My Life's Ingredients

Advent Calendars today ... and I have the same ones each year, including a crafty one from Dani's Forum (German Scrappers). But yes, usually the wooden Tree one, a chocolate one (this year DH and I agreed to share one - just for the diet! ;) So we get the choc on alternate days) and my tea one. The latter might sound funny, but my German tea shop "Der Teeladen" has an advent calendar where you get a tea probe (testing package for just one pot) each day - different flavours. I LOVE that one! :)  Makes me take some time out as well. My mum gave me one of the Makramee Advent calendars she's made waaaayyyy back when I was about 10 or so. I had planned to put the Scrapbooking Advent calendar on it, but unfortunately most packages don't have any way of attaching it. Ah well, maybe next year ... I actually got it from her (she's got another one for my big sis) for future kids ... but yeah... well... that still has to wait a bit. :(  So ... what advent cal...

... unfortunately all Housework!!! :) Our ex-lodger & friend is coming to stay with us this weekend - even though his ferry from Orkney left 5 hours later than anticipated. So I've been doing a quick (emergency?) clean of the main bathroom and the spare bedroom. I've also been putting on 2 washes, done the washing up and cleared one of the cupboard for the electrician to get better access to our dishwasher. The guy actually turned up at 11:30am, had about 15 mins pressing buttons etc. and then declared the draining pum p as DEAD. Avoid anything "made in China" - he said that China has bought scrap metal from the UK and US in the last couple of years, done something with it and then returned the goods to us. Unfortunately this includes our Kenwood integrated dishwasher (I NEVER had problems with Kenwood in the past). So he's going to get the headquarters to order a replacement pump. This usually takes up to 10 days ... so there's still hope that I get this...

Lots of love for St. Nicholas !! :) That's a German thing - or maybe even mainland Europe. When I was a child you put a polished boot outside your door and when you got up on the 6th (St. Nicholas Day/Nikolaustag) you'll either have chocolates/oranges/clementines and nuts in your boot if you've been good, or you got a lump of coal or a birch (for whipping) in it if you've been bad. :) Aaaah... memories!! :) Sometimes, when the "Nikolaus" couldn't decide I found a birch in my boot which had small pieces of chocolate added. VERY confusing for a little child. LOL. DH and I have slightly changed this and amalgamated the Christmas Stocking with the Boot. So instead of the stocking on Christmas Day we get a stocking on the 6th December. *DO YOU READ THIS, HUN??? IT'S THE 6TH DECEMBER !! !! ;)* This year most of the items were delivered by the Nikolaus courtesy of my mum. YUMMIE Milka Christmas Chocolate Pack . :) I added 2 apples for DH in his Tigger Stock...

Right ... here it is ... my tea from yesterday was a fruity Christmas tea! :) I think it's one of the few fruit teas I actually like. :D Still have to drink it but can catch up tomorrow and Saturday with it. :) And my Advent Calendar packet for yesterday was from Patzi. Just LOVE that cute reindeer clip!! :) Think I may just pass this on to my friend Josie in Germany. She LOVES reindeers! ;) ***ETA - Josie loves ELKS/MOOSES ... not Reindeers. But Josie - if you look at the pic, it looks more like a moose anyway, doesn't it?? :D

Today I was back at work and all was ok so far (if high volume of work as usual). Mvy friend from work has handed in her notice on Friday and will leave end of this month. AAAARGH! Shame really. But suppose, after more than 10 years at the same company she's probably looking for something else/different. You go girl!!! :) As for me ... well, I went shopping after work, had a look for the Soundtrack from "August Rush" but HMV at St. James' Centre didn't have it and they told me that the HMV West End probably would have it... but it's £15. So decided against it. Got a pressie for DH instead and headphones for my MP3 and the DVD "Long Way Round" (Ewan McGregor & Charley Boorman) for me. :) I'd seen bits from it when it was on TV but haven't seen the full series. And after "Long way down" I got interested in watching the whole series. :) Anyway, got home at 6:30pm, started doing dinner and then dashed upstairs to check Internet a...

Well... just a quick note about Calendars and Shimelle's class (I checked and I actually have layouts done until tomorrow and then 2 (?) more later on. So Thursday I will do my first "original 2007 layout" for this journal/album. :) Today's prompt was "Perfect/Ideal Christmas". I got my first Chrimbo Card at the Cross Stitch Group today (Thanks, Kathleen!!). None by post yet. :) And I haven't written mine yet, and tomorrow (1opm at DrumBrae Leisure Centre) is the last day for Scout Post!!! Have to go to work early and leave early so I can do the cards tomorrow! Probably will rush into the leisure centre for 9:45pm or so. LOL! Gosh, never been that disorganised for Christmas!!! My present from the Scrap Advent Calendar today was from Heidi! THANKS, HUN! Love the vellum envelope and your drawings on it (and of course the contents of the pressie!). :) And now to my daily tea ... it was a special black tea (not flavoured for a change). Darjeeling First Flush...

Right .. nearly end of the day but have been spending most of today filling in the Team Application for the Wolves. NO IDEA why this always takes HOURS to complete (probably because the coaches don't provide information. LOL )... Today's tea is BANANA & WALNUT ... and I haven't brewed it yet. Will do that tomorrow ... although I am not too sure on the Banana bit. Without the Walnut I would offer it to DH! ;) And my Scrap Advent Calendar had this nice present here ... Shame I am not allowed to show a photo of the contents yet!!! :D Definitely going to take part in the Advent Calendar in 2008 as well if I can. :) Off to bed now - want to do some cross stitching before I am dosing off. :)

I've been doing some tidying and taking my break now. I managed to put up my tea advent calendar (but as you can see from this photo there are still more than 1/2 of the tea samples missing. Should be ok for a while though. :) YESTERDAY'S tea was "Feuerzauber" (Magic of the fire) - Fruit tea with Rooibos and cinnamon. Quite nice - and that says a lot, as I don't like fruit teas that much. :) TODAY'S tea is "Amarettini" - A Rooibos tea with a hint of the Amarettini cookies and Marzipan. Quite like it actually. I also arranged my Scrap Advent Calendar from the SBS girls and took quickly a photo. The packs are stuck to one of those sticky fabric thingies you get for putting up cards. It seems that it's not tacky enough anymore, so several of the small packets are falling off already. Shame really. Maybe I can get more of the stuff later this week? Today's pack is this one - looks very nice, and the contents are very nice and will definitely be ...

I've opened my first gift from the SBS Forum 's Advent Calendar. Beautifully wrapped ... and LOVELY gifts inside. Unfortunately, I cannot provide you the photo with the contents as we have to keep it hushed for the others in my group (and I know at least 1 person who reads my blog from time to time *waves to Andrea* ). But here it is wrapped ... love the idea with the slice of orange .. may do that next year! Also had my choccie, but didn't have the wooden Advent Calendar down until late the evening as well as my tea advent calendar. So will posting today's tomorrow. As I've done the "manifesto" for Shim's Christmas Journal already in 2006 here it is ... Unfortunately, the situation is still the same ... hoping that this will be the last Christmas only the two of us.

Lots of Christmassy stuff around here soon (once DH has taken down the Christmas boxes ... tomorrow?). I've got a nice Advent Calendar from the girls from the SBS forum . As the individual parcels are not numbered I cannot provide info as to what I got just yet as some of the girls read my blog, and that would just take the suspense away from their calendars. :) But I will post a photo of each parcel and will provide details later. :) My tea advent calendar will look a little forlorn until I get the next parcel from my Mutch (she only could pack 2kg because of postage) - at the moment I've got only 6 tea sample packs. But should be ok for the rest - she said she'd be sending the next parcel tomorrow! :) We also got a chocolate advent calendar each this year (courtesy of Mutsch) so we'll give the one we bought to BIL. Shimelle's Christmas Journal Class/Workshop ... YOU CAN STILL SIGN UP!!! :) I've put together all Christmas papers/cardstock and embellies so jus...

A day later than usual, but still feeling tired. :o Not to mention hot flushes (uh uh ... no reading into "symptoms") etc. Got most of my workload done at least and had a nice lunch with Lisa. When I came home I found a box from Germany ... my "Adventskalender" from the Scrapbookseite Forum . :) Wonder how I will put it up - hang it up on the wall? Put it somewhere in a box or something like that? Something to look into. :) Looking forward to opening the individual gifts! :) Will add the photo tomorrow. :)