2013.... that was the year that was....

The sun has gone down here on 2013 and in just a few short hours the new year will arrive, and along with it the usual optimism and hopes for positive things for all in the coming year.

2013 has for me not been a brilliant one....... whilst I haven't had any major relapses requiring me to lurk on the sofa with my leg up for great lengths of times, my immune system remains buggered - to the effect where a simple trip to the dentist requires two weeks worth of antibiotics.  I am having to be very careful not to get bitten or scratched by any of my critters, or to catch any colds or random germs. I am trying out some new medication but it's early days to say how effective it's going to be - but combined with the bondage stocking it seems to be having a good effect so far on my lypmh system.

I am still enjoying my job - and have recently been formally promoted to deputy team leader.  The firm remains busy which should, touch wood, mean my job is safe.  The job of course means that I have a roof over my head and food on the table.... though despite my saving like fury I've still not managed to get the money together for a new boiler - which is not a happy position to be in facing a cold winter in the imminent future!

My sister and her partner are still happily together - and in fact have moved in together earlier in the year.  Mum has only had a couple of minor health wobbles this year - not bad for a 75 year old - and has adopted a wonderful black cat to keep her company.

Of course, the biggest memory of 2013 will always be of losing dad.  I know I said last year that if his health deteriorated I wanted him to pass swiftly and without pain, which of course is what happened.  But even knowing that isn't enough to deal with the gaping big hole in my life and the lives of the family caused by him suddenly not being there anymore.  Things are still far to recent for me to be getting any real perspective on it and I find myself falling apart at the smallest and unexpected things.  Christmas was tough, as tonight will be, as I still forget he's not here and expect him to phone when he would usually have done in the past.


Which of course takes us to next year.... and to be honest, right now I am not in a position to look forward and identify hopes and expectations for the next twelve months.  Right now, all I can say is I want to get myself and my family through it safely and in good health.

Books I read in December.......

For some reason this month it became one for reading some old favourites, and real paperback books for the main part. 

The best book I read this month would have to be Irregulars - which is essentially 4 novellas set in the same universe but by four different authors.  

I read a couple of seasonal books ... my favourite being Merry Gentlemen... which is not really surprising given the author and my soft spot for books with a strong British feeling.

1. Physical Therapy – Z. A. Maxfield (r)
2. The Book of Daniel – Z.A. Maxfield (r)
3. Drawn Together – Z.A. Maxfield (r)
4. Blaque/Bleu - Belinda McBride (r)

5. Chuffed – Tia Fielding  - this was the first of a series of three shifter stories set in Finland I read this month. The first two I really enjoyed - probably because they were about cat shifters not wolves, but the third I didn't enjoy as much.

6. Not My Wolf – Eden Cole
7. Tiglon by the Tail – Tia Fielding
8. Howl Sweet Howl – Tia Fielding

9. Shy – John Inman - I had high hopes for this book but alas I don't think the author and I have remotely the same sense of humour as I found it difficult to enjoy anything about the story in the end.

10. Quid Pro-Quo – Voinov/Witt
11. Merry Gentlemen – Josephine Myles 

12. Never Say Never – Stormy Glen - book of the month I had to read for the Scavenger Hunt - erm, yeah, no, not an author/series I will be reading further.

13. Irregulars – Nicole Kimberling & others
14. The Family We’re Born With – Kaje Harper 

15. Top Bidder – Sean Michael
16. Deeper – Sean Michael - nice addition to the Hammer series and certainly better than the last few boos in my view.

17. Twelve Tasks – Therese Woodson - Really enjoyed this debut book which showed originality and humour in the story telling.

18. Grime & Punishment – Z.A. Maxfield - I always feel in safe hands with a ZAM book and this didn't disappoint.

19. Stripped Clean – Ellis Carrington 

20. Bound to Break – S.E. Jakes -This is the latest in the Men of Honour Series and I thought one of the best.

21.Falls Chance Ranch – Rolf & Ranger (r) - yes, again, what can I say, Christmas was a bit fraught in places and I needed some comfort reading.

So that's it for the year - I shall do another post later on with some stats about what I've read this year and some thoughts about next year's reading goals.

My house today.............

Just with less fur and a lot more wailing

some people will be struck from the Christmas list for buying my cats extra strong catnip gifts!

Christmas wishes.....

To everyone who reads this, whether you are a regular visitor

or just popping by

May you have a wonderful festive season 

*Christmas Squishes*

Winter in the Peak District

The "To Do" List of Doom...

So, the radio is 100% festive tunes, the shops are full of tinny music, driving anywhere involves an impressive tour of highly decorated houses.... Christmas is less than two days away... and I am faced with the List of Doom.....

So... I thought I'd post it here and try to cross it off as I go along...

Today
Breakfast with my sister and a friend - done!
Get enough cat and dog food, cat litter, and find presents for Mavis and Catalina (yeah, mum and sister's cats get presents - mine don't - I am an evil nasty owner) from the haunted pet shop - done!
Do the last of the necessary food shopping - done!
Collect the last of mum's presents and sister's partner's present from sister's house
wrap the last of the presents
make potato salad & coleslaw - done
make lemon drizzle cake - done!
tidy the house

Tomorrow
Collect parcel from the sorting office - I have no idea what this is everything I've ordered or am expecting has arrived... tis a mystery!   I may moan a lot to the guys at the desk over the fact that the parcels I sent to Europe and the US well before the last posting date (9 days in the case of the European one) had spectacularly failed to arrive!
Go out to Chatsworth House Farm Shop with my sister to pick up the meat for Christmas dinner and buy cheeses for the cheese board
Make hazelnut meringue - done bar the cream and chocolate...
Make Lemon & Cherry Torte
Deliver food for mum's Christmas Eve party

Finish everything in time to leave for the party at 6.30 pm

So, this afternoon will be mainly baking and cooking.......whilst flitting on and off the net, falling over the dogs whilst I wander about the kitchen and wishing I could have a very large coffee!

At the year's end

This Solstice is a time for reflection and remembering, and in particular today is a day for being there for my mum on would have been her and dad's 41st wedding anniversary.  Whilst they may have been divorced for longer than they were married they remained very good friends to the end.

There is a lot of focus at the solstice about healing and remembering.  I have lit the fire and my candles will be my light for this evening, I've made a track of songs that I remember my parents playing during my childhood and I am going to sit and reflect this evening

Solstice blessings.

The Festive Social Whirl.....

I think it's probably been established I am not the most social of people.... I am fairly shy (witness me hiding behind my knitting at the UK Meet earlier this year), awkward and with a body that doesn't work properly often in pain and need to sit down.  I also dislike being an object of curiosity or worse (parents - it's not cool for your kids to point and laugh at the fat and disabled person - and trust me I will pull you up on it in the most embarrassing way I can if they do it).

Most evenings throughout the year I am quite happy to come home from work and crash on the sofa or in front of the computer.... but this time of year while I want to go off and see friends, it's hard to get out of other social obligations......... which means that so far I've been out every single night this week.

Last Friday I had the last of my days off, and headed to see a friend in Derby for a pre-Christmas catch up and to see the God-kittens - who have grown and in fact Flynn is now a giant... though amusingly when he's very happy snuggles on my friend's girlfriend's chest and as he gets happier starts humping her bust... which is hilarious to watch!   On Sunday evening I was out again, to meet up with some friends and then on Monday night for a meal with the people who used to live next door while we were growing up - their three girls slot in age around me and my sister.... that meal was amusing as although we'd booked in advance the pub we went to had run out of just about everything on the menu which made us laugh, a lot, much to the increasing embarrassment of our waiter.  Bless him, we did tip him well after all it wasn't his fault the kitchen screwed up.

Last night was the annual tree erection event at my sister's house....... just the phrase "tree erection" I've discovered makes my sister glare at me and her partner giggle....... I may have said it a few times... when I wasn't throwing snowball decorations at my sister the tree... I got told off for that... and for encouraging the Samosa cat to steal the baubles off the lower branches of the tree........

Tonight I had my last counselling session for the year ... and we are looking at me going to every other week come the new year if I cope with the holiday period without too much stress (and my eyebrow has grown back by the time I see him again) ... after that I went and retrieved the Austrian Postal Fairy from where she'd taken shelter overnight n the Post Office.  My internet family are very generous, I have three parcels to unwrap from them on Christmas Day (I've taken them to my sister's this evening to go under the tree so that I am not tempted to shake or proddle......... Then finally, i headed to mum's for tea .... and now I am home..

Tomorrow night, I am really, really looking forward to coming home from work, critter wrangling and then collapsing in a large heap on the sofa and not being social at all......... in fact, that sounds like a damn fine plan for Friday evening to!

Finding that festive feeling........... or not.......

So, the middle of December... I am trying desperately to join my friends and family to get into the festive

spirit, but it's kind of not happening.

I've finished my Christmas shopping.... which I have to admit I enjoyed, but then I love buying stuff and giving it to other people no matter the time of year - there is something special in finding exactly the right things to give to those you care about.  I've wrapped all the presents, sent the overseas cards and parcels - well before the last posting day for a change... 

The radio is now playing about 50/50 Christmas songs and normal tunes.  There are decorations over my desk at work (despite my expressly forbidding the same - I wasn't there the day they went up), when I drive home from work I see houses all lit up and Christmas trees in windows - in some areas also known as "The Tour of Tat" because, well, really, have you seen some of the decorations people have!  Mind you, the highlight of my day has to be my mum telling me about her neighbour who has been inviting everyone on the street round to see "the lights she'd put in her bush" ... I had to explain why I spat my tea out and snickered at this........

But my house is totally unfestive... okay, so I don't usually put up a tree - cos well, I'd spend more time picking it up and putting the decorations back on again after the Canine Demolition Squad and the Hell Cats had had their way with it....... I usually at least put up my cards, but this year they are just lying on the kitchen table... 

This week I have meals out Monday and Wednesday with old friends who I grew up with, who are all very into the whole festive season..... yeah, not sure that's going to be much fun.  Tuesday night we are putting up the tree at my sisters - well, my sister is putting up her tree and I am throwing snowball decorations at her and encouraging the Samosa cat to steal the baubles off the bottom branches.... well that's the plan I've been threatened with being sent to sit in the naughty corner if I try it.........

Maybe the festive spirit will find me.... in the meantime,  I am looking forward to Saturday, which is the Winter Solstice when hopefully I am going to be able to go out to celebrate the turning of the year.

Everyone else is doing it.....

So I am going to as well....

Blow my own trumpet that is........

Here goes....

*imagine fanfare inserted here*

My Love Has No Boundaries Story.... One Week.... has been nominated in the M/M Group's Members' Choice Awards!!

I almost feel like a proper writer....... almost....... yeah, still not one really *grins*



I have to do it here because unlike other nominees (who are proper writers), I have followers on my Twitter feed who I work with in an environment that probably wouldn't appreciate what I was writing and I have other followers who are from my Girls Own book groups, many of whom would be squicked out by any form of romance involving naked body parts ;)

Random mumbling of no particular importance....

Oh dear, I really am a bad blogger... I've not really updated properly for ages....

Well, that's probably because I have not got that much to say.......

I am failing spectacularly to get into the Christmas spirit .... yeah, I know I have grinch like tendencies anyway, but this year I just can't find the will do do anything much about it.  That said, I have got a bit overboard on the present buying for other people - particularly my sister who doesn't want anything "because she's got everything she needs" which is a phrase we heard from dad every single year.... I've tried to find a selection of stuff to spoil her that she wouldn't usually buy for herself.

I spent the better part of yesterday battling with a migraine.... when I could manage to stay upright I wrapped presents and wrote cards ...... which is good as it's the last posting day for the US on Monday and Europe on Friday next week... thankfully I have harnessed some postal fairies and everything should hopefully get to it's destination on time.

Present wrapping is always interesting in my house - I went for the easier option and wrapped on the kitchen table - trying to wrap upstairs with help from Hugo is just about impossible... as it was Hope ended up covered in tape where she kept nicking the carefully cut lengths that I'd got attached to the table edge..... Gretchen kept trying to steal things off the table and Kammi managed to get some of the packing and sat guarding it and growling at everyone that came close.......... Ivan hid in a corner... it was far too stressful for him!

Today has been a quiet day as I got over the tail end of the migraine.... which involved eating dry crackers and drinking weak black tea........ I only get migraines once in a blue moon - I mean seriously - the last time was about 8 years ago after I'd been in a car crash... I have no idea what triggered this one - but I hope that it won't happen again for another 8 years.

What else...
I have 9 working days to go till Christmas - and about a months work of work to fit into that....
I still haven't bought a new home phone... and am loving not being disturbed by cold callers....
I have the smallest Christmas tree I could find - I mean seriously it's about 6 inches high ... it has a little bit of sparkly stuff on and is on my kitchen windowsill where no critter can get it
I discovered that leaving buying dog food till after the shops are shut on a Sunday night is not perhaps the best plan - they are having scrambled eggs for breakfast!

Right, that's about it... time to go hide under a blanket in front of the fire with the Kindle for the rest of the evening...

100 words....

He’d not made a sound as they’d carried him home from where they found him; the strong brown rope still binding his limbs. Or as they’d laid his battered body on the soft white bed sheets. He’d grumbled as they’d undone the tightly knotted cords which bit into his skin before they’d washed away the blood that had seeped from the cuts and grazes marking his body. The last thing he remembered was the feel of arms around him. Waking in the morning light, the arms still held him, but his body had healed and returned to his human form.

In which we are thankful for books and reading........

Or, what I read in November!

There was a lot of re-reading this month, the Tales of Amaranth series because I needed to re-read the first four before I could read the new one to refresh my memory - and yes, I these books may be on the short side but I really do like them - I think because the happy endings aren't reliant on the slave becoming free - this is a Master/slave society where freedom isn't an option so both must make the best of what they have.

Some of the other re-reads were caused by the death of Kindle the Third..... can't manage 6 days without reading something so comfort reading it was!

Favourites of the new books this month go to Mahu by Neil Plakcy - not a romance as such but a good solid detective story with a gay MC who is suddenly forced out of his closet in a hostile environment.  I shall look forward to reading the rest of the series and Threshold by Jordan L Hawk - the second book the Whyborne & Griffin series (featuring the wonderful Christine) sees them battling supernatural/alien creatures who are taking control of the workers in a mine - looking forward to the third in the series which is out next month

1.                Ricochet – Xanthe Walters (r)

2.                Dark Heart – Thom Lane (r)

3.                Healing Heart – Thom Lane (r)

4.                Hidden Heart – Thom Lane (r)

5.                Runaway Heart – Thom Lane (r)

6.                Gambling Heart – Thom Lane - Nice addition to the series, and sees the return of Lucan and Tam from the first book.

7.                Tag Team – SJD Peterson - this is the second book in this series, and whilst I enjoyed it more than the first I really struggle with some issues in the plot and find myself getting very annoyed when reading.

8.                Unacceptable Risk – Kaje Harper (r)

9.                Unexpected Demands – Kaje Harper (r)

10.            Jacob’s Ladder – Z.A. Maxfield (r)

11.            Faith & Fidelity – Tere Michaels (r)

12.            Coyote’s Creed – Demont R Vaughan - This urban fantasy was my PIFM book this month.  Not one I'd have chosen myself, but it was a nicely set up story with a wicked sense of humour running through the writing

13.            Threshold – Jordan L Hawk

14.            Mahu –Neil Plakcy

15.            Shock & Awe – Abigail Roux 

16.            Devil at the Crossroads – Cornelia Grey

17.            Taken – Andrew Grey - This is the follow up to Stranded, and I enjoyed both books, but, there was a huge problem for me when the characters went off the UK... the author clearly didn't run his choice of language and narrative past anyone who actually lives here as some of the words he used, well, just no, really, seriously, no

18.            Worth Waiting For – Kim Dare

19.            Love & Loyalty – Tere Michaels (r)

20.            Homo Action Love Story, A Tall Tale – Ben Monopoli - This was fun, a lot of fun, in a mad and random kind of way... I mean, Paintball as a professional sport that has eclipsed all other forms of professional sports?!

21.            Duty & Devotion – Tere Michaels (r)

And so we head off to the final month of the year.  I have a writing deadline on 5th December so there will be no reading anything new until the story is finished... that said... I have saved the Market Garden series by Voinov & Witt to start, and probably finish, this month ... well I've nearly 10 days away from work over Christmas... serious reading time I think!!