You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion
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Watcha' Doing - 2021
your boat looks great Sarah. You have been busy. Board games are great. I used to play a lot of them. Miss it.
Your boat looks great, Sarah! I love what you've done with it. It took a bit of back and forth to pick out some things, but some of the changes jump right out you. The smaller bits kind of reminds me of those challenges in the magazines where you're supposed to spot the differences between the two pictures. lolKylo is so cute!
Oh wow! That's gorgeous, Sarah! And I never ever thought I would say painting over wood is good, but that blue over the wall paneling is actually game changing. Colour is wonderful and it lifts everything! Looks a lot like a home now, and one I would love to hang out in :D
Oh I am glad you've had a lot of use out of BGA too. Carcassone is a classic and just so easy but fun to play. I must say Stone Age is the one of the EuroGame "cannon" we just have not got too. Will have to check it out.Hadn't heard of Ethnos before and looking that up on Board Game Geek as we speak. Have heard good things about Quarks, but haven't played it yet (our board game bar has been closed for lockdown). Thanks for the recs!!
Also, that is an awesome name for a board game cafe
You've done a lot of work on your home! It looks great. And Kylo has grown! She's found herself a nice little hot spot to curl up on.
You did an amazing job, Sarah. Your home looks very cozy. And Kylo is so cute!
Your boat looks great Sarah. Kylo is gorgeous. I haven't been by a board game cafe in a while. I am glad you are enjoying the one you go to. @Jayme I hope your floorboards and books get sorted soon. Sorry to hear that you had a leak in the roof but I am glad that you discovered it quickly and can have some ideas about how to resolve it.
Thanks guys. Yes it really is feeling like home now. I'm very happy with how it has turned out. It felt very Swedish sauna like with all the wood and a bit dark, the painted panels with just the wood edges have brightened it up a lot and feels more homely. My curtains are going to be navy with mustard leopard print bottom. I'll post a pic of them once sorted. Some of the photos above might be confusing as I replaced the rocking chair with a smaller chair between photos. And yes they are a little like the hidden pieces pictures Kristen lol Rooms would work Margo. I have a bathroom - that is the only room that has a door though. My bedroom has a threshold but no door and the kitchen and saloon are open plan. I hope to get a door on my bedroom at some point to stop Kylo coming in but it needs holes in to allow airflow and heat to get in there during the winter. I have a makeshift screen at the moment which often falls down.
Yes I love the name of the board game cafe too Rusalka!
I love the paint, Sarah, and the curtains you have planned sound perfect.
I'm sorry that you've had a rough year, Sarah, but it's good to hear from you. Hopefully 2022 will be a lot better. A board game café is so much fun and you get to know a lot of games you've never heard before. There's also one not far from our house, but haven't made it up there.You've done a good job on your boat. It looks so cosy and it seems that Kylo enjoys the stove.
I got great news yesterday - I'm cast free! I have to wear the boot for 4 weeks and get checked out again then. It feels so odd, it's having a 2k weight attached to one foot BUT I can shower both sides of my body AND I get to take it off at night YESSSS!!!Oh, and very importantly, I can make coffee (as long as it's in a travel mug so I don't spill it as I drag my leg to the armchair LOL). I feel like a convict with a big weight chained to my leg 😂
Of, I have (had, it's healing nicely) a broken fibula but I was so lucky that it hadn't moved. If I'd gone to A&E on day 1 they would have pinned it.
Glad to hear that your prison ball/chain has been removed and you have more freedom, Margo!
That is great news, Margo. Way to go!
Ball and chain - thanks Janice, that's the phrase I was looking for!
I've been working in Bournemouth for the weekend which has been nice. Went to visit a friend and had food and drink there - it was good to spend some time with good company. The boat was pretty cold when I got home though as it's had no fire on for two days, only 7C, but it has warmed up nicely thankfully. It's a real problem with the boat and being away. You just want to come home after a long weekend and relax but I have to make a fire and sit in my coat until it reaches an ok temperature. Brrr!
@Margo: that's great news and coffee is very important :D@Sarah: that's very cold when you get home. Is there no alternative way to warm your boat?
It's been colder here too, but not as cold as on a boat I'll bet! Windscreen was lightly frosted on morning last week. I dislike this time of year as the nights are so long. Perfect weather for netflix binges ;-)
my woodburner feeds a couple of radiators but obviously the fire needs to be lit. So it's just a matter of putting up with the cold until it warms up. I only go away one weekend a month so it's not too bad. If I'm out for the day, I usually bank the fire up so it stays warm for when I get home.
So glad to hear you're healing well, Margo!
Understand that, Sarah. It also feels really unnaturally cold when you come home and the fire is out after it's been going for so long. And the colour/light is different which makes it feel colder. We've just stopped the fire, a bit later than usual as it's been very wet here and due to the dodgy builder, 3 years later the rain still comes down the chimney into the house. And even though it's in the mid-20sC every day I still sort of want to light it as the house feels different. I have covered it in some of our weeping houseplants now though, so instead of being a red/orange beacon, it is now a cascade of green. That's helped.
Glad you had a good weekend away.
Rusalka - can’t you put a cover over your chimney cap so that the rain doesn’t come in? I don’t have one on mine but I see them on ones in the neighborhood. I haven’t used my fireplace in many years but I don’t remember the rain getting in either. The wood just became such a mess to store and carry in. The people who built my house definitely did not think about dragging in firewood and cleaning up. A natural gas insert is on my wish list for “someday”. Maybe after I pay off my roof next year.
My dining table is getting a lot of use what with dinner guests and playing board games. It's not quite big enough for either. I've managed to find one on FB marketplace and I'm off to get it this afternoon. Is it weird to be excited about getting a new (to me) table?!? lol It does have storage in the bottom too!I'm not sure if I've said on here before but I started toastmasters back in August. As I want to do more public speaking with my job. I wasn't sure if I was going to like it or not but I've really got into it now. I did my first speech last month and got some really good feedback and I've been taking on some of the meeting roles too. It's still online at the moment, it might feel different when it goes back to being face to face. Anyone else done toastmasters before?
Good for you Sarah! And yeah, I get excited about getting anything new-to-me ;-)
Sarah wrote: "My dining table is getting a lot of use what with dinner guests and playing board games. It's not quite big enough for either. I've managed to find one on FB marketplace and I'm off to get it this ..."I did Toastmasters for years and I loved it. I was just a couple of requirements shy of earning my DTM (Distinguished Toastmaster). The friends I made there have been lifelong friends. Several members of my book club were fellow toastmasters.
We had our book club meeting last night and one of my friends commented that I had used a word she had never heard before - temerity. Another commented and said, "That's her toastmaster's skill coming out." Of the 8 of us at the meeting, 5 of us were from our Toastmasters group.
Hannah wrote: "I've never heard of toastmasters but glad it is helping Sarah."Toastmasters is an international group that teaches leadership and communication skills. A lot of it is presenting speeches, but you also participate in leading the meetings in various roles. You learn the skill of giving and receiving feedback that is constructive. You can design your own path depending on whether you prefer to focus on communication or leadership. You can do both tracks as well. Communications focuses on speeches. Leadership contains a lot of mentoring and building strong people and groups.
It really is an amazing organization. I've seen people who could hardly get up in front of the group and speak develop confidence and a sense of personal accomplishment.
One of our members did a Speechcraft with a group of people with disabilities. A speechcraft is series of lessons on communication skills to a group outside of Toastmasters. Part of their sessions was to present speeches to a TM group so we set aside one evening to listen to these speeches.
One young woman really caught my eye. She was extremely shy. She wore an oversized suit and couldn't look anyone in the eye. She went to the podium to deliver her speech and could barely talk, and didn't look up from the podium. It was painful to watch.
We took out a charter for that group to become their own TM group and I was one of the mentors, becoming a member of that group as well as maintaining my membership with my first group. This young woman continued to struggle with her speeches and duties. I remember one time that we were doing "table topics" - a very short talk where you are given a topic and you speak off the cuff on it for up to 3 minutes - and S put up her hand to do one. I inwardly groaned because I knew she would stand up and not say anything for the whole 3 minutes, squeaking out a short sentence in answer to the question at the end. Gradually there was a difference. She turned into this vibrant woman who enjoyed speaking and exuded confidence when she spoke. It was truly amazing. Her mother even thanked TM for the changes in her daughter.
She's a tiny woman and she told us of a time she went to Costco and was going to help herself to a sample when the clerk said that she needed permission from a parent in order to take a sample. She looked her straight in the eye and said, "I am not a child!" The S I first met would never have been able to do that.
That group has since disbanded but I follow several of them on Facebook and you can see that it has made a difference in their lives.
Hannah wrote: "I am excited for you especially if there is storage!!."I think I might have gotten prematurely excited. It's not in the best of condition and will need a bit of TLC and one leg gluing back together. But I need a project now that most of my DIY is done haha
Janice wrote: "I did Toastmasters for years and I loved it."I think I must have mentioned it before, or maybe I mentioned it when I was thinking about joining, as I remember you saying you had been a member before. That's really good to hear you are still friends with some of the people in the group.
Janice wrote: "Hannah wrote: "I've never heard of toastmasters but glad it is helping Sarah."Toastmasters is an international group that teaches leadership and communication skills. A lot of it is presenting sp..."
What wonderful stories Janice! Yes I can imagine being quite lovely watching how people progress. I have been Grammarian, Table Topics Master and Timer now, all sprung on me with less than 24hrs notice as we've got quite a small club, but I've thoroughly enjoyed it. I need to get better at table topics - I try to get it over and done with as quick as possible but I really need to expand what I'm taking about more - I had a great opportunity tonight to talk about the time I nearly crashed my car into a dalek - couldn't have made it so much more. Oh well, another time.
I joined a mah jong group. My mother used to play with a group of friends and I thought it would be fun to learn. I'm just learning and get confused really easily but I'm having a good time and meeting some new people. Everyone is patient and I managed to win once. Woo hoo!!I'm going to join the local library next week and get a card. It's not far away, and I can walk there. In the mean time my old library said I can use my membership back in New York for another year for digital books, so I'm set.
Sarah, I was just talking to my daughter recently about getting excited for new household items. We both do it. We will even text pictures to each other to share our purchases so we can both be excited. lolJanice, thank you for the toastmasters explanation. I have a couple of friends who have participated, but I didn't have a full understanding of it what it was.
Congrats on your win, Roz! I play Man Jong with a couple of groups. There are a lot of rules and it does take a while to learn, but it is a lot of fun. After you've been playing for a while it gets less confusing.
Toastmaster sounds scary. (I am one of those that, if given the choice between a 5 minute public speech and cleaning all my floors with a toothbrush, I would get really clean floors.)Great that you can borrow from 2 libraries for a while Roz. more books!!!
A new items to you are always fun.
Sarah wrote: "I need to get better at table topics - I try to get it over and done with as quick as possible but I really need to expand what I'm taking about more.."I found table topics to be hard myself. I like to be able to plan what I want to say so that I get my information across and if I'm not given that time I get flustered. I admire these people who can respond calmly and coherently when a reporter shoves a microphone in their face and asks a question. It really is a skill.
Esther wrote: "Toastmaster sounds scary. (I am one of those that, if given the choice between a 5 minute public speech and cleaning all my floors with a toothbrush, I would get really clean floors.)Great that y..."
It really is a safe place to learn how to combat those fears. You can move at your own pace. Any feedback you get is crafted to be encouraging and not demoralizing.
And it's a lot of fun.
Roz wrote: "I joined a mah jong group. My mother used to play with a group of friends and I thought it would be fun to learn. I'm just learning and get confused really easily but I'm having a good time and mee..."I'd love to learn how to play mah jong. I've played some computerized games, but I don't think they're the same game.
Esther - I'm definitely not keen on public speaking, I have always put it off, hence why I joined up to get better with it.I am currently waiting for a mobile mechanic to arrive to replace a headlight on my car, it got smashed some how a few days back. I was going to do it myself but I think I might swear a lot then trash my car if it doesn't go according so plan so thought it best I get someone do it haha
My worst nightmare has come to pass. I'm at the hairdresser and my ereader died. I didn't bring a paper book. How am I going to pass the time? That's why I always bring a paper book on a plane or other instances where it would be horrible to be without a book for a long time. I'll survive today though ;-)
Oh no, worst nightmare! Can't you read on your smart phone?
I haven't got any books on it. It was only for 30 minutes though. Back home now, let's see if I can fix it.
That would be the worst nightmare! LOL! I always bring a paperback with me on trips for the same reason. Generally, when I'm at the hairdressers and sitting under the hair dryer, I'm on twitter.
I knew you all would understand!I think it really went to ebook-heaven. We were together for 8.5 years. First thing tomorrow is buying a new one. I already picked one out. I'm not even going to order it online because what if for some reason delivery is delayed and I'll be without all weekend!
I really hope no books are lost.
We're all book addicts ;) I've always got a physical book with me.
Peggy, we are sorry for your loss. :)
Oh no Peggy! Well, my mechanic cancelled. Looks like he can only come late next week. So I might well have to try fixing it myself. hmm.
in exciting news though, I just booked to go to Lanzarote for Christmas by myself. I was not looking forward to christmas back home with my parents so thought I'd do something about it. I have a little studio apartment. Fly in morning of Christmas eve and back home evening of 27th. So now the exciting job of planning things in :-)
Bummer Sarah. Any boating friends who can give you a hand?Lanzarote sounds lovely!
Waw, that sounds like a nice holiday!
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You'll love this one...!! A book club & more
Books mentioned in this topic
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State of Terror (other topics)
The Way of Kings (other topics)
The Way of Kings (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Jane Harper (other topics)Gabriel García Márquez (other topics)
Gabriel García Márquez (other topics)
My favourite pic is puss in bag - too cute!