General

I think my brain may have been borrowed and left somewhere to gather dust. It didn’t occur to me that updating a post wouldn’t update the date. I then deleted the post. Come back brain!

My new website is up and running as of this last week and my stress level has fallen which is just as well as I ended up going to the doctors this morning as I’ve had a fever and some unpleasant pain over the weekend. I was right, I have an infection. The antibiotics ought to start working  and I’ll soon be more alive than death warmed over so I can write or at least lie in bed and daydream (a very important part of the writing process). [Read more…] about Blue skies ahead…

Yesterday we had a builder come to replace several radiators. It was a dirty job and my filthy living room carpet was visibly filthier after the man finished. Our carpets haven’t had a proper sweep since I broke the last wheel off our vacuum (you can plug it in and it sucks, but without its little wheels it was like wrestling a supernatural entity in the carpet). So the carpet has suffered nothing more abrasive than a tiny cheap thing my husband bought to use on the car which often picks up rubbish in one place and deposts it in another as if I was trying to force feed it my mother’s chilli (which is like chewing stewed wood). The Goblin phoned to see how the workman was getting on and I mentioned it would make me feel better if I could vacuum up all the dirt. [Read more…] about Proud owners of a blackhole…

My goblin has been quite poorly the last few days. Yesterday he decided he has Swine Flu. I gave him a funny look and pointed out he could just have the regular flu or with his luck menengitis. He gave me a look and said, “I know the symptoms for Menengitis, I don’t have it.” He was burning up with fever. I know he was really unwell as he let me put a wet washcloth on his bald head and he thanked me. Normally when he has a fever and I offer to get him a wet cloth he gives me an exasperated look as if being a man means he has to prove he can suffer and says, “I’ll be fine!” Bless him! He’s so cute when he’s sick, but whatever he has I’m coming down with it. It’s going to be another sick Christmas. Why aren’t there any Christmas songs about that? We can’t be the only household that gets sick almost every Christmas.

When I got up this morning I knew if I didn’t go to the store we’d both end up sick with nothing to eat that didn’t take an hour to cook (I’m not going to stand over the stove with the flu or spend a week eating uncooked porridge) so I wrapped up and walked into town through the melting slippery ice-snow. I don’t have any boots so I used the “large plastic bag between two pairs of socks trick”. It really works as long as you don’t tear a hole in the bag – minor details. I’ve never tried it sub-zero temperatures, but then why would I be in sub-zero temperatures without a pair of boots? [Read more…] about A Swine-ish Flu

I was talking to my sister Becky the other day and she mentioned she was in need of a tree skirt. For the past seventeen years she’s been using a table cloth. This year she wants something that lays flat and doesn’t look like a table cloth under the tree. She’d seen one in a shop that she liked, but it cost $25. She didn’t buy it. I understand her tree skirt dilemma. If one has a fake Christmas tree (and we both do) then it looks really fake if you don’t cover up the stand. So for my sister Becky and anyone else in need of a cheap pretty tree skirt, here is my solution. All you need is clear tape and a roll of rubbish/bin liners (or small kitchen garbage bags depending on where you live or how big your tree is). I use white ones, but if you couldn’t find a colour you wanted you could spray paint the white plastic bags! However you dress your tree, this is how I did it. I didn’t actually use the scissors though they come in handy for cutting open bags…or fending off Goblins trying to eat the newly hung chocolate ornaments. Note to self: next year make the tree skirt before you decorate the tree! [Read more…] about A solution to the tree skirt dilemma…