Life Update!
Hey everyone! *waves tiredly*
It feels like it's been forever since I last posted anything (although it's probably been closer to a few weeks), I've been SO BUSY OH MY GOD. But anyway, I have a week or so now to myself before going back to the grind, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to chat with you all!
WORK:
October and November are always really busy months for me, because now that Christmas releases have been sent off to printing, it's time for us junior editors to get picking out our front runners for the Spring releases. So I've had a million and one MSs to read, plus fielding emails from copy and printing about the books going out NOW and it's enough to make my head explode. Luckily there's not a lot of rivalry between my colleagues and myself, so we don't have to worry about egos or spite while we're all up to our eyeballs in work. I think it's probably my boss; she fosters a very positive and upbeat work environment, and I think that outlook filters down to the rest of us. But yeah, nice though it is, it's still hella busy!
LECTURING:
Oh wow, I forgot how much FUN this was! I mean, I spent the first week coughing up a lung every time I opened my mouth to say something, and I kind of got buried under all the secondary reading material that I set out for the students, and I spent the entire half-term holidays yelling at my kids to shut the fuck up because I was trying to read and mark all of the mid-semester essays, and then I kind of wanted to drown myself in vodka at the less than stellar entries I received (Dean Winchester is the God figure? Really? You've been studying literature for 3 years now, you should know the difference between narrative and the fucking narrator I am going to strangle you I swear to fuck.), BUT. Lecturing is really fun, y'all! I get to pick out all my favourite epsidoes from my favourite shows, I get to force people to read Harry Potter and then discuss it with me! And in among the twats (fuck off, Dean Winchester as God guy) I find some real gems, some people who actually get it, and even when we don't agree, they're amazing to talk with, and it's so wonderful to watch them expand their way of looking at things. It's just, really really great. Only 5 more weeks to go now! *sad face*
WRITING:
I got an extension from the wonderful hd_erised mods, because not only have I had trouble fitting in some writing time the past couple of months, but I also had difficulty finding a story idea to really fall in love with. I strated out 3 different stories, before finally landing on this last one, and I am just so pleased that I've found the one. Last year I managed to think of and write my entry within the space of 2 weeks, so I was really beginning to panic for a bit there, but now it's flowing nicely and I know what I'm doing, and I feel really good about this fic. Hopefully my giftee will like it!
BOOKCLUB:
As I'm sure you all know, gracerene set up the wonderful online_bookclub, and graciously let me pitch in to help, and we've just finished our first month! It was fantastic, I loved October's book, and everyone had such fascinating thoughts and opinions. I wrote a review, and the comments were awesome (and I will respond to those soon, I promise!), and we all had a great time in the chatroom, and I can't wait to do it again for this month. I've almost finished the book, so I'm thinking there'll be yet more gushy thoughts from me!
KIDS:
My youngest has recently decided that she hates school: "It's too hard, mama, I just want to stay at home!" Well of course you do, because you are a lazy little bugger. Too hard my ass, she's 5 years old and already reading Enid Blyton books and she can do maths sums in her head without having to think about it. She hates it because it cuts into her time doing things that she wants to do, which at the moment seems to be climbing the walls - and I mean that literally: she scales up the doorjamb and then jumps to the other side and slides back down, she's like a freaking ninja. So yeah, it's a lot of fun trying to get her out of the house in the mornings, because not only is she lazy, but she's also as stubborn as a mule. I can't wait for her to hit her teenage years, I might go on a five year cruise and leave Ben to see to it, to be honest.
My middle daughter just had her 11th birthday, and she got guinea pigs. Our house now holds 5 humans, 4 cats, 2 guinea pigs, and a skink. It's absolute chaos, would anyone like to swap? She also took the entrance exam for grammar school, and passed with flying colours, and now we're just waiting to see if she qualifies for a scholarship, because we might be fairly stable financially, but I'm not sure we could afford £25,000 a year to send her to school (and I'm still pissed they want that much, to be honest).
My eldest has just gone through her first break up, the poor thing. It was her first real relationship, and they were together for about 6 months, and he decided he wanted to end it. He did it fairly nicely, telling her that he was dealing with a lot of issues at home and didn't want to have that spill over onto her, but I personally think that it's probably about sex, or rather the lack of it. I mean, it's understandable, because he's 18 years old, and she's only 15, so he's ahead of her in that area, and I'm just glad that he decided to end it rather than push her into something she's not ready for. EXCEPT, that now he's being a bit of an asshole to her at school. She's apparently chatting up other boys just to get back at him, or she's laughing with her friends about him, and he's putting these nasty remarks about her up on Facebook, and I'm thinking he might need his kneecaps broken as a warning. Of course though, my baby is as composed in this as she is everything else: she cried over the weekend, but now she's concentrating on her schoolwork and trying to ignore him and move on. She stuns me with her strength on a daily basis, she really does.
BEN: (probably TMI, to be honest)
We had a row a couple of weeks ago (because of course we did). We went round to some friends' house for dinner, and as the alcohol flowed the conversation turned to how often we all have sex. My friends have been together about 3 years longer than us, and we have the same amount of children all roughly the same ages, and we all have similar working hours and responsibilities at work, so we're pretty evenly matched in our every day to day lives. The one place we differ is in the bedroom. Now me and my friend (who I have known since we were 7) talk about this stuff very openly, and she blamed their lack of sex life on their lack of birth control, because she does not want any more children. Me and Ben, we don't have that problem, because as soon as our third baby turned up, off he went to have himself seen to. So when my friend's husband started complaining about the lack of sex, I was a little bit annoyed when Ben chimed in and started moaning right along with him. Because my friends? They have sex maybe once a month if he's lucky (his words not mine), whereas Ben gets it roughly 4 times a week. Right now, I have TWO jobs, 3 kids, and a house filled with bloody animals, and I'm STILL feeling up to it roughly every other day. Dude, if you get it any more, your dick's gonna fall off, sit the fuck down. So yeah, for the last 2 weeks, he's been getting none, and my period is due next week, so that'll be 3 WEEKS since he's last got any. Now he'll be able to feel how 'lucky' he is compared to his mate. Men are gross, basically.
I think that's it? I have yet to do any holiday shopping, so I know I'm going to be frazzled in a few weeks. Oh also, my tumbledryer has crapped out on me, so until the repairman gets here I'm stuck hanging everything over radiators, so my laundry is slow going, which sucks. But anyway! How is everyone else? Much love you you all ♥
It feels like it's been forever since I last posted anything (although it's probably been closer to a few weeks), I've been SO BUSY OH MY GOD. But anyway, I have a week or so now to myself before going back to the grind, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to chat with you all!
WORK:
October and November are always really busy months for me, because now that Christmas releases have been sent off to printing, it's time for us junior editors to get picking out our front runners for the Spring releases. So I've had a million and one MSs to read, plus fielding emails from copy and printing about the books going out NOW and it's enough to make my head explode. Luckily there's not a lot of rivalry between my colleagues and myself, so we don't have to worry about egos or spite while we're all up to our eyeballs in work. I think it's probably my boss; she fosters a very positive and upbeat work environment, and I think that outlook filters down to the rest of us. But yeah, nice though it is, it's still hella busy!
LECTURING:
Oh wow, I forgot how much FUN this was! I mean, I spent the first week coughing up a lung every time I opened my mouth to say something, and I kind of got buried under all the secondary reading material that I set out for the students, and I spent the entire half-term holidays yelling at my kids to shut the fuck up because I was trying to read and mark all of the mid-semester essays, and then I kind of wanted to drown myself in vodka at the less than stellar entries I received (Dean Winchester is the God figure? Really? You've been studying literature for 3 years now, you should know the difference between narrative and the fucking narrator I am going to strangle you I swear to fuck.), BUT. Lecturing is really fun, y'all! I get to pick out all my favourite epsidoes from my favourite shows, I get to force people to read Harry Potter and then discuss it with me! And in among the twats (fuck off, Dean Winchester as God guy) I find some real gems, some people who actually get it, and even when we don't agree, they're amazing to talk with, and it's so wonderful to watch them expand their way of looking at things. It's just, really really great. Only 5 more weeks to go now! *sad face*
WRITING:
I got an extension from the wonderful hd_erised mods, because not only have I had trouble fitting in some writing time the past couple of months, but I also had difficulty finding a story idea to really fall in love with. I strated out 3 different stories, before finally landing on this last one, and I am just so pleased that I've found the one. Last year I managed to think of and write my entry within the space of 2 weeks, so I was really beginning to panic for a bit there, but now it's flowing nicely and I know what I'm doing, and I feel really good about this fic. Hopefully my giftee will like it!
BOOKCLUB:
As I'm sure you all know, gracerene set up the wonderful online_bookclub, and graciously let me pitch in to help, and we've just finished our first month! It was fantastic, I loved October's book, and everyone had such fascinating thoughts and opinions. I wrote a review, and the comments were awesome (and I will respond to those soon, I promise!), and we all had a great time in the chatroom, and I can't wait to do it again for this month. I've almost finished the book, so I'm thinking there'll be yet more gushy thoughts from me!
KIDS:
My youngest has recently decided that she hates school: "It's too hard, mama, I just want to stay at home!" Well of course you do, because you are a lazy little bugger. Too hard my ass, she's 5 years old and already reading Enid Blyton books and she can do maths sums in her head without having to think about it. She hates it because it cuts into her time doing things that she wants to do, which at the moment seems to be climbing the walls - and I mean that literally: she scales up the doorjamb and then jumps to the other side and slides back down, she's like a freaking ninja. So yeah, it's a lot of fun trying to get her out of the house in the mornings, because not only is she lazy, but she's also as stubborn as a mule. I can't wait for her to hit her teenage years, I might go on a five year cruise and leave Ben to see to it, to be honest.
My middle daughter just had her 11th birthday, and she got guinea pigs. Our house now holds 5 humans, 4 cats, 2 guinea pigs, and a skink. It's absolute chaos, would anyone like to swap? She also took the entrance exam for grammar school, and passed with flying colours, and now we're just waiting to see if she qualifies for a scholarship, because we might be fairly stable financially, but I'm not sure we could afford £25,000 a year to send her to school (and I'm still pissed they want that much, to be honest).
My eldest has just gone through her first break up, the poor thing. It was her first real relationship, and they were together for about 6 months, and he decided he wanted to end it. He did it fairly nicely, telling her that he was dealing with a lot of issues at home and didn't want to have that spill over onto her, but I personally think that it's probably about sex, or rather the lack of it. I mean, it's understandable, because he's 18 years old, and she's only 15, so he's ahead of her in that area, and I'm just glad that he decided to end it rather than push her into something she's not ready for. EXCEPT, that now he's being a bit of an asshole to her at school. She's apparently chatting up other boys just to get back at him, or she's laughing with her friends about him, and he's putting these nasty remarks about her up on Facebook, and I'm thinking he might need his kneecaps broken as a warning. Of course though, my baby is as composed in this as she is everything else: she cried over the weekend, but now she's concentrating on her schoolwork and trying to ignore him and move on. She stuns me with her strength on a daily basis, she really does.
BEN: (probably TMI, to be honest)
We had a row a couple of weeks ago (because of course we did). We went round to some friends' house for dinner, and as the alcohol flowed the conversation turned to how often we all have sex. My friends have been together about 3 years longer than us, and we have the same amount of children all roughly the same ages, and we all have similar working hours and responsibilities at work, so we're pretty evenly matched in our every day to day lives. The one place we differ is in the bedroom. Now me and my friend (who I have known since we were 7) talk about this stuff very openly, and she blamed their lack of sex life on their lack of birth control, because she does not want any more children. Me and Ben, we don't have that problem, because as soon as our third baby turned up, off he went to have himself seen to. So when my friend's husband started complaining about the lack of sex, I was a little bit annoyed when Ben chimed in and started moaning right along with him. Because my friends? They have sex maybe once a month if he's lucky (his words not mine), whereas Ben gets it roughly 4 times a week. Right now, I have TWO jobs, 3 kids, and a house filled with bloody animals, and I'm STILL feeling up to it roughly every other day. Dude, if you get it any more, your dick's gonna fall off, sit the fuck down. So yeah, for the last 2 weeks, he's been getting none, and my period is due next week, so that'll be 3 WEEKS since he's last got any. Now he'll be able to feel how 'lucky' he is compared to his mate. Men are gross, basically.
I think that's it? I have yet to do any holiday shopping, so I know I'm going to be frazzled in a few weeks. Oh also, my tumbledryer has crapped out on me, so until the repairman gets here I'm stuck hanging everything over radiators, so my laundry is slow going, which sucks. But anyway! How is everyone else? Much love you you all ♥