Wow!

what an exciting night I've had!!

I do hope you can detect the sarcasm emanating from my every keystroke...

Instead of going to my usual ever-other-monday haunt, The Castle Climbing Centre, I suffered a severe case of buddy-bail-out and was left having to come home - which meant supervising the extreme online shop I purchased last night from Tesco.

oh joy of joys, I could hardly contain my excitement as I made my way home via the stinking victoria line and nearly chocked on the sickly incense-fumes wafting down the stairs into the station from the irritating man positioned directly outside... still, makes a nice change from the offers of "skunk....SKUNK... weed... SKUNK WEED" you usually are met with when stepping out into sarf laaandan town.

owing to a particularly complicated day of coding, which didn't end until after 7pm, my brain had well and truly turned to mush and it was probably a good idea I wasn't faced with the challenge of working out climbing routes... I'd have never gotten past a 4A!!

So anyway, get home and thank goodness my adorable other half has purchased a takeaway because cooking would have been faaaar beyond my capabilities.

I had half a tandoori chicken, some spinach and chickpeas and a little rice. I *did* try to eat some garlic naan but it just tasted like I was eating a bath sponge so I abandoned that and munched down on my chicken - delish! I would have taken a picture but I was too hungry to even think of that!

After that the boys played on the new PS3 for a bit, marvelling at the cinema sound created by the brand spanking new amp and metre high speakers... extravagant? yup, but I didn't pay for them so I couldn't care less!

arghh, just noticed the dryyyyyyyyyyy skin on the back of my knuckles, I really hate what this season does to my skin, does anyone else suffer seasonal dermatitis? It sucks, big time :-(

So yeah, the shopping was delivered by a lovely fella from Tesco - SHIT did I order that much?! I know I should really shop at Waitrose for obvious reasons but I haven't worked out how to get my staff discount online, or from the delivery partner, I just don't think it's possible (shame as I get 15%!!) and we don't have a car either so cheapo Tesco shop it is!

Joe's working on a promotion panel at work so was able to cry the shopping unpacking (probably just as well as he'd have not been too impressed at all the food I bought and the questionable tactics employed to squeeze it all into fridge/freezer/cupboards etc!!

Then as I'm sorting out the zillion shopping bags, Bella (girl moggie) decides to come in deposit a nice juicy turd in the cat litter tray - it's in the breakfast room, there's no escape!

Then I manage to pour flour all over my top while hopping around with my hands full of shopping trying to scratch my left shin with my right ankle as it's bloody itchy owing to the flea bites from our adorable felines (we do de-flea them on a regular basis but some had taken up lodgings in my wooly slipper socks. bastards, gonna boil the feckers)

So yes dear reader, not only do I have all the dexterity of a drunken giraffe, I also have fleas and my kitchen smells like shit!

My, what a charmed existence I lead!

All this takes place while the mad moggie prances round the kitchen (having happily emptied her bowels and clearly feeling rather more sprightly as a result) vying for my attention:



No... she's not gone insane and lost it at me... this is one of the top methods employed to attract my attention... it's called "Stand on hind legs and waggle paws wildly around until owner notices my frenetic waving and constant chirruping and strokes my head"

Bless, she's so cute, could almost forgive the smell (why can't she poo in our neighbour's garden like her brother does!!)

This is the other moggy, giving Joe a cuddle, he's a lot more laid back than she is, although just as demanding for tummy tickles and bloody annoying when prowling round the house at 3am howling for attention before he realises that you're upstairs in bed AS YOU USUALLY ARE AT 3AM - every single bloody day!!



Wish I wasn't such a light sleeper.

Anyway, I digress, can you tell I'm killing time and I've calmed my post-programming stress with a nice glass of vin rouge?

Well, the cupboards are stacked, kitty poo cleaned and all's well as I sit typing on Joe's laptop as he's commandeered the PC for his promotion stuff

A few highs of my shopping 'trip' include:

stocking up on the BEST peanut butter in the world:



This stuff is what dreams are made of.

I know it's not as healthy as the Merdian one, there's more fat and salt, but a) it doesn't go dry when the oil runs out... as it doesn't (maybe something to do with its short lifespan in this household?) and b) it's the best tasting crunchy wholenut on the market, it's all natural baby and I LOVE it!

believe me, I have tried a LOT of peanut butters... I should probably hold a poll to see how long people reckon these 3 pots will last me us! :-D

Also bought some seed mixes to put into my bread.

Into each loaf goes:

* 550g wholemeal seeded flour (currently using Allinson's country grain but just bought some mixed seed to try out)
* 2 x tbsp golden linseeds
* 2 x tbsp hemp seeds
* 2 x tbsp sunflower seeeds
* 2 x tbsp mixed nuts
* 2 x tbsp extra virgin olive oil (though not sure if it's worth using the expensive kind... you know if you heat extra virgin olive oil too much it loses all it's extra health giving properties!)
* 2 x tbsp honey
* 2 x tbsp pumpkin seeds
* 1 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 1/4 tsp yeast

quite a loaf huh?

*modest*

I should really take a picture of a cross section (i.e. slice!) of my loaf! Have taken plenty of pics of the finished article:



But none of what each slice looks like - it doesn't last long enough in this house!

So I'd ordered these new seeds:



basically just so I didn't have to separate them all out (getting lazier in my old age) - plus some 3 seed mix... which was unavailable so my 'Tesco Shopper' in their wisdom decided to substitute ONE bag of '3 seed mix' with THREE bags of mixed fruit and nut... whole cashews, sultanas, cranberries etc... very nice... but no good in a fucking loaf of bread!!

Why oh why didn't I tick the box that said "don't substitute any items" or "if you will substitute items at least use your "£$%^*(& head and subtsitute like for like!

However, am a bit torn between the girlie feeling of "oooh, a bargain" as they 'price matched' my original choice with their three extra bags and I got refunded a whopping £6.27 - BARGAIN!

hang on, still can't make bread with it... ahh well, Joe and my son can have it on their morning muesli, all's not lost, I'm really just whinging for nothing because it's late, it's Monday, and I really have nothing better to do with my time!

Oh yeah, in my never-ending quest for alcohol-free utopia (why can't they make alcohol free wine that actually *tastes* like wine, they can do it with beer!!) I purchased some of my favourite lager (Bavaria - alcohol free lager that actually tastes of lager and comes in at under 80 cals - I'm addicted to the stuff!)'s new apple-based cousin:



Hmm, I can taste the malty goodness from Bavaria's signature 0% alcohol lager but this fruity contender to the throne doesn't really float my boat. I could have just bought a can of apple tango, there's no real novelty factor, I don't feel like I'm cheating the old booze wagon!!

Think I will stick to the *ahem* real(ish) stuff, my son will gladly take these sickly sweet tinnies off my hand no doubt!

Other news... I located the source of the fishy smell that has penetrated into every fibre in this bloody house and resulted in me wondering what the hell that smell was when I put my scarf on before leaving work... oh yes, that's my house smell - eww!

You see, I cooked fresh cod in the steamer the other day for us all and served it with wild rice and mixed veg (from freezer individual microwave steam bags - LOVE those things!) - very tasty it was too



but I forgot to clean the bloody steamer, as did our cleaner... hence the pong. Lesson learnt, if you've got an electric steamer, CLEAN THE WHOLE BLOODY LOT AFTER COOKING!!

God I'm rubbish at this domestic stuff. It's a good job we DO have a cleaner, not least because she's fantastic, but also because she irons too! I don't think I've ironed a shirt since I was a teenager (bad huh?!).

I feel bad that she cleans the house but then we both work full time, Joe had a cleaner before we met and I have a teenager - getting him to clean his body and teeth, let alone his bedroom, is difficult enough!! He would gladly fester in his own filth, sitting around in his boxer shorts playing computer games, if I let him - men are a different species!!

Oh and I bought these to try out too:



I reckon we'll have some tomorrow night with our dinner, which will mostly involve cold stuff like salad and cottage cheese - I over-ordered, thought I'd bought 2 small pots of the stuff and had in fact bought two mahoosive 650g tubs. If anyone has any cottage cheese recipes feel free to send them my way, I haven't a bloody clue!

Right, off to bed, I am now well into Tuesday and have to go sleep as that thinking thing needs to take place tomorrow, ughh

hopefully I'll have my PC back tomorrow so I can post pics of last week's workplace cycle challenge... oh and I'll hopefully update you on an adventure race I'm thinking of taking part in at the end of January next year - VERY excited at the thought of that!

More soon, later taters

TJx