Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “cele-.” Find a word that starts with or contains “cele” and use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!
Celebration time!
Yes, that is definitely the thing for us this weekend.
Yesterday we were on tenterhooks, waiting to find out what school Lil Princess would get a place at.
On that news that morning, there was a report about how over 100,000 children wouldn’t get their first choice of schools, and that there was even a shortage of places in secondary schools.
Apparently, in her year of birth, there was a baby boom. That was 11 years ago. Surely the government had access to birth figures and should have been suitably prepared… Seems not.
So, even though I was pretty sure she would get her first choice, especially as her brother is already there, there was still a worry.
And it appears that our county is one of the latest to send out the offer emails. Most letters were posted to arrive this morning, or emails sent to arrive in parents inboxes in the morning.
Not Kent.
No. We were advised that after 4pm the emails would start to arrive, and if you applied by paper form, your letters would be posted today and so you wouldn’t even know until tomorrow!
And I was impatient, checking my phone at every break to make sure nothing had sneaked in early…
Then at lunchtime, one of her peers’ mums, who works at the school, told me her husband had had THE EMAIL! And it was only 1.30pm!
Well, my brain went into overdrive then. Why had we not received notification yet? Had I sent the application in properly? What if she hadn’t got into her first choice of school?
It wasn’t long before, finally, that message pinged up.
She got in!
To the school we wanted, the place she wanted, and the same as her brother.
That allowed a wave of relief to wash over me.
So we have to celebrate her good news this weekend.
(Then we can start silently panicking about her SATS tests in May…)
February 28, 2019, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less) write a story using the term backup. You can back up or have a backup, just go where the prompt leads!
Back Up Required
“Back up! I request you all to back up. You are blocking the exit.” Pete tried, in vain, to clear a path through the door. It was always the same, when these guys visited. He needed to get the band to their car, but it was proving to be impossible. Just as he thought he’d made some headway, a huge scream erupted, and the crowd of teeny boppers surged forward, knocking him to the ground. Typical. The boys had turned up at the entrance, with their dazzling smiles, unaware that their security was buried, and requiring back up himself.
It looks so creepy, and the walls are covered with this green litchen moss that indicates no-one really looked after the place.
I always wonder what is behind it though. The grounds inside are so overgrown that there is no way of glimpsing the house that it guards. Nanna said that it had been a beautiful house when she was young. There were always streams of folk in and out, parties happening regularly. She remembers standing near the gate with her friends, as a young girl, hoping to catch a glimpse of the beautiful frocks that the ladies visiting the house wore.
Then one day, the gates mysteriously closed, and never opened again.
Mummy says that bad things happened there. Someone died, and a child went missing. Nanna can’t recall what exactly happened. When I ask her, she just reminisces about pretty dresses.
There are so many rumours amongst the village.
A happy, fortunate family who suddenly befell an awful tragedy, with the man of the house being mysteriously killed in his house and their only child, a girl, disappearing. They say the lady of the house still lives there, but I can’t work out how. She’d be older than Nanna if she was still alive, and Nanna is quite old…
But just the other day, there was a report of a child going missing. She goes to my school. Her brother’s not been in this week. They must be so scared. She my age. She isn’t really my friend, but anyway… she went missing, and no one can trace her, beyond leaving school to walk home.
She’s often walked the same way as me.
Where could she have gone?
Today, I’ve had Drama Club so I’m late walking back. Sarah, my best friend, doesn’t like Drama so she went home on her own, earlier.
It’s getting dark earlier and everywhere has an eerie feel about it, especially as I get closer to that gate…
But today there is something odd. One of the gate panels is slightly ajar. I’ve never seen it open before.
Curiosity killed the cat, they say. It’s a good thing my name’s not Cat… I push open the gate and step through.
The house is there, masked by overgrown plants. But no sign of anyone around.
Who might have opened that gate?
I just have to walk up a little further. It’d be rude not to. I have to push away some of the brambles that have taken over the path, laddering my school tights.
Great.
Mummy will kill me.
The house looms closer. It really does look like it could have been a grand place.
Oh My God!
The door opens.
A little woman is standing there.
“Come on in Grace. We’ve been expecting you.”
Something pulls me closer, even though my mind is telling me to just run back to the gate, and out.
My body keeps going, and before I know it, I am over the threshold.
My eyes adjust to the dimness of the light in the hallway, and as I glance to the right, through a door, what I see makes me gasp in horror, just as I hear the front door slam shut behnd me with certain finality.
Thank you so much to Sally for thinking of me for this award! I have received it previously, but I always like to share such posts, and answer the questions, because that is so much fun!
What is the most daring thing you have done? I’ve not jumped from planes, or zip wired across a rainforest… I haven’t moved countries (Counties, yes!) but I think the most daring thing I have done is to put myself out there via this blog and my writing. I have laid myself bare in so many ways, that I think that is pretty much daring enough!
Name one item still on your bucket list. I want to go to the Bahamas!
If you had a time machine, would you choose to live in the past or the future? That is a really tough one because if you live in the past, it’s like you aren’t happy with your present, but to go into the future is a total unknown! If pushed, I’d say as the time machine was mine, I’d love to see what the future held for my family and me, then go back to the past to relive some aspects of life, and unmake certain mistakes! (Is that cheating?)
What is your favourite movie of all time? Easy. Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book!
What is one piece of advice you would give to your younger self? Don’t ever lose yourself trying to please others. It’s the advice my mother gave me when I was getting married, and I would tell the younger me that even earlier!
What is one of your guilty pleasures? I love that you ask about one of your guilty pleasures… are you implying we have many…? Well, mine would be…Chocolate… and lots of it!
Do you have any pets? We do indeed! We have Sonu Singh, our Punjabi cat and Heer & Ranjha, our parrotlet pair.
Tell us about one thing that really gets your goat. Parents not taking responsibility for their child! As a teacher, you see some wonderful parenting, but you also see the other side too…
Who would you invite to a celebrity dinner. List 5, dead or alive? I answered a similar question on one of Sally’s interviews before and said I wouldn’t want celebrities, but if I could bring someone back, it would be my four grandparents… But as I want to play properly… Hmmm… five celebs… Okay, Mother Teresa, Gandhi, Arjun Rampal (gotta have some eye candy!), Charlie Chaplin and Roald Dahl.
What is your most annoying bad habit? Depends on who you ask! If it was my Hubby Dearest, he would say I am on Social Media too much! If you asked my kids, it would be I nag too much. If you ask one of my old colleagues, she used to say I breathed too loudly, and I have to say, I do when concentrating on something!
Name your current favourite song playing on your playlist right now. Oh, that is such a hard one! I like too much music to choose just one song! And in all honesty, I don’t have a playlist… it’s whatever CD is in the car stereo! But I do love this one right now…
Yet another month has flown by, and for me, amidst all the family birthdays… My brother in law’s, my Hubby Dearest’s and Mother-in-law’s on the same day, Lil Princess and my Father-in-law’s (again on the same day) as well as Valentines Day, a little snow, the in-law’s departing for the Motherland and half term… I have managed to read another epic amount of books! Thirteen, including a new Julia Donaldson picture book! Exciting!
There are a few NetGalley ARCs, but I did steam through a good few from my TBR pile too! So, here goes!
Christmas For One by Amanda Prowse My rating: 5 of 5 stars Wonderful to open a book and fall straight into the swing of the story, as it is based on characters you already know! I am a huge Amanda Prowse fan and this is yet another page turner, following Meg’s life, after becoming a single mother, albeit with some fantastic surrogate family by her side. There’s love, drama, cute hikd and New York! What more do you want!
As a mother I have loved Julia Donaldson’s books, to read to my children. As an aunt, I have ensured my nephews have received many of her books so they can enjoy them in Finland. As a teacher, I have used her stories to enhance learning and entrance my students with her beautifully crafted stories.
I always love the underlying messages in the stories, and The Go-Away Bird is no different.
Using flowing rhyming verse to tell the story of a rather pompous bird who seems to think itself too good for all the other birds who wish to befriend it. Yet in its hour of need, those same birds come back to help him.
A story of friendship, and learning to look beyond the ‘cover’ of a person, to discover the real goodness inside.
I really enjoyed the premise of the book, and the illustrations by Catherine Rayner are simply stunning.
Definitely a book I would read to my class, to encourage friendship, no matter what.
Many thanks to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for providing me with an arc for my honest review.
Publication date: 7th March
Chicken Shift by D. Avery My rating: 5 of 5 stars Made me giggle. A whole poetry book, crammed with verses about chickens crossing roads! Loved this one:
A chicken crossed the road, as happens now and then Philosophers and passersby Did their bit and wondered why But the farmer wondered how it escaped the pen.
Twin Desires by Pamela Wight My rating: 5 of 5 stars Rae has had a hard life already. Losing her mother as a young girl, in tragic circumstances, then after looking after her father and herself, losing him to the demon drink, she finds herself alone in this world. She manages to build a good life for herself, quiet and steady, doing well for herself, until she has a chance encounter with the CEO of her company, Blake. What she didn’t count on was the drama that accompanied him, in the form of his psychotic twin brother Alex, and scorned ex-wife Phyllis. There is a lot in the story to keep a reader gripped, and I really enjoyed the twists the tale took.
Life on Hold by Karen McQuestion My rating: 4 of 5 stars My first novel by Karen McQuestion and I enjoyed it. A YA book exploring relationships at a most fragile age. I almost wanted the book to go on… It was a shorter read than I usually choose, but that just meant I enjoyed its end quicker!
The Christmas Cafe by Amanda Prowse My rating: 5 of 5 star Yet another wonderful book by Amanda Prowse. A heartwrenching story of Bea, recently widowed, and dealing with her wayward granddaughter. Its a learning curve of a story, where both grandma and gran daughter learn a lot about themselves. Letting love find you, finding first loves and a trip from Oz to Scotland. A truly lovely read and a bonus when I read of some old favourite characters too!
I Won’t Be Home For Christmas by Amanda Prowse My rating: 4 of 5 stars Another lovely read from one of my fave authors. This wasn’t my favourite of her books. It one that dealt with hard hitting issues. However, an easy read that had an important lesson within. One my mother has always hammered into me. You shouldn’t ever change yourself for anyone. Love should be based upon a true knowledge of each other, not a facade. Thank you Mandy.
Don’t You Forget About Me by Mhairi McFarlane My rating: 4 of 5 stars This was my first Mhairi McFarlane book and I wasn’t disappointed, The story of Georgina and Lucas, I loved how the story looped around, tying the beginning to the end. There are plenty of women out there who had dreams and aspirations, yet the world doesn’t work in their favour, and they get stuck in the loop of bad job/bad relationships/bad fortune. Women like Georgina who thought life would be so much better. Things don’t always work out for her, and the digs from her family don’t help. But the chance offer of a one-off job leads to more, and some interesting twists and turns in her life. I really enjoyed the story, reading it in one day, The characters were relatable, and there was the romance, interlaced with doses of the reality of dating life nowadays. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins UK for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
Happiness for Beginners by Carole Matthews My rating: 5 of 5 stars Carole Matthews does it again! I have long been a fan of her novels and was thrilled to get a chance to review her newest novel. This was another book I devoured in a day. The story of Molly and her farm full of rejected animals, developing into a school for those children who are almost rejected from society. Here we meet actor Shelby who brings his wayward teen some, Lucas, as a last resort. There is fun, disaster, poetry, romance and so many fantastic animals with real characters. What’s not to love! Many thanks to NetGalley for providing an arc in exchange for an honest review.
One Minute Later by Susan Lewis My rating: 5 of 5 stars What an emotionally beautiful story! I have read a few of Susan Lewis’s books before and this was a stunning new one from her. The number of times my heart was literally on edge as the twists and turns of the stories were revealed… I cannot even count. I was entranced by the story of Vivi and Josh, and all the history, which had me almost cringing at one point, willing what I thought would happen to not happen… I’m not going to enter into any spoilers here! The issue with organ donation is such a huge one and handled with true sensitivity by Susan Lewis. I have to admit to teary eyes by the end of the book. Definitely, one to recommend. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins for providing me with an arc in exchange for my honest review.
It was an easy read, and entwines the story of Greta Hanson and her cousin CeCe Vanderhaven, two girls with a close connection but lives worlds apart, and that of Dalton Bishop, a young man from a well to do family, but with much to prove to his family.
I love how the story gives a subtle warning about how overpowering Social Media can be, and tackles the issues of Military Vets returning home without adequate support – a problem that is worldwide, not just in the US of A.
This is definitely a book I would happily give my daughter to read, as a young adult too.
Many thanks to NetGalley, Lake Union Authors, Amazon Publishing and Karen McQuestion for an arc of this book, in exchange for an honest review. Out 12th March 2019
Nanny Returns by Emma McLaughlin My rating: 3 of 5 stars I read the first book a while ago, and this sequel has been lying on my shelf in my TBR list for a long time. We meet Nan Hutchinson again, 12 years after the first book ends, and here she is faced with her old charge again, many years after having accusations from his parents thrown at her. Nan ends up trying to save the day in a bit of a crazy situation. It took me an age to really get into the story, unfortunately, and I really struggled to finish it. The mid to end of the book took on more momentum for me.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars Imagine the way the mind of a child works. They haven’t had the experience of the world, and life itself yet, enough to be able to make judgements that make sense. The sense of a ten-year-old is exactly that, only a decade old. In this book, we followed the life of Jess and Lily, and their mother Audrey, following double tragedies in their family, and the far-reaching effects of not being able to talk to each other, because of preconceived ideas. I rooted for Audrey the whole way through the book, and though I had an inkling of the secret, call it readers intuition, I was still captivated enough to want to read on and find out if a resolution was ever reached. The bonds of siblings can be the strongest you will ever know, yet they can also be the most fragile. A beautifully written story with lessons to learn. Many thanks to NetGalley and Orion Publishing Group for providing me with an arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.
But I Smile Anyway... 