Book Review And Preview: People I Want To Punch In The Throat By Jen Mann

This is a book review and preview of People I Want To Punch In The Throat: Competitive Crafters, Drop-Off Despots, and other Suburban Scourges by Jen Mann that is due to hit book stores on 9 September 2014.

 

Jen Mann writes for a number of publications and has a very popular blog of the same name People I Want To Punch In The Throat where she has won a heap of blog awards for her writing and humour. Jen lives in Kansas USA with her husband and two school aged kids.

 

As the title suggests, this book is a funny and sarcastic tale of Jen's sharp wit and opinion against motherhood, marriage, and everything in between.

 

There is no real beginning or ending in this book, it's a compilation of short stories very similar to Jen's blog. Some people have suggested the book is a compilation of blog posts from the blog, but this is not the case. The content in her book is not on her blog, it's all fresh and new.

Jen doesn't fit into the perfect mould of a Mum and Wife and these are her very funny and snarky stories of the challenges she faces each day. My favourite was her driving to school pick up in her pajamas when all the other Mums are in their designer clothes with perfect hair, of course that's the one day when she had to get out of the car because her son wasn't there waiting for her!

Jen doesn't have a filter she cuts the fluff and tells it like it really is and I think that's what makes her so appealing to readers. I was cringing and rooting for her all at the same time.

Being a blogger myself, I am always interested in reading books about bloggers. Whilst I hadn't heard of Jen's blog before and am new to her short and sharp writing style, I did find it very easy to read like it was a friend telling me stories and I finished reading this short book in just a few days.

I recommend this book to readers of the People I Want To Punch In The Throat blog and Mum's who need a good honest laugh.

 

I give this book 3 stars out of 5

 

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:

1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read
 

People I Want to Punch In The Throat can be purchased from Random House

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here

Disclosure: Random House and NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote their book and I was given this eBook published by Random House Ballantine Books to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

 

 

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[Image via Random House]

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Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now some of you may be shocked by this, being a self proclaimed Domestic Goddess and all BUT I've never made biscuits before. So while Mr P was working away on the Laundry renovation last weekend, I covered the kitchen in flour and got my bake on!

 

These Chocolate Chip Cookies taste a bit like short bread they are really buttery with delicious pops of chocolate bits. Easy to make too and much quicker than a cake or muffin, I don't know what I was so worried about not attempting to bake biscuits before now!

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Australian Women's Weekly - Book of Beautiful Biscuits

 

Ingredients

 

125g butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg, whisked

1 and 3/4 cups self raising flour, sifted

1/2 tsp salt

125g chocolate bits

 

Method
 

1. Cream together butter, sugars and vanilla.

 

2. Gradually add the egg, beating well after each addition.

3. Mix in flour and salt.
 

4. Add the chocolate bits and mix well.

 

 

5. Lay baking paper onto baking trays.

 

6. Shape teaspoons of mixture into small balls.

 

7. Place balls onto the trays and allow room for spreading so they don't stick together while baking.

 

 

8. Bake at 195 degrees for 10 - 12 minutes until biscuits have risen and golden.

 

9. Remove to cool and try not to eat all the warm delicious chocolate melting biscuits before placing into an air tight container.

This recipe was a great one for a novice timer biscuit baker like myself, it was really easy and the biscuits turned out tasty and delicious!
 

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It's A Jungle Out There ....

Our backyard has been looking like an overgrown jungle of weeds lately. Why is it we can't get the grass to grow but the weeds are out in force!

So we spent a gorgeous sunny Sunday afternoon tackling the weeds and reclaimed our backyard again.

Amongst all the weeds in the herb garden I recovered my hardy parsley growing strong, year after year without much love at all the parsley grows here. I use fresh parsley all the time in the kitchen so it's been such a great herb to grow at home. My other favourite is coriander but that hasn't grown back this year so I need to plant some seeds.

 

Not growing so well is my lemon tree that I've had for more than 3 years now and it still hasn't produced ANY LEMONS. My Bacardi and lemonade just doesn't taste the same without it .... C'mon lemon tree please grow some fruit!

We have a double sized block which is so nice to have a big patch of grass and somewhere for Lexi to play, but the downside is there are twice as many weeds to wiper snip and mow!
 

Lexi is happy with the newly mowed grass and we uncovered a bunch of her toys that were hidden amongst all the weeds and now we can play without falling down hidden holes and spraining an ankle (yes I've come close many times!).

 

Lexi still won't chase a ball but she absolutely loves to play chasey!

 

 

There's still a lot of work to be done out here to establish the gardens. The herb and vegetable gardens need to be replanted and fenced off so Lexi can't dig them out (again!).

We'll be doing some gardening next month in Spring, a perfect time for planting.

How is your garden growing?

Sharing with link parties:

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Home Coming - The DIYers
The Dedicated House - Make It Pretty Monday




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[All images my own]


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Book Review: Down Outback Roads By Alissa Callen

This is a book review of Down Outback Roads by Alissa Callen that was published on 1 May 2014.

 

Alissa is Australian born and raised on a farm and now lives in rural outback New South Wales with her children, husband, dogs, horses and cows - yes a true country girl! This is Alissa's second novel.

This is a country romance based in a drought affected town Glenalla in country New South Wales.

The two main characters are torn between love, loss and loyalty - Ewan a young farmer lad who doesn't think he deserves to be happy and fall in love and Kree a young America girl who thinks taking care of her adventurous brother should overshadow her own happiness.

I enjoyed the story of life on the farm but it wasn't really believable - leaving Kree to look after a farm with absolutely no experience was pretty unrealistic and there is no way you could spend your days pottering around in the vegetable garden or painting all day when there was farm work to be done!

I liked all the characters in the book, especially the town folk stereotypes.

I really wanted to like this book more but struggled with the writing style, there were way too many describing words for every single thought and action. I also found Ewan and Kree's resistance at love pretty wearing at times.

I recommend this book to fans of country romance and American's with an interest in living in Australia.

I give this book 2 stars out of 5

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:
1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

Down Outback Roads can be purchased from Random House here

Sharing my book review on Good Reads here

Disclosure: Random House Australia and NetGalley partner with bloggers such as me to help promote their books and I was given this eBook to review. As always, all opinions are my own.

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[Image via Random House]

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Shut The Front Door: Sand, Stain and Seal

With the laundry renovation taking the spotlight over the last few weeks I just realised I haven't shared a proper before and after of our beautiful new front door that we hung a few months ago.

I just want it know that this DIY project was completed entirely by yours truly and I didn't even chip my nail polish :)

Firstly, the door needed to be sanded back to remove the imperfections and marks on it - we paid just $200 for the door which retails at $1400 because of those marks and it only took me 30 minutes to remove them with a bit of sand paper and elbow grease.

Our new front door

Before - Marks on door

After - A bit of sanding and elbow grease!

Door all sanded back ready for staining

Wiped the door over with mineral turps to remove all the sanding dust

Once the door was sanded and the dust all cleaned up it was ready to be stained and sealed to protect it from the weather, rain and sun. For that I used Sikkens Filter 7 in Light Oak which is what we stained our French Doors with. There was enough leftover in the can to do 2 coats front and back on this door which means we didn't have to spend a cent either!

We removed the door handle and weather seal strip on the bottom of the door and taped up the glass panels. Then I started from the top of the door and worked my way down with a large angled paint brush dipped in the stain, making sure I blended each brush stroke and took care of any drips straight away before they stained. Wipe up was easy with a damp cloth.

The tables have turned .... I'm working for once and Mr P is taking the photos!

Progress .... I love the 2 tone affect of the wood

Using an angled brush really helps to get into all the grooves

First coat on the front of the door

Now for the back of the door

Drying time was 16 hours and as this was a Sunday I had to do the second coat on the door the following weekend. The smell was pretty strong too and hung around for about 2 days. Ideally, we should have stained it before we hung it but thought that it might have been knocked about a bit when it was being cut to size to hang so it's probably best that we stained it after it was hung.

Now for the second coat of stain .... after I sanded out any scratches, marks and drips I put on another coat of stain which went on a lot quicker this time around.

After the first coat, I lightly sanded any areas that had drip marks or scratches
.... being careful not to chip my nail polish!

Another coat of Sikkens stain going on ....
This small tin has stained 3 doors with 2 coats each, that's pretty good for just 1 Ltr

The second coat went on a lot quicker than the first

Once the front and back got a good solid coat of stain and was left to dry overnight it was the moment of  truth when I could take the painters tape off the glass panels and admire my hard work ..... yes I can actually say MY PROJECT for this and I'm feeling rather proud that I got to do this project from go to woah!

The finished door

The stain is quite dark and especially after the second coat the Light Oak really came through and intensified and the outer wood is almost as dark as the jarrah floorboards and also matches the new French Doors which is what we wanted to create a flow on of similar wood tones for the doors throughout the house. 

  

The new door before and after stain

The new front door creates quite a statement and impression of what you'll find inside the house too .....  fun and personality await you inside!

What do you think of the new door and stain colour?

Sharing with link parties:

Savvy Southern Style - Wow Us Wednesdays

Home Coming - The DIYers

The Dedicated House - Before And After Wednesday

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[All images my own]

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8 Things To Do In Broome, Western Australia

Today I'm easing the travel bug that's been nibbling at me lately by writing about one of my favourite travel destinations at home in Western Australia - Broome.

I've been to Broome 3 times and travelling there by plane, bus and cruise ship.

Mr P has just come home from his first trip there for a week long fishing adventure and while making a list of things for him to see and do I thought I'd share them with you guys too.

My top 8 things to do in Broome ..... 

1. Cable Beach - For white sand and clear turquoise water as far as your eyes can see you must visit Cable Beach. You can even drive a four wheel drive onto the beach here, go and explore the rocks and fossils when the tides out, or just put your toes in the beautiful warm water. Just beware of the saltwater crocodiles and jellyfish!

2. Sunset Camel Ride - You've got to book yourself on one of the camel tours and go for a sunset camel ride along Cable Beach. The "Ships of the Desert" camels are a lot of fun for all ages, watch out for the spitting ones they can get a little frisky!

3. Sunset Drinks - If you're not on a camel then you can watch the sunset over Cable Beach with a drink in hand! Bring a deck chair and esky and sit right on the beach with an uninterrupted view. Or have an early dinner and drinks at the nearby Cable Beach Club and watch the sunset over the water.

4. Barra Burger and Beer - Have lunch at one of the cafes in town and order a Barramundi Burger - or Barra Burger if you want to sound like a local! Wash it down with Broome's very own beer from Matso's Brewery.

  

5. Staircase to the Moon - Check the times for this as it's not every day, and make sure you get down to Town Beach early to get a good spot to see the staircase to the moon. You won't know what you're looking for until it happens, but it is really beautiful. Wander around the night time markets afterwards with festivities and food vans it has a great atmosphere.

6. Pearls - Visit the Pearl Luggers in the town centre to learn about the history of pearls and how it's shaped Broome today. You can even go on a pearl farm tour to learn how they harvest pearls, on my next visit I'd like to do this. There are pearl souvenirs everywhere with really unique jewellery and homewares in all the stores .... treat yourself to something special!

7. Tropical paradise - Broome is a tropical environment and gets high temperatures even in the cooler months when the rest of WA is getting rain which makes it a perfect winter getaway! Make sure you pack your sunscreen because the sun is powerful and the rays will burn.

8. Nearby hot spots - The contrast of colours of the landscape is really amazing - red dirt and rocks, blue ocean and sky. There's lots of places to check out the different outlooks of the landscape but my favourite spots are Roebuck Bay and Gantheaume Point.

Broome is not a place to go if you expect fancy dinners and yes the prices are higher but that's to be expected from where it is. But if you're after a laid back, friendly, relaxing town with striking landscapes and one of the best beaches in the world then you'll love a holiday in Broome.


You can find some great travel deals for Broome and Australia wide on Travel Factory here

Have you been to Broome? What's your favourite thing to see or do?




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[All images my own]

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Book Club Book Review: The Memory Keeper's Daughter By Kim Edwards

The Book Club book choice for the month of July was The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

This book is also a movie so this month's Book Club meet up was a movie night in with pizza, popcorn and bubbles and we talked about the book and then watched the movie, comparing them. As always I liked the book better, there were more characters and more feeling and description in the book.

This novel starts in the 1960s with a young married couple - who on a stormy snow filled night, the husband who is a Dr delivers his wife's twin babies. First, a healthy son and then a daughter with Down's Syndrome. The Dr gives his daughter away to the nurse to take to an institution and tells his wife that their daughter died at birth.

The nurse, unable to leave the baby at the institution ends up  raising her as her own child, who she names Pheobe.

The decision made by the Dr that night affects his family, the nurse and Pheobe for the rest of their lives. The story is told by chapters in years and shows how the Dr's decision shapes everyone's lives differently.

This is a really sad book, full of mourning, sorrow, regret and guilt. But the writing was good and it has an interesting storyline with different characters to keep me reading and engaged right until the very end. It shows how one action can affect the lives of so many and raises the topic of secrets - is it better to tell the truth or to lie.

I was disappointed that I didn't get to know Pheobe more as she was the character the book was based around. I was also shocked at how they treated Down's Syndrome back then and hope that we have come a long way since that time.

I recommend this book to those that like dramas, family stories, and don't mind a bit of a tear jerker.

I give this book 3 out of 5 stars

Jarrah Jungle's Star Rating:
1 Bad - I'd rather eat brussel sprouts topped with anchovies than read this again
2 Not Good - I'd rather watch re-runs of Neighbours than read this again
3 Ok - I'm sitting on the fence - its not great but not terrible either
4 Good - I'd pass up a pack of tim tams for this read
5 Great - I'd pass up a date with Johnny Depp for this read

For exclusive extras and daily updates ... follow Jarrah Jungle on Facebook and Instagram

[Image via Dymocks]

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