Good Elf to all!

Chess protecting his Christmas Pudding chew toy

Hop it!

It's as easy as GHD to make a girl smile!

Kittens enjoy Christmas treats

We had an unusually late morning for a Christmas morning, the advantage of having an almost teenager rather than a small child living with us! 

Although  - even though teens are approaching, it was good to see simple toys being enjoyed. The space hopper, a retro classic. The dog hates it, and is taking comfort from his new Christmas Pudding chew toy. The kittens are excited by all the wrapping paper and various Christmas treats.

Tiz the season

A short photo story involving kittens

"Tia, is the coast clear?"

"Don't worry Weka - I've got your back!"

"Looks like there's some good climbing in there"

"Come see this - it's fantastic, there's branches and shiny stuff -
what great humans we have, so kind to put a giant climbing tree in the lounge
for our entertainment!"

Warwick Wonders

A wonderous outing to Warwick Castle was had. There was a deal in t’internet, so off we drove. 

After a 2hr drive and a 6 mile trek form the car park, which incidentally would cost us a mere £6 to exit, quite a lot for us peasants, we arrived. Maisie decided the highlight was the Ben & Jerry's vending machines dotted about - presumably a necessity in the Summer to prevent overheating whilst trekking to the attraction. On closer inspection, they appeared to be empty, at least that would save us £5.

When we got to the castle, there was some watery sunshine filtering through the turrets, and a very majestical air about the place. A quick go in the stocks, and it was time for our dungeon experience. We queued with a small amount of trepidation, none of us having experienced live dungeon action before. I wasn’t encouraged by the screams emanating from the said dungeons.

In actuality, the most scary bit was navigating narrow stairs in the dark. We experienced several well acted out scenarios about the plague, torture, corrupt courts and a beheading. We were squirted with blood (water), and humiliated a few times, freaked out by an executioner and a fake dog, Maisie was only slightly traumatised and was easily cheered up with a trip to the restaurant. Fizzy pop and a sandwich do have a tendency to cure all fake blood splattering traumas, note to self: must remember to put that in my parenting guide book I haven't written yet.

The Merlin experience was less exciting, basically a video of a dragon with fire effects at the end. All hot air with no substance. There was a nice wax model of Merlin on the way out.

Came home, and it started snowing! Very wet snow, no chance of a day off school/work, but a nice end to the day all the same.

It’s a Cracker

Christmas in the library world is one of extremes. People either love it or hate it. I actually love it, and I’m delighted there are other lovers in our office. The office has been decked out with festive stuff, carefully avoiding the desks of the people not so keen. The only glitch was a small communication breakdown between Leanne and myself. She volunteered to get some decorations for our office from that purveyor of quality Christmas trimmings - poundland. Unfortunately, she believed we had a tree in the office - we do not. This left the lead decorator thinking - what on earth do we do with 40 baubles? A quick creative tying them to some tinsel and a tinsel garland was fashioned which looks great.

All in a festive mood, it was onwards to the Christmas Party. Last year I managed to out myself to the entire library, so what could be worse this year? Let the cracker pulling begin.  Along with the bad (very) jokes and customary hats were bits of plastic fashioned into various toy shapes. I was lucky enough to receive a plastic mustache. Unluckily it transformed me into a Mario from Mario Bros look a like! Just needed a pair of blue dungarees to finish off the look - thank goodness I’d left the dungarees on the hanger in the wardrobe and chosen a black shirt.

On looking around the room, it was rather reassuring and unsettling at the same time to see 1 in 5 librarians transformed in a similar fashion - was the library Christmas do sponsored by Nintendo? Sadly not. However the National Fairground archive did provide entertainment in the form of a magician and ‘Danger Steve’ -a unicycling juggler who requested only minimal audience participation. Phew.

There was food, wine, laughter and dancing and I expect a few sore heads this morning. 

Christmas is coming

You can tell it's nearly Christmas, it's very muddy out and there's a load of sprouts for sale in the shops.

I'm hoping my morning run was twice as good for me, as my feet were caked in mud for most of my circuit. I am certainly contemplating some waterproof trainers, or maybe gaiters, or those  giant wellie trouser things fisher people wear, now that would be a good look.

After my run, it was off to watch Maisie horse riding - as it's on the highest peak of Sheffield, suffice to say, it was blinking cold and windy, nice and sunny though. Then onwards to pick Dad up for a Sunday outing. Today's choice was a garden centre - not just any old garden centre mind, but the Chatsworth one of course. What a treat, they had assorts of goodies to tempt the wallet. I jet bough essentials, some wooden heart christmas decorations and an solar powered bird light thing, oh yes, and some actual cabbage flower plant things, well I felt I had to as we were at a garden centre after all. At one point there was a loud announcement "Santa has now entered the building" I was a bit sad that none of our party were interested.

A quick stop at the grocery store with sprouts sprouting up everywhere you looked.

SkegVegas or Bust

After our trip to Hull, we were inspired to explore the East coast further.Where to start? Skegness of course. So off we go with my Dad, Maisie, Alex, the dog AND the kittens! Yes - we took the kittens, who doesn't take their kittens on holiday? The truth was - we had failed to enlist the help of a neighbour to feed them and, as it was bonfire weekend, there was a level of anxiety regarding their wellbeing. 

Our accommodation allowed for one small pet. Personally, I think one bloody great dog, and two kittens with a passion for climbing up curtains fell into that category. We stayed in a lovely village around 10 miles out of Skeggy which was lovely, room to accommodate our family and other animals - oops we forgot the hamster! 

Saturday  - into Skegness for a run around on the beach, get some rock and look at the seal rescue centre. We were treated to watery November sunshine and the company of other dogs on the beach. There was a small contra-temps between Chess and a pug called Dude, but apart from that it was lovely. The seal sanctuary rescue place amused the whole party - except the kittens, we left them in the accommodation to enjoy the curtains.

Little did we know it wasn't the kittens we needed to worry about for damage danger. Who's for a lovely cooked breakfast? Mmmm lincolnshire sausages in Lincolnshire (yes please) mushroom cooked in butter and garlic (need you ask), bacon with bits of melted plastic from a chopping board left on the top of the grill? No thanks!

I don't usually make cooked breakfast - I'm not good at the timing, but this particular morning, all was going well. SO when I noticed the stream of bright red melted plastic flowing from the top of the grill onto the lovely organic bacon we had bought I was more than a little disappointed. After a mad panic, burns were avoided, some bacon salvaged, some bacon with only a hint of plastic eaten by the lucky dog, and confession to the property manager, a breakfast was enjoyed by all before heading off too Lincoln cathedral on the way home. We left behind a very clean oven, one less chopping board and only a few cat hairs on the table cloth.