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....

Christmas 2009: A quick review

3.30am: Wake up. Realise it's way too early to wake up the boyfriend and open presents. Wonder when exactly I'm going to grow up and stop behaving like a 5 year old.

4.45am: Still too early.

7.30am: Kind of too early but maybe if I stare really hard at the boyfriend's face he might wake up...

8.00am: HE'S AWAKE!!

8.30am: Open presents, get very over-excited. Make scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for breakfast. Feels a bit weird because this is the first Christmas I've not been with my Mum on Christmas morning. And the first time I've ever been with a boyfriend on Christmas morning. But the boyfriend does a pretty good job at making up for any weirdness.

11am: Get to Mum's for Christmas Dinner Number 1. Fred being a complete wuss for some reason and decides to spend the whole time hiding under Mum's bed upstairs, instead of enjoying things downstairs with us.

11.30am: Manage to coax Fred out from under the bed with his present, some catnip drops, he stretches his neck out as far as he dare and eats them before retreating back to his lair.

11.35am: Lily laps up all the attention and plays with all toys and winds herself around everyone's legs in appreciation.

1.30am: Food time!! Take it easy, remembering that I have to do this all again in a few hours time.

3.30pm: Off to the boyfriend's parent's house for Christmas Dinner Number 2. Crazy amount of pressies to open, they are ridiculously generous. But I love it.

6.00pm: Littlest person at the house suddenly throws up all over her lovely Christmas dress. It's put down to excitement and she's put to bed.

6.30pm: Ding ding! Round 2. Time to eat again. Manage to put in a pretty decent effort, have a tiny bit of everything, 1 sprout, 1 roast potato, 2 carrots etc etc and manage to get everything down. SUCCESS.

8.00pm: Littlest person throws up again, maybe it isn't excitement?

8.15pm: I ask if anyone would mind if I get in to my pyjama bottoms. I might have managed to eat all the food but an elasticated waistband is now called for.

10.30pm: Everyone's still sat around the table talking but I call it a night. The day has finally caught up with me.

4.30am: Suddenly wake up. Think to myself "Something is definitely not right here. Your Christmas dinner is about to make a reappearance out of one end or the other."

5.00am: Christmas dinner reappears.

6.00am: Christmas dinner continues to reappear.

9.00am: Still appearing....

10.30am: Get back to the flat, get in to pyjamas, lie on sofa and spend all of Boxing Day sleeping and watching rubbish tv.

3.00pm: Muster up the energy to sit up and play a bit of Band Hero, one of my Christmas presents from the boyfriend (we already have Guitar Hero but I hardly know any of the songs, I need something I little more....poppy!)

4.00pm: Must be over excited from sitting up and strumming, take a turn for the worse and have a sleep for a couple of hours.

6.00pm: Manage a slice of pizza. Who knew? Good for hangovers and vomiting bugs!

9.30pm: Go to bed to sleep it all off and try to ignore my stomach which has cramped so many times today I must have abs like Peter Andre.

Despite all the vomiting it was a lovely Christmas and I'm very pleased that at least I managed to hold off getting sick until Boxing Day so I got to enjoy Christmas Day at least. And I wasn't the only person to catch it, littlest person's Dad also went down later on that day with it so I didn't feel like the only one with a rubbish immune system!

Now come on - tell me about yours!!

Christmas Eve

The presents are under the tree, waiting for me to open them.

The Lush products are in the bathroom, waiting to for me to whack them in the bath and have a wallow.

The new pyjamas are out on the bed, waiting for me to clamber in to.

And there's a mince pie with my name on it.

Wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, hope you all have a lovely time.

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas...

...And all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.

Except that there seemed to be a lot of activity going on in the kitchen...

It feels as though I haven’t been more than 10 feet from the cooker in the past couple of days. I’ve been overcome by the need to bake.

You see the thing is I quite enjoy the making bit (kitchen disasters and mess aside) and the feeling that you’ve produced something but then I’m never that fussed about eating any of the produce.

I’m a savoury girl and my heart lies in a packet of crisps. Cakes and buns and muffins I can take or leave.

However, the rest of my work colleagues are most definitely in the ‘take’ category and I was ordered to produce sweet things for the little Christmas Eve party we’re going to have tomorrow at lunchtime. I had a recipe for Christmas morning muffins that I got from who knows where. On the internet somewhere is all I can tell you. I thought these would be lovely and festive with cinnamon and nutmeg and cranberries and orange zest all thrown in there.

“They sound nice,” said my colleagues. “but also you should make those Marshmallow ones again.”

“But they’re not really festive” I said

“MAKE THEM” came the reply.

So the electric whisk and my crummy scales have never been busier. I have obeyed my orders and made more marshmallow cupcakes. Only 6 though, they are quite frankly the most fiddly buggers I’ve ever made and I don’t enjoy gluing my fingers together with melted marshmallow – they can fight over them between themselves. But I also made the Christmas morning muffins because I wanted to make those.

Then I had to make some more Mincemeat cake. I made this at the beginning of the year with an old jar of leftover mincemeat when I’d just started getting in to baking. It didn’t quite come out like Maria’s seemed to but it was very tasty. I made some at the weekend and it was an unexpected hit with the boyfriend and work people snaffling most of it, leaving me with only 1 slice to savour. This cake is so good with a cup of tea and I’m looking forward to indulging tomorrow afternoon when I finally get to leave work and come home for Christmas.

Then my rooting around in the cupboards unearthed my Christmas tree cookie cutter. How had I forgotten about him?! Clearly I had to use him so out came the books again as I searched for a quick cookie recipe. The Hummingbird Bakery book obliged me and I set about covering the kitchen in a thin film of flour. And then came the fun bit – the decorating!!

And now it’s time for this little baking fairy to put away her muffin trays and her baking trays and her mixing bowls. She can clean the kitchen properly tomorrow afternoon, right now she can’t bear to face the devastation that she has wreaked in there. Or maybe, just maybe, the baking fairy’s boyfriend will clean it all up during the day seeing as he’s not in work. She just has to close her eyes and wish as hard as can be...

Secret Santa

In the run up to Christmas there are 2 words that I dread hearing.

Secret. Santa.

I will break out in a sweat and look for somewhere to hide.

I hate it. Hate it hate it hate it.

Not the concept you understand, I get that. I just hate it.

(Did I mention I hate it?)

Here are a few reasons why:
- I will invariably end up with the most difficult person to buy for
- I will end up with the person I know the least about
- I will end up with someone I really don’t want to buy a present for
- I get in the biggest stress you will ever see when it comes to buying presents for people
- I have had 2 particularly rubbish Secret Santa experiences

I can get myself in what can only be described as a tizz when it comes to buying people presents. I think it’s just that I really want to get it right. I want to get them something that they really really want. But I also don’t want to have to sell a kidney to be able to afford to do it. And if I can’t think of anything that is really ‘them’ I just go into Defcon 1 panic mode.

You see what I really want to avoid is just getting that token gift. You know. The smellies (although having said that, if you want to get me something from Lush then please feel free to do so) or the random 3 for 2 gift from Boots. Although they’re alright gifts they’re just not very personal, know what I mean? (Unless the person has a penchant for mugs and cuddly cats. Which I do.) I would rather someone saved their money. Or more importantly I’d rather I saved my money. I would rather get something that I know they really wanted but it cost a bit more, than getting them the token gift.

Couple this way of mine with the fact that I never get the person I want and you do not get a pretty mix.

Then you had to add in to the mix the bad Secret Santa experiences which both occurred with the group of girls I’m friends with:

Secret Santa Experience Number 1 – We all picked out of hat. We set a £10 limit. I got the person I wanted, knew just what to get them. Sorted, bish bash bosh. Went to the meal to exchange gifts. Left the fricking present at home. I may as well have clubbed a baby seal, my poor secret santa person had to sit there while everyone got their presents, completely empty-handed, whilst I wanted to sink into the ground with embarrassment and shame.

Secret Santa Experience Number 2 – This one’s a classic, you’ll love it. We all picked out of a hat. We set a £10 limit. I didn’t get my ideal person but I had a sudden stroke of genius when I saw a hardback book by an author I know she liked. Full of smugness I turned up to the meal with the present this time. As we all opened our presents my person screams out “I ALREADY HAVE THIS BOOK!!”

Ok.

Where you brought up or dragged up? Where I come from if someone gets you something you already have you don’t tell everyone. You smile and say thank you and think how funny that the person got you something that you really liked, you just liked it so much you’d already got it for yourself. What was I supposed to do with that comment?! Oh excuse me while I whip out my mobile bookshop and choose you something else. Cue feelings of misery and guilt that I’d ruined the Secret Santa experience by getting someone something they already had. As we were leaving I said to this person “Do you want me to exchange the book and get you something else or, you know, do you want the money?!” AS A JOKE.

Guess what?

She opted for the money and gave me the book. I stood there a little dumbfounded as the transaction took place. “Is this really happening?” I thought to myself. But happen it did and I went home £20 out and a book that I didn’t even want to read.

From that moment on I swore no Secret Santa.

And I thought I’d got away from it.

Until.

Stitch and Bitch ladies said “Let’s do Secret Santa!”

I tried to get out of it. I even explained how stressful I find buying presents and my bad experiences. But to no avail. I had to do Secret Santa.

We picked names out of a hat. We set a £10 limit and said we had to get each other something craft-related (meaning the Boots 3 for 2 was completely out of the equation should things get really tough).

And I got the person I wanted least.

The person who does the least crafting and comes along more for the bitchin’ than the stitchin’. If it had been anyone else I would have know what to get them. But not this person.

Cue Defcon 1.

I ended up in Hobbycraft, the night before the exchange, clutching at the boyfriend’s coat. “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO GET!” I said some what desperately before rampaging up and down the aisles like some kind of demented person.

In the end, on the verge of total meltdown, I made my decision. Some aida. A book of different cross stitch motifs because I knew if she did cross stitch she would rather make up the picture herself. And some pink felt hearts. For no other reason than I just liked them.

I was so demoralised I didn’t even care anymore. I went to that night’s Stitch and Bitch a broken woman.

But she loved them! And even if she didn’t she did a good job at hiding it and as long as I don’t have the guilt and the embarrassment and the shame feelings I consider it a Secret Santa well done.

What was that?

Oh what did I get?!

Well since you asked nicely.

I got a crochet hook and some balls of wool because 2010 is going to be the Year of the Crochet. 2009 was the Year of the Cross Stitch and I feel the need to spread my creative wings.

And I got this craft pad from Sublime Stitching with 75 iron-on transfers so I can get my embroidery groove on. I’ve been in love with this website for a while now so was incredibly pleased to get this present in particular. I’m now hunting around for things to embroider.

Do I still have a morbid fear of Secret Santa?

Hell to the yes.

But I could be persuaded to do it again?

Maybe.

Something crafty this way comes...

Reading everybody's blogs has left me feeling rather inadequate about my paltry efforts to the Creative and Crafty Chrismas God.

I've been thinking I was a bit of a crafty person. But it turns out that I'm just crafty in comparison to the people that I'm friends with. Once I turn to the blogs it turns out I'm lower down the ranks of craftiness. Actually I'm probably at the bottom.

But I must be patient and accept that these things take time. 2009 was the year of the cross stitch. Now I have that mastered that, 2010 will be the time to turn my hand to other crafts. Crochet, knitting, sewing - they're all on the list!

So my creative efforts this year are pretty much solely based around aida and thread. The Christmas cards have been cross-stitched and are ready to be sent out. There is a tier system operating with my Christmas cards this year - family and very close friends will receive the honour of a cross-stitched card through their letterboxes. The next tier will receive Christmas tree cards as blogged about in this post and the credit to which goes entirely to Petit Filoux. The final tier of people (mainly consisting of people I work with and those people who give me cards unexpectedly) will be receiving some shop bought ones.

The cross stitch has also extended to tags for people's presents. There was an alphabet included in the latest issue of Cross Stitch Card Shop and I have been furiously stitching away in an attempt to get them all finished in time for Christmas Day and the last posting date.

They're not too fiddly and only take a couple of hours to do so that's been about 1 a night which doesn't sound too bad until you realise how many Christmas presents you have. The decision was made very early on that no matter how many presents someone was getting, they would only be receiving one tag with their initial on it.

Last night Christmas came to the flat as I sat there and began the wrapping process. I love it. I absolutely bloody love wrapping presents. Normally there's lots of string and bows and fancy stuff which people do seem to like when they see the present but is closely followed by complaints that they can't actually get in to their presents. I figure if they have a special tag then I'm allowed to miss out the streamers.

Oh my goodness. It's actually nearly here...

PS Do you love the sprout wrapping paper? Like really love it? Well tough you can't have it. God alright alright you can, you just need to go to Urban Outfitters. It's £2.50 a sheet so I wouldn't make plans to wrap all your presents in it but it's great for little stocking filler type pressies.

PPS The rest of the wrapping paper is from Paperchase.

Things I love about the house - Part 7

Presenting to you all

MY CHRISTMAS TREEEEEEEEEE!!!! a.k.a. The Beautiful Beast.

We went out this weekend to get our Christmas tree, which was making me rather excited because this is the first Christmas tree I've ever had that's mine, all mine. At uni we never bothered because we were all going home over the holidays and I've lived at home every other Christmas.

When I was growing up we always had a gorgeous tree which my Mum would decorate beautifully but she was rather onerous of it and I somehow never put the right bauble in the right place.

Well no more! I will put what baubles wherever I wish on this bad boy!

We had a little look around and soon came to a conclusion. We could either get one that was about 5.5 feet or we could get a humongous one that towered even above the boyfriend.

Luckily we have the great pleasure of living in a flat that was a very old house so has ceilings way way way way up in the sky.

Decision made. No snivelly little tree for us thank you very much.

And The Beautiful Beast came home.

One downside about this being my first Christmas is that...well...it's my first Christmas. I have nothing. Not even a bit of tinsel to my name.

Correction. I had nothing.

The past few months have seen a rather scary sum of money being spent on Christmas tree decorations, including £35 on Past Times which nearly made me choke on my tongue (I wasn't keeping track! I was just putting stuff in the basket!) I have got some cheapazoid ones and I know that as time goes on we will accumulate more, but I didn't want a bare tree.

And yes I know I could make some decorations and I will do, one day. But I can barely find the time to make my Christmas cards so those kind of things are going to have to wait for Christmas 2010!

My fears about my Paperchase buys colliding with my more traditional decorations has been unfounded. I'm thinking they all look pretty good (although I guess I am biased).

Only thing missing? No star or angel! I forgot about that one essential!! So for now, Beautiful Beast has no crowning glory but I don't think he's holding it against me.

He fits in a little corner perfectly and I like that he's by the window because then, when his lights are turned on, people driving home in the miserable weather might just look up and see him and he'll make them smile a little bit.

Decorating the tree with the boyfriend made me a very happy person indeed, even if he did keep putting baubles in the wrong place. (Naturally it's completely different to when my Mum used to complain that I was putting them in the wrong place.) But he was very handy for putting baubles at the very top of the tree, even if he had to stand on his tippy toes to do it.

Now I'm going to sit and admire him in all his beautifulness.

And then get the hoover out for approximately the 14 millionth time because I swear to God if he doesn't. stop. shedding. needles.....so help me

PS The birdie, cat and Union Jack baubles are all from Past Times and the little lady with the teddy bear was from a little shop in Ashby de la Zouch when I went to see my sister.

The Annual Christmas Manchester Trip 2009

This weekend I made my way to a rather soggy Manchester for my annual Christmas pilgrimage. I go to Manchester a fair bit anyway but it is written down (somewhere) that I must go at the end of November/beginning of December to make the most out of the superior shopping experience that the city centre holds.

Many many items were purchased this weekend, some final Christmas presents (hurray for nearly being finished buying everything!) and also some little treats for me. I tend not to buy a lot of clothes and stuff during the year, only when something breaks or wears out do I venture in to the shops. Instead I save it all up and have a mini splurge on my Christmas Manchester Trip.

For example: these little lovelies from Next.

(Tina Teaspoon couldn't help but get her face in the photo)

I have been in love with these shoes for many months now after spotting them in Mum’s catalogue and then seeing them paraded in all their glory on the TV adverts. And now they are mine, ALL MINE. I hope they’re kind to me. Sometimes the prettiest shoes aren’t always the nicest to your feet. These will be getting their first outing on Friday so keep your fingers crossed!

And what do you know? A book fell in to my hands. But before you yell “But you’re banned from buying books!”, (as I’m sure you will, being devoted readers and having read this post) let me tell you that this doesn’t count. I had to buy Christmas presents you see and thanks to Waterstones’ 3 for 2 offer, this little fella didn’t cost me a penny so he’s allowed. OK?!

The annual Christmas Manchester Trip is not complete without a wander to Paperchase to get my Christmas wrapping paper. The visit this year was even more exciting because I get to have my very first Christmas tree this year (cue lots of clapping and jumping up and down).

Paperchase do the most fabulous Christmas decorations – full of colour and glitter and always bordering on the “Oh my god this is so ugly and tacky but I LOVE it!” side of things.

I went for these bad boys in the end.

Saturday night was spent with a good friend having good food, drinking wine and watching Strictly Come Dancing.

And naturally I couldn’t forget to mention the Christmas Market. Manchester has the best Christmas Market I’ve ever seen. And yes I might be just a little bit biased seeing as she is my favourite city and I love her. But it’s certainly the biggest I’ve ever seen. Some people think it’s confined to outside the City Hall BUT IT ISN’T! The stalls snake their way through the whole centre of town and can be found in St Ann’s Square and outside Harvey Nichols and Selfridges too.

These stalls are beyond wonderful and I have to whizz through them, rather than taking my time because I can’t afford all the things I would like and it would only end up with me crying.

I got a few more Christmas tree decorations. I’m not entirely sure what this tree is going to look like – I’m hoping it’ll be a lovely blend of traditional and quirky and won’t come off looking like a complete mess.

My little trip definitely got me in the Christmas mood, you see I know that once the annual Manchester Christmas Trip has been completed, and the wrapping paper purchased, then it’s only a hop, skip and a jump to the festive season proper.

And a little mug of Gluhwein always helps.

Things that happened on Tuesday 3rd November 2009

Today my alarm went off. I woke up. Hit snooze.

And got up 20 minutes later.

I ate my breakfast and sat in front of the television and sighed. Ever since I was off work ill, it's been really hard to go into work each morning. I got used to sitting at home all day in front of the tv and cross stitching.

I looked at my latest Christmas card and wished I could spend the day finishing him off but I had to go to work....

I walked in and mentally made a note to remember to buy an umbrella. I keep forgetting and the only time I ever remember is when it rains on me. It's very annoying.

It cleared up once I got into work, although I didn't know until lunchtime because I moved in to a new office yesterday and it doesn't have windows. Yep you heard me right. No windows. So the view out of my office used to be of Queens Gardens....

...now I look at a wall. And if I turn my head I can see when people go to the toilets and the kitchen. Exciting times.

After I got home I went out to meet friends for chatting and coffee. (But no pictures because I forgot my camera.)

And all day long I wore this little guy, in the hope that good luck wishes can reach from Hull to London and even more so, reach this person

And now it's time for a cup of tea and then early to bed because it's someone's birthday tomorrow and someone gets up and leaves to go to work very early in the morning and I feel I should at least be a little bit awake to say Happy Birthday, rather than grunting at him like I normally do.

I know what you did last weekend...

This weekend I was galvanised into action. I was finally feeling better after my bout with the flu monster and there were lots of things to be done.

Things like:

1. Cleaning the flat from top to bottom.

2. Looking after two furry people who had come to stay for the weekend. Lily kept an eye on proceedings from the back of the sofa...

...and Fred just slept on the bed...

3. We found some pretty little lamps in Asda for the grand sum of £4 which are now residing on the bedside tables that the boyfriend made the other week.

4. Pictures were hung (more on that in another post)

5. My wardrobe was given a grand clear-out, following advice from this lady. And what a difference it made! Some stuff went to the charity shop and some stuff went to that rag pile in the sky. My wardrobe looks lovely and streamlined now and if I'm honest all I threw out was stuff that I never wore anyway and would just sit in there, giving me evils and reminding me of a time when I was much younger and thinner. I was sad to see some of it go but I know it was for the best - much as I love that top I bought in Topshop and wore once when I was post-break-up skinny, I have to admit that I'm never going to have a washboard stomach that I would need to wear it again.

I didn't just stop at the wardrobe though. I went through accessories. I went through shoes. I went through anything I could get my hands on and I definitely feel better for it! Now I can see much more clearly what I really need to buy, and this means that I'm allowed to go shopping!

6. A trip to Hobbycraft was in order after I saw these cards on this lady's blog. As soon as I saw them I fell in love - so clever and yet so simple! So I went on a little spree to get what I needed and sat through Hollyoaks on Sunday morning with needle and thread in hand and made these bad boys.

So a MASSIVE thank-you to Petit Filoux for the inspiration - you see this is why I love the blogosphere! Now I have some pretty classy homemade cards instead of the usual glitter festooned creations that look as if I 5 year old has been let loose with a glue gun.

After all that activity there was nothing more to do but sit down in front of the telly and enjoy our extra hour before turning in for bed to get up and start the week anew.

What's the collective for a group of crafters?

I have made a discovery.

I’m not the only geek!

I realise that my love for cross stitching is not a completely normal hobby for a 26 year old. It’s one traditionally associated with old ladies but I am proud of my hobby (kind of).

Normally when I tell people I like cross stitching, I do it with slightly hunched shoulders and an almost wince on my face as I prepare myself for the onslaught of incredulity. It’s kind of the same pose I adopt when I tell people in Hull that I went to private school. It doesn’t go down well over here.

Anyway back to the cross stitching...

I no longer need to be afraid! I can proudly declare to one and all that I am a stitcher! Because I now have an army behind me.

Ok. It’s not an army.

A friend of mine has got a few people together who also like being crafty little so-and-sos.
And we meet on a Thursday in a coffee shop that stays open late and we sit about and do our crafty things and drink tea and gossip. (I’ve just realise that rather than making us sound cool I’ve just described us like a group of old ladies. Fail.)

There are people who crochet, people who knit, people who cross stitch and there’s a dose of embroidery thrown in. Some people come and go but there’s a faithful core of 5 of us who are there come hell or high water, needles and thread in tow. I’m not going to lie, I’m not massively productive on these nights, it’s more about the talking than the crafting for me but once Christmas is over and the last of the cards have been finished, I’m looking forward to getting one of them to teach me to knit or crochet.

And it’s been good for me. I was getting a little bit bored with myself to tell you the truth. Money’s tight at the moment (when is it ever not but I’m trying to get myself out of the mire of student debt so I am resigned to the fact that this will be my life for the next couple of years) and I was just sitting in and watching rubbish on TV. Not good for your social skills.

Now I know that at least once a week I’ll have somewhere to go and some people to see. You don’t need to spend loads of money to make yourself feel refreshed, you just need a break from home for a while. And yes, most other nights I will be sat at home, watching something dreadful on the TV like The Hills or another programme that rots my brain and cross-stitching, but on a Thursday I will be out on the plains, free to frolic and roam with my fellow geeks....I mean crafters.

The christmas cross stitching has unfortunately started a little late this year so only 'special' people are going to get cross stitched cards. I haven't decided what the criteria is going to be but I do know that this little guy is for my Mum...

(I've made it back to work! Managed to last the whole day today as well although I am now absolutely shattered so I'm going to take a holiday tomorrow and have a long weekend with plenty of sleep so that I'm fully recovered and back to myself on Monday morning.)

How to cure a hangover.

You might have guessed from my last post that I was the tiniest bit hungover on Saturday this weekend. I should have known it was going to happen, my last words to the boyfriend as I left to go to the pub was "I won't be late".

I mean it really all depends on your definition of late. In between finishing my undergraduate degree and starting my Masters degree I spent a year back in Hull, working to fund the upcoming degree. I did work all the time but I also went out all the time and 'late' by my definition meant about 4am.

2am was just a regular old coming in time. But whatever...

I have tried and tested many hangover remedies in my time. I think I hit on some quite good ones this weekend.

1. The crisp method

A very good tried and tested method of old. I rely heavily on this remedy, to the extent that I will make sure that I have crisps in the house before I go out. I'm pretty sure there is a medical explanation that backs me up on this one. Something about salt. Although I thought that a hangover is caused by dehydration and I thought salt dehydrated you....anyway I'm no Dr but I know I felt rough and half way down a big bag of bacon rashers I felt a hell of a lot better.

2. The good boyfriend method

He did his job well this weekend. No berating or laughing at me for the state that I was in. He supplied me with bacon in the morning, bacon rashers mid-morning, left me to sleep in the afternoon, sorted out dinner in the evening, put in (and unloaded) two rounds of washing and was generally wonderful.

3. The something to keep you occupied method

I felt too tired for reading, I didn't think I'd be able to concentrate on what was going on. So I decided for my fall-back 'keeping me occupied habit'. Cross stitch. The stitch of cross. And it did keep me occupied. Oh and by the way, Christmas has already begun in this household...

4. The baking method

Definitely one to try only if you're not feeling queasy. Luckily the hangover was not on the borderline of vomiting so late afternoon I decided that it was time to get in the kitchen. I needed to feel as if I'd been productive and hadn't wasted an entire day. Also Autumn is most definitely in the air and I needed something comforting to keep me feeling warm. However I was well aware that I wasn't up for a grand design so I went for the easiest thing I can do - a bit of apple crumble.

Add all those together and you will have your hangover cured.

(you could possibly need the help of some paracetemol during the day)