Friday Links

Posted on December 22, 2017 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! This is probably the last Friday Links of the year so make the most of it.

This is so sad. Phillip Seymour Hoffman.

The winter solstice isn’t a relief: it marks months of dashed hopes to come. This all of this…

Come to debtors’ court. See how ministers destroy businesses, and lives. I just have the sense that everyone is living on the edge of disaster right now.

Are the days of Christmas wrapping paper and cards over? I haven’t sent any Christmas cards this year and I’ve received one (thanks Jo!). I don’t wrap many presents either..because I love a gift bag, so maybe it is!

The childhood gift we always wanted – would it change our lives today?  I really wanted a Girls World, I got one for my birthday and about a month later my brother gave it a haircut! Other than that I don’t remember really wanting anything for Christmas, I don’t remember letters to Santa (Ma did used to pretend to phone him up if we were naughty!). We got a book every year most of which I still have but honestly, I don’t really remember any particular Christmas presents. So it probably wouldn’t have changed my life even then!

Lights Fantastic!

Are you an Order or Chaos Muppet? I’ve pretty much spent the day dividing people into Chaos and Order Muppets. I’ve also decided that I’m an order muppet with chaotic tendencies!

Damian Green sacked. Finally…

Bussed out: how America moves its homeless I’d like to see something like this on UK homelessness..

Homelessness is now the public face of this Tory era

 

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Mulled Wine Syrup for cocktails

Posted on December 21, 2017 by nicdempsey

I don’t really drink mulled wine, I’m not keen on hot alcohol, which is why I’ve had two gifted bottles of mulled wine kicking around the house for the best part of a year.

I had a vague notion of making them into jelly but it didn’t happen and then I saw this recipe for a mulled wine bellini. It starts off with mulling a bottle of wine. I decided to make syrup instead.

I took two bottles of mulled wine, 200g of sugar, a sliced orange, 8 cloves and a handful of dried hibiscus flowers, I put it all in a saucepan and reduced it down until I had 500ml of syrup.

You can use it in a bellini or as the syrup component of a whiskey sour, it’s really good with gin. (1.5oz gin, 1 oz syrup, 0.5oz lemon juice – shake and serve straight up or on the rocks). You could also just dilute a shot of it with hot water and drink it as ‘mulled wine’. It could even be the basis of a Christmas present, like this.

I’m mostly drinking it with fizzy water or tonic, it’s a useful thing to have in fridge over Christmas.

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The Annual Cold

Posted on December 19, 2017 by nicdempsey

I’ve been full of cold over the last two weekends and it seems as though it’s going to last into Christmas.This cold seems to have bought it’s friend, hacking cough, along too. Any of you that have been following along for a while may remember the cold that would not die from Jan 2015 which hung around until March and turned into a chest infection/flu. It was a while after that that I finally got the GP to agree that the cough was asthma not acid reflux and prescribe something for it. Since then I have caught colds but not had the barking cough. Until this one. Last night the cough was so bad, I threw up and honestly it’s pretty frightening. I was in bed early and it seems better today, I am at work (because you should avoid being sick in your first week of a new job!) but I’m really not sure what’s going to help.

So far my honey, lemon and ginger drink is helping but other than my inhalers, there isn’t much else that helps.Fingers crossed that I’ll get better soon because it’s really not good and I’m fed up of it and myself right now.

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Best/Worst – 11 to 17 December 2017

Posted on December 18, 2017 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

Best

A successful interview. As of Monday I have a job, it’s a three month contract but it’s work and I’m happy about it!

Worst

Sick. My annual December cold, it has completely trashed two weekends and a haircut, I’m full of snot and coughing and I’m fed up and want it to be over but it’s still hanging around. I just want to be better. On the other hand, I went for an interview with a cold and got the job, oh the irony…

Honourable mentions to salt dough decorations, Grey’s Anatomy, making fudge, Oli as a star, being “grown up and ordinary to look at” from the child that calls himself “oatman” I shouldn’t be surprised! And finally losing my purse and having to cancel all my cards, only to have the bank call me to tell me it has been found! I picked it up last night and I hope the lady who found it enjoys the fizz!

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Sunday Music: A Willie Nice Christmas

Posted on December 17, 2017 by nicdempsey

Kacey Musgroves – A Willie Nice Christmas feat. Willie Nelson (of course!)

Christmas needs more silly songs….

 

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Friday Links

Posted on December 15, 2017 by nicdempsey

Happy Friday! This Friday, I am having my haircut and getting myself sorted for working next week, that should be interesting…

Nope, nope, nope. Napoleon was the best general ever and maths proves it.  So much no for this, the maths cannot be right because it’s not possible…

Kale loaf with feta and roasted squash. Ma made this last week with our kale and a squash we grew in the summer. She said it was awesome…

Renting: why are we seeing the death of the living room?

Four in 10 right-to-buy homes are now owned by private landlords. Right to buy has been a disaster for housing in this country, and I say that as someone who has close friends and family that have profited from it. It shouldn’t have happened but we can stop it now.

Muslim foster parents: ‘We’d never had a Christmas tree – it made them so happy’ This is worth reading.

How to make a Christmas party playlist. Honestly, I’ve never made playlists for Christmas parties and my Christmas CD’s do have a lot of Jesus in them. While I will play ‘Baby It’s Cold Outside’ and ‘Blue Christmas’ over and over in all the versions I can get, I will also play ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ and ‘Go Tell It On The Mountain’ until everyone is bored of them.

I’m quitting as a hospital boss: dire NHS funding problems give me no choice

$30 for three brownies! The takedown on the concept is priceless.

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Handmade Christmas: Salt Dough Decorations

Posted on December 14, 2017 by nicdempsey

Yesterday, I babysat for the Baxters. The children, especially the eldest, are really into making things and the youngest has been telling me that I don’t spend enough time playing with them! So after checking with their mum, I arranged to come over early and decorate some salt dough ornaments with them. Time after school is tricky, children are tired and time before dinner and bedtime is short, so I didn’t want to do the actual making with them because it would take to long to get to the good bits.

On Tuesday, I made the ornaments. I used this recipe on Wholefully and baked them. Mine turned out a bit puffy but I quite liked the effect!After they had cooled I used a spray paint primer on them and allowed them to dry over night.On Wednesday, I let the children loose on them!A quick spray with clear sealer and we were done. You may not get so much glitter all over the place! I think if you just spray painted them, they’d make really good gift tags.

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Handmade Christmas: Fudge

Posted on December 13, 2017 by nicdempsey

We are 11 days away from Christmas and I find myself in my usual just before Christmas mood, recovering from my December cold, half sorted and with a seemingly huge to do list.

This year has been much easier, I have family Christmas presents in hand, I won’t sort the tree until the weekend before Christmas and Ma and I between us have covered Christmas booze and food is less of an issue because we’re spending Christmas in Shefford.

However, there is a section of Christmas gifting I need to address, the little presents. So the people that you’d like to acknowledge at Christmas but you don’t have to go overboard for. I usually deal with this with food and drink, jam is good, biscuits work, hand and body scrub. This year I thought I’d have a go at making fudge.  This was the recipe I used.

It’s soft, creamy fudge. Which is the way I like to eat it and this version is plain, which as my mother wanted me to know is the only type she enjoys. I didn’t use a non stick saucepan (because I don’t own one big enough), at the beating stage, I used a hand mixer and beat it for a good 10-15 minutes, I really don’t want to think about how long it would take if I’d done it by hand.

 

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What I’ve Read – October/November 2017

Posted on December 12, 2017 by nicdempsey

I’m way behind on this, mostly because I haven’t really been reading that much. I just wasn’t feeling it, being in a slump is tough, so it was all stuff that I read quickly (in a day) and all escapism. I do think that it’s interesting that I can only really identify the books that annoyed me!

Crossing Hearts – Kimberly Kincaid

Someone to Love – Mary Balogh

I had been putting off reading this and I wish I hadn’t. The set up is ridiculous and not at all believable but I liked it and I liked that, as with all the Balogh books I’ve read, the happy ending doesn’t make it all better.

Wrong to Need You – Alisha Rai

Everyone is going on about this and while the way that the drama is piled on is a bit OTT (I mentioned this in the last book), I do like that sense that everyone in these books is imperfect and trying. They do some iffy things but there is proper imperfect difficult love both romantic and familial.

In for a Penny – Rose Lerner

This was a recommend read and it was fine but really everyone just needed to talk to each other.

Wilde in Love – Eloisa James

This was a throughly enjoyable. completely ridiculous romp. Fun

Test Drive – Marie Hart

Hooking Up – Helena Hunting 

Fun escapism

Forever Again – Shannon Stacey

Fun Shannon Stacey escapism..

Archangel’s Viper – Nalini Singh

Fun, ridiculous escapism. That also moved the whole over arching story forward.

Wait for It – Mariana Zapata

Oh this one annoyed me. I liked it, I was primed to like it but the slut shaming. I really, really, really object to ex girlfriends of the hero being referred to as sluts or money grabbing. Also a 12 year age gap which I didn’t much care for but don’t mind in other contexts..

Bountiful – Sarina Bowen

Sarina Bowen goes back to my favourite series and crosses it over with her current one and it was fun, also escapism but fun.

Someone to Hold – Mary Balogh

I can’t tell you why I liked it but I really did.

Someone to Wed – Mary Balogh

I liked this, I liked the hero and I liked that the heroine was damaged but not defeated and it all worked out.

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Best/Worst – 4 to 10 December 2017

Posted on December 11, 2017 by nicdempsey

Happy Monday!

Best

Monday was the best day of this week. It was Ma’s birthday and we had a lovely day (I hope she enjoyed herself) we had breakfast, wondered around and went to see Paddington 2.

Worst

I got sick. Friday through Sunday was a complete right off. I thought it was a cold but it’s more throat centred. I missed a party and Grace and wasn’t all that happy about it.

Honourable mentions to getting rained on, coffee with Kathy, dinner with Jane, coughing, another interview booked and lots of Netflix.

 

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