Category Archives: Interests
Books! A meme about books.
I wanted to write a post about books so I went on a meme hunt and found this…
So here goes…
1. One book that changed your life?
Hate to say it in a way but I read The Secret when I was trying to decide whether to give up work to become self employed and this book helped me make the decision. I wrote this post about it at the time.
2. One book you have read more than once?
I tend not to re-read books, even ones I have loved. I don’t really see the point. I would rather have a new experience with a new book.
3. One book you would want on a desert island?
Well I suppose it would depend on how long I may be stuck on the desert island. I read pretty quickly so one book won’t cut it so I’m going to cheat and take my Kindle. If it was some sort of plane crash scenario I would be sure to have it with me anyway. The battery lasts long enough for me to read quite a few books without it dying and once it did run out I could maybe use it as some sort of tool until I’m rescued. Then I’d write a book about my experiences and make it available in paperback and in Kindle format!
4. One book that made you laugh?
Last year I discovered some books my a man Terry Ravenscroft. His book suited my humour so if you want something ligjt to make you laugh try Dear Coca Cola, Stairlift to Heaven and the James Bond spoof Stockport Is Too Much
5. One book that made you cry?
The Time Traveler’s Wife. It’s one of my favourite books which is weird considering I mostly read books about grim murders. I’ve never sobbed so much at a book! They made it into a film too of course. Meh.
6. One book you wish had been written?
Making a Million and Saving the World by Stacey Smith
7. One book you wish had never been written?
That God awful Twilight mini book thing, what was it called? *consults Amazon*………The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella. Utter pants. I’m not even going to link it for you. Just don’t bother.
8. One book you are currently reading?
I started Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand last night and I’m also dipping in and out of The Complete Book of Running for Women which is giving me some handy tips and motivation.
9. One book you have been meaning to read?
I’d like to read Chavs: The Demonisation of the Working Class by Owen Jones but it’s not available on Kindle yet.
10. Now tag five people.
I’ll tag my cousin and readaholic like me Charlotte @LottieB123, my Mom Wendy @wendy2918 who should read more, my friend Kathryn @allfivehorizons who blogs about books too , my Twitter friend @Raychybabe who shares my love of crime thrillers and erm…. no that’s just four, oh well, sue me : p
Thanks for reading my post about reading
Stace x
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My views on mainstream music
April Writing Challenge (sat in drafts until May!) – Your views on mainstream music
Hmm well this could take a while. One problem with mainstream music is that it’s just so….mainstream. I’m not even going to start on Coldplay because the last time I had a rant about them on Twittter my Klout decided Coldplay as one my specialist topics!
I would like to think I was quite open minded when it comes to music. Yes my preferences are of course metal/rock/grunge but I am not one of those people who will only ever listen to one genre and poo poo the rest. I love musicals, I’m quite partial to 80′s music, 90′s old school house and boybands!
HOWEVER (note the capitalisation!), maybe my age now dictates this is how I should think but a lot of the music in the charts today is utterly sh*te. Sometimes me and him indoors flick though the music channels just to watch in disbelief that some tracks are considered music. I’m far from a prude but I also think the music industry has a lot to answer for with the videos that are now shown. Interestingly, and though I hate to admit I agree with him on anything at all, Cameron has recently spoken out about how music videos are far too sexual.
David Cameron stepping up plans to issue age certificates for raunchy music videos
We were watching a girl bands countdown type show the other day and in the 90′s yes they were still gyrating around but doing so wearing much more material. I’ve worked with young women and men and I’ve seen the changes first hand. How the girls dress, how the boys treat them as sex objects and depressingly the girls vying desperately for their attention. It’s a lot for them to try to live up to the images they see, not just in videos but in the media in general. I would welcome a clampdown on some of these videos or at least a curfew. It’s not always just visually obscene but it’s the lyrics too. If I had a little girl there is no way I’d let her watch or sing to some of the songs that are out these days.
Wow, check me out, liberal Stace has gone all Mary Whitehouse! Shh don’t tell anyone! ; )
Stace x
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April writing challenge written mostly in May : p
I said I’d do this to write more often for the April writing challenge but only did a couple so here’s them all, written on one day in May!
1) Five ways to win my heart?! Well if you won my heart I would be dead. What sort of a competition is it??
2) I feel strongly about…having a heart that cannot be won in some sort of sick competition.
3) A book I love… Time Traveller’s Wife
4 ) Bullet my whole day…
Sunday (so far)
- Woke up man with a cup of tea
- Spoke to my cousin on the phone
- Popped to Tesco with man
- Ate pancakes made by man
- Made bread
- Spoke to my Mom on the phone
- Watched man cutting wood and banging making our new wardrobes
- Ate aforementioned bread with naughty cheese
- Sat in bed revamping blog whilst watching man work hard as above
- Wrote this post
5) Things I want to say to an ex... I quite like you because you score me 8 but Zs and Qs are better.
6) My views on mainstream music. I wrote this a few weeks ago but it’s still in my drafts. If I have published it it will be here. If not I haven’t yet.
7) Five pet peeves… Dogs that poo, dog owners that let their dogs poo, dogs that jump up on me, dogs that bark too loudly, dogs that slobber. I don’t mind other pets ; )
8) What I ate today… See here, I actually did that one.
9) How important is education? Srsly lyk sooooo important. Lol. Lmfao.
10) Put your music player on shuffle and write the first songs that play I did this too! Look here.
11) My family… consist of people who are related to one another and they are all ACE.
12) Five guys I find attractive Guys? What a funny word G U Y S. You know when you look at a word and it looks weird? Guys. Anyway. I don’t know many Guys. Guy Pearce used to be Mike in Neighbours although I preferred Brad.
13) My opinion on my body and how comfortable I am with it … My body is a temple. I am very comfortable with it as I am in bed and bed is comfortable.
14) What I wore today… Jeans, Stone Sour hoodie, knickers, socks. No bra because it is against my religion to wear one on a Sunday.
15) My zodiac/horoscope and whether it fits my personality… I am Leo. Apparently this means I am a lion. I have hair like a lion. So it must be true.
16) Something that I always think ‘what if’ about …What if i win the lottery?! I could go on this Mayhem festival cruise, that’s what! It WILL happen.
17) Something that I am proud of … I stopped being a lazy bum, did Couch to 5K and ran my first 5K Park Run yesterday.
18) A problem I have had… Once I couldn’t decide whether to have a Mint Aero or a Crunchie. Tough times.
19) Five items that I lust after… Design your own Converse, RIP tickets to Download festival, tickets to Mayhem festival cruise, a new projector, a new laptop.
20) My fears…The usual, anyone I love going to heaven.
21) How I hope my future will be… happy and healthy.
22) My academics… How boring. I did GCSEs and A Levels. I didn’t go to Uni because I liked home and I worked hard in my chosen field instead of writing essays about it.
23) Something that I miss…School
24) Five words/phrases that make me laugh…Pamplemousse, Blants, Floccinaucinihilipilification, I’ll have the cream of sum yung gai. I’m a poet and I don’t knorange.
25) Something I’m currently worrying about… getting this post finished before Silent Witness.
26) Things I like and dislike about myself I like my general loveliness and I dislike my teeth.
27) A quote I try to live by… A simple quote I’ve recently heard. Never give up, there’s always a way.
28) Somewhere I’d like to visit… Hampton Court Palace
29) Five weird things that I like… Scabs, peely sunburn, smooth surfaces, pygmy goats, the DALEK man on last night’s Britain’s Got Talent.
30) One thing that I am excited for… getting our new living room carpet next week.
That was a big ‘un!
Thanks for reading.
Stace x
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What I ate today – Porky Sunday!
Porky Sunday!
Another post for the April writing challenge.
This one’s funny because it’s what non social media people think the only thing we post about it what we had for dinner. Well this actually is.
A hearty breakfast before a day of spring cleaning, planting new veg and flowers in the garden and today’s couch to 5K run.
- Bacon, hickory smoked sausages, beans, tomatoes, seeded brown bread
We ate breakfast quite late so I didn’t eat again until our dinner…
- Roast pork, roast potatoes, Chantenay carrots, Broccoli, peas, gravy
- Home made apple and blackberry crumble
I have two weeks left of my Couch to 5K programme and I pig a bit more at the weekends but I’m going to try to be good this week and not eat too much.
Stace x
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Couch to 5K – Week One
Couch to 5K – Week One
Monday 27th February am
I bought some lovely running shoes about 18 months ago (ish). Proper ones from a running shop and I had my tread measured and everything! I was motivated to start running and went out about three times walk/jogging to my family home about a mile from my house. You can see my posts from that time here.
Then I went to the doctors and she told me I had to get confirmation from the hospital before I could run as I have Long QT syndrome. Boo. Unfortunately getting a letter to confirm it was OK took months. Then last year I was all set again. We were going on a weekend camping trip so I packed my trainers with good intentions of running around the lake and by the river where we would be camping. Just as we were about to go I walked out of the back door to get something from the garage and promptly fell off the back step and sprained my ankle! Doh! Cue three days spent camping wth my foot in the air.
Well that was then. After stumbling on Couch to 5K a couple of weeks ago I’ve been building myself up to start. I downloaded the first four podcasts last week and my Mom treated me to some shiny new headphones for my iPod. I didn’t feel too confident to go straight out on the street so after a lie in on Saturday I decided to do it in the garden! I must have looked really strange to the neighbours but hey ho! I completed all runs despite interruptions first from my partner coming outside for a fag (hmph) who didn’t know what I was doing and then my brother and his girlfriend popping round and peering at me from the back door. Half way through I thought I wouldn’t be able to do the full workout but I pushed on and managed all the runs and felt quite pleased with myself. As I sit here on my laptop it’s Monday morning and I’m trying to decide what time will be best to do run two. Hope I can keep my motivation!
Monday pm
Run two done! I feel great. I used the Endomondo app on my Blackberry and I did 1.81 miles. It said average 14 mins to do a mile. Not quite a 4 minute mile but it’s a start : ).
Thurday 1st March 2012
Very pleased with myself. Today I did the third run of my first week. It was a lovely sunny day and I ran on the street and through the park. Grass seems to be a little harder going. Again I did just under two miles which I guess is OK. Hoping to hit two miles or more in week two. I was tired this afternoon but I feel like I will sleep well and my muscles don’t feel too shot.
Bring on Week Two!
Stace
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Research into the benefits of EFT
I was pleased to see this article by Dr Mercola on the research and benefits of Emotional Freedom Technique.
I’m looking forward to seeing new clients in 2012 and introducing EFT to people who would like to try something that is so effective for a wide range of issues.
New Research is Shining a Light on the Benefits of EFT
I have been a fan of energy psychology for many years, having witnessed its effectiveness in my medical practice and in my own personal life. However, studies have been few and far between as science has been trying to “catch up” with clinical experience.
All of that is changing now.
The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT, is the psychological acupressure technique I most highly recommend to manage stress and optimize your emotional health. Several studies have recently been published that show just how safe and effective EFT really is. For example, the following three studies show remarkable progress in a very short amount of time for people with a history of trauma:
- A 2009 study of 16 institutionalized adolescent boys with histories of physical or psychological abuse showed substantially decreased intensity of traumatic memories after just ONE session of EFT.
- An EFT study involving 30 moderately to severely depressed college students was conducted. The depressed students were given four 90-minute EFT sessions. Students who received EFT showed significantly less depression than the control group when evaluated three weeks later.
- A study of 100 veterans with severe PTSD (Iraq Vets Stress Project) showed an astounding reduction of symptoms after just six one-hour EFT sessions. After completing six sessions, 90 percent of the veterans had such a reduction in symptoms that they no longer met the clinical criteria for PTSD. Sixty percent no longer met PTSD criteria after only three EFT sessions. At the three-month follow-up, the gains remained stable, suggesting lasting and potentially permanent resolution of the problem.
[The Iraq Stress Project is still recruiting veteran volunteers. If you are a veteran and interested in participating, you can get more information here.]
Compare these EFT studies to the studies about antidepressant drugs, and you will see the stark contrast!
If you think EFT could benefit you please get in contact to give it a go.
Stacey
Christmas 2011 and New Year
A round up of Christmas and New Year, mainly just to get me back in the blogging zone….
Christmas Food
I made cupcakes, peppermint creams and ginger biscuits. This year it was my family’s turn to have us but we cooked Christmas din dins this year to give my Mom and Stepdad a break. It was great. I prepared a lot of the veg the day before. We made turkey with lemon and sage butter with streaky bacon and Topside of Beef. I made Delia Smith’s bread sauce which turned out well. For pud we bought a Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Christmas pud and Ban made a chocolate and raspberry ganache tart inspired by the one Michel Roux Jr did on Masterchef.
Presents
We had some very helpful monetary donations from various family members which we have put towards a new fridge freezer and wallpaper for our living room. Not usually one for branded products I seem to have developed a longing for all things Joseph Joseph. We now have the indexed chopping boards , Preparation bowls set and Fold flat grater. I love the bright colours.
My River Cottage Everyday cookbook will keep us in new recipes for a while and there’s enough Thornton’s Continental left in the house to delay Slimming World for another week. Still on a kitchen theme my brother bought us a pestle and mortar which we’ve been after for a while and I’ve had an addition to my collection of Letraset Promarkers.
People
Ban’s brother Richard lives in Chicago and he came over for a week over the Christmas period. We spent Christmas Day and evening with my family (see Games below) and Boxing Day with his Mom and Dad, brothers and two nephews Sam and Tom who had a crazy amount of presents as always. My favourite was the Harry Potter night bus. I REALLY want some Harry Potter LEGO.
Games
Christmas wouldn’t be the same without games. On Christmas Day we played Rapidough and had a good singalong to traditional songs like Tenacious D Tribute, haha! On Boxing Day we played Top Gear board game with our nephews and then the more grown up Cranium which is quite hard. On New Year’s Eve my little cousin Becky bought her new games Pass The Bomb and LOGO’s to play. At our friends new year party we played Dance Central. I’m more of a head banger than a dancer but it was a laugh. Just imagine me trying to dance to MC Hammer and Britney Spears. Thankfully it’s not on YouTube yet.
Oh and before I forget….Skyrim! I bought it for Ban hoping he’d like it but I’ve been sucked into it too. Awesome.
TV
Doctor Who
A nice heartwarming episode and for a change I didn’t have to hide behind a cushion.
Eastenders
Pat’s dead! David Wicks came back though. Bonus.
Sherlock
Clever and brilliant. Best thing on TV.
Erm.. anyway that’s about it for now. I’ve written something at least.
Happy New Year everybody!
Stace x
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Metal gigs weekend December 2011
After months of waiting, these two gigs were finally upon us.
Trivium at Wolves Civic – Friday 2nd December
On arrival I looked on with my confused face at Ghost whose lead singer seemed to be dressed as a scary Pope. Never one to judge a band by it’s cover (see also The Defiled) and coming from a huge Slipknot fan it would be silly to do so. They’re music was quite good but I didn’t catch enough to fully get them. I need to take time to listen to them but due to their name it’s a bit difficult to track them down. Googling Ghost wasn’t very helpful!
In Flames were ace and just what I needed to get going. I’ll be checking out their latest album for sure.
Trivium kicked off with In Waaaaaaaaaaaaves, the title song of their recent album.
They played Departure from Ascendency which was a first I think. Matt Heafy still looks too young to be that good but he still is. Gutted I missed out on Corey’s pick which landed right next to me but was quickly snapped up by someone younger and more sprightly than me.
Machine head – Sunday 4th December – Birmingham NIA
A big group of me and my mates got together to go to this.
Where's Wally (Stace)?
Some of my boys. (Bro Ricky 2nd left, my man Ban far right).
After catching half of the mighty Devildriver we retreated to the bar whilst Bring Me The Horizon were on. To be fair their music was good, the screamo vocals were not our thing at all though. I fail to see the point in people who watch the supports just to moan about them. Seems people try too hard to be cool not to be cool. You could see the older metalheads jeering or putting ther fingers in their ears. A bit unnecessary I thought. They obviously have a big following and as I often say I would rather our ‘youth’ get into (versions of) metal like this than be at a some charty shit pop band.
Anyway, onto Machine head. We’ve seen them loads of times, maybe into double figures now and they are always awesome. A good mixture of songs old and new. Stand outs from the new album were of course Locust, I Am Hell and Be Still and Know was good for a singalong. I always get very excited at The blood, the sweat, the tears live.
You can see some photos from the gig here courtesy of Danny’s Concerts Captured.
The best thing was despite messing my neck up at Trivium moshing all night to Machine head seemed to stretch my neck back into place and I was fine in the morning. Bargain.
So on my to do list include trying to find some Ghost to judge them properly and getting the In Flames album.
Cheers for reading.
Stace x
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Veggie week seven day challenge
After being inspired by Hugh on his River Cottage Veg programme we decided to try and go veggie for a whole week. We often eat meat free meals anyway but we set ourselves the challenge to see if we could do it. (We had to overdose on fillet steak on Saturday night before we commenced though!)
These are the meals we had.
Sunday – Butternut and sage risotto
Monday – Roast vegetable couscous with feta cheese
A Stacey throw together special. Roast peppers, onions and tomatoes, make cous cous with a nice stock (I use Knorr veg stockpot), mix it all together, crumble feta on the top (in my case 4 syns worth). Job done.
Tuesday – Sweet potato and spinach dhal
Wednesday – Veggie sausage casserole
I cooked leeks, carrots, butterbeans, a squirt of tomato puree, smoke paprika and veg stock on the hob while the Cauldron Lincolnshire sausage were in the oven. When they were done I cut them into bite size pieces and mixed it all together before serving. I quite enjoyed the Cauldron sausages, peppery and herby and I didn’t really feel pork deprived. *Insert your own joke here!!*
Thursday – Spinach & Mushroom Lasagne
Just my usual recipe, I used fresh spinach, dried wholewheat lasagne and made a mushroom sauce with some Light Philadelphia. Virtuously resisted having garlic bread with it too.
Friday - Hot-crumbed baby mozzarella, beetroot and potato salad recipe
This was niiiice. I’m not much of a salad muncher preferring hot food but you can’t go wrong with hot melty cheese. As usual I got a bit excited with the chilli flakes but it did great for my winter sniffs.
Saturday – Veggie burgers
These were much tastier that I imagined they would be, I could’ve eaten the mix on its own. Next time I won’t use honey though as I prefer a more savoury taste. So filling I ate them on their own with no buns.
All in all we did well. A couple of bacon cravings but it’s definitely made me realise we could eat even more meals without meat. Let me know of your own favourite veggie recipes.
Happy eating.
Stace
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