*tumbleweed blows by*

So ... you may have noticed I haven't blogged of late.

Not 100% my fault.

So Thursday morning I get up and start hacking apart the invites I made for boy's 3rd birthday (toy story themed, I'm such a cool mum) and hear my parents say we've been cut off, phone and net. Sky's a bit funny too. And after half an hour on the rotatrimmer (bonus of having half your family in the teaching profession. My sister would've lent me her laminator too, if I'd asked) I started feeling queasy.

But I passed it off because I had to get boy to nursery, so I got him ready and went, and posted all his nursery invites into the folders, feeling all sweaty and horrid. I thought it was just the weather, and the fact that nursery gets so hot so quickly.

And then I got on a bus, ready to get my $USD and some other holiday *non* essentials, and that nausea really hit me. So I closed my eyes the whole bus ride and kept trying to imagine this waterfall, something with no smell that was sort of calm and clear and clean and I concentrated so hard on that water ... and it worked until the bus did a u-turn into the depot. And then I lost control. And the bus driver was really nice about the fact I yakked on his bus (probably thinking 'time for my fag break, and if the cleaners are in the bus I get a coffee too'), I went to get a water and yakked a few more times before I managed to make my way home (I was smart, I put the water in a bag on self serve then put the water in my bag and viola, baggy for the bus home!)

So I've spent most of the time we've been disconnected vomming, sleeping and reading. And today, playing on a video game so I feel carpal tunnel setting in. I won't type much longer. It turns out, the whole of the hamlet is disconnected, there's been some gasworks and roadworks so one of them must've knocked out all our phonelines. Thanks.

I went back to work yesterday, for my last shit before we go away. And they actually freaking let me cook! I mean, I normally do weekend breakfast now, since aparently I'm shit-hot at building a bagel (I kid, I'm crap) but near the end of breakfast they were going 'we've only got till people in' and I was like 'I know some kitchen!' (I did one side when I was 6 months pregnant for 2 hours, and I've dressed on the other side for an hour. Besides the point) so I got to cook and avoid shitty customers all day. Especially as Sunday is Complaining Customer day. Win Win. I just had to avoid breathing, to avoid the lingering nausea. And build some upper body strength. Ha!

But I won't be back for long since we're away soon. So excited! I think I'll be able to get up at 3.30 for the flights ...

Oh, and the books I read? Um, My Single Friend (which was good for chick-lit, if a little annoying) ... the title should give away the storyline. Protagonist bird has male roommate she's known for years, is a dork. They watch a makeover show, she decides to give him a makeover, he turns out to be all studly. Yaddayaddayadda ... they fall in love. Very Predictable.

Don't take the piss. My head was pounding from the rush to the head when I puked.

I read the third book in Lindsey Kelk' "I love" series, I Love Paris. I don't know why I pick those books up. Because Alex and Jenny, the boyfriend and best friend characters are mildly funny I guess. You know they say 'write what you know'? Lindsey Kelk actually writes her life. I read her bio before I read I Love New York, the first one, and it's just like it says in the bio. But the bio is far less irritating - in ILNY, she breaks up with her boyfriend and moves to new york and spends half the book telling the reader, and other characters, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved to new york. In the second, I Love Hollywood, she goes to interview this actor (she's a blogger and sometimes-journalist, having given up editing kids books) and they're pictured together compromisingly before it's revealed he's gay. She spends half the book telling people the photo's aren't real and he's just an actor and she broke up with someone in England and moved to New York. And in the one I just read, I Love Paris, she and her new boyfriend go to Paris for his band's gig/her chance to write an article, and they find his ex, who makes a move on the boyfriend. And yep, she spends half the book telling the reader and the other characters that the ex is trying to get rid of her and she interviewed that gay actor and she broke up with someone in England and moved to New York.

How she's going to have a storyline in the fourth book with all the above to repeat endlessly is beyond me.

I have 2 books coming away with me to Florida. Will read when the boy's asleep. Wish me luck on the plane - we have to entertain him somehow! And last time on the way home, he wouldn't sleep a)on the plane b)when we got home. Wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't in the crawling stage ...

Days until toy story 3: 2
Days until Florida: 3
Days until Harry Potter Land: 5
Days until boy's 3rd: 31
Days until boy's party: 33
Days until bridgathon: 55 (I think?)

Balls of steel

I took the advice of a fictional character I created (following that?) ... I grew a pair.

Not literally, obviously, since humans can't do that (and I'm not a chicken. Chickens can) but I took the plunge and looked through some agents on my list and sent some that were a)accepting manuscripts and b)required paper entries. I'll do the email entries tomorrow or Thursday.

So ... be prepared in about two months for me to moan about all my rejections. I'm being a realist - I will get rejected. But I'm also being an optimist - someone's going to want me. I just have to find them. Like those hidden object games I seem to always play.

I feel successful about doing that, but ... I wasn't successful shopping today. The military look doesn't work with the peachy ornamental stuff that's out there ... there wasn't much else. I got a white vest I wanted, and found something in next (:O I never find anything in next) ... but that's it for my holiday. God, can't the high street do something lightweight for simple tastes? The simple stuff I liked was too heavy for right now.

And there was, in all seriousness, about ten books I wanted in waterstones today (I walked out with no books. Achievement!) ... there's the latest Lindsey Kelk that I want anyway, one by Allison Pearson about fan letters that looks good, one about this girl relieving the past which had a sparkly cover which won me over, this book about some guy's random dad who's apparently huge on twitter (never heard of him), one about this girl who moves into this A list apartment block, one about this girl visiting her friend in the summer, and another teen one I can't remember but grabbed me by the balls.

So that's like, £60's worth of books (at least three were in the 3-for-2) ... plus I want toy story 3 and lego harry potter for me wii.

Anyone got a spare £150?

Who needs routine anyway?

Okay, so music is pretty big with me. Not as huge as some of my friends, but still pretty big.

There's this quote, I forget which book now, it's either Sarah Dessen or Lindsey Kelk, which goes 'if you say you like all music, it's because you haven't fallen in love with a style yet'.

Basically, you can listen to all types of music, but there should always be one style that stands out, or else you'll never really appreciate music.

I like most music. I'm very give-and-take on rap and r&b, house and club music. There are few tracks I like. I love pop as a guilty pleasure, but my all time favourite is punk-pop. I like country and jazz and old-fashioned rock'n'roll, I can take emo and screamo and opera. Musicals make me happy, soundtracks account for half my music collection (I first heard mest on Bring It On). I like instrumentals too - Vivaldi's 4 seasons got me through my A levels. Sixties music, Eighties music, some 20's swing ... like it all.

So it's a little bit of a change that I'm currently uploading 'r&b clubland' onto my computer. Buuuut, although there's a few turkeys on there, it's practically a collection of all the songs I can tolerate in the genre. So why the heck not?

Don't worry, I'll most likely follow it up with a good dose of NFG.

All of today was a change from the routine. Boy got me decorating biscuits this morning. There was one my brother-in-law had done y-fronts on, and boy had bitten the head off. So I put red icing on the neck wound. It looked amazing.

And boy and I decided to go get more decorating stuffs, and as I was off to get dressed (at midday), I got a text about going kiting ... and thought 'why the heck not?' (I was running out of ideas for decorations) so we went kiting/football with some work peeps.

Was good, I think boy loved the idea of having a huge field to run around in. Freedom tastes extra sweet when you're 2, I guess. He found this little path in some trees and had me running up and down it with him for a good half hour. And we both tried kiting, but he stopped when it dragged him on the ground and he started crying (don't worry, boy wasn't allowed to do it unsupervised, that kite pull got me too) ... it reminded me of how you hold the poles when skiing, how you square the reins to your body and use your torso for the direction ... which just makes me miss skiing (and it's been ten years since I went. I was awesome on the slopes, after the first day of falling on my ass and almost quitting). He made me laugh, when he called everyone either 'man' or 'girl' even though I told him their names. I think he heard 'blah blah man, blah blah girl, blah blah blah' ... which is what he normally hears when I talk.

We still got biscuit decorating crap. Cost me a good £30, but it keeps him quiet for a morning, so it's money well spent, lol.

Definitely beats constantly pulling him away from the TV. A whole day without Alvin, Toy Story, Spongebob, Penguins of Madagascar, Bob The Builder, In the night garden ... you have no idea how good that feels!

Emotional

I am so in love with Chesney! Hahaha, there's a phrase I never thought I'd say.

Although, the whole caps sign in the corner is getting annoying. I know, okay, Ches mate? That's why I put it on. And then took it off. Reptitively. Are you going to do this when I open word?

I got angry today though. More angry at myself, or just circumstances? I was meant to finish early, I had a 6 hour shift. I've spotted some stuff I'd like to get for Florida and was looking forward to a few minutes shopping. Or coming home and uploading more itunes.

But nope, got let go an hour late. Which is fine, really, since I need the cash for Florida. But I needed the loo, and when I went I found a voicemail from the nursery saying boy had a temperature. Could I come get him? They called half hour before my shift should have finished. So I went back all panicky because checking the phone is one thing, calling back is another, and asked to be let go.

And then this really pushy girl was like 'hey, it's my hometime, see ya!' ... umm, no, if I waited a freaking hour, and I'm only just freaking out, you can wait ten minutes while I, and the other girl who started before you, get out. Serve some people. Clean up. Whatever.

Sorry, it's just ... you need some level of understanding that timings are flexible in our work. Especially with one manager on (she's nice enough when we're not working, but sometimes when running the shift ... hmmmmm). I tried to have that, and then ... I felt like a bad mum. I mean, it was a missed call, they happen all the time, but I keep my phone on me just for the nursery. I got a text, and ignored it, and email updates, facebook nudges ... ignored them all. Didn't hear the phone call. It makes me feel like a bad mum.

Oh, and when I was calling my parents while the nursery line was busy to see if they'd heard from the nursery/gone to pick boy up, someone I haven't seen in a while walked passed and was like *loud happy voice* "HI!" and I bit her head off. I'm sorry hun, I was really, really freaking out about my sub-par parenting.

Someone else was talking about parenting on facebook. My reply to what she said probably sounded fairly bitchy ... she was saying how a good mum, a real mum, does everything for their kids. I said, but sometimes, it may not seem like it is for the kids, when it really is.

Like me, full-time working. Yes, I like to have something other than In The Night Garden to fill my day, but it's all for boy. I work in a job I feel nothing for, selling products I don't believe in, for next to nothing, to provide something for the boy. To feel like I earned all his toy story and Thomas crap. Yes I get tax credits, but 80% of them are because I bust a gut for my son, and get yelled at for events outside my control by people less well educated than me ... a few quid from the government is a fair exchange, believe me.

Or my driving lessons. It's a skill that goes on my CV, it's a sense of freedom I don't yet have. But my main reason for taking them is so when boy goes to clubs - and he's really, really desperate to go to karate - I get to take him. I don't rely on buses, or my parents, or spend a fortune on taxis. He's my responsibility, that's my responsibility.

Or discipline. I hate that word, but ... if I tell my son he can't have sweeties and he has a tantrum, that makes me a good parent. They'll rot his teeth. Tantrums don't work. Letting him cry then tempting him with his multiple toy cars once he's calmer do. I let boy get away with a lot, sure, but we both know when I draw the line. We both know the line is a scary place once crossed. We both also know, if I distract him from really naughty things, unless he's tired, the naughtiness stops. Distraction is the single best piece of advice I ever got as a new mum.

But you know what? Going out for a night is good parenting too. She'd probably disagree, but letting kids know that you're not there 24-7 prepares them for life. I'm not going to be in school. I won't be in uni. One day, I won't be there at all. And even though I think about him and talk about him constantly when I do go out, when I get back I'm recharged (unless I've been drinking, then I'm recovering) and a better mummy. Plus, I-missed-you cuddles are the best ever, especially with gentle, little arms around your neck.

Told you this post was a little emotional. I need to crawl into a hole or something.

I've calmed down.

Ish. I'm a little flu-y. I'm off to bed, since my manager has banned me from phoning in sick. Though if I get as bad as my mother, I will do.

Anyway, I called my other thread 'I need an intervention' because I spent too much this weekend on books.

I only went looking for Kate Brian's 'Scandal'. And the first time, I couldn't see it, though I saw another Kate Brian book. And 'Anna Karenina' (It's on the 50 books to read before you die list, and 'Our Tragic Universe' mentioned it endlessly) and another book I can't remember the title of atm. Is about two women who used to be criminals and how they've turned their lives around or not, basically.

And I tried again yesterday, and got it, and found this stand that was basically 'we think these books influenced Scarlett Thomas', stuff like 'the upside of irrationality' and 'quantum theory cannot hurt you'. So I have those. And a learners tarot book/card kit (I should explain, the bit about the devil card freaking me out, it's not because I think the devil will appear if I do a reading with that card. It was fairly graphic and reminded me of Tenacious D's devil, but if they'd made it scary rather than comical. I prefer the fool card) and a book called something like 'ask and it is given' about the power of positivity.

Science, self-help books and the occult are all themes in Scarlett Thomas' writing. Maybe I just want to understand her last book more. I also got the book of the film for Toy Story 3 for the boy. But it meant I spent like, £120 on books in 2 days.

So, with the exception of the Bree Tanner book coming out on Saturday, I'm not buying any books until I go away on holiday. I can buy books then, but for June and July, book shopping is OUT. In tesco's, asda's and WHSmiths as well.

And on Thursday, I should have a new computer. I'll keep Cadence, she's set to region one so I can watch my Drake Bell concert DVD and 'Beautiful People' on her.

And now I'm off to blow my nose, wash my hair, dose myself up and die in bed. And read a little, since that's a low-effort activity.

So much ... too much ...

I have so many things I want to say in this blog, and I don't think I'll remember it all.

There's a computer I want that I just about can't afford. It's about £550 and has 1000GB/1TB of memory. It's a laptop too. It's only in store, not online. I can afford £520 after bills this month, or put it on my card. But I promised myself I wouldn't.

I guess I could get an external memory for my laptop right now but it seems like a lot of hassle and I'd be worried the computer couldn't run without that external memory. And once I'd have moved everything I used onto it anyway, my computer would still only have a few MB left of space, because no matter how much I delete (and it's been a LOT, far too much) it barely makes an impact. I deleted 300MB of memory the other day and it didn't make a difference. How does that work? I still only have maybe 80MB space to run on.

So basically I can't carry on with Cadence, much as I love her and her dinkiness, but I can't afford better. Just wish acer hadn't lied about the amount of hard drive I could actually use.

And I saw Sex And The City 2 earlier. I don't know if Cassie reads and I don't want to ruin it for her, but hmmm .... I know I must have complained so many times about this before, but I've never seen it acted out before ... but they made up scenes to wrap up loose ends. Like say, Sam had gone on a 'journey' of personal growth and they realised that from what was said earlier, they had to get her into another position ... it felt a little slapstick. Take note, all books I've complained about before, what you've forced will feel like stale comedy. They also went a little far with the 'gun' concept (to enlighten you all, it's well known in literature that if you 'place a gun' in a scene, by the end of the book, the gun must go off. Two characters were given a piece of advice, for example, in SATC2 and by the 2 hour mark, the writers decided to 'set off the gun' and had the other characters go against the advice unwittingly. By this time, Claire was practically shouting in my ear 'what is the fucking point!' I got it, and when I tried explaining, she was like 'well, I just didn't love it as much as you, I guess'. Awwwh, hun, love had nothing to do with it. Scarlett Thomas' book keeps referring to a gun going off, but I'd read the concept before in a Harry Potter essay ... it was just fresh in my mind).

Only Charlotte and Miranda felt like they had character development throughout the whole thing, and the wrap up at the end was a little contrived.

But despite this, I enjoyed it, the dialogue was witty. The acting was superb, and the wardrobe and accessories, for the most part, were so gorgeous. I want Carrie Bradshaw's flats - both of them. Especially the 'love' canvas she has. I think I prefer her old flat, for the lightness of the decor.

Aaaand I got inspired, for a book of my own. The actual book was about dating, but at one point they were talking about soulmates ... I want to write about mine. I'll start scribbling some ideas tonight, but I still wanna churn out one scene for the Uprooted series I've been working on which has been screaming at me since Wednesday. I probably freaked out Lizzy a bit, because every time she looked at me at work I had the same expression on my face but really ... I was in Nevada. Sorry.

Otherwise, I'm knackered, 2 episodes from the end of Gossip Girl series 2 (is series three being released any time soon? My friend Carla keeps telling me little bits and I'd like to know what she's on about, without having to hope ITV2/ITV3 will reshow from the first episode when I start watching) and hardly getting anywhere with Scarlett, since I just haven't had the time. I went looking for Scandal in town, but it wasn't there, so I'll have to try Lakeside tomorrow/Monday (with the dreaded Sunday service). boy got an invite to a birthday party, so I went to Toys'r'us for a present, and found half the shop covered in Toy Story 3. I got boy a puzzle of TS, since he was so good ... it's 100 piece for 6 year olds and he's already done it. Twice (with a teeny bit of help). My boy is scary intelligent ... he can recite half of 'we're going on a bear hunt' and 'the gingerbread man' from memory. Oh, I won £20 on one of those 'rich for life' scratchcards, which was ace since I rarely play. I think that was my second time ever. I've also got 'potty training in a week' by Gina Ford ... but that's for another post.

I'm watching Eurovision now. Laters, potatahs!

Bournemouth is beautiful!

I don't intend on talking much, since I'm crazy-tired, but I probably will.

So I was down in Bournemouth this weekend, like I said I would be. We left about 3.30pm and would've been there in great time ... if there hadn't been stupid traffic at the Dartford tunnel. I've never had to queue to get off the QEII before ... and there were roadworks on the M25. We got there about ten past 8, and they extended our dinner. But bless the boy, he hadn't had a nap at nursery and he didn't sleep all car ride (we have a car DVD player, he was hooked on Thomas, Alvin 2, The Gruffalo and Toy Story throughout the journey) so dinner was the last thing he wanted. He had a melon starter, ignored the risotto I ordered for his dinner but had a humungus bowl of fruit salad for pudding. He had apple, banana and raisins in the car ... this is what I meant in a previous post, all that boy seems to eat is fruit, sweets and chocolate. And nursery food. And fish fingers.

Anyway, he fell asleep on my lap when we were trying to put his bedside protector thing together and when I tried to put him in bed, I tripped and kicked the divan. It's the same toe I always seem to hit like this, so it was stuffed up enough, but now the nail's ripped halfway along near the bit where the toenail starts to show. I'm going to have a ripped nail for months. Or no nail, which is far grosser.

So yeah, yesterday morning we had time to kill, and we walked over to Bournemouth town centre along the water front. We went with my brother-in-law's parents, and they're pretty cool. Found a shell windchime for my baby sister, and then we walked through these garden things. I wish my town had them ... they had these art displays going on, one was tin shapes everywhere, one was 'an impossible golf course', there was this gold-painted frame with photo's. My favourite one was this deck chair, but instead of material it had a strip of grass, and there was a sign by it saying 'keep off the grass' ... brilliant!

They had this little craft market thing too, which had this yummy bread stall (where we nicked chocolate brownie samples lol) and a fudge stall ... I love fudge. Especially this fudge. Proper fudge. I still have some fudge. But not for long. Anyway, we also found fresh donuts - I am all about fresh, seaside donuts. Where we have a beach hut, they take out pre-packed donuts, heat them in the donut machine, and coat them in sugar. It's criminal, but it's a pretty deprived area. They've only just got a tesco's. So yeah, it was nice to be able to have proper seaside donuts.

Me and my dad took the boy miniature golfing as well, while my brother-in-law's father went in this hot air balloon. He treated it like shuffleboard and when we told him the ball had to go in the hole he picked it up and put it there. Typical 2 year old. He did well though, got bored about the 13th hole. He was charging up and down that course, being all adorable lol.

Getting ready was fairly easy too. We gave the boy a bath and my dad took him out while I got ready, and ten minutes before we were due downstairs, we wrestled the boy into his suit. He held out for the starter, and the sorbet round (he loves champagne sorbet in a brandy snap nest. Who knew?) but he wasn't having his main course. Or the dessert course. So I trouped him upstairs thinking he'd sleep, and thinking I'd let him watch a little Alvin on the portable DVD. I was falling asleep through it (even when my dad brought up my liquer from that course, and my ladies present - a butterfly on a perfume bottle. Love at first sight) but boy got second wind. I hate when I'm more tired than him. I had to force him to sleep. It wasn't easy - we could hear the music downstairs - but I started singing along with 'Wonderful tonight' and then started lullabys, stroking his hair. Worked a charm!

This morning was shakeaways day ... good stuffs! Found this shop called Past Times, and it made me think of Poppy Coburn's blog ... it had all this art deco stuff, jewellery and mirrors, rings stands, powder boxes. Plus some old toys, knitting dolls like I used to use because I couldn't work needles ... there was a lot of things that reminded me of stuff Sophie Kinsella writes too. Lavendar and such. Anyway, I got this little green dragonfly brooch and a butterfly jewellery stand (can you tell I like butterflies? I've got this pale pink butterfly ring from miss selfridge too) was hard to resist half that shop.

The rest of the day was driving and sleeping awkwardly in the car and rest stations and picking my brother up from the other side of London where his girlfriend lives and I've sat uncomfortably for so much of today I need my double bed and thousands of cushions. I need my home luxury.

I've missed you though, blog.

A blog for my boy

Do you remember, when you were a kid, when a film or a show really captured your imagination?

Like when I was seven, I fell in love with The Little Mermaid, and had an ariel doll, and pretended to be a mermaid in the bath.

And when I was four I was convinced I was Lucy Pevensie (I was the youngest of 4 kids, and quite chunky, like in the BBC show) and spent a lot of time watching the show, reading the books, messing about in cupboards ...

But you know when you're life is all consumed by this story that's captured your imagination that you live and breathe it and can't last a day without refreshing the whole wonderful story in your mind?





That really pissed off your parents.

Case and point, my son. He fell in love with toy story a couple of weeks ago. He has to start his day with it, and end his day with it. His nursery have the songs on CD; I heard them when I picked him up yesterday. The fruit on sale in tesco's at the moment has a toy story book offer on it, so now I get asked for 'Buzz Odinge' and 'Woody Pear' instead of bog standard fruit (and that boy needs no more encouragement with eating fruit. He hits his 5-a-day before breakfast. I don't love his nappies). I've got him a woody doll for easter, but next time you're in a shop, check out the range of toy story eggs for sale - eggs alone. There's a bed spread and blanket too. Our tesco's is playing the first movie over and over, so I can't even escape it if I escape the house.

I'm toy story'd out. I used to love that film, but now ... the talking woody will be a mistake. I already know the quotes, but I'll hear them when the film's not on now.

But we've got a definite date to see the third film, the day before we leave for Florida (where, of course, we'll eat at Pizza Planet) and he'll probably take his woody to that. It's going to be his first cinema trip too. But that might drive me completely crazy. We'll see.

Reading, again.

I was serious, btw, when I said I preferred kid's books to adult books (well, teenage reading).

So I read one yesterday, "My Worst Best Friend" by the woman who wrote Confessions Of A Teenage Drama Queen (being perfectly honest, I haven't got the book beside me right now, so I can't remember the author's name. Dyan something). It was good, if a little predictable. But it was a bit like another book I read recently, I think the Sarah Dessen book actually, in that I could see another way the story could go and it didn't and I felt that maybe that detracted from the storyline a little. I guess they were more red herrings, or plotlines the writer didn't fully think out, but it just makes reading the books a little unsatisfying. Way back when, this would be when I'd write a fanfiction to see if the plotline worked better lol (honestly, if it was in my power to rewrite all of Twilight I would. Renesmee wouldn't be there because she's physically impossible, and Half of them would've died. Except maybe Jasper, Alice, Carlisle and Rosalie. They could've survived. Maybe.) but I'm too stuck in the Uprooted series (my working title. I want to change it, but I don't want anything cheesy).

I've got another book on the go anyway, called Pretty Bad Things, by C.J.Skuse. It's actually pretty good, though I've only read about three chapters. It's about these boy/girl twins whose mother killed herself when they were six and their dad wound up in jail for fraud about the same time. I am so hoping the situation when they were six was due to their parents having no money, because she's already alluded to that and it would be so effing annoying if this was the third book in a row that led me down the wrong path.

I'm going to confess right now though, that I really only get these books because I'm checking out the competition. Any book with a blurb that sounds remotely like what I'm trying to write, I get. I want to fill a niche, not be a plagerist. I draw a line at those Diary Of A Chav books though, even though I think there's a possibility they are pretty similar. I'd rather just not find out (and no, I'm not going to go into my plotline now. But for my proof-readers, who I swear I will be sending this link to - change the protagonists name or not? I mean, I like it, especially the connotations when it's shortened, but at the same time ... I just don't know.) Does that make me a coward by the way, trying to avoid what could be the strongest competition? I just don't want to be laughed at whenever I get the balls to approach agents.

But watch this space. Next time I write, I might have caved into Joanne's demands and read Celia Ahern. Or Jodi Picoult, since last time we were talking on twitter she was complaining about the ending to My Sister's Keeper. And she rates P.S. I Love You over the film. I'll probably be the same with The Lovely Bones (which was great until Susie possessed her friend. What was that craziness about?)

Oh, I just looked it up on Waterstones. MWBF was by Dyan Sheldon. I like her writing style, although sometimes it was hard to know if Gracie, the main character, was talking to someone else or just thinking. Speech marks Dyan, Speech marks. Could be worse though, in PBT she has a seven am report talking about 3.50 that afternoon. They can predict the news now?

I'd better leave this here, toy story's on and my son has gone running amok. I'll find him outside my room, asking for chocolate. So predictable.