After yesterday's revelations about your horror of beasties in various form - from eight legs to no legs at all, from shiny to furry, from teeny to pretty big. My goodness me, I wonder if it did any of us any good 'telling'. I know what it did for me. It made me glad I lived in the UK where things to scare us are, on the whole, small and fairly harmless even those with the ability to invade our houses(thinking here of cockroaches).
In the UK we always say that what happens in the US is always bigger. It certainly applies to your revealing of what you are scared of - snakes not the little UK adder but enormous and poisonous ones! And compare being scared of a mouse to coming face to face with a bear!!!
So I thought today - while we are revealing 'all' - let's all have another big reveal.
What are your weaknesses? What can you just not resist? I will start the ball rolling by revealing mine (and no Tom if you are reading this - you do not feature as one):
1.Chocolate. Especially - Kit-Kats (last night's carer told me you can get bags of mini kit kats. I dare not indulge - I know I would eat a whole bag full. ) Buying two finger ones hasn't helped because I usually have two so I might just as well buy 'proper' ones in the first place.
2. Clothes. Leather jackets come high on the list but now I no longer go out they are a bit pointless so I shall stick to the one I have, look at it longingly and wear it on the odd occasion I venture forth.
Sweaters are a close second. There was a time in the Autumn when my carer J, who is 'in charge' of my wardrobe, threated me with a fate worse than death if I bought another sweater (she washes, irons and returns my sweaters to the wardrobe). Then she bought me for my birthday TWO sweaters - just because she saw them and knew I would like them. Fitting them on to the wardrobe rail is an art form.
3. Books. My philosophy is read a review in the week-end papers - if the book sounds interesting - click on Amazon Prime and it pops through the letter box the next day.
4. Plants. Claire Austin's Handbook of Perennials 2023 (it sits by the computer as I write this) pops through the letter box and immediately I just have to have Geranium 'Patricia Josephine' whose Great Grandmother was selected from Claire's Mum's garden 'years ago'. Well for many years I lived within spitting distance of Albrighton so that is a good enough excuse isnt it?
All four survive on the one word TEMPTATION. how far back into antiquity does the word go I wonder?Why am I so weak=willed? Why don't I convince myself that if I had put all the money I have spent on plants over the last sixty years into a bank then I could probably have a week-end retreat in the Cotswolds? (add that spent on leather jackets, sweaters etc.etc. and it could be "For Cotswolds read the Riviera,)
So come on all of you. Reveal your weaknesses. There is a school of thought that suggests that writing these things down is the first step to recovery. After all it is a new year and that is the time for resolutions.
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48 comments:
I think most fellow bloggers and reader know my weakness ... books!!
As you say, hear about a good book, click on Amazon and it can be in my hands the next day courtesy of our rather dashing Amazon Prime driver. I have to be strong and NOT look too often, but then Sue in Suffolk shares her photos of books to be read and tests my resolve. I also LOVE looking at other peoples bookcases.
My only other real weakness used to be Maltesers, but since I can no longer have anything containing dairy they have now rolled out of my grasp.
I'm fully there with you when it comes to chocolate! I eat far too much of it (and I know it).
I also love cheese and butter and, all this combined, makes for a rather high intake of fat in my diet.
Clothes are another weakness we have in common, although in my case it's mostly dresses, plus I must say my interest has waned greatly with the onset of the pandemic, when I spent all of my working time at home and most of my free time walking.
Books? Yes, please! But I would never call books a weakness - they are essential!
Chocolate! I ate so well yesterday, so healthily, but then...chocolate happened. Several of my kids just returned from Norway (we live in New York, rural NY, not the city), and they brought home chocolate..the Norwegian Kit Kat (KvikLunj) is SO good. Coffee too, I like an afternoon coffee when we're out and about, and it's pricey...it all adds up to way too much, but it's always so enjoyable. With clothes, I'm on/off...if I lose a few pounds, I want something nice to wear, if I gain a few, meh. I love your blog, thank you for writing.
Della
My weaknesses:- buying books, far too many and keeping them as I love to re-read. Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles, I can eat a tube in one sitting. I love to buy plants for my garden so always have three or four plant catalogues lying around and the last one is house style magazines. Life would be very dull and souless if we didn't have these 'things' to bring us joy. Take care. Hugs Gill Xx
Oh Pat... many of mine line up with your perfectly... Chocolate, Books, Plants.. Clothes not so much.. I would have to add Coffee on the list... a good cup of coffee puts the World to rights for me even if its just my tiny part of the World.. Oh and Art Supplies.... aaahhh weakness all around... I'm sure theres more i just cannot think of right now.. Hugs! debs
As a Knitter/crafter my biggest weakness is for yarn (wool) and knitting patterns. I also like to try new to me crafts as have lots of to do projects and equipment which I am hoping to get round to doing/using in my retirement which is approaching in May.
Jane
I just sat down to make a list and immediately came up with 15! I don't think you and your readers would want to read that many! Jackie
Am I the only liquorice addict? But it has to be the proper stuff, hard and shiny black, not that awful sugary aniseed stuff that pretends to be Pontefract cakes. Yuk! I like the woody root, too - you have to chew and salivate on it for a while before the taste comes out. And you writing about Kit Kats got me eating those again after many years, one of the few things that still seems to taste the same.
Well when I was younger it was sex, drink & music (please don’t judge me harshly) until I married in 1980 at 27 years old, it was him that was adulterous so divorce was the order of the day.
Nowadays my resistance is low when it comes to books (mother always said ‘she would read a bus timetable or jam pot label’), nature, the changing seasons, the sky, good coffee, good conversation, make up, clothes and of course yours and John Going Gently’s blogs. Love to you dear lady🙏. Jan in Castle Gresley x
baked potatoes, warm fresh bread, cheese, cheese on baked potatoes or warm fresh bread...wearing my boilersuit all the time everywhere, good coffee, fabric remnants (...there is always something I can imagine making). Oh and possibly bananas.
Yes, I do have some weaknesses:
- Leather jackets. One looks one's best in leather. Sadly, too hot during last decades.
- Pure wool sweaters in winter. Sadly, pure wool is expensive and not easily available.
- Indian made cotton clothes in summer.
- Coffee - Nescafe with 2 drops of milk by cup.
- Pomelo citrus fruit
1. Handbags
2. Scarves
3. (Fancy) jewelry
Love books, chocolate and coffee too, but don't consider them as weaknesses. I borrow most of my books from the library. I even listed my handbags/scarves/jewels and took photos in order to try a no-buy year in these categories... Wish me luck !
Maguy
My weakness is craft materials mainly fabric. Books are second but it’s a lifelong weakness of which I have no wish to be cured! Catriona
.Charity/op shops
.Garden centres
.Harry Hartog Bookshop
.Jatz/Vitawheat cracker biscuits
'L'Occitane
.Clarins Super Restorative Day Cream.
(wonderful!)
.Nectarines.
...from Pam.
Sweets, quilt fabric and random enthusiasms. Used to be travel but that's gotten so wearisome.
Cheers, Cecil
I cannot resist buying clothes for the grandchildren. Books. Creamy soups. Iced tea with double lemon. Animals that need help. Clearance plants. Long flannel nightgowns. Wool socks. Ripe avocados. I am afraid there are quite a lot of them. Summer thunderstorms. Fall leaves. Gray days. I will stop now.
No 1 is books, I do have a Kindle but prefer an actual book. I do appreciate when both the Sues whose blogs I read mention their library haul or show the books on their book cases.
No 2 owing a dog or having a dog in the house. We adopted Freddie almost a year ago after a break of 5 years of dog ownership, in which time we had our eldest granddaughter and her little dog living with us for 2 years.
No 3 used to be cruising. But after one replacement knee last May and another at the end of the month, walking long distances has been painful.
No 4 is reading my favourite bloggers.
Not in any specific order: Chocolate, jackets, cheese, jumpers, books, scarves, art materials, and before I moved into a flat it would have included garden plants - I seem to kill houseplants.
Pizza, books, garden seeds and dvd movies.
Ah,lovely 100% cotton quilting fabrics, threads, and patterns! Making quilts is too much fun and is far easier than it looks like it would be.
Also books as I love to read, but go to the library several times a month to stock up instead of buying more books.
As for foods, almost anything lemon or chocolate. If you haven't bought Dutch Processed Cocoa Powder, I highly recommend it.
Hugs!
Used to be travel but too old now. Boating, but too old now. Jeans and puffy winter jackets, so slow now that I need warm jackets. Butter tarts. Shortbread. Reading anything and everything. Not chocolate anymore. Cheetos! Gigi
My greatest weakness has to be my two grandchildren. Even though they are grown now, there is not much I would not do for them! My two cats are also a weakness of mine, and actually any and all cats. Beyond that I definitely have a weakness for books like many others here! My Mother instilled a great love of books in me before I even started school.
Art pieces that strike my fancy, trees and shrubs for the garden, restaurants overlooking the sea and fine dining and lastly specialty coffee or high tea are all coveted by me.
A crooked smile on a hairy face
Thrift stores. Christmas. Home made cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven. Cloves. The smell of freshly grown coffee. Baby chuckles. Vanilla lotion.
*freshly ground coffee. And lilacs. How I love lilacs.
Chocolate, cinnamon buns, cookies, sweets.
Fleece jackets.
Books.
Gosh! Public Confession time! Coffee - proper barista-made coffee in a china cup (take aways just do not count), buying books (and toys) for the grandchildren, chocolate, anything sweet- biscuits, cake... that's the most serious of them.
Books, books and more books.
Chocolate, especially dark chocolate and smarties.
Good bakery bread, especially bagels.
Books
Chocolates
All kind of baked goods. I know the best bakeries in all places I visit regularly, and in new towns they are as important as the usual tourist attractions.
Stationery. I have enough writing paper, greeting cards, note paper, sticky notes etc to last me up to my 100th birthday. Not to mention three fountain pens, lots of ballpoint pens, pencils and boxes of coloured pencils (I don´t even draw).
Cold meat in the fridge, and beautiful women.
New Year resolutions: I shan't give up chocolates, or wool for knitting, or freshly ground coffee Or books, or computer (the biggest weakness). In fact I shall do what I have always done and be happy in those things.
Chocolate, a warm pair of socks and dogs :)
So many people who love books! Including me of course.
Your Kit-Kat mention reminds me of a slimming group I went to many years ago run by a lovely slim Health visitor lady at the health centre. She told us 'fatties' that when she craved chocolate she shared a two finger Kit-Kat with her husband!
Well said Thelma. I gave up making resolutions years ago. Did at one time try to restrict chocolate intake - never succeeded
Beauty is in the eye etc Cro but plenty of eye candy in Brighton I guess.
Janice - wish you hadn't mentioned Smarties - I had forgotten them. Now I want some!
John GG Are you looking in the mirror here? I woud certainy miss seeing yours smile at me from your side bar.
Thanks for baring your souls everyone. Now I know why the chocolate industry thrives. If I dabbled in shares I think I might buy some in Cadburys
I love to read but I have a wonderful public library so I don't buy books.
I waste too much time on the computer - reading all of my favorite blogs each morning and then playing solitaire for too long each day.
We loved reading all the comments. I have lots of favourite things but at the top of the list are books, crisps and rain.
Bad time of year to talk about 'weaknesses' as I'm starting to declutter the house and see so many things that just have to go due to the years when I indulged mine!
Clothes (love coats and live in a climate when I rarely can wear them!), lovely footwear.
French antiques, 'farmhouse' decor, English antique china (plates/bowls/platters etc).
Plants/shrubs. . . .now all overgrown in the garden and I need professional help for what is fast turning into a 'secret garden' scenario.
Food - crunchy bread, great cheese, vegetables, almond biscotti, and of course Kit-Kats!!!!!
Like all bloggers, BOOKS definitely. . . . .and of course blogging itself which has made much of all the above possible in many ways, a lovely time-consuming weakness as it has brought so many interesting people into my life in the past 17 years!
Off now to fill another bag/box to haul to the thrift shop when the rain stops!
Mary -
THANK YOU ALL.
Weaknesses or things that I love and enhance my life? I think most of the above fall into the latter category…in which case:
A bottle of good red wine, cheese, books, music (Wagner, Leonard Cohen, Philip Glass and Neil Young), cats, trees, travel.
Oh dear. In food, macaroni and cheese! Which i only eat a couple times a year because it is so bad for me, but boy do I love it.
Plants, yes, same here. I spend far too much on them.
Glass, antique and art glass. I have had to really curtail this weakness because, well, just look at my house. Way too much glass. But I still bought 2 beautiful 120 year old goblets the other day. Now, where will I put them!
Plants, Books, Coffee, Cats, Peanut Butter. I wouldn't want to live without any of these. They are necessities. I would be most unhappy without any one of them.
Plants and books are on my list. My hubby and I called ourselves Bookaholics. I bought perhaps 400 books I have not read yet. I dare not actually count them, many are on my Kindle, and many others on shelves. Can you guess that librarian was my career of choice?
We all seem to have such similar tastes don't we?
You tend to find that in blogs, they will gradually build up a following of like minded people. The really good blogs, such as yours, are also prepared to accept and publish, comments from people that don't always agree with what they are writing about. Keep on as you are Pat.
Derek Thank you for your comment. Life would be very dull if we all agreed wouldn't it? But as I wrote that sentence I thought of the much bigger issues around the world - if only nations could agree then instead of spending enormous amounts of money on terrible weaponry everyone could live a better life and children wouldn't be killed and folk wouldn't be maimed for life. What a world we live in.
Unfortunately Pat, there's little that we can do about the paranoia of nations, the best that we can do is accept other people's alternative opinions at our level, without getting upset, something that some people remain unable to do.
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