Knilly Frickers

It might be February already but I said I wanted to read more books this year than I did last year so here is my musings on the first book I've finished reading this year!  Quick Review Genre(s): Self Help/Motivation  Who Wrote It: Summerdale Publishers Did I Dig It?: Heck yeah! 2 Second Summary: Some sound advice on saying no. Quirky Queen Rating: 👑 👑👑👑👑  5 out of 5 Crowns from me on this occasion. Every once in a while I need a reminder that saying no is not only acceptable, but necessary.  I also read it while my neighbour was having carpets fitted and it distracted me from the loud hammering! Extended Musings I think I've mentioned before that I struggle when it comes to saying no.  I'm aware of the word's existence and can use it, I just don't like doing it.  While reading through some of the advice in this book, I found myself nodding along at alot of the section titles because I struggle saying no in those situations.  My biggest problem...

Having recently been made redundant and finding myself back in the routine of job searching, I've experienced a dip in my internal and external sparkle. Be More Unicorn: How To Find Your Inner Sparkle by Joanna Gray was just what I needed to remind myself that the best way to find magic is to believe in myself and create it. When my mother handed me the book, she knew it didn't need a hard sell. I dig unicorns. Maybe it's because I'm Scottish and the unicorn is our national animal? Some parts of the book were a useful reminder embrace opportunities to be magical, fabulous and playful but other parts taught me the importance of digging a bit deeper into who I am both on the inside and the outside to become more graceful, enigmatic, fierce and fulfilled. I'm a firm believer in following the advice of my Unicorn Decision Making Pen which quite often encourages me to Chase a Rainbow but often I fail to spot the rainbow or even look for it because I think I know better. ...

Shortly before Christmas, James started asking me about books  'We've never really had the book chat, have we?' 'No, I guess we haven't' I mean we've had the Harry Potter chat - FYI, I'm a Ravenclaw,  Neville Longbottom is my hero and Bellatrix Lestrange is my mortal enemy. What he was referring to is that while we each know the other has a love of reading, we've never really delved into a chat about authors and genres, although in hindsight this seems remiss of me. I bore other people, sometimes actual strangers, with my book chat daily.  He's lost me in bookstores for a good ten minutes because something has caught my eye and I've swooped towards it for a closer inspection.  When he picked 'You Do You' as one of my gifts, he did so partly because it's something I say quite often, but also because Sarah Knight featured pretty high on my list of favourite authors. For someone who called their blog The Quirky Queen, has blue ombre ...

I’m on annual leave today, I’m not actually away on holiday anywhere, just taking a few days to chill and relax.  My original plan was to make use of Netflix, binge watch something, do some online shopping seeing as it’s pay day………today had other plans for me.   The internet was down, the television was down and my xbox game collection consists of games that are far more appealing to my 12-year-old nephew than myself – so I decided to read one of the mountain of books lying on my bedroom floor. In a moment of amusement given my lack of technological stimulation, I picked up Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown. This book was recommended to me by my colleague Chelsea, she had read one of my blogs last year about my inability to say no to things I don’t want to do (you can read that here if you wish) and recommended to me that I read this book. I’d be lying if I said that I’ll go through the rest of my life suddenly starting to throw out no’s all ...

I started off this summer with the best of intentions, I had a two week holiday booked, I had four books packed and a schedule of when I was planning to blog about them....... Trouble is, when I got to my holiday, I was a bit too busy being on holiday and I read a grand total of one book. Fast forward a few months and I've read another! Check me out. This is a book my mum passed to me because she thought it would amuse me, which it did. It has also helped me to try and readjust the way I think and what I value as important.  Without going into too much detail, it helps you to make a decision about the things that do and don't matter in the grand scheme of your life, the things that are important enough to consume your worries and the things that aren't.....in essence, identifying the things you should and perhaps shouldn't give a f*** about. It's not an instruction manual, its the family member or best friend you turn to when you need someone to tell you that it...

I randomly picked up 'When Mr Dog Bites' in a library I had nipped into to use the loo. I'd already picked up a few books (recipe books, I'm an appalling cook so goodness knows where I thought I was going to get with those and When Mr Dog Bites.....the recipe books are back in the library and I've yet to open them) and figured a new fiction book was in order, I'd given books a bit of a rest for a few months and decided I wanted to lose myself in someone else's story. For the past few weeks, that person's story has been Dylan Mint. It's the kind of story I'd normally finish in one or two sittings but because I started reading it on holiday, I got a little preoccupied with sight seeing. I instantly warmed to Dylan Mint, he's Scottish, he's funny and he's brave.  These are all traits I like in a protagonist. Although its a primary focus in the story, I often forgot about Dylan's tourettes unless he happened to have an outburst, which...

I'm not sure how interesting my post about my favourite things in January actually was for anyone who read it,  but I enjoyed writing it so I decided to do it again this month....or again this month lol.  It was kind of cathartic, not only to focus on some positive thought but also to reflect on how fortunate I am in times when I feel a bit sorry for myself - I have a lifestyle that allows me to have favourite possessions - I don't take that for granted. I've linked to them where I can in case anyone is interested. Clothes  February was the month of skirts - I've acquired two this month!  And they both have pockets!!! I love pockets!!! Pockets!!! This little beauty came from Cath Kidston , I really like Cath Kidston stuff but some of it can be a little out of my price range so I my purchases there are generally now and again - this was an early birthday present from Mum. The print reminded me of London - I've been a few times with my friend but I've never a...

Rachie's Musings on: Dream a Little Dream by Giovanna Fletcher It has come to my attention recently that my mother reads my blog which has paid off because after mentioning in a previous post I'd quite like to read Giovanna Fletcher's new book Dream a Little Dream....she bought it for me......thanks Mum! :-) This is my second Giovanna Fletcher book, the first one I read was Billy and Me and it very quickly became one of my favourite books. I mentioned that I could relate to the main character Sophie in Billy and Me and I found myself also relating to the main character Sarah in Dream a Little Dream.  Sarah is 29 and a bit dissatisfied with life, she's become bored of a job she hoped would be a stepping stone after graduation and aspires to have the career she always dreamed of. I can sort of relate to that.  The world isn't always as shiny and exciting as we hoped it would be after university/college/school. For every graduate who secures their dream j...

Rachie's Musings on: The Tiny Wife by Andrew Kauffman The Tiny Wife was a fairly short read but it’s packed full of awesomeness. At the beginning of the story a thief comes into a bank. Instead of taking money from everyone, he instead takes whatever item in the possession of those in the bank that holds the most sentimental value to them. The story takes some strange twists and turns as a result, but the most notable consequence of the robbery is that the narrator’s wife, who was in the bank that day, begins to shrink a little more each day and begins to lose sense of herself and who she is as she finds navigating her way through the every day tasks and experiences. Her shrinking also has an effect on her relationship with her husband who does his best to try and help with her situation and keep her spirits raised. Whilst I can't relate to shrinking, I can relate to allowing something I can't control get to me and start to influence how I feel, act and live my life. The s...

Rachie's Musings on: Loser by Jerry Spinelli Loser follows the story of Zinkoff, or Donald Zinkoff as he is known to his parents and teachers.  The book follows Zinkoff through elementary/primary school and reminds us what it’s like to see the world through the eyes of a child. Zinkoff loves school, for the most part he loves his teachers and he loves life.   You could easy assume that this book is designed for a young audience, it has a teen friendly cover and it follows the life of a school child, but it can also give us ‘adults’ a bit of a kick up the backside!! Zinkoff has that same enthusiasm for life and fire in his belly that everyone is born with, where absolutely everything is a fun new discovery and it’s the most awesome thing ever.   As we grow up, life beats that out of us a little bit, we lose the sparkle and we become grown ups. While following Zinkoff through his story, I could almost see the sparkle starting to fade from him, although it never left hi...

Rachie's Musings on: Change Your Mind – 57 Ways to Unlock Your Creative Self by Rod Judkins I was wandering through an art gallery gift shop with friends and whilst my friends were soaking in the artsy stuff for sale, I zoned in on this little beauty.  I initially bought it thinking ‘Great, maybe I’ll get some tips on how to become a bit more creative, cause I really wasn’t born one of those gifted people who can just are creative’ The first page gave me a much needed kick up the bum and bluntly explained to me that some of the greatest creative minds are just ordinary people with ordinary lives who have used creativity to become a bit less ordinary.    The rest of the book dispenses techniques and advice, through habits we can teach ourselves in order to tap into this much feared thing called creativity. I used to think creativity was something you either had or didn’t have, you were born to be creative or you weren’t,  you had a talent through which to express it o...

Rachie's Musings on: The Boy Who Kicked Pigs by Tom Baker When I picked up The Boy Who Kicked Pigs in a bookshop, I didn’t particularly notice who the author was, I just liked the cover.  Apparently you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover, in this instance, I’m glad that I did. Upon proper inspection I realised it was written by a man named Tom Baker, who just so happened to play the fourth incarnation of The Doctor in my favourite TV programme Doctor Who, so needless to say I was very excited to get stuck in. The Boy Who Kicked Pigs focuses on a young boy named Robert Caligari, he’s a strange boy and his sister Nerys really gets on his nerves.  As an act of revenge towards Nerys, he kicks her piggy bank and unintentionally discovers a brand new hobby of kicking anything pig related, piggy banks, bacon, you name it – he’ll kick it. Without ruining the story for anyone who hasn’t read it, the rest of the book continues to follow Robert on his pig kicking discovery and the...

Rachie's Musings on: One Million Lovely Letters by Jodi Ann Bickley I ordered One Million Lovely Letters after hearing about it from various people. It arrived on a Tuesday morning and by Thursday afternoon I had finished it, I literally only put it down when I had to.  One Million Lovely letters tells the story of its author Jodi, I won’t spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the book (you really should, it’s pretty awesome!). In the book Jodi openly talks about the struggles she has had to overcome and how she has had to adapt in order to carry out some of the day to day tasks we often take for granted or don’t even think about while doing them.  Jodi has channelled her experiences into a fantastic project called One Million Lovely Letters where she reaches out to others all across the world offering them kindness, understanding and support whatever their struggles may be. Reading this book not only gave me a kick up the bum for feeling sorry for mysel...

Rachie's Musings on: The Fault in Our Stars When The Fault In Our Stars was published in 2012, I was still at uni and in my ‘ not reading books unless it is to quote and stick in an essay/dissertation’ phase so this little beauty passed me by. As time went on I became aware of its existence because it was being turned into a movie.  Despite being aware of the ending in advance because….the internet exists, I decided I wanted to read the book before seeing the film just to see what all the fuss was about. I read the book in three days, only putting it down to sleep because my eyes couldn’t stay open any more, I was gripped straight away. On first impressions  you’d probably think it’s a teenage love story but The Fault In Our Stars is so much more than that. Not only is it laugh out loud funny, witty and heart-breaking all at once, but it’s also honest. Life isn’t always fair and it doesn’t always work out the way we hope it will and The Fault In Our Stars isn’t afraid to...

Rachie's Musings on: Billy and Me by Giovanna Fletcher Billy and Me very quickly became one of my favourite books that I’ve read.  It is, as you would expect from the title, a love story about how girl meets boy but to me it’s a lot more special than just that. When I read Billy and Me, I felt as though Sophie, the ‘Me’ in Billy and Me, was speaking directly to me, I felt as though I wasn’t reading this story, I was sitting in a coffee shop somewhere, listening to my friend tell me all about this great guy she has met and all the adventures they have been on so far. Sophie appealed to me because I could relate to her. She’s roughly my age or thereabouts, her mum works in a library (so does mine!) she’s unassuming, she dislikes rudeness and gossip, she was unsure of what she wanted to do with her life and found something she was good at by accident and most importantly, she works in a teashop and bakes cake every day – cake is my happy place! I won’t delve too much into Bi...

Rachie's Musings on: All I Know Now, Wonderings And Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully.  Before I start with my thoughts and musings, I'm gonna put it out there - I quite like Carrie Hope Fletcher! Well, I don't know Carrie, but I like the bits of her personality I've seen in her YouTube videos and in her writing.  Carrie and I share a few similarities, we both have naturally curly hair that is prone to doing it's own thing, we both like musicals, we both like to read and we both have a massive place in our hearts for all things Disney. Unfortunately I am neither a West End actress or a published author so that's possibly where our similarities end :-)  If you aren't familiar with Carrie, she's pretty cool! Primarily an actress, currently appearing as Eponine in London's West End production of Les Miserables, Carrie is also a singer, a writer, a YouTuber and honorary big sister to her 500,000 plus subscribers 'The Hopefuls'  Carrie, albeit...

Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. As a kid, I was fairly confident, possibly even too confident at times, I was scared of insects, dogs and lifts/elevators but not much else.  As I got a bit older, that confidence sort of dissolved like Alex Mack into a puddle of goop, and I found myself a much shyer Rachie. A few months ago, I met with a lovely lady called Hilary who was helping me by offering me advice & tips for interviews and she quickly picked up on the fact that one of my biggest problems was confidence. Along with lots of interview specific advice, she also advised that I do one scary thing everyday and read a book called 'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway' by Susan Jeffers. I quickly acquired a copy and began reading it in the hopes that I would gain something from it - and I certainly did. Without reiterating the whole book and spoiling it for anyone who hasn't read it yet and might want to - I learned that I'm most afraid of What Ifs! What if I can't do t...