Australia

Last night, Emma and I toddled off to the movies to see Australia. I would have prefered to have toddled off to see the actual country of Australia but for now I just have to settle for the flick. It was a pretty good flick.. I did.. for the most part enjoy the movie.. however not one that I would want to see again tho and there were a few moments where I thought.. huh? but yeah all in all it nice to go to a movie that I actually enjoyed instead of rolling my eyes a million times. I wouldn't exactly say that it is a must see.. but it is a must to see it on the big screen.. afterall the big screen just adds that little bit extra to flicks.. well I think so anyways.

Right now it is New Year's Eve and soon enough it will be 2009.. just a quiet night in to ring in the new year and hopefully I can at least stay awake to ring it in.. to be honest tho.. I have no faith that I will stay awake.. I am a bit of an old lady that way.. maybe next year I wont be so much of an old lady.. maybe I will wake up a bit.. we will see I guess.. only time will tell.

The Birthday, Christmas & I

The day sort of started on the 23rd.. just before midnight when the neighbour decided that it was time to start their festive party.. they reached their loudest at around 4am.. I was SO unimpressed.. but I guess that is the joy of living in an apartment.. so anyways after a shitty sleep.. Emma, Nemo and I were up early.. Nemo got the last of his advent calendar.. and while he munched away on that Emma gave me the start of my birthday pressie.

Then out the door Emma and Nemo went for the morning walk while I got to stay and relax in bed.. which after a bit got a little boring.. so boring in fact that I decided to get up, clean up a little and start getting breakfast organised.. I however didn't start cooking the pancakes.. as that is Emma's job.. she totally does the best pancakes ever.. soon enough they arrived home and the cooking begun and then we all tucked into some very yummo pancakes with cream and boysenberry jam.. BLISS! Nemo didn't get jam and cream but got his own pancake.. afterall he is part of the family.

After breakfast we then sat down and opened a few xmas pressies.. Nemo is not so good at opening his own gifts.. not like Cato, the parentals doggie.. he is pretty awesome! but yeah.. we got Nem's a little blue m&m jumper.. its a little small but still looks wicked cute.. who cares if it doesn't cover his ass.. its for inside anyways.. mainly for after baths. but yeah.. see how cute it is?

After the present opening we just relaxed at home and watched stuff.. nothing overly exciting.. its always nice to take things easy.. then we ate some sandwich cake.. which was SO fab! I devoured a nice big chunk of it.. but it still hardly made a dent in it lol

After lunch.. I fell asleep on the couch.. nothing like a mid day snooze I say.. then Emma had to wake me up coz I needed to shower and we had to walk Nemo before heading around to the parentals for the xmas feast and Donald Duck re-runs. Most of the time I was the only one laughing at the re-runs.. prolly coz I'm still new to that whole tradition lol

Then the feasting, laughing, chatting and drinking begun.. Tasty!

Soon enough it was dark and Emma played santa.. I wish she had of worn the mask tho.. like Emma's mum did for my first xmas here.. or well she didn't wear it the whole time.. coz it got to hot but she started out with good santa intentions.. so yeah.. anyways Emma handed out all the gifts and then we tucked into ripping the wrapping off..

My very main gift.. which was all I wanted..

...was this very spunky Krups Espresso Machine!

It is my pride and joy.. and it makes a very nice brew.. I am so very happy with it.. I still need to buy a metal milk jug for the frothing tho so I can make cappacino's & latte's like a pro! but just normal coffee is creamy and yum.. Emma even said that it has converted her now.. and that is saying something.

All in all I had a really good day and it was awesome to have it start out as my birthday and end as Christmas.. over and done within one clean swooop... always nice don't ya think? Totally glad it is all over with tho.. now to get the year over with and begin the new year ahead.. good times.. I hope!

The Sandwich Cake & Nemo

Today Emma and I made a Sandwich Cake for my birthday tomorrow.. it is a long process but totally worth it.. as it is the yummiest ever. It was the first thing I ever ate upon arriving in Sweden and it is still my most favourite thing to eat in Sweden. I must say.. knowing it is in my fridge.. is pure torture! I just want to eat it now.. but I also know that tomorrow it will taste even betterer.. its always better after you have let it flavour a little.. like just about everything.. it always tastes better the next day.. with the exception to an open bottle of beer.. now that is totally not cool the next day.

Anyways.. so Emma and I had just finished slaving over it and was getting ready to wrap it up and stick it in the fridge.. Nemo was sitting on the chair at the table.. he usually behaves.. but it seems today was the exception. I didn't see it all unfold.. but I was there for the aftermath and witnessing the steps of discovery..

First up.. Emma tells Nemo off for licking the side of it. I did not witness that but I heard the telling off.. which drew my attention to the situation.

Next.. came the discovery of the gap to which I with a puzzled look on my face and tone in my voice.. "was there meant to be a bit of cucumber there?" to which Emma responded with a big laugh of yes there was.. lots of laughter continued.. & for a moment there I thought Emma might actually pee pee her pants.. but she didn't coz she is a grown up!

Next.. came the discovery of the little nip mark that Nemo must have left when he took a nibble out of the cake.. not the lick like what was first thought!! The little bastard! This time.. I thought that this time I was going to pee pee my pants.. coz its pretty darn funny that we noticed it all in steps rather than right away. Nemo is one in a million that is for sure.

My first ever sandwich cake for MY birthday and the little bugger takes the first bite!! Totally unimpressed I am.. but I also totally see the funny side to it all.. and below you shall see it all.. the little nibble Nemo took out.. Looks like he got a little egg, a little bread and some cucumber.. mmm good!

Christmas Baking.. 3

Mandelmusslor

& that is the very end of all the Christmas baking and goodie making and also that is the first and very last time that I will ever make those blasted things again.. it was NOT fun! Don't be fooled by their simple shape.. they are a bitch to make and for that reason I will never make them again. NEVER!

I do enjoy eating them however.. you have a little jam and then some freshly whipped cream.. and down the hatch they go.. very very good.

Round Up!

Emma is now on christmas holidays.. tomorrow is the day of christmas joy.. it doesn't really feel like it.. but I will be glad to have it over and done with.. and then I get to let loose on my new espresso machine.. I simply can't wait!

The weekend was a pretty slow one.. we went to the movies on Friday night with Hanna and we saw.. The Day The Earth Stood Still. It was PURE crap! I lost count on how many times I rolled my eyes.. it seems whenever we go to the movies with little Hanna, we end upseeing a shit movie.. just as well we don't see her all that often.. you know with her living in the states in all.

Saturday morning Nemo got trimmed.. so he wasn't much of a happy camper but now he looks so smart.. I just love his colouring after he has been trimmed.. all his white bits really come out of hiding.. its nice. The rest of the weekend was spent making stuffs and doing nothing much else.

Monday night we went to Mr Guitar's place to have a glögg & gingerbread evening. I don't usually drink glögg.. but this one was a raspberry one and it wasn't too bad.. not that I would want to drink it all the time.. but yeah it was good enough to drink now and then. After we downed some glögg and gingerbread.. oh and the others downed some Lussekatter too.. a movie was put on and it was rather interesting.. Emma.. of course nodded off.. I had a few moments where I was nearly nodding off.. but putting my arms above my head seemed to work with keeping me awake.. and eating chips and stuffs helped too lol

Well I best get started on my Tuesday as its 9am and I still need to have breakfast.. I think some french toast is in order! Mmmm

Christmas Goodies!

Peanut Butter Balls!

Georg! the Bunnie Killer.. gave me the recipe for these and being peanut butter I just HAD to give them a go.. and I am glad I did.. coz they are actually rather yummy.. even tho they have those yucky dates in them.. but the dates give it that little something something.. just yum!

Knäck!

Rischoklad

Marzipan Balls..

It was meant to be a log but last year we found it a little bit on the really not fun ride to make.. so instead we made balls.. which turned out to be equally not as fun to make.

Dooley's Mocha Tops..

These my friends are absolutely De-Lish! They were meant to be made with Baileys but we had Dooley's.. close enough I say.. and anyways.. pure YUM! yeah I know.. you want some!! They were a little hard to get out of the form.. which is why most of them are a little cracked.. but like I said.. a little crack never hurt anyone! lol

Fruit & Nut Dark Chocolate

Christmas Baking.. 2

Soft Gingerbread!

Emma had a little accident when turning this beautiful baby out and broke it in half.. if you look carefully on the side you can actually see the crack.. but a little crack never hurt anyone right?

We only have one more thing to bake and all the Christmas stuffs are done.. done...done! & I can't wait to gobble them all up.. ok maybe not all.. but some.. YUM!

For The Pups!

Just because humans get yummy treats for Christmas.. doesn't mean that the pups can't too.. so Emma and I made some Peanut Butter Poppers in the shape of cars for all the pups.. of course we tested them on Nemo first and he does approve.. oh and I was also a taste tester.. I can't say that they are overly flavourful.. but then again pups lick themselves so I'm sure these are plenty tasty for them!

The TunaCans & I

Jo vs. TunaCans!
& who do you think won?
Not I.. but the freaken TunaCans of course!

So there I was.. happily going about my day when all of a sudden not ONE but TWO cans of tuna decided that they couldn't take life in the cupboard and decided to come out.. and come out they did.. and they took no pity! The shuffled along the.. stealth style.. to go unnoticed for their surprise attack into the big back world.. out of that cupboard they were a-commin.. no matter what the cost!

The tuna cans had carefully maneuvered their way to the edge of the cupboard.. just waiting for their chance to leap out. They got their chance when I.. had left the cupboard door open and my back was semi turned.. they took that chance and they leaped with all their might and came a crashing down.. down.. down... right onto my big toe!

OUCH!

Emma was quick to round up the rogue tuna cans and put them back in their rightful place of the cupboard.. while I whinged about my toe.. when I removed my sock.. it was bleeding a little at the nail.. I could hear the tuna cans laughing from in the cupboard.. or was that just Emma? I am not completely sure.. it is all a blur!

Emma then ran some cold water into the tub for me and off I toddled to soak my bleeding swollen toe.. I could still hear the laughter.. those freaken tuna cans.. you will get what you deserve when we make a sandwich cake out of you! muahahaha

Cookies!

Now who doesn't just LOVE cookies?

So the other day Emma showed me a recipe from a blog called.. 'use real butter' for Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies and they looked so good that I just had to give them a go.. I however didn't make a full recipe so mine aren't quite as thick and well that is a-ok by me.. they still taste good and that is what matters.. right?
So anyways here is my cookies...

Witnessed Stupidity

Nemo and I had just started out on our lunch time walk when we were confronted with what had to be one.. or well several of the stupidiest things I have ever seen.. done by one woman and her car.

Now the first thing that this woman did that drew my attention in her direction was... *drum role* She drove the wrong way down a one way road!! Now it takes a special sorta someone to do such a thing yes.. and it turned out she was an EXTRA special sorta someone coz just as she finished driving the wrong way.. she drove out into the middle of the road and then just paused!

Yes.. this special woman just paused! So as she is standing in the middle of the road.. about 30 seconds later a bus starts coming towards her.... and what on earth do you think she did?

If you think she actually all of a sudden got some smarts and quickly and easily drove off and got out of the way of the oncoming bus then you would be totally incorrect. What she actually did was stay still and I guess contemplate a little longer on what the right thing to do would be and the thing she came up with was.. REVERSE!! in the middle of the street and move over to the wrong side and continue reversing.. at least she moved over eventually enough for the bus to actually be able to pass and of course once the bus passed.. this special woman went back to just standing.. but at least now she is on the correct side of the road.. she is just failing to actually drive anywhere when a car comes up behind her and she just stays still.. I guess contemplating? after about 30 seconds the other car honks rather loudly.

Which I guess finally snapped this woman out of her daze of stupidity coz then she started driving.. slowly forward.. in the correct direction on the correct side of the road and then she turned into the one way road which she came out of previously.. I shake my head and continue on my merry way thinking that the stupidity is all over and done with.

I however.. was wrong.. I look over and there is this woman in her car.. trying with all her might to park her car in between 2 cars.. the space she is trying to park in is clearly NOT large enough to fit her car at all.. but she keeps trying.. and trying.. and trying some more before she finally gave up coz her towbar hits the car at the back. I am so gobsmacked by this point I just don't know what to think and then I see her drive like 2 meters and park easily in a spot that is large enough.. which I might add had been there the WHOLE time!

So that my friends is the witnessed stupidity of the day and totally made me wish I had taken my phone at least so I could capture a picture of this woman.. coz I think the world needs to beware!! When I come across people like that I often think to myself.. "How on earth have you been able to survive in this world for this long?" People like that make me look perfect and sane!

The Earthquake & I

So there I was.. sitting at the computer after just stepping in the door from walking Nems.. loading a few pages and getting my morning started.. when I feel the apartment shake.. shake and shake some more. Nemo springs up from the rug and comes over to me. I head over and look out the windows to see what on earth could be causing this shaking.. coz I was under the opinion that earthquakes and Sweden don't play together. Anyways I couldn't see anything and the shaking only lasted about 10 seconds and nothing broke.. it wasn't that kinda shake.. just a little rumble.. being from NZ I have had much more fun earthquakes.

After the rumbling.. Nemo seemed a little worries and was running in and out of all the rooms.. I guess trying to work out what the freak was going on.. and he really isn't the brightest of dogs.. afterall this is a dog who will look at me when Emma speaks to him.. even though we speak different languages to him! but anyways.. Nems is doing his room checks and I try to call Emma.. to no avail coz she has poo reception.

Now before you start thinking that I called Emma coz I was freaking out.. I wasn't! I was just totally confuzzled coz like I said I was under the impression earthquakes and Sweden don't play together.. anyways Emma called me back about 5 minutes later when she had better reception and said that when she got to work she would check out what happened and then get back to me.. meanwhile Nems is STILL running in and out of all the rooms.. STILL wondering what the freak is going on lol

So the outcome of the earthquake was 4.7 and it took so many people by surprise that some people were all ready to tell their neighbours off.. according to some of the comments.. that are in Swedish so Emma told me that one.

Officially my first earthquake in Sweden.
Sweden sure pulls out all the stops for little ole Jo!

Nems Update: He has stopped running in and out of rooms and is currently snoozing under the desk right next to me with his paw on my foot. It is rather warm!

The Weekend & I

Goodness me.. its SPC!
Well my weekend came and went in all but a blink of an eye.. at least we got some baking done, and the tree put up and the presents under it.. which is always nice.. Emma's interest peeked when I showed her a present just for her that she has NO idea at all what it could be! Which is the way it is going to stay until we have our own little xmas with Nemo.. on my birthday I might add.. after the yummo pancakes with boysenberry jam & cream.. o I really can't wait! I also can't wait to see Nemo sporting his little blue m&m jumper.. don't worry I know you will want to see that too.. so I will be sure to put a pic up as soon as I can! lol

OOoooooo and some very good news.. My Apple In-Ear Headphones with Remote and Mic finally arrived!! I got to try them out and I can't say that they are amazing or that they suck so bad I want to rip my ears off and never hear again.. I find that they do just what any small in-ear headphone should do.. they make it so that you are able to listen to music on your iPod decently and really that is what matters and seeing as though I am unable to use the earphones that came with the unit.. I am happy to actually be able to use my unit whenever I want.. which hasn't been much before that coz I could only wear them when I wore a certain jacket as it was the only jacket that had a pocket high enough that I could use the tops of my old SE phone earphones to be listen to music.. and with it being so cold.. I have been unable to wear that jacket.. but now I get to walk Nemo and not go so totally insane and actually have a good reason as to why I am ignoring people who decide to start talking to me while I walk him.. sometimes I really do think I have a sticker on me that says "Talk to me!" Anyways.. long story short.. I have my new earphones and I am happy with them.. so music here I cometh!

Also another package arrived.. this one being from my brother & his little family. Its always nice to get packages.. especially ones that have body butter in them that have leaked! lol Nothing that a little wiping didn't fix.. and nothing was actually ruined beyond repair and so that is the main thing.. and most importantly the Whittaker's Kiwifruit Chocolate was AOK!

All in all.. my weekend was rather good to me.. I however didn't get much rest as such.. but it wasn't totally exhausting.. and now there is only one week left before Emma goes on holidays and we will have nearly 3 weeks of rest.. or well.. baking.. eating.. present opening, possibly drinking and then rest & catching up on some tv shows.. oh and scrapbooking our Boston trip! Most of all I am happy to have Emma home to entertain me and I'm sure Nemo will be happy to have Emma home coz he is just purely sick of just seeing my ugly mug every day.

However.. this week Nemo only gets me 4 days coz come Friday he is having a little trip into work with Emma.. yipeeeeee! That should make him happy coz A) he gets to hang with Emma.. B) he gets to ride on 2 trains and 2 buses! C) he gets to have love and pats from many of his fans! and D) he gets to have a Jo ugly mug free day!

Christmas Baking.. 1

Saturday was the first day of the Christmas bake off and we started with making Gingerbread. We kinda cheated a little and purchased the dough from the bakery.. coz well we didn't fancy spending a day actually making the dough and having to leave it overnight.. impatient or what? I should have been named impatient really.. I was poorly named when I was named Darling.. oh I mean Jo! haha

Anyways it was kinda fun making them.. and best of all Emma did most of the hard work with all the rolling and cutting out.. I was in charge of putting them in the oven.. setting the timer.. taking them out and putting them on the cooling rack.. then transferring them from the cooling rack to the container.. oh and I was in charge of putting them into position on the tray! How awesome am I? lol I think we did about half a dozen trays.. of many different shapes.. Bitten Gingerbread Mens, Stars of two different sizes, Christmas Trees, Angels, Pigs.. ummm I think thats about it..

Below you will see a pic of the Uncooked Bitten Gingerbread Mens! Sunday was the day that we made something that I personally do not eat.. We made 'Lussekatter'! They are bascially sweet saffron buns.. saffron and I totally don't play well together.. but Emma loves them so Emma shall have them and we only make them once a year so why not.. but it sure is torture to spend some time baking to not have something at the ned of the day fresh to eat.. or well for me anyways.. Emma got to eat some and she ate so many that she got heartburn.. silly lass!

We usually bake them without the raisins.. coz Emma isn't much for the raisins and we call them Blind Cats.. which makes it more fun for me to say "We are baking Blind Cats today!" but yeah we added the raisins.. for some reason.. to them all so we made 3 dozen Not So Blind Cats! lol

Below you will a pic of the Not So Blind Cats.. freshly baked!

Christmas Tree!

From this...

...TO...

...This!

The Cat & I

Yesterday Emma and I were walking to the supermarket to buy a few things.. like carrots and dip! oh so YUM!! but yeah on our way.. we came across this cat and it was wicked cute.. kinda reminded me of Oscar.. a cat that I loved in NZ.. who was not mine but for many years I did look after him..

Annnnnyways... so we saw this cat.. and it was on this fence.. but the fence was kinda tandgled in bracny twiggy things and so only its front paws were on the fence.. it was kinda a weird position.. I gave the cat a little pat and then we went to walk away but it looked like the cat was having a little bit of trouble trying to manouver its body out of the branchy twiggy things and down off the fence.. so me being the sweet, kind, wonderfully caring soul that I am.. decided to help the cat out.. and help it out I did.. I took it off the fence and put it on the ground.. inside the fence coz I figured thats where it was heading..

..but then as soon as we went to walk away the cat gave this look of sheer horror and wtf.. and was gave the impression of 'why on earth did you stick me down here for?' so of course me being the sweet, kind, wonderfully caring soul that I am.. went back over to the cat.. leaned over the fence.. which wasn't an easy task as it was a bit of a stretch to try and pick the cat up again.. but I managed it.. I picked it up.. and put it on the foot path on my side of the fence this time..

..but then as soon as the cat was down.. it jumped through the fence gap.. which was right where I had just pulled it up from!

At least the cat was happy and it gave Emma and I a good laugh..

and me a dirty jacket!

Baked!

Over the past week I have made a few things and so now I am going to tease your tastebuds and eyes with some of my baking goodness!

First up we have the Lemon Cake I made.. It was so moist and tarty and just simply delicious!!

Next we have the Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.. They were a little disappointing but still tasted great.. just not pumpkinny enough I guess.. Emma couldn't taste it and I could only taste t where the cinnamon wasn't over-powering it.. and I would hate to know how cinnamonny they would have been if I had of used the full amount that the recipe called for! yikes!
Next we have.. Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.. we needed to use up the pumpkin puree and these looked tasty enough.. the raw batter had a nice pumpkin flavour but once it was cooked.. it was kinda more gingerbready.. but still VERY tasty.. I would totally make them again!

Lastly we have the Bread Buns.. simply delicious!! omg so yummy! We didn't even have to butter them coz they were that tasty! totally good bread! and the best bit was.. I got to use the bread maker for the dough! ACE! That was actually the only reason why I wanted to make them! but it paid off.. they got gobbled up!

And just so you don't think that we are total pigs with all this baking.. we didn't eat it all by ourselves.. we shared it around.. coz we are nice like that!

Oh and I haven't even started the christmas baking yet!!!!

Xmas Lights!

On Sunday.. Emma and I headed off early to help the parentals put up some Xmas Lights.. not a huge amount.. just enough to make the place look christmassey..

..ya know..

So there we are.. just finished getting the first load of lights untangled.. coz its a given.. no matter how you do it.. every year they are gonna be tangled when you take them outta the box.. so yeah there we are.. lights in hand trying to work out how to get them over the tree..

*lightbulb* I say that we should toss them over.. coz that seems like the best option coz Emma and I are both not giants.. as you well know.. I do sometimes wonder what it would be like to be a giant.. anyways so there we are.. lights in hands.. in position and about to start the countdown.. then just like an olympic swimmer.. Emma does a false start!

We collect ourselves and once again.. lights in hand.. in position and now starting the countdown...
Three...
..............Two...
.........................One...
...................................and we toss.. only Emma tosses so hard and totally lets go of ALL the lights and the lights go for a little trip right OVER the tree! HAHAHAHA it was great! So funny!

After that we took a different approach with the help of Emma's dad and soon enough the lights were on the tree and all was well in the world and we could move onto the other sections we needed to get done.. which we did and then sat down and enjoyed the best glass of milk and nibbled on some gingerbread!

Knickery Snowman!

Looks like another month of me being a pretty slack blogger but hey..

..I get there in the end!

So let me cast my mind back and pick out a few funny moments of the past week.. coz its been that long since I last did an entry.. actually its been a little over a week..
but who notices anyways?

Umm well we headed off to Copenhagen to check out the shops and have a little look around.. and most importly to buy some Boysenberry Jam.. its not anywhere near as good as Cottee's but its the best I can do so it rocks.. which means I get to have boysenberry jam & cream on pancakes for my birthday breakfast! & Emma's pancakes totally rock the boat!! Nothing like starting a morning with total goodness I say! Makes me wish everyday was my birthday.. not for presents.. but for breakfasts!!

So anyways.. we went to Copenhagen and it was packed.. we kinda knew it would be but getting Jam was wicked important!! It was also cold and a little wet... but all in all it was a good day. I nearly got killed by a bird.. The picture below is of me just after a bird swept past my face.. so close I might add that the wing touched me! *straight face* It was highly amusing tho.. it was even pretty close to Emma's face.. it swept right in between us as we were trying to take a nice photo of yours truly in front of the giant tree.. as you can see.. the picture didn't turn out so nice.. even tho I am in it! LOL That was definetly one way to start off the day in Copenhagen!

It wasn't long until we then discovered that in Copenhagen.. not only do they drink booze for breakfast but they also have snowmen holding underwear! Thats right folks.. snowmen and undies.. and here is the picture proof!

We were planning on staying longer but opted to leave a little earlier coz well.. it wasn't all that exciting and I was a little sick and tired of people walking into me and walking at a snails pace.. oh and coz I was annoyed at the stupid English store.. I got all excited when we saw it.. we went into this pokey little store and it was full of goodness! They had sausage rolls! I haven't had a sausage roll since I left Australia.. so I got a little happy.. then I just saw many other things that I haven't had in such a long time.. we picked up a few things.. including a couple little Milky Bars.. I just simply LOVE white chocolate and it seems Swedish people don't share that passion and for some reason have like NO white chocolate! It is kinda nuts if you ask me! So as you could imagine I was wicked happy to see this.. quickly grabbed a couple and there we were all ready to pay.. with plastic of course.. coz plastic is the way of the world.. especially when you are in another country! Then it happened.. we were unable to pay with the plastic that we had as it wasn't a certain card.. his machine only took one kind of card! Can you freaken believe that? In this day and age.. SERIOUSLY man! We considered going to find an ATM.. but didn't deem it worth it.. and if he is going to be stupid enough to not have a decent eftpos service then fuck him.. he just lost a sale. Simple really. But yeah after that we decided to call it a day and started our little journey home.

'tis the season

Indeed it is! December has struck and Christmas is upon us all. The lights are up, decorations in the street.. decorations in the home.. lights on trees & lamposts.. lights on houses.. lights in windows.. the Christmas candy.. the Christmas chaos.. there is even a special blend of Christmas coffee and I had my very first brew of it today and I must say I rather like it.. it is a good coffee.. and I shall buy it again.. next year at Christmas time!Christmas shopping is all but over.. for us that is.. for other people.. maybe not so much.. coz not everyone is as organised as I.. afterall I am Captain Awesome!

Here we even have Nemo doing his best impersonation of being a Christmas present!!

I know.. cute right? You know you want him!

Soon the Christmas baking shall begin.. and that is something that I am actually looking forward to.. nothing like a good dose of baking to make one feel useful! I will be sure to show many pictures of all the yummy things that get made.. just to make your mouth water.. if only one could eat pictures huh? I am looking forward to trying a few new recipes too.. like soft gingerbread and fruitcake.. I don't think I have ever made a fruitcake and I do like it.. but yeah.. we will see if Emma's mum still wants fruitcake.. if not then maybe I wont make it.. we shall see what happens once the orders come in..

Speaking... or well... typing of orders.. it seems Nemo is in the mood for his walk now.. I went to take him before but he seemed more interested in sleeping so I left him.. but now he is jumping at me so 'tis that time for a jolly walk!