Time out – My book

As you may have noticed my book is still not finished. Life continues and my book is printed out next to me needing its first real edit.   Reading through many forums, I know that Editors are essential but are not cheap.  Writing a book is not an easy task, and its it one that if I ever do get it published could end up costing me thousands.  Confidence in my writing and time are right now two things I struggle with.

(Note, this blog contains affiliate links that if you purchase from Amazon after clicking on them, this will benefit me at no additional cost to you)

Me

Two weeks ago, I had an operation for an Abdominal Hernia.  Recovery has been painful and as I sit here typing I can feel why I would not want to be at work today.  The pain around my tummy area is an ache that I can’t really describe, but I really hope that it goes away soon.

Looking at my garden I would love to get out there and sort out the weeds, but I am scared of doing myself an injury.  The weeds will just have to wait!

Last week it was my birthday and yesterday I purchased a new garden clock. I am now waiting for Amazon to deliver it.  My current clock went wrong months ago, so it will be nice to look out the kitchen window and see the correct time.

There is so much I would like to achieve these next few weeks, but I also need to not injure myself. Over doing things would be very easy right now!

The children

It has been a long time since I have written about the children.  Today my ten year old is sitting her SATS.  Though people keep saying they are not important I know they mean a lot to her.  Despite me buying books to revise with she has not done any work for them. Like many ten year olds she would rather be in the garden playing with her older brother.  Last night she said to me, “SATS tomorrow and oops I haven’t studied” I held her and said, “just do your best and you will be okay.”

She is growing up too fast and will be off to Secondary school in September.  We are very proud of her and all her achievements.  She is diagnosed with ADHD which has meant some barriers to her success, but she can be very determined and strong willed.  I can rely on her to make a complete mess of her room and the house. However, if I need help cooking she is there.  Her creativity is an asset to her, and when she says she wants to be a Teacher one day, I know she could achieve this if she really wants to.  Either that or a designer of some sort.  She is the only child I know who has cut arms of jumpers and made them into leg warmers!

My twelve year old

Our son is progressing well at school. Normal twelve year old issues, but working hard and achieving good grades.  One of his greatest passions is to his Lego.  His latest being Concorde.  He builds these with no help from us and is happy creating.   We need a bigger house though to accommodate it all.  These are big (adult) Lego sets so over £100 a time, and hours of building.

He has now chosen his subjects for year nine.  Art, Construction, Technology, Spanish and IT.  He is wanting to be an Architect one day and thankfully Maths is one of his favourite subjects. However, he needs to do a lot more sketching and drawing as Art is essential too.

Time out

So, I have been gifted time off.  The pain in my tummy and advice to relax is hard.  I have been watching a lot of television, but this is not me.  I am normally very active and will happily walk miles in a day.  The most I am managing at the moment is a mile.  This is much better than a week ago, so slowly improving.

Maybe I might get the house sorted out, maybe I might, with help, get the garden tidy, time will tell.  What I do know though, that for a family of four we have a lot of clutter.  How do you deal with clutter?  DVDS and Blu – rays never watched. Books not read in years!  We still have all the Thomas the Tank Engine DVDs  – very hard to part with them.  I have friends that tell me to just chuck it all! I can’t!  So, for now we live in the clutter – and I will continue to admire my friend’s tidy houses with minimal clutter / stuff!  Any advice here?

I love my books and stuff -the thought of parting with a lot of it scares me.  I also have a cupboard full of records and yes, I do have a record player.  We have Alexa and Google but I still have CD’s, cassette tapes and records.  The thought of getting rid of it is something I can not face. We would have more space though and it would make a big difference to the room.

The answer here could be to build an extension for it all -when we win the lottery, that we never do!

I’m now going to make myself a mug of tea and try and tidy this kitchen.  Sitting is starting to really hurt!  It seems that sitting upright hurts more than slouching in my recliner.  I’m spending too many hours in the recliner, I need to get active.  The children have swimming later today. They started learning around August 2023, and they are moving to group three tonight.   Half an hour once a week so slow steady progress.

So, how is life treating you?

For more – last months post for Blog Battle –Mess, money and corruption – Just muddling through life