2013 Not Really Resolutions - The Conclusion

I very nearly didn't do this post.

My absolute shame at my performance in 2013 is overwhelming.

It is not going to be one of those "Oh look at me and how great I am".

This is going to be one of those "Well I don't call them Resolutions anyway so it doesn't matter that I basically didn't do any of them."

Prepare yourself for some class A excuses...

1. Get behind the wheel of a car again - Completed! This resolution was invaluable as it has meant that when I have had access to a car I've been able to get out and about, something which is impossible to do when living in the middle of nowhere. I've been able to hire cars to make long journeys rather than depend on the UK's expensive and unreliable rail service (and it does pain me to say that, having been a rail traveller for so long). There is definitely a post I want to write about being a first time driver on the roads - it was a bit of a baptism of fire for me. My first drive on a motorway was a 3.5 hour stint down the M5 to Tavistock which was all kinds of intense. But I'm pleased I've got this one under my belt - you can read about my refresher lessons and my experiences driving my sister's Tank.

2. Project 365 - Failed. I don't really know what happened here because it was actually going pretty well but then I just....stopped. I think I got busy with the impending move in the flat when The Person was moving here and just forgot to take photos. Plus I really didn't do anything and taking photos every day was a bit of a literal reminder of that. I'm amazing I made it through half of the year to be honest. Still, I did do Project 365 in 2011 so I'm not a complete failure (I tell myself).

3. Read 12 Classics - 9/12 - FAILED! I know! First year that I have ever ever failed this Not Really Resolution in all the years that I've been doing it. My downfall was finally picking up a Classic and a half in the shape of Vanity Fair. That is quite the tome you know. I have had a tendency sometimes to play it safe with my Classics and pick up slimmer volumes or easy volumes (for instance, one of my Classics this year was 101 Dalmatians...) so whilst I do feel sad that I didn't complete this one, I feel proud that I took on the challenge of Vanity Fair and conquered it.

1. North & South, Elizabeth Gaskell

2. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

3. Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

4. The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford

5. The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins

6. The Chrysalids, John Wyndham

7. The Edible Woman, Margaret Atwood (a review of which can be found HERE)

8. The One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Dodie Smith

9. Vanity Fair, William Makepeace Thackeray

4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket - Abandoned! You may remember that I abandoned this Not Really Resolution back in April as I decided I want to make a Tetris blanket. The Tetris Blanket is currently ongoing...

5. Learn to Knit - Failed! It just....never happened. Nothing more or less to it!

6. Bake once a month - Failed! It was just too hard, living in someone else's house for half the year isn't really conducive to taking over the kitchen randomly and I spent most of those weekends travelling to Preston to see The Person which meant I didn't have much time left for baking.

Jokes. I just bought cakes and ate them rather than making them.

7. Go abroad - Done! I went to Corfu with The Americans and The Person in July and it was amezzing and beautiful and I loved it and I didn't want to leave. It was made even better by the fact that the day before flying to Corfu, The Americans became Engaged Americans which made me giddy beyond belief.

That's what it looked like. Damn. Now I want to go back immediately.

8. Makeover a chest of drawers - Failed. HA. We moved into an unfurnished flat in August and let me tell you, furniture is expensive, even when shopping for cheap stuff. We still don't have a bed in the spare bedroom so we can have guests over, I am far from having the time, willingness and energy to makeover a piece of furniture I already own.

9. Cross stitch a big picture/item just for me - Failed. In the same way that 2012 was the Year of the Cross Stitch, 2013 was the Year of the Amigurumi and I have crocheted my fingers off. I have barely done any cross stitch at all.

10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year - HA! As if. In 2012 I managed to go a whole year without buying books so this should have been easy but it seems that with me, it's either all or nothing, and looking at the state of my to-be-read bookshelves I may need to implement a ban in 2014.

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So there we go. TWO out of TEN Not Really Resolutions completed.

You are totally allowed to sit back and feel pretty damn good about yourself right now.

Hey, at least 2014 is going to be better....right?!

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Take a look back at my past attempts...
Not Really Resolutions 2011
Not Really Resolutions 2012

Not Really Resolutions 2013: Q1 update

After last year's terrible performance when it came to updating everyone on my Not Really Resolutions (number of update posts in 2012 - none) I figured I should probably make more of an effort this year, if only to make sure I stay on track and actually try to get things done.

Seeing as we're nearly at the end of April with well over a quarter of the year gone *starts hyperventilating* I thought it seemed an appropriate time to update.

1. Get behind the wheel of a car again
I have an official license again! After pretty much over a year of procrastination I sent off for my license to be re-newed. After expecting a letter to come back saying "No you need to re-new it and replace it" or some such other nonsense, I was very surprised when after 3 weeks a brand new license flopped through the door with no questions asked.

So no more excuses - time to book some refresher lessons...

2. Project 365
This is ticking over quite nicely and has been much aided by the fact that I have a new phone which has a really good camera. I haven't even used my actual camera in goodness knows when, and because my phone is a Windows phone, everything is very handily backed up to my Skydrive, meaning that when I switch my computer on I just need to log in and download the photos and put them on Flickr. Easy peasy lemon squeezey.

I've been surprised that I've lasted this long because I'm living in the back end of nowhere with basically no friends, but I've managed. Ok, these photos are not going to set your world on fire, but guess what? My life wouldn't set your world on fire, rendering my Project 365 an accurate representation of my life.

The monthly round-ups are fun to do (see January, February and March) and the only thing I am bad at doing is actually uploading the photos to my photostream, which tends to easily be a week or two behind in time. Just like my blogging activities!

3. Read 12 Classics
It's been a good start to the year with my Classics and there hasn't been one I've read so far that I haven't really, genuinely enjoyed.

So far I've read;
North and South - Elizabeth Gaskill (probably the least easiest read out of the lot)

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee (can't believe I haven't read this before, I usually think children are made to read inappropriate Classics at school, therefore putting them off for life, but anyone who gets to read this at school I think is genuinely lucky. It was brilliant - not difficult and yet not condescending - it should be a must for all children to read this.)

Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (probably the only one that's made me raise an eyebrow and wonder if I've really understand what I've read and the one that's made me go "Really? This is a Classic?" but a good read nonetheless and one that I think would make a good Book Group read as there could be plenty of interpretations to be made.)

The Pursuit of Love - Nancy Mitford (hilarious. I have no other words. The only one so far that I insist you go out and read immediately.)

4. Crochet an Elmer Blanket
As you may have guessed, this has been put on hold now that I have the Tetris blanket firmly within my sights and underway. I do still want to crochet an Elmer Blanket but mostly I wanted to make a blanket just for me and the Tetris Blanket is definitely fulfilling that need at the moment.


5. Learn to knit
No progress on this one as of yet.


6. Bake once a month
This has been ticking along quietly (why do I always forget to blog about things?!) although I think it's safe to say that Mary Berry has nothing to fear at the moment. In fact I haven't been impressed with anything I've made so far this year. Here's hoping that April gives me my first triumph...

Gingerbread biscuits; The infamous Cookie Monster cupcakes; Chocolate & Peanut butter cookies 

7. Go abroad
Very exciting news on this one. American Girl and American Boy are coming over from the USA in July and seeing as they're here and seeing as we all turned 30 this year (with the exception of The Person who will be almost 31 by the time they get here. Ha. OLD.) we decided to take a little trip to another part of Europe and will be spending the first week of July in Corfu. In sunshine. Sun and The Americans? I don't think my brain can take the excitement.

8. Makeover a chest of drawers
No progress on this one yet.

9. Cross stitch a big picture just for me
No progress on this one yet either. I think my brain can only take one craft per year. 2012 was the Year of the Stitching and it's looking like 2013 might be the Year of the Crochet...


10. Only buy 12 books throughout the year.
HA. If I stick to this I will be shocked and amazed at my willpower. I will be able to do anything.

Unfortunately I think it's unlikely I'm going to stick to it. I am trying, I swear it, but after a year of not buying books, I have a lot of pent-up book buying going on in my system and I am finding it tricky to succumb, especially when in charity shops and faced with such cheapness. I am being very good and tracking what I buy though so I can't cheat and "forget" about a book that has made its way on to my shelves. The current total stands at 6 and we're not even at the end of the April.

And I'm not even counting the three books that I bought with a voucher for my birthday because that wasn't my money and those books don't count.

I love loopholes.

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So there we have it. Have just realised there isn't an awful lot on there that can be ticked off the list easily and that's a shame because there's nothing like crossing things off a list to make you feel like you're getting somewhere, but I shall keep on plugging away.

See you at the end of June for the Q2 update...

Easter Read-a-thon: The Reviews

I feel it would be cheating almost to take part in the Easter Read-a-thon and then not actually review any of the books that I read during it.

The truth is I find book reviews hard to do, although I actually used to really enjoy doing them when I did them for my Classics each month. It's a fine line between reviewing a book and just telling people what the plot is though and it's a wobbly tightrope to navigate at times.

Plus it's brave to review a book I think. To say in black and white "this is what this book made me think" or "this is what I think this book is about" - the written word is open to all kinds of interpretation and whilst it should be a pleasure that there is no right or wrong answer, it's a big leap to put your opinion out there.

But I felt I couldn't really shy away from this one. An Easter Read-a-thon is about reading and therefore I should honour the books that took part in it with a little review.

Plus I actually only finished two books during the Read-a-thon so it's not like it's going to be hard.

My Easter Read-a-thon in photos - Thursday-Saturday update & Easter Sunday - Easter Monday update

Dominion; CJ Sansom

Dominion imagines a world where the 2nd World War never really happened. Churchill never got into power. England made a peace deal with the Nazis and the world isn't as we know it.

The book takes place in 1952 and Britain is essentially a Nazi outpost, retaining independence in mostly name whilst kowtowing to the Nazi regime in reality.

Churchill's followers are a resistance movement who recruit David Fitzgerald, a civil servant and secretly half-Jewisih, to act on their behalf, photographing documents. David is drawn further in when an old university friend, Frank, becomes of importance to the Resistance.

David is drawn into a rescue mission to get Frank out of the country and into safety in America and when his cover is blown the rescue mission becomes one for his own life, along with that of his wife, Sarah - who has been unaware of David's secret life as a spy.

The major part of the action occurs in the middle of The Great Smog in London - a real-life air pollution event which cloaked London in thick smog for days. David, Sarah and Frank have to try and escape from London in the middle of this whilst being chased by the Gestapo officer, Hoth.

It was an enjoyable book although I just couldn't connect with it like I do Sansom's Shardlake series for some reason. It felt heavy going at times and I was a little disappointed with the ending.

A pretty good understanding of British politics in the period leading up to and during the 2nd World War would also be an advantage, I think there were some points, especially the Epilogue, which were completely lost on me because I didn't get references to particular politicians and the roles that they played in real life in the same period.

It was a scary concept however, and it didn't feel totally fantastical. It was actually fairly easy to imagine events unfolding in the way that they do in the novel - with people in Britain falling in to various categories - Resistance fighters, Nazi supporters and those whose refusal to commit to either side allowed the deportation of Jews from the country.

Toby's Room; Pat Barker

Oooh I do love a bit of Pat Barker. 

Toby's Room revisits some of the characters we met in Life Class - fortunately for me reading the first isn't essential because I can never remember what happens in books once I read them.

The name is almost misleading as Toby isn't always the centre of attention in the book. Instead the focus is on those around him, Elinor, Kit Neville and Paul Tarrant and how they are left to deal with the hand that they have been dealt by World War I.

Guilt seems to be a major theme running through the book - Elinor feels guilty for not helping out with her Mum when they learn of Toby's death, she feels guilty for using Kit and Paul, feels guilty for how the disfigured soliders in Queen's Hospital make her feel. Paul feels guilty because he loves Catherine Stein but can't let go of Elinor, guilty because he sleeps with Elinor even though he knows she's still mourning the loss of her brother. 

In many ways the real protagnist of the novel is Kit Neville as we go inside his brain during his morphine fuelled recovery after his operations to rebuild his face. Does he feel guilty that he didn't stop Toby from killing himself? Or does he feel guilty for not possibly teling the truth about how Toby died?

And then there's Toby - we never really know how he feels, never see behind his eyes - does he feel guilty about his actions towards his sister? Does he feel guilty for getting caught in the stables by Kit Neville?

Barker excels at her descriptions of World War I life. The recollections of Kit Neville whilst he is recovering from his operation are vivid and evocative and manage to avoid banging home the same old story that it was horrible and grim and awful in the trenches, whilst at the same time not trying to gloss over what life must have been like for those serving.

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A massive thanks to Kate for hosting the Easter Read-a-thon - I urge you to go and visit her blog and drink in all the booky goodness.

Easter Read-a-thon - Easter Sunday & Easter Monday update

We have reached the end of the Easter Read-a-thon and I feel a little sad.

As I mentioned in my first post above, sometimes I feel guilty for reading. And I know that's silly but in this day and age where there's more of a constant pressure to be 'switched on' and 'doing' in some way, reading feels like the ultimate luxury.

The Read-a-thon has in a way given me permission to sit back and relax and do the thing that I like doing.

I know there'll be people out there shaking their heads in bemusement at that notion but that is how it is for me and I've enjoyed it.

So Easter Sunday and Easter Monday.

Much like my Thursday-Saturday update, I enlisted the help of my trusty camera to record the moments I had to myself to have a little read.

Easter Sunday saw me having a little read of Toby's Room by Pat Barker at the dining room table with the tulips and my chocolate Easter bunny. The reason for this? My brother-in-law enjoys watching all TV at approximately 12 billion decibels and it literally hurts my ears.

I also gave blood on Easter Sunday, which seems like a strange day to hold a donating session but I don't make the rules. I hopped on to my bed and managed to read a couple of pages until I was done - I'm a fast donater which doesn't leave much time for reading. I also thought it best not to take a picture of my book with the needle in my arm so as not to offend the squeamish - you'll have to take my word for it that there was a needle in my left arm!

 The only downside of giving blood for me (and for those how haven't donated before let me stress that everyone reacts differently and this isn't necessarily what will happen to you) is that it really wipes me out. I am knackered for the rest of the day until I've had a good night's sleep so I had to retire to bed fairly early doors on Easter Sunday night where I grabbed the opportunity to finally finish Toby's Room.

 Easter Monday saw the beginning of a new book and I have made a long overdue to Stephen King who I love but have not read enough of lately. The last few books I've read of his have been his latest ones so I've made a return to some of his earlier work and I'm giving Needful Things a bit of a bash.

The Person and I were making a return to Preston, plus it was my nephew's 13th birthday on Easter Monday so there wasn't a lot of time for reading in the morning. But it did mean that I managed to squeeze in some lovely train reading which is one of my favourites.

And then I was home and reunited with my favourite crochet blanket and I did a little more reading...

And that brought the Easter Read-a-thon to an end.

As predicted it wasn't a massive headcount in terms of books - I managed to get two finished and have made a dent in my third which is alright by me. I had an Easter weekend of family and boyfriend to fit in around my reading.

But this Read-a-thon wasn't really about that for me. It was more about giving myself permission to relax and re-discovering what it felt like to settle down and reading a book just for the love of reading, instead of cramming it into the hour before I fall asleep.

And that has made it all worth it.

(A review post of the books I read would be lovely wouldn't it? Maybe I'll do one in a few posts time. Or maybe I won't. Who knows?!)

Easter Read-a-thon - Thursday-Saturday update

So.

"How's the Easter Read-a-thon going?" I hear you ask.

Not great if I'm honest.

You see there are just too many people around. I knew it was a mistake to try and do an Easter Read-a-thon when all the family was going to be here, but I've been trying to snatch times when I can read and I've made as good an effort as I can do.

Thanks to me kind of cheating and counting the reading I did on Thursday night I've managed to finish Dominion which I'm very pleased about although it's not the best CJ Sansom I've ever read. I'm not good at the book reviews but maybe I'll stretch to a couple when the Read-a-thon is done. Usually I prefer to leave the reviews to the professionals like Kate but I guess this is a special occasion.

Whilst it has been difficult to have chunks of time to read, I've become the master of snatching moments when I can read...

I have read whilst in bed on Good Friday morning...

 

I read whilst we waited for Mum and The Person to arrive, under the watchful eye of Rowan.

I read on Saturday morning whilst The Person slept soundly...

I had an excellent opportunity to read on Saturday afternoon but I succumbed to sleep and woke up with Rosie pinning my feet down so I did a little bit more reading...

I read whilst it snowed and I read whilst the sun shone...

I have moved on to Toby's Room now and I am enjoying it muchly, I do enjoy a bit of Pat Barker.

Will I read multiple books? Hell's no. But it has been nice to feel I have an excuse to read. 

My crochet is suffering though and that makes me feel a little bit antsy...

Easter Read-a-thon

Oh hai Easter how are you?

I was as giddy as a giddy thing yesterday. Partly because I had a can of Coke, partly because it is one week until my birthday and partly because I now have a week off work and won't be back until Monday 8th April.

Winner.

Oh yeah, I know I was freaking out about turning 30 and I totally still am a little bit but now this has been taken over with just intense excitement for my birthday. I have never met a single person who gets as excited about their birthday, who is above the age of 10, as I do. I love them and that is 100% down to presents. I'm a horrid little spoilt bint at heart and I love presents. I don't mind how big they are or how much money was spent, as long as it is wrapped in paper I am ALL IN.

So anyhoo. Easter.

Mumsie and The Person are coming down my sister's later today and will be here for the weekend until I head back to Preston on Easter Monday for the rest of my birthday week. I reckon turning 30 deserves a week of celebrations.

There is quite a bit going on but there will also be a good old load of relaxing and when I read about Nose in a Book's Easter Read-a-thon I thought that was definitely something I would like to take part in.

I don't do anywhere near enough reading as I would like to. I get bizarrely overwhelmed with guilt when I read outside of lying in bed before I go to sleep. I feel like it's being a bit indulgent and I should be doing something much more worthwhile with my time, like watching crap telly.

It is also of great annoyance to me that I've never found a way to read at the same time as crocheting - audio books don't work for me because I cannot keep my concentration on focus on what's happening.

So I am going to indulge in some reading this Easter.

I will not be storming through a pile of books like Kate will. In fact I'd be surprised if I get through one but this about fun ok? 

In fact I shall start by well and truly breaking the rules and stating that I'm totally counting the reading that I did last night because as far as I'm concerned, Easter started when I left work on Thursday and I read my book really hard last night and I want it to count.

All I have are the books that are with me here at my sister's and somehow, I've amassed quite the little pile even though I'm only allowed to buy a total of 12 books this year...

The main one I'm focusing on is Dominion - I've had this on the go for quite some time now and it's not the most portable of books so I would like to take advantage of being at home to have a power through. I made good headway last night and I have high hopes that my main achievement of the Easter Read-a-thon will be finishing  this.

If I do manage to finish it then it'll probably be on to Toby's Room as this has been lent to me and whilst I like it when people lend me books it causes me a lot of stress as I feel like I have to read that book immediately and I have eleventy billlion of my own books to read. So it would be nice to get Toby's Room read and then I can move on to my own.

Unfortunately everything I have with me here at my sister's is rather chunky so I don't think you'll be able to come back after Easter and see me boasting about the numbers of books I've read. Maybe I'll just count the number of pages read?

Anyway.

I should be reading not blogging - be on your way.