Crafting For Christmas in Movember

With Christmas just around the corner,  I thought I would take myself off and do a little festive crafting, to wit cracker making, after I heard that the world famous Kirsty Wiseman was doing a “demo” at our local craft shop Domino Crafts. I have seen Kirsty so many times on the tele that it was like “crafting with the stars” for me, and I have to admit I was a little star struck.

 

So mahosssiveely star struck was I,  that I was too embarrassed to ask if I could have my photograph taken with her …… what am I like?

I found that I had to robustly concentrate, as I am not a natural crafter, and my lack of dexterous fingers for the fiddly bits tends to put me at a slight disadvantage ….  …… but Kirsty was a most generous and patient teacher and did not move on until I had managed to complete any stage that I found a little taxing, especially when I had to use a pokey tool.

I am embarrassed to say that I did get a bit crossed eyed (never a good look) when it came to tying the ends of my cracker, but I am nothing but tenacious and finally got there, and blushed a little when Kirsty praised the neatness and evenness of my bows……

…… and said that as a glue gun novice I had a natural affinity and flair when it came to making “faux” pearls and embellishments! And my finished effort, my first ever cracker ???????

Well, I felt mahoooooosively proud! …… I am not sure that I feel confident enough in my new found skills to go into mass cracker production for our festive festivities at Castle Greysquirrell this year ….. but, I think I will carefully undo one of the ends and put two small trinkets in for Darrell and Nigel so that they can pull it together on Christmas morning. I can’t thank Kirsty enough ….. I still can’t believe I have actually crafted with a proper TV star …. and made something that was recognisable!!!

Movember– Too Early For Christmas But I Fear A Onslaught Of Pester Power Is Imminent ……

Oh Mon Dieu ….. Nigel has spotted a rather large tractor in the window  of one of the shops in the village and sighs very deeply whenever he sees it.

I can see where this is all leading …. but it is really too early to speak of things of a festive type nature, especially the possibility of putting a small pre-advent list together, but I fear that an onslaught of wishing is about to ensue!

Nigel has even dragged Darrell over to the said shop several times already to admire see it.  However, Darrell has  been consummately sensible and pointed out to Nigel that this particular model, though very lovely, is far too big for him …..

….. and that though it was OK to wish, “an element of practicality should also pervade”!!! I think, at the time this went right over Nigel’s head ….. however I have noticed him pouring over his dictionary since!!!

MOVEMBER - Oh Darrell …… But We Don’t Need Any!!

Oh mon dieu, when Darrell was out shopping yesterday he spotted some “kindling” wood ….

He said it just sounded sooooooo romantic and reminded him of fairy tales when one or all of the characters were sent into the woods to forage for and gather  “kindling” on some dodgy premise ……like Hansel and Gretel …….

Anyway …. Darrell got himself all caught up in the aforementioned romance of it all and made, what he thought was a very considered and thoughtful purchase, with dreams of keeping his poor shivering family, to wit Nigel and I, all warm and toasty as we sat round a fire made of said kindling wood, toasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories ……….

The fact that we have full central heating at Castle Greysquirrell and the only fireplace we have houses our fish tank didn’t even cross his mind ….. oh Darrell …. WHAT are you like?????

MOVEMBER–A Meeting Of Moustaches.

I popped over to the PE Block yesterday, their delivery of Ariel 3 in 1 capsules had been delivered to the Latin Department by mistake and had remained undiscovered there for three weeks,  while in the meantime, a mahoooosive mound of muddy PE strips had been building up at a most alarming rate over in the aforementioned PE Block leaving Harvey and Rooney almost their wits end!

So, when I appeared over the horizon laden with said Ariel capsules I received something akin to a heroes welcome.  “At last …..!” rejoiced Rooney and Harvey almost in unison “.. socks shall be done …. hurrah, hurrah!” They then proceeded to give me an emotional PE-esque three cheers, followed by a very rousing  “For he’s a jolly good fellow!” – what are they like?

Their enormous relief was both palpable and tangible …..  as were their spectacular moustaches, the PE Lady and the PE Lady’s Mum have obviously been very, very busy …..

We exchanged a little manly banter, spending quite a lot of time comparing the sizes of our moustaches  and our various grooming techniques.  It was so good to catch up with the boys, even though we work in the same establishment our twain very rarely meets half as often as it should do …. and we all agreed that we should organise something of a bijoux get together in the very near future.

MOVEMBER–Atishooooooooooooos

Darrell is a martyr to his sniffles ……

…… but has to be almost anesthetised to have injection. so he is plucking up courage to ask the nurse if he can have his vaccination on a lump of sugar ….. what is he like?????

MOVEMBER 2013……

It’s hard for all of us on Team WGHS to adjust to the almost daily changes in our facial appearance during Movember, but I find Nigel’s the most disconcerting ……

….. he puts me in mind of someone …… I just can’t think who!!!

Movember–Minty Maltesers

As you know Maltesers are very much our confectionary of choice on a Saturday Night …..when we all settle down to watch X Factor (Come on Sam ….. belt ‘em out!). However, occasionally we crave the exotic …… and a couple of nights ago Darrell had a most ingenious idea to satisfy our aforementioned exotic craving thereof ……

He found a couple of After Eight Mints left over from one of our recent ribald soirees …….. and decided instinctively, to break them up and put them in our Malteser jar and left them to infuse their minty potency amongst the said Maltesers!

…… thus creating Minty Maltesers!!! Our verdict ……. nom, nom, nom!!!

Movember – An Invitation To Tea At The PE Lady’s Mum

Yesterday we were all very robustly excited because the PE Lady’s Mum had invited us to tea …. to see if the Movember moustaches she knitted us fitted properly and didn’t need any tweaking. Naturally,  we all made sure we were impeccably groomed, and Nigel carefully reminded to watch his P’s and Q’s and told that his behaviour must be beyond reproach ….. or else!

The PE Lady told us that she would pick us up from our office at 3 o’clock prompt and so from half past two Darrell and Nigel waited and watched from the window.

Oh my gosh …… tea was wonderful ….. The PE Lady’s Mum had made sliced and buttered tea loaf and chocolate chip cakes with icing especially for us  ……

Nigel was particularly enamoured by the aforementioned sliced and buttered tea loaf ….. and when pressed,  readily accepted a second, third and fourth slice, until Darrell kicked him under the table and gave Nigel a look that said “Leave some for Mr Manners!”

We had tea in proper china cups …… which made us feel very sophisticated and Nigel, bless him, remembered what we had told him about NOT slurping from his saucer …..  he did us proud!

We all would so have loved to have nommed aloud as we do at home,  but it would have been most inappropriate in someone else’s house …. but after, in the car going home, we all agreed that The PE Lady’s Mum’s cakes were 10 out of 10 on our Richter Scale of Noms.

After tea the PE Lady’s Mum took us into her newly patio’ed garden …… with its panoramic country side vista ……

……. and ponies in the back …… we all filled our lungs in the wondrous fresh air ……

….. and Nigel did a lot of sighing ……. musing, about what it must be like to be The PE Lady’s Mum, waking up every morning to such a “Country File/Horse and Hound” type view,  with the sounds of the countryside coming through the open window  “Cows mooing, horses neighing, birds twittering, hedgehogs snuffling, cocks clucking and sheeps baaaaahing, duck quacking, squirrels cracking their nuts ……. ”,  to name but a few, with a dreamy look in his eye.

And then finally, and most romantic of all.  we sat in front of The PE Lady’s Mum’s fire to warm up …….. we pinched Nigel NOT to mention toast or marshmallows ……. but just to enjoy the glow. 

We had such a lovely time ….. “The Dolls House” is so cosy ….. and if ever Nigel says he’s leaving home and disappears I think we will know where to look for him first ….. and probably find him toasting said marshmallows!!!

MOVEMBER - Finders Keepers ……

What are we going to do with Nigel ……?  Yesterday he found a random foam “M” lying on the pavement on his way to work ……

……. you’d have thought he’d found treasure beyond compare from his little chutchy face …..

…… and as he scurried away I could hear him saying to himself  “Find a M, pick it up, all day long it will bring you luck!” Goodness only knows what he is planning to do with it …… M for Mischief abound?

Movember–X Factor

We have been very remiss of late with regards to reporting our televisual viewing …… especially X Factor,  which we continue to embrace but have failed to mention much …..

….. because,  to be honest, pictures of us watching the tele with a bowl of Pringles and a bag of Haribo Milkshakes passing between us are just plain boring!

However, we have received several e-mails asking us who are contestants(s) of choice are this year……..

Is there any doubt?  Our one vote each week to keep our favourite in goes unanimously and most robustly to Sam,  who we have loved since her very first audition …… as Nigel puts it soooooooo succinctly each week after her performance “Boy, she can belt out a song!”

Admittedly, we were a little fearful, as indeed Sir Gary Barlow was, that she may have faltered at “disco” but oh Mon Dieu …. she “nailed it”!

So….. at this half way stage, we will firmly stick our necks out and make a spooky Derek Acorah type prediction by saying that the X Factor finalists will be Sam, Rough Copy and Luke with the greasy hair …… we think that Rough Copy will give her a run for her money ….. but our heart belongs to Sam and we also predict a wonderfully emotional Christmas No. 1!

Inspiring Others To Moustachio Up ….. Monkeys Doing It For Movember!

Yesterday we received this photo and e-mail from our good friends Jen and Steve who have been so inspired by our endeavours as part of our support of  Team WGHS at work this Movember …… that they have got their own team together ……. and very hirsutely impressive they are too

Their aforementioned e-mail said ……

Hi Monkey and Darrell,

My boyfriend Steve and I are huge fans of your blog. We have been inspired by your Movember antics to moustachio (is that a word?) our own monkeys.

We wish you all the best for Movember. We love the blog - it constantly makes us smile.

With lots of love and best wishes.

Jen and Steve

Needless to say we were very moved  ….. in fact our moustached perked and bristled with pride …… keep it up boys xxxx

MOVEMBER Munchies

Sally the “Latin Lady” in our Office had been to foreign climes for the half term holidays, to wit Cyprus ….. a country I know very little of except for the fact that they always give their douze points to Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest (and vice versa)!

…… Anyways up,  she had very kindly bought back some Cypriot sweetmeats for the office to try, some Cypriot nuts, or mandoles as they say en Cypriot, as we very much have a continental palette  ….. …..

She said that the aforementioned sweetmeats  were nuts, but it was hard to work out what the other ingredients were as Cypriots seem to like using lots of K’s, Y’s , X’s and Z’s and upside letters in their writing, it looks a romantic language, but not as romantic as Russian.

So the only way of knowing whether they were a sweet or savoury comestible (or something verging on the inbetween), was to open the pack and try them, and that honour of the grand opening was given to me …….

They were indeed sweet, sweet and crunchy, and very moreish, so moreish in fact,  that they only managed to go round the office twice ….. before they disappeared ….. in fact I doubt very much is some of the ladies tasted them as they went down!  However when I asked them how many noms they would award the said “mandoles”, the ladies agreed on a unanimous 8.5 on the office Richter Scale of Noms!!!

MOVEMBER–WE LOVE The PE Lady And The PE Lady’s Mum!!!

Just how brilliant are the PE Lady and The PE Lady’s Mum? Even though they were in foreign climes dans Italy for half term, they still took their knitting needles and sufficient wool to fashion these exquisite Movember moustaches for us …………

When the PE Lady bought them over I just couldn’t take my eyes of them, they were so perfect….

…… and I couldn’t believe the level of sophistication and sartorial elegance mine gave me, and ALL the ladies of a certain age seemed to notice too and couldn’t resist giving it a playful tug!

I couldn’t wait to get home and show Darrell and Nigel ……. OH MON DIEU ET MON DROIT …… their gasps of total admiration said it all …..

……. coupled with not a little manly emotion as I handed Darrell his to him.

The PE Lady said that they may have to tweak the pattern a tiny bit for Nigel …… at the moment they are a little too big for him ……

 

Oh good grief!!!!!