Sunday 16 March 2014

Sam Sunday #47: Life Goes on as Normal


Life has been continuing on as normal in the two weeks since my last update post.  Spring has finally started to arrive and it's been nice to have a break from the constant rain and actually soak up some sunshine. We're now half way through the second part of the spring term, meaning that in three weeks time we have a two week Easter holiday, which I can not wait for.  It's not even a particularly long term, but it feels longer than it is as I'm starting to get tired and achy from standing up all day.

We've started to buy things for the nursery and for the baby's arrival now.  On Friday we went to kiddicare with Tom's parents and got the car fitted for a car seat and pram, which my in-laws are very kindly buying for us.  I have a teeny tiny car (old style Nissan Micra), so it was a relief to find something that had a) a car seat that would actually fit in the back of my car without too much hassle and b) a pram that would fold down small enough to go in the boot. We've also chosen which cot we want, and will be ordering all of the nursery furniture in the next few weeks. We still have roughly 12 weeks to go, but lots to do!

I'm making the most of my time before the baby comes by also taking a Shakespeare course online through futurelearn.  We're reading one Shakespeare play a week and then relating the plays to events and themes from Shakespeare's life and world, and so far it's been really interesting.  Last week, I read The Merry Wives of Windsor and it's good to have the opportunity to read the plays in a structured environment, where things are explained!  I'm looking forward to getting to Othello and Anthony and Cleopatra later in the course.

Aside from Shakespeare, most of my reading time has been taken up with the Baileys long-list (an annual tradition for me).  I wasn't that impressed with Almost English but am loving The Luminaries so far.  Of course, all my holds at the library came in at once despite me being different numbers on each reserve list, so I now have quite a few books to get too, and most of them are very chunky!  I'm looking forward to it though, and hoping to discover some gems.

In the last fortnight, I've been reading:
  

 

Reviews posted:

18 comments:

  1. I have been waiting for your Sam Sunday all day long! I know that you are on a break and feeling great, but I love hearing how excited you all are for the baby :) I am glad you found all the forniture and things you wanted and liked: baby's things are so expensive I sometimes have seen my cousins chose between what they really wanted and what they could afford. Not easy...

    I had never heard of futurelearn, so thank you! I am checking them now to see if they have any courses that I would like to join.

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    1. I am excited :)
      Luckily we have lots of family members who want to buy us baby stuff, that's helping massively.

      Enjoy futurelearn!

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  2. Nice to hear you're enjoying The Luminaries. I have it on my kindle ready to go and feel I should read it as being a NZer I'm very familiar with the general setting and have spent quite a bit of time in the Hokitika area - but so far I've been put off by the size!!!

    So exciting to hear about preparations for your new arrival. Hope it continues to go well :-)

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    1. It is long and slow paced but not difficult to read, I just wish I had more time to submerge myself in it fully!

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  3. The pre-baby time is so exciting! Get all the reading done that you can ahead of time...;)

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    1. Oh yes, I'm trying to read as much as possible :)

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  4. I am doing that Shakespeare course as well :) I'm enjoying it! I think at uni Shakespeare took sort of a back seat in my life because I used to fall asleep reading his plays. That was more of a case of constant sleep deprivation in my university time, but I learned to associate the two with each other! This course is giving me a fresh outlook and introducing me to several plays I am not familiar with. I hope you enjoy it :)

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    1. Glad to see someone else doing it :) I actually have a science degree but have always loved reading, so it's nice to get the chance to study literature a little bit. I'm looking forward to this week, Midsummer Night's Dream is one of my favourite of his plays, I've read it a few times before.

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  5. Baby prep is fun! I love hearing about all your happenings. Shakespeare is wonderful.

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    1. Yes, I'm looking forward to spending eight more weeks with Shakespeare :)

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  6. We just finished being a part of the baby prep process for my best friends (their newborn arrived two weeks ago). It is so much fun to buy stuff for the baby!

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    1. Congrats to your best friends! I love that everyone can get involved with baby prep, it's exciting for our friends and families as well as us.

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  7. I'm amazed at everything you're managing to work in before the baby's here: prep work, shopping, AND taking a Shakespeare course. Brava!

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    1. I'm one of those people that likes to be busy! I could do without the full-time teaching part though... :P

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  8. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on the Luminaries after you've finished it -- it's definitely one from the Bailey's list I am looking forward to reading :)

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    1. I am about 200 pages in and so far it's excellent. Slow paced, but really immersive. I wish I had more time for it each day.

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  9. The Luminaries sound good, and hope you like The Marriage Plot! New follower by the way.

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  10. I'm glad you're gathering all the baby necessities and that you don't have to pay for them all yourself! Love how you tackle the long-list every year! I wish I had the motivation, but since several of the novels haven't even been released in the US, I don't even bother, sadly. Can't wait to hear what you think of The Luminaries in full!!

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