I Told You There Was A Santa ..... and a Christmas Goat

It's been a busy few days and collapsing at the computer yesterday I spent far too long over a coffee, a mince pie and Facebook, but sometimes you come across the most wonderful things on there.

I have copied this for you to have a read of ... in my opinion it is PERFECTION  :-)

Reverse Advent - Day 25 - Final Day

I bought a goat, .... well to me a virtual goat but to a family overseas that need a goat to change their lives it's a REAL goat.  You've got to love that as for little as £12.50 you can help to turn someones life around.

(All Oxfam Unwrapped gifts are currently half price with Oxfam Partners funding the other half, see the post two days ago for the link directly to the website.  There's still time to buy something and send your recipient an e-card in time for Christmas Day.)

And to the person with the decidedly un-Christmas spirit that doubted my gifts were real and were in fact just images taken from the internet for use on the blog .... my cards that prove I have bought the chickens, the water and the goat arrived yesterday.  Nothing else to say!!

Sue xx

Naked Trees and Antler Sprouting Pugs

Last years Christmas tree  was planted outside in the front flower bed, and unfortunately didn't do that well.  It's still alive but rather weirdly lopsided and still very tiny.  So we went mad in B&Q and bought this little beauty.  Also in a pot and it will be kept outside all year but still in it's pot this time so we can turn it regularly, and keep it nicely shaped for the next couple of Christmasses to come.

There's something very beautiful about a little Christmas tree in all it's naked glory , well in my opinion anyway  :-)

It looks even prettier though when darkness falls and the mass of fairy lights twinkle in the corner of the room.  Christmas has arrived .....

... but someone isn't that enamoured with her newly sprouted antlers.  

I was trying to get photos of the dogs in their 'Christmas outfits' for a post on Christmas Day.  Suky was not impressed!!  There's only Rosy still to get a photo of, but getting her to keep her hat on is hard work.  She's figured out if she shakes her head from side to side she can catch the pompom and pull the thing off her head.

I will persevere.

Reverse Advent - Day 23

Clean Water for ten people.  Also from Oxfam Unwrapped (see yesterdays post for more information and for a link to the website, where you can buy more similar gifts).  The final day of my Reverse Advent is tomorrow, it's been a lovely challenge to find a mix of things to leave our house and to benefit others.

Sue xx

Pussycat Wigwams ...... and Chickens

As snug as a bug in a rug .... or a cat in a wigwam!!

Ginger gets on great with all the dogs, as you have seen in so many of the photos I put on here, but every now and then a cat has to be alone and this is where the freezer is a godsend.  None of the dogs, not even little bouncy Charley when we had her, can get on here.  So when it's time for Ginger to have some 'me time' he jumps up on the freezer and cuddles on down in his pussy cat wigwam.

His food dishes as you can see are also up here which means he has access to dry food at all times and is able to eat his tunafish breakfast in peace with no dogs clamouring to lick the bowl clean for him.

I don't usually disturb him at all when he's in the wigwam, and as you can see from the photos just getting up close with the camera meant he dug his claws in as if to say 'leave me alone' ... so I did and he was soon back to pussycat snoring  :-)

Reverse Advent - Day 22

For today's gift I clicked on Oxfam Unwrapped and ordered two chickens to be sent to a family that will make good use of them.  They come with a lesson on how to raise, look after and make the best possible use of them to both feed their family and potentially make them a bit of money.

There's a sale on the website at the moment, lots of these gifts that make a difference are half price, with the other half being paid for by Oxfam Partners.  If you have yet to buy a present for someone and you have no idea what to get them this would be a lovely idea.  You can order an E.card to be sent to the recipient so they will know all about their unusual but worthwhile Christmas present and that it was bought by you.

Visit here - Oxfam Unwrapped

Sue xx

Looking Out

It decidedly un-Christmassy looking across the road.  The drizzle is drizzling with occasional burst into heavy downpours.  The field opposite fill up with water then it drains slowly away only to fill up immediately when there is more than an hours rain, the ground is just too sodden to drain away the rain as it falls.

Closer to home we have the fairy lights and tinsel round the posts that hold up the porch roof.  It looks a bit sparse during the day but at night with the lights twinkling it is Christmassy enough for me to smile everytime I see it.

Last years wreath that I was going to refresh with homegrown holly and ivy sadly bit the dust and disintegrated.  I didn't really want to pay much for a fresh one, but I was going to bite the bullet and get one that I could look after better and refresh next year.  Then ... I struck lucky!!

I was in M&S in Llandudno and went upstairs to use the toilets, and what should I spy on the reduced to clear Christmas decoration shelf ..... a wreath for £7.50.  It didn't have much colour but by the time I had brought it home added a couple of red baubles and the ribbon salvaged from last years wreath it was festive enough to adorn the front door.

I'm happy and it will be in use for many years to come with more tinkering to change it's appearance slightly each year.

Reverse Advent - Day 21

Five selection boxes that I put in the Foodbank trolley in Sainsbugs.

When I was little I loved to get a selection box from Santa.  We didn't have many big bars of chocolate regularly like children do these days.  You had to wait to get your pocket money at the end of the week to treat yourself, these days children seem to expect the chocolate will be part of the shopping!!  But every Christmas we would get a selection box, and I loved it.

I hope these will make a child smile this Christmas.

Sue xx

Reverse Advent - Day 20

I buy The Big Issue nearly every week.  

My local seller in Llandudno, Chris, has a pitch outside Marks and Spencer and he's there in all weathers.  Not always first thing in the morning but he makes an appearance as soon as he can.  Somedays he doesn't have the money to buy many issues up front so he vanishes over and over again to  buy some more and then dashes back to his spot by the traffic lights hoping he hasn't missed the few regular customers that he has.

Because YES, the Big Issue vendors BUY the copies of the magazine that they sell.  There is a popular misconception that they get these magazines for free and can spend the money they make willy nilly.  Not true and I wanted to put this out on the blog today for everyone to see and to take note of as I am getting annoyed in my own small quiet way at this injustice.  As it states clearly in the magazine each week The Big Issue is 'a hand up not a hand out'.  

The official vendors wear recognisable tabards/waistcoats with their identification for all to see on their breast pocket.  They buy the magazine for half of it's cover price which is usually £2.50.  At this time of year the issues are bigger with much more inside, news stories, interviews and puzzles and  it costs £3.  Which means that the vendors buy each copy that they sell for £1.50 and sell it at a £1.50 profit.  This is self employment at it's most basic level and through the Big Issue Foundation they are taught to manage their earnings, make it work for them in the best possible way and hopefully it will get them on a pathway to a accommodation, employment, socialisation and confidence.

I'm not demanding that you all dash out and buy a copy for yourself ... although of course I would love it if you did, but through this post I would like to ask for more understanding of what the sellers are going through.  

They each have their own back story, their own reasons for what put them in the position of being on the streets selling this magazine and those are not for us to query, question or scoff at.  If you don't want to buy a copy for whatever reason  they are usually polite and offer a cheery 'have a nice day', 'good morning/afternoon'  or at this time of year 'Happy Christmas' or 'All the Best', please respond similarly.  

It takes nothing out of our day to smile and say 'no thank you' and go on our way if we don't want or need another copy of the magazine.  All too often I have seen passers by completely ignore Chris, look at him as an inconvenience, someone just getting in their way as they rush through their day.  His crestfallen look after this happens time and time again is hard to watch.

I bought my regular copy off him a couple of weeks ago late in the morning, he had been at his pitch for a couple of hours and the look on his face as I approached made my day, my day was made even more when on telling me I was his first customer of the day he moved forward to hug me, not knowing what reaction he would get I could sense a readiness to withdraw but we hugged, he smiled, the most glorious smile and as we parted a quiet 'thank you' escaped his lips.

Since that day we have hugged a few times ..... it's not much to ask is it, £1.50 profit and a little bit of human contact.

This week Chris was not in his usual place on Wednesday when I went into Llandudno, but across the road was the new guy that has inched slightly too close onto Chris's pitch.  He's a jolly faced foreign gentleman with limited but well spoken English and I bought a copy off him.  He wished me all the best and I took my copy into Waterstones and read it over a cup of coffee, thinking all the while it was a shame Chris wasn't there.  I needed to pop back to Llandudno on the Thursday so I went prepared.

Reverse Advent - Day 20

A Christmas Card for my favourite Big Issue seller with a Christmas bonus,  to do with as he wants.

I gave him a smile, apologised for missing him the previous day and admitted to buying this weeks copy off his competition ... he gave me a hug and said  ..... thank you.

Sue xx

Sucked In .....

I was sucked into the Christmas mass spending bonanza that was happening in Asda, trolleys piled high with all sorts of junk food whizzed past me, kids were screaming (or was that the Mums) Dads loitering in the electrical departments etc etc  .... I bought a box of cornflakes just because they had a picture of Santa on them that looked vaguely like my Lovely Hubby !!

  We don't usually eat them unless we are on holiday, then the occasional half bowl while we are waiting for the cooked breakfast to arrive is a treat.  Well we will be on holiday so I guess they won't go to waste, and as a mad Christmas purchase they aren't that bad ... are they? 

I'm sure someone will think so!!

Reverse Advent - Day 19

A Begonia plant that I bought for 50p from the Prestatyn Flower Show in the Summer to support a charity stall.  It was a tiny little thing that I nurtured to be a strapping thing in the last couple of months.  But it was time consuming and to tell the truth I didn't like it much.  I forgot to photograph it before it left so I raided Google Images for this picture which looks remarkably like it .... I wonder if it had been modelling when I wasn't looking.  ;-)

I hope it goes to a home where it will be loved a bit more, I do like the thought that this little plant will have supported two charities during it's lifetime, a heart one and a cancer one :-)

Sue xx

Bless You !!

These two are spending so much time cuddling up together these days.  I keep grabbing the camera to get a shot of them, it's lovely to see.

A complete fluke ... I've never been able to capture a pussy cat sneeze before!!

Back to normal, and if I didn't have it on the camera I would never have been able to prove it ....

and I love Mavis's slightly surprised look  :-)

Reverse Advent - Day 18

A book I've just re-read.  It's really good but I doubt I'll need to read it a third time.  

I'm being ruthless.

Sue xx

The Contents of the Hamper

 Lots of you asked to see the contents of our lovely Fortnum and Mason hamper so as we unpacked it yesterday I thought I would take a photo for you ... a certain little lady decided she would be in the shot too.  

I don't think it was fame she was after, more likely the box of chocolate covered mints that are perched on the Christmas pudding box.  What ever they put in them seem to make them extremely appealing to dogs .... last year Charley pinched and ate the lot, including most of the box!!

Edited In - Please be aware that chocolate in all it's forms is VERY poisonous to dogs,  We were very lucky Charley had a cast iron constitution and survived her impromptu stolen feast,  (we did keep a close eye on her after ... watching for any ill effects), I've read about other dogs that have not been so lucky.  

If you want your dogs to have chocolate treats, especially at this time of year, buy them special doggy ones which have safe ingredients and are very cheap.  You can always do what we do and put a few of them in a dish in the corner of your Malteser box .... then the dogs just think they are getting the same as you.

A close up of the contents.

Tin of biscuits

Red wine

Champagne

White wine

Cognac Butter

 Christmas Spiced Tea

Glitter Shortbread

Thick Cut Orange Marmalade

Rich Preserve Blackcurrant Jam

Icy Chocolate Covered Mints

Christmas Pudding

Champagne Truffles

Cognac and Cranberry Fruit Cake

We might have accidentally eaten the Champagne Truffles last night .... as we were putting everything else away in the cupboards  ;-)

*** *** ***

Reverse Advent - Day 17

A tin of F&M Christmas Spiced Tea.  We won't use this and it's far better it goes to someone who can make good use of it while it is fresh.

Sue xx

Questions,Questions, Questions

These questions are tripping their way around blogland at the moment so I thought I'd join in  :-)

1)  Do you like blue cheese?

Only in soups or quiches ... on it's own it's just yuk!!

 

2)  Have you ever smoked?

Yes, from being pretty young until I was 27 and pregnant ... doing it for my baby made it easy to give up.

   
3)  Do you own a gun?  

Lovely Hubby owns a high powered air rifle and I'm a crack shot with it ... you tell me what to hit and I'll hit it :-)

4)  What flavor of Kool Aid is your favorite?

I have never tried this .... I don't think I want to!!

5)  Do you get nervous before dental appointments?

Not as much as I used to :-)

6)  What do you think of hot dogs?

As furry bodies snoring in front of the fire they are lovely and I wouldn't be without any of them ... as an edible foodstuff, very questionable!!

7)  What's your favorite Christmas movie?

Scrooge, in all it's formats ... EXCEPT the Muppet version.

  

8)  What do you prefer to drink in the morning?

Coffee.

  

9)  Can you do push-ups?

Yes, how many would you like ...... please don't ask for more than 10 :-)

  

10)  What's your favorite piece of jewelry?

My four rings, wedding, engagement, little silver one and inherited gold one from my friend.  They never leave my fingers.

   

11)  What's your favorite hobby?

Reading ..... books. magazines, brochures ... if it's written I will read it.

 

12)  Do you have A.D.D.?

Only if you are droning on and on and on ......  I'm quick on the uptake, I need to be told things once clearly and concisely and I will never forget, if you go on and on and on I zone out completely.

13)  Do you wear glasses or contacts?

I had my eyes lasered years ago, so only for close work now.    

14)  What's your middle name?

I don't have one.

15)  What are your thoughts at this moment?

I'm wondering why I am actually answering these questions!    

16)  Name 3 drinks you regularly consume.

Coffee, water and white wine .... hic ;-)

17)  What is a current worry of yours?

The amount of racism that is becoming evident in this country due to recent events.      

18)  What do you currently hate?

Racism. 

19)  Where is your favorite place to be?

Six Arches Caravan Site in Scorton. 

20)  What do you plan on doing on New Year's Eve this year?

Watching films on television at home with wine and nibbles, and then bed just after midnight.  In my opinion the best way to celebrate the end of an old year and wake refreshed to a lovely new one.

21)  To where would you like to travel?

Right round the UK coastline and then zig zag through the centre.     

22)  Name three people you think will do this questionnaire on their
        blog.

I have no idea, lots of blogging buddies have done this already.  If you haven't and fancy doing it let me know ... I would love to read YOUR answers.     

23)  Do you own slippers?

Yes, we always wear either slippers or Crocs indoors depending on how cold our feet are.

24)  What color shirt are you wearing?

Blue, red and cream check .... I love shirts, I live in shirts and jeans :-)  

25)  Do you like sleeping on satin sheets?

I've never tried .... although I once slept on nylon sheets.  
I gather electricity easily and  I have fine hair and .... it was very long at the time, by morning the amount of static I had generated was amazing .... I had a pale brown afro that was almost a foot high!!    

26)  Can you whistle?

Yes, except when I need to ... then I dry up ... it's frustrating at times    

27)  What is your favorite color?

Green, green and green, did I mention I love green.  The colour of nature, of life and of calmness.  I love it.

28)  What songs do you sing in the shower?

I'm not in there long enough to even think of a song, and anyway I try not to sing out loud ... I have a dreadful singing voice :-(

29)  Would you be a pirate?
  Yes, if I could wear an eye patch and say 'arr Jim lad' regularly  ;-)

30)  What's in your pocket right now?

A poo bag (empty) and a bit of fluff ... where does all the fluff come from?

31)  What's the last thing that made you laugh?

I laugh frequently ..... it's usually the dogs antics.  Laughter in your day is what makes life worth living.  If there's nothing funny happening look in the mirror and pull faces ... it makes me smile anyway ;-)

32)  What vehicle do you drive?

A white Fiat 500, which is great and very economical for day to day outings with me and the dogs ... think doggy mobile and you've got it about right, back seat for them and front seat kept clean for me.  If we need anything more than two bags of Layers Pellets  I wait until Lovely Hubby is around and use his vehicle which is a Mitsubishi L200  

33)  What's the worst injury you've ever had?

I cut my ankle falling over on some rocks, you could see the bone ... YUK!!

34)  Do you love where you live?

No ... I like it, but I don't love it.

35)  Would you change your first name if you could?

No, I love being called Sue.  
BUT I HATE being called Susan so I guess in a way I have already changed it.  I find it very upsetting if someone calls me Susan after being corrected more than once.

Well then that's those questions answered ... do you fancy having a go?   :-)

*** *** ***

Reverse Advent - Day 16

A jar I got from a car boot sale.

Sue xx