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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