Books I read in November

My reading was severely hampered by my exams (dammit!) in fact I didn't really read much for the first half of the month at all.....

1. Carpe Jugulum – Terry Pratchett (r) – I try to read something Halloween-ish every year, it was a toss up between two favourites, this one or Robin McKinley’s “Sunshine” this year.  This one won because I needed the humour and familiarity of the characters

2. Dex In Blue – Amy Lane
3. A Red Tainted Silence – Carolyn Grey – November pick it for me challenge – enjoyable book even if I did have to suspend my disbelief in places

4. Tigers and Devils – Sean Kennedy (r)
5. Tigerland – Sean Kennedy – I really love Simon’s voice in these books... pleased that it’s set up for a 3rd book if Aus pass marriage equality, but if that is the last we hear of Simon and Declan I will know they are quite happy with their lives...

6. Ricochet – Xanthe Walter
7. The Gravediggers Brawl – Abigail Roux
8. Sauntering Vaguely Downwards – Nessa Warin  - one of several books I picked up during the Dreamspinners’ October give away that I wouldn't usually have bought.... I hated the tense the book was written in but quite enjoyed the story ... the references to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s works kept me amused as I am a fan of both (particularly PTerry.... after all I am the person whose warped mind resulted in writing a cross over Discworld/Chalet School fic ..... don’t ask!)

9. A Knitter in his Natural Habitat – Amy Lane

10. Falls Chance Ranch – Rolf & Ranger (r)
11. Three Traders – Rolf & Ranger (r)
12. Mustang Hill – Rolf & Ranger (r) – these are rapidly turning into some of my favourite comfort reads... and were where I wanted to be in between some majorly heavy revision and whilst I had a horrible cold.

13. Ascendance – Lissa Kasey – this is the fourth in this series and the characters are continuing to develop and evolve... and although I am not really a vampire kind of person (okay, you know what I mean!) I really do like the way Gabe is portrayed (and hoping Sam will “grow-up” to be another interesting multidimensional character)

14. Nighttime Wishes – M A Church (r)
15. Nighttime Dreams – M A Church – I first came across MA’s writing on Literotica and fell in love with her series The Harvest (sadly no longer available), she does great snarky characters, tongue in cheek humour and likeable aliens ... with in this case tentacles...

16. This Old House – Sean Michael
17. Bound by nature – Cooper Davis
18. Hold Still – Megan Derr
19. Complete Faith – Sue Brown
20. Hajiri’s Pet – Auburnimp
21. Marathon Cowboys – Sara Black
22. A Matter of Time – Mary Calmes
23. The End of Innocence – John Good – this is the follow up to Tales of Foster High, again it’s YA, and there’s no happily ever after.  It’s gut wrenching in places but beautifully written.... and if you aren’t in tears by the end then the authors note will probably send you that way.

24. Sock it to me, Santa – Madison Parker – YA – very sweet short story.
25. The Stardust Diaries 2007 - Tarn Swan (which for some reason hasn't made it onto Goodreads yet...)

This month I’ve also re-read most of the Falls Chance Ranch short stories, Team Trials (which is a series which combines rugby players and domestic discipline – and a lot of humour) as well as numerous other short stories from lurking about the net.....

No clear outstanding best of for this month...  

Adventures in baking...

One thing our family have always done is made sure for big occasions no one person is left to do everything. Which means at Christmas the cooking always gets shared out... not just for the day itself, but for mum's Christmas Eve open house party... (and I have warned my sister's other half as it's his first year that mum will have already told "everyone" going all about him ..... she did it with me, though I am sure that was partly because she wanted to watch people's reactions to the fact that I would be bringing my girlfriend... *rolls eyes* .... I know, I know, I really am grateful for my parents, but my mother is sometimes a little too proud of having a lesbian daughter....)

For some reason, puddings and deserts always falls to me.... and as we don't do traditional in our house I am going to be preparing all three of my short-listed deserts this weekend.

There will be.... Hazelnut and Chocolate Meringue Roulade or Chocolate and Cardamom Cheesecake or possibly Apple & Plum Tart in Cinnamon sweet pastry.... the two that don't win the Christmas dinner vote I'll make again for Christmas Eve..

Now the first two I have recipes for or at least as near as dammit make up the bits that don't quite fit as you go along kind of recipes.... the last I just thought sounded like it would work..... I've started the filling off overnight by putting the apples/plums/sugar into the slow cooker (crock pot for those reading this not in the UK) and have made up the pastry.... it's only been going for about 30 minutes but it already smells rather nice...

Erm.... I might also have possibly sliced my finger a bit.... I didn't actually realise it at first as having no heating in and the fruit I was cutting having just come out the fridge my fingers when rather cold and white.... sitting in the lounge a bit later in front of the fire my circulation came back and, well, my finger decided to leak quite a bit...... it's safely under a plaster now....

Apparently in my baking weekend my sister wants me to produce bags of cookies for her Christmas Sale at the University to raise money for the prize her department awards to the student statistician with the highest exam marks in memory of their colleague who died last year..... looks like it might be a very busy weekend in the kitchen.... I must try not to blow anything up.... or burn anything.... or damage myself any more.... at least the first aid box is well stocked.......

So, it is....

Four weeks to Christmas Day.... and I am wholly disorganised and haven't got a clue what I am getting for most people, those who have been promised knitted items may get them for Beltane....

At least most of the immediate family presents are done.... that is to say they are in the shopping baskets at Amazon, Hotel Chocolate, Lush and Yankee candles... roll on pay day at the end of the week and I can get the orders submitted.... really must go find something for my father mind and get it sent off.

There is only one week to get post out for Christmas that is going down to Australia or New Zealand and only another week after that for USA post... thankfully European post can wait a bit longer.... which is good as I haven't even bought cards yet... this weekend... gonna have to get organised.

More importantly... much more importantly really.... there are now less than four weeks before the Winter Solstice and the turn of the Earth ready for the days to start getting longer again with the hope of a new year.

In all the mad panic of Christmas commercialism it's nice to have something else to focus on  that is a lot calmer and more in tune with nature and the earth.  I am looking forward to banishing the winter spirits and moving out the dark half of the year more than ever as it's been a very long cold and wet final quarter of the year.  Maybe as the new lunar year starts it will bring a more peaceful and balanced time for everyone.

Personal space....

I am a very tactile person, who frequently sprinkles whatever part of cyberspace I frequent with virtual hugs.... in real life, if I know you, I am pretty much the same... I think one of the reasons for always having the critters is in the absence of human company I've got something I can hold, cuddle, stroke... I am even trying to type this with Gina balanced on my knee... 

Now I know not everyone else is the same, my friend I went to see yesterday is another tactile person, and yes lots of hugging was involved .... my best friend is not a hugs person, not from any "hands off" kind of outlook, but because she has an illness that means she is often in pain and a misplaced hug can actually dislocate one of her joints, or pop a rib out of place.  My half daughter's Asperger's and Autism means that I am incredibly honoured and proud that she will hug me and let me hug her as in general she doesn't like anyone in her personal space.

Today I had my personal space invaded in a way I didn't like though.... by my own mother.  As a result of the manky foot fiasco in the summer my lymph system went crazy and I developed blisters all up the back of my calf, which acted accordingly and burst.  Four months on they are just about healed up but look horrible.... kind of like a burn scar that is still healing.  It's horrible.  I hate it, I hate for anyone to see it.  Now normally this is not a problem as I wear ankle length skirts all the time, but recently in high winds I've not been able to hold the skirt down and it's been seen.... and commented on, even pointed at, in the street... which has made me even more conscious of it.  

We were round at my sisters this afternoon making things for her work's craft fayre, which raises money for an annual prize in memory of one of her colleagues at the university where she works.  During a coffee break (I love my sister... she bought me very posh ground decaffeinated coffee for when I go visit her!) without warning or asking my mother lifted my skirt to try and look at my leg..... I freaked and shouted at her I'm afraid.  She then got defensive stating she only wanted to see how it was healing... and didn't take it at all well when I informed her that it wasn't acceptable for her to do that, it was a really bad invasion of my personal space and I wasn't having it.  Apparently, in her view, I was totally over reacting and as she was my mother and worried about me I should let her look.... 

Now had she asked first I probably would have shown her, but it was the whole thing of her just actually doing it without asking.  Part of me worries I over reacted and upset her, but part of me feels still really shuddery and self conscious about the whole thing.  My leg is always going to be badly scarred and ugly, I suppose I should really just get used to it, but part of me wants to hide it, and at times the rest of me, away so other people can't see.

There are no hard and fast rules about what is acceptable so far as invading someone else's personal space goes... but I hope that I'd never do what was done to me today and make someone else feel uncomfortable about it.

The (critter) Mafia...

A long time ago, a certain friend of mine, who should know better, started referring to me in tweets and on line generally as The Mob Boss (she also sends mail through the post with the same name... much to the consternation of my postie).... Now the reason for this is that the critters, well the canine part of them, are known collectively as The Mob.... shortened from Rent-a-Mob (for a small fee they will come round to your house and remind you why it's a damn good thing you don't have dogs)

Alas this stuck and henceforth in certain circles it's become almost an official nick name.  However, being The Mob Boss, this also means I am also known as.... The Godmother!

And today I had an official invitation from said friend responsible for silly nicknames to go meet two new members of The Family

So, introducing Fynn and Theo........... My new God-kittens.....

Fynn
"Go away Human, sleeping here"

Theo
Learning the enigmatic look

.

Ah, finally, someone found the off switch...

On being thankful.....

Given that we don't do Thanksgiving over here, last year I blogged about some of the things that I was thankful for.

This year most of those things remain the same....... though more and more as I see people struggle to gain acceptance within their own families I am more and more thankful that I grew up with parents who were open, understanding and above all loved me enough to let me be whatever I wanted to be.

The last twelve months have also given me something else to be extremely thankful for, and that is an ever growing group of internet friends, I could say internet family really.  With many that friendship has grown out of the internet sites into true and proper friendship.  To them I am extremely grateful, for their support, encouragement, helping me grow and making me smile.

Purple unicorns - for a very special friend :)

(un) Happy Feet....

Today has not been a good day for my poor feet!

Feet are important, I know this, they take the weight of most of a person's everyday stresses and strains, they are used for walking, driving, swimming, standing up after sitting down... they help you balance and it's a good thing to look after them really well..... as I learnt in the summer from the toe nail incident that landed me on the sofa for two weeks and has resulted in the lymph glands in my lower left leg packing up....

I have not always been good to my feet...... mainly because I hate and detest having to wear shoes and socks.... I am learning to be nicer to them as my McMillan Nurse was quite stroppy about the fact that I need to keep something on them pretty much all the time to protect them...... I sulk a bit sometimes about it but in general I try to do as I am told on this one (fear of landing back on the sofa for two weeks.... grief that was boring)

Obviously so not my feet!! 

Anyway, I digress.... today.... it was wet and miserable this morning and in the walk from the car park to the office I knew I was going to get wet .... what I hadn't realised was that my right shoe had a hole in the bottom of it and a small crack near the heel...... I did realise after I'd splashed through a puddle or two and squelched a few steps further as my foot began to feel cold and soggy..... I divested myself of said shoe and the accompanying sock when I got to my desk but alas it did not dry out before I had to put it back on.... consequently my right foot was very wrinkled and prune like.

I was looking forward to having a nice foot pampering session this evening with some lovely citrus and rock salt bath goodies that I'd been sent ..... however, as I'd run out of cat biscuits, and three chicken wings will not feed four dogs, I stopped at the shops on the way home in order to prevent a mutiny by the critters.... by the time I'd got everything I needed I was flinging three carrier bags into the car, in the dark car park, and sliding into the drivers seat.  As I dropped the bags onto the passenger seat and pulled the door shut behind me I kind of forgot to pull my right foot all the way into the car........ and slammed the door straight across my foot just below my toes!

After sitting in the car park with my eyes watering and my foot throbbing for about five minutes I tentatively tried it on the accelerator and brake before deciding that it was probably okay to drive home..... yeah, that was painful, and possibly in hindsight not more of my more brilliant ideas.

I half hopped and half hobbled my way into the house and pacified the critters with food before daring to remove my shoe.... the bruising was already starting to come up across the top of my foot, and after carrying out several strange contortionist type moves I could see that it was a bit bruised on the bottom as well.  There is some swelling but not a huge amount.  I thought about going to A&E and getting it x-rayed but as I can move all my toes and it isn't agony to touch on top or to stand and put weight on it I am pretty sure it's just bad bruising......I ice packed it for a while and have now strapped it up nice and tightly, taken some pain killers (though I am sure the approved method of this is not to swallow them by swigging cough medicine out the bottle) and am now sitting here with my foot up on the cat's toy box whilst I question why is it that these things just seem to happen to me??