Weekend Round-Up

It happened two weekends ago now, but if you want more details of Heather’s flying visit she’s done a lovely post over at Life In A Nutshell.  We really did have fun before we both fell ill!

This weekend I slowly rejoined the world, starting with a quick chat with Liz and Simon followed by Laurence bringing home noodles from Wagamama and an afternoon of truly terrible Hallmark Christmas movies.

On Sunday we braved beautiful snow flurries (until I tell this story one more time, at which point the flurries will morph into a horrible blizzard) to collect a turkey at M&S.  We also collected breakfast before returning home to homemade soup for lunch, a few more Christmas movies and an afternoon of making pecan pie cookies.

Today I’ve now finished up the last of the present shopping, gotten together stocking goodies and wrapped the last of the gifts. We also received a deluge of cards in the mail and I found an intricate snowflake cookie cutter for the orange lemon cookies so overall it’s been a very successful few days.  Hopefully the fun and frivolity won’t end any time soon!

Christmas Lists

Christmas lists.  I’ve got them coming out my ears.

Not being able to leave the apartment and losing this entire week has not helped.

I’ve got multiple grocery lists, a chemist list, present lists, baking lists, an errands list and a “miscellaneous” list for everything that didn’t quite fit on the others.

Watch out Dublin, I’ll be a woman on a mission next week.  Or many missions as the case may be.

Random Festive Cheer

Homemade peppermint bark.

The Merrion’s ginormous Christmas tree.

Stockings hung on the doorknob with care.

Festive wreaths.

Carolers on the streets.

25 Christmas Questions

Ruthlessly ripped off from Pass The Potatoes and It Be Liz.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for square/rectangular gifts, gift bags with tissue for anything else.

2. Real tree or Artificial? Artificial.  Too much upkeep with a real one, not to mention no place to put it.

3. When do you put up the tree? Whenever I can convince Larry.  I prefer late November, he prefers mid-December.  We tend to compromise with early December.

4. When do you take the tree down? Around New Year’s.

5. Do you like egg nog? Not in the least.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? Hmmm.  My pink and aqua bike was pretty snazzy.  So too was just about everything I got in England – doll, stroller, colour-in rug, dancing flower.  I’m getting dizzy just thinking about it all.

7. Hardest person to buy for? Laurence, by far.  If I hear “I don’t want any gifts” one more time I’m going to scream.  At him.

8. Easiest person to buy for? Actually, my older brother is pretty easy.  He’s never told me my gifts are crap so I’m going to think I do okay there.

9. Do you have a nativity scene? No.  But my mother has one that I made out of clay when I was but a small child.  It’s hideous.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both.  My lists are out of control, so I have to mix and match.

11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Hmm.  One year I got a hip hop CD.  I still suspect the wrong gift-tag was on that baby.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Mine is either Love Actually or Christmas Vacation.  Laurence likes a good Polar Express. Together we enjoy Elf.  Yeah, it was too hard to pick just one.

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? The sales after Christmas.  Don’t hate me, it’s just my way.  I’m a year-round Christmas shopper.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Yes. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Any kind of seasonal baked good.

16. Lights on the tree? Twinkling.

17. Favorite Christmas song? Traditional: O Holy Night.  Contemporary: Happy Christmas (War Is Over).

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We’ve done both.  Staying home this year.

19. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer’s? Obviously.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Morning, of course.  Or even Christmas afternoon, but none of this Christmas Eve nonsense.

22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Scrooges.  And Grinches.

23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I “own” a Miss Piggy ornament that I despise yet my mother continues to put on her tree every year.  If that one fell off and got trampled I wouldn’t be heart-broken.

24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? Anything but turkey.  And keep the sprouts far, far away from me.

25. What do you want for Christmas this year? Good surprises.

I’m Alive

Sorry about that.  After my massively social week last week I truly thought I’d pop back in on Friday and let you know about all the fun things I did.

Then I got sick.

Yes, Saturday around 2pm I came down with what I can only describe as a “bad bug” (well come on, I could give more description than that but it would attract the wrong kind of readers).  I was so cold I had on three layers and three blankets and couldn’t get warm.  Then I was so hot I had on few layers and no blankets and couldn’t cool down.  I wore a path in our laminated-to-look-like-wood floor between the bed and the bathroom.  I was forced to eat crackers and drink water.  I couldn’t keep my regular meds in and got a little worried when a paperback was too heavy to hold.

Friends, Romans, countrymen, it was nasty.

But by Sunday evening I was laying on the couch sipping some juice and explaining to Larry the intricacies of The City.  This morning I choked down most of a bagel and got “dressed” in yoga pants.  We even agreed it was time to change the nasty illness sheets and do a massive wash of my disgusting illness clothes.  I’m not 100% but I’m pleased to report I think I’m on the mend.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some water to sip and quite possibly a paperback to hold up.

Ok I Peeked

I was changing bed sheets so I didn’t watch myself on The Morning Show, but I listened.  I’m very pleased with how I sounded, now I just have to gather my courage to watch the video and see how I looked/acted!

And now I’m really over and out until the end of the week!

Quick Notes

Just a few quick notes.

To watch me on The Morning Show on TV3 you can go to the website and use the video archive to find the streaming video.  It’s today’s show so look for 7 December in the archive.  I am not watching though, so I won’t be chatting about it!

We got our little Christmas tree up this weekend and it leans slightly to one side. This means I’m not sure if I should call it The Little Christmas Tree That Could or The Leaning Tower of Tree-za.  I like both.

I had a fantastic time at a Secret Santa party yesterday.  I came home tired, but stuffed full of tasty food and bearing several bags full of presents.  Doesn’t get better than that.

Larry is home with me today and tomorrow and Heather arrives in the morning so it’s time to clean up a little and cross my fingers that the washing machine fix-it man arrives soon.

I won’t be blogging now for a few days, so enjoy your week!

A Little Adventure II

I’m home again from the TV3 taping and, surprise, we weren’t just a little segment on the show but the entire show!  I was the last guest though which meant my part was still only about 5 minutes long which is what I had expected in the first place, so I got to sit back and watch everyone else while I waited for my turn.

Another bit of news: the show will be available as a streaming video on the TV3 website from about 12:30pm (GMT) on Monday.

I’ll be honest, I likely won’t watch.  I’m pleased with the tips I gave but the idea of seeing myself on TV is a bit more than I can take right now.  I wouldn’t even be able to hear what we all chatted about, I’d be too busy staring at my prednisone puffiness, droopy eyelid and the bit of my scar that peeks out above my shirt.  For the first time ever I put make-up on it today but it’s still there.  I also don’t want to hear myself because I had been talking for about 3 hours prior to the taping and my voice was totally wobbly by then.  I even noticed it as I was talking.  So basically I just don’t want confirmation that at this point in time I’m an Oompa Loompa.  Thank you but no.

I hope you all enjoy it though!

A Little Adventure

I’m going on a little adventure this afternoon, down to TV3’s studio to tape a segment for The Morning Show (With Sybil and Martin).  Apparently they tape a day in advance so the segment will air on Monday morning’s show.

I’ll be talking about blogging along with Mummy Mania and Hot Cross Mum, among other bloggers.

I’ll come back later on to update you when the taping is done.

Wish us luck!

Homemade Gift Ideas

When I was detailing the many bargains to be had for €10 and under, I left out homemade gifts on purpose.  Never fear, I’m back with a full post on this very subject.  So without further ado, I give you 10 homemade gifts I’d be happy to receive this Christmas.

1.  Cookies.  Who doesn’t love Christmas cookies?  (Especially in a cute Christmas tin – but that’s not homemade so I shouldn’t be mentioning it).  When I’m in the States I particularly enjoy a good Hershey Kiss Cookie, and I’ll eat a jam thumbprint wherever it’s offered. Not to mention you just can’t go wrong with gingerbread. Yum!

2.  Chocolate.  No, I don’t think you need to actually process your own chocolate but melt down some really good bars and you’ve got a bunch of options.  Peppermint bark and homemade fruit and nut chocolates are two of my favourites.  Chocolate-covered strawberries and pretzels are always big hits in our apartment too.

3.  Baking in a jar. Cake in a jar, cookies in a jar – whatever you want in a jar. Sometimes I like to get these more than the baked goods because it means I can hold onto them until I need them or find myself bored and then I’m good to go for some baking.

4.  Ornaments.  If you can cross-stitch, knit or scrapbook then you can make ornaments. Or bookmarks.

5.  Knit scarf.  I’m freezing for about 10 months of the year, so a nice knit cotton scarf to wear around the apartment would go over well with me.

6.  New bag.  All you nifty sewers out there know that sewing a tote is a great “starter” project, and there are free patterns all over the Web.

7.  Home-made beauty products.  These are tricky because sometimes they end up looking kind of amateur (read: icky), and quite frankly a lot of women (and I suppose men) are brand loyal and really won’t be impressed with these gifts.  Don’t give these to them then.  But I am pretty much reduced to home-made products anyway because harsh chemicals don’t agree with me, so I’d be cool with a body scrub.

8. Sugar and spice garland or small wreath.  Traditional charm, yummy smells. You’ll need some space to dry the fruit though, and a few days to get the slices ready to be strung.  And use wire instead of raffia for wreaths.  Not really a beginner’s project, but still a nice one if you are confident in your fruit drying and stringing skills.  And I know we all practice those regularly.

9.  Pomanders.  Nothing says Christmas like an orange studded with cloves.  And I’m being serious here, only like 2% tongue-in-cheek.  I made these for the first time in England and I’ve associated them with Christmas ever since.  A few small mandarins covered in cloves make for a nice table display too.

10.  Coupons.  Specific coupons that you are willing to make good on.  If I got a card with a coupon inside for a home-cooked meal, an afternoon to come over and hang-out or to drive me somewhere I’d be overjoyed.

There you have it, 10 homemade gift ideas.  Go forth and craft/cook/clove.  Enjoy!