Getting cosy

I haven't been here for days... Have you missed me?

I've been busy my dear readers, so busy. Beavering away at words all day with such concentration that by the time night (and my blogging life) arrives, my mind is far too battered to join in any further prose combat. I have instead been getting snuggled and cosy on the sofa and indulging in some festive treats.

Naturally, one can't utter the word treat without the brown stickyness of chocolate being far behind. Today I won a whole delicious box of luxury chocs in a general knowledge quiz during our team Christmas lunch. It was very handy knowing that the King of the Mice was the Nutcracker's nemesis and Rudolf was nowhere to be seen in The Night before Christmas!

While we're on the subject of tasty treats that pile on the calories. I bought a bottle of Bailey's about two months ago 'for Christmas'. It was on special offer in Sainsbury's. We managed to studiously ignore it for weeks then one relaxed evening could no longer listen to its pitiful calls from the cupboard. We opened and had a large measure each... then another the next night... and the next... Hmm. Then I had to buy another bottle...

And don't get me started on Stollen...

This post was actually going to be more about getting cosy in front of the TV, so I had best get that switched on before you all switch off. This week, my evenings have been about potted pheasant, Argentine Tango, voices of angels and ambergris*. I've sat by crackling fires, learnt how to make pewter vases, decorate Christmas trees with dried fruit and witnessed the birth of business brains.

Even the names of the presenters (notably the two chefs!) are inviting... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Heston Blumenthal melt like toffee in the mouth after first giving you something delightful to chew over...

Ah, it has been such bliss. I don't watch much television, so this week has been rather like dipping into that box of chocolates and over-indulging. Wickedly delicious and OK if you don't do it too often.

Still to come is Saturday's Final of Strictly Come Dancing - I really can't wait!

It was tough decision to find an image to illustrate this gastronomy of delights. Would it be Artem and Kara melting into their Rhumba? The remnants of a luxury box of chocolates? In the end Hugh and his buddy with the odd sideburns won out (though I am probably depriving you of an oggle at Artem, so maybe I'll stick him on the end...)

* if you don't know what it is, I'd probably advise not to google it (you certainly wouldn't want to consider eating it afterwards - expensive delicacy or not!)

Total Wipeout

I was not a pretty sight this morning. 14 hours in my bed and most of those spent asleep and feverish has that effect on a girl's hair and the brightness of her eyes.
I am afraid the lurgy got me - you know - the kind that drives steamrollers and carries hammer-drills, then turns your muscles to mush and makes your clothes hurt.

Fear not, I am on the road to recovery - and amazingly a kilo lighter too. As I have signed up to Art Every Day and Blog Posts Every day Month, and am not one to shy away from such commitments. Here I am having dragged myself out of my sick bed to create something...

Well, OK, I do feel a lot better and can highly recommend a 14 hour sojourn under a duvet if you can get it. The sofa is calling me now though and promises a bit of trash TV. The question is - are we going for some Zombie watching with The Walking Dead or shall we see what bargains Kirstie Allsopp turns into chic decorations in her home made home? Decisions decisions.

My artistic contribution today was how I looked this morning - hair in a tangle and decidedly green around the gills. Although, thinking about it, I actually seem to resemble an extra in the cast of the aforementioned zombie drama... That's it. Decision made. I'm watching Kirstie!

Britain's got talent

Oh Kirstie, how I fell under your spell... Yes, I did tune in to your remaining episodes. Yes, I was inspired by the creativity of the artisans whose crafts you helped bring to public attention. And, yes today I did find myself sniffing round a salvage yard/architectural antiques centre. I didn’t buy anything though I was tempted by some intricately curly bits of old iron railing and I felt I couldn’t leave without an old chimney. Regrettably, my purchase was hampered by the lack of anyone to actually serve me and while waiting for the ‘loveable rogue/friend of Kirsty character to finally surface, I talked myself out of it.

Blogging has been a trial this week as technology and fatigue conspired against me, together with a trip away with work. You know you’re getting old when you spend a day team-building with the Belbin model and remember it so well from all the previous sessions you’ve attended over the years that you could practically join the facilitators and present it yourself! I was also really disappointed when I turned up and the room had no trapeze - well we were promised a 'high performing team event'. Instead we got desks and powerpoint! That said, I did enjoy the session and managed to take away a few interesting new points – as well as find an opportunity to sing in front of my new colleagues – that’ll teach those pesky facilitators to encourage us to come up with a ‘creative’ presentation!

I came up with my own internal communications model this week, which I’ll post on WrightStuff website when it’s finished. It involves dictators, firing squads, the United Nations and management consultants. Rather fun!

I can feel frustration setting in again though as another week goes by and I fail to make any creative progress. I have a mind bursting at the seams with ideas but no time or energy to sew them back up into something inspirational. Far too much driving around the country this week – although that did mean I did catch Heston on Chris Evans with his 'sweetshop smell in an atomiser'.

I'm feeling a little better now as I'm back on a computer that actually appears to be working (not mine!) and debating where the most talent can be watched on TV tonight - Britain's got... or Eurovision? I strongly suspect the former!

Homemade?

While I was labouring over the ironing, I stumbled upon a televisual experience which at first seemed right up my street - the Kirstie Allsopp homemade home. Our home-grown home guru renovates her new abode on a budget (undisclosed!) making many of the essential accessories herself or sourcing them from local reclamation yards. If you're posh or possibly just a mug, these particular finds are called 'architectural antiques'; if you're not it's just a load of old junk. Our Kirstie being a switched on sort of gal about town makes sure she's not swindled by Steptoe's grandson and picks up a couple of tidy bargains for under a tonne (although you never do actually get to see the moldy curtains swish gracefully at her windows, nor strangely does the garden gnome ever see the light of day again...).

Feeling suitably virtuous with her recycling, she then heads off to tap into the talents of some local crafting talent. As she fashions a poker from recycled steel, pulls together a purple lampshade to revitalise an antique lamp and knits herself a draught excluder, we the viewers are expected to wish to follow suit. Indeed, Channel 4 have kindly provided links to courses in 'quilt-making' and 'how to become a blacksmith without burning down the shed'. We sit at home enthralled as Kirstie's new home takes shape. She really has created a delightful home, but what she seemingly fails to acknowledge is that she has had the HELP of the experienced artisans to create her 'homemade' joy. Pity the poor souls (in every sense of the word) spending the next year in night school learning all these myriad tricks of the trade and worse still forking out vast quantities of cash buying all the kit to make this stuff ... My advice? Go shop on Etsy.