Tis I the Fluff

I figured some of you might find this of use, a link on ideas of how to conjure up your own flavoured oatmeal with flavour ideas. I'd love it if I didn't get the heartburn of doom every time I ate oatmeal!

http://veganlunchbox.blogspot.com/2010/01/homemade-instant-oatmeal-packets.html

Happy thanksgiving lovelies x

http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/

Gross but oddly addictive....

Go on the Ireland!! Grand Slam, Oooh yeah, it was a long time coming but so so worth it!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_union/7954758.stm

I found a plus side of being sick, more time to surf the interwebs. What?! I have a fleecey blanket wrapped around me and am in my pj's its the new book people. Anyways speaking of books I have been devouring India Knights "The Thrifty Book". I can't get enough of it, its packed with humour, plus many many web addresses of crafty/money saving/recipe/beauty on a budget etc sites. I am slowly working my way through them. Plus she also makes a clear difference between mean people and thrifty people which I love. In the spirit of her book I have decided to try the crafty thing again. Now I am not a crafty by nature person. Think of me if you will as Chandler in friends. Remember that episode where he and Monica had to make each other valentines presents? And he bent a metal hanger and thoughtfully stared at it? Yeah thats me. Even my dear Mam admitted that I wasn't the crafty type after trying many (many) times to patiently teach me how to hem trousers. She was a professional seamstress before she married my Dad. She was a marvel at adjusting clothes etc. Clearly I do not take after her in this respect. I did try to hem a pair of trousers last week. It took me three hours and a brief crying fit after stabbing myself repeatedly with the needle (those fuckers hurt). They are hemmed I guess but don't look to close at them.

Anyway back to developing my lameo craftiness. I looked up a few crochet clips on you tube (I am so slow, before India pointed out that there are tons of free how to clips on you tube, the most I ever looked up on it was star trek fanatic music vids)and they seem very simple. Best of all they are free and I can play them over and over again til I take it in! I know how to do a basic knit stitch and so can knit a scarf, hopefully with my soon to be mad crochet skillz (ha!)I can cobble together a few blankets? You know where this is going don't you? Oh yeah I'm talking xmas gifts 09!!!! Ahem. Oh Oh plus I have found a fairly simple looking but impressive gift which even I can make (I think). When I was a kid I used to spend weekends at my Uncle and Aunts house. They are keen gardeners and their gardens are beeeeeautiful. Plus as if that isn't enough they also love the whole indoor plant thing. I remember they had this huge clear glass bottle/bowl/jug thing with a miniture garden inside it. I was fascinated by it, it was so fancy but you didn't have to do anything to it (my type of gardening). So while looking up xmas gift ideas I happened across this site: http://www.hindu.com/pp/2005/10/30/stories/2005103000110200.htm which tells you about slapping an oul plant in a bottle. This is genius, all I need to do is slap a ribbon on it and voila! A present that even my black fingers can manage.

Yeeeeees if I get started now I may have the cheapest (or thriftiest) xmas ever!

So much to write about, very little of it of any real importance. Life has been rather grey hued of late. I find myself drifting through the days get up, go to work, go to lunch, come home from work, watch tv or read or walk and then go to bed. The only time this routine has been broken is on a Monday when I have college. We got our law assignments last week and to say I am baffled by it is a bit of an understatement. However I will cobble together something as I always do.

Being honest I don't mind the greyness, theres a certain comfort in routine, knowing whats next and accomplishing my daily tasks. The reason why I am writing about routine I suppose is there is another person who I am training on my job. She is all too eager to take over and get started and I am loath to let her. Petty I know but I love the particular job I do and hate her one (I briefly trained on it a few months ago so I know whats in store) and knowing that I will be doing this job for the next year makes me feel......defeated I suppose. I can understand the value in cross training but this particular girl (a close friend before this) knows how apprehensive I am about this change and seems to be taking this opportunity to get subtle jabs in (in that silkily bitchy way girls can be) about how when she takes over my job she will be making certain (supposedly beneficial) changes to it.

Personally I don't have any interest in my new job to think about making changes to it. I would never of course admit this to my boss. My frenemy knows this. I hate change. I always have. I try to look on thr bright side. Maybe I will find myself loving her job once I am fully trained on it and left to my own devices. Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is I need to take a definite step back from the frenemy before I snap at her.

My grey state is in danger of dissapating in a fit of emerald green jealousy and blood red fury..

Mmmm pancake tuesday how do I love thee....

Although pancake has different meanings. A pancake to me is a deliciously light thin crispy at the edges piece of heaven, the object is to barely coat the surface of the frying pan with the lightest of batter. This does not make it a crepe!! A pancake to others is a more doughy cakey concoction. Some even buy those prepackaged just add milk/water and shake malarkies. No no no. I suppose its all about what you grew up eating, if you ate the doughy cake thing then of course its going to be preferable to my delicious version.

My preferred way of adorning my crispy piece of heaven is once you have flipped your pancake place three squares of fine quality chocolate (cadburys in a pinch)on one side then flip the other side over omlette style and place this deliciousness gently on a plate. Then to top it off pour golden syrup (not maple, much as I love it I feel it clashes with the chocolate gooeyness, if you want maple syrup may I suggest serving it alongside some fine quality vanilla ice cream with crushed pecan nuts sprinkled on top) on top of this and devour immediately (ha like your gonna wait). Owning to the decadence of this gorgeousness I can only manage two at a time before the sugar ehadache starts (and my arteries close) but I encourage you to try for lucky number three!

Which brings me to lent, now I usually give up something every year with the exception of 2007. So I put it to you, gentle lovely sweet nice reader what should I give up? Sweets, Chocolate, crisps, oxo cubes (sob) or somkething of your own making? I'll go with the majority (and will quite possible cuss you out here as the withdrawal symptoms kick in)

*Sweet cake in Irish, I don't like the bastardised Pancog!

I had such a fun day, a friend of a friend texted me inviting me to go to the bodies exhibition. I headed in to meet her encountering the latest protest along the way. The thing that struck me most about the exhibition was that although they are real human bodies how unsqeamish I was about it. It was presented in a easy to understand scientific way. The most disconcerting thing I found was that the flesh on the body reminded me a little too much of boiled ham in the colour and the fat perhaps due to the preserving process that is used. I don't think I will be able to look at that meat in the same way again!

Also important to me were the exhibits which showed samples of organs with cancer. It's hard to put into words and explain but I had this image in my mind of cancer. It's big and scary and horrible and even though I have googled cancer and seen images of it, seeing cancer in the flesh (literally) takes away some of the .... fear... I guess.. of it. There were cross sections of livers and lungs with cancer and it was just like I saw on my Mam's xrays, dark spots. A particularly effective exhibit was the one showing a smokers lungs compared to a non smokers lungs. I know there are some who read this who may smoke so I won't harp on about it. However beside the exhibit was a clear perspex box which encouraged people who may smoke to dispose of their cigarettes. It was half full. I saw a pancreas and was struck by how small it was. The pancreas is where my mam had her primary tumour and after seeing this small organ I was struck by how fine a balance our bodies need to maintain to stay healthy. My mams tumour was roughly an inch long. It's still hard for me to imagine something this small, this...insignificant in size is what made her so ill and ultimately led to her death. There were cancers of the penis, cancers of the trachea, all sorts of cancer and I think this was such an interesting thing to see, to take the fear out of it. I know some people may not agree but it helped me.

After the exhibition we went for food then to the movies. He's just not that into you. Surprisingly good. It didn't give the fairytale ending that I expect of movies like this but more like an ending which was right for each of the characters.

It was a fun day and I think I have me another single friend :)

"Fake it til you make it" is a often used saying. It's true for me in so far as I am not always the confident jokey person I come across nor the social butterfly my friends would like to think I am. Take tommorow night. Best friend and myselfs birthdays are about three weeks apart so we traditionally celebrate midway. This year it is her choice of location so we are dressing up and going for swanky cocktails in a fancypants hotel. While yes I am looking forward to dressing up and making myself all purdy, part of me is dreading the social interaction with strangers. See I'm not great with strangers. Sure I am polite and friendly but inside I am cringing. I put myself out there as I am supposed to do but I rarely feel comfortable. My friends however don't believe me on the rare occasions I do confess to this. I tell them my fake it til you make it mantra but they say if I was faking it they could tell as I would behave out of character. I don't let on that I've been following this mantra for years so my faking it behaviour is probably viewed as in character in their eyes. I have conciously tried to drop this mantra but the times I don't use it I feel I come across as rather....flat.

Sometimes I wonder if this character is more of a caricature. In social gatherings I am the one with the potty mouth, the sarcastic one and the one most likely to tell the dirty joke. All admirable traits I know (there's that sarcasm) but sometimes I wonder if I'm just behaving on cue rather like a dog who is taught to roll over with the flick of a palm. With men they tell me I'm easy to talk to because I'm funny and I seem interested in what they have to say. Why then is it men don't seem to want anything long term with me? The general consensus amongst the ones I've been intimate with is that I have lovely boobs and come to bed eyes. Is this all they see? A two dimensional cliched lifetime movie character? The times I do let my true feelings come through, that I like them, that I would like to get to know them better the look of dawning horror on their faces would be hilarious if it didn't hurt so fucking much. With that look I know the conversation will end one of two ways. 1. The "I'm not looking for anything serious but I think your really cool can we be friends" approach or 2. The verbal "I feel the same way" quickly followed by the never calling you again once he says he will. I can't decide which hurts more. I of course pretend everything is fine.

Showtime is tommorow and in my friends own words "theres no party without you". I guess I should be ready to perform.


**sadly not a post about the tv show which I loved.

Silly question but if everyone in the world was to turn vegan what would we do with all the cows/pigs/sheep etc.? I mean they're a little too big to keep as house pets.....

Oh I passed my latest round of exams, woot! 3 down and one more lot to go before I get my diploma. Still puzzling over whether or not to do the degree. Still no closer to making a decision.

I miss friendboy, I know I was the one who deleted him as a friend on bookface/msn after the whole "your stupid" thing but I miss his sarcastic wit and his kind hearted but inept ways at cheering me up. Maybe it's male company I miss?

Speaking of male company I heard from Al he of ex fiance fame. He gave up the chef career and now has a BA in English and is teaching part time. He plans on emigrating to Bangkok in 2.5 months to teach English. Craziness. He asked me to meet for coffee and a chat but I'm on the fence on this, I don't really feel as if there is anything for me to gain by doing this.

Manchild (he of the age difference) is emigrating to Oz in April so I guess there goes the whole someone crushing on me. A little boo but if this is what he wants then I'm happy for him.

A very belated happy birthday to the lovely crowjoy, I know you'll rock 41 just as much as you did 40, knowing you probably more :-)