Earl Grey Update

It’s been just over 6 weeks since I visited the local RSPCA shelter and came home with a new cat. Luckily, EG has been such a catalyst for settling the troubles between Evie Nyxx and Smokey. On his second night in the house he decided that he was not having anymore of this isolation sh*t, and he cried and kicked up such a fuss that I had to grab him late that night. He swanned into the bedroom with me, jumped up on the bed - much to the shock of Evie Nyxx and Smokey - and proceeded to snuggle down and purr up a storm. No one lashed out at him, and there were only a few grumbles and a small growl or two, and from that point on, EG was a member of the family.

Now, he gets into mischief with Phrynekinns, plays chase-me-Charlie through the house with the more recalcitrant Smokey, and has no fear about barging onto my lap, or chest, at night while I’m trying to cuddle Evie Nyxx.  He’s a delightful bundle of energy that has make a rather tense threesome into a calm and interactive foursome. Looks like this time, the fourth cat was the charm.

So, this (almost) happened

Yep, I nearly brought home the most gorgeous Alaskan Malamute.

Sadly, she was more than I could handle at the moment (with my health issues), so I decided it wouldn't be fair to her to adopt her.  However, I did find out that if she isn't adopted, she will be going to live with someone from an Alaskan Malamute Rescue group that will rehome this gorgeous old girl.

Instead, I came home with a new cat... my fourth cat!

He's a little hyper at the moment, so I'm going to wait a few days for him to calm down before trying to photograph and get some footage of him.  All I can say is that he is a gorgeous black fluffy cat that has fit in so quickly with the other three.

Let me know if you'd like me to do a video on my cats below.  And until I see you guys next time,

 

Just a little hiccup is all

Currently reading Pet Sematary 

Oh, boy.  Just when you think it’s safe to go back in the pool, Murphy’s Law strikes.

So. I had two videos that I was hoping to finish editing and get uploaded this week, but the internet gods have thrown a spanner in the works and I received notification that not only was my NBN Broadband going to be down this week, you know, for maintenance (yeah, right), but my power supply would also be in question this week as the electricity company also wants to do some maintenance... seriously, what are the odds for this?

That means that I’m not going to be editing diddley-squat because I do not want to loose any of my footage thanks to an ill timed outage, not that I will be able to upload it anyway. So, I’m falling back on my reading, and to my delight, I’ve been burning up the pages. I’ve already surpassed my goal of 100 books for the year (28 February), and I’m now chasing my highest page count of 45,000+ (set in 2017).  I’ve been discovering a lot of great new authors and series - thanks to the free books on Amazon Kindle - so I think I’ll try to put together a list of my favourite new authors/series.

Then there are the books that I’m trying very hard to read because a) they’re on my personal reading goals list for this year, and b) because I want to watch the adaptation, so I need to read the book.  So far I’m working my way through Pet Sematary by Stephen King, and I’m expecting The Meg blu-ray in the mail tomorrow so I’m downloaded the ebook.  For my #aclassicamonth challenge, I’ve decided to go with Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie so I can get it off my list.  However my #bigbook2019 progress has floundered because I have yet to pick up The Count of Monte Cristo.  Oops.

I’m currently flying through some new urban fantasy and paranormal cosy mysteries, but I’ll catch you up on those in a future post.  Now, I think you’re all up to speed on what’s happening, or not happening, so I’ll leave you here, and until I see you next time,

Just a quick update

Hi guys,

Sorry this is so rushed, but I’m on my iPad and all this hen-pecking typing is driving me nuts.

As you can see, I’m taking a little time out, but plan to be back after this heatwave and local bushfires calm down.

Thank you for watching (and subscribing! 🥰), and until I see you next time,

New addition to the family

Last Saturday RSPCA QLD was having a $50 adoption weekend for all adult cats and dogs.  Great!  I have been interested in getting a dog for a while now, and living in the country I would just feel a little bit more secure with a dog in the yard.  So I went on Saturday morning, waited 10 minutes until they opened - with about 6 other people - and when the gates opened I was off to the dog section.  Saw some lovely animals (they only had 4 on display), and only one of those was a contender.  A beautiful, shy girl who had a slight malformation of the jaw (which didn't bother me as long as she was healthy) but unfortunately she was way too big for me to feed!  

So, discouraged, I swung past the cat cage as I was leaving - and you just know what happened next!

Yes, I found another furry friend to bring home.  Smokey was just so sweet and desperate to be patted.  If I went out of his sight he meowed, and when I opened his cage he almost jumped into my arms and snuggled his head under my chin.  The big mooch knew exactly what to do to worm his way into my affections.

  

I paid my $50 and brought him home only to face my next obstacles. . . Evie Nyxx and the Kinder.  How the hell was I going to introduce this smoochy man to two female adult cats (who have a tight bond!) without WWIII breaking out every few minutes?  Thank God I have a spare bedroom, because that is where he spent the majority of the first 4-5 days.  I'd sit with him for chunks of time, bring him out for limited cuddling on the couch, and also take him in for quick visits with the girls.  It's now day 7 and he is finally able to wander around the house all day without being snarled at.

Evie Nyxx and Kinder have been very good.  They are still a little hesitant of his place in the social hierarchy, but I expect that squabble to come over the next couple of days, perhaps weeks.  I'm keeping a close eye on things at the moment because when I got Smokey (perhaps a future name change to Shadow?) he was only just over 2.5kg and is quite a skinny and wobbly little man.  I think over the next few weeks he'll put on a few kg's (at least another 2) and I'll feel better about him being able to defend himself if needed.  At the moment the girls would totally flatten him.

As you can see, he has interesting colouring.  The papers say he's a Black Smoke Tabby.  I'd never heard of that so of course I Googled it.  Apparently it is not a common colouring, but when you see his marking, in person so to speak, they are quite subtle and it takes a while for your eyes to make out the stripes on his body.  Easier on his tail and legs, but when he's put on more weight, and the fur regrows on his front leg (shaved for his op - snip, snip!) I'll try to take some better photo's of him.  Like Kinder, he has a knack for moving his head right as I take the picture.  Frustrating, but feels pretty good when I finally get a picture of them sitting still enough to be in focus ;-D

With a new cat in the house I haven't had much time for reading.  I've picked up the new paperback of End of Watch by Stephen King, and have ordered a few more books that I found on special while perusing Book Depository.  Hopefully they will arrive by the end of next week.  Luckily the new boy is a huge smoochy snuggler so I can get some cuddles while I rug up on the couch to read this winter.  Unfortunately, so is Evie Nyxx.  If there is to be a battle, I think who sleeps on the bed, or couch, next to me might be it!

Will let you know how it goes.  And until next time,

 

November madness

Foggy start to the day (5:30am)

Already it's been a weird, mad, insane month.  The weather is absurdly hot for November where I live.  It's already been up to 35°c (95°f), which is about 7 degrees above average, and so hot and dry!  At the moment it's overcast, and yet I'm sitting at the computer with the window open and a desk fan on - and yet when I woke up this morning there was fog everywhere!  Hoping for thunderstorms to try and relieve some of this heat.

Then, to add insult to injury (so to speak), I awaited the results of the US Election.  That was the biggest load of crap!  I can't believe that they would elect a completely unqualified individual, who not only had the backing of the KKK (wtf!), but also has a hate-on for minorities, women, immigrants (seriously, doesn't he realize that his ancestors were immigrants once?!), and anyone in the LGBTQ community.  He also sees nothing wrong with assaulting women as he's rich and powerful and that makes it ok.  And this is the president America would rather have than a qualified and educated woman.

On to a different topic as that just makes me mad/sick when I think about it.

Okay, now on the book front it's been a much more exciting month.  I have once again given in to temptation and bought waaaay too many books online.  I've already received a chunk of them, but there are still 16 books I'm waiting for in the mail - sixteen!  How did this happen?  Okay, I know how it happened, but where did my self control go?  Obviously it's been on an extended vacation somewhere... most likely on Harmony playing with the dust bunnies.

So to help me curb my over enthusiasm of late, here is a list of what I've bought (and still waiting for!) so that I can look at it when I feel the urge to splurge...

Evelina, Howards End, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Far From the Madding Crowd, Vanity Fair, Tom Jones, Ethan Frome, Wives and Daughters, Doctor Thorne, The Small House at Allington, The Warden, The Way of All Flesh, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Night Walks, Conspicuous Consumption, Heart of Obsidian, The Arsene Lupin Omnibus, Melmoth the Wanderer, A Natural History of Dragons, The Castle of Otranto, In A Glass Darkly, Christine, The Magicians Guild, Cast in Flight, The Burning Lamp, Archangel's Heart, The Eyes of the Dragon,  The Name of the Wind, Making It Up As I Go Along, Maskerade, Moving Pictures, The Mystery Woman, and finally The Dragon Griaule, not to mention the 10 or so books I've picked up from the local thrift shops!

And that is only back over what I've bought since the 14th of last month!  I've recently had a real thing for Penguin English Library books as you can probably tell from the list above (titles in blue).  Most of them are for next years reading challenge I'll be setting for myself, and I'll be starting to collect a few of the Penguin Great Ideas as well, again for another challenge.

When all my books are in I'll have to put them all on a table somewhere and take a group picture, so to speak, just to show you the actual size of my recent bookmail.  Where the hell am I going to fit all of these books?  Looks like I'll just have to buy another bookcase ;-D

Oops, just glanced out the window and it looks like there is a storm on the way so I'm going to have to quickly post this update and get off the computer.  Like I said earlier, this weather is nuts!

Until next time,

 

All moved in

Already on my way to the new house (8th September, 2016)

I am finally in my new home.  I can't tell you how amazing it is to be in a nice quiet neighbourhood where the only noise I wake up with is the chorus of birds each morning.  Bliss...

However, moving day was a bitch.  I took two carloads of stuff up before the movers were due (stopped to take a pic of the sunrise as it was amazing!) and felt like a wrung out washcloth before the morning was over.  The movers took forever to get all my stuff boxed up and loaded.  Unloading was by far the quickest job, but the carport was wall-to-wall boxes with only a narrow path to navigate through.  How did I end up with so much stuff?!  By the time they finished unloading all my stuff, they had been on the road for over 11 hours!  They had stopped by my childhood home first to pick up my huge bookcase, as well as the old piano (and 2 couches), but even after they were done they still had a 2½ to 3 hour trip back to look forward to.  However, they were great.  No breakages, no lost items.  Just a lot of hard work and friendly conversations.

It's now over a week and a half later and I am still swimming in boxes.  Empty boxes, full boxes, half dug through boxes.  It will be a red letter day when I finally have the last of the unboxing done.  Thankfully the very nice Telstra man who fixed my landline was also moving soon and was happy to take any boxes that we left out for him.  Yeah!  I don't have to figure out what to do with a gazillion empty boxes ;-D  But when I get to that final box, perhaps I'll set it on fire?  I'll just have to wait and see. 

So while the house is slowly being whipped into a semblance of order, the yard is another story.  It's getting so unkept looking already.  It has bucketed down rain at least every second day since I've been here - which would be great under other circumstances - but I only just got a lawn mower (didn't need that in a unit!), so I need to wait for the ground to dry out a bit before I head on out to cut the jungle that is my front lawn.  Ah, the joys of being a homeowner ;-D

On the reading front, since I'm still unboxing, my bookshelves look like a train wreck.  I have my three big bookcases spread throughout the house.  Will be splitting the books up into genres I think so that I can just go to a bookcase when the mood strikes.  Discovered I need to buy a slender tall set of bookshelves to house my classics as they take up too much space on my big bookcase, but there are too many of them for one of my smaller bookcases.  Would have loved to put all my books in the one room, but they just wouldn't fit.  Bummer... oh well, a problem for another day.

My first bookmail arrived to the new address and while I still need to read my newly purchased title for my September Miss Marple challenge, A Caribbean Mystery, the move has put my 'A Classic a Month' challenge on hold.  Still, 10 classics during the year is nothing to sneeze at either.

Hopefully the weather will sort itself out soon, and I can post some book pics from around the garden for IG.  I really miss not being able to just snap a couple of pics when the mood strikes.  Finger's crossed that I can get back into the swing of things soon - once this whole moving mess is sorted out ;-D

Until next time,

 

Quick update

Sorry for the lack of posts, but moving is a real time suck.  My current place is a mess and I have stuff everywhere, and I've almost finished organizing all the annoying details like new address notifications to the million and one businesses, government departments, or social clubs as well as arranging for utilities at the new house.  Can't wait until its all over and I can sit back and relax with a book on the deck with a glass of something yummy while I listen to the sounds of silence (aka, no noisy neighbours!).

Read quite a few books over the last couple of weeks.  At least one good thing about moving is that you uncover books that you'd forgotten you even owned.

Anyway, until the move is over - and I'm connected to the internet again - I think this will be my last blog post (though I'll still be posting Instagram pics).

Can't wait to post some pics from the new house!

Until then,

House update

Okay, we have now passed the 'cooling off' period, and the house is officially listed as UNDER CONTRACT!  Had a mini freak out when the bank would not let the money out of the account when we wanted it (had to wait 31 days!), but it's been sorted out and we have a new date for closure.  Thankfully there were no existing plans in place in regards to movers,  and we can now arrange them - as well as organize the other million and one details associated with moving - accordingly. 

Can't wait to get into this home and finally set up my own library and sewing room!

I am already falling into the trap of mentally planting the gardens, and arranging the furniture, and I know I shouldn't do this until I get the keys in my hands as anything could go wrong in the next couple of weeks.  But, my fingers are crossed oh, so tightly because I think this house is just what I am looking for - and I want to be moved in by this time next month!

In the meantime, there is not much happening on the reading front.  I will try to get to my August Miss Marple, The Mirror Crack'd, read, but realistically that will probably be the only book I consume this month as trying to organize and sort through all the stuff to pack, as well as cleaning and doing the usual household chores, is really kicking my butt at the moment.  My poor wrists (and now my back) are very sore at the moment, pins and needles all through it, which means that I'm only going to do a few small jobs today.  No point in pushing it and being totally out of commission.

Keep your fingers crossed that all goes well.  I'll update my move as it gets closer.

Until next time,

 

Have to cut back on the typing, doctor's orders

PS - had to take this photo 4 times to finally get one that wasn't fuzzy!

The worst thing about getting older is the sense that you are falling apart.  Well, at least that's how I'm feeling at the moment.  Over the past 18 months I've been having trouble with my feet - turns out is was plantar fasciitis - and with my right wrist.  For the longest time I was told it was just tendonitis.  I have a brace for it as the pins and needles at night were excruciatingly painful.  Then my left wrist started to display the same symptoms.  I had an ultrasound scan on them a few weeks ago, and it turns out that I have carpal tunnel in both wrists.  I don't do things by halves, do I?

Winter is a particularly unpleasant time, as the cold weather is making my wrists (and ankle) rather stiff and sore.  Hopefully now that I know what it is I can finally get either some physio, or in the future surgery if needed, to make this very painful and irritating condition go away.

Why am I telling you this?

Well, for starters, it means that typing out long reviews or posts is very hard.  Taking photos is a pain as I find that I get the shakes and end with fuzzy pictures... I hate that!  It also means that reading has become a bit of a marathon as holding a book for hours, and turning the pages if I hold it in one hand, can set of hours of pain in my wrists.  However, with a little bit of ingenuity - and a small travel neck pillow - I now have a small book holder that helps at times.

So if I don't post anything for a week or so you know know why.  I'm taking the doctors advice and resting my wrists.  Totally inconvenient when there are also house chores to be done, but I'd rather be a bit behind in my laundry then suffering through hours of pins and needles that leave me feeling like my hand has just been skinned!

But I will be soldiering on and adding reviews, photo's and stuff... I'll just be a tad slow about it.  I love uploading photo's and even if only one person comments, then I'm happy ;-D

Until next time,

Oh, I'll try to have my Top 5 Wednesday post up tomorrow.