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....

An accident prone kind of day...

Or maybe things were just out to get me!

The day didn't get off to a good start, well being woken at 4.08 am by one of the dogs with their "urgent" bark is never a good sign.... so I was probably half way downstairs before I was actually fully awake, then, without turning the lights on ... which generally I don't at that time as increasing the light levels decreases the chances of me or any of the critters getting more sleep... I got the dogs out their night crates... which was fine till I got to Hopes, which has a sprung latch mechanism .... that I misjudged and trapped my little finger between it and the metal cage front... ouch!  There was some bouncing up and down whilst using creative language as I bustled the dogs out into the garden whilst telling them (and possibly me) to keep the volume down.....  little finger is a little bruised around the middle joint.....

I made it safely then through the morning to 7.45, when I got into the shower, forgetting that I'd had the bath mat up to clean the bath before bed the night before and hadn't checked that it had latched onto the now squeaky clean bath, queue my right leg twisting about as I was standing on it and trying to get the left leg over the edge of the bath without Hugo attacking my foot........ slightly jarred and bruised right knee where it hit the tap.....

I should be grateful I got to work safely by this point......

Anyway, as the day progressed it appeared that the stationary was in fact out to get me....... and my hands are, erm, decorated with plasters.... I have one on the fleshy bit at the bottom of the thumb on my left hand where a metal binder from a document bundle decided to slice into me whilst I was undoing it so I could get a document out to photocopy it....another is on the outside of my right hand where I managed to stab myself with the sharp pointy blade of the scissors I was using to get into the boxes containing the next file I was working one... and finally... and most painfully..... I have a tiny little paper cut on the tip of my right ring finger.... which hurts more than the rest put together and bled all over the desk........

My evening meal tonight was a vegetable bake, which involves lots of finely sliced vegetables in layers..... I elected to use the food processor to slice the veg... I thought using a knife might be tempting fate..... and having reclined on the sofa with my cup of calming herbal team I had hoped for a quite peaceful injury free end to the evening...... yeah, cos that didn't happen as Ivan managed to open the babygate into the hall whilst Hugo was still in there and as I scooted my chair backwards to leap after him and rescue, well one of them, I managed to send the cup flying from the table to the floor, where it shattered sending still rather too warm to be wearing it tea up my right leg.... and as I tried to herd the dogs out the way of the broken mug I managed to stand on one of the pieces......

I think that I shall declare today officially over and go hide in my nice soft comfy bed with my paperback copy of Tigerland which arrived this afternoon........ I should be safe from further injury...... well unless I move my feet in a way Gina and Hugo don't approve of that is.....

A question of timing....

Summer is officially over.... given that we changed time zones at 2 am this morning from British Summer Time back to Greenwich Mean Time.... or in other words for almost everyone else in the UK they got an extra hour in bed this morning...  I say almost everyone else, because I am pretty sure there will be other people who like me own critters who do not understand the concept of someone sneaking an extra hour into their night and mucking up the daily routine.

In an effort to combat what I knew would happen I stayed up till midnight last night and let the dogs out then before putting them to bed.... did they sleep in... did they hell.... 4.30 am (new time) and they are bouncing up and down in their crates making hopefully yipping noises.... I was unimpressed....... a quick nip out into the garden as opposed to a full walk and I put them back to bed again... which lasted all of another hour....at which point I gave in and got up to walk them.

I've had a running battle all afternoon with them in that every time I went near the fridge after about 4 pm they leapt at it hopefully expecting chicken wings to fly out into their gobs.... I held off till 5.30 pm - by which time the cats were also threatening mutiny.  We've had a repeat performance at bed time... when they've paced and glared at me from what they think should be the right time to go out and into their night crates... thing is I don't want to be up at stupid o'clock in the morning tomorrow.

It usually takes them a week to adjust to the time change......... and me about, oh, 5 months of doom and gloom as I walk them in the dark in a morning, go to work in the dark, come home in the dark and never see daylight aside from through a glass window... I am seriously considering applying to be re-classified as a creature that hibernates through the winter......