Lazing on a saturday afternoon

I have had a nightmare of a week this week. Work has been really stressful and I've had to work some long hours and I started off the week being ill, so it hasn't been great.

I have decided that today is the day of me and am not going to do the housework I should be doing, but instead I am going to make the most of my Saturday football widow time and do things that I want to do!

So far I have spent some time over on Goodreads, catching up with discussions and book reviews. I also had a nice lunch and a cup of tea and read the latest story of a certain Welsh sportsman who can't keep it in his pants!

My plan for the rest of the afternoon is to cwtch up on the sofa with Bruce and a duvet as it's freezing and watch a DVD and read some of my book.

A friend of mine in work has lent me the DVD of The King's Speech so I am going to watch this. Steve won't want to watch it as it has no guns in it and isn't a comedy so I'm going to make the most of this opportunity! I also have an episode of Midsomer to catch up on as I was too tired to watch it when it was on the TV on Wednesday, so I need to fit that in at some point this weekend too.

I hope you all have a great weekend and take this opportunity to be lazy and have a rest if you need to like me!

Tales of Christmas and the days that followed

I may be a little bit late but have some pictures from Christmas to share and tales of what we did!

On Christmas Eve Father Christmas paid a special visit to Cardiff to drop off all of our presents and even fill a little cat sized stocking for Bruce.

We then had a special Christmas eve dinner of hot dogs and watched lots of Only Fools and Horses!

Christmas Day is always a bit of a mad rush for us as we open our presents in our house in the morning and then go to my mum's for lunch in Cardiff and then up to visit my other half's family in Aberdare.

This is what Father Christmas bought me to read and watch.

Father Christmas also brought me Bridesmaids on DVD, the obligatory Beano and Dandy annuals and Brendan Sheerin's autobiography (which I am currently reading!).

We had a hearty breakfast of bacon sandwiches and then set off on our journeys laden down with presents. It was just Steve, my mum and I for Christmas dinner this year as my nanna wasn't very well and mum cooked us a big turkey dinner. The downside to this was that I don't like roast turkey, so I had mainly a vegetable and gravy based dinner to get over this one! It was the first time that mum had bought turkey for about 15 years as dad didn't like it either, so I couldn't really complain!

After pudding we started making the long journey up the A470 to Aberdare via Hirwaun. We spent some time with Steve's parents (his dad had drunk a few too many in the traditional morning pub visit in the village so was particularly chatty and pretty funny too!). We then went down to Steve's grans. When we arrived, his aunty and uncle decided we hadn't quite travelled enough that day and that we should all decamp to their house! By this point we were pretty tired so stayed just long enough to be polite and then I had the pleasure of the long, drizzly and dark drive back down!

We got back in our house about 8pm and I don't know what Bruce had been doing all day as this was how he ended up after about half hour of us being home!

This picture is a little bit like where's Brucie as we hadn't had time to tidy up our presents and quite frankly by the time we got home couldn't be bothered!

We had our more relaxed Christmas Day at home on Boxing Day. I cooked us a big chicken dinner (I like roast chicken and so do Steve and Bruce!) and we had a toffee pudding for afters.

We then watched one of Steve's action films from Santa and I read my book. We had a few drinks though the day and it was really relaxed and lovely. And I didn't have to leave the house apart from to take the bins out!!!

On Tuesday I defected to the dark side. I bought a Kindle with my Christmas money. Some of you may have read my post about e-books and be a bit shocked at this or think I'm going back on my word, but hear me out. I have recently got back into reading and after reading some of my friends reviews on Goodreads felt I was missing out on the big world of free books and cheap e-books. Also, as the money was a gift, it wasn't my money so was the perfect opportunity to satisfy my curiosity. (This is my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).

Things didn't go as well as planned from here. I went to my local large electrical superstore and bought a Kindle there so I could have it straight away and my experience started badly as the shop assistants weren't interested in me. As I was only spending £89 on an e-reader and not £3billiion on a 70ft LED 3D television, it took me ages to ask a few questions and then got greeted by them trying to sell me a Kindle cover for £40. No thank you!

I eventually got out of the shop with my purchase in hand (I had forgotten my bag for life and wasn't going to pay 5p for a bag when I have a large reserve of them under my stairs!).

I got home and unpacked the Kindle (frustration free packaging, my ar*e!) it took both of us around 45 minutes to switch the thing on! I thought there was something fishy with this, but put it down to me being technologically inept. When Steve eventually got it working, I was so pleased (after wanting to throw it through the window!) but my joy was short lived. About 5 minutes later the device froze! This carried on happening until it decided to not let me reset it anymore and Kindle sadly died.

I returned to said large electrical superstore chain yesterday morning and informed them that the device was broken and that I would require a new one. To my surprise, they were obliging and friendly (this came as a shock to me!). I checked it before leaving the store just in case and, hurrah, it turned on within seconds! I wasn't as technologically inept as I thought! This was yesterday morning and it's still working so it's going well!

I am enjoying the (free and cheap) e-book experience and have also downloaded an electronic version of one of my self help books so I can read it on the go without anyone knowing. I promise to stay faithful to hard copy print though and still love the feel of real books and would love to have a library in my house one day. For now, I'm just aiming for a comfy armchair in my study though (there are two bookcases and a desk in there so nearly a library!) and am planning to buy one this year IF I get my promotion on a permanent basis.

So this is what I am doing today.

This is what I will be watching.

And this is what I am wearing.

My favourite books of 2011

As it's fast approaching the end of 2011 I thought it would be a good opportunity to think of the books I have read this year and which ones were my favourite.

2011 has been a good year for books for me. Although I didn't have much time for reading at the beginning of the year I have so far managed to read 30 books, none of which were re-reads and I discovered loads of new authors.

So in no particular order...

1. The Crimson Petal and the White - Michel Faber

I bought this book after watching the BBC adaptation, which I loved. This was a huge book and took me ages to read but I absolutely loved it. Faber's writing style hooked me completely from the word go. I enjoyed the way it was told and the descriptions in the book which made the story and it's characters come alive. The book brings the seedy side of the Victorians to light and is graphic in places, but what is the point in writing a book about prostitutes if you don't write about their job?

I would recommend this book to those who love historical fiction and reading about the less discussed side of life!





2. A Spoonful of Poison - MC Beaton

This is one of my more recent reads, but was the book to introduce me to MC Beaton and Agatha Raisin.

I am a huge fan of Midsomer Murders and the way it has weird and wonderful murders in the idyllic countryside. This is also captured by the Agatha Raisin series. In this book, Agatha investigates murders caused by LSD being put into the jam at a village fete. For me, there is nothing not to love!

I am now ploughing through this series and hope to buy more of the books in 2012. I also intend to try the Hamish Macbeth books, also by MC Beaton as they sound right up my street! Lovely easy reads with enjoyable stories!





3. Jamrach's Menagerie - Carol Birch

When I started reading this book I didn't know what to expect. And what the few expectations I did have were totally blown out of the water.

I loved the way this book was written and it easily drew me into the story, even though it wasn't a normal choice for me. The story was descriptive and had strong, likeable characters.

This book really suprised me as I could not have predicted the turn that the story took. I was shocked but equally desperate to find out what happened to Jaffy and the others.

This book will stay with me for a long time and I have already recommended it to others.



4. I Capture the Castle - Dodie Smith

I only found out about this book by chance after reading about it on a blog. Since joining Goodreads I have found that this is a really well loved book and is at the top of many people's favourite book list.

I truly loved reading this book and totally understand why people describe it as a "cosy" read. I had never heard this term before but now I have my own "cosy" list!

I wish I had found this book earlier and am already looking forward to a future re-read!






5. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern

As soon as I read the reviews of this book, I knew I had to read it! I'm not really a fan of fantasy books generall, apart from Harry Potter, but this book just appealed to me.

I loved the physical book itself as much as the story. The black and white dust jacket with the dash of red covers a bright red hard cover decorated with mysterious symbols and black edged pages. I was excited about the book before I even opened it!

Even though the story itself was quite slow and very descriptive, I got to know the characters and could really picture the word being described in my minds eye.

A lovely book and I would highly recommend it!


All of the above books have really had an effect on me in some way or another, but I have really enjoyed most of the books I have read this year. 2011 was a good year for reading!!

I am looking forward to welcoming 2012 now and hoping that my to-read pile will not only get smaller through me reading what is already there, but will also continue to grow as I discover new books and authors!

There are still 2 weeks left of 2011, and I happen to have 2 weeks off for Christmas so heres to reading that little bit more before I completely close the door on this year!

A little update

I've been so busy this week I haven't had much time to do anything, including blog!

My friend came round for dinner and a gossip on Tuesday evening and I missed out on teaser Tuesday and Top Ten Tuesday!

I haven't had much time to read either but have been grabbing time whenever I can to read The Night Circus. I'm nearly 3 quarters of the way through and am really enjoying it. It isn't action packed, but is beautifully written and I am enjoying imagining the circus and reading the unfolding love story!

As The Night Circus is so big and heavy I haven't been taking it to work to read at lunchtime. This is also because I'm afraid of damaging the beautiful cover. So I have started reading an Agatha Raisin book during my breaks and am enjoying it. It is just as fun as I thought and very Midsomer-esque, so just up my street! My to read pile seems to keep growing though and I have an ever growing pile of self help type books on my bedside table which I just can't seem to motivate myself to read!

Friday feeling?

It's Friday!! Woohoo! I'm not feeling very Friday-like at the moment though. I had to take half day from work today as I was so tired, I couldn't concentrate. I had a nice afternoon nap with Bruce though and watched some Midsomer Murders.

Bruce is having another nap sat next to me now as we are sharing a duvet on the sofa. He is such a cutie when he is asleep. I just hope he remembers to have a lie in tomorrow morning.

I had to take Mr Sheli (also known as Steven!) to the hospital last night as he hurt his ankle again playing football last night and wanted to go to A&E to get it checked out. After 2 hours of waiting, they told him there was nothing they could do as he had torn his tendons and ligaments! Grrr! So this is why I'm so tired today! No wonder really.

I'm hoping to feel more chirpy tomorrow!

(By the way, I've decided to read The Night Circus first and am going to start it this evening. I love the black edged pages! Steven reckons it looks like a book that belongs to a vampire!)