entry today? I've gone through and taken them out. I have decided that I use them too often, feeling it necessary to use them in order to indicate the points at which I am making a joke. But I can see that my jokinesses are pretty obvious even without '!', so I'm endeavouring to use them less. Stephen Fry (my God of all things lovely) hardly uses them at all, and it's perfectly apparent when he is quipping. (Ooh, I just inserted a '!' there, and had to hastily remove it.)

'Right lovely peeps, I'm off', the girl says,
And quick as a flash, off she sweeps.

That was a great holiday. Now, moving on...

2010-10-15T04:11:00.000-07:00

Yes, it was. Barbados was excellent. But as with all things, if I didn't manage to blog about it at the time, it just doesn't get blogged. Too late. The moment's gone. And all that. I'll post some pictures tonight, but you'll all have seen them anyway, because you all know me on FB! But it does seem the right and fitting thing to do for my blog, so I'll do that.

But I have made a decision while I've been sitting here in childfree peace this morning. I was flitting about the internet, trying to find some kind of nice creative writing course to help me find my motivation - I always write more productively and inspirationally when I've got deadlines you see. Deadlines are my friends. (This morning I was reading Stephen Fry's book, and he quoted Douglas Adams on deadlines: 'I love deadlines, I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.') So I had a look for some information on short courses at the local college. There seem to be lots of them. I think I will probably enrol on a five week evening course to start with, and see how that goes. Then proceed from there. I mean, is there really any point in sitting about, by myself, isolated and grumpy and clueless, trying to write a novel without any help from anyone else? I just can't do it. I need other people at least to gee me along. I think I have the talent, but I need kicks up the bum. Little courses really help with that.

Then I thought I'd just pop along to the Lancaster University website and see what they have on offer in the way of Creative Writing courses. Well, the MA in Creative Writing leapt off the 'page' at me. It actually punched me right in the nose, stung a bit and made my eyes water. I guess I've always known that I should do it. I looked at the information on the course a couple of years ago, but instantly disregarded it, because it was too expensive. As you will imagine, it's even more expensive now, as fees increase every year. Tt. Should have done it two years ago! But, ah, I didn't, so never mind. I could do it next year. I could. It's a lot of money, and it's money that I just do not have. But I could find it. Surely? Money can be found, when it's really needed, can't it? I could borrow it. I could borrow some of it from the Student Loans Company. I could borrow some from Kev. But then I wouldn't really like to do that because I'd probably end up just not paying him back, and that would be like stealing! £3,000 per year is what's required. I'll find it, I will.

Anyway, expense aside, I think the course would be perfect for me. It's an online course (I wouldn't be able to do the campus taught one, because I have to be around for the kiddies just now), and it's all about critiquing each others' work and conferencing and the odd summer school, and just generally being part of a writing community. I need that. I've spent the past few months writing in a completely isolated kind of way, and it's really getting to me. Darn it, I'm just lonely in my little writing bubble! Actually, it's more of a writing cell - a plastic one, like the one that Magneto's locked in in X Men, all cubey, see-through and sharp-edged. I do quite like it, if truth be told, so rather than come out of my cell, I would quite like to invite people in and have a little party. Some cakes and tea, and maybe some scones with clotted cream. Anyone fancy it? Ooh, I haven't had scones with clotted cream for a long time - maybe I'll have some now that I don't care what my tummy looks like in a bikini!

So, it's a decision to apply for the MA in Creative Writing (distance learning) at the Lancaster University. That's what I've made, just a decision to apply. That's excitement enough for one day. The next decision will be how to approach the long wait that lies between posting the application and receiving notification of the outcome. Should I tell myself that I almost certainly won't even get onto the course? Or should I be more positive and assume that I will? And if I assume that I will, should I also tell myself that getting funding will be no problem? Positivity is usually what I insist on from myself. But in this case, positivity might make things more painful if this new little seed of a dream gets damp over the winter and ends up being mouldy and no good for planting. Hmm. Well. I guess I should be neither positive, nor negative. I should just be pragmatic and get on with it.

Ooh, exciting!

Ahem, nope. Not exciting, just nothing. Just a wait-and-see thing. Get a grip.

Ooh!

Stop it.

Sorry. (Ooh!)

Oh, but I will definitely do the November evening course, of course. That sounds like something useful. The tutor phoned me before, and told me what she's planning to teach in those short ten hours. She's going to look at some problem areas of writing, such as characterisation, realistic dialogue, POV (point of view), and things like that. And she also wants to try a little poetry (urgh!), and maybe, if there's time, a little play with play writing. It sounds good. And I believe that people tend to do the course a few times, and build on what they learnt previously. I don't know if I'll do that or perhaps enrol on a longer course in the new year. We'll see. Either way, it will give me some deadlines, which I love, and it will get me talking to some other writers. The tutor said that the MA is brilliant (well, was brilliant twenty years ago when she did it), and that it would be very good for helping me to take myself more seriously as a writer. That's just what I need. Hey, and I wouldn't mind having a Masters either!

Right-o, friendies :) Off to take a look at something I'm working on for a wee competition. Have a nice weekend...

Tragus

2010-10-01T05:52:00.000-07:00

Look what I've had done!

Can you see it? That little blob of silveriness on my tragus?

The tragus piercing is a perforation of the ear for the purpose of inserting and wearing a piece of jewelry. The tragus projects immediately in front of the ear canal. The piercing itself is usually made with a small gauge hollow piercing needle, and typical jewelry would be a small diameter captive bead ring or small gauge post style piercing jewelry. A related piercing is known as the Antitragus piercing.

The hollow, low-gauge needle used for the piercing can be either straight or curved, depending on the piercer's preference. The piercer has to be careful not to allow the needle to penetrate any further than the tragus.

Body piercers recommend about 12-18 months before changing the earring as it has a high risk of getting infected due to long hair getting caught around the earring, any hair product residue, or improper cleaning also swelling of the tissue can cause the earring to get caught in the skin possibly resulting in hospital surgery and removal of the tragus if the earring is replaced too early.

The Tragus becomes very swollen and will bleed and ooze fluids for the first week. Proper cleaning and sanitization is crucial in the healing of this piercing.

So there you go! And yes, it was a complete whim. I only went to the tattooists' shop (I've put the apostrophe there, because it is a small business that employs a few tattooists!) to get an idea of a price and time frame for my next tattoo. And then I just happened to ask if he did piercing as well, and he said that they did, and then I asked if he could do something right away, and he said that they could, and so I asked him to pierce my tragus, and he did. It was not very painful when he did it - a very small dull sensation, not the worst one I've had. But it is quite achey now. And I've got a little bit of a headache around my ear and my eye. But it's fine. And I like it!

When I say a whim, it wasn't a complete whim, because I've wanted to have it done ever since I my mum had hers. I just have never remembered to get around to it :)

So this is the news of my latest tattoo: it will have to be a session piece, too big and too much detail for one sitting. £65 per hour, not sure how many hours yet. So I have some research to do. I have my sonnet, but I need to choose my font, and some detail for the embellishments. Then I have to take all my stuff in, and make a proper booking for the first session - it'll be in January. Oooh, that is so long to wait - but I can be patient :) It'll be great. The tattooist that I spoke to today just told me that he's recently had his back finished - it was exhausting, he said. He spent a two hour session a month, for two years, being tattooed in very tender places! Ouch! Bet it looks good though :)

Tattoos eh? You either love 'em, or you hate 'em. Quite a lot like a popular/unpopular yeast extract, beef flavoured product.

Happy 100th Post! :)

2010-09-27T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is my hundredth post :) God, I've been blethering about a load of rubbish for ninety-nine posts so far. You poor readers - I do wonder why you keep reading this dross! I don't even know who some of you are. How on earth did you find me? Who is that who reads in the Isle of Man? And what about South Africa? And lots of you from places in the UK that I've never even been? Who are you?! Well, glad to meet you anyway :)

Anyway, back to my entry. I wrote this earlier today when I was in town:

'That was quite a nice weekend. A very pleasant evening out on Saturday to celebrate the forthcoming nuptials of Noomski and Jessica. I chatted to some lovely people :) But the most impressive and exciting part of the evening was surely close to the beginning when Aunty Trish produced, from her enormous handbag, precious photos of her and Uncle Phil, posing white-toothed and tanned, with Donny and Marie Osmond. Oh yes. She regaled us with full details of her conversation with said warbling toothsome siblings, and all - all, I tell you - were emerald with envy. Some were even on the verge of turquoise, they were that jealous. Incredible. Trish left soon after that, worried no doubt, about the angry, jealous mob that was forming and issuing threatening mutterings about 'getting' that spawny Osmond stalker.

Nothing so exciting for Sunday though. But do you know what happened that was just wonderful? I didn't get out of bed until half past one in the afternoon! I haven't done that for years, and maaaaaaan, it felt good. And best of all, there was no guilt attached. I made sure the kids had a drink when they got up and then I went back to bed. They helped themselves to brioche and apples for a nice balanced breakfast, and entertained themselves with Lego for the morning. I slept off the booze, until Kev had the splendid idea of calling the kids up to come and watch a film in our room. This is something we never do. We always have this crazy idea that we have to do something that involve fresh air and exercise, so we drag them out for a walk somewhere. We do always enjoy a walk, rain or shine, of course. But oh, to be lazy :) Divine. To the boys it was the perfect day - their favourite thing to do is to have a lazy day with whichever particular toys they're obsessed with at the time.

After the film though, we all did feel a little starved of fresh air. And Kev thought a walk would work wonders for our hangovers, so we decided, at three o'clock in the afternoon, to go for a game of golf. Yes, that's what I said. Golf. Proper golf mind, not pitch and putt. So it was off to Forrest Hills, after taking three quarters of an hour to get everyone dressed, for a quick ten holes. Indeed. We actually only played five, as we had some very tired sons by half past five. Three hundred yards times five is a long way for a three year old to walk when his babysitters have let him stay up until ten the night before. And actually, Matthew zigzagged up the fairways, so he probably walked four times as far as the rest of us. Thomas and James were great with their little clubs, by the way - both can hit a ball further than I can (but that really isn't saying much!) James has little tantrums when he hit the turf, but was asking when we could come again nonetheless.
Definitely had to be Chinese food after such a hectic and strenuous day.
Definitely had to be Chinese food, because the Indian was waaaaaaay too expensive! Has anyone been to the new place at the bottom our road - wow! Pricey!

Back to work today :) Invigorated after tremendous lazy weekend. Cases to pack, and speech ... er, still to write. (I've got some ideas for that now - I'm writing it tonight.)'

That is what I wrote this morning, as I said. I have also written half of my speech, and I hope to finish it tomorrow, leaving myself a good bit of time to learn it :) It'll be nice. Hopefully.

Friends Friday - I wrote this on paper yesterday!

2010-09-25T07:18:00.000-07:00

I have been learning over the past couple of years that relaxation time can be just as productive as hours spent with head down at a desk forcing oneself to work on that masterpiece of literature. Time with friends is time well spent, now I know. It used to be that I would feel guilty being with my pals, drinking huge quantities of tea and devouring mucho packets of biscuits. But there is truly something restorative about going round to someone's house for a natter. And even if you don't really need to make use of their healing powers, just putting the world to rights for a bit, at the very least, makes you think about things from a different perspective for a while. That can be invigorating, if you allow it to be.

Even better if you have friends like mine, who bitch not at all (unless absolutely necessary!) and offer encouragement and praise, for every tiny achievement, by the skipload. Never do I feel so puffed up and full of myself as when I've spent some time with Sara, Sarah and Sarah-jane (in no particular order - I love you all dearly). Tremendous friends, and I really couldn't wish for better ones.

This is so not like me. There was a time not so long ago, when I would tire of people very quickly - that's not a poor reflection on my friends, but rather a negative quality in myself. A lack of patience and tolerance, which I haven't had to learn to control because it's just disappeared, thank goodness. And now I can see that there was never anything that I needed to be patient about or find tolerance for. I have just been a cranky old hermit for most of my life! No more of that - I've left my cave, and don't intend to go back in it for a while.

And of course, the huge advantage of chatting to lovely people is that when you do have your time to yourself you're very eager to use it wisely. Well, I am anyway. I am now able to make use of the odd half hour here and there - a blog entry can be written in half an hour (a hub can't, a hub takes a good couple of hours of thinking).

Macmillan coffee morning this morning (after a brew at Sara's!), then coffee (and Waterstone's - my poor overdraft!) in town, with Sara, and then tea at Sarah's with Sarah-jane too. What a lazy and lovely day. Please understand that I do not spend all, or indeed many, of my days like this (Rev. Roy - I do not, honest, I am not completely lazy, like what you fink I am!). I am just blogging about it because it's been such a happy day. And there are more happy days to come - me and Sara made plans today; here come the girls, oh yes.

Sara is actually a terrible friend though, truly. She practically cudgelled me over the head and dragged me into Waterstone's - I didn't want to go; I only have a Waterstone's loyalty card because I was forced to have one. And Sara, wicked woman, made me buy two books. She made me. But at least I did buy mind-broadening books - one, a beginner's guide to humanism, and the other, Derren Brown's book about the psychology of magic and the supernatural. Good, good. Books to read in snatched spare minutes. I would imagine that I will struggle to understand much more than the words 'and' and 'the' in both of these books, but still, I try. I'm sure there's a genius locked inside me somewhere - I can feel it fighting to get out, but it's been locked away one of the basement rooms of my mind. I distinctly heard it once, when I heard the word Brobdingnagian and my genius knew what it meant.

Ugh, whatever. Wittering again. :)