Support your local library

The second one is to support your local library challenge. I definitely need to do this for 2 reasons. 1. I am trying to be tidier and I just have too many books in my house, and secondly, I really cannot afford to keep buying books at the rate I am. So I commit to reading at least 30 library books this year.

1. The Last Testament by Sam Bourne
2. Dunction Wood  by William Horwood
3. The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien
4. Hullabaloo in the guava orchard by Kiran Desai
5. Fire Ice by Clive Cussler
6. The Disposessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
7. My fabolous divorce by Clare Dowling
8. The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe by C.S Lewis
9. The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R Tolkien
10. The Horse and his boy by C.S. Lewis
11. The Messiah Code by Michael Cordy
12. The Lizard's bite by David Hewson
13. Earth and Heaven by Sue Gee
14. Mothers day by Kirsty Scott
15. The lizards bite by David Hewson
16. Too good to be true by Sheila O'Flanagan
17. The silver chair by C.S. Lewis
18. The way we were by Marcia Willett
19. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
20. The double Eagle by James Twining
21. Jump by Jilly Cooper
22. Dantes Numbers by David Hewson
23. The two towers by J.R.R Tolkien
24. The last battle by C.S Lewis
25. Absolution by Caro Ramsey
26. King Solomon's mines by H.Rider Haggard
27. New York by Edward Rutherford
28. Getting Home by Celia Brayfield
29. Sandstone by James Rollins
30. Sepulchre by Kate Mosse
31. There are ants in my sugar by Annica Foxcroft
32. The black sun by James Twining
33. 206 bones by Kathy Reichs
34. Pompeii by Robert Harris
35.The secret servant by Daniel Silva
36. Break no Bones by Kathy Reichs
37. The return of the king by J.R.R Tolkien
38. The killing place by Tess Gerritsen
39. Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
40. The last Oracle by James Rollins
41. The 5 greatest warriors by Matthew Reilly
42. The Marsh kings daughter by Elizabeth Chadwick
43. Fatal Attraction by Carol Smith
44. To the moon and back by Jill Mansell
45. The gift by Cecilia Ahern
46. Bare Bones by Kathy Reichs
47. The Forest by Edward Rutherford

New Author challenges

A couple more reading challenges that I have found on the internet. First one is New Author Challenge. This will be a really good one for me since, although I do read all genres I tend to read the same authors repeatedly. I will start off easily for 2011 and commit to reading 15 new authors for this year. It wont be new authors as in debuts, but as in new to me. This will link to all my reviews.

1. Marie Heece
2. Kiran Desai
3. Farida Karodia
4. Kingdom by Tom Martin
5. The Disposessessed by Ursula K.Le Guin
6. The Genesis code by John Case
7. Bodyguard by Suzanne Brockman
8. The Messiah Code by Michael Cordy
9. Mothers Day by Kirsty Scott
10. Zambesi by Tony Park
11. Solitude of Emperors David Davidar
12. A Home for Rose by Jon Katz
13. Sex and the City by Candace Bushnell
14. City of Light Lauren Belfaur
15. Absolution by Caro Ramsey
16. King Solomon's mines by H. Rider Haggard
17. The White Queen by Phillippa Gregory
18. Polar Star by Martin Cruz Smith
19. Getting Home by Celia Brayfield
20. Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
21. Tell it to the skies by Erica James
22. Sandstone by James Rollin
23. Sepulchre by Kate Mosse
24. Fat Tuesday by Sandra Brown
25. There are ants in my sugar by Annica Foxcroft
26. Born to run by Michael Morpugo
27. Pompeii by Robert Harris
28. The secret servant by Daniel Silva
29. Quicksilver by Sam Osman
30. The Mephisto Club by Tess Gerritsen
31. The Lion by Nelson De Mille
32. Cracks by Sheila Kohler

Lord of The Rings Read a long

Ok, here is another one I have decided to join in. When I saw this I thought it might be difficult. Having done (and probably wont quite finish) the Wheel of Time journey this year I thought that another long book challenge may be difficult. But since we have 3 months to read each book, I am sure I will be able to keep up with it. I just love The Lord of The Rings and havent read it for ages, so will enjoy reading them again
1. The Fellowship of the ring
2. The two towers
3. Return of the King

Perfect Christmas

This Christmas I am really missing my family. When I was growing up I always had my sister and my cousins around and always felt part of something. I loved the big family Christmasses we had and how we all got together and spent time with each other. I feel sad that Brenda doesn't get to experience that. Now that my cousins have all moved away we very rarely get to have those gatherings anymore. The only person who comes these days is Dayle, my sister and she comes with all of her own issues. I would love to go to PE for Christmas but it is just not practical for us all to get down there. In short,my ideal Christmas would have lots of family!
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JYC Day 3

I usually aim to do Christmas cards well in advance and when Brenda was a baby I always succeeded, in fact one year I sent them out in early NOVEMBER! However, since she has been at school it has become harder and harder, and I generally end up posting them in Mid-December. This year I made a few in January and February and then stopped and never started again. Oh well, there is always next year. I do like to write something personal in each card, but it doesnt always happen!

Kept the page simple again with just a couple of paper scraps and one of the cards that I made at the beginning of the year.

JYC Day 2

Since the school year is over, Brenda's class have been doing loads of fun things this week. One of the things they had to do was some sort of demonstration. Brenda chose to do these cream puff type things which my friend Andria makes. They have a cream/instant pudding based filling and since it has been boiling hot lately, I spent a sleepness night worrying that the filling would either spoil or melt by the time that she got to do the demonstration. Children can be so sensitive and I knew she would be devastated if it was a disaster. Imagine my delight when I woke up this morning to overcast, cool conditions, just perfect weather for the demo, and the kids loved their treats! This prompt came at just the right time.

I am keeping the pages really simple this year in an effort to keep up, and will keep it pretty much based on this template. My printer has decided to not print photos nicely today, so will have to reprint the photo of the palm tree. I will add todays temperatures later.

Journal Your Christmas

The first day of JYC has arrived and it was so nice to turn on the computer this morning and find the prompt in my inbox. I always feel that once this arrives, Christmas is upon us. I have actually done my page although it was a bit of a cheat from Shimelle, lol. I am not feeling well today, so decided to keep it simple. I really want to keep up this year, so plan on sticking with a simlar basic lo and just changing the photos each day.

It's Monday, what are you reading?

And so, Monday rolls around again. I have not read nearly as much as I wanted to this week and I am not really sure why. It could have been too much time playing with my new kitten or a lot of time doing my Christmas Journal but anyway I haven't had much time to read.

I finished Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein and thoroughly enjoyed this book. I love her way of writing, love how the characters interact with each other, you feel that they are such good friends and you are included in their circle. I cant wait for another one of hers to come out. And this one was set in the New York Public Library and told you a lot about old books so really a double bonus! One of my favourite authors and one fo my favourite topics.

I also read a Silhouette book, called the Star Spangled Bride, which I havent done for years; but I picked it up at the fleamarket and read it within 2 hours! Thinking of getting a few more since it was actually quite nice to read something light and undemanding for a change. It will also beef up my 100 book count, lol.

I am halfway through Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan and hope to finish The Other Family by Joanna Trollope tonight. So, I guess that I have done a fair bit of reading, just not finished that many  books!

My to be read list is quite extensive; I think it has about 9 books on it including Cross Country by James Patterson, The Last Pope by Luis Miguel Roca, and Double Crown by Marie Heese, so I guess I will have quite a busy week!

New family member

Today our campus had their community involvement project, where we took food, blankets and toys to a childrens home about 20 minutes from here. They have really worked so hard and, despite the extreme heat, it went off really well.
While I was there I discovered 5 little kittens, I couldnt resist bringing one home. I would like to have brought them all :-( but that would have been a bit much!
So, without further ado, here is my new baby..............

She is unnamed as yet, but one of the students suggested I call her Mona, since she moaned a lot in the car on the way home. Brenda hasn't seen her yet since she is out at a sleepover.

Journal Your Christmas

It is that time of year again when JYC comes around. This year I am going to stick with a similar format as last year and have made a minibook (cover below). What I do plan on doing differently is to blog my journalling here each day. That will make it easier for me to keep up to date (I hope). I tend to get a few days behind and catch up throughout the month, so if I have notes already it will be easier. I plan on blogging the pages over on my craft blog, but we will have to see how that works out because I am notoriously bad at that! I will probalby make it sort of a mixture between JYC (Click on above picture for link) and Ali Edward's December Daily.

It's Monday. What are you reading.

I haven't taken part in this for ages, although I really enjoyed it when I used to do it. My reading has taken a bit of a backseat this year since things have been so busy. I am writing my last exam tomorrow and have my last group of students in this week, so hope that things settle down for the rest of the year.

I had hoped to read 100 books this year, but so far am only on my 70th so doubt I will manage it, but still holding out, lol. This week I have managed to read two books.

The secret of Excalibur by Andy Mc Dermott. He is rapidly becoming one of my favourite authors. I love the way so much happens on each page! Really pageturning stuff.

Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan. This actually took me more than a week to read, but it finished this week. This is one of my favourite series, but this is my least favourite book in the series. It just seems to drag along.

At the moment I have Lethal Legacy by Linda Fairstein in progress and will be starting Knife of Dreams soon. I hope to have finished more by next Monday!

Girl talk blog hop

Whilst avoiding studying at all costs blog hopping this evening I came across the girl talk blog and decided to join in on this hop.

They ask you a question and you have to reply on your blog. This weeks question is if you were given $500 and had to spend it on yourself. You only have 24 hours to spend it what would you buy?



Well, this is actually a fairly easy question. I would absolutely love a digital DSLR. I have actually been saving for about 2 years and something always comes up instead so that is definitely what I would buy. I would really like the Canon 450D but wouldnt actually be fussy, lol.



Oh, and a portable hammock I saw the other day came a very close second :-)

One down and a destress

And one to go. I wrote my first exam today, and it wasn't too bad. The first, compulsory question was okay, but the second half I am not sure about. None of the questions I thought would come out were there, so there were only 2 out of 4 that I am sure I did okay in. The others are a bit hit and miss. Not to mention the fact that I slightly ran out of time in the end. I am also panicking a bit that I labelled my questions wrong, but I vaguely remember feeling the same after last years exam, so maybe it is just nerves. Nothing I can do about it now anyway.
Anyway as we were leaving my friend Andria suggested that we go to the movies. I havent been to the movies apart from a kids movie for ages, so we popped off to Suncoast , which I also havent been to for ages. We were a bit early so we went for a late breakfast and coffee first. The only comedy that was showing was You again so we saw that, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is about a girl who was bullied in high school. Many years later she finds that her brother is going to marry the bully. It was funny, sad, and really you could just see yourself in it. There was a part where I wasnt sure whether to laugh or cry. Later on in the afternoon my dad told me it had a terrible review in the paper, so I am glad I didnt read that first since I can thoroughly recommend it. Lighthearted and fun.
After fetching Brenda from school we stopped at Fego for a milkshake, she had vanilla and I had a Vanilla, cookie and Flake milkshake. Absolutely yummy, but really not good for the diet!

Keeping busy..............

Studying and helping Brenda make a musical instrument for her school project! After that we have to start on a morse code device. When will the project nightmare end? Anyone who said that OBE was easier definitely didn't consider the parents in the equation. I am also still in the process of deciding what to do for Journal your Christmas this year. I am really unsure about the format and have seen/heard of so many lovely ideas I am in overload! I havent got much time to think about it either since it starts on 1 December. Brenda is going to continue with last years one since she didn't get very far. I am also busying buying for my stocking swap on UKS, got so many ideas for it, but not enough time to put it all into practice. I am sure I will get there in the end. We have had a really strange week weather wise, hot and sunny one minute and then stormy the next. We even had hail on Thursday which is amazing since we had it two weeks ago! Very unusual for Durban!
Oh well, back to Intercultural communication and musical instruments..............

Test

Just discovered email blogging so am testing it out. A bit slow I know
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First of November resolutions!

It just struck me today that there are only 2 months left of this year. Here in South Africa the school year ends in December, so November is always filled with tests, projects, teacher present shopping, prizegiving, parties etc. Not to mention the fact that I am also writing exams and have lots of marking to do. I always feel that once November comes the year is basically over. It is like a torrent from there on that just sweeps you on. I have started thinking about Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas but am really unsure of what size to do, so will have to ponder it a bit more. Anyway, back to the Christmas season. A few months ago I came to the very belated realisation that I seriously need to do something about my finances and not go on spending money like water. This is not actually something new that I have learned but more that I have made a commitment to pay off all my accounts and curb my spending. Needless to say at this time of year there is so much going on that that can be very difficult. So, this year my Christmas resolution is that I am going to seriously curtail my Christmas shopping/splurging. Brenda is of an age where Father Christmas is more a formality than a real belief, so that can be cut down a bit and I am not going to go overboard with food and other things. I intend to draw up a menu and stick to it. I am also (this may actually be harder) going to try and not go out as much at this time, spend more time doing quiet, relaxing things at home, which should help me not spend money. Wish me luck :-)

Oh dear

Oh dear, all of my resolutions to keep my blog up to date have gone with a bang! No excuses I know I know. Just been really busy with work and Brenda. She is not having a good year at school and needing lots of support and help so that is keeping me busy. On top of that I have my own work and studying.
A couple of fun things we have done this year:
Gone to Port Elizabeth in July: This was not really for a fun reason since my grandmother was dying, but turned out being a really good week!
Went to the Mangrove swamps with church: This is a local World heritage site, but has extremely limited visiting hours for the general public. They are only open for 3 hours once a month, so it was really nice to get to spend a whole day there.
Went to Halloween at Ushaka Marine World: This was last night and after worrying that Brenda was too old for it, she loved it.
Went to watch the Sharks play in pink for Breast Cancer.

Otherwise the year has been filled with preparing for lots of functions at work, doing lots of projects and studying hard (me, not so sure about Brenda.) I will try and post a photo post soon. My computer broke in July so I am using my dads borrowed computer at the moment. As Christmas approaches too quickly, I just cannot believe how the year has flown by and how little of the things I needed to do this year have been done. Oh well, there is always next year ....................

Skywatch Friday

Ok, I am back with Skywatch, this was taken just as I was leaving work a few days ago. Love the striped clouds. Pop over to Skywatch for more sky photos.

Mum strikes again!

Okay, I know that I have not been around much lately. And I know that I keep promising to be better, but fail, so I am not going to promise this time! To be honest, nothing much has been happening, excepting for work and school and studying, so I don't really have much to say anyway. I did go down the South Coast the weekend before last for the church weekend, but that is about all the excitement I have had! Anyway, funny thing happened tonight and I once again showed my lack of "cool" . Brenda was asked by a boy to go with him to the school disco. She wants to go shopping for new clothes. Today I was at the shops and saw a lovely pink shirt with silver, glittery writing on and thought it was perfect. I come home bearing the "perfect shirt" Brenda took one look at it and burst out laughing! "But, mommy" she says "why do you want me to go to the disco in pyjamas!" I hadnt even realised that it was pyjamas and not a shirt.  The slogan should have been a giveaway: "Too tired to talk!" Oh well, not sure whether to put it down to age or dementia or both!

Proof that my baby is still an innocent...........

Since Brenda is getting big, she doesn't do or say as many funny  things as she used to. But I did have to laugh this morning. On the way to guitar practice this morning the song Looking in your big brown eyes was playing on the radio. There is a part which goes. Girl I'm gonna make you sweat, sweat till you cant sweat no more, and if you cry I'm gonna push it, push it some more. I can't remember who sings it, but think it may be Bob Marley. Brenda looks at me and asks: "Mommy why is that man so mean?" I asked her what she means and she says: "Well he says: even if you cry I am gonna push it some more!" How do you explain that to a 12 year old? In between laughing nervously  a perfectly calm manner I replied: "Oh, I think he is a gym instructor or something!" Sorry to all gym instructors out there, but I couldn't tell the truth :-)

Skywatch Friday

My photo for skywach this week was taken on Glenashley beach about a week ago. It had been overcast and rainy for the whole day, but on my way home, it cleared up and had these beautiful clouds.Being a good skywatcher :-) I popped down to the beach and took some photos. This was not actually the best one and maybe some of the others will appear another time. But what I loved about this photo was the little seagull that got in the way.Perfect luck.

 

Skywatch Friday

I will probably not get a chance to post tomorrow, so I am doing this tonight. I will be away this weekend, but will be back to comment on Sunday. This photo was taken last Friday at the airport. It was actually midafternoon, but was so windy and with all the building going on around there and the sand being whipped around it almost looked like dusk. You can see by the level of the sky that it was only late afternoon. Pop over to Skywatch Friday for some more sky photos.

Skywatch Friday

I am doing this tonight since tomorrow may be a very busy day. Brenda is off to Johburg again. I took this photo the other day, I loved the feathery leaves against the sky. For more skywatch photos go here

July down already

Wow, this month flew past and whew was it busy. It started off with a short trip down to Hankey for the first week to stay with my dads family. My dad and Brenda drove down for 2 weeks but I got the bus down a week later. For those of you who dont know, Hankey is a small town about an hour away from Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape. I really had a good time, but not sure how relaxing it was since the week was really busy. My gran was also very ill, so it was very sad. I will do a more detailed post with more pictures on this, but need to get my computer sorted out.
When I returned to work I had a group for the first two weeks and our college graduation last Friday, so when I wasnt lecturing I was practicing my speech! It went off very well and thankfully is over for another year. Brenda had 5 weeks of holiday due to the soccer World Cup, but has been back to school for 2 weeks now and has 4 projects to do, including 1 to make a bridge which will hold a brick! She wants to build Tower Bridge! No easy jobs for my daughter, lol. She sprained her ankle this week and so is in a splint for a few weeks. She is up and about and I even caught her running this morning, although she hotly denied it and said she was just hopping, lol, but I am wiser than that!
The world cup went off well here in Durban and their was a really amazing vibe here, I loved going down to the beachfront at this time. Brenda also enjoyed all the kiddies things. It wasnt nearly as crowded and horrible as I thought it would be, and the fan fest was an experience! The only downside was the traffic on match days.
I will try and be a more prolific poster as I know I do have the odd person who checks here!

Skywatch Friday

I was busy last week, so didnt get a chance to post this. This photo was taken at dusk in the Eastern Cape. I just love the way the mountains melt into the sky! Go on over to Skywatch Friday for more sky photos.

Skywatch Friday

The theme this week at Skywatch Friday is to post your best. I havent been doing skywatch very long so dont really have a favourite of those I have posted, but I just love this photo which I took last week on the way back from Port Elizabeth.

 

Pop on over to skywatch since it is their 3rd anniversary and promises to be a real bumper edition!

Skywatch Friday

I was away last week so didn't get to participate. I had wanted to post a different picture, but I see that next week is the anniversary and to post your best. The other one is definitely my favourite, but couldnt post the same two weeks in a row. Anyway, this picture was taken this morning through the car window on our way home from Port Elizabeth. My daughter Brenda had lost my camera on the back seat in amongst all her mess, so I nearly missed getting any pictures of the sunrise! For more skywatch photos go here.

                            

Skywatch Friday

I did this once before and then have not had a chance to do it again. I do check out the skywatch photos on Jo's blog each week and keep meaning to join in. I took this photo yesterday at the beachfront. Durban is all decked out for the World Cup as you can see by the flags on the beach! I will eventually edit the little bit of flag out of the top corner, but my computer is in the hospital, and I am using my fathers, so I cant do it now. For more Shywatch Friday pics go here

I'm back (hopefully)

Finally I have got through the really busy time at work and should be able to take it easier (note not easy) for the next few weeks. Having said that, that is what I thought the last time I posted. Brenda has been really busy at school as well this term. They seem to have had at least 2 tests a week for the term. Plus it was longer than normal nearly 3 weeks, so things have been really exhausting. It is nearly over though since she breaks up on Wednesday, but we have sports day to get through first. Now, although Brenda is generally very sporty, one thing she cannot do is athletics. This is the first year that it has really worried her and she told me she did not want to take part at all. However, the school have apparently put her in, so she is not impressed. I have taken the day off, so will go and watch, since I missed the gala and most of her netball matches this year. Durban is gearing up for the Football World cup finally and there are SA flags all over the show. I have one on my car and then sidemirror covers as well. I have even bought a shirt to wear! Not that I really like soccer, but I guess it is good to get into the spirit. Brenda made me buy us each a hat too, so I may post a picture of us in our gear one day! The kids have 6 weeks off school for the entire World Cup, which is a bit of a pain having to think of things that she can do for all that time!

I had a quiet weekend this weekend since Brenda went to play and spend the night with her friend Siobhan, whom she has been friends with since pre-school. Even though they are now at different schools, they are still great friends and get together quite often.

As far as my reading goes, I am not as far as I would have liked since we are halfway through the year, but have read 35 books and am nearly finished number 36. I expect to be able to read a lot more for the next couple of months until the studying starts again!

When I looked through my photos to find some to post I realised that I have hardly taken any this year, shows how busy I have been! These two were taken at the airport the last time Brenda returned from seeing my sister. Some of you may be aware that she has been selling muffins at the school tuckshop in an effort to save enough money for a laptop. Well, she was within the last R1000 for a basic laptop when my sister offered to sell her her old one. She had just been given a new one from work and so her old one (bought in December after the previous one was stolen) was going spare. Anyway, Brenda decided to buy it although it was not the pink one that she had had her heart set on, but she had enough money and it is certainly a far better laptop than she would have been able to buy herself. The point to this story is that this was the trip where she bought the laptop back. You can see how excited she looks. This was also the last time we went to the old Durban Airport which closed down 3 days after this photo was taken. This was also the first time she flew as an adult and typically, we got stuck in traffic and were a few minutes late to fetch her!

.

This one was taken the very next day when she went off with the school on their 2 night excursion away. As usual she was very excited and had an amazing time, but I think (or like to think) that she was happy to come home at the end of all that time away!

Still here

Sorry that I have once again dissapeared off the face of the earth for a bit. Or, should that be more than a bit? Things have been so busy here both at work and at home that I just have not been able to get on here to post much, and to be honest just have not had the motivation to do it. I have periodically been checking up on my blogs that I read though. I see the last time I have done a proper post was in January, so I will give you a brief run-down of what has been happening. That is of course if their is still anyone out there.
Brenda went back to school in January and to be honest she is not having a great year. While she got the teacher she wanted they dont really seem to have clicked and she is not really enjoying the year at all. She always seems to be getting into trouble for petty things but when I talk to the teacher she has glowing reports, so not really sure what is going on. Her report was not bad at all except for Afrikaans and Zulu which were not great!
Work has been really busy and with my company being 21 years old we have been having lots of functions etc which basically means the boss says organise it with no money and we scurry around like worker bees getting it all done! Very stressful, hopefully it is all finished now except for Graduation in July. I went to Johannesburg on a conference for 3 days in March. I missed Brenda but tbh, not as much as I thought it would. It just felt wierd being the one to go away for a change. It was really nice to get to know all the staff from the other campuses and put names to faces. Oh yes, that is what I forgot, the functions arent over, the next one is that we have to organise the next conference which will be here in September!
In amongst all of this, I have been studying too! Did 2 subjects again this semester which I wrote last week. I think the exams went ok, so now I have to sit here waiting for results.
Brenda only has a few weeks left of this term and then she is off for the July holidays, they have an extra long one because of the world cup, so I will probably take a week off to spend some time with her!
Well that is all for now, but I promise to be back sometime soon!
 

It's Monday, what are you reading?

Hosted by Sheila

I have been so busy for the last 2 weeks, which is why there have been no posts. I was away for 3 days last week and that really impacted on my reading. I finished The Third Secret, which was really enjoyable. Steve Berry is one of my favourites  (mind you, I have a lot of favourites). I am now half way through The Great Hunt and The Killing Kind. Things will probably be busy for another week or 2, but I hope to be back more full time after that.