Reading BIG Books

For one reason and another I have not done a booky post for ages, so I thought it was about time to recitfy this and get back to my Monthly Reading lists. 

My reading mojo left me completely for a while, then it returned in a slow motion fashion and I took ages to plough my way through the books that I was reading. It didn't help that for some reason I was determined to read books that I didn't think I really wanted to keep, purely in a bid to reduce numbers by the time we move home.

Now as any reasonably normal person will tell you, reading books that you don't think you are going to like reading is not a sure-fire way of encouraging any sort of reading mojo to return, so she hid away and my reading almost came to a standstill ... although it did mean that numerous books were donated to the charity book table in Booths mostly half read and not worth writing about.

So, in a bid to keep me on track I have switched to a new way to choose my reading material.  I am now having a few weeks of reading mostly fiction books and BIG books.  If they are fiction and BIG then even better.  I rarely keep fiction books once I have read them, it's easy for me to part with them as usually they have cost less than a pound to buy and they have to be really special to warrant a second reading.

And if they are BIG books they will take up more space in the boxes when I come to pack away all my treasured books, so they will really have to earn their keep.

So here are the books that I read in July.

One Good Thing by Alexandra Potter

I really enjoyed this book, a good story line that all made perfect sense and not too formulaic. 

  Fiction - Donated

 The Mysterious Bakery on the Rue de Paris

I took this book on our weekend away in July and enjoyed every page, it was a really good story.

 Fiction - Donated

Going Dutch by Katie Fforde

I really enjoyed this one, living right beside the canal as we do reading about boats, both narrow, wide-beam or Dutch barges is nearly always going to be interesting.  I'll miss the canal when we move.

 Fiction and Big - Donated

Simplicious Flow by Sarah Wilson

This was a really good book, but one that I read thoroughly when I bought it in 2019 and then again this month, but one that I really don't need to keep going forward.

Big - Donated

Now I know who to blame for making me take all my extra napkins home every time that we eat out.  😄

That's it for last month, lets see what August brings for my reading mojo, and I will definitely be concentrating on BIG books.  

Sue xx

I would like to point out, that although I provide links to Amazon for the books that I read each month, not all my books are bought from Amazon.  If they are, some of them were bought from the Used section rather than at full price.  You do not need to spend a fortune to read good books. 💖

I share the links so that you can learn more about the books that I write about for yourself, or read reviews from others that have read them.  Of course most of the books I talk about would also be available from your local library, and if you are very lucky you might even find them in charity or thrift shops. 

There are so many ways to bring books into your home if you love reading. 📚

My Second Shopping Trip of July

28th Aldi - £30.19

I guess with the holiday in the middle of the month and lots of being out and about, I've just not needed to replenish supplies until now.  So my shopping this month has been relatively cheap.  Just two trips up to now and both times to Aldi.

At the moment Alan is working hard at the bungalow each and every day. He's currently halfway through painting the whole place with two coats of brilliant white, and then he will be on to two coats of a lovely creamy colour in the main room and mine.  So while he is this busy I am making tea each night for the pair of us, and taking him a sandwich halfway through the day to keep his energy levels up.  Hopefully, this will start eating into the freezer stock in both our freezers and start to make a dent in the cupboard stock in mine ready for moving.

These things are what I would deem as my choices, although they are being used for both of us.

These are purely Alan's as I have really gone off seeded loaves, I can't eat cheese or chocolate and  I absolutely hate cherries ... or any fruit with a stone for that matter.  😬

We share a four pack of sparkling water once a month.

And here's the receipt for posterity. 😀

Sue xx

I'm Not a People Person

 

I do all of the above, and it makes me happy.  😀

I couldn't even tell you what the newest trends are, fashion-wise, home-wise, or reading-wise.  I love to get things second-hand, although for the past year or so, I've been selling not buying ... well apart from a few £1 books of course.

I don't know how old my phone is.  I know our contracts are up for renewal every couple of years and we nearly always say no to a new phone, and reiterate that we will stay on our SIM only contract.  Alan got a new phone a couple of years ago, but bought it outright rather than on a monthly payment scheme.  I've had mine for much longer than him, it works, I'm used to it, it does what I want it to do, and it's all that I need.

I bought my car new in 2017, it had high mileage for it's age when I used to drive backwards and forwards to Manchester from Wales every single week, or to Berkshire from Wales once a month.  But since we've lived here and I can't drive as far, the mileage has gone right down in comparison to it's age.  So ... it's staying with me until it's wheels drop off ... or something equally dramatic.  😄

And as you have seen, we are most definitely downsizing our home in the very near future.

We had another viewing last night, and once again because it was at 7pm we had to handle it ourselves.  We were expecting just one man, but he brought his family with him, his wife and two grown-up children, perfectly acceptable when they were viewing what could be a future family home, but it reinforced to me how much I am not that happy about having lots of people in the house ... especially ones that ask a million questions.

I think I am going to refuse to do any more viewings, it's about time the agents started earning their money.

Are you a real people person, or like me do you value your own company and just that of those closest to you?

Sue xx

 

The Biggest 'Snippet of Home' Ever on My Blog

 

Valuation done on Wednesday 22nd, photos, video and 360 degree imaging done on 23rd, paperwork signed off on 24th and our first viewing on 25th.

It's been a bit of a whirlwind, and much faster than we were expecting.

Grab a coffee and then click here to see  The actual agents details of our house.

I've added this extra link to Rightmove in case you need it.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/91304274?utm_campaign=property-details&utm_content=buying&utm_medium=sharing&utm_source=copytoclipboard#/&channel=RES_BUY

Now we have to crack on with the bungalow so that we will actually have somewhere to live if things carry on at this pace.

Sue xx

Added - Saturday 3pm.  I was just setting this post up for going live on Sunday ... and we have just had a full asking price offer from a family that needed the annexe for a very genuine reason, and we've accepted it!!

So our house will be off the market less than 24 hours after it went on.

Memories ... and Blog Posts

 

Isn't it nice when you are sorting through things, to find something that you haven't seen for ages that brings back happy memories. Clearing the decks ready for the photos of the house and annexe meant that I was going through some of my box files in a bid to make a bit of space in my few cupboards ... and I came across these two photos.

The top one is us not long after we got married taken outside my tiny little shop in Ulverston, Cumbria.  It would have been sometime early 2008, probably when I was just setting things up as I was still working for the Hospice when we got married in December 2007.  Yes, my neighbour was the Laurel and Hardy Museum when it was in it's old location, and next to them on the corner was The Chippy Bank, the best chip shop in Ulverston.

Don't ask me how many times I had a 'chip barm' for my dinner while I had the shop.  😁

 

Luckily this photo is clearly dated, or I wouldn't have had a clue.  

My Dad with the rest of his class in 1938.  He would have been seven years old then as his birthday was right at the end of the year ... he was born in 1930 ... so I don't know how their class numbering system worked.  It obviously had changed by the time I went to the same school in 1965 as I was in Class I at five.  I'm guessing it's something to do with school leaving ages, Dad left school at 14 and I left at 16.

Mum must have had trouble recognising him on the photo as she wrote his name under him.  💖

I'm getting really annoyed with Blogger again at the moment.  

Instead of updating the blogs in my sidebar, and on lots of other people's sidebars, and showing the title of the newest post that I, or they have written, it seems to be lagging far, far behind.  I am trying to get into the habit of clicking on the blog title and not the 'latest post', which is now frequently found not to be the latest post at all.  I am having to do a numerous day catch up every now and then as I just hadn't realised they had published a newer post.

Don't mess with my coffee or my blog reading.  😠

Sue xx