Weekly Update No36

My weight is coming down again - yey!  I'm not doing anything that radical, other than only eating when I'm hungry (yes, I know it's obvious, but after years of conditioning that I should eat at certain times, I should finish what's on my plate, and if you're happy (celebrate) or sad (commiserate) you do so with food, it's a hard habit to break).

I've been quite busy recently too.  Between getting back into the dance habit, getting into the school habit, helping with homework, helping friends, and trying to get on top of my mess of a house and home educate my youngest, there has not always been time for what I want to do - including updating this blog and my FB page.

On the good side, my mental health has been improving recently, and I have my first proper meeting with the therapist this week, so that should help.  I've not been able to read as much as I like, as I don't have as much free time as I did.  Previously I could read for 30min or so whilst waiting for the girls' dance lessons to finish, whereas now I'm having to drop DD2 off, rush back home to pick up DD1 after school, bring DD2 back home and then either go to work or somewhere else.

I've finally finished catching up on the latest series of The Handmaid's Tale on TV (The book is excellent, I highly recommend it.  The TV series started following the book, but later series, the TV-plot has gone further) and I want to watch the latest series of The 100 which has recently started back on TV.  That's not forgetting I still haven't had time to watch Stranger Things or Orange Is The New Black.  All of which is not help by me being tired and going to bed early so I have some hope in getting up in time for DD1 to go to school in the morning.

Which brings me back round to my weight - the only other new thing I'm doing is that I've started drinking a cup of [gingerbread] coffee [with caramel syrup] in the morning, and having a small bowl of porridge, which staves off hunger until lunchtime or beyond.

After Math by Denise Grover Swank

Yet another book by Denise Grover Swank that I've read, After Math is a story about a quiet maths student who reluctantly tutors jock Tucker in order to gain funding for the maths department. 

Another book I read in a day, I related to because of my own geekiness in studying Engineering at uni.  Not that this situation happened to me of course, I wasn't good enough at uni to offer tuition to other students, needing to be helped myself, though I blame that entirely on studying at Oxford uni, rather than any lack of ability on my own part. 😉 

As Scarlett tutors Tucker, she sees a side to him that is hidden to the outside world.  He has demons, and causes her to reflect on her own past and how it has influenced and shaped her present and future.

The blurb says:

Scarlett Goodwin’s world is divided into Before and After.

Before she agreed to tutor Tucker Price, college junior Scarlett was introvert, struggling with her social anxiety disorder and determined to not end up living in a trailer park like her mother and her younger sister. A mathematics major, she goes to her classes, to her job in the tutoring lab, and then hides in the apartment she shares with her friend, Caroline.

After junior Tucker Price, Southern University’s star soccer player enters the equation, her carefully plotted life is thrown off its axis. Tucker’s failing his required College Algebra class. With his eligibility is at risk, the university chancellor dangles an expensive piece of computer software for the math department if Scarlett agrees to privately tutor him. Tucker’s bad boy, womanizer reputation makes Scarlett wary of any contact, let alone spending several hours a week in close proximity.

But from her first encounter, she realizes Tucker isn’t the person everyone else sees. He carries a mountain of secrets which she suspects hold the reason to his self-destructive behavior. But the deeper she delves into the cause of his pain, the deeper she gets sucked into his chaos. Will Scarlett find the happiness she’s looking for, or will she be caught in Tucker’s aftermath?

It's an easy to read romance, suitable for young adults/teens.  Light-hearted, and made me reminisce my own college days, with the fears, apprehension and excitement of stepping out on your own and a young, independent woman.  I really enjoyed it.  Though it is part of the Off The Subject series, each book can be read as a standalone, and I have put them on my wishlist.

Abducting Abby by S E Smith

Abducting Abby is the first book in the Dragon Lords of Valdier series.  A strong, independent woman lives alone on a remote mountain, resistant to the charms of the local sheriff.  Suddenly, she comes across an injured man on the mountain and tends to him as he returns to health.  The man, however, is an alien and falls in love with his nurse, whom he calls his true mate.  Despite a language barrier, she starts to have feelings for him, even while knowing he is soon to return home.

The blurb says:

The beginning of an epic saga! Discover new worlds, clashes of cultures, schemes of power, revenge, rescues, and above all, hope….

Abby Tanner was content to live on her mountain creating works of art and enjoying the peace and quiet until a golden space ship crash lands with the King of the Valdier inside, desperately hurt.

Zoran Reykill knew he had to find a safe place to heal after he escapes from a Curizan military post. When his symbiosis Mothership takes him to an unknown planet he finds more than he expects – he finds his true mate. The only problems are Abby doesn’t understand a thing he says and the local sheriff wants her, too.

Clearly, this book is a mix of fantasy, sci fi, and romance.  There are explicit sex scenes, so not suitable for teens.  They are also very male-dominant, so not entirely realistic (as if the rest of the book is...).

I read this book in a day because I couldn't put it down. I liked the writing and it was very easy to read. You do have to suspend some disbelief, as you do for many books in this genre, but the story is gripping and action-packed, not just a soppy romance - the alien who crash landed, was being tortured on a different planet due to being a King, and is still being hunted.

This is the first of 11 books in the series, and I have added the next one to my wishlist.  I would like the subsequent books to be focusing on the alien war, the kingdom, the battles etc, however judging by the book titles, they will be focusing on the romance/sex side of things, so though it is now on my wishlist, it won't be one of the first books I buy (when I start buying books again).

And she's off!

DD1 is no longer home educated and has sailed off to school for the very first time! Of course I had to take the obligatory Front Door Photo.

It was only just over a year ago when she said she wanted to go to school for the first time.  A quick catch-up of my thoughts:
All Change
DD1's going to school!
A small confidence boost
A bigger confidence boost
And, if you're interested, when she went to school to do the WRAT5 test (as she doesn't have SATs results), she was average for everything - not bad for years of unschooling!

I am much more nervous about her starting school than she is, I barely slept last night.

I have no worries about her making friends or anything like that.  Despite being on the spectrum, she is actually very sociable. I'm more concerned about the little things, the unexpected things, the small embarrassments that means she's in a situation and doesn't know what to do.  The very first of which involve having to cycle to the back entrance of the school, as students are not allowed to cycle through the front due to the number of cars.  After locking up her bike, she then has to walk to the front to be greeted by a teacher.  At her school she has compulsory reading each day, yet I worry she won't find a book she likes.  Her handwriting isn't great, so what if her teacher can't read it, or other students take the mick? Fortunately she's not on her period any more, so has a few weeks to be able to get used to school without that additional worry.

I pray that when she comes home tonight (when I'm not here, as I'll be taking DD2 to her dance lessons), she'll be full of beans and I will have been worrying for nothing.  Fingers crossed.
Any additional prayers welcomed xx

Weekly Update No35

After camping I had put on weight, but I have lost is again now.  Interestingly (or not), but
unsurprisingly, since I started blogging last September, I haven't lost any weight at all. Clearly my random method of stop, start, stop start, quit, start again, stop, sod it, start again, give up... isn't working for me.

As DD1 is starting school this week (Wed!!!) I'll need to do her a packed tea every night, as otherwise she won't be able to eat before she rushes off to dancing (she'll be having school dinners during the day).  I'm going to make Mondays (or Tuesdays this week) my cooking day, and cook meals that can easily be reheated for the rest of the week.  Hopefully that will encourage me to eat healthier foods, especially if I prep veg and salads ready in the fridge.  I may even get DD2 to join me with the cooking as part of her HE.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

A friend shared this diagram on facebook, as a commentary on our current political situation.  Having read Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World and A Handmaid's Tale, I may have accidentally on purpose shown DD2 the Buy Now/1-Click Button on Amazon and whoops, it arrived in my Kindle...

The Blurb says:

The hauntingly prophetic classic novel set in a not-too-distant future where books are burned by a special task force of firemen. Guy Montag is a fireman. His job is to burn books, which are forbidden, being the source of all discord and unhappiness. Even so, Montag is unhappy; there is discord in his marriage. Are books hidden in his house? The Mechanical Hound of the Fire Department, armed with a lethal hypodermic, escorted by helicopters, is ready to track down those dissidents who defy society to preserve and read books. The classic novel of a post-literate future, 'Fahrenheit 451' stands alongside Orwell's '1984' and Huxley's 'Brave New World' as a prophetic account of Western civilization's enslavement by the media, drugs and conformity. Bradbury's powerful and poetic prose combines with uncanny insight into the potential of technology to create a novel which over fifty years from first publication, still has the power to dazzle and shock.

I did not know the story before I started reading the book, and as a book loving person, I hate the idea of burning books.  Even if you disagree with the book, they should be kept.  But it was timely as it reinforced that maybe Biblical Storytelling should make a comeback as a mainstream tool for Evangelism and sharing God's Word?

Though I don't think the book is suitable to young children, my DD2 was interested in what was happening, so every couple of chapters I would paraphrase the plot so she could understand.

One of the central things in the book is the idea that people don't need to think anymore, just have a TV the size of a wall (or instead of one) and have multiple screens competing for your attention all the time, and you will be 'happy'.  Books are not good for you because they encourage thinking, interpretation, and potentially bad conversations, whereas if you spend all your time only talking about superficial things like what happened in the latest reality TV series with your virtual 'family', then that is just fine.  The TV will tell you everything you ever need to know, and you should not question it, else you dare to feel bad emotions.

This is a must-read for anyone who is interested in the counter balance between a dystopian future and the reality we currently find ourselves.

Garden Girls Cozy Mysteries by Hope Callaghan

I read the first of these three books years ago (probably because it was free for Kindle) and had presumably put the box set on my wishlist because it was cheaper than buying books 2 and 3 separately.  When I chose this book to read on holiday, I only had the title to go by, and thought reading 3 books would take me some time, not realising that I had already read the first.

The blurb says:

BOOK 1: Who Murdered Mr. Malone? 

Nothing exciting ever happens in the small town of Belhaven. Nothing that is, until a body was found in the woods behind the local elementary school. 

With the entire town in an uproar, "Garden Girl" Gloria Rutherford makes it her personal mission to find the killer or killers and solve the mystery with some help from her friends. 

With a little amateur detective work, Gloria is able to uncover enough clues that point right to the murderer. She's about to discover, however, things aren't always as clear cut as they would appear. 


BOOK 2: Grandkids Gone Wild 

"Garden Girl" Gloria Rutherford, has her hands full. Her mischievous and energetic grandsons are coming for a weekend visit. To top things off, she discovers someone is living in her barn. But who and why? 

As this amateur sleuth investigates what's going on in her own backyard, another murder victim turns up in their sleepy little town. 

Hot on the trail of a murderer, trying her best to make sure her grandkids don't end up in the ER and facing a budding romance, Gloria and her small town of Belhaven are once again about to be turned upside down.


BOOK 3: Smoky Mountain Mystery 

Life is good for "Garden Girl" Gloria Rutherford. Spring has finally sprung, love is in the air, and no dead bodies have turned up in the small town of Belhaven...lately.

It seems as if it's almost too good to be true. Just as Gloria starts to get settled into her familiar routine, she receives a mysterious message from her older sister, Liz. 

Certain that her sister, the drama queen, is once again bent on turning Gloria's life upside down for no good reason, she almost chooses to ignore the dire message that she may be in danger. 

When a key to her sister's place shows up in her mailbox after Liz mysteriously vanishes, Gloria jumps in with both feet to track her down. 

Crisscrossing the country with one of the other Garden Girls in tow, the two amateur sleuths find themselves on an adventure of a lifetime. 

Gloria soon discovers her sister's mysterious disappearance is the least of her worries.

When books describe themselves as clean/cozy/sweet or other adjectives of that nature, it means that there is no swearing or sex or gore or anything else that may be considered 'adult'.  I like them because sometimes I want to read a thrilling mystery without having to delve into the dark/seedy side of murder (if that makes sense, lol).

The main character, Gloria, is a bit of a character - she is an older woman with a penchant for sticking her nose into other people's business, not offensively, but definitely likes to know what is going on in her small town.  As time goes on, she is on the other end of the gossip grapevine when she starts a romance with a local cop.  The stories are not too far-fetched (if you are happy with the idea of an amateur sleuth getting involved in this type of thing!), and thrilling enough to keep me interested.  I will be putting book 4 on my wishlist to read when I start buying books again!