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as we go along

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Saturday snippets

Saturday Snippets 24 July 2021

24th July 2021 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

{pondering} getting back to blogging. Partly for me, partly for reasons, partly to see if I can make a living out of if, but should that be here and if not where and round and round in circles I go…

{playing} State of Survival, a zombie game on my phone. With people all round the world. I use discord now. It’s been an odd year.

{feeling} more pain in more places than I care to think about, but can’t stop thinking about, because that’s kind of how pain works. The latest new area to get in on the action is my left foot, which feels oddly bruised in much the way my hands do, and makes getting up and getting going in the morning even more unpleasant than it was before. I don’t know if that’s still indicative of generalised osteoarthritis, it feels very much as though the NHS has ducked out of this whole conversation, and I don’t really know how to pick it up and where to take it from here.

{also feeling} dissatisfied and out of place and slightly frantic about the whole no job situation. My brain is going 19 to the dozen with plans and schemes and I can’t settle on anything. Which is partly why I’ve decided starting blogging again might help. It’s kind of like journalling, but easier on my hands, and I’d rather save hand activity for art stuff if you see what I mean.

{reading} at bedtime, Forest Born by Shannon Hale. It’s the 4th in the Books of Bayern, which we’ve been reading for a while now, because they are so so good. This one has sparked of lots of discussion about right and wrong, and parenting, and personal responsibility, and relationships and all sorts. I highly recommend them, and might write up a separate post on the series. Weirdly only one of them is available on bookshop, so here’s your handy affiliate link.

I’ve looked for them in bookshops too, and haven’t found them, I really don’t know why they aren’t well known. So happy I came across the first in a charity shop though!

{bookpost} this morning I got A different sort of Normal by Abigail Balfe in the post. It looks utterly fascinating. Don’t believe me? Here you go….

This is for the SOULS Who never quite fit in, The odd ones out, The misfits - Told to grow a rhivker skin.

That’s the first page. How could I resist? I was gifted it by a stranger on twitter, as a result of BigGreenBookshop #BuyAStrangerABookDay

Here's an epic #buyastrangerabook offer!@sallylait is offering to buy THREE people a book each.

So, if there is a particular title you've been wanting to get hold of, get in touch.

Do it! https://t.co/1ymwZy9BNi

— Big Green Bookshop (@Biggreenbooks) July 21, 2021

I know I’m going to write a full post on this. I’ve a few books that deserve their own posts in fact, so that might be most of what I write about for a little while. Affiliate link for this book

{plans} I need to start scheduling myself. I’m going to try out a digital download planner I’ve been gifted by EGMDigital on Etsy – I’ll share pictures tomorrow, but here’s your affiliate link if you’d care to explore EGM Digital

{decluttering} currently having some success by playing #MinsGame, though it will surprise no one to hear that I’m not completely following the rules. I haven’t taken a picture every day, and some days I’ve got rid of a lot more than the items suggested for that day, and other days it’s been maybe a little less. But I’m sure I’m on track for the total for the month, which is 1+2+3 and so on, increasing by one each day, through to the end of the month. I’ve been chucking out, recycling, charity shop donating, using Ziffit, Ebay, FB marketplace… so there’s a little money coming in as well as a lot of stuff going out.

{exercising} trying to build a habit of doing a minimal workout, using the interval training concept as discussed in The one minute workout, another charity shop bargain. Today’s workout was actually via the 7 minute workout app, and it offends me greatly that the workout takes 8 minutes something. (Why did you call it a 7 minute workout then??) I found the app again (I’d installed it a little while ago) from this article about the concept, although it also offended me that the workout described in the article isn’t in the app. Or if it is, I didn’t find it. But anyway, I did a workout, go me.

And now I’m aware I’m waffling rather, so I think it’s time to wrap this up.

fake stomach in a bowl

Snapshots
We have a Big mostly home from university for the summer, although she’s actually away this weekend. It’s been rather lovely having her back. (NotSo)SmallTeen is waiting for results, and seeking employment, Smallest is focussing mainly on art, and Tigerboy is focusing mainly on computers, with the occasional foray into educational resources he is finding as I’m reorganising. And so the days go by.

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Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged With: Saturday snippets

Saturday snippets 16 January 2021

17th January 2021 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

{remembering} on this day, 21 years ago, I became a parent for the first time. Today is the first birthday with that offspring not here, but we zoomed together to make cinnamon buns, and had breakfast with her sitting on a screen at the table.

{playing} my zombie game. I play one of these settlement building team games on my phone, and have for a long time now. And tonight we had one of the team events, and I tried out my new headset and joined voice chat, and we lost horribly, but it was still fun.

{thinking} about how to crochet a sphere. I think I’m going to follow this guide for the sphere for my first pokemon make, which will be Voltorb.

{eating} leftover cinnamon buns and chocolate. Oops.

{reading} The Midnight Guardians to the kids at bedtime, and not very much else (keep up with our bedtime readalouds via this #affiliate bookshop list). Not quite sure where my focus us. Probably off killing zombies.

{shopping} for an elderly neighbour and online for books for igcse. (Why is it that one of the very few books that I managed to get around to clearing out of the house is the book that next offspring needs? Honestly. I got rid of it as I assumed that if smaller children got around to this course that the syllabus would have changed!)

{wishing} I’d kept up these posts.

{keeping} a daily art practice up courtesy of 642 Tiny things to draw (found in a charity shop over a year ago) #affiliate bookshop button for more info (and to try out bookshop affiliate buttons)

{snapshots}
Yarrow flower

Big is now out in the big wide world at university, but visiting home regularly by video call. So while not being able to see her regularly is kind of difficult, at least we’re still in touch.

(NotSo)SmallTeen is remotely colleging a couple days a week, which is not ideal for a performance music course, but does at least give him some kind of structure.

Smallest is struggling slightly with lack of social activities, but that’s a common problem for many people right now I think, she has started auditing a GCSE course, and has branched out into digital art (you can find her (supervised) on insta here.

Tigerboy is at the needs to find a focus/ interest stage of development, and is keeping up a long running streak on duolingo, reading widely and learning to code.

I’m contemplating trying out some game development – I keep looking at this unity bundle for game development (#affiliate link) – but I would need to source a different machine, as you can’t code on a Chromebook. And then I wonder about getting an apple machine of some description, so that Smallest could try out Apple art, and NSST could do some of his music stuff on the DAWs they use in college, and then I run round in circles trying to determine what machine would be a good buy and buy nothing.

In other news, a very wonderful imaginary person sent me a rainbow tape whale. So that was good.

Rainbow tape whale

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Filed Under: Uncategorised Tagged With: Saturday snippets

Saturday snippets

17th November 2018 by Jax Blunt Leave a Comment

{musing} I was doing so well with blog every day November, then I hit a day where I didn’t know what to write and I was really really tired so I went to bed and that was it. Stopped. How do other people pick up when they falter? (not even asking how people don’t falter. I always falter.)

{eating} fridge bottom feast. This is what we call it when we eat all the left overs that have collected over the last two or three days. I hate throwing food out but we so often have bits that aren’t enough for more than one or two of us and then they don’t fit with what else I’m cooking and there you go. How do other big families manage this?

{thinking} 6 year old might be the hardest age to parent. Or is that just my children? It’s when they really start to exert themselves and so often it seems to be in such a needlessly confrontational way.

{reading} A Ruin of Kings. And wishing that kindle arcs can be a complete pain.

{working} on Saturday. Again. Why has the tech taken to breaking when I’m there??

{wishing} for things I can’t put into words. Like peace on earth and more honesty in corporations and politicians and more kindness everywhere but in both bigger and smaller ways.

{contemplating} Minecraft curriculum. Anyone tried anything they like?

Snapshots

Big has gone to visit a school friend who is at uni. Not sure about this independent children lark quite frankly. (NotSo)SmallTeen is continuing to expand his musical repertoire and took a bass with him on Friday for the first time. Smallest lost two teeth in one day, don’t think either of the older two have managed that before and Tigerboy decided drawing on a computer screen was a good idea. (he was wrong.)

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Filed Under: It's where it is Tagged With: #BEDN, BEDN, Saturday snippets, saturdaysnippets

A list in snippets

3rd November 2018 by Jax Blunt 2 Comments

{cooking} pizza. Honest. I’m not blogging at all, you can’t see me, la la…

{enjoying} BEDN which has completely revitalised both my blogging and my blog reading. I’ve missed both, so this is a real bonus. I only expected to kickstart the writing, not the enjoyment if that makes any sense.

{listening} to a wider variety of music, having signed us up for a family spotify account. I’m calling it an educational expense given that both the older kids are doing music courses at college these days.

{reading} actually, I haven’t started anything else since I finished Fated a couple days back. Hm. Must pick something up. But what am I in the mood for? (Really I want to read the next Trudi Canavan trilogy, the Traitor Spy, but the first one still hasn’t come into the library for me, and I even visited the secondhand bookshop and they don’t have it.)

{writing} I’m doing nano, ish. By which I mean I’m committing to trying to finish one of the two manuscripts I’ve been working on quite literally for years. In fact, one of them is older than my children. (This is possibly not something to be proud of.) For a variety of reasons, some similar to those mentioned by Rachael in her #BEDN post today, I’m struggling with both the ideas. But am determined to complete, even if I can’t find an agent/ publisher who will take them. At that point, I guess my best bet will be to self publish. Exciting!

{decluttering} gradually. Probably best not talked about too much tbh.

{pondering} how many of these points I can get away with?

{snapshots}

Big and Small (aka NSSmallTeen in various places these days) are fairly established at college these days. I’m not entirely sure whether he still technically counts as home educated, I probably should follow that up at some point. He’s definitely getting a full time education either way. Smallest is beginning to struggle with the cold in much the way her older siblings do – have bought several pairs of thermal tights for her. By contrast, Tigerboy is bouncing round in shorts. He’s taken up trampolining, appropriately enough, and has already achieved badge 2. I’m impressed.

And that will have to do you today, given it’s past time I was making pizza.

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Filed Under: It's where it is Tagged With: #BEDN, BEDN, Saturday snippets, saturdaysnippets, Snippets

Saturday Snippets 28th July 2018

28th July 2018 by Jax Blunt 1 Comment

{learning] about work. Bit of a shock to the system, but I’m sure I’ll adjust.

{reading} How To Bee by Bren MacDibble. I started this months and months ago and somehow put it to one side and didn’t finish it. I’m working on finishing things now, and this was an easy choice to finish. It’s a brilliant read – a children’s novel set in an Australia devoid of bees, where some poor children take their place. Told in the voice of a wannabee (see what I did there?) it’s described as beautiful and fierce which is a pretty good description of the protagonist Peony. Read it.

{watching} Captain America: Civil War. We’re working our way through a whole bunch of superhero movies at the moment, but this is not a family friendly one. So it’s an evening feature ๐Ÿ˜‰

{enjoying} a day out at Sax Music Fest where (NotSo)SmallTeen was playing with Ipswich Guitar School. He absolutely loves performing and had a great time – it was a fab day out, if you’re in the area I’d recommend popping it in your diary next year. While three of us were there, Big took the youngest two down to the carnival – we’re all making memories this summer.

Snapshots

Big is working on her 20 year plans (her story, not mine) – good to see ๐Ÿ™‚ (NotSo)SmallTeen is, as mentioned above, getting more stage time in. Smallest has decided she likes the idea of beautiful handwriting – hints and tips for working with left handers gratefully accepted. Tigerboy enjoyed a trial of Doodlemaths, but raced through and built his robot in double quick time and now can’t see any point in it any more. Maybe gamification isn’t always the answer after all ๐Ÿ˜‰ (Remind me to brush up on extrinsic v intrinsic motivation sometime soon.)

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Filed Under: Book club, family Tagged With: Bren MacDibble, carnival, how to bee, making memories, old barn books, Saturday snippets, saturdaysnippets, Sax Music Fest

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