Nadolig Llawen!!

Merry Christmas, Yuletide Blessings!

Everything's done bar prepping the turkey which I'll do in a second & getting the pressies under the tree (which will wait till the boys have gone to sleep!!)

I do have a tiny bit of hat to finish but that won't take very long at all...

Hope you all have a lovely lovely time! xxx

A tale of two concerts...

I know, I know - I'm not very good at this updating regularly malarky - but at least this time I have a genuine excuse/damn good reason!!

At the weekend, when I would normally have been posting witty & entertaining thoughts, I was instead in Manchester with my lovely friend from back in the day Woody & his slightly crazy (but very sweet) girlfriend.  Now this wasn't just a social visit - we were in fact there to see the mighty Motley Crue!!  (well, he lives in Manchester but you know what I mean!)

And yes, many memories from 20 years ago were dragged up over a whiskey (or 2) which I won't go into - except to say that they all seemed to revolve around drinking & debauchery!!!  Ah - good times.

Anyway - the gig...  (at this point I suppose I should point out that Def Leppard were headlining but that really is just a minor point).

Steel Panther opened & I really was pleasantly surprised at how good they were.  And I still find myself humming "Community Property" to myself!!

As for Crue - they came, they saw, they ROCKED!!  They were fantastic & I have no voice left to prove it (& by the way - this isn't a gig review, so don't expect one!!)  Tommy brought over his rollercoaster drum kit - which looked absolutely amazing & I am so jealous of the girl who got to ride it with him!  Mick Marrs looked healthier than he has in a long time, Vince was Vince & Nikki was the sexy beast that he always has been!!  And they looked like they were really really enjoying themselves! (oh & it was Nikki's birthday so yes, a rousing chorus of Happy Birthday was sung by the crowd!)

I'm not going to go into Def Leppard - I wasn't impressed - I'm just glad I hadn't spent the money to go see them.  Thousands disagreed but I just thought they were meh....

My feet are still killing me though but I'm  not surprised considering the heels I was wearing!!  I'll post some pics of the gig in a bit & I'll include a pic of the shoes!


Right - fast forward to todays concert.  No rock chick moments today - just lots of Very Proud Mammy ones!  Yes - it was the kids christmas concert (well, for 2 of them - one still isn't at school & the eldest one has his on Monday)

They were absolutely brilliant - Toby was an elf & had a speaking role - he was so clear (mind you he did shout his 2 lines!!  I can't remember them both but one was "OK OK Sion Corn"

Brett was a shepherd & I think I was more nervous for him than I was for Toby because he's so shy bless him that I was worried that when it came to him saying his lines he was going to clam up...  I needn't have worried because he was really clear with his lines too!!!

And the singing was beautiful (yes I'm a biased Mammy!)  I'm so proud of my gorgeous boys & all the kids in Meithrin, reception & Years 1 & 2 - they all did fabulously.... 
(but damn these hormones that start the minute you give birth & make you well up at the slightest notice...)

December already...

and yes, apologies are needed as I seem to have been rather lazy this week & completely missed out my mid-week posting...  Oops.

So, what have I been up to?  Well, I HAVEN'T been decorating my eldest boys' bedroom.  But then, given their behaviour recently, I'm not convinced I really want to.

However, today I've managed to get my christmas veggies prepped & in the freezer.  Yep, 2lbs of carrots, 1lb of swede, mountains of brussels - all done & dusted.  And the chestnut stuffing & bread sauce....  *polishes halo*

But don't go getting the wrong idea - I haven't suddenly gone & got organised on you (you should see the state of the kitchen just now!) - it's just that I really really can't be bothered to be doing all that stuff on christmas eve....  no way, jose - not a cat in hells chance!!  Other than the fact that I'm working this christmas eve, it should be about relaxing, singing loads of crimble songs & tracking Santa on NORAD....  Maybe a quick trip out as early as humanly possible to get milk & bread.  But that's it - not flaming well peeling mounds of vegetables (apart from potatoes that is - but if I could work out how to freeze them in advance for mash, I'd do those early too!!!!)

What do I still need to do?

Cranberry sauce, mince pies, order the turkey & trimmings & a handful of pressies (oh & order the food from Tesco!) & I think I'm good to go!

So how are my lovely bloggees doing?

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat....

and I've done my Christmas cake & pudding!  I normally use my Mam's recipe but put it on my computer using the Microsoft Works database (rather than word) then stupidly threw out my scrawled paper copy....  (yep, you know what's coming next, don't you!).

My laptop went kaput.  One of the lovely dad's at my sons' school managed to rescue all my data off the hard-drive for me, but my new laptop doesn't have Microsoft Works...  I've downloaded a program that can open Works files but still - no recipes......

So this year I'm using Delia's recipes for Christmas cake & pudding....  I've had to adapt them cos a) I've developed an allergy to nuts, specifically almonds & hazelnuts (with walnuts & possibly pecans thrown in) & b) none of us really like currants...

So, cashews in place of almonds & extra sultanas/raisins in place of currants.  Mind you, stupidly I substituted prunes in place of some of the currants in the pudding & then realised that prunes are dried plums & almonds are a member of the plum family..... (it's a good job I just get a rash & a tingly mouth really, isn't it!!)

What else have I done?  I've knitted one small green elephant for one small green elephant (gorgeous boy number 4 seems to think that he's a green elephant!) I'm just about finished one hat (one down, 3 more to go) & I'm hoping to have time to make a larger green elephant.

I've found a recipe for homemade FROZEN roasties - so we're going to test that out this week to see if it actually works - if so, they can be pre-prepared when I do the rest of the veggies & the gravy some time in the next 2 weeks....

I've ordered a couple of presents for the boys & we have a rough idea what else they're getting....

Just the food shopping & present buying for himself to do then.  How many shopping days left?

Till next time - mwah xxx