It's the final stretch to the end of 2015! The kids have enjoyed starting on their advent calendars... because they are filled with chocolate. I can't be bothered with the Lego and Playmobil advent calendars this year because they never get played with and it's just a waste of money and plastic. Last year's Playmobil one is quite festive looking ( Read more... )

We're back from our little road trip. This trip wasn't particularly exhausting as many of our trips tend to be, and I think it's because we took it easy and didn't really plan much to do. There was quite a bit of driving, a little bit of hiking, a lazy cruise on Lake Constance, and much drinking of beer ( Read more... )

My birthday last Friday passed uneventfully but not unpleasantly. As I had hoped, the kids and I were over the worst of the flu bug; unfortunately, J was the next one down and spent most of the day asleep or using up copious amounts of tissues. While I was feeling better, the strong antibiotics my doctor had prescribed were giving me wonky side ( Read more... )

Back to school short notes:

1. Winter term began last Monday and The Bun went back to school joyfully, although not as joyfully as I was feeling. He was really starting to climb up the walls towards the end of the holiday break and driving me up the wall. We only have four short weeks of school before the half-term break, which is odd, but it ( Read more... )

~ I started reading A Game of Thrones last Friday. Since then I have been reading steadily at lunchtime and at night, and sneaking chapters on and off sitting on the kitchen floor while hiding from the children. I only emerge when the screaming sounds a bit desperate. The first few chapters I was doing the whole say-who? thing because there are so ( Read more... )

After my barrage of posts earlier this week I've lost some steam. Blame it on a lack of sleep and distractions in the form of some new reads. I know I still have Paris to write about. For now, short notes ( Read more... )

After writing that rambly post on reading last night, this morning I woke up and saw Neil Gaiman's lecture on the importance of libraries, reading, and daydreaming. I have been a Gaiman fan for longer than half my life, and when he described how he used to sit in the library during the summer holidays and work his way through the shelves, it felt ( Read more... )

I can't believe it took me this long to jump on the bandwagon, but times are desperate. I have virtually nothing to read at home apart from some of the titles on my Kindle and the small stash of books we shipped over, and which I've already read, several times over. I brought those over here because they've been a part of my life for so long (some ( Read more... )

1. I have always loved reading and writing, the quintessential bookworm who thought spending her school holidays in the local library was a treat. I recently unearthed a notebook from when I was 8, in which I wrote and illustrated the imaginary adventures of two children (aka myself and my sister). In it I pretended we were boys because in ( Read more... )

Random stuff, because I'm too tired tonight to write my usual verbiage ( Read more... )