Book Review - Look at Me - Sarah Duguid

Look at Me by Sarah Duguid

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Lizzie, her father Julian and brother Ig are still mourning the death of their mother Margaret two years after her death.

Lizzie then discovers a letter to her father from Eunice, their half-sister they hadn't known existed. In deciding to reply to the letter Lizzie sets off a chain of events with Eunice moving into their lives and causing them to confront difficult emotions.

It took me a while to get into the book but I'm glad I persevered. It is very descriptively written and deals with grief and guilt in an interesting way.



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Before and after

This was the picture of the work in progress on the guest bedroom we've been redecorating:

 These pictures are of the (almost) finished room:

There are still a couple of things to finish but nothing that has to be done before our first guests arrive tomorrow.  I need a picture for above the fire place and the mirror needs to be fixed on the wall but they can wait.

I was busy all day today ironing the bedding and making up the bed, cleaning the window, ironing and hanging the curtains plus the usual everyday chores.  Somehow I managed to reach my current steps target without leaving the house!

I'm pleased with the way the room has turned out but I'm going to take a break now until after Christmas before starting on the next room.  My daughter hopes to be moving to a house in December so I'll be helping out with that and all the kids will be around at Christmas so I want to be prepared and not chasing my tail at the last minute.

Although you can be too prepared.  The supermarket that I do my online shopping with has priority booking for Christmas slots.  I was all organised with a reminder set on my phone to book my slot on 26th October.  I went online.  Nothing!  No slots beyond 15th November.

I was about to phone customer services to see what was wrong but decided to recheck the e-mail first.  I'm so glad I did - the slots open on 26th November!  But it makes a change for me to be so keen and ahead of myself!

Friday's Fave Five 28/10/16

It's Friday  Saturday so it's belatedly time to join in with Suzanne's Friday's Fave Five.
 
It's a place to come on Fridays and think back over your week and just post about 5 favourite things from your week. It can be anything that tickled your fancy over the week. Favourite quotes, posts, happenings, scriptures, recipes, pictures, great internet finds, etc., etc.

If you want to take part or visit other Fave Five posts, click on the picture above to go to host Suzanne's site and check out the linky list.

Here are mine for this week, a day late as I was quite busy yesterday and then my son and DIL arrived for the weekend:

1. Last Saturday the son who lives with us and his wife made us a lovely cooked breakfast.  It's nice to be waited on.

2. Our niece's baby, Poppy, has her nasal feeding tube replaced with a permanent tube directly into her stomach through her tummy.  This was a worrying procedure for them as it involved a general anaesthetic and there were concerns over her heart when she was previously poorly but all went well.  This will make their lives so much easier.

3. On Wednesday we saw a play at our local theatre.  It was a modern day adaptation based on Chekov's The Cherry Orchard.  It might have helped if I'd done my homework beforehand about that story.  We've seen great plays and musicals at the theatre which I've been happy to recommend.  I can't say the same about this play but it was nice to have a night out with hubby.

4. Moving - it looks like two of our children will be on the move.  Our eldest son and his wife have put an offer on a property in Nottingham where they are based.  It's been accepted but not they have to get all their paperwork etc in order so will keep our fingers crossed on that one.  Our daughter and her wife, for various reasons, have decided not to continue with the purchase of a flat they were interested in.  Instead they are going to look to move from their rented flat to a rented house until they can afford to buy a house.  Our DIL has just become self-employed so her earnings won't count towards a mortgage at the moment which limited their buying power.  Hopefully in a year or two when she can show evidence of earning they will be better placed for a mortgage.

5. We've finished painting the spare room!  Yay! The carpet is due to be laid on Monday and hopefully everything will be ready for Thursday when guests arrive.  We might not have new curtains by then but the old ones have been washed and will at least provide privacy for now.

Hodgepodge on a Thursday! Time is flying.

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at 

 From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

Have fun!

I'm a day late this week as I was busy decorating yesterday and then in the evening we were at the theatre but here goes:

1. Besides your very own house, describe a place where you feel most 'at home'? 

One of the places I regularly walk through is our cemetery.  I love walking through there – my maternal grandparents are buried there and my parents ashes are in the rose garden.  Most times I just walk through giving a nod in their direction but sometimes I take the time to sit and think, and talk (in my head!) to them. 

2. When did you last 'hit a home run' with something? Explain. 

Well we are on the home run with decorating our spare room. 

3. Tell us about something you love in your house or kitchen that is 'homemade'. 

Umm struggling to think of an answer for that.

4. 'A man's home is his castle'...which of the world's ten most captivating castles (according to The Travel Channel) would you most like to visit and why-

Mont Saint-Michel (France), Edinburgh Castle (Scotland), Neuschwanstein Castle (Germany), Glamis Castle (Scotland), Windsor Castle (England), Chateu de Chambord (France), Hampton Court Palace (England), Prague Castle (Prague), St. Michael's Mount (England), and Leeds Castle (England)

Well I have been to Mont Saint-Michel, Edinburgh Castle, Windsor Castle and St. Michael’s Mount.  Of the others I’d like to visit the French Chateau, mainly because we’ve been to France quite a few times but never been to visit a chateau.

5. What's a recent or upcoming plan or project that's required you do a little homework before getting started? Did the homework cause you to abandon your plan or adjust it in some way?

I’m already thinking ahead for the A-Z blogging challenge.  That definitely requires some homework to avoid being stressed out and panicking about getting blogs posted on time.  Nothing is set in stone yet so there probably will be some adjustments.

6. In your opinion, is homework an unnecessary evil or a valuable practice? Should schools be done with homework? Why or why not?

I think homework can be a valuable practice but it shouldn’t just be done for homework’s sake – i.e. if it’s done it needs to be marked.  Given the way our current primary education is going where the main focus seems to be on getting kids through the various statutory tests I think it would be good if homework took the form of investigative projects that might help cover some of the stuff that’s taking a back seat such as geography and history. 

7. Share a favourite memory of your childhood hometown. 

One of the things that stand out was the town show.  This is still held each year.  I haven’t been in years but I can remember attending as a child.  There were stalls and entertainers etc. and it was a fun day out.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

Our niece’s baby, Poppy, had her surgery today to insert the permanent feeding tube into her stomach which means she no longer needs the nasal tube.  Surgery went well and hopefully they will be going home tomorrow.  Thank you to all those who’ve had Poppy in your prayers.  I’ve had various bits of good news this week which I’ll share in due course.