Angel Jem's City Cottage

It's my birthday, one of those big birthdays with a 0 at the end. At my last one, 10 years ago, I was teaching, a mother of three aged 10 and under and swept along on a wave of business and busy-ness. My life has altered so much since. I'm no longer teaching, but working as an Office Ninja. I have time to write, and miss it when I'm not writing (I'm between books at the moment, trying to do a proofreading qualification. I miss stringing my own words together, rather than marking up other people's words) so I have the plan in my head for the next book, just gently simmering away at the moment. I'm more confident. I won't take things quietly, and I'm inclined to speak out on the issues that I feel strongly about.  I'm the mother of three young adults. That gives me a degree of freedom and a level of concern that I haven't had for ages. I'm aware that I have lost a degree of control over their lives and decisions even as I have gained back ...

It's the season to indulge, and nothing warms me up on a cold winter's day quite a beautifully as a thick, sweet hot chocolate with cream, marshmallows and chocolate dusting. I have friends on Facebook whose recent posts have been full of Black Forest chocolate from Costa. I've had one; it was too sweet. I like peppermint hot chocolate, and I think that was the right blend of tooth-aching sweetness and sharp-cutting taste. I'd like ginger hot chocolate, I think, or a good chocolate orange. But in the end, I just like the occasional warm mug of happiness. Which reminds me, I must go and change out the mugs from our red and blue everyday ones to our special Christmas mugs.

No, not really a wind up as in to make you cross, but a winding up of the bits of my life. I wanted to have a nice alliterative name, and finding things that make sense can be hard. Wednesday wound up? Wednesday with bells on? Midweek mash? Made up midweek mischief? I don't know; all ideas gratefully received! So,, onto  my wind up; Questions, then answers. Nice easy list entry. I don't do a lot of these. Perhaps I'm getting lazy. What am I reading this week? The Monogram Murders by Sophie Hannah. It's the new Poirot. Mr AJ got it for Christmas, but as it's on Kindle I can read it now and still leave him with his own copy! After that I have to read The Light Between Oceans by M L Steadman for the WI bookclub a week on Monday. I will post reviews of both books on Jo's Books, I hope! What have I watched this week?   Broadchurch series 2 ; the first episode was Monday. We watched the first series last year and were hooked. I quite like t...

I 'um'ed and 'ah'ed about writing this post and making it public. I'm not the world's best at keeping resolutions. But this isn't a resolution, it's a firm decision. I am having a spending fast for the rest of January. A buy nothing month in an attempt to save extra money towards... well, I can tell you about that another time. For now, all I want to record is my firm commitment that I am not spending money on unnecessary things from now until February 3rd. Just over a month. Let's see how I do, shall we? I should report back every Wednesday in my weekly round up.