A Right Little Christmas Gem!

Any excuse.  Really.

Aly asked for our Top Five Christmas Songs and tempting though it is to talk about 1) Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas and post this really interesting interview about the circumstances in which he wrote it or 2) rave about how wonderful it is to sit with the kids watching The Snowman marvelling at this particularly magical piece of music, or admit to 3) melting with Michael's Silent Night and 4) how finally relenting and accepting that Christmas really is on its way will mean the peal of Jingle Bells for a month non-stop solid, but why would I do that and distract your attention from this right little gem?

It's laugh out loud funny, not even really a song, but based on one so it sort of counts, being a tortured twist on the traditional 12 Days of Christmas by someone who'll instantly bring a smile to your face if you remember the man who played Father Jack in Father Ted, Frank Kelly.  

If you haven't heard it before, then you're my excuse for including it in this week's Listography.  If you have heard it before, you'll know that one isn't really needed to justify it!  Really...





[Oh and voting for the Candis Magazine Best Parenting Blogger Awards is still open so please cast a vote for me if you fancy, thank you :) ].

Guilty Pleasures - Listography Round Two.

Honoured to be hosting #Listography here today!

We all have secrets from our family, right?  I don't mean the serious ones, I mean those little guilty pleasures that we indulge in, hoping no-one will catch us.  This occurred to me the other day when I was hiding from the kids and the students, stood alone in the kitchen, contentedly popping Parma Ham out of the packet straight into my mouth.  Not only could this be considered an outrageous luxury when it's possible to knock up a meal for the whole lot of us for the price of a portion of it, but there is no way I would willingly share a single slice should anyone happen to appear, so it's something only to be undertaken unbelievably furtively.

Foolishly thinking that others' must similarly sneak stuff and that such solidarity would soothe my conscience, I invited confessions, which actually made me feel either pathetic - thanks to HPMcQ's bloodlust for the meat juices on the bottom of the roasting pan, or prim & properly sophisticated, thanks to Tired Mummy of Two's Ketchup, Salad Cream and raw onion sandwich fetish.

Then Yellow Days contrived to make us all well jel with her secret soft spot -  GIANT white Toblerones - which aren't even available in this country, so that's quite an epic guilty pleasure to covet and Sandy from Baby Baby admitted to not even getting home before tucking into hers, keeping a pack of disposable spoons in her car purely for the purpose of dismantling and eating the cheese bit from the base of specially bought cheesecakes!

But just to put us all in our places, Kate Takes 5 waded in with a wonderful reminder of a whole Listography on the matter which stretches far further than food (she gets crushes on guyliner, for example - er, ew!) and so popular was this subject when she ran it over two years ago - collecting 60 other entries, each with their Top Five Guilty Pleasures, thereby granting us all a good exoneration, we decided to run a second one for those of us who missed it the first time and those whose have changed in the two years since or anyone else who fancies joining in really.

Here are the details about what a Listography is and how it works, but, simply said, you just link up a post with your own list, usually and historically about whichever subject Kate has set her heart to on her blog, only on this particular occasion the Linky thingy is at the end of here.

So mine are:

Gary Barlow. Yum!
(Image courtesy Wikipedia).

1) Parma Ham. 'Nuff said.


2) Soya Lattes with hazelnut syrup when I should be at home doing stuff.


3) Gary Barlow now he's got stubble.


4) Microwaveable mashed potato for the top of Shepherds' Pies.


5) *whispers* The Daily Mail - mainly because the print is big enough without my reading glasses.








So what would your Top Five Guilty Pleasures be? Stick them on a post and please link up to Mister Linky below.

It seems, indeed, that I am not the only heathen.  Here are a few more confessions for the record, just to get you started:

Jenny from the incredible Just Photos By Me and Cheetahs eats rice pudding out of the tin with golden syrup.

Missie Lizzie - Betty Crocker fudge icing straight from the tub. This is progress, believe me (think custard powder!). 

Helen from The Crazy Kitchen  - Peanut butter with a spoon (sometimes spread on a banana) and a cup of tea.

Helen Neale - Jelly Belly Beans in a secret cupboard in the kitchen while cooking.

Even the Domestic Goddesque does it - Marshmallow Fluff + Jar + Spoon.

And Mummy Never Sleeps never sleeps 'coz she's eating Dairy Milk in bed.

Aly from Plus 2.4 doesn't feel guilty about anything she eats but we all know she has got a thing about beards, while Amanda's got the healthiest one of all about beetroot with balsamic vinegar.

Actually Mummy fancies David Beckham and secretly tops up her Cava in the kitchen while the genius Grenglish goes one better by sometimes buying two family sized bags of crisps, eating one in the car on the way home and then pretends to her hubby she only bought one pack, which they then both share ....

Can you do better?  Clear your conscience here!

Top Five Life Lessons Listography.

Music enriches your life!

She's back - the inimitable Kate Takes 5 with her Top Five whatever takes her fancy at the time and those of us who wish to join in with ours, follow her subject lead with our own post and link up.  It's called a Listography.

She's returned with a whopper of an idea - our Top Five Life Lessons and hers are well worth learning.  She included one mentioning that magic happens when you play with your kids and after my last post it would have been natural to have said something similar, but, seeing as it's already been done (and particularly nicely) here are my others instead:  


1) You need peace and space and no-one gives them to you when you are a mother - it might be necessary to make it and take it!  Life works better when you have chance to listen to yourself and listen to the Universe.

2) Don't get rid of all your old clothes, boots and shoes.  I'm seeing fashions for the third time around now and regret most of my clearing out spurges.  Plus, once you've got kids and lived in jeans for a few years, you'll hanker over all your old ones made of fine fabric that you took for granted beforehand, even if it's just to stroke them because you can't see yourself ever fitting into a size 8 again.

3) Cherish your friends. Make an effort to stay in touch, especially with those who you've known a long time.  It's important to have people in your life who will encourage you, give you perspective and help you to see things you sometimes can't, even if it's just so they can take the mickey in years to come.  There's nothing like old friendships.

4) Walk. It's free healing for the mind body and spirit.  Combined with the peace and space it might give rise to = one happy soul.

5) Music.  This is something I'm still getting to grips with.  Have it in your life.  Explore and discover what floats your boat.  Learn to play instruments and sing songs with the kids, despite them insisting on their own (fart based in this house) lyrics.  It enriches every day, can alter your mood in a moment - powerful enough to get you dancing in the kitchen when no-one's watching or be grounding when everything's a bit hectic - and make or bring back memories.  Even the radio can be good company.

What would you add?  If you're as old as me. you'll have a few too.  Leave a comment below or link up your own post to Kate's and check out the others!

The Truth Acccording to Women.

Ooh I do love a #Listography and Kate Takes 5 has come up with Top 5 Truths According to Women [of a Certain Age!].

Here are my five things I have learned by age 48:

1)  Know your limits.  You don't have to be everything to everybody. A rest won't kill you.

2)  Please yourself.  If you fancy flowers / jewellery / whatever, you don't need to rely on other people - get your own.

3)  Lower your expectations - it's expectations that hurt.  But that doesn't mean you have to drop your standards.

4)  Be true to yourself - it will pay off in the long run.  Even if you don't understand a certain feeling at a particular time, let it guide you and it will - one day - make sense. 

5)  Having children is the most important thing you'll ever do.  Find yourself a good man to settle down with earlier than is fashionable.  Ideally, have the little blighters while you've still got the energy you'd otherwise be burning at the gym, because once that's all gone (and, let's face it, you'll never get it back), you'll find yourself counting down the hours until bedtime from the moment you get up.  AND it's undoubtedly best to undertake this herculean task with someone you love and who loves you back unreservedly.

I think there's a book in the making with all the other words of wisdom on this particular Linky!

Listography - Top 5 Beauty Products

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This week the Listography at  Kate Takes 5 is our top 5 Beauty Products - those with no bias.

People are always telling me I look young for my age (48).  What no-one ever tells you is that, as you get older, you don't actually feel it!

Going against the grain I'm afraid, as per the norm - I just can't help myself - here are mine:

My mum used this when I was young and it has certainly worked for her.  I have tried a million moisturisers - or so it seems, but nothing hits the spot quite like this old fashioned pot. My only worry is that I don't think there is a decent (if any) Sun Protection Factor, so I make a point of using a tinted moisturiser on top.  That's a no-go in the Summer though so I will be adding something or other.

Call me old fashioned (again!), but when I'm asked what my 'secret' is - it is only this - 

Lots of it...

But these really help too:

Ones that cover your  wrinkle area...any decent quality will do!

I am lucky enough to have older girlfriends who give me sage advice - prevention is better than cure for the eyes and the hands.

This is really important to stop those tell tale age spots forming.  Move over Madonna!

This particular hand cream I use at present is by the Body Shop and contains essential oil of Rose.  It has SPF 15, but 50 is apparently better!

I'm really sorry, but these are my biggest luxuries.  Once the basics are right - you need decent make up.

Who can live without something for those dark circles under our eyes? It's great to see other entries offering their pride savers and I look forward to experimenting with them.  I even wrote a post involving the one I currently use once! There's a reason it's -allegedly - one of the top selling beauty products in the country!

YSL Touche Eclat.

And in case you don't count the sunglasses, here's no. 5:

Chanel eyeshadow  is baked and  (almost) never breaks.