Monthly Round Up-May

Each month I like to keep a record of what I have been reading, watching, making and places I have been so that I can look back and see what I achieved and even how quickly time is going by. I normally.record it on my planner as a list but on here I can also put photos on.

Places I have been

At the beginning of the month I went with Craig and Emma to see Mary Poppins. There were a few changes to the original story but it was still very enjoyable and the cast were amazing.

As it was the school holidays and Craig took a week off as well we went for a few days out to The British Ironworks Centre

Erdigg Hall near Wrexham

and into Manchester to see amongst other things the John Rylands Library 

What I have watched

What I have Read

I listened to this book and it was the abridged version so a lot shorter than the book itself. I might get round to actually reading the full story as I did enjoy what I read.

This was the last book in the series. They were all large books and took a long time to get through. Interesting mix of fact and fiction.

I needed something light and easy to read and I just love the whole Agatha Raisin series. Busy Body was a re-read as I read it out of sequence and As the Pig Turns was the most gruesome of the stories so far.

What I have made.

I seem to have lost my crafting mojo a bit this year but I have also been working on some big projects that are taking a long time to complete. I have been wanting to make something to cover the shelves. I had to remove the doors to the cupboard as when we bought a new gas oven, the pipe was at a different angle which meant it was not flush with the cupboards and it was very difficult to get into this corner unit as I could not open the doors fully enough to reach inside easily. The Alice in Wonderland fabris was left over from a dress I have made.

Happy Homemaker Monday - week commencing 22nd January 2024

Another Monday, it only seems like 5 minutes since last week. January is flying by. I hope things start to slow down otherwise before you know it Christmas will be upon once more. It is my Stepmother-in-laws funeral on Thursday afternoon so it will be a busy day getting everything done in work by lunch time before attending the funeral in the afternoon. It is only a small quiet service which is why I am not taking the whole day off even though I knew I could. Emma will miss it as she is currently in Iceland with her boyfriend, Sam. I am a bit jealous as I would like to go there as well. She is in Reykjavik so safely away from the volcano.

This week we do not have an evening where we can all sit down for a meal together until Sunday so the meals listed might not apply to the rest of the family on different nights.

Menu plan

Monday-  Chicken stir fry

Tuesday- Braised beef with carrot and swede mash

Wednesday- Chicken Korma

Thursday - Chilli loaded wedges

Friday- Slimming World ready meal ( I am the only one home)

Saturday- Spaghetti Carbonara

Sunday- Roast dinner

From the camera

Last week I went on a school trip to Chester Zoo. It was the best visit I have had as I could get to see the animals and they seemed as interested in us as we were with them. I managed to take some photos of the animals so here are just a few.

On my to-do list

My main task for this week is to complete a quilt that I have been working on for a VERY long time. I have only worked on it when I went to quilting group once a month for two hours and it is an English paper pieced quilt and all hand sewn (except the quilting). I just have to sew the binding on which I hope to complete this week then that is my longest outstanding to do completed.

What I am reading / listening to.

The book club choice for this month is 'How to Kill your Family' by Bella Mackie. I am listening to that as I have found that as I have not chosen those books and I have the time constraint that listening to them whilst I am driving to and from work is the most efficient way of completing the book. It has also been the only way I would have completed some of the previous choices. I am however, enjoying this book.' I am reading 'Agatha Raisin, Pushing up Daisies' by M.C Beaton. I have read most of the Agatha Raisin books and just have a few left. It is an easy and enjoyable read for when you don't want something to complicated.

Hope you all have a good week and are managing to find a little time for yourselves.

Deborah

Books I have read in 2023

 I managed the grand total of 27 books in 2023 which probably is not a lot by some people's standards but working full time, crafting, housework, family and the W.I. means that I am kept busy for most of the time. 

I am not going to go into detail for every book as that would just take far too long but I will do a little about my favourite books of the year. I don't have a specific genre or author that I like to read, I tend to make my decisions on whether other people have enjoyed it, the cover or the blurb. Some of these books I would not have chosen myself as they are the book club choices that I go to once a month. 

So here is the list, let me know if you have read any of them and what you thought. They are separated into books I enjoyed but would not read again, books I did not like and books I loved.

Books I enjoyed reading.

    

          

    

     

   

   

  

  

Books I did not enjoy

Although I liked the overall story I could not stand Tom Ripley. Apparently the film is supposed to be a lot better than the book. 

I just found the descriptive writing was too much for me. I could see why it was once on the English Literature O'level syllabus.

Who could have thought you could go wrong with Agatha Christie? Apparently you can and this book is in the top 100 worst books ever written list and I can see why. (I did not know this before I chose it)

Books I loved

It was the mention of the self cleaning house that hooked me when I was reading the blurb. I love the fact it is not a young woman who is the lead character but a single mum with a teenage daughter who did not even know she was a witch as her powers had been kept from her to protect her. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series this year.

The Tudors are one of my favourite periods in history to read about. Obviously this is fiction but is was interesting to read a book based on a real character and some real events.

This has become one of my all time favourite books. The blurb  and any description I could give does not do it justice. How the author came up with upper class Victorian ladies who are actually pirates but have flying houses instead of  ships and the male lead being hired to either kill, kidnap or protect the main female lead depending on who hired him is totally remarkable. I laughed out loud at some of the incredulous lines and speeches made. Totally bonkers but brilliant. I am definitely going to be reading the other books by this author.

   

    

   

        

What I have been doing in August

 

It has been a while since I have posted one of these types of posts. Even though I have been keeping lists I never got round to writing them up. But I guess now things are hopefully slowing down then I will be able to find the time to do more of these. 

Reading 

The book club choice was ‘The Girls’ by Lisa Jewell.

The Blurb

You live on a picturesque communal garden square, an oasis in urban London where your children run free, in and out of other people’s houses.
You’ve known your neighbours for years and you trust them. Implicitly.
You think your children are safe.
But are they really?
Midsummer night: a thirteen-year-old girl is found unconscious in a dark corner of the garden square. What really happened to her? And who is responsible?

 The last few books we have read at the Book Club have involved death and mysterious disappearances and I have been rather fed up with the gloomy themes. Although this book  I thought was going to be along the same lines it had lots of twists and turns and subplots that kept you guessing right up to the end as to what really happened. It had a happier outcome as well which stopped me from disliking it. I liked the fact that the story was told from 3 different perspectives. I can understand the reasoning behind what happened to the characters in the end but I wasn’t entirely happy as if it was my daughter that had been found unconscious would I have agreed with what happened to the culprit.

 Agatha Raisin and the Witches Tree by M C Beaton.

The Blurb

Toil and trouble in store for Agatha!

Cotswolds inhabitants are used to bad weather, but the night sky is especially foggy as Rory and Molly Harris, the new vicar and his wife, drive slowly home from a dinner party in their village of Sumpton Harcourt. They struggle to see the road ahead - but then screech to a halt. Right in front of them, aglow in the headlights of their car, a body hangs from a lightning-blasted tree at the edge of town. But it's not suicide; Margaret Darby, an elderly spinster of the parish, has been murdered - and the villagers are bewildered as to who would commit such a crime, and why.

Agatha Raisin rises to the occasion, delighted to have some excitement back in her life as if truth be told, she was getting bored of the long run of lost cats and divorces on the books. But Sumpton Harcourt is an isolated and unfriendly village, she finds a place that poses more questions than answers. And when two more murders follow the first, Agatha begins to fear for her reputation - and her life. That the village has its own coven of witches certainly doesn't make her feel any better...

 Not my favourite Agatha Raisin story as I felt it concentrated too much on what was going on in Agatha’s personal life rather than the murders. Light reading though for when you just want to lose yourself in a book without having to think

 Watching

Only Murders in the Building  Disney+

 This series caught my eye whilst we were on holiday and the second season was about to be released. I ending up binge watching both series over a couple of weeks. There are 10 episodes in each season. The first season covers the murder of a young man in the building who turns out to be connected to Mabel (Selena Gomez) who is one of the group investigating the murder for a podcast. rThe second series they have to prove that they did not murder the building manager by finding the real killer. The generational gap between Mabel and Charles (Steve Martin) and Oliver (Martin Short) somehow works probably better than it would in real life. In both seasons there are various twists, turns and surprises which keep you wanting to watch. In some of the scenes you have to suspend your belief as they simply would not happen (Everyone singing Sound of Silence in series 2 as an example) but it is billed as a comedy drama so I guess that covers that aspect.

I am Groot – Disney+

 Who can resist Baby Groot? This is a series of 'shorts' where Groot goes on different adventures. Each episode is less than 5 minutes but they cram in so much. We watched these as a family in one evening as we were going to watch 'She Hulk' but had got the release date wrong so ended up watching Groot.

Making

Time just seems to have flown by this month and I feel that I have been really busy yet also feel like I haven’t achieved a great deal in any area, crafting being the one I feel has suffered the most.

 Macrame Infinity bracelet

This was with the W.I craft club. It was quite simple to make once I got the hang of which way the cord needed to go. Everyone had issues about whether they had gone left or right for the knots which caused a great deal of amusement amongst the ladies but for us all it is more about the social aspect than producing a perfect finished item.

 

 Knitted Gryfinddor Hat

Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of this completed as Craig gave it to our nephew before I had chance to take a photo. It was from a kit that I had bought in the reduced section from ‘The Range’. I did realise that maybe I do need to do a gauge swatch for items going forward that need to be a specific size as the hat was meant for an adult but ended up being a little too snug. At least the scarf I am working on next won’t need one.

 

What Else

 Six The Musical

After it being cancelled 4 times previously Emma and I finally got to see ‘Six, The Musical’. The musical is a modern retelling of the stories of the 6 wives of Henry VIII who are in a battle to become the lead singer of the pop group. The winner would be the Queen who suffered most at Henry’s hands. It is in the form of a pop concert and it did have that feeling even though it was a play. You could even film the ‘concert’ at the end.  It was worth waiting for and the soundtrack is now a regular play on my Amazon music playlists.

 Highclere Castle

It has been 5 years since I expressed an interest in visiting Highclere Castle after being a fan of Downton Abbey since the first episode. I finally got to visit this month as an early birthday present. I will write a separate post on this visit otherwise it will just be too long.