The Perfect Christmas

I have been lucky enough to have a perfect xmas because:

1) We had snow! It didn't snow on xmas day but a few days before we saw a nice heavy snowfall and the thick snow and ice stayed around for xmas day :-) Where I was staying before there was no snow so I am glad that I was visiting a different part of the country for xmas where I knew there was snow. Have to be ridiculously vague on a blog. English people look forward to snow because we don't get it very often. Snow is usually only a problem if you desperately have to travel somewhere, but I drove to my christmas destination by car and quite enjoyed the snowy view beyond my windscreen and didn't mind taking the drive carefully. We also all like snow because it can mean schools close so if you are a kiddie, you get the day off to play in the snow and if you have a boring job to go to, you might not have to go after all! Snow also makes everything look xmassy and I have enjoyed going for walks in it.

2) I got to play with a little puppy jack russell called Bob and he's very cute and energetic, see picture. I do miss my own dog Sky very much though and missed giving her a cuddle.

3) Got to have a yummy scrummy veggie xmas roast dinner and large amounts of naughty treats.

4) We've all been having a laugh playing on the Wii and particularly enjoying the skiing games.

5) I didn't get to see some of the family, but Skype is good for keeping in touch in other countries.

Bless his cotton socks

Aslan fell asleep the other day in the wheel, he was sat like Mr Tumnus in the picture at first but then he started rocking backwards until he started sliding backwards out of the wheel....but he didn't wake up! He stayed fast asleep and dreaming, his little paws were running. It's the funniest thing we've ever seen them do, created much amusement hee hee hee

Chocolate Rock Cakes

The picture's a bit blurry but I made some chocolate rock cakes.

My TV choices

In no particular order:

1) Misfits, Thursday 11pm E4 A bunch of youth offenders gain superpowers. I love this programme, I watched it on 4od online first because I was so bored I started searching 4od for shows to try watching. I thought Misfits would be rubbish but was pleasantly surprised and I'm now totally addicted! It's laugh out loud funny in a good way, well I think so.
2) The Family, Wednesday 8pm Channel 4, Cameras catch the everyday life of an Indian family. Again, I thought I would hate this series because the last one was so deadly boring but no, I am hooked to this aswell. I like the family dynamics and the relationship between the mum and dad has me in hysterics.
4) Eastenders Although some episodes and characters are dull, it's part of my comforting routine and I enjoy watching it
5) Hollyoaks I admit Hollyoaks is a pretty high standard of crap most of the time, but on and off I like watching it.
6) Garrows Law, 18th Century courtroom drama, the hero lawyer fights for the rights of the common people and rescues them from a hanging. Sadly it's finished now, might still be on iplayer
7) Paradox, Tuesday BBC 1 9pm Ok so it's been done before, but I've watched the first episode so far and found it addictive, a good mix of time travel and crime solving.
8) Merlin, Saturday 6.05 BBC1 One of my favourite shows at the moment, loving the banter between Merlin and Arthur, even Adrian has started watching it. I actually can't contain myself each week for the next episode!
9) X Factor ITV1 8pm Saturday/Sunday I don't really care who wins but it's good to watch. If I had to pick, I would say to win in this order: Joe, Stacey, Danyl, Olly I used to think Olly could win, but then I saw that he lives at home with his parents in a mansion and he has said a few arrogant comments, don't think he needs it as much as some of the others who seem to have more of a struggle in life. Joe is the only one consistently in tune so I guess it would be fair for him to win. I find Stacey has more stage presence and she sings well too.

I might have got some of the times and days wrong for the programmes, but I've had a guess just incase anyone wanted to try watching one.

Uh oh, I've been in the kitchen again!

Ok, this time I haven't bothered to

put the cake on a nice clean white plate after I decorated it. I thought it looked kind of artistic with the mess of icing around the edge...well that's my excuse. Right, so this time I made a chocolate cake with a thick layer of chocolate butter icing in the middle, then strawberry and melted chocolate icing for the topping.

Wish I could be a cake designer for a living, it's fun experimenting!

Yum, chocolate cake!

I baked this cake today and it has chocolate butter icing in the middle, chocolate sponge and melted chocolate covering....very me.

The weedy sea dragon

One of my new favourite animals, it really does look like a little dragon! You can see what a weedy sea dragon is on the programme Life which is on iplayer at the moment, near the beginning of episode 4, Fish.

Halloween cake

It's fun experimenting with colours and cakes!

Earth from the air

I thought I might aswell prove it was the same exhibition for Frankofile :-)

Pond autumn walking

Things seen and done on the walk:

1) Mr and Mrs Duck - they were very friendly as were all the ducks and there were a lot! They would have sat on my lap they were so tame. Ducks are one of my favourite animals, I want my own pond with ducks, so cute how can anyone eat them

2) Feeding the many many many birds, most of which were ducks, then we had several pigeons, a coot/moorhen (not sure), gulls and a swan.

3) I met a tame squirrel who reminded me of my pet gerbils, because I am sure he was saying "Is it treats?" I had already donated the bread to the birds, so I threw him a prawn cocktail skip which I'm sure isn't the best thing but he didn't like the smell and didn't eat it anyway.

Autumn walking

Four Hamsters

R.I.P Frog/Toad

Sadly the toad/frog died this evening. A has buried him under a rose bush. We now think he was a frog because he was huge before he died, but oddly he shrunk massively in death and looked like a frog. After research we think he might have had a disease and been bloated, possibly due to a water imbalance :-(

Wind in the willows

While cleaning the pond (the royal 'we') in our garden because the fish had no room to swim as the water lilies had taken over the whole pond, we found a toad. The toad watched A cleaning the pond, as did I, without moving. It sat at the edge of the pond watching until A decided to check it was ok by giving it a gentle prod. Toad didn't move and it wasn't until a lily was removed right next to him that he swam off into the depths of the murky pond. Later that evening toad was back, this time sitting on a stone and he stayed there all evening! That was yesterday, but today, toad is still sitting motionless. You might assume he was dead if wasn't for the fact that A keeps picking him up to make sure he's feeling ok.The toad sits quietly in A's hand (see picture) and he can even be rolled onto his back...to check for a cut or damage. Toad seems to be ok but it is odd how he is out in the open, cold air and doesn't move a muscle. We have now read up on toads and found out that toads can sit for hours without moving. I hope that this is normal behaviour because he's quite cute. Today he is leaning over a stone looking into the pond, but his eyes never blink and he has a white/blue bubble coming out of his mouth. I hope that's normal too, A thinks he is probably just dribbling because he has been leaning forward for so long!

The other picture you will notice is not a toad, but Aslan the hamster :-) I found him sleeping like this the other day and couldn't stop laughing especially because he was dreaming of running as all his little paws and mouth were moving. Incidentally, all four pet hamsters now have names. Aslan and Mr Tumnus in one home and Totoro and Muta in the other.

Sleeping bears

I like quizzes!

1. What are your current obsessions?

Starbucks / my pet hamsters and gerbils / Sky .....actually these are all permanent obsessions not just current!

2. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often? Comfy joggers, although at the moment I have to wear horrible teachery clothes

3. Last dream you had? I have had a few recurring dreams about trying to get to France to see the parents and dog but something always goes horribly wrong like the plane crashes! Also dream about going to Starbucks...oh dear

4. Last thing you bought? A salad for lunch

5. What are you listening to? The hamsters running in the wheel and the gerbils chewing cardboard.

6. If you were a god/goddess who would you be? I don't know but I would like to be a goddess that gets to fly on either a dragon or a pegasus

7. Favourite holiday spots? Hmm it's been a while. France because I get to see Sky doggy!

8. Reading right now? Nothing, no time! I read through my lesson plans for school....yawn

9. Four words to describe yourself. At the moment: exhausted / amused / fattening / thirsty

10. Guilty pleasure? Starbucks

11. Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak? Cute things - example here Yep my own hamsters and gerbils have me in fits of giggles.

12. Favourite spring thing to do? smell freshly cut grass

13. Planning to travel to next? France

14. Best thing you ate or drank lately?Chocolate cookies

15. When did you last get tipsy? I don't know but I will need alcohol to get me through the last bit of the PGCE course!

16. Favorite ever film?Jurassic Park. Indiana Jones, The Holiday, Beauty and the Beast.........

17. Care to share some wisdom? I'd rather someone gave me some wisdom, like what an earth should I do for a career cuz I hate teaching

18. Song you can't get out of your head? Cry me a river..... think I got that from watching a blues/jazz pop idol episode

19. Thing you are looking forward to? Going to France and cuddling Sky and finishing the PGCE

20. If money were no object, where would you choose to live? Somewhere in America with my own swimming pool, or I would just buy myself a country mansion in England

Sugar Plum Fairy

We only did this because hammie wanted to and it doesn't hurt him. Please never do it unless you know what you're doing and make sure the hamster is only a couple of cm from the ground.

Hamster Climb

Put the sound on for this one :-)

How many hamsters can you fit in a wheel?

Naming competition

Well, I thought I would write my first proper blog post as it has been a long time and because I have something that I want to write about. Of course as usual it is animal related, I bought FOUR Roborovski hamsters today!!! Animals are always cheerful and entertaining to have around and these little guys were just too cute and hilarious to resist. I would never buy just one hamster because it would be lonely but with most hamsters they do have to sadly live on their own becasue they would kill each other. However, these tiny critters prefer to live in groups and we thought we would buy the whole group of brothers rather than leave one or two behind. They are all clearly very attached to each other. They are 8 weeks old apparently and they are the smallest of the dwarf hamster variety. The pictures don't show how tiny and sweet these things are! So far they have settled into their new home straight away and they are extremely curious and friendly. They also run around like lunatics and climb across the ceiling of their cage. I have also seen them sleeping and they sleep in a big pile one on top of the other. Awwww, bless. I will put better pictures up soon. Horace and Hermes our two gerbils will not be left out either, we love them just as much and we bought them a new toy today. They received a log cabin, which they seem to think is for eating rather than climbing inside but oh well!

Anyway we haven't named the four tiny hamsters yet so if you have any suggestions we would like to know.

I only had enough energy to post 2 pictures of gerbils.....don't do a PGCE it sucks