I have managed to catch a cold. It started over the weekend and a day with Rory yesterday has left me feeling exhausted today so I'm being kind to myself and taking it very easy. (I have another day with Rory tomorrow to be ready for.)
Like all my grandsons, Rory is a joy to spend time with but he is hard work. He's also cutting more teeth so he's runny nosed and dribbly. He did sleep for quite a bit yesterday but when he's awake there's no rest for Nanny!
I've been trying to catch up with your blogs and I was also looking back on some of my own. In particular posts that I've written on Brexit. It's hard to fathom that it's over 3 years since we the country voted to leave the EU and we seem no nearer to reaching an agreement on how it will actually happen. In fact we seem much closer to crashing out with no deal at all as the latest deadline of 31st October draws nearer.
Yes it's depressing and watching the news is not a fun activity but I still do, just to see what the latest craziness is. After all who would have thought Boris Johnson would end up as Prime Minister? As for the Benn Act as it's being called (or the Surrender Act depending on which camp you are in) which is supposed to prevent us from crashing out with No Deal, will BJ comply with it? Probably not. He's a slippery character and I'm sure he's plotted some way of not doing so, even though he says he will.
Keeping up with it all is difficult. I've given up on being able to name prominent post holders. There have been so many changes over the last few years (months even) and that's before you look at how the political parties are shifting. Which of course is another problem. In the past, one way to prevent the Conservatives taking us out of the EU with No Deal would have been to force a general election and put the Labour Party into power and for us all to take a deep breath. Currently I don't think any party is capable of securing a majority and the prospect for any coalition being successly formed looks highly unlikely too. Although scarily, it seems that Johnson is proving popular, particularly with those that voted to leave, and with the remainers possibly split between the Lib Dems and Labour, the possibility of the Conservatives remaining in power after a general election is becoming more likely. It's no wonder that none of the other parties are rushing to call a vote of no confidence and trigger an election.
Meanwhile nothing of any other importance seems to be getting done, particularly with regard to climate change (yes it is real!) and we currently have Extinction Rebellion protesters causing such mayhem.
All this against a backdrop of miserable weather and shorter, darker days to come. Halloween could be particularly scary this year. Thank goodness for Strictly Come Dancing, library books and blogging.
Oh dear, I am way off track with this. I didn't even get an update done for August and now we're into October so this will have to be a 2 month catch up!
1. Be more organised, plan ahead and waste less time
Ha I am still wasting time but planning ahead is definitely better and I like to think I'm an organised person. (I'm trying to see the positives here! lol)
2. Work on the garden
I've made a few more additions to the garden including a bird feeding station. It's looking a bit untidy at the moment as my gardener has been on holiday (as well as me) and we have had lots of rain in the last couple of weeks.
3. Plan a lunch date/date night with Nick once a month (theatre/cinema/meal/outing)
Epic fail on this front. This needs serious attention.
4. Eat at 6 new-to-me restaurants
Well I certainly managed this while on holiday with my cousins. We ate out every night. Although of course I'm hardly likely to revisit those restaurants unless I get to Kos again.
5. Complete the A – Z blogging challenge
Success!
6. Family weekend away for my birthday - in June
It was lovely! Read about it here.
7. Look after my health – eat well, sleep well, play well
I deinitely ate well and played well in August & September with our family get together and then a holiday with my cousins. Not sure my health has benefitted though.
8. Visit my brother
At some point! (Although I may get to see him next week! Rumour has it that he will be attending my cousin's birthday party which I will definitely be at.)
9. Visit the beach
Done!
10. Complete my reading challenge (52 books for the year)
Yay! Done! I'm currently on about to start book #56. I did a lot of reading during August and September (although reading up means blogging down). I won't bore you here with the details but, as always, details and reviews can be found on my Goodreads site. (Or you can use the tag book review to find them here on the blog.)
11. Keep a journal
Journal? What's a journal? Enough said!
12. Blog at least once per week (plus regular memes)
August figures were up, September down. As I mentioned above, I've been doing a lot of reading and been away so the blogging has taken a back seat.
13. Organise/Take more photos
Well I definitely took photos while I was away so maybe a tick here.
14. Update my clothes/accessories/make up etc regularly
Well this is such a wooly target. I will definitely build this in again next year but it will need to be more specific and time framed. Although I did review my swimwear before my holiday family holiday and trip to Kos. Just as well as I needed to buy new (and larger) swimsuits! Definitely need to work on #19.
15. Do more crafting – move the sewing machine!
My one piece of crafting during this spell consisted of sewing some buttons onto a very plain dress. The end result was well received by my cousins which was pleasing. The amount of time that had lapsed between me buying the dress and the buttons and actually sewing them on was not.
16. Try out a new recipe or do a bake each week
Oh goodness this has fallen off the radar completely.
17. Visit/see Grandson Noah every month
Well we saw a lot of him in August (thanks to our family gathering) but September seemed to run away with us. We will be seeing him in a couple of weeks though and then we'll need to get dates in our diaries to keep this on track.
18. Make progress on the house plan
Well the girls are making progress. The house they are renting has been sold and they have to vacate by 8th November. Unfortunately they have not been able to get a mortgage sorted out to buy anywhere but they have now secured another rental close to where they are living now and will move on the 1st November. This will give them some breathing space to get their finances together (Becca has just started working as a consultant) get a mortgage offer and find a house. They will probably wait about 6 months before looking again and hopefully the uncertainty over Brexit will have been settled by then. (Sorry I had to mention the B word although it's all such a mess.)
However, now the girls have definite plans and we know we won't have to provide them with temporary accommodation between homes, it does mean that now we can get back on track with getting things done in our house. We also don't have to worry about hosting Christmas either as Michael and Liz will be off to the States to visit Rory's other Grandparents and family, Matt & Amy will be staying in Nottingham with Noah and the girls have invited us to theirs for Christmas so that's all sorted!
19. Lose 19 pounds
Still on square 1 but considering I've had a holiday with lots of eating and not much exercise it could be worse. I seem to have lost my "get up and go" recently which hasn't helped. My medication review also revealed my blood pressure was up a bit so keeping an eye on that now and waiting on some blood tests to see if I'm just "getting older" or if anything else is going on. Not sure which outcome is more depressing!
Well a mixed bag of progress again. It's definitely clear to me that my objectives need to be more specific, actually they should probably be SMART! * Considering my background and training I should have seen that from the beginning but it's easy to get out of good habits when time is your own.
* Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Timely
No Man's Land by
David Baldacci
My rating:
3 of 5 stars
No Man's Land by David
Baldacci is an exciting thriller featuring special investigator John
Puller, who is pursuing a case that will send him deep into his own
troubled past. John Puller's mother disappeared nearly thirty years ago.
Despite an intensive search and investigation, she was never seen
again. But new allegations have come to light suggesting that Puller's
father - now suffering from dementia and living in a VA hospital - may
have murdered his wife.
Puller is officially barred from working on the
case - and faces a potential court martial if he disobeys orders - but
he knows he can't sit this investigation out. When intelligence
operative Veronica Knox turns up, Puller realizes that there is far more
to this case than he had originally thought. He will stop at nothing to
discover the truth about what happened to his mother . . . even if it
means proving that his father is a killer.
I always enjoy a Baldacci book even if they can be a bit formulaic. This was another solid thriller. It's quite long but I like the way he takes two completely separate threads and begins to interweave them leading to a thrilling conclusion.
One point my pedantic husband would agree with though, I don't want to hear the phrase "it was well dark" again. It really jarred with me and it was mentioned at least twice in the book. It's either dark or not.
View all my reviews
Well I'm a day late but better late than never.
Our former host Terri is currently recovering from knee surgery but thankfully Katsumi has taken up the baton so the medley continues. Here goes:
1. The first week of October is National Mystery Series Week. Do you sleuth alongside Nancy Drew or Miss Marple? Fan of Nero Wolfe?
Well I have to confess to never having read Nancy Drew but I'm a great fan of Agatha Christie. I'd also never heard of Nero Wolfe. Not sure he's available in the UK. But I definitely enjoy a mystery.
2. The first week of October is also National Chili Week. Do you plan on celebrating with a bowl of red? Have a top secret recipe to share?
I'm not a great fan of chilli although I will use it if a recipe asks for it.
3. October 2nd is National Name Your Car Day. Does your car or did a family car have a name?
Yes, it's called The Car lol. I don't think we have ever given our car a name.
4. Today is also National Walk To School Day. Did you walk to school with your friends? Take a school bus? Ever have someone carry your books home from school?
As a child I was fortunate enough to live close enough to my schools to be able to walk to them. For my own children I drove them to their primary school it was easier than trying to walk all three of them there. We did walk occasionally, especially on National Walk to School Day (we actually had a walk to school week) and once they went to secondary school and were capable of going to school on their own they all walked. Living in London there is no real need for school buses generally. Bus services are provided for children with disabilities but public transport is ok for kids who need to use it.
I never really had anyone carry my books but when I had an operation on my feet and couldn't walk to school my Maths teacher brought me home by car each day.
5. And it is National Pumpkin Seed Day. Do you like pumpkin seeds? Do you carve the pumpkin and roast the seeds? Do you buy packaged, prepared pumpkin seeds? Or more of a pumpkin spice person?
I AM NOT A PUMPKIN PERSON.
6. Please tell us something interesting about your week.
Back to normal this week after my holiday so back to Grandsitting on 2 days with Rory. He is developing a real love of books. He loves to have books read to him, then read again, and again and.....I'm sure you get the idea! One advantage of being a grandparent though is that I have the time (and patience) to read with him. (Although there are some books that are nicer to read than others!)
If you want to take part in the Medley or read the entries of other bloggers this is the link.
