First of all, a very Merry Christmas to the hoards of readers who are reading this blog fresh off the press! As today is Christmas Day, the day when we all waste tons of money on naff gifts that will be in the charity donation bag by New Year, I thought I would highlight a particular type of gift that I have, occasionally, resorted to buying over the years.
It is always difficult to find just the right present for people who have everything they need/want, and who will buy things for themselves throughout the year (some of them even buy things for themselves whilst they are Christmas shopping for others - no names mentioned here...). Anyway, it is for these people (and they are usually men!), that numerous websites have popped up, selling gifty things that are designed to look like a lot of thought has been put into the purchase. It's not that I'm totally against these sort of sites - I think it is very sweet that you can buy a specially engraved locket for your loved one, with a compartment where they can store your toenail clippings so that they will always have them close, or an automated toothpaste squeezer in the shape of a cow where the toothpaste comes from the... well... (I haven't ACTUALLY seen these exact items, but you know what I mean).
The thing is, once you've bought something that your loved one can wear, put on the wall or put on display, you have to stop! You can only get away with buying more than one of these items if your current "loved one" isn't the same as last year's.
A fairly recent practice that keeps all of these tat shops and websites in business, is the "Secret Santa". Honestly, if everyone who was involved in these schemes from work places, schools and groups of friends, all gave their fivers or tenners to worthwhile charities, an awful lot of good could be done in the world. Instead of which, millions of items of completely useless tat are opened by millions of people, who have a quick laugh then chuck it in the bin (unless it is something edible, like a willy-shaped chocolate bar, which tastes fowl, but they'll eat it). Is this really what Christmas has become? Well that's my soapbox moment over.
Here are just a few of the multitude of websites selling the type of things that I am talking about:
http://www.naffgiftshop.co.uk/
http://www.iwantoneofthose.com/
http://www.notonthehighstreet.com/
http://www.zazzle.co.uk
http://www.cafepress.co.uk
http://www.red5.co.uk
There are also hoards of shops on the high street - many that just pop up for Christmas, such as:
Hawkins Bazaar
Justformen
I am particularly concerned when items such as the following are included in a page titled "Must have gadgets". Gosh, how does one manage to live without one of these?
When I was young, I used to LOVE stationery of any kind. It was such a treat to go into W H Smith to look at all the stationery, and to SMELL it. Pens, pencils, rubbers of all shapes, sizes and colours, note pads and paper, rulers, post-its...
Things haven't changed that much since I grew up. I still get very excited when I go into the stationery department of a large store, or, better still, a specialist stationery store such as Paperchase. The one thing that has changed is the amazing amount of choice available. I could spend hours and hours just browsing the lovely notebooks, paper, pens, bits and bobs... (let's not even start on post-its...)
Oh yes - one other thing has changed since I was a wee girl - the advent of technology. Being the gadget geek that I am, I rarely pick up a pen and I have absolutely no need for a paper notebook/planner of any sort, as all my notes, thoughts, todos, appointments, addresses, etc, are kept in various apps and synced between various computers/tablets/phone. Such a shame that I don't get to use any of the pretty paper notebooks that I buy when I get carried away in the stationery department!
I'm not planning to go au natural, and forsake deodourant for ever more. No, it's just that the curse of Costco strikes again! This is the third day that I have had to fess up to the overstocking of certain products, and it is all down to this wretched shop! Something happens when I walk through the door of the huge warehouse, and I completely forget to focus on the things I actually went in for (which is usually meat and wine). I wander around the huge aisles, heaving huge packs of stuff into my huge trolley, then haul it all through the checkouts. It is only as I put my debit card (they don't allow payment by credit card) into the little machine and look at the huge number in front of me that I come out of my trance and realise that, once again, I have purchased a load of items that I don't need and, worse still, already have copious quantities of in store at home.
My current deodourant stash consists of a pack of 12 large aerosol cans and a pack of 12 of the roll-on variety. DH won't use them as they are too girly-smelling, so I have supplies for the next couple of years.
If only I'd known about Baking Soda before I stockpiled the chemical products!
I'm not really sure why, but I have a strange habit of buying tins of chopped tomatoes in bulk. I don't mean the packs of 6 that you can get in the supermarket, but I mean a carton of 4 packs of 6 - ie 24 tins at a time, from Costco.
It's not as though I do a huge amount of cooking with tomatoes (or with anything...), and they're not the sort of thing you can just open and eat as a tasty snack(!). They sit in a cupboard taking up far too much storage space, mocking me each time I open the cupboard door. I don't know what happened over the past few years, but I ended up with about 48 tins of tomatoes lurking in the cupboard. My tomato amnesia is a close rival to the bath product amnesia discussed in yesterday's post.
I love nice, smelly, bubbly stuff in my bath, or a luxurious oil, or crystals, or one of those "bath bombs" that explodes into the water (except when they have lots of petals and bits of junk in them). The thing is, I only (usually) have one bath a day, and there is only a certain amount of product that you can put in one bath.
Why is it then, that every time I am in a supermarket, chemist or (worst of all), Costco, do I feel the need to buy another bath product? I suffer from bubble bath amnesia whenever I see any of these items for sale, and I put one in my basket every time. Costco is the worst, because they sell packs of 3 VERY large Radox bubbly. My bathroom cupboard is full of it, and I probably need to have 5 baths a day for the next year to use up all of the contents of my cupboard.
I CERTAINLY don't need any more bath products!
However.... I don't think I will object if Santa brings me something nice from Jo Malone...
I have got out of the habit of wearing earrings, or at least, wearing different earrings on different days. In my days of power-dressing/shoulder pads/high heels/red lipstick/overpowering perfume, I used to wear the earrings to match - very large, dangly and shiny, I would never wear the same pair two days running. My jewellery box was full of lots of pieces of metal, plus quite a few nice pairs of more subtle gold earrings.
These days I really can't be doing walking around with anything resembling Christmas tree decorations dangling from my ears. The most I usually manage is a pair of studs, or maybe some small hoops. Once in, I usually leave them in for a couple of weeks, as I can't be bothered to take them out. I often lose the backs, or sometimes a stud, when I am washing my hair and manage to catch one.
I won't be buying myself any more earrings. That said, I would not be unappreciative if any little light blue boxes (you know the ones) turned up in my Christmas stocking, with a very tasteful pair in white gold...
There is something very comforting about a lovely, soft, fluffy fleece. They are so comfortable to wear, and so warm and snuggly. Perfectly suited to the British weather, they can be worn all year round, even in the summer on the frequent occasions when the sun isn't anywhere to be seen.
I have quite a collection of fleeces in various colours - some that zip all the way up, and some that pull over the head. I even have a couple of sleeveless versions to "layer" (probably with another fleece!).
There is one small problem, and that is that they are not exactly... well.. stylish! Whilst they are probably OK to wear on the "slopes" (not that I have every ventured anywhere NEAR a "slope"); it is just about acceptable to wear them when carrying out some active outdoor task, such as gardening; and it is OK to wear very expensive, branded versions from "outdoor" shops for outdoorsy pursuits such as rock climbing and extreme walking, it isn't really considered acceptable to wear non-branded versions for everyday wear. It is probably because the cheaper versions are worn by people doing manual labour in cold places, including road sweepers and cleaners.
I am rather taken by the latest fashion for "onesies" - now they WOULD be warm and snuggly... Perhaps Santa will bring me one?
First of all, a very Merry Christmas to the hoards of readers who are reading this blog fresh off the press! As today is Christmas Day, the day when we all waste tons of money on naff gifts that will be in the charity donation bag by New Year, I thought I would highlight a particular type of gift that I have, occasionally, resorted to buying over the years. 
It is always difficult to find just the right present for people who have everything they need/want, and who will buy things for themselves throughout the year (some of them even buy things for themselves whilst they are Christmas shopping for others - no names mentioned here...). Anyway, it is for these people (and they are usually men!), that numerous websites have popped up, selling gifty things that are designed to look like a lot of thought has been put into the purchase. It's not that I'm totally against these sort of sites - I think it is very sweet that you can buy a specially engraved locket for your loved one, with a compartment where they can store your toenail clippings so that they will always have them close, or an automated toothpaste squeezer in the shape of a cow where the toothpaste comes from the... well... (I haven't ACTUALLY seen these exact items, but you know what I mean). 
A fairly recent practice that keeps all of these tat shops and websites in business, is the "Secret Santa". Honestly, if everyone who was involved in these schemes from work places, schools and groups of friends, all gave their fivers or tenners to worthwhile charities, an awful lot of good could be done in the world. Instead of which, millions of items of completely useless tat are opened by millions of people, who have a quick laugh then chuck it in the bin (unless it is something edible, like a willy-shaped chocolate bar, which tastes fowl, but they'll eat it). Is this really what Christmas has become? Well that's my soapbox moment over. 
