Nayu's News #253 Good Intentions

 

Ichigo from Aikatsu!

I'm alive! Which if on Twitter you know as I'm there daily. Life has been it's usual self. Despite officially being Spring, and some days hitting a maximum of double digits, my silly body reacts to the coldest temperature of the day, which has consistently been under 5C, occasionally under 0C, which is when I simply don't function at all well. So apologies, I really am going to try to check in once  week not once a month. Even if it's just a short paragraph and a cute  picture. 

 

Yurika from Aikatsu! (I'm in an Aikatsu! mood)

Life continues being life, there's still some stress which I can't talk about and probably can't for a few more months - I will when it's all over. I can be found gaming most days. I am slowly starting to do a little sewing and crochet, progress pics will happen in due course. I am slowly fitting in more reading time (also a good thing). All family and pets are well. Been busy growing some plants, again pictures will happen later (I really do post everything on Twitter. I'm only on 1 social media now.) Ramadan is coming to an end but I will try and do a special post before it ends. I've been managing to mostly hit my goals which got adjusted but that's ok too.  Life is all about adjustment and good intentions! 

Aoi and Ichigo from...you've guessed it, Aikatsu!

Happy 2020!

Apologies for the extreme lack of posting for well over a month. Winter has been rough as usual and I haven't had enough brain power to blog. I have been sharing my gaming choices and my craft progress on Twitter, which until the weather improves is like a super mini version of blogging. 

I hope you are all staying away from germs and have had a good start to 2020! My plants are already flowering! The image used is from previous year so not exactly what I am looking at but very similar. It is amazing it is alive with my very random waterings, but it has survived for 4 years now! 

I have already started 1 new type of craft this year! Not a project, a type of project. I will blog more once I have had more practice/made more progress. You can see my crochet projects on Twitter though. 

Anyway, sorry to be short but the weather is so cold my body feels like it has flu (it doesn't). Hope to be back as soon as the weather improves! Will be reading more then too. Gaming is a bigger distraction with pretty images.

Winter Review Policy 2019 Activation!

Time for a news bulletin!

Please note this is virtually exactly the same as my 2018 Winter Review Policy post - it is saving me time! 

September is here which means Autumn and cold weather are on the way. While it provides more reasons to have hot chocolate, unfortunately it means the amount of books I review has to change.

For those of you who like me forget things and/or are new readers, my winter review policy means that I don't accept books for review from the date of this post until 1st March 2020. There are exceptions which I will explain later on.

I have permanent health issues including fatigue and chronic pain. Unfortunately my body adversely reacts to colder weather (anything below 10C), rain, snow, ice and hail. Oh and thunderstorms. I wish I was joking, but I like to hibernate as much as I can in winter to let my body be relaxed as it battles against the elements. Reviewing is fun but it does use energy, so I'm simply conserving what I have.

Wish I was impervious to temperature like Miku is (this is her 2019 winter outfit - possibly the best yet!)

There will be posts throughout the next few months, they will just be more gaming reviews and reviews of my own books rather than ones I get sent for review. It's easier to do a near-blanket ban on book reviews for a few months than having to apologise for being ill, which has happened over the last few weeks with unexpected illness over the summer

I can be found on Twitter most days, usually tweeting game related info on whatever I'm playing with at the time. Come find me @Nayuleska !

I use this fanart of Miku as my main profile header!

This doesn't affect reviews I've already committed myself to between October 2019 and March 2020. 

 I am upholding those, this is more for anyone requesting a review from today will probably get a negative response from me. I will answer emails explaining that as I know not everyone checks back on my review policy (or on the type of genres I do review...). I will try and repost a reminder of this post once a month in the absence of being unable to sticky a post here.

No idea who this cutie is, but she looks like I feel in winter.

I hope I can start accepting books for review sooner than March, but it does depend entirely on the weather. If we have a good winter, I'll accept books sooner. However, if we have a bad winter that I may have to extend the Winter Policy into April which I did earlier this year. I simply won't know until I get to February, which isn't for a few months yet! I appreciate your understanding in this policy change.

The exceptions are if you are one of my favourite authors! 

 I will always accept your books, they may still get a delay in review.

Once again thank you for your understanding, I hope you stay well this winter and enjoy the posts I do get up!  I hope this is all clear - please let me know if you have any questions. I promise this blog isn't going dark until March 2019! If you are able to wait until March for a review then please do still ask me to do them. I really appreciate your continued support and understanding for changes related to my blogging schedule. 

Sadly not drawn by me

Fantastic Summer Reading Initiative by Toppsta Kids Bingo

This is a much belated post due to life getting in the way but summer is not yet over! So there is still time to take part in this fun reading challenge by Toppsta. I have read through the info, I love that Dork Diaries is promoted - I have read most of them and reviewed a few like Frenemies Forever. 

I heard the word bingo and immediately thought gambling, which I am dead against, but I can reassure you that isn't the case at all, it's just how the challenge is played.

Here's a peek at what the pack includes

The way the bingo works is clever, there are lots of fun reading ideas eg reading on certain days, reading aloud to someone. There are some extremely cute looking picture books as well as funny non-fiction reads, a bit of everything for every one! You can find out more on both the Toppsta website and the special bingo pack is accessible on http://bit.ly/ToppstaKidsBingo. Here's the info from Toppsta themselves:

 

Toppsta, the UK’s leading children’s book review community with over 45,000 reviews, has created its very own Summer Reading Bingo! This 12-page pack is free to download and is the perfect resource for keeping primary school children entertained throughout the summer holidays, encouraging them to engage with new and much-loved reads through play.

All you need to do is download and print your Toppsta Summer Reading Bingo pack, find the Bingo Card page and complete the mission of reading six books from the different categories (a picture book, a funny book, an illustrated book, a book about adventure or magic, a non-fiction/reference book and a gripping story). There are also some other fun things to tick off too like reading a book in the dark with a torch or reading outside in a den. Plus, you could win a £50 Smiggle voucher if you complete the challenge! 

Nayu's News #249 I am getting better slowly!

Artist unknown, she is so cute!

It is just about still morning here, so good morning! Hope you are having/have had a great start to the week. I have got through my emails, I'll be scheduling some blog posts tomorrow (some are a tiny bit delayed but they are coming). 

I am finally getting better! Albeit extremely slowly, with slight regression after an annual hospital appointment on Thursday, which has the potential to be stressful but I am not discussing that until what it is is resolved. It's not directly a health issue is all I will say on the matter. It'll tire me out which is why tomorrow I'll be catching up with reviews so you have at least a week with lots to look forward to. 

I am being careful what I do, as I need to rebuild up my stamina for doing things, and I am very aware of how fine my line is for overdoing it. Which is why today is only a day for emails, as they take quite a bit of time in their own right. I am about to finish up this post, then relax for the rest of the day with gaming and reading. Yay! Once this week is past I hope to start doing craft again! And I have some special game related news which I hope to share with you soon ^u^ 

Artist unknown

Nayu's News #247 Unsolicited emails are entertaining

No idea who the author is for this awesome artwork that's on my laptop

This morning I went through emails, even checked my spam email which make me laugh. There's the usual asking for money, the notice of a tax repayment, a TV licence issue (I don't even pay it, my family does), a delivery issue with a company I do sometimes receive goods from but I know it's fake, various inappropriate emails to name just a few. A few real emails got caught up in there which wasn't so good, but I've rescued them. 

I am primarily a book reviewer but my inbox sees a variety of requests which again make me smile. I've had a company contact me because they saw one post of mine a long time ago about a car wash, so they want to tell me all about how to wash my car. I get many requests for mentioning new bands/singers - I don't even listen to mainstream music so why would I be interested? I spotted one about a multi-climate control thingy - like why on earth would I need that? Seriously people definitely don't read my review policy, something that unfortunately happens far too regularly in the blogging world.

I hope to schedule more reviews next week: having my mega meds tonight, praying the weather improves soon as my body hates all the rain and cold, and in theory I should receive my special supplements which turn out to have more of an impact than I realised this week - the hospital pharmacy didn't inform me of the delay so I am on reduced dose of one and zero dose of the other. Fun times.

I feel is is what would happen if Hatsune Miku was evil

I've been reading a bit, and gaming loads on Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, which has had a fun event on, Farm Together which has me working hard on an event because the prizes are so cute (will show pictures when I talk about it in a future post, Yoshi's Crafted World which I am for some reason trying to complete absolutely everything on (all the collectibles) which is fun to do, if a bit time consuming, Dragon Quest  Builders 2 got even more amazing than it already was (again it will have a post soon), Animal Crossing Wild World which I'm replaying for fun and just got a house upgrade (so my room is no longer super tiny), and I think those are the main ones. Due to get The Caligula Effect: Overdose today or tomorrow which I really want to get into. Think it's a JRPG, I know that it has an idol like Miku (but eviler) in charge of the word that lets people live out their school lives in virtual reality. When I'm better I promise I'll do more game posts, need to rest for now. I stupidly got excited when a newspaper online had the headline including blistering heatwave: unfortunately I do not count 16'C as a heatwave. That is merely warm. A heatwave involves temperatures of over 20'C! Ideally nearer 30. Should have known better from a tabloid. 

Love this fanart of a Muslim Miku, she still looks as adoable as ever!

 I usually put a saying or quote, but would like to mention a random Twitter user I follow which is about the life of some frogs (yes I like frogs quite a bit, not as much as cats). Go check out Sticky Frogs whose latest tweet at the time of writing this post included the follow image. I love the colours frogs come in, the shine on their body and their cute little feet as much as I love how prehistoric looking crocodiles are, and how the babies are super miniature versions of their parents, which in turn I love as much as super adorable furry kitten. My tastes are eclectic! *coughstrangecough*

Nayu's News #245 Winter continues

Haven't used this pic for a long time! I'm thinking it is sort of wintry with the scarf

Hey guys, I hope you were ok if you had snow last week which brought part of England to a halt. For once we were in the crazy zone with lots of snow and chaos ensued as it always does. It was pretty, and got melted away by rain. Oh this is being posted simultaneously on my other blog, Nayu's Crochet Dreams to save me time and energy.

(This is just for this blog, but I've somehow missed out the 243 post to my Nayu's News series - easier to skip it than add it back in out of order!)

View from my bedroom window during the snow sprinkling

Because of all the weather I'm having my super strong meds a bit earlier than I normally do - my body really hates snow. So there won't be a blot post for a week, which I know is currently the norm (I'm truly sorry for that, I hate not posting much), but I need the rest to get over the initial side effects of my meds. Unlike my cat I can't just sleep through winter! 

As always, I can be found on Twitter @Nayuleska I tend to tweet a bit less during my mediine down time, only because initially I do get pretty hyper and don't want to be repeating myself or gushing over a game too much. 

The familiar green Yoshi comes in many other colours, but this is the most well known.

I am hoping that we've had our coldest time of year. Our winter usually does come in February rather than December, but I'm praying that's the only insanely cold spell.Warmer weather = bit more energy + can concentrate on stuff = more craft! & other stuff in general. Until then, it's reading and gaming for me. And anime.I'm having so much fun with my game rental service, currently on Yoshi's New Island on the Nintendo DS (or 3DS, can't quite remember) I want to complete it so I can play the next game in the series, and then hopefully the new one out this march! The next one is based on yarn so I'm very eager to play it. The little green dino is adorable, especially the way it can eat enemies and turn them into eggs that follows wherever it goes. 

Love Obelix (left) and Asterix! )

I've got a nice mild romance series to read, along with a pile of Tintin and Asterix books. As for anime, I'm watching the usual favourites of Winx Club and Aikatsu! which I always watch. I'm rewatching Neo Angelique Abyss, both seasons, but in looking it up online I discovered there's another spin off series: both anime series are spin offs from a game series. I'm on episode 5 of the one I haven't seen, and while the rewatch will always have a special place in my heart, the new one is pretty good, and I understand why certain things happned in the one I've seen now I know more backgorund info.

See you on the next one!

Nayu's News #244 It's all about the pheasant

I love birds!

This post is simultaneously posted on Nayu's Crochet Dreams. 

For those of you who live in the countryside in England the pheasant is a bird you'll be familiar with. If you don't know what it is, the pheasant seems to be the dumbest bird in the world. It will lie in wait at the side of the road, take a step or two into the road just as you are driving up, then the chaos begins. If it likes you it'll scuttle across the road to the other side. If it's feeling particularly demonic, it will take a few steps out, making you stop (if you can), go back or almost go to the other side then go back to it's original starting position. They are a menace on the roads, more so than crazy drivers on any vehicle. 

This week I'd planned to both read some more books and review them before today, as well as get a few general posts up to tide you over while I have and recover from my mega strong meds tonight. The universe had other ideas: cue one disagreement between my head and a garage door later and I ended up simply resting instead (mostly with gaming which I don't have to think about because it's automatic, unlike reading new books which takes a bit of effort). Definitely having a load of pheasants in my figurative life right now! 

So apologies for the lack of posts in the next week, I've clearly run into a couple of pheasants this week (not literally). 

No brainless birds were harmed in the making of this post. 

Wish birds acted like they do in Disney's Cinderella and were helpful around the house like this bird is!

Nayu's News #243 Coolbags aren't always cool.

I've got all of these bags (not my photo) I use the wherever I go and I like them! The cool bag is the one I used later in this post.

Morning! It's a rainy day today, no heatwave either so it's mostly a rest day as my body doesn't take kindly to rain. I am positing this on my other blog Nayu's Crochet Dreams simultaneously  and I get to the main title topic quite a bit further down in the post. 

I've been super quiet over this past week because last Thursday I had to go on an errand for something I'm not discussing yet in public. Where I went was within a shopping centre, so I did peek into a toy shop and picked up a new friend, who I showed on Twitter. 

She is a good hugable size! Also very pink.

At first I wasn't sure whether Tulip was a llama or an alpaca, so now I think she is an alpaca. I got her in a bargain summer sale where I got this set of Disney Tsum Tsum toys for a crazy low price compared to the original. 

It must be noted this eraser set did include Pinoccio, who I absolutely hate so he went bye-bye in the bin. I dislike him that much! I didn't realise you can actually switch heads and bodies around, that's not something I enjoy as I like my Disney characters whole and in their own body thank you. 

Shared a moment similar when Stitch felt lost.

 Now I did almost lose my car in the shopping mall, I couldn't quite remember where it was, so I thought I'd start at one end of the several car parks and hope for the best. Went to the 5th floor, no joy. Thankfully the 4th floor was my stop as I was super tired by that point (that kind of going out even though I don't go far in the mall is an awful lot for my body). 

I knew I'd be resting for a few days after, but this was hampered a little bit by having younger family members to stay. It was fun but they are permanently on the go. I got to game several hours with them on Saturday morning when I wasn't feeling great to begin with. Being social that long is tiring, and add to the fact they couldn't sit still (as in constantly figiting (fi-git-ing (not fighting)) on the same sofa as me my body didn't take well to that either. 

My base! This is the 3rd level, one is a bedroom for a girl, another is a work room for a girl, and the blue and white structure is my room! Sadly the boys do wander around up here, but I like it as a girls only space!

I'm still playing Dragon Quest Builders, I'm on the 3rd chapter (still) which is hard but I'm starting to get better weapons and building materials so I'm hoping to get to chapter 4 soon. The honeymoon period was over for a little bit - I still love it but it's definitely not as easy as it was in the earlier chapters. 

This isn't my picture, and as far as I know I can't ride on the larger animals, but the character is similar to mine. I finally have a cute hairstyle (loopy braids) but I also just got a headscarf as an item and my character looks so cute! When I have more time I'll do a post on NRC about it - I'm trying to complete it before I write a review.

I've unexpectedly and happily got in Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles. My younger family members loved it, it was so much fun going around having them look for stuff for me including the 55 cats that need rescuing in the game. I'm now over 50% through the main story which makes me a bit sad. I heartily glad that I think I've built all the bridges I need to - getting enough stone was quite an issue! It involves making things with the materials that you collect around the world which is never dull, because the world feels quite large and for some reason I'm not able to remember where everything is so it always feels like a new area even when it isn't. 

That's all I've been gaming (mostly), although I must get back into Pokemon Sun because I want to finish the main story by the time the next Pokemon game comes out. 

Such a shame a pretty parasol can't make it easier to craft in heat.

Craft wise not much has happened because I haven't had the energy, and when I did it was too hot to handle metal: I hate the way metal feels in high temperatures, which is why it may be a few weeks before I can continue with my craft.

I have been reading a few good books that I'll be reviewing soon.

Thank you for being patient in my non-posting: I've some life stuff going on (nothing bad) which may affect my blogging from time to time over the next few months, but I'm doing my best to keep you updated when I can. My priority is to rest! 

the good white stuff! Which I get in a carton.

On that note I can finally get to this post's title topic. Usually when I go grocery shopping I'm able to put everything away straight away (the main storage fridge is in the garage which I can't access on my own). The last time I went I couldn't do that, so for some unknown reason I decided milk would be ok in a coolbag, with frozen food and a tray of ice cubes for a few hours. There wasn't  much room in the internal fridge so I thought it would be ok. 

While it was very cool, I don't think it was cool enough: every single pint of milk I'd bought then and used this week has gone off. I'm not sure why I realised it may be the cool bag thing (it's organic milk which my family pointed out may have shorter shelf life, I'm not sure) but that is the one thing I did differently to other milk. From now on no matter how tired I am I'm putting milk in the fridge as soon as I get home! Thankfully the flavoured milk is fine which suits me. Cool bags do keep food cool, but it's advisable to put perishables away promptly to avoid them spoiling and you temporarily being wary of using milk. 

Essential emails are almost done, this blog is ending and it's nearly time to go back to some gaming! I hope you have a good day whatever you are doing, and plan to put up the next post this weekend!

Searched for 'see you soon' picture, saw this one, thought it was adorable and then discovered I already had a copy ^u^

Over on Nayu's Crochet Dreams #41 Perilous Technology

Find out why I was sighing over my laptop today on Nayu's Crochet Dreams!

Nayu's News #239 Life is a bit chaotic

Felt like you'd all appreciate an upbeat creative picture!

Lately I've mostly been gaming (especially on Pokemon!!!! Got my first pokemon eggs, have started an orchard, got 1 gym badge and progressing towards the next in Pokemon Y) rather than reading due to my body hating the weather. I'd hoped to have set up a few blog posts this week for the following days, but that didn't happen as my body is on strike. I'm having my mega strong meds again tonight, so will be in Lala land until late next week. I promise to have posts up after that! 

Love Bulbasaur, Pikachu, Charmander and Squirtle! Got the 1st two in my Pokemon games!

I'm not telling!

A secret project I've mentioned previously is still happening, I still can't reveal anything until it's ready (hopefully mid February), but it is taking up my time and energy at the moment. I'll let you know when it is ready! 

Keep smiling!

Nayu's News #238 Gaming heaven & Other things

What's awaiting us in 2018?

This post has been a little too long since the last which was about my wonderful almost new PS4 in late October. Oopsie. Life has been it's usual self. A few of you may have noticed a recent post which went up accidentally: It was blank with a title including Poop which is the name of a book I'm reviewing soon. These days I tend to put filler posts in Blogger, so I know what I need to review next. I'd expected to be able to finish the post before it posted, but that didn't quite happen. That explains the sort of April fool weird post on 31st December! 

Got you! Heehee ^u^

This is one of my favourite Miku outfits!

I've mostly been gaming lately, as I've needed lots of rest due to the weather (& mega meds that put me out of action for a week). I'm not the kind of blogger to post what, if any, resolutions I've made this year, or talk about upcoming posts because I don't make a list of topics to talk about in a year. I simply chat about what I want to chat about! Gaming will continue to be a big feature for me, I've many exciting games that I'm enjoying, including Hatsune Miku Project Diva Future Tone so you can expect more gaming posts. When I'm up for it I'll be working on my crochet projects, so you can expect posts about those. 

Because I can here is a not entirely happy (maybe just woken up?) Miku with a cute bunny!

As usual the place I updated almost daily is Twitter, I'm @Nayuleska so please do say hi if you're on there. I tweet a lot about gaming (not a surprise), my cat (also not a surprise), 

"Yes, human?"

and other stuff too. I'm looking forward to seeing what 2018 has in store for me! Thank you for all your support, it's much appreciated and your comments here/on Twitter/in emails keeps me motivated to keep on posting as and when my not so brilliant body lets me!

Here's to a relaxing 2018!

Major Winter Review Policy Change from October 2017 to March 2018

This picture is usually kept for blog information posts.

Those of you who email before this post goes live may already have the news from my blog email auto-reply.  

After much thought I am having a reviewing hiatus from 1st October 2017 to 1st March 2018.

I'm choosing to not accept books for review until March 2018 UNLESS it's for a favourite author. There are a few exceptions - I've contacted a few publicists to keep sending me requests as they are predominantly picture books which I can both read and review quickly. Yeah. I appreciate that may be a bit of a surprise, but it doesn't mean this blog is going quiet for several months! 

I'll still be here!

Let's call what I'm doing winter hibernation. Winter is my worst time of year health wise, I don't do so well when the temperature hits below 10C (& definitely not below 5C). Stress negatively impacts my health (it does for everyone but my condition responds to stress badly), and while reviews aren't a life/death thing, I figure that by doing a suspension on reviews until March 2018 means I can focus more on relaxing. I will still read, it'll just be mostly my own books. And probably a lot of gaming reviews which those who follow me on Twitter @Nayuleska know I tweet a lot about LLSIF (Love Live School Idol Festival) and Deresute. 

Time for a slight change as Winter approaches

Life's been a bit chaotic and stressful lately, and the temperature is starting to decrease already (ignoring this week which seems to be having at least 1 day of a heatwave) hence the change in review policy. If you aren't sure if you're a favourite author (or you look after a favourite author) please do get in touch either by the form on this website (on the right hand menu) and I'll let you know, or send me an email. 

This doesn't affect reviews I've already committed myself to between October and March 2018. I am upholding those, this is more for anyone requesting a review from today will probably get a negative response from me. I will answer emails explaining that as I know not everyone checks back on my review policy (or on the type of genres I do review...). I will try and repost this post once a month in the absence of being unable to sticky a post here. 

I hope I can start accepting books for review sooner than March, but it does depend entirely on the weather. If we have a good winter, I'll accept books sooner. However, if we have a bad winter that I may have to extend the Winter Policy into March. I simply won't know until I get to February, which isn't for a few months yet! I appreciate your understanding in this policy change.

It totally feels like my body has two modes: Winter and Non-Winter!

I hope this is all clear - please let me know if you have any questions. I promise this blog isn't going dark until March 2018! If you are able to wait until March for a review then please do still ask me to do them. I really appreciate your continued support and understanding for changes related to my blogging schedule.

This blog will always be full of fun things!