Lovely, but unexpected Christmas gifts
Caít()
or nice times?
Santy surprised me a little this year, but in a very good way.
You see, the Beloved was left short by his disgrace of a better half.
I had ordered a really, really good pressie from Amazon, and with two
days to go to Xmas, they advised me that after all, they would not be
able to deliver it - obviously a rush on it - and refunded me. To
this day, I have not found a suitable replacement. But I'm looking,
honest.
So, imagine my embarrassment when the Beloved really outdid himself,
and presented me with two lovely, and frankly totally unexpected
pressies. Unexpected coming from him, that is.
One was a humongous hamper of Body Shop goodies, all in Mango flavour
(my favourite). I now bathe in it, shower in it, slather it on, spray
it on, scrub with it - I smell so fruity these days I feel a bit like
a sorbet when I'm out in the cold. This may be just what every man
gets for the woman in their lives, but it is about the last thing I
expected from my man, and he got it all by himself, too, without
asking me first what I wanted. And it is truly lovely and just plain
old nice.
And the Beloved has taken to the mango bubbly bath, soap and shower
gel, too. So, we're Kildare's fruitiest couple.
But there was another pressie, too. A kind of indirect pressie,
because the Beloved first bought it for someone else, and then bought
me another at my begging request. You see, this year, the Beloved's
tribe decided that in view of the Recession, we'd do a Secret Santy.
We would draw one person's name and would spend a set amount on a
pressie just for that person. There was a second draw for the
kiddies.
The Beloved drew one of his sisters-in-law. And he immediately knew
what to get her, buying a fantastic wee book, called the beaut.ie
guide to gorgeous. (We're back on topic, it's an Irish book with its
roots in an Irish blog of the same beaut.ie name).
It is simply brilliant for the low-ish maintenance gurl who wants to
know what works best to fight wrinkles, to moisturise your dried out
heels, to condition your unruly curls (v. useful, that bit).
I was only floored that the Beloved was even aware of the existence of
this book - which proved tricky enough to track, mind you, because
there clearly was also a run on it...
Turns out that the Beloved, who follows a good few Irish bloggers
closely, knows the bloggerette who authored the book, a Ms Aisling
McDermott.
I can't recommend it highly enough. It is massively practical, it is
well written, witty, funny, includes lots of comments from other
contributors to the blog, and is very very well presented. What are
the best foundations, how to best apply them and remove them And of
course, it has a violently PINK cover - not really my thing, but never
judge a book by its cover, they say.
It also includes a few educational gems, if I may say so. NOw, I like
to think of myself as a woman of the world, relatively well travelled,
reasonably educated, and informed. So, imagine my bewilderement when
I discovered in the "Gorillas in the Mist" (you work it out) chapter,
a little short paragraph telling me how I can "dye my Betty" with the
Betty Beauty range (you work it out too). There's the occasional
comment from the Mammy - on this chapter, it goes thus: "Crazy, yis
are. Madness! Leave it grow - Daddy never seemed to mind".
Best of all, though, was becoming aware of what is possible by way of
topiary adornment of one's ladygarden: my favourite is the following
(and I quote):
Blue Box Wax
This is known as the Tiffany (because it apparently looks like one of
their jewellery boxes). It's a variation on the Brazillian theme,
really. You get your downstairs waxed into a square shape, you'll be
dyed powder blue and a little crystal will be stuck to the middle of
the whole confection.
Needless to say, I am now looking at the Beloved with new eyes. Who
would have thunk?
So, now that I've practically bared myself to you - not a small
sacrifice by current temperatures - the least you lot can do is tell
us a little about what Santy brought you?
Caít()
EX_OWM
> One was a humongous hamper of Body Shop goodies, all in Mango flavour
> (my favourite). I now bathe in it, shower in it, slather it on, spray
> it on, scrub with it - I smell so fruity these days I feel a bit like
> a sorbet when I'm out in the cold. ... And the Beloved has taken
> to the mango bubbly bath, soap and shower
> gel, too. So, we're Kildare's fruitiest couple.
Sweet Jaysus, you'll have Falcon in coronary care.
Caít()
kateh
*So, was Santy good to you this year? Did he bring you nice things and/
or nice times?
(snip & laugh & snip)
*Blue Box Wax
This is known as the Tiffany (because it apparently looks like one of
their jewellery boxes). It's a variation on the Brazillian theme,
really. You get your downstairs waxed into a square shape, you'll be
dyed powder blue and a little crystal will be stuck to the middle of
the whole confection.
*Needless to say, I am now looking at the Beloved with new eyes. Who
would have thunk?
And this from the woman who thinks every man should have short hair after
40?! :)
Hmmmmnnnn......... :)
* So, now that I've practically bared myself to you - not a small
sacrifice by current temperatures - the least you lot can do is tell
us a little about what Santy brought you?
I got a set of china (which I dearly love).....and spent most of the AM
explaining how China is made in England to our HongKongKid. :) The
fiddle-kid checked it out, said it was perfect, and that he should inherit
it ......as it will go perfectly in the Italian style villa that I will
someday build on the farm......and leave to him, so that he can make wine on
the mtn top. The Fish Dr was tickled that I loved his present and announced
that he never has to think up a gift......ever again......as he can keep
buying more pieces, till I'm too old to care about Christmas anymore.
Kate(typical Christmas, really)H :)
PS.....if you didn't laugh around this place.......you'd surely be in jail.
:)
Unknown
>Ca=EDt()
On Christmas morning I got a violin, total suprise.
On Christmas eve I got a demand for repayment of an dss overpayment
from 2004, �3500. Total shock.
I've had a chat with the department involved and I've managed to
persuade them that it there was in fact an under payment of �2400. I
will appeal the remaining amount on the grounds that I was underpaid,
misinformed and you know if you say that you will only speak to a
white protestant male civil servant, they can't find one.
I won a previous religious discrimination case against the same
department and the same sig as before is on one of the
letters.....priceless.
max.it (the orange cage)
kateh
> <cath...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>So, was Santy good to you this year? Did he bring you nice things and/
>>or nice times?
>
> On Christmas morning I got a violin, total suprise.
Totally cool! :)
> On Christmas eve I got a demand for repayment of an dss overpayment
> from 2004, �3500. Total shock.
> I've had a chat with the department involved and I've managed to
> persuade them that it there was in fact an under payment of �2400. I
> will appeal the remaining amount on the grounds that I was underpaid,
> misinformed and you know if you say that you will only speak to a
> white protestant male civil servant, they can't find one.
> I won a previous religious discrimination case against the same
> department and the same sig as before is on one of the
> letters.....priceless.
> max.it (the orange cage)
This part doesn't sound like fun at all.......good luck.
KateH
Unknown
wrote:
><max.it> wrote
>> <cath...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>>So, was Santy good to you this year? Did he bring you nice things and/
>>>or nice times?
>(snip....I can only assume that Eddie's still around here somewhere.....)
>>
>> On Christmas morning I got a violin, total suprise.
>
>Totally cool! :)
I played it like mad for a week. Then I noticed how much my mandolin
playing had improved as a result of struggling with the violin.
Our Lou landed home with a ukulele, it's a great little thing,
>
>> On Christmas eve I got a demand for repayment of an dss overpayment
>> from 2004, �3500. Total shock.
>> I've had a chat with the department involved and I've managed to
>> persuade them that it there was in fact an under payment of �2400. I
>> will appeal the remaining amount on the grounds that I was underpaid,
>> misinformed and you know if you say that you will only speak to a
>> white protestant male civil servant, they can't find one.
>> I won a previous religious discrimination case against the same
>> department and the same sig as before is on one of the
>> letters.....priceless.
>> max.it (the orange cage)
>
>This part doesn't sound like fun at all.......good luck.
>KateH
>
>
Doesn't bother me Kate. If I have to pay up I will have to pay up, but
I will enjoy every last minute of trying to wriggle out of it. It's
actually a form of mental blood sport. Civil servants are fair game.
bren
Ca�t() <cath...@yahoo.com> writes:
> Blue Box Wax
> This is known as the Tiffany (because it apparently looks like one of
> their jewellery boxes). It's a variation on the Brazillian theme,
> really. You get your downstairs waxed into a square shape, you'll be
> dyed powder blue and a little crystal will be stuck to the middle of
> the whole confection.
Egads! This is genius! Imagine the, er,crack we could have if we jumped on
the bandwagon of this genital hirsuite pursuit! We could have the
'Married Wax' where it is in the shape of a giant headache pill or the
Unionist Wax where it was just a giant orange 'No!'. That one might
have saved a lot of recent embarrassment in certain quarters. The
'Gerry Adams' would be easy, you'd just throw away the wax and use a bit
of tippex on the sides.
Honestly, there could be money in this. I can see it as a huge opening
for us all.
bren