Some books have been borrowed and read

Came home from the library last week with these that I'd reserved online.

Thankfully the weather was eventually good enough for us to walk to the library,  as I was down to my last library book although I've always got a goodly amount of TBR of my own.
Also brought home a letter about more cuts needed to library funding to balance the books. We just hope they don't feel the need to start charging for reservations or, now we are moving back to the country, cut out mobile libraries completely.

I've not done any book reviews lately but this is what's been read in the last couple of weeks.

Marlene C Miller - Called to be Amish [Non Fiction 2015]. One of my own books.
Then 4 library books
Christopher St John Sprigg - Death of An Airman [British Library Crime Classics 2016 (originally 1934)]                         
George Bellairs - Death of a Busybody [British Library Crime Classics 2016 (originally published 1943)]
  Michael Foley - Ready for Anything, Essex at War [Non Fiction 2006]
Freeman Wills Crofts - Mystery in the Channel [British library Crime Classic 2016 originally 1931]

Also now read the book on the top of the library book pile - Thread of Evidence by Bernard Knight. Like the BLCC this is also crime fiction re-published from a while back. Between 1998 and 2010 Bernard Knight wrote a series of historical crime set in Exeter during the 12th Century and then  a trilogy set in the 1950's. Rather oddly the series  of 7 (Thread of Evidence is the 2nd)set in Wales written in the 1960's are not mentioned at all on Fantastic Fiction, I wonder if he wanted to keep quiet about them as they are not as well written as he more recent titles!

Yes, I do seem to read a lot of crime fiction. Why? Probably because they always have a proper ending which you don't always get with an ordinary fiction and they rarely reduce me to a blubbering wreck! And of course authors who write crime tend to write several.



Back Very Soon
Sue

Adsense + latest doings

Do I need an extra £35 a week, well frankly ......YES
According to a box that has appeared on my dashboard page my blog now qualifies for having ads and I could earn up to £35 a week ( subject to traffic) by joining "hundreds of other bloggers making money through Adsense"
Will I be doing this...............NO, although I can see the attraction, but it's not a way I want to earn money.
Does anyone with ads actually earn that much?


When we move to the cottage we will be halfway between 2 towns for shopping, Stowmarket and Diss although we've not been to either for a while. We know both well so maybe we'll alternate. As we'd not been far this week a trip out of Ipswich to Stowmarket was taken . We parked at Asda and over the hedge there was a huge crane/ digger/machine thing just starting to demolish a lovely big house that's stood there for years, in fact while I was at Grammar school in the town it was where the headmaster lived. By the time we had walked around the town  and got back to the car the house was gone - blimey. I expect next time we go to town it will have been replaced by a dozen new houses.
 As usual we looked in all the charity shops and Col got himself another warm work shirt which he likes over a t-shirt for winter for £2.99. We walked down the street and at the menswear shop similar were on a rack in the doorway for £16. Then we  bumped into someone we knew from way back when we lived in that area.
  I found these in The Works,  to finish some Christmas cards I'm stitching..............for next year!

I'm in cross stitch mood at the moment- so getting ahead in case I don't get in the right mood again and thought £1 wasn't too much of a crime in my No/Low spend month.



November spending £527 + Shirt £3+Craft stuff £1+Pharmacy £1+Veg and Store-cupboard food £8=£540

December spending will be MUCH more as apart from the cash presents for our 3 and their OH's, 2 nephews and a niece, there will be a large electric/ gas bill because the last one was estimated low, plus  car insurance. Oh dear.

Back Soon
Sue

Bloggy stats

Every now and again I have a look at the stats just to see what's what.

Below is a weird happening in page views, I think that's what you would call a spike!




In Jan 2016 I had  71,140 page views, more than any other month


What was happening in January 2016?

Colin was diagnosed with cancer, was it this that made everyone look or was it because I posted on 29/31 days or was it because it was winter and everyone had nothing to do except peruse blogs?

Then there was that odd month with dozens of mysterious page views from Russia............ that made the Russian bit of the all time map turn green






Although  on a normal day  it looks like this


According to one bit the most page views over all time are......

30 Ways to Save £1-- Day 30 + 50p for Christmas de... 30 Nov 2013, 17 comments	1837
Green Tomato Chutney 31 Jul 2015, 17 comments	1446
The pictures that made 2015 31 Dec 2015, 64 comments	1208
Plan C 17 Oct 2016, 90 comments	1174
A favourite post from long ago in a different worl... 13 Jul 2016, 28 comments	1148

But look, what about this post with 1698 page views it ought to be in that list above

A £20 shopping list Edit | View | Share | Delete (Whoops,it's disappeared over to the right, cant get it back!) And so should this with 1773 Lots done despite the weather Edit | View | Share | Delete And on the post page number one should say 2211 not 1837 30 Ways to Save £1-- Day 30 + 50p for Christmas decorations! Local events Sue in Suffolk 17 2211 30/11/2013 Oh goodness me, there have been 16,028 comments! Sue in Suffolk 16 1773 26/03/2014

Sue in Suffolk

25

1698

20/01/2015

But enough of this fiddling about...........................

Do you know this quote................
Lies, damned lies, and statistics. ... The term was popularised in United States by Mark Twain (among others), who attributed it to the British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli: "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."





Back to normal soon
Sue

Still trying not to spend too much

Another viewing on Friday,  "sorry too small".........again....
Another viewing Tuesday morning will probably be the same

We had visitors on Saturday so there was a bit of extra spending for food. But what I bought will also feed us for a couple more days too, so that's OK

We took our friends over to see where the cottage is, just to make it a bit easier for them to find - it's not easily found! I rang to tell the lady who owns it that we would be walking by just to show our friends where the house was and she said she wouldn't be there but we could peer in the windows, which felt much to nosy to actually do.
So we just walked by and got all excited again about getting there as soon as we can.

Sunday was a grey dismal sort of day, we thought about walking to the library but didn't bother to go out at all. I got the tapestry glasses case finished by lining the back of the stitching with a piece of felt, then stitched myself a new scissor-keeper and made one small Christmas card from a free kit that I've had for ages. We also watched Andy Murray  play in the final to become top tennis player at the end of year - brilliant.

Got a bit worried this morning when our youngest said she would call in to see us after taking Florence for an ultra-sound, but it seems all breech babies have a scan to check for hip problems. She's  six weeks now and growing but is still a titch, just about got a small smile.

Hope everyone is surviving the varying weather in other parts of the country........ windy weather that caused so much damage in Somerset, Devon and Dorset, floods and snow up north, we've missed most of it so far.

Welcome to some new followers and thank you for comments

Milk, Fruit and veg plus some other things for meals with visitors and store-cupboard items £17.50
running total now £527 ish and still several days left until the end of the month - bother.

Back shortly
Sue

Tracks of my years

I've never ever seen this done on a blog before so this may be a First. Ever. in. Blogland!

If you have ever listened to The Ken Bruce programme on Radio 2 weekday mornings you will have heard a celebrity choose 10 music tracks that have featured in, have a special meaning or are favourites in the lives.

Here are my tracks of my years and the reasons for choosing

1. Tommy Steele - Little White Bull  from 1959
When an uncle bought himself a new record player he passed his old one onto us probably around 1960 and this is one of the first records that mum bought to play on it. I would have been 4 when this was a hit. It was taken from a comedy musical - Tommy The Toreador starring Tommy Steele,
We probably only had 1 or 2 records so this was played to destruction......and I know all the words!

2. Don Spencer - Fireball XL5 from 1962.
Maybe I had this record for a present. It was the theme tune from a Gerry and Sylvia Anderson TV puppet space adventure, before Thunderbirds, I can't remember the programme but kept the record for years.

3. The Beatles - She Loves You 1963
The first of several Beatles singles I owned, I stupidly gave them away in the 70's to someone starting a disco.

4. Matt Monroe - Born Free 1966
Don't know why I like this but I just do
( and also love him singing On Days Like These which was the theme for the Italian Job)

5. The Kinks- Waterloo Sunset from 1967
For some reason this reminds me of summer holidays at the Beach Station Caravan Site in Felixstowe. Mum owned a caravan there which was let out but we would go down quite a lot in the summer holidays. We roamed the site making friends with other children whose parents owned caravans there and with people who were just there for a weeks holiday. A girl whose name I can't remember ( but her Dad owned a butchers shop in Mendlesham) and I would sit by the check-in place on Saturdays to see if any nice looking boys were arriving...........We were about 12 or 13 years old!

6. The Monkees - I'm a believer 1967
I had Davy Jones pictures all over my bedroom and loved the TV programme

7. David Essex - Myfanwy 1987
This is a song from what was to have been a musical about John Betjeman . The musical never got made but I have a CD of  his poems that were set to music and performed by all different artists

8.The theme from Dances With Wolves by John Barry  1990
 Just a couple of minutes of this  and  I'm in floods of tears......... weird

9.Take That - Want you back 1995
Yes I was a 40 year old Take That fan!

10. Then I hit a problem as I couldn't decide which of several other tracks from lots of different artists so.......

10a  Josh Groban -So She Dances (from his album Awake)
10b  The Divine Comedy -Absent Friends
10c Chris Difford -  Cowboys are My Weakness
10d Amen Corner - (If Paradise Is) Half as Nice
10e Will Young - Leave right now
10f  Robbie Williams - Road to Mandalay
10g  Beautiful South - Need a little Time


 There may be more - given time - but I'll stop there.

OK - Your turn

Back soon
Sue







 

The ins and outs of life at Number 9

Monday IN and OUT was just for a walk, coming back via Aldi.

Tuesday morning OUT to visit A and Florence. Because A is having to take antibiotics she has gone onto formula milk which Florence isn't keen on. She never did get the hang of breast feeding as she always fell asleep after 2 minutes! Florence that is not A! Although A is well known for falling asleep on a 5 minute car journey! I had big cuddles with Florence while A and grandad Col took the dog OUT for a walk.

And IN again for lunch.

Tuesday afternoon OUT to hospital where Col had the 100-days-after-stem-cell-transplant bone marrow sampling - Ouch - he had gas and air. This is how they test if there is any mantle cell lymphoma or what percentage is left. Blood test too, platelets are the same as last week - bother, but at least not down.

And IN again for dinner.

The XL moon was IN and OUT behind clouds but I zoomed IN and caught this. I think a day too late for the full moon.

Wednesday was IN and OUT....................of the car.
On the way to Colin's sisters we called IN at the Needham Market Wednesday boot sale .........4 books for Col £1- very unusual for him to find anything

 and 3 packets of biscuits £1 . We've returned the wheelchair to sister and hope it will be many years before we need it again - if ever.
Then we stop/started up the A140 - volume of traffic? accident?roadworks? we shall never know as we turned off via Mendlesham to call IN on my sister. Coffee with them and then to Col's Dads to pick up some money from Col's brother as I bought my own Christmas present, wrapped it up and delivered it there so all Andrew needs to do is write on the label! He thinks it's an excellent way to do his Christmas shopping! (BTW the present I bought myself was a small tapestry frame and tapestry of poppies to do - both from the Sense charity shop. But don't tell me as it's a secret!!)

And IN again via Asda for diesel still £1.10/L there but £1.17/L everywhere else.

Found half the washing had come off the line and dragged on the ground so it had to go IN the washing machine again before it could go back OUT on the line.

I didn't go OUT anymore because tennis was on TV but Col went OUT for a walk, although the Andy Murray match was very looooooonnnnnggggg so I could have gone OUT because the score was still only 2 : 2 in the first set when Col got IN again.

Thursday
OUT this morning for Col to be measured for his wedding waistcoat.......only 3 weeks now - exciting.
Then IN to town for a bit of shopping and mainly to get Col a new battery for his watch. £14!!!!! In a No spend month! But no choice really. Spent £6 of my Grape Tree vouchers for some savoury bits for us for Christmas as the hampers are sorted. Two more  Christmas gifts also sorted.
Col is OUT again later to hospital for a full body CT scan, not sure why really but we presume to check the chemo hasn't affected any vital organs or maybe to look for possible blood clots.
I don't need to go with him so I can stay IN. Good! all this IN and OUT is making me dizzy!




 Aldi, Asda and greengrocers- fruit, veg, eggs,bread, store cupboard stuff £11
Christmas gifts £10
Diesel £34
Col's books £1
Watch battery £14 (much too much , what happened to wind up watches?)

The  Annoyingly Not so low/no spend November £439.50 + £70 = £509.50ish
Back Soon
Sue

A few more days into November

We walked round to a table top sale at the Baptist Chapel on Saturday morning and even though I said "it's low spend/no spend month" Col decided we would have coffee and cake. I couldn't argue could I? Then he saw a stair-gate with all its fittings for £5, bargained it down to £4 and got that ready for the cottage. By the time we move in and the Surrey family come to visit Jacob will be crawling so we'll need the stairs fenced off.

It was a very sporty weekend......... as in on TV................not actual doing! Lots of rugby - both league and union, snooker, tennis, not everyone's cup of tea but each to his own. Then there was Strictly........gangnam style?.............. nuf said!

Here are the things I'm Not buying/making for Christmas this year.
 A Wreath for the front door or for graves; Christmas crackers; A big Christmas pudding; Christmas PJs; Christmas bedlinen; Christmas presents for pets; New decorations; Tacky blow up Santas for outside; Huge model Santa a la Asda *shudder*;Giant lights for the roof or anywhere else; Christmas tablecloth; Christmas plates; Christmas cushions; Christmas Jumper; Christmas socks; Christmas Hair do; Christmas Make up; Christmas jewelry; e cards; Advent calendar; Large tub or small box of Quality street, Roses  Etc; Extravagant useless gifts; Cheap useless gifts; Giant turkey that won't fit in oven; 6 weeks worth of food to last 3 days; Round-robin boasting letter;

Most of these I don't do anyway and many of them I didn't know existed until I saw them on blogs.
 I'm saving our money for trees to plant at the cottage.

Busy week ahead, back in a while
Sue

Low/No Spend November
Christmas gifts, fruit and milk,eggs and veg etc from Asda, Aldi and the greengrocers £21.50
Pharmacy £7
Stair-gate £4
Coffee and cakes £3
Total £404 + £32.50 = £439.50 ish