Got up early today because I had a busy morning ahead of me and some Christmas in July fun for the afternoon. First, a quick recap on yesterday evening. I sat in (at my laptop) on the CIJ Ornament Swap reveal last night!! It was so cool to see all the comments as the ladies opened up the swap ornaments one by one. I can't wait to participate next year. Thank you all so much for letting me join you. You can see a photo of the ornaments here.
Sophia was out with friends so I sat down to enjoy a British comedy Christmas extravaganza. I'm a big fan of British comedy, the older stuff mostly, from the 1970s when we lived in England and from the 1990s. I'm not too crazy about the current offerings. British television censorship, if you can call it that, is very loose and I find a lot of what is produced today to be very tasteless. When we lived in England, the humor was what we called "cheeky", which I think is best translated into American English as "saucy". One definition said "offensively bold", but I think that's a bit strong. Anyway, there is quite a bit of innuendo but it's very funny. I worked my way through the 1977 Good Neighbors Christmas special, "Silly, but it's fun", the 1979 To The Manor Born special, "The First Noel", The Vicar of Dibley's 1996 "The Christmas Lunch Incident", and Keeping Up Appearances' 1991 special, "A Very Merry Hyacinth". I don't know if any of you are familiar with any of these episodes; I was going to put up a short video but surprisingly enough, or not, all four episodes are available on You Tube. If you want a good laugh, check them out (I've included the You Tube links).
Here's a brief synopsis of each to help you choose:
So, this morning I got the grocery shopping done and put away, picked up Sophia's saddle from the barn (big horse show this weekend so it needed to be cleaned), ran by Michael's to pick up two more balls of Fa La La (2 for $5, sale ends tomorrow), and stopped at my local supermarket to check the price of berries for a dessert I'm planning to take to Bible Study on Monday.
I read another chapter of The Snowglobe (it's really getting good!) and then worked on today's craft project with Sophia's help. She's the beader in the family. I was making a set of wine charms for Sophia's 4-H leader, hence the green beads and the horse charms. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, as I've seen wine charms in gift stores, but I found this great tutorial which was very helpful. The hoop is from a Wired Hoop Assortment by Jewelry Findings at Michael's and the charms are from the Charm Gallery, also at Michael's. The beads were $2.99 for a large tube (enough for probably more than 100 charms) and the little crimp beads at each end were extras Sophia had on hand. This one was a test; now that I like how it turned out, I'll go back and get more charms. I had in mind this set for Sophia's leader: the horse head in the horseshoe (shown), four leaf clover (for 4-H), a plain horseshoe, two different horses, and the letter D for Diane (her leader's name). Should make a nice gift for Christmas.
I modified the Spicy Sausage and Potato Squares to come up with Ham and Potato Squares and that's what I had for dinner. I substituted ham for the sausage and broccoli for the asparagus and it was delicious. It was very enjoyable with The Santa Clause 3. I'm whipping through the movies - I've decided to end Christmas in July on the 25th which works out really well because that's only a few days before Sophia leaves for Oregon and we have a lot going on that week.
Tomorrow is a decorating tip day but I'm going to swap it with the recipe day on Sunday and try out the Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cake. I'll be at the horse show all day on Sunday so I'm not sure if I'll get any CIJ work done other than putting up a decorating tip here and knitting a few rows on my scarf.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Sophia was out with friends so I sat down to enjoy a British comedy Christmas extravaganza. I'm a big fan of British comedy, the older stuff mostly, from the 1970s when we lived in England and from the 1990s. I'm not too crazy about the current offerings. British television censorship, if you can call it that, is very loose and I find a lot of what is produced today to be very tasteless. When we lived in England, the humor was what we called "cheeky", which I think is best translated into American English as "saucy". One definition said "offensively bold", but I think that's a bit strong. Anyway, there is quite a bit of innuendo but it's very funny. I worked my way through the 1977 Good Neighbors Christmas special, "Silly, but it's fun", the 1979 To The Manor Born special, "The First Noel", The Vicar of Dibley's 1996 "The Christmas Lunch Incident", and Keeping Up Appearances' 1991 special, "A Very Merry Hyacinth". I don't know if any of you are familiar with any of these episodes; I was going to put up a short video but surprisingly enough, or not, all four episodes are available on You Tube. If you want a good laugh, check them out (I've included the You Tube links).
Here's a brief synopsis of each to help you choose:
Silly, but it's fun: Tom and Barbara are all ready and prepared with their homemade newspaper decorations, crackers made from the colour supplements, a yule log with an over-sized robin and balloons that have cost a wopping 15p. Margo and Jerry, however, are set to have a very miserable Christmas, as Margo, in a fit of conservatism, sent back her entire Christmas purchases because her tree is six and a quarter inches too short. She has in effect, cut off her festive nose to spite her yuletide face. It's up to Tom and Barbara to show them what a true Christmas is all about, a Christmas without the trappings of riches, just pure silly unadulterated fun...not to mention a few bottles of the old pea-pod.
The First Noel: Richard and Audrey compete in supplying the traditional Christmas crèche to the village church, and the question soon becomes which offer is more ridiculous her homemade monstrosity or his crassly commercial model?
The Christmas Lunch Incident: Geraldine is so popular that everybody wants her round for Christmas dinner so she won't be alone - Jim and Frank, Alice and her family, who are even more bizarre than Alice herself and the Hortons. Geraldine is protective of Hugo when David bullies him and indulges in a sprout-eating contest. As a consequence she has to be taken home on a bulldozer to sleep it off. And then Owen turns up wanting company since he has spent every Christmas alone since 1971.
A Very Merry Hyacinth: Hyacinth is in the full Christmas spirit with 112 Christmas cards, and counting. She's also forced Richard to dress up as Father Christmas to distribute presents to the old folk. But the journey to the church hall to hand out the gifts is filled with many surprises including a drunk Richard, a disguised Elizabeth and of course a mishap with Daddy.Synopses courtesy of The Internet Movie Database
So, this morning I got the grocery shopping done and put away, picked up Sophia's saddle from the barn (big horse show this weekend so it needed to be cleaned), ran by Michael's to pick up two more balls of Fa La La (2 for $5, sale ends tomorrow), and stopped at my local supermarket to check the price of berries for a dessert I'm planning to take to Bible Study on Monday.
I read another chapter of The Snowglobe (it's really getting good!) and then worked on today's craft project with Sophia's help. She's the beader in the family. I was making a set of wine charms for Sophia's 4-H leader, hence the green beads and the horse charms. I had an idea of what I wanted to do, as I've seen wine charms in gift stores, but I found this great tutorial which was very helpful. The hoop is from a Wired Hoop Assortment by Jewelry Findings at Michael's and the charms are from the Charm Gallery, also at Michael's. The beads were $2.99 for a large tube (enough for probably more than 100 charms) and the little crimp beads at each end were extras Sophia had on hand. This one was a test; now that I like how it turned out, I'll go back and get more charms. I had in mind this set for Sophia's leader: the horse head in the horseshoe (shown), four leaf clover (for 4-H), a plain horseshoe, two different horses, and the letter D for Diane (her leader's name). Should make a nice gift for Christmas.
I modified the Spicy Sausage and Potato Squares to come up with Ham and Potato Squares and that's what I had for dinner. I substituted ham for the sausage and broccoli for the asparagus and it was delicious. It was very enjoyable with The Santa Clause 3. I'm whipping through the movies - I've decided to end Christmas in July on the 25th which works out really well because that's only a few days before Sophia leaves for Oregon and we have a lot going on that week.
Tomorrow is a decorating tip day but I'm going to swap it with the recipe day on Sunday and try out the Chocolate Cherry Truffle Cake. I'll be at the horse show all day on Sunday so I'm not sure if I'll get any CIJ work done other than putting up a decorating tip here and knitting a few rows on my scarf.
Have a great weekend, everyone!
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