Michelle Booth's Blog, page 4
January 13, 2013
Book Review: Homing Instinct
The cover of this book shows a business-suited woman heading off to work with a baby in her backpack. It reminded me so much of my reasons for wanting to be a stay-at-home mother that I had to read it.
I wasn’t disappointed. It is an excellent read with good, strong plotlines, humour and more than a dash of womanly wisdom (but not the rammed-down-your-throat type).
It is written in diary format – which usually irritates me, but this didn’t – and is about a successful newswoman. She has a high-powered job, a high-powered, handsome husband, a school-age daughter and a baby. She even manages to find a perfect nanny, who loves her children as if they were her own – and that becomes a problem. Leaving her children each morning becomes harder and harder – and coming home to the housework while her husband puts his feet up with a cold beer gets downright infuriating.
There are some lovely little scenes. I particularly enjoyed the bit when the heroine’s mother comes to stay and disapproves of baby Tom being given tinned baby food:
“‘What that child needs is a bit of mashed parsnip and some stewed apple,’ she said, brushing me out of the way and hurling the offending jar in the bin. Tom’s eyes followed its trajectory sadly. He loved that one.”
…
“Tom meanwhile was beginning to howl with hunger, because preparing his lunch normally takes me about five minutes, and he’s not used to waiting for all this cooking nonsense.”
I won’t spoil the book by giving too much away here but I will say this: It has changed my attitude to sex. Women appreciate that they have uncontrollable hormones that make them feel suicidal before their period, and then there is the ten-odd years of hell around the menopause. We don’t like it, but we understand and put up with it. But do we even TRY to understand men’s hormones? Men produce testosterone, which makes them muscley, gives them energy and stops them turning into weedy wimps. The side-effect of testosterone is that it makes them want sex. And, all things being well, preferably with a willing partner, not a limp dishrag. But if they do make this clear, we tend to label them as just a randy bloke and don’t show an ounce of understanding.
Diana Appleyard has seamlessly funnelled her own experience as well as that gleaned from a career of listening to others into this book. It is one I will be buying for several friends and I highly recommend it to both working and stay-at-home mothers and fathers.
Homing Instinct was her first book and she has since produced more – Out Of Love and A Class Apart. I will be ordering them as soon as my bank balance has recovered from my last splurge.
The book is available in paperback format from Amazon.
Unfortunately, for those of us who love our Kindles, this book isn’t (yet) available in Kindle format.
In addition to writing novels, the author is a feature writer for national UK newspapers and also helps her husband run Kirnan Holiday Cottages and Bed & Breakfast in Scotland. I can’t think of a better place for a writing holiday!
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Book Review: Get Off Your Arse
This book is written by Brad Burton, who runs a very popular business networking group in the UK. The man is a dynamo with a huge following – which is why he has been able to get away with giving his book such a controversial title! Those in the know refer to it as GOYA.
I bet there are lots of people who read the title of this book and never pick it up. I think I may have been one of those if I hadn’t read some of Brad’s stuff online first. He’s a no-nonsense Northerner who isn’t afraid to call a spade a spade.
That is why he is so successful.
He hasn’t written this in a ‘look at me I’m successful’ way though. He’s written it as a literary bomb, a device to wake up worn-down business people into taking massive action (a sort of Northern Anthony Robbins).
The book charts the story of his progress from struggling small business owner to super-motivator and the driving force behind the phenomenally-successful 4Networking groups, but it is also a how-to, giving ideas and sparking creativity.
Brad tells it like it is, no sugary sweetness and bland, business-speak. He tells you to get out there, come up with ideas, any ideas, and drag your business out of the small-time into the successful.
I talked to Brad at one of the 4Networking meetings and he gave me extra, kooky, wonderful ideas to drive my business forward. The man’s walking dynamite.
I highly recommend this business book. It is different from all the rest and may just give you the jolt you need to take your business to the next level.
As a separate bonus, it is really handy to keep around the house to motivate lacklustre teenagers. I asked my daughter to clear the dishes from the table the other night. She muttered the usual, “In a minute”.
I held up the book silently. She laughed and GOT UP!!!!!
Worth buying it just for that.
The book is available in paperback and Kindle formats:
Paperback:Kindle:
Please let me know if it works on your teenagers too!
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Book Review: Successful Minute Taking
I knew of the author, Heather Baker, from her SpeedWriting book and thought her book on how to do minutes would be good. It is.
The book is aimed at secretaries and PA’s but, like other small business owners, I do most of my own administration and the buck stops with me. Minutes can be legal documents so I was a bit worried about doing them properly for our tiny Annual General Meeting and occasional meetings with other companies.
The book was ideal, explaining the different types of meetings, what they are for and how they should be run. It made me realise that I actually attend more meetings than I had thought – chats with marketeers, meetings with clients and suppliers, etc. Good notes are invaluable in getting people to take action and making the meetings worth having!
There are some excellent short tips in the book which I found very useful, such as deciding on some useful abbreviations beforehand, to save lots of writing; and writing/typing up the notes as quickly as possible after the meeting. There is even a section on how to be more confident when taking minutes.
The book has some really handy links to real meetings online so you can practice in a semi-live situation. Other unexpected (to me) bonuses are:
A superb (and short!) section on spelling and grammar, including a list of the most commonly misspelled words used in meeting notes (yes, I was guilty – independent, not independant!)
A list of words that could be used in minutes – a brilliant idea. I was concerned about writing, “said” too much and was delighted to find a list of alternatives: stated, reported, confirmed, verified, pointed out, etc.
I not only produce minutes of our own AGM’s now, but am careful to document other meetings in order to make the most of my attendance at them and prompt other attendees to follow-up on suggestions and action points.
I would certainly recommend this book for anyone who needs to take minutes and highly recommend it for secretaries and PA’s who would like to add minute-taking to their list of skills.
The book comes in 2 formats – the book:
The book with downloadable workbook:
Both books are available in paperback format from Amazon.
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The post Book Review: Successful Minute Taking appeared first on Michelle Booth.
January 5, 2013
Society is making us all preppers!
Actually, I thought they were already here! Every time I go food shopping, things seem to have become more expensive.
That's why I took up aquaponics last year. It's a way of growing food without having to dig in the dirt and get a sore back!
Aquaponics uses 2 tanks (generally, there are larger systems but I wanted to start simply), one grows food in it, the other is a fish tank. The water from the fish tank is pumped through the growing tank and then filters back into the fish tank.
The fish produce waste (they go to the toilet in their water!) but the bacteria in the water convert that waste into nutrients for the plants. Then the plants act like a reed bed, filtering the water and purifying it for the fish.
It's a great little ecosystem and the result is quick-growing fruit, salads and vegetables and happy fish. Some people choose to eat the fish too (we're vegetarian, so ours are pets!).
We're pretty self-sufficient in salads and green vegetables. We also grow things in the ground and in pots and containers - fruit and potatoes mainly - but they grow more quickly and more healthily in the aquaponics tank.
If you are concerned about rising food prices, I'd encourage you to learn more about aquaponics. You can set up your own system - if you're good at practical stuff - from bits and pieces from junk yards. If you want to pay for a system you could find that it pays for itself within a year (I did).
I would recommend (of course!) my little ebook about aquaponics - 7 Myths About Aquaponics. I wrote it because I wanted to get across how to get into aquaponics if you are like me and aren't good at practical stuff (I thought you probably had to be a plumber to be able to set a system up!) and don't have much money.
Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/7-Myths-About-A....
You can also find out information about aquaponics online. It is worth checking if there is an aquaponics organisation in your country, as they can provide help on which fish are best suited to your environment, as well as the best plants to grow.
Another idea for keeping your food bill down is to start growing sprouts. Not the round green ones that everyone complains about at Christmas, the ones that grow from beans and seeds, like you get in Chinsese restaurants. They are mung bean sprouts, which are very quick and easy to grow.
Sprouts are packed with nutrition and quite filling. It is worth growing a variety so you don't get bored. We grow sunflower seeds, chickpeas, mung beans, adzuki beans and alfalfa seeds. There is always a little forest of them growing on our kitchen windowledge and containers of them in the fridge. They are lovely added to salads, soups and as side courses for meals.
In these difficult economic times, it is good to know that you can develop basic survival skills that can keep your family fed and happy.
*http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/artic...
