Novem...oh wait. It's December

Another day, another fortuitous lost and found case. Last night I couldn't find a piece of paperwork I needed to send in the mail today. I concluded that I must have accidentally thrown it in with the recycling, which was now in the big bin downstairs. I wouldn't be able to find a flimsy piece of paper in the dark.

This morning as I was leaving for work I thought I'd stick my head in the bin and see if I could find it. Which I did, in about five seconds of opening the lid. Score! (Thankfully it wasn't in the rubbish bin, especially as today was collection day.)

I think I worked out how the brooch I mentioned the other day found its way back home with me despite falling off while I was out - it must have fallen into my cleavage. That was probably the day I thought I'd dropped a bit of potato chip down my top...

I get to finish earlier on Fridays from the end of this week through to the end of January - at 4.00pm instead of 5.15pm. Yay!   

November: the last day

The last day of November means the last day of my unofficial NaBloPoMo efforts. I've enjoyed blogging again. I might not be here every day from now on, but I will be here more often.

It also means only 16 days until my holidays! 

Today was very warm, but a cool change has arrived. A refreshing breeze is blowing in my window as I write.

I thought I'd lost a brooch while out and about the other day because I noticed it was gone as I was on my way home. But when I was cleaning on the weekend I found it on my bedroom floor. I can't explain it - there were no pockets on my clothes or bag for it to fall into. Odd, but good.     

JBPM: the final day

And the clouds moved in

I just realised today is the last day of the month and thus the final day of JayBloPoMo. It's kind of a relief to be honest - it's been hard some day to come up with stuff to write about - but I don't intend to stop now.

The most gleeful thing today: I discovered Sanitarium - the makers of Weetbix - are now making a gluten free and FODMAP-friendly version. I love Weetbix and am thrilled that I can eat them again. My mission this weekend will be to find some. 

I thought I'd lost my favourite work pen, but I found it today near the photocopier. Woo!

JBPM: day 24

I'm a few chapters into Lost & Found and still enjoying it. I can't remember the last time I read a novel - I've mostly read non-fiction for the past few years -  but it's nice to feel the anticipation that comes with being in the midst of a story and wanting to know what happens next.   

I bumped into my friend Bertie on the way home tonight...almost literally. She saw me first and jumped in front of me. I work across the road from her office now and she was on her way to a work dinner. I walked most of the way there with her.  

I had a toasted ciabatta roll with my dinner tonight. It was chewy on the outside and deliciously soft and squishy on the inside. (No, it wasn't gluten free; sometimes I just suffer the consequences.)

It's Fridayeeee tomorrow! 

JBPM: day 23

I've just seen the promo for the return of Masters of Sex on SBS on 31 July. Hooray! I've missed it. It's the first TV drama in years that I have mad the effort to watch every week.

  

I started reading Brooke Davis' debut novel, Lost and Found, last night after finishing Mark Forsyth's Elements of Eloquence the night before. I only made it through the first chapter of Lost and Found before my eyelids got droopy, but I like it already. I hope I can keep my eyes open long enough tonight to get through another chapter. 

Back to sushi for lunch today, but I have finally found a good sushi place near my new office. It's called Macchiato. Not your usual name for a sushi place.  Yes, they  do coffee. Sushi and coffee.  

JayBloPoMo: Day 6

I have finally started reading The Elements of Eloquence, the third book by Mark Forsyth (aka the Inky Fool). It's been sitting on my bedside table for more than six months, waiting patiently. I've been reading Alexandra Horowitz's On Looking: Eleven Walks with Expert Eyes for most of this year; even though it's interesting, it was taking me ages to get through it because I wasn't reading it every day - or even every week.  

Then a week or two ago I watched the episode of Australian Story about young Victorian Brooke Davis, whose debut novel has caused a huge stir in the literary world. She wrote Lost and Found seven years after the sudden death of her mother to help her answer the question: How do you live knowing that anyone you love can die at any moment?  Sounds morbid, I know, but it's a question that's exercised my mind over the past few years too. 

The book isn't morbid. It's been described as heartwarming, quirky, and a "fantasy fable that asks big existential questions with a very light touch". 

While I was at it, I also bought Burial Rites by another Australian, Hannah Kent. Like Lost and Found, Burial Rites was Hannah's debut novel, written as part of a university writing course, and threw the literary world into a tizzy. I decided to buy it because it's set in Iceland (a recent fixation of mine) and a friend highly recommended it. 

I'm keen to start reading them, but I made myself finish On Looking first and I knew I couldn't keep neglecting The Elements of Eloquence any longer. I wouldn't have expected to laugh out loud at a book about the figures of rhetoric, but I have several times so far. (The chapters are brief which makes it perfect for bedtime reading when you're tired!)