cocoa overload

I never, ever thought I would say this, but I can't face any more chocolate. There really is such a thing as too much chocolate, and I've surpassed my limit. For some strange reason, everyone got me products made of cocoa this year. How did they know that I have a bit of a thing for this type of treat? Yeah, subtle I'm not. My husband purchased stock in Cadburys for me, so I am now officially part owner. My chocolate booty this year included: Hotel Chocolate products (truffles and a 500g slab of rocky road chocolate), lots of Green and Blacks goodies, delicious fair trade Divine dark chocolate (it's morally good for you so you can eat more), a Green and Blacks cookbook that came with a giant bar of chocolate, and a selection of Canadian chocs from Mom. To top it all off, I made a chocolate trifle for Christmas Day and I spent the week nibbling on Quality Street and anything else that happened to be placed in little glass dishes around the house.

Chocolate, I love you dearly but we need a bit of a break. You fill me with happiness but you also make my heart burn. You've been keeping me up all night and this has to stop. Please forgive me for putting you in the pantry until I can face you again.

Pass the salad, please.

surely you jest

From this week's pregnancy-related emails:

Welcome to week 16! You may find your regular clothes are getting a bit tight.

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! How cute.

we're number 1!

For the bazillionth year running, Jack is the number one boys' name in the UK. Yet oddly enough, we don't know any other little boys called Jack. Just to tease you all, I will say that our boy name contender (still undecided on that one) is in the top 20, as is our girl name (decided on that one). Am I bovvered? Not at all. I think that if you choose a name that has some meaning to you - whether it's just something you like or has some sentimental significance - it doesn't matter whether or not it's popular. I don't really understand why people fret if their baby's name appears on these top 100 lists. If you like a name, use it!

Thank you; that is my tip of the day. I hope you enjoyed it.

and the bells were ringing out for christmas day

It's the last day of work before the holidays, my cards are finally in the post, my cookies were a hit (the nursery staff requested I bring in more soon), our little boy made us a Christmas pudding card and met Santa, one of Jack's presents arrived yesterday (better than nothing), I had a wonderful meal at my favourite Indian restaurant with my lovely girlies last night, and I drove into work singing along to "Fairytale of New York" really loudly. I think I'm ready for Christmas now.

My fellow ex-pat Canuck Vero tagged me on this one, so here is the last meme on this blog for 2006.

Five things you (probably) didn't know about me:

1. I've never had a cavity. In my teeth; don't be rude.
   
2. When I was 7, I met one of the dogs who played "The Littlest Hobo". He signed a picture for me and I got my picture in the local newspaper.
   
3. I sold a book to Bjork. She's 2 feet tall and looks 8 years old. I also sold petrol/gas to Brian Orser, Canadian figure skater. He's 2 feet tall and looks 18 years old.
   
4. I spilled a plate of hot french fries in the lap of a blind man when I had a very brief career as a waitress. At the same job, I dropped a tray full of ketchup bottles.
   
5. The first record I ever bought was a 45 of Blondie's "Heart of Glass".

To all of you, have a wonderful holiday - and try not to get stuck in the fog. I mean honestly, how stereotypical. Now everyone's going to think it's always foggy here. Tsk.

Much love and happiness to everyone!
Lisa, Paul, Jack, Jasper, and Beanie xxx

desperate measures

I've had to resort to child labour to get my cards finished. I'm not proud.

singalonga with jack

Please try to ignore the wailing sounds of some lunatic woman in the backgroud, and enjoy the cuteness.


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jingle all the way

My cards are still sitting on the dining room table; filled out, addressed, but just not posted. Yes, even my overseas cards. I get a tummy ache just thinking about it.

Jack's nursery is having a Christmas party tomorrow and we were asked to donate some food for the festivities. I decided to make gingerbread men, and Jack could help decorate (we used up all the silver balls on the tree ornaments, so his nostrils should be safe for the time being). As I've found with all the North American cookie recipes I have, the gingerbread men didn't turn out well at all. The dough spread so the men look like Mr. Blobby, and the cookies turned out thin and crispy instead of thick and chewy like they are supposed to. Fortunately, I have a backup cookie recipe that I will try out tonight (bless you, Nigella) and that I know turns out perfectly fine with British ingredients in a British oven. Why do my recipes from home turn out so badly here? The same thing happened with a batch of chocolate chip cookies I tried out a couple of years ago, and it just uses standard ingredients like flour, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, eggs, etc. Truly, I'm stumped.

To top it all, I just got an email today saying that Jack's Christmas presents have been dispatched and should be arriving on December 27th. Thankfully, he's too young to know (or care) that his presents will be late, but I'm so disappointed. I know he'll have plenty of presents from all the relatives to open on Christmas Day, but I so wanted to see his reaction to his new JCB ride-on digger with accompanying hard hat.

On the plus side, our tree looks very pretty, all my shopping is done, and I don't have to cook or clean next week. Deck them halls.