General random update

I’m on holiday. I haven’t had a proper holiday since … last February.

Traditionally, I take the bulk of my leave around the Oscars, because I always take that Monday off anyway so build the rest of my time off around it. Yes, really.

Then I usually have two to three weeks off later in the year, depending on how much leave I have to take.

Of course last year most of my leave plans post-February were jossed because of events outside of my control.

I had a couple of weeks off when I had surgery, and a week or so when Mum died in July but apart from that, nothing.

So I’ve been hanging out for these three weeks since I put the request in – lol.

Patrick’s off from kindy as well so we’re both kind of hanging out. He wants me to build him  a car out of cardboard boxes. I can’t see that going well for me, but he’s four so will hopefully be easy to please – lol.

Other than that, I’ve been surfing and reading; doing some cross stitching, watching the odd movie and catching up on some TV programmes.

At the moment – and I’m aware that I’m more than a bit behind – it’s The Borgias, and I have two episodes of season 1 to go. I’m finding it rather fun in a strange, slightly depraved sort of way. After that I have season 2 of Downton Abbey and season 1 of Game of Thrones to work my way through.

Hopefully by the time I’ve come to the end of those, the terrible summer programming has given way to something with a bit more substance.

Hopefully.

I’m working on a Hairy Maclary cross-stitch for Patrick’s birthday in May and while the pattern is lovely, I should have switched out the fabric and maybe the cottons. The fabric is awful – it’s 14ct aida and very stiff. 14ct isn’t my favourite to work on usually – I prefer 16 or 18 because for me it gives a slightly finer finish but I haven’t worked from a kit for so long that I forgot. The cottons, at least, are DMC so I can replace them if I run out but the colour names given (“pepper grey”, “anthracite grey”, “garlic cream” [garlic cream for goodness’ sake – what is that]) are ambiguous at best.

Hopefully I’ve matched them all pretty well but if I haven’t … well. That’ll be our little secret. :p

I finished Billie’s Kiss by Elizabeth Knox yesterday, which turned out to be my third finish for 2012 although I had started my previous two finishes as December 2011 wound down. I’ve counted them anyway – lol.

Elizabeth Knox is one of my favourite writers and I need to sort my always rambly feelings in order to write a review.

I started IQ84 today for the readalong with Care, but only got about 19 pages in before I dozed off. That’s what being on holiday with a four year old does for you. Heh.

It’s baking hot and dry here at the moment, and as I understand it we’re nearly the only part of the country not being excessively rained upon. I’m no heat-seeker so have been spending the bulk of it inside and forgetting that the heat pump also has air-conditioning. Oops.

I’m not going back to work till January 25 so I have another two weeks off, basically.

Nice.

The stupid week

Do you ever have one those weeks, where everything is just ... stupid? You have plans, and goals, and Noble Ambitions and then ... you get home really late from work one night, and that's all it takes.

You're up late, you don't go for your walk, and if you read at all, it's in 2-5 page increments.

That's kind of what my week has been like. We've been training on an upgraded computer system at work, and the trouble with working for a newspaper, is that you still have to get it out, so we've pretty much been training on the live system. Which can be kind of good,but it can also kind of suck. And this week kind of sucked.

Except for Friday, which was okay. We finished early and everything seemed to go all right. PLUS, the review copy of The Graveyard Book finally came in, which I commandeered as one of the two Keepers of the Book Cupboard Keys (the other Keeper is on holiday.) And yesterday was pay day, which is always a good day. So I treated myself to Nation by Terry Pratchett, and I've practically had to sit on my hands not to start them before I finish the book I"m already reading (I'm trying to be good ...)

So I got some solid reading-time on Sky Village today, which is actually very good but at the back of my head, Evil Reading Fairy is whispering "Graveyard Boooooook".

What else. That's really all I have for now. :)

Back to basics

My reading is askew. I can tell, because I'm picking up random books, reading a bit and wandering off. And I'm reading Agatha Christies, which I always do when my reading is off.

I'm going to abandon the challenges, I think. I"m getting bogged down and I really just started this blog to keep track of what I'm reading and how much I get through this year.
So it's back to basics. Although I'll keep doing the Weekly Geeks, I think. I like the Weekly Geeks. :)

August's classic is supposed to be The Picture of Dorian Grey, but that's not going to happen. What I am going to do is finish The Once and Future King (June) and Space (July) then pick it up again with A Moveable Feast in September. Then I'll at least be caught up with my own personal challenge.

Ah. Breathing again. :)