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Poppyshake's Reading Year 2015


poppyshake

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Oooh, it's beautiful! You're such a wonderful and creative decorator. :) I especially love the birdhouse...oops, I mean 'house for birds' (so cute!)

 

I wish I could hire you to style my drab and boring house!

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Yes .. they see us as party poopers when .. from our pov .. they're pooping on our party experience :D Big hugs Kylie :hug: parties can actually be no fun at all :( 

 

That's right. That's why I try to get out of going to parties whenever possible. ;)

 

Nothing worse than having to do this in front of your in-laws in my experience .. they don't understand you as well as your own family. In a previous life I had to open presents .. one at a time .. with my in-laws .. you open yours and then you go and fetch one from under the tree and give it to the person it's meant for etc etc. Everyone loved it ... bar me :blush2:  It took ages as well .. and it was random .. so the misery of it was heightened. Honestly, I sound like such an ungrateful article  :blush2: I know the object of it all was to have a nice time .. I didn't that's all :D I always want to say .. please can I take my presents to my room .. or preferably .. home .. thank you .. Merry Christmas! .. and run away :D

 

The first real Christmas I was with my (now) ex, I visited his family soon after Christmas and was mortified when they gave me presents. I hadn't even thought to get them anything! And there were a couple of presents from other family members who weren't there. So I had to sit and open about 4 presents in front of half of his family while they just watched...and I had to keep apologising because I had nothing to give in return. They're lovely people and didn't mind, but I still felt terrible. :(

 

So last Christmas I begged my ex to tell his family not to get me anything because I really couldn't afford to get them anything in return, but he refused to do it because he said they would want to give me something. I tried to explain that gift giving is meant to make others happy, but it would only embarrass me if we had a repeat of the previous year, but he wouldn't hear of it.  :roll: He at least gave me the idea to make them some rocky road, so I was able to give them a small hand-made gift in return.

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Oooh, it's beautiful! You're such a wonderful and creative decorator. :) I especially love the birdhouse...oops, I mean 'house for birds' (so cute!)

 

I wish I could hire you to style my drab and boring house!

Your house is not drab and boring at all .. I can't tell you how excited I get when I see your Billy's :)

 

My sister bought me the house for birds :D .. it used to live somewhere else but it's got a new home now :)

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Gorgeous shelves Kay! You inspire me to do something colour wise with my bookcases.

Thanks Deborah :hug: I do like fiddling around with that sort of thing .. wouldn't suit everyone .. you can never find the book you want for a start :D Though until this recent re-shuffle I was pretty good at knowing. Someone tried to test me on it and I passed :) Will have to study them again now though  :blush2: 

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Aw, you're sweet. My books are the only things that give my place any character. I love spending time to keep my library and books in order, but the rest of my house is a huge mess!

Not in any pics I've seen Missy. But anyway .. the library is the most important room in the house .. who cares about the rest? :D

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That's right. That's why I try to get out of going to parties whenever possible. ;)

I must say .. when I get a party invite .. it's like the invite of doom :D  :blush2: I'm usually okay when I get there but have a thousand mini breakdowns about it before the event  :blush2: But .. solo spot dancing was a new one on me and smething to add to the 'party pitfalls' list :D

The first real Christmas I was with my (now) ex, I visited his family soon after Christmas and was mortified when they gave me presents. I hadn't even thought to get them anything! And there were a couple of presents from other family members who weren't there. So I had to sit and open about 4 presents in front of half of his family while they just watched...and I had to keep apologising because I had nothing to give in return. They're lovely people and didn't mind, but I still felt terrible. :(

 

So last Christmas I begged my ex to tell his family not to get me anything because I really couldn't afford to get them anything in return, but he refused to do it because he said they would want to give me something. I tried to explain that gift giving is meant to make others happy, but it would only embarrass me if we had a repeat of the previous year, but he wouldn't hear of it.  :roll: He at least gave me the idea to make them some rocky road, so I was able to give them a small hand-made gift in return.

I'm sure they didn't mind at all but that's the thing .. people don't mind but WE do!!  :blush2: It is mortifying as you say .. I've been there and bought the t-shirt on that one. I try and remember to have things wrapped that I can take in case .. just like biscuits or wine or something. But I don't want to give it to them if they don't give us anything .. because I'd hate for them to feel as I would vice versa .. but then Alan always hands it out and says .. 'nah .. they won't mind'  :D .. so inadvertently I've put other people in that situation but only with small gifts.

 

I must say this is all very liberating .. I don't feel nearly as weird as I did .. we're all weird :D

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I must say .. when I get a party invite .. it's like the invite of doom :D  :blush2: I'm usually okay when I get there but have a thousand mini breakdowns about it before the event  :blush2: But .. solo spot dancing was a new one on me and smething to add to the 'party pitfalls' list :D

I'm sure they didn't mind at all but that's the thing .. people don't mind but WE do!!  :blush2: It is mortifying as you say .. I've been there and bought the t-shirt on that one. I try and remember to have things wrapped that I can take in case .. just like biscuits or wine or something. But I don't want to give it to them if they don't give us anything .. because I'd hate for them to feel as I would vice versa .. but then Alan always hands it out and says .. 'nah .. they won't mind'  :D .. so inadvertently I've put other people in that situation but only with small gifts.

 

I must admit that I temporarily lost a couple of friendships because I turned down invitations to parties (an engagement party and a 21st). Not that they said anything at the time—it took me years to work out why they weren't talking to me! Luckily I've regained those friendships, and I've actually improved a lot socially—I don't turn down invitations now; I just grumble a lot (to myself) and go anyway. I even make small talk with strangers (which I hate doing).

 

Tut tut, Alan!  :giggle: That's a very good idea though, to have small gifts on standby!

 

I must say this is all very liberating .. I don't feel nearly as weird as I did .. we're all weird :D

 

YES  :giggle2:

 

I'll tell you a secret though. all the best people are  ;)

I was going to say that maybe we're the normal ones and everyone else is weird, but let's face it: it's much more fun to think that we're weird. It's no fun being normal!

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I do like fiddling around with that sort of thing .. wouldn't suit everyone .. you can never find the book you want for a start :D Though until this recent re-shuffle I was pretty good at knowing. Someone tried to test me on it and I passed :) Will have to study them again now though  :blush2: 

 

I can just imagine Alan walking into a room to find you staring intently at your bookshelves, trying to memorise each book's location.  :giggle2:

 

Sometimes I fancy the idea of taking all of my fiction books off the shelves and putting them back in random order. It would then be a lot of fun (or very frustrating, depending on my mood) trying to find a particular book! And then I could just add new books to the end of the line rather than having to shuffle everything along.

 

Not in any pics I've seen Missy. But anyway .. the library is the most important room in the house .. who cares about the rest? :D

 

That's because I push all the mess to the side so it's just out of the shot. :D

 

But yes, you're right about the library being the most important room!

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Many thanks to Brian for this idea :hug: I have made a TBR jar!!  :boogie:

Very time consuming as I had to write out 200 odd titles ... could have possibly read one of them in the time it took me  :D In theory .. I will pick a piece of paper out at random and read the relevant book. This may well lead to me abandoning books because some of them are only in the house because they were the third or second book in a Waterstone's deal or because they were part of a set bought cheaply from The Book People etc. I will attempt to give them all a fair trial though. It's a large jar .. I can thoroughly shake it for shuffling purposes and I intend to plunge my hand in (possibly whilst looking away) and do a sort of spin cycle movement with it before picking one. 

It will be very Russian roulette though .. not least because .... Carter Beats the Devil is in this jar :o !!! Alan wrote that particular slip so that I wouldn't know the colour and therefore couldn't cheat (I wouldn't .. but some people are suspicious little blighters :D) I have told him that if I find he has written it out several times then there will be sanctions involving dinner, making sandwiches and well .. other stuff!! :D I am working on the theory that the jar knows best. I will try and respect the jar's decision (whilst incanting 'Not Slytherin'  :D

It won't have lights on it all the time .. this is its debut and so I've gone to town a bit.

I will continue to choose books from the shelves so obviously if I pick out a title I've already read then I will pick again. I promise not to throw any fish back into the sea though :blush2:   

 

I suppose thanks must go to Alan who donated the jar .. it was full of Christmas tree marshmallows and enough can't be said about the sterling effort he put in to empty it  :D 

 

Wish me luck peeps .. the first grand draw will take place soon. When the results come in I'd appreciate it if you didn't laugh :D  

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Wow! Another amazing example of your creativeness! I love the labels you've made and how you've attached them. You go above and beyond!  :wub:

 

As soon as I started reading your post, I wondered if you had included Carter Beats the Devil. :D Go Alan! I love that he wouldn't let you see what colour paper he used.  :giggle2: Would you think I was awful if I said that I'm really hoping you choose it? It would just be so, so funny.  :D Heh, I would never have thought of writing it on several slips of paper. Will Alan be present each time you choose a book so he can make sure you don't cheat?

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I must admit that I temporarily lost a couple of friendships because I turned down invitations to parties (an engagement party and a 21st). Not that they said anything at the time—it took me years to work out why they weren't talking to me! Luckily I've regained those friendships, and I've actually improved a lot socially—I don't turn down invitations now; I just grumble a lot (to myself) and go anyway. I even make small talk with strangers (which I hate doing).

If only people would realise .. it's torture for some people to attend events like that .. it's nothing personal. Yes .. I'm much better too now .. and can chat fairly easily to strangers although sometimes I'm tying myself in knots inside. I used to be so much worse. Have you ever watched Scrooge with Albert Finney? .. the musical? He does a song called 'I hate people' which I sometimes say is my theme song  :D I don't hate people of course .. I love lots of people .. but if I go to town on a particularly stressful day and there are crowds and people just pushing and shoving and asking stuff (like shop assistants) then I get very stressed and want to hide away. If I come out of a shop Alan says 'what happened' .. did someone talk to you?' :D But I'm not unfriendly .. it's just I'm a bit of a nervous .. self conscious .. Nelly.

Tut tut, Alan!  :giggle: That's a very good idea though, to have small gifts on standby!

Previous mortification has taught me to be ready prepared. If you get things that you can use (like in this house .. tins of biscuits or wine will never go to waste .. or choccy :D) .. then you're not wasting money but then I never get the presents back anyway. Possibly if it was a nice box of chocolates then Alan would think twice about it .. but he is so generous .. and Christmas makes him even more so. And I am fine with it as long as I think the person/people won't mind .. but you can never tell who you're mortifying  :blush2: 

I was going to say that maybe we're the normal ones and everyone else is weird, but let's face it: it's much more fun to think that we're weird. It's no fun being normal!

That's true .. who wants to be normal? It's obviously much more common though than I thought .. whilst not wanting to be normal I also don't want to be ... a freak!! :D

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Wow! Another amazing example of your creativeness! I love the labels you've made and how you've attached them. You go above and beyond!  :wub:

 

As soon as I started reading your post, I wondered if you had included Carter Beats the Devil. :D Go Alan! I love that he wouldn't let you see what colour paper he used.  :giggle2: Would you think I was awful if I said that I'm really hoping you choose it? It would just be so, so funny.   Heh, I would never have thought of writing it on several slips of paper. Will Alan be present each time you choose a book so he can make sure you don't cheat?

I was bored yesterday :D 

 

Yes .. you think he would trust me Kylie .. but no :D But then .. I don't trust that he hasn't entered it several times over. I don't think you're awful .. I think it's hilarious and part of the fun of choosing. Maybe it'll be the best book I will ever read :D I am giving it a fighting chance because I was saying an all out no to reading it before but only to be pedantic I do admit  :blush2: Part of me did debate whether to include it .. but then I couldn't really leave it out. He trusts that I will be honest in my choosing .. but if he's here then I will get him to adjudicate  :D 

 

When I finish my current book .. and I only have a chapter of so .. I will pick out my next book  :hide: Be kind to me TBR jar! :D

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I do understand how you guys feel.    Our son's girlfriend doesn't like opening presents in front of people either.  

 

We do the whole open them one at a time, but we opened hers to us and she opened hers from us before she came to us in the afternoon on Christmas day as we didn't want her to feel awkward.

 

I love the lobster, Jänet, where'd you find it! =D And I love you guys for being so considerate towards your son's GF. I'm sure she really appreciated that! You are good folks <3

 

I am hoping to abandon books this year and therefore not do too much damage to your wishlist. I have a cunning plan (more later!)

 

That sounds so wrong, if one doesn't know what you mean. You're hoping to abandon books?! =DLuckily I know you mean you are going to try and abandon books that you just don't get along with, instead of plowing right through and hating it. But what's the cunning plan?! I want to know more!

 

Sorry Sari.  it was a bit random. I was referring to Spike Milligan .. British comedian and author .. gone from us now but still remembered for the absolute loon he was. I have a couple of his books on my TBR. He suffered terribly with his mental health .. I saw a documentary about him last year .. he always signed his letters 'love, light and peace'.  

Don't apologize, darling, you can refer to whoever you want, as long as you don't mind having to explain things to me :blush: Spike Milligan is a familiar name but I wouldn't have known who he is/was. Sounds like an interesting character! 

 

 

I'm sure I shall. I always think Fingersmith will make me blush. I didn't see the adaptation but I heard it was racy .. or am I thinking of Tipping the Velvet? Anyway, it doesn't take much .. I'm listening to her new book The Paying Guests and its already making my cheeks hot. Lord .. I've led such a sheltered life.

 

I think both of the book are blush-worthy =D I've only read the former, but I've head that those two as well as Affinity are Victorian novels that are all of the ... exciting nature. I might remember wrong, though! I didn't know TPG was carrying that same torch... I should really read more Waters =D

 

Yes .. and I did start it two years ago but then was ill and it was hard to pick it up again because it threw me back into remembering but I am over that now. The thing is .. I got quite a way into it but feel I should go back to the start as it's so involved .. I need to get into the swing of it again .. very clever wordplay etc. I owe it to Kylie to give it my undivided. 

Oh yes, I should have remembered! I know what you mean, a book or a TV series or an album taking you back into a not-so-great a time and therefore not feeling too excited about going back to it  :empathy:

 

 Well .. it's not as easy as that .. for one thing I wanted it painted (I'm such a pain in the ****) and for the other .. no .. it's not even half full and that's mainly because I'm being fussy about the spines again.  I'm not colour co-ordinating them or grading them but I only want pale colours because it's in our bedroom and swathes of red will look all wrong. Consequently I've pillaged a lot of my other bookcases and everything is in a real state and all over the place. I don't mind having gaps though and I do quite like having other things on bookcases too (or junk as some people would have it !) I will take a pic .. in daylight probably tomorrow. Alan was a bit disappointed that I couldn't fill it up but as I said .. you need room .. it's no good filling up all your bookcases .. where would you put any new acquisitions. I need to look for new acquisitions now (I'm not daft)

A bit of red in the bedroom and who knows, things might go more like Waters intends them to :giggle2: No, just joking. The bookcase looks absolutely gorgeous and I love how you went for the pastels. It looks adorable :wub: I can only say once again that you would make a bloody brilliant decorator! And I wish you'd do my apartment!!

 

 

Having said that I can get odd about it at Christmas when it's just Alan and me .. he just laughs at me and fetches the Bucks Fizz

:D Oh, the two of you! 

 

 

I love it that you've also made a TBR jar!! It must've taken you some time, really :D And you put CBtD in it :D Haha well done Alan! And well done for making the huge sacrifice of eating the marshmallows :lol:

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Oh man, this book jar idea is very tempting... I've been so worried about my TBR what with the amazing book selection of the libraries over here. Maybe I should do a book jar, too, and read one TBR book per one library book I've read. 

 

 

Oh and hey, any news on the MT ebay bid? When will you know if you'll get it? Turns out my copy is on its way to me as we speak :o 

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Oh man, this book jar idea is very tempting... I've been so worried about my TBR what with the amazing book selection of the libraries over here. Maybe I should do a book jar, too, and read one TBR book per one library book I've read. 

 

 

Oh and hey, any news on the MT ebay bid? When will you know if you'll get it? Turns out my copy is on its way to me as we speak :o

Today .. I've just checked it and I have seven hours to go. I'm the highest bidder .. well the only bidder but you know what some blighters are like .. they nick it from you at the last minute :D I will try and be vigilant but could get side tracked by biscuits etc :D 

 

Perhaps you should wait and see how I am affected by the book jar .. I don't mind having the nervous breakdown so you don't have to :D:hug:

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Hey, now I realized: your cunning plan of hoping to abandon books has to do with picking up a random book that you only got as a part of a book deal in the first place. Giving it a go and not liking it and then giving it away. Right? 

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Today .. I've just checked it and I have seven hours to go. I'm the highest bidder .. well the only bidder but you know what some blighters are like .. they nick it from you at the last minute :D I will try and be vigilant but could get side tracked by biscuits etc :D 

Yes, the last minute gits!   :motz:   If you know what's good for you, you'd better not try and come between poppyshake and the book she's set her sights on!

 

Perhaps you should wait and see how I am affected by the book jar .. I don't mind having the nervous breakdown so you don't have to :D:hug:

 

Oh but I'm not too fussed about cheating, I wouldn't feel any qualms about it :giggle2: Not with the book jar! :D

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That sounds so wrong, if one doesn't know what you mean. You're hoping to abandon books?! =DLuckily I know you mean you are going to try and abandon books that you just don't get along with, instead of plowing right through and hating it. But what's the cunning plan?! I want to know more!

Yes .. quite right .. I meant to say that I do tend to plod on with a book when all hope is gone. I'm going to try not to do that this year and the cunning plan is the TBR jar. It will make me read books that would otherwise sit on the shelf for ages and possibly encourage me to read more or at least get me started on reading them. If they're duffers then it's better I know it and then the charity shop can have them and it'll be more shelf space for me :D

Don't apologize, darling, you can refer to whoever you want, as long as you don't mind having to explain things to me. Spike Milligan is a familiar name but I wouldn't have known who he is/was. Sounds like an interesting character!

Very interesting .. quite a handful .. you never knew what he was going to say or do on live TV. His books are very funny .. or at least from the glimpses I've had of them. As is often the case though he was very funny but he was also a manic depressive and had electric shock treatment etc :( He is in the jar .. more than once .. so he stands a good chance.  

I think both of the book are blush-worthy =D I've only read the former, but I've head that those two as well as Affinity are Victorian novels that are all of the ... exciting nature. I might remember wrong, though! I didn't know TPG was carrying that same torch... I should really read more Waters =D

I've only read The Little Stranger and that had no racy bits. Did I sub consciously choose that because I'm so boring? I've read her one non-racy novel .. go me!! :DThe Paying Guests is quite saucy .. and it came at me from out of the blue. Well no .. it's not saucy really .. I was just thinking it was going to be all about a lady taking in lodgers and then suddenly .. monkey business  :D I am listening to Juliet Stevenson read it too  :blush2:  

Oh yes, I should have remembered! I know what you mean, a book or a TV series or an album taking you back into a not-so-great a time and therefore not feeling too excited about going back to it .

I have got over that feeling now as it was ages ago .. so hope to get to it this year even without the jar's help.

A bit of red in the bedroom and who knows, things might go more like Waters intends them to. No, just joking. The bookcase looks absolutely gorgeous and I love how you went for the pastels. It looks adorable. I can only say once again that you would make a bloody brilliant decorator! And I wish you'd do my apartment!!

We don't want things getting too exciting in the bedroom .. interferes with book reading that does :D Anyway .. Waters intends it always to be lady business from what I can tell and I haven't got time to learn a new skill :D 

Glad you like the bookcase :hug: .. I would quite like to be a decorator .. but only for people I know and like  :D It's the scared of people thing again .. they'd have to talk to me and they mightn't like the things I chose .. ooh .. I can invisage a hundred mortifying situations. I'd have to ask them for money at some point!! :o  

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