Fly - 1, Naked Cats - 0....

Hugo: "Where did it go?"
Gina: "Quiet! Stalking!!"

So there I was, quietly curled up on the sofa reading, the fire on full blast (yep, still no heating - and yes, I've seen, we are threatened temperatures of -15 or so.... pah... I laugh in the face of such temperatures... okay slightly hysterically but that's the only option)... the dogs all snoozing around me.... when there was a roll of thunder from above.....

Well no, it wasn't thunder at all..... it was... The Great End of Season Fly Hunt.....

For two quite small cats they can't half make it sound like I've a heard of elephants crashing about upstairs......

By the time I put the dogs away and came up to play on the computer for a bit before bed they had managed to pull the towels off the back of the bathroom door, knock books off the shelf, tip over and spray their bowl of cat biscuits across the study floor and remove just about all the drying clothes off the airer.

I should be grateful they didn't knock the electric heater I put on for them up here over and set the house alight.

And the cause of all this .... a small innocent housefly, which was at the time lurking harmlessly on top of the bathroom door...

The following conversation may have then taken place....

Hugo (whilst bouncing up and down next to the bathroom door):  "Fly, fly, look human, fly"
Me (with toothbrush in mouth): "stop it, and if you even think about climbing up... ouch...Hugo!"
Hugo (whilst leaping from half way up my back towards the door): "I can get it, I can, oh no....."
Gina (from her perch on the banister rail): "If I chatter my teeth at it will you help get it?"

cue teeth chattering and strange chirrupy meow.... as I heartlessly wander past into my bedroom ignoring them.

Hugo: "I can get it, I can get it"

Next time I looked he was stuck half way up the wall with his claws stuck in the revolting anaglypta wall paper staring pathetically at the housefly which was still on the top of the bathroom door.  I left him there to find his own way down on the theory that he got up there himself he can get down himself.

I've turned the lights off now, and the fly appears to have won this round... Gina has taken herself to bed in a pile of my clean waiting to be ironed clothes, and Hugo is currently on guard duty on top of the book room door... which means any second he's going to make a leap for my right kidney to soften his landing on the way down.......

Remind me... I have these cats because????

Friday evening waffling.....

This time next week, three years of hard work and my finals will all be over.... which is a bit of a sobering thought for someone that has a problem with completing things... this is something I have no choice in though so I am going to have to live with it.  Though the results of the exams won't come out until December so I will be in limbo for a while afterwards.

Talking to a friend this evening, in between the talk of babies, toddlers, badly behaved critters (more of which later) and knitting, we were coming up with ideas of what I can do with my free time.....Now I've said from about the start of this course that this will be it, I will not be doing any further studying... she however has doing various Open University courses over the last few years, some of which do sound tempting - I'd really quite like to do the medieval history course.... but then again, I have kind of had enough of studying.

I do need to think of something, as failing that I will end up taking work home to do in the evenings.... and as much as I could and in fact would spend my entire free time lost in my Kindle (well till it gave up and exploded... again) I should perhaps do other things to unwind.  I do have several knitting projects I need to get on with, and I have some story ideas I would like to get written (and I have been threatened with nagging if my mainstream YA series doesn't get it's second book in the very near future... bossy beta readers!)

That said, I've still a week to get through, and a fun filled week of revision it would be.  Tomorrow and Sunday are scheduled out into 3 x 2 hour blocks, with time off for grocery deliveries and laundry (I know how to have fun....), Monday night I will have revision free as I am always kippered when I get home from work on a Monday night.. more revision Tuesday and Wednesday night and then on Thursday I actually have an official revision day, by which I am hoping I will only be highlighting and cross checking.....oh and making sure I've directions to Leeds where I am sitting the exam.


Now hopefully the canine critters will be well behaved for the rest of the weekend.... they got a severe rollicking when I got home from work as the delightful little gits had emptied my kitchen bin all over the floor... it probably took me longer to clean up than it did for them to empty it.... I am just hoping there are no ill effects from the debris they have probably managed to eat.

The cats are being smug ... they always are when the dogs are in trouble, and I am in fact typing this with my head painfully tilted to one side as Gina is balancing on my left shoulder, purring in my ear, as she supervises my typing....... either that or she's getting revenge for me refusing to give her the Q-tip to play with this morning......

100 Words

Their footsteps on the polished wooden floor echoed in the empty house.

“Finally!  A home of our own.”  Sam said as he pulled Josh into the front room, before pushing him back against the wall.  Bringing their heads close, he whispered. “I think we should celebrate.”

The keys in Josh’s hand hit the floor as Sam fell to his knees.  

Not long after that Josh slid, boneless, down the wall to join him. 

“So, that’s one room christened, only five more to go.” Josh smiled lazily.  The doorbell rang before Sam could reply.  “Maybe after the removal people have gone.”

Random rambling......

Well twice in two days I've had to scrape ice off my car before going to work....... winter is obviously here..... I have to admit though I do enjoy cold dry days, particularly when it's sunny and there is just a bit of a wind that slightly stings your face (I could live without the whole not being able to feel the tops of my fingers mind)... There has been some nice dawn dog walks with the mob over the past few days, crunching over the fallen leaves and watching them dash about the park their breath steaming in the cold (except Gretchen, who has to stay on her lead as she sods off at the first opportunity and would leg it across three counties given a chance).... that said, it's lashing it down and blowing a gale this evening so tomorrow's walk may be (a) shorter and (b) wetter....

Yesterday morning I went to see the MacMillan Nurse Specialist to have my lymph nodes prodded... my stupid leg got measured, photographed and drawn on .... with thick black pen which I still can't wash off... because the lymph system got quite badly damaged with the infection that spread from my foot in August I am being fitted for a highly (un)sexy black compression stocking ... okay so it has a really swish silk lining but still....I got to try a wrist support made of the same material and, dear Goddess, it's going to feel like my leg has been severely squished....... Ah well, I am under strict instructions to do as I am told and wear the damn thing, and as I'd like my lymph system to kind of return to normal I guess I'd better behave.... just hope it's not too painful!


The revision continues....... and yes, that about sums it up.........well actually it didn't tonight, I needed a night off after working quite hard all weekend and yesterday afternoon.  Today was not a whole bundle of laughs at work as my team leader's last day is tomorrow and she is trying to tidy up what lose ends she can and what she can't she's dropping onto my desk to deal with....

Right, really need to have an early night....(though part of me wants to stay up and watch the US election unfold..... Even I got to vote today.... okay so it was only my postal vote for the local Police Commissioner elections but still, I get to say I voted *grin* ).... I was up far too late last night reading stories on line and woke this morning with that horrible feeling that I'd missed something and that something was horribly wrong somewhere or with someone......... Feeling seems to have gone now so sleep should happen..... that is if I can calm the cats down.... I'm not sure what is wrong with them this evening..... they are racing round like they're on speed... Hugo has just climbed into a big shopping bag that was lying on the spare room bed and then fallen off the bed whilst still wearing it ... he's currently kind of in/under it racing around the room whilst his mother pounces on it from the highest vantage point she can find....... and, oh yes, there goes the clothes airer....... best go extract him and pick up all my clothes... again......

My brain is too fried to think of a title for this post....

Okay, so revision... once I'd remembered how to revise - no seriously, I looked at my paperwork and the stuff that I'd pulled up on the screen to go through and my entire brain froze in terror and then went blank.....I think I sat there for a good 10 minutes staring at the wall and wondering how to even start before I found a method of going through things..... after that it wasn't so bad.

The subject material is dry, like Sahara Desert dry.... but I have read, written out lists, bullet pointed important bits, tried to digest some of the most boring things in the world.... and my head is now a swirly mess of case law and Civil Procedural Rules, with an added dose of essential topics such as contracts, proportionality and procedures......... I have post it notes in various colours marking very important things (and at one stage Gretchen but we won't go into that) I have slashed highlighter pen everywhere... there is a colour code... there might have been having the highlighter pens out slightly too long as I have a headache and can still smell the damn things even though I stopped using them a couple of hours ago.....

I just hope that some of the information I've tried to force in my brain sorts itself into some sort of order and stays where it's meant to be....

I did also discover two things........ firstly when you order your grocery delivery for between 8 and 10 am, knowing you are not going out and knowing there is bugger all in the house food wise.... that will be the day the grocery van breaks down and your shopping doesn't get delivered till 4 pm..... and, secondly, without central heating, or hell any form of heating, sitting still in your kitchen when it's only about 2 degrees outside results in you having to be creative about making it warmer........ it took some ingenuity to decide what I could do to warm up said kitchen, but you know, making the Christmas cake involves baking it for 4 hours.... after which I cooked baked potatoes for my tea.... which took the chill of just enough to keep me from freezing......

So, quite productive a day, but now I am going to comfort read to try and untangle my head... which yes, means reading Falls Chance Ranch for the umpteenth time....

Allowing common sense to prevail.....

So, NaNo started yesterday, my finals are two weeks today, and at work next Wednesday I have to step up from deputy team leader (which I have been doing for about 4 weeks covering maternity leave) to team leader, whilst my boss is on honeymoon for the whole of November....... in fact, I will have to be myself, the deputy team leader, the team leader... oh and one of the other team members who is working out his notice and will be off at least a couple of days a week whilst he uses up his leave entitlement...... so erm, yes, I will in fact be doing the work of 3.5 people, including supervising the other 2.5 members in the team......

I hadn't really noticed how much this was starting to worry at me until a friend pointed out that I was becoming very ratty and short tempered........ of course I argued that I wasn't and apparently this proved his theory...... at which point I tried sulking until I got hugged into submission.

After a long chat about the fact that I am not in fact superwoman and cannot do everything we decided that something had to give, and as work and my finals aren't an option, the NaNo project has to wait....... I have been made to promise that I won't even think about it, let alone start writing anything until after my exams are over...... I am really not good at giving into these sort of things gracefully but I have promised.

I now also have a revision schedule........ which wasn't my idea, but apparently if left to myself I will faff about all day and not get on with it ......*sigh* It's nice but at the same time rather depressing to realise how well my friends know me.

So for the next two weekends I will be revising in two hour blocks three times a day... I will also be revising on Monday afternoon after I've been to my hospital appointment in the morning, and of an evening will be putting in an hour's notes reading before I am allowed to turn on the Kindle or do anything more fun....

I hate breaking promises to people I care about so I will now have to stick to this schedule as I know I will be asked how I am getting on with the revision.  I don't want to let anyone down, particularly when they've helped and supported me in something without being asked..... but good grief this is going to be a really boring couple of weeks......... There better be a nice reward at the end of it.....

Spookily enough... books I read in October...

Blessed Samhain (or happy Halloween).... early post tonight before I go light candles in the windows to keep away the spirits.  If you are going out trick or treating, stay safe.

So, to the book list...

1. Outcast Mine – Jamie Craig
2. Dirty Kiss – Rhys Ford (r)
3. Dirty Secret – Rhys Ford
4. My Relegence Rake – J.L. Langley.... I’d been caught up in the hype on this one, given that I also really like the first two in the series, but this just didn’t live up to it possibly because as readers we already knew of both the MC’s (though it was nice to see minor characters from the previous books getting more page room)  It felt more like a fill in arc to get from the first two books to the next two...

5. Magic Mansion – Jordan Castillo Price – October challenge book – I have been recommended this author on numerous occasions but just not got round to it.. This book wouldn’t have been my first choice as I don’t do reality TV or in fact stage magicians.... but the writing was superb and I really enjoyed it

6. Gilliflowers – Gillibran Brown – ah Gilli, I have such a soft spot for these books... I am really hoping he continues to turn his diaries into books, despite the fact his website says that he probably won’t.

7. Salad on the Side – Karenna Colcroft

8. Out of the Woods – Syd McKinley
9. Twice-Caught – Syd McKinley – This duo of fantasy books were well written and fun, but the world building could have done with a lot more work, luckily the main characters personalities carry the story really well.

10. Home Work – Kaje Harper
11. SUBlime (collected shorts) – Rachel Haimowitz – I am not a fan of short stories but breaking it down and showing individual scenes did work better for me

12. Lost & Found – Syd McKinley
13. Rock Stars & Size Queens – Sean Michael  - meh, I really don’t enjoy the Velvet Glove series, I do not know why I buy and read them because I could basically read the blurb and tell the predicable story in my head...

14. Your biggest FAN – Missy Welsh
15. Duck! – Kim Dare (r)
16. Magpie – Kim Dare
17. Concubine – Jill Knowles
18. The Druid Stone – Heidi Belleau
19. Galway Bound – Heidi Belleau

20. Wee Free Men – Terry Pratchett (r)
21. Hat full of Sky – Terry Pratchett (r)
22. Wintersmith – Terry Pratchett (r)
23. I shall wear midnight – Terry Pratchett (r) – comfort reading!

24. The Winter Courtship Rituals of Fur-Bearing Creatures – Amy Lane
25. Super Sock Man – Amy Lane
26. How to Raise an Honest Rabbit – Amy Lane  - I bought all three of these in one go and read them one after another, very sweet yet amusing stories.... and free knitting patterns too – a friend of mine is getting married soon and I am knitting him the willy warmer from the back of the first book to throw when his wife throws her garter.... I’ll probably knit the gloves from the third book too... but the socks alas have cables, and I have a morbid fear of cables....

27. Peter and the Wolf – Fabian Black – this is a “scene” from a story, not a book!

28. Conduct Unbecoming – L.A. Witt

29. Andy Squared – Jennifer Lavoie – (YA – Goodreads GLBT group read).... Fairly light coming out story.  Spoilt for me by the fact that the actions of the female twin (Andrea) were in my mind over the top, she was a bully from the start, outed her own twin brother, forged his college application, was supremely controlling of her family and friends, yet was forgiven in the blink of an eye... my view, but if an author gives their characters qualities like these they should really have to work for redemption.

30. One small thing – M.J. O’Shea & Piper Vaughan (r)
31. One true thing – M.J. O’Shea & Piper Vaughan – I was disappointed with this.  I can do “insta-love” stories if they are sci-fi/fantasy/paranormal, but I really struggle in a contemporary.  Although this was Dusty’s story he kind of got swallowed by the twins and the debt issues (and just how did Asher get past the credit check for his lease? And why didn’t he notice the letters coming to the shared house in his name not his brothers?) the happy family resolution with his sister just seemed thrown in at the end as in “ta da!” happy ending!

32. Chase in Shadow – Amy Lane.... see continuing my quest to understand angst... really liked the story, and am coming to the conclusion angst is just putting your characters through the wringer emotionally and physically as frequently as you can to get to the happy ending ....

Ok, so it looks like I average about 30 books a month from the stats this year so far!  Thank goodness for Dreamspinner and their October give away as I am going on a book buying diet for the next month to save some pennies for festive presents....