The Girl is back....with an award!

And so I'm back, from outta space, I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face....

Wait.

I feel like I'm stealing someone else's words.

Very early this morning a very folorn Girl waved The Americans goodbye as they got on a train to travel down to London to catch their flight home. I can't believe it's all over. It only seems like yesterday that I started boring you all with The Countdown and making plans for them coming here.

I could have gone in to work today but I made the smart decision and booked today off as holiday too. I knew I'd be in no mood to do work today. Although maybe I could have done with the distraction.

There's only one thing I could turn to when I felt this sad...

The hoover.

And various other cleaning products.

I now have a glistening flat (not that they made it horrendously filthy I would like to add!) but still have the blues.

So I knew what I had to write about today. Not what we've done over the past week or so, there'll be posts for that in the next few days. I need to write about something happy and uplifting and it just so happens I had just the thing hanging about in my drafts. I wrote this just before The Americans came back from their travels in Paris and didn't have time to post it before now so now is its time to shine!

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Sometimes my intense nosiness tends to get me in trouble.

Not this time.

When I said I’d be catching up with all you guys, I meant I’d be catching up with all you guys. As in, reading every single post I’d missed over Christmas and new year. No reading the latest post for this girl, I went back to Christmas Eve and did not finish until every word had been read.

And I’m incredibly glad I did.

Because if I hadn’t I’d have missed something which would make me very VERY happy indeed.

For I was tagged in an award by miss H. Hurrah!!

(cue dancing on the spot and clapping of hands)

So apparently I have to list 10 things that make me happy. This is harder than it looks. Did I go for silly little things? Was I going to sound too materialistic? Should I go for deep, earth shattering, profound pieces of information? I decided that the best course of action would be to just be me. And the fact is that there are some very silly things that make me happy. I went for things that give me that warm little glow inside, in fact the things that make me want to dance on the spot and clap my hands.

SO. HERE WE GO. (Please note these are not in order. I was going to try and rank them but quite frankly they all make me happy in different but equally pleasurable ways.)

1. Fred and Lily – Obviously they have to be in here. How can they not make you happy? Look at that picture! If it doesn’t make you smile just a tiny little bit then you seriously need to see someone because you have mental problems. Even though they’re technically not mine, I couldn’t love my own cat more. (Is it getting creepy that I’m talking about them as if they’re children?) And although at 4am, when Fred is licking my face and wanting me to get up, and I admit I want to throw him against a wall, I remember that he’s only doing it because he loves me (and not purely because he just wants someone, anyone, to get up and feed him) and how can that not make you happy?

2. Cross stitch – sad but true. It relaxes me. I like the process of slowly seeing a picture come to life before your eyes. I like making something that’s personal to somebody and of course it’s great to see them touched that you’ve spent time over something for them.

3. Crisps – I just love them. In every shape and size. And that salty, crispy goodness just makes me feel....HAPPY! I can’t get enough of them. Monster Munch, Doritos, Pringles, Sensations, Tyrells, bog standard Walkers, Skips, Discos, Squares. I. Love. Them. All. I like the crunch of them, I like licking the salt from my fingers and when I get to the end of the packet I’m genuinely disappointed. I couldn’t not include them on this list.

(And to prove how much I love them I have taken this photo of what delights are currently in the kitchen cupboard. Shortly after this photo was taken the Roast Beef Monster Munch disappeared.)

4. My camera – I get stick for having it with me all the time but I ignore these people. Because these are the people that text me before a night out and say “Have you got your camera?” I am the official documenter of all nights out, if it wasn’t for me nobody would have a record of the fact that they have friends and have been places. And yes I may be annoying and shove my camera in your face at every opportunity but really, don’t you want to remember that one time when you were waiting for that bus in Manchester? I think so!

5. Marmite – Hello, didn’t you see what I bought in London? Much the same as crisps, it’s all about the salty goodness. I have Marmite pretty much every single day and have been known to actually feel a little panicky when I’ve opened the cupboard door to find that there’s none there. I eat it with a spoon. None of this spreading a thin layer, I lay it on my toast like jam. I have it in pancakes on Shrove Tuesday – don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! I have it with bacon. I have it with cheese. I would have it on a crisp if I thought that it was in any way socially acceptable (also you’d need a pretty sturdy crisp to dip into Marmite, it’s tough stuff). AND it’s rammed full of B vitamins. Those are vitamins that actually make you happy. Obviously it should be on here.

6. E-mails from friends – I get so many rubbish e-mails – the junk that pours through my inbox is insane, adverts for penis extensions and Viagra, pleas for help from someone in Nigeria who wants to put £8 million in my bank account, the latest herbal supplement that will help me lose weight. The list is endless. So when I get an e-mail from a real life person then that makes me insanely happy. E-mails that make me particularly happy are ones from American Girl because that’s the main way we keep in contact. I see those and get myself settled in with a cup of tea to read what’s been going on in her life. Another friend of mine recently started e-mailing me at work too – those e-mails are brilliant. I see that I’ve got an e-mail and my heart initially sinks because work e-mails are usually rubbish and then when I see it’s from her I do a little hand clap (inside my head obviously) and read what she has to say. Usually something stupid like “How’s your day going?” but it can make all the difference to an otherwise dull day.

7. Books – Where would I be and what would I do without my books? I can’t imagine being without one. In fact I very rarely am because there’s always one in my bag. I’ve waxed lyrical about this before I believe so I won’t bore you again. But I love them. I love them in all shapes and sizes. Paperback, hardback, fiction, biography, I. Don’t. care. If it has words in it I’ll read it.

And this is what I have on the go at the moment...

8. The boyfriend – I couldn’t really leave him out could I?! Seeing as without him there wouldn’t be a blog (even if it ended up not really being about him) I think he deserves a place on the list. Don’t worry I’m not going to start gushing about how perfect he is, he isn’t – especially at the moment because he gave up cigarettes for New Year and is not a particularly wonderful person to be around at the moment – but I can’t deny he makes me happy!

9. Coming home – A year ago I was starting to think that I was never going to get out of my Mum’s house (I actually think she was starting to think the same). It was getting depressing – it’s not fun to spread your wings and fly off to uni only to have them clipped the second you come down to earth. Mum and I get on great but I was 25 and desperate for my own space. Now that I have it it’s the best thing on earth. And I know that technically it’s not ours, it belongs to Mr Landlord, but it’s home to me and there’s nothing better than coming home from work or coming home from a trip or just coming home from the shops and knowing that when I get in I can do whatever I want and just relax.

10. Blogging – OBVIOUSLY! I do enjoy the bloggagement. Can’t get enough of it. If I could I would write all day about the boring minutiae of my life and post it up here for complete strangers to read and then go and read about other people’s lives and comment on them. I like that this is my thing and mine alone. I like having this space to say whatever I want to say. But more than anything it makes me very happy to have my ‘bloggy friends’ who actually read and comment on the often ridiculously boring stories of my life. In fact when I get a comment on one of my posts I go sky high – a combination of Happy Fact Number 10 and Happy Fact Number 6!
So there we go.

I’m happied out.

And now to pass the happiness on to some other people:

1. Curious Cat at The Curious Cat
2. Petit Filoux at Petit Filoux
3. Pink Cat at Pink Cat, Custard & Cake
4. Trish at Schemmelhos
5. Susie at Itch2stitch
6. Diane at Heartshaped
7. Flicka at Flitterbee
8. Hayley at Ceriselle
9. Lucey at Lemonade Kitty
10. BLONDEDESIGN at BLONDE DESIGN

So there you have it! Go go go!!! Make your happy lists!

And in the meantime you'll have to bear with me (again) whilst I catch up on your blogs.

This was supposed to be a post about Christmas...

I had so many plans.


Plans to tell you all about Christmas through the medium of photos and words.


But I have been stopped in my tracks by this rather marvellous bug.


However.


I feel I am now back on track. My system has been cleared out (both literally and figuratively) and I am feeling a little more myself.


Which is good, because folks, The Countdown is officially O.V.E.R.


That's right. My friends are on their way over from America to this fair Isle. And I will be seeing them very soon for the first time in over a year and a half.


It's all very exciting.


There's a chance they'll be a little delayed thanks to the numpty who decided to try and blow himself up on a plane over Christmas (does anyone else not watch the news over Christmas? It's bad I know but I must confess I hardly ever do, so was a little shocked when I finally got around to watching it yesterday). But even the delays can't dampen my spirits.


So I am off. We go to London early tomorrow morning and won't be returning until January 1st which means that I have to take this opportunity now to wish you

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

And I will be back, hopefully on the 2nd January with a bit of a delayed Christmas post and to tell you about the shenanigans we get up to down in London Town.

I hope you'll bear with me while I get myself caught up on all your blogs, I've a feeling I'm going to have a lot of reading to do when I get back. But read them all I will and you will get comments a-plenty from me.

But I will leave you with one photo from this Christmas. Of someone who definitely enjoyed their Christmas. And who may, or may not, be a little bit high on catnip, as you might be able to guess from the rather glassy look in their eyes....

An Open Letter to BA Cabin Crew

Dear B.A. Cabin Crew

I read about your upcoming 12-day strike action beginning on the 22nd December with some concern.

You see I don't know if you know but I have some friends coming over from America on the 29th December (that's in 14 days by the way). I haven't seen these friends for some time. Since April 2008 to be precise. And you may not realise this, but Arizona is a very long way away from Hull and I, a mere mortal, do not get to fly to America an awful lot. Unlike some cabin crew.

We are all supposed to drinking in 2010 together in London and everything is sorted. Train tickets are booked, places to stay have been arranged, hotels booked, Eurostar tickets to Paris organised.

Not to mention the almost indecent excitement that I've been feeling for a few months now as I count down the days.

I've been so looking forward to it, I don't think I can really convey how much. Do you have a best friend? Do they live a billion miles away from you so you can only communicate by e-mail (and Facebook obviously)? Do you know how much you would look forward to actually SEEING THEIR FACE if you hadn't seen it in over 18 months?

I understand that you are striking at this time to cause maximum inconvenience in an attempt to get what you want but I don't think you quite get it. You're not just going to cause a little bit of inconvenience, you are going to ruin, actually ruin, peoples' Christmas and New Year. Have you really taken that onboard and are ok with it? Because I find it a little hard to believe that people would actually behave like that.

I hope that if you do go ahead with the strike and you do keep friends and families apart over the festive season then I hope that someone videotapes all the people with a story to tell and then makes you sit and watch them so you can see the consequences of your actions.

Oh and did you realise that by striking and pissing people off you'll probably just end up losing your jobs because people will not wish to fly with your airilne. And also, you know you're not going to get what you want, strikes never end up with you getting what you want, you must know that by now.

I know I won't be flying with B.A. if you keep my friends away from me.

Yours sincerely,

The Girl


(Apologies for my little absence, I will be catching up with everybody's blogs over the next couple of days)

Sweet & Simple Bakes - Snow-flecked Brownies

“I haven't baked anything in AGES” I announced a couple of weekends ago.

“Okaaaaaaay” said the boyfriend, with more than a hint of trepidation.

You see I enjoy the baking. I like creating sweet things, it’s fun and then when everybody likes them you get a lovely warm glow inside that makes you feel wanted and seeing as I’m a people pleaser I’m all over it like a rash.

However.

As much as I love the baking there’s an equal part of me that hates it. Know why? It’s messy.

MESS! Argh! It drives fear in to my inner core. For some reason I don’t end up messy myself, I’ve never had to wear an apron, it’s just everywhere else gets covered! And I seem to use about 45 bowls and every single utensil we’ve got in the drawers. I put the beaters in to the mixture and for a week afterwards I’m cleaning flecks of batter off the walls and the cups on the mug tree. And god help me if the recipe calls for me to use my hands. You might as well as me to put my hands inside someone’s body, it fills me with revulsion. I honestly, honestly have to take a deep breath before I start doing it. I actually have to gear myself up. Probably why I don’t make a lot of cookies and scones. Muffins are a hands-off concoction.

Anyway.

I decided to have a go at this month’s Sweet & Simple bake, snow-flecked brownies. I’ve only tried brownies once and they were a total disaster so I was a bit nervous about attempting this one.

Everything was going swimmingly. My chocolate and butter were nicely melting in a pan, I had my eggs cracked in to my bowl with my vanilla essence and just needed to add the caster sugar.

...

...

...

...

...

Have you ever knocked 350g of caster sugar ALL OVER your kitchen?

I don’t recommend it.

It. Was. Everywhere. Including the bottom of my feet which was driving me round the bend.

The boyfriend came to the rescue with the hoover (or rather I screeched at him to get the hoover, it’s a wonder he stays in the house when I’m baking) and all traces of it were cleared away. Almost. I’m sure I keep feeling it between my toes when I’m in there.

I could have given up there and then. But I am brave.

And luckily had a new bag of sugar.

It wasn’t a complete disaster although I had to massively increase the baking time. This was rather inconvenient as it cut into a very important transatlantic telephone call that I was having with of one of The Americans about the forthcoming trip to England. Cue calls to the boyfriend to go and check how they were doing.

The mixture was in for about 1 hour and 10 minutes and I still felt it was a little too gooey on the inside. The trouble was it was almost burning on the top whilst still liquid inside so I ended up covering it in tin foil and that seemed to do the job.

I have to admit I’m in the minority though. Everybody seemed to love them and especially loved the gooiness in the middle although there was general consensus that maybe 5 minutes more would be good. I’ll also halve the recipe if I did it again because I had way too much brownie goodness than I could handle!

So I still feel a little unsure where brownies are concerned but things could be getting better.

I’m definitely not speaking to the caster sugar though.

If you would like the recipe then please go here

(Apologies for the crap photos but I don't seem to be at home in the daylight these days!)

Thanksgiving 2005

Today is Thanksgiving in America. And I would like to share a little story about the one and only Thanksgiving I have experienced which took place in Manchester on November 24th 2005.

I was back at university as a postgraduate, living back in Halls with lots of other people and we decided that we would celebrate Thanksgiving even though we were in England because we had 2 Americans in our midst.

(And also who needs an excuse to drink and eat copious amounts?!)

We looked to The Americans to show us the way. “Tell us. Tell us what we should do?” So The Americans showed us how to make Hand Turkeys and we got paints and drew round our hands and cut them out and stuck them all over the walls.

The Americans were a little nervous about cooking a Thanksgiving dinner on their own for the first times. And in a fairly grotty kitchen at that. But I assured them it would be fine.

“It’s basically a Christmas dinner which is basically a Sunday dinner and I can definitely do those.” I said. “I will help you”

The night before Thanksgiving I got my gladrags on and went out for a ‘few drinks’. In my experience if you utter the words “I’m just going out for a few drinks, it’s not a big night or anything” then you are guaranteed it’s going to be a big night out.

Turns out it was a big night out mainly down to two factors: 1. I was the only girl and 2. We realised that at midnight we could officially celebrate the beginning of 24 hour licensing (Has anybody else noticed that that has never really made a difference? Anyway...) so should stay out at least until then.

The night culminated in a toast to 24 hour licensing and me falling down a flight of stairs in the bar as we were leaving.

The next morning I awoke in agony. And surrounded by peas which, in a moment of sobriety, my friend had got out in an attempt to fix my foot.

It hadn’t worked. I was in agony. “This is it.” I thought to myself. “My first broken bone at the age of 22. Mum is not going to be impressed when she finds out what I’ve done.”

Luckily for me we lived pretty much opposite the Manchester Royal Infirmary and so began the long hobbly journey over there, stopping off at Subway to keep the hangover at bay.

Turned out it wasn’t broken. The doctor didn’t understand how but said that it was probably because I was so drunk I’d have been fairly relaxed when I fell. (I sensed she wasn’t massively impressed with me.)

“But I still can’t walk, you must give me crutches.”

“No, no crutches for you. That will merely encourage you to walk and you must rest your foot. I will give you these magic pills called Codeine. They will help you.”

So I popped a couple of pills and went home to rest my foot.

Let me tell you something. Prescription strength codeine? STRONG. Very very strong. So strong that I was completely off my face. The room was spinning, all I could do was lie there with my foot up and laugh.

But I was determined to help The Americans with the Thanksgiving preparations so I went to the kitchen.

And stood there and laughed.

Basically I was no help at all.

The rest of the day is incredibly hazy. I gradually regained my senses towards the end of the day and went through to the kitchen to see if I could help The Americans. They were carving the turkey and suddenly pulled out a plastic bag from the cavity.

“You know I’m not convinced we should have kept this in” said American Number 1.

“Oh my god! They’re the giblets, you should have taken that out before you put it in the oven.” I laughed.

Cue looks from The Americans which basically said “If you weren’t an idiot you could have helped us you moron instead of standing there laughing.”

(They weren’t impressed with me either.)

The meal was lovely, no-one died from plastic bag poisoning, and I still retain the memories of the sweet potato pie with marshmallows. So much so that I’m going to be making it tonight.

I may have missed some aspects of Thanksgiving 2005 so at this point I invite one of The Americans who reads this blog to please add any details I may have missed in the comments below this post.

So what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for being taught how to make hand turkeys.

And I am thankful for meeting The Americans and for all the fun and games we had together.

And I am thankful that I only have to wait 33 days for even MORE fun and games together.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Productivity

So far this weekend has been pretty productive. With the countdown slowly ticking away 'til my friends come over from America, the race is on to get little things sorted in the flat. There are just those little niggly things that don't desperately need to be done but it would be nice if they were done so that when they arrive I can be smug and proud of my little home.

Top of the list were bedside tables. Our bed fits very nicely in to an alcove in our bedroom but unfortunately it was the bed and nothing else that fitted in. There's the tiniest space on each side of the bed and it's been impossible to find bedside tables which are thin enough. So the boyfriend was tasked with building some so he got his manly man head on and spent Saturday morning making them.

Yes. They are a little wonky. But it really doesn't matter, he's made them, we have something beside our bed, so there's a little bit of sloping...what's a bit of sloping between friends?!

Obviously with us not having a garden he had to build them indoors and the amount of sawdust that was flying everywhere was too much for my inner clean freak to cope with. So while the boyfriend got busy with drill, nails and saws, I took myself away.

To Hobbycraft.

Hull is slowly coming up in the world, after years of the most up to date shop being Next and Topshop, we now have such delights as an H&M and a Zara and finally a Mama & Papas. And on Thursday Hobbycraft opened its doors. I've never been in one of these before and when Mum and I walked through the doors I actually went "Oh my god" We walked round in a trance before Mum frantically whispered to me "There's an upstairs! You can go upstairs!"

There was too much to take in. I felt a little bewildered and overwhelmed to be honest. I need to go back when it's a little quieter and I'm a little calmer. There is just anything you could think of that could be related to craftiness in there. And then some stuff you would never have thought of. I went a little mental buying threads for christmas cards - I have no idea exactly when I think I'm going to be making all these, is it possible to cross stitch in your sleep?

How's my finger I hear you ask? Well it just so happens that I have a picture...

It's much better, definitely not broken, I have full mobility although as you might be able to see in the photo it's still pretty bruised. Actually you probably can't see that in the photo so you're just going to have to take my word for it. I can't tell you how good it's been to get my left hand back. This girl is very left handed, my right hand has virtually no use and it has not been helpful at all in this long week when I've been incapacitated. It can't even hold a pen for god's sake!

(I was supposed to be sorting out my wardrobe this weekend, following advice from this lady but I went out last night and don't feel up to it yet. But I am definitely going to do it!)

So. Bedside tables. One thing ticked off what is now known as The Countdown List.

By the way did you know how many days there are left til they get here?

Things I love about my house....Part 3

THE WEST WING DVDS

In the September of 2005 I returned to Manchester to being my Masters degree. At the time I had a thousand things running through my head, one of the main ones being fear.

The primary source of my fear?

I was moving into Halls of Residence for the first time since my first year at uni. That first year hadn't been too bad, I met people that I'm still good friends with now, but there were some freaks. And that's putting it mildly. So I entered new home with a certain sense of trepidation...

Luckily I was fine. I was the first person in the flat. Hurrah. I could stake the place out and settle down to wait for my first housemate.

I met my first housemate early the next morning. Because I was the only one in the flat I decided to put the chain on the door. And didn't take it off when I woke up. I woke up to the flat door banging noisily, it was my flatmate.

And he was American.

He went down the stairs and I got on the phone to my Mum. "Oh my god I have an American living with me" I whispered urgently down the phone. "Oooooooh" came Mum's reply. Much the same as if I'd told her I was living with a unicorn.

I couldn't think about it, I had a busy day ahead of me so off I toddled.

I met my next housemate later that evening. As I was coming up the stairs I was confronted with a large Primark quilt with a pair of legs behind it. It was my next housemate.

She was American.

I panicked. But my fears were soon allayed. I can't remember how it happened but they ended up outside my door and we talked for like an hour. I have no idea why it never occured to us to go downstairs in to the lounge or why I didn't invite them in to my room. We covered a range of topics, including baseball I believe. I decided they weren't so bad.

I was wrong.

It wasn't that they weren't so bad. They were absolutely bloody brilliant. (see what I did there?!)

For the next year there were plenty of nights out, but there were also a hell of a lot of nights in. Nights spend sat in the lounge, eating crisps and drinking beer/wine or multiple cups of tea and watching tv and DVDs.

The West Wing formed a staple part of our DVD diet (see I got around to it eventually!). I'd become hooked on it when it first came on TV but the second series coincided with my 1st year at uni and I never got around to watching it and then Channel 4 started buggering around with the schedule so that it would disappear and reappear in random time slots on different days. So I began getting the DVDs when they went on sale (I liked it but not enough to spend £70 per series on it!).

We watched The West Wing morning, noon and night. We worked our way through from beginning to almost the end (I didn't get series 7 until I'd left Manchester and had to watch that on my own). Sometimes we'd watch one episode. Sometimes 4 in a row. Sometimes you'd come in and watch a bit of one and then leave and come back later and watch some more.

So not only do I love the show itself (I'm currently making the boyfriend watch it) but it is a reminder of one of the best years of my life and of my American friends who I last saw in April 2008.

Can you even begin to comprehend my excitement yesterday when I found out that they're coming to England? Can you? CAN YOU?!

The countdown begins...

(why yes, I was bored at work today)