In a near desperate attempt to keep focused and stay on track with some of our bigger goals for this year, I have decided to share them here on this blog. My thinking is that as I am blogging more regularly I can't get too distracted and forget about them if they are listed and progress is charted here. Well, that's the plan anyway, we will see whether that works!
I find that I have a regular pattern of making a list of things I would like to achieve, normally in January or September, ( to coincide with the school year) but six months later, I have more often than not forgotten about them and get quite frustrated when the next six months roll around because I haven't achieved any of them! So if I cut down on the number of goals and just focus on the most pressing and important ones, hopefully I can break the cycle of discontent!
Right, on to the important business. This year as we have an expensive building project taking place which we will have to borrow more money to do. I'd really like to make a big dent in a £8000 loan we currently have outstanding so I would like to reduce our loan by £2000. We are also trying to save as much money as possible to make up for the loss of my income for next year. But I don't want us to go without any luxuries either, I would like us to pursue the Lakes and Iceland this year as well as a few camping trips in the summer. I think we are going to need some relaxation time too, with all the work going on! That's the financial stuff, more of the other stuff next time!
Till then,
My Book
Last night I finished the journey that has had me in its grip for a few weeks now. It was such an enjoyable read and I wished I had read it sooner rather than leaving it for so many years. I know that I am a bit behind the hype and criticism of this book, so bear with me if you have been there and done it already! What really struck me about this book was the cleverness of the way in which it was written and presented to the reader. I haven't read a book with such a cyclical structure before and I felt that it worked spectacularly well. It contains in essence six stories all connected by the books overall theme but are also linked in some very imaginative ways which begins in the early 19th century and move on to various eras and follow different characters including the two set in our future. All the stories are abandoned in order to hop into the future and follow a different story until we reach the sixth story which is the furtherest in the future and then we move back through the ages in chronological order and revisit all the stories to see the conclusions until we end with the first story we visited at the beginning. For me, this book really did make me stop and think about how we live our lives and the impact our decisions will make to our Earth in the future. I really don't like giving any type of spoilers away when reviewing a book, because I don't want to ruin anyone's enjoyment of reading what will become their story. All I can say is if you like books that don't conform to what some may perceive as storytelling rules, then dive in and enjoy this book. It is so different from anything I have ever read before and I can't wait to see the film, just to compare visual images really and whether the big message I got from this is conveyed in the film too. Because we need a wake up call!
I am now in that lonely place of not having an escape at hand, so I am looking for my next book to get lost in....
I have a few projects to finish, namely the sofa and a few others I'd like to re-start, namely the big chunky blanket for my bed. I'd better get on with it...
Till the next time xxx
