2024 in books

It is that time of year again, the time of year I let you know what my last year looked like in books :)

Total books - 74
Shortest book - 107 pages
Longest book - 582 pages 
Average book length* - 352 pages
Pages read* - 26,121 pages
*note the last two do not include the last 4 books I read, for some reason they tally the stats before Christmas which is not really a full year of reading but oh well.

This year I have done a graph that has previous years on it as well, just cos I wanted to.

In case the graph is too small to read properly here are the books read per genre for 2024:

Fantasy - 23

Sci Fi - 4 (one of those was the longest book)

Fiction - 19

Chick Lit - 12

Crime/Thriller - 8

Non Fiction - 8 (one of these was the shortest book)

Other - 0 (have included this cos its on the graph.  Other is either western or horror).

Just some random stuff

I have either realised the following things recently, or known them for a while, but I think all are worth sharing. That and I don’t really have enough for a proper post but some of these are cool enough that should be mentioned methinks 🙃

- All my towels are folded in thirds at some point in the folding sequence. 

- I leave my wardrobe doors ajar so the monsters don’t feel trapped. 

- Chocolate self saucing pudding is so much better if you use chocolate chips instead of cocoa in the pudding part (cocoa still in the sauce part).

- Bruising a bruise is never fun nor painless. 

- My hidden mural brings me more happiness than I was expecting it too (see pic below for the mural).

- It is entirely possible, and common in my house, to decide what to cook for dinner based purely on what condiment you want to have. 

- Coke and crepe paper aren’t friends, highly recommend not dropping the end of your Christmas decoration in your cup of coke while hanging them, leads to a shorter decoration than expected lol 

- When you are slightly addicted to your fav cafes bread it’s wonderful to discover they have a bread loyalty card (like a coffee one, I get a free loaf when I buy a certain number of loaves, yay). 

- One tap dancer might seem a bit meh, but a group of them performing to a symphony style piece of music is incredible and very moving. 

My superpower

I’ve decided, and hear me out on this cos it is probably going to sound like I’ve lost it, my superpower is getting sick. Told ya it would sound like I’ve lost it lol. But I’ve got reasons, maybe not great ones, maybe not even good ones, but there are certainly some reasons for this conclusion. Here we go…

1. A superpower is something only a few ppl have. And getting sick often and as badly as I seem to isn’t something that just anyone can claim. Most people probably only get laid low (like properly laid low, I’m not talking about a little cough and it’s oh I’ve got a bad cold kinda laid low, I’m talking the standing for any length of time greater than a few minutes is a mission and sitting unaided is a goal yet to be achieved kinda laid low) once every couple of years. Me, this seems to happen at least twice a year, if not more often. Therefore it’s like a unique gift (I’m looking on the bright side if you haven’t noticed already) and so I’m gonna call it a superpower. 
2. Superpowers bring out the best or worst in people, and I would say getting sick brings out the worst in me. I mean when I’m sick I do tend to swear at the world a lot, and at Glenny who goes into hiding so he doesn’t get disinfectant sprayed at the end of it. Does this make me a super villain if I go bad not good with my superpower… hmmm that is a cool pondering to be done. 
3. People with superpowers don’t share them. And no matter how hard I try no one around me ever seems to get as sick as I do and definitely not as frequently as me. Again, this is therefore a superpower. 
4. In my opinion superpowers teach you things, and I bet most people would have no idea how to work out what to make for lunch/dinner based on a mix of the food they have and how much energy they can expend and still be able to eat it before they need to rest, aka nap, again. Or even worse fall asleep while cooking, burn it and then have to start over (that ones the worst, obviously). And if you want to make enough for leftovers taking into account the energy it takes for all that (dividing the meal, finding lids and containers, getting them into the fridge etc). Doing the dishes is a whole separate adventure, and where possible you just cook stuff that allows you to reuse pots and pans, if you were wondering. 

So as you can see being sick is obviously my superpower, no question about it. Now I’m not saying getting sick often and bad would be my superpower of choice, but no one gets to pick their superpower in the comics and books and films so I’m not unusual there. Hmmm I wonder if someone will write a comic about me and my superpower… lol 

Just a wee update

I recently had a couple weeks off work and boy was it good.  Did I do much with my time off, ummm no not really but it was wonderful all the same :)

It started with me heading to mum and dads after work one Wednesday (Wednesday’s are now half days for me, for health reasons as I was tired of being tired, run down and sick all the time so we are trialling me having a pause mid week.  From my point of view it is going wonderfully and I didn’t need any sick days over winter which was amazing, esp as I had none left to take lol).  Then the next day (Thursday) I headed to Tokoroa to go to institute with mum.  The activity was indoor bowls and pool, turns out I quite like indoor bowls and might even look into joining a club over here at some stage.  Mum and I were teamed up for both activities, no idea who won the most indoor bowls games but mum and I won both games of pool which was cool.  

Pretty much the rest of my stay with mum and dad was just chilling and catching up.  We went through to Te Awamutu one day, and then on the Monday when I was heading home we had lunch with bro at the gardens in Taupo which is always a lovely place to chill in, was a bit cool that day though which meant we didn’t really wanna just hang out for too long.  I also went for a couple walks with pa which was lovely.

I don’t think I did much with my days at home… well other than reading, cross stitch, crochet, sewing and watching tv/dvds.  In other words I chilled out very well hehe.

Then I headed back to mum and dads for a night before heading to Inglewood for a friends wedding on the Saturday (21st if anyone is looking for a date reference).  I stayed with Aunty Susan which was, as always, very nice.  I arrived in good on the Saturday so I did the Windsor Walkway, all fully paved now which while nice was a bit weird.  There is something about walking on the road and watching for cars/vehicles that made it a fun walk.  After lunch I headed off to see Bridie and Paul get married, it was a lovely ceremony and very nice to catch up with everyone I knew (from both sides as I went to school with Paul, Bridie was my flatmate in NP).  The reception was through in NP and it was also a very good chance for me to catch up with my old workmates.  Great conversation was had, and no dancing cos we were chatting too much and I called it early as was tired.  Though in saying that Aunty Susan and I chatted till about midnight so I wasn’t exactly early to bed lol.

Sunday saw me catching up with friends in NP, then had dinner with Aunty Susan followed by watching a movie.  Headed home on Monday then just chilled on Tuesday.  Work on Wednesday was pretty good, I think going back on a half day is brilliant.  More than one person asked why I was going back for only 4 hours and why get up for that, personally I think its genius.  A full day is soooooo long when you have been off for a while and a half day is plenty of time to go through emails and respond to the important/urgent ones and catch up with goss you missed out on.  Then its home time and you can go chill.  See perfect planning hehe.

My friend Jo is visiting from the UK for a few days now so its been a good few weeks :) sadly she goes home, well back to Auckland then home, on Wednesday but I am sure she will be back again.  We have done all the important things so far, out for lunch, winery for a tasting and to read for an afternoon, Te Mata Peak (where we discovered we are not as fit as we thought we were), chilling and catching up.  Will go out for dinner tomorrow night, to my fav Indian place, and that is also an important to do thing I think hehe.

Hope you are all doing good, and yay for good sunshine weather :)

Sometimes the quickest route is not the funnest route

In the weekend I headed to Ohakune for a friends baby shower, mum and I decided to make a weekend of it so we stayed the night.  On the way over I took the quickest route, the Napier/Taihape Road.  And while there is nothing technically wrong with this road (well not by NZ standards I would say... its pretty pot holed but where isn't these days) it was not the funnest drive to do.  There are very few cars you will meet so its a pretty lonely drive, and I am pretty sure if anything happened you would be screwed as there is also likely no cell reception.  Not tested this as I was driving lol.  Got to Ohakune in pretty good time though, and then met up with mum and we headed to the baby shower.  Nothing wrong with the baby shower but I don't think I have been to one I have actually enjoyed yet, they are definitely things I attend out of obligation and nothing else.

On the bright side though, our accommodation was quite nice and we went to the most amazing place for dinner.  It was an Italian restaurant and they squeezed us in which was very nice of them, we didn't have a booking and I think we probably should have.  But wow did they do amazing food, and were very aware of the difference between gluten free and celiac which was great.  I also didn't think it was too expensive, was middle of the road I would say which was nice. It was called Osteria and I would highly recommend it if you are in the area.

After discussing it with mum I decided to go home via a different, longer route.  I was going to go via Taupo but then we realised that going via Fielding wasn't that much longer so decided to go that way.  I've done the Napier/Taupo Road enough recently and have a few more trips on it coming up, so no need to add another one in.  So South I headed on Sunday to get home, and it was such a wonderful trip.  Fred and I just chilled and followed our noses to figure out our way back to Hastings (no googlemaps needed for us hehe), we had good music cranked up (thanks Billy Joel, Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift and Imagine Dragons), and had no time we had to be back by so could stop whenever/wherever we liked.  We took some pics to share with you guys, and just cos we wanted to :) so I would say the longest route was by far better than the quickest route, atlst for me in the wknd it was.

It's been a while...

It has been a while since I last said hi to you all.  I could blame many reasons for this (busy, not busy so nothing to report, sick, tired) but I won't, it is basically just simple procrastination.  The whole oh I will post about that, but I'll do it tomorrow, then tomorrow oh I'll do it tomorrow or in the weekend and then one gets busy or sick and it never gets done.  But here I am now :)

So what have I been up to since the last post (which was apparently in January, wow that is a while)? Quite a lot most likely but lets see what I can remember...

In February I went Art Deco-ing with Jo and Steve (worked with Steve at EIT).  Was good fun, mostly centred around cocktails/mocktails lol.  We did go listen to the Navy band for a while which was fun till they swapped to the movie soundtrack music which we all decided while good wasn't really what we were there to listen too so went of in search of another drink.

In March Jenny and I went to NP to see Matchbox 20 (her) and Goo Goo Dolls (me).  It rained, I got sick.  That about sums it up to me lol.  Nah it was a real good concert, we left partway through Matchbox 20 who were the main act.  Just the weather wasn't the best, and it sucked sitting there knowing I was going to be sick from the night while trying to enjoy it but I think that is a me thing as the others didn't get sick.

March also saw me head home for a second time, this time to stay up the mountain with Bro and Pa for a few nights.  Again the rain made an appearance, so much so we cut the trip short by one night, and didn't really get any tramping done.  We did one walk on the mountain on our last morning, and one of the days we went into NP and wandered around Pukekura Park.  Once the men left I went and stayed with Bridie for a few nights which was nice.  Caught up with Dons one of the afternoons, took Little Ted sightseeing on another, and hung out with Bridie and Eva on Easter Friday then headed back here,  Little Ted very much enjoyed his first road trip and I think he is keen for more.

Early April saw me head over to Rotorua where the whole family went to see The Phantom of the Opera (the one thing that was left on my bucket list).  Wow!!! What a great performance.  I highly recommend Rotorua Musical Theatre (I think that's who put it on, or some iteration of that name) if they are putting on a show when you are in Rotorua, def go see it I would say.  And now that my bucket list is clear I am happy as.  Some people have said I should add new stuff to it but I am not going to, I like that I've done and dusted it before I even turned 39 hehe.

April was also the month I helped with a kids show at Aubyn Live, and made some new friends.  One 8 year old in particular seems to be a new friend.  Me and him mimed rock concerts and fights to the death backstage most nights so I think he has earned the title of friend.  Plus I am friends with his mum and now dad (his dad was backstage too, first time) so I know he has a good chance at being a decent human and kid lol.

Also went out to a couple wineries for meals in April.  Went to Crabfarm with work for a team lunch one Saturday.  It was lovely, as Crabfarm always is.  And we had a wander through the art shed afterwards which is always fun.  Too expensive for me, but you sometimes get good ideas for projects hehe.  Then another Saturday Steph and I went to Black Barn for dinner.  This was a splurge let's save and not worry what we spend dinner which we planned back in Feb.  So good, and so worth it.  We dressed up, and just treated ourselves for the evening.  Def glad we planned it with time to save though cos it wasn't cheap.  Will we do it again, yeah I think we will :) is nice playing fancy grown up every so often.

I also got the flu somewhere in amongst all that April stuff... so that was fun... not :( am mostly recovered now though which is awesome, took about 4 weeks to go through it all so please don't catch that one anyone, it wasn't fun.

Dad visited in May, did a few things around the place which I wanted done and a few that I hadn't gotten to do cos I had been sick on and off for what felt like forever.

Last Friday Beth and I took a day off and roadtripped to Palmy to go to Munch (a fully gluten and nut free cafe, Beth has a nut allergy) and go opshopping.  It was a wonderful day and we especially loved that only could we order whatever we wanted but that we could share food.  It's the first time we have been able to.  We had so much fun we are going to do it again on a semi regular basis hehe :)

Other than all that I have had the standard coffee catch ups with friends, dates with myself (mostly at my fav cafe or Indian restaurant).  And the equally standard nights at home crafting or reading away, or doing nothing but staring into space, or dancing with a bear, or watching stuff on tv, or you get the idea... lol.

Overall, other than being sick far too often, this year has been going all good.  Work is still going well, love my job much more than the previous one even when I am tearing my hair out cos the roster is looking horrendous.  It's still more fun, and the team is fantastic (most of the time) which is lovely.  Had forgotten what a nice supportive team can be like and how much better they make work when it's busy and also just on a general day.

Anyhow hope you are also all good.  Sorry for such a long post, but we are all caught up again I think :)

Hugs to everyone xx

The downside of my new role

In my experience every job has a downside (atlst one, and some have more than one), or a challenge if you would rather think of it that way. Well I am pretty sure I have figured out what it is for my new role… it’s a real first world problem kind of downside/challenge as well :( 

Every time I leave the office I have to walk past the hospitals book swap trolley :O I know right, what a nightmare!!! And what makes it worse is if I have to wait for someone at the photocopier it’s right there, being all distracting and sexy :( 

I was planning to be good and wait till I had one to swap before taking one, but today it got the best of me and now I owe it a book. That’s not a problem as I’m sure I’ll find some I’m not gonna keep as I work through my to read pile, but now I’ve added to that pile with the book I took today…

So yes, that’s my dilemma and I see it continuing for a while, if not the whole time I’m in that office.  Life is hard ain’t it lol.

Otherwise the new job is going awesomely.  Have left work in a good, if not great, mood each afternoon and on Monday I was even looking forward to going to work not dreading it like I was in the other role. The team is full of lovely ladies, we have some great laughs and they are all supportive and kind from what I can tell. So yay to taking a risk even though I wasn’t sure it was for the best at the time, it definitely was :)

No idea where the time has gone...

This post was meant to be a pre-Christmas how is your year going kind of post, then it was going to be a pre-new year wow where has the year gone post, and then it was going to be a new year we made it post and now its a well and truely in the new year post.  Atlst to me we are well and truely in the new year.  I feel like I have been in my new role for ages (I started on Monday so it's been 3 days lol).  It's not that I know everything I need to know already, cos I sure don't.  It just feels like the routine of the year is already there.  Is that a bad thing...?  I don't know, but I hope not.

So my year ended with me still not being able to do a full week of work thanks to post-covid fatigue or whatever you wanna call it.  And ok so I wasn't diagnosed with anything cos that would have meant seeing my doc and I didn't wanna be 'that' person.  Thankfully the two long wknds (which I spent very chilled) and the two short weeks seem to have helped.  While I am not all better yet I am getting there, yay.  I am confident I will make it through this week without needing any time off which is awesome.  Am I napping every night after work then doing not much in the evening, ummm yes but I am making some great progress on some craft projects which is cool.  And so long as I ignore two which I started many moons ago and have been shelved then I am almost completely up to date so mega yay there lol.

Christmas saw me and Glenny just chilling here, with a book, tv series and a bottle of wine hehe.  It was actually a struggle to drink the whole bottle in the day and I had to stop partway through as I was rather drunk.  Seems that happens when you don't really drink any more... go figure lol.  Quite by accident I seem to have started drinking loads of water, and I actually really like it.  Am not really noticing any differences but others are and I've been told I am looking better and much healthier which is always lovely to hear.  Also has meant I can buy more treat food at the stupidmarket, that I am loving hehe, esp cos I can buy some of my expensive but amazingly tasty treats on a more regular basis, YAY lol.

New Years wknd Mum and Dad came over for a few nights, and Bro made a day trip over.  Did we do much, no not really but it was lovely all the same.  We did go out for dinner, to our fav Indian place in Havelock North om nom nom.  Dad and I got up for the sunrise on New Years morning as well.  Bit cloudy and probably not the best I've ever seen but it was quite cool in the sense it was very similar to the sunrise Mark got up and saw in Scotland.  I am taking that to be a sign that 2024 aint gonna suck lol.

Also here is my reading summary for 2023, with a lovely pic/graph with genres splits:
Total books - 54
Total pages read - 20,692
Shortest book - 105 pages
Longest book - 871 pages (Wilbur Smith, shock horror lol)
Average book length - 383 pages

Some other pics for your enjoyment :)

Work gave me a lovely bunch of flowers when I left the SMO Admin team 

Glenny and I celebrated 33 years together on Sunday, we have fun together as I'm sure the photo collage shows

Some rando watching the sunrise... (hehe I know its dad so not a total rando)

It's been a weird few weeks...

My last few weeks have been a bit eventful and a bit weird, well kinda.  Started with me getting new carpet in the lounge, just before Labour Wknd, and Pa was here so I didn't need to take the day off work, thanks Pa.  Then we hung out on the Friday cos it was HB Anniversary, can't remember what we did but am sure we did something lol, pretty sure we went out for dinner nom nom.  Then on the Sunday I headed off to Mangakino for a few days, just to chill.  I had the week after Labour Wknd off plus a couple days of the following week, cos why not.

Mangakino was fun.  Didn't really do much, but that's what I like about visiting there.  Caught up with Bro in Taupo on my way through, then we both headed to olds.  Went for a walk along the lake with Pa one of the days, then another went running in Tokoroa while Mum met up with a friend, who I then met.  Then Mum and I went shopping.  

Then I came home for a day before heading to Chch for a long wknd with Bridie.  We may have both under packed for that lol, I put my beanie back and she put her gloves back before we left.  Both agreed that was dumb when we got there as it was cccccooooollllllddddd.  Felt a bit warmer after we went and bought beanies from a souvenir shop lol.  Overall it was a good long wknd, we did lots of chatting (shocking I know lol), some exploring, lots of eating, watching stuff, some shopping, some reading, played on scooters and I went for a run while she watched the All Blacks game.  Slight disruption on our last day when I got a msg that my flight had been cancelled and I was now flying home via Auckland the next day.  Not at all what I had planned but I went with it like I had to.  Air NZ put me up in the lovely Novotel at the airport and gave me a food allowance, which seemed nice and high till you realised how much the hotel restaurant charged and this is where you had to eat to get it charged to room and therefore for Air NZ to pay.  Oh well, I made it work and spent $2 less than my allowance which is all I cared about, I didn't want to pay anything hehe.

Then after coming home and working for two days, I had a wknd which was lovely.  Took myself out for brunch then to the beach to read on one of the days, the other I have no idea what I did lol.  Then work again for 2 days, one of which I didn't feel so great, then was even more meh on Wednesday morning so took at a rat test and have been isolating with Covid since.  Day 5 today and still feel kinda meh, wouldn't be well enough to work even if it was a work day, so tomorrow shall be off work again and go from there I think.

So yeah that's my kinda weird few weeks, started off really well but then took a bit of a nose dive.  Am still doing Marathon in a Month but might not make (probably wont if I'm being honest) the full distance I challenged myself to do.  I think I will make a marathon but not the half again on top of that.  Still happy for donations if anyone is still thinking of donating.

And to finish off here are some pics from Christchurch :)

And a random extra from the fancy dress party I went to recently, am rocking the70s chick look in terrible lighting lol