Friday 7 September 2018

Update blog - 7th September



Once again it has been a while since I wrote anything but here I am attempting to get some words down on paper.

It’s hard to believe that it’s now been around eleven weeks since we move into the new house. Most of the boxes are now emptied or stuff has been placed in new plastic boxes into the garage. We still have a few jobs to be done and there always seems to be something. The biggest job yet to be completed is turning the bathroom into a wetroom which should hopefully start on the 17th of this month. So far, it’s been put back twice. The fitters are also putting a toilet and sink in the corner of one of the dormer bedrooms, so they reckon it’s going to take three weeks. The bathroom will become a wetroom and have a shower with a built-in seat screened off from the sink and toilet with all new flooring and tiles. This should make life easier for me. The other job we need to have done is getting some shelves built in the dining room/office to house the overflow of big books. I’m also thinking about investing in one of those rise and recline chairs to make things easier for me, but they don’t come cheap.

My arthritis has been challenging to say the least. I’m finding getting up more of a problem. My new bed is wonderful, but having bought it online, I didn’t realise how high it is, so getting in and out is awkward with my creaky knees. Sleep isn’t always easy as if I sleep in certain positions the pain can wake me.

The house has a lovely garden so I’m hoping to have a ramp built to get out as there are two steps of around five inches I can’t manage. We have lots of trees, including apple and two varieties of plums. We also have gooseberries in the corner. Our neighbour suggested we might have Japanese Knotweed last week but having frantically checked the internet, it turned out to be bindweed which had wrapped itself around a white phlox. Neither of us are gardeners so we have a man with big boots. I think some of the trees may have to go and there are bushes that need cutting back. At the moment, I can only look through the window, but that’s nice and I can hear the birds in the morning.

I seem to be spending most of my time lately sorting Skype out with my 80-year-old mother and 85-year-old uncle. Skype decided to change our contact names when we updated and that confused everything. My mum thinks if she presses a button the computer will blow up. She wants to talk to my uncle but can’t get through. I’ve wanted to throw the computer across the room. On top of this frustration and worrying about the bathroom being sorted, Sweetie, our six-year-old cat, has been diagnosed with a luxating patella – dodgy knee. It must run in the family. She will need an operation which may cost in four figures. We’ll pay but we’re not sure how much recuperating she’ll have to do, and she has a three week stay in the cattery first, so she isn’t here when the fitters are. She’d be under a floor board in seconds or terrified by the noise.

On the good news, fingers crossed, front, I’ve accepted an offer at the price I asked for my old house. We’re in the process of having all the checks done now. I really hope everything goes through as that will at least be one worry off my mind.

Writing – ah well, it’s been slow and none of my MCs have been talking to me much. I have three WIPs. Cormac and Lachie have been put to one side for now. Denny and Ash are getting their turn, but Owen and Jonah keep popping up every so often. Ash suddenly suggested he was genderfluid or non-binary. He still calls himself he most of the time and she if dressed as she. I’m terrified I’m going to make a mess of writing the story but have done research and read books by other authors. No one person is the same. Ash will be Ash and Denny will expand his horizons. I’m managing to get around 500 words written every so often. This means Cormac and Lachie are at 20K words, Ash and Denny at 25K words and Owen and Jonah at 29K words.
I do have a book coming out at the beginning of next year. This is my May/Dec story called Two for the Road. It's set in Lancashire. There will be more about this and a cover reveal in the near future.

I’ve read quite a few books since I last blogged. Here are those I would recommend. A Gentleman never Keeps Score by Cat Sebastian, Promises and Thief of the Heart by Ruby Moone, Private Charter by N. R. Walker, Flaunt by E. Davies, Fluidity by E. M. Leya, Married Ones by Matthew Metzger, Priest by Ella Frank, and books 1&2 of Jay Northcote’s Rainbow Place series. I’ve needed some gentle reads recently and these have been great. My current reads are In Other Words Murder by Josh Lanyon and Kill Game by Cordelia Kingsbridge. I’ve recently discovered that Cordelia has written a series. I used to read her stuff on Livejournal and thought she was brilliant.

We are still making our way through Buffy and Angel. We’re on the last series of Buffy and S4 of Angel. Also watching GBBO – love a cake. This is Us is back on but I’m getting really annoyed about Kate and how everything is about her weight. Watched Keeping Faith which was good except the ending was frustrating. Current must watch is Bodyguard – very tense! Somehow, even though I close my eyes half the time I’ve become addicted to 24 hours in A&E and there always seems to be a repeat on somewhere.

That’s about it for now. Next month is going to be a sad one in our family as it will be a year since my brother died. I think of him every day. Sometimes the guilt of being alive while he’s not can be overwhelming, especially when he has little ones who miss him terribly. Charlie looks so much like him now he’s grown up a little and lost his baby features. He’s a real little boy now. He and his sister have coped amazingly and are doing well in school.

I hope everyone had a lovely summer. The schools are back over here in the UK. I can’t say I miss not being back at work myself. I have friends who are still at the chalkface and it’s no easier being a teacher. I’m looking forward to heading into autumn. I like the sun but not when it’s warm.

Take care out there and to those off to the UK Meet, have a fun weekend.

Alexa

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