Just what I've always wanted

I recently received a Lakeland catalogue and yesterday afternoon I settled down to look at it very excited at the prospect of all those pans and baking essentials - yes, I know that's sad but the way I look at it some people get excited by power tools, shoes or handbags; for me, it's saucepans every time.

Imagine then my disappointment when I discover it's 100 pages of cleaning and storage stuff! Seriously? There are tools in it to clean things I didn't even know you were supposed to clean. My favourite item though - and one that will be top of my Christmas wish list this year - stay dry sleeve protectors. It was close between that and the water-stop gloves but the elegance of the former, not to mention the personal recommendation of Kelly from Marketing, swung it for me.

P.S. To my children, if you think it might be fun to buy these for mum, be warned: I WILL disinherit you.

Not forgetting ...

My rock and the person I always want to come home to. Husband had a low key birthday yesterday because of everything else that was going on. It's his generosity of spirit that allows me to do the things that I do and I love him to bits.

Which, incidentally, is nearly what became of his birthday cheesecake when it fell out of the fridge.

It's amazing what a bit of cream and fruit can hide.

Finally getting to sit down and enjoy his cake after a long day!

What a weekend!

Okay, so I made it through to December, yay! A little rest this week I think and then I can concentrate on the run-up to Christmas in earnest.

Having finished NaNoWriMo a few days early I was able to put writing aside and think about this last weekend. On Saturday we went to Cardiff for the Wales Australia rugby game. When Wales scored in the first few minutes our hopes were raised but from then on it was more or less downhill. the final score (26-30) was quite flattering to Wales, though it grieves me to write that.

But it was great as always to be in the Millennium Stadium - and as we were there and we weren't going to be having any dinner as such we had to have the traditional pie and a pint - or bottle of water in my case.

Walking back to the car after I did lots of oohing and aahing at the pretty Christmas lights. The capital's city centre puts Swansea's to shame. 

* * * * * * * * *
Sunday and A Taste of Italy. Not a huge number of people but everyone seemed to enjoy it, especially the sampling.

Chef and his lovely assistant. 

Doughballs deep fried, plain or with olives.

As it was the first Sunday in the month there was also a Zac's Tribal gathering, with a celebration of Sean's 25 years in ministry. As I couldn't be there I sent a cake.

Who'd have thought 'congratulations' was such a long word? I kept thinking I must have put in an extra 'a' because it looked as though it were going to run over the edge of the cake. As it was I had to  improvise and add a star so that it looked as though the writing were deliberately off-centre ...

Thank goodness it's Friday

Not the best of days today. It's strange, isn't it, how you can imagine something happening and what your response would be but when it does your response is quite different?

Never mind, off to Cardiff tomorrow afternoon for the Wales Australia rugby game at the Millennium Stadium.

And then A Taste of Italy on Sunday. Unfortunately I don't think there'll be many people there: lots either away or busy or not interested. But we will enjoy it I'm sure.

It's also Husband's birthday on Sunday and the first day of December so on Monday we can get out the Christmas mugs and start on the Christmas music. Yay!

I'm a winner!

Woop, woop! I've done it! Written 50,000 words in November. In spite of my birthday and GrandDaughter's birthday celebrations I am a NaNoWriMo WINNER!

Now you may get some sense out of me.

Apart from getting Moses baskets ready for the midwife tomorrow, work on Friday, going to Cardiff for the rugby on Saturday, Husband's birthday plus Younger Son and Nuora's big fund-raising cookery demonstration on Sunday, Christmas planning and a few other things I must get done, I don't have anything to do ...

And of course 50,000 words doth not a novel make. My heroine is currently in big trouble and I have yet to work out how she's going to wriggle out of it. But at least I can take my time now - and maybe, as I did last year, put it off until Spring. 

So I'll be out and about blog visiting soon. But first of all I shall a deep breath and ... I was going to say eat chocolate but I don't have any. phooey. Bad planning, Mrs Hinds.

More Doctor Who than marmite

We watched the Doctor Who 50th anniversary special - and most excellent it was - on Saturday and at the end I said, 'I understood that. Apart from a tiny bit.' As I have failed to understand what's going on about 90% of the time during the last three doctors that was quite an achievement.

On Sunday morning I started thinking about it again and realised that, in fact, I understood very little of it.

Later, after our church meeting, one of the mums who'd been in crèche asked me what the speaker had been like. I paused and then said, 'So-so. I didn't like some of the stuff he said but every now and again he made a good point.'

Marmite uses the slogan 'you love it or hate it' in its advertising campaigns. Now I neither love nor hate it: I like a little bit spread thinly. And I was thinking much the same about the speaker: I didn't love or hate him.

Today I pondered more about it and posted three statuses on Facebook entitled Things that put me off, 1, 2 and 3.
1: when the speaker uses the words cosmic twice and cosmology once in the first three minutes of his talk.
2: when the speaker singles someone out and publicly prophesies over him especially when preceding it with the words 'I'm not prophesying over you.'
3: when the speaker says he's unhappy with his prayer life then says, 'it's probably a prayer life you'd envy but I'm not happy with it.'

As I couldn't remember a single good thing he'd said I came to the conclusion that while not hating him I can't have enjoyed his talk very much.

So it was less like Marmite and more like Doctor Who, in that thinking about it brought me to a different conclusion. 

If that makes sense then welcome to my world. 

Incidentally, in work today I was listening to the talk given by the speaker the week before. (It's part of my job to put talks on the website.) He was self-deprecating and excellent. Also didn't ramble or go on for ages. My sort of speaker.

Happy birthday to my princess!

Apologies for lack of blogging this month. NaNoWriMo is taking up most of my time - along with birthdays, Christmas, work, Zac's and stuff.

This last weekend we were in Devon for GrandDaughter's 4th birthday. Daughter made this fab cake for the little girl obsessed with princesses, in particular, Aurora.

While some of the guests were still doing crafty stuff a few of us began the balloon dance.

Grandson2 had a good time wandering around eating left-overs from people's plates - or more particularly icing off the top of cupcakes.

Beautiful birthday flowers

From Sean at Zac's.

A fresh expression of church

On Saturday Zac's Place hosted a Fresh Expressions Vision day.

Fresh Expressions is an initiative of the Anglican and Methodist churches (at least mainly I think) aimed at creating and encouraging fresh expressions of church. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the old expressions and many people love them but falling attendance and closing buildings suggest that they're not attracting as many people today as they might have done in the past.

Zac's is vaunted as an example of a fresh expression of church that works and it was great on Saturday to be able to welcome a number of Anglican, Methodist and Salvation Army people for one of the vision days run in different venues around the country by the Fresh Expressions people.

Because I am so much part of Zac's and it part of me I find it very strange to think of it as unusual. It feels normal and as church should be but sadly church often doesn't live up to the New Testament version and we have many regulars who can tell their stories of abuse by church.

It would be interesting to hear what the participants said to their congregation/family/friends about the day and particularly their views on Zac's from what they saw and heard of it.

P.S. I've just looked at the FE website and read a report about the recent Vision Day held in Edinburgh attended by 120 people. I hope the the very much lower attendance at ours doesn't reflect an ingrained attitude in the Church in Wales.

A Jew or not a Jew?

I thought I saw a man in the woods today standing by a tree. An Orthodox Jew to be precise. My imaginings are very specific.

I blame George: he'd stood and stared so maybe he imagined him too.

I had been thinking about Abraham ready for tonight's bible study but I don't think anyone would classify him as an Orthodox Jew. In fact were he to turn up and ask to join an OJ synagogue today they'd probably uncircumcise him or whatever they do for being a disgrace.

Yet God loved him and that is a great relief to us less than perfect people.

I'm just a girl who can't ...

I seem to have become - or maybe always have been - a girl who can't say no.

Thus my hall currently looks like this:

It was one of the twice yearly NCT nearly new sales this morning. I'd contacted the organisers asking if I could have first refusal on any left-over Moses baskets etc that could be given to destitute pregnant young women and she'd told me to come along after the sale had finished. The Red Cross always collects the remains but she said I could have first pick. 

Unfortunately the Red Cross men got there first and weren't very sympathetic to my cause. So I was standing a bit like an unwanted guest at a wedding until one of the organisers spotted me and they did a special announcement explaining exactly who I was and what I was doing so sellers who had leftover small baby stuff they didn't want to take home again came and gave it to me and gave everything else to the Red Cross. 

I did two trips in Mini and, thankfully, my next door neighbour was there and she was able to bring home a car-load too. I did refuse some stuff saying, 'no, give that to the Red Cross,' but still it was a bit, 'Do you want this?' 'Yes please.'
'Do you want this?'
'Yes please.'
'Do you want this cumbersome electricity-guzzling machine that makes life-size ice models of duck-billed platypuses?'
'Yes please ... um wait ... oh go on then.'

Huge thanks to the mums who were so generous and also to Steve Porter, who by agreeing to store some of the stuff has prevented me being divorced by Husband.