Something Old, Something New discussion

Hi Guys, I apologise for it being so quiet around here lately.
I've been ridiculously busy with work and have been putting plans in place to hire a contractor to help me with my business so reading and chatting time has been very scarce for me this past week.
How is everyone going? I had to abandon the last book I was reading because it was just so bad I couldn't take it anymore. I very rarely give up on a book but with so many other great ones to read I didn't want to keep wasting my time. I don't think I'm going to have much to contribute to my real life bookclub next week when we have our meeting to discuss it but oh well!
I'm hoping to get some good gardening in this weekend due to it being such lovely weather here on the Central Coast of NSW and maybe sneaking in some reading as well.

How terrible that Tom Clancy has died at only 66 years of age?
Has anyone read any of his books? I've got a couple of them but haven't actually read them yet.

Well I am finally getting excited about our trip to Tasmania for our wedding anniversary next week.
My exam is over and I've got most of the work for my business under control so things don't fall apart when I'm away next week so it's finally sinking in that we're leaving in a few days now.
This will be the first holiday over three days that hubby and I will have gone on in the 7 years we have been together so I can't wait! We're taking our little 2 1/2 year old and it will be his first plane trip so he's also getting very excited.

Michelle wrote: "Well I am finally getting excited about our trip to Tasmania for our wedding anniversary next week.
My exam is over and I've got most of the work for my business under control so things don't fall..."

Hope you have a wonderful time away Michelle.

Michelle wrote: "Well I am finally getting excited about our trip to Tasmania for our wedding anniversary next week.
My exam is over and I've got most of the work for my business under control so things don't fall..."

That is really exciting Michelle. Have a lovely trip and Happy Anniversary. Sounds like a well earned holiday. I'd love to go to Tassy, have never been but everyone I know that has absolutely loves it.

Wow, have I had a shocking month as far as reading is concerned. I managed to finish only one book in November which is very sad for me but with a family holiday, then my husband going away for a week plus lodgment deadlines for my business the month of November just flew!
I'm hoping I can make up for it in December though.....

I just want to say a huge Happy New Year to all our members!!
I hope 2014 is a great year for everybody!!

Has anyone else seen The Book Thief movie yet?
I went and saw it last night with my real life bookclub and thought it was quite good.
I haven't had the chance to actually read the book yet but have heard so much about it that I kind of feel like I've read it already anyway.
I'd love to know what anyone else has thought of it and the way the narration part was done, especially if you have read the book beforehand?

Yes I have Michelle, and I really enjoyed it. Like you I haven't read the book as there is a long wait at the library for it. I hope to read it soon and compare it to the movie usually the book is better, but I'll wait and see :)

Sharon wrote: "Yes I have Michelle, and I really enjoyed it. Like you I haven't read the book as there is a long wait at the library for it. I hope to read it soon and compare it to the movie usually the book is ..."

Oooh, maybe we should make the book a monthly read :-)

That's a good idea :)

Sharon wrote: "That's a good idea :)"

Would March suit you? Or is that too far away :-)

Michelle wrote: "Sharon wrote: "That's a good idea :)"

Would March suit you? Or is that too far away :-)"

That would be perfect Michelle. I'm on the waiting list at the library for it and I'm 24th in line so it should be in by then :)

Sharon wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Sharon wrote: "That's a good idea :)"

Would March suit you? Or is that too far away :-)"

That would be perfect Michelle. I'm on the waiting list at the library for it and I'm 24t..."

Done! Hopefully there will be others intersted in reading it too now the movie has given the book so much exposure.

Just in case no-one else would get this update (I have to for my work) author Matthew Reilly will be featured on The Bottom Line this Saturday at 4pm on Channel 9 (on Aussie TV).
Apparently they will be chatting about how he comes up with his plot lines and how he achieved his success which should be interesting to watch.

Heaven's no place but in a book.

Has anyone else read Mad About the Boy yet? It has been chosen as the next book for my real life bookclub but I'm not too sure if it will be something worth reading.....

Michelle wrote: "Has anyone else read Mad About the Boy yet? It has been chosen as the next book for my real life bookclub but I'm not too sure if it will be s..."

No I haven't read it, but I see it gets mixed reviews. Looks like it might be one of those books that you either love or hate :)

Sharon wrote: "Michelle wrote: "Has anyone else read Mad About the Boy yet? It has been chosen as the next book for my real life bookclub but I'm not too sur..."

Yes, that's what I was thinking too. I haven't even read the first two or seen the movies so may decide to give it a miss :-)

So I'm in the midst of planning a birthday party for my son who will be turning 3 this week and who knew how hard it would be to cater for a heap of children!!
I'm having nightmares about making sure there's enough party food, games and activities and can't wait for the day to be over.
I am very excited for him to see the cake I'm making him though. It's taken me three weeks to create the decorations for it out of icing and tomorrow I actually start baking the cakes and putting it all together before the weekend.
Yes, he's a bit spoilt but he's out only one so why not??

Hi, check out my Mother's Day Giveaway for my novels and .
hope you enter and win. follow the link to my FB author page
best, carol
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Carol-...

Carol wrote: "Hi, check out my Mother's Day Giveaway for my novels and .
hope you enter and win. follow the link to my FB author page
best, car..."

Thanks for letting us know Carol!

Carol wrote: "Hi, check out my Mother's Day Giveaway for my novels and .
hope you enter and win. follow the link to my FB author page
best, car..."

Carol thanks for sharing.
I've liked your page on FB but unfortunately us Aussies aren't eligible to enter the competition, which is a shame.
Good luck to those who can. :)

Elaine wrote: "Carol wrote: "Hi, check out my Mother's Day Giveaway for my novels and .
hope you enter and win. follow the link to my FB author ..."
Elaine, sorry about that. it's the whole postage to Aussie thing. If you e-read, I'll be running a Kindle Count Down on Cape Maybe soon. Stay tuned. thanks carol

Michelle wrote: "Carol wrote: "Hi, check out my Mother's Day Giveaway for my novels and .
hope you enter and win. follow the link to my FB author ..."
You're welcome Michelle. Good luck, carol

Carol wrote: "Elaine wrote: "Carol wrote: "Hi, check out my Mother's Day Giveaway for my novels and .
hope you enter and win. follow the link t..."

No problem Carol. I totally understand and it's not something you can control. Unfortunately I'm a bit old school and don't have an e-reader. My loss I guess cause your books sound really good. :)

So, in the US, today was mother's day! I want to send a special happy day to all the mothers in this group. I hope you all know how important your role is in the lives of your little (or not so little ones!)

My family celebrated yesterday. My sister, mother, nieces and I went out for brunch and enjoyed some shopping in a quaint little town a few miles from home (we left the husbands at home). It was lovely!

Thank you Kate and Happy Mother's Day to you too. Glad you enjoyed your morning. Sounds lovely. It's a bit odd as we celebrated yesterday but it was a great day for me too!!!

Yes, I hope everyone had a happy Mother's Day.
Sorry I went AWOL for a few days but we have been through hell and back with our beagle (who is like my first born) going in for surgery on a supposed partial obstruction of her bowel last Saturday night to having a 3cm diameter tumour removed from her intestines instead.
I spent all day Friday and Saturday at the vet while we tried to work out why she wasn't able to eat and kept vomiting and after countless ultrasounds and x-rays we managed to find a part of her intestines that looked like it had a blockage of some description. Turns out she'd had a tumour growing in there for who knows how long and it had made her intestines turn in on themselves and cause a blockage.
Intestinal cancers are usually very nasty and after all this we're not very confident that she's going to last very long now. If we get to have her for another year I think we'll be very lucky.
We're just counting down the hours until we find out the pathology results and then it will all be about giving her a good quality life until the end.
After she survived major surgery to remove a spindle cell tumour three years ago (and lost half of her chest with it) we thought she was one lucky dog. Turns out that life really is just unfair and fate was out to get her no matter what.....

So, after going through hell the past few days we got the test results back and it's not cancerous.
Apparently the 'tumour' they removed was a large mass that had formed due to a perforation occurring in her intestine and all of the inflamed tissue accumulating in the damaged area.
The lump on her spleen was also found to be benign.
Talk about relief. We just cannot believe how lucky we have been as she was pretty much given a death sentence by three vets as they were all certain it was a tumour.
Now I can concentrate on enjoying some simple pleasures such as reading again :-)

That's wonderful news Michelle. She sounds like an amazing dog considering what she's been through. I'm happy for you that she is going to be okay. There's nothing worse when a beloved pet is sick and when you think you will lose them.
Enjoy your reading. :)

So I got my copy of Mr. Mercedes delivered the other day and now I'm trying to be strong and hold off on ditching all my current reads and just cracking it open now rather than waiting until I've finished something to fit it in. I can't wait to see if it's any good.

It keeps sitting on my bookcase mocking me......

Oh boy, what a shocking reading month I have had so far. 12 days into the month and I haven't even finished a single book. End of financial year here in Australia is just way too busy for me and reading has had to take a back seat.
I really hope to get into it a bit more soon :-(

So it was my birthday on Wednesday (23rd) and my husband has booked us into some nice restaurant tonight for dinner to celebrate but our son has been very sick the past couple of days and we're feeling bad about leaving him with the grandparents to go out.
I'm hoping he makes a miraculous recovery as the day goes on so we can at least have a couple of hours out like adults for a change.
I don't even know where we are going as my husband has kept it a surprise!

Happy belated Birthday Michelle. Hope your little fella was feeling better and that you have managed to go out. It's so hard when your kids are sick...you feel so torn but don't forget you need your quality time too and the Grandparents will look after him like you would.

Elaine wrote: "Happy belated Birthday Michelle. Hope your little fella was feeling better and that you have managed to go out. It's so hard when your kids are sick...you feel so torn but don't forget you need you..."

Elaine, thanks for the birthday wishes. We did end up going out and it was lovely. He seemed to improve a bit and apparently didn't seem too sick at all according to his grandparents which was good :-)

So glad you managed to go out and celebrate and that your little one was feeling better. :)

Hi everyone, apologies for being a bot AWOL over the past couple of weeks. We've had renovations going on and as I work from home it's been just so disruptive and I fell really behind in everything. We've converted our garage into a new home office for me so all this disruption will benefit me in the long run which means I can't complain too much I guess :-)
We also adopted a 6 month old male Beagle puppy from the RSPCA to be a friend to our older Beagle girl and introducing him to the household while trying to stop him from destroying everything has been a full time job in itself!! It's very obvious the poor thing got absolutely no discipline at all in his previous home but we're slowly getting there.
Anyway, hopefully things will start to calm down now a bit as the builder has finished and all we need to do is paint the new room and move all our furniture in. Who knows when that will finally happen!

Gosh Michelle...you certainly do have a lot going on. Must say you're very brave taking on a pup with all the other stuff you're doing, your work and a young child. Hope for your sake things settle down quickly and the pup isn't too boisterous and that he behaves...although knowing Beagles, I do wish you luck!!!

Elaine wrote: "Gosh Michelle...you certainly do have a lot going on. Must say you're very brave taking on a pup with all the other stuff you're doing, your work and a young child. Hope for your sake things settle..."

He's surprisingly good Elaine. Apparently he was surrendered because he was uncontrollable and hyperactive but all we've seen so far is a typical puppy. Some people just have no idea what they are in for when they buy a puppy, and as you say beagles are especially hard to manage.
He is our third one now so we are very well aware what we are in for :-)

Michelle wrote: "Elaine wrote: "Gosh Michelle...you certainly do have a lot going on. Must say you're very brave taking on a pup with all the other stuff you're doing, your work and a young child. Hope for your sak..."

Well sounds like you have the experience to handle him. And I have to say they are quite adorable. My 10 year old would love a dog...any dog really...but I just know I'm not prepared to put in the work that's involved. That's why we have Simba the cat!!! He's much less work. Feed and cuddle ( when he feels like it!!!) and that's pretty much it.

Hahaha, cats are definitely a lot less work. We also have two of those as well as a duck and two chickens. There's never a dull moment at our house that's for sure!

You definitely have your hands full Michelle.Sounds like a lot of fun though. Hope you get some help with it all from Hubby!!!

It is a lot of fun. I like a bit of chaos and seem to thrive on it. Hubby is great. He does as much as he can considering he spends around 3 hours commuting to work and back each day.

So it was my husband's 30th birthday last weekend and we went into the city with a few friends for dinner and a comedy show as we had a kid free night.
It was such a great night but silly hubby drank a bit too much and is still a bit under the weather today (two days later!)
Anyone else do anything fun last weekend?

I just noticed some of you are from Australia . . . there is a chance my family and I will be posted in Fiji next Summer. Do you Aussie's have any opinions about Suva and Fiji in general? Any idea how the International School is there?

Todd wrote: "I just noticed some of you are from Australia . . . there is a chance my family and I will be posted in Fiji next Summer. Do you Aussie's have any opinions about Suva and Fiji in general? Any idea..."

I don't really know much about Fiji unfortunately Todd as I have never been there but maybe some other group members have and can let you know a bit more about the place.

I just wanted to say that I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and have spent some quality time with their family and friends over the past few days.

We have had the past week off which has been nice but of course it goes way too quick and soon we will be back at work again on Monday.

I've managed to finish three books this week though which I think is a record for me!

Merry Christmas Michelle and well done on being able to take some time out and reading all those books. My reading on the other hand has slowed right down but I do hope to fit in one more book before the end of the year!!! Happy New Year too if I don't get to chat to you again. Look forward to more challenges in 2015.

Merry Christmas Michelle! Like Elaine I am so overwhelmed with work and kids and other things I haven't dedicated as much time to reading as I wish I could . . . I hope everyone has an incredibly prosperous new year!