Friday, 13 October 2017

Review: Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body

Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body Animal: The Autobiography of a Female Body by Sara Pascoe
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was fortunate to see Sara Pascoe at a local venue before she became famous and on TV A LOT.

This book is written in the stand up style I witnessed. Long, funny monologues. But with a lot of science, common sense and personal insights thrown in. It's hard to categorise the book but it's definitely a must read, especially for men. Yes it's written from a female perspective but, as Sara rightly points out, better education is needed on how our bodies work, what makes us do the, sometime stupid, things we do and how our emotions come into play.

It also made me thankful that I've grown up in a developed society although we're still very much a work in progress.

View all my reviews

Wednesday, 11 October 2017

Wednesday Hodgepodge - 11/10/17



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

1. On a scale of 1-10 how would you rate your sense of direction? 1=can't find my way out of a paper bag and 10=if I've been somewhere once I can find it blindfolded ten years later.
I’m probably an 8.  I think I have quite a good sense of direction although I did get lost navigating my way through IKEA today lol
When was the last time you looked at/used a map you could hold in your hand? (phones don't count!) 
Not recently but I do still keep a map book in the car and we’ve been on walks where we’ve used real maps – more reliable than the phone signal!
back east, down south, out west, up north
Choose one of these directional expressions and tell us why you chose it.
Up north.  London is often considered to be south so everything else must be up north!
2. Did you do more talking or listening yesterday? Is that typical? Describe your yesterday in one word.
Probably about 50-50.  Typical on a day when hubby was at home and the kids were around for dinner.  Yesterday - marking time.  Sorry I know that’s two words but I couldn’t think of one word to sum up my day of waiting for a new fridge to be delivered – late morning became 5.15 pm.
3. Time, money, water-power-resources, opportunity...which one on the list are you most guilty of wasting? What might you do to change that?
I can be guilty of all those at times although I probably don’t waste too much money and I’m definitely more conscious about wasting resources than I used to be.  I’m working on not wasting time, or feeling less guilty about it when I do.  I’m also trying to be better at saying yes to opportunities.  
4. Did your family take regular vacations when you were a kid? Tell us something you remember about a family road trip from your own childhood.
We tended to just have an annual summer holiday – we often went to a holiday camp by the sea and often that would be with other family members.  I can remember one year travelling in a convoy and one of my uncles, who was definitely a joker, giving us cards with the letter T and P on them.  He told us to hold up the T if we needed to stop for tea and P if we needed the toilet!
5. If you could grow anything you wanted, what would you grow? Why?
I always wanted to grow my hair.  I always felt long hair was more versatile but mine always seemed to get to just past my shoulders and then stop.  These days I’d probably prefer to grow some scented flowers.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
We could be empty nested again by Christmas.  Son and DIL have had their mortgage approved so another step towards having their own place. Exciting times. 

Saturday, 7 October 2017

Friday's Fave Five - 6/10/17


Fridays are a time to look back on the week and share our blessings.
If you want to join in or check out the other participants pop over to our host Suzanne's blog at Living to Tell the Story


A day late but at least I'm here and have things to be grateful for:

1) The chance to see the flat that hopefully my son and his wife will be moving to.  It's a really nice flat with 2 good sized bedrooms and the current owner seemed a really nice person.  The kids had offered to pay the asking price but another bidder had offered slightly more.  Turns out the other bidder wanted to buy the flat as an investment and intended to let it out.  The owner wanted to sell to people who would live in the flat and the kids' offer was enough for her to buy the house she wants.  Refreshing to find someone that's not just out to get as much money as possible from a sale.  Of course lots could go wrong between now and completion but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

2) A visit from one of our DILs friends which meant cooking a Sunday roast.  With Liz being American and both of them having made lots of overseas friends on their travels we are often a base or visiting point when they come to London.  Last week her friend wanted to experience a Sunday roast dinner so we had beef with all the trimmings.  We don't actually always follow the tradition of a roast dinner on Sunday but it's nice when we do.

3)  A lovely supportive online book group.  We signed up for doing book swaps at the beginning of the year and we have just done our 3rd one.  A new book, some comfy socks and chocolate treats.  What's not to like?

4)  Living in a country that doesn't have REALLY extreme weather.  Snow already Suzanne?! Brrrr

5)  Nathan time!  I spent the day there on Wednesday and then Nick joined us for dinner.  I love spending time with him even when he's a bit grumpy.  He's doing quite a bit of dribbling and not sleeping well so we're on the lookout for teeth.

I hope you've all had a good week and are enjoying the weekend.

Wednesday, 4 October 2017

Wednesday Hodgepodge 4/10/17




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

1.  Have you ever spent time on a farm? Tell us a little bit about it. Have you ever grown your own pumpkin? Been on a hayride? Driven a tractor? Milked a cow?
I’ve spent very little time on farms just the odd visit here and there.  My French brother-in-law’s family were farmers so I’ve been there and my school worked with a Christian community that established themselves in Sussex.  They had farmland but also a furniture making business so that they were self-sufficient and the school would make regular visits.  I’ve also taken the kids to various “open” farms but I’ve never done any of the things on the list.
2. What's something younger you would like about you now? 
Hopefully the way I’ve raised my family.
3. What are three things you'd like to do more often?
Be more productive with my time.
More crafting.
Getting out and about.
Three things you'd like to do less often?
Procrastinate/Waste time.
Ironing
Checking/deleting e-mails.
4. What's on your nachos?
I seldom eat nachos.
5. What's the most random thing in your purse or wallet? Does it need to stay there?
Someone gave me “An Angel in your Pocket” charm and as I don’t always have something on with pockets but very seldom leave the house without my purse the Angel is in my purse.
6.  Insert your own random thought here.
Answering #3 reminds me of the battle I constantly have with myself.  I have good days when I’m really organised and productive and get loads done or take myself out.  And other days when I just please myself and very little gets done and then I feel guilty at the end of the day.  Then a little voice pipes up saying “you’re retired, it’s ok” but I guess it’s because I don’t really see myself as retired.  I stopped working.  It’s different.  I need to work out a long term plan and maybe a bucket list.  Maybe tomorrow lol.  Today I’m off to spend time with Nathan and his Mummies.  Far more important.