#JusJoJan 2025 - 12/1/25 - Notifications

Today, our prompt is courtesy of the spectacular Sadje. Thank you, Sadje! Here;s the link to her blog: Sadje’s blog where you can read her posts and say hello. 

And you can link here to our host Linda's blog to see who else is joining in.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 12th, 2025 is “notifications.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

In a world full of smart phones, tablets, laptops etc it seems that there is no end to the possibility of notifications.  Of course some of them are useful, like when to tax the car, when your hospital appointment is and so on.  

I also have a lot of reminders set up to make sure I get things done, like remembering to put the bins out (including which ones) book a shopping slot, pick the grandkids up from school.

I even have a reminder about an ideal time to go to bed.  That one's already gone off today so I'd better stop jotting!

#Socs and #JusJoJan - 11/1/25 - It's the Little Things!

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 11th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “it’s the little things.” Take whatever the phrase “it’s the little things” brings to mind and use it in your post. Have fun!

For more details on the Just Jot it January challenge and Stream of Consciousness Saturday go here to our host Linda's blog.

Well this is a perfect prompt for me today.  This afternoon we decided that, as we didn't need too many things at the supermarket, Hubby and I would walk down to it.  All good - we needed to wrap up as it was still very cold but bright and sunny.

Now my Husband uses the letters KPMG (one of the big accountancy firms here) to remind him of what he needs to have with him when he leaves the house - Keys, Phone, Money and Glasses.

I of course need no such reminder as I never forget anything.  Well not as often as he does.

So we're halfway down the road that leads to the town centre where the supermarket is and I suddenly remember to check with him that he has some change in his pocket because, although we don't want a lot of shopping, we'll still need a small trolley (cart) for the list of things we need and the trolleys require a £1 coin to release them.

Well he didn't have any cash on him.  Apparently, even though there is a pile of change on the dresser at home which he has accumulated, he doesn't take any out with him.  He just uses notes and then empties out any change from his pockets each night or he uses his contactless card.

Hmm so he's got no change, plus he didn't have any cash on him either, or his keys.  So much for KPMG.

Now I very rarely carry cash but I do have a fake coin on a keyring that will release the trolley but I've attached it to my car keys - I mean if I'm getting enough shopping to require a trolley I need the car to get it home.  So no car keys, we're walking, but I do have a £10 note in my phone cash for emergencies.  Now of course this wasn't an emergency, we might have been able to manage with a shopping basket but my mind started ticking over how I could get my £10 note to provide me with a £1 coin for the trolley.  (It's the little things!) Anyway before we got to the supermarket we bought a newspaper and some nuts (appropriate yes?) to give us some change.  Except we didn't get a couple of pound coins in our change - we got a £2 coin!  

I didn't think about that until we were approaching the supermarket but that problem was solved by getting it changed at the Customer Service desk so we were good to go, back down a level to the car park area where the trolleys are now kept!  

We did the shopping, returned the trolley and retrieved the £1 coin.

At that point I decided to leave it in my coat pocket so I didn't have to go through this whole rigmarole again.  Guess what I found in my pocket?  Yep the fake coin.  I had it all along.  It would be so helpful if we could just remember the little things.

Friday's Fave Five - 10/1/25

Firstly I'm thankful for Susanne who blogs here for reminding us each week to look back and find the things we're grateful for.  

My favourite five this week are:

1)  Having lots of space in our house - we have decorators in repainting the hallway and stairs, plus our living room which has meant a LOT of stuff has had to be relocated to other rooms in the house.  

Lots of display cabinet items relocated.

The spare room full of toys, records, photo albums and a whole lot more!

A temporary coat rack.

Units that hopefully the British Heart Foundation charity will collect on Monday and be  able to sell in one of their shops.

Temporary arrangement for the TV stereo, etc.  We're planning on having made to measure cupboards built into this space.

2)  Reliable decorators.  They've finished the hall and stairs and have now made a start in the living room but they always tidy up after themselves and although they moved things around in the living room today they've put things straight so that we can still use the room over the weekend.  

3)  A safe journey to and from Bristol on Monday for a memorial service.  I wrote about it here.

4)  Despite the cold weather (not sure it got above freezing point today)  I've managed to do a couple of walks around the lake area.  

We had a lot of rain last weekend so it is VERY muddy there at the moment.  

Wellies (waterproof boots) are essential!

5)  New books for Christmas - I've just finished my first read of 2025.  The review is here.

Have a good weekend all.  We're going to our daughter's house for dinner on Sunday so that will give us a chance to see the grandchildren - our house is definitely off limits to them right now!

Book Review - Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone - Benjamin Stevenson

Everyone In My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was dreading the Cunningham family reunion even before the first murder.

Before the storm stranded us at the mountain resort.

The thing is, us Cunninghams don't really get along.

We've only got one thing in common: we've all killed someone.

When they find the first body in the snow, it's clear that only a Cunningham could have committed the crime - and it's up to me to prove it.

There are plenty of killers in my family. But only one murderer . 

I really enjoyed this book. It has quite a different take on crime novels by having a narrator who constantly breaks the fourth wall drawing the reader in, and dropping hints along the way.

The narrator, Ernest (Ern), is attending a family reunion. Also there are his Mother, Step-Father, step-sister, Aunt, Uncle, and his brother’s ex-wife. They are waiting for his brother Michael and his own ex-wife to join them following his brother’s release after serving a 3 year prison sentence.

Ern has been cast out by his Mother for being responsible for his brother’s spell in prison.

Once Michael arrives at the ski hotel things start to go wrong and the body count rises. Snowed in by a bad winter storm events become a bit farcical at times.

Gradually we learn the full story behind the events that led to Michael’s imprisonment which is not without twists and turns. A well written crime mystery that hooks you in from the first chapter.



View all my reviews

#JusJoJan - 9/1/25 - Shy

This is the ninth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, the prompt comes from the Di. Thank you, Di! You can visit Di’s blog to read her posts and say hello. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 9th, 2025 is “shy.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Well I would definitely consider myself to be shy but over the years (and I've had quite a few of those) I've learned to mask it reasonably well.  Having a management position in a school (School Business Manager) meant I had to have face to face interaction with a lot of people from various walks of life.  Being a wallflower was not part of the job.

I was definitely a wallflower when younger though, especially when it came to dating.  I think I was on my third date with Hubby before I was finally convinced that we were "going out" together although that was probably more about his choice of dates than my shyness but that's a whole other story and I haven't got time for that tonight.

It's late, that's my lot, my jot.

Link up with our host Linda and other jotters here.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 8/1/25

The Wednesday Hodgepodge is hosted by Joyce here.  Pop over there to find out more and to see who's joining in this week.

1. At the end of every year (or at least since the mid-1970's) Lake Superior State University posts a list of words they think should be banished from the Queen's English for misuse, overuse, and/or general uselessness. You can read more about the decision making process here, but this year's list includes-

cringe, game changer, era, dropped, IFKYK (If you know you know),
sorry not sorry, skibidi, 100%, utilize, and period.

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly or even just every now and then? How many did you have to look up? Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why? Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add? If so do share, then tell us why.

The only one I had to look up was skibidi and that's definitely one I think should be banished. I probably use cringe, game changer, era, dropped, 100%, utilize and period, but in their original meanings not in any slang/useless way. I certainly wouldn't say sorry not sorry - why use 3 words when 1 will do? or IFYKYK, even in messages.

2. Your favourite soup? Do you make this one yourself or is it from a can?

That would probably be what we refer to as Turkey broth which is a homemade soup made with stock made from the Turkey carcass and using up lots of leftover meat and veg from Christmas dinner. I don't make it myself - Hubby does most of the cooking in our house.  And it's no good asking for the recipe as it's probably slightly different every time lol.

3. How do you feel about winter? What's one winter activity you look forward to?

It's cold and the days are short.  Hibernating?

4. The Pantone colour of the year for 2025 is mocha mousse (sample pictured here). What say you? The website describes it as 'a warming, brown hue imbued with richness. It nourishes us with its suggestion of the delectable qualities of chocolate and coffee, answering our desire for comfort'. Is this a colour I might find in your home or wardrobe? Is it one you might add in some big or small way in the year ahead?

I think it's a nice colour but no you wouldn't see it in my home or my wardrobe.

In a similar, but not really vein...if I were to offer you a choice right now of either a cup mocha or a cup of mousse which would you say yes to?

Well I don't drink coffee so no thank you but a cup of mousse, even coffee flavoured, yes please!

5. Which of the following winter related idioms can best be applied to your life in some way right now? Choose one, then tell us why you chose it.

snowed under, on thin ice, tip of the iceberg, chill out, break the ice, snowball effect, not a snowball's chance in hell, get cold feet, the cold shoulder

Definitely snowed under and snowball effect. We've just got decorators in to paint our hallway and stairs and then our living room. Lots of things have had to be moved, one thing led to another (snowball effect) and I'm definitely feeling a bit overwhelmed by the tasks in hand.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

So the house is in chaos but we've managed to maintain order in our bedroom and one of the guest rooms.  We are expecting guests in March.  It'll be fine right?  I should probably just chill out.

#JusJoJan - 7/1/25 - Pernickety

Today, the prompt is courtesy of our lovely Ritu. Thank you, Ritu! You can visit Ritu’s blog to read her posts and say hello. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 7th, 2025 is “pernickety.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Pernickety or:

"placing too much emphasis on trivial or minor details; fussy."

My husband is definitely pernickety.  He of course would argue that he is not.

But ask him how he likes the bedclothes.  Or maybe not.  It proves my point though.

Going back to yesterday the prompt for which was invigorating supplied by me.  I did a very quick post the night before, on my phone, because I knew that yesterday was going to be a very long tiring day.

We went to Bristol for the Memorial Service of the ex-husband of Hubby's sister that died last year.  Yes a bit strange to be going to a service for someone that we hadn't really had much contact with following the divorce but we went to support our niece and nephew who have now lost both their parents in the space of 3 months.  They are 20 and 18 so a lot for them to be dealing with.

Google maps said that the journey could typically take anything from 3 hours to 4 1/2 hours.  Obviously we played it safe and allowed ourselves the maximum time and we arrived with 20 minutes to spare.  We had to get across London first, no easy feat, and then it was a reasonably straight forward motorway drive.  Of course there were a few (ok lots) of toilet stops on the way.  

But it was a nice service and the kids appreciated that we had made the effort to be there.  We also took one of Hubby's sisters with us and although there weren't lots of people there were certainly enough.

The journey home was definitely quicker but by the time we'd taken Hubby's sister home it was after 7 by the time we got back to our home.  I was exhausted as I'd done nearly all the driving.  Thankfully Hubby made a quick dinner and then I was thinking about bed.  I slept a lot better than the previous night.  Am I the only one who, when I have to get up much earlier than usual, doesn't sleep well?

#JusJoJan -6/1/25 - Invigorating

Well I’m preparing this on my phone so apologies for lack of pictures, badges, in fact anything that might be invigorating. But needed to get it posted in advance as I’m out all day today. My day will have started with a less than invigorating shower at 6am.

I’d much rather be blowing the cobwebs away with a walk on a beach but we don’t always get what we want.

#JusJoJan - 5/1/25 - Frustration

Hi there! We’re back for our fifth prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today, the prompt is courtesy of the lovely Barbara. Thank you, Barbara! You can visit her blog here. 

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 5th, 2025 is “frustration.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

Well I just made myself frustrated by trying to get rid of the background on the text that I'd copied from our host Linda's site.  If you look at the copied text above there is a very pale lilac (?) colour to it that's actually a feature on Linda's page but not something I use on my blog.  But getting rid of it proved trickier than it probably should have been.

And now I'm frustrated because I've wasted more time explaining why I'm frustrated.  I think I should stop waffling now and give everyone a break.  Including me.

See you tomorrow, hopefully.

PS I then realised I hadn't posted the JusJoJan image on my post so had to come back and do that!

PPS And I didn't include a link to the prompt post on Linda's blog which can be found here.

I'm quitting while I'm not ahead.

 

#SoCS / #JusJoJan - 4/1/25

Your prompt for #JusJoJan the 4th and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “in front/behind.” Use “in front,” use “behind,” or use them both in your post for bonus points! Enjoy!

Wondering what this is all about - find out here.

Well a few days of 2025 are behind us now, so far so good.  Although I think I'm a little behind in preparing our house for decorators who start on Monday.

We are having our hallway repainted and then our main living room.  This means moving things around.  We currently have storage/display units in our living room that are going to be replaced.  So they have had to be emptied out.  They hold a LOT of stuff.  Which is now in one of the spare bedrooms.

Thankfully we're not expecting guests anytime soon.  Well I guess March is kind of soon.  But I'm getting in front of myself.  The guests we're expecting are my younger son's in-laws and they haven't even given us a date yet.  And they'd be happy to sleep in the other spare room which I've tried to keep clear of any excess stuff.

I spoke too soon.  I have just been interrupted in my stream of thoughts by my Husband, who has just discovered my weighing scales have a setting for millilitres.  We have had the scales for what feels like forever and normally they are only used to weigh things in grams BUT they do have other options.  We have just had a very pointless discussion about the pros and cons of this.  I can't believe he's only just noticed the options, he can't understand why you want to weigh something that's measured by volume.

Just when I though I was in front now I'm definitely feeling behind.  Hopefully it won't affect the dinner he's cooking.

I should just stop waffling and finish moving the stuff.

JusJoJan - 3/1/25 - Meander

Today's prompt comes from the great mind of Kaye. Her blog can be found here  Kaye’s blog .

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 3rd, 2025 is “meander.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Well I took a meander around the lake today.  It was quite cold - we had a hard frost overnight - but it was bright and sunny all day.  It was late afternoon when I went so the sun was already going down so not as bright.

It was good to see this pair of Egyptian Geese are still around.

It was also good to see that some of this year's group of cygnets have already left the lake.  Of the original 8 there only seem to be 3 left to leave.  I couldn't get a photo of all of them together with the parents as one seemed to want to be on its own.  The adult pair are notorious for chasing off their young once they are mature enough to leave to the extent that often the cygnets need rescuing and taking to another lake where there is a large flock of swans.

They were meandering their way to the top of the lake at this point.

Friday's Fave Five - 3/12/25

Well I'm using the snowflake image today because although we haven't had any snow we had a really hard frost overnight and it has been very cold here the last few days.  And I think it's Friday (anyone else still finding it hard to keep track of the days over this festive period?) so it's time to look back on the week and list our blessings.  Susanne kindly reminds us to do this every week and like-minded bloggers link up here to share our posts.

1)  Grateful for family time last weekend with 4 out of our 6 Grandchildren and their parents.  The little ones do love getting together and I love watching them interact with one another.

2)  A second shingles jab on Monday.  Not a pleasant thing - my arm was sore for several days but not as bad as the first jab.  But I am thankful for our health service that provides these preventative measures.  I'm also glad I've had a flu jab as well as a pneumonia jab this season too as our hospitals are currently struggling with the number of flu and pneumonia cases they have.  Some hospitals are even stopping visitors to try and prevent spread.

3)  A get together with a few neighbours on New Year's Day hosted by probably the eldest of those in attendance.  Joan had prepared a nice finger buffet and we passed an enjoyable couple of hours with people we only really know to say hello to so it was good to get to know them a little bit better.

4)  Good news on my eldest son's father-in-law.  He had major surgery on Christmas Eve but is making a good recovery and came home from hospital this week.

5)  Grateful for a quieter week - we have decorators starting work on Monday so Hubby and I have been busy clearing our main living room ready for them.  They'll be doing the hall, stairs and landing first but the living room has units in that we will be replacing so we've had to empty them so that all of the walls can be painted.  It's a work in progress!

And, despite it being cold I did get out for a walk around the lake today.

Happy Weekend all.

JusJoJan 2025 - 2/1/25 - Slingshot.

Hello! And welcome to our second prompt for Just Jot it January 2025. Today’s prompt comes to us courtesy of Liz. Many thanks, Liz! Please be sure to visit Liz’s blog to read her posts and say hello. And follow her while you’re there if you’re not already.

Your prompt for JusJoJan January 2nd, 2025 is “slingshot.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

(To join in the JusJoJan challenge go here.)

Well I'm more used to calling it a catapult but judging by the fancy "slingshots" you can buy these days I'm sure it's more usually known by that name here now.  Although I also discovered that if you carry one around in public with the intent of using it to cause harm you'd actually be breaking the law here in the UK.  

I think I'll stick to jotting and blogging.

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 1/1/25

Joyce is the host of the Wednesday Hodgepodge.  Find out more/join in here.

1. Oxford's Word of the year for 2024 is 'brain rot'. Are you familiar with this term? Do you suffer from the condition? Ha! This is a term used to 'capture concerns about the impact of consuming excessive amounts of low-quality online content, especially on social media'. If you were choosing a word to capture 2024 (for the nation/world, not your own life personally) what word would you choose? 

Well I hadn't heard that term but I do think I could be inflicting it on myself sometimes lol.

As for a word that captures 2024 I think it might be "unsettling".  There is a lot going on in the world right now that is very unsettling.

2. It's National Polar Bear Plunge Day (January 1)...will you be participating in one of these events (or even your own)? How will you spend the first day of this brand new year? Do you have a traditional New Year's Day menu? 

Umm I'm guessing that involves plunging into cold water so definitely not doing that!  We don't have a set menu for the day and it's usually a quiet day for us but today we've spent a couple of hours with some of our neighbours which was nice.  One of them decided to host a small gathering and laid on a finger buffet for us.

3. What's something that brings you joy and how will you do more of it in this new year? 

Spending time with the Grandkids brings me joy but difficult now that 2 of them are so far away.  We'll be doing more Facetiming.

4. Do you struggle with the January blues? What's one thing you can/will do to keep them at bay? 

I can definitely get caught up with the January blues but I'm going to try to be more present in the blogging community, keep up my reading and get back into walking regularly.  The last few weeks I've not exactly been a couch potato but my step count has been very low.

5. Will you choose your own personal word of the year for 2025? What about a goal, resolution, or maybe even a bucket list? Elaborate as much or as little as you like. 

I don't usually choose a word and I've found that resolutions are hard to keep.  But I do want to walk more, meet the reading challenge (52bookchallenge2025) and generally be more productive with my time.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our Christmas tree etc will be coming down a little early this year - I usually wait until the 6th January but that's the day the decorators are coming!  (Monday) Lots to be sorted out before then.

I did it! Book challenge 2024

This was my first year of taking part in this challenge and I finished it with just a few hours to spare.  My final book was Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver which was quite a tough read as the subject matter is bleak and it's a long book.  

I also managed another 14 books bringing my total for the year to 66 which I'm very happy with.

The next job will be to try and work out where I can fit the books on my TBR teetering pile into the 2025 challenge list which contains some quite tricky prompts.

Thankfully I have a jump start because my daughter and my very bookish daughter-in-law (her total for the year was 200 books!) both gave me books at Christmas which will fit several prompts on the list.

This is a full list of the books I read:

Demon Copperhead	Barbara Kingsolver	5*
Mad Honey	Jodi Picoult	5*
My Other Husband	Dorothy Koomson	5*
Revelation	CJ Sansom	5*
Tell Me Everything	Elizabeth Strout	5*
The Banker’s Wife	Cristina Alger	5*
The Secret Garden	Frances Hodgson Burnett	5*
The Storyteller	Jodi Picoult	5*
The Stranger	Harlan Coben	5*
The Stranger Diaries	Elly Griffiths	5*
Wrong Place Wrong Time	Gillian McAllister	5*
A Spark of Light	Jodi Picoult	4*
Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt	Lucinda Riley	4*
Bleeding Heart Yard	Elly Griffiths	4*
Die Trying (Jack Reacher #2)	Lee Child	4*
Grace after Henry	Eithne Shortall	4*
How to Disappear	Gillian McAllister	4*
Killers of the Flower Moon	David Grann	4*
Life of Pi	Yann Martel	4*
Long Shadows	David Baldacci	4*
Lucy by the Sea	Elizabeth Strout	4*
Oh William!	Elizabeth Strout	4*
One Day with You	Shari Low	4*
Sing you Home	Jodi Picoult	4*
The Girl in the Spider’s Web	David Lagercrantz	4*
The Midwife’s Confession	Diane Chamberlain	4*
The Mother-in-law	Sally Hepworth	4*
The Murders at Fleat House	Lucinda Riley	4*
The Only Suspect	Louise Candlish	4*
The Paris Apartment	Lucy Foley	4*
The Postscript Murders	Elly Griffiths	4*
The Women	Kristen Hannah	4*
Wish You Were Here	Jodi Picoult	4*
A Vintage Wedding	Katie Fforde	3*
All Good People Here	Ashley Flowers	3*
Becoming	Michelle Obama	3*
David Copperfield	Charles Dickens	3*
Even Dogs in the Wild	Ian Rankin	3*
Friends with Secrets	Christine Gunderson	3*
Headstrong: 52 Women who changed Science and the World	Rachel Swaby	3*
Life Begins at 50	Celia Anderson	3*
Nine Perfect Strangers	Liane Moriarty	3*
One Italian Summer	Rebecca Serle	3*
Pieces of my Heart	Sinead Moriarty	3*
Reasons to Stay Alive	Matt Haig	3*
Silent Voices	Ann Cleeves	3*
Sleep	CL Taylor	3*
Sweet Caress	William Boyd	3*
The Dream House	TM Logan	3*
The Exchange	John Grisham	3*
The Paris Secret	Karen Swan	3*
The Perfect Couple	Elin Hilderbrand	3*
The Phoenix Crown	Kate Quinn	3*
The Prisoner	BA Paris	3*
The Queue	Alexandra Heminsley	3*
The Serial Killer’s Daughter	Alice Hunter	3*
Twice Shy	Sarah Hogle	3*
Weyward	Emilia Hart	3*
Woman in Cabin 10	Ruth Ware	3*
Anxious People	Fredrik Backman	2*
It Ends with Us	Colleen Hoover	2*
Normal People	Sally Rooney	2*
Spectacles	Sue Perkins	2*
The Kite Runner	Khaled Hosseini	2*
The Last Word	Elly Griffiths	2*
The Slap	Christos Tsiolkas	1*