Tuesday, 29 September 2020

October TBR Lists



October is here!! The best month of the year! 
Sadly, we had to cancel our Honeymoon/my 30th Birthday holiday to Disneyland Paris which should have been this month. However, Mr H will still be off work for a few days and because we will be pretty much confined to our house that means we should have some prime reading opportunities. That is kind of reflected in our TBR choices which may be slightly optimistic in comparison to our usual lists and our actual pages read each month. We have to be optimistic about something though haha!

Mr H's TBR List
The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson - 781 pages
The Gospel of Loki by Joanne Harris - 302 pages

- Page Total = 1,083

Mrs H's TBR List 
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini - 748 pages
The Whitby Witches by Robin Jarvis - 375 pages
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster  [Mr H's pick] - 256 pages
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury [Extra] - 145 pages

- Page Total = 1,524





Monday, 28 September 2020

The First Walk of Autumn


I don't think anyone is aware, because it's not like I have often talked about it, but we haven't been able to get out for our usual walks this year because of there being so many other people (who seem to have just discovered the outdoors) out and about taking over all the usually quiet escapes. Just FYI, that first statement was obviously sarcastic due to the fact I haven't stopped complaining about it haha.

It's a huge miss for us, being able to get out and just breathe fresh air, spot the wildlife and photograph the changing seasons. We'd usually get out to the beach or woods multiple times a month and now it isn't once a month. These photos in this post are from Saturday the 12th of September when my car was in for it's MOT. We don't have any other vehicle, we don't live within walking distance to a garage and there is no way in hell I'm going in any stores/buildings or public transport any time soon...so we had no other choice but to walk.
With masks on (yes we were outside and any people we were nearby were only in passing but we will not be seen without masks in public) and camera around my neck we went for a wander. This is what we experienced.














Our nearest town is South Shields so after driving to the garage and dropping off the car we headed toward the riverside where the Ferry is. Considering how close to the town centre this is it was pretty quiet - pretty quiet isn't quiet enough for me haha. We found a huge grass hill, away from the benches to sit but after having come to the conclusion waiting with no books was going to drag we set off again.
We discovered a statue about a lady who sounded like a very interesting person, saw dragonflies, foraged for blackberries and just generally got to do what we do best. It was a lovely time together.
Oh and even better, my car passed it's MOT!

Until next time...
 

Monday, 21 September 2020

50 Things I Don't Buy



Recently I fell down a mini hole on YouTube from eco-vloggers and minimalists simply talking through a list of 50 things they no longer or have never bought. I found myself nodding along in agreement more often than not and could even think of many other things we don't use in our house, so began compiling my own list. 
A percentage of this list is intentional, because we hold the oceans, animals and our planet Earth in general in higher regard than the use of any of item. The rest is purely down to preference. We are pretty basic and low maintenance people by nature and don't tend to go for a lot of the frills and extras that some people may regard as essentials. 
Check it out below to see the home, beauty, life etc items we have never or no longer buy.


Disposable Makeup Wipes
Disposable Period Products
Disposable Razors
Cotton Wool Balls/Pads
Skincare Products 
Body Wash/Shower Gel
Shaving Foam
Liquid Shampoo/Conditioner or other Hair Products
Aersol or Roll-on Deodorant 
Perfume

Trendy Clothes
Excess Shoes
Jewellery/Accessories
Handbags
Swimwear
Bras
Excess Make-Up
Beauty Services [Hair cuts, lashes, nails etc]
Nail Varnish
Miniature Travel Items

Excess Kitchen Appliances [We don't even have a microwave]
Cling Film
Tin Foil
Kitchen Roll
Disposable Tableware
Washing Up Liquid
Disposable Cloths/Sponges
Excess Cleaners
Air Fresheners
Tissues

TV [Licence or 'Sky' etc subscription]
Apps
Fancy Gadgets 
New Tech
Phone Cases
Music Subscriptions or CDs
Magazines/Newspapers
Car Accessories [Air freshener, decor, mats etc]
Holiday Related Food/Decor etc [Minus Halloween]
Indoor Flowers

Bottled Water
Meat
Dairy
Pre-Prepared Food
Tea/Coffee
Fizzy Juice
'Eat Out'  Food



The first twenty things I don't buy are all healthy and beauty related, some more self-explanatory than others. If you read my 'Our Eco Journey - The Bathroom' post the majority are explained there, including what on Earth I do use if I don't any of those things. When it comes to perfume I do have 2 small bottles, both of which were gifts and because I very rarely wear it, it has lasted a good while. 
I stated 'trendy clothes' and 'excess make-up' because I do occasionally buy something from these sorts of categories but not on the scale of most people. For example, I don't wear anything on-trend or buy things as the seasons change. I have a chunk of staple clothing pieces that I always wear and a few pieces of makeup for the (again, rare) moment I do pop some on, so if something is broken beyond repair, run out or no longer fits I will replace it.
Moving on to the rest of the house the kitchen also has a blog post where you can see what we use as alternatives, Our Eco Journey - The Kitchen. All of the 'techy' things speak for themselves but I will explain the last few items. Pre-prepared food relates to things like pre-cut/sliced veg or similar and 'Eat Out' food is in reference to things you buy in stores to take out and eat. We cook 99% of all our own meals but do every now and again get a takeaway pizza or something!

Let me know how many things from our list you also don't use or buy!
Until next time...



Tuesday, 15 September 2020

The Guilty Reader Book Tag

 


Sooo. It's been a crazy, hectic, take-each-day-as-it-comes type of year so far for most of us and despite me being determined to get ahead of myself with the blogs and have everything pre-written a couple of weeks in advance (like I used to) I've gotten to Sunday and realized I'd forgotten about Tuesday's book blog post! That means the original post for today has been bumped for a while and a quick, fun little tag has replaced it! Stayed tuned for next week where we have a pretty cool post seeing as this month's marks the 1 year anniversary of us starting Pages of the Hallows!


Have you ever re-gifted a book you've been given?
Mrs: Nope. I've given them to charity shops etc though.
Mr: No, I only give gifts to Mrs H and I only get them from her so why would I re-gift them back to her.

Have you ever said you've read a book when you haven't?
Mrs: I have not, no. I don't see the point in doing that because if you are asked anything about it, you can't answer and then you'll look extra stupid.
Mr: Maybe in school if we'd been assigned one to read.

Have you ever borrowed a book and not returned it?
Mrs: I don't think I have actually ever lent a book from anyone other than a library.
Mr: Probably from the library when I was a child.

Have you ever read a series out of order?
Mrs: Technically I read The Chronicles of Narnia 'out of order'. I read them in chronological order, whereas a lot of people like to read them in publication order.
Mr: In my opinion no I have not, but according to Mr H a lot of people think I read Narnia wrong

Have you ever spoiled a book for someone?
Mrs: If you wouldn't like it done to you, don't do it to someone else. I remember in high school when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was published and a lot of us got it at the midnight release, someone ruined it for us. I didn't read mine overnight like many others, it took me a day or two, but there were people who didn't necessarily understand why it was a big deal to others and purposely went around telling people about a certain important death in the book...they thought it was hilarious. 
Mr: No I haven't but then again the only other person I know who reads is Mrs H and I wouldn't do that.

Have you ever dog-eared a book?
Mrs: Maybe as a child, but I would never do that now!
Mr: Yes but not for a long time, funny fact though I'm still reading the last book I Dog-Eared maybe I will finish it one day.

Have you ever told someone you don't own a book when you do?
Mrs: I see a running trend with my answers. No! I am not embarrassed by any of the books I own so wouldn't need to lie.
Mr: No why would I lie about having a book?

Have you ever told someone you haven't read a book when you have?
Mrs: See above haha. I don't read according to trends or really care what people think of my reading tastes.
Mr: No I have not.

Have you ever skipped a chapter or a section of a book?
Mrs: I actually don't think I have to be honest. Even as a child. Why bother, you could miss something important to the storyline or ruin the ending for yourself.
Mr: No why would anyone do that? It's just cheating yourself out of part of the book.

Have you ever bad-mouthed a book you actually liked?
Mrs: Once again, a final no! For all the reasons listed above. I have bad-mouthed popular books that most people like and I don't, but never a book I actually liked. Surely you would praise it to share it to other people?
Mr: No I usually like most of the books I read, and if I don't like it I says so Mrs H  doesn't waste her time reading it too.






Monday, 14 September 2020

Life Lately // August


[The photo above is our monthly couple portrait for August. We have been taking these since January 2019!]

Rather than do monthly updates on our lives, when we really aren't that interesting anyway, I've decided to put them together just as and when I feel the need. Our previous 'Life Lately' and technically first (well since re-starting Underland to Wonderland) was back in May so we now have a good 3 months to catch up on...I wonder if much has changed. This will be cool to see if only for my own reference!
To check out May's Life Lately click here!

You may or may not know that we have three blogs in total, so let's start off with those and highlight some of what was posted on them throughout the past month or so.


Adventures of the Hallows - My Photo Diary Blog!
I have taken daily photos since 2013 (2014 were weekly photos) and I share them each week in blog posts. I also have a series, Back Through the Lens, where I look back at that exact week over the past 7 years and chose a photo from each to re-share and reminisce about! Check out the past four weeks worth of posts below!



The calendar below shows my August daily photos in one big overview! A lot of days have more than one photo per day, so to see them all and see the images in a larger size make sure to follow the links listed above.



---

Our daily photos are usually a pretty good representation of what goes on in our life throughout the month, but for the things they don't show see below...

Loving
Everything to do with my husband. He is so incredibly hardworking, kind, caring, understanding and has top-notch tolerance of me in general. I can't believe that in only 47 days we will have been married 1 whole year already!! This guy is keeping me going just now because my sadness and in turn anger at everything going on just now seems neverending.

Hating
Oooh, do we really get me started ranting? haha I hate that I don't get to have a honeymoon, that I have barely seen my parents for months and that we have to rely on online shopping for everything (including just buying a new battery for the fire alarm) because we can't just pop to the store, while everyone else seems to be moaning that 'their freedom has been taken away from them' and new guidelines/rules are too harsh for them. People have literally lost their lives or loved ones, lost jobs and homes, but selfish, ignorant and entitled people still think being hygienic, sensible and respectful is too difficult.

Feeling
Like I stated above; sad, angry, fed up. But also excited for October. It is my 30th birthday on October 12th which I'm not the most excited for...however Halloween, our anniversary and October in general are what we love!

Thinking
About the future. When will we be able to go for walks again? Will we ever get to travel or go on a Honeymoon? Will I be able to get a job? I'm petrified of the world and the way it's heading, not only because of the pandemic but because of the world leaders who are ruining everything. Nowhere feels safe and I highly doubt it will improve any time soon.


Reading
As of today while I'm writing, the 10th of September, I'm at 40 completed books for 2020! My goal was set on Goodreads at 36 books, 3 books for each month, which felt achievable to me, so it's super nice to have surpassed that with another 3+ months still to read.
I'm currently reading The Great Elephant Chase by Gillian Cross and have also just started to listen to the audiobook of The Enchanted Castle by E Nesbit as it's been a while since I listened to a book.

Watching
In the last update, I said that we'd watched more shows and movies in those few months than we had the whole previous year. Although Mr H went back to work months ago, our viewing habits haven't died down as much as you'd think. This wasn't all in just September obviously, but some of the things we've watched lately were: All 7 seasons of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996), All 5 seasons of Saved by the Bell (1989), SBTB The College Years and the SBTB movies, all of which I have personal digital files of.
As for Netflix, everything in the following list we have watched in its entirety unless otherwise stated: Queer Eye, Love on the Spectrum, Buy it Now, the most recent series of AGT and a couple of things that we really wouldn't usually be into but had nothing else to watch...Benidorm, Tattoo Fixers, Body Fixers and Don't Tell the Bride. 
Currently we are halfway through Saved by the Bell: The New Class and have just started Gilmore Girls! That all sounds a whole lot but we actually only watch stuff for a couple of hours in the evenings.

Doing More
Buying stuff? haha That sounds awful! We really aren't usually the type to go shopping or buy pointless crap but over the past couple months, we seem to have had many a parcel arrive at our door! It's been Baker's 8th birthday so he got gifts, we can't go in stores so the charity shop book hauls are non-existent meaning we've bought more than a handful of books online! I also collect the Castle Collection pins from ShopDisney which come out bi-monthly and we've had a little spree of Disney Halloween items seeing as our Disneymoon isn't happening... 

Doing Less
Planning. I've no trips to plan of course, but I also usually have a weekly plan for household chores and blogging etc but I haven't been physically writing a plan for a little while. 


Stand out moments in the last few months:
- We completed our charity Virtual 5k Rhino Run for Saving the Survivors!
- On June 26th, it was 1 whole year of us living in our house (anniversary photo shown above).
- A little Hedgehog found us to help rehabilitate him (link for Hoggle's blog post above).
- We decorated Baker's bedroom...finally.
- I took an at-home DIY blood test.
- Beamish re-opened and we visited for the first time since December. (blog post of photos linked above).
- Baker turned 8 on the 26th of August!
- The reptile room is pretty much finished with all snakes and lizards in their 'new' homes.


Until next time...




Tuesday, 8 September 2020

Pages Per Day // August

 


August pages per day post has come around even faster than July's post did! 8 full months of reading down, and 39 books read for me, 30 for Mr H. Our page total TBR goals for August were 943 pages and 971 pages respectively...see below to find out how we did and if having already passed our book goal for the year took away our motivation...



Days 1 - 7 =  238
Days 8 - 14 = 239
Days 15 - 21 = 149
Days 22 - 28 = 143
Days 29 - 31  =  90

Monthly total = 859

As you can see my TBR pages and actually read pages don't match up. I completed two books from my TBR and DNFed the third one with less than a quarter to go. If I'd DNFed sooner, I'd have gotten more reading done because this definitely held me back but I was determined to get through it! You'll see which book it was in our quarterly round up... 


Days 1 - 7 =  304
Days 8 - 14 = 351
Days 15 - 21 = 186
Days 22 - 28 = 327
Days 29 - 31  =  129

Monthly total = 1,297

I read 4 full books in August, my TBR 3 plus a re-read of one of my favourite books from The Chronicles of Narnia, The Magician's Nephew! I also finished a book that was started in the previous month. Like last month, you can see there was the odd not-as-good week but as I've passed my yearly goal I'm really not bothered haha.




Monday, 7 September 2020

Meet the Pets - Mars and Argo

Only five short months after re-starting this blog, beginning this mini-series of 'Meet the Pets' and introducing our brood of 10 animals, we are finally at the very last post! Saving the best until last does not apply in this situation at all, and not because Mars and Argo aren't the best, but because all of our animals are the best.

So as for the final two family members, they are the smallest of the furry bunch and second smallest after the Leopard Geckos! After Athena (Columbian Boa) they were the last to join us after we adopted them right around when we moved in together at the end of January / start of February 2019. At the time of adoption, these poor guys were said to be only a year old and had already had two homes and been re-paired once. Mars had originally been in a pair with another piggy but was a big bully so when he had been taken back to Pets at Home because the family didn't want them anymore, they re-paired him with Argo. Mars and Argo were then adopted by a new family who after only a month turned back up at Pets at Home, phoned the store while sat outside to say they didn't want them anymore and then dumped them back at the store that day. These little guys had done nothing wrong and yet they already had 2 failed homes at such a young age. 

If you are considering adding a small furry animal to your family please research it a lot before you do it. (Obviously, this goes for all animals, but it seems people disregard the seriousness of small animals, some of which can actually be quite hard work). 
Just because these are smaller and thought to be less 'work' does not mean they are a toy to buy for your child who will more than likely get bored in a month or two. Once you are sure you can provide the time, money and love a new buddy/buddies will need, look to adopt an animal/s before going to buy. Please. A lot of small, local shelters may have pets other than dogs and cats but Support Adoption for Pets with Pets at Home are also a good programme specifically for Rabbits, Guinea Pigs, Hamsters and more. As their website states, ''These adoption centre units provide shelter for pets that can no longer be cared for by their current owners, and we do everything we can to find them a loving new home. For as long as they need, they will have a safe place to call home with us, and we cover the costs of their food, housing and any veterinary treatments that may be required.''

As you can probably guess, that is where Mars and Argo's story started and ended on the 26th of January 2019. They are finally in their forever home and don't need to worry about not being cared for properly or being abandoned again. Now let's talk a little bit about each of them...



A little bio and some quick facts:
Name: Mars 
Species: 'Albino' American Guinea Pig 
Gender: Male
Age: 2
Birthday: 7th February
Temperament: Ruffian!

Loves
Screaming at you when you open the fridge
Broccoli and Parsley
Playing with the cats
Being talked to because he has impaired vision
Running around the house

Hates
Getting put back in his house
Apparently his brother...


Despite most 'albino' guinea pigs apparently being more so hard of hearing than anything else, our guy definitely has impaired vision. By his body language and way he moves about this has always been evident and he is a good lad at responding to his name - whether that is because he knows his name or rather that he just follows the voice is to be determined. Either way, when he hears his Daddy talk he gets very excited and has his little nose right up in the air looking around for him. 
If you can't tell, Mars was named thusly because of his red eyes (like Mars the planet) and trying to stick to our naming theme of Gods and Goddesses, Mars being the ancient Roman God of War. Thinking about this it suits him well as he is a fighter who was re-paired due to bullying, has previously bullied his brother Argo, once fully attacking him which left us with a blood bath and meant we had to separate their beds completely! He also has one grey foot which has seen him dubbed Peter Pettigrew as a nickname...if you know, you know haha.
Mars is a loud, feisty, crazy little guy who makes us laugh when he 'popcorns' around the living room and takes over the cats cardboard castle. A big personality difference to his brother...




A little bio and some quick facts:
Name: Argo

Species: Silkie Guinea Pig
Gender: Male
Age: 2/3
Birthday: 7th February
Temperament: Timid

Loves
Broccoli and Parsley
Chewing anything wooden
Laying in the sun


Hates
Being picked up
Getting groomed


As I stated above, this guy is almost a complete opposite to Mars. Don't get me wrong, he has a good loud squeak on him too, especially when Mars starts and he will join in but in general, he's much more reserved and chilled out. He enjoys being out and exploring but tends to shy away from the living room, it seems he is completely indifferent to the cats, being neither a fan of them nor being scared of them...he just doesn't acknowledge their existence haha.
A few months ago we had a terrible health scare with Argo when a small golf ball sized 'lump' appeared on his throat. It ended up being a bacterial infection of the lymph nodes that got larger over a very short amount of time and ended in tears. This was at the time where the boys shared their home in our kitchen. I came into the room to a scuffle and the sight of blood...a lot of blood, espcially for such a small nick caused by bully Mars. Luckily Mr H was at home and after my screaming we were able to get him looked at, cleaned up and quarantined for a few days in a separate large indoor cage where we could keep him clean. When it was time to put him back into the his house we decided it was necessary to separate them for good and blocked it off into two sections. Now Argo has one side and seems much happier and relaxed. He gets himself in and out easily at his leisure to run around still too, just like his brother (just at different times)! 
Oh! And as for his name. Long story short it came from a small band/girl I watched online years ago. We'd already named his brother and so Mars Argo sprung to mind and seemed to me a nice fit. Only later did I find out that Argo is also the name of a famous ship in Greek Mythology just fitting it into our theme! 



There we have the final members of The Hallow Family!  
Make sure to have a look back on the rest of this mini series for super cute photos of our other 8 babies and read all about them. Click the links below:
Dog // Baker
Snakes // Anubis, Athena and Hades
Cats // Aurora and Eos
Lizards // Hela and Freya

Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed meeting our family. Please leave us links of posts about your pets in the comments!
Until next time!