A Monday Meander - 4/2/19

Well the Just Jot it January challenge is over and I haven't signed up for any challenges this month so somehow I just have to keep my blogging momentum going.  Wednesdays and Fridays are taken care of with memes and I have that option for Saturdays too so I thought I'd start the week with a Monday Meader.

Of course it's just an alternative name for Waffle.  Although I was sure I'd titled a post like this previously but apparently not.  (A long search through my postings list etc proved me wrong!)  But that took a bit of time, as did catching up on other blogs, checking out what's going on over at the A-Z site and trying to locate a missing Facebook post.  I'm definitely meandering around the internet this morning.

The Facebook post I was looking for was from an online book club I'm a member of.  It contained the suggested titles for this month and I spotted it on my phone this morning.  I decided to get up and check it out properly on my laptop.  (Yes shock horror I do keep my phone in the bedroom overnight.)  Well poof - it's gone.  Disappeared.  Off the radar.  I can only premume the admin has taken it down for some reason.  But of course that meant my reason for being on the laptop had gone so I started meandering.  And now it's almost 10 am.

But it's Monday.  I don't have anywhere to be.  No one calling on my time so I can....meander.

I'll probably get myself organised at some point.  I'm determined to clean a carpet today.  I need to do that before I can move furniture around and really get into the swing of tidying and decluttering.   Yes I know, Marie Kondo would be telling me that I didn't do my clothes properly.  (I only tidied my drawers and storage space in the wardrobe, didn't touch the hanging items.)  And that next should be books but how can I start sorting books if the spaces I want to put them into aren't clean ?  Do you see my conundrum?  I feel like I'm constantly moving things around without achieving much but that's mainly because one room is empty and awaiting a new use - it was the kid's bedroom when they were living here and now I want to turn it into a den/office for hubby/playroom for the grandkids etc.  BUT before I turn it into anything the carpet needs cleaning!  While the room is empty!

Hmm meandering around might be fun but it won't get that carpet cleaned.  Don't you wish your day was as fun as mine lol.

19 in 19 - January update

February is here so time for a review of how January went for my 19 in 19.

1.   Be more organised, plan ahead and waste less time

Wellllll I think there was slight improvement here.  According to my i-phone app I have spent less time on my phone and judging by the ever increasing amount of recorded TV programmes I have I've not been watching loads of television.  I'll have to watch or delete some soon or my storage will be full!

2.   Work on the garden

In January?  Not likely.  But also not necessary.

3.   Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)

We managed a couple of outings this month, a lunch and a meal out one evening.  Both quite impromptu but still good. Hmm maybe my planning ahead is not as good as I thought lol.

4.   Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants

One down 5 to go.  I ate at a new Argentinian steak restaurant early in the month.  It's nearby and had only been open a month.  I went with some friends and will definitely be taking Nick there at some point.  We also ate at a new to us restaurant in Nottingham when we visited Grandson Noah and his parents but as we're unlikely to visit it again due to its location I won't count that in.  But we did have a very nice meal.

5.   Complete the A – Z  blogging challenge

This doesn't happen until April but I have been doing some preparation.

6.   Family weekend away for my birthday - in June

We've tentatively agreed a date and an area so now I have to sort out the details 

7.   Look after my health – eat well, sleep well, play well

I think we've been eating reasonably well - we've gone back to having our Hello Fresh deliveries so that is giving us variety.  I've also tried switching to decaf tea at the end of the day and I think that is helping with my sleep.  I started the month trying to be more active but haven't really kept it up.  I find January quite a hard month - such an anticlimax after Christmas and then it's often cold and miserable so hard to get motivated.  Spring's coming right?

8.   Visit my brother

At some point!

9.   Visit the beach

When it's warmer!

10.                Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)

On schedule for this.  In January I read:

Why Mummy Drinks by Gill Sims

Our Souls at Night by Kent Harud

The Accidental Further Adventures of the 100 year old Man by Jonas Jonasson &

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying - Marie Kondo

As always, details and reviews can be found on my Goodreads site.

11.                Keep a journal

I'm improving on this one.

12.                Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)

Well I (almost) completed the Just Jot it January challenge so this month was a success.

13.                Organise/Take more photos

This needs work!

14.                Update my clothes/accessories/make up etc regularly

Well I did a bit of a Marie Kondo on my clothes this month so a good start.  I think this is something I'll look at seasonally so I'm done for winter!

15.                Do more crafting – move the sewing machine!

No comment!

16.                Try out a new recipe or do a bake each week

Thanks to Hello Fresh we've tried out new recipes most weeks.  I also made a Lentil & Veg stew for the first time which was ok and I tried out a recipe for a piece of pork loin that we had which involved wine and rosemary.  That actually didn't turn out so well, probably because I used cheap wine and it tasted a bit vinegary which was a shame.

17.                Visit/see Noah every month

We visited the weekend of the 19th and had a lovely time including eating out on the Saturday evening.  Noah was very good although he was a bit noisy when we first got to the restaurant and as we were the first there and it was quiet for a little while he sounded Very Loud lol.  Once it began to fill up and there was more background noise he was less conspicuous.

18.                Make progress on the house plan

Well one of the first things we need to get done is a few repairs on the roof - no point in fixing things inside if there are external issues.  We've had a quote so now we just need to sort out a date for the works to be done.  Moving in the right direction though.

19.                Lose 19 pounds

1 down 18 to go.  I definitely need to be more active. (Or eat less but as I said above January is not a good month for getting outside and when I'm inside a lot snacking is very tempting!) 

Quite a good month overall, especially as I had a lot of Grandparenting going on.  That didn't always leave a lot of time, or energy for other things.  I was certainly pleased that despite that, I still managed to blog nearly every day and do a fair amount of interacting with other bloggers too.

One other thing that I managed was to set up a separate google group for the readers in our family.  A few of us posted lists of our 2018 reads and there was a lot of interaction about it so we agreed to set up a separate group just for book discussions.  There are 17 of us and we've just been sharing which books we read in January.  It's good to get suggestions for books to read - or which to avoid lol.

Review: The Spy Who Came in from the Cold

The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this classic, John le Carre's third novel and the first to earn him international acclaim, he created a world unlike any previously experienced in suspense fiction. With unsurpassed knowledge culled from his years in British Intelligence, le Carre brings to light the shadowy dealings of international espionage in the tale of a British agent who longs to end his career but undertakes one final, bone-chilling assignment.

When the last agent under his command is killed and Alec Leamas is called back to London, he hopes to come in from the cold for good. His spymaster, Control, however, has other plans. Determined to bring down the head of East German Intelligence and topple his organization, Control once more sends Leamas into the fray - this time to play the part of the dishonoured spy and lure the enemy to his ultimate defeat.

I really enjoyed this and read it in one sitting. It's quite tricky to folow at times but I'd expect that from a good spy thriller and this is certainly one of those.

View all my reviews

Friday's Fave Five 1/2/19

How is it Friday again?!

This week has flown by so it's good to sit back and think of my blessings and join in with Susanne over at Living to Tell the Story.

1.  An unexpected lunch treat.  We babysat Grandson Rory last Saturday and when his parents returned my DIL had a vegetable pie with her that she'd made on her baking course which we all shared for lunch and it was delicious.

2.  Organised clothes.  I spent time on Sunday tidying my drawers and wardrobe.  Yes I've been watching the Marie Kondo programme on Netflix and although I'm not sold on the sparking joy and thanking everything I get rid of, her ideas on folding and storing do make sense to me so I was pleased with my efforts.  Now I just have to keep things tidy.

3.  Lunch with friends.  It was my turn to host our "Ladies Lunch" today.  It meant being organised and planning ahead because I was babysitting Nathan yesterday and stayed over at my daughter's house.  Fortunately everything turned out well, dips and crudites to start, a lamb casserole with potatoes, leeks and apricots for the main and a chocolate tart to finish.  As usual, I forgot to take photos but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

4.  Patience.  Babysitting Nathan last night was not an easy task.  It's rare for his Mummies to go out together for the evening so although he is very used to having me look after him during the day, bedtime is a different scenario.  After they left, at about 5 pm, he got really upset.  None of my distraction techniques worked for long.  He would be okay for a short time but then he would get upset again.  It was a long evening but I did finally get him to sleep in his buggy.   But I needed all my patience to keep him entertained and get through his bedtime routines and asleep.

5.  Safe travelling today.  I stayed at my daughter's last night as they had forecast snow overnight.  But of course I had to be back to host lunch today.  It was a bit of a worry as to how bad the snow might be and how travel could be affected.  I decided using public transport was probably the best way and fortunately it didn't let me down.  We did get snow but not as much as they seemed to be predicting earlier in the week but I wouldn't have wanted to drive home in it late last night.

I'm hoping for a quiet weekend now!