Silent Sunday

Have a flutter round twitter and search #silentsunday for more marvellous pictures.

One picture, no words innit.

How to dodge a falling satellite

Feeling slightly nervous sat here actually.

Apparently there is a 6 tonne satellite going to crash into earth early this evening (UK time).

Image from BBC.co.uk


Fortunately it will break up into smaller pieces but the largest is the weight of an average man. So that's alright then. It is expected that the debris will cover an area of up to 300 miles wide and will be travelling at about 240mph when it hits. Ouch!

What are the chances of being hit by 1 of these pieces? Guess anyone? 1 in 21 trillion. The odds are better on winning the Euromillions lottery so I've bought a ticket. Tomorrow, I will either be celebrating big style, nursing a bump to the head, or carrying on as normal and washing my windows.

Helpfully the advice from the UK Space Agency is if you spend all day looking at the sky, you are more likely to bump into something and hurt yourself that way than be hit by falling debris. And don't bother trying to get out of range (head for Scotland). You are more likely to have an accident travelling than be hit by debris.

In summary, the way to avoid being hit by a falling satellite is to stay indoors, just in case you are the 1 in 21 trillionth person.

Good luck everyone!

Room by Emma Donoghue - Review

 As a parent you might pick up this book, read the blurb and think 'Maybe a bit too sinister and likely to render me a quivering useless wreck'.

Yes I know, not exactly a glowing review opening sentence but realistically, who would want to read about a teenage girl being kidnapped, held captive for years, being repeatedly raped, conceiving, giving birth in an outbuilding and bringing up a child in one single room? Well me apparently!

The concept of this book I thought was brilliant, very current and definitely appealing to a dark side of my personality. I was intrigued to see how the author would develop a plot, create narative and keep me hooked when there are essentially 2 characters and a single room. But she did.

The book is narrated by the son of the captive girl who describes his adventures and explores his world in a wonderfully innocent and beautiful way. He tells us about his world in such depth and colour that you would not possibly believe that it is just one room. But to him that is all he has ever known. No windows, just one door through which the night man comes and brings food and sunday treats and takes away rubbish. He has never seen the night man because when he comes he must hide in the wardrobe and wait there until Mama says he can come out.

As he grows, so does his curiosity and so does his Mama's anguish and depression. Yet there is hope. There is another world outside the room.

On occasion, the boys voice wasn't quite right and didn't fit a 5 year old. He used some very advanced vocabulary mixed with some niave words that just jarred for me.  But having said that, he isn't a normal 5 year old is he? And I much preferred the first half of the book to the second half, finding that it was just too offhand and not really believable. I did lose interest towards the end but the writing was excellent and a novel I would recommend, if only for the first half of the book!

I read this book as part of Dulwich Divorcee's Book Club! I look forward to the next interesting read!

The A to Z of Me

Disclaimer: I was tagged to do this meme by Actually Mummy. I would not normally share any of this information (well okay, a couple of exceptions) in the course of a 'getting to know you' conversation. Having said that, it did make me think a bit!

ANORAK…Do you have a sad side? I like lists, and stationary, and before children I alphabetised my CD collection and if I had a library I would colour group my books because I think it looks nice. So yes, I am a bit sad.

BODY…What physical attribute would you most like to change? My mummy tummy. A nice flat taut one is on my Christmas list.

CELEBRITY…Which one would you most like to date and why? John Cusack. It is a crush that I can't seem to shift.

DEBUT …Tell us about your first ever blog post. What made you start blogging? I blame Actually Mummy. She started it. I love writing and I just needed a little tiny kick in the right direction. Now I can't stop. Sorry.

ERROR …What’s been your biggest regret? I have no regrets. I believe in fate and anything that has happened was for a reason. It has got me where I am today and will get me to where I want to ultimately be. Blimey, I'm not normally that philosophical.

FUNNY – who’s making you laugh? My Mr. Comedians rarely make me laugh out loud. Oh and there are a few twitterers out there who can get me LOLing

GRAND…If we gave you one right now what would you spend it on? A new wardrobe. And then some clothes to put in it! Ha ha. No Just clothes.

HOLIDAY… What’s your favourite destination?  North Norfolk coast and the Lake District in UK. South of France in Europe. And New York.

IRRITATE… What’s your most annoying habit? Wiggling my foot while I watch TV. It drives my Mr mad.

JOKER…Whats your favourite joke {the one that makes you laugh everytime you hear it}? I am rubbish at jokes and can never remember them. Can I come back to you on that one?

KENNEL… Do you have any pets? Misty Moo the dog. We adopted her when she was 3 and we've had her 7 years now. She doesn't look a day older.

Misty the Mooster

LOVE…Are you single, married, engaged, living with a long term partner? Married. Yep, definitely married.

MEAL… Whats your ultimate starter, main and dessert? Garlic king prawns, filet steak with skinny fries and then a rich chocolate mousse. And coincidently, for dinner tonight we are having.... fish fingers and chips #fail.

NOW…If you could be anywhere right now where would you be and who with? With my Mr, drinking good coffee or wine (depending on the time of day) on a restaurant terrace overlooking the sea somewhere warm, ie not North Norfolk Coast.

OFF DUTY…What do you do in your spare time? *snorts* what's that?

PROUD MOMENTS …What are you most proud of? Getting my MBA and staying sane through the summer holidays sans the Mr.

QUEASY …What turns your stomach? Sick! The smell of sick! Seeing sick! Bleurgh!

RELAX…How do you relax? Brain numbing TV or reading a book. Both help me switch off.

SONG…Whats your favourite song of all time? Tom's Diner by Suzanne Vega. There is just something about it that I love. 

TIME …If you could go back in time and relive it again, when would you choose? Well those years post wedding and pre children were fun so I'd love to relive those, lazy days and crazy days but it would be good if we didn't have to work so much!

UNKNOWN…Tell us something about yourself that no one else knows? Gawd, you lot know everything. Ooh, I know. I have a tattoo. I'll just leave that one hanging...


VOCAL…. Who is your favourite artist? Take That but not Robbie. (Yeah, i know I'm weird)

WORK….. What is your dream job, and are you doing it now? I wouldn't call a 'stay at home mum' a dream job, so no. But when I am a retail guru (think Mary Portas) and have published a novel on the side, then I would say I was doing my dream job.

XRAY…Any broken bones? My left humerus and no it wasn't funny.

YIKES…What’s been your most embarrassing moment? I had just started a new job and was whisked to a confectionery conference where I bonded with my new colleagues over dinner and drinks, and more drinks and a few more drinks. I wasn't very well the next day and sampling chocolate didn't sit well. I didn't quite make the toilets and was sick in one of the large bins right in front of a trade stand. *blushes*

ZOO…. If you were an animal, which one would you be? A ring tailed lemur.

As tradition dictates I am now required to tag some bloggers so here goes *searches frantically for bloggers who haven't already been tagged*

@BodForTea

@crummymummywd

@ChaosKay

@somethingblue_2

This meme was started by The Real Housewife of Suffolk County and here is a link to a blank form for you to use.

Silent Sunday

 

No linky anymore :-( but you can go to twitter and search #silentsunday for plenty more fab photos.

Filofax P0rn!

Oh darn it!

I just went a spent a fortune... no wait! I didn't spend a fortune. Yay to thrifty living :-)

That lovely lady over at Typecast only went and found 9euro Filofaxes here. (er, except they seem to have finished the promotion - sorry!).

Yes, 9 euros.

So it was rude not to really.

And the clever postman brought them to me today, just when I needed cheering up :-)

This filofax reminded me of the Famour Five, so it was perfect for me to use as my writing notebook. The 2011 and 2012 diary (in German) can be discarded so I can fill it with lovely colourful notepaper.

 

And I needed a new purse very badly. I had expected it to be bigger (I really should read the small print) but it is perfect for credit cards and money of the folding variety. And the little touch of Swarovski is squeally lovely. Unbelievably the purse was originally 159 euros!

Happy me :-)

Unwrinkle me

There have been a couple of significant events this week:

1. I had a haircut. This is an infrequent event. I am happy with the results.
2. While sat in front of the mirror at the hairdressers, I had plenty of (too much) time to look at myself. This is a aspect of hairdressing I do not like. In so doing I was able to assess that I am aging. I have wrinkles.
3. I am writing.

Two of these things excite me.
One does not.

According to my hairdresser one of the above things is a direct consequence of the other two.

I HATE having a fringe. A suntanned forehead will become a wrinkled forehead. I should have a fringe according to my hairdresser. This fringe will serve 2 purposes:

1. Prevent further sun damage and further worsening of the wrinkles.
2. Hide the wrinkles that I already have.

But I HATE fringes (on me specifically).

Writing is also causing wrinkles. I frown when I concentrate. I concentrate when I write.

So there are 3 things I can do about my wrinkles:

• Get another haircut which features a fringe.
• Stop writing.
• Buy anti wrinkle cream.

I have bought anti wrinkle cream.

PS. Any manufacturers or PR's of anti wrinkle cream who would like me to test their product, feel free to contact me. I will gladly review and write a post on the results ;-)

PPS. In writing this post I have also discovered that you can buy clip in fringe hair pieces! Who'd a thunk it?