universalme | Recent Entries

I discovered this afternoon that James has never seen The Ring. We both love horror, we both love ghost stories, so how is it possible that he's never seen it. He's never seen the original Japanese or the US remake. As soon as the kids were in bed, I pulled out the snacks I jumped straight on Amazon Prime and loaded it up and movie night.

I haven't seen the movie in years. I was 13 when I first saw it, it may have even ben my first horror movie, and it scared the absolute shit out of me. I slept with the lights on for a couple of days and I had nightmares. I LOVED IT!

Rewatching it, it stood the test of time. It still managed to get under my skin (although hopefully without the nightmares), and for good reason: The atmosphere is palpable, and a sense of dread is consistently sustained from the first scene through the end credits.

What people tend to forget about The Ring is that even though it's about a journalist trying to solve the mystery behind a cursed tape, it's also about a broken up family that slowly comes together in the wake of a crisis. Because of that, I will say that the ending is unnecessarily cruel and unearned, providing a twist that pulls the rug from under the audience just for the sake of doing so.

Current Mood: scared

One of my favourite sports is Formula 1 racing. I know, it's not the most 'feminine' of sports to follow but I love the exhilaration of it, the adrenaline that has me on the edge of my seat during a race.

It's been a hectic couple of months and the season is now on a summer break. With 12 races down and nine to go, some teams and drivers (thankfully the ones I support) have had a good 'first half' of 2019

Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes have been a record-breaking combination in 2019.

Ferrari showed testing promise in Barcelona, but it was Mercedes who flew out of the blocks at the first race in Melbourne, and displayed utter dominance for much of the first part of the season.

Hamilton and team-mate Valtteri Bottas were trading blows in the early races - indeed Bottas actually had the edge in qualifying up until Monaco.

But Hamilton has been the man to shift up a gear when the going has got tougher - and it has, because both Ferrari and Red Bull have become more regular threats to the Mercedes dominance as spring turned to summer.

Bottas has wilted away and is now a massive 62 points behind his team-mate, while Hamilton has remained on near-perfect form with his team, aside from the chaos of Germany where both team and driver faltered.

This is a partnership that is heading towards another title, and another record - the first team to win six consecutive drivers' and constructors' championships. They might as well start engraving the trophies now.

Current Mood: excited

A band that I always forget how much I love is Placebo. I was reminded of them this morning thanks to Spotify playing them in my Discover Weekly playlist and it gave me instant nostalgic flashbacks. I looked them up - their lineup has changed again and they've released a bunch of music since I last listened to them. I did some purchasing and while I like their new stuff...

I always go back to their second album, Without You I'm Nothing. I was only 9 when it came out, discovered it about a decade later and fell completely in love with it. It's remained a favourite and each time I come back to it, I find something new - a lyric or a melody.

My favourite track though remains the same. Pure Morning

"Placebo - Pure Morning" (Watch on YouTube)

I am completely addicted to both chocolate and caffeine - both coffee and diet coke. I mean addicted, I cannot function without them and oh boy, do I get withdrawl and pounding headaches when I try. I've tried multiple times to give them both up but I always cave to the cravings and give in - often bingeing and eating far more than I normally would.

It's not healthy and I know it's not. I'm a little overweight, but not so much that its a health worry. I've always been a plump woman, and have never been able to shift the last of the weight from having three children in pretty quick succession. I'm fit and healthy enough to be able to keep up with three children, I can play a game of football and I enjoy swimming. I don't enjoy going to the gym - James does and I've tried it but it's not for me.

I have those moments where I look at the images of women that society pushes on us and, even though I know those aren't real or attainable, I'm only human (and a woman) and sometimes have moments of wondering what my husband sees in but then he... well, you can guess.

My daughters though, are getting to a certain age and I want them to understand and recognise that there is more than one body shape/type, that healthy is more important etc. I want them to see me comfortable in my own skin, not dieting, not restricting food, being happy. That's what's important for me and what I want to pass on to them.

Moderation is the key, and that's what I need to work on. I don't want to cut anything out of my diet, I don't want to count calories or obsess over what's in what I'm eating. I just need to cut down a little, graze less and eat regular meals. Basically, do the things I'm ensuring my daughters do!

It's just difficult when chocolate and cake taste as good as they do!

Current Mood: hungry

I think I have a girl crush on Captain Marvel.

No ifs, ands, or buts. I just really, really, really love this movie - and this character. I generally obsess over the MCU anyway. I've seen all the movies and shows an embarrassing number of times and can ramble at length over all the plot lines.

But Carol Danvers... Considering I am a white woman in my twenties, it makes a lot of sense that I would relate to Carol Danvers, a white woman in her twenties. Admittedly, that's about where the comparisons end but, more than relating to Carol or being excited by the much needed representation she is bringing to the MCU, I was enthralled and delighted by nearly every moment she appeared on-screen.

She has Iron Man's arrogance, Thor's bravery, Black Widow's cunning, and Star-Lord's 20th century flair, but better. Meeting a character I knew I would love so deeply felt electric. It was an experience I hadn't enjoyed since first seeing Steve Rogers morph into Captain America.

As Carol slowly unseated Steve from the throne of Avengers' Best Captain, she simultaneously escaped the box I had unknowingly put her in prior to seeing the movie. Captain Marvel wasn't the cookie-cutter female hero I had expected. I wasn't jumping up and down for her girl power, nor was I vicariously unleashing my feminist rage through each of her super-charged punches.

In fact, at many points during Captain Marvel, Carol's femaleness escaped me entirely. In her complete, theatrical form, Carol isn't a "female superhero." She is a superhero, full stop, and a completely kickass one at that.

Current Mood: silly

This afternoon, Imogen, Georgia and myself were having some crafting time - we were drawing, painting, colouring, generally making a mess. I took the time to pull out my journal and write about yesterday's trip to the zoo. Imogen wanted to know what I was doing so I showed her and told her I'd been writing in a journal since I was a teenager. Anything I do, she wants to do so next thing I know, I'm finding her a notebook from my stash - just a cheap, plain papered one. She decorated the cover then turned to the first page and asked what to write about.

I suggested she starts with writing about herself. Introduce herself to her notebook, tell it what she's planning on using it for. She thought that was a great idea and we both wrote out a list of facts about ourselves.

I thought 'hey, that would make a great blog post' so... without further ado, here are 15 'interesting' facts about yours truly!

I have dyscalculia.
I'm allergic to nickel or nickel plated metals
I collect stationery and notebooks
My favourite colours are yellow and azure blue
My favourite fragrance is lavender.
My favourite flowers are azaleas and lillies.
My favourite gemstones are topaz, agate and aquamarine
My favourite animals are cats, big and small with a little extra love for cheetahs
My favourite Disney character is Eeyore
My favourite book as a child was The Very Hungry Caterpillar
My favourite painting is Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night”.
Arthurian legend fascinates me and I've always dreamed of finding Excalibur
My favourite superhero is Batman, although Captain Marvel is a close second
I will watch anything with David Tennant in it
I'm in Hufflepuff, my patronus is St Bernard and my wand is Pine wood with a unicorn hair core, 14 ½" and solid flexibility

We seem to be surviving summer so far. Admittedly it's only been a week but the weather has been glorious so we've been able to spend a lot of time outdoors - in the garden and in the park mostly but if the weather holds up we're also planning on going to the beach for a few days

Yesterday, however, was one of my favourite days of the holiday so far. James also has this week off work so all 5 of us packed into the car and off we went to the zoo! It took us about an hour to get there, lots of complaining and 'are we there yet?' from the backseat but, despite being stuck in traffic and the heat, no-one was sick, so that was a success!

The zoo was busy, as you would expect for a nice day in the summer holidays but we spent a very nice day strolling around. We saw giraffes, penguins, tigers, lemurs, meerkats, snow leopards, zebras, flamingoes, rhinos and cheetahs. And Lego dinosaurs! James would not let me take a cheetah home, which I thought was awfully mean of him.

We managed to time seeing a lot of the various talks and feedings: we saw giraffes being fed and learned about life on the savannah; we found out that meerkats are not as cute and cuddly as they look; James was a big kid and got to hold some lizards but poor Imogen was so scared she started to cry, she much preferred the rhinos which surprised me; Georgia is now in love with penguins - James also wasn't letting her take one home; and Jessie was fascinated by some of the monkeys - she also wants to know if there are any video games where she can build and run a zoo

There were also plenty of adventure playgrounds for the girls; the monkey bars were the firm favourites and it was nice to see all three of them playing well not only with each other but with other kids as well. We made sure to wear them all out before the journey home and it worked. Imogen and Georgia slept all the way home and Jessica was fighting it - far too old for a nap and all

We even had a naughty KFC on the way home!

When I started this blog, I used Husband, Oldest child, Middle child and Littlest Child when talking about my family, but... the more I'm doing it, the weirder it feels. I think it's time for some proper introductions!

My husband is called James. We've been married since December 2007 - and for those of you doing the maths, yes I was 18. I met him when I was 16, he was dating a friend of mine, they decided to set one of his friends up with me - we all went on a double date, James and I hit it off... luckily my friend forgave me for stealing her boyfriend. He's a couple of years older than me, he was already starting nursing school when I was starting college. We dated steadily while I was in college - and I discovered some of my (soon-to-be-ex)friends were racists. When I moved away to university, I HATED being apart from him, he felt the same way and so that first Christmas break when I came home, we got married. He got a job in a hospital in the same town I was in for school and the rest was history.

Some of my friends thought we were too young, our families thought we were too young. Everyone said we should at least wait until I'd finished school, that we were rushing into things blah blah blah. But we proved them wrong. 12 years and 3 children later, we're still together and I cannot imagine my life without him in it.

He's 33 and he's a nurse. He's ripped as fuck, tattooed, has a thick beard, gorgeous soft skin and I think he's beautiful. He loves going to the gym, he coaches football, he plays video games like it's his job and also loves to bake!

Our eldest daughter is 9-year-old Jessica and she's her daddy's daughter. She's a complete tomboy, inherited James' love of video games and football. I'm not sure she knows what decade it is though - her favourite band is Queen and her favourite singer is Elton John, her favourite video games system is either original Playstation or SNES. I'm relieved that she's not interested in online gaming with people though... one less thing to worry about right now. She also loves everything Superhero, especially Batman and Iron Man, Katherine Johnson is her hero, and she wants to be an engineer when she grows up.

Middle Child is my mini-me. Imogen is 8 and nearly always has her nose in a book - especially Witch School, She's quiet and introverted, a total daydreamer who spends possible a little much time in her own little world, but she's happy there. She loves thunderstorms and cats. Also a music fan but she's more into Taylor Swift, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato. She loves to paint and draw and tell stories, wants tattoos like her dad and wants to learn origami. She wants to be either a nurse, a writer or a tattoo artist when she grows up.

Our baby is 6, her name's Georgia... and we have no idea who's child she is. She's a complete girly girl, loves everything pink and sparkly and is obsessed with all things Disney. One of her favourite things to do is to bake cakes with her dad. She's very sociable and outgoing, loves putting on a show - singing and dancing, she's in a gymnastics club and is asking for a magic set for Christmas. When she grows up, Georgia wants to be a dragon, a flower or a princess.

Current Mood: content

Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2)

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Tessa Gray has found a home at the Institute with the Shadowhunters but this might not last as the Clave might replace Charlotte as the head of the Institute if they cannot find the magister in a fortnight. Tessa, Will and Jem have to find out about the Magister's past to understand what he wants and why he hates the Shadowhunters. At the same time Tessa is trying to hate Will after how he treated her on the roof but she is finding it hard to stop her feelings for him, however, at the same time she has grown really close to Jem but will she be able to choose between the two of them.

Clockwork Prince is the amazing second book in the Infernal Devices series with romance, humour action and a well written love triangle. I love the references to what is to come in the Mortal Instruments as it really connects the two series together.

The characters are the same people that we loved in the last book but they have grown in strength and are even more complex. Though I normally hate love triangles this book is the exception as I never know who I want Tessa to end up with.

I love this book and this series, and I would recommend it to readers of Clockwork Angel or the Mortal Instruments series.

Current Mood: pleased

Blogging is apparently much easier when your life is filled with teen angst that you think everyone needs to know about and have no other way of working through. Because blogging as an adult is hard.

First, there's trying to find the time to fit it in - between work and the children and housework and... LIFE in general. I think that's got to be my goal first and foremost, getting online at a regular time 3-4 times a week to try and establish a routine. I'm thinking after I've got the kids to bed, while I'm sitting down with a drink makes sense. The same time as when I do my planner for the next day. Especially on the night when my husband is working nights.

Then there's the question of what to write about, something I hadn't thought about before starting to try. After all the minutiae of getting the kids up/to school, going to work, kids clubs, homework, cooking, bedtime, housework... is not exciting at ALL, is it? I talk to my husband to vent frustrations about work and I'd much rather this be a positive mental place than a negative one - that's not to say work is only bad, but when it's where you spend the most time, it's what fills you up.

I've thought about doing one of those 30-day challenges I've seen on Pinterest and Tumblr but I think I need to find a routine before I start that. I know me and I'll start, not get online, get frustrated that I'm not keeping up with it and give up.

So. Step one. Find a routine. Maybe a Mon/Weds/Thurs/Sat? Wish me luck...

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Placebo - Begin The End

The kids were all feeling better and were back to school this morning. James was supposed to have the day off but covered an extra shift because they were short He didn't do a full shift, just a half and was home in time to collect the girls from school. That was a huge relief, because I'd fallen asleep and wouldn't have been there to do it myself. I'm still not feeling 100% still so I worked from home - although that mostly involved keeping an eye on my inbox and dealing with anything urgent/needing an immediate response.

I've wavered between bouts of getting shit done and being sacked out on the couch feeling sorry for myself/sleeping. I've been running a mild fever, not able to get warm and feeling completely drained. I watched the first couple of episodes of Game Of Thrones but I'm not sure I see the fuss. The Husband loved it but I think I'm going to have to give it a little more to get into it. I'm enjoying Jason Momoa shirtless, however. Then went back to my Supernatural re-watch marathon. I watched S1 last week and I'm going to start S2 this week. The boys were so young and I'm falling in love with Dean Winchester all over again.

During my more productive moments, I focused on bedding. With myself and the middle child being sick, it made sense to change bedding, air bedrooms and do laundry. The weather's been mostly dry today so I was able to get two loads washed and out on the line. Still one more to go but that'll get done tomorrow. All four bedrooms have had windows opened to air them and I got clean bedding on the girls beds. I'm going to have to get my husband to do our bed because I haven't done it yet and don't think I'm going to have the energy to do it.

I had to have words with the girls, especially the eldest two, about keeping their rooms tidy. It's their main chore and they're both going to lose points on their chore chart - which means losing pocket money. Eldest's room was a complete mess, she had video games scattered everywhere, games not in their cases, controllers in the middle of the floor. I almost stood on some and could have broken them. Middle's room wasn't as bad but she still had books and clothes discarded on the floor, and her dirty PE kit tossed in a corner. However, she was ill all last week so I'll cut her some slack - she just need to get it tidied up now that she's better. I'll give them both to the end of the week to get things tidied up.

I also managed to give the kitchen and bathrooms a cursory wipe down, but didn't get round to little things like straightening up the living room, emptying bins or the dishwasher. The kids all helped out after school though - Little emptied the dishwasher, put clean stuff away and reloaded it, Middle emptied the bins and Eldest... well, she sulked, but did set up the dinner table, helped her dad cook dinner (spaghetti carbonara, very tasty!) and both her and Middle made a start on tidying their room.

All in all, a pretty good day. The kids are all in bed and I don't think it's going to be long before I head that way myself. Hopefully I'll be back in work tomorrow, Husband starts a week of night shifts and, most importantly, tomorrow is my birthday!

Current Mood: exhausted

There's this meme going around where someone gives you 3 random topics to chat about, I'm sure you've seen it by now.

dauntless_heart gave me:
environment
jewelry
vampires

Environment
Our environment, our planet, is in crisis and we have to do everything we can to resolve this before it's too late. As a family, we try to do everything we can. We use energy saving lightbulbs, we have solar panels and try to use as much green energy as possible. We recycle, we take showers instead of baths, turn water off while brushing teeth, we turn lights off when not in the room, we've cut down as much as we can on single use plastics. My next goal is to move from shower gel/shampoos/conditioners etc to those soap/shampoo bars.

Jewelry
I LOVE jewelry, I'm always wearing some - earrings, rings, necklaces, bracelets. A bit like caffeine, if I'm ever not wearing jewelry, there's something wrong with me! I'm also really curious about trying to learn to make my own. It looks so much fun, but I'm worried the kids might get into it, and things like beads and children aren't always a good match.

Vampires
Horror and urban fantasy are two of my favourite genres, and vampires are one of my favourite creatures. Everything from Dracula to Edward Cullen to Angelus to Blade to Bill Compton. There's something sexy about them, charming and beautiful and powerful and immortal ♥

If you want 3 topics to talk about, just let me know and I'm sure I can think of some for you

Current Mood: tired

I succumbed to the inevitable this weekend and came down with the same virus that Middle Child had all weekend. Started getting sick late Friday night and by Saturday morning I felt like death warmed up.

I'm more annoyed than anything else. We had plans this weekend. We very rarely have plans and the one weekend we do... they'd already been put into question with Littlest being ill but then when I got ill, it was out of the question.

We were supposed to have been going bowling last night - a joint night out for Fathers Day today and my birthday later in the week. A couple of games of bowling and some junk food at the burger bar. This afternoon we were going to go to the cinema to watch Aladdin. We're all disappointed but my husband has no shifts next weekend either, so hopefully we'll all be fit and well to go then instead.

This afternoon finds me curled up on the couch, under piles of blankets, feeling pretty miserable, with a wracking cough. Husband is cooking - lamb chops - and the girls and I are watching Moana. Husband thinks we can't hear him singing along ;)

Current Mood: disappointed

My middle kid has been sick all week - some kind of virus she's picked up. I took her to the doctors yesterday and she just said to let it run its course, keep her hydrated and rested. If she's not better at the beginning of next week to take her back in. She's had no energy, completely listless, feverish, coughing, sneezing, lost her voice, upset stomach. All she's wanted to do is sleep and cuddle with mum. I hate this and feel very useless. I should just be able to wave a wand and make her better.

She's sacked out asleep in bed at the moment. I'm almost tempted to head back to bed for a nap myself. I feel like I should be getting on with the housework because this house is not going to clean itself but if I don't take care of me, I'm going to wind up getting sick as well. I've got a bit of a headache coming on but I'm hoping its just dehydration.

I paused in writing there to go and get a glass of water.

At one point, I thought the oldest was going to get it as well but she seems to be doing OK. I'm keeping an eye on her though, because she hasn't seemed quite herself. Littlest has the constitution of an ox, inherited from her father, and is powering on as though nothing's wrong - well, a little sulky that her sister won't play with her, and that mum's distracted.

Thankfully, my boss is wonderful and recognizes that when your kids are sick, you've got to be at home with them. I'm able to work remotely so while she's been sleeping, I've been working through. My husband has been a star with cooking dinner when he gets home and helping with homework and bedtime routines for the girls. Not that he doesn't do that already, but he's taken charge - and I do love watching him with them.

I'm not entirely sure I've anything to actually say. And the more I think about it, the more I think a nap sounds like a wonderful idea. I got so little sleep last night my fitbit wasn't able to register it. Hope your week is going better than mine

The girls are still asleep so I'm taking my time writing my to-do list for the day. For the sake of a little insight into my super exciting life, I thought I'd share it.

* cook breakfast
* laundry
* dishes - wash, dry, put away
* empty bins
* wipe down kitchen & bathroom surfaces

Don't I have a super-exciting Sunday planned?

Yesterday, however, when they came home from the cinema, husband and littlest child had brought me a present - a 'colour me happy' colouring book and a set of 36 (!!) coloured pencils. I'm really getting into adult colouring books lately, they really are so relaxing. Littlest also got some paints, some paper and a book on flowers - her class are doing lots of work on flowers this term and she's really enjoying it. Last week she told me she wanted to be a flower when she grows up. I'm not convinced that's how it works, but then she is only 6!

Then, last night, after the kids went to bed, husband and I watched Gozilla. The 2014 version. It was a lot of fun, not particularly very good, but then you don't watch a monster movie like that expecting a cinema classic. It was exactly what we were hoping for!

Do you ever feel like you've wandered into an alternate universe? It's a rainy Saturday morning and my children are quiet. The oldest is playing a video game, the middle is doing her best impression of mum with a book and music. The little is out with dad to the cinema. Bliss!

I'm going to take the opportunity to enjoy a little me time. A nice mug of hot coffee, a couple of chocolate hobnobs, starting both a Supernatural rewatch (it'd be rude not to when it's on Amazon Prime) and my new blog (this is it!)

Hi! You've somehow stumbled across my blog. Welcome. I'm Emma, I'm almost 30 (10 days time!), I'm a wife, a mother of three wonderful girls (ages 9, 8 and 6) and - most importantly - a proud Hufflepuff!

I love food - bacon and chocolate are my utter weaknesses and I cannot survive without caffeine. If you ever see me without either a coffee or Pepsi max in my hand, there's something seriously wrong with me!

I'm a TV junkie, an incurable music buff and I've never met a book I didn't like. Science-fiction, fantasy and horror are where I'm at, with a side order of YA. I'm also a stationery addict and hoard notebooks, much to my husband's chagrin. I'm a fan of tennis, formula 1 and women's football. I'm learning all about mindfulness, gratitude, meditation, spirituality and tarot.

I think that's enough rambling for my first entry, but that's a broad overview of who I am and what I'm interested in. It's probably a good guide of what I'm going to be writing about but that'll be more cemented as I actually write more.

If there's anything you want to know at this point, just ask :)

Universally Emma

You start to play it... and it's like somebody's nightmare

I don't even wanna restore your faith in the human race

Day's dawning, skins crawling

I'm addicted as I want to be

See that girl right next to me

15 Facts

And the sun shines all around us

And I won't tell 'em your name

Book Review: Cassandra Clare- Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, #2)

What you fear is your desire

A tired song keeps playing on a tired radio

I wonder where these dreams go when the world gets in your way

Are you too bored to care or too dumb to be scared

My kids have been sick

Sunday goals

Greetings and salutations

Profile

Introducing ME

Page Summary

Style Credit