My fifteen festive favourites

I’ve been tagged to do my Festive Favourites by Liz at Expression and Confession. I enjoyed reading hers (Cheese!!)  so here are mine:

Favourite Festive Food. A difficult one to start as I love all Christmas food. I like turkey and roast potatoes and parsnips and gravy, stuffing, bacon, even sprouts. But as you can have roasts most of the year without anyone commenting, I'll go with mince pies. I do love a mince pie. This year we've been making our own (though shop bought mincemeat!) as the commercial ones all seem too sweet.

Favourite Reindeer. A what? Hmm can I say a dead one? You can eat reindeer and I haven't tried it yet. I hope it's nicer than moose.

Favourite Day of Christmas. I like Christmas Day. But specifically the afternoon, after the dinner is eaten and cleared away, we can have a mince pie, a glass of cava and sit around the tree and open our presents. Lovely. Then a movie and a snooze, maybe more cava. I can't wait.

Favourite Christmas Song. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen has been a favourite of mine for years, great up beat tune, glad tidings and a reminder of why we are partying. Love it.

Favourite Present:I blogged once about my worst christmas present. My best very Christmas present was my favourite toy as a child, Action Girl and her Horse. Absolutely brilliant. Still prefer her to Barbie and Sindy, and am not averse to having a sneaky game with her even now.

Favourite Festive Film.i used to adore Polar Express and forced my family to watch it every I year. It's still high on the list but recently my husband has converted me to repeated watching of Planes, Trains and Automobiles, with the genius that was John Candy. Not strictly a Christmas film as it's about Thanksgiving, but close enough.

Favourite Festive Cracker Toy. Fortune telling fish. No contest.

Favourite Cracker Joke. Where does a baby chimp sleep? In an apricot. It's my favourite because I didn't get it for years, I think I first heard it when I was about 6 and didn't get it until I was in my 20s lol

Favourite Christmas Decoration. I have a pair of tiny felt slippers that were inherited from my grandma. They are decorative only but of course I tried to wear them as a toddler and then DD tried the same trick. They have many family memories.

Favourite Christmas Candle Scent. Due to reasons we won't go into here, I'm not allowed candles. It's not something I'm proud of. If pushed I'll pick cinnamon and apple,

Favourite Christmas TV Advert. I pride myself on not having seen any (we watch almost everything on delay or prerecorded so we can skip them) but I did catch a glimpse of a family dinner where they were using a gravy boat shaped like the Titanic...I WANT that gravy boat. So who ever that was for, I pick that one.

Favourite Festive Tradition. I still like hanging the stocking with my daughter, and thinking of what Santa will bring, I think it's a shame he never gets to see if she likes what he brings, he always picks good stuff and it can be hard to get things that fit into a stocking.

Favourite Place to Spend Christmas. Home. Though if anyone wanted to send me somewhere warm, all inclusive I'd be willing to give it a go...just to check.

Favourite Christmas Fact. I like the whole St Nicholas story. The mix of fact and fiction that surrounds it.

Copyright: olgacov / 123RF Stock Photo

Favourite Snowman Accessory. A carrot of course, so many places you can use use it...though you may have to add snowballs too.

I’m tagging the following to do their festive favourites and looking forward to reading them!

Rachel at  http://rachelinreallife.co.uk/

Vicky at http://aroundandupsidedown.co.uk/

Chimping Dandy at  http://thechimpingdandy.blogspot.co.uk/

and Tammy at http://tlcukjourney.blogspot.co.uk/

Get blogging and pass it on!!

Desert Island Books

Image credit: vicnt / 123RF Stock Photo

Many people listen to music a lot and use it as a form of comfort, escape or cheer. Maybe some use it as a memory device, a wallowing in a mood thing or just an entertainment thing. I like music, but I don't love it and the words are always the important bit for me. Going onto a desert island I would be hard pressed to think of music that means that much to me, maybe I'd pick the latest albulm I'm enjoying (would be something by Stornoway as they have the most amazing lyrics and great tunes)

Books on the other hand...books. They are full of words, awesome, awesome stories, poems, memories, worlds..things strange or normal. I love books.

So I picked books rather than tracks for my desert island, here are my desert island books.

1. The Life of Pi - many people don't like it, but it changed the way I think about things, it is beautiful writing, a strange tale and a curious finale. Well worth a read but you must read to the final page, none of this 'it was too long' lark. If you start it, finish it. I could reread it forever on an island.
2. To Kill a Mocking Bird - a true classic, set in middle class, middle town, middle America, a story of growing up and discovering both the horror and the joy the world can contain.
3. Night Watch - a comedy, and a fantasy and there is religion and time travel, good and evil, love and truth, it's all therein this frankly amazing book by Terry Pratchett. A detailed take on the history of one of my favourite discword characters, Sam Vimes.
4. Rebecca's World, Journey to the Forbidden Planet - now out of print although maybe available on CD. A children's story, with a young girl as the lead, telling the story of travel through a weird land, meeting unusual people, discovering friendship, and often very very funny. A great read for young and old, I'd take it to read alound to my goats.
5. The River World Series - a whole series of science fiction books, dealing with the themes of life after death, but also alternative lands and human nature. With some famous historical figures thrown in. I love these books and plan to reread them soon.
6. The Neverending Story - Another children's book that has a mystical feel. Lose yourself in this book (hopefully not as literally as Bastian does) the original printing was in two colours, one for this world and one for Fantasia. Explores the themes of bullying and friendship.
7. The White Dragon - I've always wanted a dragon, by reading any of the Pern books by Anne McCaffrey you can have one, if only for a book's length. This is my favourite of all the stories. her dragons are marvelous.
8. Anything (possibly Everything) by Oscar Wilde - proper clever wit, some horror, some poetry. Perfect to read and reread.
9. 1984 - we were forced to read this at school for A level but oddly it didn't put me off. A brillaint political horror/satire and a terrible view, not so much into the future as into the here and now. Nice to read it on a desert island where I would be the one in power...
10. Guess How Much I love you - a silly picture book is my last choice. I used to read this to DD when she was small and it would remind me of family, home and love. I would read it through tears to keep me connected to my daughter. I love her...to the moon....and back.

The blogger questioned

Question Time

Where do you do most of your writing/blogging?

Well obviously lately I've hardly done any! (lazy cow I hear you rave) but usually in my lunch break or, if I'm lucky, on the laptop in front of the telly. But I prefer a real keyboard for a proper rant.

 What books were your childhood favourites?

Oh I loved to read as a kid, still do though I seem to spend more time dipping in and out of twitter. So lately I read lots of short stories (also in my lunch break and often  on my kindle app on my tab) but this isn't about now, it's about 'then'.

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

 

I've been an adult for so long some childhood books are lost in my memory, more are remembered from my DDs toddler years than my own. I adored the Wishing Chair stories by Enid Blyton though. And as a teen was a big horror fan, devouring books by James Herbert and Stephen King (not literally obviously) as fast as they wrote them. Several children's books i loved and continue to love though are Rebecca's World by Terry Nation (that chap that invented the daleks) and now sadly out of print and only available as an audio book, and  Stig of the Dump by Clive King (maybe this explains my love of the outdoor life? cave man experiences as a small child!)  And Just William is rather fab isn't he?


Have you ever Googled yourself and been surprised at what you’ve found?

I regularly google my own name to ensure I'm hard to find. I'm relieved to report that I am. As I have a very unique name all the hits I get are actually me and they are few, 3 BBC Letters on the News pages, a book review and a link to a place I used to work at years ago. Google always likes to 'suggest' I may have typed my name wrongly though and do i mean 'name of famous super model' which is nice :-)

 What is your favourite time of day and why?

Most days - bedtime. But if a day off or camping then in the morning. Coffee, leisurely breakfast, no hurries. But sleep is my true love.

Who would play me in a movie of my life?

 Sigourney Weaver - no question. Perfect.


One material possession I could not live without.

My tent. Though DH has bought me a storm kettle for Christmas so maybe that. Something camping related anyway. Love camping.
 
Have you ever been naked in public?

Often. I have no problem with nudity. I don't look bad for my age even now so I don't think too many people would be put off their cornflakes if I was naked even more often. I used to attend a mixed spa, have wandered topless along a local beach...I'd be naked all the time if I wouldn't end up like the poor Naked Rambler (oh and not when it was freezing cold - I don't love nudity that much!)

Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

 
What/who/where was your first proper kiss?

I refer you to @rushynet on twitter for twas him! I was 9 or so, he a year older, I was madly in love. It was all very sweet and romantic. Sadly we lost touch when he changed schools, and then i moved,  ah young love!

  Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

So now I have to pass on this meme......

I pass it to

Sexy Jomakessix

The lovely VBC

and the silly Pants with Names

 

What I want...(a selfish post)

I have been tagged! Yippee! By the lovely Older Single Mum - You can read what she wants here

I wanted to be tagged!

I want to go to bed and no one wake me up for any reason at all until I am ready to wake up.

I want all bacon to be crispy. And have no calories.

I want beer to be served in McDonalds.(see VBiC's Blog here!!)

I want to win the lottery (don't we all)

I want to be able to walk in heels again.

I want to be a (UK) size 10 

I want everyone to be nice to each other

But you know what I want most of all? I want my DD to be happy. She is already smart, beautiful, healthy and generally perfect (may be some parental bias here) And I want her to be happy forever, to never have her heart broken, to never be poor,  to never fail, to never miss out on things she wants...

...of course that's silly, I want her to live, to experience all the riches of life, then emerge (relatively) unscathed and pass on her knowledge and love to another generation.

I don't want much

I pass this to ....the 1st 5 people to comment on this post. I want comments, I want to know what you want!

An Olympic Meme

Crank up the national anthem, get out your gold medals because I've been tagged for the latest meme sprinting round the block. No list of rules for this one, just a list of Q & As and MelkshamMum has passed the baton to me so here we go...3,2,1 and they're off

If everyday tasks were an Olympic event what would you get a gold medal in?

Sleeping, absolutely without any doubt. I can sleep through practically anything. Storms that destroy our garden shed, radios blaring, toilets flushing, 11am coming and going, movies, I once fell asleep in a nightclub. I'm a Gold Medal winner for sleeping for sure.

As a child, or now even, did you excel at a particular sport?

No. As a child I was terrible at all sports and it put me off doing anything even remotely sporty for life. I was finally diagnosed at 36 with Charcot-Marie-Tooth explaining (finally) that I wasn't 'lazy' or 'rubbish' at games (as many a PE teacher had suggested) but was, in fact, mildly disabled. I'm looking forward to watching the Olympics though, and the Paralympics even more so.

Michael Phelps (swimmer) or Michael Johnson (runner) - which sport appeals to you more?

I can neither swim nor run. However the idea of watching fit young men do either is really rather appealing....hmmm glistening muscles....

Gratuitous Muscled Body Picture

How fast can you get out of bed and ready to go out the door if you miss the alarm and sleep in?

I rarely sleep in because while being able to sleep for England I am an early riser on a work day - out of bad making tea for DH at 5.30am. If I did oversleep I could be up and out in 10 minutes. I don't wear makeup and showers are for sissys (kidding I do wash, but if in a hurry I'd skip a day)

What fantasy sport would you like to see made into an Olympic event?

Extreme Breastfeeding, you know, while bungy jumping, underwater, up a mountain, while skydiving, that sort of thing. For those that don't breastfeed there would be a bottle feeding version but I think it would be harder to sterilise bottles and milk underwater than to breastfeed there :-)

Claim to fame time: have you ever met an Olympian and who was it?

No, but am attending some events this year so there is still time. Are you allowed to lick Usain Bolt?

What event in past Olympics can you remember most vividly?

To be honest I don't really remember many events - just the shock stuff like Zola Budd changing nationalities to run in the Olympics, and Ben Johnson being stripped of his medal in 1988

Tuning in at home or tickets clamped in sweaty palms?

I have tickets for Dressage (that's a horse thing ;-)) and tickets for swimming, dressage, and wheelchair basketball in the paralympics. DD and I are going (DH not so keen) and we are very excited. (Tickets not arrived yet though! *bites nails*)

Who do you think most deserves a gold medal (any walk of life not just Olympians)?

Would be slushy to say my other half wouldn't it? but he's been a SAHD for the last 12 years and does most of the housework, despite being 20 years my senior. So I think I'd award it to him. 

Now I have to pass on the baton, but whose sweaty palm is outstretched to grab it?

I pass to  The Moiderer (because she can actually run and has done the London marathon!)

and  Very Bored in Catalunya because she is lovely and is in the right place for some Beach Volley Ball

Feel free to snatch the baton for yourself if you want to answer the questions, and leave a comment here so I can pop over to look.

Why! Why? Why have I been tagged!!?

Memes, I've talked about them before, how they shout "Me! Me!" at me, demanding to be completed. I don't dislike them, not really, they give me a kick to get blogging and they make me feel ... accepted I suppose is the word. But (there is always a but) WHY do they always appear when I have no time to blog or when I have 3 or 4 blog posts already in my head (and no time for those either!?)

So no surprise that when the rather sexy Mummy Central tagged me in a meme it should catch me in the middle of both of the above situations. Luckily the Meme is about whining, specifically about whining 'WHY?' (or more accurately WWWW-HHH-YYYYY?) So I am all prepared. are you?

Why do blogging ideas strike when I have no time to blog them?

Why does alcohol taste SO good?

Why are dogs not allowed in supermarkets? (no really, why? and don't say 'health reasons', or 'safety' as the health and safety executive debunked all that and it's bollocks - oops ranting happened)

Why can't I blog without ranting? Why is my default setting 'rage'?

Why are babies feet so flipping adorable and why can't I nibble babies feet in public without being arrested, it seems so unfair.

Why are there not more beards?

Why are you allowed to put animals to sleep to spare their pain but you are not allowed to do it for people, when PEOPLE ARE MORE IMPORTANT! (that one is from DD aged 12)

Why does it rain on bank holidays?

Why are beds more comfy at 6am than they were at 11pm?

Why are young people under such pressure to look perfect and conform to an ideal?

Why is plastic surgery so popular? But individuality isn't?

Why does spellcheck on Blogger highlight, Blog, Blogging and Blogger??

Why can't people stop fighting?

Seriously, just WHY?

So, the Why meme; the rules are as follows:

1. Post your whys – as few or as many as you like

2. Link up your post at Mummy Central, and leave a comment here too

3. Tag 5 bloggers to keep this going

4. If you’re not a blogger, leave your whys as a comment below. Id love to read them

5. Show your support by reading a few others and commenting on them

I'm tagging  

ChickenRuby who is my grumpy soulmate

Marley Terrier who surely has many whys that need answering 

The Sexy MotherScuffer who's whys will no doubt shock me

Pants with names because ... because well giggles! and that! 

and last (cost that's what you save the best for )  Mamacrow who must, on a daily basis, answer a lot more Whys than I do!

Didn't I tag you? Ask yourself why? (I probably have a crush on you and was embarrassed to say) if you want to join in, head over and add yourself anyway! Why? Why not!

An Award - and I cheat a bit (a lot)

I don't know where this award originated but it's been travelling around for at least a few months, I've tracked it back as far as 2010!

I would like to thank Toxic Vegan for giving me the award. The Toxic vegan is not a blog I've read before, but I shall be taking a peek at the recipes for some of my meat free days. So a double thanks.

The rules for the award are:

1) Thank the person who nominated me and link back to them in my post.

2) Share 7 things about myself

3) Pass the award on to 15 more bloggers that I enjoy

4) Contact the bloggers I have chosen to let them know that they have been selected!

I'm going to cheat with number 2 becasue I just did that in my 7x7x7x7 post, so you'll have to read them there instead.

Pass on the award...wowsers. Not sure I even follow 15 blogs!

But once again I'll cheat, take a look to the left...ok you looking? There is a blog roll of awesome blogs I adore. Go on take a look, some of them are so good that they make the internet sparkle.

so 8th thing about me.....I cheat a lot

Ground Hog day – a story of happy

I had no idea of this bizarre American tradition until I saw the movie of the same name, and to many I think that ‘ground hog day’ is, due to the movie, synonymous with the idea of a repeated day.
I’m sure you’ve sometimes come to the end of a day with a feeling of relief ‘thank god that’s over’ and a horror that a day might be repeated.

A while ago I had an idea for a meme, along the theme of repetition but rather than one of horror, one of joy, and rather than just a day, a year. A year of you life that you loved and really wouldn’t mind living again.

Maybe it would be your first year! A year of cosy cuddles, warm milk, love and sleep. Or a year from your early years before school, or even of school age, where there were long summer holidays spent fishing in streams or playing on the beach. Perhaps you didn’t have an idyllic childhood, so you would rather forget it, rather relive your first year at university, free at last, drinking, partying (studying a bit), or the year you got a promotion and a job you loved. The year you got married, finally realised who you wanted to be with (even if this changed later). So many great moments in life to relive.

At first I thought that my repeated year would be when I was 19. I was supposed to be resitting my A levels but instead I was discovering young love and nightclubbing. It was the 80s all wild hairstyles, new romantics and flirting. I had a ‘proper’ boyfriend for the first time. I got my own flat, a job and started to feel like a person separate from home life, finally an adult…but…

But the more I thought about it the more I realised the actual year I would choose to relive again and would be the first year of DDs life. I was lucky enough to have the most delightful birthing experience ever, so I’d start the year right when my waters broke. I had a water birth and was home next day. I was lucky enough to be able to take a year off work and had a husband at home too (as he had retired) we had a puppy and a young dog and now a new baby. A baby that learned to feed after a panicky start and then slept through the night like an angel after about 6 weeks. That Summer was filled with country walks and sunshine. A young baby discovering a world around her, filling us with love and laughter everyday.

We used an off road buggy so that we could take the dogs for walks by the canal, along the river and across the South Downs.

We visited museums, beautiful country houses, the beach, Wales… We also went to Butlins and toddler soft play areas. We took her for pub lunches (she didn’t drink as much as I did).

Going back to work at the end of that year was the hardest thing I ever did. I was commuting to London, trying to be a mum while out of the house 5 days a week from 6am until 9.30pm. I didn’t see her awake for days at a time. My lovely husband called it a day when he saw me crying over the cot one morning. So I started working closer to home. I would stop my repeated year right before I went back to work.

But would I want to repeat the year over and over for ever? Of course not. I would miss each year that DD grew older. The hilarious things she said as she learned to talk. Her bright take on life. Seeing my husband being a brilliant dad and teaching her things that I can’t (like music and maths). And now that she is approaching the dreaded teens she still makes me laugh with her wicked dry wit.
So what year would you repeat and why? Tell me the happiest time of your life, and I sincerely hope that future years will be even better.

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The Totally Truthful Memetastic Award

It appears I have been tagged. By someone I thought was a friend, now I wonder.....

thanks Julie although maybe she's not entirely to blame, after all, she was tagged by  Jillsmo

with this silly meme

and here are the rules

1. You must proudly display the absolutely disgusting graphic that I have created for these purposes (put it in your post, you don’t have to put it in your sidebar, I think that would seriously be asking too much). It’s so bad that not only did I use COMIC SANS, but there’s even a little jumping, celebrating kitten down there at the bottom.It’s horrifying! But its presence in your award celebration is crucial to the memetastic process we’re creating here. If you need a higher resolution version… I totally have one!!
2. You must list 5 things about yourself, and 4 of them must be bold-faced lies. Just make some shit up, we’ll never know; one of them has to be true, though. Of course, nobody will ever know the difference, so we’re just on the honor system here. I trust you. Except for the 4 that you lied about, you lying bastards! But don’t go crazy trying to think of stuff.
3. You must pass this award on to 5 bloggers that you either like or don’t like or don’t really have much of an opinion about. I don’t care who you pick, and nobody needs to know why. I mean, you can give a reason if you want, but I don’t really care.”

so with out further ado, have a guess

1. I once came home from a 'vicars and tarts' party on the tube and was propositioned by someone who thought I was a prostitute.
2. I am really a man, but I blog and tweet as a woman because it's easier and more acceptable to make friends that way. The photos I post are my wife, and our daughter.
3. I'm allergic to carnations.
4. I was once caught having sex with my boyfriend in some woods, by an old man walking his dog.
5. I was a competitor on the Chris Moyles Show's phone in game 'Car Park Catchphrase' but I didn't win.

so now I can tag...and I tag

Mamacrow   cos I love her

Marley the dog! cos he is funnier than funny

Not Drowning Mothering the blog that makes me wee laughing

Very Bored in Catalunya because she is lovely

Christine at Thinly Spread just because

I'm a Twitterholic - don't judge me

When did you join twitter? (You can find the exact date at bwitterday.com)
I had an account for 6 months or so, which I deleted when hubby said I was addicted. He told me to create a new one when I was so grumpy without twitter! This account was started September 22, 2009

Why did you join twitter?
I didn't want to, it sounded awful and I loved facebook (which I have now deleted! oh fickle online person I am) but Stephen Fry seemed to rate it so I joined to see what it was like.

Who is/was your oldest follower? Who did you follow first? Tell me all about them. (firstfivefollowers.com will give you this info)

The First person I followed was Stephen Fry

My first 5 followers on the new account (so they must have missed me!) were: @saraheadworth @StoatsJackson @ti_bo @LivingWithCMT @JasonBradbury.

Stoats is a lovely cuddly funny guy well worth a follow :-) I have a crush on Jason Bradbury, Ti_bo is a cutie of the nefarious type, the CMT account is a hereditary condition I have too, we share symptoms :-) Sarah is a nice relatively normal person haha

Do you have any celebrities following you or have you ever had a DM from a celeb?

not DMs but lots of @replies (depending on your idea of celebrity I guess!) I've had tweets from Graham Lineham, Alexsander(The Meerkat) , Paul Daniels,  Stephen Fry, Chris Moyles, and I chat fairly regularly with  Jason Bradbury, Andy Stanton, Matt Kirshen I tend to star them, so check my favourites.

If you could follow anyone who is not on Twitter – alive or dead, real or fictional – on Twitter, who would it be?

would be good to follow a blog of someone really real but also who is secretive in real life or who no one knows much about, God would be great though! But I bet he'd tweet fast

Which came first Twitter or the Blog?

The blog. No readers, but the blog.

Me! Me! Me!

So, since I started twittering and pimping out my blog I find I have blooming loads of followers of the blog! this is lovely, as I'm no longer writing into a void, but also it adds pressure. (despite my disclaimer that; hey; it is free!) and now, worse than that the 'memes' are piling up!

I always picture them like small, smug, spotty, bespectacled schoolboys, sitting at the front of the class and at every question rising from their seat (with out actually standing) and waving a desperate hand, shouting "sir! sir! please sir! Me! Me!" ......although sadly it's pronounced to rhyme with cream, but despite that I see them, lurking and crying "me me, do me!" and I haven't...so I'm sorry.

This is therefore a brief apologetic post saying I love that I made it into the realm of the popular people by getting tagged in memes and that I'm sorry I'm so crap at blogging, and that I really really will get some time soon to do the (now 5) memes that I'm tagged in.

But probably, you shouldn't hold you breath (or even you bladder)

see you soon!