ineke.co.uk

The Hobbit – by J.R.R. Tolkien

23 03 2013

I picked up this book because it was half price by the door in WHSmiths, the film had just come out, and it felt like it was one of those books I “should” have read. I wasn’t sure what to expect, I thought it’d be very difficult and complicated and ye olde English, but I’d heard it was meant to be lighter than Lord of the Rings, and a bit more aimed at children, so thought it was worth a shot!

It got tough in places – got pretty confused towards the end with all the different groups of people, but I actually did enjoy it! There was humour and drama, and not too much of all the battly stuff, which I always struggle to follow! And of course it was written in relatively normal English – I forget this was written by a guy who was friends with C.S. Lewis who wrote Narnia which again is ‘normal’ language – I shouldn’t have been so apprehensive! Of course there’s all the crazy names of people, creatures and places, and way too many of them to keep track, but that normally happens!

Obviously the first film for this has just come out and there’s two more to go, but I couldn’t help but wonder given it’s format of lots of mini adventures within a greater adventure, whether it wouldn’t have worked really well serialised for TV? I guess budgets are lower for that sort of thing and you don’t get the epicness of the big screen, but it definitely felt like it would break down into chunks quite nicely!

I’ll leave you with my favourite quote, which comes early on in the book:

“He charged the ranks of the goblins of Mount Gram in the Battle of The Green Fields, and knocked their king Golfimbul’s head clean off with a wooden club. It sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole, and in this way the battle was won, and the game of Golf invented at the same moment.”

the hobbit

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Categories : Books I've Read

Friday five favourite: McFly songs

22 03 2013

Who isn’t a McFly fan in all reality?! They’ve always had catchy, lively, cheerful songs, but I think the break they took to do a load of reality TV etc a couple of years ago also means it now feels like we all know them all and are their buddies! With that in mind, here’s my five favourite McFly songs 🙂

Love is Easy

All About You – (with the added bonus of a Comic Relief comedy video :))

Obviously

The Heart Never Lies

Star Girl – Couldn’t find the proper version of this, but maybe that’s a good thing, because the Chris Moyles version is better 🙂

And of course, we can’t forget this beautiful customised Medley Tom did for his wife on their wedding day!

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Categories : Friday Five Favourite, Music

Ineke’s philosophies on life: commenting first on your own Facebook posts

17 03 2013

Don’t comment on your Facebook posts when no one else has. All that will happen is that you’ll scroll past it, see “1 comment” and click on it in that needy way we all do (or at least I do!) to see who’s done it,only to see it was yourself. ..

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Categories : Ineke's philosophies on life

Losing my first tooth

10 03 2013

I’ve told this story a couple of times lately for various reasons so thought I may as well share it on here. You know there’s those stories you have that you bring up when relevant, just little anecdotes from your life because they were the handful of times you had something happen that was interesting enough that others might care? Well why not bung them on here I thought 🙂

And this one suits Mothering Sunday well!

When I was younger, probably about 6, I remember being allowed a square of dad’s whole nut chocolate. I remember saying to Mum that there was a nut too hard for me to bite through. Now for this to be taken in context, I was a very fussy eater as a child, some would say I still am, but I’m a million times better now! So when I said it was too hard to eat, mum just told me to put it in the bin and be done with it!

Later that evening, I remember I was climbing up the ladder to my bunk bed when I felt a gap in my teeth! I’d never lost a tooth before! I went downstairs and told Mum, who twigged that that must have been the nut that I couldn’t chew earlier! We worked out that it was now deep in the kitchen bin. This is where my Mum is a super hero – she got the bin bag out of the bin, and went right through it to the bottom and found my first tooth. I’m not sure I’d’ve been that dedicated!

Thanks Mum!

Is there a story behind how you lost your first tooth?

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Categories : Memories & Anecdotes

Friday Five Favourite: Sunday School Songs

1 03 2013

I’m definitely one for sentimentality, so here, unashamedly, is my five favourite Sunday school songs from when I was little!

Jesus loves me this I know

slightly trippy video!

My God is so big

do the Brucey pose!

Jesus’ love is very wonderful

slightly modified words – “oh wonderful love!”

Only a boy named David

123 Jesus Loves Me

starts at 2min

One of the oldest ones I remember I really don’t remember hearing anywhere else ever, it doesn’t seem to be on the internet anywhere either!
My Sunday school teacher, Janet, held up picture cards for us to sing it of the main words because it was when we were too young to read!
Fortunately, my mum having the amazing memory she does, has remembered all the words!:

Lots of faces in a class
Lots of faces in a class,
Lots of classes in a school,
Aren’t we far too many for,
Jesus to look after?
No, for…

Nobody else is just like me,
Nobody else is just like me,
Nobody else is just like me,
I’m important to Jesus.

Different faces, hands and feet,
Clothes untidy, clean or neat,
Aren’t we much too muddling for
Jesus to look after.
No, for…

Chorus

Sleeping, waking eating meals,
Jesus knows just how it feels,
Running, jumping, sitting still,
Jesus knows us always.
Yes, for…

Chorus

This one I only learnt last year so it doesn’t count as one of my Sunday school songs, but it’s amazing!
Jesus is my superhero

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Categories : Christian, Friday Five Favourite, Music

Happy Thursday

14 02 2013

I’m not a fan of the commercial aspect of today (well, at least not while I’m single!)

So let’s have a look at the Ultimate Love instead, just a couple of videos that today always reminds me of, enjoy x

This still gives me goosebumps

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Categories : Christian

New Year’s Resolutions 2013 – review 1

9 02 2013

At the start of the year I set myself some resolutions, and then added some more a few days later – here’s check-up number one!

Only buy FairTrade chocolate – Good! As I said originally, this is pretty much limited to buying, and as far as snacking chocolate and chocolate to put in cakes has gone I’ve stuck to it! I’ve bought things with non fair trade chocolate chips in, but that was part of the plan really. I even turned down chocolate orange the other day when I don’t have to! I’ve not even had a Boots chocolate brownie in my meal deal 😦
Read more – Started very well! I’ve read 4 and a bit books this year already! You can see what they were in the books blog category! Considering I only managed about 6 last year this is a good start! It helps that 2 were childrens books, and they’ve all been fiction – it’s when I hit non fiction last year that it all slowed down so we’ll see how this goes. I’ve already slowed a bit hitting The Hobbit, but I’m still reading regularly, which was the aim!
Limit daily time spent watching TV series on DVD – Definitely good. Watching a couple of shows a week, mainly on iPlayer it has to be said! Also I have been watching series one of Glee again, but not to the extent that I binged on DVD box sets last year – yet!
Study well for BSL and aim to pass level 1 – Fail. I decided soon after setting this resolution not to continue it. I was finding excuses not to go, and I was about to have to fork out the terms fees which aren’t cheap. I decided it’s a lot of money if I wasn’t that keen. I can always pick it up next year. I also now have books, web links, and a good basic knowledge I can expand on on my own if I want to
Exercise – Fail. Some people at work have started playing squash regularly, which is a good opportunity to start, there’s also a fitness group at church I could try, and I found my old skipping rope. I ordered some trainers which arrived yesterday. Now I need to put something into action! With lent starting on Wednesday I’m thinking of combining this somehow
Better bedtime routine – Not amazing, but not bad. Still have my laptop on when I’m getting ready for bed sometimes, but not too often. Still areas to work at!
Sort through my photos and print off some for a photo album – starting a bit of a files sort out on my computer which will hopefully get me started on this. I did do a sort out of my Compassion kid photos today and made some great photo collages for my desktop though!
Put clothes away at night – Um, well it’s not happening daily, but I’d say I’m sorting out the heap maybe weekly, which is an improvement!
Write down good things that happen and put them in a jar – I put a load of things in at the start of the year, it’s got quiet the last couple of weeks, need to keep it up!
Learn to love God more, do everything for His glory, and make time for Him. – This is a resolution for every year!

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Categories : New Years Resolutions

Friday five favourite: Sweets!

8 02 2013

So my favourite food is chocolate, no questions asked. But when it comes to other forms of confectionary, I still have a pretty sweet tooth, so thought I’d try to pick my five favourite (non chocolate) sweets!

Dolly Mixture

Fruit Pastilles (blackcurrant and strawberry are the best!)

Jelly Babies (got to be the proper dusted ones, not the mini ones!)

Marshmallows (lighter than air, so surely nothing bad for you in them!)

Ice cream flavoured Chewits (not very common, but that doesn’t make them bad!)

What are your favourite sweets?!

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Categories : Friday Five Favourite

My big ideas: Colour Coded Road Markings

5 02 2013

When I was learning to drive (the second time) I had one thing I found really difficult, and that was simply remembering the currently speed limit! If it hadn’t changed recently, then I often had to ask my instructor, “Is this a 40 or a 30?” or “Should I be doing 40 or 60 here?!” – not ideal!

So my idea, which I happily mentioned to my instructor, was to have the lines down the middle of the roads colour coded, instead of their usual white, to indicate the speed limit zone you’re in, so no matter how far you are from a sign, you know how fast you should be going.

Now there’s a slight issue in that obviously this wouldn’t help everyone, eg if you were colour blind, but this would only be in addition to speed limit signs as an aide, not the only indicator. Another option would maybe be changing the pattern the paint is printed in?

Anyone else had this trouble? Any other solution ideas?

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Categories : My big ideas

Always sitting in the same seat at church – The next step!

3 02 2013

Several years ago, Jon Acuff wrote about the well known phenomenon of “Always sitting in the same seat at church”.

Today at church I found myself going a stage further!

I wasn’t late, not even close, it was about 10.20, plenty of time to get “my seat” and chat to those who sit nearby, but as I drove into the car park, I honestly said this sentence in my head: “someone’s parked in my space!”.

I’ll try and put a bit of an excuse behind this selfishness – our church car park is a little tight at times, and only having a little car, I tend to take one of the littler spaces so those with big cars can go in the bigger spaces. There’s one of the little spaces in particular that has a bush growing into it, and I normally tend to go there, but today someone had beaten me to a) that space, and b) the ones either side of it!

Do you have a certain spot in church where you always sit? What about a parking space?!