Summer time... and reading is easy........

So, that's August done and dusted.... and with the arrival of September it feels a lot closer to the end of the year - we went out for lunch today and they were taking bookings for Christmas parties!!  Schools here go back this week and so I think summer is just about over.

August has flown by very quickly - but thanks to a week off at the beginning of the month I've managed to do a fair bit of reading.

My favourites this month are the final books in Megan Derr's Dance with the Devil series - I've really enjoyed the setting of this series and although some characters just flit in and out rather than all the books having the same MC's it doesn't matter for this one as it's the world building that gives the stories the feel of the thing.  My other favourites are two very different books, Caught! by J.L. Merrow which is so traditionally English and with a very British humour to it and Kaje Harper's The Family we Make - which is not so much a romance, but a family drama.

I have also this month DNF'd my very first book - I usually read everything even if I am annoyed by it, or it's not engaging me, but this I couldn't.  There was just so much wrong with it I was in danger of throwing the Kindle across the room.  I started making notes as I was reading and by 28% I had 5 pages of notes that were factually incorrect, impossible for the time or just wholly unrealistic for the setting...... Now I know for most people that read the book they won't even notice these things, but it was a book set in a 1920's English boys boarding school - and given that school stories of that era are something I've been collecting for over 20 years it's something i couldn't look past.

anyway - the list.....

1. Camwolf – J.L. Merrow (r)
2. Gilliflowers - Gillibran Brown (r)
3. In Despair (Princes of the Blood) – Megan Derr
4. The Slave Catcher – Lilia Ford
5. Ruffskin – Megan Derr
6. Sword of the King – Megan Derr
7. Dance only for Me – Megan Derr
8. Relief Valve – J.L. Merrow
9. Wrestling with Demons – Xavier Mayne
10. Making Repairs – Sean Michael
11. Hungry for Love – Rick Reed
12. Yakuza Courage – H.J. Brues
13. One Good Deed – Andrew Grey
14. Control - Mary Calmes/Cardeno C.
15. Holbrook Academy – Dean Ocean
16. Altered Heart – Kate Steele (r)
17. Caught! – J.L. Merrow
18. Stuff – Josephine Myles
19. The Pagan Lord – Bernard Cornwell (non M/M)
20. Murder on the Mountain – Jamie Fessenden
21. The Family We Make – Kaje Harper

And so to next month - I've a Kindle full of books and although the Don't Read in the Closet releases are winding down (yes I've the date for my 2nd story to be released) I still have a fair few of these to read as well.  Maybe next month I'll list my favourite 10 stories......

Happy September reading!

Domestic Adventures....

UFO
of which there are many in my freezer

As part of my week off I am trying to do some odd jobs around the house.... little things, like finally get
someone to to come fit the new gas cooker, rip up the hallway carpet and the big one... defrost the fridge/freezer.

Now that might not sound like much of a challenge... but here's the thing... living alone and enjoying cooking I have a habit of cooking enough for a meal and a portion to go in the freezer... which is all well and good... until you come to defrost the freezer and realise that it's full of UFOs

Yep, UFOs, Unidentified Frozen Objects.... seriously... boxes of them... all of which though i can see into them I haven't got a bloody clue what they are.  Now I am pretty certain they are all savoury and all vegetarian, after all I made them... but beyond that I haven't a bloody clue.

The night before last I defrosted what turned out to be a Quorn chili, which was very nice... last night I took out another box, which had well, frozen stuff in it... tonight when I opened it to heat it through I am pretty sure that it is a butternut squash and vegetable curry...... I've identified what I think might be two small containers containing mushroom soup.... well it is kind of solid grey stuff... and then there are two other boxes of well, I haven't clue really...... I shall get one out tonight to defrost it for tomorrow.

It makes evening meals very interesting when you haven't actually got a clue what you'll be eating ....

Apparently I could put labels on the boxes... or write on them in marker pen.... but really... where is the fun in that!

Electric pulse treatment & me.... is this wise??

Is this going to happen?

Last week I went off to see my MacMillan nurse  - just before anyone panics, though MacMillan nurses are
best known for the work they do with people who have cancer and in supporting their family - I don't have cancer, I do have a lymphatic disease which commonly effects people who are going through treatment for cancer though ... which means that I have been assigned a MacMillan nurse to help control and treat it because they are the people best placed to do so.

Anyway, my appointment was to be measured for a new bondage stocking as wearing them makes the lymph fluid drain off in my leg so the size changes, and also the elasticity and pressure changes after about 6 months of use.  Anyway when I was there she suggested I try a circulation booster.... which I thought was probably a medication/supplement type thing (to go with the gazillion other tablets I take to try help my immune system to actually work) but no, it's not, it's a machine you pop your feet on, stick electrodes up your calf (like a TENS machine) and then switch on and give yourself little electric shocks... sorry, it emits electronic pulses which encourages blood and hopefully lymph flow......

Well, I said yes because frankly any new treatment to try, whether it works or not, I am willing to have a go at - because some days it feels like the only alternative that might work is me taking a carving knife to my left leg and removing it below the knee..... so I was mentioning it to some friends and family... and they pointed out something I'd overlooked..... given my abilities to blow things electrical up and give myself electric shocks, explode things and fuse the house.... was this really a good idea?  I decided, after careful consideration, that yes, it was...

I have been warned that it might feel a little uncomfortable and possibly be a little painful, but I am kind of excited about trying this out.... which probably makes me sound a little weird...

My new machine arrives tomorrow... and I have been made to promise that I won't try it for the first time when in the house alone.... you know.... just in case...


I also have visions of one of the dogs standing on it and all their hair standing on end.... which will look very funny!!