Long overdue update

Has it really been this long since I posted here? When I gave up writing the book blog, due to the time & energy it was taking up, I also stopped reading & reviewing. I've been offline so much that I even forgot my log in details for using Twitter or whatever its called now. I sort of lost myself for a while, lost my love of books, lost motivation for really doing anything much.

In the last few months, I've started reading regularly again, started going back to watching films which I hadn't done in over a year. I'm not sure what sparked the change but I'm enjoying my reading this year. I've read a lot of political books so I can clear a pile to the charity shop & haven't been buying many. I'm rereading Robert Boren's 'Bug Out' series & I'm reading for hours at night again like I used to. Many I'll get tackling those tbrs a bit better from now on!

One thing I can't be bothered with is writing reviews. You know how much I hated that part of having a book blog. I'm not even writing reviews for them on Goodreads but that might change in the future, who knows. I don't think I'll be resuming this blog for that reason. I've tried leaving comments on a few blogs but it's stopping me doing it so far. I'll keep trying. You might see my name pop up at some point!

I'm sorry to have lost touch with so many of you. I might see you around on Twitter & Goodreads as I get back into a routine. Hopefully I'll work out how to comment again on some blogs!

Take care everyone

Chuckles

Chuckles Blog Update

I don't know where this month has gone to be honest as I've been so busy off the computer that it is making my head spin. I'd fully intended to at least be back visiting your blogs and leaving comments by now but things have just got away from me. I'll give you an idea how crazy things have been.

 

Most of you are aware that it has been almost a year since we lost my uncle to Covid and we were struggling to try and deal with all the legal issues last year. My dad gave in and hired a lawyer in April who has taken charge of the 'estate' (basically the house!), is dealing with companies looking for money from us and reducing our stress levels. They hired someone to clear out and clean the house for us and now, this week it is finally going on the market for sale. It is a huge relief to get this dealt with as it has taken up a lot of time, energy and stress to get to this stage. The housing market is good for sellers right now so we hope for a decent price and a quick sale to get it over with.  

 

My dad has been waiting for a knee operation for two years now and was meant to get it done last summer but it was cancelled because of the pandemic. He has been told it is going ahead this summer and he will be on a list for cancellations at short notice. That got us into a real panic because we still have all the good stuff from my uncle's house inside ours, waiting to be sorted into keep or charity shop etc. We have all the stuff from our house ready to go to either the dump or charity shops. The place is in a mess! Lockdown rules keep changing in our area so we don't know from one week to the next whether non essential shops are open or closed, what the charity shop is taking or not, what hours the dump is running and what we can get rid off...it's chaos when these sites aren't giving updates on it all. 

 

My dad is also struggling to drive some days because of the knee which makes things more difficult. This has all been taking up a lot of our time, trying to get ready for this operation and knowing he can't drive for two months after it. He's also had a change of diet on doctors orders which means more frequent supermarket deliveries to get in the fresh fruit. Wiping down every item we get in each delivery each week is also time consuming. He's also having insomnia off new medication which limits how much he feels up to doing so I'm doing it all some days. My dad's room is a disaster zone with boxes/bags full of old cds everywhere but the charity shops aren't taking much of that at the moment so we are struggling to get rid of it. Add in the usual housework and 90 minutes of exercise every day and I'm not getting much time for anything else during the day. 

 

So overall I've been pretty busy each day and at night that is my relax in my room watching stuff time so I'm not on the computer then either. I haven't read anything this month as I'm now trying to get a pile of stuff watched to clear some space on various shelves. I have boxes full of series recorded from tv plus bought dvd box sets breeding everywhere! I intend to have a summer of getting stuff watched so I can catch up on a few series and get rid of stuff I don't like. I'm trying not to think about the book pile right now but that will be my task for winter I think. Things are pretty chaotic right now and I still don't know if I'm going to have a blog running when this busy month ahead is finished. I haven't had time to even think about it to be honest. I am pleased to report that I had my second vaccine dose last week and only had a slightly sore arm in the way of side effects, so that is my dad and I done until we need these booster shots later this year.

 

That's my update for now. I hope you are all staying safe.

Take care

Chuckles

Unexpected Blog Break

 

Hi guys!

Sorry I just seemed to vanish without word earlier in April. To be honest I wasn't planning a blog break of any kind. I just got really annoyed with Blogger messing me about on a few of the posts I was doing. I also happened to be reading a book written by one of the DS from SAS Who Dares Wins (Ollie's newest book, for those who know the show) and the book was about looking at the time consuming things in your life, the things you do out of habit or addiction etc and deciding why you do it and if you should continue with these things if they don't add to your life. It's got me thinking about the blog being so time consuming when Blogger is doing my head in, how I hate writing the book reviews and so on. It sort of got me wondering again about the long term future of my blog which has been a theme for me since last summer.

Can I see myself doing this blog in five years time if Blogger continues to arse me about over simple graphics and text? No, to be honest. Are there other things I could be doing like reading and getting stuff watched? Yes. Am I also tired of the toxic social media environment I'm wading through? Yes. I guess I didn't realise how draining it all was and on the 13th I think it was I told myself I couldn't be bothered blogging that day and went off to do other stuff. I ended up exercising, weight training with my new weights, varnishing the fences, watching reruns of favourite stuff, browsing the internet just for fun. To be honest, the caterpillar cake wars (Colin v Cuthbert), Ed Balls Day and the failed European Super League had me so entertained that I forgot to go back to the blog and I realise I've been away from it for two weeks without thinking about it or realising. The question is, what now?

 

I just wanted to let you know that everything is ok with me despite my vanishing so suddenly. My health is fine, my dad got his second Pfizer dose earlier this week and he's ok, my mood is fine and I'm not depressed or anything. I'm just trying to have a think about things but I'm not reaching any conclusions yet. I'm off the blog and social media until Monday as there is a anti-racism boycott going on in the UK but after that you'll see me active on Twitter. At the moment I'm hoping to start visiting your blogs next week to say hello, and I plan to continue keeping in touch like that for now even if the blog isn't posting anything. So I will see you guys around while I ponder things for a bit longer!

 

Take care of yourselves and your loved ones

Chuckles

Chuckles Weekend Roundup

            Welcome to my feature Chuckles Weekend Roundup where I will be looking at what books I've received, anything interesting I've done or bought or watched and other random stuff. I'll be taking a look back at what happened in my blogging world too, sort of like The Sunday Post that some of you do! 

 

Please note that I'll be visiting your STS/SP as normal, but I don't follow or leave comments on blogs run by Google Plus, or DISQUS as I refuse to join something just to leave comments, and I won't allow DISQUS to follow new people, update my profile or post tweets 'on my behalf'. I am the only one who does that on my social media! I won't comment on any blog that makes me sign in using another account. Sometimes, I have problems leaving messages on blogs hosted by Wordpress-they try to block me because I deleted my account with them but I will persevere as it only happens the odd time!

 

Another week speeds by and I'm wondering where it is all going. The weather has been a bit mixed again, so no outdoor work done on the fences but I did dye my hair purple just for a change. The postman complimented me and said it makes me look younger which was nice of him! A change is as good as a holiday as they say. I'm concentrating on trying to delete all the non essential crap stored on my computer as it is being a bit sluggish and close to capacity. It's a slow and thankless task that I'm forever putting off so I had to get on with it. I've also added a couple of new exercises to my morning routine which has been a bit of a trial as both are pretty hard going!

I've been reading each nice but I'm tackling a few longer books so each is taking a few days to get through. Quality rather than quantity this week! I need to put a book buying ban on myself for a few weeks as there have been a lot of new releases that I just had to have so progress has stalled a bit on reducing the tbr. I'll get there though.

Chuckles Blogging World

A bit of a mixed week for getting blog related stuff done. 

 

Book Reviews

 

Chuckles Mini Reviews Catchup 

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/chuckles-mini-reviews-catchup.html 

Regular Posts

 

Top Ten Tuesday

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/top-ten-tuesday-one-word-titles-3.html 

Chuckles Weekly Reading Roundup

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/chuckles-weekly-reading-roundup.html

 

Around The Blogs With Chuckles

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/around-blogs-with-chuckles_9.html 

Discussion Posts

 

Spring Things #5

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/spring-things-5.html 

Obituary

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/obituary-prince-philip-duke-of-edinburgh.html

 

Reading Challenges 

 

Tackling The TBR

http://chucklesbookcave.blogspot.com/2021/04/obituary-prince-philip-duke-of-edinburgh.html 

Films & TV & Music

Started watching a bit of IPL cricket and continued watching my Jaws films! Music wise I'm listening to my mp3 of favourite songs while I exercise each morning!

 

Book Tags/Blog Awards

none this week

 

The Week In Review

I was back in the mood for a bit of non fiction recently so my latest reads have included biographies of Tyson Fury and Burt Reynolds, along with Ollie Ollerton's Battle Ready which I've just finished.

 

The Week Ahead 

This week I'll be continuing to sort through computer files but I do hope to get a few book reviews written if time allows. I'm not sure what I'll feel like reading so I'll see where the mood takes me and not pick anything yet.

 

FOLLOW ME:
https://www.bloglovin.com/blogs/chuckles-book-cave-9910183 
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3426724-chucklesthescot 
https://twitter.com/chucklesthescot 
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/chucklesthescot/ 
 

Spring Things #5

TUESDAY

My exercise weights arrived this morning and I'm itching to get started with them. I've also bought and received some of those Grenade fat buster pills. They help speed up your metabolic rate so you can burn a bit more fat during each exercise session. Every bit helps so we'll give that a go. A weird side effect of the exercise regime is that for some reason I'm not really wanting to consume sugar. Not sure why but I'll take it! I'm a bit less keen on the lemon flavoured water I consume after each session which also aids fat busting. It's not fun if you put too much lemon in the water! Ugh!

 

WEDNESDAY

Did myself a bit of an injury last night. I have big long plastic storage boxes beside my bed and if I get up during the night, the light switch for my bedside lamp is right beside it. I was a bit dopey as it was 2am and instead of grabbing the light switch I missed. I slammed the joint between the smallest two fingers right into the edge of the plastic, forcing the two fingers very far apart and at a fair force. Cue muffled screaming, severe pain and mild nausea for the next thirty minutes. My fingers aren't broken but I've done some damage to the tendons in two fingers of my left hand, (says the pharmacist) which is now strapped up tight, and I'm on painkillers. The brownish bruising goes from halfway down the two fingers on the back of my hand right up to the wrist and across half the surface of the hand. On my palm, the end finger is bruised. I've tried taking photos of it but it isn't showing up in the gloomy light today. Why am I suddenly becoming accident prone during a pandemic??? You'd think I'd be more bloody careful. Luckily it's my left hand so I can still read, type and so on. Muppet.

 

THURSDAY

Tonight I decided to dye my hair purple. I haven't dyed it since around 2005/2006 so I was happy to see that it is an easier process than it was then. No dye coating your face and ears for a week and refusing to come off, no stained shower floor making it look like a scene from the Bates Motel, and no dye coming off on clothes and sheets every time you sweat! An old towel to use on the hair was the only casualty of the operation and I'm pretty happy with the results. No photo as yet as I still hate getting my photo taken! It was a bit of a military operation trying to get it done one handed but I was too stubborn to wait for another week or so!

 

On the fun side another T Shirt arrived and I'm feeling very Stark at the moment so yes it has wolves! I'm very much part of the North when it comes to Westeros. This is what the sigil on the shirt looks like. Nice!

 

 

FRIDAY

Britain went into mourning this morning for the loss of HRH Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, husband to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He was well loved in this country for his devotion to duty, his support of The Queen, his war record, his charity work, his humour and also the way he never suffered fools gladly. Telling photographers to hurry up and take the effing photo was one much loved withering putdown witnessed in a documentary. Ordinary British people loved what the media called hi rude comments and insults. As a Royal fan, it was a sad day for me to hear of his passing. It seems ironic that two books I ordered over a week ago about the Duke arrived yesterday in the post.

SATURDAY

The post arrived today with a couple of Game of Thrones T Shirts to add to my ever growing collection. I'm glad I cleared out a pile of old clothes these last few months as it was a good excuse to buy some of these bad boys! You can never have too many GoT T Shirts!

Tonight I am treating myself to fish and chips out of the local takeaway. Well fish is good for you so I figured why not! I'm not thinking about the big pile of chips that'll go down very nicely or the fatty batter on the fish...