Advertising

There are many adverts on the television that just baffle me and I have no clue what on earth they are supposed to be advertising or sometimes the advert is just very stupid. Occasionally one pops up that blows the mind like the advert for a particular car where there a chorus that beautifully mimics the sounds of the car passing - not that I can actually remember what the make of car is!!

Anyway, I have just seen an advert for Barclay Card and their new card that is supposed to work without direct contact and it is such a fun advert. It all begins with a chap in swimming trunks walking through an office filled with cubicles, so my first thought is "eh?" and then he opens a cupboard in which is a tube that looks a bit like a laundry chute, but it has water in it and that's when you begin to realise what is about to happen and he takes this water chute allllll the way home. He passes through a supermarket and swipes his card for a banana, he also goes down into the tube station and swipes his card again - all without actually touching the machinery cos of course, he can't - being inside this plastic tube full of water!!

Naturally anything I say cannot come anywhere close to describing how the advert really looked, so here's the video!

I saw it for the first time today and my jaw dropped at the bizarreness of the advert, but at the same time the child in me thought "woohoo, if only all commutes home could be like that!!". The only thing is that it wouldn't do much for my hair and what on earth would I do with all the clothes that get left behind in the office! This is what happens when you start to think too literally when in fact, it's all just a mindless piece of escapism. But a very good advert it was too, how do people think up stuff like this!!

bookcases!

I love bookcases in all sizes, big, small, quirky, whatever the size or shape, I just adore them. Usually more for the books rather than the shelves themselves, but the Caffeinated Librarian has just alerted me to some rather amazing bookshelves - and these ones I want!!

Can you just imagine that - a set of stairs that double as very effective bookcases! Wow - just - Wow!

imagination

Some people simply have more than others!

I came across this little website that promotes the author's book. It a simple, innovative and funny website, just don't expect it to look like the usual sites you have seen before!

All I know now is that I want to buy her book, so from my perspective, she has done what she set out to do and that is to get me to buy her book! I wonder how many others will buy on the strength of this website?

Go on, have a look - you know you want to!

Candle Party

I went to a Candle Party last night! Have you heard of Candle Parties? They're just another variation on the old Tupperware Party!

A friend invites you (and a bunch of other friends of course) to her house for an evening of wine and nibbles so that you can listen to a sales person say how wonderful her products are and of course, you get to see said products in action!

Now, I have to admit that I am addicted to candles, but it is an addiction that I am manging to restrain fairly well - I don't go for all shapes and sizes, but do enjoy having candles all lit up in the lounge.

Anyway, I had a good time last night! There were about eight of us, which actually made for a nice, cosy evening in with friends ensuing in lots of laughter! (particularly over the story of some friends who said that they'd made a promise to go to the health club the morning after they'd done rather too much drinking- they did too - they walked up to the club, had a coffee and walked home again!)

The only trouble with parties like this is that you have to listen to a lot of sales patter as well as the usual spiel about "if you are a hostess you get to have X percent off" - it got a bit irritating really. The funniest thing was that the saleswoman kept saying 'smells' as in "you can choose between these bottles but not these smells" and I was so very tempted to advise her that 'fragrances' would sound so much better!

Despite those niggles, I did think that there were one or two good products! So, I have bought two little round candle holders that match my hurricane lantern, plus a nifty little insert that goes inside said hurricane lantern so that I use three tealights instead of one pillar candle - it looks really nice. Of course, I also had to stock up on more candles!

I am now eagerly awaiting the delivery of my purchases!

By the way....

...if you want to find out where Santa has got to...you can track him via the NORAD website!!

Last time I checked he was in Australia!!

In anycase I am now off to Cambridge for my Christmas!!

Thirty Christmas questions - part three!

Well, it is now Christmas Eve and here are the final set of questions that make up my set of Christmas questions!

21. Stockings before or after presents?
What a question - first thing in the morning before anything else of course!

22. Go to someone else's house or they come to you?
Well, I always go to someone else's house because I usually spend Christmas at my parents.

23. What is your favourite holiday smell?
I always associate cinnamon with Christmas, but I don't think that I have a particularly favourite fragrance that brings to mind the holiday.

24. Can you name all the reindeer?
Erm......Rudolph, Blitzen, Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Cupid, Comet, Vixen - no, not without reverting the internet! And the rest of them are...well, to my surprise I have only missed out Donner according to Wikipedia!! (mind you, Rudolph, isn't actually one of the original reindeer as mentioned in The night before Christmas)

25. Do you bake biscuits?
Not specifically for Christmas, no.

26. Do you go caroling?
No, not in the sense that this question means anyway as I don't go caroling from door-to-door, but will go to a carol concert and join in the singing - very quietly I might add!!

27. Do you drive around and look at the Christmas lights?
No, not on purpose anyway, but I can see them on the way home from work!

28. Favourite Christmas tradition?
Nope, can't think of a favourite, I just enjoy the whole thing from start to finish!

29. What is your favourite Christmas memory?
I mentioned earlier that my most enduring Christmas memory (see my meme) is one of feeling the stocking lie on my feet first thing in the morning, but I would not say that this is my favourite. I can't actually pick out a favourite as I just love the whole thing!!

30. Christmas wish for this year?
Well, I don't know, I could be traditional and go for Peace on Earth!

And that's it, my Thirty Christmas Questions! I hope you enjoyed them!

Dinner party!

Well, last night was the dinner party night! I cooked dinner for six people which includes my library staff and me! Fortunately, everyone was very patient as I vastly underestimated how long it would take me to prepare dinner!!

I had chosen Jamie Oliver's Chicken Breasts In A Bag recipe, mainly because it was simple - just throw a load of stuff into a foil bag and chuck it in the oven. Well, that was the theory anyway - it was not quite so simple!

The trouble was that the preparation was actually quite fiddly, for instance I had to do things like peel and slice two cloves of garlic, fold and create the foil bag, chop the 9oz of mushrooms, cook the pototoes and slice them, and then after all that, I had to carefully stuff the bag! (I had to make three bags too as each bag contained two chicken breasts, so for six people....)

In the end, instead of eating at 7:30 as I had planned (the invite was 7pm for 7:30pm!) we eventually sat down to eat at 8:30pm - whoops! Fortunately everybody alreadys knows everybody and so was quite happy to open the drinks and sit down to chat in the lounge.

The meal itself was very nice - the wine component was a bit too strong and the garlic came through quite strongly, but it was very nice - three plates were almost totally cleared and the other three less so, so I think that I can call that a success!!

Pudding was just as successful - I had a raspberry meringue and a chocolate roulade (not made from scratch thankfully!) - thanks to Ann for whipping the cream and assembling the roulade! ;-)

After dinner we did the Secret Santa thing - all the presents were very nice - let me tell you them in the order that they were opened - Ann had a little pot of handcream and a manicure kit, Judith had a little red umbrella for her handbag, Nicola had a lovely set of minature jams, Bridget had a bag of handlotions and stuff, Trish had a new mug, and I had a drawstring travel washbag (just right for my trip to Australia!!) and I think that everybody was happy!

Thirty Christmas questions - part two!

Here we go - part two of those questions that I started yesterday!!

11. Do you decorate the outside of your house?
No, but I love seeing what other people have done!

12. What is your favourite food at Christmas?
I don't think that I really have an absolute favourite, but I would be disappointed if sausages wrapped in bacon did not make an appearance or if the sausage rolls ran out!! ;-)

13. Have you started your Christmas shopping?
I should think so given that there are only a few days left!!

14. Have you finished your Christmas shopping?
Present-wise yes, but I am sure that I have a few other bits and pieces to get!

15. What's your favourite Christmas song?
Well, a few weeks ago, I said "We three kings of Orient", But it does depend on what I have in my car when you ask the question, and at the moment my favourite is "The Holly and the Ivy"!

16. Have you ever kissed under mistletoe?
Unfortunately no - any volunteers?!? ;-)

17. How early do you wake up on Christmas?
Not as early as I used to that's for sure! I think that 8am sounds about right.

18. Do you put up your own Christmas tree?
But of course!

19. Do you get a fake or real Christmas tree?
A fake one that I have had for a few years now, I would love to have a real tree, but it just seems a little too much bother!

20. Do you use homemade or store-bought ornaments?
Both, although the only homemade ones are white knitted (possibly crocheted) angels that were made by my Nana and I treasure them.

So endeth part two!

Thirty Christmas questions - part one!

I found this on the internet the other day, and while it isn't a meme, it looked like fun and was all about Christmas, so I thought that I'd answer the questions!! Fortunately I have chosen not to answer them all at once as thirty questions (plus assorted answers!) would make for a very very long post!!! I really wouldn't want to bore you too much before Christmas!!

1. Snow or no snow?
I love snow and would love to have a white Christmas one day!

2. Eggnog/hot chocolate/cider?
Cider? Do people offer cider as a particularly Christmassy drink? Have never had eggnog although I did have an eggnog flavoured latte (Starbucks!) the other day and didn't think much of it, so by elimination and utter personal choice it would have to be hot chocolate!

3. Naughty or nice?
Oh, nice of course!

4. Ham or Turkey?
Turkey - in particular I seem to just love Turkey gravy!

5. Star or angel?
I don't really have a preference for either, but do have an angel on my tree.

6. Blinking lights or still lights?
Still - they are more soothing.

7. White lights or coloured lights?
Either - I actually have both on my tree!

8. Give or receive?
Would have to say both!! I love to find the right present , but I also love getting presents!! (who doesn't?)

9. Favourite Christmas film?
It seems to change every year, but I like Santa Clause: the movie; Christmas Carol (in all variations!)

10. Do you like candy canes?
Erm - sort of - I have pretty glass ones that hang off my tree, but I don't think that I would buy them as sweeties.

So, there you go and it's a good job that these questions were not either/or so I could choose both!! Part one is done - parts two and three I will do sometime before Christmas - not long to go now!!!

First sentences

There are a whole bunch of memes floating around at the moment and I want to do them all, but that would be silly as my blog is not about memes! However, I particularly like this one that I found here at the FreeRangeLibrarian and although I have not been blogging all that long, I thought that I would join in.

And why would not blogging that long make any difference? The reason being is because this meme is about First Sentences in that you have to list the first sentence of each post of each month for the last year...so I obviously haven't got a whole year to play with, but will certainly do what I can with what little I have!!

In reverse chronological order...

December Given how much I just love Christmas, I have decided to set up a meme of my own - all about Christmas!

November Murder committed last night!

October I have been having fun with Google maps!!

September I have just been going through some photos that I took lately and came across this one!

August Pinch punch and it's the first of the month and no returns!

July Hello and welcome to my blog.

Quite the little snapshot of my blog!! Anyway, if you'd like to do this one....consider yourself tagged!

Secret Santa Presents

How many of you take part in Secret Santa schemes? I would think that this is more typically done at work, particularly when there are a lot of people in the department. We are actually doing one where I work although I have to say that there aren't that many of us in the office!! But this was a good compromise between the two sets of staff that although we are now one group, we used to work for two different libraries and so had two different traditions.

Anyhow, that is not the Secret Santa that I really wanted to talk about! What I really wanted to talk about is a Secret Santa scheme that is being run by LibraryThing (if you haven't heard me mention LibraryThing - it's a place where you can catalogue your own book collection and socialise with other book lovers online!). I have been a member of LibraryThing for a while now, but am not very diligent in cataloguing my own books, but that is probably because I get enough of that at work!

And still, I digress, so...LibraryThing are running SantaThing!! Which is an online Secret Santa for book lovers! If you are a member of LibraryThing then you can join in, you can offer yourself up for participation or nominate another person to be the recipient; so basically you sign up and pay $25, closing date is 12 noon US Eastern Time on Thursday 13th December, so you'd better hurry up if you want to take part!

Once you find out who you are being the Secret Santa for (by the way, I should say that all identifying detail is only held by LibraryThing and is not revealed to others) you can then have a look at their personal catalogue and try and find a book for up to $20 (the other $5 of the $25 that you paid earlier is for delivery!) that they would appreciate and tell LibraryThing to order this through Amazon.

Unfortunately this is only open to American, Canadian or British LibraryThing members, but I am sure that the LibraryThing team will put their collective brains into organising something a bit more comprehensive for next year.

Well, as you might guess, I have decided to take part! I have paid my $25 and am now waiting to hear who I am to be Secret Santa for! I am also quite eager to see what kind of book might land on my doorstep, hopefully before Christmas!

Cookies and quizzes

I was reading a blog this morning and found that this particular blogger had done one of the many daft quizzes that you find on the internet and discovered that she was a Chocolate Chip Cookie!! Of course, I had to take this quiz and I have found that I am......

A Jam Cookie

On the outside, you project a straight-laced, innocent vibe. But on the inside, you're complex, exotic, and full of flavor.

What Kind of Cookie Are You?

Hmmmmmmm - I wonder how seriously I should be taking this!! ha ha. I am quite sure that Freud (et al!) would have a field day with all these internet quizzes, just what would they think of them!! There are ones that say which character you are in a television drama (done that one - see earlier post!!) , ones that say which book you are (should do that one at some point!), that say which sweetie, animal, furniture - you name it, I bet it's out there!

And by the way - Happy Birthday to my Mum!!