#AmReading + #AmWatching + #AmListening - Media Shares And #Reviews 26-11-20

After nourishment, shelter and companionship, stories are the thing we need most in the world.
~Philip Pullman

    

*~* 

    
Welcome to this week's weekly media shares and reviews post!
    

~ 

    
*Disclaimer: no matter what's being reviewed, all opinions in this post are entirely my own, and I reserve the right to have them, regardless of who may or may not share them. Feel free to express your own in the comments, but please respect my right - and the rights of other commenters - to have opinions that might differ from yours, and to express those opinions too.
    
Also, please remember that I read/watch/listen to things in a variety of genres, and for all ages, so you should make sure you check that the book/movie/show/song is suitable for the intended audience before reading/watching/listening to it, especially if children are involved. I take no responsibility for anything which may happen as a result of failing to do so.
    

~ 

    

OK. Let's see what I've been reading, watching, and listening to, and which song I'm going to share this week, shall we? After all, that's the point of this post, and why you're here today, right?
    

*~* 

    

• Reading:

This week I read three books, all of which I was given in exchange for reviews.  Well, technically that's not quite accurate, since one of them I was about a third of the way through before this week started, but still.  Either way, here's what I read, along with my book reviews. 

    

Daughter of Fire (The Daughter of Fire Saga Book 1)
by Stacey Willis
My rating: four out of five stars
This was a gripping read, which fans of fantasy stories that include the Greek Gods will enjoy; a great read for fans of the Percy Jackson books, though perhaps when they're a little older than the recommended reading age for those, since this one is darker. There were some aspects of the writing style that make me hesitate to give it the full five stars, but those are minor things that I know are all about my reading preferences, so I would still highly recommend this book.
*NOTE: I was given a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This fact has in no way influenced either my opinion of the book or the contents of this review, and all opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

    

~ 

    

Entrapment (Thor's Dragon Rider, #3)
by Katrina Cope
My rating: five out of five stars

This was an action-packed exciting addition to this series, which I put down with great reluctance when I had to do so in order to do other things - like sleep, eat, etc. I highly recommend it for fans of fantasy based around Norse mythology.
*NOTE: I was given a free advanced copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This fact has had no influence upon either my opinion of the book or the contents of this review, and all opinions expressed here are entirely my own. 

    

~ 

    

 The Dark Prince of Albany (Albany Nightingale Duet #3)
by Rachel M. Raithby
My rating: five out of five stars
This book was an incredibly enjoyable read. I absolutely loved getting to know Grayson better through reading his story. I thought he was a great character before, but love him even more after reading this book.
*NOTE: I was given a free advanced copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review. This fact has in no way influenced my opinion of the book or the contents of this review, and any opinions expressed here are entirely my own.
    
*~* 

    

• Watching:

This week I caught up on the latest episode of "The Mandelorian" and also watched... 

    

1. Annie (the 1982 version)
2. Gnomeo And Juliet
3. The Fox And The Hound
4. Star Trek Generations

    

*~*
    

• Listening:

This week I've been listening to Christmas music, and this week's Christmas music share is one I'm sharing despite the fact that BBC Radio 1 - who I don't actually listen to, but still - thinks it shouldn't be shared in its original version for fear of offending today's younger sensative listeners.  At least, that's what the news article about it said, despite the fact the article also said it still ranks high in the charts to this day, and other BBC radio stations - including BBC Radio 2, which I do often listen to - will still be playing it.  Whatever.  It's a classic, and I'm going to share it.  So, here's "Fairy Tale Of New York" for your listening pleasure.  If you're one of those easily offended listeners the BBC is so concerned about, feel free to not listen to it.  Just don't press play.  It's as simple as that.  As for the rest of you... Enjoy! 

    

Mollie The #Chinchilla Talks About The Move And No TV

Hi everyone.  This is Mollie the chinchilla.

 

~

 

Well, you’ll never guess what happened.

 

First they woke me up when it was daytime – apparently they forgot again that chinchillas are nocturnal, which means we sleep in the day – and there was some unauthorized grabbing.  I mean, I like the odd cuddle, but it’s meant to be on my terms.  But they didn’t even ask permission.  Mummy just reached in, grabbed me, and pulled me out of my cage.  Even worse, she then stuffed me in to a plastic box.  Naturally I made my opinions on this known, and voiced my displeasure at such treatment.

 

Anyway, I was stuck in the plastic box forever.  Well, it felt like it, though Mummy says it was only about half an hour.  I didn’t like it though, and was getting really upset.  I was glad when I finally got put back in my cage (though not to happy that it involved more unauthorized grabbing).

 

~

 

If that wasn’t enough, there’s no TV!

 

Well, technically there is TV.  I mean, the TV still lives where I am; My cage is still in the same room as where the TV is set up, and when the human caretakers watch DVDs I can see what they’re watching.  But my TV shows that were on all day... Gone!

 

~

 

Before the day I got shoved in the plastic box a couple of men came to look at the TV, and said things about how they, “Can’t access the dish without breaking a whole load of health and safety laws,” and how the human caretakers would have to, “Pay for an independent company who are willing to take the risks,” if they wanted the TV to be working properly again.  So the human caretakers decided not to bother bringing it with us to where we are now, which is some place called, “New flat,” apparently.

 

I wasn’t too happy when I heard about this plan, since I was worried about losing my TV shows.  I love my NCIS! More than that, I hate when it’s quiet.  Music is OK – Mummy listens to all sorts of music, and I even like some of it, especially what she calls, “80s music,” – but music all day... No thanks!

 

~

 

Luckily, Mummy had a plan, and I actually really like what she did.

 

She tuned a radio in to something called, “BBC Radio 4,” for me.  It does sometimes have music, but mostly it’s talking, and a lot of the time it has things she says are called, “Radio dramas,” which are like TV without pictures.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it when she told me that was her plan, but I do.  In fact, I love it!

 

Plus, with how they have things set up in this new flat place, they don’t need to be in with me and the TV all day every day, which means they can keep the baby gate shut, and the dogs can’t come and bother me all the time, which is nice.

 

~

 

So, I have my radio, some space from the dogs, and a window they keep open a little whenever it’s not too cold or stormy, so a nice breeze in the room.  I also still have my own fan, so on hotter days I have that as well as the breeze to help me stay cool.

 

I do kind of miss my NCIS and other shows.  But only a little, and you know what? I don’t like how I was woken in the day for unauthorized grabbing, and how I had to be in the plastic box, but if this is what it gets me... It was totally worth it.  I love this new setup!

 

~

 

Squeak soon,

Mollie

How My Love Of Chips Helped Me Finally Meet Alex Lester (FD)

Often, when I can't sleep at night and don't feel like reading or writing, I turn to the radio for company and entertainment. My favourite show being Alex Lester's "Best Time Of The Day" show. Well, that was my favourite. It was on BBC 2 until recent budget cuts made them decide to axe it, which totally sucks.

I knew Alex lived in - or not too far from - the area we now live in, which we moved to almost six years ago, and really wanted to meet him. I almost had the chance to do so a few years ago, when I knew for a fact he'd be at a local event that was happening literally up the road from where I lived at that time (this was before our last move). Unfortunately, as it happened, I didn't end up going to the event after all, so missed out on meeting him.

Kelly went to the event and met him, and even ran in to him a few times while out and about - always when I wasn't with him though, of course. But I was having no luck running in to him.

Until a chance meeting a couple of weeks ago.

We were walking with Lilie along the pomonade towards the peer. Officially we were going to check out some of the entertainment happening that day (more on that in next Monday's post) but we'd left home early in order to stop and have some chips (fries) from the fish and chip shop that's practically on the beach before walking the rest of the way to the peer. It's quite a long walk for me and Lilie, though many people would say it's not too bad of a walk (it's a little under a mile). But the lure of the chips at the half way point, combined with the weather - which was warm and sunny when we left home, even if storm clouds were starting to role in by the time we made it to the peer - made it a pleasant walk. Besides, there are benches set at intervals along the promonade, as well as at street level along the same stretch of road, so there were plenty of chances to rest for a moment or two.

So, we walked down the steps from street level to the promonade, and started walking towards the peer. Suddenly, there was Alex Lester, starting to walk past us.

He stopped to pet Lilie - most people do - and was nice enough to stay and chat for a few moments, and even kind enough to agree to let Kelly take a photo of me with him. So, here's the photo:

It's awesome to have finally got to meet him!

Just think though: If I hadn't wanted those chips so badly, we wouldn't have been walking that way at that particular time. Lucky I'm a sucker for a portion of chips, isn't it?

Musical mutterings - February 2016

My Mam sent me a link to this, and I thought it was worth sharing, since the kid has a great voice... The song's not bad either...



His name is Jeffrey Li, and there are other songs of his on YouTube too.

My Mam sent me a link to more than just the one, but this one was the song I enjoyed most, hence it being the one I'm sharing.

***

In less cheerful news...

You may have already heard about this by now, but... Sir Terry Wogan has died.

I remember listening to him on the radio most mornings during the years between when I moved out of my parents place and when he stopped doing his morning show. He was an excellent radio presentor... One of my favourites, to be exact.

Rest in peace, Terry... You will be missed!

Wednesday's writing related ramblings - August 26th 2015

There are many different kinds of writers, and most of us have a writing process that works for us. However, if you're confused by all the articles telling you how you should write, here are 8 steps to discover your perfect writing process, in the hopes they will help you figure out what's right for you.

***

Looking for a way to make marketing more fun? How about rewarding your fans with a bit of flash fiction from time to time?

If you're not convinced this will help, here are 5 awesome benifits to writing flash fiction for your e-mail subscribers, or blog followers, to help you decide if it's something you want to try.

Hmmm... Maybe I should do that on my blog from time to time?

***

Have you been given the oppertunity for a radio or podcast interview? If so, here are some tips to help you get the most out of the oppertunity. Hopefully they will help you if you're nervous about it too... But, then again, maybe not.

I mean, I was really nervous when I did the interview with Indie Writers Review a while back, even though I had the questions ahead of time, and had listened to some of their other interviews. All the blog and website interviews I'd done before then hadn't fully prepared me for a live interview, and I knew it. Still, it all went alright on the night, so to speak, and turned out to be a lot of fun.

Monday's random mutterings: a medical rant (R/WP)

At the start of last week, I made sure there were blog posts set up for the rest of that week, and for this week, because I had my dentist appointment at the hospital to get the other wisdom tooth removed.

Or, I thought I did.

However, when I got there, I was informed that it had been cancelled and rescheduled for August 12th. According to their system, they spoke to me on the phone about it.

I had no such phone conversation. I mean, I had one in June about the June appointment I cancelled because I had that Summer cold – which was when I made the one that should have happened on July 29th – but that was the last time I knew of any changes being made to the time and date of my appointment. Besides, if I had changed it, I wouldn’t have made it for the 12th of August, because I have somewhere I have to be on August 13th in the morning, so I’m not exactly going to book an appointment that may potentially result in my ending up in hospital for a few days, and then arrange to be somewhere else the very next morning. And, no, I can’t reschedule that other appointment; it’s very important that I go to it.

Yes, I pointed all this out to the receptionist.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, my appointment with the hospital dentist is now on September 2nd 2015 at 2:15pm, because it’s the first available one they have after the one I can’t make it to on August 12th.

Of course, even though being blind means I’m entitled to free hospital transport to and from the hospital (and allowed someone with me to assist me if I choose, though they’ll assist me if I’m alone) they were reluctant to give me the hospital transport, because I can’t give them a straight answer as to whether I’ll be coming home after my appointment or not, so we ended up paying for a taxi to and from the hospital. Meaning, I wasted all that money on a trip I could have avoided taking.

Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy about it all.

If that wasn’t enough...

While in the taxi on the way to the hospital last Wednesday, I happened to catch the news on the radio.

That was how I learned that we currently don’t have a general doctor, because the doctor surgery we use is currently closed. I’m not sure if it will be open again in the future with different doctors, but I can tell you for sure it won’t be any time soon, since it’s closed because the doctors were idiots.

No, really... I’m being serious! It’s closed because the doctors weren’t doing their jobs properly, and there have been enough complaints about patients not receiving proper care to make someone do a proper investigation in to it.

I guess my claims that my doctor was an idiot weren’t as much of an exaggeration as I thought... *frowns*

Anyway, I’m not sure if nobody thought to tell the patients, or if they did tell the patients, but for some reason sent our letters to our old address. Either way, I guess I need to find us a new doctor.

You know you’ve had a bad day when you wish you’d had your tooth pulled instead... LOL!

Actually, the whole week was one of those where you want to just go back to the beginning and start again. Nothing really bad happened as such... Just lots of little things that all add up, you know?

Oh, and... If you’re wondering... The post I had scheduled for today has been rescheduled for use at the start of September when I “hopefully” will actually get this other wisdom tooth out.

Furkid Friday - March 13th 2015

Hello all. This is Jasper.

We've had lots of storms lately... I HATE storms! They're very loud, and very scary!

The Mummy human says there's no reason to be afraid, and that she used to be until she got bigger and braver.

No reason to be afraid? Yeah, right... Whatever!

Look, I'm a degu... I'm not an idiot!

I watch TV, and I've seen TV shows that show some of the damage storms make; the humans say some aren't real, but they admit others are. I also listen to the radio, where I've also heard about damage from storms; some of it in our area.

Yet the humans say I shouldn't be afraid? Are they insane?

I will never stop being afraid of storms! I'll also never understand humans!

Squeak soon,
Jasper

Monday's random mutterings - February 9th 2015

They - whoever "they" are - say there's no such thing as a stupid question. But I disagree.

There is a stupid question, and that question is "can I ask you a question?"

"Why is it a stupid question?" I hear you ask.

Well, it's quite simple.

First of all, and most importantly, by asking that question you've answered it yourself; if you can ask whether or not you can ask me a question, then you've just proven - both to yourself, and to me - that you are, in fact, capable of asking a question. A process that could have been avoided by you simply asking the question you really want to ask in the first place.

Secondly, that question isn't an accurate vocalization of what you want to know. What you want to know is whether I'll answer a question if you ask me one. So, why not just ask "if I ask you a question, will you answer it?" I think that would make much more sense, as well as actually giving you an accurate answer to what you really want to know. Alternatively, just ask your question, and see if I answer it or not.

And that, my friends, is why I say that the stupidest question anyone can ask is "can I ask you a question?"

What do you think? Do you agree? Or do you think there's a question that's even more stupid?

***

So, apparently I'm not getting the replies to my comments from those of you who reply to comments on your blogs via e-mail.

I suspected as much, but it was confirmed for me this morning.

I know how to fix it with a standard Blogger account, but I've got a Gmail/Google account, which is set out differently.

Any idea how I fix it so I get the replies I'm supposed to be getting?

***

I spotted an article on Facebook the other day about how Iceland are to build the first temple to the Norse Gods in 1000 years, which I happen to think is really cool!

I would really love to visit it when it's finnished, though I doubt that will ever happen. I mean, I live only a few hours away from Stonehenge, and I still haven't visited that yet... Would love to, just haven't had the oppertunity.

Still, I can dream, can't I?

***

As you probably know, last Monday was Groundhog Day. It was also Imbolc, though you might not have known that, since I forgot to mention it in my post for last Monday, and not everyone has Facebook.

Anyway, Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, and predicted six more weeks of Winter last week.

Good news for my chances of snow, but not such good news for those who appear to be getting my share of the snow as well as their own.

Actually, it did "try" to snow on Thursday. It was one of those short five minute snowfalls where you just have time to register that it's snowing, and then it stops, and if you weren't outside at just the right time, you'd never know it had happened. Luckily for me, I happened to be sticking my head out of the door to check for the "scattered snow showers" the radio said we were getting at the time, so I didn't miss it. I didn't miss the later attempt either, though that didn't last much longer, and was more like sleet than snow.

Though I really want snow, I have to admit that I do have a reason to be glad we haven't really had any to speak of.

You see, we're moving some time in the next couple of weeks.

Yes, really!

You may remember me mentioning back in November - if you were reading my blog at that time - about my landlord's death on Halloween? It doesn't really matter if you do or not, but... Well... Originally the property was to be kept by his nephews while they did some repair work on it, then sold later; once all the work on it was done, which would have taken a while, since there's quite a bit that needs doing up in the house part of the building, and a few things that need doing down in the basement apartment we live in too. They were happy for us to stay put while they did the work, so we didn't worry about it. Except they were forced in to a sale, so we were told we have to move out after all.

We'd have preferred not to have to deal with a move - especially this time of year - but what can you do? Sometimes these things can't be avoided.

So, yeah, we're moving very soon, and - despite my love of snow - we could probably do without it right about now, if I'm honest.

I'll give you the actual moving date closer, and warn you now that I could have a couple of days where I can't get online at all during the move. I'll schedule my blog posts ahead of time though, so at least you'll have those. Like I said, I'll give you the actual date of the move a bit closer, and tell you about the new place when we're in it.

But right now I have to go, because I have a lot to organize, and someone being sent by the estate agent to look at everything to see what needs repairing or replacing. I can hear him upstairs, and he'll be coming down here when he's done up there... Which could be any moment.

Random ramblings - January 15th 2015 (FD)

It's been over a month now, and my tooth still hurts!

I'm waiting for a hospital appointment to go and have it out - and my upper wisdom teeth, which came through with cracks and have broken (one worse than the other). It should have just been fixable without doing that, but it's got a couple of fillings in it that mean attempts to sort it will probably just result in the tooth breaking and needing to be pulled, so we might as well skip to pulling it out. But, of course, it can't be straight forward... Being anemic means I have to go to hospital to have it done in case I lose too muchh blood and end up needing a blood transfusion. That shouldn't happen, but better safe than sorry, right?

Anyway...

The dentist says the appointment with the hospital will take as long as it does, and to remember that hospitals have waiting lists.

Well, duh! *Rolling eyes*

I've dealt with hospitals enough in the past that I don't need telling about that, thanks!

I was kinda hoping that knowing I was in pain would make the dentist tell them to hurry it up as much as possible.

Apparently not.

*Sigh*

I'd go to Accident And Emergency, but I know from the radio that if they decide your case isn't urgent they'll just send you home these days. I'm not sure of full details, but it's something to do with how far behind they are on the time it takes to see patients. The whole thing sounds stupid to me, to be honest. I mean, doctors and dentists take ages to see you, and if it's not so seriously urgent you have no choice you're not allowed to go to Accident And Emergency to be seen... So, you do what? You just have to suffer while they take who knows how long to see you? Sounds to me like having their paperwork look good matters more than the patients these days.

In the meantime, a combination of pain killers and camomile tea is bearly keeping the pain in my tooth to a level I can tolerate; bearing in mind, I have a very high tolerance for pain as a rule.

I've been eating a lot of oatmeal and mashed potato; soft foods aren't quite as painful to eat.

***

The rats needed a bigger cage than the one we got them, so we ordered them one about two and a half weeks ago.

When it arrived it was broken, so we arranged to have it picked up, and a replacement sent out.

After several phone calls, we FINALLY got our replacement yesterday!

The girls love it... But then, it's a little more than twice the size of their old one, so why wouldn't they?

***

I got "Isabelle's Runaway Racehorse" pre-released. So, now I have three books already pre-released for this year:

"Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt" is coming out next week. It's a story about a talking West Highland White Terrier rescued by a wizard when he was thrown out by his old owner, who later teams up with a little girl to find and rescue the wizard who took him in.

"Rodent Rhymes And Pussycat Poems" is due out in February. This one is a short collection of poems for and about my rodent gang and Cara the kitten.

"Isabelle's Runaway Racehorse" is due out in March. It's the story of a racehorse who becomes jealous when another horse moves in to his stable and takes some of the attention from him. He decides to run away in search of a home where he'll get the same attention he used to get before the new horse came along.

And, I have plenty more books planned!

One of the books I've been working on is almost ready to be pre-released; it just needs the final edits and a cover.

My main focus with writing now though is on the four book series I'm working on about a faerie dragon named Zeena. I'll tell you more another day though... Probably when I've completely finished the first book in the series.

I say "my main focus" because I dare say I'll do bits and pieces towards other books while working on that series. After all, I usually have a few things on the go at once.

Random thoughts: Welsh influence in stories

When I did my radio interview at the start of June, one of the questions I was asked was whether growing up in Wales had influenced my writing. I said it hadn't; at least no more than in the sence that it would have influenced me as a person.

At the time I was writing "Cubby And The Beanstalk" (which is now pre-released, and will be officially available at the end of this month). I hadn't gotten very far with it, and since I don't have story outlines so the story develops for me as I write it, I wasn't 100% certain what would end up happening in what I hadn't written of the story at that point.

It was only when I came to doing the edits for "Cubby And The Beanstalk" before pre-releasing it that I realized that in the case of this particular story my Welsh upbringging certainly has influenced the tale. I didn't think of it as I was writing it; I just wrote.

It ended up that the giant skybears that Cubby the polar bear meets when he goes up the beanstalk have Welsh names, and the magical chant that one of them uses is in Welsh.

So, I guess the answer to the question about my Welsh upbringing influencing my writing would be "yes" now? LOL!

My interview; another chance to listen

Miss my interview? Want another chance to hear it? Go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiereviews-behind-the-scenes/2014/06/07/indiereview-behind-the-scenes-chats-with-author-victoria-zigler

Live interview; tune in today!

Tune in to my live interview on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiereviews-behind-the-scenes today (June 7th 2014).

5:00pm GMT (12:00pm EST) for about half an hour.

You can tune in from anywhere in the world by going to the website mentioned in this post.

Reminder: upcoming live interview

This is just a reminder to tune in to my live interview on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiereviews-behind-the-scenes this coming Saturday (June 7th 2014) at 5:00pm GMT (12:00pm EST) for about half an hour.

My guest post on writing and publishing on Indie Writers Review

Check out my guest post over at Indie Writers Review by going to http://indiewritersreview.wordpress.com/2014/04/07/indiewritersreview-special-spotlight-feature-author-victoria-ziglar-guest-post/, and learn about how I became a published author, as well as what advice I would give to others looking to follow in my footsteps.

Indie Writers Review will also be hosting me on their radio slot on June 7th 2014 at 11am Central Standard Time (12pm Eastern Standard Time). If you want to listen to my interview, just tune in by going to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/indiereviews-behind-the-scenes on the correct date and time.

Windy musings

Over the past few days we've had storms at night, but they calmed down by the time most people were getting up (so about 8:00am ish). Not today though. Today reminds me of that very blustery day in the Winnie The Pooh books when poor Piglet was blown away! I was just thinking though... The wind in the mountains sounds very different to the way the wind by the sea sounds. In the mountains it sounds like a pack of wolves is closing in, but here... Here it sounds more like something bigger. It makes me think of huge ice beasts blowing their chilly breath over the land (and sea, I guess). I wonder if it sounds like this all the time - since I don't remember from when I lived in this area before - or if this is just how it sounds when Winter storms are near? I mean, the radio did say we might get snow some time soon...

Hot and tired (FD)

Can you believe it's already September? I have no idea where the days are going!

After all that wet weather, it was good to hear on the radio that the sun was scheduled to come out this week. Unfortunately they neglected to mention that it planned on making up for its absence by having the temperature jump from 12 C (even in the hottest part of the day) to being 23 C at about 5:30 in the evening. And, yeah, that's after it had cooled down a bit from the temperature it was earlier in the day. I'm hot, I'm uncomfortable, and with how much I've done today, I'm also really, really tired!
After who knows how long with hardly any sleep, I finally got a good night sleep last night. Then I woke up about 6:00 this morning, and figured that since I had woken up with a decent energy level, I would catch up on sorting the things around the flat. So, I spent the morning putting things away, doing laundry, etc. I even stripped the bed, and am working on getting the bedding washed and dried. I still need to put the clean stuff on. I would have had it done, but between the heat and the fact I went out this afternoon with Mam and Dad... Well, I'll get it done in a bit. Then I can crawl in to a nice, clean bed tonight. I love being the first person to crawl in to a nice, clean bed!

Before anyone asks... I didn't go anywhere special with Mam and Dad... I just went out with them while they ran some errands and did their weekly shopping. And we went out for lunch. Just to McDonalds and KFC. We went to both because Mam isn't a huge fan of McDonalds, and Dad doesn't like KFC at all. So Dad and I had McDonalds, and Mam had KFC.

OK, I really, really need to get off the laptop and get this bed made, and I'm tired, so I better publish this so I can get the bed sorted before I get too tired to bother, which wouldn't be a huge issue for me - I would just sleep on the sofa - but since our spare bed is currently covered in stuff I haven't finished putting back away there's nowhere else for Kelly to sleep, and I don't think he'll be too happy if he comes home from the Swansea club to find me asleep on the sofa and the bed not made. He'd probably make it himself, but then I'd miss out on getting to be the first in the nice, clean bed. Yeah, that thought is what's keeping me motivated... Make the bed, then I can curl up on it and go to sleep... Definately sounds like a good plan to me! In fact, it sounds so good that I'm going to go make a start on putting it in to action.

Enjoy whatever's left of your day, and stay safe!

Goldilocks and the three bears

I'm sure you're all familiar with the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. You know?

The little girl gets lost in the woods, finds the home of the three bears, eats the porridge/oatmeal they had left cooling while they went for a walk (well, she eats baby bear's anyway), breaks baby bear's chair, and wakes up in baby bear's bed to find the three bears standing there looking at her.

Did you know there was more to the story though? I bet you didn't, because I only found out recently that there was more to it. So, for those of you who have been deprived of the ending, here's how it goes:


Goldilocks runs out of the three bears' house screaming. She manages to find her mother, who asks her where she was and what's wrong. Goldilocks tells her mother about the bears, and her mother marches her straight back to their house to make her apologise for stealing their food, damaging their property, and generally breaking and entering.


And how do I know that this is how the story goes? Well, I heard it on the radio recently. Apparently they had to add that bit to the ending to show children that Goldilocks' behaviour was wrong.


Tori

Snow warning (AED)

I recieved the following in an e-mail and thought I'd share it.

******

Snow Warning

On a bitterly cold winters morning a husband and wife were listening to the radio during breakfast.

They heard the announcer Say, "We are going to have 8 to 10 inches of Snow today. You must park your car on the even-numbered side of the street So the Snowplows can get through".

So the good wife went out and moved her car.

A week later while they are eating breakfast again, the radio announcer Said, "We are expecting 10 to 12 inches of snow today. You must park your car On the odd-numbered side of the street, so the snowplows can get through".

The good wife went out and moved her car again.

The next week, they are again having breakfast, when the radio announcer Says, "We are expecting 12 to 14 inches of snow today. You must park...." Then the electric power went out.

The wife was very upset, and with a worried look on her face she said, " I don't know what to do. Which side of the street do I need to park on so the snowplows can get through?"

The husband replied, "Why don't you just leave the bloody car in the garage this time."

Doctors order Santa to go on a diet

Father Christmas is at risk of serious illness because of his bulging waistline and needs to cut down on the mince pies, doctors warned today.

A survey of shopping centre Santas in Scotland revealed an average waist size of 47 inches - seven inches more than is considered safe.

Dr Miles Fisher, consultant physician at Glasgow Royal Infirmary said: "The image of Santa is of a round, jolly person and it is meant to be one of hilarity but if you have obesity around your tummy, then it is very bad for you."

"Before, we thought it was just not good to be overweight but now we know that having fat around your middle is particularly bad."

"That fat produces hormones, which have been associated with heart disease and other conditions."

According to health guidelines, having a waist circumference of more than 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women is a key indicator of abdominal obesity.

It is associated with a greater risk of heart disease or type 2 diabetes. And people who have rounder stomachs, known as "central obesity", are more at risk than people who are merely overweight.

Perhaps Santa should consider cutting back on the sherry as well.

(Taken from here after hearing about the story on a local radio station called The Wave).

Random radio question: bunnyfication

On one of the night time slots on radio 2 (www.bbc.co.uk/radio2)) they have been discussing how certain events, well known phrases, public appearances, etc, can be improved if the participents - or, at the very least, the main person involved - either wears a bunny suit, uses the bugs bunny phrase (you know? "ah, >insert phrase here<," followed by that noise rabbits make that's called a purr). Or, better yet, if they did both.

For example: Imagine Arnie in a bunny suit saying, "Ah, I'll be back, *rabbit purr*"

So, my question is:

What situation and/or phrase do you think would be improved with bunnyfication?

Tori