Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Holiday time!

With a totally new look to shock my family, we are off to England. Not looking forward to the long, long flight through Amsterdam but its the price you have to pay, I guess. We are doing a family Christmas with my sis Sunday as she is stuck working most of the time and cant come with us on our excursion. Then Wednesday we head on up to Fort William, Scotland. I think its about a 9 hour drive, so Im sure that wont be too fun either. The 10 day forecast for Fort William predicts snow and 32F average high during the day. We have packed hiking boots each and expect to be tramping through the snow up the mountains a little ways. Fun fun fun! I wont be cooking, cleaning, doing laundry or ironing for two weeks! Hopefully it will leave me refreshed to get on my yard when I get home, the leaf situation is totally out of control. I cannot believe I have left it this long!

Even though this may seem a little premature...

Have a great Christmas!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

A New Me?


Old Hair

After an hour in the chair and 7 inches on the floor...

New Hair



Oh and new glasses too!


I was shooting for 8 inches so I could send it to Pantene, but that made it really short. I asked for 6 inches off but then she went a little short and shaped it! I love it though, even though its really short!

Friday, December 11, 2009

Winter syndrome

I realise I have not posted in rather a long time, but there isnt too much going on really.

We have a new addition to our family. A beautiful dark blue manual, diesel VW Jetta - Danny's new baby! He denies it every morning when we have to take separate cars... he hands over the Jetta keys and I say, 'no dear, you take the Jetta, Ill take the Outback', and I grin; he denies that he wants it, I should have the nicer car he says, but I know he wants the Jetta so I just increase my smile and take the Outback keys. Doesnt matter to me, as long as I get to work safely. The Subaru is still a really nice car, it just needs a good clean! In actual fact, I think the Subaru that we have is a much more luxurious car than the Jetta, but its a little older and let's face it, hatchbacks are practical family cars that boys who like toys just dont like as much as nippy little Diesel engine Volkswagon Jettas. We were a little put out by the initial low gas mileage, but you have to run a diesel engine in, and the mpg are already increasing, so hopefully we will be averaging 50 mpg here shortly!

Not much else going on really. Not too much baking occurring, just the usual bread for the week. I used to think a nice warm kitchen in the summer was the best thing for tasty bread, but after doing a little research online and now baking bread in the winter, I have come to realise that cool rising for triple the time makes a much more full bodied bread. The best schedule is to get up early and prepare bread at 6am. Turn and shape at lunchtime. Bake after work. Might make myself some ginger bread tomorrow when Danny is out at his wedding. Gosh that boy gets married a lot! (Actually stole that phrase from my father-in-law).

Went to the Veggie Potluck last night and it was remarkably fun! Lots and lots of people and everyone brought two or three dishes each so the amount of food available was incredible! All vegetarian or vegan meals, obviously. My favourite thing last night was the Vegan Dahl, I scooped it up with my multigrain bread and it was just divine! It was nice to get out of the house, a task I find hard when its cold and dark from about 445pm onwards.

We are off to the UK next week for the Holiday Season so Im being terribly lazy and dont have any Christmas decorations up and havent even sent out cards. Oh dear. Im seriously looking forward to sitting around my mum's house eating mince pies and drinking tea by the fire and not doing too much else! We drive up to Fort William, Scotland just before Christmas to spend a few days with Dave's family so we will hopefully do lots of tromping around the mountains in the snow!

Happy Christmas baking to all of those of you who can make the effort in these cold, dark times!