Recycled awesomeness

Made myself a nice warm awesome as jacket for winter 🥰😻💜 fully recycled too which is cool.

The grey fabric is my old girl guide blanket, the blue is an old blanket from Jenny. Both woollen blankets.

The lining is an old duvet cover that I’ve had for years but don’t use anymore.

The cotton was from Gma’s stash.

And the buttons were a nice surprise from my boss Michelle. She loaned me her button collection when I mentioned I didn’t have any suitable ones and really didn’t want to buy ones cos was able to not pay for anything else for the jacket. She’s a cool boss 🤗

Now just need the weather to cool so I can wear it lol 😻🤩😂

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. 

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 :)

I have survived

Survived what you ask, well another full trip around the sun of course :)

That's right, I aged again last week.  And if I may say so myself I am getting the hang of this aging thing I think, definitely getting better at it.  This year it was a 4 day event.  On Wednesday Bro and I took the day off work and hung out.  We ran some errands, played some Switch and some N64, drunk some cocktails and ate fish and chips (not in that order).  Thursday I went down to Feilding to get another tattoo, this one is a biplane and is very awesome (in my opinion).  Friday Jenny took the day off work and we went out for brunch then treated ourselves to massages, then Jenny and a few friends came round for cocktails and pizza (nom nom slurp slurp).  Saturday Mum and Dad came over and Mum and I went to a Celiac NZ event in Havelock North which was actually pretty good (and I got a bag filled with groceries just for attending, mega score).  For dinner all of us headed round to Jenny's for dinner and she put on a scrummy dinner for us.  And no I am not mean taking my visitors to Jenny's instead of cooking for them, Jenny actually likes cooking just not for only one person, so she likes having more than herself to cook for.  Plus she likes my family (I know, she is weird... lol).

So anyway that sums up my bday for 2023.  And I hope you all had lovely days on my bday as well <3

It really is the little things sometimes

I took Freddie to the mechanics today for her WoF and Service and I was reminded why I like my mechanics so much.  When I picked her up they commented that they hadn't met her before (yes they used the word met) and I really liked that they noticed she was new to them and that they therefore hadn't been introduced.  They said she was lovely, which I know but it's nice she was lovely for them as well <3 

They also checked she was my car and that I was to get sent the bill, as if I had brought her in for someone else they could be sent it.  Did not expect them to offer that and while it was tempting to give them someones email addy (like dads hehe) I wouldn't actually do that lol :)

So yeah, my mechanics are lovely, all of them there at that garage, in my opinion.  And the reason I started going there was that the other one I went to gave me a quote for work once (early on in me being over here) and it seemed a bit much to me so I rang Uncle Bob and he confirmed it was likely a 'female' rate and to look elsewhere, so I went to Dave Jones just to see what he would quote (he supports Radio Kidnappers so I figured he had to be a good guy) and he told me I had been given a 'female' price and that it would cost much less.  Costed even less than he said in the end as it turned out I didn't even need all the work done that the first place had said I would, bad first place!!  And since then Dave Jones Motors has been my go-to and I have been happy as (mechanic-wise) since then :) and my Cleo and Freddie have never complained either, I personally think they like the eye candy there lol

A Before and an After

This was a joint project, with me and Doffy, that I actually remembered to take a before photo of before we started (purely cos Dof asked for one lol).  And thanks to that I can now do a before and after for you all :)

So Doffy was cool and he did the complicated part, the me going I want my bench seat to be a chair and a table can you make that happen?  And the answer was yes (like I suspected it would be if I asked hehe) and to me it wasn't all that complicated, prob cos I wasn't around for most of it lol.  Doffy might have another side to tell about how complicated/hard/frustrating it was to do... 

Once he had done his part I enjoyed sitting on it a few times, but then one day decided that it was a bit old and faded looking and the arms needed sanding anyhow cos the sun had made them dry and rough.  And if you are going to the effort of sanding you might as well then paint, cept I didn't want it painted cos that wouldn't be the look I wanted, then I found a tin of leftover stain in the shed and so that's what I used.  Used it all up in a couple coats on the chair so had to buy more, did I buy a logical amount... corse not, I bought a way bigger tin than I needed but then I wouldn't be me if I didn't over estimate when it comes to paint/stain lol.

Anyhow here is the finished product, it looks pretty cool I think <3 (ps that's a heart for those who don't speak old school emoji hehe). 

Books of 2021

Me again, did ya miss me in the last few minutes lol

Here are my book totals for 2021, figured why not do it again this year then it could almost start being something I do each year, maybe....

Total books read - 55

Total pages read - 19,124

Shortest book - 119 pages (A Room With A View by E. M. Forster)

Longest book - 596 pages (Eat Better Forever, thanks bro for the loan)

Most popular genre read - Fantasy (duh)

Second place genre - Chick Lit (expected as was studying at the start of the year and thats my default when studying)

Books bought but not read yet - not counted but it's back to fitting on one shelf in my bookcase which is the aim.  I blame the Lions Booksale and Wardini Books for having too many books to still be read.... lol

Books by genre

Books in order of read (each line is a month)

Bit of fun for you all

I know it's not quite the end of the year yet, but the word search is ready so I thought I would share it with you now.  That and this way I wont forget to put it up for you all lol.

Just so you know there is more than one EIT in there, totally by accident but I'm rolling with it and have decided that for everyone who finds all of them, and sends me proof (ie don't just say how many but say where they are) there is a prize woot woot hehe.

Have fun all :)

Click here for A4 wordsearch (PDF)
This link takes you to a DropBox copy, it might bring up a sign-up thing but if you click on the X it should still give you access to the wordsearch.  The sign-up is for if you want to save a copy to your DropBox.

If you would rather me email you a copy to print just flick me an email and ask :)

 

 

A cheerful end to the week

Well, I don't know my end of the week is extra cheerful or not.  It's been a standard wknd, nothing special has happened, but then nothing bad has happened either really.  But I thought I would chuck a couple of random photos up here so you can have a cheerful end to the week, and cos I know the post earlier this week wasn't so pleasant so this one will be :)

All these photos have been taken this year, except the last one and that one has been added cos I can't not laugh when I see it, its a brilliant pick me up if you ever have a bad day lol.

This was on the wall in a burger bar in Wellington, and to be honest if you bought me a burger and told me I was pretty I would be super happy so I took a photo :)

This one was taken last week, so that is what my hair looks like, well for now atlst lol

I promise I really do love my bear, but this is just so funny that I can't not keep sharing it lol

Marathon in a Month time again

It's Marathon in a Month time again, well come Monday it will be :) and this year I have roped a friend in to do it with me, though sadly this doesn't mean we walk half each :( we both have to do a marathon lol.

Here is the link if you would like to donate to our cause, the money raised goes to the Cancer Society.  If you would rather not donate online you are most welcome to donate via me and I will put it up :)

Donate to Jilly aka JB aka The Most Awesome Person You Know hehe 

Feel free to send in your messages of support throughout the month as well, they will be great appreciated.

And yes our team name is The Great JMs, cos we are great and we are both JMs, duh :p

2020 in books

I was wondering how best to do my 2020 summary, there was a lot that went on after all, and ended up deciding to do it in books, cos why not.  So obviously the below is for all of 2020, and the pie graph is thanks to Aunty Pam for asking for another one (first one appeared in a back issue of the JB Times).

Total books read - 70

Total pages read - 23,641

Shortest book - 70 pages (The Perfect Shadow by Brent Weeks, a novella)

Longest book - 768 pages (The Fireman by Joe Hill)

Signed books received - 3 (one from a book launch, one from winning an international competition (yes I am still sometimes lucky) and one cos I know the author)

New authors discovered and now love - many

Most popular genre read - Fantasy (duh)

Surprise second place genre - Non-Fiction (didn't expect that one)

Books bought but not read yet - 40 (whoops, my eyes in bookstores are bigger than my free time lol)

My overall reading habits of 2020 based on genre :)

Ken ain't a bad photographer....

Just thought I would share these pics with you, courtesy of Mr Ken Morrison and his handy camera of course :)
Note: both photos were taken in the last few days, just if you were wondering.  And yes I have been good enough to get a pressie from Santa this year, and no I was not working when the other one was taken lol

12 months of my awesomeness in one go

In each of my diaries I have a selfie page at the start of the month for a selfie of myself (taken within the first few days of the month), mostly so I can track my hair styles and also cos it's a bit of fun.  I got last years diary out this morning as I am about to start making next years one so wanted to refresh myself on what last years one was like, and then decided that I would share the last 12 months of selfies with you all :) cos I am just that sort of generous sharing person hehe.

Anyhow here they are, enjoy...

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

MARCH

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

AUGUST

SEPTEMBER

Quiz update

Ok, so there have been 4 entries so far, thanks all that have entered.

At the moment the leaderboard looks like this:
Ma - 49.5

Dofus - 46.5

Aunty Pam - 30.5

Fishy - 16.5 (guess the paperwork for your 100% got lost... whoops lol)

Hehe looks like someone likes giving half points :) 

Just a few things before I publish the answers, mostly cos even with all entries combined the result does not give 100% so it would seem some extra hints are required.  If anyone would like to answer just these questions, you never know you may jump to the top of the leaderboard (Glenny is still accepting bribes in the form of choc fish if you need some extra help, or just the answer).  And those who have already submitted their answers are most welcome to add to them :)

• Cleo is rather disappointed that no one got her full name, she does concede that it is not likely to be in writing anywhere, but she does get introduced with her full name when people first meet her.  And she thought this question would be too easy and she wanted it to be what are the names of her pets, haha as if anyone would have got that.  Anyhow, so her full first name in Cleopatra (a couple of you got this right) but she has a middle name, it begins with L and is not what I would call a popular name, some people would not even call it a females name but she is like me and doesn't see why she can't have the name she wants....
• The countdown to my bday, Dofus is the only person that got the amount of days right but he didn't count backwards to get the date that it starts.  If anyone would like to here is a hint as to when it is, there is a public holiday that many days before my bday so it's easy to remember (ask Doffy if you need to know the number of days you are counting).
• No one has guessed the superpower I would want yet :( this is a bit sad as I didn't think it was that random.... but apparently it is not something obvious.  Sorry you will need to bribe me or remember what I have verbally told a couple of you for this one, no hints given here.

Answers to the whole quiz will be up in either a few days or when I remember, one or the other, possibly even both if I am more on to it than I sometimes am :)

Oh and yes there are prizes, these will be sent out in the next whenever.  And no I am not telling you what the prizes are being awarded for but top of the leaderboard will be getting one.  And yes I would accept bribes for many answers if anyone wants to try and bump mum off the top (other than Fishy, hitting me and yelling 'me gets 100%' is not a bribe, not even close to one!)

A quiz for a 35th

Since it is my birthday (very very soon) I thought I would give you all a present, hehe actually it’s a present for me and hopefully fun for you.  Here is a quiz about me, good luck everyone :) 

There are certain questions that if you get wrong I will make a mental black X next to your name, there are also certain questions that if you get right I will attach mental balloons and streamers to your name :)

I am open to bribes, if you are considering that please go ahead.  I might even add bonus points for my fav bribes :) hehe.

You may send me your answers however you like: email, snail mail, text, other form of phone message, phone call, in person – however if you try sending by morse code or semaphore I am very very rusty on these so things may get lost in translation lol

 

Also, I do not expect anyone to get 100%, there are a variety of questions so that everyone should be able to get a few points :) I’m just kind like that.

 

PS – it’s out of 60.  Does that help? Nope I didn’t think so :p 

 

 

1)    What is my full name?  I will accept any of the legal names I’ve had, and bonus points if you can name them all.

2)    What is Glenny’s full name?

3)    What is Cleo’s full name?

4)    Do I prefer baking or cooking?

5)    What is my favourite music radio station?

6)    Who is Glenny’s brother?

7)    There are two Capes of Awesomeness in the world, I have one, who has the other?

8)    What is my favourite colour?

9)    What is Glenny’s favourite colour?

10) I collect 3 main things, what are they?  (a point for each one correct one)

11) Where do I work? 

12) I have qualifications for 4 main areas, what is the one I have not yet worked in?

13) Which NRL team do I support?

14) Am I a Ford Girl or a Holden Girl?

15) Where was I going to go for my 35^th birthday pressie to myself before Covid-19 happened (hint, it was overseas somewhere)?

16) When does the countdown for my birthday officially start (will accept either the date or the amount of days, bonus points if you list both)? 

17) What is my favourite vegetable?

18) Which city did I live in in Scotland?

19) Why did I go to India? (there are two reasons, you only need to list one but bonus points if you list both).

20) I have licences to drive two types of vehicles, what are they? (one point for each)

21) How many book clubs do I currently belong to?

22) What are my favourite numbers? (there are three of them if that helps)

23) I am on the committee for two clubs/groups, name one of them? (bonus points if you can name both)

24) Which character do I voice for the show Kids Time at work?

25) What is my theme tune for any music show I do at work? (will accept just the title, you do not need to know the artist)

26) Who is my favourite cricketer? (hint, he doesn’t play anymore but is still my fav)

27) In Hart of Dixie do I prefer George or Wade? (ok so that is a little mean but you have a 50/50 chance so it’s not really totally mean)

28) In my words, how tall am I?

29) Do I prefer to knit or crochet?

30) What vegetable do I never have, by choice, in my house because they are evil and gross (tramping meals excluded cos they come with them, ick yuck)?

31) What size Panthers top did I buy Glenny? (hint, it’s a kids size)

32) If I could have a super power, what would I want?

33) JB stands for 2 things, what is one of them? (bonus points if you can name them both)

34) Where is the one place in NZ that I want to live but haven’t yet? (hint, it’s in the South Island)

35) How awesome am I? 

A Study In Literacy

So, I have started a new radio show with a friend where every week we chat about things to do with literacy.  Why literacy you ask, well we decided that just limiting it to books could be a bit confining so we opened it up to be more broad.  Now I can definitely guarantee that we will go off topic at times, and that it is not going to be highly edited as I do get quite wrapped up in the conversation, but as we decided to do it like a conversation style this is part of the charm of it.  

The first episode is up now, but from next week they will go up on a Saturday at 5pm which is when it airs.  If you would like to listen to it on the radio you can either listen live online at www.radiokidnappers.org.nz or if you live in Hawke's Bay you can tune in at 104.7FM or 1431AM.  If you prefer to listen at your convenience then the podcast is for you.  You can find it on our website, here is the direct link :) https://www.radiokidnappers.org.nz/Programmes/Details.aspx?PID=011421a0-0e1f-4e8b-8321-893f75ac35e7

Some times we will be going live to air, as our schedules permit it.  If you would like me to let you know when we will be doing this please let me know.

Enjoy :)

3rd name's a charm

Well I’ve changed my name legally again.  I hear you sighing with a why on earth do that, a name is just a name sigh.  Well in my book a name is more than just a name and I wanted one I liked.  You may remember that a few years ago I legally added another middle name (a Griffin name), but I kept the one I didn’t like still cos I wanted a Miller name in there that wasn’t the surname and I just hadn’t found one that I liked.  Well over lockdown I did.  And yes you may call me slow cos it has been staring me in the face my whole life but I didn’t put two and two together until I put a virtual poppy on Poppa’s virtual RSA headstone and saw it there, staring back at me going ‘you know you want me, I fit you way better than what you have now….’

And you know what, it was it 100% right.

Now this does not mean that I don’t love Grandma Miller, or that I don’t think she was an awesome as lady, she totally was.  It just means I don’t like her name (which she did not pick for herself as far as I’m aware) and I don’t think it suited me at all.  Plus why should I have two female line names when there is an awesome male name sitting there that suits me perfectly…  My brain agreed and so we waited for Justice of the Peace’s to open again, which by the way was a week or so into Level 1 so the wait was a long one.  But then the wait was over and the paperwork was completed and sent in and now the new birth certificate has come back with what I consider my proper name to be on it:

Jillian Isabella Sydney

Such a good name, even if I did find two thirds of it myself hehe
And yes Miller is still my surname lol just realised I didn't actually say that, whoops

I've been enjoying this all day and figure it's only polite to share :D

Bear friends

So I decided to have a play around with iMovie and made what I think is a kinda cool movie of my good friends, just the stuffed ones at this stage :)

I would love to say that Fishy was nice and patient while waiting for this (and therefore him) to feature on my blog, but that would be a total lie lol.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy my random playing around as much as I enjoyed creating it :)

Oh and song credit is Garth Brooks (not a shocker there lol)