It's Christmas.

It is now officially Christmas. It's nearly 1 am and I am wide awake composing this while watching Season 2 of 'Friends'. I know I will pay the price tomorrow when everybody's sat around the table for Christmas lunch and I'm yawning away but I feel that I need to write this post before Christmas is gone.

For the past week the entire household has been getting the house ready for our Christmas guests.... getting the spare room downstairs tidied and cleaned; bathroom washed; all the dust vacuumed; Christmas decorations up... and this year, thanks to the great Lucy I managed to add a few personal touches to the Christmas tree and am feeling immensely proud of them. These are just a few pictures I took with my Blackberry, as usual the quality wasn't great but you get the idea.

 This snowflake is crocheted, starched and then dried on the radiator.  After I've made the first one, I was so impatient for the starch to dry I ironed out the snowflake and it was a big big mistake because the snowflake became flat as pancake. After that I found the 'ingenious' idea of drying them on the radiator and they dried out in no time at all. I have made a few to give to my colleagues, my friend's mum... and they've all loved it. I didn't make too many because I didn't really want the tree to end up getting too crowded.

There are currently lots and lots and lots of presents sitting under the tree. It will be so exciting tomorrow.... yippie. I do love Christmas....

Anyway I can feel sleepiness kicking in, so I think I'm going to bed before I fall flat on the laptop keyboard.

Have a Merry, merry Christmas everyone and a Happy New Year.

Four days to X'mas !!

This year I've been feeling really, really 'Chrismassy' so far, and it's not even X'mas Eve yet..

Last year, the extended family rented a place up in Malham, Yorkshire so we didn't really decorate the place much except to put up a tree and also I was sick as a dog and coughing non stop so I didn't really feel the 'spirit of X'mas' much last year.

This year, we're having the aunty and uncle, and Steve's brother for X'mas so we spent the whole of last weekend 'sprucing' the place up starting with putting up the X'mas tree and the bits and pieces that go with it, which was my responsibility, while Steve was cleaning the windows, and his dad vacuuming the carpet...

It was such a nice and wonderful feeling, putting up the tree and the decorations while listening to X'mas songs on the telly ... and the dog was busy sniffing everything and making sure it's okay before I put it up on the tree.... I love X'mas.

So I'm at work now, writing this short entry before I start my day's work.

Hope to see you soon and I'll keep you posted about X'massss....

Jingle bells..... Jingle bells......Jingle all the wayyy.....

Will the questions ever stop?!

When you first embark on a relationship with someone, everyone is happy for you and they wish you well.

After two years, the questions start coming in ....'When are you getting married?'....'Do you plan to get married?'...'When do you plan to have babies?' ...'Are you getting married soon?'....

So after being with my other half for more than four years, you can imagine the questions come from left, right and centre at all times.

Frankly I am quite fed up with these questions. I know, I know, I know from the bottom of my heart that half of these people who ask these questions are genuinely concerned for my well-being (the other half being the classic Ke-Po-Chi)...

Quite honestly, I do not have answers to all these questions and it's rather tiring having to explain yourself over and over again... and believe you me, the questioning session doesn't stop after the first one.... it is a series of questions with a full-on interrogation...at the end of it, I am often left with the urge to shout to the person's face...BUGGER OFF AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS !!

Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised that people are asking these questions... afterall I, like many other girls, have pictured myself meeting the right person, getting married, and having children. I happen to be stuck at the first stage for a long time without proceeding any further and people are beginning to wonder why.

I once heard a friend say something rather casual but it had such a great impact on me.

'When you are too busy worrying about the future, you often neglect to enjoy and cherish the present.'

It is very, very simple and yet very, very true.

With that in mind, I am now a much, much happier person.

Some people may say that I am trying to convince myself more than anything...

But the truth is, I honestly don't mind.

Now, all I need to do is to convince my mother to stop worrying (wish me luck).

On a completely separate issue, I have a question for you to ponder upon...

What would you do, when you are at the check-out at the supermarket, it is your turn to pay and your mobile phone starts to ring? Do you...

a. ignore the call because you know that you can check the missed call later and ring the person back
b. take the call but end it quickly telling the other person that you are at the check out and that it is rude to talk on the phone
c. take the call, expect the cashier to pack your shopping for you, and when she's finished packing your shopping for you, you throw your money down, take the change and then leave the till without even a smile, a glance, or a 'thank you'

Sometimes, it's good to watch our mobile phone etiquettes because it is too easy for people to be rude these days without even realising it. Who knows, you might just make someone's day a less miserable one :)

Click, click, click.

Honestly I should not be allowed to go online.

Remember I told you about the crochet book I bought over the weekend?

Well, I found another book by the same author on Amazon. Instead of crochet, this book is on knitting and yesss you guessed right, within three clicks of the mouse, the item is now on its way to my house. I just love the way the book is written and how the patterns are clearly explained to someone who is 'formulae-challenged' like I am. Apart from a mini diagram illustrating the stitches of the whole project, each pattern also comes with recommendation for the type of wool to use which I found extremely useful. So I am hoping that this book on knitting will also be the same. Really I am extremely excited about starting on a project from the book and to show you how I've done. I have accumulated so many balls of unused yarn really I think it's high time I did something useful with them.

Now, now, don't panic, the American blanket is still very much in progress, so there is no need to judge me just yet.

It's a rainy and wet Monday today.... as the British would say it ....'It is absolutely disgusting out there'.

See you later.

Nineteen Days to X'mas

I have been on a major shopping spree this weekend.

Was at IKEA yesterday and came up close and personal with the Billy Bookcases that escape2 was raving about. They were actually very nice. My favourite was the BILLY BJASTA. I was oh oh so tempted. It's extremely lucky that we have very limited space, otherwise I would have bought half of IKEA.

There was one thing that I could not resist buying though. Knowing full well that I HAVE NOT GOT SPACE for it I bought myself the lovely DAVE Laptop table. There were Black, White and Red, guess which colour I chose? Yuppp... the Red one. I love it.  I love it. I love it. I know that the contrast between my Mac and the table would be so elegant. Never mind that I don't even have standing space in my bedroom, never mind that there would be no space even for a small table downstairs in the lounge, I was possessed by a demon that told me I HAD TO GET THAT TABLE. So now I have the table still in its flatpack leaning against the TV cabinet in the room. Until I decide that something else in the room has to go, until I can get a bigger room, or until I can move into a new place, I cannot unpack it and set the table up. However, I can tell you about this wonderful table. What was clever about this table is that the table top can be tilted and also the stand can be adjusted to different levels. Where on earth can you find such an ingenious design for a price tag of £16.99?? I knowwww !!!! I left IKEA a lot poorer but happier, haha. It's amazing how every little adds up. You pick up small items like Christmas lights and cheese grater, or cereal box container, thinking that they only cost a couple of pounds but they soon add up and the whole bill made me more than 50pounds poorer.

Another precious find this weekend was my very first crochet book from Borders. Borders in the UK has unfortunately gone into administration and they were having a closing down sale and I managed to dig out from amongst a pile of books 'Stitch N Bitch, the Happy Hooker'  by Debbie Stoller and got a 30% off from the original price. What I love about this book is that it's got really clear explanation with pictures and illustrations for all the patterns and not only that, there are some really cute and creative patterns in there that I can't wait to try out.

As weird as it may sound, one of the things I enjoy most is browsing in the shops on my own, taking my sweet time looking and choosing stuff without worrying that someone is waiting for me. Last week, I went to Hobby Craft and got totally 'drowned' in the yarn section. I went up and down the isle hundreds of times, not having any projects in mind but just picking a selection of yarn balls in a nice range of colours and I must admit I was quite happy with my selection and could not stop admiring them when I got home.

Like I said, I don't have any specific project in mind yet, but I'm sure I'll keep you posted about it. The picture was taken with my phone so the colours in the picture definitely don't look as vibrant as they should.

Today, we went to an outlet shopping mall and again the plastic 'MAGIC' card made several appearances and again I came home a lot poorer than before I left the house in the morning.

In my next post, I shall tell you all about it so stay tuned :)