Hayley's Book Reviews And Life Moments

April Life Update; Pet Sitting Leopard Spotted Geckos

2019-04-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

My brother and his wife went on holiday for two weeks and they asked me to look after their rabbits and leopard spotted geckos. Way back in college I did a two year animal care course and I was lucky that the college I went to had an 'Exotic animal room' where there was snakes, tarantula, america bull frog and some other things. I didn't have much of a fear of anything before I started and doing the course give me a greater understanding of these animals too.

I can't remember when my brother got these two geckos but I know he was still living at home when they did as I have memories of them being in his bedroom on the desk. I though, have't seen the geckos that much since he moved out around maybe five or six years ago. When they've been on holiday someone else looks after them but this time they asked me and I thought it would be a nice change.

Rabbits are easy to looked after and I've had many in my childhood and teenage years, so there's no problems there. Geckos on the other hand, surprisingly, need a lot of looking after!

Firstly, there is a bit of a smell within the geckos' cage which can take sometime to get use to. Staying on top of cleaning them can help this.

Second, is that geckos eat live food. My brother has these two on large brown crickets and mealworms. The worms are fine but the crickets are super annoying! I had to move them out of my bedroom as that's the only place for the geckos to stay and put the crickets in my old room as I couldn't cope with the sound of them scuttling around in the plastic box! Also, the chirping does bug me, especially at night! I've sort of got use to this now, I just hope that there's not some crickets loose in my room as that won't be fun at all!

The geckos need feeding every other evening as they are nocturnal and they get about 6 crickets each, which have to be dusted in calcium power. In the morning, any remaining crickets have to come out otherwise they bite the geckos!

I am a rubbish cricket catcher! The best way I found was a cup and paper method but crickets are fast, they jump and are good at hiding! So, it's become a big task in the morning to try and capture them all and most of the time I don't succeeded.

Geckos do love the mealworms but they are all fat and nothing else, so they only get mealworms when they've not really eaten the crickets or as a treat.

They don't seem picky eaters but there are times like when they are stressed or shedding when they won't eat. So, I try and reduce the number of crickets when I think it's needed.

Speaking shedding; adults shed around once or twice a month and the geckos eat their shedding skin which is why before and after they don't eat or don't eat as much as they normally do. Geckos need a moist box and some special shedding spray to add them in making sure they get all their skin off. Sometimes, they need a human to get gets bits off their toes and tail.

I was't thrilled on this idea of using tweezers to peel dead skin off a gecko! But it wasn't that bad and the spray really helps in doing this. If I don't make sure all the dead skin is off, the blood supple to that area can be lost and the gecko can loose toes or tail tips! This has actually happen with these geckos as their last owner before my brother came to have them didn't look after them correctly.

Both geckos are friendly and don't mind being picked up. However, I've found that the one photoed above which is the darker or less spotted one, is much more friendly and often wants to be out of the tank and exploring.

Sometimes, she'll come to the door and stare out or try to climb up to show she wants out! Then I let her out for a bit of a walk around the desk but nowhere else as I don't want to explain to my brother that she's gone missing.

Afterwards, she'll climb back in again and go to get warm on the heat pad.

It's been interesting and fun pet sitting the geckos. I've gotten use to them now and it'll feel weird when my brother comes to pick them up later tonight. I'll be glad to get rid of the crickets though! For me, geckos are not a pet I'd like to keep as they do need lots of looking after and I'd rather have a animal that was soft, fluffy and cuddly!

Below, are a few more photos I took. I need to end this post now as I've got a story to write for my other blog. So, until next time!

(Photos all my own).

April Life Update; More Knitting Is Happening!

2019-04-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

As promised here's some photos of the finished rainbow blanket and blue baby jackets. The blanket itself is too big to photo in one. It's really fluffy and soft, I'm actually sad to have to put it away in the baby box as I'd rather keep it for myself!

I also got these two baby jackets done and I realised that knit-purl stitch is better for them as the flower pattern comes up more and also I only use one ball of wool to make them. They are so cute, though I as hoping a boy would be able to wear them but they look to girly with the flowers on.

Because I love this brand of wool I got some more balls in different colours and as they knit up real fast, I made a four jackets in about a month! My favourite in is the mix pastels, I love the sunset effect. My second is the purple one which was called Lavender Fields. My lest is actually the pink one as the colour is like a hot pink and it's not a shade I like.

I really like knitting this jackets and they turned out so well.

I made this cute little jacket after finishing those but I wasn't happy with the wool itself as it untwisted a lot and it wasn't as nice to knit with. I like the butterfly button on the front.

My latest jacket to get finished is this blue and white one. I made it out of snuggly wool that's actually for blankets but mum brought it for me and didn't get enough of it, so we decided to make a sort of bath time / bed time jacket for a toddler from it. I also got to make a hood for the first time! I really liked making this and there's no shaping in it so it was simple to make. I just hope I can find a child that fits in it now.

Big Blanket Project

So sadden by having to put the rainbow blanket away, I decided to make a big blanket of my own! I looked through my stock pile for enough wool and found I had 12 balls of this blue/white mix which is actually like to the wool and colour I made the jacket above out of.

I started knitted and with some help from my mum we decided to knit 3 panels made from four balls of wool as this would make a large enough blanket. I made a start a few weeks back;

And last night, I finished the first panel off. Turned out longer then I thought it would do but it's not very wide which is why I need to get knitting the other 2 panels so then they can be joined them together. I shall keep an update of this but I've set a deadline for finishing it by the end of the month.

In between knitting the big blanket, (I do sometimes get bored working on a long project) I have a new jacket to make. This one has a hood and the jacket itself is made in one piece. It also needed a new wool that I've not knitted with before- Aran. I choice the rainbow wool which is a cotton and then the other two are 75% wool. So I got new blends to work with too.

I'm looking forward to 'levelling up' my knitting with this project.

I actually have lots to keep me busy- probably for the rest of the year!- as a new wool order came in! This huge box is full of the blanket wool in a range of colours. My plan is still to knit blankets to sell, I just need to get around to it.

Also, I got these two new squishes. They are so good for my anxiety and help me sleep better at night.

Lastly don't forgot to check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ where I'm currently taking part in the A-Z blogging Challenge by writing a short story everyday based on a word writing prompt.

Also, here's a cute photo of my dog sunbathing.

(All photos my own).

April Life Update; That Drowning Feeling.

2019-04-02T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

I'm struggling today. I'm still not well and had to take some more time of work but I now have to look at claiming benefits again as I've used up all my sick pay. It's a bit of a catch 22 situation because I don't want to but I don't have a choice. So, I have to go through trying to put a claim in and hoping I can get some finical support.

I also have to go back to work next Saturday, even if I don't feel well enough because not going will just make this situation worse. I want to go back. I enjoy my job and working, so I will try hard to self manage my colitis.

That isn't an easy task, it's okay to avoid the food, drink and pain relief tablets that trigger me but what my battle really is about is my anxiety and stress. Trying to keep both of them down, is currently hard for me to do as I have so many worries and now I have the money and work ones back!

I know deep down I will get through all of this. I've done so before and it's just a rough time for me again. I have the support of a lot of people around me, though I know today doesn't feel like that's the case but it's very much true.

I'm also real lucky that I still live with my parents and don't have all the responsibilities of paying bills etc. I have some emergency money savings which can see me through till this month's payday, so as long as I don't actually buy anything for the next few weeks I'll be fine. So, I'm going to try and not worry about that all too much.

I've used some of those savings today to pay for my car tax and MOT. As my car was due both and the last thing I need is to be worrying about losing my car. My dad will make sure my car passes the MOT test, so I don't need to worry about that, just got to let him do some work on things this weekend to make that a positive pass as much as possible.

So, now I just have to try and sent all this side and focus on other things. I know that's easily said then done! But I know that spending time over worrying, being upset, depressed and anxious won't get me anywhere or make anything better. Acting and trying to solve my issues with a calm mind and heart is the best way to go.

Trying to stay positive has always been a hard thing for me to do. I like to think I'm a positive, happy person but that's not actually the case. I make myself like that because that's how I think I should be. I'm sure some of you also do that. Being negative and unhappy is a lot easier to do and people noticed that a lot more too.

I do feel a bit like I'm drowning at the moment. It's like being on a boat in a storm and being thrown overboard. I'm struggling to save myself from the crushing waves and I know only I can really do that. Other people might be throwing the life ring out for me but it's up to me to grab it and hang on.

So, what I do I do when I'm in this situation? Normally, I do have a break down. I cry lot and wonder over so much. I talk to people - my parents, boyfriend, some friends and just let everything out to them and try to listen to whatever advice they give me. Which can be hard as sometimes I don't want that but afterwards, it kinda useful to think about their suggestions and maybe act on them.

I do lots of writing - in my diary, reflectively and though it can be hard, short stories. I can let everything out and I don't have to show my writing to anyone and I can just release all my thoughts and feelings on to paper and then it doesn't go around in my head. Actually, I do have a big focus this month as it's the A-Z Blogging Challenge! I'm wring a short story everyday prompted by words that are new to me. You can check it out on my other blog here; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/

One of the other things I do is blast some heavy metal music and sing along. It's really get way to de-stress and just release all my emotions. Sometimes I'm too ill or not in the mood for this, so finding the right moment sometimes has to wait. But by taking the hours to do this, it's worth it as I often feel so much better afterwards and like I'm rising above everything that's getting me down.

I have lots of bands and songs, I cycle through but I always return to these favourite bands; Disciple, Five Finger Death Punch, Disturbed, Iron Maiden, Drowning Pool, Bullet For My Valentine, Bring Me The Horizon and Soil. All their songs speak to my soul and find a peace in the lyrics that I don't get anywhere else.

The other thing I do to feel more positive and really I need to do more of this as I've found it can help lot and also change my mind set, is to get my Happy Books out. I think I've wrote about this before but briefly, a friend got me a notebook that had Happy Book on it and I decided to collect quotes and memes and imagines that made me happy inside the book. When I filled it, I went and brought this artist's A4 book to continue doing this.

The front cover is a temporary thing until I get around to making one.

I used Pinterest to help find things that make me happy and this can just be anything. I put this into a document, print them, cut them and stick them in the book. This helps focus my mind and also soak up some positive thinking. Here's an example of this;

Recently, I have also turned to knitting and that helps me get through too. I was going to add to the end of this post about my recently finished knitting and my current projects but this post is all ready too long as I'll leave it like this now.

I hope that things do get sorted for me soon and that things can change. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to check out my other blog.

(Photos my own).

March Life Update; Knitting Many Things!

2019-03-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

I'm currently really ill due to my long term illness, which I'm still in debates about writing a blog post on. Though I do feel the need to do this more and more just get some of my frustrations out! Anyway, this is a much nicer post today and it's about all the things I - and I one thing my mum made- have been knitting. Normally, I just put them into other Update posts but I've not been up to writing much lately. Though my short story a day blog is sill going - more out of habit then anything else.

First off, let's start with the dog soft toy that's heading this post. He's so cute and snugly! He's made of Sirdar snuggly snowflake for the white bits and a soft double knit with a main brown colour and a mixed colour pattern - which didn't turn out that great- for the body but it makes him look different. I didn't give him a lot of stuffing because I wanted him soft and squidgy.

I have enough wool to make 4 or 5 more and my plan is to do one for my best friend's daughter's 1st birthday and then one each for when my brothers and their partners have kids. These doggies are so cute and simple to knit as it's all squares and rectangles. I can't wait to knit another one!

I do like knitting baby stuff even though I'm not knitting with anyone in mind. I guess if and when I do get around to having babies all these knitted things will be useful. I think the main reason I like knitting baby stuff is because it's quick to finish things and you can knit easy or hard patterns, plus, the things are so cute!

Booties were the first baby thing I made and I also learnt to increase with this pattern. I like to try and make different kinds of booties now. These ones below, I made in my favourite colour purple and added large star buttons to the front. I really like how they turned out. Also, making baby booties let's you practise different knitting techniques and they are super cute!

The other baby things I like knitting is baby jackets. My mum found a real simple pattern which is just one rectangle for the back, two rectangles for the front panels and two smaller rectangles for the sleeves. There is no increasing or decreasing and it's just the plain knit stitch. Plus, its made of chunky wool so it knits real fast.

I've made a few of these jackets now and I've adapted the pattern to be made in double knit wool. My last jacket, I made out of Sirdar snuggly snowflake chunky and I decided the wool was so nice and I had many balls of it, I wanted to make it into a coat instead. With my mum's help, I learnt to add rows to make the length bigger. Once done, I also wanted to make a hood and mum helped me to that and add the little bear ears on top! To finish, large star buttons which I learnt how to make button holes for.

I'm really happy with how this coat turned out! It looks so snuggly and warm for winter time.

I've more wool to knit other jackets out of, including wool that is pattern to knit up like little flowers, I can't wait to try that one out! That's actually on my to do list next.

The last thing I made and finished was this cute little bear comforter. I had problems making the head because I couldn't get the increase right. I got too frustrate with it and mum made it for me. I did the rest of it though because the ears, arms and blanket were easier. Once again it's made out of Sirdar snuggly snowflake and just snuggly for the bear bits. This bear comes from the same pattern book as the dog.

The bear turned out well, even though I had bit of trouble with it! I'm not I'll be making another one any time soon, even though I have the wool to make a blue one.

My mum has also been knitting baby things but of late, she's been making bits of pieces of things including a tea cosy and a regency doll's costume dress. She also made this little sheep. He come from a kit that someone give me ages ago but I can't do the little loop pattern, so mum made it instead. It took her ages because she had re-learn how to to the loop and the sheep is quite small too!

The sheep turned out really well and mum didn't put a lot of stuffing in, so it's real squishy. There's a also a lamb in the box still to be made too, I want to say I'll have a go at making it, but I doubt it. For now this sheep is living on my bedside table and become a perfect comforter for my anxiety attacks.

It's not just me and my mum that love wool, our dog Patch does too! She loves cuddling up to whatever wool ball we are using but the softer the better, though she's not a fan of fluffy stuff. She often sleeps between us or behind one of us whilst we knit and if the wool ever gets stuck, Patch is often the cause!

Rainbow Blanket Project

As part of my wool order for the Sirdar snuggly snowflake, I got this one called rainbow splash. I love all the bright colours! My first plan was to make a baby jacket/coat like I did out of the white/purple/blue mix further up in this post, but the thick strips that the rainbow colours made didn't look good. So, I decided it would make a better blanket instead, so I undid the half back of the jacket I made and began a baby/toddler size blanket.

My first try though didn't turn out wide enough and you can see how thick the lines are in the photo above compared to the two below. I decided, despite having knitted almost a ball and half, that I did like the size of it, so once again I undid all my work and give this wool a third attempted!

This time though, I liked it better and it's wide enough now too.

Since my re-start, I've been trying to work on this blanket as much as possible, it's been maybe around two-three months now and I have four balls left to knit in. As you can see from my recent photo, this blanket has grown!

I really hope to get it finished by the end of this month and of course I shall post a photo when it's complete. It's getting real big now and becoming more of a toddler/child blanket then a baby's one! It'll be put to a good use in the future, I'm sure.

That's it for this post, thanks for reading and happy knitting!

(All photos belong to me).

Flashback To February Life Update; Snow and Valentine's Day!

2019-03-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Hi readers,

I started writing this blog post before I got really sick, so I'm not doing any editing and posting as I wrote it back in early February.

I want to say I'm glad January is over but winter is still here! It does snow in the Manchester, England area where I live but as I am in-between areas of higher grounds those towns normally get it first and I don't get to see that much snow.

These last few weeks, there has been two separate bouts of snowfall during day and night time. The first of these, the snow fell then soon melted, the second time the snow got iced over during the night and there small piles for two or three days. The rest of the week is looking clear, so I'm not sure if we'll get anymore now.

I'm sort of torn over my feels about snow; I love the way it makes everything look but I hate the issues it causes. Now I drive a car - almost my 3rd year now- I find that snow, ice and freezing fog are high on the danger list for weather conditions to drive in. I've been lucky so far that I've been okay driving in those and all kinds of other weather. It's something you get use to and more experience with. I am also getting to know when not to risk driving as of it the snow hasn't been that deep or icy but it's something to watch out for.

Luckily, most of the snow is staying away and it's not lasting that long when it does fall and freeze.

I do think snow has this thing about it that makes everything more pretty and magical, I guess all those snowy Christmas imagines that have set this in my mind. The garden looks transformed into something different at the minute which is interesting to look out at. It's not so good for the animals - especially the birds, so we've been putting out extra food.

Also, my dog Patch isn't a fan of the snow. I'm not sure if because it's cold and damp/wet and reminds her of rain which she hates or if she's just not use to it. She'll play in a little dusting but anything deeper and she doesn't like even sticking her nose outside!

To be honest though, I think she does have the right idea! I'm not a fan of the freezing cold myself and snow days are really just perfect for curling up inside on the sofa or bed with a huge book to read and supply of hot drinks and snacks.

Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day, my boyfriend and I didn't make any plans, partly because he was at work and I've not been feeling well these last few weeks. I just want over to his and he made us dinner which was a chicken tray bake. He's not good at cooking as I really appreciate him making the effort. It tasted really nice. We did go out to a garden centre which I really like going too and he brought me a cactus! It's so cute and looks like it's heart shaped.

For anybody who knows me, I love cacti, I have a collection and bit of an obsession! I like each one I own to be different, so this one fits right in as I don't have one like this! And it's extra special as it was a present from my boyfriend.

He also got me this unicorn kitty and amethyst bracelet which has a tree of life charm on it - below. I got him a t-shirt, a wall sign about Star Wars heroes, and key ring jigsaw pieces which had two fitting halves with matching sayings on. I let him pick which one he wanted and I kept the other. On my house keys now, so I don't forget.

So, a quiet Valentine's this year but it's been just as special.

Lastly and this doesn't connect with Valentine's as we have been planning this for awhile now, in June we are off to London to visit the Harry Potter Studio Tour!

I'm really excited, even more so now I've seen the tickets! We meant to go from my 30th Birthday last July but we went to Cornwall instead. This year we are going for our 3rd anniversary and it's going to be so good! We have planned other things to do in London as well as it's going to be a full half a week of exploring places.

You can bet I'll be writing all about that in June. For now though, here's to the end of winter and the being of Spring. See you next time.

(All photos belong to me)

January Life Update; I broke a goal /resoluation all ready!

2019-01-18T06:14:00.000-08:00

Hi Readers,

My new year hasn't got off to the greatest of starts. I've had a bad head cold which took an age to clear up but then I had a really bad allergic reaction to something and that's made me super ill. I'm still recovering from that now, I'm glad I'm feeling better to start writing again too.

So, if you have't guessed by this post's title and the above photo, I broke my goal about not buying books! It happened a few days after that post was published and my mum had an offer at a discount book place, so I got all these books without thinking about it. Now, I'm determined to stay on track.

All the books but one are non-fiction. The fiction one is an anthology of dark stories that looked interesting. There are two plants and stars books as I've always had an interested in space and a wanting to know more. Then a sewing book which will be handy for work! The patterns are pull outs and the instructions so easy. The last three books are mental health connected; dealing with stress, anxiety and insomnia.

My book shelves are way over flowing my my current reading list far too long, so no more books for me! I better get busy reading!

Moving on, I wanted to share my new dice bags and dice for Dungeons and Dragons. I wanted to get a soft treasure chest that was actually a mimic monster and it was so cute, but I could only get it from America and it was out of stock almost everywhere and the two I did find had expensive postage, so it wasn't worth it.

I came across these bags on Etsy and really loved them, they are soft and fit in over a hundred dice! I couldn't decided if I liked the witch one or the dice one better, so I got both and I loved the unicorn neon dice too. I've not had a chance to show them off at the club yet as I've been too ill to go, but hopefully soon.

This post is going to be short today as I'm all ready on the last thing I wanted to write about and that's knitting - again!

I've not been doing much these passed few weeks I've been ill. That sleeping bag I started knitting I've had to give to my mum to finish as I just felt I'd had enough of knitting it, which is how I get with stuff that is big and takes a long time to knit. So, I've got smaller projects to move on to now.

First though, here's a photo of me wearing the new jumper my mum had just finished making. I originally brought this wool to make into a blanket. I liked the colours and thought it would make like a nice lap blanket but then I found a pattern for a jumper I really liked and my mum decided this wool would be better for that. I'm glad she did as it turned out really well! It's warm and soft, snugly too but it's not too hot or colourfully for me.

Next, here's more wool! It's not been brought recently though. Got three more projects with this lot lined up now. The small colourful balls, I plan to try and make fish out of. I found this link below on how to turn knitted squares into cute fish and I want to give it ago. Knitting squares takes me right back to learning how to knit too!

Making a fish;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08OcTEqnN6k&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=05012019_howto_youtubefish

The blue and yellow balls on the right are going to be baby jackets. The wool knits into a pattern and turns into cute little flowers! So my simple knitted jackets should look like I've done more hard work! The last lot is the blue and coloured strips at the bottom, I plan to make that into a baby blanket as its really soft and fluffy.

I've also got some little mice to knit too and some pompom animals to make! Plus, some bags to sew too, so I got lots to keep me going over the next few months. I'll be sharing updates and finished things on here, so keep an eye out of them!

Closing this post today is a photo of my dog, Patch. I was tidying up and just tossed her bedding which was all over the floor on to her bed and thus then happened! She does look super cosy in her blanket fort!

Thanks for reading, till next time!

(All photos belong to me).

January Life Update; My Goals For 2019

2019-01-10T09:41:00.001-08:00

Goals for 2019

1. I would like to give this good happenings jar idea ago.

I plan to dig out one of the jars I like to stock pile for crafts and paint or us Sharpies on it to 'Good Things' on it. Then I'll leave some sticky notes next to it and try to write something once a week.

2. Don't buy anymore books!

This one is going to be so hard and I've tried twice to do this now. Last year and a few years back and I've failed both times. Books to me are like shoes or/and handbags or/and clothes to most women. I find it really hard not to buy to add to a series, or author collection or because its one of my favourite genres. This year though, I've put together two book shelves of new and books I want to re-read and due to the number and size of some of them it'll take more then a year to read them all, so I should be fine and NOT need to buy another book!

3. Read 60 books

I always set a goal of reading so many books a year. In 2018 it was my normal 50, I think I read 52. In 2017, I read a 100, but I didn't really. This year, I'd like to try for 60 and see if I make it. You can follow my progress over on Goodreads.

4. Spend less time on social media

I've been realising that I've been spending lot of time - mostly in the morning, evenings and night times - scrolling through Facebook for no real reason. I never use to do this but ever since I got my Iphone and access to lots of apps, it's become something of a habit. It's nice to see what my friends are up to and read website posts, but I end up scrolling and scrolling for an hour or more, not actually taking in what I'm seeing. The silly thing is that not a lot changes in from morning to evening, so I see the same things over. I plan to ease myself off it and every time I go on to only spend a few minutes there. Hopefully, that'll help break the addiction.

5. Lose weight - Swim more

Always a challenge for me, but I keep trying! I love swimming and find it very relaxing.

6. Make items to sell online

I did attempted this a few years back and it didn't work. This time I'm going to sell on Ebay and make baby things.

7. Save money

This needs to happen to fund all kinds of things.

8. Connect more with friends

I've always found it hard to keep friendships. I'd like to try bit more now and spend time meeting up with old university friends and others from my childhood.

9. Write in diary everyday

Haha! A great challenge, though I do try to make sure something guess writing in my diary everyday. It's nice to have a record of things and it helps my bad memory remember. Also a good stress relief!

10. Find a new job

Been my goal for over a year and a half now. Still trying!

11. Go to London and Harry Potter World

This was a thing I wanted to do last year for my 30th birthday with my boyfriend but due to timings - we were going on holiday in Cornwall too close to the days we wanted to go. Also, lack of money and not realising how early you had to book HPW, we didn't go. This year, we are all ready making the plan and looking at booking and saving money. So hopefully we can go!

12. Do more sewing / arts and crafts

I've sort of fallen out of liking doing stuff like this last year. I'm really big into knitting at the moment but with sewing and other craft stuff not really, I guess because I do it for work with kids and I do like research and practice stuff for them but I'd like to make a few things as birthday presents for people and small things for myself too. Maybe to sell as well.

13. Get engaged ?

Last goal on my list. Though it's questionable if it will happen this year. I'd like my boyfriend to ask me to marry him and we've had many talks about it. I know he's saving up for a ring and he's suggest this year at some point but if and when who knows?

What are you goals for the year? Please share them in the comments.

Thanks for reading, till next time.

January Life Update; Welcome 2019!

2019-01-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

Hi readers and welcome to a new year!

I'm currently full of a cold which I've had mildly for awhile but it seems to have turned into a bad cold now. Plus, I've been sleeping on the sofa and not been getting much sleep. Family have been staying over and sorting my old bunk bed out was too much for me.

At least my dog, Patch, in the photo above has been cosy in her bed with her new soft penguin toy.

Christmas and New Year for me has been full of family, fun, food and busy activity. We've had our normal 3 day Christmas and then I went over to my boyfriend's and had a second Christmas. I spent new year's at his then come back and joined my family for a homemade Chinese fest. I got lots of awesome Christmas presents too!

On Christmas Eve we had another year of wearing crazy hats whilst playing board games and doing the present lucky dip. Here's me wearing one of the favourite hats of the night.

It's hard for me to pick the best present I got, must my stuff is still half packed up or stacked up as I've not had time to sort much out. Not in the mood either. Below, is one of the presents my boyfriend got me. He has been into Warhammer and 40K again for a good few months now and we have been playing battles against each other with his different armies.

My favorite is the Nurgle. At first, I wasn't keen on them and I found them about gross but they have grown on me and I feel I have a good connection with them now, mostly due to being ill and Nurgle like to share illness with everything.

I've been bugging my boyfriend for a Beast of Nurgle for awhile now because they are like big puppies. I got to design it myself, and mine doesn't look like the one on the box. I've to paint it now and when I've done, I'll post it up.

Another of my presents were some balls of soft, super fine, mohair wool which I was going to make a knit snood out of but my mum did it instead whilst I was away. Having seen the wool and finished snood, I'm not sure I could have knitted it as it's really fine and I'm not good with anything less then double knit. With more wool left, I might give it a go at some point.

In my last post of 2018, I should my current knitting project which was a colourful scarf made out of 100% pure wool from Norway, see photo below. I finished it around Christmas eve and it turned it really well. It's super long and warm! Though the winter weather in in the middle of England has been mild so far. I've been feeling too hot due to medicine side effects too.

My current knitting is finishing off another patterned wool baby blanket. I still have a neon colourful baby jacket to complete too but it's taking forever and I've not had the motivation for it.

My mum has now started me off on another thing, which is a super chunky sleeping bag. It was meant to be a mermaid/fish tail sleeping bag/blanket and she knitted one for my brother's girlfriend and it turned out great. I didn't fancy the fish tail though but the sleeping bag was prefect for using when I'm at at my PC. So, mum's done the top rib and I just need to knit the rest of it now.

So after those three projects, I have another lined up! I want to make four of these 'square' dog soft toys below. One for myself, one each for my two brothers and one to give to my best friend's baby for her first birthday. Making this dog will be a huge step in my knitting as this will be my first teddy toy. I've made a knitted baby cube, but this will be different and I get to work with blending two different wools together too! I'm looking forward to getting going on this soon!

Last knitted thing to share is this awesome sheep my mum made! He is so warm and fluffy, made out of the same wool as my scarf. The big story here though is that 29 years ago my mum made a sheep like this one, only he was a bit bigger and I called him Baa. I still have him, though he is in a right state! When I do some tidying, I'll dig him out and do a side by side photo of old Baa and new Baa.

I've been also colouring a lot over the holiday. I got two sets of colouring pencils and both have been really good. I'm not great at creating 3D effects and shading - it's actually connecting to my learning disabilities and the way I see things. I don't think bad art should put anyone off and you don't have to show it to anybody, it's enjoying it that counts the most. I thought I would share on my recent colouring, though I not that happy with the hair but it was a good practise.

I've also been playing lots of games with my family and we played a new one my younger brother got called Ticket To Ride. I had heard of it before but didn't realise how easy it was to play! It can't take me awhile sometimes to get into new games and remember the basic rules, but with Ticket you just have to build railway tracks. It was lots of fun, my mum won and I'm hoping we can play again soon!

Lastly, I wanted to share this website with you that sales jewellery and other things to support animals. They have a page were they give items away for free and just charge postage. I have ordered lots of things over the years and have only had one issue with missing items but I was refunded and also sent the item. They have good customer service, though shipping to the UK takes forever! It's worth waiting as the necklaces are so nice.

https://www.helpinganimalsatrisk.com/collections/free-animal-jewelry?fbclid=IwAR3Pkwzydpe4xAfNXQW5LRX7W01pwmheotOQfg38F44c0kze-20svlmaR54

(Photos from Facebook, Amazon or my own).

December Life Update; One Week Till Christmas!

2018-12-17T08:30:00.000-08:00

Hi readers,

I can't believe it'll be Christmas Eve this time next week. Feels like it's coming too fast! I'm pretty much ready for it though, brought and got all my presents and wrapped them too. Now, it's just helping my parents with wrapping other presents, buying the food and helping to make the celebrations go smoothly.

I'm also recovering from a bad flare up and effects of taking steroids. I've less then a week left of those to take and I'm all ready feeling better. Also, I went back to work last week! Though some people weren't sure I was ready, but I needed to get back to some normal-ness. I've to take it easy and not get stressed, so I'm doing simple crafts with the kids and not being so bossy/mother-like that I do sometimes get, I'm just getting to let it go and allow the kids to do what they want - within reason for course! and try to hold back more. It's going to be hard, but I'll try.

A lot seems to have happened last time I wrote, though it's only been two weeks, but then a lot does happen in December it always seems. So, this is going to be bit of a catch up post really now.

The photo above is the top part of my Christmas tree. We decorate the house on the weekend of my dad's birthday, 9th and this year that was a Sunday. I love getting all the decorations out and up, makes it seem like Christmas is coming closer. My favourite part is putting the tree up! I love getting all the decorations stuck on and remember where some of them came from.

We have this traditional way of decorating the tree - lights first then tinsel then everything else, including a few different things which have just ended up on the tree over time. There's a small womble - my mum loves them and has many around the house-, a sliver dragon- we are all fans of those, - a little voo doo doll, a dream catcher, a weaved love heart, knitted octopus and other things that mum and I have crafted over the years. It just adds a bit of fun and silliness to the tree which sums up how we do Christmas.

There are three decorations which always go on last; most people end with topping the tree with an angel or star, but our star is the third from last thing to go on. Next, is a cardboard Grinch with a paper tissue tree, I got with the Grinch movie which is my favourite Christmas movie and I watch it every year. Last to go on the tree is a paper Christmas bug, this came out of my favourite Christmas story; Jingle Bugs which I read aloud before putting the Christmas bug on then tree to complete it.

Then it's time to get the presents underneath! I got to place the first one which was to me from my best friend then I put ones to my family. I like wrapping things up, though it always takes longer then you think! Below is about half of the presents I wrapped as I did like three lots. The tree though looks more fuller then this now!

As is the other tradition on the weekend of my dad's birthday we went to the Manchester Christmas markets. However, the weather wasn't great and both me and my mum were ill so the trip was cut short. This year, it also felt smaller, though it was busier as it normally was which wasn't good for my anxiety. We didn't take any photos either which I do kinds of regret but I wasn't in the mood and nor was my boyfriend. There'll be next year.

Yesterday, I went and saw Wicked in Manchester with my boyfriend. I had booked the tickets like a year and half in advance and going felt like some kind of mile stone had been reached in our relationship! We have this silly thing about how we weren't allowed to break up until after we'd seen Wicked and if we were still together we had to get married. Things are still good so far and I know he's currently saving for a ring!

Anyway, there was a stand selling lots of things and I couldn't help myself, though I didn't have much money, I treated myself to a flying monkey soft toy, postcard set, two programs and I got the poster for free!

We had a great time and really enjoyed the musical. I had seen it before but my boyfriend hadn't and I didn't tell him lot about it because I didn't want to spoil it, so he was surprised about the detail in the story and felt the urge to watch The Wizard Of Oz movie again.

Now, it'll be a week today that we see each other again. He is having to work Christmas Eve and we decided that since we would be spending from then till about 2nd January together - divided between my house and his house - that it would be okay not see each other the weekend before. I've to work on Saturday night and it would be a bit of back and forth for both us, so it's easier this way. Sometimes I wished we lived closer or even together! Possible a plan for next year as soon as I've found a better job. Anyway, I can't wait to see him and all my family then.

Till then, I've work and other things to keep me busy. I've four short stories left to write on my other blog for this month now - been getting ahead so I don't have to worry- then I need to start January's soon. I've also finished knitting all the Christmas presents for my family and started on one for me! I'm knitting the colourful scarf out of pure wool. It's like super chunky, easy to do and it's knitting up real fast. I can't wait to wear it even though it does feel bit scratchy.

The second thing I've to do is read my way through my current book pile! Before I started on the steroids I had begun The Thief the latest Black Dagger Brotherhood novel which I was really excited to read. Then though one of the side effects of the steroids is that you can't focus on a single thing for long, it's a bit like having ADHD, my mind was wondering about everywhere and reading was just too hard, specially with a novel that has lots of different characters, back histories and tells three different plots tangled together!

So, determined to not stop reading, I read some short Christmas stories then moved on to reading Dickens' ghost stories. I found that though of course Dickens can be a bit hard going, due to the short stories, I was able to read and enjoy them. I've maybe five/six stories left to go now, including A Christmas Carol which I'm saving to start reading around the 20th/21th when it's only a few days to go.

After that I should get back to reading The Thief, then Blood Fury which is the spin off series. Next will be The Humans which I brought my dad for his birthday but wanted to read as it's told from the point of view of a dog! I don't read Science Fiction but this one interested me. In between I'll be reading the bottom three in the photo; Fruits Basket is a manga series my boyfriend thought I'd like and I do but I'm having a hard time getting fully into it and the other two are self-help books.

My other thing to do is colouring! It's super calming and relaxing, it's been my other go to thing when I've become restless, stressed or my insomnia has kept me up. I'm sure I've said this before but I like the Colouring Heaven mags. The drawings are clear and a good mixture of scenes to colour. I like thinking I'm adding life to the characters etc and I also make up stories about them in my head!

I'm currently doing the front cover of the Christmas mag. I've done the bottom left picture of an elf so far. Hopefully, get the rest of it done soon.

I've not asked for any colouring books this year as I've too many but I've asked for some colouring pencil sets. I've been using felt pens for awhile now but I've found that pencils and gel pens are far better for blending and getting a more detailed finished. So, hopefully someone has brought me some.

As for other other presents it's mostly books, dvds, cds etc, I've not wanted anything big or fancy this year. I couldn't really decided. Though I would like a Nintendo Switch but they are expensive still and so are the games. I could ask for a new bed but that seems a strange Christmas present! Anyway, one other things I've asked for is the Body Shop's new Christmas release. I've fallen in love with the peppermint candy cane - as in the photo below. To me it smells like after dinner mints and I love those. The smell of mint I find calming and so I've asked for a full set of peppermint candy cane stuff!

I'm look forward to everything now, just got to get through this week!

On a slightly different note, I have discovered this awesome tea which has been helping me to get to sleep. It's really nice and I drink it whilst reading in bed and then I feel so super sleepy and just drifted off. I've been a fan of flavoured tea and coffee for awhile, gingerbread is my all time favourite. Spiced apple is a close second so this tea I found really nice. I would so recommend trying some. It's quite calming too which seems perfect for now as many people are getting stressed out by Christmas. Even thinking about it making me sleepy right now!

Last thing I wanted to share today, is the new winter/Christmas jumper my mum knitted for me! Since she give it to me last Wednesday I've hardly taken it off. I found it in one of her knitting mags and thought it would make a great jumper to have. I love the simple style of the white and blues coming together with matching snowflakes. It looks Christmas-y but is suitable to wear afterwards too. Which is great because I love Christmas jumpers but after the day you can't really wear them anymore.

My mum had been super busy trying to finish the jumper and she didn't have much help from our dog! Patch for an odd reason loves snuggling up to wool balls and knitted things but she does end up in the way!

And this is the finished jumper! It's so cool!

Actually it's warm and snugly, Mum made it out of soft baby wool. I love it so much, it's a good job I don't have to take it off anytime soon!

That's all for today anyway, so if I don't see you before have a Merry Christmas and thank you for reading.

All photos belong to me.

December Life Update; Hibernation

2018-12-03T06:38:00.000-08:00

Hi readers,

I can't believe it's December now! This year seems to have flown by. The last two months haven't been great for me. I've been suffering depression, anxiety, stress and flare up on my condition. I'm still off work at the moment but hope to go back next week.

I would like to say I've put my time off to go use; done lots of writing and reading, watched Netflix, TV shows, movies, done some arts and crafts etc but actual due to the mental health problems, being ill and side effects of pills, I've not been that active.

My only two achievements of worthy of writing about is that I've knitted Christmas presents for my family this year and I've two left to finish off now. That's been a great help to pass the time, keep me busy and helped to de-stress me. Secondly, I have kept up with my daily short story writing on my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ I guess this down to habit more then anything now, but it's been another helpful focus. Right now I'm trying to get ahead in writing this months stories as December is a busy time.

I've already done all of my present shopping. I brought anything online which always makes it super easier and got people what they wanted off their wish lists. My boyfriend and I also buying presents together this year and that helped keep the cost down and make it easier to buy stuff. He's coming over this weekend and next so we can do some wrapping up together then. It's nice to get that out of the early as getting gifts for people can be stressful.

My family also do this 'lucky dip' present giving event on Christmas eve. I'm not sure how it began as it seems we've been doing it for years now, it was probably my dad's idea of a fun game. The rules as simple; for everybody that's come and yourself you buy an item that is £5. This year, they'll be 8 of us plus my dog so that's 9 presents to get. Then everything goes into a box and in circle, youngest started we pick a present and open it. At the end everyone gets a pile of presents and you can swap ones you don't like.

There was another rule but this has sort of faded now and it was if the items was something you wear you had to put it on, a drink - drink it, food - eat it and toys play with etc. But that makes it harder to swap and as we are all adults now some of the items can be very adult themed, that just makes it more fun for everyone I think!

I've been sensible this year and got normal, good items for everyone. My mind wasn't much in a silly mood. My parents can be the worse at the adult themed stuff, so I'll just leave it to everyone else!

The weather has been bad in England for the last few days and today it's actual dry and clear for once. that hasn't made me want to go out though. I'm finding it hard to be around people for different reasons at the moment and I'm liking time by myself more and more. I've been feeling only little bit lonely but having my dog helps.

So, today I'm curled up on the sofa, writing this on my lap and listening to a fireplace sound video on the TV via Netflix. I do wish they were on all the time and not just at Christmas, listening to a fire burn away is one of my calming and writing background music I like to listen too! I'm going to write some short stories for bit then I got more knitting to do.

Hopefully, I'll write another post before Christmas, got two events coming up; Christmas Market and Wicked musical, both will be worth writing about, just got to feel better soon.

Images from; https://pixabay.com/

October Life Update; Happy Halloween!

2018-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

I just wanted to say Happy Halloween to you all and share my pumpkins for this year! I carved three different pumpkins over the last few days and the two above are outside my house right now. I really liked the baby bat and then I went for a scary raven and skull.

At the weekend, my boyfriend and I craved the two below; a witch and her cat. I left these at his house. We both enjoyed spending the time being creative!

My boyfriend also took me on a ghost walk around Hoghton Tower which we had visited before. It was a really spooky walk around the old manor house with people telling us different tales about the ghostly encounters. We didn't see anything but at one point it felt like someone was tickling my back! We had a good time though and it was lots of fun.

Today, the house is decorated and I've done some baking. I have also made gift bags for the kids this year as we ran out of sweets last year! So now I just need to wait for the darkness to come and then the fun can began! I hope everyone had a good time to night!

Oh and I made a new friend too. Look at this cute little bat!

Stay safe everyone and have lots of fun!

Book Review; A Collection Of Books For Halloween, Autumn and Winter

2018-10-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

It feels like I'm writing this post a little late - should have been closer to the start of October then the end! As most of you know though, I've not been well and so I've not been writing a lot, not that I've been keeping on top of this blog anyway! Now, I'm trying to get back to doing things I enjoy and helps to keep me busy.

So, I wanted to write about some books that have the same theme and fit in with Halloween which is next week. I'm not sure if I'll get around to writing about them all individually which is why I thought it would be good to do a collective post. However, I've not read some of these books yet, so I can't give a full view so this is just going to be a quick look and first thoughts.

I'm going to be looking at 6 anthologies, 4 novels, 8 non-fiction books and a coloring book. I really enjoy reading short stories at this time of year because things are often so busy it's nice to dip in and out of stories and not have to fully commit to a single novel.

My hope is that this post might be useful to other people and introduce them to some new books. Let's make a start with the books in the above photo and what better way to be began with the master of darkness and horror himself, Dracula.

The Rivals Of Dracula, Stories from The Golden Age of Gothic Horror edited by Nick Rennison.

I saw this book in Waterstones a month or so back and decided I had to have it for my vampire book collection. The anthology contains 15 short vampire stories which were written in the late Victorian and Edwardian times. The blurb describes the stories as being 'classic tales to chill the blood' by well known and less known supernatural writers including, M R James and EF Benson.

I'm looking forward to reading this because I like Victorian literature and reading about 'early' vampires.

Haunted Nights, A Horror Writers Association Anthology edited by Ellen Datlow and Lisa Morton.

Someone brought me this book as a Christmas present last year and I decided to save it to read around now. This anthology has 16 short stories that are themed around Halloween. I don't recognize any of the writers which can be a good thing as it's an introduction to new authors and the chances of re-reading a short story are low.

The stories are described as being 'sly modern narratives to haunting traditional stories' and 'explore the many facets, cultures and traditions' of Halloween. I'm really interested in reading some of this stories as the titles sound so good and with them all being based around my favorite holiday just makes me want to read it more.

Eight Ghosts, The English Heritage Book Of New Ghost Stories edited by Rowan Routh.

I saw this book whilst on holiday in Cornwall in the Tintagel Castle shop. I pre-ordered it in paperback when I got home. English Heritage, for those that don't know, is a charity that looks after over 400 historic sites in England, including Tintagel, many other famous castles and Stonehenge.

This book contains 8 ghost stories described as 'a rich collection of unnerving ghosts and sinister histories,' set at different EH sites, some of which I have been too. I don't know any of the writers once again. I do like that there is no introduction to this anthology and it goes straight to the stories. The afterwards includes a list of EH sites that are known for being haunted which I really like and gives a nice finish to the collection.

Complete Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens.

I found this book in a discount book shop along with 2 others. I'm a fan of Dickens, though often find his novels difficult and lengthy to read, so this collection of 20 ghost stories, including the super famous A Christmas Carol, is perfect for me. Dickens was interested in supernatural and liked telling ghost stories. In this anthology, his 'Gothic talents can be seen' and the stories cover, 'grotesque comedy...revenge, insanity, pre-cognition and dream visions.'

I love the characters and plots Dickens has created in his other writings, so I'm sure I'll love reading these ghost stories too.

Ghosts Of Christmas Past edited by Tim Martin.

The last book in the photo, I brought with the Dickens one and they do go together. This anthology has 13 modern and classic short stories and some of the writers I know including; M R James, Jenn Ashworth, E. Nesbit and Neil Gaiman. The stories are Christmas themed and described as 'seasonal chillers,' 'a world of ghosts and horrors,' and 'real spirits of Christmas.'

I'm looking forward to reading some of these stories at Christmas time. For me, winter evenings, especially when its rainy and windy, create the perfect back drop for curling up and reading horror stories.

The Mammoth Book Of Halloween Stories edited by Stephen Jones.

This is the last of the anthologies and it's in the photo below. I love Mammoth Books, they cover so many different genres both fiction and fact and I've not found one I didn't like yet. This collection of 26 horror stories set around Halloween was published this year and is a new format from the other books; bigger, larger text and it's also the first to use Halloween in it's title.

The anthology is described as being, 'a dark feast of frightening fiction by some of the most successful and respected horror writers working today,' and is a 'spooky selection of stories set on the night when evil walks the earth.' Once again the writers are a mix and I known some of them including; Neil Gaiman, Nancy Kilpatrick and Ramsey Campbell.

I've started reading this and am enjoying it.

Blood Communion, A Tale Of Prince Lestat by Anne Rice.

This is the first of the novels and I've all ready finished reading it! So I'll be writing a review soon. Briefly though, one of the most famous vampires in the world, Lestat returns in a new novel about the coming together of all the vampires in the world and how he became Prince of them all. This horror story is so fitting to this time of year and I love to get swept away by Anne Rice's passionate and deeply descriptive writing.

Colouring Heaven, Halloween Special edited by Sally Fitzgerald, Anthem Publishing.

Different from the other books in this post, but I still wanted to include it, is this coloring magazine. I've a subscription to Colouring Heaven now as I found myself buying this magazine each month and loving the art work inside. This edition is the Halloween one and there are '40 unearthly designs with spooky-cuteness.' I love all the drawings and each captures a different spirit of Halloween in a funny or horror way.

Adult coloring has become really big now and I'm on that train. It's so calming and a different escape from everything else, plus I like bring the pictures to life and making them my own. Plus, I have found myself creating stories about the people etc in the imagines and I'm hoping this will inspire me to write some more stories.

World War Z by Max Brooks

People in the past have recommended I read this novel written as accounts after a zombie plague has taken over the world. I've not had the chance to yet but my boyfriend has lent this book and the follow up one to add to my reading pile. I've never been a fan of zombies, maybe it's because of all the supernatural they don't interested me and when a biologist friend told me that there was actual likely-hood of there one day being a zombie, it put me further off!

However, I'm willing to read this novel because it's different style, 'based on extensive interviews' in the 'finest traditions of American journalism' interests me and lots of people say it's good. I just hope it's not too scary!

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks

This book is the companion to the one above and is about surviving zombies, 'don't be reckless with your most precious asset- life.' So, I guess if the threat of real zombies ever happened this self-help book would contain useful information in dealing with a whole range of situations. The chapters look at zombie myths and realities, weapons and combat techniques, on the defense etc. It has a very fact feel to it and isn't something I'll be reading at bedtime!

A Secret History Of Witches by Louisa Morgan

This book was the first I picked up for the discount book shop and I thought it was like a non-fiction book about witches, then I read the back and saw it was a novel. It kinda of sits on the edge of my normal supernatural reading but it interested me enough to buy it. It's about a family of witches who have lost their magic and need to rediscover it as the Second World War arrives in order to change history, 'a tale of family, sacrifice, love and magic.'

Without reading it I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about.

Wicca For Beginners by Lisa Chamberlain

Keeping with the witch theme here's the first of the non-fiction books. I have had an interest in magic for awhile now and I've been meaning to get around to learning more about how I can use it. This little book gives a brief guide to 'Wiccan beliefs, rituals, magic and witchcraft.' It's laid out nicely and simply, not going into too much detail and covering lots to get you more interested.

I've had a flip through and found I can connect with some of the ideas about the religion of Wicca. I'm looking further to reading more.

Wicca Book Of Spells by Lisa Chamberlain

I got this book to go with the one above as I wasn't sure how many spells there'd be in the beginners book. Each page has a different spell on it, a list of things need to cast the spell and instructions on how to do it. There are spells on how to make friends, find love, succeeded at job interviews, get more money and protecting the home, 'for success in magic, your state of mind is the most important factor.'

I've not tried any out yet but I'm hoping too. I thought that this, in a different way, might help me to deal with some of the stress and anxiety issues I've been having, of which there are actually spells for! I'll have to give it ago and write about what happens.

This next group of books don't really link in with the Halloween, horror theme but they do link in with autumn and winter times and how that change of seasons can effect your mental health. Most people at this time of year get depressed and it's something to do with the lower sunlight, the darker nights and the coldness too. I've had different battles with depression over the years and this time it's been mixed in with anxiety and stress, so I wanted to get some different books to help deal with some of my issues.

The two animal spirit guide books, I brought because I've been turning more and more to my animal spirits and asking them for help. I wanted to find some information out about the different animals I had been seeing and how best to communicate with them. I have found both these books helpful.

Animal Spirit Guides is a reference book of each different animal and though it's been fun looking them up, I've found that some websites have had more detailed information on them. Animal Magic is more of a guide book to understanding animal spirits and how to interact with them.

The other four books are about learning to overcome different problems; I got The Happiness Trap because I was looking for a self- help book about dealing with stress at work, anxiety and depression which this book covers. It comes across different from other books that deal with these problems as it sets out to explain that having strong emotions and feelings is normal and that humans aren't always meant to be happy. I've read the first chapter of this now and I'm starting to understand how this book is going to teach me how to deal with my mental health problems better.

The This Book Will Make You... series has lots of different titles, I picked 3 that I felt would be most useful to me. they are cute little books, packed with simple information to help bring around changes to help you achieve the title. I've had a quick scan through all of them and they look easy to read and have practical information in them. I'm hoping that they will help me progress into a new job and improve my motivation and passion for things.

That brings me to the end of the post and shockingly it's taken much of the day to write this. But it has made me happy and kept me busy. Let me know if you decided to get any of these books now or your thoughts if you've all ready read any of them. I'm looking forward to dipping into each of them during the coming long, cold winter nights.

October Life; Manchester Bee Trail (Part 3) Saying Goodbye To The Bees!

2018-10-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to go to the Goodbye Bees event which was a chance to see all 101 bee statues in the same place and for the last time.

Many of the bee statues are being auctioned off next weekend and who knows where they'll end up and if they'll be on public display again. Some of the bees though are being given back to the charities who sponsored them or are represented by them. For example, Harpurbee will be going back to The Manchester Youth Zone. (I believe it'll be placed in the closed car park/allotment garden back area which isn't accessible to the public).

The event was held at the Manchester National Cycling Centre with some of the bees being inside and most of the being outside. It was really busy - lots of people eager to see the bees they had missed during the trail and the weather was bad too - the tail end of a storm that has flooded part of the UK this weekend.

To add to this my boyfriend had started with a cold and wasn't feeling well. We also had a nightmare parking! We ended up in the wrong place but then got told to go back there as there was nowhere to park around the cycling centre! Walking through the rain to get there then having to walk around the bees in the rain didn't help improve our moods but I tried to enjoy it as best I could.

It was really nice to see all the bees together and look at the ones we'd missed. I think we got to see around 50 on the trail and I realised whilst planning the second trip to see them that there was going to a few that I'd never get to see. So, it was good that the event was held and I could get tickets for it as I didn't feel like I'd missed out!

Of all the bees my favourite is still the one in the opening photo, Bee-You-ti-ful. I love the washed out colours and the inspirational imagines and quotes. A lot of the other bees are also inspiring and carry positive messages but there's just something about this one bee that really speaks to me!

If I had to pick a second favourite it would be this one below; Sundae. I love the ice cream look created on this bee and it feels so summer-y. For me this bee was also very different from all the others, I guess because it didn't have a 'bee' theme as such like some of the other ones do. Also, I love ice cream!

Due to how they had set the bees up it was hard to get a 'group photo', I tried my best but there was also trees and people in the way too!

Now, here's a selection of bees from the event that I liked best and all of these are ones we didn't get to see during the trail.

I love this bee above! It had this really old stone look and reminded me of a headstone!

I like this one below too. It's simple and pretty with the butterflies on it.

The bee above is themed around the 80 Days Around The World novel and the bee, I believe, was at Manchester Airport to celebrate the airport's 80th birthday!

I also liked this Egyptian themed one too.

I think this bee was called something like The Sky Isn't The Limit and it has this star consolation theme. I liked the Galaxy painting on this bee.

The below bee really sums up Manchester for me; Cottonopolis. Manchester in the past has long been the centre for the cotton industry and the worker bee is the symbol of the hardworking people.

This is Rainbow bee, who I also liked and seemed fitting in all the wet weather!

And this last Bee, I mistook as a bee with a cold as he was called sneezebee and I joked that my boyfriend was feeling like the bee was! Actually, this bee is theme around allergies, especially pollen which makes sense in the summer!

So, that's it! The bee trail is officially over. I am super sad to see the bees go and it's a shame they can't be left on display around Manchester. It was a good way to bring people together but I guess there'd be too much up keep.

I did buy the book of the bees though which lists them all and the small bees too. It's a great reminder of all the bees and fun that we've had finding them. I got a set of postcards too which had some nice photos of 9 different bees and the 10th postcard says something like we completed the bee trail.

So, it's goodbye from the bees and goodbye from me. Until next time readers.

(All photos belong to me.)

September Life Update; An Emotional Breakdown and Depression

2018-09-29T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

Things have been real tough for me these last few weeks. I agreed to cover the senior receptionist's three shifts a week at work for 2 weeks as he went on holiday and my manager was sort of struggling to find someone to cover. I normal just cover the Mondays and Fridays leaving the Wednesday to go to Dungeons and Dragons but I'm saving up for a new bed and D&D wasn't on the second week.

The first week was okay, I had an issue with missing some young people off the register and the takings being down, but those are things I continually struggle with. I blame my moderate learning difficulties and the unreliability of honest teenagers.

Then I had the first return to Saturday evenings shift to do. Over the spring and summer, I've worked in the afternoons on a girl's only session offer but it's been decided that we are going back to the evening shifts for the autumn/winter. That went fine - it was a free session so no money handling for me and we had a low number of teens in.

The second Monday came and I realised how tried and unwell I was feeling. My insomnia and sleep pattern - which I really don't have anyway- was bad. When I was sleeping, I wasn't getting enough and I was starting to realise that covering for two weeks might have been a bad idea. Still though, I was going to get a new bed with my extra wages and that was something to keep going for.

Another issue happened; my IBS flared up. (Slight side story here, but my mum makes a nice Sunday dinner every Sunday and I love chicken and gravy but I've know for some years now that gravy mix triggers me. Mum and I have been through lots of different brands and made our own etc, but I've yet to find a gravy I can safely eat). So, I had a pre-made chicken with herbs in a bag and gravy which seems to have been the cause of my flare up.

I have another condition called Ulcerative Colitis which is similar to IBS but can make me so ill when it flares up that I can't do anything and sometimes I have to go to hospital with it as the pain is super bad. I've had both of this conditions for 13 years now and maybe two or three years before it was diagnosed. Managing them both can be hard but I've learnt the signs and symptoms to tell them a part enough.

When I try to explain them to people, I say think of a time when you had a bad stomach bug and you had to go to bathroom all the time. Now, imagine if you had that everyday! Sometimes it's fine enough that you can go out for a day trip somewhere like the zoo or the beach. Other days, it's so bad you have to stay in between you bed and the bathroom, not able to do much else.

What I rarely go into with people is all the other side effects of the conditions and all the treatments I've been on that have left their own side effects on my mind. One day, I plan to write a post on here about that but for now I'll get back to the subject of this post.

So yeah, I had a flare up of my IBS and it wasn't good. I could barely do my job that Monday evening but I stuck it out, though I made mistakes and I should have gone home sick. But I don't like letting my IBS and colitis rule my life, I have always said if I allow that I'd never leave my house again. Anyway, when I got home afterwards, I was exhausted but couldn't really sleep and I felt more unwell. I told myself it would be okay though.

However, the next day, Tuesday, instead of my normal juniors arts and crafts shift, I got asked to cover reception and of course I agreed. Now, the young age group is manic and it's super easy to not stay on top of things and get stressed out. That's what happened with me and of course one of my other IBS triggers is stress! So, my flare up only got worse and I made a few bad mistakes and got in trouble. Once again, I should have gone home sick but with less then two hours to go, I didn't.

On Wednesday, I got called into a meeting and had to explain all the mistakes I had made over the past few shifts. I felt like everything was crashing down over me. I was exhausted, stressed, feeling ill and still having to deal with my flare up plus the side effects of that! So, I had an emotional break down in that meeting. I got a few things off my chest and cried a lot. I didn't feel that much better though and once again, I should have gone home but I stayed and did a 7 hour shift.

When I got home that night, even more exhausted and ill, I felt depressed and suicidal. I didn't feel like normal me anymore, it was like this other person who was having all these drowning thoughts, feelings and emotions had taken over. I couldn't stop crying and though I needed to sleep, I couldn't. I was worried about losing my job, my flare up getting worse and about all the stress working over the last 3 days had caused.

Even though, my parents had gone to bed, I awoke them and had a long conversation about things. Though, I don't remember much of that now. My mum told me I should phone in sick for Friday and Saturday and see a doctor in the morning. Which I did end up doing. When I phoned in sick, I felt like a weight had been lift. I didn't have to worry about going into work and making more mistakes or trying to deal with my flare up whilst there. I could stay at home, de-stress and sleep, like I needed.

The doctor give me anti-depressants and a phone number for counselling. I have known for about a month and bit now that I've been balancing on the edge of falling into depression again. I know the trigger has been to do with not being able to find a new job and therefore not being able to move on with my life how I want to. It seems all this stress at work has really pushed me off the edge now.

After a night of better sleep and the worry of work gone, I was feeling better. I was still emotional, anxious and stressed though. I realised for the last 24 to 48 hours I hadn't really been myself. My mind was clear from all the overwhelming emotions and thoughts, I felt more like myself again. I got to wondering who that person had been those last few hours, because that had been far from my own personality. My mum nicknamed her the crazy cat lady and I kind of agreed!

I reflected on what had happened, give it the name of an emotional break down and I've been trying to move on every since. The doctor give me two weeks off work and I've been taking it easy. Doing things I enjoy, thinking about how I feel and sleeping!

Depression wise, I only took one anti-depressant tablet out of the 14 I got given so far. I don't believe that they really work for me. They take a course or two to actually get into your system and start the chemical reactions to balance emotional levels. When you come off then, the side effects including making you depressed again!

I have been able to control my mild bouts of depression for years now as I have had mental health problems for most of my life. I know the signs and what I need to do to help. Often this includes, talking to people about all my issues, doing things I enjoy more like reading and crafting and writing non-fiction reflection and record pieces. For some reason though, I struggle with writing fiction, so my short stories on my other blog of late have not been so good. I've been able to keep the habit of writing them and to me that counts for a lot more at the minute! So, hopefully, I'll be able to keep self-managing now.

Lastly and yes I know how long this post is now! I wrote in my diary on Thursday night about how depression feels like Alice In Wonderland. At the time, I had forgot that the theory behind the story and Alice Through the Looking Glass is to do with mental health. When I told my mum the next day she reminded me and I decided it did make a lot of sense. I also wrote a blog post here way back in November 2016 (http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.com/2016/11/november-life-update-were-all-mad-here.html) which was about my then mental health problems due to meds I was on and how it did seem like I was Wonderland.

So, yeah, for now I'm Alice, dealing with the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat and the Queen of Hearts. I hope in the next few weeks I am able to find the White Rabbit and leave Wonderland behind me!

Thanks for reading this super long post!

Stock photos from;

https://www.pexels.com and https://pixabay.com/

September Life Update; Manchester Bee Trail (Part 2)

2018-09-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

It's been a few weeks since my last post and I've some more bee statues to add to the collection. Most of these were taken a few weeks back when my boyfriend and I went to do more of the trail on the other side of Manchester. The rest were the day before that or in the weeks that have followed.

I still have lot more to find! I'm hoping next weekend, which will be the last one, to visit whole bunch we missed. Before that, maybe on Thursday, I'll drive around to see the others that are outside the city centre. Then in October to go to the goodbye event and see all the bees together!

Before we went back to the centre, we visited Heaton park which is local to me and a place I use to have Sunday family walks around. We took my dog, though I don't think she was that impressed! There where two bees here and we found them both. The first bee was outside the new bee keeping section around the back of the old Heaton Hall. The second was at the boating lake, which was busy with people eating ice cream and being out on the lake in rowing boats. There was also two of the little bees in the cafe!

The next day, I had planned out a route for us to visit the bees I watched to see. The route on the map is a little confusing and has you zig zagging around the centre. We had all ready seen a few clusters of bees, so I wanted to do the ones that were furthest away and including a few at the start of the list! Then we were to walk back towards the car park.

We got the free bus to Piccadilly train station. The first bee is right outside!

We then weaved our way towards the Gmex, Bridgewater hall and Deansgate station. We saw lots of bees, including three that I hadn't planned to due to getting lost!

The next photo is not a bee but a sculpture in memory of the man who invited vimto which happened in an apartment close by here. Vimto is one of my favourite drinks! It's a strong and fruity, black current base which you add water - cold or hot to. I did know before hand it was made in Manchester, but I didn't know where. Now, thanks to the bee trail I do.

We were mostly weaving through streets at this point, heading to the art gallery and Princess street. It was there that I found what has become my favourite bee! It's hard to pick one out of the 101 and though I like the one outside my work, the one below just really got to me. I really like the colour wash, like a sunset and the positive quotes and images. The wolf and the dreamcatcher paintings drew me too.

We then headed over to the Science and industry museum which is one of my favourite museums. To get to their bee, you had to go inside and into the courtyard at the front. They had built a bees' garden there and it was a nice place to sit for a few minutes.

We then walked to Deansgate and had lunch before seeing some more bees. Though we almost didn't as I really hadn't thought about how much walking we would do. I knew it would be a lot but it was so much! I don't think you could do all the bees in the city centre in a day, it's just too tiring. We did decided to carry on though and we saw a few more bees. There was about 3 or 4 in this area we didn't see. I had gotten too tried.

I really like this bee above as it's steampunk like!

The second to last bee we found was this one called Shellbee which is inside a theatre. It's super different to all the others as it lights up, makes sounds and has a fluffy coat. It was made for kids with disabilities and was designed by a special needs school where my sister in law works at. I really liked Shellbee and it was nice to see a very different take on the bee statues. She was super popular and it was hard getting photos!

I know the next photo isn't a bee but I just had to take it. I saw this musical at this theatre back in like 2016. I really liked it and it was a nice reminder of a good evening out. Plus, Little Shop Of Horrors is super good!

On the way back we stopped and saw this bee at a church in Collyhust. It was the last one of the day. It's close to the bee at my work and I'm glad to have ticked it off the list as I've been trying too for awhile!

The last bee for this post is this one, which we missed last time, though I'm not sure how, guess we had walked on the streets either side. I spotted it today on the way to the cinema and had to add it to the collection!

That's it for this post. Next week, will hopefully be part 3.

Thanks for reading!

August Life Update; Manchester Bee Trail (Part 1)

2018-08-20T04:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Readers,

Currently taking my home city of Manchester, England, by storm are these amazing bee statues. I've been excited about them since I first heard of them and this weekend I got to do little bit of the bee trail!

The trail covers all of Manchester city centre and some of the surrounding towns. It would be hard to do in a day and though I'd like to see them all, there's a few I know I won't get too. But there is an event close to the end of September which will see all the bees together in one place and I hope to go to that to get the bees I've missed. That's why this post says part 1 as it's a subject I'll carry on updating throughout the next month.

I had already seen about four of the bees before yesterday, including the one above which is outside the building where I work! All the bees have names and this one is called Harpurbee which is very fitting as it's named after the town it's in. I get to see this bee often and I enjoy watching people admire it. Each bee has a placard which says its name, who designed it and sponsored it.

To me it feels like the bee statues are bring Manchester together and getting people talking. They are interesting works of art, each created by different people and groups. The bee has been a symbol of Manchester for years as the Victorian workers were described as hard working bees and it's become the national animal of Manchester. During the aftermath of last year's Manchester Area Bombing the Manchester bee came a symbol for everyone to show support and hope. The bee statues don't have anything to do with this but I like the connect in my head.

These two bees below were the second and third bees I saw as they were next to the Comic Con event back in July.

There are 101 bees all together and yesterday I saw 15 of them, so I'm up to 19 off the list now. There are also lots of little bee statues which sit inside public places like libraries, museums and art galleries. The area my boyfriend and I did was around the Arndale Centre, Piccadilly gardens and some of the northern quarter. We stopped first in the bee pop up shop to get a trail map and postcards. Then we set off!

It was good fun walking around and spotting the bees. We hardly used the map as I knew the location of a few already and the way we walked meant we came past more. There were a few close to the end we had to look up though as they were not as easy to spot. I took lots of photos, but I picked the best ones below to share.

I was sad when it was time to head back home. I really wanted to see more but we didn't have the time. We will have to come back another day to see some more! I have the map now, so I can plan out a route to see as many as possible next time! So that's post will continue at a later date.

That's all for now readers, till next time.

August Life Update; Visit To Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire.

2018-08-06T09:18:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

On Saturday, my boyfriend and I visited Bolton Abbey in The Yorkshire Dales near Skipton. It was just over an hour's drive from his home in Preston and the Abbey has been on our to do list for about a year now. I did visit a few years back and there might even be an old post on here about it! But my boyfriend hasn't been and I thought it was a day out we both would enjoy.

Set in wonderful countryside with the river wharfe weaving it's way around and boarding on one side Barden moors and further up the ancient Strid woodland is the ruins of an Augustinian Priory dating back to 1100's and the Priory Church. The whole area is so picturesque and fascinating to explore.

There are three car parks to pick from; one at the village and entrance to the abbey, one in the middle at the Cavendish Pavilion, where I chose to park and the third close to Strid woods. Each car park is close to cafes, toilets and shops etc. We when were arrived large groups of people had set up 'camp' for the day and it was really busy. We had lunch and then decided to go to the Valley of Desolation on the moors.

However, we didn't make it! We walked for 40 minutes along a path that was more of a track other people had made through dense woodland and brush. Along the way we meet people who had decided to turn back because the path was too narrow and steep in some places. Despite being determined to get there, we had to give up as it started to look dangerous.

We doubled back and went to visit the Abbey, firstly though we took a break in these giant beach chairs!

We had the option to cross the bridge, which we choice or to take a chance on the stepping stones - see next photo. The river was really low due to all the hot, dry weather England has been experiencing this summer. So, it probably was a good time to cross the stones but they were busy and later on we saw two children slip and fall off them. That made feel like it had been a good idea not to cross via the stepping stones!

The abbey ruins are huge and since a lot of the walls and window frames are still in place its easy to picture what this place would have looked like. There is also a surrounding graveyard but you can't walk around the headstones and have to stay on the pathways.

Even though it's a little bit sad to see such a once grand place reduced down, lucky the church survived and is still in use today. Inside, gives ideas about how the rest of the priory would have looked. The stain glass windows are really something to behold and they are so tall! At the back of a church are a few tables were you can by religious items, guidebooks and other things to help support the church and remember the day. I brought two wooden crosses, three postcards and two bookmarks.

The church is so quiet and peaceful. It was also a nice place to get away from the sun from! The weather forecast had said it was going to be cloudy with some patchy sun, but it was actually clear and hotter then that! I could have spent more time in the church but we had a 30 minute walk back to the car, so we had to leave.

Expect from when we went onto the moor, we were either following the river or going against it.

There were a lot of people, swimming, paddling, catching fish and bugs, playing with their dogs or just chilling on the shore. The river actually seemed more of a draw then the abbey. I can understand all that and not just because of the nice summer weather but because the river is super pretty and the countryside it meanders through adds to the appeal.

We did sit a few times and watched the river, the people and their dogs having fun. I was half tempted to go for a paddle myself but we hadn't brought a towel and I was driving. Maybe next time!

Overall, we both had a great day out. I can see us coming back to Bolton Abbey again as it's a great place to walk and we only did some of it! Next time I'd like to see the woods and try to get to the valley.

Thanks for reading!

July Life Update; Devon Holiday

2018-07-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

Last week, I went to Devon on holiday with my boyfriend, my parents, my younger brother and his girlfriend. we had a great week visiting lots of different places in Devon and Cornwall. This post is going to be photo heavy and also quick. I've a job interview tomorrow and there's far too much to write about in one post! Here are some highlights;

Tintagel Castle

There's just something about this castle that makes it stand out above all the others in England for me. Maybe its the connection with the King Arthur Legend, maybe its the fantastic views or the scale of the place. Tintagel is a must visit for anyone, though you'll need to be fit enough to climb all the stairs up!

I've been a few times now and though my memory is mostly of a ruined castle on a cliff top, it's the beach and 'Merlin's Cave,' I recall the most. Getting down to the cave is little tricky as though there are steps at the bottom you have to climb through a rocky section. The beach is small and covered in stones. There are a few different caves but Merlin's is the one on the left, under the castle.

A few years ago, they added this statue of king Arthur. It stands on the far edge and looks back over the medieval houses that can be made out. It's a big photo shoot for everyone! I took a few photos and a selfie. The statue is sort of creepy at first due to this ripped up cloak and it sort of looks like the ghost of Arthur.

They've also added this gallery next to the gift shop where you can read the legends connected to the castle. I liked the 'pop up books' they had there, some awesome paper crafter has created them.

The views in the area must be some of the best of Cornwall's rugged coastline! That just adds to the greatness of the place. There's just something about powerful sea waves pounding against jagged cliff sides that appeals to me.

Charlie Bear Museum

I never knew Charlie bears had a shop and museum you could visit! I've collected the bears for years and love them lots. By chance my boyfriend wanted chips when we stopped for lunch in a little village and whilst waiting, I saw a leaflet for the bear museum. I thought we were too far away to visit but as it turns out the next day we were going to the same town and a few roads away from the museum to have the car's air con fixed! So I got to visit the museum!

It was really great and there were so many bears. I also got to meet the owner Charlie as she was showing an American visitor around and it was so special to talk to her. I suggested that she needed to design a bear named Hayley as there isn't one! She said it was a possibility and thought it was fated I ended up at the museum today. I agreed with that!

I took so many photos, I just selected 3 to post up here, though I could do a whole blog post about this place alone! I thought it was that good! Of course, I didn't leave empty handed and brought myself the 2018 bear. My mum and brother also about me a bear each for my birthday, so I brought 3 home to add to my collection!

This is so a heaven for all Teddy bear loves and a must if you are in the area!

Otter wildlife Park

This was one of the first places we visited. It's a small animal home, though they specialise in otters. They are so cute and funny to watch and seeing them get feed is the best thing. There's also two owls talks a day and you get to hold an owl or other bird of pray.

My favourite section was the walk through deer bit, where you can feed birds, deer and wallaby. Most of the animals are tame enough to eat out of your hand and be stroked. There was a wallaby with a joey which was so cute and seemed really interested in my mum. The wallaby was so calm and soft!

This is a really nice place to spend a morning or afternoon.

Breakfast with Peacocks

We stayed at a country club called Woodford bridge. They had lots of peacocks there and they were really use to people, guess they have all been fed over the years. It became something of a habit whilst we were there that when we had breakfast or dinner outside a peacock or a peahen and her chicks would come by for food.

It was really nice, though a few times scary as peacocks are really big close up. They also wanted to try and get inside all the time! There was one day when I had a peacock at the kitchen window watching me for ages and he also pecked on the glass a few times too.

I did collect some nice feathers throughout the week and brought them back home with me. I wouldn't want to keep peacocks as pets though!

The Gnome Garden

This is one of my favourite places in Devon! It's a large garden where you go around and look at a huge collection of gnomes and their friends! You have to put on a fluffy gnome hat so you fit in and you get to try your hand at fishing in a pond. It's just a fun place to spend a few hours. There's also a fairy garden trail and a quiz to do. The shop is really lovely and the old lady owner makes clay pixies and other things which you can buy.

Jamaican Inn

This is another hot spot for all visiting Cornwall. Made famous by Daphne Du Maurier's novel by the same name which is said to have been based at the original inn there. There is a museum dedicated to her and a shop with lots of themed items. There's also a farm shop selling local produce and let's not forget the pub itself!

We'd visited before but this time we had tea here. The food is bit more expensive then a normal pub but it's worth it! The plates are big and the food so lovely! I also got to try out a new Rattler cider - strawberry and lime, also I got to eat the steak and ale pie I'd been craving!

Well worth the visit for sure!

We visited so many other places, but I just don't have the time to write about them. I just want to add that the ice cream and sorbet they have there has to be the best. I had a lot whilst I was down there! I never got to try a cream tea which is also famous in Devon, but I've had lots before, so I knew I wasn't missing out really.

We also got to try out my new board game; Kill Doctor Lucky which everyone enjoyed playing! It's like the prologue to Cludo! And is more a game of chance and luck then anything else. I think this is going to become a family favourite now.

And that was my holiday to Devon. There's so much more I could write though but it's getting late and I've a busy day tomorrow now. Hopefully, one day I'll go back and then I can write more about it!

Thanks for reading!

(Please note all photos copyright to me. Please do not use them.)

June Life Update; From My Bed

2018-06-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Hi Readers,

I'm ill in bed. I'm having a flare up of my IBS and it's making me feel like I've got a bad stomach bug. I'm not sure what's set it off but I've not been that careful about what I've been eating over the last few days. It's been hard because I've been working every day since Thursday - covering for the second receptionist it, my normal shifted then an extra one on Sunday I got asked to do. Also, I didn't have a date with my boyfriend and that's made me feel a bit lonely too.

I've not done much today though things seemed to be improving this evening, so I've just written two short stories for my blog and now I'm here writing this for a bit. Then I'll have to try and got to sleep but it's so hard when you need the loo all the time! I keep thinking I should write a separate blog about all of this but I've just not got around to it.

Anyway, I ordered three new books of Amazon two weeks ago now and they've been added to my reading pile, though I'm currently reading Red Queen right now. I only ended up getting them because Montenegro had been reduced to £3, odd from £14.99 and it's been on my to buy list for over a year now. It's the second book of a strange vampire series and I liked the first so getting the second was needed. But it's so expensive, so I had wait for a reductions and who could argue with that one? Then I ended up with the other two books because I didn't want to pay shipping!

I really wanted to read Red Queen as the first book Alice was so good. I so needed to do a review about it on here! Might do a combined one now though. Reading had helped me though much of the day and watching TV too.

I've also been flipping through this; my dad's guide to Cornwall as it were. We go away in about 4 weeks and my dad has put together this file of places to go, eat and shop etc. We all got to pick what we wanted to do and not wanted to do before hand and this is the print out with his notes. There's lots of cool places to visit like castles, manor house, museums, towns and beaches. Really can't wait for that as I love Cornwall a lot. Plus, my boyfriend is coming and I get to share the adventure with him.

You can expect a blog post all about that real soon. Might have to divided into two parts as I know it's going to be a long one!

My dog has been really sleepy and wanted to snug into everything lately. Her favorite place is on the sofa in all the blankets. She also likes to bury her bones behind the cushions were my dad normally sits. We joke she is giving him presents as the pack leader! It's really funny when he sits on one though!

It's days like today that make me super glad of my dog though, because I know I can pet her and she'll make me feel calm and I can tell her anything and she won't judge me for being ill. She's helped keep me going today.

I wanted to share this last time I wrote but I couldn't fit it in that blog post. I've been busy making some baby things for my best friend who's going to have a little girl soon. I'm mostly done with knitting the things I wanted to make for her now and with some wool left over I wanted to start knitting my own stuff for that hopeful one day.

I made this blanket but I wasn't happy with the shape. I'd asked my mum how many stitches and she said 50 but really I wanted 60. I was half temped to just unravel it and start again. The wool is chunky and soft and takes no time to knit but then I decided to keep it as maybe I could give it to one of my sister- in- laws or another friend some day.

Now, I've got some more wool of the same kind but in a different shade; purple, blue and yellow mix which I really like and have made a teddy bear pillow out of in the past. I'm going to make a larger blanket and mum is going to make a hood to go with it. That should be really nice.

I like knitting as it's nice to do whilst watching TV, I find sometimes, I can't just sit there, I wanted to do something and this is perfect for that. It keeps me busy when I'm ill and chilled too but I've not been able to focus to do any today. Might try tomorrow though.

I've gotten into adult coloring big style and this is my current favorite magazine. How fitting that it's filled this month with two of my favorite animals - wolves and bears who are also my spirit animals. It made me really happy to see it on the super market shelf!

This is another thing I like to do when I'm ill, bored or need to calm down. Though as much as I wanted too, I've not started on this one yet. Like knitting I need more focus then I've had today but soon I'll start and maybe I'll post some photos on here.

In a slight connect to that, I've hung a dream catcher above my bed again. There was a prompt for a short story that had the imagine of one and I wrote a story that can be read on my other blog with it. I got reminded about how dream catchers are meant to capture the nightmares and since I've been having a few bad dreams/ nightmares lately including one were I was chocking to death and then woke up with asthma attack.

I like to think of this dream catcher as being powerful because it has the wolf painting on it. Since I hung it up I've not had any nightmares and only one bad- ish dream. So maybe dream catches do work after all? Or maybe it's my belief that it will. Whatever it is, I hope it carries on and I can have more restful nights.

That's it really for today or this night as it now is! I'm off to try and sleep a bit and hopefully feel better in the morning. Here's a cute photo of my snug teddies for tonight; Fifi fox and Astrid unicorn. They are so soft and comforting!

Thanks for reading, see you next time.

All photos used belong to me.

June Life Update; A Visit To Hoghton Tower

2018-06-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

Hi Readers,

So, today I wanted to share my trip to Hoghton Tower in Lancashire with you all.

Lately, my boyfriend and I have been struggling to find new places to go on dates too. In the last two years, we've been to a lot of places and done lots and though I like spending the weekends with him inside in front of the TV or playing games, I prefer to be out exploring places!

We have many places we'd like to visit on our list but some of them are too far to travel to or too expensive right now. Plus, the next few weeks are set to be very busy what with my 30th birthday and a week in Cornwall with my family!

My boyfriend discovered this Tudor house wasn't a far drive from his house, so we decided to go and check it out. You can only visit the inside on a tour and you had to book on to a time slot. That cost includes the gardens too or you can pay just to walk in those. Sadly, we didn't get to do the gardens as we ran out of time. There was a large car show event on the day we went and so we timed our arrival for the ending of that which was lunchtime.

We missed the tour we were aiming for and had to wait an hour for the next one. We were able to go into the courtyard and see the outside of the house. Because you had to pay to be in this area it wasn't so busy. The car show was being held at the front and the fields either side of the driveway.

There was a really nice tea room just off the courtyard and it was thankfully empty when we arrived. We had lunch and cake before our tour. The tea room also sells afternoon teas there but they seemed expensive to me and I was happy with my ham sandwich and rainbow cake!

In the tour group there was only like eight of us and the tour took nearly and hour and a half. There was no photography or phones allowed in the house. The tour guard we had was really good. He was full of history about the house and got everyone involved by asking us questions. For example; why when King James 1 came to visit he decided not to stay in the room prepared for him? And who was depicted being crowned on a tapestry?

My favorite part was when he told us that Hoghton Tower is one of the most haunted places in England and though he hasn't seen or felt a ghost there has been times when he's come into the first bedroom and seen the cradle there moving by itself.

You can actually take ghost walks in the castle in the autumn/winter and I'm hoping my boyfriend books one of those for us to do later on in the year!

Hoghton Tower as well as being visited by kings and queens also had famous writers to visit, namely, Shakespeare and Dickens. The tour guide told us its rumored that Shakespeare was a friend of the family and taught the children. On the other hand, it is know that Dickens based on of his short stories at the Tower which he visited when it was in some disrepair.

Close to the end of the tour and due to time, the group had to decided to visit the collection of dolls' houses or the priest hole and the well. We choice this last one which seemed more interesting. The house had many hidden holes and we got to see about three all together, though this last one you could really look inside it and get an idea of what it was like to have to hide inside.

The well was interesting because it was all inside and had a wooden mechanism to lower and rise the bucket. It was enclosed to protected from evading parties and insure the house had a supple of water. There was also a witch mark burned into the beam to keep evil away. The guide let some one drop a coin down and we heard after a good few seconds the splash of water.

The tour was really good and we learnt a lot!

I did mange to snap the below photos which were in a room and corridor from the tearoom to the toilets. Though the actual rooms inside the house were far grander.

This is a view looking into the gardens. I really wished we'd had time to visit them and the shop but we had only half an hour left after the tour and they had closed the shop early and my boyfriend was worried about traffic leaving the Tower.

I told him we'd have to come back one day to see the gardens and I'm sure we will.

So, if you are in the area of Hoghton Tower it's worth checking out! And that's it for today's post. I just want to leave you with a photo of my dog sunbathing. It's been really hot here for the last few days, surprisingly! And my dog is loving it. Me not so much though! I can't wait for it to get cooler again.

All photos belong to me.

If you want to check out Hoghton Tower here's the link to their webside; http://www.hoghtontower.co.uk/

May Life Update; Books and More Books!

2018-05-21T16:08:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

So I've now finished all the Harry Potters and I will get around to writing about them soon. I really need to get better at writing on here but I've just been busy and ill again and the whole job hunting is just a never ending spiral. Then when I think I should write on here, it's either gone past Monday or like today; I just didn't have time.

Well, tonight I'm staying up a bit to listen to the new Five Finger Death Punch album and it seemed a good time just to catch up on here. (Though, I have my doubts if anyone actually reads this blog anyway. But it's been my corner of the internet for awhile now, so I just carry on anyway!)

Take a look at the photo above! That stack of 24 books is my current to read pile! Not counting the 8 DeathNote mangas I have left in the series read and I hope I can review that at some point too. Yeah, so that pile should see me till the end of the year. I also have 9 books on amazon of which about two are out now and the rest on pre-order for autumn time and because some of those books I really want to read, I'll be pushing my pile further down when October comes!

The book aren't actually in my 'to read' order, yeah I do actually have one of those! So if you are interested here's my plan;

1. Rumblefish - actually finished last night!

2 and 3. The Outsiders and That Was Then And This Is Now - currently reading.

4. Fool Moon - 2nd Harry Desden, a surprise cheer up gift from boyfriend.

5. Wuthering Heights - had cravings for some English Lit classics.

6. Neverwhere -one of my favorite books.

7. American Gods - taking on holiday to Cornwall in July.

8. Dracula - Classic vampire novel!

9. Frankenstein - Everyone needs to read the true original novel.

10. The Monk - written in 1796! A true Gothic novel which I studied at uni.

11. The Handmaid's Tale - dystopia from one of the best writers on the genre.

12. Fight Club - 'the first rule of fight club is we don't talk about it!'

13. All Quiet On The Western Front - World War 1 was just as bad for the Germans.

14. Empire Of the Sun - surviving WW2 in Japan.

15. Alan Shaw - new steampunk fantasy story by an writer I'm supporting.

16. The Haunting - ghost story for Halloween

17. Dolly - creepy haunted doll.

18. The Small Hand - carry on being scared.

19. The Man In The Picture - last of the set.

20. Haunted Nights - An anthology of ghost stories.

22. Viking Myths and Sagas - Meant to be one of the best collections of Norse stories.

23. The Hero Of Ages - the 2nd in a fantasy trilogy, read the 1st last year.

24. The Well Of Ascension - 3rd one.

Of course, this list might change but that' a rough plan. At the moment the first 4 books are certain and so are 6 and 7, I guess it depends how much time I've before I go on holiday for Wuthering Heights as it might take me awhile to get back in to it. Shall see.

I really need to starting doing more book reviews on here. I've read some good books lately, including one that still haunts me! Plus, some of the books (about 13) in the list above I'm re-reading for like the 3rd or 4th time as part of my plan to re-read books I read at uni/ college/ high school. That was meant to be the whole idea this year because I was on a book buying ban, but I just can't help it. Books are my drug and I find my favorite writers publishing new ones and books I like the sound of and then people buy me them too and it's so hard not to give in. At least it's healthy, right?

I'll have to keep this list updated now and that'll probably happen on Goodreads which is my record of books now. https://www.goodreads.com/user_challenges/10477493/ My goal this year was to read 50 books and I've read 29 so far. Though, I might end up reading more then that but not 100 again, that was too much for me!

The other thing I wanted to share tonight is this;

My mum has been knitting elephants for the past few months and not because of some weird craze but because I want one for a friend of mine. The rainbow one was too small and so cute that I wanted to keep her anyway. The pink and white one is made of squares that took my mum ages to do, so she decided she wanted to keep her, (I'm currently pressing for an 'Elmer' multi-colored one like this!) Then grey one is the one for my friend because that turned out as I wanted and the two smaller ones were free in mum's knitting magazine this month.

I still hope that one day I can knit something like this but my brain finds it hard. I've been knitting a play cube, booties and mittens though and they've turned out fine. My next challenge is to knit a baby jacket in a single piece and get to grips with more decreasing and increasing! I'll share that one here if I get it right.

The album is almost over and it's just turned midnight so it's time for bed now. I'll have to come back soon to do my Harry Potter review.

Till then readers, goodnight.

April Life Update; Being Anemic.

2018-04-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

This is a quick post today. So, I've not been feeling great these past few weeks, I've had a bad head cold and then in infection in my leg. I've been blaming my tiredness and lack of motivation on those. Plus, my addiction to reading Harry Potter as also meant I've had little wanting to do anything else.

Yesterday, I had my 4 monthly hospital appointment for my long term health condition and though all my blood results looked good, my iron level didn't. It's something I've struggled with over the years and normally the doctor puts me on a course of iron tablets and that helps.

I've started to notice the signs myself over the last few years; the feeling of having a cold that never really develops, being tried and having no energy even after an okay night's sleep, not wanting to do much or not being able to decided what I want to do then just giving up on everything. then I take a few iron and multi-vitamin tablets and I improve again.

This time though it's super low, boarding on the worst it's been. So, the doctor said I had to have an iron transfusion. Which should help and then I can stop feeling so tried and unmotivated. I have to go into hospital to have it done. I have a fear that's a boarder line phobia of everything to do with hospitals. I don't like tablets or needles but it's not a phobia of them, I just think it's because I've only had a few good experiences of being in hospitals and all those bad experiences make me very nervous.

Hopefully, I can have it done at another hospital where I've had good experiences and the nurses there are much nicer. In any case, it's just another thing I've to get through.

On another note, I still have two book reviews I want to write at some point and of course my overall review of the Harry Potter books. I just finished book 4, so got another 3 to go. I'm really flying through them, so should have them all read by the end of the month now. It's just good to have something, easy to read and get swept into right now!

That's all I can write for the moment. Thanks for reading and hopefully, I'll be back to normal soon.

March Life Update: White Scar Cave.

2018-03-26T11:20:00.000-07:00

Hi readers,

I've been meaning to write for the past few weeks and then just not getting around to it! I've like three books I want to review on here too, so I really need to start that. Plus, I'm still job hunting and getting no where, though I'm sure you are all tried of hearing about that! Today, I thought I'd share with you my trip to a cave that I took with my boyfriend. He's really into them but it's been awhile since either of us visited any!

White Scar Cave is in the Yorkshire Dales next to a village called Ingleton. It was just over an hour's drive from my boyfriend's house in the Preston area. I was the driver for the day as he's not had any motorway experience yet but it was mostly countryside roads anyway which I've had nearly any experience off, whilst he - because he actually lives in the countryside, is kinda use to it. I was little scared but I did okay! Even when the SatNav took us along this single track, farmer's road and I almost ran over a dog that was sat on top of a hill on a blind bend!

We made it fine to the caves and back again though! And I got some more driving experience though, I really could do with some more countryside driving now! Sounds like some more trips to Yorkshire might be in the planning for the months ahead then.

White Scar Cave has guided tours every hour, so you can't access the caves by yourself. I don't think you'd want to anyway, not because it's easy to get lost - it's a one track trail, but because the ceiling is really low and the sections of the cave do flood. You follow a natural fast flowing small river though the caves which was how it was first discovered. Walking above the river, you first go down then up into a really large area. You have to wear a helmet at all times due to the low and pointy ceiling. Here's my boyfriend and I modeling these nice red ones!

The tour is an hour and 20 minutes with the walk a mile and bit. There are a few different chambers to enter and lots of things to see. They had labeled some of the most interesting stalagmites and stalactites as well as other features. Here's a photo of the information map.

The first thing we saw in the cave was this really loud waterfall! I've always liked waterfalls and this one was really cool.

The Witch's Fingers and the Judge's Head below were pretty interesting to look at. It's weird to think there's are naturally created over time.

This was the second free flowing waterfall further inside the caves. There was only a small spot at the side to walk passed if you didn't want to get wet! All the other waterfalls were going down the sides of the cave and not over like this one and the first one.

This feature is called the Devil's Tongue. Water was dripping off it and there was little choice but to try and walk under without getting wet! The guide said if you did get dripped on it was seven years bad luck! We just about avoided it, I think.

After almost crawling though a really low section and going up almost 100 steps we made it the Battlefield cavern. Here there were a lot of stalactites, an ice age rockfall and a prehistoric mud floor.

Just past that was this huge and really tall area. There were changing lights along the walls which made it so pretty. The guide said that cave explores had been in this area looking for another way into the cave as there's only one so far and it would be good to have another. It's also one of the deepest points underground too. At Christmas time, they have a Santa sitting here who gives out presents to the kids. - Sounds a really strange way to see Santa to me!

This is one of the upper tunnels which has been explored. People say they can see the outline of a woman's face on the left side of the image. The guide said she was know as The Witch. Below her at the bottom is the shape of her cat.

We had a great time exploring White Scar caves and there was a lot to wow over. Afterwards we visited the cafe and had lunch. Then we went to the shop which was packed full of cool things. I brought some postcards, crystal animals, a piece of amethyst and an eraser for my collection. My boyfriend surprised me with a cute wooden bat keyring he'd brought whilst I wasn't looking! I'd not even seen those key rings, so it made it even more of a surprise!

If you are in the are then these caves are with the visit!

Since I've not blogged in awhile, I wanted to share two more things today. Firstly, there's been a lot of snowy weather in England recently. It does snow here, but it's been awhile since it's been this bad! I've not been enjoying it that much due to ill health. But I do love that magic feel snow can create. This is a photo of my back gardening, showing how much snow we had over one night.

Then these are awesome icicles hanging off the kitchen window. Been an age since I last saw anything like this! They were really big too.

And this is my dog, Patch. It's taken her sometime to get use to the snow but now she loves running and playing in it.

Best though, she loves coming home and getting all warm and snuggled in her jumper and bed! I totally agree with her there.

I'm glad it spring has finally arrived now and I was hoping we'd seen an end to the snow. But it looks like we might get some more over Easter now! so maybe winter isn't just finished yet.

On another note, I'm currently reading the Harry Potter books again! It's been ages since I last read them. Probably, when the last book came out 2007 but then I might have read the third on again a few years later - that's always been my favorite! From my memory though, I've only read the last three books once. The other 4 I've read at least 3 or 4 times. It'll also be interesting to read them one after the other too.

Last night, I finished the first and started the second! I'm not sure if I'll do a review of them yet. Perhaps, I'll do one of the all together when I'm done.

Thanks for much reading. Here's hoping I can get those book reviews up soon!

Please check out my other blog; https://thestoryfiles.wordpress.com/ I'm taking part in the A-Z Challenge next week!

(Please note; all photos belong to me. Please don't use them.)

Book Review; Mostly Void, Partially Stars; Welcome to Night Vale Episodes 1

2018-02-05T06:57:00.000-08:00

Hi readers and welcome to Night Vale!

I've been a fan of the Night Vale podcast for sometime now. I've written about it before but if you don't know about it; Night Vale is a desert town which weird things happen, the normal becomes scary and nothing is ever as it seems. The stories are narrative in the form of a radio show which I think just adds to the mysterious and creepiness!

About two years ago, I reviewed the first Night Vale novel which I totally enjoyed and have linked below. I read the second novel - It Devours! Last year and loved that too, though I must have missed out reviewing it on here. Today we are looking the third book but not an actual novel from the Night Vale creators because this is actually the first volume of the podcast scripts!

Unlike with the novels, I strongly recommended listening to Night Vale before reading this book. There is so much more 'weight' to hearing aloud the scripts then reading them. There are events that come across so much better and stir emotions. Plus, the weather is a music piece which of course you can't listen to in the book!

This book was really brought out of the fans. There are introduction to each podcast which gives a small insight into how that one came about and I always liking learning that kind of stuff. It's not written like a lot of scripts I've read before and I guess that's because it's mainly one character. Though there are some stage directions and other characters do come in.

Cecil Palmer is the host of the show and I love is almost monotone voice. It's so calming and he just gives this natural feel to everything that's happening - though it's mostly unnatural and often scary! My favorite character is The Faceless Old Woman, maybe it's just because she's voiced by Mara Wilson, but I love the idea of her character - she lives in every home, is everywhere else and watching everyone and all the happenings of Night Vale all the time. She's an interesting, supernatural being.

Reading the podcasts actually showed me how much I'd not taken in from listening to them the first time around! I think because Night Vale has now developed more, it's strange to look back at the beginning when it wasn't so whole and defied. The little side stories and characters that appear and then don't come back until something bigger happens, it was interesting for me to see the seed of those ideas. The narrative isn't a consent flow and can't really be read in a novel form way. So, it's hard to talk about the plot. There's just a lot of things going on and some of those things become more important and others get lost.

For me, I did find reading the podcasts easier then listening to them because I have to force myself not to do anything whilst listening because I'm easily distracted by multi-tasking and then I realise that I've missed whatever has just been said. I need to make time to get back into Night Vale and catch up! I have the second volume of scripts to read next, so maybe after that I'll try and set some time aside in the evenings. I might not do a review of that book though, got some other stuff I want to write about, including; a series of manga I've been reading for the last few months, a few novels I read last year that are worth talking about and possibly reviewing the Harry Potter books which I plan to re-read all of for maybe the second or third time. I've re-read some of the book individual but not the whole set.

Overall, if you are a Night Vale fan and fancy seeing how the podcast scripts are created and/or you fancy some nostalgia of the desert town, then this is a good book to flip through. If you've not hear of Night Vale then give it ago. It's surprisingly gripping!

Thanks for reading, until next week. Goodnight, Night Vale, Goodnight!

Links;

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29634931-mostly-void-partially-stars

http://www.welcometonightvale.com/

http://hailscrazyblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/book-review-welcome-to-night-vale-novel.html

January 2018 Life Update; Job Hunting Fail.

2018-01-29T07:22:00.001-08:00

Dear readers,

Today's post is going to be brief because I'm not in a writing mood and I'm putting off switching out PCs. - My boyfriend give me his old computer and now the hard drive is full on mine, I've decided the time has come to say goodbye my computer and hello his. Hopefully, it'll all go fine!

On Friday, I had an interview of a job I really wanted - lead receptionist at a soon to be opening youth center. It's 40 minutes drive away and it was 30 hours a week. But the hours were going to be mostly evening and weekend which wasn't what I wanted but still it would have been good for me.

I thought the interview went well and my experience coming from another youth center and being able to train others to do the reception job was a bonus. There was room for improvement of course - firstly, I left my jacket at home and admitted that, when I shouldn't have done and I should've double checked I'd picked up everything before I left home! Secondly, there were some questions I should have answered in more detail and clearer, but sometimes it's hard when you feel on the spot to answer correctly and your brain goes and hides in a corner! Thirdly and this is always hard, I should have created a better impression at the beginning and end of the interview.

I know everyone judges each other all the time and first impressions account for everything but with me, I'm not good at first meetings. I've never been great socially. I love being alone and not having many friends, I guess because I've just had so many problems with friends in the past that for me I'm happy with my own company and realise that I'm better off that way. Saying all that though, I do have a habit of talking to strangers to make comments or suggestions. I think that comes from my mum though. I'm chatty to those I know and even more talkative to those I like. That's why I can pull off being a receptionist.

Appearance is also important and I know for a fact that people always get the wrong idea about me when they see me and mostly acted in a negative way. Only after you've gotten to know me do things get clearer here. And that's something you can't get across in an hour or two of meeting someone / being interviewed. I tried hard to always look good at interview - I never were jeans or trainers, low cut clothes. I wear black or red or blue skirts, with matching jackets, white or cream or blue blouses with black or blue boots. I hear some people just turn up in whatever and don't try to wear a suit!

Anyway, I got a phone call two hours later and the overall result from my interview was that I didn't have enough experience and they'd had a few people who had more experience and did better at the interview then I did. It was a total blow to hear that because I was a few months back and partly still now, doing the job! So how come there were more experienced people? I get they were better in interview, but I just find it hard to believe that they weren't even going to reflect on things longer. Did I do that badly? They wouldn't tell me - too busy.

This is now the third job interview where I've been told someone with more experience then me has gotten the job. I'm struggling to determine how to change that. Having YEARS of experience will always win over someone who's had months or only a year, that's a fact but how can I get years if no one will give me a chance? The other issue I've got is that my high level of education, so when I apply for level 1 jobs I'm over looked because of that. Which sucks because I still need to start off some place!

I try not to be too picky about applying for jobs but due to a number of things - disabilities, health issues, my pride, I won't apply for just any old job. There's no way I can work in a call center or sales. I tried being a charity street worker and that wasn't me, I've ruled out teaching and not just because I'll have to get the right qualifications, it's not for me. I can do retail but I'd have to find a place that understands my issues and is like a quiet shop to work in. I don't want to do a lot of traveling and I'd like to stay in one place. So, admin, receptionist, office jobs etc, have been my main go to. there's lost of jobs out there like this and lots of people applying, so it's harder. But I don't know what else to do.

If I could go back to college or uni to take a course which would then get me a job, I would do. But I can't offered that. So I'm trapped in a limbo and not sure how to get out. Everyone says to keep on going, you'll find something soon or realise what you could do instead. I guess that's what I have to do but it seems pointless to be chasing around a stick with no carrot on it.

Today is one of those days where I wish things were totally different. I hope that I find something soon.