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I never intended to be one of those bloggers who write things like 'shelled some peas and ate them with gammon and a fried egg for dinner, followed by bread and butter pudding for afters. Washed my hair and had an early night'. That isn't to say there's anything wrong with that kind of blogging - I follow one just like that and its very banality is balm to my bruised soul after a hard day with the bewildered elderly - but it's not MY kind of blogging. I hoped I'd be writing funny things and ironic things and thoughtful things. When I couldn't think of any I just.....stopped. Better to leave people wanting more is my opinion.

So I've read a LOT of books; been on holiday; I met up with another blogger and her sweet, sweet children (Lisa flattered me by saying my blog is very funny....I'm as susceptible to praise as the next gal); and I've started investigating my family tree - there's something about a new series of 'Who Do You Think You Are' that brings out the genealogist in me. My inner nosy cow, you might say. But mostly I've been working very, very hard. We are almost full in our dementia unit and far from being the horrorfest I was dreading the residents are, for the most part, funny, bright, witty, spunky (can I say that nowadays?) and so willing to try new stuff. Several of the ladies (I call them my 'Clever Girls Club' which they love) are very aware that something is going wrong with them and are desperate to keep their minds active so we do all sorts of quizzes, crosswords and puzzles. It can be draining but it's very rewarding - not meaning to sound like a Miss World contestant here - and for the first time I can remember people are happy to see me at work. As opposed to thinking I'm a monumental pain in the ass like at most of my jobs.

So for now I think I'm back. I've got more stuff to say, including some thoughts on the nature of blogging and why we do it. I can't promise it'll be regular but I hope it won't be boring.

Yessssss!!!!!

Panic over!!! I found 'Adolf, the Half-Aryan'. Just don't tell Mr Charming about the £12.50 OK, or he'll want his share lol!!!

For Heaven's Sakes....!

How annoying is this? I've sold a book on Amazon for £12.50 and I can't bloody well find it. Why is everything so disorganised? I'm almost driven to join one of these de-cluttering challenges that are flying round blogland. But not quite.

Going to bed now to try to dream where I put it. Like that's going to happen...

BTW, thanks for your good wishes for Red everyone. She recovered sufficiently to go to Chiquitos this evening with a friend but I'm still planning to get her an appointment with the doc to check the heartbeat out.

Everybody's Doing It.......

...setting out their goals for 2012 that is (and NOT 'picking their nose and chewing it' as we used to say so charmingly at school. Yuck.) So not wanting to be left out I thought I'd jot a couple down. Nothing major, nothing too onerous, just stuff that won't cause me to throw myself flailing onto the ground in tears if I don't accomplish them. I like to aim low, or as Babcia says, 'hope for the best but expect the worst'.

So, in the spirit of the (Year of the) Dragon, my resolutions for 2012 are;

1. Say 'no' more often. I said I wouldn't work any more nights again after the last time and this latest one really took it out of me. The trouble is that when one of my colleagues needs help I can't stop myself from offering. I must stop trying to be all things to all people.

2. Look at the calendar and my diary every day to see what's been organised. Big Man is very good at marking things down that I then totally miss because I've not checked for weeks.

3. Pay more attention to my husband, Big Man. He has a lot of good points and I'm sure he sometimes feels like the enemy in his own home. I should try to stop treating his TV choices with contempt too because that's just mean. ;P

4. Make my grown-up kids take responsibility for their own lives. They can do things for themselves, I just have to let them/make them.

5. Go to bed at a reasonable time. Aiming for pre-midnight.....

6. Read 100 books this year. I will post a pic of my loft (aka Babcia's bedroom....I really do have a madwoman in the attic, tee hee!) and you'll all see how library-like it is. There must be 100 books on the floor by the two full bookcases that are up there, plus a third bookcase with self-help tomes on it. None of which have helped me. I'm aiming to not buy any books this year either, just read my stock. This'll be hard - I almost bought this and this yesterday because I really want to read them - but they'll come to me somehow, I'm sure of it. I can't really use the library because I have a biggish fine outstanding, as does Red (from a DVD Carb Addict borrowed on her card and then lost for two years. Ratatouille if you're interested) though I guess I could use one of the men's cards....one of them may be fine-free. Anyway, I'm an extremely fast reader so I'm not expecting 100 books to be too onerous.

Similar to my loft but I don't have a ladder up there. Or an old man.

7. Make sure I order my prescription in plenty of time so I don't end up having to buy stuff to tide me over.

8. Set mine and Babcia's Etsy shop up properly. She has made masses of stuff and I've made nowt.

9. Finish knitting my Christmas Advent Tree for next Christmas. I am a lazy, lazy woman.

10. See more SeeFilmFirst free movies this year than last.

11. Update my ideas notebook.

12. Try to write 200 posts this year and get 100 followers.

Tomorrow I'll have my year-end sitrep and some financial goals. Before I go please listen to the video below and tell me if her voice and this song don't weave some kinda magic together. Spine-tingling....

I Must Ask You NOT To Scream!

...when you see my 'To Be Read' piles. Bookcases of them. It's quite disgraceful really but ever since I was a little kid I have read books voraciously. I would rather read a book over anything else in the world. Not only do you learn all sorts of stuff from books but it also makes you great at spelling and grammar....show me one person who reads a lot who isn't also brilliant at spelling, and I'll show you somebody who is telling porkies about reading masses of books.

Here are two FULL bookcases of 'To Be Read' books plus all the books on the floor, which are mixed up with ones I've read (this is my loft, by the way!). Maybe 10% of what I own have been read. And I've no particular likes or dislikes either. Well, apart from 'chick-lit'....I don't think I've read any and it doesn't sound that appealing either. Anything with 'Shopaholic' or 'Yummy Mummy' in the title is a complete turn-off. I like anything to do with the Mafia; thrillers; Scandinavian crime (but not especially 'The Girl Who....' books - I like Jo Nesbo and Arnaldur Indridasen); wartime social history like Nella Last's diaries and any factual stuff about the war; some autobiographies - Kenneth Williams' diaries are a big favourite of mine, though not strictly autobiographies I know - my favourite book EVER is the autobiographical 'Borstal Boy' by Brendan Behan; any crime books that are series set in the UK - the Peter Robinson ones and those by Jim Kelly are great; books about the 'Bright Young Things' and any early 20th century upper-class social history; I've ALWAYS got time for Enid Blyton, Noel Streatfeild and Joan Lingard; and and I really like reading cookery books too. Pretty eclectic taste, would you say?

In the last couple weeks I've read three books by Martina Cole - Close, The Family and The Runaway. Her books are okay but a bit samey. Her hero/anti-hero is always very tall, brawny, blue-eyed and black-haired, and of Irish extraction whilst her heroines are tiny, blonde with hands-span waist and big boobs, and there is always a jealous, bitter mother who resents her blonde, tiny etc etc daughter for marrying the local 'Face'. But they passed the time in the caravan. Surprisingly enough, one of the residents where I work, 89 years old and rather straight-laced picked up 'Goodnight Lady' by Martina Cole (for main characters see above, PLUS child abuse by the lord of the manor) and loved it. What can I say? We has hidden depths in Hampshire....lol!

I read too 'The Future Homemakers of America' by Laurie Graham, on Babcia's recommendation. It's about the friendship between five American service wives based with their husbands in Norfolk, and a local woman Kath Pharoah. I enjoyed it a great deal and you know, thinking about it, it could be chick-lit. I'm not sure. I don't think so though, it's not modern enough and there isn't any sex in it.
Then I read 'Going Gently' by David Nobbs, another book that, like the one above spans a long time period. I didn't realise until I saw it on Amazon but the author also wrote the Reginald Perrin books. It's a tragi-comic novel all about Swansea-born beauty Kate Copson who has a stroke just shy of her 100th birthday. She lies in a hospital bed, her body paralysed but her mind free to roam over her long life of love, adventure and happiness. She also deduces which of her three sons murdered her fifth husband. I loved this book and recommend it most wholeheartedly!
Third book was 'Brooklyn' by Colm Toibin. It's not that long so I read it really quickly. It's set in rural 1950s Ireland and is the story of younger daughter Eilis who is sent to live in Brooklyn. She is at first terribly homesick but just as her life blossoms something happens at home that pulls her back.....I liked this because although I grew up in Dublin City in the late 70s/early 80s, the descriptions of the country characters were very recognisable to me, as was the idea that the priest is the oracle of all and of course the idea that emigration is the only door open for the young if they are to progress. My oldest aunt was sent over to Chicago in the 50s from Wicklow and made her life there so this book had a lot of resonance for me. Oh and if you read it, Eilis is pronounced 'Ay-lish'. Just so you know.... ;P
Lastly I read a book that I got from the library at work, 'Monster Love' by Carol Topolski. It's not a thriller or a mystery though it is a crime story of sorts. A couple who are besotted with each other become pregnant, despite trying not to. They have a little girl who they neglect then kill because she threatens their overwhelming desire for each other. That's not a spoiler by the way...it's actually in the blurb on the back. The story is told in different voices, such as the social worker, a neighbour woman, the husband's ex-boss and also the couple themselves. It was OK...just OK. Not particularly distressing (I didn't think) and it was short so didn't take long.

So, there are my book reviews. I'm not sure what I'll read next but it's not as if I don't have a lot of choice is it?! I have four or five books I've started and not finished (The Resurrectionist, Kitchen Con, Angels of Death - Inside the Bikers' Global Crime Empire to name three I can think of). I hate to not finish a book so maybe I should put my head torch on tonight and finish a few.

What are you all reading? Have you read any of the books I've written about and what did you think of them?

PS  The worst book I have ever read in my life was Run For Home by Sheila Quigley - it stunk big time. What book almost put you off reading?

Lately I Have....

...seen a preview movie and read a book for my book club so I decided to write about both in one post. The film was 'West is West' and is the sequel to 'East is East' (as if you highly intelligent and cultured folks needed that pointing out!) I loved East is East - the scene with the 'sculpture' and the matchmaker is hilarious - so I was hoping that this one would be as good.

Well, I can tell you it is funny - there are perhaps not quite as many laugh-out-loud moments as there are in East is East. The focus is on Sajid, the youngest child of George and Ella Khan and this time the action is set in Pakistan. It's beautifully filmed...within minutes of the main characters arriving at the airport I said to Big Man 'I want to go there'! It looks heavenly. Not all of the characters from the first film reappear; the sister and one of the brothers aren't even mentioned and Jimi Mistry as Tariq only makes a cameo appearance. Again it's family dynamics that are under the microscope and this time the family is the one George left behind 30 years ago when he went to Salford - the first Mrs Khan! However, it's a good fun, feelgood film that I would recommend highly.

I am a voracious reader and although my taste is usually for thrillers (Michael Connolly, John Connelly, Stuart MacBride, Peter Robinson) I am often stretched by our book group choices. They're not always to my taste - I couldn't even finish Mort by Terry Pratchett  - but sometimes we have something I wouldn't normally have contemplated reading - The House on the Strand by Daphne DuMaurier, for example - but end up really enjoying. This time it was War Horse by Michael Morpurgo and I have to confess that I read it in three hours on the afternoon before our meeting. It's fairly short, maybe 180 pages, and it's a children's book. I enjoyed it I suppose, it was a sweet story. The problem was that I couldn't get past it being a kids book and thought it was very simplistic and a bit...cliched maybe? I feel bad even saying it because I know a lot of people love it plus I hear the stage show is magnificent. And I know that I don't really fall into the target audience! It's the kind of book I would have read nightly to Red and Mr Charming when they were young and I think they would have liked it. But in this family even now, nothing beats a good Enid Blyton. Now that IS good storytelling!

 What have you been reading and watching?