How on earth is it already November?! Christmas is next month and that fact only dawned on me yesterday. I realised that this year I want to be on my A-game when it comes to all things Christmas, which is why I’ve just arrived home from the shops with three Christmas presents already bought! One for Phill, one for my brother and one for some family friends. Although I was injured in the process – I was getting one of the gifts off the shelf when it fell and hit me on the head – now I’ve got a bruise above my right eye!

This year I am already feeling more optimistic about Christmas because, due to my recent contract change at work, I will not be working the the night of my birthday, Christmas Eve, Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve or New Years Day … for the first time in three years! Being able to spend those special days with my family is going to be great – I was getting a little tired of having to work late and race over to the New Year’s party *just* in time for midnight, or coming home late Christmas Eve and just wanting to go to bed, instead of stay up watching crappy Christmas movies and waiting for Santa.

I recently aquired an iPhone and found a free Christmas gift shopping list application that is useful for keeping a track of what I want to buy everyone. It’s password protected so no prying eyes can see what they are getting *cough* Phill *cough* and I can tick things off as I buy them. It has a space for you to write notes about the present, so I’ve been writing the price and the store name so I could find the best deal. This came in handy today while I was at the shops because I spotted one gift on the list that was $15 cheaper than where I’d originally spotted it, so I saved some money.

I made the mistake of telling Phill I’d bought one of his presents today, and now I have to wrap it up and hide it somewhere safe so he doesn’t get into it. He’s like a six-year-old when it comes to presents – he wants to know what it is and won’t rest until he’s “accidentally” ripped the wrapping to get a peek inside. Sound like anyone you know?

So.. three presents down but there’s still quite a lot to go. At least I’ve started!

How about you? When do you start your Christmas present shopping?

I was sitting inside one afternoon when I glanced outside to see Puddy lying on the grass, staring intently at something. From my angle it looked like she was waiting for some mail, which I thought was funny (yes, I know I have a lame sense of humour!), so I decided to take a photo. By the time I’d got my camera and returned, Puddy had sat up but was still staring at something on the ground. The fact that she didn’t even turn around when I approached her meant she was studying something very hard.

After snapping the photo, I went over for a closer look… and saw this:

Oh-oh! My first (rather irrational) thought was SNAKE!

I grabbed Puddy and took her back inside, locking her in so she couldn’t get out. Of course, she wasn’t happy with this and started meowing loudly, then scratching at the door while I went back outside to inspect the hole closer. After a few minutes, a big yellow wasp came out and started pushing soil around, buzzing loudly. After some research, I determined it was most likely a “yellow jacket” wasp, nesting underground. Since the nest was in the direct path Phill and I take to check our mail, I needed to deal with the wasp straight away. I also was conscious that Puddy knew the wasp was there, and I didn’t want her to rush over next time she was outside to try to “play” with it.

I’m glad I’m such a silly cat-lover because if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t have gone outside to take that photo… and I wouldn’t have discovered what Puddy was staring at. I’m glad she didn’t get the opportunity to get stung – that would have been very, very bad! Do your cats play with dangerous insects or other things? Mine seems to be drawn to wasps!

Phill and I attended a joint birthday party on Halloween night and of course it was Halloween-themed. I’d never attended a Halloween party before since I don’t celebrate the occasion, but I went since it was a birthday party and I made the mammoth effort of wearing a long black dress with a black pointy hat so I would pass for a half-hearted witch. There were quite a lot of people not in costume plus heaps in full costume, so it was a good mix.

Phill had stumbled across a blog post where the blogger made “orange rind votives” – basically an orange is cut in half, hollowed out and decorated with whole cloves and then put back together with a tea light candle in the base so it glows through the orange. They looked really awesome (and spooky!) and Phill’s first thought was that they looked very Halloweeny, so we decided to make four and take them with us.

They worked very well and were so simple to make. For step-by-step, illustrated instructions, click here.

We had a bit of fun spooning out the orange pulp from the insides (we just used a normal dessert spoon), because  the orange juices kept squirting everywhere! I copped a few in the eye, which stung, and I even got some orange juice up my nose! Instead of using a cookie cutter to cut holes out of the top, Phill used a knife to cut different shapes. The oranges jack-o-lanterns lasted a long time and didn’t catch fire, which I was worried about!

It’s a fuzzy photo, but it shows how the oranges helped to “Halloween-up” the table spread, along with a couple carved pumpkins. Kudos if you can spot the undead baby crawling on the table.

Perhaps I should have posted this before Halloween in case anyone wanted to make them, but oh well – there’s always next year. Or Christmas! These would look great on the Christmas dinner table.

Sometimes I throw together a lunch that looks so delicious and yum that I just have to blog about it. That’s normal, right? You’ve done that before?  This particular lunch was freshly made BLT English muffins with mayonnaise and everything was just so crisp and fresh and delicious.

Look at how perfect that looks? And if you want a close-up…

Look at that mayonnaise ready to gloop down the sides, yum! The stemmy bit of the lettuce doesn’t look too appealing but I enjoy eating it – it’s a bit sweeter than the leaves. Of course, if there’s a big stem it’s often bitter so I’ll throw that out. I’m going through a mesculin mix phase – much more exciting than the normal cos or ice-burg lettuce.

Mmm bacon! The only thing these muffins were missing was a thin slice of cheese. I have a love/hate relationship with cheese – I go on or off it really easily. That day I was keen for cheese but we’d run out. Boo.

At this point I realised I was rather hungry so I put down the camera and ate my lunch.

It was awwwwesome.

P.S – I recently adopted an iPhone which means you can expect more food blogging from me, since now I’ll always have a semi-decent camera on hand (and won’t be able to forget to take it!).