Loki - God of Mischief

My baby boy recently went to the vets to be neutered - a decision I made when he was very little. I said I'd have him done when I was off so that I could be with him and I'm glad I did it this way in the end. We had a rough few days with him as he didn't respond well to the surgery. He was so forlorn when I picked him up from the vets. His surgery went great and he recovered well from the anesthetic but the vets couldn't get him to eat so they had to syringe feed him.




Once I got him home he sulked for a while and would not leave his stitches alone. I couldn't get him to eat and by evening when I picked him up for a cuddle I found he'd made himself bleed and had to do a trip to the emergency vets that cost more than his surgery!!







It was a long evening that night and it ended with more syringe feeding that saw me wearing more than he ate! He took another trip to the vets the following morning and they gave him some more pain relief and showed me the easiest ways to syringe feed him should I need to do it again.

I managed to convince him to much some hay and a treat later that day and by evening he was starting to look interested by his dinner, though he ate it so slowly that he probably pulled off a world record.

It was a long few days and each of the little steps made me feel so much better. He let me have some cuddles and his stitches and the swelling looked better and better every day.

The first night that he actually hopped over and dug into his dinner almost made me cry because I was so happy!

He's my baby and I know that a lot of people give me the 'he's just a bunny' but he's my bunny and he's my baby boy! I love him lots and it was killing me that there was nothing that I could do to make him feel better!

When he went to see the vet for his follow up appointment they said he was doing great and that he was much better than I gave him credit for. They discharged him from their care and said that he was doing great and that they would only need to see him again if there was something that I was worried about or he did any damage to himself. Since then he has been doing just great and I even think that he has forgiven me for the whole debacle!

He's now back to his mischievous little self - including the morning where he chewed through the internet cable on my first day off of a long weekend so that I had no internet all day to do any work... I may have threatened him once or twice that day with the slow cooker - but I didn't really mean it. I've forgiven him now that Simon has fixed it again.

And to top everything off - he came for snuggled with me the other day! It's the first time that he has come to me of his own accord and stayed when I've stroked him. He stuck around for a treat and some love before hopping back down again to run around. After a few minutes, he even came back for seconds!! PROGRESS!!

I think he loves me!

I'm done with the bunny-mush now - thanks for reading :)

Feeling good

Thought I'd check in with the health kick for anyone who is interested and to show you my food photography. Yes... *eye rolls* - go for it - Simon does every time I get my camera out. He does not understand the whole 'taking photos of your food' thing, but I am proud of my cooking and meal prep... I am taking photos :)

I made meal plans, I have stuck to them, including the meals that including the kids, and I am rather enjoying myself at the moment. So, you wanna see?!

This one is my masterpiece so far, though it's so simple and easy to cook, it's simply delicious. One of my mom's recipes that I learned to do when I was still at home and one that I still like to do. Simon seemed to enjoy it too - clean plates are always a dead giveaway.

The meal I am struggling for, especially when I go back to work, is breakfast. I have found that I am doing the same things over and over again. Not that the meals I have planned aren't good, but I am going to find myself getting bored of them if I keep going on this small cycle.

If anyone has great, healthy suggestions then I would love to hear them :)










I am enjoying the evening meals as they are the ones I have the most time for. I went for a classic chicken, new potatoes and veg the first night of the health kick and had it ready for when Simon came home from work.




I prepped all the vegetables and had them in water ready for when he got home so that I could get straight on with it while he jumped in the shower. I'd been to the butchers that morning and found cajun chicken - made a perfect meal to me :)

I have been reading Hashtag Authentic by Sara Tasker recently, and something I have realised while writing this is that I need to work on my photography skills if I am going to keep taking food photos for my blog. There was a great chapter on food photography in the book so I am going to go back to it and have a look at taking some more artistic photos for the next update!

Till then - stay healthy!

A Healthy Start

To introduce a new strand to the blog... Simon and I started a health kick today! Well, I guess technically, Simon started a few days ago, but I was busy eating the chocolate I had stashed in the house to start then, plus we desperately needed to go food shopping in order to be able to eat healthy food. 

I've been feeling pretty crappy these last few months, some of which I blame on the weather, but the rest is because I've let myself get uncomfortable. I'm the heaviest I've ever been, I feel uncomfortable in my clothes, which are bigger than they ever have been, and I have a second chin these days! I decided that it was time to do something about it, and having Simon's support and knowing that he wants to get on board makes it easier!

So, after Simon finished work late last night, we totally headed to the shops and went mad with the fresh fruit and veg, to the point where I struggled to fit it all into the fridge once we got it back home!

Now that we have a fridge full of healthy stuff it is time to get going, but after getting back from the shops at gone eleven o'clock last night, I had a last binge on chocolate milk and a Toblerone :)

I have made meal plans for the next few days and have bought a health journal to keep track of what I'm eating and what I'm doing. It even has spaces to track water intake and how many fruit and vegetables I've eaten, plus my step count! I may be enjoying filling in the journal more than necessary - I bought Simon one too, not sure if he'll enjoy using it quite as much as I do... although I have to admit that I probably won't stay this enthusiastic for long!

Today, I had my healthy breakfast and then went horse riding, and had a banana when I was done. At lunchtime, I made my salad, plus I made tomorrow's salad ready to add a topping to and bagged one ready for a work lunch :) 

I'm totally on this!!

I've upped my daily step count goal with the intention of pushing myself to walk more than necessary, rather than achieving it just by being at work. Having not been at work today, my step count is low, so I'm seeing a walk after I've cooked tea tonight. 

And why am I telling you all of this... because I need everyone to keep me on the straight on narrow! I can do this, but I am incredibly weak when it comes to cakes and chocolate and what not... so I'm hoping that by putting my goals out there that maybe, just maybe, my friends will help :)

Here goes nothing!

Full-time writer-ness!

Back to work today! My eight days off were great - managed to keep on top of my writing-related goals and spend some time reading! My to-do list for the week was reasonably ambitious, but I didn't do too badly. Check it out...

• I finished the reread of the second Cursed Novel and am about halfway through the manuscript was with edits and adding in a storyline to fill a major plot hole.
• I haven't finalised the first Cursed Novel yet - that is still on the list
• I have started brainstorming ideas for the cover of Original Sin but haven't made a final decision, I am waiting on the edits back and am going to ask if she has any thoughts on what should be on the cover
• I have put my plans for Slayer down on paper and have had some other ideas for threads of the story!
• I have started making my way through a list of great blogs that I was sent by an online writer friend and sent off some queries about my potential blog tour in the summer

Plus I've read two books and have started a third! Not bad going really!

Oh, and I also received my first Book Fairy subscription box!! Exciting times... check out some of the great things that were in their first ever box and then check out their website and get signed up for one yourself!!!

VOX is an amazing book, I'm so glad to have got a paperback copy - it must mean it's time for a reread! Not sure I have time, but we'll see how it goes...

Got a few days back at work now and then a long weekend off to use up the last of the holidays for this year's quota. I have more to fit in and get done over that weekend and then Camp NaNo will be upon us. Keep your eyes open for that post :)

Vanessa x

Another week off...

So, apparently, I don't use holidays!! We're approaching the beginning of the new financial year and I still have holidays left to use at work, so I get another week off to pretend to be a full-time writer! How did I start that week... by doing nothing writing related whatsoever! Not a great start, I will admit. But hey!

I do have great plans though. I sat down with my planner and worked out what I had planned socially, then looked at what I wanted to achieve as far as my writing went. Obviously, I now have three lists... What can I say? I like lists.

I have my plans for the week... seeing family, catching up with friends, a few appointments and my plans to go riding. Then I have a list of chores and other house-related tasks that need my attention this week, and then I have filled my planner with my writing goals for each day. Today's is a write-off, though I had planned lots in. Instead, I had a lie in and started a new book, I went to lunch with a friend and then went horse riding in the sunshine, so I need to rejiggle a few things to fit it all back in, but I have every faith in myself!

My writing goals for the week include:

• Finish the reread of the second Cursed Novel and begin edits
• Finalise the first Cursed Novel
• Decide on a cover for The Original Sin
• Get The Original Sin back from the editor
• Solidify the plan for Slayer, the story I will be writing for Camp NaNo next month
• Have a look at the children's novel I started to see if there is actually anything I can do with it
• Research blogs for a potential blog tour for the first Cursed Novel in the summer

I don't think that my list is an unreasonable list... Though I have always aimed high. I guess we shall just have to see how things go.

Wish me luck - I'll see you on the other side with another post to let you know how I got on!

V x

World Book Day

World Book Day is one of my favourite days of the year!! Why wouldn't it be - everyone is thinking about books! It's a great time to be working for Waterstones as children are being encouraged, either by their schools or their parents, to come into the book shop and discover books in a way they may not have done before. Many children may have never been to a book shop before, some are there all the time. Some love being there. Some have to be dragged. Reading is just like everything else. Some love it, some don't. And that applies to children too. One of the main aims of World Book Day is to encourage children to look at books, talk about books and maybe, just maybe, discover a new favourite.

Each year, several authors write short books just for World Book Day that are easy reads to get children reading. The schools hand out vouchers for children to come to the stores and buy a book with. It's a great idea!! This year's books were written by some fantastic authors...

I have bought three - Oops!! I couldn't resist... It's also a bad sign, as last year I think I only bought two... so I see the beginning of a pattern... There's no hope for next year!!

The other great thing about World Book Day is that everyone is encouraged to dress up as their favourite book characters - and as seen as I work in a book shop where all those children are being encouraged to go... it only makes sense for me to get dressed up too... right?! I was incredibly indecisive this year, but in the end, the Cheshire Cat inspiration won out...
This is what you would have found it you'd swung by the store on Thursday.

(Thing 2 - Harry Potter - Cheshire Cat)

The other thing that World Book Day encourages is #ShareAStory - the idea of reading and sharing stories with your child for just ten minutes every day. This year, I decided to use that idea to get everyone talking about their favourite stories from when they were children. So, I rounded up the guys at work and we talked about which books we remember from our childhood and got posting about it on our social media - you can check out some of them on our Instagram page - give us a like, let us know which books you remember reading too. We love to hear people talking about books, it's one of the best bits of our job!!

One for thought - my all-time favourite story from when I was younger, has to be Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll... I have several different editions of it at home, and have a track record of dressing as Alice for many occasions!!

For more information on World Book Day and the ways you can get involved, head on over to their website and join in the fun - it doesn't have to be limited to that one day - books are for life!!