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Occasional Series’

From time to time here on the Thought Bubble, I lump my musings together into long-running series’.  These are themes which are specific in nature.  Some series’ will be more regular and appear more frequently than others.  I have listed them here so that you can easily identify and navigate to them, and therefore avoid all of my other pointless rambling!  Listing them like this just makes it easier for you – and me! – to keep track of them.  This page also contains a brief synopsis of each theme – just click on the name of the series in the list to find out more about it.

I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing them.

Current Series’ Running on A Thought Bubble or Two…:

Discontinued Series’:


(Hopefully) Upcoming Series’:

  • My Truth

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Bloggers Unite:

Book Reviews:

As the title of this series may suggest, this is the section where I shall be sharing with you my thoughts and feelings on the books I have read recently.  I realise that the worst book I read will probably be very much better than the writing I am currently producing!  That is why my book reviews are here on the Thought Bubble, instead of over on the Writer’s Block!

This will probably be a very occasional series.  Long gone are my wonderful years of reading a book a day.  Partly this is down to life – you know, the general day-to-day stuff that makes sitting down with a book a rare, luxurious treat rather than an everyday occurence!  Partly, this is down to my currently appalling concentration span.  I don’t know why it is like this, but whereas I used to be able to lose myself completely in the pages of a good novel, I rarely achieve that now.  This makes me sad.  I am also now unable to have more than one book on the go at a time.  My short-term memory is such that this would be completely impossible for me now.

So, while I look forward to indulging in some wonderful books, which I will then write about, I fear that there may be rather long gaps between each review!

Book Reviews for Kids:

This Occasional Series is – as the title suggests – where I will be writing reviews of children’s books.  However, this may be slightly different than some other kids’ reviews you may have come across.

The books I will be reviewing, will be ones that Chipmunk and I have read together.  Hence, there may be a long gap between reviews, as we generally cover a chapter per night, before bedtime!  I will not be reviewing the (hundreds) of other books he gets through himself, unless there is something I feel may be worthy of note, in which case I shall read it through and review it.    The books will mainly be fiction, although if we read a factual one that is exceptional – be that good or bad! – it may find its way to being reviewed here too.

It is also worth mentioning, that the books Chipmunk reads are not the kinds of books your average six-year-old boy may be reading.  With a reading age of 12, I have to be very careful to balance his reading and comprehensive ability with appropriate content.  Chipmunk usually reads books which are recommended for the 9-12 age group.  I monitor his choices, and if I feel anything is inappropriate, he does not get to read it!  Reading together obviously makes this task much easier!

Another thing worthy of mentioning, is that some of the books we will be reading will be specific to certain children, rather than having general appeal.  Chipmunk and I read books together which are geared towards children with Autism and Asperger’s, as well as anxiety issues.  They are story books, but not ‘conventional’ ones!

I hope you enjoy flicking through the reviews – maybe you’ll find an old classic or a hidden gem that you can share with a child you know.

Feline Friday:

This is the part of my blog where every Friday – well, every Friday that I remember to do it! – I will post an update of my kitty.  Why?  Just for fun!  I am already keeping an intermittent ‘Mad Kitty Moments’ diary on Plurk, but this is a way of keeping it all in one place.  Before I start, I should probably introduce you to the kitty in question.

This is he:

My Kittty

His name is Charlie.  He is a 15-year-old ginger tom, who thinks (and acts like) he is still a kitten.  He is completely bonkers, hilariously funny and utterly, utterly adorable.  I hope he keeps you as entertained as he does me – I’m sure it won’t take you long to see why I love him to bits!

My Take On…:

My Top Ten…:

My Weight:

This is where I hope to keep a diary of my progress with my weight.  At the start date, I am 231 pounds (about 16.5 stones).  My ideal weight for my height is 140 pounds (10 stones).  Therefore, I need to lose 91 pounds – as displayed on my lovely, colourful progress ticker:

My goal is to reach this point in a sensible and healthy way – and then maintain my ideal weight!

In this occasional series I will keep you updated with my successes and failures, as well as any tips I discover along my way.  I hope to update you weekly.  I may only manage monthly!  I do need to find some scales that actually work!  Whatever the frequency, I look forward to sharing this particularly personal and challenging series with you.

Seeded Buzz:

Recently, I joined a new website with a great concept.  Seeded Buzz.

Basically, there are two ways to participate.  In the one instance, you ‘plant a seed’ – submit a post that you have written that you think could inspire and connect with other bloggers.  In the second instance, you pick up on somebody else’s seed and ‘buzz’ it.  This consists of writing a post which has been inspired by the original seed, and linking back to that seed in your post.  Then, you let the author of the seed know that you have buzzed it, and so it goes on.

While some people join for the purpose of generating more revenue by increasing traffic to their site, I and some of my friends have joined for the community aspect of the site.  I have been a member for less that two weeks, and already I am connecting with some great, like-minded people.  I am also working on a couple of posts inspired by some of the seeds I found planted there.  I can’t wait to see how the community builds!

To join, you have to apply and be approved, but really it hardly takes any time at all, and the development of this site should be something to watch.  This time next year, it could be one of the most-used community blogging sited on the web.  I look forward to all the interesting discussions to come!

So, if you see a ‘Seeded Buzz’ headed post on my blog, now you know what it’s all about!  Read it, you might just find it as interesting as I do!

Weird Crushes:

This occasional series will see me confess to crushes on some weird and wonderful people in the public eye!  I will attempt to discover just what it is that makes them attractive to me – and hopefully to others as well!  Some of them are long-held crushes, while some of them are people with whom I am newly and (sometimes embarrassingly) smitten.

What is certain, is that you won’t be seeing any of the usual suspects here.  Yes, of course I am in love with George Clooney et al – who in their right mind isn’t?  However, this section of my blog deals with the…less obvious, shall we say?…celebrity crushes.  Let the hilarity commence!