100 Books I wish to read!

Hello lovelies

I hope you are all well.
As regular visitors here will know I have a love of reading.  I read any chance I can get and always have two or three books on the go at one time.  It drives Mr PB crazy that there are so many books in the house and yet I cant pass a charity shop without nipping inside to see if there are any books that catch my eye!  





I often buy books on a whim and to be honest I'm running out of space so, with that in mind I have decided to compile a list of 100 books I would like to read before I'm 50 years old!

Now I am only 44 years old right now and so I have six years to complete the list! 

 Of course these are not the only books I shall be reading but the list will give me a good variety and keep my reading in some kind of order. Or not as the case may be!

It would be nigh on impossible for me to complete the list right now and so I shall keep adding to the list as I find books that interest me and crossing off those which I have read!So without further ado here is my list!

1. The Red sister

2.The Power of letting Go - Rev Martin

3. Home Going home going

4. The dark and hollow places (follow up to the forest of hands and teeth which I loved!)

5.  Ten arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now!   (Ive heard mixed reviews about this but I think its worth a read)

6.  Twisted tales - A whole new world! (I'm slowly making my way through the series!  For those of you who don't know these are books telling the classic fairy tales with a completely new spin on them!



  7.  The Binding 

8.Lost boy - A retelling of Peter Pan in Wendy's words

 9. Bye Mam I love you - Sonya Oatley

10.  Weep not child

  11.  Judah's wife - Angela Hunt

  12. Sarai (Wives of the Patriarchs Book #1)

13.  Mice of the round table -Merlin's last quest

14. The End - Mark Hitchcock

15.  Does Your Tongue Need Healing? by Derek Prince

16.  Women of the Word - by Jen Wilkin 

17. Love Letters Of Great Men And Women by Ursula Doyle

18.  Body Positive Power: How to stop dieting, make peace with your body and live - Megan Crabbe

19 The wisdom of Sally red shoes - Ruth Hogan

20. Little house on the Prairie 

21. The Silent Companions: by Laura Purcell 

22. When I Was Invisible by Dorothy Koomson

23.  The Sapphire Widow - Dinah Jefferies

24.  This is going to hurt - Diaries of a junior Doctor - Adam Kay

25.  Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Phew!  So that is the first instalment of my book list!  All of these books are available on Amazon and if Mr PB is reading this, any are suitable as a gift for Moi! I shall be back soon with the second instalment and if you have any recommendations for books you feel I may enjoy please feel free to comment below!

Bye for now!

Hales xx

Stationery - Note books

Hello lovelies!

I hope you are well.  We had a pretty dreadful day yesterday as far as weather is concerned. But today is back to "sunny Suffolk".

Ive been on the look out for a notebook to take with me to church as my old one is nearly full.  Ive been browsing the online shops as I want something a little more special than the ordinary ones I find when out and about.  I thought is share with you some of the lovely ones I have found. 

Firstly I looked on Etsy.  Now I know prices can vary but I love bespoke items like you find on there.
I found these beauties.  Although I want a A5 size I couldnt not mention these! 
The constillation ones you can find Here  and the personalised one Here 



I then found this little beauties in Wilko
You can find them HERE  
I love the pastel colours, in particular the blue.  Priced at £2.50 they are a absolute bargain and so pretty.  You just have a random colour sent to you if you order on line. To be honest I wouldnt mind either of these.

I also found these lovely ones at OHH DEER.  My daughter is obsessed with unicorns and I know she'd love this.  Unicorns have seemed to have made a big come back in 2017.  I have to admit I have a soft spot for them too!  Priced at £7.95 its a bit pricey for what it is but I still love it!

Here   you can find this lovely little note book.  It's priced so affordably it could be perfect from a toddler to adult!  I wouldn't mind paying £1.50 for the grandchildren to do their little doodles in! 

So this is just a small selection of notebooks availible out there.  If you search online there are hundreds of stores selling notebooks but for me, Ive just put in a order for the pastel ones from Wilkos! 

Bye for now

Hales xxx

Ok I have a addiction!

My addition is  BOOKS!!!

I cant pass a  WHSmith, Charity shop  or Waterstones without going inside to stroke the books!  I love the feel of a new book as it opens and you feel that "CRACK" for the first time.  I love the smell of the pages of a novel as you turn them and delve into a world of fantasy and intrigue  To find yourself imagining the faces of the characters and their lives as you read.

OK so our house isnt quite like this YET!!!!!

I always get excited when I get a new book and cant wait to finish the old book to start with the new.  I always have at least two books on the go.  One in the car and one at home.  I just love books!  My love of books started at a very young age.  I can remember curling up with a copy of Hans Christian Anderson tales that my uncle had bought me for my birthday.  That book became one of my treasured possessions and when it was destroyed I was heart broken.  Then on a trip to London my Husband bought me the same copy!  I was so happy and started reading it all over again.  I have since read it many times and have started to read it to my grandchildren.  That book is one of my treasures.  

 

I find it hard to pass books on and have treasured collections, such as my Phillippa Gregory books.  She writes about the courts of Henry the Eighth and the twists and turns his life took.  She writes about the war of the roses and also about fantasy.  Most of her books are based on real events and I have to say hands down she is my

favourite author.  My book shelves are crammed with her works.

For the next generation I feel like books are not as important.  In a age where you can get the answer to a question at the touch of a button there seems no need for researching your way through a book and digging for the answer.  I love the whole process of researching in a book and often buy books to find answers rather than using the internet.  I know that the internet is easier but who wants easy right?

So that's my confession.  I'm a addict and my addiction keeps growing along with my book collection!

Bye for now

Hales 

My Bullet journal

Hi there lovelies!
Hows things?
Its been lovely and sunny here in Suffolk. A distinct change in the weather. It seems Spring has sprung!

This year Ive decided to give bullet journaling a go.  Its changed my life!  It really has.  No more missing appointments, forgetting friends tea/coffee meet ups, no more missing bill payments.  I'm totally organised!  If you know me you will know this is quite surprising for me!  In fact me being organised is positively  a miracle! 

 So this is how my journal looks.  I bought a LEUCHTTURM 1917 from Amazon .  I also bought a pen holder in which to store my growing number of pens!  Also from amazon you can find it here. It helps me to keep everything together and organised.  its amazing how much stuff you start collecting!

Firstly I set up my "goals for the year".  I didnt want to call it new years resolutions as I never keep to them and then feel dissatisfied with myself, so they are the goals I aim to reach.

I also set aside a page for quotes I hear throughout the year and I either like or are inspirational.
I have a page on books i want to read or have read.  I aim to read twenty books this year.  That is my goal and this page helps me keep track.

I also keep two pages for bible verses that I like.  We have a verse to learn each year for church and that's here.  I like to keep this page so I can turn to a specific verse when i need it!

Typically my weeks are set up like this.  I do a two page spread for each week and it works pretty well.  (I couldn't find a two page spread that wasn't full of my appointments etc!)  I prepare the page two weeks in advance so that I have a idea of what we have in store for that week.

I also keep track of my period and moods in the journal.  I'm interested to see if my moods are affected by my periods.  I'm sure they are but I guess I'm just looking for confirmation.  This is a good way to track it. 

I also have my Christmas list in there! I know its really early in the year but we are on a limited budget and  like to pick up bargains when I see them especially for the grandchildren.  These pages help me to keep a eye on what Ive bought and what I still have to buy.  Its a good system.

I also put in photos of people I love and want to pray for.  This adds something personal to my journal and it helps keep me focused when praying.

 Sometimes its hard to remember to do things you love.  Its important to give oneself love and so I have a small list of things that I like and like to do.  Also new songs that Ive discovered, sometimes played on the radio or stuff I hear coming out of my daughters bedroom!

Finally and most importantly I think I have a gratitude log.  Sometimes in life we forget things we are grateful for and the many blessings we have.  Something as simple as a warm bed to sleep in is something that a person would be extremely grateful for if they didn't have it. And so on.

So that's my journal.  It keeps me grounded and organised.  It gets me where I need to be, when I need to be there.  I challenge you to try keeping one.  Its extremely addictive but great fun.  There are facebook groups you can join to get ideas and meet like minded people.
I'm so glad you joined me today and I hope to read your comments below
Take care
Bye for now 
Hales xx

Essential oils

Hello lovelies! Coming to you again from a very cold Suffolk! Most morning Nige has to de-ice the car before the school run. I have to say though I do enjoy this type of weather. The lovely patterns the ice makes on the windows, the crunching of the frost underfoot, watching your breath escape your body in smoke effect curls! There is something special about having the family all gathered in in the evening and tucking in to casseroles and hot chocolate.  Its a time of year I have a great fondness for.

This week my Fibromyalgia has been particularly painful.  I find it is more painful during the damp weather.  So mostly I have been relaxing and snuggling up with books or reading blogs.

A friend of mine recently sent me some essential oil blends to try for pain relief.  I tried a rather smelly concoction on my legs as they had been particularly painful.  I hadn't been able to sleep due to the pain but I thought id give the oil a try.  I had the BEST nights sleep ever!  The oils soothed my legs and after a while the smell wasn't that bad after all.

Now my friend is part of a organisation called young living.  So having been so impressed with the results I duly signed up to their website.  I quickly found out its somewhat of a pyramid scheme.  The starter kit is a cool £95.00!
Something I'm not at all interested  in.  But I liked the effects of the oils.  So Ive decided to give the essential oil thing ago.  Ive purchased some oils and along with the ones I already own (things like Lavender & Tea Tree) I am building quite a collection up.  I have ordered a guide to essential oils from amazon.  It can be found here.  I am still waiting for it to arrive so I will review it when it does.  I have the crystal book in the same range and it is a through and comprehensive guide so I'm hoping it will be the same.

I intend to use the oils and oil mixtures for pain relief.  To be honest the prescribed drugs aren't doing too much so I'm up for trying a alternative.  I will let you know how I fare!

Do you use essential oils to ease pain or for other areas in your life?  If so please comment below as I would love to hear tried and tested recipes!

Bye for now

Hales xx

Coleen Nolan - Envy

This has been my latest read.  I am a fan of Coleen and was really looking forward to reading this book.
It is basically the story of TV presenters (sounds familiar?)  Its quite well written with good descriptions of the characters.  The problem is I found that there where too many characters and their lives are so complicated that its hard to follow the storyline and keep up with whats happening. Basically its about the in-house fighting and the battle over who will land the "Good Morning Britain" presenter job.   The women battle over the career opportunity and its left till the end to see just which one will be lucky enough to land the sought over position.   Written in a one character, one chapter format it was too much for me to cope with and I struggled to keep up with the plot. 
.  Even so I give this book a .................
7/10 a good read but very complicated!

Ive just finished reading this book.
Now I have to say that because of the title it is something that I wouldn't usually pick and read but this has turned out to be a great.
  at read.  Struggling with a new baby and a recent house move to a new town the writer lets us into her life and the results are hilarious!  Anyone wanting to put a smile on their face should definitely give this a read!

Books!

I have been reading a series of books by Conn Iggulden.  they are the story of Genghis Khan,  not my usual type of read.
I stumbled across these when looking for something else!
I'm on book two of the series and I am really enjoying them.  As i said before these are a type of book i would walk past in a book shop (mostly because of the design on the front that suggests to me that it is a mans book) and its made me think of the old saying....  Don't judge a book by its cover!

I have just finished reading this book and felt I had to recommend it.
I don't usually have the time to read fiction books but was given this to read by a friend.  the thing was i absolutely could not put it down.  The story starts off a little slow but once it gets going its brilliant!  I am now reading the second book in the series and I'm at chapter 7.  I have to say that that so far its just as good.  I thoroughly recommend it.

The shack

i recently finished reading this book.
i must say it was amazing!  it shows how God will reach people where they are at to bring them home.
i cant go into too much detail because it will spoil the book but it is a totally recommended read!  it sure blessed me!