chaliepud

Have a fab 2017 Noll, may the books be great and plentiful!

Me too, though I'm not sure when I'll get to them, I have too many books to be able to start a trilogy!

Have a wonderful 2017 Ian!

Finished Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave, great writing, a slow read but well worth it.

Thanks Hayley, unique is definitely something we are aiming for, at the trade fair I will be looking for some things that you can't buy in to many other places, my son loves the Thinking Putty we got him for Christmas so I think that could be a good one, I also want to make sure we have plenty of creative/scientific problems for the older children as they are often ignored in gift shops. Thanks Janet, it is very exciting, just a little scary! Cowtastic looks amazing, we will be similar but on a smaller scale for now, we are looking forward to the outside play area opening in the Spring and then the animals coming a bit later in the year. The Berry Barn looks lovely, wish it were a bi closer so I could visit! I have been looking into candles but I want to source natural, eco friendly ones as too many are made of paraffin, ideally they would be beeswax but a GM free soy would probably be ok. The company is very eco friendly, carbon neutral etc so we need to do our bit in the shop. Have a wonderful 2017 Janet, and thank you for popping by!

Thanks Noll, a play barn is simply indoor play with a huge climbing frame/obstacle course/slides, in our case including two drop slides which are very popular, and scary! We are trying to keep to a simple theme of animals, country etc in the shop with a few added extras to appeal to a wider demographic (the odd dinosaur/princess!) We have Jellycat toys, link in response to Gaia, above, plus mini farm sets, puppet toys, greetings cards, tractors and so on. More to come! I am off to the Spring Fair at the beginning of February, which is a large trade fair at the NEC in Birmingham, I'll get to speak to lot of toy, gift and card companies to see what we might like to stock in the shop, apparently we even need to start planning for Christmas now! I do love the idea of competitions to name the animal, will have to monitor the choices though!

Oops, tried to be too clever with the quoting frankie, but I'm sure you get the gist!

You are certainly smart enough to follow the storyline and I know the subject matter will interest you. Faulks is very wordy but I found it so compelling that the story flew by! I don't actually watch it for exactly that reason! Of course, though I suspect they tend to film out of normal working hours. Jojo and I are there Tuesday for her physio so we will keep our eyes peeled! I'm not sure any Vet can deal with Obi these days! I do love it, the animals should be here in the Summer, I doubt I'll be working with them but I'm sure I will be able to get more than my share of cuddles!

Thank you Chrissy, I hope you have a wonderful year too! Our demographic will mainly be children, parents and grandparents I would imagine, though hopefully we will make it clear on our website that you do not have to pay to come in if you just want to visit the gift shop. Bookmarks, how could I have forgotten bookmarks?! In time we will hopefully have ones with the company name on but in the meantime I will see what I can source! I'm not sure if we will have foodstuffs other than sweets, mainly because we have a coffee shop with cakes and biccies (plus proper dinners too; the french chef makes an amazing pork stroganoff!) I'm not sure about a charitable angle, we will need to give that some thought, there are plenty of local charities to choose from if we do decide to go down that route. Thanks Gaia, you were helpful, thank you. And thank you for the good luck, I am loving it at the moment and look forward to going in every day. Plush toys are a definite, we already have some lovely Jellycats! This is my favourite that we stock, http://www.jellycat.com/truffles-highland-cow-trm3hc/ I think we will definitely have to do some competitions, maybe to win one of the Jellycat toys! We will have gift vouchers in time, and certainly in time for Christmas.

Not an amazing storyline, a romance in space pretty much sums it up, but Maddie (15) and I enjoyed it. 10 mins of tense action towards the end, more exciting than Gravity, but that wasn't hard!

Just home from watching Passengers, I really liked it but should have read more reviews before I took my 11 year old son, no where near enough action for him, and in his words, it was a romance in space. After putting him through Gravity a couple of years ago he has vowed to never go to the cinema with me to watch a space film again. (Excluding Star Wars of course, and hopefully Guardians of the Galaxy 2!)

Cheeky! Good idea though!!

I'm not sure how many people pop in here but I just wanted to get some opinions on something! As some of you will know I went back to work in November last year after many, many years of staying home with my children. I am working in a new venture, which, when it is complete will consist of an indoor play barn for the whole family (open now), an outdoor play area and a farm, including petting barn (opening in the Spring/Summer). There are more ideas for 2018 but they are the plans for now. In the play barn we also have a toy/gift shop which is where I spend 3 full days a week. When I started I thought I was just going to be a staff member, helping order stock etc but no full responsibility...that seems to be changing rapidly and it looks like in time they are hoping that I will be solely responsible for all aspects of the shop, eek!!! I hope this is ok to do: I was just wondering if I could ask you lovely lot what do you think are the most important features of a toy/gift shop? It will be predominantly toys, maybe 80% toy/20% gift, we will have to see how it evolves. Do you go into an independent shop hoping to see big names, or more unique items? Is decor important? I'm not the most creative of souls but understand it needs to look lovely and may need to change often, perhaps with the seasons? Do you like offers, or prefers reasonable prices? Or both?! Local products? Pocket money toys? Where would you expect to find places like this advertised, or would you go on word of mouth? Do you/your children like themed weeks/months? ​ Competitions? With prizes obviously! We could have name the . Obviously there is a bookshelf but I think that will just be limited to children's books, or where would it stop?! I think it could quickly become a bookshop! Any thoughts would be very much appreciated as I feel a little overwhelmed with the prospect at the moment, excited too, but it just feels like such a big responsibility! Maybe you know a very good toy and/or gift shop that has a website with pics I could have a nose at? Anyhow, thank you for reading!

Thanks Kay, I hope 2017 is good for you too, the culling will be hard but necessary! I'm glad to hear you Mum is on the up and that you are able to be back in your lovely quiet home, with all even lovelier books to keep you company! ENJOY!!

Mine stays at home too, it is A4 sized so would be too big for my handbag, I have a small diary I carry around with me, the Bujo is for weekly tasks and to record info/notes etc. Mine is a lined one as again far for practical for me, dots would drive me dotty!

I'm not sure, it is rock sold and BIG, my hand won't fit around it (not that I have big hands!) it seems to have just become a part of him and other than restrict his movement a little it doesn't appear to bother him, although he is on constant anti-inflammatories for his arthritis so maybe they are helping that too. He is happy, and if he gets his timing right can still get on the sofa for a cuddle! I'm sold, Gone with the Wind AND The Stand will be read this year, hopefully I'll be able to squeeze a few others in too! He was lovely when Obi and I met him in 2003, albeit in a tiny veterinary practice in Guildford, not the high tech place he owns now! I even got a hug when I was feeling a little overwhelmed, he was able to cuddle Obi too, wouldn't fancy his chances these days, Poor boy has too many unpleasant Vet experiences under his belt and he isn't very forgiving!

Lurved Young Guns!!! A young Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez!

Looks like I really must get to Gone with the Wind this year too then! I have Primo Levi on my Goodreads wish list but I MUST NOT buy it...just yet anyway! I wouldn't mention Human Traces...but since you brought it up... I actually updated my Book Box at the weekend, I wanted a sit down activity so that fit the bill nicely, I may even have added a few that I knew were already in there, just to increase my odds of reading them sooner! Jojo is back to normal walks, with a ball sometimes so she is very happy, just have to keep everything crossed that she is mended, physio next Tuesday which will be interesting, she won't be impressed being handled by a stranger! Have you seen the Supervet on TV? Noel Fitzpatrick? He was the one who operated on Obi when he was a pupster, it was his practice we have been back to with Jojo, and she'll have her physio there too, hopefully they'll be filming there at some point.must remember to always wear makeup!! And yes, Obi is very cool!

Hope you get is sorted soon frankie, when I had low iron levels (third pregnancy!) my health visitor recommended a couple of squares of dark chocolate everyday and it worked a treat, add to that some cruciferous veg (spinach, broccoli etc) and maybe some red meat (ideally offal) and you'll hopefully be fine! Be warned that the iron supplements not only taste revolting but contain lots of crappy, synthetic ingredients! You may be able to resource one with food grade ingredients? Oh, and you probably know if you have too much you will become constipated so make sure you take some Vitamin C with it!

Hello, and welcome.

I'm afraid my new BuJo is very boring and functional (like me?! ) I really don't have the inclination to make it all fancy but I'm loving the organisational capabilities of it, amazing really, it is just a notebook with numbered pages, but those numbered pages/index are what make all the difference!!!

I know there are a few fans on here! http://forreadingaddicts.co.uk/authors/mrs-peregrines-peculiars-back-new-trilogy/14723

There are some dog who take it at a slower pace but they cannot compete with the faster dogs as a rule. Jojo is crazy fast though and over extends when jumpings which we think has caused the problem, we will give physio a go then maybe I'll send her oven some jumps and through the weaves in the garden and see how she goes! Definitely avoiding Little Paris Bookshop for a while!

Thanks Pixie. Hmm, I won't rush to read it then, although I have no problem with abandoning books! Obi has had a large lump on his neck for over a year now, it was huge at one point and then halved. He is fine in himself and we haven't had it tested, he finds the Vets incredibly stressful (and the Vets are pretty scared of him too!) plus we are unable to put him under anaesthetic as he has had to be resuscitated twice during operations! He is very happy as he is so we will let nature take its course, I don't think he is ready to shuffle of just yet! Author burnout sums it up really well Gaia! Thanks Noll, happy 2017 to you too.

Pork Stroganoff, we are so lucky to have an excellent French chef where I work!