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A Challenging Read, the Joy of Sky Q and Early Pancakes #LittleLoves

Mont Chery Views

Have you missed me? We had a fabulous week away, bar an unfortunate ski collision resulting in a bad knee and a blocked ear which is still making my life a misery after 10 days. The only ‘up’ side to the blocked ear is that I can’t hear my husband snoring. Absolute bliss I tell you! However I also can’t hear the back chat that my kids are dishing out on a daily basis, so they are probably getting away with murder! Any tips for clearing it would be gratefully received.

Other than that, I’ve been loving lots of things over the last week or so. Warning: there are quite a few tenuous links this week!

Read

I’ve finally finished Small Great Things! Although I took a while to get through it, that is no reflection on the writing or storyline. I was really gripped once I began concentrating and it definitely had me thinking. A holiday is great for giving a book the time and space it deserves.

John Ortberg
This week I began a new book called Soul Keeping by John Ortberg. I’m studying it with a friend and although I’ve only just started it, I have high hopes. You can’t read a lot in one sitting, as there’s so much to think about and it’s quite intellectually challenging – the old grey matter is taking a roasting! I shall report back as I go.

Watched

I always seem to miss the fabulous TV dramas when they are aired first time round (Unforgotten being one of them) but now we have SKY Q, there’s absolutely no excuse! So this week we caught up with The Moorside – the true story of Shannon Matthews who went missing back in 2008. Whilst watching the shocking story of a 9 year old girl betrayed by her own mother, I vaguely remembered hearing about it in the news but couldn’t recall exactly what happened.

It was another fantastic piece of acting from Sheridan Smith who played the mother’s neighbour, but also Gemma Whelan who played Karen Matthews – incredible all round and very well cast.

In the end, I was surprised to find myself feeling sorry for the mother. She wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box and had clearly been used by people all her life, leaving her scarred and psychologically damaged. Always so sad when the story is true and I often wonder what happened to the people in real life. If you watched and are interested, The Daily Fail posted an article giving us the details.

Heard

We’ve listened to so much music over the last week or so. The journey home from France took us 14 hours (kill me now) so we even started an audio book which the husband and I enjoyed but the kids not so much. One artist we do all like listening to is Ed Sheeran. I think we managed to play through every one of his songs, three times over.

Wore

Skis during the day and pyjamas in the evening! Yep, I’m not a party animal during a ski holiday, preferring a soak in the bath and a glass of wine in my PJs to anything else. I’m heading off on a whistle stop tour of Reading tomorrow (with the excuse of dropping my iphone into Apple) so I *may* have a purchase or two to share with you next week.

Made

A pig of myself? I devoured this delicious apple crumble crepe on holiday last week and loved every scrumptious mouthful of it.

apple crumble crepe

A fabulous idea for Pancake Day, but we all know that I’ll probably stick with the old lemon and sugar favourite (the addition of Nutella or maple syrup is about as exciting as we get here).

Other than that, my mind has gone completely blank because I’ve made zero things worth reporting this week. Sorry to let you all down. I shall try harder next week, promise!

And Lastly

Red Tulips

Our church is gearing up for lent (it starts next Wednesday if you’re looking to give something up or form a new habit) and as part of that, we are all being encouraged to live a more generous lifestyle – giving away things we love, dropping flowers round to a neighbour, taking the time to chat to someone without rushing off. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed spreading some love this week. It is true what they say – blessing others, blesses you. Go try it!

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Inside, Outside & Beyond

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15 COMMENTS

  • It looks like you had a lovely time skiing, but sorry to hear about the collision!
    I’m halfway through Small Great Things and absolutely loving it. I read all of Jodi Picoult’s books back in the day, but started to get a bit bored of them. This is on a whole new level.
    We loved The Moorside and I read a book about the case a few years ago – a real eye-opener! Karen Matthews’ parenting ability was absolutely nil and her poor kids were all seriously neglected 🙁
    The more generous lifestyle sounds like a lovely idea.

    • Suzanne W
      AUTHOR

      I’m the same with Jodi Picoult but I would say this one was completely different to all her others, a great mix of thought-provoking and a page-turning storyline. Thanks for commenting as always. x

  • Anna-Marie

    Your skiing trip sounds wonderful! Gorgeous photo! I really enjoyed Moorside, they cast it so very well. The apple crumble crepe looks amazing!!! Have a wonderful weekend #littlelove

  • jo

    Hi Suzanne i would definitely get blocked ear seen to by your GP. Might just clear in time but worth getting it checked out. We’ve just got back from skiing too – the fresh air alone would have been worth it. The change of scene was amazing and my son is now addicted. Wish he could be addicted to something a little cheaper though!

    We don’t have Sky so can’t see prog but i remember it all in vivid detail including the poor little girl being forced to hide inside the bed i think? Helpful to see the inside story of the perpetrators i imagine and to understand what motivated them.
    Hope your knee and ear recover soon.
    Happy Lent if that’s the right expression.
    Jo
    x

  • The apple crumble crepe looks absolutely AMAZING!! Oh my goodness, I’m seriously thinking of looking up a recipe for next week. Sorry to hear about your injury, hope you are on the mend soon. I’ve had a copy of Small Great Things for a while now but haven’t gotten around to picking it up, really must change that! Have a great week 🙂 #littleloves

  • natalie

    Gorgeous pictures lovely. I watched Moorside and I thought Sheridan Smith was fab – such a sad story though it is hard to believe it is a true story. Gosh I didn’t realise lent was so soon – time is flying!! xxx

  • Mum Reinvented

    Wow that crepe!!! Weird thing for your ear (although best to check with a doc first) – eye drops! I had a terrible blocked ear after a readlly bad infection which left me completely deaf in one ear, it was only when I saw an ENT consultant that he suggested eye drops and it cleared within a week after having gone on for almost 2 years. Loved The Moorside, such amazing acting! Hope you’re having a great weekend x

    • Suzanne W
      AUTHOR

      Now that’s interesting – about the eye drops. I’m really getting fed up with it now as it’s been almost two weeks but 2 years?! No way. Goodness me I couldn’t cope with that. Off to the nurse tomorrow so hoping she will have some answers. x

  • Stacie

    Glad you finished Small Great Things and enjoyed it. I throughly enjoyed The Moorside and thought the acting was fantastic. Sheridan Smith is incredible. That apple crumble crepe looks absolutely delicious! Enjoy your weekend xx

    • Suzanne W
      AUTHOR

      Yes I finally finished it! (a bit late for the Twitter party ;)). Glad you enjoyed The Moorside too. We’ve no commence on The Unforgotten. Looks gripping!

  • Jenny

    Good for you for finishing Small Great Things. Sorry to hear about your accident while skiing. That’s awful. I am dying to take a family skiing trip someday. Applying for the MW Holidays for ski you never know maybe one day I will actually win it. hahah Apple Crumble crepe is amazing. I love crepes and pancakes so delicious. Hope you are having a great weekend. #littleloves

    • Suzanne W
      AUTHOR

      I think you read it too didn’t you? Great book. I do hope you win the MW Holidays competition Jenny, you will ADORE skiing! The mountains, fresh airs, scenery and exercise combined – brilliant for a family holiday 🙂

  • Donna

    I love your ‘being more generous for lent’ – I think this is something everyone could learn from. I’m sure those tulips were much appreciated! I envy your ski holidays – although I’ve never been skiing. It must just be so nice to get away for a while x

  • Morgana

    Oh man, the apple crumble crepe! YUM!
    Love the idea of living more generously, such a great mantra for life. We’ve been working on our family values recently and that is one of them. xxx

    • Suzanne W
      AUTHOR

      Family values? How lovely! Have you all sat down and worked them out. I think that’s a great thing to do – makes children feel as though they are part of something bigger and it provides security. Great parenting! xx

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