The secret life of me...

I am the tiredest girl in all the World...

Had a small (very small) blood sugar crisis last night, which delayed my bedgoing time until post-midnight and necessitated waking up every couple of hours to check that I was still alive - am - is all ok.
However, this, coupled with the requirement that I be at work at 7.30 this morning (normal for some, I know, but still a challenge for meeeee) and the fact that I've worked upwards of twelve hour days most of this week, has reduced me to a melty pile of crappiness...
I haven't done any meaningful work all day, keep calling people and then forgetting what I wanted to say to them and have eaten many bad things...

On the bright side, though, am going to tasty steak place tonight, if I can stay awake that long
Actually - Diet Coke and dreams of steak are making things seem a little bit better already

Hope everyone else is having nice Friday

clicky

ONLY 29 DAYS TO GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all

Filched from Mab, Mira and others....

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Neither, thankyou - I don't like hot drinks - can I have champagne?

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?
He usually wraps them and puts them in my stocking while I'm asleep - worth noting that he's a lot better at doing this when I'm at my parents' house than in my own flat, although he does usually manage to fill LBF's stocking

3. Coloured lights on tree/house or white?
White last year, both inside and out... Tasteful

4. Do you hang mistletoe?
Plan to this year, though lowish ceilings might make this a bit weird.

5. When do you put your decorations up?
Probably about the 13th this time, as my flat Christmas dinner is that weekend, and I'd lke them to be up then.
As a matter of principle, though, I'd prefer to do them on Christmas Eve.

6. What is your favourite holiday dish?
Not a massive fan of Christmas food (turkey, pudding etc) - DO like brussels sprouts though

7. Favourite Holiday memory as a child?
Hard to pick - I really really love Christmas - I always have a lovely time

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
What's that, then?

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?
No, though I'm STILL (at the age of 29) inclined to get up at about 4.30am to open my stocking - too exciting to sleep.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree?
We're having it out on the balcony, sowill probably mostly be with lights, though I also have some silvery decorations and things.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?
So very very much love

12. Can you ice skate?
I used to be able to - until I was 14 or so, we used to go to skating lessons two or three times a week before school (before!!!) - I was never all that good, but I could jump and spin and things to some extent... Am going skating for my work Christmas outing, so hope I can remember how!

13. Do you remember your favourite gift?
A cuople of years ago, LBF gave me a Meccano set - I built things all through the holidays Not sre whether is total favourite, but has to come pretty close!

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Lots and lots of family things and I LOVE making/giving presents and all the cooking and stuff and singing/playing carols and things - I love everything about Christmas

15. What is your favourite Holiday Dessert?
Not a fan of dried fruity things like mince pies, Christmas cake/pudding etc - quite partial to trifle though, if it's available
Mostly likely, have eaten so much by the time it gets to dessert that the pudding doesn't get much of a look in, to be honest

16. What is your favourite holiday tradition?
The singing, I think.

17. What tops your tree?
A star - I make it from a cornflake box and some foil...

18.Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
Giving, I think - I love all the making and shopping and wrapping, and I love choosing the right presents for people - it's all so exciting.

19. What is your favourite Christmas Song?
Too many to choose from

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?
Am indifferent, unless they're minty, in which case, yuck!

21. Hypothetically speaking, you have an uncle (or aunt) who are stinking rich. They ask you to give them a wish list for this Christmas with six items on it. You can ask for anything at all, as long as it's only for yourself. What are you going to wish for?

Hard to say - I don't like asking for things - is awkward and demanding, and also, I'd prefer to get surprises!

a. Book tokens - noone ever believes this, but I think they're the best present ever!

b. Zooooooooooom - is little MP3 recorder - extremely handy!

c. New Sat Nav - mine is dead.

d. Tasty wines?

e. Ummmmmm - running out of ideas now - consumable things are always good - maybe some tasty nuts and things?

f. A horse

22. What's Your Last Favourite Holiday Memory?

Opening stockings with LBF and the kittens in bed last year

Rules - blah, blah, blah, tag, tag etc - I laugh in the face of the rules.

1. I play the tuba (though nowhere near as well as I did when I was 17!) - I chose it because I knew there wouldn't be many others, so I'd always get to be in everything and also so that people would give me lifts places It worked out pretty well.

2. I'm an accountant - I did my ACA exams/training because I couldn't really think what else to do, but....

.... 3..... really I'd like to be a singer - I probably could do this, but it would be hard to live a penniless operatic life after having a decent wage for so long - also, I probably wouldn't get any decent paying work without being better, but with the job I have at the moment, I don't really have the time to put into working at getting better..... Am also getting a bit old now.

4. I like to bake things - would make an excellent 1950s housewife!

5. I have terrible guilt about one time when I was about 9, when I accidentally left a hay net in the straw box at the riding school we used to spend our holidays at - I know it's utterly stupid now, but weirdly the guilt still remains...

6. I don't think that i can get married, though I might quite like to, as I'm not sure I want to have children.

7. I'm a bit tired now - I think I might go to bed

If one is making lemon curd, and been cooking in mixing bowl over pan of boiling water, one must always take care when removing said bowl from pan, not to drip boiling water onto one's bare feet...

You have been warned

Fish pie eaten - DONE!

Sweet chilli sauce - DONE!

Grandparent cake - DONE (though not yet iced)!

Lemon curd - well on the way...

Am Friday cooking wizard

I love all the real face avatars today - I'd like to join in, but am not sure I have a picture to hand...

I'm actually not sure I have one at all

Oh, hold on - actually I have one that used to be my Facebook profile picture - is a few years old though, and am dressed up silly...
Does that count?

EDIT: In other news - am going to have fish pie for tea.... Mmmmmm - tasty fish pie

So I am quite a happy Jennie today as there are only 37 days until Christmas (counting this one, which is half over already)

I have been quite a good girl so far and done almost all of my Christmas present shopping (apart from LBF - I pretty much know what I want to get him, but that's another - PRIVATE - post ) and have, so far, managed to keep fairly well within my can't-spend-any-money-in-case-I-don't-have-job-tomorrow limits...

Of course, there's still time for mahoosive overspend in the next 36 days - still have to buy (some) foods/crackers etc for our pre Christmas Christmas dinner and there are bound to be lots of expensive outings in December as festivities begin to encroach on real life, but things are basically looking good

This year, I've decided to give my (extended) family little bags of tasty festive cookies with matching cookie cutters - am thinking gingerbread perhaps, as is quite festive, though possibly people don't like it much?

Am also, for closer family, planning to give them lots of tasty jars of home-made things to supplement other presents.
To this end, I've already made a load of jars of tasty festive apple chutney and spent a large proportion of last weekend peeling hundreds of chestnuts (takes bloody hours - can't say I recommend it) in order to make marron glaces (not certain yet how these will turn out - will get back to you) and am planning to make sweet chilli sauce tonight and possibly lemon curd another day - is all pretty exciting

Have ordered Christmas tree (and accompanying free wreath) also - am sooooo festive!

Hope everyone else is happy

Had delicious free pizzas and wine at Pizza Express last night - was v good...
I'm generally not a massive fan of chain restaurants etc, but Pizza Express is so consistently good (not to mention good value) that I am prepared to make an exception
And you can't really argue with a lovely free bottle of Barbera d'Alba

HAd small hot water crisis this morning, but it turned out to be extremely easily remedied so only made me panic a very small amount and was only a teeny tiny bit late for works.

Work is a bit frustrating today - there's some mess to clean up which is nothing to do with me or my department and which I've been advising on the correc approach to for a very long time (best part of a year) which keeps coming back to bite me - expect I'll be able to deal with it once I'm over the initial indignation, but may have to wait an hour or so for it to pass
Also, have to cover for on-holiday team member today - no big deal, but will have to remember to do her stuff... Is always a little bit scary covering things that are not completely familiar, too - but at the same time, the adrenaline is kind of exciting

Hope everyone is having nice day!

Too much pizza and wine....

Can't even type, am so gluttonous

Someone has put 4 large (open) boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts in front of my desk...

They smell so.... donutty.

Have resisted so far - am hoping that other people will eat them all v quickly so that they will be gone soon.
May be unrealistic though - there are an awful lot of them.

I HAVE NOT:
1. Seen the Sound of Music (am quite proud - must be almost only person on Earth ).
2. Called in sick to work/school when I wasn't.
3. Been out of Europe.
4. Been thin.
5. Worn jeans.

I HAVE:
1. Got a mortgage and bought my own flat with no help from parents/relatives/anyone...
2. A penchant for offal
3. Had sex in a tent in my parents' garden
4. Let off fireworks on bonfire night
5. Got very few secrets, which makes this a bit boring probably

Hello everyone!

Hope Edinburgh people all had fun this weekend - am a little bit jealous... I used to stay there all the time (well, at least once every few weeks) when LBF was still living there, but now, although he goes back sometimes to visit, I've not been at all since he left
Is sad - is one of my favourite places (though not sure whether I'd like it so much for holiday - maybe is better place to live).

Has been pretty nice weekend here too though, in fact
On Friday evening we went (briefly) to have a look (not very successfully) at potential new desks for LBF, then came home to eat delicious roast pheasant, drink tasty wine and watch LOTR 3 - was nice!
Don't remember much about what I did on Saturday - I had a rehearsal with no voice, but the rest is pretty much a mystery
Today we went to the farmers' market (hurrah hurrah hurrah - first time for aaaaaages) and bought lots of lovely tasty things (hopefully without spending too much money ) - garlic farm man was there, which was very pleasing - I totally missed him during the off season.... LBF wants me to say that we also bought a delightful brace of pigeons from game man (who was actually a girl today, as was garlic man), which look utterly delicious
We also went to the lovely wine shop (LBF's favourite place in the world) where we tasted lots of wines and bought some home in convenient bottles

Soon some 'in laws' are coming round to inspect the kittens (actually, they're coming to see LBF, but he needs some kind of excuse) and then we're going over to the pub for tea with multiple parentses and siblings and thing - should be tasty...
Hopefully there should still be some time for slobbing afterwards

Hope everyone else has had lovely weekend

The most wonderful place I've ever been:

Ikea, Ikea, Ikea, Ikea.

All the loveliest flat pack things I have ever seen:

Ikea, Ikea, Ikea, Ikea, Ikea, Ikea.

Ikea, I'm off on a spree to Ikea,

and suddenly decor will never be the same to me.

Ikea! I can't wait to be in Ikea.

So many are the things, I never knew I needed, see.....

...Ikea, all the wardrobes are so enticing.

With their policies of reasonable pricing,

Ikea, I never stop saying: "Ikea!"

Hurrah - is Friday Friday Friday

Have had lovely week, mainly because of bonfire night on Wednesday, which was fantastic - lots of people turned up, fire was hot and flamey and fireworks were lavish and triumphant

I've almost completely lost my voice now though - I thought that it was the smoke inhalation, but, given that it's still so bad, I suspect it may be more cold related...
I can talk (though am pretty sexy husky, so is hard work) but can barely sing at all - I rehearsed Act 1 of Eugene Onegin last night without making any sound at all
Also, managed to keep LBF (and myself) awake virtually all night last night with annoying coughing until eventually giving up and retreating to the sofa about an hour before I had to get up...
Is no great hardship though, so can't really complain - am bit tired, but that's all really.

Tonight, LBF says that we can go to Ikea Am v v happy! He wants to buy new desk, so I can just go and be voyeur instead of breaking non-spending-pact...
I love Ikea

Not much else planned for the weekend - after Ikea, we're going to have 'date' evening in with roast pheasant and tasty wine, on Sat LBF is going to play at someone else's gig, I think, and we might have to go out for dinner with multiple parentses on Sunday...
Hopefully there might also be time for small trip to the farmers' market and wine tasting place and maybe even for bit of baking and things

Hope everyone else has lovely day

It's bonfire night

Have made giant pumpkin soup (and parents have made further two giant soups and enormous preserving pam full of mulled wine), purchased sausages, ketchup, finger rolls and marshmallows, collected/bought chestnuts (though not spiked yet - must remember to do later) and mixed up enough wholemeal bread dough to make (hopefully) 60-100 soup rolls
Have afternoon off today to finalise my bits of cooking and spike chestnuts...

My dad has built lovely bonfire (there were lots of things to burn this year, as my parents have gutted the rooms that my brother and I used to sleep in) and bought a million lovely explosives and the weather forecast could be much much worse...

Hurrah - am v excited

.... am home and have had tea (mostly) and fed kitties...

Must mix up bread dough now, for bonfire night soup rolls tomorrow.

Am v v excited about fire and fireworks and things...
Aside from Christmas, I think that bonfire night is my favourite time of the whole year

Y'know on chewing gum and stuff, where it says:

EXCESSIVE CONSUMPTION MAY PRODUCE LAXATIVE EFFECTS

?

Well I can confirm that it does

.... I wants them!

Just the normal, eating kind - don't want anyone to get the wrong idea.

Losing interest in month-end at a swift swift rate...

My numbers don't quite reconcile, which is annoying - usually I'm really good at this stuff!

Soooooooo.....

Yesterday, after work, we carved some lovely pumpkins and fed popping candy to some small trick or treaters (actually LBF mostly did the kiddies before I got home), hence avoiding the flour-based mayhem that seems to have afflicted many of the other flats in the building

LBF wants you to guess which of them is his

Today we took the kits to the vet to get their boosters, made some potato scones and I had a singing lesson...

We're about to have tea now, and then we're dressing up and heading out to a lovely Halloween party - am very excited

Hope everyone else is having delightful weekend