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 :)
Friday, 5 November 2010
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Day 17.
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.
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.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Day 16.
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:
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.
Tuesday, 2 November 2010
Day 15.
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.
Monday, 1 November 2010
Day 14.
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.
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.
Sunday, 31 October 2010
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Day 12.
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 :)
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*
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*
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